HPLC Analysis of Amino Acids in Algae

Undergraduate Basi

Interactions of VAM fungi, pesticides and crops

V esicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (V AM) are beneficial root symbionts of most crops, including corn and soybeans. These fungi colonize plant roots, facilitating nutrient ex­ change between the plant and the fungus. The plant supplies carbon for fungal growth; in turn, the VAM enhances uptake of relatively immobile nutrients such as phosphorus (P). The network of external fungal filaments, or hyphae (see photos below), extends outside the root up to several centimeters in the soil, allowing the fungus access to soil P otherwise unavailable to the plant

Theme Overview: Agriculture and Water Quality in the Cornbelt: Overview of Issues and Approaches

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25,

Dam Politics: Bolivian Indigeneity, Rhetoric, and Envirosocial Movements in a Developing State

How is the natural environment used and understood in contemporary Bolivian politics? To answer this question, this thesis examines two environmental conflicts, one past and one contemporary. In 2011, indigenous communities from the Indigenous Territory and Isiboro Secure National Park participated in the Eighth March for Territory and Dignity to protest the Villa Tunari–San Ignacio de Moxos Highway planned for construction through the TIPNIS. Using the existing literature, I show how this protest utilized distinct forms of environmentalism to combat state resource claims. My contribution to the field is the exposition of how the environment is used and understood surrounding the indigenous resistance to the Chepete-Bala dam. I have found that, much like the TIPNIS conflict, the indigenous peoples from Madidi national park and the Pilón Lajas reserve utilize their indigenous identity to craft a distinct place-based environmentalism to combat government claims to their territory. Additionally, through careful examination of the Coordinadora Para La Defensa De La Amazonia’s actions and statements, I uncover the nuanced politics that non-governmental organizations must navigate in order to express any type of environmentalism in Bolivia. I argue that these development projects cannot be fully understood without attention to the ways in which both state, indigenous, and other non-governmental actors use and construct their understanding of the environment. This original research serves to add to the existing literature on socioenvironmental conflicts in Bolivia, and in light of global climate change, it hopes to more broadly inform socioenvironmental policy-making by impressing the importance that social factors have on the natural world

Morphology and Development of Ice Patches in Northwest Territories, Canada

Permanent ice patches in the western Canadian Subarctic have been recently identified as sources of cryogenically preserved artifacts and biological specimens. The formation, composition, and constancy of these ice patches have yet to be studied. As part of the Northwest Territories (NWT) Ice Patch Study, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and ice coring were used to examine the stratigraphy and internal structure of two ice patches. Results show the patches are composed of a core of distinct offset units, up to several metres thick, covered by a blanket of firn and snow. The interfaces between the units of ice are often demarcated by thin sections of frozen caribou dung and fine sediment. Radiocarbon dates of dung extracted from ice cores have revealed a long history for these perennial patches, up to 4400 years BP. Ice patch growth is discontinuous and occurs intermittently. Extensive time gaps exist between the units of ice, indicating that summers of catastrophic melt can interrupt extended periods of net accumulation. The results of this work not only display the character of ice patch development, but also indicate the significant role that ice patches can play in reconstructing the paleoenvironmental conditions of an area.Récemment, on a déterminé que les névés permanents du subarctique de l’Ouest canadien constituent des sources d’artefacts et de spécimens biologiques préservés cryogéniquement. La formation, la composition et la constance de ces névés n’ont toujours pas été étudiées. Dans le cadre de l’étude des névés des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, on a recouru à des géoradars (GPR) et au carottage de la glace pour examiner la stratigraphie et la structure interne de deux névés. Les résultats indiquent que les névés sont composés d’un noyau d’unités distinctes et décalées, mesurant plusieurs mètres d’épaisseur et recouvertes d’une couverture de vieille neige et de neige. L’interface entre les unités de glace est souvent démarquée par de minces sections de déjections de caribou gelées et de sédiments fins. La datation au radiocarbone des déjections extraites des carottes de glace révèle que ces névés pérennes ont une longue histoire, remontant jusqu’à 4400 ans BP. L’amplification des névés est discontinue et se produit de manière intermittente. Des écarts de temps considérables existent entre les unités de glace, ce qui laisse entendre que des étés de fonte catastrophique peuvent interrompre les périodes prolongées d’accumulation nette. Les résultats de cette étude laissent non seulement entrevoir le caractère de la formation des névés, mais indiquent également le rôle important que les névés peuvent jouer dans la reconstruction des conditions paléoenvironnementales d’une région