Large river basins integrate the signal of water from atmospheres to oceans. Climate change is widely expected to alter streamflow and potentially disrupt water management systems. We tested the ecological resilience -- capacity of headwater ecosystems to sustain streamflow under climate change – and the engineering resilience – capacity of...
Paleoclimate proxies based on the measurement of xylem cell anatomy have rarely been developed across the temperature range of a species or applied to wood predating the most recent millennium. Here we describe wood anatomy-based proxies for spring temperatures in central North America from modern bur oaks (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.)....
Long-term ecological data are crucial in helping ecologists understand ecosystem function and environmental change. Nevertheless, these kinds of data sets are difficult to analyze because they are usually large, multivariate, and spatiotemporal. Although existing analysis tools such as statistical methods and spreadsheet software permit rigorous tests of pre-conceived hypotheses and...
Photobiological hydrogen production -- the use of photosynthesis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen -- presents an opportunity for efficient and large-scale solar biofuel development. One of the major challenges in this area is competition for reductant between the hydrogen-evolving hydrogenase enzyme and other metabolic pathways. In this work...
Coastlines have traditionally been engineered to maintain structural stability and to protect property from storm-related damage, but their ability to endure will be challenged over the next century. The use of vegetation to reduce erosion on ocean-facing mainland and barrier island shorelines – including the sand dunes and beaches on...
An online survey of river restoration practitioners, engineers, and researchers was conducted to examine current practices and perspectives on how climate change is integrated into engineering designs for river restoration. Seventy-six responses were submitted to the survey. While the responses came from a wide range of demographies, respondents were most...
Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic bacteria with the capability of dissimilatory metal reduction. The ability of the organism to reduce a wide range of solid metal-oxides during anaerobic respiration makes it an ideal candidate for the powering of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which capture the electrons discharged...
Vegetation at the aquatic–terrestrial interface can alter landscape features through its growth and interactions with sediment and fluids. Even similar species may impart different effects due to variation in their interactions and feedbacks with the environment. Consequently, replacement of one engineering species by another can cause significant change in the...