Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Natural Resources and Conservation Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 4591 - 4620 of 9826

Full-Text Articles in Natural Resources and Conservation

Influence Of Saltwater Intrusion, Climate, And Development On The Ground Water Supply Of San Juan Island, Scott Joel Adolphson Jan 2015

Influence Of Saltwater Intrusion, Climate, And Development On The Ground Water Supply Of San Juan Island, Scott Joel Adolphson

All Master's Theses

Freshwater availability is a serious resource concern, due to the needs of its increasing population. This issue is especially critical in coastal regions, both due to supplying the growing number of people migrating to these areas and the higher potential for saltwater intrusion into groundwater supplies as water demands increase. This study assessed the degree of saltwater intrusion on San Juan Island, Washington, including its extent, contributing factors and the implication for the water resource availability. Results indicate that saltwater intrusion levels have not increased significantly in the study area, yet the size of the area threatened has increased. Saltwater …

Go to article

Heavy Metal Uptake By Four Plant Species: Radish, Indian Mustard, Corn, And Soybean., Oluwasogo Bolaji Alonge Jan 2015

Heavy Metal Uptake By Four Plant Species: Radish, Indian Mustard, Corn, And Soybean., Oluwasogo Bolaji Alonge

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Metal contaminated soils are a problem throughout the world. Because metals accumulate in the food chain they have been linked to adverse human and ecosystem health. One promising approach to remediating metal contaminated soils is phytoremediation but success has been limited by an incomplete understanding of the factors that control metal uptake by plants, including the effects when more than one contaminant metal is present in the system. Metal contaminated soil for this study was collected from near Spelter in Harrison County WV, the site of a former zinc smelting site that has contaminated residential soils and stream sediments with …

Go to article

Acknowledgment Of Supporters, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law Jan 2015

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

Water Matters!

List of supporters.

Go to article

Natural Resources / Graduate Students / Wright & Andrews / Cornell University / 2013, Sarah J. Wright, Camille Andrews Jan 2015

Natural Resources / Graduate Students / Wright & Andrews / Cornell University / 2013, Sarah J. Wright, Camille Andrews

Data Information Literacy Case Study Directory

This case study describes a 6 week for credit Data Information Literacy course taught at Cornell University for students in Natural Resources. Subject covered include: data management, data organization, data analysis and visualization, data sharing, and data quality and documentation. Materials include a book chapter describing the case study, a rubric for developing a data management plan, a class exercise in finding and evaluating data repositories, and the evaluation form used for the course.

Go to article

A Comparison Of Management Strategies For The Federally Endangered Running Buffalo Clover (Trifolium Stoloniferum) On The Blue Grass Army Depot, Ky, Alexi David Dart-Padover Jan 2015

A Comparison Of Management Strategies For The Federally Endangered Running Buffalo Clover (Trifolium Stoloniferum) On The Blue Grass Army Depot, Ky, Alexi David Dart-Padover

Online Theses and Dissertations

Running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) is a federally endangered plant that appears to depend on habitat disturbance, although proposed management strategies such as cattle grazing, mowing, and herbicide application have never been compared in a controlled study. We evaluate the efficacy of these techniques on the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) in Madison County, KY, where one of T. stoloniferum’s largest populations occurs. Fifty-nine patches of T. stoloniferum on the BGAD were treated annually between 2012 and 2014 with combinations of mowing and grass-specific herbicide. Patches of T. stoloniferum also were exposed to one of three types of cattle exposure …

Go to article

Evaluating And Prioritizing Stream Restoration In Mined Appalachian Watersheds., Eric Mitchell Miller Jan 2015

Evaluating And Prioritizing Stream Restoration In Mined Appalachian Watersheds., Eric Mitchell Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The state of West Virginia requires stream mitigation to offset anthropogenic impacts to streams; consequently there is a high concentration of mitigation projects in the mountaintop mining/valley fill region. Projects are typically outside mine boundaries and sites are selected at the discretion of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. This dissertation evaluated current in-stream, natural channel design (NCD) structures and prioritized future project locations. First, we assessed the Little Coal River, which is one of the largest physical restoration projects in the state. The Little Coal drains 994 km2 with extensive historic and contemporary coal mining. The objectives of …

Go to article

May You Walk In Beauty: The Decline Of Navajo Land And Culture, Jocelyn Catterson Jan 2015

May You Walk In Beauty: The Decline Of Navajo Land And Culture, Jocelyn Catterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Navajo homeland, Dinetah, is bordered by four mountains that are sacred to the Navajo people: two in Colorado, one in New Mexico, and one in Arizona. Historically, Navajo medicine men have traveled to these mountains to renew prayers and collect medicinal herbs. Today, the mountains, which exist outside of the reservation boundaries, are used for resource extraction and various recreational pursuits. While many Navajo are fighting for the protection of these sacred lands and their traditional culture, others are disinterested. Traditional practices and beliefs are slowly disappearing within the Navajo Nation. The land-use issues associated with these sacred mountains …

Go to article

Land Use/Land Cover Changes And Regional Climate Over The Loess Plateau During 2001-2009 – Part I. Observed Evidences, Rezaul Mahmood Jan 2015

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

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

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 Jan 2015

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 …

Go to article

Urban Flood Response Planning: Building Urban Resilience In Calgary And Toronto, Sarah Asrat Jan 2015

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, …

Go to article

A Popular And Potentially Sustainable Fishery Resource Under Pressure-Extinction Risk And Conservation Of Brazilian Sciaenidae (Teleostei: Perciformes), Ning L. Chao, Flávia L. Frédou, Manuel Haimovici, Monica B. Peres, Beth Polidoro, Marcelo Raseira, Rosana Subira, Kent E. Carpenter Jan 2015

A Popular And Potentially Sustainable Fishery Resource Under Pressure-Extinction Risk And Conservation Of Brazilian Sciaenidae (Teleostei: Perciformes), Ning L. Chao, Flávia L. Frédou, Manuel Haimovici, Monica B. Peres, Beth Polidoro, Marcelo Raseira, Rosana Subira, Kent E. Carpenter

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Croakers (Sciaenidae) are major fishery resource in Brazil; constituting 22% of marine and 9% of freshwater fishery landings. Croakers are subject to heavy fishing pressure throughout Brazil, but habitat alteration is also an important threat to regional populations. In this regional Sciaenidae assessment, each species was analyzed for relative risk of extinction, including the identification and quantification of the impact of major threats and existing conservation measures, based on application of the Categories and Criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Of the 52 species of Sciaenid fishes (34 marine and 18 freshwater) present in Brazilian waters, the …

Go to article

The Role Of Hybridization And The United States Fish And Wildlife Service Biologists’ Discretion In The Implementation Of The Endangered Species Act, Jennifer F. Lind-Riehl Jan 2015

The Role Of Hybridization And The United States Fish And Wildlife Service Biologists’ Discretion In The Implementation Of The Endangered Species Act, Jennifer F. Lind-Riehl

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that the “best available scientific and commercial data” be used to enable the protection of critically imperiled species from extinction and preserve biodiversity. However, the ESA does not provide specific guidance on how to apply this mandate. In addition, the interpretation of scientific data can be uncertain and controversial, particularly regarding species delineation and hybridization issues. US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) field biologists must decide what the best science is and how to interpret and apply it in their recommendations. As a result, FWS field biologists often have considerable discretion when it comes …

Go to article

Reforestation, Renewal, And The Cost Of Coal: Opposing A Manichean Worldview In Central Appalachia, Elizabeth R. Hansen Jan 2015

Reforestation, Renewal, And The Cost Of Coal: Opposing A Manichean Worldview In Central Appalachia, Elizabeth R. Hansen

Pomona Senior Theses

Surface coal mining is a major form of land change and environmental degradation in Central Appalachia. Traditional mine reclamation iresults in unmanaged, unproductive grasslands that fail to mitigate many of the environmental costs of coal mining and are of minimal use to communities. Forestry reclamation is an alternative reclamation tactic that has the potential to address both environmental and socioeconomic concerns in Central Appalachia. A case study of Laurel Fork Mine in Eastern Kentucky is included.

Go to article

Cows And Plows: Science-Based Conservation For Grassland Songbirds In Agricultural Landscapes, Marisa K. Lipsey Jan 2015

Cows And Plows: Science-Based Conservation For Grassland Songbirds In Agricultural Landscapes, Marisa K. Lipsey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Temperate grasslands are among earth’s most imperiled ecosystems. In North America, steep declines of endemic songbird populations indicate that grassland loss and degradation may be approaching critical levels. Grasslands are agricultural landscapes largely (~85%) under private ownership with little formal protection status. Remaining bird populations depend on grazing lands that have not been converted to cropland. We combine regional data from a hotspot for grassland bird diversity (northeast Montana, USA; 26,500-km2) with continental data spanning the northern Great Plains (1,000,000-km2) to evaluate how land use and management influence bird distribution and abundance. Regionally, habitat used by seven grassland specialists spanned …

Go to article

A Model For Determining Drivers Of Phenology In Western United States Rangelands, Joseph R. St. Peter Jan 2015

A Model For Determining Drivers Of Phenology In Western United States Rangelands, Joseph R. St. Peter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Plant phenology has long been used as an indicator of climate. Recent changes in plant phenology are evidence of the influence of climate change. Modeling plant phenology has become an effective tool to understand the impacts of climate change. Using machine learning techniques I developed a modeling process for accurately predicting phenology across a diverse landscape. This model uses individual site data to set site specific climate thresholds for plant phenology. This model also identifies the limiting factors to vegetation phenology for rangelands in the western United States. NDVI remotely sensed data was used to quantify land surface phenology and …

Go to article

Gis Analysis Of Brownfield Sites In The City Of Minneapolis, Shreya Vaidya Jan 2015

Gis Analysis Of Brownfield Sites In The City Of Minneapolis, Shreya Vaidya

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Brownfield sites have many negative ramifications on a local area which includes loss of economy, decline in land use value and potential hazard to human health and the environment. Despite the efforts on redeveloping brownfields, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) claims that over 10,000 known contaminated or potentially contaminated sites remain across Minnesota and thousands are likely to exist but have not been identified and recorded. The objectives of this study are to map the brownfield sites in Minneapolis based on the information provided by the regulatory sources and to categorize and analyze all the sites on the basis of …

Go to article

Linking The Effects Of Risk Factors On Annual Calf Survival To Elk Population Dynamics In The Bitterroot Valley, Montana, Daniel R. Eacker Jan 2015

Linking The Effects Of Risk Factors On Annual Calf Survival To Elk Population Dynamics In The Bitterroot Valley, Montana, Daniel R. Eacker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The recolonization of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in multiple carnivore systems has been correlated with declining recruitment of juvenile ungulates, but the importance of wolves relative to other established carnivores is uncertain. The realized effect of carnivores may depend on compensation from forage and winter weather severity, which may mediate juvenile vulnerability to predation. Also, in high predation systems, the importance of juvenile recruitment may be reduced for ungulate population dynamics. We first tested for the effects of risk factors on annual elk (Cervus elaphus) calf survival and estimated cause-specific mortality rates. Secondly, we investigated the …

Go to article

The Role Of Funding Programs In Promotion Of Best Management Practices For Effective Stream Restoration, Tracy R. Wendt Jan 2015

The Role Of Funding Programs In Promotion Of Best Management Practices For Effective Stream Restoration, Tracy R. Wendt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Large amounts of money are spent on stream restoration projects across the United States every year. Restoration researchers and professionals commonly recommend a suite of Best Management Practices (BMPs), including project goals, objectives, monitoring, consideration of future conditions, adaptive management, and public reporting of results, which are widely recognized as contributing to effective projects. Studies over the last two decades demonstrated that these BMPs were not consistently incorporated into restoration projects, which highlighted the need to improve practices and for funding programs to incorporate BMPs into funding requirements. I reviewed 28 programs that fund stream restoration in the Rocky Mountain …

Go to article

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Upland Plant Biodiversity And Abundance In Northeast Florida, Peter D. Maholland Jan 2015

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Upland Plant Biodiversity And Abundance In Northeast Florida, Peter D. Maholland

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrestrial ecosystems in the southeastern United States have evolved with fire as a common disturbance and as a result many natural communities require the presence of fire to persist over time. Human development precludes natural fires from occurring within these communities; however, prescribed fire is considered to be a critical tool in the effort to restore fire-dependent ecosystems after decades of fire exclusion. Direct effects of fire on individual floral and faunal species as well as benefits to biodiversity at the landscape (gamma diversity) level have largely been supported in previous research. However, information on the effects of natural and …

Go to article

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 Jan 2015

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 …

Go to article

Matrix And Edge Effects On The Maintenance Of Ecological Function In An Afromontane Protected Area, Robin M. Martino Jan 2015

Matrix And Edge Effects On The Maintenance Of Ecological Function In An Afromontane Protected Area, Robin M. Martino

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Land use type in the human dominated matrix surrounding tropical forest can influence edge effects at the forest-matrix interface. Edge effects can alter ecological processes and impact the function of forest edge ecosystems. A key ecological process that helps maintain tropical forest and is affected by forest disturbance is seed dispersal by large, fruit eating vertebrates (frugivores). This dissertation examines how the type of vegetation in the matrix, the `soft’ edge contrast of pine plantations and the `hard’ edge contrast of tea plantations, affect seed dispersal behavior of large frugivores, and the structure and composition of tree species, in forest …

Go to article

The Action Cycle/Structural Context Framework: A Fisheries Application, D. G. Webster Jan 2015

The Action Cycle/Structural Context Framework: A Fisheries Application, D. G. Webster

Dartmouth Scholarship

There is a growing consensus that environmental governance is a wicked problem that requires understanding of the many linkages and feedbacks between human and natural systems. Here, I propose an action cycle/structural context (AC/SC) framework that is based on the concept of responsive governance, in which individuals and decision makers respond to problems rather than working to prevent them. By linking agency and structure, the AC/SC framework points out two key problems in the realm of environmental governance: the profit disconnect, whereby economic signals of environmental harm are dampened by endogenous or exogenous forces, and the power disconnect, whereby those …

Go to article

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 Dec 2014

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 …

Go to article

Registration Of ‘Newell’ Smooth Bromegrass, K P. Vogel, R B. Mitchell, B L. Waldron, M R. Haferkamp, J D. Berdahl, D D. Baltensperger, Galen Erickson, T J. Klopfenstein Dec 2014

Registration Of ‘Newell’ Smooth Bromegrass, K P. Vogel, R B. Mitchell, B L. Waldron, M R. Haferkamp, J D. Berdahl, D D. Baltensperger, Galen Erickson, T J. Klopfenstein

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Biodigestor: Rural Power Plant, Felipe Ribeiro Bozza Dec 2014

Biodigestor: Rural Power Plant, Felipe Ribeiro Bozza

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

Biodigestor: Rural Power Plant

Go to article

Social Policies As Subsidy For Environmental Education: A Citizen Behavioral Change Tool, Gracielle Peixoto Dec 2014

Social Policies As Subsidy For Environmental Education: A Citizen Behavioral Change Tool, Gracielle Peixoto

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

Social Policies as subsidy for Environmental Education: A citizen behavioral change tool

Go to article

One Tragedy, One Action, Amy Fosler Dec 2014

One Tragedy, One Action, Amy Fosler

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

One Tragedy, One Action

Go to article

Leveling The Financial Playing Field For Renewables, Taylor Nissen Dec 2014

Leveling The Financial Playing Field For Renewables, Taylor Nissen

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

Leveling the Financial Playing Field for Renewables

Go to article

Great Economic Growth Versus Sustainability, Maria Brandao Dec 2014

Great Economic Growth Versus Sustainability, Maria Brandao

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

Great Economic Growth versus Sustainability

Go to article

It Is Always Possible, Ivan Makino Dec 2014

It Is Always Possible, Ivan Makino

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

It Is Always Possible

Go to article

First Prev Next Last