The Effects of Multiple Stressors on Stream Communities: The Convergence of Drought, Nutrient Pollution, and Invasive Species

Freshwater systems experience multi-faceted degradation from a variety of ecological and environmental stressors. Three common stressors in these systems, drought, nutrient pollution, and invasive species, have wide-ranging effects on stream population- community- and ecosystem dynamics. We have a broad understanding of how each of these stressors works to influence stream systems independently. However, we still know relatively little about if, and how, these stressors might interact when they co-occur. Though drought is a natural part of many stream systems, all three of these stressors can be exacerbated or facilitated by anthropogenic actions. Accordingly, as human population and resource use continue to grow, it becomes increasingly likely that these stressors will co-occur. To address this, I undertook research that sought to better explore the effects of multiple, simultaneous stressors on stream ecosystems. Here, I performed a series of manipulative experiments and constructed mathematical models that examined the effects of varying combinations of drought, nutrients, and invasive species along several ecological scales. I found that each of these stressors can impact stream ecosystems in diverse ways. For instance, drought negatively impacted many portions of the community, while nutrients caused bottom-up trophic effects. Additionally, my models indicated that both drought and invasive species can increase terminal extinction risk for fish metapopulations. However, I also observed several interactive effects. Drought and nutrient pollution interacted both additively and antagonistically on various portions of the food web simultaneously in my experiments, and drought and invasive species interacted synergistically to increase terminal extinction risk in my metapopulation models. Across all examinations, I found that the effects of both individual and multiple stressors are context dependent. Trophic role, life history strategy, and physical habitat all shaped stressor response. This work highlights the complexity of multiple stressors in stream systems and emphasizes a growing need to undertake additional examinations across various taxonomic groups and ecological scales. Our broad knowledge of the effects of individual stressors might not translate to multi-stressor systems, and conservation and management plans that only account for individual stressors might be inadequate to protect resources in systems facing multiple stressors

A non-local inequality and global existence

In this article we prove a collection of new non-linear and non-local integral inequalities. As an example for $u\ge 0$ and $p\in (0,\infty)$ we obtain \int_{\threed} dx ~ u^{p+1}(x) \le (\frac{p+1}{p})^2 \int_{\threed} dx ~ \{(-\triangle)^{-1} u(x) \} \nsm \nabla u^{\frac{p}{2}}(x)\nsm^2. We use these inequalities to deduce global existence of solutions to a non-local heat equation with a quadratic non-linearity for large radial monotonic positive initial conditions. Specifically, we improve \cite{ksLM} to include all $\alpha\in (0, 74/75)$.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Advances in Mathematic

EMU helmet mounted display

A helmet mounted display device is disclosed for projecting a display on a flat combiner surface located above the line of sight where the display is produced by two independent optical channels with independent LCD image generators. The display has a fully overlapped field of view on the combiner surface and the focus can be adjusted from a near field of four feet to infinity

Fiber link design for the NASA-NSF extreme precision Doppler spectrograph concept "WISDOM"

We describe the design of the fiber-optic coupling and light transfer system of the WISDOM (WIYN Spectrograph for DOppler Monitoring) instrument. As a next-generation Precision Radial Velocity (PRV) spectrometer, WISDOM incorporates lessons learned from HARPS about thermal, pressure, and gravity control, but also takes new measures to stabilize the spectrograph illumination, a subject that has been overlooked until recently. While fiber optic links provide more even illumination than a conventional slit, careful engineering of the interface is required to realize their full potential. Conventional round fiber core geometries have been used successfully in conjunction with optical double scramblers, but such systems still retain a memory of the input illumination that is visible in systems seeking sub-m/s PRV precision. Noncircular fibers, along with advanced optical scramblers, and careful optimization of the spectrograph optical system itself are therefore necessary to study Earth-sized planets. For WISDOM, we have developed such a state-of-the-art fiber link concept. Its design is driven primarily by PRV requirements, but it also manages to preserve high overall throughput. Light from the telescope is coupled into a set of six, 32 μm diameter octagonal core fibers, as high resolution is achieved via pupil slicing. The low-OH, step index, fused silica, FBPI-type fibers are custom designed for their numerical aperture that matches the convergence of the feeding beam and thus minimizes focal ratio degradation at the output. Given the demanding environment at the telescope the fiber end tips are mounted in a custom fused silica holder, providing a perfect thermal match. We used a novel process, chemically assisted photo etching, to manufacture this glass fiber holder. A single ball-lens scrambler is inserted into the 25m long fibers. Employing an anti-reflection (AR) coated, high index, cubic-zirconia ball lens the alignment of the scrambler components are straightforward, as the fiber end tips (also AR coated) by design touch the ball lens and thus eliminate spacing tolerances. A clever and simple opto-mechanical design and assembly process assures micron-level self-alignment, yielding a ~87% throughput and a scrambling gain of >20,000. To mitigate modal noise the individual fibers then subsequently combined into a pair of rectangular fibers, providing a much larger modal area thanks to the 34x106 micron diameter. To minimize slit height, and thus better utilize detector area, the octagonal cores are brought very close together in this transition. The two outer fibers are side polished at one side, into a D-shaped cladding, while the central fiber has a dual side polish. These tapered, side-flattening operations are executed with precise alignment to the octagonal core. Thus the cores of the 3 fibers are brought together and aligned within few microns of each other before spliced onto the rectangular fiber. Overall throughput kept high and FRD at bay by careful management of fiber mounting, vacuum feed-through, application of efficient AR coatings, and implementation of thermal breaks that allow for independent expansion of the fibers and the protective tubing