Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Randomization Tests For Quantifying Species Importance To Ecosystem Function, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Werner Ulrich, Fernando T. Maestre

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Quantifying the contribution of different species to ecosystem function is an important challenge. We introduce simple randomization tests (and software) for quantifying the average effect of species on ecosystem variables measured in multiple plots with and without the presence of a particular species. These randomization tests formalize the analysis of uncontrolled 'natural experiments' and quantify species effects in standardized deviation units. 2.We tested the method with data on ecosystem function in biological soil crust assemblages of lichens in semi-arid gypsum outcrops in central Spain. In sixty-three 50cm×50cm sample plots, we measured the presence and percentage cover of 17 species …

Underestimating The Costs Of Conservation In Southeast Asia, David P. Edwards, Brendan Fisher, Xingli Giam, David S. Wilcove

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Missouri National Recreational River, Natural Resource Condition Assessment, Kevin J. Stark, Lucas J. Danzinger, Michael R. Komp, Andy J. Nadeau, Shannon Amberg, Eric J. Iverson, David Kadlec, Barry Drazkowski

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

As a unit in the National Park Service (NPS), Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR) is responsible for the management and conservation of natural resources within its boundaries. This mandate is supported by the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916, which directs the NPS to:

conserve the scenery and natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

In 2003, NPS Water Resources Division received funding through the Natural Resource Challenge …

Scotts Bluff National Monument Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring, 2011 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke, Michael R. Bynum, Tim Shepherd, Stephen K. Wilson, Kara Paintner-Green

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) was established to develop and provide scientifically credible information on the current status and long-term trends of the composition, structure, and function of ecosystems in thirteen parks located in five northern Great Plains states. NGPN identified upland plant communities, exotic plant early detection, and riparian lowland communities as vital signs that can be used to better understand the condition of terrestrial park ecosystems (Gitzen et al. 2010). Upland and riparian ecosystems are important targets for vegetation monitoring because the status and trends in plant communities provide critical insights into …

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring, 2011 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke, Michael R. Bynum, Tim Shepherd, Stephen K. Wilson, Kara Paintner-Green

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) was established to develop and provide scientifically credible information on the current status and long-term trends of the composition, structure, and function of ecosystems in thirteen parks located in five northern Great Plains states. NGPN identified upland plant communities, exotic plant early detection, and riparian lowland communities as vital signs that can be used to better understand the condition of terrestrial park ecosystems (Gitzen et al. 2010). Upland and riparian ecosystems are important targets for vegetation monitoring because the status and trends in plant communities provide critical insights into …

The Urban Fabric Of The Great Plains, Andrew Becker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

To most Americans the Great Plains region of North America is mysterious place. There are disagreements when defining its limits, and some people just refer to it as the Midwest. The Great Plains has been a place under an ocean, a place under glaciers, and a place on fire. It was once dubbed “the Great American Desert,” but is now known for its agricultural viability. The Great Plains sparks imagination because it is so massive and was one of the final frontiers for Euro-American settlement. The Great Plains is seen as a rural place but the majority of the region’s …

Ecological Revival And Sustainable Living In The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest Of Tamil Nadu: A Measurement Of Residential Perception In Sadhana Forest, Elizabeth Collette Mcguire

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Since 1970, the role and function of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been to promote environmental quality and to form strategies for carrying out environmental policy¹. The EPA has committed to sustainability as the next level of environmental protection. The agency states that sustainability calls for policies and strategies that meet society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs². Presently, society’s requirements have resulted in natural resource exploitation and population distention- projected to reach 10 billion people within two human generations³. These paired occurrences are …

Land Systems Of The Kimberley Region, Western Australia, A L. Payne, N Schoknecht

Technical Bulletins

The Land Systems of the Kimberley Region Report describes and maps the landscapes, soils and vegetation of the Kimberley region. This report is a consolidation of surveys carried out by different organisations, across different areas of the Kimberley, since the 1940s. The Kimberley region, as defined in this bulletin, covers 330 070km². The report categorises the Kimberley region into 111 land systems. Under each land system, the report identifies the vulnerabilities of those areas, and provides recommendations on how to achieve sustainable use. The report also publishes pasture types for the entire region and the grazing potential for each pasture, …

Spatial Analysis Of Fatal Automobile Crashes In Kentucky, William Nathan Oris

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Fatal automobile crashes have claimed the lives of over 33,000 people each year in the United States since 1995. As in any point event, fatal crash events do not occur randomly in time or space. The objectives of this study were to identify spatial patterns and hot spots in FARS (Fatal Analysis Reporting System) fatal crash events based on temporal and demographic characteristics. The methods employed included 1) rate calculation using FARS points and average daily traffic flow; 2) planar kernel density estimation of FARS crash events based on temporal and demographic attributes within the data; and 3) two case …

Multiple Storm Event Impacts On Epikarst Storage And Transport Of Organic Soil Amendments In South-Central Kentucky, Sean M. Vanderhoff

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The groundwater in agricultural karst areas is susceptible to contamination from organic soil amendments and pesticides. During major storm events during 2011, dye traces were initiated using sulphorhodamine-B, fluorescein and eosine in a groundwater recharge area where manure was applied to the ground. Fecal coliform samples were collected from significant storm events from January-September 2011. Water samples and geochemical data were collected every four hours before, during, and between the storm events from a waterfall in Crumps cave flowing from the known recharge area to track the transport and residence time of the epikarst water and organic soil amendments during …

Spatial Population Models In Spatiotemporally Structured Environments, David Hiebeler

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Spatial effects, such as habitat fragmentation and the location and size of disturbance events, play a key role in the dynamics of populations. This is true in natural populations (such as herbs living under a forest canopy) as well as human-dominated systems (for example, crop pests in agricultural landscapes). Focusing on the development of spatial population models, the project seeks to better understand how and why spatially autocorrelated disturbances affect the dynamics of populations with mixtures of short- and long-distance dispersal. A variety of disturbances are considered, including (1) static disturbance, representing habitat heterogeneity across a landscape; (2) short-term disturbance …

The Limits To Prediction In Ecological Systems, Brian Beckage, Louis J. Gross, Stuart Kauffman

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Predicting the future trajectories of ecological systems is increasingly important as the magnitude of anthropogenic perturbation of the earth systems grows.We distinguish between two types of predictability: the intrinsic or theoretical predictability of a system and the realized predictability that is achieved using available models and parameterizations. We contend that there are strong limits on the intrinsic predictability of ecological systems that arise from inherent characteristics of biological systems. While the realized predictability of ecological systems can be limited by process and parameter misspecification or uncertainty, we argue that the intrinsic predictability of ecological systems is widely and strongly limited …

Environmental Prediction In Canadian Cities, James Voogt

Geography & Environment Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Local Source Sediments On Bed Texture In The Fall River, Rocky Mountain National Park, Usa, Jordan A. Clayton, Kristopher N. Eby

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The bed texture of a gravel-bed river is related to the size distribution and quantity of source sediments, the routing of sediment through the reach, and the distribution of flow velocity. A reach morphology that is consistent in depth with little lateral topographic variation will typically have a bed texture that is characterized by a fairly uniform grain size distribution. However, spatial variations in source sediments within a given watershed may impact the distribution of gravel-bed river sediments, even at the reach scale, such that two proximal reaches of the same river having the same general morphology can exhibit contrasting …

Insight Into Volatile Behavior At Nyamuragira Volcano (D.R. Congo, Africa) Through Olivine-Hosted Melt Inclusions, Elisabet M. Head, Alison M. Shaw, Paul J. Wallace, Kenneth W. W. Sims, Simon A. Carn

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

[1] We present new olivine-hosted melt inclusion volatile (H20, C02, S, Cl, F) and major element data from five historic eruptions ofNyamuragira volcano (1912, 1938, 1948, 1986, 2006). Host-olivine Mg#'s range from 71 to 84, with the exception of the 1912 sample (Mg# = 90}.lnclusion compositions extend from alkali basalts to basanite-tephritcs. Our results indicate inclusion entrapment over depths ranging from 3 to 5 km, which agree with independent estimates of magma storage depths (3-7 km) based on geophysical methods. Melt compositions derived from the 1986 and 2006 Nyamuragira tephra samples best represent pre-eruptive volatile compositions because these samples contain …

Heating Up The Forest: Open-Top Chamber Warming Manipulation Of Arthropod Communities At Harvard And Duke Forests, Shannon L. Pelini, Francis P. Bowles, Aaron M. Ellison, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Nathan J. Sanders, Robert R. Dunn

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

1.Recent observations indicate that climatic change is altering biodiversity, and models suggest that the consequences of climate change will differ across latitude. However, long-term experimental field manipulations that directly test the predictions about organisms' responses to climate change across latitude are lacking. Such experiments could provide a more mechanistic understanding of the consequences of climate change on ecological communities and subsequent changes in ecosystem processes, facilitating better predictions of the effects of future climate change. 2.This field experiment uses octagonal, 5-m-diameter (c.22m 3) open-top chambers to simulate warming at northern (Harvard Forest, Massachusetts) and southern (Duke Forest, North Carolina) hardwood …

Homestead National Monument Of America, Geologic Resources Inventory Report, J. Graham

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

This report accompanies the digital geologic map data for Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, produced by the Geologic Resources Division in collaboration with its partners. It contains information relevant to resource management and scientific research. This document incorporates preexisting geologic information and does not include new data or additional fieldwork.

Established as a memorial to pioneer life and the Homestead Act of 1862, Homestead National Monument of America preserves approximately 92 ha (228 acres) of terraced grassland and riparian, floodplain environments. Included in the monument are about 40 ha (100 acres) of restored tallgrass prairie and …

The High Costs Of Conserving Southeast Asia's Lowland Rainforests, Brendan Fisher, David P. Edwards, Xingli Giam, David S. Wilcove

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Mechanisms that mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions via forest conservation have been portrayed as a cost-effective approach that can also protect biodiversity and vital ecosystem services. However, the costs of conservation - including opportunity costs - are spatially heterogeneous across the globe. The lowland rainforests of Southeast Asia represent a unique nexus of large carbon stores, imperiled biodiversity, large stores of timber, and high potential for conversion to oil-palm plantations, making this region one where understanding the costs of conservation is critical. Previous studies have underestimated the gap between conservation costs and conversion benefits in Southeast Asia. Using detailed logging records, cost …

Subsurface Characterization Of Groundwater Contaminated By Landfill Leachate Using Microbial Community Profile Data And A Nonparametric Decision-Making Process, Andrea R. Pearce, Donna M. Rizzo, Paula J. Mouser

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Microbial biodiversity in groundwater and soil presents a unique opportunity for improving characterization and monitoring at sites with multiple contaminants, yet few computational methods use or incorporate these data because of their high dimensionality and variability. We present a systematic, nonparametric decision-making methodology to help characterize a water quality gradient in leachate-contaminated groundwater using only microbiological data for input. The data-driven methodology is based on clustering a set of molecular genetic-based microbial community profiles. Microbes were sampled from groundwater monitoring wells located within and around an aquifer contaminated with landfill leachate. We modified a self-organizing map (SOM) to weight the …

Governance Informatics: Managing The Performance Of Inter-Organizational Governance Networks, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia, Brian H.Y. Lee

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This article introduces an informatics approach to managing the performance of inter-organizational governance networks that are designed to create, implement and evaluate public policies and the range of activities undertaken by practicing public administrators. We label this type of information flow process management "governance informatics" and lay out a range of theoretical constructs that may be used to collect, categorize, and analyze performance in inter-organizational governance networks. We discuss how governance informatics may be able to assess and re-design the accountability and transparency regimes of information flows in inter-organizational governance networks. The integration of a governance informatics-driven performance management system …

Assessing Seasonal Features Of Tropical Forests Using Remote Sensing, Roberto Bonifaz-Alfonzo

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tropical forests are key components of the biogeochemical cycles, complex in structure, diversity and dynamics, also, tropical regions have been deforested and modified by human activities particularly for agriculture. Understanding the inter-annual and intra-annual variation dynamics of tropical regions could give valuable information on temporal characteristics of ecosystems behavior which is important for mapping and monitoring. This dissertation assesses seasonal and inter-annual changes in the tropical land cover that may be related to changes in the natural environment and/or human activities. Research was focused on the Mayan forest located in southern Mexico and Northwest Guatemala, one of the northern-most important …

Mapsnap System To Perform Vector-To-Raster Fusion, Boris Kovalerchuk, Peter Doucette, Gamal Seedahmed, Jerry Tagestad, Sergei Kovalerchuk, Brian Graff

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

As the availability of geospatial data increases, there is a growing need to match these datasets together. However, since these datasets often vary in their origins and spatial accuracy, they frequently do not correspond well to each other, which create multiple problems. To accurately align with imagery, analysts currently either: 1) manually move the vectors, 2) perform a labor-intensive spatial registration of vectors to imagery, 3) move imagery to vectors, or 4) redigitize the vectors from scratch and transfer the attributes. All of these are time consuming and labor-intensive operations. Automated matching and fusing vector datasets has been a subject …

Putting Artists On The Map: A Five Part Study Of Greater Cleveland Artists' Location Decisions - Part 5: Properties Analysis - Artist Housing Characteristics, Mark Salling, Gregory Soltis, Charles Post, Sharon Bliss, Ellen Cyran

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

A series of reports detailing the residential and work space location preferences of Cuyahoga county's artists.

Putting Artists On The Map: A Five Part Study Of Greater Cleveland Artists' Location Decisions - Part 4: Predictive Analysis - Regression Modeling, Mark Salling, Gregory Soltis, Charles Post, Sharon Bliss, Ellen Cyran

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

A series of reports detailing the residential and work space location preferences of Cuyahoga county's artists.

Putting Artists On The Map: A Five Part Study Of Greater Cleveland Artists' Location Decisions - Part 3: Attitudinal Analysis - Artist Housing And Space Survey, Mark Salling, Gregory Soltis, Charles Post, Sharon Bliss, Ellen Cyran

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

A series of reports detailing the residential and work space location preferences of Cuyahoga county's artists.

Vegetation Classification And Mapping Of Homestead National Monument Of America, Project Report, Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Homestead National Monument (HOME) was created at the to celebrate the significance of the Homestead Act of 1862 which granted 160 acres of free land to claimants and was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. The National Monument encompasses 184 acres in Gage County, west of Beatrice, Nebraska. This unique site also hosts the oldest prairie restoration in the National Park system, and the second-oldest tallgrass prairie restoration known. This park unit also has a small remnant of native tallgrass prairie and remnants of bur-oak forest.

A three-year …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping Of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Project Report, Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR) encompasses 10,894 acres in eastern Kansas, just north of Strong City. This park unit was created on November 12, 1996 and is the first to protect a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than four percent remains, primarily in the Flint Hills. The park unit is primarily rocky upland prairies and deep-soiled prairies in the lowlands. It also contains some wet prairie ravines, riparian forests and some former cropland and restored prairie. …

Evaluation Of The Sensitivity Of Inventory And Monitoring National Parks To Acidification Effects From Atmospheric Sulfur And Nitrogen Deposition, Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn), T. J. Sullivan, T. C. Mcdonnell, G. T. Mcpherson, S. D. Mackey, D. Moore

United States National Park Service: Publications

Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN)

National maps of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) emissions and deposition are provided in Maps A through D as context for subsequent network data presentations. Maps A and B show county level emissions of total S and total N for the year 2002. Maps C and D show total S and total N deposition, again for the year 2002.

There are three parks in the Northern Great Plains Network that are larger than 100 square miles: Badlands (BADL), Missouri (MNRR), and Theodore Roosevelt (THRO). In addition, there are 10 smaller parks.

Total annual S …

Ir-Tree: An Efficient Index For Geographic Document Search, Zhisheng Li, Ken C. K. Lee, Baihua Zheng, Wang-Chien Lee, Dik Lun Lee, Xufa Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Given a geographic query that is composed of query keywords and a location, a geographic search engine retrieves documents that are the most textually and spatially relevant to the query keywords and the location, respectively, and ranks the retrieved documents according to their joint textual and spatial relevances to the query. The lack of an efficient index that can simultaneously handle both the textual and spatial aspects of the documents makes existing geographic search engines inefficient in answering geographic queries. In this paper, we propose an efficient index, called IR-tree, that together with a top-k document search algorithm facilitates four …

Evaluation Of The Sensitivity Of Inventory And Monitoring National Parks To Nutrient Enrichment Effects From Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn), T. J. Sullivan, T. C. Mcdonnell, G. T. Mcpherson, S. D. Mackey, D. Moore

United States National Park Service: Publications

Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN)

National maps of atmospheric N emissions and deposition are provided in Maps A and B as context for subsequent network data presentations. Map A shows county level emissions of total N for the year 2002. Map B shows total N deposition, again for the year 2002.

There are three parks in the Northern Great Plains Network that are larger than 100 square miles: Badlands (BADL), Missouri (MNRR), and Theodore Roosevelt (THRO). In addition, there are 10 other smaller parks.

Total annual N emissions, by county, are shown in Map C for lands in and surrounding …