Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Decline In Methylmercury In Museum-Preserved Bivalves From San Francisco Bay, California, Allison C. Luengen, Heather M. Foslund, Ben K. Greenfield

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

There are ongoing efforts to manage mercury and nutrient pollution in San Francisco Bay (California, USA), but historical data on biological responses are limited. We used bivalves preserved in formalin or ethanol from museum collections to investigate long-term trends in methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations and carbon and ni- trogen isotopic signatures. In the southern reach of the estuary, South Bay, MeHg in the Asian date mussel (Musculista senhousia) significantly declined over the study duration (1970 to 2012). Mean MeHg concentrations were highest (218 ng/g dry weight, dw) in 1975 and declined 3.8-fold (to 57 ng/g dw) by 2012. This …

Modern Fair-Weather And Storm Sediment Transport Around Ship Island, Mississippi: Implications For Coastal Habitats And Restoration Efforts, Eve Rettew Eisemann

Master's Theses

The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain is experiencing accelerated sea level rise, decreased sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. These three factors drive unprecedented rates of morphology change and ecosystem reduction. All islands in the chain have experienced land loss on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s. In 1969, Hurricane Camille impacted as a Category 5, breaching Ship Island, and significantly reduced viable seagrass habitat. Hurricane Katrina impacted as a Category 3 in 2005, further widening Camille Cut. To better understand the sustainability of these important islands and the ecosystems they support, sediment …

Report On The Condition Trend Of The Western Australian Pastoral Resource Base 2016, Andrew Watson, Philip Thomas

Natural resources published reports

Consistent with the Pastoral Lands Board’s (PLB) direction, data and analyses are reported at the Land Conservation District (LCD) scale. Some caution is urged when interpreting the report as this summary data may mask the variation in condition evident on leases within an LCD.

In the Kimberley, the analyses of the WARMS point data suggest that the trend in rangeland condition indicated by the frequency of desirable perennial grasses is stable. This is consistent with previous recent reports. However, the analyses of MODIS satellite plant cover data and greenness response indicated by NDVI, suggest areas of the Derby – West …

Diversity And Impacts Of Mining On The Non-Volant Small Mammal Communities Of Two Vegetation Types In The Brazilian Amazon, Natália Carneiro Ardente, Átilla Colombo Ferreguetti, Donald Gettinger, Pricila Leal, Ana Cristina Mendes-Oliveira, Fernanda Martins-Hatano, Helena Godoy Bergallo

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

The CarajaÂs National Forest contains some of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. The majority of the minerals are found below a plant community known as Savana Metalo fila, or ªCangaº, which represents only 3% of the landscape within the CarajaÂs National Forest (CNF). The aim of our study was to understand the diversity of community of non-volant small mammals in the two predominant vegetation types: Ombrophilous Forest and Canga, and to examine how mining impacts these communities. Sampling was conducted from January 2010 to August 2011 in 11 sampling sites divided by the total area of Canga …

Predicting Post-Fire Change In West Virginia, Usa From Remotely-Sensed Data, Michael Strager P. Strager, Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, Aaron E. Maxwell

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Prescribed burning is used in West Virginia, USA to return the important disturbance process of fire to oak and oak-pine forests. Species composition and structure are often the main goals for re-establishing fire with less emphasis on fuel reduction or reducing catastrophic wildfire. In planning prescribed fires land managers could benefit from the ability to predict mortality to overstory trees. In this study, wildfires and prescribed fires in West Virginia were examined to determine if specific landscape and terrain characteristics were associated with patches of high/moderate post-fire change. Using the ensemble machine learning approach of Random Forest, we determined that …

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 22, 2016, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for November 22, 2016 (11/22/16) plus: United States crop areas experiencing drought (map), approximate percentage of crop located in drought by state (bar graph), and the percentage of crop area located in drought over the past 52 weeks (line graph) for corn, soybeans, hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

Analysis Of Aerosol Absorption Properties And Transport Over North Africa And The Middle East Using Aeronet Data, Ashraf Farahat, Hesham El-Askary, Peter Adetokunbo, Abu-Tharr Fuad

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper particle categorization and absorption properties were discussed to understand transport mechanisms at different geographic locations and possible radiative impacts on climate. The long-term Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data set (1999–2015) is used to estimate aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA), and the absorption Ångström exponent (abs) at eight locations in North Africa and the Middle East. Average variation in SSA is calculated at four wavelengths (440, 675, 870, and 1020 nm), and the relationship between aerosol absorption and physical properties is used to infer dominant aerosol types at different locations. It was found that seasonality …

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 15, 2016, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for November 15, 2016 (11/15/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Using Transects To Understand Cyanobacterial Blooms, John Rueter

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation focuses on Toxic algae (and cyanobacteria) and on short-term mitigation:

• Monitoring
• Possible approaches

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 8, 2016, Deborah J. Bathke

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for November 8, 2016 (11/8/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 1, 2016, Deborah J. Bathke

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for November 1, 2016 (11/1/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Identifying Groundwater - Dependent Wetlands Of The Broome Sandstone Aquifer In The La Grange Groundwater Area, Nicholas Wright, Richard J. George Dr, Robert Paul, Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies wetlands that are likely to be dependent on the Broome Sandstone aquifer within the La Grange groundwater allocation area. The Broome Sandstone aquifer is the dominant groundwater resource in the area. With potential agricultural growth of this area, it is necessary to understand, monitor and manage the aquifer and its dependent wetlands. This report describes how we created a watertable surface that was used to identify wetlands and to determine which of the previously mapped wetlands are likely to be sourced from the Broome Sandstone aquifer. A watertable surface was created from 148 points taken from bore …

Gouldian Finch Non Breeding Counts 2016: Ord-East Kimberley Expansion Project - Weaber Plain Development Area, Save The Gouldian Fund

Irrigated Agricultural Development in the North

As part of the requirement for State approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, an assessment and regular monitoring of the endangered Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae) is required during the operation of the Ord River Irrigation Area Weaber Plain Development Project in Kimberley, Western Australia. This report details the findings from surveys of non-breeding Gouldian finches.

In accordance with the EPBC Act (6AIV) and GFMP (3-4) conditions, this work specifically provides:

1) Gouldian finch counts of the non-breeding population.

Limiting Nutrient Contaminants From Agricultural Non-Point Sources: Nutrient Monitoring At Eku’S Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Sources of contamination to U.S. waterways have largely shifted from industrial, point sources to agricultural and other non-point sources associated with common human activities. EKU’s Meadowbrook Farm explores best-practices in agriculture and animal husbandry that not only act to increase the efficiency of farm operations, but also to limit environmental effects such as the eutrophification of its neighboring watershed.

We recently started a collaboration with the Farm and the EKU Department of Agriculture, which are developing methods to sequester phosphorus and thus limit nutrient export to the adjacent Muddy Creek watershed. Our task is to quantify the amount of phosphorus …

Costs Of Doing Nothing: Economic Consequences Of Not Adapting To Sea Level Rise In The Hampton Roads Region, Greg Van Houtven, Brooks Depro, Daniel Lapidus, Justine Allpress, Benjamin Lord, Virginia Coastal Policy Center, William & Mary Law School

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

October of 2016 brought Hurricane Matthew to coastal Virginia, providing once again an illustration of the vulnerability of the Hampton Roads region and economy to the threats and impacts of flooding and the role of sea level rise in those impacts. The hurricane prompted Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to state, “Climate change is real. Sea-level rise is happening. We’ve got to get into the game.” Indeed, sea level rise, combined with 14 to 17 inches of rain that fell in the region during the hurricane, damaged over 2,000 homes (many that were outside the flood zone and not covered by …

Impact Of Climate Change On Corn Yields In Alabama, Pauline Welikhe, Joseph Essamuah-Quansah, Kenneth Boote, Senthold Asseng, Gamal El Afandi, Souleymane Fall, Desmond Mortley, Ramble Ankumah

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

The study used calibrated Crop Environment Resource Synthesis (CERES) maize (corn) model to simulate maize (corn) physiological growth processes and yields under 2045 and 2075 projected climate change scenarios for six representative counties in Alabama. The future climatologies for two emission scenarios Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 (medium) and RCP 8.5 (high) were developed based on the IPSL-CM5A-MR high resolution climate model. Average yield decreases of 19.5% and 37.3% were, respectively, projected under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for 2045, and average yield decreases of 32.5% and 77.8% were, respectively, projected under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for 2075. …

Managing Drought Risk In A Changing Climate, Donald A. Wilhite

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

There is an increasing concern worldwide regarding the ineffectiveness of current drought management practices that are based largely on crisis management. These practices are reactive and, therefore, only treat the symptoms (impacts) of drought rather than the underlying causes of the vulnerabilities associated with impacts. More effective drought management requires a shift in the paradigm from drought response to a drought risk management approach.

East Africa Disasters Ii - Assessing Landslide Susceptibility And Exposure In Malawi, Maggi Klug, Jordan Cissell, Max Grossman

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Gis Analysis Of Climate Change Effects On Agriculture In Ethiopia, Sara Amirazodi, Amanda Weigel

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Utilizing Nasa Earth Observations To Enhance Drought Management Decisions Within Agricultural Areas Of The Mekong River Basin, Allison Daniel, Daryl Ann Winstead, Winnie Rakumthong, Kla Raksaphaeng, Robert Griffin

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.