Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Paper Wasp Species Polistes Fuscatus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Tracks Urban Lead (Pb) Levels More Than Polistes Dominula, Lindsey R. Kemmerling, Anna L. Lovat, Allison A. Hanka, Emilie C. Snell-Rood

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Lead (Pb) is a persistent, toxic pollutant with widespread but inequitably distributed impacts, especially for humans in urban areas. The impacts of lead pollution on other organisms is largely unknown, even as they commonly experience exposure to lead alongside humans. We tested hypotheses regarding the lead concentrations of paper wasps across a gradient of pollution relative to soil and human lead levels, and correlations with wasp body condition. We collected two species of paper wasp across an urban gradient of lead pollution: Polistes fuscatus (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), native to our study location, and Polistes dominula (Christ), nonnative to our study …

Land Condition Standards For The Western Australian Nullarbor Pastoral Region, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Wayne J. Fletcher

Natural resources published reports

This report outlines the quantitative land condition standards that define acceptable pastoral land condition for the Western Australian part of the Nullarbor, to meet the regulatory requirements of the Land Administration Act 1997 and the Soil and Land Conservation Act 1945.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is developing regional-level pastoral land condition standards for Western Australia as a critical component of the Framework for sustainable pastoral management – revised edition (Fletcher 2022), the purpose of which is to address the Office of the Auditor General’s recommendations to improve the management of pastoral lands in WA …

2026 Workshop On Bridging The Gaps: Tackling Microplastics And Nanoplastics Challenges In Coastal Ecosystems, Shenghua Wu, Kaushik Venkiteshwaran, Melike Dizbay-Onat, Alexandra Stenson, Jinhui Wang, Tina Miller-Way, Ebenezer Nyadjro, Bhuvnesh Bharti, John Weinstein, Yi Bao, Shihui Shen, Valerie Longa, Shenghua Zha, John Cleary, Marty Lind

Workshops

This report presents the findings from the 2026 Workshop on Tackling Microplastics and Nanoplastics (MNPs) in Coastal Ecosystems, which took place in Mobile, Alabama. More than 140 experts from universities, government, industry, and community organizations gathered to address the increasing issue of MNPs in coastal regions.

Ecological Responses To Living Shoreline Restoration, Aaron S. Bland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Coastal built communities and natural coastal ecosystems face similar and interrelated hazards: shoreline sediment erosion, shoreline retreat, and worsening storms, each of which is exacerbated by relative sea level rise. Living shorelines are coastal defense projects that incorporate natural habitats to provide more sustainable shoreline defense and improve the coastal ecosystem. Living shorelines have been widely adopted, but their performance has been highly variable, and the mechanisms of project success and failure are unclear. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to better understand the ecosystem responses to coastal restoration, focusing on the primary habitats of coastal salt marsh and …

Enhancing Walleye (Ogaa) Recruitment: Evaluating Assisted Reproduction As A Mitigation Strategy, Douglass Keiser

Biology Graduate Theses

Over the past several decades, cold- and cool-water fish populations across the Upper Midwest, including Minnesota and Wisconsin, have shown troubling signs of decline. Among the most affected is the walleye/Ogaa (Sander vitreus), a species deeply embedded in the ecological balance, cultural identity, and economic vitality of the region, and central to the lifeways, treaty-reserved rights, and resource stewardship of Tribal Nations, including Ojibwe communities across the Upper Midwest. Despite ongoing stocking efforts and harvest regulations, many lake systems have experienced persistent declines in natural recruitment, prompting resource agencies to investigate the underlying causes. One such system is …

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus Occidentalis) Groundings On A Four-Lane Divided Highway In South Texas: A Comparative Study Using Citizen Science, Bradley Evan Beer, Kevin W. Ryer, Md. Saydur Rahman, John H. Young Jr., Richard J. Kline

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The population of the once-endangered brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) has increased over the past several decades and is now considered fully recovered. However, in south Texas, the combined effects of weather patterns, transportation infrastructure, and brown pelican biology have led to road mortalities on State Highway 48 (SH 48) at the Carl “Joe” Gayman Bridge. To mitigate these mortalities, the Texas Department of Transportation modified traffic barriers on SH 48. We aimed to examine the effect of the barrier change and determine which weather variables influence brown pelican groundings on SH 48. Citizen scientists monitored sections of SH …

Raptor Abundance And Occupancy In Urban Parks Within Metropolitan Landscapes, Mary- Esther Leblanc

Posters - 2026

Rapid urbanization is one of the most significant and accelerating drivers of global biodiversity change, reshaping wildlife communities by fragmenting habitat, altering prey availability, and introducing human disturbances. Despite these pressures, some wildlife species are attracted to and may even flourish in urban settings, primarily because urbanization creates an altered landscape that often unintentionally provides resources functioning as components of habitat. (Chiron et al., 2024) Raptors, as apex predators within avian food webs, offer a valuable lens through which to examine these dynamics. While raptor communities are broadly negatively impacted by urbanization, some species can thrive in urban areas. (Leveau …

Saved From The Brink Of Collapse: Evaluating The Success Of The Sussex Kelp Recovery Project, Keagan Farrell, Kelly Swyers, Adan Vasquez

Posters - 2026

Kelp forests are vital to ocean health, they provide habitat, food, and nursery grounds for a variety of marine species. These forests support fisheries, improve water quality, and help to protect coastlines (Eger et al. 2024). The Sussex Kelp Recovery Project is a marine conservation effort aimed at restoring their kelp forests along the Sussex coastline in southern England. This area lost up to 96% of its forests mainly due to the fishing practice trawling. Trawling is used to gather large amounts of fish, while dragging a net at the seafloor (Our history 2026). The main goal of the Sussex …

Chesapeake Bay Water Clarity: Challenges And Successes, Jessica S. Turner, Carl T. Friedrichs, David B. Parrish, Kelsey A. Fall

OES Faculty Publications

The Chesapeake Bay is a large estuarine system spanning multiple jurisdictions and serves as a model for estuarine health worldwide. Historically, nutrient loading degraded water quality, prompting the need for regulation. Water clarity, one component of water quality, is vital for benthic communities and serves as a key indicator of overall ecosystem health. Here, physical resuspension and salinity gradients, nutrient and sediment inputs, production of organic detritus by phytoplankton, and benthic communities all interact to drive clarity patterns, with high spatial variability. Trends over the last 50 years show improvement, though with a temporary increase in organic detritus in response …

Impacts Of Native And Nonnative Plant Species On Avian Community Diversity, Matty John Mackay, Steven Van Dang, Brandon Lee Corn

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Avian communities play an essential role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem dynamic by regulating insect populations, assisting in plant pollination, and seed dispersal. These contribute to the overall health of natural ecosystems and mitigate ecological disruptions that would arise in their absence. However, the introduction of non-native invasive plant species can interrupt the balance avian communities bring to ecosystems by reducing availability of food sources, altering habitat structures, increasing competition among individuals, and disrupting ecological relationships through rapid invasion of ecological spaces. Point count observations of birds at Shelby Bottoms Park, Nashville, Tennessee in areas dominated by non-native privet and …

Harnessing Hyperspectral Imaging And Deep Learning For Terrestrial Habitat Mapping In Arid Landscapes: A Case Study In Saudi Arabia, Ali Elgendy, Hesham Morgan, Brandon Tran, Rejoice Thomas, Tamer Ismail, Yehya Kh. Shehadeh, Ahmed Elgharib, Ahmed Abdullah Al-Dughairi, Ali El Muburak, Khaled Allam Harhash, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Arid ecosystems remain under-mapped at actionable scales despite their ecological importance. Decision makers lack reliable, high-resolution habitat maps in drylands to prioritize protection and target restoration. This research integrates spaceborne hyperspectral imaging from the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) with deep learning semantic segmentation models to produce an updated level of habitat classification based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for part of the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Reserve, Saudi Arabia. Using ground control points and the full EnMAP spectral cube without band selection, U-Net and DeepLabV3+ architectures were each implemented with VGG19 and ResNet-101 …

Seagrass Persistence In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly Kibler, Melinda Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_seagrasspersistence_IRL_LWL.shp was created with support from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon (IRL) and Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL). The dataset presented herein represents persistence of seagrass throughout waters of the IRL and LWL.

Living Shoreline Prioritization And Hydrodynamic Habitat Suitability Models For Restoration In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly M. Kibler, Melinda J. Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_shorelinemodel_IRL_LWL.shp, was created with support from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon and Lake Worth Lagoon.

The dataset presented herein includes:

1. shoreline data from >15,000 transects collected in the field,
2. shoreline wave climate data created through hydrodynamic modeling and frequency analysis of historic data,
3. categorization of potential risk for shoreline boat wake impact,
4. persistence of seagrass within 210 m of the shoreline, …

Dramatic Biases In Terrestrial Nitrogen Fixation In Earth System Models Revealed By Natural Isotope Signatures, Maoyuan Fang, Shushi Peng, Philippe Ciais, Daniel S. Goll, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Ying-Ping Wang, Yilong Wang, Pan Liu, Joshua B. Fisher, Pierre Regnier

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the primary input of new reactive nitrogen to natural terrestrial ecosystems. However, this flux is poorly constrained due to its unclear drivers and associated control mechanisms. Here, we extend the existing theory of nitrogen (N) isotope mass balance to estimate BNF rates and then use a Bayesian approach to constrain the BNF rates in natural terrestrial ecosystems by using measurements of natural N-isotope ratios (δ¹⁵N) in plants (δ_P) and soil (δ_S). Together with pairwise δ_P and δ_S measurements from 18 forest sites covering diverse climates and thousands …

Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems In Southeastern Utah: An Integrated Analysis Of Hydrology, Ecology, And Landscape Change, Colten Lay

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In Southeastern Utah, springs play a critical role in sustaining groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) in a semi-arid environment. However, they remain understudied and face growing threats from climate change, land use modifications, and hydrologic alterations. This study addresses knowledge gaps in spring occurrence, hydrologic function, and ecological condition by integrating field surveys, remote sensing, and geospatial analysis across multiple spatial scales. It provides a comprehensive assessment of spring hydrology, water quality, and ecological conditions using field surveys, remote sensing, and GIS analysis to establish a foundational baseline of GDE resources in the region. I applied a multi-scale monitoring approach across the …

State And Transition Models For Mulga Rangelands Of Western Australia, Alison O'Donnell, Anna E. Richards, Suzanne Prober, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Sarah Luxton, Ian Watson, Brett Abbott, Philip Thomas, Joshua E. Foster

Natural resources published reports

This report details a collaborative project between the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and CSIRO that focused on developing State and Transition Models (STMs) for mulga rangelands in Western Australia. The overarching aim of the project was to improve the common understanding of the characteristics and dynamics of mulga rangeland ecosystems and the expected impacts of management. Specifically, the project aimed to collate expert knowledge and monitoring information using a nationally consistent framework to develop quantitative and dynamic STMs. The geographic scope of the project covers the extensive mulga rangelands of Western Australia, particularly the Gascoyne …

Remotely Sensed High-Resolution Soil Moisture And Evapotranspiration: Bridging The Gap Between Science And Society, Jingyi Huang, Vinit Sehgal, Laura V. Alvarez, Luca Brocca, Shuohao Cai, Rui Cheng, Xinghua Cheng, Jinyang Du, Bassil El Masri, K. Arthur Endsley, Yilin Fang, Jie Hu, Mahesh Jampani, Md Golam Kibria, Gerbrand Koren, Lingcheng Li, Laibao Liu, Jiafu Mao, Hernan A. Moreno, Angela Rigden, Mingjie Shi, Xiaoying Shi, Yaoping Wang, Xi Zhang, Joshua B. Fisher

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

This paper reviews the current state of high-resolution remotely sensed soil moisture (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) products and modeling, and the coupling relationship between SM and ET. SM downscaling approaches for satellite passive microwave products leverage advances in artificial intelligence and high-resolution remote sensing using visible, near-infrared, thermal-infrared, and synthetic aperture radar sensors. Remotely sensed ET continues to advance in spatiotemporal resolutions from MODIS to ECOSTRESS to Hydrosat and beyond. These advances enable a new understanding of bio-geo-physical controls and coupled feedback mechanisms between SM and ET reflecting the land cover and land use at field scale (3–30 m, daily). …

Monitoring Mangrove Dynamics And Evaluating Future Afforestation Potential In The Egyptian Red Sea, Rasha M. Abou Samra, Mansour Almazroui, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Mangrove forests are vital for ecosystem services and coastal management but face stressors from anthropogenic activities and climate change. This study estimates the extent and afforestation potential of mangroves along the Egyptian Red Sea coast from 1984 to 2022 using NDVI derived from Landsat-5 and Sentinel-2 data in Google Earth Engine. Aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), carbon (C) stock, and CO₂ sequestration potential were evaluated using Sentinel-2 and elevation data. Future afforestation suitability (2020–2050) under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios was assessed with the MaxEnt model. Mangrove area increased from 0.95 km² in 1984 to 1.46 km^{2 …}

Assessment Of Lake Salvador Shoreline Dynamics To Support Restoration Of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation In Jean Lafitte National Historical Park And Preserve, Louisiana, Lydia V. Dipaola

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

High wave energy degrades shoreline habitat between Lake Salvador and Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (JELA), Louisiana. JELA constructed a northern breakwater in 2004, and a southern breakwater in 2024 to protect the shoreline and promote restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). This study analyzes Sentinel-2 imagery to quantify coastal loss along the JELA-Lake Salvador using the Change Polygon Approach, assessing annual, cumulative and major storm event-associated shoreline changes for January 2017-2025. SAV cover, nekton diversity, wave energy, and turbidity were measured before-and-after southern breakwater construction to monitor ecological and environmental outcomes. The JELA-Lake Salvador shoreline has lost …

Pastoral Land Condition: Kimberley Land Condition Standards, Robert Sudmeyer, Rick Fletcher, Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Fletcher, Charles Martin, Philip Thomas, Karen Holmes, Karyn Reeves, Wayne Fletcher

Natural resources published reports

This report outlines the conceptual basis and quantitative land condition standards that define acceptable pastoral land condition for the Kimberley, Western Australia (WA), to meet the regulatory requirements of the Land Administration Act 1997 and the Soil and Land Conservation Act 1945.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) develops regional-level pastoral land condition standards for WA to implement the Framework for sustainable pastoral management – Revised edition, which is designed to address the Office of the Auditor General’s recommendations to improve the management of pastoral lands in WA. The application of these standards is expected to …

Transcriptional Profiles Reveal Physiological Mechanisms For Compensation During A Simulated Marine Heatwave In Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola Lalandi), Sharon E. Hook, Ryan J. Farr, Jenny Su, Alistair J. Hobday, Catherine Wingate, Lindsey Woolley, Luke Pilmer

Fisheries Research Articles

Background

Changing ocean temperatures are already causing declines in populations of marine organisms. Predicting the capacity of organisms to adjust to the pressures posed by climate change is a topic of much current research effort, particularly for species we farm or harvest. To explore one measure of phenotypic plasticity, the physiological compensations in response to heat stress as might be experienced in a marine heatwave, we exposed Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) to sublethal heat stress, and used the transcriptome in gill and muscle, benchmarked against heat shock proteins and oxidative stress indicators, to characterise the acute heat stress …

Reviews And Syntheses: Variable Inundation Across Earth’S Terrestrial Ecosystems, James Stegen, Amy J. Burgin, Michelle H. Busch, Joshua B. Fisher, Joshua Ladau, Jenna Abrahamson, Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Li Li, Xingyuan Chen, Thibault Datry, Nate Mcdowell, Corianne Tatariw, Anna Braswell, Jillian M. Deines, Julia A. Guimond, Peter Regler, Kenton Rod, Edward K. P. Bam, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Inke Forbrich, Kristin L. Jaeger, Teri O'Meara, Tim Scheibe, Erin Seybold, Jon N. Sweetman, Jianqiu Zheng, Daniel C. Allen, Elizabeth Herndon, Beth A. Middleton, Scott Painter, Kevin Roche, Julianne Scamardo, Ross Vander Vorste, Kristin Boye, Ellen Wohl, Margaret Zimmer, Kelly Hondula, Maggi Laan, Anna Marshall, Kaizad F. Patel

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The structure, function, and dynamics of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems are profoundly influenced by how often (frequency) and how long (duration) they are inundated with water. A diverse array of natural and human-engineered systems experience temporally variable inundation whereby they fluctuate between inundated and non-inundated states. Variable inundation spans extreme events to predictable sub-daily cycles. Variably inundated ecosystems (VIEs) include hillslopes, non-perennial streams, wetlands, floodplains, temporary ponds, tidal systems, storm-impacted coastal zones, and human-engineered systems. VIEs are diverse in terms of inundation regimes, water chemistry and flow velocity, soil and sediment properties, vegetation, and many other properties. The spatial and temporal …

Analysis And Authentication Of An Optical Method For Early Detection Of Harmful Algal Blooms, Cody Schumacher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The proliferation and frequency of harmful algal blooms (HABs) attributed to eutrophication, storm events and a changing climate have been an increasing concern in both lotic and lentic freshwater ecosystems. Methods of detecting HABs have been explored through fluorescent measurement and sample analysis, but are often expensive and time-consuming. A novel smart device application is in development to detect HABs based on images captured and analyzed by machine learning algorithms trained to distinguish potential cyanobacterial blooms. The HABs App model accurately detected cyanobacteria in strong relationship with biovolume concentrations (R² = 0.996) within the Greenup Pool of the Ohio …

Modeling Wild Rice Bed Health: A Dual Metric Approach For Bed Strength And Invasive Impact, Seth Sisneros-Martinez

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Wild rice (mannoomin; Zizania palustris) is an aquatic grain that grows in slow-moving rivers and shallow bays throughout northern Minnesota. In Headquarters Bay on Leech Lake, wild rice has served as a cultural staple for Indigenous communities for centuries. However, its population has declined in recent years due to multiple environmental issues. One potential contributor is Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum; EWM), an invasive species that forms dense mats capable of outcompeting native aquatic vegetation, including wild rice. EWM was first recorded on the southern shoreline of Leech Lake in 2005 and has since become widespread. This study …

The Effect Of Zebra Mussels On Minnesota Fish Communities, Benjamin D. Strei

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha are an aquatic invasive species that has been spreading quickly throughout Minnesota water bodies since 1989. Zebra mussels are known to change certain morphological conditions in lakes such as turbidity, phytoplankton abundance, and aquatic invertebrate populations. However, studies showing impacts of the infestation of zebra mussels on the health of a fish community have been hard to prove due to a lack of repeated surveys and a suite of other confounding variables such as natural and seasonal variability, plant community, and lake morphometry. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine whether zebra mussels have …

Assessing Understory Along The Elk River (Hikshari') In Headwaters Forest Reserve, Humboldt County, California, Julie R. Meyers, Aliyah M. Ingram, Caleb N. Larkin, Joshua L. Carpenter

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Northern California’s extensive logging history and lack of forest management has altered old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, leaving dense, homogenous second and third-growth forest stands. This has led to the use of modern restoration techniques such as variable density thinning (VDT) which aims to rehabilitate old-growth forest conditions by improving stand heterogeneity and light availability for understory species. Our study was done in Headwaters Forest Reserve (HFR) along the Elk River (Hikshari’) Trail in Humboldt County, California. Initially, the project was supervised by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arcata Field Office. However, the 2025 U.S. government …

Aquatic Invertebrate Populations In Roadside Wetlands In Relation To Water Characteristics, Ellen P. Isakson

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The continual habitat destruction and draining of wetland systems makes the need to understand the ecology of roadside wetlands all the more necessary. Roadside wetlands provide valuable habitat to countless aquatic invertebrates, which can provide insight into the health of the wetland system due to their diversity. The objective of this study was to analyze the populations of aquatic invertebrates in roadside wetlands in relation to water characteristics such as pH, salinity, conductivity, water depth and temperature, and dissolved oxygen. This was done by collecting samples of invertebrate populations from roadside wetlands, in addition to data on water quality characteristics …

Selective Nutrient Incorporation May Underestimate Heterotrophy Of A Mixotrophic Reef-Building Coral, Connor R. Love, Marleen Stuhr, Michael D. Fox, Veronica Z. Radice, Maoz Fine, Kelton W. Mcmahon, David L. Valentine

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Mixotrophic reef-building corals acquire nutrition via photosynthate translocation from endosymbiotic microalgae and by heterotrophic prey/particle capture. Heterotrophy promotes resistance to, and recovery from, environmental stress, but quantifying coral heterotrophy remains difficult due to complex resource exchanges within the coral holobiont. We interrogated the response of multiple biomarkers to coral heterotrophy using fatty acid profiling and stable isotope analysis of Stylophora pistillata grown along a controlled feeding gradient from pure autotrophy to pure heterotrophy. We found that fatty acids and nitrogen were effectively incorporated into both coral host and symbiont tissues, while carbon, which is the primary target for conventional heterotrophy …

The Relationship Between Plant Density And Microplastic Concentration In The Water In Lake Bemidji, Mn, Arian Garcia

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Microplastics, plastic particles smaller than 5 mm, are an increasing environmental threat, particularly due to their widespread distribution and toxicity. While much research has focused on larger freshwater and marine ecosystems, the presence and impacts of microplastics in smaller inland lakes remain less understood. This study investigates the relationship between plant density and microplastic concentrations in Lake Bemidji, a smaller freshwater lake. A total of 30 water samples were collected across varying vegetation conditions, ranging from open water (0%) to 90% plant coverage. Microplastics were identified and categorized into six morphological types: fibers, fragments, films, spheres/beads, and foam. The samples …

Does Depth Affect Zebra Mussel Length In Scalp Lake?, Zanden Mellen

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Since its first sighting in 1996, zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha have been confirmed in hundreds of Minnesota lakes. Not only were they found in lakes, but they are also found in rivers too. With lack of effective treatments to impede their spread, zebra mussels continue to colonize new areas causing ecological as well as economic harm. The objective of this study was to see if there was a relationship between a zebra mussel length and the depth, they are found using shell length (mm) and depth (cm). The comparison of zebra mussel length and depth was done by performing a …