Climate Commons^™

An Economic And Production Analysis Of Seaweed Farms In California And The Pacific Northwest, Brian Donovan

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Since the early 2010s, the seaweed aquaculture industry has steadily expanded in the United States, with states like Alaska, Maine, Hawaii, and Connecticut leading the way in the development of this emerging sector. However, information gaps remain concerning certain aspects of the domestic seaweed aquaculture industry. The purpose of this study was to examine the status of the seaweed aquaculture industry along the West Coast of the United States; specifically in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Seaweed farmers in these states were invited to voluntarily complete surveys asking important production, economic, and commercial questions regarding their operations. Data …

Modeling The Impact Of Climate Change On Plant Hardiness Zones Across The Contiguous United States Using Empirical Bayesian Kriging Regression Prediction, Daniel Donkor

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Mapping plant hardiness zones is crucial to understanding and predicting the spatial distribution of plants in response to climatic conditions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed the plant hardiness zones based on the average of annual extreme minimum temperatures using the Parameter elevation Regression on Independent Slope Model (PRISM). While the USDA’s 2012 and 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone maps remain standard references, they offer limited geostatistical transparency that causes more complications in replicating. This study applies Empirical Bayesian Kriging Regression Prediction (EBKRP) method to generate Plant Hardiness Zone maps, analyze spatial and temporal shifts in the plant hardiness …

High Temporal Resolution Gene Expression Analysis Of Acute Heat Stress Response In Acropora Cervicornis And Porites Astreoides, Katherine Parker, Nicolas Evensen, Iliana Baums, Daniel Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Widespread coral bleaching and mortality events are becoming increasingly frequent due to rising ocean temperatures, though certain coral species and populations have displayed higher tolerance to elevated emperatures than others. As such, it is of high research priority to identify thermally tolerant coral populations for research and conservation and assess the biological mechanisms allowing these populations to survive exposure to higher temperatures. This research utilized the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS), a portable experimental aquaria system with precise temperature manipulation, to assess the thermal thresholds and heat stress response of two coral species from Summerland Key, FL, USA. Seven …

Symbiodiniaceae Shifts Over The Last Decade On The Hottest Coral Reefs On Earth, Anna Fiesinger, Rachel Alderdice, Luigi Colin, Hannah Manns, Gabriela Perna, Kathryn H. Stankiewicz, Jacob J. Valenzuela, Line K. Bay, Daniel J. Barshis, Nitin S. Baliga, Iliana B. Baums, John A. Burt, Christian R. Voolstra

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Corals in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG) are resilient to various stressors, whose levels exceed those of coral reefs globally. These corals thereby offer insight into mechanisms underlying thermal resilience, e.g., regarding the role of endosymbiotic microalgae in the family Symbiodiniaceae. Previous studies have identified the thermotolerant species Cladocopium thermophilum as broadly associated with corals in the southern PAG. However, algal-host specificity at the within-species level and the temporal stability of these associations are not well understood. Here we sampled two dominant stony corals (Porites harrisoni, n = 119 and Platygyra daedalea, n = 79) at three sites …

Seasonal Variability Of Surface Ocean Carbon Uptake And Chlorophyll-A Concentration In The West Antarctic Peninsula Over Two Decades, Jessica S. Turner, David R. Munro, Amanda Fay, Sharon Stammerjohn, Heather Kim, Oscar Schofield, Heidi Dierssen

OES Faculty Publications

The Southern Ocean plays a vital role in global CO₂ uptake, but the magnitude and even the sign of the flux remain uncertain, and the influence of phytoplankton phenology is underexplored. This study focuses on the West Antarctic Peninsula, a region experiencing rapid climate change, to examine shifts in seasonal carbon uptake. Using 20 years of in situ air-sea CO₂ flux and satellite-derived Chlorophyll-a, we observe that the seasonal cycles of both air-sea CO₂ flux and Chlorophyll-a intensify poleward. The amplitude of the seasonal cycle of the non-thermal component of surface ocean pCO₂ increases with increasing latitude, while the amplitude …

Impacts Of Multiple Coastal Stressors Across Life-History Stages In The Eastern Oyster, Amaelia Zyck

Open Access Dissertations

Urbanized estuaries are characterized as a complex of biotic and abiotic stressors, which currently challenge marine life and are expected to intensify and become increasingly unpredictable under the ongoing impacts of climate change. The persistence of coastal species that inhabit these stressful environments will ultimately depend on their ability to adapt. Many of these species have complex life cycles, featuring distinct morphological and physiological developmental stages that can exhibit unique responses to environmental pressures. However, since all stages share the same genome, selective pressures acting on one stage can have cascading effects throughout the life cycle. The larval stage, being …

Do Dung Beetles Sink Or Swim: Exploring Dung Beetle Response To Precipitation, Lauren T. Cheshire

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Global climate change constitutes a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services of many taxa. The Mid-Atlantic region of the US is expecting to see an increase in extreme precipitation events and flooding. Dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) can tunnel below the soil surface allowing for water to dissipate into the soil rather than sit on the surface and add to flooding conditions. They also can decrease methane emission by burying dung and reduce outbreaks of pests that prefer the moist environment of dung. They contribute roughly $380 million in ecosystem services annually in the United States, yet their services may be …

Changes In Climate And Their Implications For Cattle Nutrition And Management, Bashiri Iddy Muzzo, R. Douglas Ramsey, Juan J. Villalba

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Climate change is a global challenge that impacts rangeland and pastureland landscapes by inducing shifts in temperature variability, precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events. These changes alter soil and plant conditions, reducing forage availability and chemical composition and leading to nutritional stress in cattle. This stress occurs when animals lack adequate water and feed sources or when these resources are insufficient in quantity, composition, or nutrient balance. Several strategies are essential to address these impacts. Genetic selection, epigenetic biomarkers, and exploration of epigenetic memories present promising avenues for enhancing the resilience of cattle populations and improving adaptation to environmental stresses. …

Invasion Stress Mitigates Climate Stress In A Brackish Marsh Amphipod, Lorna E. Haworth, Sarah Nancollas, Susie N. Landa, Anne E. Todgham, Richelle L. Tanner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

1. Organisms in coastal brackish ecosystems face not only highly variable environmental conditions, but the intensity and stochasticity of these environmental conditions are anticipated to increase due to climate change. While environmental changes are often presented unilaterally as stressors, there are some anthropogenic environmental transformations, such as the introduction of habitat forming plant species, that may mitigate physiological stress imposed by warming. In Suisun Marsh in the California Delta, native plant canopies allow light and heat to penetrate to the understory yet the canopies of the introduced Phragmites australis reed block out sunlight and heat for organisms living below.
2. We set …

Comparing Metabolism And Hypoxia Tolerance Of Native And Non-Native Florida Freshwater Fishes In Climate Change Scenarios, Benjamin A. Share

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

As climate change brings rising water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations to freshwater bodies, it has become increasingly important to understand how this will affect ecosystems with established non-native or invasive species. Fishes of the family Cichlidae are the most pervasive non-native fishes in the Everglades and may increase their range further north under a changing climate. To better understand potential invasibility and competition with native fishes, the metabolism and hypoxia tolerance of non-native Blue Tilapia Oreochromis aureus was compared to native Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus when acclimated across a range of seasonal and projected temperatures. Intermittent-flow respirometry was …

Investigating Nekton Response To Changing Salinities In The Mississippi Sound: An Experimental And Statistical Approach, Adam Murray

Master's Theses

The Mississippi Sound provides nursery habitats for many coastal species and is recognized for its commercial fisheries. Previous freshening events linked to the Bonnet Carré Spillway, a Mississippi River flood diversion structure, proved catastrophic for oyster populations in the Mississippi Sound, but effects on mobile fish and shellfish species are not well-defined. The planned Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion (MBSD), an initiative to combat wetland loss, is also forecasted to lower salinities in the region, increasing the need to better understand responses of commercially and ecologically important species to freshening events. The objective of this study was to characterize effects of salinity …

Time Series Decomposition Of Land Surface Temperature For Long-Term Trend Forecasting And Impact On Nesting Sea Turtle Habitats In The Arabian Gulf, Sachi Perera, Rommel H. Maneja, Mohamed Allali, Cyril Rakovski, Erik Linstead, Daniele Struppa, Ali Qasem, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Improving land surface temperature (LST) modeling is vital for mitigating climate change effects on various ecosystems and marine habitats such as important sea turtle habitats. Over the past decade, extreme temperatures have likely significantly affected nesting sea turtle habitats in the Arabian Gulf, with predominantly female hatchlings creating an imbalance in the sex ratio. Such shifts have profound implications for these habitats’ long-term survival and conservation management. This study leverages statistical machine learning models to measure ongoing temporal variations in LST. We break down the LST time series into trend, seasonal, and noise components using classical decomposition methods like X11, …

Effects Of Fire Temperatures On Mojave Desert Native And Nonnative Seeds, Sophia Lorenzana, Lindsay Chiquoine

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Large-scale wildfires have been historically rare in hot deserts like the Mojave, largely due to the scarcity or uneven distribution of native plant biomass as fuel. Thus, native plants in these regions are ill-adapted to withstand spreading wildfire, resulting in slow post-fire recovery. Here, I test the hypothesis that nonnative grasses respond better to heat cues than native plant species. Seeds from 3 invasive and 13 native plant species were collected from research sites located in the eastern Mojave Desert, near surrounding Clark County Flood Control District weather stations. Seeds were buried in an artificial substrate mimicking field soil conditions …

Changing Characteristics Of Land Cover, Landscape Pattern And Ecosystem Services In The Bohai Rim Region Of China, Jiaqi Liu, Wei Chen, Hu Ding, Zhanhang Liu, Min Xu, Ramesh P. Singh, Congqiang Liu

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Since the Anthropocene, ecosystems have been continuously deteriorating due to global climate change and human intervention. Exploring the changing characteristics of land use/land cover (LULC), landscape pattern and ecosystem service (ES) and their drivers is crucial for regional ecosystem management and sustainable development. Taking the Bohai Rim region of China as an example, we used the land use transfer matrix, landscape pattern index and InVEST model to analyze the changing characteristics of LULC, landscape pattern and six key ESs [crop production (CP), water yield (WY), carbon storage (CS), soil conservation (SC), habitat quality (HQ), landscape aesthetics (LA)] during 2000–2020. Detailed …

Examining Wildfire Dynamics Using Ecostress Data With Machine Learning Approaches: The Case Of South-Eastern Australia's Black Summer, Yuanhui Zhu, Shakthi B. Murugesan, Ivone K. Masara, Soe W. Myint, Joshua B. Fisher

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Wildfires are increasing in risk and prevalence. The most destructive wildfires in decades in Australia occurred in 2019–2020. However, there is still a challenge in developing effective models to understand the likelihood of wildfire spread (susceptibility) and pre-fire vegetation conditions. The recent launch of NASA's ECOSTRESS presents an opportunity to monitor fire dynamics with a high resolution of 70 m by measuring ecosystem stress and drought conditions preceding wildfires. We incorporated ECOSTRESS data, vegetation indices, rainfall, and topographic data as independent variables and fire events as dependent variables into machine learning algorithms applied to the historic Australian wildfires of 2019–2020. …

Roaded Catchments In Wa, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources factsheets

Roaded catchments are earthwork structures designed to increase the amount of run-off from the catchment above a receiving farm dam.

Roaded catchments are lined with clay and compacted to make a smooth surface that reduces infiltration and increases run-off. Roaded catchments should discharge into a silt trap and then into a dam (excavated earth tank). This combined structure should be fenced to exclude livestock.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recommends that roaded catchments are part of an integrated water and salinity management program.

The information in this page is only a guide – seek expert advice before …

Improving Lambing Rates And Changing Turnoff Times To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mandy Curnow, Sud Kharel, Claire Macleay

Animal production and livestock research reports

Running a flock of sheep and raising lambs generates both direct (enteric fermentation) and indirect (lime, fertiliser, fuel, production of feed) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There are ways to reduce emissions through sheep reproduction.

Greenhouse Gas Accounting For Western Australian Agriculture 2022, Johnny Machon, Mandy Curnow, Christophe D'Abbadie

Climate Science Published Reports

This report presents new modelling of the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to Western Australia’s agricultural industries and provides an overview of sequestration at the state level. The report improves and expands on the estimates from previous technical reports by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), most notably Curnow et al. (2022). The report presents a new, much broader picture, capturing not only emissions from agricultural activities in Western Australia (WA), but also the emissions associated with the production of agricultural inputs and the sequestration that occurs on agriculturally managed lands. This broader picture of emissions aligns with …

Carbon Restoration Potential On Global Land Under Water Resource Constraints, Shouzhang Peng, César Terrer, Benjamin Smith, Philippe Ciais, Qinggong Han, Jialan Nan, Joshua B. Fisher, Liang Chen, Lei Deng, Kailiang Yu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Ecosystem restoration is a critical nature-based solution to mitigate climate change. However, the carbon sequestration potential of restoration, defined as the maximum achievable carbon storage, has likely been overestimated because previous studies have not adequately accounted for the competition between ecosystem water demands for maximizing carbon sequestration and human water needs. Here we used a comprehensive process-based model combined with extensive land-use data and evaporation recycling accounting for land–atmosphere feedback to estimate the water requirements associated with ecosystem restoration. We found that achieving the carbon sequestration potential of restoration would significantly reduce global water availability per capita by 26%, posing …

"The Words We Do Not Yet Have." A Creative Inquiry Into Human-Plant Relationships, Maliheh Ghajargar

Art Faculty Articles and Research

Climate change, loss of plant biodiversity, and ocean pollution signal the drastic changes in our ecology that call us to attend to the needs of more than human forms of life on Earth. Sustainable design and HCI research are responding to this call by offering methods and approaches to design more sustainable products and systems and recently, more than human design is building momentum. This agenda seeks to reform traditional design processes by decentering the creative agency of the dominant socio-economical group of humans and foregrounding those of diverse Others. In this paper, I focus on plants as a nonhuman …

Seasonal Dynamics In Land Surface Temperature In Response To Land Use Land Cover Changes Using Google Earth Engine, Lei Feng, Sajjad Hussain, Narcisa G. Pricope, Sana Arshad, Aqil Tariq, Li Feng, Muhammad Mubeen, Rana Waqar Aslam, Mohammed S. Fnais, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) are critical for evaluating global spatiotemporal trends, especially regarding climate change and urbanization. This study investigates the dynamics of Landsat surface temperature (LST) in response to LULC changes and their effects on the seasonal microclimate in Kasur District, Pakistan. Using the Google Earth Engine platform, we employed a random forest algorithm to detect LULC changes (cropland, forest, built-up, fallow, barren, and water) and analyze seasonal spectral indices from Landsat imagery for 1988, 2002, and 2022. Significant LULC changes were observed, including a 9.8% increase in built-up areas, a 4.2% decrease in cropland, …

Climate Smart Agriculture, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

There are several programs encouraging producers to reduce their carbon intensity, including United States Department of Agriculture climate-smart agriculture programs, the 2024 Nebraska Climate Action Plan, and the 2024 Nitrogen Reduction Incentive Act. The hope is that producers with lower carbon intensity (CI) scores will receive a premium for their products. Producers would be well advised to learn more about these programs, as reducing carbon intensity in agriculture seems to be an emerging agricultural policy trend that will be with us for some time to come.

A Generalized Machine Learning Model For Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring In The Red Sea, Justin J. Gapper, Surendra Maharjan, Wenzhao Li, Erik Linstead, Surya Prakash Tiwari, Mohamed A. Qurban, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Coral reefs, despite covering less than 0.2 % of the ocean floor, harbor approximately 35 % of all known marine species, making their conservation critical. However, coral bleaching, exacerbated by climate change and phenomena such as El Niño, poses a significant threat to these ecosystems. This study focuses on the Red Sea, proposing a generalized machine learning approach to detect and monitor changes in coral reef cover over an 18-year period (2000–2018). Using Landsat 7 and 8 data, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier was trained on depth-invariant indices (DII) derived from the Gulf of Aqaba and validated against ground …

High Mountain Ecosystems And Snow Cover In A Changing Climate: For Better Or For Worse, Philippe Choler

FRONTIERS UNBOUND: Exploring Extreme Environments

No abstract provided.

Low-Emission Beef Production In The Southern Rangelands Of Western Australia: An Analysis Of Herd Structure And Stocking Rate Experiencing Droughts, Christophe D'Abbadie

Animal production and livestock research articles

Reconciling profitable cattle production with rangeland health and reduced emissions is a key challenge in the southern rangelands of Western Australia (WA). Stocking rate and herd structure selection are crucial decisions to achieve this balance. This study assessed the emission profiles of three contrasting herd structures (weaner production, live export, and slaughter production), and three stocking rates within a herd–carbon accounting modelling framework. The analysis considers the impact of varying drought frequencies on these cattle production systems. Herd models were developed for the semiarid southern WA rangelands. Stocking rates were set at 100%, 80% and 66% of the government recommended …

Growing Oaten Hay On Frost Prone Paddocks, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Grains and other field crops factsheets

Growing oaten hay on frost-prone paddocks minimises the frost risk because it is cut soon after flowering, avoiding the frost sensitive period. If severe frost damage occurs to other crops, baling them for hay may reduce economic loss.

Oats are much more tolerant than other cereals to frost events that occur during vegetative growth and flowering.

Weather Risks, Crop Losses, And Risk Proneness: An Examination Of Evolving Risk Preferences Of Rice Farmers In Bangladesh, W. Parker Wheatley, Taznoore Khanam, Valerien O. Pede, Takashi Yamano

Economics Faculty Publications

Changing climate poses significant challenges for smallholder rice farmers. Weather-related deviations from longer-term patterns and crop losses due to abiotic hazards can affect farmer risk preferences and drive adaptive responses. In addition, farmers’ proneness to and past experiences with crop risks such as drought, submergence, and excess soil salinity can impact their baseline risk preferences and their response to changing risks. Using data for Bangladesh from two waves of the Rice Monitoring Survey, climate-related data (precipitation and temperature), farmer reports of crop losses, and measures of proneness to abiotic risks, this article estimates how weather deviations from longer-term trends, crop …

Soil Additives And Alternative Crops For Drought Defense In The Intermountain West, Tina M. Sullivan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The Western U.S. looks for water optimization and conservation as agriculture is the largest water diverter, and resources are pressured by urban growth, winter snowpack instability, and drought persistence. Agricultural producers have several potential options to optimize water use with different investments associated with them. Options with varying levels of risks and known management practices include alternative crops, soil wetting agents, and crop biologicals.

An alternative crop that grew incredibly fast in popularity was industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) despite limited agronomic knowledge for best management practices. Field trials occurred (2020-2022) near Logan, UT to test a total of …

A Seasonal Decomposition Comparison Between Forest And Turf Habitats: Implications For Climate Change, Amanda Shirmer

DePaul Discoveries

Decomposition is an essential ecosystem service in which microorganisms breakdown organic matter. This process improves soil health and acts as a vital step in global carbon cycles. In this study, we examined decomposition rates and associated soil properties in turf and forest habitats across summer and fall seasons in order to determine how land management practices and climate change may be altering local decomposition regimes. Our study determined that there was a statistically significant difference between decomposition rates in turf and forest ecosystems (P=0.003) and a significant difference in decomposition rate across season (P

Biostratigraphic Revision Of Esthonyx (Tillidontia, Mammalia) In The Contect Of Climate Change In The Lower Eocene Of The Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, John Colter Johnson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Esthonyx is an early Eocene tillodont found in North America, Europe, and India. The genus was named by Edward Drinker (E. D.) Cope in 1874 based on specimens from the San Jose Formation in New Mexico. Since then, several species of Esthonyx have been described from North America alone. The best record of Esthonyx comes from the central Bighorn Basin (BHB) in Wyoming, where it appears in 220 localities in a 640 m-thick stratigraphic succession. Since the last summary of Esthonyx in the BHB, several hundred new specimens have been collected and curated at the Denver Museum of Nature and …