Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Land Use/Land Cover Changes And Regional Climate Over The Loess Plateau During 2001-2009 – Part Ii., Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

Participatory Conservation Of Coastal Habitats: The Importance Of Understanding Homeowner Decision Making To Mitigate Cascading Shoreline Degradation, Steven B. Scyphers, Steven J. Picou, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Along densely populated coasts, the armoring of shorelines is a prevalent cause of natural habitat loss and degradation. This article explores the values and decision making of waterfront homeowners and identifies two interlinked and potentially reversible drivers of coastal degradation. We discovered that: (1) misperceptions regarding the environmental impacts and cost-effectiveness of different shoreline conditions was common and may promote armoring; and (2) many homeowners reported only altering their shorelines in response to damage caused by armoring on neighboring properties. Collectively, these findings suggest that a single homeowner’s decision may trigger cascading degradation along a shoreline, which highlights the necessity …

The Role Of Citizens In Detecting And Responding To A Rapid Marine Invasion, Steven B. Scyphers, Sean P. Powers, J. Lad Akins, J. Marcus Drymon, Charles W. Martin, Zeb H. Schobernd, Pamela J. Schofield, Robert L. Shipp, Theodore S. Switzer

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Documenting and responding to species invasions requires innovative strategies that account for ecological and societal complexities. We used the recent expansion of Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) throughout northern Gulf of Mexico coastal waters to evaluate the role of stakeholders in documenting and responding to a rapid marine invasion. We coupled an online survey of spearfishers and citizen science monitoring programs with traditional fishery-independent data sources and found that citizen observations documented lionfish 1–2 years earlier and more frequently than traditional reef fish monitoring programs. Citizen observations first documented lionfish in 2010 followed by rapid expansion and proliferation in …

On Underestimation Of Global Vulnerability To Tree Mortality And Forest Die-Off From Hotter Drought In The Anthropocene, Craig D. Allen, David D. Breshears, Nate G. Mcdowell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Patterns, mechanisms, projections, and consequences of tree mortality and associated broadscale forest die-off due to drought accompanied by warmer temperatures—‘‘hotter drought’’, an emerging characteristic of the Anthropocene—are the focus of rapidly expanding literature. Despite recent observational, experimental, and modeling studies suggesting increased vulnerability of trees to hotter drought and associated pests and pathogens, substantial debate remains among research, management and policy-making communities regarding future tree mortality risks. We summarize key mortalityrelevant findings, differentiating between those implying lesser versus greater levels of vulnerability. Evidence suggesting lesser vulnerability includes forest benefits of elevated [CO2] and increased water-use efficiency; observed and modeled increases …

Twentieth Century Droughts And Agriculture: Examples From Impacts On Soybean Production In Kentucky, Usa, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neural Network Analysis On The Effect Of Heat Fluxes On Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Anaerobic Swine Waste Treatment Lagoon, N. Lovanh, J. Loughrin, M. Rysz, A. I. Quintanar, B. T. Oh, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chile's state designated protected areas are reported to show representation bias and to be unable to meet conservation goals. Private protected areas are considered an important tool to resolve these issues, which has led to support for increasing the role of private protected areas in Chile and creating an integrated public-private protected area network. But the validity of the capacity of private protected areas to fix Chile's state protected area network bias, and the advantage of creating an integrated protected area network, have not been assessed. This study uses the most recent data on Chile's state, private, and international protected …

Acknowledgment Of Supporters, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Water Matters!

List of supporters.

Urban Flood Response Planning: Building Urban Resilience In Calgary And Toronto, Sarah Asrat

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Flooding is an increasing environmental concern for many Canadian cities. There is increasing awareness of climate change and its impacts on precipitation behavior and flooding in urban areas. Knowledge gaps were identified in the literature concerning urban flood response planning, uncertainty and preparedness planning. This study examines and compares urban flood response measures and resilience building for natural disasters in the Cities of Toronto and Calgary. Non-structural measures for flood risk reduction that include policies, decision-making and community engagement were examined by conducting a literature review and semi-structured interviews of individuals from six groups: provincial government, municipal government, conservation authority, …

An Assessment Of The Role Of Roads In Population Demography And Genetic Structuring In Two Species Of Lizards In The Northern Chihuahuan Desert, Kevin Floyd

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Roads can fragment habitat and increase mortality rates of wildlife, potentially reducing population sizes and gene flow, which in turn can reduce genetic diversity through genetic drift. Although negative road impacts have been found in a variety of taxa, not all species are impacted. For instance, species that move less and rarely encounter roads and those that avoid the roads are predicted to not be negatively affected. Yet tests of these predictions are uncommon, especially for reptiles and particularly lizards. Side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) are small sit-and-wait predators, while the larger marbled whiptails (Aspidoscelis marmorata) are active foragers. Their responses …

Enso Teleconnection Pattern Changes Over The Southeastern United States Under A Climate Change Scenario In Cmip5 Models, Ji-Hyun Oh, D.W. Shin, Steven D. Cocke, Guillermo A. Baigorria

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A strong teleconnection exists between the sea surface temperature (SST) over the tropical Pacific and the winter precipitation in the southeastern United States (SE US).This feature is adopted to validate the fidelity of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) in this study. In addition, the authors examine whether the teleconnection pattern persists in the future under a global warming scenario. Generally, most of the eight selected models show a positive correlation between November SST over Ni˜no 3 region and December–February (DJF) mean daily precipitation anomalies over the SE US, consistent with the observation. However, the models with poor realization …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Ecotourism As A Funding Source For Protected Area Management In Guyana, Jordan S. Flagel

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Protected areas in tropical rainforests serve many important ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration. These areas are often in need of donor or grant funding to operate as governments in tropical forested countries are not always able to provide adequate funds for protection. This paper focuses on the Iwokrama International Center for Rainforest Conservation and Development in the South American country of Guyana, which has had funding issues since the global economic crisis of 2008 and an accompanying shift in donor country financial priorities. Increasing the amount of sustainable ecotourism in the Iwokrama reserve was identified as a potential source for …

Modeling The Snow Surface Temperature With A One-Layer Energy Balance Snowmelt Model, J. You, D. G. Tarboton, C. H. Luce

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Snow surface temperature is a key control on and result of dynamically coupled energy exchanges at the snow surface. The snow surface temperature is the result of the balance between external forcing (incoming radiation) and energy exchanges above the surface that depend on surface temperature (outgoing longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes) and the transport of energy into the snow by conduction and meltwater influx. Because of the strong insulating properties of snow, thermal gradients in snow packs are large and nonlinear, a fact that has led many to advocate multiple layer snowmelt models over single layer models. In an effort …

Speleoclimate Dynamics In Santana Cave (Petar, São Paulo State, Brazil): General Characterization And Implications For Tourist Management, Heros Augusto Santos Lobo, Paulo Cesar Boggiani, José Alexandre De Jesus Perinotto

International Journal of Speleology

Show caves provide tourists with the opportunity to have close contact with natural underground spaces. However, visitation to these places also creates a need for management measures, mainly the definition of tourist carrying capacity. The present work describes the results of climate monitoring and atmospheric profiling performed in Santana Cave (Alto Ribeira State and Tourist Park – PETAR, Brazil) between 2008 and 2011. Based on the results, distinct preliminary zones with different levels of thermal variation were identified, which classify Santana Cave as a warm trap. Two critical points along the tourist route (Cristo and Encontro Halls) were identified where …

The Effect Of Weather During Rearing On Morphometric Traits Of Juvenile Cliff Swallows, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Episodes of food deprivation may change how nestling birds allocate energy to the growth of skeletal and feather morphological traits during development. Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are colonial, insectivorous birds that regu­larly experience brief periods of severe weather–induced food deprivation during the nesting season which may affect offspring development. We investigated how annual variation in timing of rearing and weather were associated with length of wing and tail, skeletal traits, and body mass in juvenile cliff swallows reared in southwestern Nebraska during 2001–2006. As predicted under conditions of food deprivation, nestling skeletal and feather measurements were generally smaller …

Review: The Wilderness Writings Of Howard Zahniser, Jillian M. Slater

Marian Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Marshfield Harbor, Rivers, And Waterways Management Plan, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Marshfield Waterways Committee

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

This Waterways, Rivers and Harbors Plan is an initiative of the Marshfield Waterways Committee (the Waterways Committee) whose mission is to “recommend procedures, policies and regulations to the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Marshfield on matters affecting the safety, navigation, recreational activities, fishing interests, natural resources and the planning and management of Marshfield's waterways.”

This plan provides recommendations to address safe navigation, natural resource protection, improvements to public access, safe recreational boating, protection of working waterfronts and related infrastructure, improvements to water quality, preparation for impacts from changes in sea level and climate, opportunities for collaboration, and clarification …

Translating Aboveground Cosmic-Ray Neutron Intensity To High-Frequency Soil Moisture Profiles At Sub-Kilometer Scale, R. Rosolem, T. Hoar, A. Arellano, J. L. Anderson, W. J. Shuttleworth, X. Zeng, Trenton E. Franz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Above-ground cosmic-ray neutron measurements provide an opportunity to infer soil moisture at the subkilometer scale. Initial efforts to assimilate those measurements have shown promise. This study expands such analysis by investigating (1) how the information from aboveground cosmic-ray neutrons can constrain the soil moisture at distinct depths simulated by a land surface model, and (2) how changes in data availability (in terms of retrieval frequency) impact the dynamics of simulated soil moisture profiles. We employ ensemble data assimilation techniques in a “nearly-identical twin” experiment applied at semi-arid shrubland, rainfed agricultural field, and mixed forest biomes in the USA. The performance …

Fisheries Management Paper No.265 - Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery Harvest Strategy 2014 - 2019 Version 1.0, Department Of Fisheries Western Australia

Fisheries Management Papers

This fishery-specific harvest strategy has been developed in line with the Department of Fisheries' (Department) over-arching Harvest Strategy Policy for Aquatic Resources (Department of Fisheries in prep.) and in consultation with licensees. The broad scope of the Harvest Strategy Policy for Aquatic Resources is consistent with the National Harvest Strategy Guidelines but as well as considering all retained target species, it also incorporates retained non-target species, bycatch' and other ecological components to ensure the risks to these elements are managed effectively.

The Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery (EGPMF) harvest strategy outlines the longand short-term fishery-specific management objectives; a description of …

Planning For Adaptation To Climate Change: Lessons From The Us National Wildlife Refuge System, Robert L. Fischman, Vicky J. Meretsky, Alexei Babko, Michael Kennedy, Lei Liu, Michelle Robinson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

US national wildlife refuges have recent, detailed management plans illustrating the state of planning for climate-change adaptation in protected areas. Discussion of and prescriptions for addressing climate change increased in refuge plans between 2005 and 2010 but decreased in 2011. The plans respond to some climate-change impacts on biodiversity and call for monitoring but with little clarity regarding how to act on monitoring results and scant attention to future changes in phenology and community composition. The threats posed by sea-level rise generated the best-developed plan prescriptions. Examples of excellent prescriptions provide models for future planning. Some decision-support tools, such as …

Extraction And Empowerment: The Application Of Traditional Knowledge Within The Development Of The Nwt Bhp Ekati Diamond Mine, Daniel Vanclieaf

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

The Figure Of Bitu-Man, Paul Royster

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The ominously imposing figure in the above illustration is “the Syncrude bird deterrent device, locally known as ‘Bitu-man’.” He stands (or stood—the original image was from the late 1970s) in the tailings pond of the Syncrude Canada Ltd. oil sands mining operation along the Athabasca River near Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta. That operation surface mines (i.e., strip mines) bitumen-impregnated sand, processes it with hot water and steam, and discharges the liquid effluent or “tailings” into a pond covering roughly 3000 hectares (11 square miles). (Google Map coordinates: 56.9°N, -111.3° W). Residue bitumen collects on the surface and poses a …

Getches Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Fall 2014, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

Feasibility Of A Mangrove-Based Carbon Business In Makoba Bay, Unguja, Zanzibar, Janice Liang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangrove ecosystems, along with other coastal vegetation, have tremendous potential to be abundant carbon sinks. With the prospect of carbon sequestered in coastal ecosystems starting to be explored in carbon credit markets, this study attempts to assess the feasibility of a mangrove-based carbon business in Makoba Bay, Unguja, Zanzibar. An aboveground carbon estimation demonstrates that the mangrove forest of Makoba Bay is a recovering ecosystem, but has the potential to be initiated into a program such as REDD+ in the future. Social surveys in both Makoba Bay and Chwaka Bay also indicate that a number of improvements would have to …

Connections Between Student Explanations And Arguments From Evidence About Plant Growth, Jenny Dauer, Jennifer H. Doherty, Allison L. Freed, Charles W. Anderson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We investigate how students connect explanations and arguments from evidence about plant growth and metabolism—two key practices described by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study reports analyses of interviews with 22 middle and high school students postinstruction, focusing on how their sense-making strategies led them to interpret—or misinterpret—scientific explanations and arguments from evidence. The principles of conservation of matter and energy can provide a framework for making sense of phenomena, but our results show that some students reasoned about plant growth as an action enabled by water, air, sunlight, and soil rather than a process of matter and energy …

Droughtscape, Fall 2014, Kelly Smith

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

Contents

Director’s report

Upcoming events

Drought and climate summary

Drought impacts

Drought planning in Brazil

Ethiopian workshop

Visiting scholar

Help for South Plains ranchers

Wind River tribal workshop

Inter Tribal Buffalo Council

South Dakota ranch workshops

Palm Reading: Predicting The Future Of Four Threatened Palm Species At Pointe À Larrée, Eastern Madagascar, Eva Colberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Madagascar has one of the highest concentrations of palm diversity in the world, with 195 species, 192 of which are endemic, but just as for the rest of the island’s natural resources, the future of these palms is at stake. In fact, 83% of the country’s endemic palms qualify as threatened following the most recent version of IUCN Red List criteria, version 3.1, yet 28 are not even found within protected areas. One area awaiting government protection, MBG’s Pointe à Larrée project, is home to 18 different palm species, 11 of which are threatened. This study took sample counts to …

The Mechanical And Social Feasibility Of Using Biogas To Fuel An Essential Oil Distillation Unit In The Rural Commune Of Ankarimbelo, Madagascar, Hannah Nesser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The rural commune of Ankarimbelo is located on the edge of the Ikongo Rainforest Corridor in southeastern Madagascar. The commune’s remote location, an increasing population, and the prohibition of farming in the rainforest corridor have contributed to extreme poverty. In an attempt to mitigate these effects, the Malagasy NGO Ny Tanintsika has implemented an essential oils distillation plant as an alternative livelihood project. While the project may provide needed income to local populations, thereby diverting destructive agriculture practices such as tavy, or slash-and-burn agriculture, the distillation of essential oils still requires that firewood be burned. Over the course of …

Comparison Of Coral Reef Health: Lokobe National Park And Tanikely National Park, Northwest Madagascar, Kailani Acosta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral reefs are microcosms of biodiversity and life. They are home to about a quarter of all marine life, yet amount to only about 1% of the world’s marine environment. Coral reefs are very vulnerable ecosystems; there are numerous threats to their health, such as damage by echinoderm and fish feeding, natural disasters, coral illness and bleaching events. Coral health fluctuates according to many of these factors and as a result of the fragile symbiotic balance between zooxanthellae algae and corals. Subsequently, coral health is an essential topic for analysis and assessment.

Coral reefs were assessed in Lokobe National Park, …