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Environmental Sciences

2009

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Ma, Connecticut River, Holyoke Dam, Brett Towler Jan 2009

Ma, Connecticut River, Holyoke Dam, Brett Towler

Fish Passage Data Archive

No abstract provided.

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Characteristics Of Fish Yolk Proteins And A Method For Inducing Vitellogenin, Sean M. Lucey Jan 2009

Characteristics Of Fish Yolk Proteins And A Method For Inducing Vitellogenin, Sean M. Lucey

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Teleosts are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates. They utilize a wide array of reproductive strategies and tactics to overcome the challenges of the many ecological niches they inhabit. The most common reproductive method for teleosts is oviparity. Oviparous animals lay eggs with little or no embryonic development from the mother. The embryos are supplied with nutrition via yolk. Vitellogenesis is the process of the ovary sequestering yolk. It is regulated by exogenous environmental cues that act on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis. Through a series of hormonal controls, the liver produces the yolk precursor, vitellogenin. Vitellogenin is secreted by …

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Conservation Implications Of A Marbled Salamander, Ambystoma Opacum, Metapopulation Model, Ethan B. Plunkett Jan 2009

Conservation Implications Of A Marbled Salamander, Ambystoma Opacum, Metapopulation Model, Ethan B. Plunkett

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Amphibians are in decline globally and a significantly greater percentage of ambystomatid salamander species are in decline relative to other species; habitat loss contributes significantly to this decline. The goals of this thesis is to better understand extinction risk in a marbled salamander (ambystoma opacum) population and how forestry effects extinction risk. To achieve this goal we first estimated an important life history parameter (Chapter 1) then used a metapopulation model to estimate population viability and determine what aspects of their life history put them most at risk (Chapter 2) and finally predicted extinction risk in response to hypothetical forestry …

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Documenting The History Of Oxygen Depletion In Lake St. Croix, Minnesota, Using Chironomidae Remains In The Sedimentary Record, Caitlin E. Stewart Jan 2009

Documenting The History Of Oxygen Depletion In Lake St. Croix, Minnesota, Using Chironomidae Remains In The Sedimentary Record, Caitlin E. Stewart

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Lake St. Croix is a natural impoundment located at the southern end of the St. Croix River. Land use changes since European settlement (c. 1850) have resulted in nutrient runoff, eutrophication, and periodic oxygen depletion in the hypolimnion of Lake St. Croix. Establishing sound lake management practices requires knowledge of historical conditions obtained through paleoecological studies. Remains of non-biting midges (Insecta: Diptera Chironomidae) in lake sediments have been shown to be reliable indicators of past hypolimnetic oxygen conditions. Cores from two sub-basins in the lake were collected in 2006. Midge analysis indicated that shifts in species assemblages correspond to the …

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Fy 2009 Umass Amherst Electricity Data By Building, Ezra Small Jan 2009

Fy 2009 Umass Amherst Electricity Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building energy consumption of each metered building on campus. Cost data and production vs. purchased electricity data are also provided.

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Fy 2009 Umass Amherst Waste Management Report, Ezra Small Jan 2009

Fy 2009 Umass Amherst Waste Management Report, Ezra Small

Campus Data

No abstract provided.

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Fy 2009 Umass Amherst Water & Steam Data By Building, Ezra Small Jan 2009

Fy 2009 Umass Amherst Water & Steam Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building water and steam consumption of each metered building on campus.

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Fences Impede Long-Distance Mongolian Gazelle (Procapra Gutturosa) Movements In Drought-Stricken Landscapes, Kirk A. Olson, Thomas Mueller, Peter Leimgruber, Craig Nicolson, Todd K. Fuller, S. Bolortsetseg, Amanda E. Fine, B. Lhagvasuren, William F. Fagan Jan 2009

Fences Impede Long-Distance Mongolian Gazelle (Procapra Gutturosa) Movements In Drought-Stricken Landscapes, Kirk A. Olson, Thomas Mueller, Peter Leimgruber, Craig Nicolson, Todd K. Fuller, S. Bolortsetseg, Amanda E. Fine, B. Lhagvasuren, William F. Fagan

Craig Nicolson

Human-generated landscape barriers are especially problematic for species whose life histories entail long-distance movements. In May 2008, hundreds of Mongolian gazelles (Procapra gutturosa) became entangled in border fences as thousands attempted to move from Mongolia into Russia. Typically, the root cause of such (non-migratory) mass animal movements can only be superfi cially described. Here we draw upon satellite imagery and a fortuitously timed fi eld study to investigate a likely hypothesis. At the same time that gazelles were attempting to cross from Mongolia into Russia, gazelles equipped with satellite-linked collars repeatedly attempted to emigrate from Mongolia into China. Satellite-derived estimates …

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Seasonal Source-Sink Dynamics At The Edge Of A Species’ Range, Todd K. Fuller, L. L. Kanda, P. R. Sievert, R. L. Kellogg Jan 2009

Seasonal Source-Sink Dynamics At The Edge Of A Species’ Range, Todd K. Fuller, L. L. Kanda, P. R. Sievert, R. L. Kellogg

Todd K. Fuller

The roles of dispersal and population dynamics in determining species' range boundaries recently have received theoretical attention but little empirical work. Here we provide data on survival, reproduction, and movement for a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) population at a local distributional edge in central Massachusetts (USA). Most juvenile females that apparently exploited anthropogenic resources survived their first winter, whereas those using adjacent natural resources died of starvation. In spring, adult females recolonized natural areas. A life-table model suggests that a population exploiting anthropogenic resources may grow, acting as source to a geographically interlaced sink of opossums using only natural resources, …

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Remnants Of Medieval Field Patterns In The Czech Republic: Analysis Of Driving Forces Behind Their Disappearance With Special Attention To The Role Of Hedgerows, Petr Sklenicka, Kristina Molnarova, Elizabeth Brabec, Peter Kumble, Blanka Pittnerova, Katerina Pixova, Miroslav Salek Jan 2009

Remnants Of Medieval Field Patterns In The Czech Republic: Analysis Of Driving Forces Behind Their Disappearance With Special Attention To The Role Of Hedgerows, Petr Sklenicka, Kristina Molnarova, Elizabeth Brabec, Peter Kumble, Blanka Pittnerova, Katerina Pixova, Miroslav Salek

Elizabeth Brabec

Remnants of medieval field patterns, called “pluzina” in the Czech Republic, are valuable historical landscapes, similar in character to the bocage landscapes typical for some countries in Western Europe. The original historical pattern of fields and meadows has persisted due to the stabilizing network of hedgerows. As in other countries, the development of these medieval fields in recent decades for intensive agriculture or residential purposes has led to their dramatic decline. This study evaluates the dynamics of the development of medieval pluzina hedgerows during the second half of the 20th century in the Plzen Region of the Czech Republic, using …

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Climate Change: Helping Nature Survive The Human Response, Will R. Turner, Bethany A. Bradley, Lyndon D. Estes, David G. Hole, Michael Oppenheimer, David S. Wilcove Jan 2009

Climate Change: Helping Nature Survive The Human Response, Will R. Turner, Bethany A. Bradley, Lyndon D. Estes, David G. Hole, Michael Oppenheimer, David S. Wilcove

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Climate change poses profound, direct, and well-documented threats to biodiversity. A significant fraction of Earth’s species is at risk of extinction due to changing precipitation and temperature regimes, rising and acidifying oceans, and other factors. There is also growing awareness of the diversity and magnitude of responses, both proactive and reactive, that people will undertake as lives and livelihoods are affected by climate change. Yet to date few studies have examined the relationship between these two powerful forces. The natural systems upon which people depend, already under direct assault from climate change, are further threatened by how we respond to …

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Watershed Forest Management Information System (Wfmis), Yl Zhang, Pk Barten Jan 2009

Watershed Forest Management Information System (Wfmis), Yl Zhang, Pk Barten

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Maintenance of a sustainable clean water supply is critical for our future. However, watershed degradation is a common phenomenon around the world that leads to poor water quality. In order to protect water resources, the Watershed Forest Management Information System (WFMIS), was developed as an extension of ArcGIS® and is described in this paper. There are three submodels to address nonpoint source pollution mitigation, road system management, and silvicultural operations, respectively. The Watershed Management Priority Indices (WMPI) is a zoning approach to prioritize critical areas for conservation and restoration management. It meets the critical need to spatially differentiate land cover …

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