Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Fagus Sylvatica (European Beech) Id# 1134, Alejandro Rojas

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

Location: Across the road from the Mercy Chapel

Height: 25.92 m

Diameter at Breast Height: 112.6 cm

Radius of Crown: 8.3 m

Condition: Fair

Age Class: Mature

Acer Palatum (Japanese Maple) Id#52, Bryan C. Sheppard Jr

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

Location: Miley Residence Hall

Height: 9.01600m

Diameter at Breast Height: 135.7cm

Condition: Good

Age Class: Mature

The Potential For Phosphorus Release From Floodplain Soils: Temporal Variability And Management Strategies, Megan Amanda Reavis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soils may contain large amounts of legacy phosphorus (P) due to past application of excess fertilizers, releasing P during runoff and flood events. As the level of P in soils increases, the release of P from the soils increases, but the temporal fluctuations of this release are not well known. Experiments were conducted to examine 1) the variability of soluble reactive P (SRP) release from the soil throughout a year and 2) the effect of repeated flooding and drying cycles on release rates. Soil cores were collected 7 times throughout a year from 2 sites within the Watershed Research and …

No Evidence For Trace Metal Limitation On Anaerobic Carbon Mineralization In Three Peatland Soils, Jason K. Keller, Jillian Wade

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Peatlands store roughly one-third of the terrestrial soil carbon and release the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH₄) to the atmosphere, making these wetlands among the most important ecosystems in the global carbon cycle. Despite their importance, the controls of anaerobic decomposition of organic matter to carbon dioxide (CO₂) and CH₄ within peatlands are not well understood. It is known, however, that the enzymes responsible for CH₄ production require cobalt, iron and nickel, and there is a growing appreciation for the potential role of trace metal limitation in anaerobic decomposition. To explore the possibility of …

A Study Of The Urban Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes) Population In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Using Social Media, Ahsennur Soysal

LSU Master's Theses

Foxes are timid yet resourceful animals that are integrated into many urban environments. Because they are elusive, collecting information about the number of urban foxes, their diet and spatial distribution, their interactions with the ecological community in their urban habitat, as well as residents’ response to them, is difficult. Involving stakeholders to participate in the data collection on wildlife via citizen science on social media is one way to overcome this complication, while simultaneously engaging residents in the ecology happening around them. Therefore, we used social media as the platform to engage the public to document and map the foxes …

Assessing The Periodic Groundwater Flow Conditions Of A Perched Aquifer System In The Daniel Boone National Forest, Ethan Sweet

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Assessing the Periodic Groundwater Flow Conditions of a Perched Aquifer System in the Daniel Boone National Forest

Ethan Sweet and Jonathan Malzone

Eastern Kentucky University, Department of Geosciences

Natural ephemeral wetlands situated among the ridge-tops in the Daniel Boone National Forest serve as reservoirs that recharge a shallow groundwater system. Unique interactions between surface and groundwater in these isolated systems provide substantial support for the native ecosystem, serving as a breeding ground for amphibians and as source water for vegetation—especially in periods of drought. Currently it is not understood how groundwater could provide regional biodiversity, a drought buffer, or a …

Flash Droughts: A Review And Assessment Of The Challenges Imposed By Rapid-Onset Droughts In The United States, Jason A. Otkin, Mark Svoboda, Eric D. Hunt, Trent W. Ford, Martha C. Anderson, Christopher Hain, Jeffrey B. Basara

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ginkgo Biloba (Ginkgo/Maidenhair) Id# 44, Christopher J. Mazulis

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

Location: Walgreen Hall lawn

Height: 19 m

Diameter at Breast Height: 66 cm

Radius of Crown: 4.5 m

Condition: Middle condition

Mediation Of Eutrophication Of Surface And Subsurface Water From Non-Point Sources: Nutrient Monitoring At Meadowbrook Farm (Madison County, Kentucky), Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Non-point sources from various human activities such as farming have replaced industrial point sources as contributors of many contaminants in surface and subsurface waters of the United States. Eastern Kentucky University’s Meadowbrook Farm (720 acres, ~2.9 km²; Madison County, Kentucky) is a teaching facility dedicated to improving farming techniques and discovering best practices for farm operations that include minimizing environmental impacts. Agricultural activities on the Farm contribute nutrients to the Muddy Creek (Kentucky River) watershed that promote eutrophication and degrade water quality. Farm management already uses protocols to mediate drainage of dissolved nitrogen off the Farm, but also …

Nutrient Contamination From Non-Point Sources: Dissolved Nitrate And Ammonium In Surface And Subsurface Waters At Eku Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, Reid E. Buskirk, Hunter R. Evans, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Agricultural activities often contaminate watersheds with excess nutrients leading to poor water quality and eutrophication. We assayed dissolved nutrient levels in surface and subsurface waters of Eastern Kentucky University’s Meadowbrook Farm in order to assess levels of dissolved nutrients leaving its farmland and draining into the Muddy Creek watershed. The Farm raises both crops and livestock so that nutrient sources include fertilizer and manure. We sampled springs, runoff, and subsurface pipe drainage as well as Muddy Creek on six days from May to August 2016 under a variety of weather conditions. Using established, standard colorimetric methods, we measured nitrate (NO …

Nutrient Contamination From Non-Point Sources: Dissolved Phosphate In Surface And Subsurface Waters At Eku Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, Hunter R. Evans, Reid E. Buskirk, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Farms are non-point sources for nutrient contaminants that drain into watersheds and contribute to eutrophication and other environmental problems. Eastern Kentucky University’s Meadowbrook Farm raises both crops and livestock, causing dissolved phosphorus in the form of orthophosphate (PO₄^3-) from fertilizer and animal manure to enter surface and subsurface waters, eventually flowing into Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Kentucky River.

We sampled surface water, springs, and water from French drains that emanate from the farm, and also sampled Muddy Creek waters from May through August 2016. Typically, 1 to 2 days after sampling, we colorimetrically measured dissolved …

Patterns Of Nutrient Export For A Typical Non-Point Source, Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, James Scott Winter, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Excess nutrients are found in watersheds originating from active farmland often causing poor water quality and eutrophication in natural waters. Use of fertilizer and animal husbandry can contaminate both surface water and groundwater. Eastern Kentucky University’s Meadowbrook Farm raises crops and livestock and is typical of farms that contribute excess nutrient contaminants to watersheds as non-point sources. An instrumented weir is positioned within a key sub-watershed of the Farm that empties into Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Kentucky River. This drainage is the largest outlet from the Farm that is representative of the Farm’s collective activities.

We measured flow …

Informing Responders Using Gis And Gps, Deidre Mccarthy

CHAR

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005 and created the single largest disaster for cultural resources that the United States has witnessed since the inception of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966. Notably, the NHPA created the National Register of Historic Places, our nation’s catalog of important cultural resources. The NHPA also stipulates that any federal undertaking which may adversely affect National Register eligible resources be mitigated. For the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Katrina created the largest compliance project ever under Section 106 of the NHPA.

Although causing a great deal of damage, Katrina also …

Applications Of Nasa Earth Observations For Monitoring Surface Water Availability For Pastoralists In Remote Regions Of Tahoua, Niger, Kelsey E. Herndon, Rebekke Muench, Emil Cherrington, Robert Griffin

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Assessing Time-Weighted Dynamic Time Warping As A Method For Land Cover Classification Utilizing Nasa Satellite Imagery, Ronan Lucey

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Radiation Detection In Various High Altitude Environments, C Wolfe, J Miller, I Slamen, T Jamison, Christopher Helmerich, Everett Cavanaugh, Sarah Dangelo, Sean Widmier, Elena Pradhan

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Unmanned Aerial Systems For Monitoring Trace Tropospheric Gases, Travis J. Schuyler, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has changed the composition of the atmosphere during the Anthropocene. Accurately documenting the sources and magnitude of GHGs emission is an important undertaking for discriminating the contributions of different processes to radiative forcing. Currently there is no mobile platform that is able to quantify trace gases at altitudes(UASs) can be deployed on-site in minutes and can support the payloads necessary to quantify trace gases. Therefore, current efforts combine the use of UASs available on the civilian market with inexpensively designed analytical systems for monitoring atmospheric trace gases. In this context, this perspective introduces the …

How Useful Is Gsv As An Environmental Observation Tool? An Analysis Of The Evidence So Far., Katherine Nesse, Leah Airt

SPU Works

Researchers in many disciplines have turned to Google Street View to replace pedestrian- or carbased in-person observation of streetscapes. It is most prevalent within the research literature on the relationship between neighborhood environments and public health but has been used as diverse as disaster recovery, ecology and wildlife habitat, and urban design. Evaluations of the tool have found that the results of GSV-based observation are similar to the results from in-person observation although the similarity depends on the type of characteristic being observed. Larger, permanent and discrete features showed more consistency between the two methods and smaller, transient and judgmental …

The Utility Of Bioenergetics Modelling In Quantifying Predation Rates Of Marine Apex Predators: Ecological And Fisheries Implications, A. Barnett, M. Braccini, C. L. Dudgeon, N. L. Payne, K. G. Abrantes, M. Sheaves, E. P. Snelling

Fisheries Research Articles

Predators play a crucial role in the structure and function of ecosystems. However, the magnitude of this role is often unclear, particularly for large marine predators, as predation rates are difficult to measure directly. If relevant biotic and abiotic parameters can be obtained, then bioenergetics modelling offers an alternative approach to estimating predation rates, and can provide new insights into ecological processes. We integrate demographic and ecological data for a marine apex predator, the broadnose sevengill shark Notorynchus cepedianus, with energetics data from the literature, to construct a bioenergetics model to quantify predation rates on key fisheries species in …

What Controls Variation In Carbon Use Efficiency Among Amazonian Tropical Forests?, Christopher E. Doughty, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Nicolas Raab, Cecile A. J. Girardin, Filio Farfan-Amezquita, Walter Huaraca-Huasco, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Antonio C. L. Da Costa, Wanderley Rocha, David Galbraith, Patrick Meir, Dan B. Metcalfe, Yadvinder Malhi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Why do some forests produce biomass more efficiently than others? Variations in Carbon Use Efficiency (CUE: total Net Primary Production (NPP)/ Gross Primary Production (GPP)) may be due to changes in wood residence time (Biomass/NPP_wood), temperature, or soil nutrient status. We tested these hypotheses in 14, one ha plots across Amazonian and Andean forests where we measured most key components of net primary production (NPP: wood, fine roots, and leaves) and autotrophic respiration (R_a; wood, rhizosphere, and leaf respiration). We found that lower fertility sites were less efficient at producing biomass and had higher rhizosphere respiration, …