Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

“Mieux Vaut Prévenir Que Guérir”: The Effect Of Natural Disasters On Water- And Sanitation-Related Infectious Diseases And The Increasing Need For Disaster Preparedness, Naomi Malam

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The world is suffering from an extreme global water crisis. 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to adequate clean water, and 2.6 billion people lack access to water and sanitation. Approximately 10 million deaths per year can be attributed to this water crisis; water-borne infectious diseases play a significant role in this death toll. Diarrhoeal disease accounts for 2.6 million deaths per year and is one of the leading causes of death in many developing countries.

We are entering a period of undeniable climate change which is bringing about more natural disasters and extreme weather events than ever …

La Cara De La Explotación: Un Estudio De La Industria Minería En El Sur De La República De Ecuador, Jillian Howell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mi viaje continúo al sur oriente a la ciudad de Macas en la provincia de Morona Santiago, a dónde había una reunión del Programa de Pequeños Donaciones (PPD) de las Naciones Unidas - Proyecto de Desarrollo (UNDP) sobre los pequeños proyectos sostenibles en el sur de Ecuador. Unos de estos proyectos era sobre mitigando de los impactos ambientales de los mineros artesanales de La Pangui y Congüime en el Cordillera del Cóndor. Yo visité este proyecto una semana después, cuando fui a La Pangui y viví una noche con la familia del presidente de una asociación de los mineros artesanales. …

Droughtscape, Fall 2010, Kelly Smith

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

CDC Issues Drought Guidance for Public Health

La Niña May Intensify Drought in South

Recent Workshops and Meetings

East Feels Impacts as Heat Intensifies Drought

New Products

Nicole Wall Co-Facilitates Republican River Basin Task Force

NDMC Climatologist on Ethiopia Team

Effects Of Urbanization On Environmental Parameters In Aquatic Systems Along An Urban-Rural Gradient In Northeastern Illinois, Tiffany Garrett

All Capstone Projects

The transformation of landscapes from rural to urban land use impacts affected ecosystems. Replacing natural vegetation with impervious surfaces and introducing environmental stressors through increased human activity can significantly alter aquatic ecosystems. This study examined the effects that urbanization had on salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity, and pH of aquatic systems along an urban-rural gradient in Illinois, Chicago land area- Little Calumet River, Thorn Creek, and Kankakee River. The first objective of this project was to examine whether there were changes or fluctuations among various environmental parameters that may be due to heavily populated residential areas when compared to a …

Importance Of Wildlife Disease Surveillance, Jerrold L. Belant, Amanda R. Deese

Human–Wildlife Interactions

A commentary on the importance of wildlife disease surveillance.

Trace Metal Concentrations Across Trophic Levels In Cotton Fields Of Xinjiang Province, China, Jessica Quinn

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Trace metals become concentrated in urban and peri-urban soils with the use of agricultural practices and industrial emissions. Fertilizers, liming, sewage sludge, and irrigation water contain metals which accumulate in agricultural fields and pose a risk to humans and wildlife. Coal plants and brickyards release metals into the atmosphere which are deposited on soil and plant surfaces. This research quantifies the concentrations of nine trace metals in three different soil types. A total of 116 rodents were sampled in cotton fields and a desert. Cotton plants and triplicate soil samples were collected with each rodent capture. Soil samples were analyzed …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quartlerly Progress Report, Period Ending September 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• All milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• Reconnaissance conducted at sites in the Gold Butte during coordinated efforts with USGS
• Annual Project Review Presentation provided to Clark County
• Spring-season mark-recapture at Blue Point Spring completed this quarter
• Fall-season mark-recapture effort initiated

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• This project has been completed and all associated deliverables have been met

Project 3. Peregrine Falcon Monitoring and Evaluation

• This project has been completed and all final report deliverables have been met
• Presentations were given at the Raptor Research Foundation Annual Conference …

Eelgrass Distribution In The Great Bay Estuary For 2009 : Final Report, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

Eelgrass in the Great Bay Estuary in 2009 was once again present only in Great Bay itself and in Portsmouth Harbor. For the second year in a row, there was no eelgrass in Little Bay or in the Piscataqua River. In 2009, there was a continued loss of eelgrass biomass in Great Bay; there has been a 66.4% loss of biomass in Great Bay since 1996 and distribution is 30% less than in 1996. Although eelgrass distribution in Great Bay itself increased between 2008 and 2009, primarily due to continued expansion from natural seeding of bare areas, the Bay’s eelgrass …

Results Of The Gulfwatch 2010 Samples : Memorandum, Matthew A. Wood

PREP Reports & Publications

The purpose of this memorandum is to document the sample collection activities for Gulfwatch 2010. .

Geochemical Analysis Of Surface And Ground Waters Around Cle Elum, Wa; Implications For The Proposed Exempt Well Moratorium, David Hickey, Ryan Opitz, Carey A. Gazis

Student Published Works

The Yakima River drainage is one of the most heavily irrigated regions in the state, and water use has been much contested and litigated. Due to this water demand and the increase in drilling of domestic wells, a moratorium on exempt well drilling was proposed in 2007. In this study geochemical data is used to evaluate the surface-groundwater interaction in the area around Cle Elum, WA. The hydrogeology of this area is poorly understood due to the complex stratigraphy where the valley floor meets the bedrock of the Cascade Range. It is important to understand the relationship between groundwater and …

Construction Cost Models, Barry Dikeman

Economics and Finance

The following are a series of cost estimate models similar in format to a typical engineer’s estimate that were developed in support of our financial impact assessment report for LD 1725. The models us current material costs, labor costs, and equipment costs for the region to provide a comparative cost analysis of seven culvert replacement scenarios. The models provide information about what the cost impact of LD 1725 would be for typical culvert replacements in Maine. However, due to the inherent restrictions of the cost modeling framework we were not able to include the abundance of variables that would be …

Large Mining Projects In The Amazon, Gustavo Negreiros Phd, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

In addition to my work coordinating the SIT study abroad program Amazon Resource Management and Human Ecology since 1998, I pursue personal interests in the relation of modern development projects and the social environmental conditions faced by local populations of the region. In 2005, I evaluated the environmental licensing and implementation of Alcoa´s (Aluminum Company of America) mine operation in Juruti, western Pará State, which started operation in 2009. I was invited by the communities impacted and the different actors involved to participate in the team in charge of developing methodologies to valuate the social-environmental externalities faced by the communities, …

Algal Biomass Accrual In Relation To Nutrient Availability Along A Longitudinal Gradient In The Upper Green River, Kentucky, Mary Douglas Penick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nutrient limitation in aquatic ecosystems results from a deficiency in nitrogen or phosphorus levels relative to cellular growth needs. Nutrient limitation of freshwater systems is a function of biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors include vascular and nonvascular plant community composition. Abiotic factors include underlying bedrock and land-use activities (e.g. agriculture, septic systems). Nutrient availability directly affects growth, productivity, and community structure of primary producers. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to assess the relationship between ambient algal biomass. and in-stream nutrient levels along the longitudinal course of a river through a transition from weak to well-developed underlying …

Cockatoo Sands Soil Survey : Assessment Of The Potential Irrigation Areas, Kununurra Area, East Kimberley, Henry Smolinski, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Slip Distribution Of The 1952 Kamchatka Great Earthquake Based On Near-Field Tsunami Deposits And Historical Records, Breanyn Macinnes, Robert Weiss, Joanne Bourgeois, Tatiana K. Pinegina

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

We explore the magnitude and slip distribution of the 1952 Kamchatka earthquake (M_W 8.8–9.0) using constraints from the 1952 Kamchatka tsunami. Our new field data provide more comprehensive coverage of the near-field tsunami than had been available to date. We examine the effects of internal slip distribution within complex earthquake ruptures on near-field tsunami runup and evaluate some of the limitations of this approach. Our approach compares tsunami-deposit distribution with simulated runup from tsunamis generated by different configurations of seafloor deformation from hypothetical earthquakes resembling that of the 1952 Kamchatka earthquake. We identify areas of high slip because different …

Water Erosion Hazard Assessment Of The Lort And Young Rivers Catchment, Karen Holmes, John Andrew Simons, B Marillier, N Callow, Paul Galloway

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Its Effect On Migration Patterns Of The Cackling Goose And White-Fronted Goose In The Willamette Valley, And Implications For Goose Management, Kelly Warren

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

This thesis considers the question of whether climate change is affecting the migration patterns of geese in the Pacific Flyway, specifically cackling geese (Branta hutchinsii minima) and Pacific white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons frontalis). Ancillary questions that are considered are as follows:

• If global warming is affecting these species, what is the nature of the effects?

• How are the changes affecting the human environment and what can be done about these effects?

In 1994, the majority of the cackler population in the Pacific Flyway began to winter in Oregon's Willamette Valley rather than in their …

Draft Tampa Bay Interagency Seagrass Monitoring Program Training And Field Manual, Walt Avery, Roger Johansson, J. J. Pacowta

Reports

To insure quality assurance of the data collected among the various agencies, a training session is held each fall immediately prior to baywide TBISP monitoring. The goals of the session are to 1) determine the variability of the data collection among the agencies and to minimize this variability and 2) assess the repeatability of a seagrass investigator in determining species composition, abundance, density, and height. The purpose of this manual is to provide a seagrass researcher with information concerning TBISP protocols and results.

Droughtscape, Summer 2010, Kelly Smith

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

Upcoming Workshops

Mild Drought Season Likely to Persist

Drought Impacts Intensify in Upper Midwest

Visiting Scientists

North Carolina Takes Drought Monitor Seriously

International Work- Murcia, Spain, June

River Sediment Sampling Methods: Causeway Building And Removal, Dillon Dittmer

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) suspect that causeways have a negative impact on river ecology both when installed and when removed. The Nebraska Department of Roads routinely uses causeways as a tool in the construction and repair of bridges. Although research has not been conducted on the impact of causeway building and removal data has been collected about the impact of dams, causeways, etc. on estuaries. This data is considered subjective and authors often cite sampling methods as a source of error. Currently there are no widely used handheld sampling methods that …

The Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Fauna Of The Blackwater Ecological Preserve: Effects Of Prescribed Burns And Habitat Type On Mosquito Abundance And Distribution, Norman A. Grefe Lll

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

While mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are among the most studied of insect groups, much remains unknown about their distribution and response to environmental impacts such as prescribed burns. Blackwater Ecological Preserve, located near Zuni, Virginia, is a relict long leaf pine barren, parts of which undergo periodic prescribed burns to maintain and restore this fire-dependent ecosystem. To assess the impact of prescribed burns on mosquito activity and to determine associations between seasonal patterns of adult mosquito activity and habitat type, CDC light traps baited with dry ice were set (rom late April through October at Blackwater Ecological Preserve during the 2005 …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quartlerly Progress Report, Period Ending June 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• All milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• Translocation program completed for this year
• Completed spring-season nocturnal monitoring surveys
• Completed spring-season mark-recapture efforts at Blue Point Spring
• Hosted RLFCT meeting

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• This project has been completed and all associated deliverables have been met

Project 3. Peregrine Falcon Monitoring and Evaluation

• This project has been completed and all final report deliverables have been met
• Although not specified in the scope of work for this project, call-broadcast surveys were conducted this quarter to provide a limited assessment …

Integrating Ecology And Information Technology: Conserving Natural Resources, Melissa M. Grigione, Dan Farkas

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

The goal of this project is to develop an interdisciplinary collaboration in technology, spatial analysis and the conservation of natural, environmental, and ecological resources. The proposed collaboration involved independent research projects so that students can participate in both field‐based and laboratory activities. The Thinkfinity project has initiated continued work and expansion of our goals to include a multi‐college collaboration and possibilities for outside funding (NSF).

Invasive Species And Public Investment In The Green Economy, Invasive Species Advisory Committee

National Invasive Species Council

Invasive Species and Public Investment in the Green Economy, approved by ISAC on June 24, 2010

ISSUE

Invasive species are intricately linked to the economy. Trade, travel, and transport facilitate their spread. Invasive species management requires extensive human and financial resources. The impacts of invasive species can substantially undermine economic growth and sustainable development. United States Executive Order (EO) 13112 defines invasive species as “alien [non-native] species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health” and states that Federal agencies should …“not authorize, fund, or carry out actions that are likely …

Marine Bioinvasions And Climate Change, James T. Carlton, Sandra C. Lindstrom, Celia M. Smith, Jennifer E. Smith

National Invasive Species Council

BACKGROUND

Invasive species are second only to habitat destruction as the greatest cause of species endangerment and global biodiversity loss. Invasive species can cause severe and permanent damage to the ecosystems they invade. Consequences of invasion include competition with or predation upon native species, hybridization, carrying or supporting harmful pathogens and parasites that may affect wildlife and human health, disturbing ecosystem function through alteration of food webs and nutrient recycling rates, acting as ecosystem engineers and altering habitat structure, and degradation of the aesthetic quality of our natural resources. In many cases we may not fully know the native animals …

Wind Energy Glossary: Technical Terms And Concepts, Erik Edward Nordman

Technical Reports

The terms in this glossary are organized into three sections: (1) Electricity Transmission Network; (2) Wind Turbine Components; and (3) Wind Energy Challenges, Issues and Solutions.

Variations In Vulnerability To Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Kelsey Margaret Allard

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Sea Change For Aquatic Sustainability : Meeting The Challenge Of Fish Resources Management And Aquatic Sustainability In The 21st Century, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Occasional Publications

No abstract provided.

Wind Energy Deployment Issue Brief - May 2010, Erik Edward Nordman

Technical Reports

Wind energy projects have been proposed all over the world. West Michigan coastal communities, like other communities worldwide, are in the midst of assessing the benefits and challenges of siting wind energy farms. These wind energy projects reflect Michigan’s changing mix of potential energy sources; changes that are requiring the attention of all West Michigan communities.

Michigan’s electricity providers consider wind energy to be the most cost effective, scalable means of meeting the state’s 10 percent renewable energy standard [1]. Wind energy enjoys broad support in general, but specific projects can draw opposition [2]. Understanding the factors that influence wind …

Influence Of Clay Mineralogy On Soil Dispersion Behavior And Water Quality, Jessique L. Ghezzi

Master's Theses

Currently, there is very little research available on nonpoint source pollution from rural watersheds. Government regulatory agencies are desperate for information regarding the causes of nonpoint source pollution, which includes the relationship between suspended soil particles and dispersion. Since soil dispersion is dependent on clay mineralogy, knowing the clay mineralogy of the soil in an area can help predict sediment loads entering the surrounding surface waters. This information is necessary to protect the resource value of our rivers, lakes, and estuaries, as well as to protect recreational activities such as fishing or hunting; but most importantly, this information is necessary …