Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Leaf Optical And Indirect Lai Measurements In Wheat And Alfalfa At Maciv: Agmet Progress Report 89-4, E. A. Walter-Shea, B. L. Blad

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Rice Biomass Response To Various Phosphorus Fertilizers In A Phosphorus-Deficient Soil Under Simulated Furrow-Irrigation, Jonathan B. Brye

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Wastewater-recovered phosphorus (P), in the form of the mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4⋅6H2O), may provide a sustainable alternative to rapidly decreasing rock phosphate reserves. Struvite can be generated via chemical and/or electrochemical precipitation methods, potentially reducing the amount of P runoff to aquatic ecosystems. The objective of this greenhouse tub study was to evaluate the effects of chemically- and electrochemically precipitated struvite (CPST and ECST, respectively) on above- and belowground plant response in a hybrid rice cultivar (Gemini 214, RiceTec) grown using furrow-irrigation compared to other common fertilizer-P sources [i.e., triple super phosphate (TSP) and diammonium phosphate (DAP)] in a P-deficient silt …

Navigating Murky Waters: State-Level Strategies For Wetland Preservation And Tile Drainage Regulation After Sackett V. Epa, Caleb M. Swanson

Honors Thesis

Wetlands are some of the world’s most valuable ecosystems, serving as provisioners of species habitat, carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, water quality purification, and other ecosystem services. Human development has resulted in substantial wetland loss the world over. In the 1970s, the United States Congress passed the Clean Water Act, giving the EPA broad authority over wetland protection. However, in the summer of 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided Sackett v. EPA, limiting the EPA’s jurisdiction over wetlands to those indistinguishably connected to generally recognized “Waters of the United States” and removing federal protection for millions of acres of wetlands, …

Trading Policy, Practice And Prospect On Marine Carbon Sequestration In China, Jingming Dong, Zifei Liu, Limei Chen

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Marine carbon sequestration trading is the inherent requirement and effective mechanism for marine eco-civilization development, maritime economic strategy. The research compares and analyzes the policies and practices of China’s marine carbon sequestration trading, and looks forward its future development tendency. It is pointed points out that under the framework of the national Dual Carbon goals, especially in “1+N” policy, the top-level system of China’s marine carbon sequestration trading has initially formed. Many relevant industry standards have been introduced and implemented at the national level. Then at the local level, some regions have introduced and implemented marine carbon sequestration calculation guidelines …

Accuracy Of Nitrate Hysteresis And Flushing For Agricultural Watersheds In The Midwest, Noah Rudko, Sara K. W. Mcmillian, Jane Frankenberger, François Birgand

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Storm event-based metrics, such as hysteresis (HI) and flushing (FI), are used to differentiate nitrate pathways and sources, which is essential for watershed management. Estimations of these event-based metrics typically use high frequency (15-minute – hourly) measurements, but daily data are also used due to their greater availability. To date, there has been no study assessing how using lower frequency samples affect the accuracy of HI and FI, which could skew interpretation of potential nutrient pathways and sources. We used continuous measurements of nitrate collected at 9 watersheds throughout the Midwest spanning 448 storms. HI and FI were estimated from …

Fish Assemblage Structure In Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Over Ten Years, Matthew S. Silverhart

Masters Theses

Coastal wetlands in the Laurentian Great Lakes are important habitats for many fish species. The geographic scale of the watershed and the diversity of land uses in the region result in substantial environmental variation among coastal wetlands. During 2011-2020, annual surveys were conducted as part of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (GLCWMP) to better understand the status and trends of coastal wetlands. Fish sampling consisted of fyke netting in monodominant vegetation zones. During this time, 1225 unique monodominant plant zones in coastal wetlands were sampled, resulting in 584,125 fishes captured that consisted of 113 different species. Yellow Perch …

Fauna, Flora, And Land Cover Changes Over The Last Two Decades In The Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, Gabriel De Oliveria, Steven R. Schultze, Guilherme Mataveli

Technical Reports

A technical report documenting ecosystem changes to the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta region due to urban expansion over approximately two decades (2001-2019).

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Ecological Operation In Yangtze River Basin With Yangtze River Simulator, Jun Xia, Zhonghui Lin, Chesheng Zhan, Wenjuan Gao, Yunliang Li, Jing Yao, Sidong Zeng, Renyong Huang, Hongzhu Wang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Ecological protection and green development in the Yangtze River basin are critical to the ecological construction of a Beautiful China. This study analyzes the current situation and main problems of the water ecology in the Yangtze River basin, and introduces the development of the Yangtze River Simulator, and the design for the ecological operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the main river, and the lakes connected to the river. Through the simulation of the main stream water ecology and lake water ecology by the Yangtze River Simulator, the optimization plan for the ecological regulation of the Three Gorges Reservoir was …

Effectiveness And Challenges Of Aquatic Ecological Restoration Of Chishui River In Upper Yangtze River, Fei Liu, Huanzhang Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

“To set an example of green development and strength ecological environmental protection in the Chishui River basin” is an important proposal listed in the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021--2025) for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035 of the People’s Republic of China. Strengthening eco-environmental protection in the Chishui River will play an exemplary and leading role in maintaining fish diversity of the upper Yangtze River, promoting regional high-quality development, and creating a new situation of ecological civilization and Beautiful China. This study interprets the ecological functions of the Chishui River in the upper Yangtze River, expounds …

Impacts, Contributing Factors And Countermeasures Of Extreme Droughts In Poyang Lake, Qi Zhang, Chenyang Xue, Jun Xia

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

In the past 20 years, the hydrological regime of Poyang Lake changed significantly. The lake water level has been continuously decreasing, resulting in severe droughts. In particular, an extreme drought occurred in 2022, when the lake area shrank to less than 300 km2. The 2022 extreme drought in Poyang Lake had great impacts on economy, society and ecological environment, which aroused great attentions and wide concerns. Based on long-term data series of meteorological and hydrological data and the existing research outcomes and with the aid of hydrological modeling, this study analyzed the impacts and contributing factors of the 2022 drought …

Environmental Fate Of Sulfur In Sulphur Creek, Valles Caldera, Nm: Implications For Metal Transport And Water Quality, Daniel Lavery

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The 1.2 Ma Valles Caldera in north-central New Mexico hosts a young igneous volcanic hydrothermal system after the model proposed in Goff and Janik (2000). The Sulphur Springs area within Valles Caldera is an acid-sulfate area typical of this model, discharging acidic waters (pH 1.5-3) formed by oxidation of magmatic H₂S at the surface. We report on samples obtained from springs and streams collected between October 2021 and May 2023 in the Sulphur Creek and Alamo watersheds. Sulphur Creek receives input from Sulphur Springs and exhibits low pH (2-4) and high concentrations of Al (≤110 mg/L), Fe (≤60 …

Targeting Macrophytes: Increased Water Quality Through Optimized Vegetation Considerations For Constructed Wetlands, Austin Mcbrady

Masters Theses

This study of constructed wetland design investigated relationships between macrophyte species selection and planting density for water quality improvement. A lab-scale wetland was compared against a pilot-scale wetland in San Antonio, Texas at Mitchell Lake to measure differences in effluent water quality improvement using three native macrophyte species. Using a novel, two-phase method, a targeting macrophyte was identified from among other species based on its marked capability for improving water quality factors, then was planted in varied majority densities to compare differences in treatment effectiveness. The results of this study showed that this complimentary approach to wetland design displayed significant …

The Influence Of Invasive Species On Fishers’ Satisfactions, Caroline M. Laplante

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

Invasives species are prevalent and widespread in North America. Outdoor recreational activities, such as fishing, introduce a point in which humans may interact with invasive species and have to adapt their own behaviors. Bigheaded carp in the Missouri River below Gavin’s Point Dam are a group of invasive fish species that were thought to be negatively relating to recreational fishers’ satisfactions. Using a content analysis and an importance-grid, we conclude that invasive species do not strongly relate to recreational paddlefish fishers’ satisfactions. Paddlefish fishers represent a small sub-set of recreational fishers in Nebraska and South Dakota. The content analysis revealed …

Population Demography Of A Glacial-Relict Stream Fish Mediated Via Anthropogenic Alteration, Joseph M. Spooner

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

Northern Pearl Dace Margariscus nachtriebi are a small-bodied glacial-relict fish species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) found throughout Canada and the northern United Sates. Their distribution within the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion is isolated from the northern core distribution of the species following the last glaciation period approximately 18,000 years ago. Headwater streams within the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion are predominately groundwater fed and provide the cool water temperatures needed to support Northern Pearl Dace and other glacial-relict SGCN. Headwater streams within the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion have been geomorphically altered through anthropogenic processes such as channelization whereby habitat homogenization has occurred. Evidence …

Habitat Heterogeneity In Nebraska Streams And Distribution Prediction For Tier-1 Cyprinids Using Multi-Scale Modeling Of Fluvial And Landscape Features, Connor P. Hart

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

Multiscale environmental processes determine in-stream habitat conditions which drive species distributions. Habitat constitutes the physical template upon which ecological processes occur and species conduct life stage activities. Habitat heterogeneity promotes biodiversity of aquatic systems. Stream classification informs freshwater conservation by providing a useful framework to account for habitat heterogeneity, often based on landscape regions of similar environmental processes. A greater understanding of landscape-based classification frameworks as means to classify stream systems may improve understanding of drivers of biodiversity. Using Nebraska as a case study, on a statewide scale, objectives were 1) to characterize habitat availability for several at-risk fish species, …

Human Dimensions Of Woody Encroachment Management In Nebraska, Emily Rowen

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

Woody plant encroachment (WPE) is a social-ecological problem that will challenge conservation professionals and agricultural producers to adapt their management strategies. This research first examined WPE from the perspective of individual conservation professionals through an online survey. Conservation professionals’ attitudes about adaptation to vegetation transitions, such as WPE, were of interest because these attitudes are one measure of how prepared this group is to respond to WPE. Hypothesized predictors of adaptation attitude were tested through linear regression modeling. These predictors included ecological change, observation of WPE, or risk perception. It was found that risk perception was the strongest predictor of …

The Tidal Prism, Viable Eelgrass Habitat, And The Effects Of Sea Level Rise In Morro Bay, Kaden A. Caliendo

Master's Theses

The tidal prism, or the volume of water exchanged from the sea to an estuary from mean low to mean high tide, influences system hydrodynamics and ecological functioning. Since 1884, the tidal prism in Morro Bay, California has been estimated to be decreasing over time due to sedimentation from upstream practices. What is the current tidal prism in Morro Bay and how will that change with sea level rise? How will eelgrass respond to rising sea levels?

For this study, inexpensive tidal gauges were deployed at four locations in Morro Bay from March to August 2023 to measure spatially varying …

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 …

Post-Wildfire Effects On A Headwater Stream In The San Bernardino National Forest, Kelley Giron

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Southern California has experienced prolonged drought conditions that have supported frequent wildfires that adversely impact ecosystems, natural resources, and human development. A primary consequence of these events is the impact on water quality and quantity. Of equal concern is evaluating how diverse land use configurations within a watershed can alter the physio-chemical properties of headwater reaches where drought and wildfire conditions are prevalent. To better understand the extent to which wildfires impact water quality and quantity across a headwater watershed, this study investigates wildfire impacts from the 2021 South Fire to Lytle Creek, a headwater stream of the Santa Ana …

Beyond The Tide: A Comprehensive Guide To Sea-Level-Rise Inundation Mapping Using Foss4g, Levente Juhasz, Jinwen Xu, Randall W. Parkinson

GIS Center

No abstract provided.

Food-Water-Energy Nexus In The Perspective Of Green Revolution, Green Energy, Legal And Institutional Framework: A Killian Based Adjusted Bootstrap Approach, Zia Ur Rahman

CBER Conference

Food and water energy is crucial for human well-being, sustainable development, and poverty reduction. The growing global demand driven by population growth, economic development, urbanization, changing diets, technological advancements, and climate change projections indicates a significant increase in the need for these resources. Understanding the intricate interdependencies between food, water, and energy is essential for effectively addressing these challenges and fostering a prosperous and sustainable future. Therefore, this study incorporated statistical data collected from the Pakistan Economic Survey and the World Governance Indicator from 1990 to 2022 to elucidate the complex connection between food, water, and energy.

Heat Flow In The Southern Margin Of Salar De Atacama: Deep Groundwater Temperature Distributions And The Implications For Subsurface Flow And Land Surface Energy Budgets, Graham Thomas

Masters Theses

Salar de Atacama (SdA) located in Northern Chile is home to one of the planet’s largest salar systems and lithium resources. Managing groundwater resources in salars is not obvious due to the lack of scientific understanding on the connectivity between the freshwater and brine systems. Using heat as a tracer in SdA provides a cost-effective method to further investigate groundwater flow in salars. This study employs 372 temperature-depth profiles from 90 boreholes between 2013-18 to understand the distinct thermal zones and flow between them in SdA. Three thermal zones exist within the southern margin of SdA’s thermal regime, at higher …

Connecting The Nebraska Water Quality Index To The Aquatic Microbial Community Of The North Platte River Basin, Nebraska, Paula R. Guastello

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

The Nebraska Water Quality Index, under development by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, summarizes in a single value eight environmental parameters that have been monitored in Nebraska for nearly 20 years. Water quality parameters including those used in the Nebraska Water Quality Index have been shown in previous studies to impact bacterial growth. As such, this index has the potential to correlate with the freshwater microbial community. Here, I relate the Nebraska Water Quality Index to microbial community composition and structure using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequence data collected from the North Platte River Basin, Nebraska. This index …

A Spatiotemporal Synthesis Of High-Resolution Salinity Data With Aquaculture Applications, Dong Liang, Jeremy M. Testa, Cassie Gurbisz, Lora A. Harris

I-GUIDE Forum

Technological advancement and the desire to better monitor shallow habitats in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States led to the initiation of several high-resolution monitoring programs such as ConMon (short for “Continuous Monitoring”) measuring oxygen, salinity, and chlorophyll-a at a 15-minute frequency. These monitoring efforts have yielded an enormous volume of data and insight into the condition of the tidal water of the Bay. But this information is underutilized in documenting the fine-scale variability of water quality, which is critical in identifying the link between water quality and ecological responses, partly due to the challenges in integrating monitoring data collected …

A Citizen Science Experiment: How Well Do Park Visitors Identify Wetland Health?, Madison Cicha, Kassidy Haynes, Andrew Mehring, Mark Tierney, Andrea Gaughan Phd

The Cardinal Edge

Citizen science refers to a discipline of scientific projects that utilize public participation and collaboration to complete or supplement a collected data set. Our study as a whole aims to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) source-sink status of small, constructed wetlands in Kentucky through field and remotely sensed data. Additional facets of the project include evaluating the influence of the primary producer community on GHG uptake and emissions, and our ability to identify healthy small wetlands from science and community-based perspectives. Specifically, the citizen science aspect intends to assess both (1) gaps between knowledge of the general public regarding wetland …

Pumping-Induced Drawdown Of Streams In Proximity To Agricultural Wells, Sara Alina Sternberg

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

In the context of unprecedented drought and aquifer overdraft in California, understanding surface water and groundwater connectivity have become increasingly important. While there is a clear understanding of how wells induce drawdown in aquifers (Theis, 1935; Hantush, 1965), secondary effects on local streams have not fully been considered. Current mathematical models targeting aquifer drawdown do not address stream drawdown response in aquifer-stream systems with strong connectivity; instead, they assume the stream to be a constant head boundary. In the drought-stricken and summer-dry climate of California, streams often run dry for months out of the year, which is currently not reflected …

Optimizing Edge-Of-Field Water Quality Monitoring Methods To Determine The Effects Of Best Management Practices On Nutrient And Sediment Runoff, Mark Hill

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the impact on water quality of combined agricultural best management practices cover crop and minimum tillage, alongside an examination of techniques used to collect those samples. Edge-of-field (EOF) water quality samples were collected from 11 working farms during a two-year paired field experiment. Results showed significant reductions in nutrient concentrations, increased discharge, and mixed findings regarding nutrient mass transport post-treatment. A suite of EOF collection techniques were compared using in-situ automated water sampling systems sampling the same runoff events. Sampling protocols influenced nutrient concentrations in composite samples, but unexpected variance in velocity sensors affected measured discharge, making …

Investigating The Role Of Plant Traits And Interactions In Emergent Wetland Nutrient Removal, Andrew Ryan Sample

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing wetland restoration in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley has been identified as a method to reduce nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico. Wetlands have historically been used to treat water through processes facilitated by wetland plants, and relatively few species and plant traits have been identified as important in carrying out these processes. This study focuses on some of those species and traits and aims to identify species differences and plant traits that may be important for wetland nutrient mitigation. Chapter I provides background information on nutrient pollution, wetland biogeochemical mechanisms for nutrient sequestration, and the focal species …

Understanding The Factors Affecting Nebraskan Farmers’ And Landowners' Decision To Adopt Precision Agricultural Technologies And Programs, Corrin C. Winter

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

Advisors: Andrew Little, Christopher Chizinski

To gain insights into the challenges faced by Nebraska farmers and landowners when adopting precision agriculture technologies, I analyzed data collected from a 2022 survey involving 7,503 participants, consisting of producers and farmland owners from across the state of Nebraska. The primary objective was to provide valuable insights for agencies seeking to improve their precision agriculture and conservation outreach efforts for the benefit of conservation and Nebraskan farmers and landowners. This study aimed to understand key factors influencing adoption behaviors by evaluating the constraints to precision agriculture adoption, assessing the impact of producer and landowner …