Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons^™

The Effect Of Changing Substrate On Arctic Aquatic Invertebrates Abundance, Tom Dolman

Michael D. Wilson Symposium

Climate change is directly affecting tundra ecosystems in northern regions, and warming temperatures have caused discontinuous permafrost and thawing sediments across the region. This project investigates how increasing erosion and the foraging patterns of migratory snow geese may degrade habitat for aquatic invertebrates in the upper Mast River, located in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada. In the past two decades, many of the important species of aquatic invertebrates have shown declines. Declining invertebrate populations are predicted to affect aquatic ecosystems and decrease the resources available to shorebirds and waterfowl, which breed and migrate through this area.

How A Low-Cost Method For Cumulative Water-Sampling Shows Need For Improvement Of Legal Public-Contact Standards In The United States, Samuel C. Kessler

Grawemeyer Colloquium Papers

Across the world, it is estimated that 4.5 billion people live near water sources “impaired” for use or contact. Standards for human-interaction are established by international organizations such as the WHO, and legislative bodies from national to local levels with jurisdiction over the quality of our waterways to ensure public & environmental health. Standards are often assessed from “grab-samples” taken from a waterbody at a certain time, with a minimum number analyzed. Water-quality standards in the United States are enforced under the Clean Water Act (CWA) via the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), applying to “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). …

Effects Of Salt Runoff On Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Colonies, Kendra Fink

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Aquatic macroinvertebrates bridge the gap in part between primary and secondary consumers, making them ecologically important for most aquatic systems. They are used as biotic indicators for water quality due to their sensitivity to pollutants and may be affected, specifically, by chloride ion concentrations in the water. Water quality can be evaluated by looking at species compositions and their respective tolerance values. To determine long-term effects of road salt on macroinvertebrate colonies, a total of 338 identified macroinvertebrates of 10 families (two generalized to class) at 9 sites were collected from before, after, and between three bridges on Turtle River …

Factors Influencing Aquatic Invertebrate Diversity In Mine Pit Lakes Along The Mesabi Iron Range, Jeremy Laurich

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Restoration of mine pit lakes for recreation is going to be very important for the future of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range area. As many as 250 lakes will need to be restored in the future along this 100-kilometer-long swath of mining country. Information regarding the organisms that currently inhabit these lakes is important for future restorations to be a success. The focus of this study was to identify the types of aquatic invertebrates present in pit lakes and to identify some of the factors that influence their abundance and diversity. During this study, invertebrate samples were taken along the shore …

Is There A Relationship Between Aquatic Vegetation And Amphipod Stocking Mortality?, Alaina Taylor

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Amphipod occurrence and abundance has declined in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). Wildlife managers have stocked prairie pothole wetlands with Gammarus lacustris since 2018 to establish self-sustaining populations. G. lacustris have been detected in only 2 of 22 stocked basins, suggesting that they have died or failed to reproduce in most stocking attempts. Aquatic plant surveys were conducted in stocked wetlands and compared to data from surveys of wetlands with naturally occurring populations to understand if G. lacustris would be expected to survive in stocked wetlands based on characteristics of the aquatic vegetation communities. SAV coverage was significantly higher in …

Regional Impacts Of Invasive Species And Climate Change On Black Ash Wetlands, Joseph Shannon

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For more than a decade intensive research on the ecohydrology of black ash wetland ecosystems has been performed to understand these systems before they are drastically altered by the invasive species, emerald ash borer (EAB). In that time there has been little research aimed at the scale and persistence of the alterations. Three distinct but related research articles will be presented to demonstrate a method for moderate resolution mapping of black ash across its entire range, understand the relative impacts of EAB and climate change on probable future wetland conditions, and develop an experimental and modeling approach to quantify and …

Infaunal Bivalve Density And Richness In North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina: Seasonal Patterns And Ecological Factors, Valerie M. Knowles, Juliana Harding

Honors Theses

Estuarine bivalves recruit to benthic habitats after the larvae are in the planktonic stage. The observed infaunal bivalve density relates to larval supply from adult reproduction during warmer months as well as larval and juvenile mortality post-recruitment. The purpose of this research was to examine annual and seasonal patterns of infaunal bivalve density and richness in the context of habitat water temperature and salinity. Cores were collected biweekly from Bly Creek in North Inlet estuary between January 2019 and February 2020. Temperatures ranged from 9-30 ºC and salinity ranged from ~17-36 psu. Bivalves were sieved out of the cores, counted, …

The Birds Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Paul A. Johnsgard, Josef Kren

Zea E-Books Collection

This book provides basic information on all the species of birds that have been reliably reported from the Nebraska Sandhills region as of 2020. They include 46 permanent residents, 125 summer breeders, 125 migrants, and 102 rare or accidental species, totaling 398 species. Information on status, migration, and habitats is provided for all but the very rare and accidental species. There are also descriptions of 46 refuges, preserves, and other public-access natural areas in the region and seven suggested birding routes. The text contains more than 90,000 words and over 250 literature references along with more than 20 drawings, 9 …

Multidecadal Analysis Of Beach Loss At The Major Offshore Sea Turtle Nesting Islands In The Northern Arabian Gulf, Rommel H. Maneja, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Hesham El-Askary, Sachi Perera, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Abdullajid U. Basali, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Jinoy Gopalan, Surya Prakash Tiwari, Mubarak Al-Jedani, Perdana K. Prihartato, Ronald A. Loughlan, Ali Qasem, Mohamed A. Qurban, Wail Falath, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Undocumented historical losses of sea turtle nesting beaches worldwide could overestimate the successes of conservation measures and misrepresent the actual status of the sea turtle population. In addition, the suitability of many sea turtle nesting sites continues to decline even without in-depth scientific studies of the extent of losses and impacts to the population. In this study, multidecadal changes in the outlines and area of Jana and Karan islands, major sea turtle nesting sites in the Arabian Gulf, were compared using available Kodak aerographic images, USGS EROS Declassified satellite imagery, and ESRI satellite images. A decrease of 5.1% and 1.7% …

Swimming Point Benthic Community Condition Elizabeth River (2019), Daniel M. Dauer

Elizabeth River Reports

Executive Summary

The subtidal macrobenthic communities off Swimming Point in the Elizabeth River were quantitatively sampled in summer 2019. The primary objective of this study was to characterize the ecological condition of the benthos compared to benthic data collected in summer 2010 (Dauer 2011).

The estimated the level of degraded benthic bottom of the Swimming Point stratum (BIBI < 3.0) in 2019 was 64% ± 18.8% a decrease from the 2010 value of 84% ± 14.0%. The level of severely degraded bottom (BIBI ≤ 2.0) in 2019 was 28% ± 17.6% compared to the 2010 value of 52% ± 19.6%. The ecological condition of benthic communities at Swimming Point in 2019 were comparable to the values for the Mainstem segment of the Elizabeth River in 2019 which had an estimated degraded benthic bottom of 52% ± 19.6% and a value of 36% ± 18.8 of severely degraded bottom.

The BIBI and its metrics showed a mixture of improvements and degradations in benthic community condition. Compared to the previous benthic community condition reported in Dauer (2011) the 2019 Swimming Point benthos: (1) the average BIBI value improved significantly from 2.2 ± …

Water Quality Assessment In The Occurrence Of Acanthaster Spp. (Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish, Cots) On Coral Reefs In Menjangan Island, Bali, Indonesia, Novia Arinda Pradisty, Eghbert Elvan Ampou, Rizki Hanintyo

Makara Journal of Science

Aquatic stressors are known to cause biological impairment that can result in biodiversity loss in several Marine Protected Areas (MPA), including in Menjangan Island, West Bali National Park. The objectives of this study were to correlate the changes in water quality parameters with the biological effect of Crown-of-Thorns starfish (CoTS) population dynamics and to assess the most applicable parameters for continuous environmental monitoring. Field observations and surveys were conducted three times in 2017, during the wet season, dry season and season transition, in order to assess the effect of seasonal variability. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was performed to determine the relationship …

Benthic Biological Monitoring Of The Elizabeth River Watershed (1999 And 2019), Daniel M. Dauer

Elizabeth River Reports

Executive Summary

A study of the macrobenthic communities of the Elizabeth River watershed was conducted in summer 1999 and again in summer 2019 – a 20-year span. The primary objective of the Benthic Biological Monitoring Program of the Elizabeth River watershed was to characterize the ecological condition of regional areas of the tidal waters of the Elizabeth River watershed as indicated by the structure of the benthic communities. These characterizations are based upon application of the Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (BIBI) developed for the Chesapeake Bay to five primary strata - the Mainstem of the river, the Lafayette River, …

Long-Term Ndvi And Recent Vegetation Cover Profiles Of Major Offshore Island Nesting Sites Of Sea Turtles In Saudi Waters Of The Northern Arabian Gulf, Rommel H. Maneja, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Joshua J. Dagoy, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Abdullajid U. Basali, Khaled A. Al-Abdulkader, Ronald A. Loughland, Mohamed A. Qurban

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Vegetation is an important ecological component of offshore islands in the Arabian Gulf (AG), which maintains long-term resilience of these islands. This is achieved by influencing sediment retention and moisture acquisition via condensation during periods of high humidity and by providing a variety of microhabitats for island fauna. The resilience of offshore islands’ ecosystems in the Saudi waters is important because they host the largest number of nesting hawksbill and green turtles in the AG. This study defines the characteristics and the long-term trends in vegetation cover of the offshore islands used by sea turtles as nesting grounds in the …

Abundance And Distribution Of Microplastics And Phthalic Acid Esters In Selected Mangrove Areas In Peninsular Malaysia, Anuar Norkhairah

Student Works (2020-2029)

Contamination of microplastics in mangrove has been receiving growing attention as experts reckon 30 billion tonnes of plastics will accumulate in 2050. The vast increase in plastic commodities will increase microplastics abundance in mangroves as mangroves are substantially sinks and traps for plastic debris. Due to persistent properties and high surface to volume ratio of microplastics, Phthalic Acid Esters (PAEs) can be taken up by microplastics, representing a grave threat to the ecosystems. This study investigated the abundance and distribution of microplastics and PAEs in selected mangrove areas in Peninsular Malaysia. The objectives of this study are to identify the …

Effects Of Light, Nutrients, And Salts On Microbial Biofilm Productivity And Detrital Processing In Aquatic Mesocosms, Bethanie Brooke Howard-Parker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities associated with urbanization, agriculture, and resource extraction continue to increase to support increasing needs of the growing population. These activities increase the amounts of pollutants entering freshwater streams and put aquatic ecosystems at structural and functional risk. Aquatic microbes play an important role in detrital processing in streams as a key linkage in moving carbon from detrital stocks into aquatic food webs. My research investigates the effects of light, nutrients, and salts on detrital microbes and decomposition in freshwaters using a mesocosm approach. In chapter one, I modified a current priming effect (PE) hypothesis model to include light …

Eelgrass Health Survey And Results, Nicholas B. Anderson, Catherine M. Ashcraft, Dante D. Torio, Frederick T. Short

Natural Resources & the Environment

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire designed, tested, and conducted an eelgrass health survey. The primary goal of the survey was to collect health ratings from respondents who had viewed pre-selected images of eelgrass representing a wide range of health conditions. Survey results were used as a calibration and validation to a novel eelgrass health index developed using video-monitoring. Two secondary goals of this this survey were the identification of plant-specific and environmental characteristics important to respondents and the introduction of the new eelgrass health index. This published dataset includes de-identified survey respondent background and demographic data, the survey …

Assessment Of Soil Protein And Refractory Soil Organic Matter Across Two Chronosequences Of Newly Developing Marshes In Coastal Louisiana, Usa, Stuart Alexander Mcclellan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The impacts of sea-level rise and hydrologic manipulation are threatening the stability of coastal marshes throughout the world, thereby increasing the potential for re-mineralization of soil organic matter (SOM) in these systems. Such threats have prompted marsh restoration efforts, particularly in coastal Louisiana, yet it is unclear how the slowly decomposing (refractory) and quickly decomposing (labile) fractions of SOM may be differentially affected by different approaches to marsh restoration. Additionally, otherwise labile compounds may accumulate in the soil via a range of protective mechanisms, including rapid burial and association with organic compounds that are thought to enhance soil aggregation, such …

Comparison Of Wetland Restoration Techniques In And Around Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Cheney, Wa, Jade S. Clinkenbeard

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Throughout the West, wetlands have been drained or filled in for agricultural or urban uses. Staff at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) in Cheney work with local landowners to restore wetlands through excavation or flooding techniques. Unfortunately, TNWR staff cannot evaluate the wetlands to determine which technique is most successful. This thesis project compared the macroinvertebrate and plant communities and the limnological features of wetlands restored through excavation and flooding with those of unaltered, reference wetlands on TNWR. I hypothesized that the reference wetlands would hold water longest and would have higher plant diversity and macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance than …

Distribution And Evolution Of Fukushima Dai-Ichi Derived 137cs, 90sr, And 129i In Surface Seawater Off The Coast Of Japan, Jennifer A. Kenyon, Ken O. Buesseler, Núria Casacuberta, Maxi Castrillejo, Shigeyoshi Otosaka, Pere Masqué, Jessica A. Drysdale, Steven M. Pike, Virginie Sanial

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 American Chemical Society. The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plants (FDNPPs) accident in 2011 led to an unprecedented release of radionuclides into the environment. Particularly important are 90Sr and 137Cs due to their known health detriments and long half-lives (T1/2 ≈ 30 y) relative to ecological systems. These radionuclides can be combined with the longer-lived 129I (T1/2 = 15.7 My) to trace hydrologic, atmospheric, oceanic, and geochemical processes. This study seeks to evaluate 137Cs, 90Sr, and 129I concentrations in seawater off the coast of Japan, reconcile the sources of contaminated waters, and assess the application of 137Cs/90Sr, 129I/137Cs, and …

Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Land Use And Water Quality In Kittitas County, Wa, Lindsay Schulz

All Master's Theses

Water in Kittitas County is extremely valuable since it supports farming, recreation, and cultural activities, as well as environmental processes and a diversity of biological life while providing many ecosystem services. However, land conversions required by agricultural and urban land uses can negatively impact water quality and the biological function of the stream. I studied how forested, agricultural, and urban land use affect six streams. Fourteen sites were sampled, once each in July, August, and September 2019. Land use was calculated as a percentage of forested, agricultural, and urban land use within a 100-m buffer of the stream, upstream of …

Determination Of Iron-Reducing Bacterial Activities In Lake Sediments., Alexandra Kahn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Algal blooms are growing rampantly in lacustrine systems due to an increase of phosphorus, a nutrient for algae. Phosphorus is being released into the environment causing overpopulation and eutrophication which damages the ecosystem. The availability of phosphorus is affected by the solubility of iron which is regulated through iron reducing and iron oxidizing bacteria. Phosphorus adheres to insoluble Fe(III), which prohibits algae from utilizing it, while phosphorus does not attach to soluble Fe(II) and therefore it remains available to algae. The purpose of this study was to determine how bacteria influence iron solubility and what are the ideal environmental conditions …

Assessing The Hierarchy Of Long-Term Environmental Controls On Diatom Communities Of Yellowstone National Park Using Lacustrine Sediment Records, Victoria Chraibi, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

An ecosystem’s ability to maintain structure and function following disturbance, defined as resilience, is influenced by a hierarchy of environmental controls, including climate, surface cover, and ecological relationships that shape biological community composition and productivity. This study examined lacustrine sediment records of naturally fishless lakes in Yellowstone National Park to reconstruct the response of aquatic communities to climate and trophic cascades from fish stocking. Sediment records of diatom algae did not exhibit a distinct response to fish stocking in terms of assemblage or algal productivity. Instead, 3 of 4 lakes underwent a shift to dominance by benthic diatom species from …

Gulf Coast Marine Laboratories Past, Present And Future, Donald F. Boesch

Gulf and Caribbean Research

I spent my nearly 50—year career in marine science working at marine laboratories, most of that as a chief executive officer. So, it is appropriate that my reflections are about marine laboratories, rather than my own science. After relating my career course, I turn my attention to the history and development of marine laboratories along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Surprisingly, the region’s first laboratory was actually constructed in 1903 at Cameron, LA, but operated less than a decade before closing. It was not until after World War II that the university—affiliated marine laboratories of today …

California Stream Condition Index (Csci) Score Analysis Of Streams Sampled From 1998 To 2017 In The San Francisco Bay Region, Jenna Rais

Master's Projects and Capstones

Human impacts to California’s streams have altered the state’s riparian and hydrological landscape. This is a critical issue with regard to natural resources, including ecosystem services such as water availability and water quality. Regulations have a limited amount of impact on the improvement of this landscape and can also become complicated by politics. Scientific advances have developed ways to quantify and describe the quality of streams, this includes the development of the California Stream Condition Index (CSCI) which is based on benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) population numbers and functions. This index allows scientists to not only score the quality of a …

The Influence Of Location, Positioning, And Seasonality On Feeding Behavior Of The Sydney Oyster (Saccostrea Glomerata) In New South Wales, Australia, Nathaniel Hess

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Oysters are hard shelled bivalves that aggregate over time to create structures in estuarine systems, known as oyster reefs. These reefs are important for the promotion of estuarine biodiversity by supporting many species of fish, invertebrates, and plants. They also act as a key contributor to water health by using active suspension feeding mechanisms and selective feeding to remove nutrients and water borne pollutants from estuarine systems. They have been touted as possible bio-remediators. They also effect rates of sedimentation in estuaries.

Oyster reefs have historically been threatened by anthropogenic influences such as overharvesting, destructive fishing practices, water pollution, CO2 …

A Delicate Balance: The Effects Of Habitat Type On Frog Communities: A Three-Pronged Study Examining The Effects Of Differing Habitat Characteristics On Anuran Diversity At El Centro De Investigación Sumak Kawsay In Situ, Ecuador, Zane Libke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

We conducted 60 hours of visual encounter surveys and 3 hours of calling surveys on 6 different habitat types near Sumak Kawsay in situ Reserva (SKIS) near Mera, Pastaza, Ecuador. We defined habitat types defined by two variables: type of forest and proximity to water. The aim of the study was to determine what effect each variable has on anuran community composition. We compared the effectiveness of the two survey methods as well. High anuran community dissimilarity was found between each habitat type surveyed, indicating that both forest type and proximity to water are important factors that shape species richness …

Coral Reef Change Detection In Remote Pacific Islands Using Support Vector Machine Classifiers, Justin J. Gapper, Hesham El-Askary, Erik Linstead, Thomas Piechota

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the abundance of research on coral reef change detection, few studies have been conducted to assess the spatial generalization principles of a live coral cover classifier trained using remote sensing data from multiple locations. The aim of this study is to develop a machine learning classifier for coral dominated benthic cover-type class (CDBCTC) based on ground truth observations and Landsat images, evaluate the performance of this classifier when tested against new data, then deploy the classifier to perform CDBCTC change analysis of multiple locations. The proposed framework includes image calibration, support vector machine (SVM) training and tuning, statistical assessment …

Spatial And Temporal Variability In Post-Larval Yellow Perch Density, Steve Hauschildt

Biology Graduate Theses

Yellow Perch Perca flavescens are important as forage for other species and for sport fishing in many northern lakes. However, estimating post-larval Yellow Perch populations can be difficult because of many environmental factors that cause unexplained variation. The objective of this study was to help reduce unexplained variation by determining a post-larval Yellow Perch population density estimate on Blackduck Lake, MN, provide guidance to help determine the number of trawls required for trawling-based recruitment indices to achieve varying levels of precision, and test for the effects of wind speed and direction on post-larval Yellow Perch spatial variability. This study estimated …

Wetland Biogeochemical Responses To Predicted Climate Change Scenarios, Angela R. Shaffer

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Wetlands are one of the world's largest known carbon sinks while comprising only a small amount of the Earth's surface. However, the amount of carbon sequestered by wetlands is shrinking as droughts and human disturbance increases. Carbon in wetlands is stored through the contrast of decomposition and sedimentation of organic matter and absorption of CO₂ from the atmosphere by soil microbes. Understanding how changing hydrological regimes and increased wildfires will affect wetland soil and microbial processes is important in the face of predicted climate change for future wetland conservation practices. Specifically, I seek to understand the response of southeastern …

Home Range, Habitat Use And Thermal Ecology Of The Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene Bauri) On An Anthropogenic Island In Southwestern Florida, Christina Demetrio

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Limited information is available on the ecology of Terrapene bauri (Florida Box Turtle) in mangrove ecosystems. Radio-telemetry and iButton data loggers were used to study the home range, habitat use, and thermal ecology of ten Florida Box Turtles on an anthropogenic island in the mangrove-dominated region of southwestern Florida. The effects of weather variables on movement and activity were also examined. Home range analysis using Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimates (KDE) determined an average home range size of 0.81 ha (MCP) and 2.32 ha (95% KDE). Box Turtles moved an average distance of 6.3 m per day …