Using Phenology To Unravel Differential Soil Water Use And Productivity In A Semiarid Savanna,
2024
Old Dominion University
Using Phenology To Unravel Differential Soil Water Use And Productivity In A Semiarid Savanna, Blake Steiner, Russell L. Scott, Jia Hu, Natasha Mcbean, Andrew Richardson, David J. P. Moore
University Administration Publications
Savannas are water-limited ecosystems characterized by two dominant plant types: trees and an understory primarily made up grass. Different phenology and root structures of these plant types complicate how savanna primary productivity responds to changes in water availability. We tested the hypothesis that productivity in savannas is controlled by the temporal and vertical distribution of soil water content (SWC) and differences in growing season length of understory and tree plant functional types. To quantify the relationship between tree, understory, and savanna-wide phenology and productivity, we used PhenoCam and satellite observations surrounding an eddy covariance tower at a semiarid savanna site …
Water Quality Contaminants Long-Term Spatial Analysis Along The Upper Clark Fork River Superfund Site Between Warm Springs And Garrison, Montana,
2024
University of Montana
Water Quality Contaminants Long-Term Spatial Analysis Along The Upper Clark Fork River Superfund Site Between Warm Springs And Garrison, Montana, Raegan Michele Osentowski
Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts
Long-term data of heavy metal contaminants, cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, and zinc were compiled from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, DEQ, and the United States Geological Survey, USGS, to investigate the effects of remediation on water quality along the upper Clark Fork River superfund site. Long-term data sets were analyzed at CFR-03A, CFR-27H, CFR-34, and SS-25 along the upper Clark Fork River and Silver Bow Creek. CFR-03A and CFR-27H had full remediation in the immediate vicinity, SS-25 had on-going remediation in the immediate vicinity, and CFR-34 had no remediation in the immediate vicinity. Analysis of heavy metal contaminants is …
Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment And Dye Trace Of War Fork River In Daniel Boone National Forest,
2024
Western Kentucky University
Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment And Dye Trace Of War Fork River In Daniel Boone National Forest, Will Hemenover
Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Daniel Boone National Forest plays a key role in preserving much of Kentucky’s karst regions, natural resources including timber, mineral deposits, and biodiversity, including over 300 species of concern. The health of these environments is determined by surface and groundwater streams in the forest, and karst systems are an integral environment where these systems are active. War Fork, a tributary to the Kentucky River in Jackson County, Kentucky, is a remote and understudied hydrologic system in the Daniel Boone National Forest that contains recreational and logging land uses. Due to karst areas being susceptible to contamination because of rapid water …
Assessing Microplastic Contamination Within Karst Groundwater Basins In Kentucky,
2024
University of Kentucky
Assessing Microplastic Contamination Within Karst Groundwater Basins In Kentucky, Maaz Fareedi
Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences
The input and abrasion of plastic waste in the environment has long been known to form microplastics (MPs). These ubiquitous contaminants are easily mobilized into hydrologic systems. MPs are now being found in karst aquifers around the world, including several across Kentucky, USA. Due to their size (< 5 mm in diameter), chemical properties, abundance, and wide distribution, MPs pose numerous ecological hazards, including uptake by organisms and as substrates for contaminant sorption. Karst groundwater is especially vulnerable to surface contaminants; however, knowledge of the extent of karst MP contamination is limited, with most studies focused on individual sites or small areas. In this study, we created a MP contamination dataset for 30 karst springs and 10 locations where cave sediments were characterized across Kentucky. MP concentrations in groundwater samples ranged from 0 to 41.1 items/L and yielded an average of 4.9 ± 8.7 items/L. Sediment MP concentrations ranged from 0 to 306 items/kg. We performed statistical analyses and linear regressions to examine whether groundwater MP concentrations could be explained by factors including land use, population density, basin area, numbers of sinkholes, and sinking streams. Our models revealed that population density, agrarian land use, sinking stream density, and basin area were related to MP concentrations. All factors except basin area trended positively with MP concentration, while basin area trended negatively. These relations are generally corroborated by existing literature, however they indicate that further studies with considerably larger sample sizes are needed to determine mechanistic relationships.
Sea Level Rise Driven Groundwater Inundation: Effects Of Island Hydrogeology On Freshwater Lens Dynamics,
2024
Michigan Technological University
Sea Level Rise Driven Groundwater Inundation: Effects Of Island Hydrogeology On Freshwater Lens Dynamics, Lauren K. Mancewicz
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Groundwater inundation due to sea level rise poses a threat to fresh groundwater availability in coastal areas, and small islands are particularly vulnerable. On an island, when sea level rises, the freshwater lens also rises due to the difference in density between the salt and fresh groundwater. As the water table rises above the land surface it forms a lake and the water is exposed to additional evaporative losses, reducing the amount of fresh water available. This work aims to improve our understanding of groundwater inundation due to sea level rise and the impact of different hydrogeologic settings and phenomena …
Leveraging Uncertainty To Understand The Causes And Consequences Of Observed Climate Change,
2024
Dartmouth College
Leveraging Uncertainty To Understand The Causes And Consequences Of Observed Climate Change, Alexander Reid Gottlieb
Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations
Detecting and attributing climate change to date is essential to understanding the harm global warming has caused and the threat it poses in the future. Yet detecting and attributing historical climate change and its attendant impacts is challenging owing to observational uncertainties in the historical record, the difficulty of isolating the forced response from unforced variability, and the methodological ambiguity on how to best map climate variability and change onto climate impacts. In this thesis, I use the study system of Northern Hemisphere snow to demonstrate how synthesizing a wide array of observational and climate model data with methods from …
River Response To Removal Of A Small Dam And Replacement With A Roughened Channel,
2024
Central Washington University
River Response To Removal Of A Small Dam And Replacement With A Roughened Channel, Chandler Sabin
All Master's Theses
Relatively few studies have analyzed how the removal of small dams and re-engineering of the channel affect river channel processes. The low-head Nelson Dam was built in 1920 on the Naches River in central Washington, causing two miles of aggraded sediments. This resulted in upstream flooding and excessive downstream incision that led to ineffective irrigation diversions, and hindered fish spawning. Nelson Dam was removed in 2021 and replaced with a graded, roughened, nature-like channel and a newly engineered diversion that was completed in 2023. The research presented here quantifies the effects of the Nelson Dam removal and channel redesign on …
A Comparison Of Sediment Accumulation Effectiveness Behind Beaver Dam Analogues, One Rock Dams, And Post-Assisted Log Structures On East Foster Creek, Douglas County, Wa,
2024
Central Washington University
A Comparison Of Sediment Accumulation Effectiveness Behind Beaver Dam Analogues, One Rock Dams, And Post-Assisted Log Structures On East Foster Creek, Douglas County, Wa, Griffin Hansen
All Master's Theses
Waterways are valuable resources for communities and habitats, but are subject to degradation in the form of incision. This is a type of streambed erosion where streams narrow and deepen. Sediment control dams were placed on East Foster Creek in Douglas County, WA to control incision following the 2020 Pearl Hill fire. This study examined sediment capture in the ponds behind these dams, which included beaver dam analogues (BDAs), one rock dams (ORDs), and post-assisted log structures (PALS). Sediment capture may be influenced by several factors, including dam type, height, width, distance between dams, vegetation, land use, topography, soil type, …
The Effect Of Seasonal Ice Cover Duration On Shoreline Erosion In Lake Michigan,
2024
Michigan Technological University
The Effect Of Seasonal Ice Cover Duration On Shoreline Erosion In Lake Michigan, Ryan S. Navarre
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Shoreline erosion in Lake Michigan has been a significant concern for coastal management. Promoting coastal stability and resilience is paramount to protecting these environments, especially amid climate change. While several factors are key in understanding shoreline erosion, seasonal ice cover duration is a prominent yet understudied factor in the Great Lakes region. Here, the relationship between ice cover duration and shoreline erosion rates is assessed across 7 regions of Lake Michigan. An ice cover duration dataset was created for Lake Michigan for 2011 – 2020 and its shorelines were digitized for years with available high-resolution aerial imagery. The statistical relationship …
Understanding The Controls Of Seasonal Stream Temperature And Hydrological Monitoring Of Forested Watersheds In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan,
2024
Michigan Technological University
Understanding The Controls Of Seasonal Stream Temperature And Hydrological Monitoring Of Forested Watersheds In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Eli A. Paulen
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Accurately predicting stream temperature is vital to protect the environment and its most sensitive aquatic species. Tools for forecasting stream temperature rely on in situ data that affect thermal response of natural water systems. Stream and meteorological data were analyzed from the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the 2016-2023 water years to determine which factors affected stream temperatures. Through the application of multivariable linear regression models, our analysis identified air temperature as the primary determinant of stream temperature. However, the air-stream temperature relationship varied significantly over temporal scales, improving with increasing in time averaging. The air-stream temperature relationship was …
Investigating Drought Response And Paleoclimate Potential Of A New Network Of White Oak Chronologies In Western Kentucky, Usa,
2024
University of Louisville
Investigating Drought Response And Paleoclimate Potential Of A New Network Of White Oak Chronologies In Western Kentucky, Usa, Audrey J. Heichelbech, Maegen L. Rochner, Megan Gibson
Undergraduate Research Events
In Kentucky, historic and paleo-climate data are limited, and current understanding of long-term climate change in the state relies on instrumental data spanning only 1895-present. Proxy data are necessary to extend the temporal and spatial span of climate information. One potential proxy source for Kentucky is tree ring data, but currently, only four such datasets are publicly available on the International Tree Ring Data Bank (ITRDB). Archaeological and archival timber sources may help to fill in this gap. In the 1940s, Florence Hawley-Ellis, the first woman dendrochronologist, collected samples of white oak (Quercus alba L.) from four counties in western …
Hydrologic Pathways Of A Northern Hardwood Catchment In The Great Lakes Basin Using End Member Mixing Analysis,
2024
Michigan Technological University
Hydrologic Pathways Of A Northern Hardwood Catchment In The Great Lakes Basin Using End Member Mixing Analysis, Cory C. Burkwald
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
This study investigated the seasonality of hydrologic pathways, the role of wetlands in streamflow generation, and how hydrologic pathways affect the export of nutrients by streamflow in the Sturgeon River using endmember mixing analysis. The results indicated that streamflow consists of three main components: shallow subsurface water from wetland soils, shallow groundwater, and surface runoff from precipitation. Snowmelt plays a dominating role in regulating stream water chemistry (~80% volume at peak) during the snowmelt season and likely also after that. Wetland soils store snowmelt, together with rainwater though the fraction is unknown, and then gradually release through summer in the …
Multiscale Characterization Of Splays Produced By A Historic, Rain-On-Snow Flood On A Large Braided Stream (Platte River, Central Usa),
2024
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Multiscale Characterization Of Splays Produced By A Historic, Rain-On-Snow Flood On A Large Braided Stream (Platte River, Central Usa), J. T. Korus, R. M. Joeckel, A. R. Mittelstet, N. Shrestha
Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications
No abstract provided.
Locating And Assessing Oregon Trail Ruts With Aerial Stereophotographs, Satellite Imagery And Lidar,
2024
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Locating And Assessing Oregon Trail Ruts With Aerial Stereophotographs, Satellite Imagery And Lidar, P.R. Hanson, Robert Matthew Joeckel, L. M. Howard
Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications
No abstract provided.
Landscape And Paleoenvironmental Change In Stream Valleys Of The Central Great Plains, North America During Marine Isotope Stage 3 (Ca. 59-27 Ka).,
2024
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Landscape And Paleoenvironmental Change In Stream Valleys Of The Central Great Plains, North America During Marine Isotope Stage 3 (Ca. 59-27 Ka)., T. Layzell, K. Andrzejewski, R. D. Mandel, P.R. Hanson
Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications
No abstract provided.
Integrated Geochronological And Chemostratigraphic Study Of Middle Miocene Strata (Ogallala Group) At The Eastern Margin Of The North American Great Plains,
2024
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Integrated Geochronological And Chemostratigraphic Study Of Middle Miocene Strata (Ogallala Group) At The Eastern Margin Of The North American Great Plains, J. J. Smith, Robert Matthew Joeckel, H. L. Field, G. A. Ludvigson, A. Moller, A. Layzell, S. T. Tucker
Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications
No abstract provided.
Wetlands In The Nebraska Sandhills,
2024
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Wetlands In The Nebraska Sandhills, Nawaraj Shrestha
Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications
Infographic titled “Status of Wetlands in the Nebraska Sandhills” showing multiple maps and charts. The top left features a color-coded wetland persistence map where blue indicates more consistent wetlands and red indicates intermittent wetlands. Additional inset maps show a regional zoom and a U.S. location map highlighting Nebraska. A large scatter plot displays wetland occurrence percentages over time using MODIS (green points) and Sentinel (blue points) satellite data from 2000 to 2024. Text explains how wetlands vary seasonally and annually and how satellite imagery tracks these changes. A smaller bottom chart shows long-term wetland trends, noting increasing occurrence since 1984. …
Stage And Discharge Prediction From Documentary Time-Lapse Imagery,
2024
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Stage And Discharge Prediction From Documentary Time-Lapse Imagery, Kenneth W. Chapman, Troy E. Gilmore, Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Christian D. Chapman, Aaron R. Mittelstet, John E. Stranzl Jr.
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Imagery from fixed, ground-based cameras is rich in qualitative and quantitative information that can improve stream discharge monitoring. For instance, time-lapse imagery may be valuable for filling data gaps when sensors fail and/or during lapses in funding for monitoring programs. In this study, we used a large image archive (> 40,000 images from 2012 to 2019) from a fixed, ground-based camera that is part of a documentary watershed imaging project (https://plattebasintimelapse.com/). Scalar image features were extracted from daylight images taken at one-hour intervals. The image features were fused with United States Geological Survey stage and discharge data as …
Temporal Microplastic Concentration Fluctuations Within An Agricultural Creek And Groundwater In Relation To Farming Practices,
2024
Northern Illinois University
Temporal Microplastic Concentration Fluctuations Within An Agricultural Creek And Groundwater In Relation To Farming Practices, Jennifer Abel
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
Microplastics (MPs) in agriculture have been well-documented. Agrochemicals, organic fertilizers, and farming equipment all contribute plastic to agricultural soils, groundwater, and surface water and are utilized in different capacities throughout the year. It is unknown how the specific utilization of these products affects the concentration of MPs being input into the environment. Previous research has been primarily related to detection and transport of MPs in soils, groundwater, and surface water. I am unaware of any studies that have taken into consideration farming practices and seasons, and how they may affect any fluctuations in MP concentrations. Water samples (20 L) were …
From Creek To Ditch And Back Again: The History And Future Of Pattee Creek, Missoula, Montana,
2024
University of Montana
From Creek To Ditch And Back Again: The History And Future Of Pattee Creek, Missoula, Montana, Carver Edward Butterfield
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Pattee Creek was once a free-flowing stream that meandered across the Missoula Valley, but has been channelized, piped, and degraded by logging, mining, agriculture, and urbanization. This thesis used a mixed-method approach to examine the impact of human activities on the Pattee Creek watershed. Beginning with a historical overview, the story of how the creek has been utilized and why it was buried was told. An analysis of historical photos from 1937 to 2019 revealed drastic changes in the land cover of the watershed and the channel of lower Pattee Creek. Developed land increased dramatically, while open land decreased and …
