Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Interspecific And Local Variation In Tern Chick Diets Across Nesting Colonies In The Gulf Of Maine, Keenan Yakola, Adrian Jordaan, Stephen Kress, Paula Shannon, Michelle D. Staudinger

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Gulf of Maine, USA is home to four colonial co-nesting tern species: Least Tern (Sternula antillarum), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea), and the federally endangered Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii). Over three decades of visual observations of chick provisioning were compiled for a comparative dietary study in the region, including the first detailed descriptions of Least and Roseate Tern chick diets. Three prey groups comprised the majority of chick diets among tern species between 1986–2017: hake (Urophycis spp. or Enchelyopus cimbrius) 28–37% frequency of occurrence (FO), sand lance …

A Case Study Using 2019 Pre-Monsoon Snow And Stream Chemistry In The Khumbu Region, Nepal, Heather M. Clifford, Mariusz Potocki, Inka Koch, Tenzing Sherpa, Mike Handley, Elena Korotkikh, Douglas Introne, Susan Kaspari, Kimberley Miner, Tom Matthews, Baker Perry, Heather Guy, Ananta Gajurel, Praveen Kumar Singh, Sandra Elvin, Aurora C. Elmore, Alex Tait, Paul A. Mayewski

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

This case study provides a framework for future monitoring and evidence for human source pollution in the Khumbu region, Nepal. We analyzed the chemical composition (major ions, major/trace elements, black carbon, and stable water isotopes) of pre-monsoon stream water (4300–5250 m) and snow (5200–6665 m) samples collected from Mt. Everest, Mt. Lobuche, and the Imja Valley during the 2019 pre-monsoon season, in addition to a shallow ice core recovered from the Khumbu Glacier (5300 m). In agreement with previous work, pre-monsoon aerosol deposition is dominated by dust originating from western sources and less frequently by transport from southerly air mass …

Climate-Induced Stressors To Peace: A Review Of Recent Literature, Ayyoob Sharifi, Dahlia Simangan, Chui Ying Lee, Rose Reyes, Tarek Katramiz, Jairus Carmela C. Josol, Leticia Dos Muchangos, Hassan Virji, Shinji Kaneko, Thea Kersti Tandog, Leorence Tandog, Moinul Islam

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a threat to global peace and security. This paper intends to provide a better understanding of the nature of interactions between climate change and events that undermine peace through a systematic review of recent literature. It highlights major methodological approaches adopted in the literature, elaborates on the geographic focus of the research at the nexus of climate change and peace, and provides further information on how various climatic stressors, such as extreme temperature, floods, sea-level rise, storms, and water stress may be linked to different events that undermine peace (e.g. civil conflict, crime, intercommunal …

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

Vignette 12: The Blob, Nicholas Bond

Institute Publications

A marine heat wave of unprecedented severity, areal extent and duration occurred in the Northeast Pacific Ocean during 2014-2016. This event, known as the “Blob,” had a wide variety of far- ranging effects on physical, chemical, and biological ocean properties. Because the Blob was such a massive perturbation, it represents an attractively large signal for inquiry in the Salish Sea. It represents a dress rehearsal for typical conditions in future decades due to global climate change.

Effects Of The Transportation And Climate Initiative On The Maine Economy: An Analysis Of Cap-And-Invest And Its Heterogeneous Impacts On Rural And Urban Households, William L. Somes

Honors College

In December 2020, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was released by the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P), a collaboration of 13 jurisdictions in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Modeled on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the TCI-P follows a cap-and-invest framework to reduce emissions from the transportation sector by 26% from 2022 to 2032. Since the TCI-P is expected to raise the price of gasoline by 5¢ to 9¢ per gallon, there has been concern that some populations may be disproportionately affected. The present research studies the potential heterogeneous impacts of the TCI-P …

Section 4: Climate Change: A Global Problem With Local Impacts, Kathryn L. Sobocinski

Institute Publications

Section 4 shifts from the local impacts of urbanization to the locally realized impacts of global climate change, including ocean acidification and sea level rise, followed by evidence of climate change in the ecosystem, ranging from phytoplankton and kelp, to wetlands, salmon, and marine birds.

Vignette 02: Lower Trophic Levels In The Salish Sea, Ian Perry

Institute Publications

Plankton form the base of the pelagic marine food web in the Salish Sea, and are eaten by fishes, marine mammals, and seabirds. Plankton include microscopic plants (phytoplankton) and very small animals (zooplankton). This vignette presents an overview of monitoring observations of phytoplankton and zooplankton distribution and biomass in the Strait of Georgia. Climate change may lead to unusual and unexpected patterns of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the future.

Vignette 13: The Salish Sea Model, Tarang Khangaonkar P.E.

Institute Publications

Given numerous concerns related to the health of the ecosystem and the possibility of anthropogenic impacts—from population growth to climate impacts, such as sea level rise—scientists, engineers, and planners seek an improved basic understanding of the biophysical behavior of the Salish Sea. The Salish Sea Model (SSM) development was motivated by this urgent need for a comprehensive predictive model that could diagnose water quality issues and concerns and serve as a planning tool in support of Puget Sound restoration efforts. The SSM was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) …

Section 5: Cumulative Ecosystem Effects, Kathryn L. Sobocinski, Jennifer Boldt, Todd Sandell, Jaclyn Cleary, Michael Schmidt, Isobel Pearsall, Iris Kemp, Brian Riddell, Lynda V. Mapes

Institute Publications

Section 5 introduces cumulative effects and brings in brief case discussions focused on herring, salmon, and orcas. Understanding the layers of stressors the ecosystem faces is integral to gaining a full picture of declines in ecosystem function.

Implications Of Increased Sst On Sula Dactylatra In Rapa Nui Marine Park, Flavia Soctto D'Antuono, Hayden E. Dubniczki

Student Publications

Marine protected areas are a relatively new conservation tool intended to remove harmful anthropogenic practices and influences to enable ecological processes to occur normally, but they cannot protect ecosystems from global impacts like climate change. One such MPA, Rapa Nui Marine Park in Chile, is home to the Masked Booby, Sula dactylatra. Though not currently endangered, their population numbers decrease annually, and seabirds are among the most threatened species in the face of climate change. This study seeks to examine the spatial ecology of the Sula dactylatra against the context of the MPA and examines whether increasing sea surface temperatures …

Vims Ferry Pier Ambient Water Monitoring Data, Salinity And Temperature, Daily Summary 1947-2003, Gary F. Anderson

Data

Bulk water parameters of Temperature and Salinity were measured at the VIMS Ferry Pier from 1947 to 2003. Initial methods were undocumented but likely automated with an instrument and chart recorder since the data consists of a daily high and low measurement from which a mean value was derived.

Beginning in 1971 an automated instrument recorded continuously from which 2-hour measurements were made and daily minimum and maxima were derived. Beginning in 1986 an Inter-Ocean CTD instrument placed at mid-depth was interfaced to a digital data logger (Campbell Scientific CRJ) that recorded data every six minutes, resulting in 240 measurements …

What Is Refractory Organic Matter In The Ocean?, Federico Baltar, Xosé A. Alvarez-Salgado, Javier Arístegui, Ronald Benner, Dennis A. Hansell, Gerhard J. Herndl, Christian Lønborg

Faculty Publications

About 20% of the organic carbon produced in the sunlit surface ocean is transported into the ocean’s interior as dissolved, suspended and sinking particles to be mineralized and sequestered as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), sedimentary particulate organic carbon (POC) or “refractory” dissolved organic carbon (rDOC). Recently, the physical and biological mechanisms associated with the particle pumps have been revisited, suggesting that accepted fluxes might be severely underestimated (Boyd et al., 2019; Buesseler et al., 2020). Perhaps even more poorly understood are the mechanisms driving rDOC production and its potential accumulation in the ocean. On the basis of …

Pooling Data Improves Multimodel Idf Estimates Over Median-Based Idf Estimates: Analysis Over The Susquehanna And Florida, Abhishekh Kumar Srivastava, Richard Grotjahn, Paul Aaron Ullrich, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Traditional multimodel methods for estimating future changes in precipitation intensity, duration, and frequency (IDF) curves rely on mean or median of models’ IDF estimates. Such multimodel estimates are impaired by large estimation uncertainty, shadowing their efficacy in planning efforts. Here, assuming that each climate model is one representation of the underlying data generating process, i.e., the Earth system, we propose a novel extension of current methods through pooling model data: (i) evaluate performance of climate models in simulating the spatial and temporal variability of the observed annual maximum precipitation (AMP), (ii) bias-correct and pool historical and future AMP data of …

What Is Refractory Organic Matter In The Ocean?, Federico Baltar, Xosé A. Alvarez-Salgado, Javier Arístegui, Ronald Benner, Dennis A. Hansell, Gerhard J. Herndl, Christian Lønborg

Faculty Publications

About 20% of the organic carbon produced in the sunlit surface ocean is transported into the ocean’s interior as dissolved, suspended and sinking particles to be mineralized and sequestered as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), sedimentary particulate organic carbon (POC) or “refractory” dissolved organic carbon (rDOC). Recently, the physical and biological mechanisms associated with the particle pumps have been revisited, suggesting that accepted fluxes might be severely underestimated (Boyd et al., 2019; Buesseler et al., 2020). Perhaps even more poorly understood are the mechanisms driving rDOC production and its potential accumulation in the ocean. On the basis of …

Implications Of Covid-19 On Progress In The Un Conventions On Biodiversity And Climate Change, Andrea Monica D. Ortiz, Alaya M. De Leon, Justine Nicole V. Torres, Cecilia Therese T. Guiao, Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

2020 was to be a landmark year for setting targets to stop biodiversity loss and prevent dangerous climate change. However, COVID-19 has caused delays to the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the 26th COP of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Negotiations on the Global Biodiversity Framework and the second submission of Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement were due to take place at these COPs. There is uncertainty as to how the COVID-19 disruption will affect the negotiations, whether parties will pursue more ambitious actions or take a …

Riverine Carbon Cycling Over The Past Century In The Mid‐Atlantic Region Of The United States, Yuanzi Yao, Hanqin Tian, Shufen Pan, Raymond G. Najjar, Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs, Zihao Bian, Hong-Yi Li, Eileen E. Hofmann

CCPO Publications

The lateral transport and degassing of carbon in riverine ecosystems is difficult to quantify on large spatial and long temporal scales due to the relatively poor representation of carbon processes in many models. Here, we coupled a scale‐adaptive hydrological model with the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model to simulate key riverine carbon processes across the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds from 1900 to 2015. Our results suggest that throughout this time period riverine CO₂ degassing and lateral dissolved inorganic carbon fluxes to the coastal ocean contribute nearly equally to the total riverine carbon outputs (mean ± standard deviation: 886 ± …

Impacts Of Multiple Environmental Changes On Long‐Term Nitrogen Loading From The Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Shufen Pan, Zihao Bian, Hanqin Tian, Yuanzhi Yao, Raymond G. Najjar, Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs, Eileen E. Hofmann, Rongting Xu, Bowen Zhang

CCPO Publications

Excessive nutrient inputs from land, particularly nitrogen (N), have been found to increase the occurrence of hypoxia and harmful algal blooms in coastal ecosystems. To identify the main contributors of increased N loading and evaluate the efficacy of water pollution control policies, it is essential to quantify and attribute the long‐term changes in riverine N export. Here, we use a state‐of‐the‐art terrestrial–aquatic interface model to examine how multiple environmental factors may have affected N export from the Chesapeake Bay watershed since 1900. These factors include changes in climate, carbon dioxide, land use, and N inputs (i.e., atmospheric N deposition, animal …

Global Connectivity Of Southern Ocean Ecosystems, Eugene J. Murphy, Nadine M. Johnston, Eileen E. Hofmann, Richard A. Phillips, Jennifer A. Jackson, Andrew J. Constable, Sian F. Henley, Jessica Melbourne-Thomas, Rowan Trebilco, Rachel D. Cavanagh, Geraint A. Tarling, Ryan A. Saunders, David K.A. Barnes, Daniel P. Costa, Stuart P. Corney, Ceridwen I. Fraser, Juan Höfer, Kevin A. Hughes, Chester J. Sands, Sally E. Thorpe, Philip N. Trathan, José C. Xavier

CCPO Publications

Southern Ocean ecosystems are globally important. Processes in the Antarctic atmosphere, cryosphere, and the Southern Ocean directly influence global atmospheric and oceanic systems. Southern Ocean biogeochemistry has also been shown to have global importance. In contrast, ocean ecological processes are often seen as largely separate from the rest of the global system. In this paper, we consider the degree of ecological connectivity at different trophic levels, linking Southern Ocean ecosystems with the global ocean, and their importance not only for the regional ecosystem but also the wider Earth system. We also consider the human system connections, including the role of …

Variation In Coral Thermotolerance Across A Pollution Gradient Erodes As Coral Symbionts Shift To More Heat-Tolerant Genera, Melissa S. Naugle, Thomas A. Oliver, Daniel J. Barshis, Ruth D. Gates, Cheryl A. Logan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Phenotypic plasticity is one mechanism whereby species may cope with stressful environmental changes associated with climate change. Reef building corals present a good model for studying phenotypic plasticity because they have experienced rapid climate-driven declines in recent decades (within a single generation of many corals), often with differential survival among individuals during heat stress. Underlying differences in thermotolerance may be driven by differences in baseline levels of environmental stress, including pollution stress. To examine this possibility, acute heat stress experiments were conducted on Acropora hyacinthus from 10 sites around Tutuila, American Samoa with differing nutrient pollution impact. A threshold-based heat …

Climate Change Impacts On Wind Energy Generation In Ireland, Eadaoin Doddy Clarke, Conor Sweeney, Frank Mcdermott, Seánie Griffin, Joao Monteiro Correia, Paul Nolan, Laura Cooke

Articles

An ensemble of high-resolution regional climate model simulation data is used to examine the impacts of climate change on offshore and onshore wind energy genera- tion in Ireland. Two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) are analysed for the mid-term (2041–2060) and the long-term (2081–2100) future. Wind energy is projected to decrease (≤2%) overall in future climate scenarios. Changes are evident by mid-century and are more pronounced by late 21st century, particularly for RCP 8.5 offshore. Seasonally, wind energy is projected to decrease by less than 6% in summer and to increase slightly in winter (up to …

A Data Repository For Extent And Causes Of Chesapeake Bay Warming, Kyle E. Hinson, Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs, Pierre St-Laurent

Data

This data repository is a permanent archive of the results presented in the associated publication (Hinson et al. 2021, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12916

The Role Of Oxygen In Stimulating Methane Production In Wetlands, Jared L. Wilmoth, Jeffra K. Schaefer, Danielle R. Schlesinger, Spencer W. Roth, Patrick G. Hatcher, Julie K. Shoemaker, Xinning Zhang

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Methane (CH₄), a potent greenhouse gas, is the second most important greenhouse gas contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide (CO₂). The biological emissions of CH₄ from wetlands are a major uncertainty in CH₄ budgets. Microbial methanogenesis by Archaea is an anaerobic process accounting for most biological CH₄ production in nature, yet recent observations indicate that large emissions can originate from oxygenated or frequently oxygenated wetland soil layers. To determine how oxygen (O₂) can stimulate CH₄ emissions, we used incubations of Sphagnum peat to demonstrate that the temporary exposure of …

Female Pacific Walruses (Odobenus Rosmarus Divergens) Show Greater Partitioning Of Sea Ice Organic Carbon Than Males: Evidence From Ice Algae Trophic Markers, Chelsea W. Koch, Lee W. Cooper, Ryan J. Woodland, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Karen E. Frey, Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Cédric Magen, Thomas A. Brown

Geography

The expected reduction of ice algae with declining sea ice may prove to be detrimental to the Pacific Arctic ecosystem. Benthic organisms that rely on sea ice organic carbon (iPOC) sustain benthic predators such as the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). The ability to track the trophic transfer of iPOC is critical to understanding its value in the food web, but prior methods have lacked the required source specificity. We analyzed the H-Print index, based on biomarkers of ice algae versus phytoplankton contributions to organic carbon in marine predators, in Pacific walrus livers collected in 2012, 2014 and 2016 from …

Climate Impacts Associated With Reduced Diet Diversity In Children Across Nineteen Countries, Meredith T. Niles, Benjamin F. Emery, Serge Wiltshire, Molly E. Brown, Brendan Fisher, Taylor H. Ricketts

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

It is widely anticipated that climate change will negatively affect both food security and diet diversity. Diet diversity is especially critical for children as it correlates with macro and micronutrient intake important for child development. Despite these anticipated links, little empirical evidence has demonstrated a relationship between diet diversity and climate change, especially across large datasets spanning multiple global regions and with more recent climate data. Here we use survey data from 19 countries and more than 107 000 children, coupled with 30 years of precipitation and temperature data, to explore the relationship of climate to child diet diversity while …

An Assessment Of Regional Icesat-2 Sea-Level Trends, Brett Buzzanga, Eduard Heijkoop, Benjamin D. Hamlington, R. Steven Nerem, Alex Gardner

OES Faculty Publications

Sea-level rise is an important indicator of ongoing climate change and well observed by satellite altimetry. However, observations from conventional altimetry degrade at the coast where regional sea-level changes can deviate from the open-ocean and impact local communities. With the 2018 launch of the laser altimeter onboard ICESat-2, new high-resolution observations of ice, land, and ocean elevations are available. Here we assess the potential benefits of sea level measured by ICESat-2 by comparing to data from Jason-3 and tide gauges. We find good agreement in the linear rates computed from the independent observations, with an absolute average residual of 3.60 …