Earth Sciences Commons^™

A Critical Review On Water Overconsumption In Lignocellulosic Biomass Pretreatment For Ethanol Production Through Enzymic Hydrolysis And Fermentation, Jikai Zhao, Juhee Lee, Donghai Wang

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Global demand for renewable and sustainable energy fostered the considerable development of biomass-to-ethanol valorization strategies. Thermochemical pretreatment methods have been proposed to render biomass more amenable to enzymatic and microbial digestion. However, the efforts have not led to its industrial-scale worldwide realization. One of the obstacles to commercialization could be related to water overconsumption, as excessive water washing of the pretreated slurry is often performed to remove inhibitory compounds and residual chemicals after biomass pretreatment. Only increasing solid loading for biomass pretreatment results in ineffective pretreatment performance, more inhibitors formation, and high viscosity, which in turn necessitates the water washing …

Metal Contents In House Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae) From Industrial And Urban Areas Of Southern Tamaulipas, Mexico And Western Andalucía, Spain, May Reflect Airborne Metal Pollution, Luisiana Morales-Zamudio, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Md. Saydur Rahman, Miguel Antonio Dominguez-Crespo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

House geckos share living quarters with humans in the tropical and subtropical regions inhabited by these reptiles. Gecko behavior, biological traits, continuous exposure to suspended particulate matter 0 µm in diameter (PM10) and dust, as well as status as exotic species, motivated the choice of these species to examine environmental exposure to ambient air pollutants, in particular metals, and subsequent accumulation in these organisms. One part of the study was conducted in Tamaulipas (Mexico) where Hemydactylus frenatus is abundant in urban and industrial environments, the other part was conducted in Andalucia (Spain) where Tarentola mauritanica is found in similar environments. …

Higher Concentrations Of Microplastics In Runoff From Biosolid-Amended Croplands Than Manure-Amended Croplands, Nasrin Naderi Beni, Shahab Karimifard, John Gilley, Tiffany L. Messer, Amy Schmidt, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Land-applied municipal biosolids, produced from municipal wastewater treatment sludge, contributes to microplastics contamination in agroecosystems. The impacts of biosolids on microplastic concentrations in agricultural soil have been previously investigated, however, the potential for microplastics transport from biosolid-amended croplands has not been previously quantified. In this study, manure and biosolids were applied to field plots, runoff was collected following natural precipitation events and the potential of bacterial biofilm to grow on different microplastic morphologies was investigated. Higher concentrations of microplastics were detected in runoff from plots with land-applied biosolid in comparison with manure-amended and control plots. Fibers and fragments were the …

Pore Connectivity Influences Mass Transport In Natural Rocks: Pore Structure, Gas Diffusion And Batch Sorption Studies, Qinhong Hu

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets - Archive

The Excel file contains supplementary dataset, in various sheets, for a manuscript entitled "Pore connectivity influences mass transport in natural rocks: Pore structure, gas diffusion and batch sorption studies" The Word file of "Data Dictonary" briefly explained the data in each sheet of the Excel file, from different measurements as detailed in the manuscript. Authors: Xiaoqing Yuan, Qinhong Hu ([email protected]), Xiang Lin, Chen Zhao, Qiming Wang, Yukio Tachi, Yuta Fukatsu, Shoichiro Hamamoto, Marja Siitari-Kauppia, and Xiaodong Li

Dynamic Mass Loss From Greenland's Marine-Terminating Peripheral Glaciers (1985–2018), Katherine E. Bollen, Ellyn M. Enderlin, Rebecca Muhlheim

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Global glacier mass balance decreased rapidly over the last two decades, exceeding mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. In Greenland, peripheral glaciers and ice caps (GICs) cover only ~5% of Greenland's area but contributed ~20% of the island's ice mass loss between 2000 and 2018. Although Greenland GIC mass loss due to surface meltwater runoff has been estimated using atmospheric models, mass lost to changes in ice discharge into oceans (i.e., dynamic mass loss) remains unquantified. We use the flux gate method to estimate discharge from Greenland's 585 marine-terminating peripheral glaciers between 1985 and 2018, and compute …

Lidar And Deep Learning Reveal Forest Structural Controls On Snowpack, Ahmad Hojatimalekshah, Joel Gongora, Josh Enterkine, Nancy F. Glenn, T. Trevor Caughlin, Hans-Peter Marshall, Christopher A. Hiemstra

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forest structure has a strong relationship with abiotic components of the environment. For example, canopy morphology controls snow depth through interception and modifies incoming thermal radiation. In turn, snow water availability affects forest growth, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling. We investigated how structural diversity and topography affect snow depth patterns across scales. The study site, Grand Mesa, Colorado, is representative of many areas worldwide where declining snowpack and its consequences for forest ecosystems are increasingly an environmental concern. On the basis of a convolution neural network model (R² of 0.64; root mean squared error of 0.13 m), we …

The Use And Challenges Of Spatial Data In Archaeology, Carla Klehm

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Spatial data, under the broader umbrella of digital data, is becoming increasingly integral to all stages of archaeological research design and dissemination. As archaeologists lean toward reuse and interoperability, with ethics on their minds, how to treat spatial data is of particular importance. This is because of the complexities involved at every life-cycle stage, from collection to publication, including black box issues that may be taken for granted, and because the size of spatial data can lead to archiving difficulties. Here, the “DIY” momentum of increasingly accessible spatial methods such as photogrammetry and handheld lidar is examined alongside forthcoming changes …

Seismic Azimuthal Anisotropy Beneath A Fast Moving Ancient Continent: Constraints From Shear Wave Splitting Analysis In Australia, Kailun Ba, Stephen S. Gao, Jianguo Song, Kelly H. Liu

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Seismic Azimuthal Anisotropy Beneath Australia is Investigated using Splitting of the Teleseismic PKS, SKKS, and SKS Phases to Delineate Asthenospheric Flow and Lithospheric Deformation Beneath One of the Oldest and Fast-Moving Continents on Earth. in Total 511 Pairs of High-Quality Splitting Parameters Were Observed at 116 Seismic Stations. Unlike Other Stable Continental Areas in Africa, East Asia, and North America, Where Spatially Consistent Splitting Parameters Dominate, the Fast Orientations and Splitting Times Observed in Australia Show a Complex Pattern, with a Slightly Smaller Than Normal Average Splitting Time of 0.85 ± 0.33 S. on the North Australian Craton, the Fast …

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2022, Nathan A. Slaton, Mike Daniels

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Rapid technological changes in crop management and production require that the research efforts be presented in an expeditious manner. The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors in all Arkansas crops. The studies described within will allow producers to compare their practices with the university’s research efforts. Additionally, soil-test data and fertilizer sales are presented to allow comparisons among years, crops, and other areas within Arkansas.

Impacts Of Tectonic Subsidence On Basin Depth And Delta Lobe Building, Tian Y. Dong, Jeffrey A. Nittrouer, Brandee Carlson, Brandon Mcelroy, Elena Il’Icheva, Maksim Pavlov, Hongbo Ma

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Channel avulsions on river deltas are the primary means to distribute sediment and build land at the coastline. Many studies have detailed how avulsions generate delta lobes, whereby multiple lobes amalgamate to form a fan-shaped deposit. These studies often assume steady subsidence and uniform basin depth. In nature, however, lobe building is disrupted by variable subsidence, and progradation of lobes into basins with variable depth: conditions that are prevalent for tectonically active areas. Herein, we explore sediment dispersal and deposition patterns across scales using measurements of delta and basin morphology compiled from field surveys and remote sensing, collected over 150 …

A Systematic Design Approach For Bulk Gel Treatments Based On Gel Volume-Concentration Ratio In Field Projects, Munqith Aldhaheri, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Controlling excessive water production in mature oil fields has always been a desired objective of the oil and gas industry. This objective calls for planning of more effective water-control gel treatments with optimized designs to obtain more attractive outcomes. Unfortunately, planning such effective treatments remains a dilemma for reservoir engineers due to the lack of methodical design tools in the industry. This paper presents a novel systematic design approach for polyacrylamide-Based bulk gel treatments by classifying their field projects according to the gel volume-concentration ratio (VCR) into three design types. in terms of one another, the approach estimates either the …

Extreme Differentiation Along Multiple Liquid Lines Of Descent In Strongly Peralkaline Magma Series At Pantelleria (Italy), John C. White, Ray Macdonald, Bogusław Bagiński, Katarzyna M. Liszewska

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The liquid line of descent from trachyte to pantellerite is controlled primarily by fractional crystallization of alkali feldspar, with whole rock compositions following a fractionation path along the ‘thermal valley’ in the peralkaline haplogranite system Qz-Ab-Or-Ac-Ns and terminating at a minimum on the feldspar-quartz cotectic. Although whole-rock compositions for different pantelleritic suites follow nearly identical paths in a Qz-Ab-Or projection that terminate near the experimental minimum (Qz40.5Or34.5Ab25 at 100 MPa, projected from Ac-Ns), matrix glass from samples with near-minimum compositions record extreme differentiation and form a ‘cotectic delta’ beyond the terminus of the ‘thermal valley’. Although each glass trend shows …

City Of Tampa Tree Canopy And Urban Forest Analysis 2021, Shawn M. Landry, Andrew K. Koeser, Rebecca Zarger, Kira Rib, Allyson Salisbury, Robert J. Northrop, Michael G. Andreu, Allison Bednar, Zach Freeman

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This report summarizes the fourth tree canopy and urban forest analysis conducted for the City of Tampa and represents the year 2021. The City of Tampa tree ordinance (Ord. No. 2006-74, § 9, 3-23-06) requires an assessment of the tree canopy and urban forest every five years (beginning in 20061). In an effort to reduce concerns over bias, this work has been conducted by a collaborative team from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida following established USDA Forest Service protocols.

This report provides detailed information about the current size, composition, health, and distribution of Tampa’s urban …

Grassland Productivity And Water Quality: A 21st Century Issue, David M. Nash, P. M. Haygarth

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Irrigation and other changes to the hydrological cycle can increase soil and water salinity.
2. Primary salinisation is a natural process that affects much of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia. Secondary salinisation is caused by human activities such as irrigation and land clearing that mobilise salt stored in the soil.
3. The critical water contaminants exported from grasslands are nitrogen, phosphorus, potential pathogens and sediment.
4. The mechanisms responsible for diffuse pollution from grasslands and mitigation strategies are most effectively investigated using a ‘source-mobilisation-transport’ framework.
5. There is a lack of coherent interaction across discipline boundaries that links pollutant sources to impact. …

Water Resources, Agriculture And Pasture: Implications Of Growing Demand And Increasing Scarcity, M. W. Rosegrant, R. A. Valmonte-Santos, S. A. Cline, C. Ringler, W. Li

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Water availability for irrigation is threatened in many regions by rapidly increasing demand for nonagricultural water uses in industry, households, and the environment. The scarcity of irrigation water will not only impact crop production, but also meat production, as much of the pasture used to feed livestock is irrigated.
2. Grassland is caught between two countervailing forces: a requirement for increasing meat demand that boosts the need for additional pasture to support livestock production, and rapidly increasing water scarcity that makes pasture irrigation uneconomical.
3. The most effective means of dealing with water scarcity is likely to be conserving water in existing …

Soil Quality Assessment And Management, M. G. Kibblewhite

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Soil quality is related to the capacity of soil to deliver ecosystem services on a sustainable basis.
2. Effective management of soil within grasslands can deliver many benefits to mankind but poor management may cause loss of soil quality from erosion, loss of organic matter, physical deterioration etc.
3. Services are delivered from soil by biological processes. Soil quality depends on the form and condition of the soil habitat. Fixed factors (e.g. texture) are useful for assigning soil to types. Variable factors (e.g. organic carbon) can then be used to assess quality within soil types, by reference to percentiles of the distribution …

Soil Microbial Community: Understanding The Belowground Network For Sustainable Grassland Management, Y. G. Zhu, W. D. Kong, B. D. Chen, Z. B. Nan, P. Christie

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. In addition to the use of conventional methodologies in soil microbial research, molecular techniques are now being applied to gain insights into the soil microbial community;
2. Plant diversity can exert impacts on soil microbial diversity (through root activities and plant litter etc.), but may in itself be significantly altered by soil properties;
3. Soil microbial diversity largely determines the stability of soil ecosystems under biotic and abiotic perturbations.
4. Management of soil microbial diversity can only be achieved through better understanding their structures and functions.

Grasslands1 For Production And The Environment, David R. Kemp, David L. Michalk

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. To manage grasslands for production and enhanced environmental values requires a redefinition of the frameworks within which management decisions are made, and a tailoring of practices to suit the ways that farmers operate.
2. Improving the perenniality and permanence of grasslands usually leads to better environmental and production outcomes.
3. There is a case for a more conservative approach to utilising grasslands in order to sustain the functioning of local ecosystems and to improve water quality, nutrient and energy cycling and biodiversity.
4. A landscape rather than paddock focus is more appropriate for meeting current grassland management objectives. Grasslands can be triaged to …

The Potential Of Grassland And Associated Forages To Produce Fibre, Biomass, Energy Or Other Feedstocks For Non-Food And Other Sectors: New Uses For A Global Resource, M. F. Askew

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. In developed countries increased areas of land will become available for non-food production. Recent reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy will further intensify this trend in Europe.
2. There is potential for grassland and associated species to contribute to large tonnage markets of energy and bulk fibres, to the supply of fermentation products and to speciality markets, but processes and approaches to the market are not as yet developed.
3. There is potential for the establishment of Graminaceous species - specifically for non- food use. For European conditions particular attention is being given to Miscanthus sinensis (Miscanthus), Arundo donax (Giant Reed), Phalaris …

Grasses As Biofactories: Scoping Out The Opportunities, Nick Roberts, K. Richardson, G. Bryan, Christine R. Voisey, W. Mcnabb, T. Conner, M. Christey, R. Johnson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Plant biopharming is set to dominate commercial recombinant protein expression for specific proteins.
2. The choice of plant species depends on a multitude of factors and is determined on a case- by-case basis.
3. As a leaf based expression system grasses would have to compete predominantly with tobacco and alfalfa.
4. The grass-endophyte symbiosis offers a number of unique possibilities for biopharming.

Adoption Of Tropical Legume Technology Around The World: Analysis Of Success, H. M. Shelton, Steven Franzel, M. Peters

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Examples of successful adoption of forage legumes are reported from all continents, where they delivered profitability and often provided multipurpose benefits to farmers.
2. Factors vital to successful adoption were: meeting the needs of farmers; building relevant partnerships; understanding the socio-economic context and skills of farmers; participatory involvement with rural communities; and long-term involvement of champions.
3. Organisation of seed supply, achieving scale-up and forming partnerships to implement adoption are key features.
4. Legumes remain an important but under-exploited resource for tropical farming systems. The alternative to legumes will be greater and more costly use of N-fertilisers and purchased protein concentrates.
5. The R&D …

Evolution Of Integrated Crop-Livestock Production Systems, Martin H. Entz, William D. Bellotti, J. M. Powell, S. V. Angadi, W. Chen, K. H. Ominski, B. Boelt

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Many factors contribute to changes in the crop-livestock systems, but no logical end-point in the evolution process exists.
2. While benefits of integrated crop-livestock systems over specialised crop and livestock systems are well documented, there has been a move to specialised crop and livestock production.
3. Sustainability issues (manure nutrient concentration, soil quality maintenance, salinity, herbicide resistance, economic instability) have created a renewed interest in integrated crop-livestock systems.
4. Farmer adaptability is as an important link in the evolution between ‘states of integration’.

Overcoming Seasonality Of Production: Opportunities Offered By Forage Conservation Technologies, P. O'Kiely, A. G. Kaiser

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Seasonality of forage supply is a key contributor to the seasonality of meat and milk production.
2. Conserving forages as silage or hay can help reduce the seasonality of feed supply.
3. Forage conservation technologies make this contribution mainly through increases in the yield or quality of suitable crops, through an improved efficiency of the conservation process or by allowing a reduction in costs.
4. Future research needs differ considerably among regions of the world.

Strategies To Mitigate Seasonality Of Production In Grassland-Based Systems, Claudio Porqueddu, S. Maltoni, J. G. Mcivor

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Fertilisation use and manipulation can cost-effectively alter species composition, increase seasonal herbage production and improve herbage quality.
2. Choice of suitable grassland species, varieties and mixtures offers opportunity to mitigate limitations of seasonal grassland production.
3. Special purpose fodder crops, cereals, shrubs and trees offer alternative or supplementary feed sources.
4. Manipulation of stocking rates, grazing systems, transhumance and pasture management at various times of the season are significant advantageous options.
5. Integration of different strategies is essential to mitigate seasonality in systems of animal production that must be inherently more sustainable over a longer time frame.

Interactions Between Foraging Behaviour Of Herbivores And Grassland Resources In The Eastern Eurasian Steppes, Deli Wang, Guodong Han, Yuguang Bai

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. In rangeland areas such as the eastern Eurasian steppes (Mongolia and China), foraging behaviour is influenced by plant or vegetation properties with high heterogeneity.
2. Until recently foraging theory has not accounted for the foraging process or ingestive behaviour. Existing theories on foraging behaviour need to evolve and begin to coalesce, and combine with observations or manipulative experiments.
3. Plant and patch properties such as diversity and height influence animal foraging behaviour (related to foraging process or diet selection) in heterogeneous steppes.
4. Stocking rate is the most important management factor for grazing or vegetation management, and determining the optimal stocking rate in …

Foraging Behaviour And Herbage Intake In The Favourable Tropics/Sub-Tropics, S. C. Da Silva, Paulo C. De F. Carvalho

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

1. Herbage intake by animals grazing tropical/sub-tropical pastures is directly related to bite mass, as it is for those grazing temperate pastures.
2. Where these swards have low proportions of stem and dead material (controlled swards), herbage intake follows a similar pattern to that of temperate pasture species, but leaf characteristics, such as lamina length play an important role and influence the short-term rate of intake.
3. Sward structural characteristics and behavioural factors are relatively more important than nutritional factors in terms of herbage intake regulation. The feeding value of the herbage produced is potentially adequate to sustain high levels of beef cattle …

Assessing Ecosystem Health Through Contaminants In The Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, Nancy Torres

Theses

Although the Tijuana River Estuary (TRE) remains the largest, most-intact coastal wetland in Southern California, it has a history of major changes, much of this related to its location immediately north of the US / Mexico Border. One of the primary challenges is cross-border flows from the rapidly growing city of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and the delivery of wastewater, debris, and sediment to sensitive coastal wetland ecosystems. There is a need to more fully investigate these environmental changes to assess the ecosystem health of the Tijuana River Estuary over time, especially related to pollution impacts. This can inform an …

Columbia River Rhyolites: Age-Distribution Patterns And Their Implications For Arrival, Location, And Dispersion Of Continental Flood Basalt Magmas In The Crust, Martin J. Streck, Vanessa M. Swenton, William C. Mcintosh, Matt Heizler

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Columbia River province magmatism is now known to include abundant and widespread rhyolite centers even though the view that the earliest rhyolites erupted from the McDermitt Caldera and other nearby volcanic fields along the Oregon–Nevada state border has persisted. Our study covers little-studied or unknown rhyolite occurrences in eastern Oregon that show a much wider distribution of older centers. With our new data on distribution of rhyolite centers and ages along with literature data, we consider rhyolites spanning from 17.5 to 14.5 Ma of eastern Oregon, northern Nevada, and western Idaho to be a direct response to flood basalts of …

Looking Backward And Forward: Volcanology In The Years 2000, 2010, 2020, And Beyond, Jonathan Fink, Katharine Cashman

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Figuring out how volcanoes work is one of the geoscience’s most complex puzzles. Clues of all sizes, shapes, and colors are scattered across every continent, the bottom of the ocean, in the atmosphere, and on the surfaces of other planets. Generations of geologists, geophysicists, geodesists, and geochemists have used field observations, laboratory measurements, and theory to fill gaps left by their predecessors. Yet critical uncertainties remain. Why do eruptions begin? What determines their intensity? What controls their frequency and style of activity? What causes them to end? These unsolved issues leave society increasingly vulnerable to volcanic disruptions. Hundreds of published …

Soil Microbial Legacies Influence Freeze–Thaw Responses Of Soil, Melissa A. Pastore, Aimee T. Classen, Marie E. English, Serita D. Frey, Melissa A. Knorr, Karin Rand, E. Carol Adair

Faculty Publications

Warmer winters with less snowfall are increasing the frequency of soil freeze–thaw cycles across temperate regions. Soil microbial responses to freeze–thaw cycles vary and some of this variation may be explained by microbial conditioning to prior winter conditions, yet such linkages remain largely unexplored. We investigated how differences in temperature history influenced microbial community composition and activity in response to freeze–thaw cycles.

We collected soil microbial communities that developed under colder (high elevation) and warmer (low elevation) temperature regimes in spruce-fir forests, then added each of these soil microbial communities to a sterile bulk-soil in a laboratory microcosm experiment. The …