This thesis examines prehistoric land use patterns of the entire North Santiam subbasin, located on the western slopes of the Oregon Cascade Range. The objective of this analysis is three-fold: 1) to contribute to reconstructing the cultural chronology of the area; 2) to address the use of raw material by...
The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of aerial photos as a substitute for multiple-year pre-removal field data to assess the downstream channel changes associated with a small dam removal. The Brownsville Dam, a 2.1 m tall concrete dam on the Calapooia River, Oregon, was removed in...
Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a pathogenic bacterium associated with the foodborne disease listeriosis in humans. Listeriosis affects thousands of people in the U.S. yearly, with neonates, elderly, pregnant women, and immunocompromised persons disproportionately affected. Lm has a high mortality rate in these populations (20 - 30%) with symptoms including septicemia,...
The decommissioning of dams, as an approach to restoring longitudinal connectivity and to managing aging infrastructure, presents valuable opportunities for organized study of channel responses to sediment pulses. Experiments with physical and numerical models suggest that rivers process coarse sediment pulses primarily through dispersion. In contrast, translation appears to be...
Humans are increasing the scale and frequency of many natural disturbances, as well as adding novel disturbances to ecosystems. This thesis uses the arthropod community as a metric to examine the multi-trophic responses to disturbances in California grasslands. Chapter 2 explores how the long-term exclusion of native vertebrate herbivores has...
In recent decades the habitat of North American beaver (Castor canadensis) has expanded from boreal forests into pan-Arctic tundra ecosystems. It is unknown how the advance of beavers into Arctic watersheds will impact microbial communities responsible for the mineralization of organic matter (OM), which has implications for carbon cycling. To...
Management of small dams may have profound implications for the health and integrity of small rivers and freshwater diversity. Global indicators suggest future growth in the small hydropower sector, particularly in developing countries. As a renewable energy source, it is often presumed that small hydropower entails fewer and less severe...
The intensity and scale of wildfires has increased throughout the Pacific Northwest in recent decades, especially within the last decade, destroying vast amounts of valuable resources and assets. This trend is predicted to remain or even magnify due climate change, growing population, increased housing density. Furthermore, the associated stress of...
Multipurpose management of hydrosystems face a number of uncertainties related to hydrologic variability and nonstationarity. Anticipated air temperature increases in the Pacific Northwest region are projected to alter the timing and quantity of streamflow associated with precipitation shifting from snow to rain, including shorter winter runoff periods, earlier spring runoff,...
Stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) and Septoria tritici blotch (Zymoseptoria tritici) are a constant and significant threat to wheat production, significantly reducing wheat quality and yield. Wheat is responsible for 20% of the world’s human calorie intake, and wheat production must increase to supply the demand of the...