Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Fire Effects On Gambel Oak In Southwestern Ponderosa Pine-Oak Forests, Scott R. Abella, Peter Z. Fule

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is ecologically and aesthetically valuable in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. Fire effects on Gambel oak are important because fire may be used in pine-oak forests to manage oak directly or to accomplish other management objectives. We used published literature to: (1) ascertain historical fire regimes in pine-oak forests, (2) discern prescribed burning effects on Gambel oak survival and diameter growth, and (3) provide suggestions for using fire to manage oak. Frequent fire is part of Gambel oak’s historical environment, as historical fire return intervals often averaged less than 10 years in pine-oak forests. More …

Colorado College State Of The Rockies Report Card, David Havlick, Walter E. Hecox, Christopher B. Jackson, Matthew K. Reuer

Publications (SD)

The critical research topics for the 2008 Report Card include immigration, affordable housing, renewable energy resources, river restoration and restoration economies, and wildlands.

Hydrodynamic Numerical Ocean Models Support Environmental Studies And Conservation Efforts: From An Arctic Estuary To A Caribbean Coral Reef, Tal Ezer

CCPO Publications

Potential future climate changes, as highlighted recently by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, are likely to have different local impacts in different regions of the globe. Oceanic ecosystems may be especially sensitive to large environmental variation, and they are closely connected to physical changes such as temperature, salinity, currents and sea level. Two examples, from very different environments – one in a cold climate and one in a tropical climate, will be discussed here to show how hydrodynamic numerical models are helping to understand physical-biological interactions and potentially help dealing with future climate changes.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending March 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

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

• Translocation program initiated this quarter, egg mass collections completed, tadpole rearing underway.
• Egg mass surveys at Blue Point Spring conducted approximately weekly; one egg mass collected from site for headstarting.
• Spring nocturnal surveys in progress.
• Coordination for potential translocation sites on BLM lands ongoing.
• Habitat improvements coordinated and conducted at one new translocation site on BLM lands in the Gold Butte; site scheduled to receive frogs in April.
• All milestones and deliverables associated with the MSHCP project on schedule.

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• Winter bald eagle count …

Agenda: Securing Environmental Flows On The Colorado River In An Era Of Climate Change: Issues, Challenges, And Opportunities, Western Water Policy Program, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, Nature Conservancy (U.S.), Trout Unlimited, Environmental Defense (Organization), Western Water Assessment (Program), Western Resource Advocates, United States. Bureau Of Reclamation

Securing Environmental Flows on the Colorado River in an Era of Climate Change: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities (March 21)

The Colorado River is the primary surface water resource of the Southwest, providing water to approximately 30 million residents. Studies and policy decisions associated with a recently completed EIS point to an ever-tightening water supply due to longstanding growth pressures exacerbated by significant climate change impacts. Given these trends, how can the river’s environmental needs be satisfied?

On March 21st, the Center’s Western Water Policy Program brought together four leading Colorado River experts along with an audience of approximately 70 water professionals to discuss “Securing Environmental Flows on the Colorado River in an Era of Climate Change: Issues, Challenges, and …

Oyster Harbour Catchment Appraisal 2007, Ron Master, South Coast Agricultural Rca Team

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Seasonal Changes In Stratification And Oxygen Content Of A Eutrophic Lake, Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Kentucky, Jill Hunter, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Wilgreen Lake (Madison County, Kentucky) is listed by the Environmental Protection Agency as nutrient-impaired. The overabundance of nutrients is likely linked to the land-use practices in this area. Cattle pasture, residential developments served by septic systems, and urban/industrial areas lie in the lake’s watershed. We have studied the lake for two years to characterize its physical and chemical characteristics, and to identify nutrient sources.

The 2007 field season began in March and continued through October. We measured temperature and oxygen levels along with other parameters at 1-meter depth intervals at 19 stations distributed along the length of the lake and …

Using E. Coli And Bacteroides Distribution And Abundance In A Eutrophic Lake As A Tracer For Nutrient Inputs, Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Kentucky, Theresa A. Aguiar, Walter S. Borowski, Alice C. Layton, Larry Mckay

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Wilgreen Lake is a eutrophic lake that has been listed on the EPA’s 303d list as nutrient impaired. Potential sources of this impairment are likely from humans, cattle manure, and fertilizers. We suspect that the majority of nutrients originate from human sources, namely from septic tank effluent emanating from key housing developments ringing the lakeshore. We test our hypothesis with conventional microbial assays (Escherichia coli) and RT-PCR techniques (Bacteroides).

We took water samples at 19 sampling locations on 4 occasions, and measured the abundance of Escherichia coli using IDEXX methods. Corresponding sub-samples slated for potential PCR …

Annual Pastoral Land Condition Report 2006 / 2007 Financial Year, Sandra Van Vreeswyk, Philip Thomas

Natural resources published reports

The Department of Agriculture and Food provides services to the Pastoral Lands Board under a Memorandum of Understanding, and is required to provide an annual report to the Board on the overall land condition on pastoral leases throughout the rangelands of Western Australia. This report presents information for the 2006/2007 financial year. The report also satisfies the Commissioner of Soil and Land Conservation’s obligation to provide the Pastoral Lands Board with a report on the current condition of land under pastoral leases in the State.

The report provides background information on pastoral leases, seasonal conditions and economic conditions, and then …

Multi-Ideal-Adic Completions Of Noetherian Rings, William J. Heinzer, Christel Rotthaus, Sylvia Wiegand

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Let R be a commutative ring with identity. A filtration on R is a decreasing sequence {In}∞ n=0 of ideals of R. Associated to a filtration is a well-defined completion R ∗ = l←i−mn R/In and a canonical homomorphism ψ : R → R ∗ [13, Chap. 9]. If ∞ n=0 In = (0), then ψ is injective and R may be regarded as a subring of R ∗ [13, p. 401]. In the terminology of Northcott, a filtration {In}∞ n=0 is multiplicative if I0 = R and InIm ⊆ In+m for all m ≥ 0 and n ≥ 0 …

Fracture Logging Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, T. Paulsen, C. Millan, S. Pierdominici, T. J. Wilson, S. Drew, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Fractures in AND-2A drillcore were documented in this study. Over 4100 fractures of all types were logged. A population of 510 steeply-dipping, petal, petal-centreline and core-edge induced fractures is present, reaching a maximum density of c. 10 fractures/metre. Subhorizontal induced extension fractures are also abundant. There are 1008 natural fractures in the core, including faults, brecciated zones, veins and sedimentary intrusions. Kinematic indicators document dominant normal faulting, although reverse faults are also present. The natural fractures occur in strata ranging in age from the Miocene to the Plio-Pleistocene.

From Debate To Design: Issues In Clean Energy And Climate Change Law And Policy, Leslie Parker, Jennifer Ronk, Rachel Maxwell, Bradford Gentry, Marijn Wilder, James Cameron

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

A report on the work of the REIL Network 2007-2008

Sustainability In A Time Of Climate Change: Developing An Intensive Research Framework For The Platte River Basin And The High Plains Proceedings From The 2008 Climate Change Workshop, Monica Norby, Ashley Washburn

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

Proceedings from the 2008 Climate change Workshop, Nebraska Sandhills, May 19-22, 2008. Hosted by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the U.S. Geological Survey

An Environmental Justice Analysis: Superfund Sites And Surrounding Communities In Illinois, Angela Maranville, Tih-Fen Ting, Yang Zhang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Is there an association between Superfund sites and the socioeconomic makeup of the surrounding communities? This research analyzes the current economic and racial demographics of Illinois counties that contain Superfund sites. Specifically, variables that are indicators of environmental injustice are analyzed; e.g. race, median household income, and home ownership. Since the inception of the environmental justice movement in the late 1980s, studies have been conducted nationally and at state levels in Michigan, California, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina (i.e. Cutter 2006; Mohai & Saha 2006; Pastor et al. 2004; Anderton et al. 1997; Bevc et al. 2007; Bowen et …

Effects And Response Of Dual Phase Extraction (Dpe) Remediation On The Former Sun City Soco Gas Station, Travis Winter Meier

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to target three zones for both soil and groundwater remediation. It is the intent that by targeting the source areas of the contamination with remedial processes that consequently the continued introduction and dispersal of the hydrocarbon compounds will be prevented. The former Sun City SoCo gas station has large amounts of hydrocarbon compounds present in the soil and upper groundwater aquifer located beneath the site.

Drainage Benchmarking In The Northern Agricultural Region : Landholder Survey, Alison Beattie, Angela Stuart-Street

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Sampling Of Malodorous Compounds In Air Using Stir Bar Sorbtive Extraction, John H. Loughrin, Nanh Lovanh, Arturo I. Quintanar, Rezaul Mahmood

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Twisters, (poly)‐dimethylsiloxane‐coated magnetic stir bars, were used to measure compounds typical of swine manure malodor in air. In initial experiments, a time to achieve equilibrium was determined by preloading the stir bars with ten compounds with a range of volatilities and polarities and then monitoring their loss. The rate of loss was dependent on compound volatility, and the time for equilibrium to be attained varied widely, from 22 min for phenol to 210 min for skatole. To test whether the Twisters would respond linearly over a range of concentrations, the stir bars were placed in vented jars with solutions of …

Evaluation Of Modis Ndvi And Ndwi For Vegetation Drought Monitoring Using Oklahoma Mesonet Soil Moisture Data, Yingxin Gu, Eric Hunt, Brian Wardlow, Jeffrey B. Basara, Jesslyn F. Brown, James P. Verdin

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The evaluation of the relationship between satellitederived vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index and normalized difference water index) and soil moisture improves our understanding of how these indices respond to soil moisture fluctuations. Soil moisture deficits are ultimately tied to drought stress on plants. The diverse terrain and climate of Oklahoma, the extensive soil moisture network of the Oklahoma Mesonet, and satellitederived indices from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provided an opportunity to study correlations between soil moisture and vegetation indices over the 2002–2006 growing seasons. Results showed that the correlation between both indices and the fractional water index …

The Vegetation Drought Response Index (Vegdri): A New Integrated Approach For Monitoring Drought Stress In Vegetation, Jesslyn F. Brown, Brian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Michael Hayes, Bradley C. Reed

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The development of new tools that provide timely, detailed-spatial-resolution drought information is essential for improving drought preparedness and response. This paper presents a new method for monitoring drought-induced vegetation stress called the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI). VegDRI integrates traditional climate-based drought indicators and satellite-derived vegetation index metrics with other biophysical information to produce a 1 km map of drought conditions that can be produced in near-real time. The initial VegDRI map results for a 2002 case study conducted across seven states in the north-central United States illustrates the utility of VegDRI for improved large-area drought monitoring.

Lead Concentration Of Soils In Sorby Hills Area Of Proposed M2 Irrigation Area, East Kimberley, Edward (Ted) Arnold Griffin, Noel R. Schoknecht, Ross Brennan, Jane Speijers, Dave Allen, Mike Freeman

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Technology-Aided Participative Methods In Environmental Assessment: An International Perspective, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

Provisions for citizen involvement in the assessment of potential environmental effects of certain plans, programmes and projects are present in current legislation. An international survey revealed that public participation is common practice in European and some other countries worldwide. However, a number of issues are observed to affect public involvement in EIA/SEA processes and expert opinion differs when evaluating the effectiveness of existing participative methods. Results suggest that technology-aided methods can improve traditional participation processes. In particular, GIS has the potential to increase community knowledge and enhance involvement by communicating information more effectively. Variable accessibility to technology and data quality …

Ua66/1/5 Icset - Institute For Combustion Science & Environmental Technology, Wku Ogden College Of Science & Engineering

WKU Administration Documents

History and overview of the work of the WKU Institute for Combustion Science & Environmental Technology through 2008.

Droughtscape, Winter 2008, Kelly Smith

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

Now Up & On-Line:

Winter 2008 Outlook and Oct.-Dec. ’07 Summary

NDMC Experts Serve as Resource for Media

Drought Hits Ag and Urban Interests in 2007

Climatological Summary of Drought in 2007

NDMC Welcomes Data Miner Bo Zhang

New Grant Awards

Palaeomagnetism Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, F. Florindo, L. Jovane, B. Lum, C. Ohneiser, L. Sagnotti, E. Strada, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We conducted initial palaeomagnetic studies on cores from site AND-2A (77°45.488’S, 165°16.605’E, ~383.57 metres water depth). A total of 813 samples were collected that span from the top of the section down to the base at 1138.54 metres below sea floor (mbsf). Samples were collected every one or two metres down the core, with paired (pilot) samples being collected about every ten to twenty metres to allow us to assess the demagnetisation behaviour of the samples using either alternating field (AF) or thermal demagnetisation. With the exception of only a few intervals, AF demagnetisation was observed to resolve a characteristic …

Preliminary Integrated Chronostratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, J. Crampton, G. Di Vincenzo, Christopher R. Fielding, F. Florindo, M. Hannah, D. M. Harwood, S. Ishman, K. Johnson, L. Jovane, Richard Levy, B. Lum, M. C. Marcano, S. Mukasa, C. Ohneiser, M. P. Olney, C. Riesselman, L. Sagnotti, C. Stefano, E. Strada, M. Taviani, E. Tuzzi, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, M. Zattin, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We use all available chronostratigraphic constraints – biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, radioisotopic dates, strontium-isotope stratigraphy, and correlation of compositional and physical properties to well-dated global or regional records – to construct a preliminary age model for ANDRILL SMS Project’s AND-2A drillcore (77°45.488’S, 165°16.605’E, 383.57 m water depth). These diverse chronostratigraphic constraints are consistent with each other and are distributed throughout the 1138.54 m-thick section, resulting in a well-constrained age model. The sedimentary succession comprises a thick early and middle Miocene section below 224.82 mbsf and a condensed middle/late Miocene to Recent section above this. The youngest sediments are Brunhes age (<0.781 Ma), as confirmed by a radioisotopic age of 0.691±0.049 Ma at 10.23 mbsf and the occurrence of sediments that have normal magnetic polarity down to ~31.1 mbsf, which is interpreted to be the Brunhes/Matuyama reversal (0.781 Ma). The upper section is punctuated by disconformities resulting from both discontinuous deposition and periods of extensive erosion typical of sedimentary environments at the margin of a dynamic ice sheet. Additional breaks in the section may be due to the influence of tectonic processes. The age model incorporates several major hiatuses but their precise depths are still somewhat uncertain, as there are a large number of erosional surfaces identified within the stratigraphic section. One or more hiatuses, which represent a total 7 to 8 million years of time missing from the sedimentary record, occur between about 50 mbsf and the base of Lithostratigraphic Unit (LSU) 3 at 122.86 mbsf. Similarly, between about 145 mbsf and the base of LSU 4 at 224.82 mbsf, one or more hiatuses occur on which another 2 to 3 million years of the sedimentary record is missing. Support for the presence of these hiatuses comes from a diatom assemblage that constrains the age of the core from 44 to 50 mbsf to 2.06-2.84 Ma, two radioisotopic dates (11.4 Ma) and a Sr‑isotope date (11.7 Ma) that indicate the interval from 127 to 145 mbsf was deposited between 11.4 and 11.7 Ma, and three diatom occurrence datums from between 225.38 and 278.55 mbsf that constrain the age of this upper part of Lithostratigraphic Unit (LSU) 5 to 14.29 - 15.89 Ma. Below the boundary between LSU 5 and 6 sedimentation was relatively continuous and rapid and the age model is well-constrained by 9 diatom datums, seven ^{40 …}

Physical Properties Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Gavin B. Dunbar, C. Atkins, D. Magens, F. Niessen, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Whole-core measurements of Wet Bulk Density (WBD), compressional (P)-wave velocity (Vp), and Magnetic Susceptibility were measured at a sampling interval of 1 or 2 centimetres (cm) throughout the AND-2A drill core for initial core characterisation and on-site correlation with seismic modeling to predict target-reflector depth. Measurements were made using a GEOTEK (Multi-Sensor-Core-Logger MSCL). Density and velocity standards were measured together with core runs of 3-6 metres (m) (and occasionally up to 18 m) throughout the entire depth range to monitor data quality. Drift of the magnetic susceptibility sensor was also monitored and corrected where necessary. These physical properties show a …

Operations Overview For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, T. Falconer, A. Pyne, D. Wilson, Richard Levy, S. Nielsen, S. Petrushak, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the austral spring of 2007-08, a 1138 metre (m)-long rock and sediment core (ANDRILL [AND]-2A) was recovered from beneath the land-fast sea-ice in southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) in 384 m of water. A custom-built drilling system comprising an UDR-1200 rig, jack-up platform, hot water drill, sea riser, and diamond-bit wireline coring string was set up on the sea-ice approximately 32 kilometres (km) from Scott Base (NZ) and McMurdo Station (USA). The drilling system employed technology developed to handle challenging environmental conditions, including drilling from an 8 metre-thick sea-ice ‘platform’ that moved both laterally and vertically, tidal currents, and high …

Sedimentology And Stratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Christopher R. Fielding, C. B. Atkins, K. N. Bassett, G. H. Browne, G. B. Dunbar, B. D. Field, Tracy D. Frank, L. A. Krissek, K. S. Panter, S. Passchier, S. F. Pekar, S. Sandroni, F. Talarico, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the 2007 – 2008 austral spring season, the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project recovered a core 1138 metres long (AND-2A) from a location in the southern McMurdo Sound near the Dailey Islands. This core contains a range of lithologies, including various types of terrigenous clastic diamictite, conglomerate and breccia, sandstone and mudrocks, volcanic lava, pyroclastic and reworked volcanic sedimentary rocks, and diatomite. The succession is divided into fourteen lithostratigraphic units (LSUs), two of which (LSUs 1 and 8) are further subdivided into three and four sub-units, respectively, based on changes in abundance of lithologies. Thirteen lithofacies are recognized, ranging …

Background To The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, F. Talarico, Richard Levy

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the austral spring of 2007, the Southern McMurdo (SMS) Project recovered a 1138.54 meter long drill core (AND-2A) from a 8.5 m thick floating seaice platform (~8.5 meters thick) over approximately 380 meters of water (77°45.488S; 165°16.613E) (Fig. 1). This demonstrated the ANDRILL Program’s continuing success in recovering high quality marine and glacimarine sedimentary drill core (> 98% core recovery) from high latitude ice-covered areas. A primary goal of the SMS Project, the second drillhole
of the McMurdo Sound Portfolio (Harwood et al., 2006), was to recover an Antarctic marine sediment record depositied during the middle Miocene, which has …

Explanatory Notes For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, Richard Levy, G. Acton, Christopher R. Fielding, K. Panter, T. Paulsen, F. Sangiorgi, F. Talarico, M. Taviani, V. Willmott, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

This Explanatory Notes section complements and supports four other documents, which collectively describe the process and procedures of scientific investigations employed during the ANDRILL SMS Project: (1) ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project - Scientific Prospectus (ANDRILL contribution 5 - Harwood et al., 2005); (2) a Science Plan summary of SMS Project research compiled from research proposals of Science Team menbers (available on the SMS Project ‘Science Drive’ – Harwood et al., 2007); (3) SMS Project Science Logistics Implementation Plan (SLIP) - draft documents developed and distributed to SMS team members prior to deployment; (4) Operations overview – Falconer et al., …