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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Modelling Water Uptake Provides A New Perspective On Grass And Tree Coexistence, Michael G. Mazzacavallo, Andrew Kulmatiski Dec 2015

Modelling Water Uptake Provides A New Perspective On Grass And Tree Coexistence, Michael G. Mazzacavallo, Andrew Kulmatiski

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Root biomass distributions have long been used to infer patterns of resource uptake. These patterns are used to understand plant growth, plant coexistence and water budgets. Root biomass, however, may be a poor indicator of resource uptake because large roots typically do not absorb water, fine roots do not absorb water from dry soils and roots of different species can be difficult to differentiate. In a sub-tropical savanna, Kruger Park, South Africa, we used a hydrologic tracer experiment to describe the abundance of active grass and tree roots across the soil profile. We then used this tracer data to parameterize …


Estimating Herbaceous Biomass Of Grassland Vegetation Using The Reference Unit Method, Eric D. Boyda, Jack L. Bulter, Lan Xu Dec 2015

Estimating Herbaceous Biomass Of Grassland Vegetation Using The Reference Unit Method, Eric D. Boyda, Jack L. Bulter, Lan Xu

The Prairie Naturalist

Aboveground net primary production provides valuable information on wildlife habitat, fire fuel loads, and forage availability. Aboveground net primary production in herbaceous plant communities is typically measured by clipping aboveground biomass. However, the high costs associated with physically harvesting plant biomass may prevent collecting sufficient data to account for natural spatial and temporal variability of vegetation at a landscape scale. Various double-sampling techniques have been developed to increase sample size while reducing cost. We applied a biomass estimation technique previously developed for estimating shrub biomass using representative samples or “reference units” to estimate herbaceous grassland biomass. Our reference units consisted …


Synthesis, Characterization, And Catalytic Applications Of Porous Transition-Metal Oxide Systems For The Conversion Of Biomass, Anton Gudz May 2015

Synthesis, Characterization, And Catalytic Applications Of Porous Transition-Metal Oxide Systems For The Conversion Of Biomass, Anton Gudz

Honors Scholar Theses

The development of innovative strategies and environmentally-friendly resources for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals from renewable materials has recently received much interest in the scientific world. Among such resources, biomass has enormous potential as a raw material for generation of green fine chemicals to replace the petroleum feedstocks currently in place. Biomass derived carbohydrates can be converted into such valuable platform chemicals as levulinates, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), and lactates. In order to catalyze the biomass conversion process, porous transition-metal oxide catalytic systems have been developed in this study. High catalytic activities and potential for reusability of such systems …