Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Use Of Unoccupied Aerial Vehicle (Drones) Based Remote Sensing To Model Platform Topography And Identify Human-Made Earthen Barriers In Salt Marshes, Joshua J. Ward

Masters Theses

Elevation is a foundational driver of salt marsh morphology. Elevation governs inundation and hydrological patterns, vegetation distribution, and soil health. Anthropogenic impacts at grand scales (e.g., rising sea levels) and local scales (e.g., infrastructure) have altered the elevation of the salt marsh surface, changing the topography and morphology of these ecosystems. This study establishes and assesses means to document and analyze these impacts using Unoccupied Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing to model platform topography. This thesis’s first and primary study presents and compares methods of producing high-resolution digital terrain models (DTMs) with UAV-based Digital Aerial Photogrammetry (DAP) and Light …

Data For "Density Constrains Environmental Impacts Of Fluid Abstraction In Continental Lithium Brines", Daniel B. Corkran, David F. Boutt, Lee Ann Munk, Brendan J. Moran, Sarah Mcknight, Jordan Jenckes, Alexander Kirshen

Data and Datasets

This dataset contains all data used in the study "Density constrains environmental impacts of fluid abstraction in continental lithium brines." Data include all SEAWAT groundwater-flow model input and output files, which contain all data associated with the parametric modeling study. It also contains NDVI and total annual precipitation datasets used in the study's remote sensing analysis.

A Multi-Regional Assessment Of Eastern Whip-Poor-Will (Antrostomus Vociferus) Occupancy In Managed And Unmanaged Forests Using Autonomous Recording Units, Jeffery T. Larkin

Masters Theses

State and federal agencies spend considerable time and resources to enhance and create habitat for wildlife. Understanding how target and non-target species respond to these efforts can help direct the allocation of limited conservation resources. However, monitoring species response to habitat management comes with several logistical challenges that are exacerbated as the area of geographic focus increases. I used autonomous recording units (ARUs) to mitigate these challenges when assessing Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) response to forest management. I deployed 1,265 ARUs across managed and unmanaged public and private forests from western North Carolina to southern Maine. I then …

Heat Flow In The Southern Margin Of Salar De Atacama: Deep Groundwater Temperature Distributions And The Implications For Subsurface Flow And Land Surface Energy Budgets, Graham Thomas

Masters Theses

Salar de Atacama (SdA) located in Northern Chile is home to one of the planet’s largest salar systems and lithium resources. Managing groundwater resources in salars is not obvious due to the lack of scientific understanding on the connectivity between the freshwater and brine systems. Using heat as a tracer in SdA provides a cost-effective method to further investigate groundwater flow in salars. This study employs 372 temperature-depth profiles from 90 boreholes between 2013-18 to understand the distinct thermal zones and flow between them in SdA. Three thermal zones exist within the southern margin of SdA’s thermal regime, at higher …

Microplastics In Local Communities’ Tap Water, Zachary T. Rattell

Masters Theses

Microplastics are an emerging environmental contaminant. One of the ways microplastics can get into the environment is by the breakdown of larger plastics. These plastics can come from industrial practices, discarded fabrics, agriculture, and general plastic waste. As these plastics are broken down microplastics leach into the environment. The widespread use of plastics has resulted in the spread of microplastic contaminants all over the world. Microplastics have been reported to be in drinking water, so this paper is looking at the presence of microplastics in local communities of different demographics and socioeconomic statuses. In other studies of different drinking water …

Thames River Subwatershed Soil, Sediment, Water Data, Justin B. Richardson, Mark J. Butler

Data and Datasets

Trace element and nutrient data are for riparian soils, suspended sediments, eddy bottom sediments, and river water collected between 2019 and 2020 in the Thames River watershed of Connecticut, USA. Trace elements and nutrients were measured using EPA 3050B digestion method and analyzed by ICP-OES or ICP-MS.

The Use Of Biological Soil Health Indicators To Quantify The Benefits Of Cover Crops, Alexander Wu

Masters Theses

Soils provide many essential functions that support the world. With a decline in soil health, these functions also decrease in efficiency, and can threaten the health of billions of people around the world. Typically, soil health tests do not use biological indicators, however microbes drive and perform vital functions to increase soil health. One way to increase soil health is through the use of cover crops to reduce soil erosion during fallow periods, increasing soil organic matter, as well as collecting nutrients from soil into their biomass. These cover crops are then terminated through various methods such as herbicides, disk …

Modeling Spatial Distributions Of Tidal Marsh Blue Carbon Using Morphometric Parameters From Lidar, Bonnie Turek

Masters Theses

Tidal marshes serve as important “blue carbon” ecosystems that accrete large amounts of carbon with limited area. While much attention has been paid to the spatial variability of sedimentation within salt marshes, less work has been done to characterize spatial variability in marsh carbon density. Driven by tidal inundation, surface topography, and sediment supply, soil properties in marshes vary spatially with several parameters, including marsh platform elevation and proximity to the marsh edge and tidal creek network. We used lidar to extract these morphometric parameters from tidal marshes to map soil organic carbon (SOC) at the meter scale. Fixed volume …

Geomorphology Of Tidal Wetlands: Impacts Of Extreme And Annual Flood Events To Salt Marsh And Mangrove Systems, Frances R. Griswold

Doctoral Dissertations

Tidal wetlands are vital for buffering coastal settings from the threats of accelerated sea level rise and storms. Understanding the factors that are most influential for the maintenance and recovery of tidal wetlands after extreme events compounded by future accelerated sea level rise is of the utmost importance, yet this knowledge is not well established. Two tidal wetland schemas investigated in this dissertation are mangrove systems in Vieques, Puerto Rico (including robust lagoonal-mangrove forest systems and fringing mangrove forests), and salt marshes in New England. While the climatic forcings, vegetation type, and locations are vastly different for these two tidal …

The Relative Effects Of Functional Diversity And Structural Complexity On Carbon Dynamics In Late-Successional, Northeastern Mixed Hardwood Forests, Samantha Myers

Masters Theses

Late-successional forests provide a unique opportunity to explore adaptive management approaches that mitigate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels through carbon storage while also enhancing ecological resilience to novel climate and disturbances. Typical benchmarks for adaptive forest management include species diversity and structural complexity, which are widely considered to increase ecosystem stability and productivity. However, the role of functional trait diversity (e.g., variation in leaf and stem traits) in driving forest productivity and ecosystem resilience remains underexplored. We leveraged existing continuous forest inventory (CFI) data and collected local functional trait observations from CFI plots within late-successional forests in western Massachusetts to explore …

Differential Toxicity Of Pm2.5 Components And Modified Health Effects Modeling: A Case Study In Nepal, Jeremy Brownholtz

Masters Theses

During the latter part of the 20^th century, a transition away from coal as a major energy source in developed countries was accompanied by a notable decrease in air pollution-related deaths in those countries. Currently the same phenomenon is being observed in developing nations like China and India. However, many areas that do still rely on coal for their energy production or industrial needs also reflect a gap in research on the effects of those specific processes on local populations. Located in Nepal at the foot of the Himalayan Plateau, Kathmandu represents one such location. The local economy of …

Water Resources Planning Under Deep Uncertainty For Physically, Socially, And Politically Complex Systems, Sarah St. George Freeman

Doctoral Dissertations

Water supply systems, particularly those of large cities, are complex systems linking supply, regulatory and distribution infrastructure, and points of use. Despite their physical complexities, it is infrequent that full supply, distribution, end use, and feedbacks therein are considered in an integrated manner. These complex systems-of-systems face large uncertainties related to physical aspects such as degradation of infrastructure, changing demand, and climate variability and change. Though great, such physical uncertainties often pale in comparison to the those related to the human systems in place to manage them and yet uncertainty in the decision-making landscape is often grossly simplified in our …

2023 Sustainability Report, Madeline Rawson

Sustainability Reports & Plans

Based on the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) Report (Rated Gold) published February 17, 2023, this report breaks sustainability down into twelve categories and articulates recommended next steps for each topic. Along with these detailed recommendations, there are three overarching steps that UMass Amherst can take to advance sustainability on campus quickly and efficiently. This report was designed and written by Madeline Rawson at GreenerU.

Appendix 1. Database Of Eicat Impact Assessment Summaries For 169 Potential Sleeper Invasive Plants In The Northeast United States, Ayodelé C. O'Uhuru, Bethany A. Bradley, Toni Lyn Morelli, Justin Salva

Data and Datasets

Environmental Impacts Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) assessments for 169 introduced, established plants in the Northeast (states of CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT) that could become invasive with climate change.

Rainbow Beach Sediment Grain Size Analysis, Northampton, Massachusetts, Brian Yellen

Data and Datasets

This dataset was prepared by Brian Yellen, a research assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Yellen worked in conjunction with Melissa Grader of the USFWS and colleagues to conduct the associated field sampling.

This report provides information related to the substrate grain size at surveyed locations on Rainbow Beach on the Connecticut River in Northampton, MA (42.322125, -72.584928). This location is a known breeding site of the endangered puritan tiger beetle (PTB), Ellipsoptera puritana.

Climate Change And Modern Education: Preparing For A Sustainable Future, Poulomi Chakravarty, Sai Gattupalli, Stephen Mcginty

College of Education Student Publication Series

Climate change is a global phenomenon that has attracted widespread attention in recent decades due to its profound impact on the environment and society. Although climate change is a phenomenon occurring since the inception of Earth, anthropogenic activities such as fossil fuel consumption due to industrialization, transportation and domestic usage, deforestation and land use changes due to urbanization have accelerated the process. Climate education has become an important part of modern education as it helps raise awareness of the issue and promote behavior of climate consciousness which leads to climate action in a positive direction. The authors highlight the values …

Environmental Justice And Carbon Pricing: Can They Be Reconciled?, James K. Boyce, Michael Ash, Brent Ranalli

ETI Publications

Carbon pricing has been criticized by environmental justice advocates on the grounds that it fails to reduce emissions significantly, fails to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities, hits low-income households harder than wealthier households, and commodifies nature. Designing carbon pricing policy to address these concerns can yield outcomes that are both more effective and more equitable.

“Trash Talk” - Rethinking The Notion Of Waste, Shivaangi Salhotra

Student Showcase

In the twenty-first century, waste has become a ubiquitous problem. Images of things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch have ceased to become jarring, and pictures of overflowing landfills and statistics about plastic in the ocean have become so commonplace that they are “memed”. Yet despite increasing awareness and changes in policy, global waste production and its deleterious effects continue to rise. Dominant narratives surrounding waste tend to focus on how individuals can properly dispose of their waste, which, while certainly important, is not the full story. It doesn't question why we produce so much waste in the first place, …

Using A Novel Biologging Approach To Assess How Different Handling Practices Influence The Post-Release Behaviour Of Northern Pike Across A Wide Range Of Body Sizes, Luc Larochelle, Declan Burton, Jamie C. Madden, Sascha Clark Danylchuk, Steven J. Cooke, Andy J. Danylchuk

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

There is a growing body of research focused on how angled fish respond to catch-and-release (C&R). However, most of those studies do not span a wide range of body sizes for the targeted species. Physical injury and physiological responses to C&R can be size-dependent, and methods used for landing fish of different sizes vary. As such, studying the response to C&R across a range of fish sizes may help inform best practices that improve outcomes for released fish. Northern Pike (Esox lucius) widely ranges in body size. Anglers may land them by hand, cradle, or net, and they …

Pest Control Services On Farms Vary Among Bird Species On Diversified, Low-Intensity Farms, Samuel J. Mayne, David I. King, Jeremy C. Andersen, Joseph S. Elkinton

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Avian species provide pest control services in some agricultural systems, which may incentivize farmers to conserve natural habitats for native biodiversity. A critical component of this equation, however, is verifying that avian species are consuming potential pest species in the agricultural ecosystems. We used a DNA metabarcoding approach to determine the frequency of pest presence in songbird fecal samples collected from birds caught on diversified, low-intensity farms in New England, USA, during the bird breeding season. Twelve species of insect pest were identified in fecal samples, and across all songbird species 12.6% of samples included DNA from at least …

Habitat Associations Of Golden-Winged Warblers And Blue-Winged Warblers During The Non-Breeding Season, David I. King, Michael E. Akresh, David A. Murillo, Ruth E. Bennett, Richard B. Chandler

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

The Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chyrsoptera) and Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) are both Neotropical migratory species of elevated conservation concern that overlap in distribution on their Central American wintering grounds, yet the extent to which they overlap in terms of habitat use is unknown, potentially hindering conservation efforts. We surveyed these two species along habitat and elevational gradients within a coffee-growing landscape during 2016 and 2017 in Yoro, Honduras. We used playback with a mobbing track known to enhance detections of female warblers, since examining sexual habitat segregation was another objective of our study. Habitat occupied by …

Dosel Abierto Integrado (Dai) En Cultivos De Café Coffea Arabica Como Herramienta De Conservación De Aves Migratorias Neártico-Neotropicales Y Aves Residentes En Yoro, Honduras, David Alexander Murillo, Dario Arnaldo Alvarado, Fabiola Vásquez, Caz Taylor, David King

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Honduras cuenta con 349,510 hectáreas cultivadas con café Coffea arabica, que son en su mayoría cultivos tradicionales (café sombra y café sol), y en menor escala cultivos con sistema Dosel Abierto Integrado (DAI). El sistema de café DAI consiste en plantaciones de café rodeadas por bosque en una proporción ≥ 1:1, lo que permite la preservación y la restauración de ecosistemas nativos. El objetivo de nuestra investigación fue evaluar el sistema DAI en cultivos de café como una alternativa de conservación para las aves migratorias neártico-neotropicales y aves residentes. Evaluamos características ecológicas, como la riqueza y abundancia de especies, …

Condition And Postrelease Mortality Of Angled Northern Pike Temporarily Retained On Stringers, Jamie C. Madden, Luc Larochelle, Declan Burton, Andy J. Danylchuk, Sean J. Landsman, Steven J. Cooke

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Anglers typically use stringers to keep fish intended for harvest from spoiling or for high-grading purposes (i.e., culling). However, relatively few studies have examined the effects of temporary stringer retention on the physical condition and postrelease mortality of fish. In this study, our objective was to investigate the lethal and sublethal effects of temporarily retaining Northern Pike Esox lucius on stringers.

Geographic And Taxonomic Variation In Adaptive Capacity Among Mountain-Dwelling Small Mammals: Implications For Conservation Status And Actions, Kelly Klingler, Et. Al.

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Contemporary climate change is modifying the distribution, morphology, phenology, physiology, evolution, and interspecific interactions of species. Effects of climate change are mediated not only through the magnitude of change experienced (exposure) and an animal's sensitivity to such changes, but also through the ability of the population or species to adjust to climatic variability and change genetically, behaviorally, or spatially (via its distribution) (i.e., adaptive capacity; AC). Here, we used an attribute-based framework to systematically evaluate and compare the AC of American pikas (Ochotona princeps) against four other mountain-dwelling small mammals of North America to determine whether pikas …

Divergent Sensory And Immune Gene Evolution In Sea Turtles With Contrasting Demographic And Life Histories, Blair P. Bentley, Shreya M. Banerjee, Lisa M. Komoroske, Et. Al.

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Sea turtles represent an ancient lineage of marine vertebrates that evolved from terrestrial ancestors over 100 Mya. The genomic basis of the unique physiological and ecological traits enabling these species to thrive in diverse marine habitats remains largely unknown. Additionally, many populations have drastically declined due to anthropogenic activities over the past two centuries, and their recovery is a high global conservation priority. We generated and analyzed high-quality reference genomes for the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) and green (Chelonia mydas) turtles, representing the two extant sea turtle families. These genomes are highly syntenic and homologous, but localized …

Shifting Hotspots: Climate Change Projected To Drive Contractions And Expansions Of Invasive Plant Abundance Habitats, Bethany A. Bradley, Et. Al.

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Motivating The Formation Of Partnerships By Small Water Systems, Anita Milman, Olivia Ashjian James, Cameron Macuch

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Small community water systems (CWS) often have difficulty maintaining high-quality service provision. Partnerships can help alleviate these problems, yet may not be attainable or pursued. This research examines the perspectives of U.S. state agencies with drinking water primacy regarding the benefits of water systems partnerships and the points of leverage that can induce water systems to partner. It assesses the benefits, drawbacks, and barriers to five common forms of partnerships as well as the approaches states can use to encourage small CWS partnerships. Findings indicate that while partnerships hold significant potential, in many contexts, there are inherent limitations to their …

Identifying New England’S Underutilized Seafood Species And Evaluating Their Market Potential In A Changing Climate, Amanda G. Davis, Michelle D. Staudinger, Katherine E. Mills

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Developing and diversifying market opportunities for lesser known yet abundant seafood species has been a successful strategy for seafood businesses in the Northeast United States. Since climate change and other stressors are currently threatening the economic vitality of New England’s seafood industry, it is important to identify if there are lesser-known species that could simultaneously support additional market opportunities and remain resilient in a warming climate. We developed a quantitative definition for the term “underutilized species’’ based on five criteria derived from science-based sustainable fishing metrics. Using this definition, we evaluated 47 stocks in the Northeast United States during the …

One Health Approach To Globalizing, Accelerating, And Focusing Amphibian And Reptile Disease Research—Reflections And Opinions From The First Global Amphibian And Reptile Disease Conference, Molly C. Bletz, Et. Al.

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

The world’s reptiles and amphibians are experiencing dramatic and ongoing losses in biodiversity, changes that can have substantial effects on ecosystems and human health. In 2022, the first Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease Conference was held, using One Health as a guiding principle. The conference showcased knowledge on numerous reptile and amphibian pathogens from several standpoints, including epidemiology, host immune defenses, wild population effects, and mitigation. The conference also provided field experts the opportunity to discuss and identify the most urgent herpetofaunal disease research directions necessary to address current and future threats to reptile and amphibian biodiversity.

Release Of Live Baitfish By Recreational Anglers Drives Fish Pathogen Introduction Risk, Margaret C. Mceachran, Janice Mladonicky, Catalina Picasso-Risso, D. Andrew R. Drake, Nicholas B.D. Phelps

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Emerging diseases of wildlife are an existential threat to biodiversity, and human-mediated movements of live animals are a primary vector of their spread. Wildlife disease risk analyses offer an appealing alternative to precautionary approaches because they allow for explicit quantification of uncertainties and consideration of tradeoffs. Such considerations become particularly important in high-frequency invasion pathways with hundreds of thousands of individual vectors, where even low pathogen prevalence can lead to substantial risk. The purpose of this study was to examine the landscape-level dynamics of human behavior-mediated pathogen introduction risk in the context of a high-frequency invasion pathway. One such pathway …