Sustainable Land Management in South Carolina: A Focus on Landowner Perceptions, Challenges, and the Implementation of Forestry and Agriculture Best Management Practices

This study provides a holistic overview of a variety of different methods for land management and a framework for implementations of these methods. Many of these management practices for agriculture and forestry are labor intensive, provide long term benefits, and require significant expertise for implementation. This thesis will detail a variety of alternative and environmentally sound methods and funding streams to aid in implementation of management practices for agriculture and forestry land. Not only are these practices aimed at protecting the environment, they also contribute to increased yields for agriculture lands and provide co-benefits to the environment (i.e. increased water quality, sediment retention, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitat and connectivity). The first study details how forest landowners can utilize funding from the California Carbon Market to enhance carbon sequestration on their lands. Because of this, land use change can be minimized because there are incentives to keep forests as forests. Furthermore, two surveys were distributed to agriculture and forestry landowners, with the goal of eliciting their perceived benefits, challenges, and desire to implement cover crops and forestry best management practices, respectively. With this data, we hope to be able to provide better information to educators, federal agents, and Cooperative Extension agents on what educational methods work best for helping landowners implement these practices and how to work to overcome barriers that are stopping them from implementation, including funding streams

An Analysis of Common Forest Management Practices for Carbon Sequestration in South Carolina

South Carolina (SC) has a variety of different forest types, and they all have potential to sequester a certain amount of carbon. Private forest landowners control a significant portion of the overall forestland in SC, and their management efforts can maintain or improve forest carbon stocks. Currently, the second largest carbon market in the world is the California Carbon Market, which gives a monetary value to sequestered carbon. One carbon credit is equal to one metric ton of carbon and is currently worth around $15.00. Forest management plans are geared toward increasing carbon sequestration over time. This study aims to educate forest landowners about various forest management practices that contribute to increasing carbon stocks by looking at various forest types and locations in SC and their current and projected carbon stocks. Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) data were utilized in the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to project carbon sequestration for 100 years for 130 plots. A variety of management practices were employed to see the variance in carbon sequestration. Results showed that carbon sequestration would increase for certain management practices such as thinning and prescribed fire. Clear cutting over time was harmful to sequestration. This data will be beneficial for forest landowners interested in a carbon project and those interested in seeing how different management practices affect carbon sequestration

Modeling Median Will-Cost Estimates for Defense Acquisition Programs

Purpose: The introduction of “should cost” in 2011 required all Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) to create efficiencies and improvements to reduce a program’s “will-cost” estimate. Realistic “will-cost” estimates are a necessary condition for the “should cost” analysis to be effectively implemented. Owing to the inherent difficulties in establishing a program’s will-cost estimate, this paper aims to propose a new model to infuse realism into this estimate. Design/methodology/approach: Using historical data from 73 Departments of Defense programs as recorded in the selected acquisition reports (SARs), the analysis uses mixed stepwise regression to predict a program’s cost from Milestone B (MS B) to initial operational capability (IOC)

Long-term, gridded standardized precipitation index for Hawai‘i

Spatially explicit, wall-to-wall rainfall data provide foundational climatic information but alone are inadequate for characterizing meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, or ecological drought. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is one of the most widely used indicators of drought and defines localized conditions of both drought and excess rainfall based on period-specific (e.g., 1-month, 6-month, 12-month) accumulated precipitation relative to multi-year averages. A 93-year (1920–2012), high-resolution (250 m) gridded dataset of monthly rainfall available for the State of Hawai‘i was used to derive gridded, monthly SPI values for 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-month intervals. Gridded SPI data were validated against independent, station-based calculations of SPI provided by the National Weather Service. The gridded SPI product was also compared with the U.S. Drought Monitor during the overlapping period. This SPI product provides several advantages over currently available drought indices for Hawai‘i in that it has statewide coverage over a long historical period at high spatial resolution to capture fine-scale climatic gradients and monitor changes in local drought severity

Estimating an Acquisition Program’s Likelihood of Staying within Cost and Schedule Bounds

Program managers use prior experience to spot potential programmatic areas of concern. Augmenting this experience, the authors present an empirical procedure to estimate the likelihood of a program not exceeding two schedule and cost thresholds: (a) 15 percent of the initial total acquisition cost estimate from Milestone (MS) B to Initial Operating Capability (IOC); and (b) 15 percent of the estimated length (in months) between MS B and IOC—the second bound being 25 percent of the cost and schedule estimate. Using logistic regression and odds ratios, the authors analyze 49 Department of Defense programs and generally find that electronic system programs, extremely large programs (exceeding $17.5 billion in Base Year 2017 dollars), programs procuring smaller quantities of units, and programs with shorter schedules (less time from MS A to MS B and projected time from MS B to IOC) experience smaller percentages of cost growth and schedule slippage

Water-Mediated Carbon–Oxygen Hydrogen Bonding Facilitates S-Adenosylmethionine Recognition in the Reactivation Domain of Cobalamin-Dependent Methionine Synthase

The C-terminal domain of cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase (MetH) has an essential role in catalyzing the reactivation of the enzyme following the oxidation of its cobalamin cofactor. This reactivation occurs through reductive methylation of the cobalamin using S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) as the methyl donor. Herein, we examine the molecular recognition of AdoMet by the MetH reactivation domain utilizing structural, biochemical, and computational approaches. Crystal structures of the Escherichia coli MetH reactivation domain in complex with AdoMet, the methyl transfer product S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy), and the AdoMet analogue inhibitor sinefungin illustrate that the ligands exhibit an analogous conformation within the solvent-exposed substrate binding cleft of the enzyme. AdoMet binding is stabilized by an intramolecular sulfur–oxygen chalcogen bond between the sulfonium and carboxylate groups of the substrate and by water-mediated carbon–oxygen hydrogen bonding between the sulfonium cation and the side chains of Glu1097 and Glu1128 that bracket the substrate binding cleft. AdoMet and sinefungin exhibited similar binding affinities for the MetH reactivation domain, whereas AdoHcy displayed an affinity for the enzyme that was an order of magnitude lower. Mutations of Glu1097 and Glu1128 diminished the AdoMet/AdoHcy binding selectivity ratio to approximately 2-fold, underscoring the role of these residues in enabling the enzyme to discriminate between the substrate and product. Together, these findings indicate that Glu1097 and Glu1128 in MetH promote high-affinity recognition of AdoMet and that sinefungin and potentially other AdoMet-based methyltransferase inhibitors can abrogate MetH reactivation, which would result in off-target effects associated with alterations in methionine homeostasis and one-carbon metabolism

Passability of potamodromous species through a fish lift at a large hydropower plant (Touvedo, Portugal)

River fragmentation by large hydropower plants (LHP) has been recognized as a major threat for potamodromous fish. Fishways have thus been built to partially restore connectivity, with fish lifts representing the most cost-effective type at high head obstacles. This study assessed the effectiveness with which a fish lift in a LHP on the River Lima (Touvedo, Portugal), allows potamodromous fish—Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei), Northern straight-mouth nase (Pseudochondrostoma duriense) and brown trout (Salmo trutta fario)- to migrate upstream. Most fish (79.5%) used the lift between summer and early-fall. Water temperature was the most significant predictor of both cyprinids’ movements, whereas mean daily flow was more important for trout. Movements differed according to peak-flow magnitude: nase (67.8%) made broader use of the lift in the absence of turbined flow, whereas a relevant proportion of barbel (44.8%) and trout (44.2%) passed when the powerhouse was operating at half (50 m3s-1) and full-load (100 m3s-1), respectively. Size-selectivity found for barbel and trout could reflect electrofishing bias towards smaller sizes. The comparison of daily abundance patterns in the river with fish lift records allowed the assessment of the lift’s effcacy, although biological requirements of target species must be considered. Results are discussed in the context of management strategies, with recommendations for future studiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Century of Drought in Hawaiʻi: Geospatial Analysis and Synthesis across Hydrological, Ecological, and Socioeconomic Scales

Drought is a prominent feature of Hawaiʻi’s climate. However, it has been over 30 years since the last comprehensive meteorological drought analysis, and recent drying trends have emphasized the need to better understand drought dynamics and multi-sector effects in Hawaiʻi. Here, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of past drought effects in Hawaiʻi that we integrate with geospatial analysis of drought characteristics using a newly developed 100-year (1920–2019) gridded Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) dataset. The synthesis examines past droughts classified into five categories: Meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic drought. Results show that drought duration and magnitude have increased significantly, consistent with trends found in other Pacific Islands. We found that most droughts were associated with El Niño events, and the two worst droughts of the past century were multi-year events occurring in 1998–2002 and 2007–2014. The former event was most severe on the islands of O’ahu and Kaua’i while the latter event was most severe on Hawaiʻi Island. Within islands, we found different spatial patterns depending on leeward versus windward contrasts. Droughts have resulted in over $80 million in agricultural relief since 1996 and have increased wildfire risk, especially during El Niño years. In addition to providing the historical context needed to better understand future drought projections and to develop effective policies and management strategies to protect natural, cultural, hydrological, and agricultural resources, this work provides a framework for conducting drought analyses in other tropical island systems, especially those with a complex topography and strong climatic gradients