Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Water Riparian areas'

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Rhode Island, 2006.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-112). Also available online via the University of Rhode Island Watershed Hydrology Laboratory publications home page.

Oomycetes are eukaryotic fungus-like microorganisms that are known to be pathogenic to plants and animals, causing both ecological and economic damage. Animal pathogenic oomycetes, such as Saprolegnia species are destructive pathogens to many aquatic organisms and are found in most parts of the world. Phytophthora species cause a number of plant diseases. Pythium are less understood as many of these species are saprotrophs which are not thought to be pathogenic. Oomycete research has focussed mainly towards the characterisation and control of pathogenic species with very little information on the ecology of Oomycetes. In this thesis, oomycete species were isolated from water samples collected from rivers in Scotland and Northern England. Baiting and water filtration were used to compare the reliability of both methods, and nested PCR was used to compare the number and types of species obtained in comparison to conventional culturing methodologies. The results suggest that water filtration provided a fast, reliable method for isolating abundant, hardier species such as Pythium undulatum, Saprolegnia diclina, Saprolegnia delica, and Saprolegnia ferax. Water chemistry, surrounding land use, seasonality and land elevation were found to be important factors in Oomycete diversity. Nested PCR of oomycetes directly from filters to obtain target DNA from organisms which are more difficult to culture or less numerous proved to be useful for some species, but will need more refinement of primer and methodologies to obtain species of interest. Sampling of the rivers resulted in the isolation of three new Pythium spp. isolated from the Rivers Spey and Dochart in Scotland. Phylogenetic analysis, infection studies, growth rates and microscopy were used to characterise these three species.

In New Zealand, there are many published guidelines about the management of riparian areas. The question needs to be asked, are these guides useful? This research thesis investigates the extent to which riparian management guides meet the needs of the users. This research also considers the importance of riparian management (with regards to the appropriateness of educational guides) in assisting practitioners and the interested public in the management of riparian areas. The main way of investigating this topic was with the help of discussion groups. Discussion groups were held with interested organisations. These groups fell into three categories; Urban groups, Rural groups and Interest groups. The groups were asked to define what would make a guide most useful and desirable to them under three major categories: 1) what the guide looked like, 2) what information was contained, and 3) how was the information accessed. An opportunity was also provided for any further comments. This information was used to create a list of the most popular criteria that existing guides and further publications could be examined against. Eleven criteria were identified as follows: Information should be available online; Have pictures; Include diagrams; Is simple and easy to understand; Contains how to and appropriate methods; Has a plant list; Considers maintenance issues; Identifies where to locate further information; How to contact experts; Is available in libraries; Is in booklet form. The availability of existing information was investigated and its suitability assessed against the criteria. A list of all regional, territorial and unitary councils as well as 'other organisations' that were regarded as sources of environmental knowledge were investigated to see how many had produced information on riparian and wetland management issues. In terms of sources of information, 'other organisations' produce the greatest rate of riparian management information, followed by regional/unitary authorities. Two guides from Canterbury best meet the criteria identified by the interested parties, for the Canterbury region. Each scored 10/11 and failed on different criteria. This led to the conclusion that riparian management guides in Canterbury, while obviously still having room for improvement, are very close to meeting what interested parties feel is most important. Finally, a prototype (model) based on the research is provided for anyone who might be considering preparing a riparian management guide.

A seasonal groundwater model was developed to simulate fluxes and head distributions with periodic boundary conditions within the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA) in southeastern Arizona. This model incorporated a seasonal approach for the period 1940-1995. Two years were used to simulate streamflow, 1990 and 1995. The model, as currently calibrated, does not accurately reproduce observed baseflow conditions in the San Pedro River and simulates an exaggerated effect of retiring irrigation within the SPRNCA. The model simulated increased baseflows while the observed baseflows declined at the USGS Charleston stream gage, though increases in baseflow contributions between Hereford Bridge and Lewis Springs have been reported. The original (Corell, et al., 1996) model and the seasonal transient model suffer from over- estimation of discharge from the floodplain aquifer to the San Pedro river, as well as errors in the seasonal transient model's simulation of riparian ET, and seasonal variations in stream conductance. These problems precluded the seasonal transient model from replicating the observed baseflows in the San Pedro river at the Charleston bridge, however, the results of the simulation are thought to be qualitatively indicative of changes in the flow system resulting from the retirement of irrigated agriculture in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. Possible sources for this problem include replacement of irrigation stresses by the expansion of cones of depression more distant from the river, overestimation of mountain front recharge, poor baseflow estimates and evapotransipration calculations from the stream gages at Charleston and Palominas, and the effects of a recently discovered silt -clay body that may dampen the speed of the rivers response to changes in stress. Additional efforts to re- calibrate the model, taking these areas into account, should provide better simulated baseflow values of the observed data.

Agriculture is key to New Zealand�s economy with land-use conversions in response to market forces occurring regularly. Recently, high-intensity dairy farming has replaced low-density livestock farming, often degrading surrounding waterways. Of particular concern is that dairy cattle can be a source of the parasite Giardia, which in humans is a common cause of gastrointestinal infection. Thus, this thesis evaluated whether dairy farm conversions posed significant consequences for public health. First I examined the prevalence of Giardia in calves in a rapidly intensifying dairying region of New Zealand. A total of 1190 faecal samples were collected from calves one to seven weeks old during two spring calving seasons and screened by direct immunofluorescent microscopy. Giardia cysts were detected in 31% of samples. To evaluate the potential risk that this environmental source of Giardia posed to the human population, molecular genotyping was used to compare forty Giardia strains isolated from calves with thirty isolates from humans collected in the same region and period. Sequencing the β-giardin gene, Giardia duodenalis assemblages A and B were identified from both hosts, with genotype comparisons revealing substantial overlap of identical genotypes for both assemblages, implying zoonotic transmission. Environmental agencies routinely promote the planting of streamside edges to decrease nonpoint pollution from dairy farms entering waterways. However, current methods for tracking pathogens across farmland and into waterways via surface runoff are limited and typically have been developed using artificially created landscapes. Furthermore, no studies have investigated how Giardia moves across the landscape in farm surface runoff. I developed a field-based tracking method specific for Giardia and used this technique to compare the ability of recently planted vegetation strips with bare soil strips cleared of vegetation at decreasing pathogen concentrations; a typical scenario when planting barriers to reduce waterway contamination. A spike containing a bromide tracer and inactivated Giardia cysts was applied in drip-irrigated surface runoff, with one-minute samples collected from the bottom of the plot. A significant treatment effect was identified for Giardia, with 26% fewer detected in runoff from the planted strip, highlighting the immediate benefit of vegetation planting in removing pathogens. Next I evaluated the effects of four riparian treatments on Giardia runoff: exotic pasture grass and weeds growing in the absence of cattle grazing due to fencing, in comparison to monocultural plantings of three New Zealand native grassland species. Runoff experiments were performed after planting, both prior to and following the main summer growing season. Bromide recovery was high from all four treatments (54 - 99%), with no significant treatment effects. By comparison, Giardia recovery was low (1 - 13%). Prior to summer, two native species reduced Giardia in runoff more than the pasture grass/weed treatment which was almost vegetation-free at this time. After summer, Giardia recoveries were uniformly lower in all treatments. These results demonstrate that after one growing season, fencing waterways produces riparian buffers, via the growth of exotic pasture plants released from grazing, that decrease pathogen concentrations in surface runoff to concentrations indistinguishable from native plantings. Given infectious organisms are known to be in the environment, it is important to assess the risk these pose to human populations. Findings from this research can be used to improve currently available risk-assessment models for Giardia transmission from infected dairy animals via water to humans.

The occupation of forest ecosystems in mountainous region of the Rio Grande do Sul state occurred with the establishment of agriculture and livestock at small family production units (FPU). Qualitatively and quantitatively scarcity of land has led farmers to explore agricultural areas with no suitability for farming by intensive practices, these areas should be intended to permanent preservation. The present study aims to: a) analyze the agroenvironmental conflicts in agroecosystems of tobacco production arising from inappropriate use of soils, especially in areas of permanent preservation (APP) of riparian forests; b) analyze the importance and limits of the use of environmental legislation instruments (Forest Code) and land classification system for agricultural suitability of soils in agroenvironmental planning as methods for reducing the contamination of water in small FPU; and c) verify the effectiveness of riparian forests in containing the pollution of superficial waters of three landscape units in the Arroio Lino Watershed (ALW). The study area is located in the municipality of Agudo, RS, and covers an area of 480.7 ha, which are subdivided into 36 FPU. The main features of the landscape and land uses were described, quantified and spatialized for the whole ALW and for each of the FPU. The map of APP was obtained by following the orientation of the Brazilian Forest Code. The map of land use conflicts was generated by crossing the layers of current land use, APP and land suitability for agriculture. To evaluate the ability of riparian forests to tamponate the water pollution, samples of water and sediment were collected at different landscape units with a variety of land use and occupation. Samples were taken inside and outside the limits of APP. The results of layers intersection showed that 44% of the ALW have some sort of environmental conflict as a result of inappropriate land use. The conflicts that deserve more attention refer to the occurrence of crops on land unsuitable for agricultural and those located in APP. These sites cover 6.7% of the watershed and constitute the main sources of pollution of surface waters, especially with tobacco being cultivated in the conventional system. Even if cultivating areas are restricted to only 25% of the watershed, an inadequate arrangement of the agricultural plots in the landscape contributes to an increase in up to ten times in water pollution by sediment and phosphorus. Thus, the distribution of land use in the landscape is just as, or even more important than the percentage occupied by each of these uses. Although more than half of ALW area is covered with native forests, the absence of forest cover in the APP, mainly at the edges of streams and water springs, has promoted the transfer of large amounts of sediment and nutrients to the waterways due to erosion by occasion of rain. Even though riparian forests did prove to be effective in containing surface runoff, they are not enough if the adjacent and higher areas of the landscape, such as APP at the top and steep slopes of the hills with soils of low agriculture suitability, are being used intensively. Under the conditions of ALW in which there are strong environmental restrictions and limited arable land, the unrestricted application of environmental legislation, especially of the Forest Code, may result in severe restrictions to several FPU. In a result of this, for the agroenvironmental planning it will be necessary to analyze the characteristics of each FPU in particular and how it integrates with the watershed landscape. A replanning of these FPU is critical to ensure the continuity of agriculture in these environments, while minimizing impacts on water resources. However, it is considered to be unsuitable to preservation and improvement of quality of natural resources, particularly superficial water, the current tobacco production and its technological arrangement. The transition to an agriculture of ecological bases could be the way to overcome the agroenvironmental conflicts in these regions which have strong limitations imposed by the agricultural suitability of land and by environmental legislation.<br>A ocupação dos ecossistemas de floresta das regiões serranas do Rio Grande do Sul se deu com o estabelecimento da agricultura e pecuária em pequenas unidades de produção familiares (UPF). A escassez de terras em quantidade e qualidade tem levado os agricultores a usar intensamente glebas sem aptidão agrícola que deveriam ser destinadas à preservação permanente. O presente estudo tem por objetivos: a) analisar os conflitos agroambientais em agroecossistemas de produção de fumo, decorrentes do uso inadequado dos solos, especialmente em áreas de preservação permanente (APP) de matas ciliares; b) analisar a importância e os limites do uso dos instrumentos da legislação ambiental (Código Florestal) e do sistema de classificação de aptidão de uso agrícola das terras no planejamento agroambiental, como forma de diminuir a poluição das águas em pequenas UPF; e c) verificar a eficiência das matas ciliares na contenção da poluição das águas superficiais de três unidades paisagísticas da Microbacia Hidrográfica do Arroio Lino (MBHAL). Essa unidade de estudo está localizada no município de Agudo, RS, e abrange uma área de 480,7 ha, que se encontra subdividida em 36 UPF. As principais características da paisagem e os usos dos solos foram descritos, quantificados e espacializados para toda a MBHAL e para cada uma das UPF. O mapa das APP foi obtido seguindo os dispositivos do Código Florestal Brasileiro. O mapa de conflitos de uso dos solos foi gerado pelo cruzamento dos planos de informação do uso atual dos solos, das APP e da aptidão agrícola das terras. Para verificar a influência das matas ciliares no tamponamento da poluição das águas foram coletadas e analisadas amostras de água e de sedimentos em unidades paisagísticas com diferentes intensidades de uso e ocupação dos solos, tanto dentro quanto fora dos limites das APP. Os resultados do cruzamento dos planos de informações evidenciam que 44% da superfície da MBHAL apresentam algum tipo de conflito ambiental em decorrência do uso inadequado dos solos. Os conflitos que merecem maior atenção se referem à ocorrência de lavouras sobre solos não aptos para uso agrícola e localizados em APP. Esses locais abrangem 6,7% da área da MBHAL e se constituem nas principais fontes de poluição das águas superficiais, especialmente por serem cultivadas com fumo em sistema convencional. Mesmo que as áreas de cultivo estejam restritas a apenas 25% da superfície da MBHAL, a má disposição das glebas na paisagem contribui para o aumento de até dez vezes a poluição da água com sedimentos e fósforo. Assim, a distribuição do uso dos solos na paisagem é tão ou mais importante do que o percentual ocupado por cada um destes usos. Embora que, mais da metade da área da MBHAL esteja coberta com florestas nativas, a ausência de cobertura florestal nas APP, principalmente nas margens de cursos d água e nascentes, tem promovido a transferência de grandes quantidades de sedimentos e nutrientes aos cursos d água por erosão durante as chuvas. Embora as matas ciliares tenham se mostrado eficientes em conter o deflúvio superficial, não são suficientes se as áreas adjacentes e mais elevadas da paisagem, como as APP de encostas e topo de morro com solos de baixa aptidão agrícola, estiverem sendo usadas intensivamente com cultivos agrícolas. Nas condições da MBHAL, em que há fortes restrições ambientais e limitada área agricultável, a aplicação irrestrita da legislação ambiental, especialmente do Código Florestal Brasileiro, poderá resultar em inviabilidade de várias UPF. Desse modo, para o planejamento agroambiental será necessário analisar as particularidades de cada UPF e como ela se integra à paisagem da microbacia hidrográfica. O redesenho dessas UPF é fundamental para garantir a permanência da agricultura nesses ambientes, minimizando os impactos nos recursos hídricos. No entanto, considera-se incompatível a preservação e melhoria da qualidade dos recursos naturais, especificamente das águas superficiais, com a manutenção do sistema de produção de fumo e do pacote tecnológico fornecido pelas empresas. A transição para agriculturas de base ecológica poderá ser o caminho para a superação de conflitos agroambientais nestas regiões com fortes limitações impostas pela aptidão agrícola das terras e pela legislação ambiental.

Airborne lidar (light detecting and ranging) is a useful tool for probing the structure of forest canopies. Such information is not readily available from other remote sensing methods and is essential for modern forest inventories. In this study, small-footprint lidar data were used to estimate biophysical properties of young, mature, and old cottonwood trees in the Upper San Pedro River Basin, Arizona, USA. The lidar data were acquired in June 2003 and 2004, using Optech's 1233 ALTM (Optech Incorporated, Toronto, Canada). Canopy height, crown diameter, stem diameter at breast height (dbh), canopy cover, and mean intensity of return laser pulses from the canopy surface are estimated for the cottonwood trees from lidar data. The lidar estimates show a good degree of correlation with ground-based measurements. This study also demonstrates that other parameters of young, mature, and old cottonwood trees such as height and canopy cover, when derived from lidar, are significantly different (p &lt; 0.05). These lidar-derived canopy metrics provided the basis for a supervised image classification of cottonwood age categories, using a maximum likelihood algorithm. The results of classification illustrate the potential of airborne lidar data to differentiate age classes of cottonwood trees for riparian areas quickly and quantitatively.In addition, four metrics (tree height, height of median energy, ground return ratio, and canopy return ratio) were derived by synthetically constructing a large footprint lidar waveform from small-footprint lidar data (we summed up a series of Gaussian pulses that vertically stacked at the elevations produced by the small-footprint elevation data to create a modeled large-footprint return waveform and compared the synthetic waveforms with ground-based Intelligent Laser Ranging and Imaging System (ILRIS) scanner images in cottonwood trees). These four metrics were incorporated into a stepwise regression procedure to predict field-derived LAI for different age classes of cottonwoods.Additionally, this study applied the Penman-Monteith model to estimate transpiration of the cottonwood clusters using lidar-derived canopy metrics, such as height and LAI, and compared it with transpiration measured by sap flow, so that improved riparian water use estimates could be made.

Tree-ring formation of eastern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.) at a boreal lake in northwestern Quebec, Canada, was monitored using manual band dendrometers to (i) retrace cambial activity phases, (ii) evaluate the effects of flooding on radial growth, and (iii) analyze the relationships with meteorological factors. The daily circumferential activity of four trees at each of two sites, a riparian and an upland site, was recorded during the growing season of 1996, a year with an extreme spring flood. First cambium cell divisions occurred near June 9, followed by a distinct and sustained upward trend in the stem basal area until mid-July that reflected the earlywood formation. The strongly synchronous circumferential activity at both sites suggests no adverse flooding effect on growth of the riparian trees, which is explained by the rapid retreat of the water just before growth initiation in early June. The following month until mid-August was characterized by strong short-term fluctuations caused by alternating drought and rain periods and a slight downward trend of the basal area for six of the eight banded white-cedars. The dendrometers of two trees, the closest to the lake, showed a slight upward trend probably reflecting latewood formation. Pearson correlation with meteorological data indicated that precipitation was positively related to the daily changes in basal area of all trees except during the period of earlywood formation, which probably resulted from the high soil moisture after spring snow-melting. Mean and minimum air humidity were positively related and maximum temperature negatively related to the daily variations in stem circumference during the whole monitoring period, emphasizing the importance of the internal water status on stem size.

21 pp.<br>Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide: Geology, Geomorphology and Soils Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide: Working Together Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide: Hydrology Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide: Fire in Watersheds Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide: Climate<br>Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide was created to help individuals and groups build a mutual foundation of basic knowledge about watersheds in Arizona. It is intended to help Arizonans understand and be good stewards of their watersheds. The guide was designed to compliment the mission of Arizona Master Watershed Steward program to educate and train citizens across the state of Arizona to serve as volunteers in the monitoring, restoration, conservation, and protection of their water and watersheds. The guide consists of 10 self-contained modules which teach about one or more important aspects of watershed science or management.

This study assessed the influence of landscape development on stream-associated amphibians in forested riparian areas within the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. Human alteration of landscapes may dramatically affect the ecology of neighboring aquatic systems. It was hypothesized that lotic amphibians would be negatively associated with greater amounts of landscape development and positively associated with forested area within the surrounding watershed. Thirty-seven 1st-3rd order streams were sampled between June 21st and September 21st in 2011. Streams potentially providing adequate habitat for stream-obligate amphibians were randomly selected. Amphibians were surveyed along 30-meter stream transects using an active-cover search (ACS). Environmental variables associated with development in surrounding landscapes were measured in situ. GIS delineation was conducted to define landscape-scale variables at stratified distances from riparian networks up-stream of each site via the utilization of the 2006 NLCD dataset and a finer-scale, regional dataset compiled by the Institute for Natural Resources (INR). Amphibians were detected at seventeen of the thirty-seven sampled streams. The most commonly detected species were Dicamptadon tenebrosus, Plethadon vehiculum and Plethadon dunni. Streams where amphibians were observed had lower average water temperature and conductivity, coarser stream substrate and were located on public property more often than streams where no amphibians were detected. Landscape variables were most significant to amphibians within 100 and 200 meters of the upstream stream network. Occupancy of a site by facultative species was best explained by the proportion of mixed forest in the surrounding watershed (R2=0.343, p<0.001). Occupancy of a stream by obligate species was best predicted by measurements of water quality and in-stream cover (Water Temperature: R2=0.275, p<0.001; Water Conductivity: R2=0.248, p<0.001; Cover: R2=0.323, p<0.001). Occupancy of stream refugia by all observed amphibians was positively influenced by higher percentages of forest cover and lower percentages of urban development and herbaceous vegetation in the surrounding watershed. Results of this study indicate that urban refugia must contain adequate riparian forest area, coarse stream substrate and clean, cool water to sustain stream-amphibian communities. Protection of remnant forested headwater stream networks is essential to the conservation of lotic amphibians in this urbanized region.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Geography.<br>Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-128). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR51594

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Geography.<br>Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-138). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11778

Thesis (M.S.)--Indiana University, 2007.<br>Title from screen (viewed on Apr. 27, 2007) Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-239)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)<br>Numerous studies have investigated the fate of pollutants in riparian buffers, but few studies have focused on the control of multiple contaminants simultaneously in riparian zones. To better understand what drives the biogeochemical cycles of multiple contaminants in riparian zones, a 19-month study was conducted in riparian buffers across a range of hydrogeomorphic (HGM) settings in the White River watershed in Indiana. Three research sites [Leary Webber Ditch (LWD), Scott Starling (SS) and White River (WR)] with contrasting hydro-geomorphology were selected. We monitored groundwater table depth, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), dissolved oxygen (DO), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), NO3-, NH4+, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), SO42- , total Hg and methylmercury (MeHg). Our results revealed that differences in HGM conditions translated into distinctive site hydrology, but significant differences in site hydrology did not lead to different biogeochemical conditions. Nitrate reduction and sulfate re-oxidation were likely associated with major hydrological events, while sulfate reduction, ammonia and methylmercury production were likely associated with seasonal changes in biogeochemical conditions. Results also suggest that the LWD site was a small sink for nitrate but a source for sulfate and MeHg, the SS site was a small sink for MeHg but had little effect on NO3-, SO42- and SRP, and the WR was an intermediate to a large sink for nitrate, an intermediate sink for SRP, and a small source for MeHg. Land use and point source appears to have played an important role in regulating solute concentrations (NO3-, SRP and THg). Thermodynamic theories probably oversimplify the complex patterns of solute dynamics which, at the sites monitored in the present study, were more strongly impacted by HGM settings, land use, and proximity to a point source.

Southern Africa generally has an arid climate and many hydrologists are predicting an increase in water scarcity over time. This research seeks to understand the implications of this in socio-political terms. The study is cross-disciplinary, examining how policy interventions can be used to solve the problem caused by the interaction between hydrology and demography. The conclusion is that water scarcity is not the actual problem, but is perceived as the problem by policy-makers. Instead, water scarcity is the manifestation of the problem, with root causes being a combination of climate change, population growth and misallocation of water within the economy due to a desire for national self-sufficiency in agriculture. The solution lies in the trade of products with a high water content, also known as 'virtual water'. Research on this specific issue is called for by the White Paper on Water Policy for South Africa.<br>Political Sciences<br>M.A. (International Politics)