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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Climate Change And The Global Nutrient Overload: The Microbial Response Of Extreme Waterbodies To Environmental Change, Samuel P. Bratsman
Climate Change And The Global Nutrient Overload: The Microbial Response Of Extreme Waterbodies To Environmental Change, Samuel P. Bratsman
Theses and Dissertations
One of the defining characteristics of our current epoch—the Anthropocene—is modification of nutrient cycles. At regional to global scales, humans have fundamentally reshaped the availability of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. These changes are particularly apparent in freshwater ecosystems, which receive surface and groundwater inputs of nutrients from agriculture, fossil fuel use, and wastewater. In this thesis, I investigated how the addition of nutrients affects microbial community and biogeochemistry in two extreme environments: the hypereutrophic shallow Utah Lake and nutrient-limited Arctic permafrost streams. In my first chapter, I used bioassay and dilution bioassay experiments to identify what factors control harmful algal …
Cyanobacteria And Phytoplankton Responses To Nutrients In Deep-Water Montane Reservoirs, Madeleine Paige Malmfeldt
Cyanobacteria And Phytoplankton Responses To Nutrients In Deep-Water Montane Reservoirs, Madeleine Paige Malmfeldt
Theses and Dissertations
Mountains play an important role in providing water resources from snow and ice to downstream urban population centers. In Utah, USA, nearly 86% of the state's population resides in the rapidly growing urban corridor along the Wasatch Front. Water along the Wasatch Front is stored in several deep reservoirs in the Provo River Watershed. Additions of nutrients, into these reservoirs, may stimulate the growth of primary producers (e.g., total phytoplankton and cyanobacteria) potentially attenuating water quality. To determine the influence of nutrients on primary producers in the Provo River's reservoirs, identify whether cyanobacteria are transported downstream, and quantify nutrient thresholds …
Seasonal Nutrient Limitations Of Cyanobacteria, Phytoplankton, And Cyanotoxins In Utah Lake, Gabriella Marie Lawson
Seasonal Nutrient Limitations Of Cyanobacteria, Phytoplankton, And Cyanotoxins In Utah Lake, Gabriella Marie Lawson
Theses and Dissertations
Excess nutrients from human activity trigger toxic cyanobacterial and algal blooms, creating expansive hypoxic dead zones in lakes, damaging ecosystems, hurting local economies, undermining food and water security, and directly harming human health. To identify when and where nutrients limit phytoplankton and cyanobacterial growth, and cyanotoxin concentrations across Utah Lake, USA we conducted four in-situ bioassay studies (563 cubitainers or experimental units) that experimentally added N, P or N+P over the spring, early summer, summer, late summer, and fall in lake water from the top 20 cm of the water column. For our purpose, we defined total phytoplankton as all …
Utah Lake's Cyanobacteria Proliferation And Toxin Production In Response To Nitrogen And Phosphorous Additions, Gabriella Lawson, Jonathan Daniels, Erin Fleming Jones, Rachel Buck, Michelle Baker, Benjamin Abbott, Zachary Aanderud
Utah Lake's Cyanobacteria Proliferation And Toxin Production In Response To Nitrogen And Phosphorous Additions, Gabriella Lawson, Jonathan Daniels, Erin Fleming Jones, Rachel Buck, Michelle Baker, Benjamin Abbott, Zachary Aanderud
Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2020
Understanding cyanobacterial nutrient requirements and toxin production will help the Utah Department of Environmental Quality control toxic algal blooms on Utah Lake. Cyanobacteria’s primary nutrient needs include phosphorous (P) and nitrogen (N). Despite the fact that some cyanobacteria species can fix their own N, many still prefer utilizing easily accessible nitrogen sources (Dolman et al., 2012). Thus, explaining why both P and N can limit or accelerate cyanobacterial proliferation (Dolman et al., 2012). As it turns out, cyanobacteria nutrient needs are particularly complex. One purpose of this study is to detail the multifaceted N and P nutrient requirements of the …
Landsat Collections Reveal Long-Term Algal Bloom Hot Spots Of Utah Lake, Rachel Shanae Tate
Landsat Collections Reveal Long-Term Algal Bloom Hot Spots Of Utah Lake, Rachel Shanae Tate
Theses and Dissertations
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) and nuisance algal blooms (NABs) are a worldwide phenomenon with implications for human health and safety. HABs occur when algae or bacteria grow in high enough densities to harm animals and humans. A primary component of harmful algal blooms is cyanobacteria, which are aquatic, photosynthesizing microorganisms that produce toxins at high concentrations. Cyanobacterial biomass has increased worldwide in recent decades, raising concern about the future of fresh- and marine-water systems in a changing climate. Understanding the patterns and conditions of past algal blooms can provide useful insights for managing future blooms. Remote sensing can enhance our …
Exploring Post-Fire Recovery Of Biocrusts And Desert Ecosystem Services, Jason R. Bahr
Exploring Post-Fire Recovery Of Biocrusts And Desert Ecosystem Services, Jason R. Bahr
Theses and Dissertations
Biocrusts and the ecosystem services they provide are becoming more susceptible to fire as exotic annual grass invasions facilitate the spread of desert wildfires. Further, precipitation patterns across the western United States are predicted to change over the next century, and have the potential to dramatically influence fire regimes and the recovery of burned biocrusts. Despite these changes to desert fire and precipitation cycles, our understanding of post-fire biocrust recovery is limited, especially regarding the first two years after fire. To investigate biocrust recovery, we created burn manipulations (i.e., unburned and burned) and tracked crust form and function over two …
Competitive Exclusion Of Cyanobacterial Species In The Great Salt Lake, Hillary Christine Roney
Competitive Exclusion Of Cyanobacterial Species In The Great Salt Lake, Hillary Christine Roney
Theses and Dissertations
Under Gause's principle two species cannot indefinitely occupy the same niche. The north and south arms of Great Salt Lake are separated by a rail causeway, resulting in salinity differences and color variation between the arms. Farmington Bay is also separated from the south arm by a vehicular causeway to Antelope Island. These causeways allow examination of competitive exclusion of cyanobacteria in the hypersaline environment of the Great Salt Lake. Cyanobacterial distributions partially map salinity, with Aphanothece halophytica proliferating in the north arm, and Nodularia spumigena in the south arm. I hypothesized that cyanobacterial species abundant north of the railway …