Soils Under Fire: an anthropological and empirical assessment of the impacts of Australia’s 2019-20 fire season

Prolonged droughts and high temperatures throughout the 21st century have driven extreme fire risk weather around the world, resulting in widespread and extreme severity wildfires. In Australia, this was highlighted throughout the Black Summer fire season, which lasted a total of 8 months from July 2019 to April 2020. The fire season was and still is referred to as unprecedented and devastating, and for good reason. The fires killed people and wildlife, destroyed property and habitat, caused widespread atmospheric and aquatic pollution, destabilized and eroded soils, and left the government, scientists, and the public wondering how Australian ecosystems would recover. However, fire impacts, even of extreme severity fires, are never homogeneous, and fire interactions with Australian native ecosystems are complex, with many Australian species depending on fire for their survival. This PhD thesis provides a window into the complexities of how the 2019-20 fire season impacted people and the vegetation and soils in their surrounding environment. The first section of this thesis contains a qualitative assessment, i.e., surveys and interviews, of the public’s observations and perceptions of the 2019-20 fire season in New South Wales. Survey results showed that residents were motivated to take actions, including fire preparation and post-fire restoration efforts, because of the 2019-20 fires (Chapter 2), and public behaviours and their influence on government policy are known to influence fire outcomes. Furthermore, the 2019-20 fires increased perceived risk of fires on soil health (Chapter 2), yet few residents in the study were aware of the condition of their soils before or after the fire (Chapter 3). The work in Chapters 2 and 3 revealed a knowledge gap regarding the impacts of fire, and in particular, high severity fire on soil. To address this gap, the second section of this PhD thesis comprises a quantitative assessment of a high severity fire from the 2019-20 fire season and its impact on physicochemical and biological soil quality indicators of soils with different pre-fire management. Soil analyses showed that the high severity reached by fires unexpectedly reduced soil carbon and nitrogen levels (Chapter 4). Furthermore, an analysis of microbial communities showed fire reduced the abundance of symbiotic bacteria and fungi (Chapter 5) posing a risk to orchids and other threatened plant species on Kangaroo Island that depend on microbial plant symbionts. My research provides a rare empirical assessment of fire impacts on soils, particularly regarding high severity fire impacts on soil fungal and bacterial community composition and implications for post-fire soil microbial function. Furthermore, it highlights the limited knowledge but potential interest that the public has in understanding the importance of soils and the ecosystems services they provide. This work shows a need for more expansive soil monitoring after fire events such as the 2019-20 fire season, and I propose that engaging the public in soil monitoring efforts could address this need

Developing Interprofessional Teams using High Fidelity Resuscitation

Interprofessional simulations using scenarios, megacodes, algorithms, and high fidelity equipment provide a closer approximation to what clinicians are likely to face as a team in the actual resuscitation of a newborn infant

Bis(3-ammonio­methyl­pyridinium) cyclo­tetra­phosphate

In the title compound, 2C6H10N2 2+·P4O12 4−, which involves a doubly protonated 3-ammonio­methyl­pyridinium cation and a cyclo­tetra­phosphate anion, the cyclo­tetra­phospho­ric ring is arranged around an inversion center and the organic entity alternates with it, forming hybrid ribbons parallel to the b axis. The crystal structure is stabilized by a three-dimensional network of N—H⋯O and weaker C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Evaluation and compilation of DOE waste package test data: Biannual report, August 1987--January 1988

This report summarizes results of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) evaluations on waste packages designed for containment of radioactive high-level nuclear waste (HLW). The waste package is a proposed engineered barrier that is part of a permanent repository for HLW. Metal alloys are the principal barriers within the engineered system. Since enactment of the Budget Reconciliation Act for Fiscal Year 1988, the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site (in which tuff is the geologic medium) is the only site that will be characterized for use as high-level nuclear waste repository. During the reporting period of August 1987 to January 1988, five reviews were completed for tuff, and these were grouped into the categories: ferrous alloys, copper, groundwater chemistry, and glass. Two issues are identified for the Yucca Mountain site: the approach used to calculate corrosion rates for ferrous alloys, and crevice corrosion was observed in a copper-nickel alloy. Plutonium can form pseudo-colloids that may facilitate transport. NBS work related to the vitrification of HLW borosilicate glass at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) and the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) and activities of the DOE Materials Characterization Center (MCC) for the 6-month reporting period are also included. 27 refs., 3 figs

A madarak színezetén ható szelekciós kényszerek a Gloger-szabály fényében

INST: L_200A szakdolgozat a Gloger-szabály érvényességét járja körül madár populációkon bemutatva. Ezen kívül, röviden bemutatásra kerülnek a szabály kialakulásáért felelős mechanizmusok, valamint a klímaváltozás szerepe is

Detecting the inclusion and exclusion of a neuronal XDP-associated microexon in situ

Thesis: S.B. in Chemistry-Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2018.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged student-submitted from PDF version of thesis. "Submitted to the Department of Brian and Cognitive Sciences in supplement to the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemistry-Biology."Includes bibliographical references (pages 52-54).X-linked dystonia parkinsonism (XDP), also known as torsion dystonia type 3 (DYT3), afflicts hundreds of individuals. Under an X-linked mode of inheritance, the DYT3 haplotype occurs in Filipino populations and is of the highest frequency in the Panay Islands of the Philippines. Recently, convincing evidence has shown the causative mutation to be an insertion of the repetitive sequence SINE-VNTR-Alus (SVA). This insertion is associated with misregulation of 3' end exons in the gene TBP-associated factor 1 (TAF1). TAF1, the largest of fourteen TAF proteins, incorporates into a TATA binding complex that promotes transcription by RNA polymerase II. In a collaborative effort, singleplex BaseScope" probes as well as antibodies have been produced to target two TAF1 isoforms, canonical TAF1, C-TAF1, and neuronal TAF1, N-TAF1, separately. N-TAF1 differs from C-TAF1 by the inclusion of a two amino acid microexon, 3' to the SVA insertion, known as 34'. Here, I show that N-TAF1 expression is confined to neurons and interneurons whereas C-TAF1 is widely expressed, particularly by astrocytes, interneurons, neurons, and cells present in other organs including the heart and liver in mouse. Additionally, the antibodies produced show promise for use in human tissue. These results support the hypothesis that C-TAF1 and N-TAF1 have canonical and neuron-specific functions, respectively, and misregulation of N-TAF1 is capable of causing neuronal degeneration. Ultimately these results set the foundation for the study of C-TAF1 and N-TAF1 functions and isoform misregulation in XDP diseased tissue. Furthermore, these probes and antibodies may serve as tools for the validation of XDP models, under development, in which forthcoming XDP therapies may be tested.by Mercedes Maye Ondik.S.B. in Chemistry-Biolog