Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessing The Periodic Groundwater Flow Conditions Of A Perched Aquifer System In The Daniel Boone National Forest, Ethan Sweet

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Assessing the Periodic Groundwater Flow Conditions of a Perched Aquifer System in the Daniel Boone National Forest

Ethan Sweet and Jonathan Malzone

Eastern Kentucky University, Department of Geosciences

Natural ephemeral wetlands situated among the ridge-tops in the Daniel Boone National Forest serve as reservoirs that recharge a shallow groundwater system. Unique interactions between surface and groundwater in these isolated systems provide substantial support for the native ecosystem, serving as a breeding ground for amphibians and as source water for vegetation—especially in periods of drought. Currently it is not understood how groundwater could provide regional biodiversity, a drought buffer, or a …

Improving The Accuracy For The Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-Thia) Model, Anqi Zhang, Lawrence Theller, Bernard A. Engel

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Urbanization increases runoff by changing land use types from less impervious to impervious covers. Improving the accuracy of a runoff assessment model, the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) Model, can help us to better evaluate the potential uses of Low Impact Development (LID) practices aimed at reducing runoff, as well as to identify appropriate runoff and water quality mitigation methods. Several versions of the model have been built over time, and inconsistencies have been introduced between the models. To improve the accuracy and consistency of the model, the equations and parameters (primarily curve numbers in the case of this model) …

Acoustic Signatures Of Habitat Types In The Miombo Woodlands Of Western Tanzania, Sheryl Vanessa Amorocho, Dante Francomano, Kristen M. Bellisario, Ben Gottesman, Bryan C. Pijanowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania comprise several habitat types that are home to a great number of flora and fauna. Understanding their responses to increasing human disturbance is important for conservation, especially in places where people depend so directly on their local ecosystem services to survive. Soundscapes are a powerful approach to study complex biomes undergoing change. The sounds emitted by soniferous fauna characterize the acoustic profile of the landscapes they inhabit such that habitats with the highest acoustic abundance are considered as the most diverse and possibly more ecologically resilient. However, acoustic variability within similar habitat types may pose …

Would You Like Fires With That? Using Stakeholder-Derived Forest Management Preference Maps To Model Landscape-Level Fuel Reduction Treatment Effects On Wildfire Spread, Brooke A. Cassell, Robert M. Scheller, Max Nielsen-Pincus

ESM Colloquium

Management of public lands in the U.S. aims to achieve multiple goals relating to ecological function, wildlife habitat, support of local economies, and recreation; and in fire-prone landscapes these goals are often combined with fuels reduction treatments such as forest thinning and prescribed fire. Applied landscape research may attempt to evaluate the tradeoffs implicit in public lands planning or envision potential future land management scenarios, but often fails to incorporate the spatial diversity of stakeholder perspectives. This study explores the use of public participation geographic systems (PPGIS) to identify spatial and thematic community preferences for fuel treatments in a fire-prone …

Non-Native Mangroves Of Moloka’I, Hawai’I: A Socio-Ecological Analysis, Casey Lewis

ESM Colloquium

Invasive species are recognized as a leading threat to biodiversity and their management is expensive, time consuming, and labor intensive. Therefore, it is important to review both benefits and detriments of the species to inform appropriate management decisions. Red mangrove was introduced to Moloka'i, Hawaii in 1902 to mitigate the effects of soil erosion and has since spread along the coast and to adjacent islands creating novel habitat. This study assessed both biological services and social attitudes towards Moloka'i's non-native mangroves to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the species. Zooplankton community structure was examined in mangrove and non-mangrove sites and …

Community Science And The Ecological Merits Of Backyard Habitat Patches And Adjacent Green-Spaces For Urban Avian Species, Kristen S. Gulick, Nikkie West, Marion Dresner

ESM Colloquium

In what ways do small-scale urban backyards contribute to local bird abundance and biodiversity? In what ways might these yards serve as an ‘extension’ of neighboring native forest areas? This project investigates the contribution that a group of backyards, certified through the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, have in the suburb of Hillsdale, Oregon, which is adjacent to the natural area of Keller Woodland. Backyard owners functioning as citizen or community scientists assisted with conducting residential bird point-counts once a week in each backyard and the natural area. Counts were done for a total of 8 weeks during nesting season to …

The Giving Trees: The (Un)Sustainability Of Palm Oil In Indonesia, Amber Rosche

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Palm oil is the main source of cooking oil for much of Africa, Asia and Brazil. Due to the increasingly high demand for palm oil, countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have cleared millions of acres of tropical rainforests to create space for oil palm plantations. This deforestation has led to extreme environmental and social concerns such as the burning of peatlands, the endangerment of a number of species, including the Sumatran Tiger, rhinos and orangutans, and the displacement of native populations. Indonesia is the world’s largest consumer and producer of palm oil, producing almost half of the world’s supply …

Current & Future Economic Value- Kankakee River In Illinois, Timothy O. Nugent

Kankakee River Watershed Conference

Major topics covered in work: economic impact of Kankakee River on industrial/commercial, residential, recreational/tourism in Kankakee county.

Changes In Cormorant Populations In The Strait Of Georgia, British Columbia, 1955-2015, Harry R. Carter, Trudy A. Chatwin, Mark C. Drever

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Between 1987 and 2000, nesting populations of Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus; PECO) and Double-crested Cormorant (P. auritus; DCCO) declined in the Strait of Georgia, BC. This northern section of the Salish Sea is a rapidly urbanizing area, and piscivorous birds are important indicators of ecosystem health. To update population status, we conducted a complete survey of 35 PECO and 23 DCCO colonies in July 2014 and opportunistic surveys of some colonies between 2001 through 2015. The PECO population decreased from ~2100-2400 nests in 1959-1987 to ~1100 nests by about 2000, and then rose slightly …

Advances In Salish Sea Acoustic Telemetry: 2015 Array Deployments And Promising Transmitter Performance, Erin L. Rechisky, David W. Welch, Aswea D. Porter, Paul Winchell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The first fish tracking arrays were deployed in the Salish Sea over a decade ago. These arrays have yielded a rich data set which have provided the first direct estimates of early marine-survival and migratory behavior for acoustic-tagged juvenile sockeye, Chinook, Coho and steelhead >130 mm in fork length (FL). In spring of 2015, as part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, the Ocean Tracking Network and Kintama Research deployed additional arrays in the Discovery Islands and Johnstone Strait (north of the Strait of Georgia) to provide higher resolution survival data. These new arrays use …

Stronger Together: The Cross-Cultural Coalition To Stop Fossil Fuel Exports In The Salish Sea, Margaret Allen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A commonly observed paradox in conservation is that restriction of people’s access to nature and natural resources may protect ecosystem health, but sometimes decreases the wellbeing of local people and can invite conflict and reduce people’s willingness to protect resources. At a middle ground between complete protection and unrestricted commercial use is ecosystem-based management (EBM), which strives to maximize the overall wellbeing of both people and ecosystems. An important domain of human wellbeing to track for the purposes of EBM is resource access, or the ability to gain and maintain uses and benefits of the natural environment. Access does not …