Biogeochemistry Commons^™

Assessing Stormwater Management Pond Water Quality, Function, And The Potential Biotic Effects To Receiving Waters, Mitchell Elstone

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The use of stormwater management ponds (SWMPs) has been increasing over the past five decades. However, an in-depth understanding of the daily performance of SWMPs and functionality during cold periods is limited. This is in part because mandated monitoring is relatively infrequent, and the assumption that SWMPs are inactive between storm events and during the winter. The goals of this research were to better understand daily stormwater (SW) characteristics, the performance of SWMPs based on current forms of evaluation and assess the potential for SWMP effluent to impact downstream biota. Influent and effluent samples from two SWMPs were collected daily …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

The Discovery Of Diverse Picophytoplankton Populations In The Columbia And Willamette Rivers Using Flow Cytometry, Kylee M. Lamberson

Chemistry Undergraduate Departmental Honors Theses

As important primary producers, picophytoplankton determine the flow of carbon and energy in aquatic ecosystems. Picocyanobacteria are one picophytoplankton group known to be dominant in oceans and lakes, but they are still poorly understood in river systems. This project examined picophytoplankton communities in two distinct river systems: the Columbia and Willamette Rivers in Portland, Oregon. I aimed to characterize and quantify the picophytoplankton populations in the context of the environmental conditions of the two rivers. I used flow cytometry to detect cells based on their relative size and pigment fluorescence. I sampled nearly weekly for ten months to capture population …

Quantifying The Role Of Water Quality On Nitrogen Cycling In A Trophic Estuary, Kayla Gonzalez-Boy

Symposium of Student Scholars

Jobos Bay Estuary is an intertidal, tropical estuary located in southern Puerto Rico. The estuary covers about 12 km² and has a variety of habitats, such as seagrass beds, mangroves, mud flats, and coral reefs, which play important roles in sediment trapping and water quality maintenance. Seagrasses also serve as nursery and feeding grounds and provide shelter for macrofauna. Currently, the role of seagrasses and water quality on nitrogen (N) cycling in trophic estuaries is not well constrained. Understanding variations in sediment-based effects on N cycling rates and transformations, and how they are associated with water quality, is an …

Volcanic Diffuse Volatile Emissions Tracked By Plant Responses Detectable From Space, Robert R. Bogue, Peter M. J. Douglas, Joshua B. Fisher, John Stix

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Volcanic volatile emissions provide information about volcanic unrest but are difficult to detect with satellites. Volcanic degassing affects plants by elevating local CO2 and H2O concentrations, which may increase photosynthesis. Satellites can detect plant health, or a reaction to photosynthesis, through a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This can act as a potential proxy for detecting changes in volcanic volatile emissions from space. We tested this method by analyzing 185 Landsat 5 and 8 images of the Tern Lake thermal area (TLTA) in northeast Yellowstone caldera from 1984 to 2022. We compared the NDVI values of the thermal area with …

The Ecological Effects Of Nitrogen Enrichment In Aridlands, Jennifer Holguin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is one of the most prominent factors driving global change. Across the globe, N deposition has driven major changes in terrestrial ecosystems, such as declines in plant biodiversity, enhanced exotic plant growth, and changes to biogeochemical processes involved in carbon and nutrient cycling. While noteworthy effort has been put forth to investigate the effects of N deposition on terrestrial ecosystems, a disproportionate number of N addition studies have been conducted in temperate mesic systems. Thus, we lack a holistic and mechanistic understanding of how N deposition impact aridland ecosystems. Additionally, our predictions of the effects of …

Linking Decomposition Reactions In Arctic Soils To Microbial Enzyme Production, Jane Karen Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Microbial processes such as soil enzyme production are a major driver of decomposition and a current topic of interest in arctic soils due to the effects of climate warming. Despite the advances in understanding soil enzymes, there are still knowledge gaps regarding the role of enzymes in decomposition. In this dissertation, I addressed three of those gaps in the following chapters: (Ch.2) to explore the location of enzymes within the soil matrix, (Ch.3) to identify peptides matched to soil enzymes produced by microorganisms for organic matter decomposition, and (Ch.4) understand the longevity of enzymes in the soil after microbial production. …

The Effects Of Imposed Drought And Nutrient Availability On Soil Microbial Biomass And Enzyme Activity In A Long-Term Restored Grassland, Ashley A. Wojciechowski

2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference

Restoring agricultural lands back to grassland aims to reverse many negative impacts of agriculture on the ecosystem including nutrient export from soil and depletion of soil carbon. Planting prairie on agricultural soil promotes recovery of soil microbial biomass and their enzymes, which create demand for nitrogen by microbes to reduce the rate of nutrient cycling and loss. A complicating factor in the development of a restored grassland the influence of several anthropogenic global changes including increasing frequency of drought and nutrient enrichment. Drought has been found to negatively affect microbial biomass, soil enzyme activity and nutrient cycling. Nutrient (often N) …

Strategies For Achieving Agriculture Carbon Peak And Carbon Neutrality In China Based On View Of Biogeochemical Cycle, Shiqi Yang, Xin Yan

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Biogeochemical cycle is the basic theory of matter (elements) flow among atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere, which provides important guidance to achieving the national goal of agriculture carbon peak (ACP) and agriculture carbon neutrality (ACN). As a basic industry, agriculture has large-scale temporal and spatial influence on the greenhouse effect, hence great importance should be attached to ACP and ACN in order to assist the overall strategy of achieving national carbon peak and neutrality. Based on the view of biogeochemical cycle and connotations of ACP and ACN, this article analyzes the paths to achieve ACP and ACN, and discusses the …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Fine Characterization Of Leafing Phenology In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest By Optical And Microwave Remote Sensing, James B. Bell

Dissertations and Theses

Tropical forests provide important ecosystem functions in the global biosphere, but they remain among the most poorly understood elements of land surface models, especially with regard to their seasonal dynamics. For instance, in seasonally dry forests, the pattern of the annual green-up in their canopies closely follows annual patterns of rainfall. The same, however, does not occur in wet forest canopies which are dominated by evergreen trees. In the latter, water is not scarce enough to limit leaf photosynthetic function. Canopy leafing phenology in these forests is therefore poorly characterized by optical remote sensing methods which are not sensitive to …

Shallow Water Coral Distribution And Its Response To Climate Change, Amaury De Jesus

Dissertations and Theses

Shallow water corals are one of the main reef-building organisms that secrete carbonates as their skeletons, and therefore, are one of the major sinks of CO2 in the ocean. These reef builders are also very crucial to marine environments and human society. As the global energy demand continues rising, fossil fuel burning increases at a faster pace despite the increase in energy supply using clean and renewable energy. The increase of CO2 in the atmosphere has been shown to exacerbate global warming and may cause ocean acidification, threatening the habitat of shallow-water corals. Many recent observations show alarming signs of …

Food Waste Storage Gaseous Emissions Detection And Quantification Using Infrared Spectroscopy, Ryley A. Burton-Tauzer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

A growing interest in sustainable waste management and the implementation of new policies have prompted a shift towards alternative resource recovery methods for organic waste, including food waste. To effectively assess alternative food waste treatment scenarios, it is important to evaluate the life cycle impacts associated with each scenario. The storage phase of food waste, encompassing its accumulation in kitchens, and storage in bins for collection and transportation, has been overlooked as a source of greenhouse gases in previous studies. This investigation aimed to identify the greenhouse gases emitted during the initial five-day period of low-oxygen storage. An open dynamic …

Rapid Bacterial And Fungal Successional Dynamics In First Year After Chaparral Wildfire, M. Fabiola Pulido-Chavez, James W. J. Randolph, Cassandra A. Zalman, Loralee Larios, Peter M. Homyak, Sydney I. Glassman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The rise in wildfire frequency and severity across the globe has increased interest in secondary succession. However, despite the role of soil microbial communities in controlling biogeochemical cycling and their role in the regeneration of post-fire vegetation, the lack of measurements immediately post-fire and at high temporal resolution has limited understanding of microbial secondary succession. To fill this knowledge gap, we sampled soils at 17, 25, 34, 67, 95, 131, 187, 286, and 376 days after a southern California wildfire in fire-adapted chaparral shrublands. We assessed bacterial and fungal biomass with qPCR of 16S and 18S and richness and composition …

Larval Ecology Of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus Thynnus): New Insights From Otolith Microstructure, Biotic, And Abiotic Analyses From The Gulf Of Mexico And Mediterranean Sea, Estrella Malca

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABT), Thunnus thynnus, spawn in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the Mediterranean Sea (MED). Spawning occurs within narrow temporal and environmental parameters. Efforts to characterize growth of ABT in wild conditions revealed a wide range of growth variability during the early life stages. This series of studies examined potential biotic and abiotic influences of larval growth from seven ABT cohorts, and identified several key drivers of growth for this commercially valuable species. A detailed investigation of larval dynamics using otolith microstructure was conducted as follows. First, companion growth curves and stable isotope analysis from the same …

The Binding Of The Micronutrient Transition Metals To The Alkylation Products Of Chemical Warfare Agent, Sulfur Mustard, And Thiols, Potentially Giving New Understanding To Physiological Effects Of Exposure And Increased Toxicity, Colin O'Donnell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Model compounds, 3,6,9-trithaiundecane-1,11-dicarboxylic acid (TTDPA), 2,5,8-trithianonane-1,9-dicarboxylic acid (TTDAA), and 1,11-diamide-3,6,9-trithiaundecane (TTDAce), closely related to the adducts formed by cysteine alkylation of the chemical weapon, sulfur mustard, were synthesized. It is shown that TTDPA forms complexes with key metal micronutrients: copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and zinc. Though the strength of binding to TTDPA varies, the complexes in many cases precipitate from solution. All metals produced a visible precipitate upon interaction with TTDPA under the conditions tested, however only Cu2+, Mn2+, and Zn2+ produced enough to be measured. The mass of formed precipitate seemed to peak at an equimolar ratio of TTDPA …

The Nitrogen Dynamics Of Deer Cave, Sarawak, And The Role Of Bat Caves As Biogeochemical Sinks In Tropical Moist Forests., Joyce Lundberg, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Guy Van Rentergem

International Journal of Speleology

A better understanding of the role of bat caves as nitrogen sinks in tropical moist forest ecosystems can be expected to shed light on regional and spatial variability in nutrient recycling studies. We measured the nitrogen flux (in air and water) associated with a very large Chaerephon plicata bat colony in Deer Cave, Borneo, in the process generating a new, quantitative, estimate of the total bat population (774,828 ±48,320), and the first detailed modelling of an ammonia plume in a cave. Long-term storage of N does not occur in this wet cave. Our final budget numbers indicate that, of the …

Concentration Of Heavy Metals In Three Distinct Algae Families From Humboldt County, California, Kodiak E. Miller, Caleb J. Strait, Jacob I. Begorre, Brittney L. Mitchell, Claire P. Till

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

Anthropogenic impacts on marine environments can impact metal fluxes and concentrations available to marine species. Monitoring these impacts is necessary to better understand the interactions between the biotic and abiotic components of these ecosystems and mitigate the risk posed by harmful toxins introduced by human activities. Biomoniters, like macroscopic algae, are useful indicators that illuminate the bioaccumulation of toxins commonly introduced from anthropogenic activity. With this in mind, the concentrations of heavy metals zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu) were analyzed via the assessment of algae (Representatives from Ulva, Mastocarpus, Fucus) in two sites in Humboldt County: …

Nutrient Dynamics And Ecosystem Development Of Urban Forests, Gisselle A. Mejía

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Urban growth and expansion are a major component of global environmental change, with impacts on climate, air and water quality, biodiversity, and human well-being. Forests embedded in urban landscapes are critical in mitigating these impacts at local, regional, and continental scales. However, assessing urban forests is difficult because cities are heterogenous in physical, chemical, biological, and social dimensions. This heterogeneity has constrained how urban forests are defined, and therefore, how they are studied. The objective of this dissertation is to determine how these biophysical and social factors drive ecological processes in urban forests and will address three outstanding challenges in …

Determining The Effects Of Elevated Carbon Dioxide On Soil Acidification, Cation Depletion, And Soil Inorganic Carbon And Mapping Soil Carbons Using Artificial Intelligence, Jannatul Ferdush

Theses and Dissertations

Soil carbon is the largest sink and source of the global carbon cycle and is disturbed by several natural, anthropogenic, and environmental factors. The global increase of atmospheric CO₂ affects soil carbon cycling through varied biogeochemical processes. The first chapter is a compilation of current information on potential factors triggering soil acidification and weathering mechanisms under elevated CO₂ and their consequences on soil inorganic carbon (SIC) pool and quality. Soil water content and precipitation were critical factors influencing elevated CO₂ effects on the SIC pool. The second chapter examines a detailed column experiment in which six soils …

The Paleoecology Of High-Elevation Bison In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Implications For Modern Bison Conservation, Darian Bouvier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The national mammal of the United States, the American Bison (Bison bison) was once nearly extinct. Populations have recovered to the degree that thousands roam the Great Plains today. Due to their large numbers and body size, this species has an oversized impact on the ecological communities where it lives and is considered a keystone herbivore in modern North American grasslands. This study explores the detailed, seasonally resolved, paleoecology of seven bison from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem during the Late Holocene through stable isotope analyses and species niche modeling. Isotopic analyses of δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, …

Wetland Soil Development Along Salinity And Hydrogeomorphic Gradients In Active And Inactive Deltaic Basins Of Coastal Louisiana, Amanda Fontenot

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal wetlands provide an abundance of ecosystem services that benefit society, such as essential habitat for commercial species, storm protection, nutrient cycling, and carbon storage. Louisiana faces rapid rates of relative sea level rise (natural subsidence and eustatic sea levels) that threaten wetland survival, which are amplified by a reduction of riverine sediment input. An important determining factor of marsh survival is the formation of wetland platform elevation, known as vertical accretion, which is determined by several processes including sediment deposition & erosion, below ground biomass (BGB) productivity, decomposition of organic matter, shallow & deep subsidence, and soil compaction. Feldspar …

Evidence For Metabolic Diversity In Meso-Neoproterozoic Stromatolites (Vazante Group, Brazil), Flavia Callefo, Fresia Ricardi-Branco, Mirian Mírian Liza Alves Forancelli Pacheco, Alexandre Ribeiro Cardoso, Nora Noffke, Verônica De Carvalho Teixeira, Itamar Tomio Neckel, Lara Maldanis, Emma Bullock, Dina Bower, Adalene Moreira Silva, Dario Ferreira Sanchez, Fabio Rodrigues, Douglas Galante

OES Faculty Publications

Deciphering the evolution of ecological interactions among the metabolic types during the early diversification of life on Earth is crucial for our understanding of the ancient biosphere. The stromatolites from the genus Conophyton cylindricus represent a datum for the Proterozoic (Meso to Neoproterozoic) on Earth. Their typical conical shape has been considered a result of a competition between microorganisms for space, light and nutrients. Well-preserved records of this genus from the "Paleontological Site of Cabeludo ", Vazante Group, São Francisco Craton (Southern Brazil) present in situ fossilized biofilms, containing preserved carbonaceous matter. Petrographic and geochemical analyses revealed an alternation between …

Spatial Geochemical Changes In Central And East Texas Soils Over Time Resulting From Human Decomposition, Isabela Marisol Overturf

CMC Senior Theses

Human decomposition is studied to aid forensic investigations and better understand the impact of cemeteries on urban resources like soil and groundwater. The purpose of this study was to identify changes in soil geochemistry at and around a human grave to search for lateral nutrient movement and possibly identify new patterns in elemental concentrations that could be used in estimating post-mortem intervals (PMIs). At the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF) at Texas State San Marcos, soil samples were collected from a shallow grave over the course of 54 days to conduct analysis for organic matter content, texture, pH, and bulk …

Validation Of The Use Of Clathromorphum Compactum Growth And Skeletal Δ18o As A Proxy For Seawater Conditions, Teagan Mcmahon

Pitzer Senior Theses

Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are important organisms that create benthic habitat in the photic zone of oceans worldwide. CCAs mechanisms of photosynthesis and calcification may, in some cases, make them vulnerable to climate change and ocean acidification. Therefore, CCA are important not only for their ecological role within ecosystems but also for their ability to indicate the effects that ocean acidification and climate change may have on other marine calcifying organisms. Some species of CCA are known to be useful recorders of paleo oceanic conditions. These climate archives and reconstructions of past environmental conditions are important for understanding past changes …

Frayed Connections: How Long-Term Nitrogen Additions Disrupt Plant-Soil Interactions And The Carbon Cycle Of A Temperate Forest, Brooke A. Eastman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Forests are expected to mitigate some of the negative effects of climate change by sequestering anthropogenic carbon (C) from the atmosphere, but the degree to which they drawn down C will depend on the availability of key nutrients, such as nitrogen (N). There is a fair amount of uncertainty in the future of the forest C sink, mostly owing to the fate of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil heterotrophic respiration to future conditions. In N limited systems, plants allocate a significant amount of their photosynthate belowground for the acquisition of nutrients, but under conditions of chronic N deposition, plants …

Nutrient Cycling In Tropical And Temperate Coastal Waters: Is Latitude Making A Difference?, Christian Lønborg, Moritz Müller, Edward C. V. Butler, Shan Jiang, Seng Keat Ooi, Dieu Huong Trinh, Pui Yee Wong, Suryati M. Ali, Chun Cui, Wee Boon Siong, Erik S. Yando, Daniel A. Friess, Judith A. Rosentreter, Bradley D. Eyre, Patrick Martin

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Tropical coastal waters are highly dynamic and amongst the most biogeochemically active zones in the ocean. This review compares nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles in temperate and tropical coastal waters. We review the literature to identify major similarities and differences between these two regions, specifically with regards to the impact of environmental factors (temperature, sunlight), riverine inputs, groundwater, lateral fluxes, atmospheric deposition, nitrogen fixation, organic nutrient cycling, primary production, respiration, sedimentary burial, denitrification and anammox. Overall, there are some similarities but also key differences in nutrient cycling, with differences relating mainly to temperature, sunlight, and precipitation amounts and patterns. …

Blue Carbon In South Florida's Mangroves: The Role Of Large Roots And Necromass, Zoë I. Shribman

LSU Master's Theses

Blue carbon sequestration and storage in mangroves largely result from belowground biomass allocation in response to flooded anaerobic soil conditions and nutrient availability. Biomass allocation to belowground roots is a major driver of mangrove soil formation and organic matter accumulation leading to blue carbon storage potential. Belowground biomass sampling in mangroves is labor intensive, limiting data availability on biomass stocks, particularly for large roots (>20 mm diameter) and necromass (dead roots). The mangrove nutrient model (NUMAN) uses mostly literature values to parameterize a soil cohort approach to simulate depth distribution of root mass and organic carbon concentration. We evaluated …

Palynology And Paleoclimatology Of The Chicxulub Impact Crater In The Early Paleogene, Vann Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, a large bolide impacted the Earth and formed the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. In 2016, International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364 Site M0077 drilled into the buried peak ring of the crater, recovering a marine Paleocene to early Eocene post-impact section deposited on top of the impact breccia. Palynological analysis of 195 samples from the post-impact section has yielded the first pre-Holocene vegetational record from inside the Chicxulub impact crater and the first palynological record of the recovery of life following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction from inside the …

Phragmites Australis Dieback In The Mississippi River Delta: Chemical Profiles Of Soil Types And Restoration Potential, Herie Lee

LSU Master's Theses

Since 2016, there has been widespread dieback of P. australis in the Lower Mississippi River Delta (hereafter referred to as Lower MRD, which is defined as the Birds Foot Delta) with relatively little to no signs of recovery. The cause of the current dieback is not fully understood. This thesis explores P. australis with emphasis on chemical profile characterization of different soil types and its effects on plant growth and the potential for restoration in the Lower MRD.

In chapter 2, I characterized the chemical profiles of soils collected from healthy and dieback stands of Phragmites, and from newly …