SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
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Using Zooplankton as Indicators of Environmental Quality to Inform Management of Small Lakes of Eastern New York
Get PDFZooplankton play an integral role in the function of aquatic food webs and may serve as indicators of productivity, biodiversity and ecosystem health. The objective of this study was to determine if zooplankton quality (based on total lipid content) and community structure are associated with physical and chemical variables that can be used as indicators of environmental quality among small lakes in eastern New York State. A diversity of small lakes in eastern New York State (n=25) were sampled for zooplankton with vertical tows (153um mesh nylon) and 50 individuals were identified, enumerated and total lipid was determined for each lake. Lake physical variables were also collected including: dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, shoreline development, secchi depth, nutrients (i.e. total dissolved phosphorous, silica), residential density, and percent forest cover. Highly correlated environmental variables were identified using a Pearson correlation matrix. Significant correlations (
Public Health, News Media, and Knowledge Gaps: An investigation into the factors impacting the knowledge gap between West Nile virus and tick borne diseases
Get PDFThe knowledge gap hypothesis, developed in 1970 by Tichenor and colleagues, proposed that socioeconomic status, measured by education, was the prominent cause of knowledge gaps. However, since then many studies have found evidence suggesting factors on many scales from macro-level, such as community conflict to micro-level, such as individual interest and life situation, that impact the knowledge gap despite socioeconomic status. Knowledge gaps pertaining to public health are a threat to the health of both communities and individuals. To investigate a potential public health knowledge gap a convenience sample of an upstate New York population was used to investigate the differences between the knowledge of two different vector transmitted diseases, West Nile virus and tick borne diseases, and how the number of media sources may have influenced that knowledge. A survey was created with several sections pertaining to demographics, media source, and knowledge of the diseases. The results show that there is a statistically significant difference between the scores on the tick borne disease section and West Nile virus section with the higher score being on the tick borne section. There is evidence that suggests that demographic factors such as age, education and income, but not the number of sources, influenced the knowledge gap
Shrub Willow Renewable Energy Environmental Benefits: Opportunities for Rural Development
Get PDFDriven by the challenges of rural development, energy independence and environmental sustainability, research on willow biomass crops for renewable energy and environmental applications has been ongoing at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) since 1986. SUNY-ESF has teamed up with more than 20 universities, commercial partners and non-profit organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada to conduct research and facilitate the commercialization of willow biomass crops
Deregulation of Fatty Acid Transport in Escherichia coli for Enhanced Control of Biodegradable Plastic Copolymer Production
Get PDFPolyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are one possible alternative for petroleum-based plastics that have been shown to be produced effectively in bacterial systems utilizing fatty acids. The global regulatory genes arcA and ompR are known to regulate steps involved in fatty acid transport and metabolism, making them promising candidates for research. In this study, we deleted the arcA and ompR genes in order to deregulate fatty acid uptake. To measure the effect of these deletions, copolymers were produced using recombinant E. coli and the repeating unit composition was analyzed. Residual fatty acid levels in media were also measured to determine a difference in uptake. Fatty acid transport was significantly altered in the arcA mutant, which depleted twice as much dodecanoic acid as the control strain LSBJ. The arcA mutant also showed significantly increased PHA production, measured at 30.64% (by weight) PHA, compared to 21.47% in LSBJ. Other mutants did not show significant changes. These results show that arcA is a promising mutant for increased production of PHA, and that increasing intracellular dodecanoic acid concentration has no effect on the ratio of monomers in PHA produced. This could open up new areas of research into producing plastics with very specific properties, giving PHAs a wide array of modern applications
Analyzing the Economic and Energetic Sustainability of Pursuing Solar Energy in New Orleans, Louisiana
Get PDFWinter Track Surveys Indicate Zones of Potential Conflict With White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in an Urban Landscape
Get PDFSuburbanization typically leads to a loss of forested land and may increase the suitability of other naturally vegetated landscapes for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). These areas often include residential properties and dedicated green spaces, which bring deer in close proximity to people and result in conflict issues, including human health and safety and personal property damage. A detailed understanding of distribution and abundance is key to resolving potential conflicts with urban deer. Conventional methods for counting deer involve low altitude aerial surveys; however these can be intrusive in heavily populated areas and are expensive to conduct. I designed a deer track survey conducted along transects for a 36 km2, mixed-use urban area in Syracuse, NY. Deer distribution was well-characterized from track counts, but abundance was estimated imprecisely in some locations. I used proximity of track crossings to escape cover to generate a zone map of potential conflicts with deer. I also modified a popular formula for converting track counts to animal density, which compared favorably to an independent estimate of deer density for one location. I recommend winter track surveys in urban areas as an inexpensive alternative to conventional methods of deer abundance estimation, and expect other urban communities dealing with similar deer conflicts will find my approach to abundance estimation relevant and applicable
Nest site selection and differential defense responses based on nest substrate in Neotropical termites (Nasutitermes spp.)
Get PDFNest site selection in a variety of species can be impacted by the assessment of predation risk. Predation risk can be evaluated by factors such as nest height, concealment, and substrate type. With the assumption that predation risk varies among substrate types, Nasutitermes spp. termites were predicted to non-randomly select nest sites based on substrate type and to display differential defense response as a function of substrate. If given vibratory cues prior to nest breach, Nasutitermes spp. termites were predicted to react to the breach more quickly or with more soldiers. Seventy five nests were surveyed at the Palo Verde Biological Station to record nest substrate type, nest area, nest coverage by vegetation, and potential nest sites within a 10m radius. Upon nest breach, the time to the first soldier’s arrival and the subsequent number of soldiers that flocked to the disturbance site were recorded for each active nest. Nasutitermes spp. nest site selection reflected the availability of accessible substrate types rather than reflecting a preference for one type. There was no change in defense response in relation to substrate type or the presence of advance vibratory cues. Nasutitermes spp. nest site selection is not influenced by substrate type, suggesting that substrate types may not experience differential predation risk
Effects of light treatment on fecal corticosterone levels in captive European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)
Get PDFIncandescent light sources are increasing replaced by other forms of light, such as fluorescent and light-emitting diode (LED) lights, which have greater longevity and offer greater energy efficient. These sources of light differ in more than their cost and efficiency, and have many different physical properties, for instance, their degree of flickering. Low-frequency fluorescent lighting flickers below the critical flickering fusion frequency (CFF) of some birds and may be a source of stress, unlike a non-flickering light source, such as LED. Our study measured levels of glucocorticoid metabolites (GCM’s) in fecal samples of captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris ) both across treatments and over a period of days to demonstrate the effects of different forms of light on the stress levels of birds in a laboratory setting. Concentration of GCM’s were not significantly different either across light treatments (P =0.441) or over time (P= 0.209), suggesting flickering properties of low-frequency fluorescent light is not a major source of stress for captive birds over an alternative light source
Evaluation of a Single-Pass, Cut and Chip Harvest System on Commercial-Scale, Short-Rotation Shrub Willow Biomass Crops
Get PDFHarvesting is the single largest cost in the production of short rotation woody crops (SRWC) like shrub 8 willow and previous systems tested in North America have not been effective for the size of material grown. The 9 objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a single-pass, cut and chip harvester in conjunction with 10 two locally-sourced chip collection systems on 54 ha of coppiced willow harvests in New York State. Harvesting 11 and collection equipment was tracked for 153 loads over 10 days of harvesting using GPS dataloggers. Effective 12 material capacities (Cm) increased linearly with standing biomass up to 40 to 45 Mgwet ha-1 because ground speed 13 was limited by ground conditions. This relationship changed dramatically with standing biomass in the 40 – 90 14 Mgwet ha-1 range, where Cm plateaued between 70 and 90 Mgwet hr-1 and was limited by crop conditions and 15 harvester capacity. The relationship between standing biomass and the harvester’s Cm will probably change under 16 different crop and ground conditions. The size of the harvester and the experience of the operator are other factors. 17 This nonlinear relationship will impact cost and optimization modeling SRWC systems. Improperly sized headland 18 and long haul distances impeded the performance of locally sourced collection systems resulting in a 33% decrease 19 in Cm from the field to the headlands, and 66% from the field to short-term storage as biomass moves through the 20 system
Differing Perspectives of Biomass Energy in New York State: Comparing Newspaper and Website Biomass Communications
Get PDFFor energy technologies such as biomass energy, an area concentrated on the alternative creation of energy through the use of organic matter such as wood, mass media and other online sources work to frame public perceptions of our energy system. In addition to being sources of information, they also serve as a space for public discourse. Two such sources for information that frame the implementation and study of biomass are newspaper reporting and online information through proponent websites. In this study we collected biomass proponent websites and biomass themed articles in four newspapers located near New York biomass research sites. To examine how biomass technology is framed for public readership in the state, we analyzed text using the socio- political evaluation of energy development (SPEED) framework, coding the materials to determine the tone of the materials as well as presence or absence of the following categories: technological, political, environmental, economic, aesthetic, health/safety and legal benefits and drawbacks. We found that newspaper and proponent websites vary in their content on biomass technologies, with newspaper articles generally putting more emphasis on economic aspects of the technology, and biomass industry websites putting more emphasis on environmental aspects. With this, we found that the aesthetic, legal and health/safety categories were minimal or nonexistent throughout all content. While there was a noted difference in the present categories of websites and news articles, we found that both were mostly positive in tone. Though this is true, the proponent websites were overwhelmingly positive with no negative aspects given