Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Spatial Patterns Of Drought Triggers And Indicators, Joseph P. Robine

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Drought is a reoccurring phenomenon with widespread economic, social, and environmental impacts. Unlike other disasters, a drought cannot be easily detected. In addition, droughts are widespread and develop slowly over time making it difficult to detect its onset and monitor its severity and impacts. To assist in monitoring the severity and spatial extent of droughts, drought managers frequently use indicators and triggers. Drought indicators are meteorological or hydrological variables or indices that quantify or describe the level of drought severity. A drought trigger is a value of an indicator that initiates management and response actions. Despite the clear importance of …

Effectiveness Of Earthtec ® On Killing Invasive Quagga Mussels (Dreissena Rostriformis Bugenis) And Preventing Their Colonization In The Western U.S., Ashlie Watters

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Dreissena rostriformis bugensis, an invasive species, also known as the quagga mussel, was discovered in Lake Mead, NV in January of 2007. In the four years since detection, quagga mussels have created tremendous economical, ecological, and human health impacts. The mussels clog pipes, ruin boat motors, and damage recreational equipment, and once established in the lake, routine maintenance is necessary to avoid further damage. Because of quagga mussels' high fecundity, planktonic veliger stage, and ability to attach to substrates with byssal threads, they have easily and swiftly spread to other lakes and reservoirs in the Lower Colorado River Basin. …

Impacts Of Climate Change And Weather Modification On Hydrologic Characteristics Of Watersheds In The Western United States, Anil Acharya

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research quantifies the impacts of climate change and weather modification (WM) on hydrologic characteristics of watersheds in the arid regions of the western United States. This research performs a long-term simulation of streamflow for present and future climate conditions in the North Platte (NP) Watershed, Wyoming; a shorter duration simulation is then performed to observe the likely impacts of event based changes in an urban watershed in Las Vegas, Nevada.

First, a study is carried out in Chapter 3 that evaluates the impacts of WM on water supply by developing a hydrologic model for the NP Watershed. The variable …

An Ecological Study Of Peregrine Falcons (Falco Peregrinus) At Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 2006-2010, Joseph Graham Barnes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) represent an encouraging conservation biology success story in North America during the twentieth century. Their distribution and population size suffered major restrictions after the initiation of widespread application of the synthetic pesticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) within the U.S. in the 1940s. The species was federally listed as endangered in the U.S. in 1969 and was then delisted in 1999 after DDT was banned in 1972. Herein, I present my ecological research of peregrines within Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA), concentrating on the years 2006-2010. This thesis is comprised of two chapters. In the first chapter, I …

Colonization And Decontamination Of Quagga Mussels In The Western United States: Monitoring Veligers In Lake Mead And Field Testing In The Effects Of Hot-Water Spray As A Means Of Watercraft Decontamination, Sean Robin Comeau

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The introduction and establishment of aquatic invasive species (AIS) is one of the top causes of global biodiversity loss and ecological change, and is also financially costly for taxpayers and agencies managing protected areas. This is especially true regarding the nationwide spread of dreissenid mussels to various bodies of freshwater. The discovery of invasive quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) in Lake Mead on January 6, 2007 has changed the popular recreation area into a potential vector of the destructive AIS. This location could allow for an increased spread of these dressenid species to uninfested bodies of water in the western …

Salt Contamination Of Ground And Surface Water In Connecticut: A Compilation And Synthesis Of Historic Data And Local Scale Testing, James P. Cassanelli

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

How Much Do U.S. University Students Know, And Want To Know, About Sustainability And Green Building? The Findings Of A Survey, And Possible Implications For General Elective Curriculum., Jeremy R. Farner

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Using the survey approach, this investigation examined the attitudes and interest of college students at two universities in different geographic locations within the United States.  Approximately 24,000 students from all disciplines and majors at Weber State University (WSU) in Utah, and 4,000 at Purdue University in Indiana, were invited to participate in a study to determine current knowledge, familiarity, and interest in topics within the sustainability and Green Building educational arena. The goal of this study was to determine what students already know, would like to know, and how much interest there would be in developing …

The Effects Of Climate Change On Basic Animal Cell Functions, Michelle Fulbright, Andrew Andres

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Increasing global temperatures during the 21st century may have detrimental effects on basic cell functions within ectothermal animals. This project aims to systematically examine the effects of climate change on secretory cargo localization through the analysis of Rab Proteins found in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. Rab Proteins play an essential role in vesicular transport within the cell and can be genetically manipulated to monitor the biological consequences of global warming.

Global Warming: At What Point Does Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Release Become Unethical?, Luke Good, Gladys Lopez

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

In recent decades, the concept of global warming has developed increasing concern among the scientific community and general public alike. What was initially dismissed as little more than unlikely has now become a severe warning for global climate crisis threatening not only our way of life but ultimate future existence on this planet? Global warming is defined as the steady mean increase in atmospheric temperature, the primary asserted cause thereof being increased emissions and inherent atmospheric concentrations of “greenhouse gases” – carbon dioxide in particular. These gases contribute to the greenhouse effect by trapping radiation (from the sun) in the …

Accumulation Of Polonium-210 In Different Species Of Fish In Lake Mead, Suraj Ghevarghese John, Shungmugam Nallaperumal, Vernon Hodge

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Discovered by Pierre Curie and Marie Skłodowska-Curie in 1898, polonium is a chemical element with an atomic number of 84. This rare naturally occurring radioactive element is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and forms in uranium ores. Polonium-210 is an naturally occurring radioactive element with a half-life of 138.376 days(1). This element is found in trace amounts in most organisms. Our research is focused on the accumulation of polonium-210 in fish that occupy in Lake Mead.

The sample species is chosen based on varying lake stratification (layers of the lake). This gives us a good idea of the difference …

Has Recent Climate Change Caused A Genetic Bottleneck In A Sierra Nevada Population Of The Bushy-Tailed Woodrat?, Mitchell Gritts, Angela D. Hornsby, Majorie D. Matocq

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Many montane species respond to climate change by shifting their range upslope as temperatures at lower elevations increase. An elevation range shift causes a range contraction that may result in a population bottleneck. Joseph Grinnell surveyed the fauna along the Yosemite transect from 1914 to 1920. In 2003 Craig Moritz and his colleagues began to resurvey the Yosemite transect to assess the faunal change during a century of climate change. The bushy-tailed woodrat suffered severe range contraction and population bottleneck between the two surveys. I will use evolutionary models to determine if the population has suffered a genetic bottleneck.

Evaluation Of Drought Indices Based On Thermal Remote Sensing Of Evapotranspiration Over The Continental United States, Martha C. Anderson, Christopher R. Hain, Brian Wardlow, Agustin Pimstein, John R. Mecikalski, William P. Kustas

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The reliability of standard meteorological drought indices based on measurements of precipitation is limited by the spatial distribution and quality of currently available rainfall data. Furthermore, they reflect only one component of the surface hydrologic cycle, and they cannot readily capture nonprecipitation-based moisture inputs to the land surface system (e.g., irrigation) that may temper drought impacts or variable rates of water consumption across a landscape. This study assesses the value of a new drought index based on remote sensing of evapotranspiration (ET). The evaporative stress index (ESI) quantifies anomalies in the ratio of actual to potential ET (PET), mapped using …

Seawalls In Samoa: A Look At Their Environmental, Social And Economic Implications, Sawyer Lawson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study concerns the environmental, economic and social implications of seawalls in Samoa. Information for this study was gathered using a combination of secondary sources and primary sources including interviews, surveys and participant observation. Given the cultural and economic importance of Samoa’s coastline and the fact that seawalls, which already occupy much of Samoa’s coast, are becoming more abundant, it is important to understand the implications of building them. The researcher found that partially due to climate change and sand mining, Samoa’s coastline has become increasingly threatened by erosion and coastal retreat. Seawalls are in many cases the fastest and …

Embodied Emissions Abatement: A Policy Assessment Using Stochastic Analysis, Adolf Acquaye, Aidan Duffy, Biswajit Basu

Articles

Policymakers traditionally focus on regulating operational energy use in buildings, ignoring other life cycle components such as embodied energy even though this may account for a significant portion of life cycle emissions. Data relating to embodied energy and emissions in buildings is limited. However, stochastic techniques can be used to estimate the distribution of such emissions from buildings. This helps policymakers identify which instruments are appropriate for achieving emissions reductions. A primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate this approach using a sample of apartment buildings in Ireland. A Monte-Carlo simulation suggests that the average probability distribution of embodied …

Wood Usage In Rural Tanzania: An Investigation Into The Sources And Accessibility Of Fuelwood And Polewood For The Residents Of Kizanda Village, West Usambara Mountains, James Ray

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study was conducted over the course of 16 days between April 8^th and 28^th in Kizanda village, which borders the protected Baga Government Forest Reserve, in the West Usambara Mountains in Northern Tanzania. The goals of this study were to investigate the actual sources of fuelwood and polewood reported by the people of Kizanda village, to determine if these sources offer a sufficient amount of fuelwood and polewood, and to identify possible sustainable alternatives to wood products from the Baga Government Forest Reserve and other protected forest areas near Kizanda village. Key informant interviews (n = 9) …

Droughtscape, Spring 2011, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Register Now

Forecasters Say Dryness in TX and SW to Continue

Drought Planning, The Game: Coming Soon

Ding Takes New Post

South and Southwest Lose Crops, Fight Fires

Drought Monitor Authors Review Enhanced GIS Tools and New Processes

Estimation Of Land Surface Evapotranspiration With A Satellite Remote Sensing Procedure, Ayse Kilic, Ian Ratcliffe, Pariskhit Ranade, Kenneth Hubbard, Ramesh K. Singh, Babuarao Kamble, Jeppe Kjaersgaard

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

There are various methods available for estimating magnitude and trends of evapotranspiration. Bowen ratio energy balance system and eddy correlation techniques offer powerful alternatives for measuring land surface evapotranspiration. In spite of the elegance, high accuracy, and theoretical attractions of these techniques for measuring evapotranspiration, their practical use over large areas can be limited due to the number of sites needed and the related expense. Application of evapotranspiration mapping from satellite measurements can overcome the limitations. The objective of this study was to utilize the METRIC^TM (Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration) model in Great Plains environmental …

Review Of The Vanishing Face Of Gaia: A Final Warning, By James Lovelock; Foreword By Martin Rees, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In his latest book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia, James Lovelock writes a clear narrative about the major impacts humans are having on the tightly coupled biotic/ abiotic system we call the Earth and that Lovelock refers to as Gaia in his many scholarly works. He tells us that this coupled system acts in concert to maintain the Earth's environment at an optimal condition for the organisms that live together here, modifying, for example, the atmosphere so that its composition stays at about 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen (in the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears this would …

Macroinvertebrate Community Analysis On Lower Hood River Before And During The Removal Of Powerdale Dam: A Baseline Study, Howard Jay Patterson

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Powerdale Dam was an 87-year-old hydroelectric complex on lower Hood River in northern Oregon which was decommissioned in 2010. Macroinvertebrate samples were collected in 2009, before the removal process began, and in 2010, near the end of the demolition project, at one site upstream and three sites downstream of the dam. Macroinvertebrate communities were analyzed using both multi-metric (Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity [B-IBI]) and multivariate (Predictive Assessment Tool for Oregon [PREDATOR]) approaches, as well as EPT and Functional Feeding Group (FFG) analysis. All analytical approaches indicated declines in habitat quality in 2010 relative to 2009, and showed increasing impairment …

Stochastic Hybrid Embodied Co2-Eq Analysis: An Application To The Irish Apartment Building Sector, Adolf Acquaye, Aidan Duffy, Biswajit Basu

Articles

Although embodiedCO2-eq analysis has seen recent developments as evident in the establishment of the ISO14040 and 14044 LCA standards, it is recognized that due to weaknesses in gathering data on product-related emissions,embodiedCO2-eq values are probabilistic. This paper presents a stochastic analysis of hybrid embodied CO2-eq in buildings to account for this weakness in traditional methods and, by way of example, applies it to an Irish construction-sector case study. Using seven apartment buildings, 70,000 results are simulated with Monte Carlo analysis and used to derive probabilistic and cumulative embodied CO2-eq intensity distributions for apartment buildings in Ireland. A Wakeby distribution with …

Riesgo De Exposición A Los Plaguicidas En Familias Con Niños Menores De 6 Años De Azapa Y Lluta, Andrew Wilbur

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study aims to characterize the risk of pesticide exposure for children under the age of 6 who live in the rural, agricultural communities of the Azapa and Lluta valleys in Region Arica and Parinacota in northern Chile. To achieve this objective, it seeks to understand current perceptions held by parents or guardians with respect to risk of pesticide exposure within their families and identify practices and living circumstances that contribute to this risk. In environmental health, children are an especially vulnerable population as a result of their distinct characteristics. Their exploratory behavior and naivety contribute to their risk of …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Final Project Report, Margaret N. Rees, Jef R. Jaeger Ph.D.

Wildlife Monitoring

This task agreement was originally awarded by the National Park Service (NPS), Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) to the Public Lands Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on September 30, 2006, and was amended to run through March 31, 2011. This agreement covered several project elements focused on:

• Monitoring and conservation actions for the relict leopard frog
• Coordinating and conducting annual bald eagle counts on Lakes Mead and Mohave
• Development and assessment of a habitat map for wintering bald eagles based on observations data collected during winter counts

• Monitoring of breeding peregrine falcons and assessment of reproductive …

Preliminary Assessment Of Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products (Ppcps) In Natural Waters In The El Paso Del Norte Area And Their Impacts On Aquatic Invertebrates, Sarah T. Baca^, Wen-Yee Lee, Jennifer Martinez, Rodolfo Guerrero, Elizabeth J. Walsh*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

The Rio Grande is a major source of water for humans and wildlife. The types and concentrations
of PPCPs, and their impacts on aquatic life, in the river are virtually unknown. The purpose of this
research is to assess their impact on aquatic invertebrates and establish the concentrations of these contaminants in the river and an adjacent wetland. Water and sediment samples were collected from the river and the wetland. Water chemistry parameters were monitored and samples were retained for PPCP analyses. Invertebrates were exposed to PPCPs using modified life cycle tests. LC50 values for caffeine for chironomids ranged from …

Regional Scale Monitoring Of Methane Production By Dairy Farm Ungulates; A Proposal To The National Science Foundation (Nsf) And The National Ecological Observatory Network (Neon, Inc.), Lindsey Anne Peterson

Biological Sciences

No abstract provided.

Hydrological Impacts Of Integrated Oil Mallee Farming Systems, D L. Bennett, John Andrew Simons, Russell Speed

Resource management technical reports

This study reports on the results from investigations at four sites into the effect of commercial-scale oil mallee systems on localised groundwater systems over seven years. It also reports the results of the use of a numerical model to forecast potential longer term impacts.

Concentration Of Heavy Metals In The Waters And Surface Sediments Of Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Kentucky: An Evaluation Of Plausible Sources, Chad Von Gruenigen, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Heavy metal pollution remains a problem in natural waters, particularly for localities near plausible anthropogenic sources. We assayed the level of heavy metals in surface waters and within surface sediments of Wilgreen Lake, whose watershed drains industrial, urban, agricultural, and residential areas near Richmond, Kentucky. We sampled both surface (oxic) and deep waters (anoxic) when the lake was stratified over Summer 2010. Water samples were treated according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocols and were digested with trace-metal-grade nitric and hydrochloric acids. Sediment samples were collected with a grab sampler and digested using established EPA procedures with trace-metal-grade nitric …

Determination Of Caffeine As A Marker For Septic Tank Contamination Of Wilgreen Lake, Rosemary Onjiko, Susan Godbey, Walter S. Borowski, Darrin Smith, Lori Wilson

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Wilgreen Lake in Richmond, Kentucky, has been listed by both the state and the Environmental Protection Agency as an “impaired” lake due to excess nutrients, which may be in part contributed by domestic septic systems. Caffeine can be used as an anthropogenic marker to estimate the contribution of septic tank effluent to the lake. We have modified existing analytical methods to produce a viable method for the determination of caffeine in environmental water samples and applied the method to water samples collected from Wilgreen Lake. The modified method allows determination of caffeine in a concentration range of 75 to 10,000 …

Patterns Of Heavy Metal Concentration In Core Sediments, Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Clint Mcmaine, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Accumulation of heavy metals in ecosystems is a known environmental problem, and several possible industry sources occur within the watershed of Wilgreen Lake, which is fed its two major tributaries, Taylor Fork and Old Town Branch. Elevated levels of cadmium, copper, lead, and nickel were found within the waters of Wilgreen Lake during a preliminary survey in 2007. A possible source of these contaminant occurrences is diffusion from lake sediments, which record past and present activities within their drainage basins.

To obtain a history of anthropogenic practices within the drainage basin, we took 1-meter-long cores of lake sediment in each …

Slides: Environmental Water In Australia, Chris Arnott

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Chris Arnott, Managing Director, Alluvium Consulting

30 slides

Slides: Adapting To Climate Change: Lessons Learnt From The Australian Water Experience, Will Fargher

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Will Fargher, National Water Commission, Australian Government

18 slides [4 have titles only and are missing images]