Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5n1) Virus Outbreak In New England Seals, United States, Wendy Puryear, Kaitlin Sawatzki, Nichola Hill, Alexa Foss, Jonathon J. Stone, Lynda Doughty, Dominique Walk, Katie Gilbert, Maureen Murray, Elena Cox, Priya Patel, Zak Mertz, Stephanie Ellis, Jennifer Taylor, Deborah Fauquier, Ainsley Smith, Robert A. Digiovanni, Adriana Van De Guchte, Ana Silvia Gonzalez-Reiche, Zain Khalil, Harm Van Bakel, Mia K. Torchetti, Kristina Lantz, Julianna B. Lenoch, Jonathan Runstadler

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We report the spillover of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) into marine mammals in the northeastern United States, coincident with H5N1 in sympatric wild birds. Our data indicate monitoring both wild coastal birds and marine mammals will be critical to determine pandemic potential of influenza A viruses.

Templates To Transition: Making Solar-Generated Electricity Accessible For Lagos Residents, Adeola O. Adebajo

Senior Theses

According to the EPA, direct energy production results in at least 25% of the world’s emissions. This refers to emissions produced by burning coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat. With the increasing effects of climate change, sustainable energy is becoming increasingly important as the world shifts away from fossil fuels. However, implementation of renewable energy sources is not as fast or as widespread as necessary. This paper aims to identify feasible solutions to the problem of renewable energy affordability in Nigeria especially in growing megacities like Lagos to ensure long lasting and climatefriendly energy sources. Two major …

Invertebrate Metrics Based On Few Abundant Taxa Outperform Functional And Taxonomic Composition As Indicators Of Agricultural Impacts In Atlantic Rainforest Streams, Rafael Feijó‑Lima, Steven A. Thomas, Flavia Tromboni, Eugenia Zandonà, Eduardo F. Silva‑Junior, Timothy P. Moulton

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Metacommunity studies have demonstrated that local macroinvertebrate communities are structured not only by local environmental conditions but also by spatial processes. Effective bioassessment tools should account for spatial processes while doing so with the least amount of cost. In this study, we applied variance partition techniques based on redundancy analysis to assess the performance of three sets of benthic invertebrate metrics in detecting agricultural land-use effects in a SE Brazil rainforest watershed. Macroinvertebrate data were analyzed separately regarding their taxonomic, functional structure and bioindicator metrics developed for the study region. We stipulated that groups of metrics most sensitive to land-use …

How Do Land Use And Land Cover Changes After Farmland Abandonment Affect Soil Properties And Soil Nutrients In Mediterranean Mountain Agroecosystems?, Estela Nadal-Romero, Makki Khorchani, Leticia Gaspar, José Arnáez, Erik Cammeraat, Ana Navas, Teodoro Lasanta

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Mediterranean mountains are sensitive agroecosystems that have suffered intense land use and land cover changes (LULCC) during the last century. From the middle of the twentieth century, most of the cultivated lands in Mediterranean mountains were abandoned, allowing the recovery of vegetation (through natural revegetation and afforestation programmes). To examine the effects of farmland abandonment, secondary succession (natural revegetation) and afforestation, an intensive soil sampling was carried out in the Aragu´as catchment (Central Spanish Pyrenees) including sparsely vegetated areas (badlands), grasslands, shrublands and afforested sites. LULCC were mapped, and soil physico-chemical properties were analysed in reference sites (unaltered areas during …

Ecohydrology, Cultural Perceptions, And Recovery Of Freshwater Wetlands In A Heavily Managed Urban Aquifer, Jessica Ashley Balerna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater wetlands provide essential ecosystem services that influence, and are influenced by, human perceptions and behaviors. I explore these feedbacks in the Tampa Bay region, which hosts numerous freshwater wetlands subjected to population increases, economic growth, and shifting management policies. These wetlands are embedded in urban and residential areas, where people can observe and respond to changes in wetland condition over time. I utilized long-term (1991–2018), high sample size (n=152) datasets to assess how wetland inundation responds to the interactive effects of climate variation and shifts in water conservation policies primarily related to cutbacks in groundwater extraction. As wetland ecosystem …

Gloria - A Globally Representative Hyperspectral In Situ Dataset For Optical Sensing Of Water Quality, Moritz K. Lehmann

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The development of algorithms for remote sensing of water quality (RSWQ) requires a large amount of in situ data to account for the bio-geo-optical diversity of inland and coastal waters. The GLObal Reflectance community dataset for Imaging and optical sensing of Aquatic environments (GLORIA) includes 7,572 curated hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance measurements at 1nm intervals within the 350 to 900nm wavelength range. In addition, at least one co-located water quality measurement of chlorophyll α, total suspended solids, absorption by dissolved substances, and Secchi depth, is provided. The data were contributed by researchers affiliated with 59 institutions worldwide and come from …

The Ecology Of Human-Caused Mortality For A Protected Large Carnivore, John F. Benson, Kyle D. Dougherty, Paul Beier, Walter M. Boyce, Bogdan Cristescu, Daniel J. Gammons, David K. Garcelon, J. Mark Higley, Quinton E. Martins, Anna C. Nisi, Seth P. D. Riley, Jeff A. Sikich, Thomas R. Stephenson, T. Winston Vickers, Greta M. Wengert, Christopher C. Wilmers, Heiko U. Wittmer, Justin A. Dellinger

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Mitigating human-caused mortality for large carnivores is a pressing global challenge for wildlife conservation. However, mortality is almost exclusively studied at local (within-population) scales creating a mismatch between our understanding of risk and the spatial extent most relevant to conservation and management of wide-ranging species. Here, we quantified mortality for 590 radio-collared mountain lions statewide across their distribution in California to identify drivers of human-caused mortality and investigate whether human-caused mortality is additive or compensatory. Human-caused mortality, primarily from conflict management and vehicles, exceeded natural mortality despite mountain lions being protected from hunting. Our data indicate that human-caused mortality is …

Occupancy And Abundance Of A West African Mangabey Species (Cercocebus Atys Audebert, 1797) In Forest Patch Habitat, Kellie Laity, April Conway, Sonia M. Hernandez, John P. Carroll, Dessalegn Ejigu

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Sooty mangabeys are Old World primates from the Upper Guinea Rainforests of West Africa. They suffer from habitat degradation due to deforestation and hunting for the bush-meat trade. Tiwai Island and adjacent small islands are a small protected area surrounded by the Moa River that is known for its high diversity of primate species. We evaluated the occupancy and abundance of sooty mangabeys on Tiwai Island and the surrounding islands using camera traps during 2008–2011. Over two seasons, we obtained a naïve occupancy rate of 0.77 for Tiwai Island but only 0.19 for surrounding smaller islands. We used Abundance-Induced Heterogeneity …

Drought Stress Prediction And Propagation Using Time Series Modeling On Multimodal Plant Image Sequences, Sruti Das Choudhury, Sinjoy Saha, Ashok Samal, Anastasios Mazis, Tala Awada

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The paper introduces two novel algorithms for predicting and propagating drought stress in plants using image sequences captured by cameras in two modalities, i.e., visible light and hyperspectral. The first algorithm, VisStressPredict, computes a time series of holistic phenotypes, e.g., height, biomass, and size, by analyzing image sequences captured by a visible light camera at discrete time intervals and then adapts dynamic time warping (DTW), a technique for measuring similarity between temporal sequences for dynamic phenotypic analysis, to predict the onset of drought stress. The second algorithm, HyperStressPropagateNet, leverages a deep neural network for temporal stress propagation using hyperspectral imagery. …

Sexual Selection As A Tool To Improve Student Reasoning Of Evolution, Sarah K. Spier, Joseph Dauer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

There is an emphasis on survival-based selection in biology education that can allow students to neglect other important evolutionary components, such as sexual selection, reproduction, and inheritance. Student understanding of the role of reproduction in evolution is as important as student understanding of the role of survival. Limiting instruction to survival- based scenarios (e.g., effect of food on Galapagos finch beak shape) may not provide students with enough context to guide them to complete evolutionary reasoning. Different selection forces can work in concert or oppose one another, and sexual selection can lead to the selection of trait variants that are …

An Evaluation Of Avian Influenza Virus Whole-Genome Sequencing Approaches Using Nanopore Technology, Hon S. Ip, Sarah Uhm, Mary Lea Killian, Mia K. Torchetti

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

As exemplified by the global response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, whole-genome sequencing played an important role in monitoring the evolution of novel viral variants and provided guidance on potential antiviral treatments. The recent rapid and extensive introduction and spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in Europe, North America, and elsewhere raises the need for similarly rapid sequencing to aid in appropriate response and mitigation activities. To facilitate this objective, we investigate a next-generation sequencing platform that uses a portable nanopore sequencing device to generate and present data in real time. This platform offers the potential to extend in-house sequencing …

Development Of A Benchmark Eddy Flux Evapotranspiration Dataset For Evaluation Of Satellite-Driven Evapotranspiration Models Over The Conus, John M. Volk, Justin Huntington, Forrest S. Melton, Richard Allen, Martha C. Anderson, Joshua B. Fisher, Ayse Kilic, Gabriel Senay, Gregory Halverson, Kyla Knipper, Blake Minor, Christopher Pearson, Tianxin Wang, Yun Yang, Steven Evett, Andrew N. French, Richard Jasoni, William Kustas

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A large sample of ground-based evapotranspiration (ET) measurements made in the United States, primarily from eddy covariance systems, were post-processed to produce a benchmark ET dataset. The dataset was produced primarily to support the intercomparison and evaluation of the OpenET satellite-based remote sensing ET (RSET) models and could also be used to evaluate ET data from other models and approaches. OpenET is a web-based service that makes field-delineated and pixel-level ET estimates from well-established RSET models readily available to water managers, agricultural producers, and the public. The benchmark dataset is composed of flux and meteorological data from a variety of …

Diversity, Distribution, And Methodological Considerations Of Haemosporidian Infections Among Galliformes In Alaska, Faith De Amaral, Robert E. Wilson, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Ravinder Sehgal

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Using samples spanning 10-degrees of latitude in Alaska, we provide the first comparative assessment of avian haemosporidia distribution of Arctic Alaska with subarctic host populations for four species of grouse and three species of ptarmigan (Galliformes). We found a high overall prevalence for at least one haemospordian genus (88%; N = 351/400), with spruce grouse (Canachites canadensis) showing the highest prevalence (100%; N = 54/ 54). Haemoproteus and Plasmodium lineages were only observed within grouse, while Leucocytozoon species were found within both grouse and ptarmigan. Further, different Leucocytozoon lineages were obtained from blood and tissue samples from the …

Habitat Fragmentation Reduces Survival And Drives Source–Sink Dynamics For A Large Carnivore, Anna C. Nisi, John F. Benson, Richard King, Christopher C. Wilmers

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Rigorous understanding of how environmental conditions impact population dynamics is essential for species conservation, especially in mixed-use landscapes where source–sink dynamics may be at play. Conservation of large carnivore populations in fragmented, human-dominated landscapes is critical for their long-term persistence. However, living in human-dominated landscapes comes with myriad costs, including direct anthropogenic mortality and sublethal energetic costs. How these costs impact individual fitness and population dynamics are not fully understood, partly due to the difficulty in collecting long-term demographic data for these species. Here, we analyzed an 11-year dataset on puma (Puma concolor) space use, mortality, and reproduction …

Not A Waste: Wastewater Surveillance To Enhance Public Health, Anna Gitter, Jeremiah Oghuan, Anuja Rajendra Godbole, Carlos A. Chavarria, Carlos Monserrat, Tao Hu, Yun Wang, Anthony W. Maresso, Blake M. Hanson, Kristina D. Mena, Fuqing Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Domestic wastewater, when collected and evaluated appropriately, can provide valuable health-related information for a community. As a relatively unbiased and non-invasive approach, wastewater surveillance may complement current practices towards mitigating risks and protecting population health. Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater programs are now widely implemented to monitor viral infection trends in sewersheds and inform public health decision-making. This review summarizes recent developments in wastewater-based epidemiology for detecting and monitoring communicable infectious diseases, dissemination of antimicrobial resistance, and illicit drug consumption. Wastewater surveillance, a quickly advancing Frontier in environmental science, is becoming a new tool to enhance public health, improve …

The Future Of Pandemics: Land Use Controls As Means Of Preventing Zoonotic Disease, Bailey Andree

Pace International Law Review

Zoonotic diseases are increasing in frequency as climate change worsens around the world, with the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the inadequate mechanisms in place to counteract disease spread. This article reviews various zoonotic diseases and their patterns of spread, highlighting land use change as the key driver of disease to demonstrate the need for legal intervention. International land use law is a little-developed subsect of environmental law that holds the key to combating this disease spread, and this article proposes solutions through this legal lens. Land use techniques which may be used to combat disease spread include conservation laws, setback …

Boundary Spanning In The Context Of Stakeholder Engagement In Collaborative Water Management, Mark E. Burbach, Weston M. Eaton, Jodi L. Delozier

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Boundary spanners are individuals able to reach across organizational borders to build relationships and interconnections to help better manage complex problems. What is not clear, however, are the skills that allow boundary spanners to cross diverse scales, sectors, and organizations. To address this gap, we use a qualitative case study approach to examine evidence for how boundary spanning skills are implemented in the context of stakeholder engagement for addressing water challenges in agricultural settings. We employ a hybrid deductive-inductive thematic analysis approach to examine interview data collected with 25 stakeholder participants as well as direct observation of engagement behavior. Interview …

Role Of Social Determinants Of Health In Differential Respiratory Exposure And Health Outcomes Among Children, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Jill A. Poole, Yeongjin Gwon, Eleanor G. Rogan, Jesse E. Bell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background Attributes defining the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are associated with disproportionate exposures to environmental hazards and differential health outcomes among communities. The dynamics between SDoH, disproportionate environmental exposures, and differential health outcomes are often specific to micro-geographic areas.

Methods This study focused on children less than 20 years of age who lived in Douglas County, Nebraska, during 2016–2019. To assess the role of SDoH in differential exposures, we evaluated the association between SDoH metrics and criteria pollutant concentrations and the association between SDoH and pediatric asthma exacerbations to quantify the role of SDoH in differential pediatric asthma outcomes. …

Panarchy Theory For Convergence, Shana M. Sundstrom, David G. Angeler, Jesse Bell, Michael J. Hayes, Jennifer Hodbod, Babak Jalalzadeh‑Fard, Rezaul Mahmood, Elizabeth Vanwormer, Craig R. Allen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Coping with surprise and uncertainty resulting from the emergence of undesired and unexpected novelty or the sudden reorganization of systems at multiple spatiotemporal scales requires both a scientific process that can incorporate diverse expertise and viewpoints, and a scientific framework that can account for the structure and dynamics of interacting social-ecological systems (SES) and the inherent uncertainty of what might emerge in the future. We argue that combining a convergence scientific process with a panarchy framework provides a pathway for improving our understanding of, and response to, emergence. Emergent phenomena are often unexpected (e.g., pandemics, regime shifts) and can be …

Author Correction: Gloria - A Globally Representative Hyperspectral In Situ Dataset For Optical Sensing Of Water Quality, Moritz K. Lehmann, Et Al.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-01973-y, published online 16 February 2023.

An author of the paper was omitted in the original version (Ted Conroy, University of Waikato, New Zealand). This has been corrected in the pdf and HTML versions of the paper, and the associated metadata.