Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) flux is an important mechanism to convey soil carbon (C) from aboveground organic debris (litter) to deeper soil horizons and can influence the formation of stable soil organic carbon (SOC) compounds. Aboveground litter quantity and quality was manipulated for 20-years in an old-growth Douglas fir forest...
Soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a small but crucial part of the forest carbon cycle. Characterizing the relationship between detrital inputs and soil DOC chemistry is crucial to understanding the ultimate fate of root carbon, fallen wood and needles. Chemical differences in the DOC pool may help to explain...
The use of Landsat data has historically been constrained to spectral and spatial information derived from a carefully selected image or set of images. However, free and open access to Landsat imagery combined with advances in data storage and computing are revolutionizing how the Landsat temporal domain is used to...
Kate Chopin, author of the proto-feminist novel The Awakening, was also a prolific writer of short stories. Nineteen of her stories were originally published in Vogue magazine between 1893 and 1900. This study looks at six of these stories, "The Father of Desiree's Baby," "A Respectable Woman," "The Dream of...
Sepsis is a blood infection caused by circulating pathogens and cell wall fragments that affects over 1 million patients per year in the United States. When bacterial cell membranes are lysed by antibiotics, cell wall fragments containing lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are released. As a result, the capture of LPS is critical...
The soil microbiome drives nutrient transformation in forest soils and plays a critical role in the carbon (C) cycle of these ecosystems. Wildfires cause significant disturbance to ecosystems and are known to alter C sources available to microbes in forest soils. Summer wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are of growing...
There is a growing consensus that anthropogenic warming will impact soil organic matter (SOM). Globally, soil contains 2-3 times more carbon (C) than plants, and like plants, temperature induced change of SOM could have significant climate repercussions. Although, the majority of warming experiments have increased day and night temperatures equally,...
:
______________________________________________________________________________
Kate J. Lajtha
There is a growing consensus that anthropogenic warming will impact soil
Protein adsorption on blood contacting medical devices usually causes fouling and failure, and may promote clotting and undesirable immune responses. Hydrophilic polymer coatings in a dense, pendent “brush” conformation can resist protein adsorption on the surface while increasing biocompatibility. Such coatings can also be used to immobilize a variety of...
Globally, the forestry sector is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gases, and sustainable forest management is a major target of international environmental policy. However, there is the assumption underlying many policy recommendations that an increase in above-ground carbon stocks correspond to long term increases in ecosystem carbon stocks, the...
In undisturbed N-limited forested catchments, DON may represent over 90% of the total N lost in streams. Some ecologists have suggested that plant-derived reactive polyphenols may be responsible for DON binding and transport because polyphenol-protein complexes are known to precipitate out of solution, bind to mineral surfaces or organic matter...
How water moves through soils is of importance to studies of stream hydrology and biogeochemistry. Although translatory flow, which states how soil water is displaced by additional precipitation into streams, is a widely accepted model, Brooks et al. (2010) found evidence that challenged this model. They suggested that there are...
Soil is the largest terrestrial store of carbon (C) making it a critical component of the global C cycle. To model global carbon budgets more accurately we need to understand dynamics and turnover of the many different functional soil C pools that exist in soil. Many different methods are used...
The link between aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and resource gradients generated by complex terrain (solar radiation, nutrients, and moisture) has been established in the literature. Belowground ecosystem stocks and functions, such as soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and belowground productivity have also been related to the...
Emissions largely associated with the combustion of fossil fuels and agriculture has caused elevated atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) throughout much of the developed world. Increased atmospheric deposition of N and S can lead to soil and surface water acidification and affect forest soil nutrient supply. The...
:
________________________________________________________________________
Kate J. Lajtha
Emissions largely associated with the combustion of fossil fuels and
Increased globalization has greatly increased the ability for species to travel outside of their native range and reach all parts of the world. While most species do not have an impact in new habitats, a small percentage are able to establish a new population and spread, causing ecological damage and...
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the terrestrial biosphere's largest pool of organic carbon (C) and is an integral part of C cycling globally. Soil organic matter composition typically can be traced directly back to the type of detrital inputs; however, the stabilization of SOM results as a combination of chemical...
Forests in the Pacific Northwest receive very little nitrogen through atmospheric deposition and thus studying the nitrogen cycle in this region can provide insights into how the unpolluted nitrogen cycle functions. I examined the fate of organic nitrogen versus inorganic nitrogen and the effect of tamlins on N retention by...
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the result of the balance between decomposition and incorporation of detritus from both above and below ground sources into the soil. It composes only a fraction of the soil by mass but it is one of the most critical components. The Detritus Input and Removal...
Understanding species distributions temporally and spatially will facilitate effective conservation efforts and catalyze informed environmental management decisions. The predicted distributions of 31 species of European bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) were mapped across Europe using species presence records and environmental data from 72 environmental variables (annual mean temperature, precipitation, etc.). In order...
The abundance and spatial heterogeneity of coarse woody debris (CWD) on the forest floor is a prominent feature of Pacific Northwest (PNW) forest ecosystems. The effect of CWD on soil solution chemistry, nutrient cycling and availability, soil physical structure and formation of soil organic matter, however, remains unknown. Therefore, studies...
Soils, with their potential to store and stabilize carbon (C), are an essential resource for sustaining forest productivity, as well as for efforts to reduce atmospheric C concentrations. Protecting existing soil C and harnessing the sequestration potential of our soils require an improved understanding of the processes through which soil...
Acculturative stress can be associated with increased conflicts between Latino parents and adolescent youth, and have negative effects on Latino immigrant parents' psychosocial functioning and parenting practices. Yet, the potentially deleterious effects of acculturative stress on Latino immigrant parents' psychosocial functioning and parenting practices may be mitigated through positive acculturative...
Water movement, from forest soil to streams, has traditionally been modeled by translatory flow. A hypothesis was presented by Brooks et al. (2010) suggesting that, in addition to translatory flow, there exists an immobile pool of water trapped in small pores with low matric potential. Comparisons of water stable isotope...
A compartmental modeling approach is presented to route nitrate retention along a cascade of stream reach sections. A process transfer function is used for transient storage equations with first-order reaction terms to represent nitrate uptake in the free stream and denitrification in the storage regions. In the context of a...
The purpose of this study is to critically explore low-income women's experience as they negotiate post secondary education in community colleges. Three research questions explore the context through which low-income women have entered the college experience, what that experience is like for them, and how the community college experience has...
Millions of acres of rangeland in the western U.S. is shared habitat by elk (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and cattle (Bos taurus). Potential competition between these ungulates for the same forage species can be understood from their diet composition. I used DNA metabarcoding methods with trnL primers to...
Population counts of aquatic insects can be a credible indicator of the overall health of a waterway. Stonefly (Plecoptera) larva are very sensitive to chemicals present within the waterway, however obtaining population counts of the larvae can be very labor intensive and thus costly. The BugID project has been working...
To better understand the impact of land use on stream nutrient export, a synoptic sampling of 57 sub-basins within the Willamette River basin was conducted during winter baseflow conditions (February 2009). I assessed whether stream dissolved organic carbon (DOC), NO₃⁻ and Cl⁻ and specific ultra-violet absorbance (SUVA) values were correlated...
Sepsis is an inflammatory reaction occurring throughout the human body to infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and or other forms of pathogens. It is essential to find an alternative treatment method for sepsis, to lessen the dependence on antibiotics. Hemoperfusion is an absorbent device that removes select targets from blood,...
Models of ecosystem carbon (C) balance generally assume a strong relationship between net primary productivity (NPP), litter inputs, and soil C accumulation, but there is little direct evidence for such a coupled relationship. Using a unique 50-year detrital manipulation experiment in a in a mixed deciduous forest and restored prairie...
Ceramic injection molding (CIM) is a high volume, near net shaping process used to manufacture ceramic parts with complex features and shapes. In CIM design it is important to understand the molding behavior as a function of powder-polymer (feedstock) composition in order to achieve desired part dimensions and properties, at...
Feasible sustainable fisheries development is dependent on a range of political, social, economic and ecological factors, but to date most debate informing fisheries management and fisheries development policy in the Pacific has tended to address only one or two of these factors in isolation from the others. For example, Pacific...
Powder injection molding (PIM) is widely used to manufacture complex-shaped ceramic and metal components in high production volumes. In order to design and fabricate PIM components, it is important to know a number of material properties at different powder- polymer compositions. In this thesis, several predictive models for estimating rheological,...
Despite holding substantial ecological value, wetlands in the United States have experienced a significant decline in both area and function over the past century with the majority of freshwater wetland loss attributed to agricultural conversion. Agriculture is the second largest industry in the State of Oregon and the State places...
Although it is generally assumed that the intensifying abiotic environment is the primary effect of drought on aquatic organisms, drought-induced top predator extinctions may be an important underlying mechanism. I used manipulative experiments to disentangle the impacts of drying and top predator extinctions on arid-land aquatic invertebrate communities. I then...
Paleoclimate archives have revealed abrupt climate events that are superimposed on more gradual climate changes throughout the last glacial and deglacial periods. The underlying causes of such rapid climate changes are still poorly understood, but the strong expression of these events in northern hemisphere records likely points to climatic mechanisms...
Frequent or lengthy predation risk can cause one of two modifications of prey feeding
behavior: 1) postponement of feeding to less risky periods, or 2) resumption of feeding
behavior despite persistent risk. North Pacific flatfishes exhibit both of these responses when confronted with temporal variation in risk, and this experimental...
The purpose of Oregon's Nearshore Research Inventory (NRI) project was to inventory and map the current and future use of Oregon's nearshore environment by the scientific research community for use in Oregon's marine spatial planning process. Spatial and qualitative data on the use of Oregon's ocean and coast by the...
This study evaluates the system efficiency and energy-offsetting capabilities of a closed-cycle thermochemical energy storage (TCES) system. Current TCES research primarily focuses on material selection and reactor design but overlooks the practical limitations faced on a system level. Thus, this study investigates various TCES integration methods for providing building space...
Commodity chains for canned tuna are global, with fishing grounds in all the oceans, processing centers
on every continent and end markets equally widespread. A tuna caught by a Taiwanese vessel in the
exclusive economic zone of Kiribati in the Pacific may be transported to a cannery in Thailand by...
The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of community colleges creating pathways to degree completion in professional-technical programs by breaking degree programs into smaller portions, referred to as "chunks." The purpose or possible advantage of chunking was that it would improve the rate of degree completion among...
One of the challenges of education in the environment and natural resources field is to convey and create practical knowledge in a multidisciplinary context. At the University of Vermont, one way that many Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (RSENR) faculty approach this challenge is through community-based teaching and...
This thesis explores interrelationships between the geographical impact of recent hurricanes, rates of giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis in impacted communities, and effects of hurricanes on local water infrastructure systems. I obtained quantitative data on geographical hurricane attributes, demographic characteristics of populations struck by hurricanes, and confirmed cases of giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis...
The mission of the Greater La Pine Community Wildfire Protection Plan is to protect against loss of life, property and natural resources as the result of wildland fire. This CWPP outlines priorities, strategies and action plans for fuels reduction treatments in the wildland urban interface. It also addresses special areas...
Historical ecology is becoming an important focus in conservation biology and offers a promising tool to help guide ecosystem management.
Here, we integrate data from multiple disciplines to illuminate the past, present, and future of biodiversity on California’s Channel Islands, an
archipelago that has undergone a wide range of land-use...
Soils are a globally significant carbon (C) pool and have the potential to respond to elevated CO2 and environmental changes through positive feedback cycles that enhance the turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). Understanding the mechanisms governing the turnover of SOM is particularly important for modeling the fate of C...
:
________________________________________________________________________
David D. Myrold Kate Lajtha
Soils are a globally significant carbon (C) pool and have the
Spotted knapweed, Centaurea maculosa Lam. (Compositae) is an extremely
successful introduced weed species in the northwestern United States. Multiple factors
may be responsible for its success, including chemical defense. Two different types of
putative chemical defense agents are the focus of this thesis. The first is a bitter-tasting
sesquiterpene lactone,...
As large-scale restorations of degraded rangelands are initiated, land managers need to
understand how decades of dominance by the invasive annual grass, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum
L.), have altered ecosystem processes. One way to assess such alterations is by observing
differences in decay rates, since decomposition is determined by factors such...
Jung, Ruthruff, Tybur, Gaspelin, and Miller (2012) reported behavioral evidence that the perception of facial attractiveness requires central attentional resources. We evaluated this conclusion using more sensitive electrophysiological measures. Participants first made an attractiveness rating on faces to validate the assigned level of attractiveness (low vs. high). They then performed...
Endophytes, foliage inhabiting fungi, are an unexplored source of fungal biodiversity and a potential resource for the production of bioactive natural products. In this research, leaf tissues from the species Arbutus menziesii, Rhododendron macrophyllum and the genus, Ilex and Salix were collected for the isolation of endophytic fungi. Fungal extracts...
We previously reported that inhibition of the Na⁺ translocating NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (NQR), either by chemical inhibition or mutation, increased toxT transcription in Vibrio cholerae. In this study, we revealed that the nqr mutant strain showed similar phenotypes as the Escherichia coli NADH dehydrogenase I (nuo) mutant strain (e.g. growth defect...
Full Text:
Heidelberg, J. F., J. A. Eisen, W. C. Nelson, R. A. Clayton, M. L. Gwinn, R. J. Dodson, D. H. Haft, E. K
We previously reported that inhibition of the Na⁺ translocating NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (NQR), either by chemical inhibition or mutation, increased toxT transcription in Vibrio cholerae. In this study, we revealed that the nqr mutant strain showed similar phenotypes as the Escherichia coli NADH dehydrogenase I (nuo) mutant strain (e.g. growth defect...
Full Text:
in V. cholerae.
References
1. Heidelberg, J. F., J. A. Eisen, W. C. Nelson, R. A. Clayton, M
We previously reported that inhibition of the Na⁺ translocating NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (NQR), either by chemical inhibition or mutation, increased toxT transcription in Vibrio cholerae. In this study, we revealed that the nqr mutant strain showed similar phenotypes as the Escherichia coli NADH dehydrogenase I (nuo) mutant strain (e.g. growth defect...
Space radiation biology is an emerging field of research with a focus on improving the
health and safety of astronauts in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and deep-space missions. Eye
health is especially important to astronaut functionality. Recent studies have found an
increased risk of cataract formation in astronauts with higher lens...
This thesis investigates Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) as a method of instruction for natural resources education. The research follows the adoption of CTL in the K-12 classrooms of six teachers focusing on natural resources education at two rural schools in Western Oregon. CTL is being investigated because it connects...
Pacific Northwest temperate rainforests are anticipated to experience increasingly frequent and severe wildfires in the foreseeable future due to climate change, increased fuel loads, and deforestation. Soil, underlying these forests, is the largest terrestrial carbon (“C”) reservoir. Fire disturbance influences soil C persistence, the timeframe and magnitude of which remain...
Eukaryotic cells have developed elaborate biochemical processes to counteract oxidative stress, electrophiles, or carcinogens due to environmental insults. One of these important cellular defense mechanisms is mediated by the transcription factor Nrf2 that have been shown to have decrease activity with age. While the process of which Nrf2 is involved...
Successful conservation management requires an understanding of how species respond to intervention. Native and exotic species may respond differently to management interventions due to differences arising directly from their native or exotic origin (i.e., provenance) or from differences in life-history or phylogenetic lineage that are associated with provenance. Thus, selection...
The immobilization of chelators to solid supports has recently gained renewed interest due to the increasing biomedical and environmental applications made possible by these molecules’ ability to bind Fe(III) and other metal ions. The uses of immobilized chelators have expanded to include the treatment of metal overload in serum, the...
Most carbon (C) transformations in soil are carried out by a diverse and complex soil microbial community. The size and composition of the soil microbial community is determined by poorly understood interactions between the quantity and chemical composition of plant inputs, as well as climate. Given the metabolic diversity of...
Lower and Middle Devonian strata crop out on the former
stable carbonate platform that existed in the Quinn Canyon Range,
through the carbonate shelf edge in the Pancake Range, to the
carbonate slope and outer-shelf basin in the Reveille Range.
The strata of the Reveille Range record a transition from...
As anthropogenic changes interact with natural climate cycles, the variability of marine ecosystems is likely to increase. This variability influences the behaviour of fishers, which can affect the profitability and sustainability of stocks and may have wider economic and ecological effects. We use data from the US West Coast salmon...
Since the 1990s Pacific island countries have been host to a plethora of projects to improve the management of coastal marine environments. Some of these have been about strengthening Indigenous and community-based forms of resource management. Some have been about building government capacity and strengthening legislative frameworks. Marine Protected Areas...
The OSU Government Relations Office provides periodic updates that describe events in Washington, DC and Salem. These updates include insights on how budget and policy decisions at the state and federal level will affect OSU and are issued once or twice a month, depending on the level of activities in...
The world’s fisheries are widely considered to be in ecological crisis. One governance solution is private standards, including ecolabelling. The conventional logic is that ecolabels meet consumer demand for ‘sustainable’ seafood, with good players rewarded with price premiums or market share and bad players punished by reduced sales. Empirically, however,...
Industrial emissions of SO₂ and NOₓ, resulting in the formation and deposition of sulfuric and nitric acids, affect the health of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Since the mid-late 20th century, legislation to control acid rain precursors in both Europe and the US has led to significant declines in both...
The OSU Government Relations Office provides periodic updates that describe events in Washington, DC and Salem. These updates include insights on how budget and policy decisions at the state and federal level will affect OSU and are issued once or twice a month, depending on the level of activities in...
The OSU Government Relations Office provides periodic updates that describe events in Washington, DC and Salem. These updates include insights on how budget and policy decisions at the state and federal level will affect OSU and are issued once or twice a month, depending on the level of activities in...
The OSU Government Relations Office provides periodic updates that describe events in Washington, DC and Salem. These updates include insights on how budget and policy decisions at the state and federal level will affect OSU and are issued once or twice a month, depending on the level of activities in...
The phrase "canopy management" has recently become trendy in many New World grapegrowing areas. Interestingly enough, the concepts are not new and are generally acknowledged in Old World viticulture, though often these empirical observations are misinterpreted, as we will soon show. It was Nelson Shaulis of Cornell University who developed...
The OSU Government Relations Office provides periodic updates that describe events in Washington, DC and Salem. These updates include insights on how budget and policy decisions at the state and federal level will affect OSU and are issued once or twice a month, depending on the level of activities in...
The Producing for the Future project engaged thirty low-income youth in gardening and nutrition education, microenterprise activities, and participatory research during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons. The intervention aimed to support community protective factors, build positive youth development, and enhance health outcomes through promoting skill-building and mentorship. The mixedmethods...
Methanotrophic bacteria are promising means of producing value-added products as they have the ability to transform methane under atmospheric temperature and pressure. Efforts to develop methanotrophs to produce value-added products are hoped to incentivize a decrease in methane flaring operations. The data collected during this study was used to inform...
Amphibian biodiversity is in rapid global decline, due in part to the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Susceptibility to Bd and chytridiomycosis varies between species and populations. Skin peptides and symbiotic skin bacteria appear to be important mechanisms of Bd resistance. However, not much is known about...
The objective of this study was to characterize an unknown agent associated with decline in black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) in Oregon. A virus was found consistently associated with decline symptoms of black raspberries and was named Black raspberry decline associated virus (BRDaV). Double stranded RNA extraction from BRDaV-infected black raspberry...
In current nanotoxicology research, there is a lack of standardization in reporting of zebrafish exposure media and sonication practices. This lack of standardization in use and reporting methods has made reproducing nanoparticle (NP) toxicity results between labs a common issue. It is important to have a standardized way of reporting...
This exploratory study posited that being in an insecure marriage would increase marital conflict and perceived relational aggression when the couple is experiencing economic constraints. The cross-sectional design assessed two groups of marriages: secure and insecure. A structural equation model using multiple group comparison tested the effect of each type...
Ubiquitous fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposures significantly impact global public health, yet little is known about the mechanisms causing these known adverse health effects. Oxidative stress due to PM2.5 associated chemical constituents, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is a proposed possible mechanism for PM2.5 mediated health effects. Variations in...
In order to reduce the cost of lignocellulosic ethanol production, a model was previously developed to predict the amount of fermentable sugar released based on parameters concerning both biomass and enzymes. To validate this model, enzymatic hydrolysis must be carried out using individual purified cellulase enzymes. Endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase I (EG I),...
This paper explores the use of sonification, the conversion of data into sound, to convey the significance of SARS-COV-2 and its global impact. It emphasizes sonification as a valuable tool for making complex data accessible, particularly in high school education. Sonification, an interdisciplinary field, leverages the human auditory system's pattern...
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the US, however, only a small fraction of cases are attributable to heritable genetic mutations; the bulk arises from various behavioral and environmental factors. Loss of functional p53 is observed in over 50% of cases, and its activity relies...
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been studied for their carcinogenic toxicity. PAHs are formed by incomplete carbon combustion. Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is an IARC classified Class 1 Human carcinogenic PAH. New studies are conducted to gain a better understanding of PAHs and how to reduce exposure. Glutathione S-transferase M 1 (GSTM1...
Testing the many potential chemoprevention agents from dietary sources in animal or human models is expensive and takes a long time. In vitro models can be useful for screening the right compounds to use in larger studies. We tested the MatTek™ EpiIntestinal™ small intestine epithelial 3D cell culture model for...
This work is a representation of my competencies, experiences, reflections and learning through
the College Student Services Administration Master’s of Education program at Oregon State
University. This paper consists of both research and reflective writing and demonstrates in-depth
my learning and development over the past two years in the College...
The marathon is well noted for the extreme stress it applies to the body and mind. The
physiological aspects of marathon training were investigated and examined for someone
unfamiliar with the field. Several training programs were investigated within a
framework provided by the popular Daniels' Running Formula. By the Formula's...
Objective: This study presents an in-depth review of the correlations between peer learning methods and Academic success for students within the Oregon State University introductory PH 20X physics series. This study also sought to determine how, if any, demographics impacted the relationship between these correlates, and if the course structure...
This study uses the Health Impact Assessment approach to determine the health impacts of allowing accessory dwelling units in Benton County, Oregon. A literature review presents the health benefits of accessory dwelling units in urban areas and identifies the potential negative health effects in rural areas. Five accessory dwelling units...
Paper microfluidic devices are capable of processing fluids using capillary flow in materials that are lower cost than the standard materials used in microfluidics. Due to the low cost of their fabrication and minimal requirements for instrumentation, paper microfluidic devices are ideal for use in low-resource settings. They have the...
The goal of my thesis is to (a) help reveal to the Corvallis community who comprises this local population and (b) to share with local resource agencies what potential gaps are present from the perspectives of the homeless individuals who call Corvallis home. We interviewed eight (8) individuals who have...
Best international health practice requires that all people benefit equally from health care
services regardless of their socio-economic status and that healthcare payments be based
on ability to pay. Although recent household surveys in Malawi show progress in a
number of health indicators population averages, many inequalities in health outcomes...