Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

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 …

Storm Surges In The Bohai Sea: The Role Of Waves And Tides, Yuanyi Li, Huan Feng, Guillaume Vigouroux, Dekui Yuan, Guangyu Zhang, Xiaodi Ma, Kun Lei

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A storm surge is a complex phenomenon in which waves, tide and current interact. Even though wind is the predominant force driving the surge, waves and tidal phase are also important factors that influence the mass and momentum transport during the surge. Devastating storm surges often occur in the Bohai Sea, a semi-enclosed shallow sea in North China, due to extreme storms. However, the effects of waves on storm surges in the Bohai Sea have not been quantified and the mechanisms responsible for the higher surges that affect part of the Bohai Sea have not been thoroughly studied. In this …

A Comparison Of Fuel Reduction Methods For Wildfire Risk Management And Climate Change Resiliency In Mixed Conifer Forests In The Sierra Nevada, Heather Navle

Master's Projects and Capstones

Wildfires in the mixed conifer forests of California’s Sierra Nevada have been a common and natural disturbance for thousands of years, historically occurring every 3 to 30 years. The flora and fauna of the mixed conifer forest have evolved to depend on low to moderate severity wildfires for reproduction, foraging, and habitat. However, the Sierra Nevada has experienced dramatic environmental changes over the past ~150 years as a result of three main factors: wildfire suppression, climate change, and habitat loss. Because of the threat wildfires pose to human lives, property and timber harvest, they have been suppressed to an extent …

Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

Geoscience Education Research: Trends And Applications In Undergraduate Courses, Diane Lally

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Water resources are progressively under pressure from anthropogenic uses. Students need to learn about water systems as they are the future decision-makers and problem solvers who will be faced with unknown challenges in the future. The overarching goals of this dissertation were: 1) to identify ways in which geoscience instructors are incorporating systems thinking and science modeling in their teaching along with the accompanying methods for improving systems thinking and modeling implementation and 2) explore how the implementation of science modeling and systems thinking increase student evaluation of models and the understanding of hydrologic content. Data for these studies came …

Charismatic Predators In Modern Africa: Spotted Hyena (Crocuta Crocuta) And Human Coexistence In The Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana, Jazmin Castillo

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing human populations has led researchers to investigate the impacts of high human population density and its impact on carnivore populations. Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) hold a unique place in African ecosystems due to being a very successful top predator with an adaptable diet whereas other top predators, like the African lion, are rapidly decreasing in abundance. We investigated past and current spotted hyena abundance within the Northern Tuli Game Reserve to better aid in wildlife management. Spotted hyenas showed no significant difference in the change in population abundance throughout the different years of the study (2008-2016). Spotted …

Analyzing The Effects Of Of Seasonal Land Cover And Precipitation On The Sediment Delivery Ratio Of An Agriculture Dominated Watershed., Jonah Liebman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soil erosion is of escalating importance as increasing population and climate change have put increasing pressures on agricultural food production. Vegetation and precipitation are two factors that control the amount of soil erosion extant within a region. Sediment delivery ratios (SDRs) assess the ratio of soil eroded from a watershed system that is permanently removed from the system through stream sediment discharge. Using 1) river discharge and sediment concentration data and 2) the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), this thesis analyzes fluctuations in monthly SDRs for an average hydroclimatological crop-harvest season for the Senachwine Creek watershed, IL. Through calculating …

A Tale Of Two Species: Black-Tailed And White-Tailed Prairie Dog Biogeography From The Last Interglacial To 2070, April Dawn Bledsoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ecological niche models (ENMs) were created for White-tailed and Black-tailed prairie dogs and projected into the Last Interglacial (LI), the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and mid-Holocene (mid-H) to discern possible past suitable habitat for both species. Additionally, ENMs were projected into the future year 2070 representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 2.6 and 8.5 to discern how climate change may affect future habitat suitability. Kernel density estimations, minimum convex polygons, and median distribution centers of White-tailed and Black-tailed occurrence records were examined between time-periods to discern the effects of anthropogenic westward expansion on both species’ distributions. Current ENMs were constructed from commonly …

Applications Of Digital Remote Sensing To Quantify Glacier Change In Glacier And Mount Rainier National Parks, Brianna Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Digital remote sensing and geographic information systems were employed in performing area and volume calculations on glacial landscapes. Characteristics of glaciers from two geographic regions, the Intermountain Region (between the Rocky Mountain and Cascade Ranges) and the Pacific Northwest, were estimated for the years 1985, 2000, and 2015. Glacier National Park was studied for the Intermountain Region whereas Mount Rainier National Park was representative of the glaciers in the Pacific Northwest. Within the thirty year period of the study, the glaciers in Glacier National Park decreased in area by 27.5 percent while those on Mount Rainier only decreased by 5.7 …

Sediment Outflow Under Simulated Rainfall Conditions With Varying Geotechnical Properties, Pranjay Joshi, Akhilesh Kumar, P. V. Singh, Jahangeer Jahangeer

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The vulnerability of soil toward erosion might be reduced by having a good vegetative cover over the soil surface, slope improvement, and improving soil properties so that it is not easily detached and transported. However, the establishment of proper vegetative cover is a long process because it takes time for seeds to germinate and attain maturity. As an alternative approach, if soil resistance was increased by increasing the shear strength of soil against erosive forces offered by eroding agents, the soil system would become capable of withstanding the detachment of its particles on the application of shear stress. To achieve …

Earth Observation And Cloud Computing In Support Of Two Sustainable Development Goals For The River Nile Watershed Countries, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary, Venkat Lakshmi, Thomas Piechota, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In September 2015, the members of United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with universal applicability of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The SDGs are consequential for the development of the countries in the Nile watershed, which are affected by water scarcity and experiencing rapid urbanization associated with population growth. Earth Observation (EO) has become an important tool to monitor the progress and implementation of specific SDG targets through its wide accessibility and global coverage. In addition, the advancement of algorithms and tools deployed in cloud computing platforms provide an equal opportunity to use EO …

The Effects Of Temperature On Evacuation Rates And Absorption Efficiency Of Flathead Catfish, Zach Horstman

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Knowledge of fish gastric evacuation rates are a necessary component for both field and laboratory studies when trying to understand feeding rates, modeling energy budgets, and understanding trophic dynamics of aquatic ecosystems. Many freshwater fish encounter a broad range of environmental temperatures across life history stages, but the mechanistic link between temperature and physiological processes often remains poorly understood. We designed three recirculating aquatic systems capable of rearing Flathead Catfish Plyodictis olivaris in order to quantify gastric evacuation rates and gross energy absorption at three temperatures (17º C, 22º C and 25º C). We examined the relationship between temperature and …

Comprehensive And Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories For Nebraska And The Midwest As Baselines For Climate Change Mitigation, Eric R. Holley

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Climate change is the paramount challenge of today for a sustainable future. Mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is necessary to reduce the associated risks and impacts on society. Using the EPA’s SIT and literature review, comprehensive GHG-emissions inventories were developed for the state of Nebraska over 25 years (1990-2015) and agricultural GHG emissions inventories were developed for the Midwest U.S for one year (2016). Nebraska’s net emissions increased from 56.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMtCO₂e) in 1990 to 87.4 MMtCO₂e in 2016. Agriculture was found to be the sector with the most …

In Hot Water: Influence Of Multiple Stressors On Thermal Tolerance Of Fathead Minnows Pimephales Promelas, Alexander Engel

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Freshwater aquatic systems around the globe are often subjected to physical, biological, and chemical alterations to support societal needs. The Great Plains contains one of the largest agricultural industries in North America, but its productivity has ecological repercussions for adjacent freshwater ecosystems. Specifically, the dependency on surface water irrigation and application of chemical treatments has altered the thermal and chemical composition of freshwater ecosystems throughout the region. Stressors such as elevated temperatures, altered flow regimes, increased contaminant loads affect the physiology and behavior of fishes and can lead to long-term population effects. We examined thermal tolerance of Fathead minnows Pimephales …

Impact Of Streambank Stabilization On Sediment Deposition And Erosion In Central Nebraska Streams, Matthew Russell

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Stabilization projects are increasingly used to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic streambank erosion, yet the effectiveness of these practices has been insufficiently monitored and assessed to date. Sound monitoring practices promote engineered effectiveness, in addition to allowing adjustments in implementation and maintenance to improve practices over time. However, current methods to quickly and efficiently quantify deposition and erosion within a stream continue to be costly and inefficient. Therefore, the objectives of this project were to 1) Measure streambank migration of three reaches at Cedar River in Nebraska, from 1993 to 2006 (pre-stabilization) and from 2006 to 2018 (post-stabilization) using aerial …

Water Scarcity And Fish Imperilment Driven By Beef Production, Brian D. Richter, Dominique Bartak, Peter Caldwell, Kyle Fankel Davis, Peter Debaere, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Tianshu Li, Landon Marston, Ryan Mcmanamay, Mesfin Mekonnen, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Richard R. Rushforth, Tara J. Troy

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify primary causes of river dewatering and explore ways to ameliorate them. We find irrigation of cattle-feed crops to be the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the …

Droughtscape, Spring 2020, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Spring 2020

Exploring How Graduates Of The Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Influence Community Capitals: Two Case Studies, Dakota Staggs

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Natural resources are foundational to any community and so leadership regarding those resources is a key factor to consider in order to understand communities. The vitality and strength of a community, however, is not solely dependent upon the natural resources available to it but depends on the collection of assets and individuals within it. This study sought to understand how individual leaders, graduates of the Nebraska Water Leaders Academy, influence each of the seven community capitals outlined by Flora, Flora, and Gasteyer (2016), and how their individual civic capacity, as defined by Sun and Anderson (2012), contribute to community capacity. …

Assessment Of An Automated Calibration Of The Sebal Algorithm To Estimate Dry-Season Surface-Energy Partitioning In A Forest–Savanna Transition In Brazil, Leonardo Laipelt, Anderson Luis Ruhoff, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Rafael Henrique Bloedow Kayser, Elisa De Mello Kich, Humberto Ribeiro Da Rocha, Christopher Michael Usher Neale

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) provides a strong connection between surface energy and hydrological cycles. Advancements in remote sensing techniques have increased our understanding of energy and terrestrial water balances as well as the interaction between surface and atmosphere over large areas. In this study, we computed surface energy fluxes using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) algorithm and a simplified adaptation of the CIMEC (Calibration using Inverse Modeling at Extreme Conditions) process for automated endmember selection. Our main purpose was to assess and compare the accuracy of the automated calibration of the SEBAL algorithm using two different sources of meteorological …

Rockhounding, Seafaring, And Other Material Tales For The End Of The World, Noemie Fortin

The Goose

In the face of accelerated environmental degradation and climate instability, the future of the Earth and of all life on earth is difficult to visualize. Therefore, the different mediums through which we consider environmental issues are just as important as the actions we take to address them. Focusing on three projects combining art, science, and activism, this article suggests a compilation of material tales. They tell stories of plastic rocks and aluminum nuggets where the protagonists are partly finely crafted objects, partly waste materials, and sometimes both at once. Artists Kelly Jazvac, Yesenia Thibeault-Picazo, and the collective Studio Swine collaborate …

Risk And Cost Assessment Of Nitrate Contamination In Domestic Wells, Pongpun Juntakut, Erin M.K. Haacker, Daniel D. Snow, Chittaranjan Ray

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study combines empirical predictive and economics models to estimate the cost of remediation for domestic wells exceeding suggested treatment thresholds for nitrates. A multiple logistic regression model predicted the probability of well contamination by nitrate, and a life cycle costing methodology was used to estimate costs of nitrate contamination in groundwater in two areas of Nebraska. In south-central Nebraska, 37% of wells were estimated to be at risk of exceeding a threshold of 7.5 mg/L as N, and 17% were at risk of exceeding 10 mg/L as N, the legal limit for human consumption in the United States. In …

Statistical Analysis Of Nutrient Loads From The Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (Marb) To The Gulf Of Mexico, Phyllis Okwan, Yi Zhen, Huan Feng, Shinjae Yoo, Murty S. Kambhampati, Abreione Walker, Shayne Boykin, Joe Omojola, Noel Blackburn

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study investigated the annual and seasonal variations in nutrient loads (NO₂⁻ + NO₃⁻ and orthophosphate) delivered to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) and examined the water quality variations. The results indicate that (1) annually, the mean NO₂⁻ + NO₃⁻ and orthophosphate loads showed a steady increase during 1996–1999, a persistent level during 2000–2007, and a moderate increase during 2008–2016; (2) seasonally, NO₂⁻ + NO₃⁻ and orthophosphate in MARB in spring and summer were higher than those in autumn and winter. Analysis of …

Arjen Y. Hoekstra 1967–2019, Davy Vanham, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ashok K. Chapagain

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Arjen Hoekstra introduced the water footprint in 20021, building on the concept of virtual water Tony Allan to discuss the role of trade in alleviating water scarcity in the Middle East. He thereby opened a new dimension in the debate around fair and sustainable allocation of freshwater resources. He laid the foundations to show the role of indirect water (that is, water used elsewhere to produce goods we consume) in our daily life beyond our direct use for drinking, cooking or washing. The water footprint is an indicator of direct and indirect water use by a producer or consumer, showing …

Anthropogenic Hydrometeorological Changes At A Regional Scale: Observed Irrigation-Precipitation Feedback (1979-2015) In Nebraska, Usa, Jozsef Szilagyi, Trenton Franz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Long-term tendencies in annual, seasonal, and monthly (March) precipitation, evapotranspiration, and air- and dew-point temperature values were correlated with county-level changes in irrigated area across Nebraska over the 1979–2015 period. A statistically significant linear relationship (slope of − 1.65 ± 0.33 mm/decade per % decadal change in irrigated area, with a correlation coefficient of − 0.47) was found between the trends in annual precipitation and irrigated land area. Precipitation dropped by 1 mm annually if the level in irrigation expansion reached about 8% per decade, while the rest of the state enjoyed about a half-millimeter overall increase in annual precipitation …

Chronology Of Advance And Recession Dynamics Of The Southern Green Bay Lobe Of The Laurentide Ice Sheet, South-Central Wisconsin, Usa, Eric C. Carson, John W. Attig, J. Elmo Rawling Iii, Paul R. Hanson, Stefanie E. Dodge

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We used a combination of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age estimates, and stratigraphic data from cores collected along the southern margin of the Green Bay Lobe (GBL) of the Laurentide Ice Sheet to provide new information on the timing and dynamics of the end of advance of the GBL and the dynamics of the ice sheet while very near its maximum position. Coring at multiple sites along the margin of the GBL indicate that ice had reached a stable position near its maximum extent by 24.7 ka; that ice advanced several kilometers to the …

Effects Of Surface Heterogeneity Due To Drip Irrigation On Scintillometer Estimates Of Sensible, Latent Heat Fluxes And Evapotranspiration Over Vineyards, Hatim M. E. Geli, José González-Piqueras, Christopher M. U. Neale, Claudio Balbontín, Isidro Campos, Alfonso Calera

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Accurate estimates of sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat fluxes and actual evapotranspiration (ET) are required for monitoring vegetation growth and improved agricultural water management. A large aperture scintillometer (LAS) was used to provide these estimates with the objective of quantifying the effects of surface heterogeneity due to soil moisture and vegetation growth variability. The study was conducted over drip-irrigated vineyards located in a semi-arid region in Albacete, Spain during summer 2007. Surface heterogeneity was characterized by integrating eddy covariance (EC) observations of H, LE and ET; land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data from Landsat …

Assessment Of An Automated Calibration Of The Sebal Algorithm To Estimate Dry-Season Surface-Energy Partitioning In A Forest–Savanna Transition In Brazil, Leonardo Laipelt, Anderson Luis Ruhoff, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Rafael Henrique Bloedow Kayser, Elisa De Mello Kich, Humberto Ribeiro Da Rocha, Christopher Michael Usher Neale

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) provides a strong connection between surface energy and hydrological cycles. Advancements in remote sensing techniques have increased our understanding of energy and terrestrial water balances as well as the interaction between surface and atmosphere over large areas. In this study, we computed surface energy fluxes using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) algorithm and a simplified adaptation of the CIMEC (Calibration using Inverse Modeling at Extreme Conditions) process for automated endmember selection. Our main purpose was to assess and compare the accuracy of the automated calibration of the SEBAL algorithm using two different sources of meteorological …

Treenuts And Groundnuts In The Eat-Lancet Reference Diet: Concerns Regarding Sustainable Water Use, Davy Vanhama, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The EAT-Lancet universal healthy reference diet recommends an increase in the consumption of healthy foods, among which treenuts and groundnuts. Both are, however, water-intensive products, with a large water footprint (WF) per unit of mass and protein and already today contribute to blue water stress in different parts of the world. The envisaged massive required increase in nut production to feed a global population with this reference diet, needs to occur in a water-sustainable way. In this paper, we identify and quantify where current nut production contributes to local blue water stress and discuss options for water-sustainable nut production. We …

Water Productivity Benchmarks: The Case Of Maize And Soybean In Nebraska, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Christopher Michael Usher Neale, Chittaranjan Ray, Haishun Yang

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Water productivity benchmarks for irrigated and rainfed agriculture will provide relevant information to manage scarce water resources and control groundwater level decline. We analyze the temporal and spatial variation of the water productivity (WP) of maize and soybean in Nebraska, with WP defined as harvested crop weight per total evapotranspiration. The results show that WP of both maize and soybean increase from west to east within Nebraska and have increased over the last 25 years, mainly due to the increase in crop yields (land productivity). We derive WP benchmarks for each crop per climate zone. Increasing actual WPs in the …

Potential Of Using Spectral Vegetation Indices For Corn Green Biomass Estimation Based On Their Relationship With The Photosynthetic Vegetation Sub-Pixel Fraction, Luan Peroni Venancio, Everardo Chartuni Mantovani, Cibele Hummel Do Amaral, Christopher M.U. Neale, Ivo Zution Gonçalves, Roberto Filgueiras, Fernando Coelho Eugenio

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Crop biomass (Bio) is one of the most important parameters of a crop, and knowledge of it before harvest is essential to help farmers in their decision making. Both green and dry Bio can be estimated from vegetation spectral indices (VIs) because they have a close relationship with accumulated absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR), which is proportional to total Bio. The aims of this study were to analyze the potential capacity of spectral vegetation indices in estimating corn green biomass based on their relationship with the photosynthetic vegetation sub-pixel fraction derived from spectral mixture analysis and to analyze the best …