Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Mitigating The Effects Of Climate Change With Wind Energy And Gis, Rachael Isphording, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

The climate is changing, and humans are heavily exacerbating these changes. As the effects of climate change are being felt across the planet, scientists and policy makers are uniting to increase mitigation efforts and are researching renewable, clean energy sources to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere during energy production. Of the different renewable energy technologies, wind energy is one of the most researched and implemented. Over the past twenty years, researchers have been applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to their climate change studies. GIS allows the user to spatially view, manipulate, and analyze data …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Ecotourism As A Funding Source For Protected Area Management In Guyana, Jordan S. Flagel

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Protected areas in tropical rainforests serve many important ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration. These areas are often in need of donor or grant funding to operate as governments in tropical forested countries are not always able to provide adequate funds for protection. This paper focuses on the Iwokrama International Center for Rainforest Conservation and Development in the South American country of Guyana, which has had funding issues since the global economic crisis of 2008 and an accompanying shift in donor country financial priorities. Increasing the amount of sustainable ecotourism in the Iwokrama reserve was identified as a potential source for …

Policy Context Of The Endemic Flora Of The Maltese Islands In A Changing Taxonomic Landscape, Clara Agius

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The degradation of the environment since the Industrial Revolution has been a turning point for legislation, leading to many countries, including EU states, to create legislations that conserve the environment. These legislations are based on scientific facts. This can create a divide between policy and science, as science and scientific methods are constantly changing, while policy has to keep up. Scientific facts of yesterday, may not necessarily be the same as today. This divide between science and policy may have implications on the designation of Protected Areas. One of the criteria of a Protected Area is the protection of an …

How The Presence Of Plastic In The North Pacific Gyre Affects The Growth Of Thalassiosira Through Remote Sensing And Laboratory Replication, Jordynn Brennan, Hesham El-Askary

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Through the use of remote sensing, we are able to determine the approximate location of the garbage patch in the North Pacific Gyre. Though remote sensing does not penetrate the surface of the ocean, monthly satellite images can be analyzed to determine the rate of growth or rate of decrease of certain parameters, such as atmospheric gases, phytoplankton, and dissolved organic matter. Over the past decade, data from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (Giovanni program) has shown a significant increase in dissolved organic matter and chlorophyll a content in the area of the North Pacific Garbage …

Speleoclimate Dynamics In Santana Cave (Petar, São Paulo State, Brazil): General Characterization And Implications For Tourist Management, Heros Augusto Santos Lobo, Paulo Cesar Boggiani, José Alexandre De Jesus Perinotto

International Journal of Speleology

Show caves provide tourists with the opportunity to have close contact with natural underground spaces. However, visitation to these places also creates a need for management measures, mainly the definition of tourist carrying capacity. The present work describes the results of climate monitoring and atmospheric profiling performed in Santana Cave (Alto Ribeira State and Tourist Park – PETAR, Brazil) between 2008 and 2011. Based on the results, distinct preliminary zones with different levels of thermal variation were identified, which classify Santana Cave as a warm trap. Two critical points along the tourist route (Cristo and Encontro Halls) were identified where …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 9, 2014, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 9, 2014 (12/9/14) 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.

Combating Eutrophication: An Ecosystem Scale Analysis Of Aluminum Sulfate (Alum) Effectiveness Among Lakes, With Comparison To Alum And Biomanipulation Dual Treatment, Christa M. Webber

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Eutrophic conditions in lakes and reservoirs in agricultural regions often drive summer blooms of toxic cyanobacteria. Aluminum sulfate (alum) applications are commonly used to control cyanobacteria blooms and restore water quality in eutrophic lakes. However, studies of alum treatments often lack true replication, comparison to reference lakes, or comparison to other restoration techniques, such as an alum and biomanipulation combined or “dual” treatments. Without these comparisons, the variation of treatment response between replicate lakes and restoration techniques remains uncertain. Therefore, I sought to assess how water quality is affected by multiple restoration techniques among geographically proximate (1.4 km²) …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 2, 2014, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 2, 2014 (12/2/14) 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.

Determination Of Seasonal Crop Coefficients For The Cal Poly Campus Vineyard Using The “Paso Panel”, Daniel L. Vyenielo

Wine and Viticulture

Seasonal Crop Coefficients were determined using the "Paso Panel" during the summer of 2014 at the Cal Poly Trestle Vineyard in the Pinot and Syrah blocks.

Station Exposure And Resulting Bias In Temperature Observations: A Comparison Of He Kentucky Mesonet And Asos Data, James Kyle Thompson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Station siting, exposure, instrumentation, and time of observations influence longterm climatic records. This thesis compared and analyzed temperature data from four Kentucky Mesonet stations located in Fayette (LXGN), Franklin (LSML), Clark (WNCH), and Bullitt (CRMT) counties to two nearby Automated Surface Observation Systems (ASOS) stations in Kentucky. The ASOS stations are located at Louisville International Airport (Standiford Field - KSDF) and at Lexington Airport (Blue Grass Field - KLEX). The null hypothesis states that there is no significant difference in temperature measurements between the two types of stations. To quantify the differences in temperature measurements, geoprofiles and the following statistical …

Umphlett Qci Dec 2014, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Drought Conditions

Agriculture

Horticulture

Recreation and Tourism

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Soil Moisture Conditions

Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Switchgrass And Cottonwood Grown As Bioenergy Crops In The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Michele Lea Helton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marginal land of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) has the potential to be utilized for the production of bioenergy feedstocks. Soil respiration is the gaseous emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from microbes and plant roots in the soil, and these emissions play an important role in the global cycling of carbon. Soil respiration can act as a positive feedback affecting climate change, and has been shown to vary depending on soil moisture, temperature, and vegetation. The objectives of this study where to evaluate the effects of land use [switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), cottonwood (Populus deltoides …

Recruitment Facilitation And Spatial Pattern Formation In Soft-Bottom Mussel Beds, John A. Commito, Ann E. Commito, Rutherford V. Platt, Benjamin M. Grupe, Wendy Dow Piniak, Natasha J. Gownaris, Kyle A. Reeves, Allison M. Vissichelli

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Mussels (Mytilus edulis) build massive, spatially complex, biogenic structures that alter the biotic and abiotic environment and provide a variety of ecosystem services. Unlike rocky shores, where mussels can attach to the primary substrate, soft sediments are unsuitable for mussel attachment. We used a simple lattice model, field sampling, and field and laboratory experiments to examine facilitation of recruitment (i.e., preferential larval, juvenile, and adult attachment to mussel biogenic structure) and its role in the development of power-law spatial patterns observed in Maine, USA, soft-bottom mussel beds. The model demonstrated that recruitment facilitation produces power-law spatial structure similar …

Effects Of Round Goby Presence On Invertebrate And Microbial Communities In Decaying Leaf Matter Of A Lake Erie Tributary Stream, Allyse M. Fischer

Biology Theses

Microbial communities are ubiquitous and carry out valuable functions in the environment. Decomposition of leaf material by microbial communities is important to return nutrients back to both terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Perturbations to the environment like the arrival of invasive species can have an impact on the structure and functions of the microbial community. The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is a Ponto-Caspian fish introduced into the Great Lakes which has since secondarily invaded tributary streams and rivers. Studies have shown they alter invertebrate communities, and these alterations have impacted organic matter decomposition. Stream studies suggest leaf litter decomposes …

2014 Aquatic Weed Surveys In Timothy Lake, Lake Harriet, North Fork Reservoir, Faraday Lake, And Estacada Lake, Rich Miller, Mark D. Sytsma, Jeffrey Thomas Brittain

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

The Clackamas River Hydroelectric Project No. 2195 (Project) is located on the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas River and the mainstem of the Clackamas River in Clackamas County, Oregon. Reservoirs included in the Project include Timothy Lake, Lake Harriet, North Fork Reservoir, Faraday Lake, and Estacada Lake. The operator of the Project, Portland General Electric (PGE), was issued a license on December 21, 2010 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for continued operations and maintenance. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the license noted that regular surveys for invasive aquatic weed species would be conducted as part …

Groundwater Trend Analysis And Salinity Risk Assessment For The South-West Agricultural Region Of Western Australia, 2007–12, G Paul Raper, Russell Speed, John Andrew Simons, A L. Killen, Andrew Blake, A T. Ryder, Rosemary H. Smith, Grantley Stainer, L Bourke

Resource management technical reports

Dryland salinity is a hydrologically driven land degradation hazard in the south-west agricultural region of Western Australia (WA). Shallow-rooted annual crops and pastures transpire significantly less water than the native vegetation they replaced, leading to an increase in recharge, rising groundwater levels and the development of shallow watertables in areas where often none existed previously. Rising groundwater levels mobilise soluble salts, naturally stored at high concentrations in the regolith. These salts can be concentrated in the root zone of vegetation by evapotranspiration.

Ecosystem Services In The Wet Tropics: A Literature Review And Economic Valuation, Alyson Cheney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The present study can be broken down into two sections. First, it created a literature review on the current body of knowledge regarding ecosystem services in the Australian Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The second portion of the study was an economic valuation determining how much residents that live in the Wet Tropics value the benefits provided to them through ecosystem services. The literature review found that there were large gaps in the present body of knowledge. Biophysical studies made up the vast majority of the literature and very few ecosystem service economic valuations have been carried out for the …

River Health In Puyo, Ecuador The Use Of Macroinvertebrates As Bioindicators Of Water Quality And Alternatives To Chlorine For Whitening Clothes In The Puyo River Watershed, Allison Rowe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Fresh water is an important resource in Puyo, Ecuador, a city named after the Kichwa word for ‘cloudy’ in reference to its overcast weather. However, the Puyo River watershed is the most contaminated in all of Pastaza Province. The objective of this investigation was first to evaluate the health of the Puyo River using macroinvertebrate analyses and measurements of chlorine concentrations, temperature, pH, turbidity, velocity, and flow rate. The second objective was to learn about practices used to whiten clothes in Puyo and perceptions of water quality in order to understand the magnitude of bleach pollution and the population’s awareness …

A Remote Sensing Based Early Warning System For Algal Blooms In Kuwait Bay And Coastal Waters, Cameron Manche

Masters Theses

The Kuwait Bay and its coastal waters are being threatened by a perpetual hazard, the proliferation of harmful algal blooms (HABS). The frequency of HAB occurrences is a growing problem that is only reported subsequent to the onset of a HAB event. Little effort has been invested in investigating the spatial and temporal distribution of these events in Kuwait Bay and even less is known about their controlling factors. All previous studies within the Kuwait Bay have focused either on measuring nutrient availability and the biodiversity of algal species.

The overall study objective is four-fold: (1) to monitor the spatial …

Methane Production By A Packed-Bed Anaerobic Digester Fed Dairy Barn Flush Water, Sean Richard Thomson

Master's Theses

Packed-bed digesters are an alternative to covered lagoon digesters for methane production and anaerobic treatment of dilute wastewaters such as dairy barn flush water. The physical media of packed-beds retain biofilms, often allowing increased treatment rates. Previous studies have evaluated several types of media for digestion of dilute wastewaters, but cost and media fouling have setback commercial development. A major operational cost has been effluent recirculation pumping.

In the present effort, a novel approach to anaerobic digestion of flush dairy water was developed at pilot-scale: broken walnut shells were used as a low-cost packed-bed medium and effluent recirculation was replaced …