Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Biotic Responses To Climate Change In The Great Basin And Mojave Desert: Vegetation, David Charlet, Patrick Leary

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

84 PowerPoint slides Convener: Franco Biondi, UNR & Michael Young, DRI Session 4: Ecological Change and Water Resources Abstract: -The Problem -To detect changes in vegetation as it responds to changes in climate, we must first know where the vegetation is now -GAP (Geographic Approach to Protection of Biodiversity) map --National project to map land cover throughout the US. --Nevada map (Edwards et al. 1996) -Southwest ReGAP map --Land cover map for southwestern US (Prior-Magee et al. 2007) to correct problems identified in GAP map

Research Poster: Building Infrastructure: Climate Monitoring Transects In Nevada, Scotty Strachan, David B. Simeral, Brian M. Bird, Richard L. Jasoni

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

Research Poster: Climate Change Impacts To Groundwater, Springs Hydrology And Aquatic Communities Amargosa Desert And Death Valley National Park, Nevada And California, Terry Fisk, Greg Pohll, Don Sada, Mark Stone

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

Fishing Industry Impact Study : James Price Point Proposed Liquefied Natural Gas Precinct, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Occasional Publications

No abstract provided.

Fisheries Occasional Paper No. 77 - Economic Analysis: Fishing Industry Impact Study - Kimberley Lng Project, Econsearch Pty Ltd, Department Of Fisheries Western Australia

Fisheries Occasional Publications

This study, prepared as a part of a broader study for WA fisheries, is concerned with the regional economy of the West Kimberley region and involves an assessment of the impact on the region of a range of fishing industry scenarios associated with development of an LNG processing facility. Specific tasks involved in the study were to prepare the following:

• a standard input-output model for the West Kimberley regional economy for 2007/08 and extend it as a DECON model; and

• estimates of the regional economic and population impact for a range of fishing industry scenarios arising from the …

The Influence Of Partial Timber Harvesting In Riparian Buffers On Macroinvertebrate And Fish Communities In Small Streams In Minnesota, Usa, Christopher J. Chizinski, Bruce Vondracek, Charles R. Blinn, Raymond M. Newman, Dickson M. Atuke, Keith Fredricks, Nathaniel A. Hemstad, Eric Merten, Nicholas Schlesser

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Relatively few evaluations of aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish communities have been published in peer-reviewed literature detailing the effect of varying residual basal area (RBA) after timber harvesting in riparian buffers. Our analysis investigated the effects of partial harvesting within riparian buffers on aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish communities in small streams from two experiments in northern Minnesota northern hardwood-aspen forests. Each experiment evaluated partial harvesting within riparian buffers. In both experiments, benthic macroinvertebrates and fish were collected 1 year prior to harvest and in each of 3 years after harvest. We observed interannual variation for the macroinvertebrate abundance, diversity and taxon …

Modelling The Impacts Of A Mixed Forestry Plantation On Groundwater Resources In The Beaufort River Area, Western Australia, Paul Raper, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Water Management Plan For The Town Of Pingelly, Mark Pridham

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Ua12/13 2010 Sustainability Report [Western Kentucky University], Wku Office Of Sustainability

Sustainability Publications and Resources

As I reflect on the past year, I am filled with pride and hope by our progress in becoming a more sustainable WKU. The milestones are significant: completion of our first building for which we will seek LEED certification, sustainability included as a core commitment in the WKU Strategic Guide for 2010-2012 and a Resolution for Education for Sustainability adopted, the first Education for Sustainability faculty retreat, the Energy Savings Performance Contract project initiated and nearly completed, and WKU included in the Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges. These are but a few of the accomplishments made in 2010. …

Effects Of Drought On Avian Community Structure, Thomas P. Albright, Anna M. Pidgeon, Chadwick D. Rittenhouse, Murray K. Clayton, Curtis H. Flather, Patrick D. Culbert, Brian D. Wardlows, Volker C. Radeloff

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Droughts are expected to become more frequent under global climate change. Avifauna depend on precipitation for hydration, cover, and food. While there are indications that avian communities respond negatively to drought, little is known about the response of birds with differing functional and behavioral traits, what time periods and indicators of drought are most relevant, or how response varies geographically at broad spatial scales. Our goals were thus to determine (1) how avian abundance and species richness are related to drought, (2) whether community variations are more related to vegetation vigor or precipitation deviations and at what time periods relationships …

The Distribution And Origins Of Acid Groundwaters In The South West Agricultural Area, Adam Lillicrap, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Western Australian Part Of The Nullarbor Region, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, A K. Gardner, P Hennig

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Western Australian part of the Nullarbor region, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 2005 and 2007, describes and maps the natural resources of the region. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the area's natural resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The Nullarbor region has …

Correlation Between Normalized Ddifference Vvegetation Index And Malaria In A Subtropical Rain Forest Undergoing Rapid Anthropogenic Alteration, Nicole M. Wayant, Diego Maldonado, Antonieta Rojas De Arias, Blanca Cousino, Douglas G. Goodin

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

Time-series of coarse-resolution greenness values derived through remote sensing have been used as a surrogate environmental variable to help monitor and predict occurrences of a number of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, including malaria. Often, relationships between a remotely-sensed index of greenness, e.g. the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and disease occurrence are established using temporal correlation analysis. However, the strength of these correlations can vary depending on type and change of land cover during the period of record as well as inter-annual variations in the climate drivers (precipitation, temperature) that control the NDVI values. In this paper, the correlation between …

The Index Of Biological Integrity And The Bootstrap: Can Random Sampling Error Affect Stream Impairment Decisions?, Christine L. Dolph, Aleksey Y. Sheshukov, Christopher J. Chizinski, Bruce Vondracek, Bruce N. Wilson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Multimetric indices, such as the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI), are increasingly used bymanagement agencies to determine whether surface water quality is impaired. However, important questions about the variability of these indices have not been thoroughly addressed in the scientific literature. In this study, we used a bootstrap approach to quantify variability associated with fish IBIs developed for streams in two Minnesota river basins. We further placed this variability into a management context by comparing it to impairment thresholds currently used in water quality determinations for Minnesota streams. We found that 95% confidence intervals ranged as high as 40 points …

Droughtscape, Winter 2010, Kelly Smith

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

USDM Forum Highlights

Drought Likely to Ease

Research Shows Birds Vulnerable to Drought

Drought Recedes in 2009

CA, TX Suffer Impacts from Ongoing Drought

NDMC Wishes Ryu Well

Conferees Pick SPI for Global Drought Index

The Impact Of Rare Taxa On A Fish Index Of Biotic Integrity, Haibo Wan, Christopher J. Chizinski, Christine L. Dolph, Bruce Vondracek, Bruce N. Wilson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The index of biotic integrity (IBI) is a commonly used bioassessment tool that integrates abundance and richness measures to assess water quality. In developing IBIs that are both responsive to human disturbance and resistant to natural variability and sampling error, water managersmust decide how to weigh information about rare and abundant taxa, which in turn requires an understanding of the sensitivity of indices to rare taxa. Herein, we investigated the influence of rare fish taxa (within the lower 5% of rank abundance curves) on IBI metric and total scores for stream sites in two of Minnesota’smajor river basins, the St. …

Applying Geographic Information Systems To Support Strategic Environmental Assessment: Opportunities And Limitations In The Context Of Irish Land-Use Plans, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

The strengthening of spatial database infrastructures, further promoted by the INSPIRE Directive adopted in 2007, has led to an increased use of spatial data in planning and decision-making. Given that land-use plans are intrinsically spatial, such evidence and approaches can significantly benefit plan-making. A spatial framework could especially support the specific Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) aspects of the plan-making process. Spatial tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are particularly well-placed to support the environmental integration sought in SEA by providing evidence through the spatial assessment of multiple environmental datasets. Moreover, GIS bring the opportunity to augment conventional assessment techniques …

2010 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is charged with monitoring, assessing, and to the extent possible, managing the state’s water resources. The purpose of this work is to protect and maintain good quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on the over 18,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, our greater than 280,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, and the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

Characterization Of Secondary Organic Aerosol (Soa) Formed By The Reaction Of Β-Caryophyllene, Soot And Ozone: Climate Impact, A. Sarkar, N. A. Marley, J. S. Gaffney

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Diesel soot (black carbon, BC) is an important light absorbing aerosol component in atmosphere that can cause tropospheric heating. Laboratory studies have found it to be unreactive to ozone at ambient temperature. The low uptake coefficient i.e., γ 300 K = 2× 10-7 , of the soot-O3 reaction indicates a low probability of irreversible O3 loss from gas phase to surface-adsorbed product (Particle phase). This shows clearly that at low temperature soot is not reactive with atmospheric oxidants. In contrast, sesquiterpenes (SQT) such as β-caryophyllene (C15H24), which are produced primarily by plants, are extremely reactive with ozone. For example, the …

Implementing Deep Drainage To Reduce Salinity In The Date Creek Catchment, South West Western Australia, Derk Bakker, John P. Collins, Justin Hardy

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Methods In Environmental Biotechnology For Environmentalists, Florentin Smarandache, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, S.R. Kannan, S. Ramathilagam

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The study of environmental pollution by chemicals used in agriculture as pesticide or as fertilizers or pollution caused by industries and chemical plants which use chemicals have not been analysed systematically. This book has five chapters. First chapter is introductory in nature. Here we just study chemical pollution caused by garment industries in chapter two of this book using fuzzy associative memories. In chapter three we give ways to control pollution by improving the system performance using hierarchical genetic fuzzy control algorithm. This study is carried out using the past data reported by Shimada et al (1995). Health hazards suffered …

Combined Effects Of Heat Waves And Droughts On Avian Communities Across The Conterminous United States, Thomas P. Albright, Anna M. Pidgeon, Chadwick D. Rittenhouse, Murray K. Clayton, Brian D. Wardlow, Curtis H. Flather, Patrick D. Culbert, Volker C. Radeloff

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Increasing surface temperatures and climatic variability associated with global climate change are expected to produce more frequent and intense heat waves and droughts in many parts of the world. Our goal was to elucidate the fundamental, but poorly understood, effects of these extreme weather events on avian communities across the conterminous United States. Specifically, we explored: (1) the effects of timing and duration of heat and drought events, (2) the effects of jointly occurring drought and heat waves relative to these events occurring in isolation, and (3) how effects vary among functional groups related to nest location and migratory habit, …

2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive Conservation And Management Plan (Ccmp), Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

In the fall of 2010, the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) completed an 18-month effort to understand current and future environmental issues affecting the Region’s estuaries, to establish realistic goals and objectives for the next 10 years, and to create effective action plans to systematically achieve the shared environmental goals of a broad base of Regional stakeholders.

With input from more than 150 individuals, representing 82 organizations, PREP compiled the 2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that lays the foundation for work over the next decade to protect and restore the Region’s estuaries and associated watersheds

2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive : Executive Summary, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

In the fall of 2010, the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) completed an 18-month effort to understand current and future environmental issues affecting the Region’s estuaries, to establish realistic goals and objectives for the next 10 years, and to create effective action plans to systematically achieve the shared environmental goals of a broad base of Regional stakeholders.

With input from more than 150 individuals, representing 82 organizations, PREP compiled the 2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that lays the foundation for work over the next decade to protect and restore the Region’s estuaries and associated watersheds.

Native Species Interactions With Red Brome: Suggestions For Burn-Area Revegetation, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

In deserts, native perennial plants often actually facilitate the establishment of exotic annual grasses. One of our focal areas of research is to identify native species for use in revegetation projects that reduce the establishment of exotic annual grasses, or at least do not strongly facilitate exotic species establishment. An initial research effort involving a competition experiment of red brome with native species and a correlational field study of brome distribution among native perennial plants is in press with the journal Invasive Plant Science and Management.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, Time Period: October 1 — December 31, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Article accepted for publication in Journal of Arid Environments.

• Recharged irrigation gel packs for outplanting and watered seed plots at Goodsprings site.

• Completed full year of seed granivory trials at Goodsprings site.

• Presented information on this Task Agreement to 4th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress.

• Maintained nursery plots and added installment of nitrogen treatment.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

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

• All milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• Fall surveys at all sites have been completed
• Mark-recapture surveys scheduled for fall were completed
• Short-term habitat improvements at two sites were conducted
• RLFCT meeting was hosted
• Draft annual report was written and presented at the RLFCT meeting

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• All milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• An annual project review presentation was given to Clark County
• A draft final report was written and submitted to Clark County
• All data for this project was transferred to the County …

Development Of The Mask Scentometer, A Comparison Of Ambient Odor Assessment Methods, And Their Application In Ground Truthing Atmospheric Dispersion Models, Christopher G. Henry

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation is organized as four stand-alone papers. Paper No. 1 describes the development of the Mask Scentometer and reports dilution ratios measured during use by twelve different people. Dilution ratios at the Mask Scentometer’s five dilution-to-threshold (D/T) settings were found to be 0.35, 1, 2, 4.5 and 18. In Paper No.’s 2 and 4, ambient odor assessment methods were compared in both controlled laboratory conditions and in the field. Laboratory analysis of ambient air samples using dynamic triangular forced-choice olfactometry (DTFCO) did not correlate well with any of the ambient odor assessment methods. Average intensity-predicted D/T was roughly five …

Ua12/13 Wku Campus Wide Holiday Energy Conservation Plan, Wku Sustainability Committee, Christian Ryan-Downing

Sustainability Publications and Resources

No abstract provided.

Annual Pastoral Land Condition Report: 2008 / 2009 Financial Year, Paul E. Novelly, Philip Thomas

Natural resources published reports

This report to the Pastoral Lands Board of Western Australia presents information for the 2008/2009 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 pastoral land condition, using information from the Bureau of Meteorology, the Western Australian Rangeland Monitoring System (WARMS) and the pastoral lease inspection program of the Department of Agriculture & Food Western Australia (DAFWA).

Pastoral leases cover 87.4 million hectares …