SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
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Closeup of fourdriner machine in Pulp and Paper lab
No full textA closeup view of a foudriner machine in the pulp and paper lab with a group of students working with it
5985 x 4811https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/paperimages/1132/thumbnail.jp
Student using paper machine in Paper Mill
No full textAn unknown male student working with a paper machine in the paper mill
5988 x 4793https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/paperimages/1156/thumbnail.jp
A Non-Point Source Study of Skaneateles Lake Tributaries
Get PDFSkaneateles Lake and its watershed are valuable natural resources to local communities, and the lake is the source of drinking water for the nearby city of Syracuse. In recent years, foam has been seen forming on the surface of Skaneateles Lake, and during late summer of this year was an outbreak of blue-green algae. Previous studies suggest that runoff from agricultural land in particular may be contributing nutrients to the lake that could influence the water quality. This study took surface water samples from four tributaries of Skaneateles Lake and analyzed them for orthophosphates, nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and total suspended solids. To compare the nutrient contributions of agricultural land with those of other land use types, two tributaries were chosen with mostly agricultural sub-watersheds and two were chosen with primarily forested sub-watersheds. The nutrient analyses on water samples did not show a clear distinction between agricultural and forested watersheds. However, secondary analyses on phosphorous in sediments derived from agricultural activity and sediment loading rates during wet weather events suggest significant impacts from agriculture
A Wilderness Paradox: Deconstructing Conflict in the Adirondack Park
Get PDFEnvironmental conflict is a continuing issue in the United States, particularly as conservation must occur across private and public lands. The Adirondack Park in upstate New York serves as a model to deconstruct such conflict. New York state recently purchased a large 20,798-acre tract of land known as Boreas Ponds within the Central Adirondack region and has stirred conflict between local organizations and environmental interest groups over its classification and how much of it should be designated “Wilderness”. This study deconstructs the conflict by teasing out contributing factors through the use of discourse analysis, framing and content analysis. The results highlight contention is in part due to different values held by different stakeholders, particularly of wilderness preservation and access. There is also evidence to support different perceptions of wilderness by some of those living in the park and tourists. These findings support the need to address wilderness definitions in management
Larval Northern Pike (Esox lucius) Ecology in Natural and Restored Coastal Wetlands of the Upper St. Lawrence River
Get PDFWe explored several aspects of the northern pike larval period including the abiotic and biotic dynamics of spring nursery marshes, prey selection in two common nursery habitats, and physical conditions, diet, and survival rates in enhanced wetlands. These findings highlight the importance of physical conditions of nursery marshes on the development of eggs and larvae and production of abundant zooplankton prey. In laboratory experiments, larvae displayed greater prey selection for zooplankton originating in flooded wetlands than nearshore bays. A greater proportion of large cladocerans were selected by larvae given a wetland assemblage. In a mark and recapture study, larval pike survival rates were higher in enhancement sites when compared with those in existing sites, possibly due to more suitable environmental conditions. This research on pike ecology in coastal wetlands may help managers and researchers to better understand larval requirements and devise effective solutions to environmental problems affecting their recruitment
Session B, 2017 First Place: A Comparison of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages Found in Forest Fungi of Different Hymenial Types
Get PDFInsects and fungi are known to play important roles in overall forest health; however, the relationship between the two is not well studied. In the field we observed insects in gilled mushrooms. This led us to question if other fungal fruiting bodies also contained macroinvertebrate assemblages. We hypothesized that there would be a significant difference of macroinvertebrate assemblages between the three hymenial types studied: gilled, pored, and tubed. We also hypothesized that older fungi would contain larger assemblages of macroinvertebrates. Fungi were collected from five different areas at Cranberry Lake Biological Station. Macroinvertebrates were extracted using Berlese funnels for 4.5-5 hours. The fungi represent both experimental and sampling units (n=32), which are independent of the macroinvertebrate assemblages. ANOVA and Tukey tests were used to analyze data and results will be presented and discussed. Both larval and adult forms were found within the fruiting bodies, where the fungi appear to be serving as a food source and reproductive site for numerous macroinvertebrates
ESF e-Bike Initiative at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Get PDFElectric Bicycles, ore-Bikes, are legal in 35 of 50 US States, as well as most other countries in Europe, South America, and Asia. New York State has been fighting the legal battle one-Bikes, with legalization bills on the floor for the past 11 years. As part of my Honors Fellowship, I have been tasked with preparing an e-Bike Initiative pending legalized e-Bikes in NYS. In this paper, I examine the intricacies surrounding the ambiguous legal battle cunently raging in NYS, provide insights as to what bike policies have worked well in other countries and US States, and then highlight the importance of e-Bike legalization in terms of the three pillars of sustainability. Some of the top recommendations I provide are based on California\u27s new e-Bike policy, the PeopleforBikes organizations\u27 campaigns for bike safety, and a literature review. Also, attached in the appendix is the business plan and materials for an ESF e-Bike Initiative at ESF which would sell and rent e-Bikes to students to support the ESF Honors Program
SOIL FERTILITY, EMERGY EVALUATION, AND IMPROVEMENTS TO MILPA IN INDIGENOUS ZAPOTEC AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS
Get PDFThis research was conducted in the tropical mountainous area in the northeast of Oaxaca, Mexico (Sierra Norte). This area is inhabited by the Zapotec indigenous people whose livelihoods rely upon traditional agriculture. The Zapotec farmers’ main agricultural system is the milpa, an intercropping of primarily corn and beans; shaded coffee; and sugar cane. Trees are also part of the cropping systems and provide shade as in shaded coffee, function as barriers between land uses, or are used to shift from annual cropping to perennial shade coffee. This research demonstrates that these various land uses are part of a traditionally designed agroforestry system that provide ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, and soil fertility. The first approach to study this system was an emergy evaluation of the Zapotec traditional education system (TEK-education). More specifically, I looked at the energy inputs from renewable and non-renewable resources that supports this knowledge system. Second, I compared soil fertility, carbon and nitrogen concentrations, among land-uses within the Zapotec agroforestry. For shaded coffee, I determined carbon sequestration in the standing biomass and carbon inputs from litterfall from the leguminous species Inga spp. Results from these lines of research indicated that TEK education systems have similar emergy transformity values, and lower environmental impact than conventional systems. Soil organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations were higher in secondary forest and were not statistically different among land uses under cropping, thus providing evidence of the conservation of soil nutrients among land uses. I found that milpa cropping had an acidic pH, and sugar cane had the lowest soil organic carbon and nitrogen. Hence, I developed an experiment to test the use of mulch derived from Inga vera Wild. and the organic fertilizer Bio-orgamin to increase soil pH, exchangeable cations, and milpa yields. This treatment showed promise for increasing pH and exchangeable cations, and to increase biomass in milpa. Finally, I included a chapter on performance ethnography, reflecting on my own experiences while engaging in research within the Zapotec community to which I belong
Drainage Properties of Nanocellulose and Highly Refined Pulps by Gravity and Centrifugal Sedimentation
No full textNanofibrillated cellulose fibers produced by refining pulp fibers have interesting properties and hence can be incorporated into a papermaking furnish to help improve strength and other properties. However, nanofibrillated pulp fibers do not drain fast, therefore, it is difficult to characterize their quality using conventional drainage measures such as the Canadian Standard Freeness (CSF) or the Schopper-Reigler tests. This research studies the drainage and filtration properties of highly fibrillated pulps of nanocellulose, trying to establish the scientific basis for research on improvement in its drainage and filtration properties in the future. In this work, a novel method and apparatus for drainage and filtration testing were applied. Specific surface area of pulp Sw and specific volume Vf were calculated based on the drainage curve. The Canadian Standard Freeness values were measured and a centrifugal filtration test was conducted to provide data for analysis to characterize their properties
The Optimization and Applications of a Flow-Through Fluorometric System for Real-Time Monitoring of Cyanobacteria in Freshwater Systems
Get PDFMultiple areas in Lake Ontario, labeled Areas of Concern (AOCs), have experienced impairments in use due to algal blooms. Cyanobacteria are of particular concern because many species produce metabolites that are toxic to humans and animals. One method for monitoring the distribution of cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton is the measurement of in vivo pigment fluorescence. Several commercial fluorometers were evaluated for their use in a shipboard flow-through system to provide real-time continuous data on chlorophyll and phycocyanin concentrations throughout the lake. These instruments feature both single-wavelength excitation in the Turner Designs AlgaeWatch and CyanoWatch and multi-wavelength excitation in the bbe FluoroProbe. To account for cellular and instrumental variability, in vivo pigment measurements needed to be calibrated using extracted pigment concentrations. A method was developed to optimize extraction of phycocyanin from cyanobacterial cells. Extraction in phosphate buffer with freeze-thaw cycles maximized extraction percentages and minimized chlorophyll coextraction. Chlorophyll calibration curves for the AlgaeWatch were split into two separate regressions for cyanobacteria and non-cyanobacteria based on cut-off phycocyanin fluorescence values. These split curves offered a better representation of the lower fluorescent response of cyanobacteria in both a laboratory and field setting. Pigment fluorometers were deployed on Lake Ontario as part of a flow-through system for seven weeklong cruises in the offshore and six short evaluations of the nearshore. Calibration curves allowed the successful conversion of relative in vivo chlorophyll data into extracted pigment concentrations, although there were some calibration issues when pigment concentrations were low in situ. Mapping of continuous chlorophyll measurements allowed for fine-scale illustrations of phytoplankton distribution. Higher concentrations in the nearshore were associated with the spring thermocline and river outlets. Algal growth in the offshore was very patchy. These findings indicate that in vivo pigment fluorescence, as part of a flow-through system, is an effective method for monitoring phytoplankton biomass as long as the instruments are calibrated appropriately post-deployment