Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Construction Impacts On Nutrient Loads In An Urban Stream In The Ozark Highlands, Matthew B. Wilson

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Degradation of water quality is primarily caused by human activity, including urbanization. Urban stream syndrome can be characterized as a stream that has undergone physical, chemical, and biological changes as a result of urbanization, which can include an influx of nutrients that can drive unwanted plant and algae growth. It is known that construction can result in untreated nutrients entering a stream; however, it is not understood how construction affects downstream nutrient transport. The objective of this study was to understand the impacts of construction on urban water quality in Tanglewood Branch in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the Ozark Highlands, which …

Solar Powered Conservation: The Effects Of Solar Photovoltaic Facilities On Avian Community Composition, Michael Christopher Ferrara

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The expansion of solar photovoltaic energy infrastructure is transforming landscapes worldwide. Increasingly, facilities are planted with native vegetation, yet how vegetation characteristics and landscape variables shape wildlife communities in solar facilities remains poorly understood. Because avian populations have been in decline and are sensitive to habitat changes, understanding how solar facilities influence avian communities is important. In Chapter 1, we used autonomous recording units, local vegetation measurements, and land use and land cover data to quantify how avian community occupancy is influenced by solar cover in solar facilities and comparable reference sites. We used a Bayesian multi-species occupancy model to …

Spatial Targeting Of Irrigation Development And Water Resource Management To Mitigate Vector-Borne Disease, April Frake, Brad Peter, Grivin Chipula, Joseph Messina

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Scaling irrigated agriculture is a global strategy to mitigate food insecurity concerns. While expanding irrigated agriculture is critical to meeting food production demands, it is important to consider how these land use and land cover changes (LULCC) may alter the water resources of landscapes and impact the spatiotemporal epidemiology of disease. Here, a generalizable method is presented to inform irrigation development decision-making aimed at increasing crop production through irrigation while simultaneously mitigating malaria risk to surrounding communities. Changes to the spatiotemporal patterns of malaria vector (Anopheles gambiae s.s.) suitability, driven by irrigated agricultural expansion, are presented for Malawi's rainy and …

Satellite-Based Estimation Of Seasonal Surface Water Change And Its Relationship To Climate Variability In A Tropical Open Basin Lake, Osnar Mondragon Grios

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of climate variability and water surface area in Lake Nicaragua, one of the largest tropical lakes on Earth. The significance of this study lies in its potential to provide valuable insights into the hydroclimatic patterns and water availability, vital for Nicaragua’s water supply. Monthly and seasonal time series of precipitation, land surface temperature, and evapotranspiration (ET), acquired from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), were analyzed in Google Earth Engine using a non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen's slope. The second aim of this …

Environmental And Agronomic Evaluation Of Struvite In Rice Production Systems, Diego Della Lunga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Furrow-irrigation constitutes an alternative water regime that has been increasingly adopted in Arkansas. Among the management of nutrients in furrow-irrigated systems, phosphorus (P) represents a substantial challenge. The environmental sustainability of rice (Oryza sativa) production systems needs to be evaluated across different water regimes and fertilizer-P sources. Therefore, the objectives of the following studies were to: i) evaluate season-long carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions and global warming potential (GWP) under different tillage treatments [i.e., conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT)] and at different site positions (i.e., up-, mid-, down-slope) along the predominant slope of a production-scale, furrow-irrigated rice …

Stream Restoration Effectiveness In Mullins Creek In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Amadeo Scott

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Lotic waterways are vital for habitat, food, water, and flood protection, but urbanization poses a major threat to their integrity. Runoff from urban surfaces leads to pollution, flashiness, loss of biodiversity, and other symptoms, also known as Urban Stream Syndrome (USS). To combat USS, streams can be restored, but most restorations are not monitored so their long-term effectiveness is unknown. This study quantitatively evaluated a decade-old stream restoration in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to assess its effectiveness in combating USS and achieving set restoration goals, and to gain insights for future restoration projects. Restoration goals included decreasing erosion and sedimentation, increasing pool …

Patterns In Winter Stonefly Distribution Along A River Continuum And Land-Use Gradient In Northwest Arkansas Streams, Zachary Tipton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater ecosystems are facing a crisis with extinction rates of aquatic species exceeding those of their terrestrial counterparts by up to fivefold. This decline is predominantly attributed to evolving land use patterns within watersheds, leading to chemical and physical transformations in freshwater habitats. Northwest Arkansas (NWA) represents one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States, undergoing substantial shifts in land use. Consequently, the status of aquatic life in this region remains uncertain. Addressing this concern, the latest Arkansas Wildlife Action Plan emphasizes the necessity of distribution and population data to guide conservation efforts for Species of Greatest Conservation Need …

Winter-Time Cover Crop Identification: A Remote Sensing-Based Methodological Framework For New And Rapid Data Generation, Zobaer Ahmed, Lawton L. Nalley, Kristofor R. Brye, V. Steven Green, Michael P. Popp, Aaron Michael Shew, Lawson Connor

Environmental Dynamics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurately identifying and systematically mapping winter-time cover crops and their phenological characteristics offer significant benefits to agricultural producers and policymakers, as cover crops are one of several potential solutions to climate change mitigation. We present a methodological framework for identifying and mapping the presence of winter-time cover crops at the field level and aggregated to county scales from 2013 to 2019 by using the Google Earth Engine (GEE), a random forest classifier with time series data from Landsat 8, and yearly cover crop training data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The methodology was …

Analyzing The Adoption, Cropping Rotation, And Impact Of Winter Cover Crops In The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (Map) Region Through Remote Sensing Technologies, Zobaer Ahmed

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the application of remote sensing technologies in conservation agriculture, specifically focusing on identifying and mapping winter cover crops and assessing voluntary cover crop adoption and cropping patterns in the Arkansas portion of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP). In the first chapter, a systematic review using the PRISMA methodology examines the last 30 years of thematic research, development, and trends in remote sensing applied to conservation agriculture from a global perspective. The review uncovers a growing interest in remote sensing-based research in conservation agriculture and emphasizes the necessity for further studies dedicated to conservation practices. Among the 68 …

Evaluating Snow And Ice Cover In Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, Zoe Pitman

Geosciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Evaluating changes in snow and ice cover is an important field for studying climate change and its impacts. This evaluation is commonly done using remote sensing because of its ability to evaluate large areas. The purpose of this study is to determine the reliability of one remote sensing technology, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), by comparing it to in-situ snow and climate data from the weather station at the Austral Center for Scientific Research (CADIC). Data was converted from daily to monthly averages and was sorted into a series of graphs to compare the two data sets. Correlations were …

Evaluation Of Hydrogeochemical Characteristics Of San Joaquin, Tulare, And Mojave Aquifers, Southern California, Maedeh Hassanvand

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Before making attempts to enhance and manage the quality of water, a thorough understanding of these processes is necessary since the chemical quality of groundwater is impacted by a number of linked processes. This would be more important in arid and semiarid regions like the southern part of California where more rely on groundwater for agriculture and drinking water uses than the other states. As a result, fundamental knowledge of the governing processes of groundwater chemistry is required for effective water resource management. Thus, this study is primarily concerned with three aspects in Mojave, Tulare, and San Joaquin aquifers: The …

An Overview Of Serial Depletions Of Global Marine Fisheries 1950 To 2019, Alison Follmer

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Overfishing is a global issue that poses a significant risk to the entire ocean ecosystem in diminishing biodiversity and ecosystem function. This thesis examined the pattern and pace of fisheries depletions due to commercial fishing during the past 70 years. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Division of Fisheries and Aquaculture maintains a database of global hauls of marine taxa (reported in metric tonnes) from 1950 – 2019. These data were queried to determine the total number and sequence of fisheries depletions documented by the historic record. Analysis of this database showed progressive, linearly-increasing exploitation of …

Detection Of Nitrogen Dioxide Via Graphene-Enhanced Raman Scattering, Spencer Hazeslip

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper presents the development of a nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) sensor that utilizes the phenomenon of graphene-enhanced Raman scattering (GERS). The sensor consists of monolayer graphene on a silicon wafer, functionalized noncovalently with Copper(II) 2,9,16,23-tetra-tert-butyl-29H,31H-phthalocyanine (CuTTPc) via the solution soaking method. A custom sensing chamber was constructed to enable Raman spectra to be collected during NO₂ exposure. The response of the sensor was found to be linear between 10 and 100 ppm NO₂, indicating that it could be used for both detection and quantification. Furthermore, the sensor was shown to be reusable after …

Analysis Of Seismicity And Related Seismic Risk In Muslim Countries: Case Studies From Afghanistan And Pakistan, Ikramuddin Bahram

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How communities respond to a natural hazard is influenced by how they perceive it. This dissertation evaluated the gap between intent and action regarding earthquake hazards in Muslim countries with a focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cultural biases provided predictions of risk perceptions and risk-taking preferences that were often more powerful than measures of knowledge and experience. In Muslim communities, perception of risk was influenced by the teachings of Islam and related rituals, traditions, and culture.

This study evaluated the seismicity and earthquake hazard in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Assessments of seismic risk and perception of danger were conducted to examine …

Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms Vary Within And Across Years At Lake Fayetteville, Arkansas, Alyssa Ferri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The occurrence of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) and toxins are a nationwide concern. Although Lake Fayetteville likely experienced HABs for many years, microcystin, an algal toxin, was not monitored until 2019. The objectives of this study were to: 1) observe temporal variation in water quality and total microcystin concentrations, 2) quantify thresholds with microcystin and nutrients, algal parameters, and environmental factors, and 3) evaluate complex relationships between total microcystin and nutrient supplies, algal parameters, and environmental factors using a classification and regression tree model (CART). Three sites (dam, inlet, and mid) at Lake Fayetteville were sampled weekly to monthly …

Root Phenotyping Of Peptide-Treated Glycine Max, Salem Jackson, Fiona Goggin

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Plant elicitor peptides (Peps) – endogenous chains of amino acids involved in natural plant defense – have been shown to decrease damage from herbivores and pathogens by inducing an immune response, increasing the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCS), transcripts, and metabolites. Exogenous treatment of soybean seeds with plant elicitor peptide GmPep3 has been shown to induce these broad-spectrum defenses and offers a new method for increasing crop yield. However, the effects of GmPep3 on indicators of soybean health – root characteristics, growth stages, etc. – have not been fully realized. Using the root-phenotyping platform RhizoVision Explorer, several root traits …

Identification Of Phosphorous Loading Point Source Facilities To 303(D) Listed Nutrient Impaired Waters Through Watershed Delineation Using Arcgis For Life Cycle Assessment Applications, John Zimmerman

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The work done for this project is part of a larger “life cycle assessment (LCA) of novel electrochemical phosphorus recovery technology at the wastewater treatment plant and U.S. watershed scales” (Morrissey 2019). The goal of that LCA is to determine “environmental impacts of implementing electrochemical struvite recovery at the wastewater treatment plant, U.S watershed, and global scales” (Morrissey 2019). This project’s goal is to identify locations deemed more sensitive to eutrophication impacts. The results will be used as part of the life cycle inventory (LCI) accounting for geographically explicit phosphorus flows. The waters identified as impaired were sourced from the …

Assimilation Of Seasonal Moisture Variability In North America And Asia For The Last Millennium, Chang Liu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The seasonal tree-ring chronologies that recorded discrete moisture signal for warm and cool season have been used to reconstruct the North America Seasonal Precipitation Atlas (NASPA) by the point-by-point regression method, and the results indicated that they can fairly reproduce the seasonal precipitation variability in the past. Compared with reconstructions using only paleoclimate proxy data, the paleoclimate data assimilation (PDA) considers both proxy data and climate model output, so the PDA reconstructions are consistent with both the climate signals reflected by the proxy data and the physical mechanisms represented by climate models. Based on the tree rings with discrete seasonal …

Nutrient Sources, Loads And Trends Vary Spatially And Temporally Within The Poteau River Watershed And Lake Wister, Oklahoma, Abbie Lasater

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Excess inputs of nutrients and sediments jeopardize drinking water sources, aquatic life habitats, and aesthetic quality of freshwater resources for recreation. The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze long-term water quality trends and loads in the Upper Poteau River Watershed (UPRW) and the Lake Wister Watershed (LWW), and analyze internal phosphorus (P) loads in Lake Wister, Oklahoma. Additionally, this dissertation sought to review the literature for methods of prioritizing subwatersheds for watershed management using watershed models, implement a cost efficient method to remotely monitor streamflow and estimate constituent loads in small-scale watersheds, and finally, to validate the Soil Water …

Quantifying The Leaching Of Nutrients And Metals In A Pasture Soil As Affected By Excreta Of Ruminants Fed Alternative Diets, Ian Kennedy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The leaching of nitrate through the soil profile and into adjacent water systems has been a leading cause of water pollution and results in the loss of a valuable nutrient from animal production systems. Forage-based animal production systems may be improved through manipulation of animal diets that incorporate tannins and total polyphenolic compounds with feed, increasing the amount of nitrogen (N) retained by an animal/decreasing rates of digestion and altering the N-containing compounds that are excreted and deposited onto soil. Incorporating the forage legumes sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneate [Dumont de Courset] G. Don) and lablab (Lablab purpurues L.) into the …

Projecting Water Available For Irrigation Use And Identifying Water Supply Stress Under Climate Change Scenarios In Selected U.S. Fruit And Vegetable Production Regions, Andrew Shaw

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change affects water resources differently across geospatial regions in the United States (U.S). There is a concern of how water availability will be affected by changes in long-term temperature and precipitation patterns, specifically in major production regions for eight fruit and vegetable crops. The effects on surface water available for irrigation use and supply stress in five regions containing 31 Agricultural Statistics Districts (ASDs) were assessed. The Water Supply Stress Index Model was used and modified to project water available for irrigation use across nine climate scenarios driven by historical data, five General Circulation Models, two population scenarios, and …

Correlation Analyses Among Soil, Plant, And Environmental Variables And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Furrow-Irrigated Rice On A Silt-Loam Soil, Diego Della Lunga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alternative water management practices for rice (Oryza sativa) production have been developed for water conservation purposes, such as the relatively new furrow-irrigated rice production system, which results in spatially variable volumetric water content (VWC), temperature, and oxidation-reduction (redox) potential. No research has been conducted to relate greenhouse gas (GHG) production to soil and plant properties or environmental factors under furrow-irrigated rice. The objective of this field study was to evaluate correlations between methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes and emissions and global warming potential (GWP) and near-surface soil properties and environmental factors over two growing seasons …

Earthworm Dynamics In Tallgrass Prairies In The Ozark Highlands Region Of Northwest Arkansas, Carlee Hensley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tallgrass prairie was a historic and is presently a unique and endangered natural ecosystem throughout the Ozark Highlands region in the mid-southern United States. Tallgrass prairies have been disturbed for agricultural production and/or urban expansion; thus, as a result, efforts have been undertaken to reclaim areas previously used for agricultural production to mitigate the loss of tallgrass prairies. Limited research exists on earthworm dynamics in mounded tallgrass prairies or prairie restorations, particularly in the Ozark Highlands region of northwest Arkansas. The objectives of this study were to i) evaluate the effects of soil moisture regime (SMR; aquic and udic), landscape …

In Situ Plant Uptake Of Excess Nutrients And Consequential Alteration Of Rhizosphere Dynamics, Srusti Maddala

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The use of phytoremediation in ecological remediation projects has numerous benefits including soil stabilization and nutrient uptake. Recently, microdialysis, a diffusion-based sampling technique commonly used in biomedical research, has been recognized as a candidate for monitoring chemical changes in the rhizosphere. The real-time, in situ data it provides about nutrient diffusion may improve the management and success of restoration projects. Therefore, the objective of this study was to employ the technique of microdialysis in the novel application of quantifying the diffusive flux of inorganic nitrogen compounds in the rhizosphere of native plants of Arkansas. The microdialysis technique was first optimized …

Effects Of Light, Nutrients, And Salts On Microbial Biofilm Productivity And Detrital Processing In Aquatic Mesocosms, Bethanie Brooke Howard-Parker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities associated with urbanization, agriculture, and resource extraction continue to increase to support increasing needs of the growing population. These activities increase the amounts of pollutants entering freshwater streams and put aquatic ecosystems at structural and functional risk. Aquatic microbes play an important role in detrital processing in streams as a key linkage in moving carbon from detrital stocks into aquatic food webs. My research investigates the effects of light, nutrients, and salts on detrital microbes and decomposition in freshwaters using a mesocosm approach. In chapter one, I modified a current priming effect (PE) hypothesis model to include light …

Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Ammonia Volatilization From Soil Amended With Excreta From Ruminants Fed Alternative Forage-Based Diets, Samuel Park

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Forage-based ruminant diets supplemented with condensed tannins or polyphenolic-containing legumes may alter nitrogen (N) metabolism in the animal and reduce gas emissions from soil receiving excreta. The objective of the study was to determine if soil receiving urine or manure from sheep fed forage diets supplemented with condensed tannin or polyphenolic-containing legumes would decrease N gas emissions. Two field trials were conducted: in the first trial, sheep were fed alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) silage diets supplemented with 0, 9, 18, or 27% sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneate [Dumont de Courset] G. Don) (n = 4). In the second trial sheep were …

Microdialysis: A Method For Quantifying In Situ Nitrogen Fluxes In Soil Microsites, Srusti Maddala, Mary C. Savin, Julie A. Stenken, Lisa S. Wood

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Microdialysis, a diffusion-based sampling technique commonly used in biomedical research, has recently been recognized as a candidate for monitoring chemical changes in the rhizosphere. The information it provides about nutrient diffusion may improve nitrogen use efficiency, leading to enhanced management and success of restoration projects. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of microdialysis sampling to quantify the relative recoveries (RR%) of nitrate-N and ammonium-N, the two inorganic nitrogen compounds typically found in soil. The effects of microdialysis flow rate, sample medium concentration, and the presence of both analytes in solution on the relative recoveries obtained from …

Climate Change Governance And The Politics Of Scale: Evaluating Local Climate Protection Policies And Practices In The United States And Germany, Ayure-Inga Mark Anthony Agana

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When it became evident that the issue of climate change needed to be acted upon, it was projected as a global scale problem. To make this rhetoric concrete, the international relations logic that ‘regimes’ of cooperating nation-states are the most feasible approach to solving problems that are global in nature was adopted. While the national level has performed poorly in climate change mitigation action, as exemplified by the United States’ refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, Canada’s subsequent withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2011 after initial ratification and, more recently, the United States withdrawal from the Paris Accord, a …

The Potential Acidification Of The Mulberry River, Arkansas, Jason Richard Burgess-Conforti

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Mulberry River is a 110 km long tributary of the Arkansas River in northwest Arkansas and has been designated as a National Wild and Scenic River since 1992. In 2008, the Mulberry River was added to the 303(d) list of impaired water bodies due to the low pH of a 14.6 km segment of the river which has since increased to 68.7 km. To date, there has been little research performed on the Mulberry River and long-term routinely sampled water quality data is unavailable. The objectives of this dissertation were 1) to evaluate changes in water quality of the …

Assessing Biofiltration Without Ozonation For Removal Of Trihalomethane Precursors In Drinking Water At The Beaver Water District Drinking Water Treatment Plant, Sana Ajaz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biofiltration without pre-ozonation has the capability to remove natural organic matter (NOM) fractions that serve as precursors of disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which include the four regulated trihalomethanes (THMs) and dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN). Rapid small-scale column tests (RSSCTs) and Pilot Plant filters operated at empty-bed contact times (EBCTs) of 4, 8, and 16 minutes were used to evaluate the performance of nutrient-amended (free ammonia and phosphorus) biofiltration for THM and DCAN precursor removal, as measured using formation potential (FP) tests. NOM surrogates – which include dissolved organic carbon (DOC), specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA254) and fluorescence-PARAFAC components – were measured weekly throughout the …