30 research outputs found
Chronicles of Oklahoma
No full textArticle describes the journey of the E. M. DeBerry family from Texas to Old Greer County and their life on the frontier. Author Annie Laurie Steele includes an account by her aunt, Miss Rosabel DeBerry, about hunting, cooking, taking care of livestock, and housing visitors in their pioneer home
Evaluating Proactive Cultural Methods And Herbicide For Control Of Invasive Vegetation In Freshwater Wetland Mitigation
No full textWetlands are disproportionally susceptible to invasions by non-native plant species which degrade ecosystem functions. Frequent disturbances associated with wetland creation and restoration facilitate the spread of invasive propagules, thus challenging invasive species’ performance standards and the efficacy of compensatory wetland mitigation. Traditional invasive management methods, such as the use of non-selective herbicides, are often ineffective yet widely exercised to control invasive vegetation, like Arthraxon hispidus (joint-head grass) and Phalaris arundinacea (reed-canary grass). Given the regulatory mandates under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act pertaining to invasive species in mitigation wetlands, there is significant demand for effective control strategies of invasive plants while promoting native vegetation communities.We conducted a field experiment at a wetland mitigation site in Catlett, Virginia, over two growing seasons (GS-1 and GS-2) to evaluate the efficacy of various cultural management strategies (defined as ecologically informed approaches that modify environmental conditions or manipulate ecosystem processes to control invasive species) alongside traditional herbicide treatments in controlling Arthraxon and Phalaris. Our experimental design replicated management- related disturbances within 1.5m2 plots by utilizing mowing and tilling, followed by broadcast seeding of a standard volume native herbaceous wetland seed mix. Stress-inducing treatments included high carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio soil amendments using wood chips to induce a nitrogen limitation, soil amendments with aluminum sulfate (Al₂(SO₄)₃) to reduce phosphorus availability, plot shading via overhead canopy structures to reduce photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and induce light limitation, high-density native herbaceous seed mix to promote interspecific competition with native congeners, and herbicide, both individually and in partial combinations. Treatment performance was assessed over two growing seasons through measurement of vegetation abundance (relative cover plus relative density) of focal invasives coupled with environmental variables. Our findings demonstrate the impact of environmental variables on the dynamics of invasive-dominant communities in a wetland mitigation system following disturbance. The abundance of Arthraxon was positively correlated with cation macronutrients (e.g., K, Mg) and negatively correlated with shade, indicating a preference for high-nutrient, high-light environments. Conversely, Phalaris abundance showed a marginally significant positive correlation with shade, likely reflecting its tolerance to higher moisture and cooler conditions. Hydrology was identified as a significant indirect factor affecting vegetation community assemblage in both focal species’ experimental populations. Our results reinforce the necessity for replicable long-term studies to evaluate the effectiveness of resource-limiting strategies in various wetland mitigation contexts and among problematic invasive species with contrasting life history strategies.BiologyMaster of Science (M.Sc.
Novel Concepts for Habitat Suitability of the Federally Threatened Plant Aeschynomene virginica
No full textThis project examined the habitat preferences of the threatened species Aeschynomene virginica (sensitive joint-vetch) and investigated whether sediment eroded out of a nearby stream channel receiving runoff from an upslope storm drain can create suitable habitat for this species. Data were collected on a population of Ae. virginica near Jamestown Settlement. Salinity, tidal patterns, soil composition, canopy cover, surrounding vegetation, herbivory, and elevation were examined, and the results were compared to existing literature and community data from a nearby reference marsh. Ae. virginica was found in soil with less organic matter and a greater proportion of sand compared to the surrounding marsh. It was also found in a slightly elevated portion of marsh, and vegetation data showed evidence of disturbance. Canopy and vegetation data were in agreement with existing research in demonstrating that Ae. virginica thrives in open areas with low competition. These results indicate that stormwater runoff can create habitat for this plant via sediment deposition and disturbance. This understanding may be useful when identifying suitable habitat for the plant in surveys and GIS mapping.BiologyBachelors of Science (BS
Organochlorine Pesticides in the Pantanal: A Qualitative and Semi-Quantitative Water Analysis
No full textAs the largest freshwater wetland in the world, the Pantanal possesses a wealth of floral and faunal biodiversity. It serves its ecosystems through various functions and the wetland’s hydrology is vital to the greater region of South America. However, the Pantanal faces numerous threats from the expansion of industrial soybean agriculture into Mato Grosso, Brazil, the largest of which may be pesticide pollution. Yet, few studies have been conducted to assess pesticide contamination of this wetland. In this study, a qualitative and semi-quantitative organochlorine pesticide analysis was conducted. Water samples were collected June - July 2012 from three different rivers in the Northern Pantanal: Rio Cuiabá, Rio Perigara/São Lourenço, and Rio Piquiri. Each sample point was visited three times producing a total of 188 water samples. These samples were then analyzed with Solid-Phase Microextraction (SPME) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). A land cover analysis based on the GlobCover 2009 spatial data set was also conducted to determine forest, agriculture, shrub/grass, urban, and water extents in 2km, 5km, 10km, and 25km buffers. Ten samples were found to contain organochlorine pesticide contamination. The three pesticides identified were endosulfan sulfate, p,p’-DDD and m,p’-DDD, at concentrations of 3ppb, 0.5 – 2ppb, and 0.7 – 3 ppb, respectively. The land cover analysis exhibited no notable differences in land use among the three rivers. With this study it was determined that organochlorine pesticides are present in the rivers of the Northern Pantanal which can have significant effects on the fauna and flora of the wetland. Organochlorine pesticides are exceptionally potent to organisms and biomagnify in food webs. As soy industrial plantations encroach further on the wetland’s borders, these pesticide levels are most likely to increase and, therefore, the health of the wetland and its inhabitants could potentially be severely impacted
Floristic Quality Index: Ecological and management implications in created and natural wetlands
No full textWe applied the Floristic Quality Index (FQI) to vegetation data collected across a chronosequence of created wetland (CW) sites in Virginia ranging in age from one to 15 years post-construction. at each site, we also applied FQI to a nearby forested reference wetland (REF), for a total of 30 sites (15 created, 15 reference). We tested the performance of the index against a selection of community metrics (species richness, diversity, evenness, percent native species) and site attributes (age, soil physiochemical variables). The relationship between FQI and community and environmental variables was analyzed with Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Calculation of FQI with all species (including non-natives) did not increase the number of significant correlations (p<0.05) with community attributes and/or environmental parameters when compared with FQI based on native species alone. Further, vegetation layer-based FQI calculations improved the sensitivity of the index to differences in floristic quality between sites when compared with an "overall" index calculated across layers, and a modified, abundance-weighted FQI showed a unique correspondence with community and environmental variables in the CW herbaceous layer and REF herbaceous and shrub-sapling layers. These results suggest that a "natives only", layer-based version of the index should be used in wetland assessment in Virginia, and an abundance-weighted FQI may be a useful tool for assessing floristic quality in certain layers. An abundance-weighted format is perhaps desirable because such an index preserves the "heritage" aspect of the species conservatism concept inherent in floristic quality assessment, and also entrains the "ecology" aspect of site assessment based on relative abundances of the inhabiting species. FQI did not successfully relate CW sites to REF sites, bringing into question the applicability of the FQI concept in comparing created wetlands to reference wetlands, and the use of forested reference wetlands in general to assess vegetation development in created sites. Based on correlations with soil nutrient variables and ordination results, we propose a conceptual model of vegetation development in created wetlands described as the "Initial Conditions" model, which is expressed in terms of initial site conditions, soil chemistry, species diversity, and floristic quality.Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
A summarization of fifty-four articles on reporting to parents on pupil progress written between 1935 and 1945, 1946
No full textBodily Territories: Lust, Landscape and the Struggle for Female Space in Woolf's The Voyage Out and Atwood's Surfacing
No full textIn her lengthy critical essay A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf inquires into the absence of the female genius in the literary canon. As she mourns this lack of feminine representation on her own bookshelves—“looking about the shelves for books that were not there”—Woolf questions the opposition between what she refers to as the lyrically “suggestive” female sentence, and the dominant, subject driven, “I” of the male sentence (AROO, 45, 98). Woolf carves out a creative space for feminine narrative and focuses primarily on the landscape that is dominated by the “I”. This “I” representing both the masculine epic narrative and a metaphorical phallus, obliterates the surrounding landscape of the novel. This landscape signifies the role of women in literature; ever present, yet, not at the forefront, or well developed. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf encounters a masculine text with palpable disdain. As her hypothetical villain “Mr. A.” composes a novel that serves as an example of the metaphorical dominant signifier “I”, Woolf, with desperation, attempts to see beyond the “I” and to read the landscape behind: “But after reading a chapter or two a shadow seemed to lie across the page. It was a straight dark bar, a shadow shaped something like the letter “I”. One began dodging this way and that to catch a glimpse of the landscape behind it. Whether that was indeed a tree or a woman walking I was not quite sure” (100). Because it represents the women that remain hidden in an opaque shroud of historical non representation, this landscape becomes territory for the modern woman to reclaim. This landscape, not merely a literary space, is metaphorically linked to the territorial claiming of the female body due to patriarchal domination. The female body manifests itself throughout literature as a blank canvass onto which future generations are inscribed. This body, much like the body of a literary text, insures immortality to the author. It is in Woolf‟s own writing that the landscape is at the forefront and it is the female body that she seeks to reclaim in her first novel The Voyage Out. Woolf unknowingly passed this torch, this desire to explore literary and bodily territory, to Canadian Author Margaret Atwood. It is in her second novel, Surfacing, that Atwood presents a thematically similar take on territorial struggles in the framework of modern marriage. Both women, though separated by decades of supposed feminist progress, reveal that marriage remains a game of territorial occupation.Graduate English Association, English Department, Georgia State UniversityPresented at Graduate English Association New Voices Conference 2007, pp. 1-9
