Forested Watersheds and Water Supply: Exploring Effects of Wildfires, Silviculture, and Climate Change on Downstream Waters

Drinking water supplies for much of society originate in forests. To preserve the capability of these forests to produce clean and easily treatable water, source water supply and protection strategies focus in particular on potential disturbances to the landscape, which include prescribed forest harvesting and wildfires of varying intensity. While decades of work have revealed relationships between forest harvesting and stream flow response, there is a considerable lack of synthesis disentangling the interactions of climate, wildfires, stream flow, and water quality. Revealing the mechanisms for impacts on downstream waters after disturbances of harvesting and wildfire will greatly improve land and water management. In this dissertation, I combined synthesis of previously published or available data, novel mathematical analyses, and deterministic modeling to disentangle various disturbance effects and further our understanding of processes in forested watersheds. I broadly sought to explore how streamflow and water quality change after forest disturbances, and how new methods and analyses can provide insight into the biogeochemical and ecohydrologic processes changing during disturbances. First, I examined the effect of wildfire on hydrology, and developed a novel Budyko decomposition method to separate climatic and disturbance effects on streamflow. Using a set of 17 watersheds in southern California, I showed that while traditional metrics like changes in flow or runoff ratio might not detect a disturbance effect from wildfire due to confounding climate signals, the Budyko framework can be used successfully for statistical change detection. The method was used to estimate hydrologic recovery timescales that varied between 5 and 45 years, with an increase of about 4 years of recovery time per 10% of the watershed burned. Next, in Chapter 3 I used a meta-analysis approach to examine the effect of wildfire on water quality, using data from 121 catchments around the world. Analyzing the changes in concentrations of stream water nutrients, including carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, I showed that concentrations generally increased after fire. While a large amount of variability existed in the data, we found concurrent increases in the constituents after fire highlighting tight coupling of the biogeochemical cycles. Most interestingly, we found fire to increase the concentrations of biologically active nutrients like nitrate and phosphate at a greater rate than total nitrogen and phosphorus, with median increases of 40-60% in the nitrate to TN, and SRP to TP ratios. Next, I conducted an analysis of both water quality and hydrology together after fire in Chapter 4, using a set of 29 wildfire-impacted watersheds in the United States. Concentration-discharge relationships can be used to reveal pathways and sources of elements exported from watersheds, and my overall hypothesis was that these relationships change in post-fire landscapes. I developed a new methodology, using k-means clustering, to classify watersheds as chemostatic, dilution, mobilization and chemodynamic, and explored how their position within the cluster changed in post-fire landscapes. I found that the behavior of nitrate and ammonium was increasingly chemostatic after fire, while behavior of total nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic phosphorus was increasingly mobilizing after fire. Finally, I developed a coupled hydrology-vegetation-biogeochemistry model to simulate and elucidate processes controlling the impact of harvesting on downstream waters. I focused on the Turkey Lakes watershed where a significant amount of data has been collected on vegetation and soil nutrient dynamics, in addition to traditional streamflow and water quality metrics, and developed a novel multi-part calibration process that used measured data on stream, forest, and soil characteristics and dynamics. Future work would involve using the model to explore the data driven relationships that have been developed in the earlier chapters of the paper. The work presented in this dissertation highlights new small and large-scale relationships between disturbances in forested watersheds and effects on downstream waters. With more threats predicted to escalate and overlap in the coming years, the novel results and methodologies that I have presented here should contribute to improving land and water management

Dissolved Organic Carbon Bioreactivity in Stream Environments

Biogeochemical research regarding carbon cycling in streams shows the importance of stream sediments in carbon decomposition and the role of flocculent organic matter in stream ecosystems

Wastewater-based Estimation of Substances Discharged at the Rest Areas along the State Highways in Kentucky

The availability of licit and illicit stimulants and its adverse consequences on public health has emerged as a major drug threat to communities in the United States. Despite several drug-involved traffic incidents along the interstate highways, this report represents the first comprehensive and quantitative report of drugs discharged at the rest areas along the interstate highways. In this National Institute of Justice-funded study, the amount of several discharged drugs focusing on stimulants but also including opioids and prescription antipsychotics are being measured in raw wastewater collected from five rest areas and a truck servicing facility using a state-of-the-art mass spectrometry technique. Three stimulants (cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamine), two opioids (hydrocodone and tramadol), THC metabolite, and four antidepressants (venlafaxine, citalopram, fluoxetine, and sertraline) were detected in all of the collected wastewater samples in the early phases of the project. Methamphetamine was the most prevalent stimulant (40.0-1240 mg/d) followed by the cocaine metabolite (9.18-385 mg/d) and amphetamine (14.9-97.9 mg/d). The rest area users normalized methamphetamine discharge in Christian County rest area (I-24E) was 1.8 folds higher than in Whitehaven rest area (I-24W) and 7.8 folds higher than in the Laurel County truck service facility (I-75). The significantly higher ratio of cocaine and its metabolite (\u3e1.0) found in the Whitehaven rest area suggested the possibility of a direct discharge of cocaine in two select days in October. Overall, we established a unique collaboration among the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Murray State University and the University of Kentucky

Feature integration in natural language concepts

Two experiments measured the joint influence of three key sets of semantic features on the frequency with which artifacts (Experiment 1) or plants and creatures (Experiment 2) were categorized in familiar categories. For artifacts, current function outweighed both originally intended function and current appearance. For biological kinds, appearance and behavior, an inner biological function, and appearance and behavior of offspring all had similarly strong effects on categorization. The data were analyzed to determine whether an independent cue model or an interactive model best accounted for how the effects of the three feature sets combined. Feature integration was found to be additive for artifacts but interactive for biological kinds. In keeping with this, membership in contrasting artifact categories tended to be superadditive, indicating overlapping categories, whereas for biological kinds, it was subadditive, indicating conceptual gaps between categories. It is argued that the results underline a key domain difference between artifact and biological concepts

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin, June 1965

President\u27s Page Officers and Committee Chairmen Financial Report Hospital and School of Nursing Report Student Activities Annual Report Students Activities Annual Report Student Activities Annual Report Jefferson Expansion Program Psychiatric Unit Progress of the Alumnae Association Nightingale Pledge Resume of Alumnae Meetings Nursing Service Staff Association Scholarship Program Sick and Welfare Social Committee Report Bulletin Membership- WHY JOIN? Private Duty Report Annual Giving Report - 1964 PIT Alumnae Day Notes Building Fund Report - 1965 Vital Statistics IN MEMORIAM Class News Affiliated Institutions Notice

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin, June 1964

President\u27s Message Officers and Committee Chairmen Financial Report Hospital and School of Nursing Report Student Activities Jefferson Expansion Program Resume of Alumnae Meetings Staff Nurses Private Duty Social Committee Reports Program Scholarship Bulletin Committee Report Annual Luncheon Notes Membership and Dues Units in Jefferson Expansion Program Center Annual Giving Drive 1963 Report of Ways and Means Committee Jefferson Building Fund Contributions Annual Giving Contributions 1964 Jefferson Building Fund Report Help the Building Fund Committee! Vital Statistics Class News Notice

Stitching Together the Urban Fabric

This Urban Design Studio in Springfield focused on incremental and systemic design changes at specific places in Downtown to improve the quality of life. The analysis investigated six interweaving, overlapping urban systems: Music and Art, Food and Retail, Working, Public Green, Education and Housing. Overlooked streets and their immediate context were of major focus: Worthington Street, Dwight Street, Willow Street and the stilted Interstate 91 viaduct. Downtown Springfield is currently undergoing a substantial change of the physical urban fabric: The renovation of the Union Station into a multi-modal transportation hub, the MGM Casino Resort and the new Dr. Seuss Museum at the Quadrangle. While these projects create larger-scale hubs at the edges of downtown, there is the necessity of stitching Downtown together with small scale amenities and activities. How can we bridge the gaps and create stepping stones that make downtown streets a more walkable and bicycle-friendly experience? How can we create new economic opportunities and possibilities to serve needs for adult education, gathering and small-scale entertainment? A Design Charrette with residents, stakeholders and community activists was held in the beginning of the studio. The charrette was organized around the six urban systems. The students led image-driven interviews with the community members, mapped places with existing assets or places with opportunities. Four design scenarios were created: HEART OF THE CITY -DESIGNING ARTERIES FOR THE PEOPLE designed the urban fabric around Worthington Street. 24/7, year around programming of underutilized parking lots, public art and lighting, temporary closure of streets and activation of empty storefronts work together with a coherent design palette. DWIGHT STREET REVIVAL: Dwight Street is transformed into a green bike and walk artery with new and repurposed places for working, living, adult education, and art. STOCKBRIDGE SQUARE: A VILLAGE IN THE CITY creates a village in the city adjacent to the MGM Casino Resort with open space for the community, mixed use buildings, sustainable street systems, ground level retail and multiple market-rate housing options. The village will attract new residents in downtown. ECOLOGY VISION creates a healthy downtown Springfield with “toolkit” around restored urban ecological systems for a livable and beautiful city. A stormwater park underneath I-91 is accompanied by a pedestrian boulevard and an urban forest. STITCHING TOGETHER THE URBAN FABRIC raises awareness for discovering the little notes and in-betweens. This proposal encompasses sustainability in a comprehensive way. It will make Springfield green and beautiful, will increase diversity, create jobs and bring vitality back

A water cycle for the Anthropocene

International audienceHumor us for a minute and do an online image search of the water cycle. How many diagrams do you have to scroll through before seeing any sign of humans? What about water pollution or climate change—two of the main drivers of the global water crisis? In a recent analysis of more than 450 water cycle diagrams, we found that 85% showed no human interaction with the water cycle and 98% omitted any sign of climate change or waterpollution (Abbott et al., 2019). Additionally, 92% of diagrams depicted verdant, temperate ecosystems with abundant freshwater and 95% showed only a single river basin. It did not matter if the diagrams came from textbooks, scientific articles, or the internet, nor if they were old or new; most showed an undisturbed water cycle, free from human interference. These depictions contrast starkly with the state of the water cycle in the Anthropocene, when land conversion, human water use, and climate change affect nearly every water pool and flux (Wurtsbaugh et al., 2017; Falkenmark et al., 2019; Wine and Davison, 2019). The dimensions and scale of human interference with water are manifest in failing fossil aquifersin the world’s great agricultural regions (Famiglietti, 2014), accelerating ice discharge from the Arctic (Box et al., 2018), and instability in atmospheric rivers that support continental rainfall (Paul et al., 2016).We believe that incorrect water cycle diagrams are a symptom of a much deeper and widespread problem about how humanity relates to water on Earth. Society does not understand how the water cycle works nor how humans fit into it (Attari, 2014; Linton, 2014; Abbott et al., 2019). In response to this crisis of understanding, we call on researchers, educators, journalists, lawyers, and policy makers to change how we conceptualize and present the global water cycle. Specifically, we must teach where water comes from, what determines its availability, and how many individuals and ecosystems are in crisis because of water mismanagement, climate change, and land conversion. Because the drivers of the global water crisis are truly global, ensuring adequate water for humans and ecosystems will require coordinated efforts that extend beyond geopolitical borders and outlast the tenure of individual administrations (Keys et al., 2017; Adler, 2019). This level of coordination and holistic thinking requires widespread understanding of the water cycle and the global water crisis. Making the causes and consequences of the water crisis visible in our diagrams is atractable and important step towards the goal of a sustainable relationship with water that includes ecosystems and society

Human domination of the global water cycle absent from depictions and perceptions

International audienceHuman water use, climate change and land conversion have created a water crisis for billions of individuals and many ecosystems worldwide. Global water stocks and fluxes are estimated empirically and with computer models, but this information is conveyed to policymakers and researchers through water cycle diagrams. Here we compiled a synthesis of the global water cycle, which we compared with 464 water cycle diagrams from around the world. Although human freshwater appropriation now equals half of global river discharge, only 15% of the water cycle diagrams depicted human interaction with water. Only 2% of the diagrams showed climate change or water pollution—two of the central causes of the global water crisis—which effectively conveys a false sense of water security. A single catchment was depicted in 95% of the diagrams, which precludes the representation of teleconnections such as ocean–land interactions and continental moisture recycling. These inaccuracies correspond with specific dimensions of water mismanagement, which suggest that flaws in water diagrams reflect and reinforce the misunderstanding of global hydrology by policymakers, researchers and the public. Correct depictions of the water cycle will not solve the global water crisis, but reconceiving this symbol is an important step towards equitable water governance, sustainable development and planetary thinking in the Anthropocene