Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Ord Project: Gouldian Finch Conservation Management Plan 2014, Stratagen, Landcorp

Irrigated Agricultural Development in the North

This Gouldian Finch Conservation Plan has been prepared to ensure appropriate management of the Gouldian Finch and its habitat during construction and operation of Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) Weaber Plain Development Project (the Project). It has been prepared to complement the State approval to implement the Project issued under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 as defined in Statement 938 as well as manage any potential impacts that could affect this Matter of National Environmental Significance as listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) (EPBC Reference 2010/5491).

Ord Project: Offset Management Plan 2014, Strategen, Landcorp

Irrigated Agricultural Development in the North

The Western Australian Minister for State Development is developing an area of land for irrigated agriculture across the Weaber Plain in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, approximately 30 km northeast of Kununurra and adjoining the existing Ord River Irrigations Area (the Project). Figure 1 shows the Project Area including the Development Area and the Buffer Area. Key components or environmental aspects of the Project relevant to the Offset Management Plan include:

• irrigation with 80 to 120 GL/yr of water sourced from Lake Argyle

• clearing of approximately 9260 ha of vegetation including 8205 ha for farmland

• upgrading …

Ord Project: Buffer Management Plan 2014, Stratagen, Landcorp

Irrigated Agricultural Development in the North

The Western Australian Minister for State Development is developing an area of land for irrigated agriculture across the Weaber Plain in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, approximately 30 km north-northeast of Kununurra and adjoining the existing Ord River Irrigation Area.

The Project requires land clearing for farms, sourcing of road building materials, construction of the main M2 channel and smaller distribution channels to service agricultural lots, roads, power supply infrastructure, and stormwater management, groundwater management, drainage and flood protection infrastructure. The Project also involves release of irrigation water from Lake Argyle, which will be conveyed via the Ord River …

Weekly Gridded Aquarius L-Band Radiometer/Scatterometer Observations And Salinity Retrievals Over The Polar Regions - Part 1: Product Description, L. Brucker, Emmanuel P. Dinnat, L. S. Koenig

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Passive and active observations at L band (frequency similar to 1.4 GHz) from the Aquarius/SAC-D mission offer new capabilities to study the polar regions. Due to the lack of polar-gridded products, however, applications over the cryosphere have been limited. We present three weekly polar-gridded products of Aquarius data to improve our understanding of L-band observations of ice sheets, sea ice, permafrost, and the polar oceans. Additionally, these products intend to facilitate access to L-band data, and can be used to assist in algorithm developments. Aquarius data at latitudes higher than 50 degrees are averaged and gridded into weekly products of …

Winter Wind Chill Climatology For The High Plains Region, Holly B. Lussenden, Natalie A. Umphlett, Martha D. Shulski, Daniel Ebert

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

During the winter months in the High Plains region of the United States, wind chill temperatures can reach dangerous levels for humans and animals. Knowing the frequency in which extreme wind chill temperatures occur could help forecasters know when to issue wind chill advisories and also the general public understand just how rare, or common, certain wind chill temperatures are. A climatology spanning a 37-year period was created using data from 57 stations in and around the plains portion of the High Plains region from the Integrated Surface Hourly Database at National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). These climatologies were completed …

Climate Masters Of Nebraska: An Innovative Action-Based Approach For Climate Change Education, Tapan Pathak, Tonya Bernadt, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Climate Masters of Nebraska is an innovative educational program that strategically trains community volunteers about climate change science and corresponding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an interactive and action-based teaching environment. As a result of the program, 91% of participants indicated that they made informed changes in their lives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately 500 hours of volunteer work was reported by participants as an outreach for greenhouse gas emission reduction. The program can be easily replicated to other locales with an effective planning and with small leadership team.

Droughtscape, Winter 2014, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s report

Outlook & quarterly review . 2

Drought in 2013 review.

Quarterly impacts review . 5

Impacts in 2013 review.

Belmont Forum research0

USDM change maps 11

Central Asia drought planning

Kansas RC&D planning

Publication compares plans

Drought for planners webinar

Soil moisture networks

Kansas farm and ranch planning

$500 to develop leadership

Kids seek solutions

Plains symposium April 1-4

Defining The Physiochemical, Biological And Habitat Requirements For The Upper Extant Of Oncorhynchus Mykiss Distribution, Emily Powers

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The distribution of rainbow trout is strongly influenced by their habitat. As climatic conditions change, the distribution of rainbow trout populations will change along with them. The objective of this study was to identify the particular habitat parameters that rainbow trout select for in this lotic system and to specifically assess how this relates to the upper extant of their distribution. By assessing the distribution of the upper extant specifically, future research may be conducted to better assess climatic changes on a small and/or large scale basis. A 9,000 m section of the Clearwater River was used as the study …

A Summary Of The Kentucky River Watershed Watch 2014 Water Sampling Results, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute

Kentucky River Watershed Watch

No abstract provided.

Hydrogeologic Investigations Of Pavement Subsidence In The Cumberland Gap Tunnel, James S. Dinger, James C. Currens, Junfeng Zhu, Steven E. Webb, Brad W. Rister, R. C. Graves, David L. Allen, Tim C. Scully

Report of Investigations--KGS

Cumberland Gap Tunnel was constructed under Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in 1996 to improve transportation on a segment of U.S. 25E, connecting Kentucky and Tennessee and restoring Cumberland Gap to its historical appearance.

The concrete pavement in the tunnel started to subside in 2001. Ground penetrating radar surveys revealed voids in many areas of the limestone roadbed aggregate beneath the pavement. To investigate possible hydrogeologic processes that may have caused favorable conditions for voids to form in the aggregate, we studied geology, groundwater flow, and groundwater chemistry in the tunnel using a variety of methods, including bore drilling, packer …

The Impact Of Dams On Nitrogen Cycling In The Messalonskee Stream, Rebecca K. Forgrave

Honors Theses

The Messalonskee Stream in central Maine has five hydroelectric dams on 16.6km. Each dam drastically changes the flow regime of the stream, dividing it into segments with different patterns of sediment settling and organic matter retention. I investigated how these disruptions impact nitrogen cycling, specifically nitrification rates above and below each dam. I expected higher nitrification rates above the dams, where levels of organic matter are higher, and lower rates below the dam where scouring removes organic matter and fine sediment from the streambed. I measured sediment nitrification rates with a nitrapyrin-inhibition assay and potential drivers of nitrification including sediment …

Exploring Integrated Crop–Livestock Systems In Different Ecoregions Ofthe United States, R Mark Sulc, Alan J. Franzluebbers

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Large-scale, energy-intensive, specialized production systems have dominated agricultural production inthe United States for the past half-century. Although highly productive and economically successful, thereis increasing concern with unintended negative environmental impacts of current agricultural systems.Production systems integrating crops and livestock have potential for providing additional ecosystem ser-vices from agriculture by capturing positive ecological interactions and avoiding negative environmentaloutcomes, while sustaining profitability. A diversity of ecologically sound integrated crop-livestock sys-tems have been and can be employed in different ecoregions: sod-based crop rotations, grazing covercrops in cash-crop rotations, crop residue grazing, sod intercropping, dual-purpose cereal crops, and agro-forestry/silvopasture. Improved technologies in conservation tillage, …

Assessing Resilience In Stressed Watersheds, Kristine T. Nemec, Joana Chan, Christina Hoffman, Trisha L. Spanbauer, Joseph A. Hamm, Craig R. Allen, Trevor Hefley, Donald Pan, Prabhakar Shrestha

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Although several frameworks for assessing the resilience of social-ecological systems (SESs) have been developed, some practitioners may not have sufficient time and information to conduct extensive resilience assessments. We have presented a simplified approach to resilience assessment that reviews the scientific, historical, and social literature to rate the resilience of an SES with respect to nine resilience properties: ecological variability, diversity, modularity, acknowledgement of slow variables, tight feedbacks, social capital, innovation, overlap in governance, and ecosystem services. We evaluated the effects of two large-scale projects, the construction of a major dam and the implementation of an ecosystem recovery program, on …

Self-Imposed Length Limits In Recreational Fisheries, Christopher J. Chizinski, Dustin R. Martin, Keith L. Hurley, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

A primary motivating factor on the decision to harvest a fish among consumptive-orientated anglers is the size of the fish. There is likely a cost-benefit trade-off for harvest of individual fish that is size and species dependent, which should produce a logistic-type response of fish fate (release or harvest)as a function of fish size and species. We define the self-imposed length limit as the length at which a captured fish had a 50% probability of being harvested, which was selected because it marks the length of the fish where the probability of harvest becomes greater than the probability of release. …

Panarchy: Theory And Application, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson, C. S. Holling

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The concept of panarchy provides a framework that characterizes complex systems of people and nature as dynamically organized and structured within and across scales of space and time. It has been more than a decade since the introduction of panarchy. Over this period, its invocation in peer-reviewed literature has been steadily increasing, but its use remains primarily descriptive and abstract. Here, we discuss the use of the concept in the literature to date, highlight where the concept may be useful, and discuss limitations to the broader applicability of panarchy theory for research in the ecological and social sciences. Finally, we …

Discontinuities, Cross-Scale Patterns, And The Organization Of Ecosystems, Kirsty L. Nash, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Chris Barichievy, Tarsha Eason, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Nicholas A. J. Graham, Dean Granholm, Melinda Knutson, R. John Nelson, Magnus Nyström, Craig A. Stow, Shana M. Sundstrom

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Ecological structures and processes occur at specific spatiotemporal scales, and interactions that occur across multiple scales mediate scale-specific (e.g., individual, community, local, or regional) responses to disturbance. Despite the importance of scale, explicitly incorporating a multi-scale perspective into research and management actions remains a challenge. The discontinuity hypothesis provides a fertile avenue for addressing this problem by linking measureable proxies to inherent scales of structure within ecosystems. Here we outline the conceptual framework underlying discontinuities and review the evidence supporting the discontinuity hypothesis in ecological systems. Next we explore the utility of this approach for understanding cross-scale patterns and the …

Predicted Avian Responses To Bioenergy Development Scenarios In An Intensive Agricultural Landscape, Daniel R. Uden, Craig R. Allen, Rob B. Mitchell, Tim D. Mccoy, Qingfeng Guan

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Conversion of native prairie to agriculture has increased food and bioenergy production but decreased wildlife habitat. However, enrollment of highly erodible cropland in conservation programs has compensated for some grassland loss. In the future, climate change and production of second-generation perennial biofuel crops could further transform agricultural landscapes and increase or decrease grassland area. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is an alternative biofuel feedstock that may be economically and environmentally superior to maize (Zea mays) grain for ethanol production on marginally productive lands. Switchgrass could benefit farmers economically and increase grassland area, but there is uncertainty as to how conversions between rowcrops, …

Introduction: Social-Ecological Resilience And Law, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Craig Anthony Arnold, Lance H. Gunderson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Environmental law is intimately connected to ecological concepts and understanding. The legal instruments, institutions, and administration of law in the United States are predicated on assumptions that nature is globally stable and that the inherent variability in ecological systems is bounded. This current legal framework is based upon an understanding of ecological systems operating near an equilibrium, or if disturbed, moving back toward an equilibrium. Such assumptions make much current environmental law ill-suited for many pressing environmental issues (Ruhl 1999; Garmestani et al. 2009; Craig 2010; Verchick 2010; Benson and Garmestani 2011). Emerging environmental challenges, such as cross-boundary water governance …

Self-Confidence Of Anglers In Identification Of Freshwater Sport Fish, Christopher J . Chizinski, D. R. Martin, K. L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Although several studies have focused on how well anglers identify species using replicas and pictures, there has been no study assessing the confidence that can be placed in angler’s ability to identify recreationally important fish. Understanding factors associated with low self-confidence will be useful in tailoring education programmes to improve self-confidence in identifying common species. The purposes of this assessment were to quantify the confidence of recreational anglers to identify 13 commonly encountered warm water fish species and to relate self-confidence to species availability and angler experience. Significant variation was observed in anglers selfconfidence among species and levels of self-declared …

Toxicity Of Copper Sulfate And Rotenone To Chinese Mystery Snail (Bellamya Chinensis), Danielle M. Haak, Bruce J. Stephen, Robert A. Kill, Nicholas A. Smeenk, Craig R. Allen, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The Chinese mystery snail (Bellamya chinensis) is a freshwater snail native to Southeast Asia, Japan, and Russia and is currently classified as an invasive species in at least 27 states in the USA. The species tolerates a wide range of environmental conditions, making management of established populations difficult. We tested the efficacy of two traditional chemical treatments, rotenone and copper sulfate, on the elimination of adult Chinese mystery snails in laboratory experiments. All snails (N=50) survived 72-hour exposure to rotenone-treated lake water, and 96% (N=25) survived 72-hour exposure to pre-determined rotenone concentrations of 0.25, 2.5, and 25.0 mg/L. …