Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Exploring The Effects Of Varied Land Use On Elemental Concentrations Within Streams, Logan Jennings

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

It is well documented that human activity influences the chemistry of surrounding waters. As such, it is possible that there is a link between land use within a watershed and the chemical composition of the stream. The objectives of this study are to determine if varied land use does affect the concentrations of macronutrients and trace elements present in the streams of Northwest Arkansas, and if so, to determine what extent urban and agricultural development are responsible for these changes. Water samples were collected across 19 streams in the Northwest Arkansas region between January and March of 2022. Water samples …

The Relationship Between Forest Management And Stream Discharge In Mazumbai And Baga Ii Forest Reserves, Tanga Region, Tanzania, Shannon Duffy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Deforestation is known to alter hydrology by reducing interception, transpiration and infiltration capacity, and increasing runoff which all leads to higher stream discharge. For rural Tanzanian communities, surface water resources are crucial for meeting basic needs, so the integrity of headwater catchments need to be maintained to ensure their reliability. The objectives of this study were to a) map the streams in the two forests because none currently exist and b) determine the effect of deforestation on discharge variability. Over fifteen days of data collection, this study analyzed variability of discharge and the degree of correlation between discharge and rainfall …

Multiyear Patterns In Benthic Algal Fatty-Acid Compounds Under Agricultural Stress, Sarah Whorley, John Wehr

Articles & Book Chapters

Benthic algae are the nutritional base of most freshwater food webs. Here we consider the nutritional contribution of benthic algae in the form of fatty acids (FAs) over multiple seasons and years. Our study was conducted in the Upper Delaware River watershed (New York, USA), where best-management practices (BMPs) had been implemented over varying numbers of years (BMP age) to mitigate effects of agricultural activities in the watershed. We defined 4 BMP categories by the presence and duration of management used in each stream drainage prior to initiating our study: 1) reference (unaffected), 2) no BMP (agriculturally affected), 3) new …

Stream Microbial Communities As Potential Indicators Of River And Landscape Disturbance In North-Central Arkansas, Wilson Howard Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, 29 shale basins have been actively developed across 20 states for extraction of natural gas (NG) via horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing (=fracking). This includes ~5000 wells within the Fayetteville shale of north-central Arkansas. Development often impacts both river- and landscapes, and management requires catchment-level evaluations over time, with organismal presence/absence as indicators. For this study next-generation sequencing was used to identify/characterize microbial communities within biofilm of eight Arkansas River tributaries, so as to gauge potential catchment influences. Streams spanned a gradient of landscape features and hydrological flows, with four serving as ‘potentially impacted catchment zones’ (PICZ) and …

A Method Comparison And Stressor-Response Experimental Study Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Impacts To Periphyton In Ozark Streams, Ashley Renee Rodman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stream bioassessment is important for understanding algal-nutrient relationships and the development of scientifically defensible numeric nutrient criteria. However, multiple methods of periphyton data collection are currently used, and little is known about the comparability of resulting datasets. Literature also suggests other factors besides nutrients (i.e. variable grazing, light, and flow) can confound algal-nutrient relationships. A one-year method comparison study and 31-day algal biomass-nutrient manipulative experiment were conducted in the southern Ozarks of Arkansas. The method comparison study was implemented using two common bioassessment procedures (whole-surface and delimiter-reduced periphyton removal) to assess the potential for combining datasets. During the manipulative experiment, …

Filling The Gap: Commonsense Solutions For Meeting Front Range Water Needs: Executive Summary, Western Resource Advocates, Trout Unlimited, Colorado Environmental Coalition (U.S.)

Navigating the Future of the Colorado River (Martz Summer Conference, June 8-10)

8 pages.

"February 2011"

Presented by Drew Beckwith, Water Policy Manager, Western Resource Advocates, on June 10th at Clyde O. Martz Summer Conference 2011, Navigating the Future of the Colorado River Basin

Full report available at: http://www.westernresourceadvocates.org/gap

Nitrous Oxide Emission From Denitrification In Stream And River Networks, Jake J. Beaulieu, Clay P. Arango

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone destruction. Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loading to river networks is a potentially important source of N₂O via microbial denitrification that converts N to N₂O and dinitrogen (N₂). The fraction of denitrified N that escapes as N₂O rather than N₂ (i.e., the N₂O yield) is an important determinant of how much N₂O is produced by river networks, but little is known about the N₂O yield in flowing waters. Here, …

Slides: Development Of Shale: Water Resource Concerns And Policy Considerations, Katy Dunlap

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project Director, Trout Unlimited, Inc., Burdett, NY

24 slides

The Influence Of Metal Exposure History And Ultraviolet-B Radiation On Benthic Communities In Colorado Rocky Mountain Streams, Robert E. Zuellig, Donna R. Kashian, Marjorie L. Brooks, Peter M. Kiffney, William H. Clements

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Interest in understanding the influence of ultraviolet-B (UVB; 280–320 nm) radiation in aquatic ecosystems has increased since the early 1990s. Pollution from historic mining operations coupled with physicochemical characteristics of Rocky Mountain streams that increase exposure of benthic communities to UVB provided an opportunity to examine how UVB interacted with heavy metal contamination to structure stream communities. We integrated a series of UVB addition experiments done in stream microcosms with a large-scale UVB shading experiment to test the hypothesis that effects of UVB were greater on benthic communities from metal-polluted streams than from reference streams. Microcosm experiments involved short-term exposure …

Landscape Patterns Of Streams & Lakes In Montane Watersheds Determine Water Temperatures & Nutrient Transport: Watershed Analyses And N Tracer Experiments, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, J. Garrett, G. Burkart, W. Fleenor, K. Nydick, R. Hall, Michelle A. Baker

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

In glaciated mountains, lakes are interspersed through watersheds and connected by streams. Although lakes or streams are frequently studied as individual water bodies, studying them as integrated functional units provides considerable insight on temperature patterns, nutrient transport and other functions. In the Sawtooth Mountains (Idaho), inter-lake distance averages 2.8 km. In summer, lakes are solar collectors, and warm outflow streams as much as 10 C, thus increasing metabolic rates. These streams seldom cool to equilibrium temperatures before encountering another lake, where the waters tend to overflow and mix into the epilimnion. With overflow, N-15 tracer experiments demonstrated that water and …

The Impact Of Accelerating Land-Use Change On The N-Cycle Of Tropical Aquatic Ecosystems: Current Conditions And Projected Changes, J. A. Downing, M. Mcclain, R. Twilley, J. M. Melack, J. Elser, Nancy N. Rabalais, W. M. Lewis Jr., R. Eugene Turner, J. Corredor, D. Soto, A. Yanez Arancibia, J. A. Kopaska, R. W. Howarth

Faculty Publications

Published data and analyses from temperate and tropical aquatic systems are used to summarize knowledge about the potential impact of land-use alteration on the nitrogen biogeochemistry of tropical aquatic ecosystems, identify important patterns and recommend key needs for research. The tropical N-cycle is traced from pre-disturbance conditions through the phases of disturbance, highlighting major differences between tropical and temperate systems that might influence development strategies in the tropics. Analyses suggest that tropical freshwaters are more frequently N-limited than temperate zones, while tropical marine systems may show more frequent P limitation. These analyses indicate that disturbances to pristine tropical lands will …

The Association Of Water Quality Parameters, Geological Substrates And Periphyton Community Structure, Richard L. Meyer, Julia Christensen Eichman

Technical Reports

This research was designed to understand the structure of epilithic diatom assemblage of a first-to-third order stream system which has minimal variance in nutrient concentration, but significant differences in geomorphological character. The primary objective was to determine the importance of geological substrate on the structure of the diatom assemblages. The second objective was to examine the effect of flow on these assemblages, and the third part of the research was to develop a seasonal model of temporal and spatial annual succession. The temporal and spatial models represent the effect of seasons, stream order, substrate characteristics, storm events, and periods of …

Maine Nonpoint Source Pollution Assessment Report, Bureau Of Water Quality Control

Maine Collection

Maine Nonpoint Source Pollution Assessment Report

Prepared by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Quality Control, Augusta, Maine 1989.

Contents: Executive Summary / Introduction / Methodology / Statewide Water Quality Summary / State And Local Agency Programs for Control of Nonpoint Source Pollution / Process for Identification of Best Management Practices and Associated Standards / List of References / List of Figures / List of Tables

Qualitative And Quantitative Aquatic Algal Data Compilation To Determine Macrotrends - Iv, Richard L. Meyer

Technical Reports

A data base of the algae of Arkansas ecoregions has been estabblished by the use of a relational data base management system (dBase III plus). The system was chosen to be readily available for a variety of microcomputers using MS- and PC-DOS. The data base contains taxonomic fields from division through variety, synonymy, authors, initial description, date, and definitive descriptive source. The data are cross-referenced by ecoregion, Round's community and subcommunity designations. The data base contains greater than 1,500 taxonomic records in all divisions and classes of freshwater algae. The data are sortable by any of the included parameters. The …

Qualitative And Quantitative Aquatic Algal Data Compilation To Determine Macrotrends- Iii, Richard L. Meyer

Technical Reports

A data base of the algae of Arkansas ecoregions has been established by the use of a relational data base management system (dBase III plus). The system was chosen to be readily available for a variety of microcomputers using MS- and PC-DOS. The data base contains taxonomic fields from division through variety, synonymy, authors, initial description, date and definitive descriptive source. The data are cross-referenced by ecoregion, Round's community and subcommunity designations. The data base contains approximately 1,500 taxonomic records in all divisions and classes of freshwater algae. The data are sortable by any of the included parameters. The data …

Qualitative And Quantitative Aquatic Algal Data Compilation To Determine Macrotrends- Ii, Richard L. Meyer

Technical Reports

A database of the algae of Arkansas has been established by the use of a relational database management system (dBase III). The system was chosen to be readily available for microcomputers using MS and PC-DOS. The database contains taxonomic fields from division through variety, synonomy, authors, starting date and definitive descriptive source. The data is cross-referenced by ecoregion, community and subcommunity. The database contains nearly 1,500 taxonomic records in all division and classes of freshwater algae. These data are sortable by any of the included parameters. The data have been used to initiate the publication of the algal flora of …

Qualitative And Quantitative Aquatic Algal Data Compilation To Determine Macrotrends, Richard L. Meyer

Technical Reports

A data base of the algae of Arkansas has been initiated by the selection of a relational data base management system. The system was chosen to be readily available for microcomputers using MS- or PC-DOS. The initial parameters chosen for entry are associated with the classification of the organisms from Class to the Variety level with author and year of initiation. Further annotation includes identification source. Presently, the data base of 1,162 taxa includes 226 Cyanophyceae, 367 Chlorophyceae, 124 Euglenophyceae, 26 Xanthophyceae, 81 Chryso- phyceae, 279 Bacillariophyceae, 33 Pyrrhophyceae, 14 Cryptophyceae, and 5 Rhodophyceae. These taxa are sortable by any …

Application Of A New Method For Quantitative Evaluation Of Stream Benthic Algal Populations, Richard L. Meyer, Neil Woomer

Technical Reports

The response of stream biota to changing water quality or other ecosystem perturbations is an important means of assessing water quality. The dynamic nature of streams induces significant sampling and measurement problems. In smaller streams a true algal plankton subcommunity is lacking and the major location for the production of algae is attachment onto stones and other stable surfaces at the substrate-water interface. Several artificial techniques have been developed to analyze the composition of a portion of the epiphytic periphyton (algae attached to stones) but not populations which are qualitatively and quantitatively similar to natural substrates. A newly developed substrate …

Maine's Whitewater Rapids And Their Relevance To The Critical Areas Program, Janet Mcmahon

Maine Collection

Maine's Whitewater Rapids and Their Relevance to the Critical Areas Program

by Janet McMahon

Planning Report No. 74, Critical Areas Program, 184 State St., Augusta, Maine,

April, 1981 (additions made in October, 1981). Reprinted July, 1983.

Contents: Introduction / Natural History of Whitewater Rapids / Methods / Criteria / Results / Conclusions / General Evaluation of Whitewater Rapids for Inclusion on the Register of Critical Areas / Bibliography / Action Plan

Effect Of Deforestation By The Douglas-Fir Tussock Moth On The Quality Of Streamflow And Stream Productivity Parameters, Martin Ed Hicks

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if deforestation by a recent outbreak of Douglas-fir tussock moth and logging of such deforested timber has had any effect on stream water quality. To determine this, seven different watersheds of three types were examined. The three types were: undamaged watersheds as controls, watersheds with deforestation and watersheds with deforestation where the timber was subsequently logged. Twenty-four variables were used to determine water quality. Included were seven biological and seventeen chemical variables.

In general, the results indicate only seasonal fluctuations and differences between watersheds due to inherent properties of individual watersheds. Increased …