In 2008 the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) initiated a program to monitor Oregon’s surface waters and aquatic biota for the presence of pollutants that pose risks to human and/or environmental health. ODEQ’s Toxics Monitoring Program was first implemented in the Willamette River Basin (WRB) between 2008 and 2010....
Interest in measuring soil quality continues to increase worldwide in view of demands on land productivity and the necessity to preserve soil resources, yet identification of suitable indicators for soil quality assessment is still evolving. This study adapted 10 biological, physical, and chemical indicators of soil quality identified by the...
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent issue that impacts individuals around the world. Mental health professionals need comprehensive and inclusive IPV training to support victims/survivors well. The IPV literature posits several concerns surrounding the quality of IPV training that counselors-in-training (CITs) receive. Obtaining an understanding in how master’s level...
This thesis details my investigations of marine cyanobacterial natural products that resulted in the discovery of eighteen new secondary metabolites. Isolation and characterization of these unique molecules were carried out using different chromatographic techniques and by careful analyses of 1D and 2D NMR data, respectively. Preliminary bioassays of the crude...
The Northern California Current (NCC) is a seasonally productive and open ecosystem. It is home to both a diverse endemic community and to seasonally transient species. Productivity and food web structure vary seasonally, interannually, and decadally due to variability in coastal upwelling, climate-scale physical processes, and the migratory species entering...
The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) has suffered significant population declines across its entire geographic range and the mechanisms associated with this decline are poorly understood. Although much of the Rusty Blackbird breeding habitat in Alaska has remained relatively unaltered by anthropogenic activities, this species continues to decline by an estimated...
Managers of U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) in central Arkansas want to provide sufficient habitat resources to meet its population objectives for wintering waterfowl. Nutrient reserves acquired during the wintering period appear to support spring migration and subsequent reproductive success for some species,...
Seedlings of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco and Betula papyrifera Marsh. were grown in the greenhouse in monoculture and dual culture in soils collected from a young mixed species plantation in the southern interior of British Columbia. The objectives of the study were (i) to evaluate the ability of P. menziesii...
Identification of critical habitat for all life stages of commercially exploited fish populations is critical for effective management. Despite a clear need for basic biological information on juvenile rockfish life history, there have been very few efforts to describe distribution and habitat of this life stage, particularly along the Oregon...
This thesis details investigations of marine cyanobacterial secondary metabolism, with emphasis on a strain of Phormidium sp. collected in Indonesia. These studies assessed the effects of nineteen putative elicitor compounds on the growth and metabolite production of five species of marine cyanobacteria, biosynthetic investigation of an intriguing secondary metabolite, phormidolide,...
This study provides a direct test of social exchange theory on knowledge sharing from the perspective of the provider by examining the role of both perceived coworker support (PCS) and perceived organizational support (POS) on the extent to which employees share their knowledge with their coworkers. Also examined is the...
This thesis describes the chemical investigation of marine cyanobacteria collected in Madagascar and Panama with an emphasis on the isolation and structure elucidation of medicinally relevant secondary metabolites.
A collection of the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula from the Radames Islands, Madagascar yielded two new cyclic depsipeptides, radamamides A and B,...
Understanding of gene flow, connectivity, and diversity is critical to predict the stability of key marine species. The Oregon coast of the U.S.A. shows fine-scale levels of geographic variation in environmental stressors such as temperature, pH, and oxygen levels, prompting questions about the potential for local adaptation. In this thesis,...
The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), located on the eastern boundary of the North Pacific Ocean, is highly dynamic, with variable conditions driven by seasonal upwelling, regional oceanography, and broad scale climate patterns. In the last decade, the northeast Pacific Ocean has experienced several marine heatwaves (MHWs), prolonged periods...
Intraspecific life history attributes of growth, survival, and reproduction can vary in
response to changes in the physical environment. These changes can induce a cascading effect
across trophic levels. In marine systems, shifts in ocean conditions such as warm and cold phases
of ENSO can change primary production in benthic...
Intraspecific life history attributes of growth, survival, and reproduction can vary in
response to changes in the physical environment. These changes can induce a cascading effect
across trophic levels. In marine systems, shifts in ocean conditions such as warm and cold phases
of ENSO can change primary production in benthic...
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very rare (Pennington 1985, Mercier and Hamel 2009). Importance of an increase 440
in temperature
Marine algae have been recognized as a rich resource of new
and unusual organic molecules with diverse biological properties.
The current need to develop new antifungal, anticancer, antibiotic
and antiviral drugs has led to an intense research effort into the
discovery, isolation and structure determination of potential
medicinal agents from...
Year-round habitat use of marine predators provides knowledge of important marine areas throughout different life stages. Large-scale, environmental variability, both in space and time, causes changes in the behavior and distribution of marine predators that are important to quantify for conservation. In the Northern California Current System (NCCS), common murres...
Variable ocean conditions can greatly impact lower trophic level prey assemblages in marine ecosystems, with effects propagating up to higher trophic levels. Our goal was to better understand how varying ocean conditions influence diets and niche overlap among a suite of low- to mid trophic level predators. We studied the...
Riparian ecosystems provide critical habitat for a broad diversity of aquatic and terrestrial species. However, due to their connectivity along river corridors, and the tendency for people to build roads, infrastructure, and other settlements next to rivers, riparian ecosystems are vulnerable to colonization by invasive plant and animal species. Early...
Cyanobacteria are rich in biologically active secondary metabolites, many of which have potential application as anticancer or antimicrobial drugs or as useful probes in cell biology studies. A Jamaican isolate of the marine cyanobacterium, Lyngbya majuscula was the source of a novel antifungal and cytotoxic secondary metabolite, hectochlorin. The structure...
The near physical environment is believed to be an integral component in creating quality learning and classroom environments for young children. Free-choice play periods during preschool daily curriculums are a widespread component of preschool early childhood education. Research has demonstrated that the presence of houseplants may be a contributor to...
As in many regions of the world, the shelf waters of the western United States have experienced large increases and high interannual variability in jellyfish populations in recent decades. The northern California Current (NCC) is a productive upwelling zone that is home to large populations of medusae, particularly during some...
Over the past century, the tuna canning industry has been dominated by a few big companies, some of
them having changed of ownership or merged: these oligopolistic firms are the “big three” in the USA,
Van Camp, Star Kist, and Bumble Bee, the French Saupiquet, the Italian Trinity Alimentari and...
I have participated in a drug discovery program designed to screen marine algae for
inhibitors of cancer-related enzymes, antitumor compounds, antiinflammatory substances,
and other agents of potential pharmaceutical utility. Over 1,500 lipid and aqueous extracts
of marine plants and animals were surveyed for biomedical potential. Assays designed to
screen extracts...
The introduction of non-native species often results in fundamental changes in the structure and function of disturbed environments. In the Pacific Northwest (PNW), the introduced seagrass Zostera japonica is rapidly expanding in distribution, impacting stakeholders and public use of the intertidal. Z. japonica’s expansion has prompted a number of different...
The intricate relationship between wildlife health and the quality of their environment is well established, with technological advances increasing our understanding and aiding the unraveling of underlying mechanisms. Large herbivores require forage of sufficient quality to maintain their condition to reproduce and survive, all while warding off parasites and predators...
While the marketing literature has advocated for decades that new products should be designed for intended and
anticipated consumer usages, the engineering literature mostly proposes optimization of product performances
independent of specific users’ skills, anticipated usage scenarios, and competing products on the market. In contrast
to tedious market studies which...
The commercial groundfish fishing industry and groundfish research have a long concurrent history of activity on the Oregon continental margin. Within the non-whiting groundfish fishery, the target species are primarily flatfishes, sablefish, lingcod, and rockfishes, though landings of each have fluctuated over time. Recent work shows that over the past...
Bioretention is a common form of green stormwater infrastructure that is used to attenuate peak flows from urban stormwater. Previous research shows that the bioretention peak response is not consistent across time or space and that the variables that affect peak hydrology are numerous. One variable that has not been...
The objectives of this research is to advance human health by evaluating interventions to minimize the detrimental effects of acute whole body gamma irradiation on bone metabolism, bone architecture and bone reconstruction using a mouse model. Total body irradiation (TBI) followed by adoptive transfer of bone marrow from donor animals...
Observed declines in native pollinator species worldwide has generated concern and focused research into the disturbances, past and present, which may have contributed to these losses. In grasslands, for example, habitat degradation and fragmentation from historical and current crop production and livestock grazing has left only a few remnants of...
Previous investigations have failed to show benefits of low level laser therapy (LLLT) for tendon healing in horses, contrary to reports in other species. We hypothesized that delivery of LLLT at manufacturer-recommended energy fluence through equine cadaver skin to equine tendon-derived fibroblasts in vitro would increase cell proliferation, metabolic activity...
Intravenous regional limb perfusion (IVRLP) with tiludronate is a commonly used treatment for distal limb orthopedic disease in horses, but doses and protocols are anecdotal. IVRLP exposes articular cartilage within the perfused area to tiludronate, raising concerns about safety of this treatment, as high tiludronate concentrations (≥19mg/L) were harmful for...
Wearable sensors with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) are popular for indoor positioning and activity pattern detection. The IMUs can be connected to a wireless transmission module, allowing users to monitor and process motion-related parameters remotely. Because of the complexity and uncertainty of signals in indoor environments, a radio frequency...
Red alder (Alnus rubra), a nitrogen(N)-fixing deciduous broadleaf tree, can strongly influence N
concentrations in western Oregon and Washington. We compiled a database of stream N and GIS-derived landscape
characteristics in order to examine geographic variation in N across the Oregon Coast Range. Basal area
of alder, expressed as a...
Transcriptome and genome data from twenty stony coral species and a selection of reference bilaterians were studied to elucidate coral evolutionary history. We identified genes that encode the proteins responsible for the precipitation and aggregation of the aragonite skeleton on which the organisms live, and revealed a network of environmental...
Seabirds are an integral component of marine ecosystems, however, because humans typically observe only snapshots of their lives at sea, our understanding of seabird foraging ecology is often limited. A more complete understanding of the ecological roles of seabirds and identification of critical foraging habitats requires the ability to follow...
The marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula has proven to be extraordinarily rich in bioactive secondary metabolites. This dissertation describes the chemistry of L. majuscula collected from Grenada, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, and the biosyntheses of two L. majuscula metabolites, curacin A and barbamide.
The chemical studies with a Grenada collection...
Resident and migratory avifauna in the Willamette Valley, Oregon are heavily influenced by winter conditions and habitat characteristics, especially those of wetlands. As such, it is important to monitor avian communities and environmental factors at wetland sites within the Willamette Valley during winter. Using data from standardized avian point-count surveys,...
Recognisable debris from the Great Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami of March 2011 began arriving on the coasts of Oregon and Washington, USA in June 2012. This debris often carried fouling Japanese marine algae, and there was concern that these species might recruit and invade northeast Pacific shores. From June 2012...
From 1925 to 1930, Ernest H. Wiegand, a professor of Horticultural Products at Oregon State Agricultural College, developed an improved brining process for cherries. Brined cherries are used in the production of maraschino and glacé cherries, which already had a sizable market in the United States by the 1920s. This...
Variations in ocean conditions influenced by climate fluctuations may impact fish populations by changing their spatial distribution, physiology, survival, and other ecological features. Somatic growth is a crucial aspect of the biology of fishes and an important contributor to biomass fluctuations. Climate variability also affects somatic growth rates along the...
The Pacific coast groundfish fishery is a diverse, important and lucrative commercial and recreational fishery. Part of this fishery’s monitoring process includes regular fishery-independent surveys for stock assessment. Although these fishery-independent surveys are cost-effective, they are susceptible to scientific uncertainty, and they do not currently sample in nearshore (water depth...
This report, required by state law under HB3543, provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of science of climate change as it pertains to Oregon, covering the physical, biological, and social dimensions. The first chapter summarizes the current state of knowledge of physical changes in climate and hydrology, focusing on...
The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery harvests a diverse and large grouping of fishes, but it did not become heavily fished until around WWII. This makes the groundfish fishery a comparatively young fishery. Despite its youth, it is one of the largest and most lucrative fisheries in Oregon—with a current harvest...
The Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is a widespread, colonial, North American waterbird with bicoastal and inland distributions. Four subspecies have been described within North America corresponding to five geographic breeding regions: Interior and North Atlantic cormorants (P. a. auritus); Southeastern cormorants (P. a. floridanus); Alaskan cormorants (P. a. cincinnatus); and...
The impact that pesticides may have had on the mortality rates and productivity rates of non-game birds during the last 25 years was evaluated by studying the population dynamics of 16 species. A mathematical model showing the relationships between population parameters that yielded stable populations was developed. The information needed...
Mankind is facing the spectre of a planet stripped of the resources necessary to sustain the human populations that currently exist-not to mention those unborn multitudes which seem certain to he added in the coming decades. Time is rapidly running out for scientists and engineers to find new resources to...
Dual use pasture systems, sometimes referred to as dual purpose pasture systems, take advantage of the land being used to maximize multiple outputs from a single area. Developing a system to support both production of grazing livestock as well as pollinator health is of increasing importance in pasture-based farming systems....
Management practices following forest harvest can affect long-term soil productivity through alteration of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools, but processes contributing to change are poorly understood. I assessed effects of three levels of logging-debris retention in combination with initial or annual applications of competing vegetation control (CVC) following...
A fundamental objective of ecology and population biology is to identify factors that drive population dynamics and determine the population-level consequences of their interaction with the environment. Studies of reproductive performance can illuminate population dynamic processes, including the links between organismal biology, the environment, and life history theory. A central...
This report examines environmental factors influencing the die-off and transport of fecal coliform bacteria present in wastes applied to the land surface. These factors are examined specifically for dairy waste management systems and the net effect each system has on runoff water quality. A model is developed that considers the...
Three trends are occurring today in the United States which inspired this research. First, America is growing increasingly urbanized. Today, more Americans are living in cities than in rural environments, and this pattern is predicted to continue for the foreseeable future. Urban living has benefits, but there are also challenges...
Most aging individuals prefer to remain in a self-determined home environment, and generally aging adults want to remain in the same home or same community. The benefits of remaining in a self-determined private home environment while aging have been established. Because individuals present a diversity of needs, it takes interdisciplinary...
Documentation of the side effects of pesticides on
arthropod natural enemies has expanded rapidly since the
1950's as part of an increase in non-target side effects
literature. Most reviews have been based on empirical
analysis of selected literature. The SELCTV database was
developed to make a larger information base accessible...
Oregon’s Coastal nearshore ecosystems are a nexus between living marine resources and coincident human recreational, industrial and socio-economic development. These nearshore regions also provide habitats vital to early life history stages of commercial non-whiting groundfish species, which supplied 21% of the Oregon fishing economy in 2018. The very shallow portions...
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) carrying consumer-grade nonmetric cameras are increasingly utilized to generate high-resolution 3D geospatial data. Low cost, ease of operation, widespread availability and low altitude maneuvering capabilities of UAS, as well as the rapid development of technology and methods, make UAS-based photogrammetry applicable to many civil engineering...
Natural products from both terrestrial and marine sources represent a significant source of novel drug leads, and have previously been developed into clinically-approved agents for the treatment of various human diseases. This work represents the biological characterization of the mechanistic basis for activity of several natural product structures in models...
The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not a
significant difference existed between Oregon community college
transfer students and native students at Oregon State University with
respect to academic achievement, persistence, and graduation.
Two groups of students were selected for observation. The
first included all of the...
Molecular genetic and enzymological techniques have been employed to study secondary metabolite biosynthesis. These investigations have focused on two projects: the cloning and heterologous expression of biosynthetic gene clusters from unculturable marine organisms and the characterization of individual enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of the antifungal agent blasticidin S. The...
A first-order approximation is made of the frequency and magnitude of bedload transport downstream of the Pelton-Round Butte Dam Complex, lower Deschutes River, Oregon with implications for salmonid spawning habitat. Field measurements of channel hydraulics, geometry, and particle size were combined with one-dimensional hydraulic and bedload transport models to determine...
Consistent with its charge under Oregon House Bill 3543, the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI) conducts a biennial assessment of the state of climate change science, including biological, physical, and social science, as it relates to Oregon and the likely effects of climate change on Oregon. This fifth Oregon...
Forced removal of Indigenous communities and subsequent colonial forest management have led to landscape homogenization, fuel abundance, conifer encroachment, and, therefore, a loss of forest and fire resilience in the Western US. This loss of forest and fire resilience leads to a loss of social resilience as forested communities struggle...
The western United States has experienced large-scale degradation due to land use and land cover changes, invasion of annual grasses, and expansion of woody plants into grass and shrublands and the resultant altered fire regimes. These landscape-scale changes have coincided with declining mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations, making habitat loss...
The purpose of this watershed assessment is to provide an inventory and characterization of
watershed conditions in the Wilson River watershed and to provide recommendations that
address the issues of water quality, fisheries and fish habitat, and watershed hydrology.
This annotated bibliography was prepared for the Salmon Anchor Habitat Work Group. This group was formed by the Oregon Department of Forestry to review and evaluate the Salmon Anchor Habitat Strategy as directed by the 2003 Oregon Legislature. The Salmon Anchor Habitat Strategy is a component of management plans developed...
North American bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) have experienced significant declines and population extirpations due to novel pathogens such as Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae. This disease continues to limit the population restoration of bighorn sheep. Therefore, understanding the demographic consequences of pathogen presence and the risk of contact between bighorn populations and potential...
This dissertation aims to elicit how a neo-colonial context shapes maternal and infant heath (MIH) outcomes by describing how they are socially, politically, historically, and culturally produced. Using a multi-level critical biocultural, medical anthropological research approach, the purpose of this research was to investigate maternal stress in the United States...
This thesis is an account of my investigation on the natural products deriving from various marine algae and has resulted in the discovery of thirteen novel bioactive metabolites. Isolation and characterization of these unique molecules were carried out using different chromatographic techniques and by careful analyses of 1D and 2D...
The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management propose to adopt coordinated ecosystem management direction for the lands they administer within the range of the northern spotted owl. This Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SETS) presents as alternatives the options, with slight modifications, developed by the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment...