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open access

Comparison of Risk Assessment-Predicted Ecologically Safe Concentrations of Azinphos-Methyl and Fenvalerate to Observed Effects on Estuarine Organisms in a South Carolina Tidal Stream Receiving Agricultural Runoff

Description: A prospective ecological risk assessment method was developed evaluating the cumulative probabilistic impact of chemical stressors to aquatic organisms. This method was developed in response to the need to evaluate the magnitude, duration and episodic nature of chemical stressors on aquatic communities under environmental exposure scenarios. The method generates a probabilistic expression of the percent of an ecosystem's species at risk from a designated chemical exposure scenario.
Date: August 1997
Creator: Morton, Michael Gerard, 1957-
open access

An Assessment of the Use of Seeding, Mowing, and Burning in the Restoration of an Oldfield to Tallgrass Prairie in Lewisville, Texas

Description: An examination of the effectiveness of seeding, burning, and mowing in the reestablishment of tallgrass prairie species on overgrazed and abandoned pastureland. The study site is a 20 acre tract on U.S. Corps of Engineers land below Lake Lewisville in Denton County, Texas. The site was partitioned into thirty-nine 40 by 40 meter plots with seeding (carried out in 1996) and management treatment (burning, mowing, and no maintenance carried out in 1998) randomly applied following a two level desig… more
Date: August 1999
Creator: Windhager, Steven
open access

Developing a Forest Gap Model to Be Applied to a Watershed-scaled Landscape in the Cross Timbers Ecoregion Using a Topographic Wetness Index

Description: A method was developed for extending a fine-scaled forest gap model to a watershed-scaled landscape, using the Eastern Cross Timbers ecoregion as a case study for the method. A topographic wetness index calculated from digital elevation data was used as a measure of hydrologic across the modeled landscape, and the gap model modified to have with a topographically-based hydrologic input parameter. The model was parameterized by terrain type units that were defined using combinations of USDA soil… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Goetz, Heinrich (Heinrich Erwin)
open access

Photo-induced Toxicity of Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil to Four Native Gulf of Mexico Species

Description: The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in the accidental release of millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Photo-induced toxicity following co-exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one mechanism by which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from oil spills may exert toxicity. Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) are an important commercial and ecological resource in the Gulf of Mexico and their largely transparent larvae may make them sensitive to PAH photo-ind… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Alloy, Matthew Michael
open access

The Influence of Urban Green Spaces on Declining Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Description: Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are adept pollinators of countless cultivated and wild flowering plants, but many species have experienced declines in recent decades. Though urban sprawl has been implicated as a driving force of such losses, urban green spaces hold the potential to serve as habitat islands for bumble bees. As human populations continue to grow and metropolitan areas become larger, the survival of many bumble bee species will hinge on the identification and implementation of appropria… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Beckham, Jessica L.
open access

Informing Conservation Management Using Genetic Approaches: Greater Sage-Grouse and Galápagos Short-Eared Owls as Case Studies

Description: Small isolated populations are of particular conservation interest due to their increased extinction risk. This dissertation investigates two small wild bird populations using genetic approaches to inform their conservation. Specifically, one case study investigated a Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) population located in northwest Wyoming near Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. Microsatellite data showed that the Jackson sage-grouse population possessed significantly re… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Schulwitz, Sarah E.
open access

Long-Term Citizen Science Water Monitoring Data: An Exploration of Accuracy over Space and Time

Description: The Texas Stream Team (TST) is one of an increasing number of citizen science water monitoring programs throughout the US which have been continuously collecting surface water quality data under quality assurance protocols for decades. Volunteer monitoring efforts have generated monitoring datasets that are long-term, continuous, and cover a large geographic area - characteristics shown to be valuable for scientists and professional agencies. However, citizen science data has been of limited u… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Albus, Kelly

Biomonitoring at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport: Relating Watershed Land Use with Aquatic Life Use

Description: The Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport is located in a densely urbanized area with one of the fastest-growing populations in the U.S.A. The airport property includes a large tract of "protected" riparian forest that is unique to the urban surroundings. This dissertation explores variables that influence the benthic macroinvertebrate community structure found in urbanized prairie streams that were initially assessed by the University of North Texas (UNT) Benthic Ecology Lab during fou… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Harlow, Megann Mae Lewis

Ozone Pollution Monitoring and Population Vulnerability in Dallas-Ft. Worth: A Decision Support Approach

Description: In urban environments, ozone air pollution, poses significant risks to respiratory health. Fixed site monitoring is the primary method of measuring ozone concentrations for health advisories and pollutant reduction, but the spatial scale may not reflect the current population distribution or its future growth. Moreover, formal methods for the placement of ozone monitoring sites within populations potentially omit important spatial criteria, producing monitoring locations that could unintention… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Northeim, Kari M.
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