Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Globalization, Climate Variability And Food Security In Pakistan: The Moderating Role Of Population Density, Shazia Kousar, Muhammad Afzal, Adeel Nasir

CBER Conference

The aim of this study is twofold; first, this study examined the impact of globalization and climate variability on food security. Second, this study examined the moderating role of population density on the relationship between globalization, climate variability and food security. This study utilized the data for food security from FAO, while the data for globalization related to the KOF globalization index.

Vegetation And Habitat Classification Of Created And Natural Brackish Marshes Via Unoccupied Aerial Systems And Potential Monitoring Applications, Seth T. Chapman

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana’s coastal marshes are some of the most valuable natural, economic, and cultural state resources that however, have been severely deteriorating over the last century. Federal and state agencies have pooled billions of dollars into coastal restoration projects in Louisiana of which marsh creation is a primary focus. Traditional monitoring of created marshes involves in-situ vegetation sampling and aerial imagery from fixed-wing occupied aircraft, but these methods have limitations and/or can negatively impact sites. My thesis explores the use of Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS; i.e., drones) to classify vegetation and habitat in coastal marsh systems, compare habitat and vegetation cover …

Uavs And Deep Neural Networks: An Alternative Approach To Monitoring Waterfowl At The Site Level, Zachary J. Loken

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding how waterfowl respond to habitat restoration and management activities is crucial for evaluating and refining conservation delivery programs. However, site-specific waterfowl monitoring is challenging, especially in heavily forested systems such as the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV)—a primary wintering region for ducks in North America. I hypothesized that using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) coupled with deep learning-based methods for object detection would provide an efficient and effective means for surveying non-breeding waterfowl on difficult-to-access restored wetland sites. Accordingly, during the winters of 2021 and 2022, I surveyed wetland restoration easements in the MAV using a UAV equipped with a dual …

Raccoon Spatial Ecology In The Rural Southeastern United States, Jacob E. Hill, Madison L. Miller, James L. Helton, Richard B. Chipman, Amy Gilbert, University Of Georgia, Guha Dharmarajan, Olin E. Rhodes Jr.

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The movement ecology of raccoons varies widely across habitats with important implications for the management of zoonotic diseases such as rabies. However, the spatial ecology of raccoons remains poorly understood in many regions of the United States, particularly in the southeast. To better understand the spatial ecology of raccoons in the southeastern United States, we investigated the role of sex, season, and habitat on monthly raccoon home range and core area sizes in three common rural habitats (bottomland hardwood, upland pine, and riparian forest) in South Carolina, USA. From 2018–2022, we obtained 264 monthly home ranges from 46 raccoons. Mean …

Raccoon Spatial Ecology In The Rural Southeastern United States, Jacob E. Hill, Madison L. Miller, James L. Helton, Richard B. Chipman, Amy T. Gilbert, James C. Beasley, Guha Dharmarajan, Olin E. Rhodes Jr.

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The movement ecology of raccoons varies widely across habitats with important implications for the management of zoonotic diseases such as rabies. However, the spatial ecology of raccoons remains poorly understood in many regions of the United States, particularly in the southeast. To better understand the spatial ecology of raccoons in the southeastern US, we investigated the role of sex, season, and habitat on monthly raccoon home range and core area sizes in three common rural habitats (bottomland hardwood, upland pine, and riparian forest) in South Carolina, USA. From 2018–2022, we obtained 264 monthly home ranges from 46 raccoons. Mean monthly …

Optimal Harvest Control Within A Predator-Prey System: A Case Study In Chesapeake Bay Fishes, Iordanka Panayotova

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Precipitation And Greenness In Pastoral Lands Of East Turkana, Kenya, Paul Akpejeluh

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

Pastoralism has long supported livelihoods and provided essential ecosystem services in landscapes of East Africa. Vegetation productivity is central to the functioning of pastoral systems but may be affected by changes in climate and landuse. Vegetation monitoring is important for understanding the effects of global change in pastoral lands; however, it can be time and resource intensive. Remote sensing provides opportunities for efficient multi-scale monitoring of vegetation and climatic drivers. In this thesis, I explore the utility of satellite and UAV remote sensing for monitoring vegetation and precipitation trends and relationships in the East of Lake Turkana Region of northern …

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 …

Building The Soil Carbon Sponge At Murray Wells Farm, Tambellup, Western Australia, Wendy Bradshaw

Natural resources published reports

Peter and Wendy Bradshaw farmed at Murray Wells Farm about 25 km west of Tambellup for around 46 years until they sold and retired in 2022. They produced barley, oats, merino and prime lambs on an annual rainfall of 450 mm over 1,000 arable hectares. The farm was on a moderately undulating landscape with a mix of soils including sandy duplex, well-drained sand over gravel over clay, shallow sandy or loamy gravel over cemented laterite and red to brown loamy soils.Their farming philosophy was to view agriculture as an ecological enterprise that included them as part of the ecosystem, and …

Utahns' Perceptions Of Climate Change And Disaster Vulnerabilities, Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, Jennifer E. Givens, Peter D. Howe, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad

Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP)

Climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, making people more vulnerable in a variety of ways^1-2. It is essential to determine if individuals believe they are susceptible to the effects of climate change in order to develop effective adaptation strategies.

Climate change has contributed to extreme weather occurrences in Utah in recent years. For instance, in the summer of 2022, there was a severe or extreme drought in all of Utah's counties³. Health effects of drought vary with intensity⁴ and can cause climate related deaths directly and indirectly, such as by …

Gene Variants In Bola-Dmb, Decr1, Fasn And Srebf1 Associated With Conceptus Death On Day 16 Of Pregnancy In Holstein Cows [Abstract], Carolina L. Gonzalez-Berrios, Courtney Bowden, Pablo J. Pinedo, Jeanette V. Bishop, Hana Van Campen, Thomas R. R. Hansen, Milton G. Thomas

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Investigating the influences of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with conceptus death (CD) on day 16 of pregnancy could distinguish cows who have inferior value for fertility traits. We hypothesized that CD is associated with SNP genotypes that disrupt maternal recognition and lead to early pregnancy loss. RNA sequences from Holstein cow pregnancies (n = 15) with normal conceptuses (Norm) or CD were subjected to SNP discovery via Qiagen CLC Genomics Workbench. Selected SNP were based on previous fertility studies, differentially expressed genes within pregnancy development analyses and proximity to SNP associated with fertility traits in the Cattle QTL …

Agricultural Groundcover Update October 2023, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

Summary

• About 98% of the grainbelt had adequate vegetative groundcover (more than 50%) to prevent wind erosion in October 2023. This amount of groundcover is normal at the end of spring and pre-harvest in most areas.
• There was a larger than average area with 51–60% groundcover, and groundcover in these areas is expected to reduce over summer to below 50%.
• About 2% of the grainbelt (293,000 ha) had less than 50% groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion. Mullewa to Morawa Ag Soil Zone had the highest risk of wind erosion and 8% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover. …

Skin Lipids Alone Enable Conspecific Tracking In An Invasive Reptile, The Argentine Black And White Tegu Lizard (Salvator Merianae), M. Rockwell Parker, Eric A. Tillman, Lauren A. Nazarian, Megan L. Barlowe, Julianna M. Lincoln, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Locating potential mates in non-native habitats is one of the most important challenges faced by invasive vertebrate species. The Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) is a major invasive reptile species in the contiguous United States and is rapidly expanding its range across Florida and the Southeast, in part due to inadequate management strategies and tools. Because a wide array of reptiles, especially squamates (snakes and lizards), have been well-studied for their reliance on chemical cues to locate conspecifics, our project aimed to isolate chemical cues from tegus and assess the ability of adult males and …

Maurer Environmental Law Expert Is Lead Author On Science Insights Policy Forum Article, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

The Indiana University Maurer and McKinney Schools of Law jointly will convene leading scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the 2023 United States Supreme Court case of Sackett v. EPA. The event, “Sackett v. EPA: What the Supreme Court’s Decision Means for Regulation and Wetlands Conservation,” will take place November 10 in the Wynne Courtroom and Steve Tuchman and Reed Bobrick Atrium at IU McKinney in Indianapolis.

Book Review: Australian Caves And Karst Systems, John Webb, Susan White, Garry K. Smith, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Does Drought Stress Eliminate The Benefit Of Elevated Co2,/Sub> On Soybean Yield? Using An Improved Model To Link Crop And Soil Water Relations, Wenguang Sun, David Fleisher, Dennis Timlin, Chittaranjan Ray, Zhuangji Wang, Sahila Beegum, Vangimalla Reddy

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Crop simulation models are indispensable tools that facilitate studies to assess climate impacts and adaptation responses, but have not been adequately tested in terms of accurately predicting crop growth and water stress responses to high carbon dioxide concentrations [CO₂]. The soybean model, GLYCIM, previously modified with a coupled leaf-level gas exchange – energy balance model, was integrated with a two-dimensional convectivediffusive root growth module which linked soil and leaf water potentials with the regulation of stomatal conductance. We evaluated the accuracy of this modified GLYCIM using experimental data from a Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) site, SoyFACE, and …

Comprehensive Atmospheric And Environmental Observations In The Himalayan Region Advances Development Of Earth System Science On The Tibetan Plateau, Weiqiang Ma, Yaoming Ma, Zhipeng Xie, Xuelong Chen, Binbin Wang, Cunbo Han, Maoshan Li, Lei Zhong, Fanglin Sun, Zhongyan Wang, Zhenhua Xi, Lian Liu, Bin Ma, Wei Hu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The Himalayan region, represented by Mount Qomolangma, is not only a typical area where special atmospheric processes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are concentrated, but also an important research area for climate, ecology, and environmental changes. The Qomolangma Station for Atmospheric and Environmental Observation and Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (abbreviated as QOMS) is located in the core area of Mount Qomolangma National Nature Reserve. It is dedicated to studying the complex terrain mountain atmospheric processes and environmental changes of the Third Pole of the Earth, focusing on the land-atmosphere interaction process on the TP under the background of climate …

Strengthening Ecological Protection And Green Development In Pearl River Basin To Support Construction Of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Bojie Fu, Guangqing Huang, Hong'ou Zhang, Junze Zhang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The Pearl River is the largest river flowing into the South China Sea in China. The unique natural environmental characteristics and geographical location make the Pearl River Basin (PRB) rich in natural resources and huge development potential, and it has an important strategic position in the construction of China’s ecological security system and national economic development planning. At present, the upper and middle reaches of the PRB consist of crucial part of China’s strategic pattern of ecological security, and the lower reach is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. However, influenced by multiple factors such as regional resource endowment and …

The Qomolangma Station For Atmospheric And Environmental Observation And Research, Chinese Academy Of Sciences, Institute Of Tibetan Plateau Research Chinese Academy Of Sciences

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Forest Fire Carbon Emission And Mitigation Strategies, Zhihua Liu, Hongshi He, Wenru Xu, Yu Liang, Jiaojun Zhu, Geoff G. Wang, Wei Wei, Zifa Wang, Yongming Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Between 2000 and 2020, global wildfires contributed to approximately 7.32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accounting for about 18.5% of CO2 emissions released from fossil fuels. Forest fires alone contributed to around 20% of these wildfire emissions, approximately 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2. Due to climate change and human activities, carbon emissions from forest fires are on the rise. For example, the 2023 Canadian fires have emitted 1.268 billion metric tons of CO2 up to August 29th. Despite the simultaneous increase in forest area and volume, the frequency and extent of forest fires have significantly decreased …

Understanding The Soil Water Dynamics During Excess And Deficit Rainfall Conditions Over The Core Monsoon Zone Of India, Mangesh M. Goswami, Milind Mujumdar1, Bhupendra Bahadur Singh, Madhusudan Ingale, Naresh Ganeshi, Manish Ranalkar, Trenton E. Franz, Prashant Srivastav, Dev Niyogi, R Krishnan, S N. Patil

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Observations of soil moisture (SM) during excess and deficit monsoon seasons between 2000 to 2021 present a unique opportunity to understand the soil water dynamics (SWD) over core monsoon zone (CMZ) of India. This study aims to analyse SWD by investigating the SM variability, SM memory (SMM), and the coupling between surface and subsurface SM levels. Particularly intriguing are instances of concurrent monsoonal extremes, which give rise to complex SWD patterns. Usually, it is noted that a depleted convective activity and persistence of higher temperatures during the pre-monsoon season leads to lower SM, while monsoon rains and post-monsoon showers support …

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 …

Sound Energy Could Change The World, Tyler Bugiel

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The energy crisis is a problem that has been growing more concerning for many years, and yet there has not seemed to be a good solution to the problem. That being said, I think that there is a solution that has not been explored thoroughly enough, that solution being sound energy. Solar and wind are both energy systems that use natural resources and things that occur on a day to day basis to convert those things into energy, but sound has not been explored as much.

Soil Succession: Short And Long-Term Impacts Of Grazing On Soil Properties In A Tropical Montane Cloud Forest, June Curtis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in South America, causing long-lasting alterations to the continent's landscape and ecology. Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) are a rare ecosystem particularly vulnerable to the effects of land conversion to pasture, a process which has implications ranging from biodiversity loss to soil degradation. Grazing is known to significantly alter soils' physical structure through processes of compaction and erosion as well as significant additions of organic matter. Silvopasture, or the integration of pasture and forest, has emerged as an alternative to traditional grazing practices with the hope of mitigating environmental and soil degradation. …

Lha, Lu, And Shipda: Religious Landscape In A Conservation Area, Luke Stumpfl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Living in a political, cultural, and geographic border region between Nepal and Tibet (People’s Republic of China), the families of Tsum Valley face many demands from their sociopolitical, religious, and economic climate. Practicing Tibetan Buddhism, the people uphold a set of rules implemented by the community with leadership from Serap Dorje Drukpa Rinpoche over 100 years ago that prohibits the intentional murder of all animals. Hailed by leaders and scholars as a haven of biodiversity conservation due to this customary-turned- municipal law, Tsum Valley also exists within Manaslu Conservation Area governed by an entity of the federal government of Nepal …

Creating A Framework For An Effective Koala Recovery Center: A Case Study Of Friends Of The Koala, Nsw, Finley Scoular

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Koala populations in New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital District are currently faced with factors that threaten their survival. Within one decade, their status has shifted from stable to vulnerable to endangered. The cause of this is attributed to increased exposure to dog attacks, vehicle collisions, diseases, and habitat fragmentation and destruction. The koalas' status of endangered in these territories has illuminated the need for human intervention. This study focuses on the specific form of human intervention that involves the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of wild koalas. Due to the recent koala status change from vulnerable to endangered, …

Limited Accumulation And Persistence Of An Influenza A Virus In Tadpole Snails (Physa Spp.), Paul T. Oesterle, J. Jeffrey Root, Darcy S.O. Mora, Heather Schneider, Alan B. Franklin, Kathryn P. Huyvaert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Waterfowl infected with avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) shed infectious virus into aquatic environments, providing a mechanism for transmission among waterfowl, while also exposing the entire aquatic ecosystem to the virus. Aquatic invertebrates such as freshwater snails are likely exposed to IAVs in the water column and sediment. Freshwater snails comprise a significant portion of some waterfowl species’ diets, so this trophic interaction may serve as a novel route of IAV transmission. In these experiments, tadpole snails (Physa spp.) were exposed to a low-pathogenicity IAV (H3N8) to determine whether snails can accumulate the virus and, if so, how long virus …

H5n1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Clade 2.3.4.4b In Wild And Domestic Birds: Introductions Into The United States And Reassortments, December 2021–April 2022, Sungsu Youk, Mia Kim Torchetti, Kristina Lantz, Julianna B. Lenoch, Mary Lea Killian, Christina Leyson, Sarah N. Bevins, Krista Dilione, Hon S. Ip, David E. Stallknecht, Rebecca L. Poulson, David L. Suarez, David E. Swayne, Mary J. Pantin-Jackwood

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) of the A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996 lineage H5 clade 2.3.4.4b continue to have a devastating effect on domestic and wild birds. Full genome sequence analyses using 1369 H5N1 HPAIVs detected in the United States (U.S.) in wild birds, commercial poultry, and backyard flocks from December 2021 to April 2022, showed three phylogenetically distinct H5N1 virus introductions in the U.S. by wild birds. Unreassorted Eurasian genotypes A1 and A2 entered the Northeast Atlantic states, whereas a genetically distinct A3 genotype was detected in Alaska. The A1 genotype spread westward via wild bird migration and reassorted with North American …

Críticas Contrahegemónicas De La Estrategia Nacional Del Litio: Hacia El Postextractivismo, Sarah Reyes

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En abril de 2023, el presidente chileno Gabriel Boric anunció su esperada Estrategia Nacional del Litio, diseñada para expandir la extracción de litio y desarrollar una cadena de valor productiva nacional a través de una estructura de asociación público-privada con mayor participación estatal. El plan ha sido objeto de diversas críticas y niveles de oposición por parte de la izquierda, comunidades indígenas y organizaciones ambientales. Basándose en la creciente literatura de ecología política y decolonial sobre la extracción de litio, junto con marcos teóricos de decrecimiento decolonial y postextractivismo, este documento sintetiza y analiza críticas de estos tres grupos (no …

Flujos De Servicios Ecosistémicos En Un Área Marina Protegida Del Atlántico Sur: Perspectivas Desde El Análisis De La Teoría De Redes, Mitch Porter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En cuestiones de gestión de áreas protegidas, los servicios ecosistémicos se tienen cada vez más en cuenta junto con la conservación de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, las decisiones que se toman sobre la conservación de los servicios ecosistémicos no suelen incluir los posibles efectos en cascada de la pérdida de biodiversidad sobre la provisión de servicios. Los conocimientos de la teoría de redes y los estudios de robustez pueden proporcionar una metodología para evaluar la vulnerabilidad de estos servicios frente la estructura trófica de los ecosistemas que los proveen. A través de una serie de simulaciones de extinción para la …