This report is an economic and policy assessment of the biological effectiveness and economic efficiency of incentive mechanisms for private landowners to conserve U.S. biodiversity. Its focus is on rural lands that tend to be used for forestry, agriculture and residential purposes.
Rapid assessments are essential to establish baseline information of ecosystems that can
be used to design management plans such as marine protected areas. A rapid ecological
assessment was conducted to determine the conditions of coral reefs and reef fish around barrier islands that occur within the central Belize Barrier Reef...
Wetlands and wet prairies are economically and environmentally valuable ecosystems, but many have been degraded or converted to other uses. As human understanding of wetlands' value has increased, restoration efforts have grown correspondingly. Restoration attempts use a diversity of methods, which often include seeding with native plant species. This thesis...
This research was undertaken to provide barley growers, processors, and consumers with quality food barley. Because all currently available varieties of food barley are of spring growth habit, the first phase of the research involved agronomic assessment of these varieties under Oregon conditions. Because winter barley usually yields more than...
Mutualistic associations between cnidarians, such as corals, and photosynthetic
dinoflagellate algae provide the trophic and structural foundation of coral reef
ecosystems. In many cases, this intracellular mutualism is highly specific and must be
established anew for each generation of host corals. The ability to maintain partner
specificity across generations implies...
Nitrosomonas europaea (ATCC19718) participates in the biological removal of nitrogen from wastewater by oxidizing ammonia to nitrite, the first step in nitrification. This bacterium is sensitive to heavy metals (Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Hg²⁺) and cyanide, compounds commonly encountered in wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, we characterized physiological and transcriptional responses...
In an era of human-induced climate change, there is increasing interest in encouraging people to reduce their carbon dioxide (carbon) emissions by adopting low-carbon behaviors, or behaviors that reduce a person’s use of fossil fuels. I designed the Campus Carbon Challenge as a research and outreach project to gain a...
Olympia oysters, “Ostrea conchaphila,” were once common along the west coast of North America. A popular delicacy, native oyster populations began to decline in the late 1800’s due to over‐harvest, degraded water quality, and habitat loss. Interest in re‐establishing the native oyster in a small Oregon estuary, Netarts Bay, culminated...