Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Pharmaceutical Contaminants As Stressors On Rocky Intertidal And Estuarine Organisms: A Case Study Of Fluoxetine, Joseph Richard Peters

Dissertations and Theses

Contaminants such as pharmaceuticals are of increasing concern due to their ubiquitous use and persistence in surface waters worldwide. Limited attention has been paid to the effects of pharmaceuticals on marine life, despite widespread detection of these contaminants in the marine environment. Of the existing studies, the majority assess the negative effects of pharmaceuticals over an exposure period of 30 days or less and focus on cellular and subcellular biomarkers. Longer studies are required to determine if chronic contaminant exposure poses risks to marine life at environmentally relevant concentrations. Also scarce in the literature is examination of whole organism effects …

Patterns And Sources Of Anthropogenic Contaminants In The Otter Creek Watershed, Madison County, Kentucky, Elijah D. Wolfe, Walter S. Borowski, Jacob L. Robin

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Stream systems are often affected by anthropogenic contaminants that affect water quality and stream ecosystems. Land use determines the type and quantity of contaminants present in natural waters. The Otter Creek watershed (170 km²; Madison County, Kentucky) consists predominantly of pasture and rural housing, with some cropland. The basin also receives runoff from the town of Richmond and a sewage treatment plant operates within the watershed. We measured concentrations of nutrients (phosphate, ammonium, nitrate) and fecal microbes to discover levels of anthropogenic contaminants affecting water quality and to identify contaminant sources.

We sampled 4 times in the summer …

Park Management Gis Intern In New York City Department Of Park & Recreation, Dongjun Zhou 3125032

Sustainability and Social Justice

My park management GIS internship with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation took place during June and August 2015, where I primarily worked under the guidance of Terese Flores, the park manager for the borough of Manhattan. My internship responsibility was assisting the Park Manager with park improvement project that primarily involved asset mapping for park properties, field data collecting and entry, budget devising as well as park staff coordinating. According to the requirement of GISDE program at Clark University, the content of this report mainly covers three aspects of this internship: the introduction for the mission and …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 23, 2016, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 23, 2016 (2/23/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Identifying The Relationships Of Climate And Physiological Responses Of A Beech Forest Using The Standardised Recipitation Index: A Case Study For Slovakia, Jaroslav Vido, Katarína Střelcová, Paulína Nalevanková, Adriana Leštianska, Radoslav Kandrík, Alena Pástorová, Jaroslav Škvarenina, Tsegaye Tadesse

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The paper presents relationship between the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) and physiological responses of individual trees in a beech stand using an example of an experimental plot in Bienska valley (Zvolen, Slovakia). SPI is a widely used tool for monitoring both short-term and long-term droughts, and for the assessments of drought impacts on agriculture. Due to the complex ecosystem bonds, monitoring of drought in forests often requires a sophisticated technological approach. The aim of the paper was to correlate the SPI on the physiological responses of trees that were recorded during the performed physiological research (sap flow, and stem circumference …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 16, 2016, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 16, 2016 (2/16/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Four Billion People Facing Severe Water Scarcity, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the sea- sonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 9, 2016, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 9, 2016 (2/9/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Bats Serves As Nebraska's Natural Pest Control Agents, Michael Whitby, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

You don't notice them flying in the night sky as you drive home, or in the trees above you as you walk your dog or under the bark of the dead tree at your fishing hole, but bats are everywhere in Nebraska. In fact, there are 13 species of bats inhabiting our state. They exhibit a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Some migrate to unknown locations each winter. others stay in Nebraska and hibernate in caves, mines and occasionally homes. You probably won't notice them unless you happen to catch a glimpse of one eating insects under a …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 2, 2016, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 2, 2016 (2/2/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Proposing A Sustainable Tourism Framework For The Philippines, Michael Angelo A. Cortez, John Paolo R. Rivera

Center for Business Research and Development

The travel and tourism (T&T) industry has become a major contributor to growth and development in most economies across the globe (World Travel & Tourism Council [WTTC], 2014). The industry has significantly increased its gross value added (GVA) to the well-being of stakeholders through its direct economic impacts; and indirect and induced impacts to its forward and backward linkages. As such, according to Roe (2001), the T&T evolved into the world’s largest industries, generating approximately 11 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), providing 200 million job opportunities, and transporting nearly 700 million international travellers annually.

Agriculture Causes Nitrate Fertilization Of Remote Alpine Lakes, Elizabeth J. Hundey, Sam S.D. Russell, Fred Longstaffe, Katrina A. Moser

Earth Sciences Publications

Humans have altered Earth’s nitrogen cycle so dramatically that reactive nitrogen (Nr) has doubled. This has increased Nr in aquatic ecosystems, which can lead to reduced water quality and ecosystem health. Apportioning sources of Nr to specific ecosystems, however, continues to be challenging, despite this knowledge being critical for mitigation and protection of water resources. Here we use D¹⁷O, d¹⁸O and d¹⁵N from Uinta Mountain (Utah, USA) snow, inflow and lake nitrate in combination with a Bayesian-based stable isotope mixing model, to show that at least 70% of nitrates in aquatic systems are anthropogenic …

Distributed Modeling Of Ablation (1996–2011) And Climate Sensitivity On The Glaciers Of Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Matthew J. Hoffman, Andrew G. Fountain, Glen E. Liston

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica host the coldest and driest ecosystem on Earth, which is acutely sensitive to the availability of water coming from glacial runoff. We modeled the spatial variability in ablation and assessed climate sensitivity of the glacier ablation zones using 16 years of meteorological and surface mass-balance observations collected in Taylor Valley. Sublimation was the primary form of mass loss over much of the ablation zones, except for near the termini where melt, primarily below the surface, dominated. Microclimates in ~10 m scale topographic basins generated melt rates up to ten times higher than over smooth …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 26, 2016, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 26, 2016 (1/26/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Processes Controlling Carbon Cycling In Antarctic Glacier Surface Ecosystems, Elizabeth A. Bagshaw, Martyn Tranter, Jemma L. Wadham, Andrew G. Fountain, A. Dubnick, S. Fitzsimons

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Glacier surface ecosystems, including cryoconite holes and cryolakes, are significant contributors to regional carbon cycles. Incubation experiments to determine the net production (NEP) of organic matter in cryoconite typically have durations of 6-24 hours, and produce a wide range of results, many of which indicate that the system is net heterotrophic. We employ longer term incubations to examine the temporal variation of NEP in cryoconite from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica to examine the effect of sediment disturbance on system production, and to understand processes controlling production over the lifetimes of glacier surface ecosystems. The shorter-term incubations have durations of …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 19, 2016, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 19, 2016 (1/19/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Spatial Analysis Of Forest Crimes In Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, Karun Pandit, Eddie Bevilacqua, Giorgos Mountrakis, Robert W. Malmsheimer

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Forest crime mitigation has been identified as a challenging issue in forest management in the United States. Knowledge of the spatial pattern of forest crimes would help in wisely allocating limited enforcement resources to curb forest crimes. This study explores the spatial pattern of three different types of forest crimes: fire crime, illegal timber logging crime, and occupancy use crime in the Salem-Patosi Ranger District of Mark Twain National Forest. Univariate and bivariate Ripley’s K-functions were applied to explore the spatial patterns in crime events, like clustering and attraction among forest crime types. Results reveal significant clustering for each forest …

Comparison Of Terrain Indices And Landform Classification Procedures In Low-Relief Agricultural Fields, Derek A. Evans, Karl W. J. Williard, Jon E. Schoonover

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Landforms control the spatial distribution of numerous factors associated with agronomy and water quality. Although curvature and slope are the fundamental surface derivatives used in landform classification procedures, methodologies for landform classifications have been performed with other terrain indices including the topographic position index (TPI) and the convergence index (CI). The objectives of this study are to compare plan curvature, the convergence index, profile curvature, and the topographic position index at various scales to determine which better identifies the spatial variability of soil phosphorus (P) within three low relief agricultural fields in central Illinois and to compare how two methods …

Discordant Data And Interpretation Of Results From Wildlife Habitat Models, Anita T. Morzillo, Michael G. Wing, Justin Long

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Wildlife habitat management is an important part of natural resource management. As a result, there are a large number of models and tools for wildlife habitat assessment. A consequence of the many assessment tools is inconsistency when comparing results between tools, which may lead to potential confusion management decisions. Our objective was to compare results from two wildlife habitat models – one being relatively coarse (HUC5) scale and not spatially dynamic and the other being finer scale spatial data based on a 30 m spatial resolution –for habitat assessment of three species across the West Cascades of Oregon: Northern spotted …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 12, 2016, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 12, 2016 (1/12/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Propagation Of Drought: From Meteorological Drought To Agricultural And Hydrological Drought, Wen Wang, Maurits W. Ertsen, Mark D. Svoboda, Mohsin Hafeez

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is a hazard that occurs everywhere in the world (both in dry and in wet areas). Despite the controversy regarding drought changes in the last decades [1–3], increases in drought intensity are clearly identified in some areas [4] and it is believed that although increased heating from global warming may not directly cause droughts, it is expected that when droughts occur, they are likely to set in quicker and be more intense [5].

Throughout its history, China has frequently suffered from drought disasters due to its monsoon climate and was regularly hit hard by droughts over the last decades. …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 5, 2016, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 5, 2016 (1/5/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Methane Emissions As Energy Reservoir: Context, Scope, Causes And Mitigation Strategies, Xiaoli Chai, David J. Tonjes, Devinder Mahajan

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Methane (CH4) is now considered a bridge fuel between present fossil (carbon) economy and desired renewables and this energy molecule is projected to play an important role in the global energy mix well beyond 2035. The atmospheric warming potential of CH4 is 28-36 times, when averaged over a 100-year period, that of carbon dioxide (CO2) and this necessitates a close scrutiny of global CH4 emissions inventory. As the second most abundant greenhouse gas (GHG), the annual global CH4 emissions were 645 million metric tons (MMT), accounting for 14.3% of the global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Of this, five key anthropogenic sources: …

Contributions Of Organic And Inorganic Matter To Sediment Volume And Accretion In Tidal Wetlands At Steady State, J T. Morris, D C. Barber, John Callaway, R Chambers, S C. Hagen, C S. Hopkinson, B J. Johnson, P Megonigal, S C. Neubauer, T Troxler, C Wigand

Environmental Science

A mixing model derived from first principles describes the bulk density (BD) of intertidal wetland sediments as a function of loss on ignition (LOI). The model assumes that the bulk volume of sediment equates to the sum of self-packing volumes of organic and mineral components or BD = 1/[LOI/k₁ + (1-LOI)/k₂], where k₁ and k₂ are the self-packing densities of the pure organic and inorganic components, respectively. The model explained 78% of the variability in total BD when fitted to 5075 measurements drawn from 33 wetlands distributed around the conterminous United States. The …

Informative Spectral Bands For Remote Green Lai Estimation In C3 And C4 Crops, Oz Kira, Anthony L. Nguy-Robertson, Timothy J. Arkebauer, Raphael Linker, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Green leaf area index (LAI) provides insight into the productivity, physiological and phenological status of vegetation. Measurement of spectral reflectance offers a fast and nondestructive estimation of green LAI. A number of methods have been used for the estimation of green LAI; however, the specific spectral bands employed varied widely among the methods and data used. Our objectives were (i) to find informative spectral bands retained in three types of methods, neural network (NN), partial least squares (PLS) regression and vegetation indices (VI), for estimating green LAI in maize (a C4 species) and soybean (a C3 species); (ii) to assess …

Automated Cropping Intensity Extraction From Isolines Of Wavelet Spectra, Bingwen Qiu, Zhuangzhuang Wang, Zhenghong Tang, Chongcheng Chen, Zhanling Fan, Weijiao Li

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Timely and accurate monitoring of cropping intensity (CI) is essential to help us understand changes in food production. This paper aims to develop an automatic Cropping Intensity extraction method based on the Isolines of Wavelet Spectra (CIIWS) with consideration of intra- class variability. The CIIWS method involves the following procedures: (1) characterizing vegetation dynamics from time–frequency dimensions through a continuous wavelet transform performed on vegetation index temporal profiles; (2) deriving three main features, the skeleton width, maximum number of strong brightness centers and the intersection of their scale intervals, through computing a series of wavelet isolines from the wavelet spectra; …

A Compact To Revitalise Large-Scale Irrigation Systems Using A Leadership-Partnership-Ownership 'Theory Of Change', Bruce Lankford, Ian Makin, Nathanial Matthews, Peter G. Mccornick, Andrew Noble, Tushaar Shah

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

In countries with transitional economies such as those found in South Asia, large-scale irrigation systems (LSIS) with a history of public ownership account for about 115 million ha (Mha) or approximately 45% of their total area under irrigation. In terms of the global area of irrigation (320 Mha) for all countries, LSIS are estimated at 130 Mha or 40% of irrigated land. These systems can potentially deliver significant local, regional, and global benefits in terms of food, water and energy security, employment, economic growth, and ecosystem services. For example, primary crop production is conservatively valued at about US$355 billion. However, …

Controlling Groundwater Exploitation Through Economic Instruments: Current Practices, Challenges And Innovative Approaches, Marielle Montginoul, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, N. Brozovic, G. Donoso

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Groundwater can be considered as a common-pool resource, is often overexploited and, as a result, there are growing management pressures. This chapter starts with a broad presentation of the range of economic instruments that can be used for groundwater management, considering current practices and innovative approaches inspired from the literature on Common Pool Resources management. It then goes on with a detailed presentation of groundwater allocation policies implemented in France, the High Plains aquifer in the USA, and Chile. The chapter concludes with a discussion of social and political difficulties associated with implementing economic instruments for groundwater management.

Hydrothermal Monitoring In Yellowstone National Park Using Airborne Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing, C. M. U. Neale, C. Jaworowski, H. Heasler, S. Sivarajan, A. Masih

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the image acquisition and processing methodology, including surface emissivity and atmospheric corrections, for generating surface temperatures of two active hydrothermal systems in Yellowstone National Park. Airborne thermal infrared (8–12 μm) images were obtained annually from 2007 to 2012 using a FLIR SC640 thermal infrared camera system. Thermal infrared image acquisitions occurred under clear-sky conditions after sunset to meet the objective of providing high-spatial resolution, georectified imagery for hydrothermal monitoring. Comparisons of corrected radiative temperature maps with measured ground and water kinetic temperatures at flight times provided an assessment of temperature accuracy. A repeatable, time-sequence of images for …

Demonstration And Evaluation Of Dual Purpose Chicken “Potchefstroom Koekoek” Packages At Areka Areas, Snnpr, Ethiopia, Aman Getiso, Melese Yilma, Mesfin Mekonnen, Addisu Jimma, Mebratu Asrat, Asrat Tera, Endrias Dako

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The demonstration was conducted in Wolaita zone, Boloso Sore district at Areka and around Areka areas. Participants (farmers) were selected purposively on the basis of willingness to construct poultry house; to cover all the associated package costs and record the required was selected. Survival of chicks during the first 8 weeks of brooding using hay-box at the farmers management condition was 79.8% (359 were survived out 450). On average about 93.1% of the chicken were survived to the laying age while mortality reduced from 20.2% to 6.9%. The average age at first egg-laying recorded at each farmers was 142 days …