Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Mangrove Enhancement As A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy In The Republic Of The Marshall Islands (Rmi): Potential Ecosystem Service Shifts Following Colonization, Andrew S. Harwood

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The ability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Pacific Island communities to adapt to the increasing sea-levels, storm surge, saltwater intrusion, and other threats posed by global climate change is critical to the survival of many of these local communities as well as their cultures (LivingIslands.org). One of the world’s most striking examples of a nation at great risk is the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in the central Pacific Ocean. Due to a combination of factors, including the country’s extremely low elevation above sea-level (an average of 2 meters) and lack of adequate structures to provide safety …

Assessment Of Tmdl Implementation And Water Quality Status And Trends In Amazon Creek And Coyote Creek Watersheds, Stosh Zydek

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

In this project, I analyzed the status and trends of water quality data describing fecal bacteria (E. coli) and DO in the Amazon and Coyote Creek watersheds of the Southern Willamette Valley, Oregon. I also examined TMDL implementation plans produced by DMAs, determined if and how implementation activities corresponded to changes in water quality, compared management and planning of DMAs in the watersheds, discussed aspects of the current TMDL, and compared state regulations and standards in other states. I concluded by making management recommendations to better facilitate future status and trend analysis.

Amazon Creek, Amazon Diversion Channel, A-3 …

Management Plan For Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys Picta Belli) At Fairview Creek Headwaters, Ashley Smithers

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta belli) are found occupying Fairview Creek Headwaters (FCH) in Gresham, Oregon. This urban stream contains a large wetland with an adjacent butte, all managed by the City of Gresham. This management plan addresses the preferred habitat and population of turtles at the site. A habitat delineation of the site revealed specific locations where habitat improvements could take place as well as areas of already beneficial habitat. Two site plans were prepared showing areas of the site that could be enhanced with nesting habitat as well as additional aquatic habitat and basking habitat. A habitat study …

Greenroof Study: Final Report, An Assessment Of Greenroof Design And Maintenance In Portland, Oregon: 2011 – 2013, Windy Carney Beck

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

In 1999 the City of Portland (City) began to require that stormwater management facilities (SMF) be built when private property is newly developed or redeveloped (City Code Chapter 17.38). Proper maintenance and upkeep of SMFs is essential to ensuring they function appropriately. The City's Maintenance Inspection Program (MIP) is tasked with inspecting stormwater management facilities on private properties in order to ensure that they are being properly operated and maintained and to meet provisions of the City's NPDES Municipal Separated Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit.

Greenroofs are one type of SMF that are installed to satisfy this requirement. Understanding the …

Until We Meet Again, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

As long ago as 1896, Svanti Arrenius conducted a scientific analysis of the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) and atmospheric temperatures. Several decades later, GS Callender collected and compiled temperature data from around the world and found there had been an increase in global temperatures. He hypothesized that the rising temperatures were resulting from increasing levels of CO2. These early studies piqued the interest of Gilbert Plass in the mid-20th century who endeavored to determine how CO2 affects temperature. In his effort to determine the possible effects that higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were having on the energy …

Biotic Assessment Of Two Central Kentucky Streams: Examining The Effects Of Wastewater Treatment And Anthropogenic Disturbance, Daniel John Ratterman

Online Theses and Dissertations

Globally, anthropogenic disturbance has altered many aquatic habitats, including lotic waters. Flowing, fresh water sustains life on Earth yet suffers the resulting waste products. Native, locally adapted ecosystems integrate or eliminate the byproducts of life. However an increase of human population, poor agricultural practices, accelerated overland runoff, a non-point source of pollution, and wastewater treatment plants (WTP), a point source of pollution, have all placed a strain on the world’s flowing, fresh, waters. The de-commissioning of two WTPs in the Kentucky River basin, and the commissioning of a new WTP in an adjacent watershed, provided an opportunity to examine the …

A Vegetation-Based Index Of Biotic Integrity For Wetlands Of Kentucky, Noelle Newman Smith

Online Theses and Dissertations

Wetland ecosystems have experienced severe declines across the United States, prompting efforts to assess the status of remaining wetlands and regulate their development. The Clean Water Act and the policy of “No Net Loss” have resulted in a system of permitting and mitigation for impacts to wetlands. Professional judgments of wetland quality are inherent in regulatory decisions related to preservation and mitigation, but many states, and until recently including Kentucky, have no standard, quantifiable means of assessing wetlands to guide the decision process. A rapid assessment method has recently been developed for Kentucky, but there is no intensive assessment method …

Wetland Condition Matters: Amphibian Richness And Abundance Change Across Wetland Condition Gradient, Kari Dupler

Online Theses and Dissertations

In the past century, Kentucky has lost more than 80% of its wetlands, and because state-wide monitoring was historically minimal, this number is likely underestimated. The Kentucky Division of Water, with Eastern Kentucky University and a technical working group, developed a rapid wetland assessment method (i.e. KY-WRAM) to assess wetland quality and aid in establishing mitigation levels and long-term monitoring. Validation of the KY-WRAM’s ability to reflect wetland condition requires comparison to intensive biotic assessments of amphibian, plant, and bird communities. Wetland and amphibian surveys for the 2014 and 2015 seasons were conducted at 42 riverine wetlands in the Kentucky …

Identification And Quantification Of Zooplankton In Ne Ohio Drinking Water Reservoirs, Michael Vigorito

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are present in most freshwater ecosystems and are usually harmless. When these algae swell in numbers, they release harmful toxins that can be detrimental to animal and human health, and can destroy ecosystems. For this reason, many scientists and engineers have studied these harmful algal blooms in an attempt to predict, prevent, or control them to keep people and ecosystems safe. One of the variables in this investigation is the presence and quantity of zooplankton. These animals could play an important role in the prevalence of cyanobacteria, but more information is needed to determine what that …

Compliance Calendar/Logbook For Bulk Gasoline Plants: Less That 19,999 Gallons/Day Throughput, Iowa Waste Reduction Center

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Book Gallery

EPA has requirements for Gasoline Distribution Bulk Terminals, Bulk Gasoline Plants and Pipeline Facilities under 40 CFR Part 63 Subpart BBBBBB (NESHAP 6B) to reduce air pollution. This calendar has been developed to assist Bulk Gasoline Plants in complying with NESHAP 6B. Additional Iowa specific NESHAP 6B rules are discussed later.

Determining The Effects Of Non-Native Brook Stickleback (Cualea Inconstans) On The Lentic Systems At Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Cheney, Wa, Jenae N. Yri

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The introduction of non-native fishes can cause trophic cascades in freshwater habitats; these effects may be amplified in ephemeral/temporary habitats. Non-native brook stickleback fishes (Culaea inconstans) were first documented on the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (WA) in 1999 and are now present in many portions of the refuge. The consequences of their presence on the refuge's perennial/permanent and temporary habitats are poorly understood. Therefore, the purpose of my project was to determine if brook stickleback are affecting habitat characteristics that are important for waterfowl nesting success. From April-August 2015, I compared the macro invertebrate and macrophyte community characteristics, fingernail clam …

Aquatic Food Webs And Heavy Metal Contamination In The Upper Blackfoot River, Montana, Jack E. Landers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Acid mine drainage (AMD), characterized by low pH and abundant heavy metals, is a widespread problem affecting water quality and fish habitat in Montana. Montana’s upper Blackfoot River exhibits impaired water quality from historic mining that has significantly degraded aquatic habitat and reduced fish and invertebrate abundance in impacted streams. The goal of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of mine-related heavy metals contamination on aquatic ecosystems by examining changes in aquatic community composition, bioaccumulation, and toxicity risk of heavy metals along a contamination gradient in the upper Blackfoot River. Three primary research questions were addressed …

A Small-Scale Water Budget Approach And Water Quality Assessment: A Case Study For Calderas Lake, Guatemala, Edrick Ramos

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Increases in water demand and urban development in Calderas community over the past decade have led to questions about the hydrology, water quality, quantity and sustainable management of Calderas Lake micro-basin. However, studies on baseline hydrology are limited for rural communities located inside volcanic origin watersheds of Guatemala. The scope of this study was to characterize the hydrology and establish a method to: 1) quantify a water budget, and 2) qualify the water quality of a lacustrine system that supply water for about 17,000 inhabitants on the state limits or rural Guatemala City. Mean annual rainfall and temperature at the …

Success Stories And Emerging Themes In Conservation Physiology, Christine L. Madliger, Steven J. Cooke, Erica J. Crespi, Jennifer L. Funk, Kevin R. Hultine, Kathleen E. Hunt, Jason R. Rohr, Brent J. Sinclair, Cory D. Suski, Craig K. R. Willis, Oliver P. Love

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The potential benefits of physiology for conservation are well established and include greater specificity of management techniques, determination of cause–effect relationships, increased sensitivity of health and disturbance monitoring and greater capacity for predicting future change. While descriptions of the specific avenues in which conservation and physiology can be integrated are readily available and important to the continuing expansion of the discipline of ‘conservation physiology’, to date there has been no assessment of how the field has specifically contributed to conservation success. However, the goal of conservation physiology is to foster conservation solutions and it is therefore important to assess whether …

Adapting Near-Ultraviolet Colorimetry For Long-Term In Situ Monitoring Of Hexavalent Chromium In Groundwater Aquifers, Janine Carter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper briefly describes sources of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] and the risk it poses to human health and the environment; current methods used to regulate, monitor, and measure Cr(VI); the basic design of a submersible, direct-reading sensor in development for long-term monitoring of Cr(VI) concentration in natural waters; and the means developed to correct sensor readings for two common analytical interferences, turbidity and pH, that could lead to an incorrect measurement of Cr(VI). The principal purposes of this study are to analyze the current methods used to compensate for sample turbidity, to develop methods to compensate for sample pH, and …

It’S Rooted In The Land: How Managing Natural Resources Leads Native American Tribes To Sovereignty, Nicky Ouellet

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tribal management of land and natural resources within the boundaries of Native American reservations is often superseded by state and federal policy. But control of land and resources is, ultimately, what makes a nation a nation. The three stories in this portfolio depict tribes establishing control of natural resources to various degrees of success. Chapter one is a narrative outlining the stories, my reportage and plans for publication. Chapter two: Members of the Northern Cheyenne seek to establish a medical marijuana program after the federal government relaxed enforcement of cannabis bans. Chapter three: An activist on the Fort Berthold reservation …

Interfacing Of Neuromorphic Vision, Auditory And Olfactory Sensors With Digital Neuromorphic Circuits, Anup Vanarse

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The conventional Von Neumann architecture imposes strict constraints on the development of intelligent adaptive systems. The requirements of substantial computing power to process and analyse complex data make such an approach impractical to be used in implementing smart systems.

Neuromorphic engineering has produced promising results in applications such as electronic sensing, networking architectures and complex data processing. This interdisciplinary field takes inspiration from neurobiological architecture and emulates these characteristics using analogue Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI). The unconventional approach of exploiting the non-linear current characteristics of transistors has aided in the development of low-power adaptive systems that can be implemented …

Quantifying The Adaptive Cycle, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson, Olle Hjerne, Monika Winder

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The adaptive cycle was proposed as a conceptual model to portray patterns of change in complex systems. Despite the model having potential for elucidating change across systems, it has been used mainly as a metaphor, describing system dynamics qualitatively. We use a quantitative approach for testing premises (reorganisation, conservatism, adaptation) in the adaptive cycle, using Baltic Sea phytoplankton communities as an example of such complex system dynamics. Phytoplankton organizes in recurring spring and summer blooms, a well-established paradigm in planktology and succession theory, with characteristic temporal trajectories during blooms that may be consistent with adaptive cycle phases. We used long-term …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 22, 2015, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for December 22, 2015 (12/22/15) plus: United States crop areas experiencing drought (map), an approximate percentage of crop located in drought by state (bar graph), and the percentage of crop area located in drought during the past 52 weeks (line graph) for corn, soybeans, hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

The Role Of The State, Multinational Oil Companies, International Law & The International Community: Intersection Of Human Rights & Environmental Degradation Climate Change In The 21st Century Caused By Traditional Extractive Practices, The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous People And Universal Jurisdiction To Resolve The Accountability Issue, Marcela Cabrera Luna

Master's Theses

Local, national and international conventions that protect indigenous sovereignty and their territories, where many of the resources are extracted from by multinational corporations (MNCs) particularly oil, the number one commodity of the world and cause of climate change, continue to be jeopardized because of the lack of a clear international legal framework that can protect them and potentially hold multinationals accountable for their actions. These practices are causing not only environmental issues to the indigenous and surrounding communities, but climate change is in fact, the real human rights issue of the 21^st century and it affects everyone. By using …