Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2006.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-221).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, August 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 18, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Land management techniques can enhance altered ecosystems on a variety of landscapes. In the Williston Basin of North Dakota, brine ponds created 50 years ago still cause problems today. We applied six treatments to reclaim the A-horizon of brine-affected soil on six legacy brine ponds and monitored soil nutrients until 23 months after treatment. We found that from 0-15 cm, all treatments were significantly better at reducing electrical conductivity than the control. In addition, sodium adsorption ratio was reduced at all depths over time. In Southcentral North Dakota, we monitored the effects of fire and grazing on colonies of western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis), an invasive woody shrub. Prescribed burning had a significant effect on western snowberry by reducing the number of mature plants and increasing the number of new shoots/m2. By incorporating drone aerial imagery, we helped develop an increasingly useful tool in vegetation monitoring.

The overall objective of this study was to identify trends of sediment nutrients and benthic macro-invertebrates in recreational fishing ponds. The Ekman dredge and the Yabby pump, also were compared for benthic macro-invertebrate sampling effectiveness. Large ranges in the coefficient of variation for Pw (52 – 123.9), C:N (13.4 – 124), density (61.5 – 98.5), and diversity (67 – 142) indicated significant spatial variability within and among ponds. Invertebrate familial diversity was the only variable that did not show any significant temporal variation (H = 4.31, P = 0.230). Results from the gear comparison indicated no differences between the Ekman dredge and Yabby pump (3 pulls); however, showed the Ekman dredge was more effective than the Yabby pump (12 pulls) (Z = -1.796, P = 0.073) indicating potential gear saturation. Although these data supported no discernable patterns between sediment nutrients and macro-invertebrates, it provided an opportunity to detail an operational framework for future studies.

Planorbella trivolvis, a snail routinely found in catfish ponds, is an intermediate host in the life cycle of Bolbophorus damnificus, a digenetic trematode responsible for mortalities in catfish. This research generated information on the life cycle and the population dynamics of P. trivolvis in catfish ponds which could be implemented to control P. trivolvis. Research indicated that: P trivolvis is present year-round; survives overwintering at water temperatures of 5°C; reproduces year-round; is found in vegetation, sediment and water in ponds year-round; lays eggs two months post-hatch; and has a life span of at least one year. Planorbella trivolvis infected with Bolbophorus spp. were found in 0.8% of the snails examined; found in juvenile snails (4 mm), and could shed 3,200 cercariae/day, and shed these cercariae for up to 21 days. This data indicated that constant snail monitoring and persistent snail control is imperative to control P. trivolvis in catfish ponds.

Las planicies de marea del estuario de Bahía Blanca se caracterizan por tener una amplia presencia de accidentes geográficos (cursos de marea y cuencos de agua) de diversos tamaños, formas y orientaciones. El estudio del origen de los mismos, su permanencia y los mecanismos de erosi ón durante la evolución de estos accidentes es importante para determinar futuros procesos dinámicos en el humedal costero. Sin embargo, el acceso directo para el monitoreo de estas regiones no es fácil, tiene un costo prohibitivo, no siempre es posible el acceso condicionado por las mareas y es ambientalmente dañino. El procesamiento digital de imágenes (PDI) de sensado remoto es una alternativa natural ante esta situación, dado que es una herramienta no invasiva para la extracción de datos cualitativos y cuantitativos sin alterar el estado natural del objeto bajo estudio. La presente tesis tiene como objetivo principal desarrollar e implementar nuevas técnicas y metodologías de PDI que conformen la arquitectura de una aplicación que permita extraer la información necesaria y suficiente de los accidentes geográficos para que posteriormente, el experto pueda analizar y modelar la geomorfología de los mismos. La metodología desarrollada está compuesta por diferentes etapas de procesamiento, entre ellas la segmentación (identificación), medición, extracción de parámetros morfológicos (descriptores de forma) y la clasificación automática de los accidentes de interés. En primera instancia, se caracterizó el tipo de ambiente y se seleccionaron 13 zonas del estuario para ser analizadas. Las mismas son representativas de la diversidad de cuencos y cursos de marea existentes en las planicies. En cada zona de estudio se aplicaron las distintas etapas del procesamiento y se discriminaron los objetos de interés. Seguidamente, se analizó su morfología individual en detalle. En este sentido, un conjunto de datos es obtenido para el análisis morfológico y, además es usado para definir las ecuaciones de un modelo estadístico de regresión, el cual permite diferenciar automáticamente los cuencos de agua y cursos de marea. En principio, el clasificador se testeó en un conjunto de zonas usadas para su entrenamiento y posteriormente se usaron las restantes zonas como conjunto de validación. El desempeño del clasificador se evaluó de dos formas distintas, visual y cuantitativamente. El propósito fue determinar la variabilidad de los resultados según la apreciación del evaluador experto (supervisada) y la predicha por el clasificador (automática). En todos los casos se identificaron y clasificaron automáticamente los diferentes accidentes geográficos con una precisión superior al 86 %. Los resultados demuestran que es posible identificar y clasificar en forma automática los accidentes geográficos de formas complejas, como los cuencos de agua y cursos de marea a partir de imágenes de sensado remoto, en este caso particular, imágenes de Google Earth. Inclusive, la metodología puede ser aplicada en otras regiones de humedales costeros y con otros tipos de imágenes de sensado remoto. / Tidal flats of the Bahía Blanca Estuary, generally exhibit ponds of diverse size, shape and orientation. The study of the origin, stability and erosive mechanisms during the evolution of these geographic features are important to determine dynamic processes in coastal wetlands. However, direct monitoring access to the locations is hard and expensive, not always feasible, and environmentally damaging. Remote sensing images may represent a natural alternative for this situation, since it is a noninvasive tool for qualitative and quantitative data extraction without altering the natural state of the object under study. The main aim of this thesis is to introduce and develop new techniques and DIP methodologies that integrate a framework application. In this sense, the expert is able to analyze the data set obtained. The methodology consists in different processing stages like segmentation, measurement, shape descriptors extraction and the automatic classification of geographic features. First, we characterize the environment type and 13 zones were selected to study. These zones are representative of ponds and tidal courses in tidal flats. The different processing stages were applied for each zone and geographic features were indentified. Then, the individual morphology in detail was analyzed. A data set for morphological analysis was provided and used to define the classifier model equations, which allow to automatically discriminate ponds against tidal courses. The classifier were tested in the training zones and then other zones were used to validate the performance of the classifier. To determine the variability of the results , supervise classification was compared against automatic classification. In all cases, it was possible to identify and automatically classify different geographic features with an accuracy higher than 86%. These results highlight the feasibility of using freely available Google Earth imagery for the automatic identification and classification of complex geographical features, as ponds and tidal courses. In addition, the methodology presented here could be applied in other wetlands of the world and to other remote sensing imagery.

Orientador : Tsunao Matsumoto / Banca: Roque Passos Piveli / Banca: Geraldo de Freitas Maciel / Resumo: Este trabalho teve como objetivo o monitoramento e avaliação da eficiência da Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto (ETE) na cidade de Santa Fé do Sul - SP, e a comparação dos resultados auferidos com ETEs da região. A Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto de Santa Fé do Sul investigada era composta de uma lagoa anaeróbia seguida por uma lagoa facultativa com 3 (três) divisores de fluxo (chicanas) paralelos, formando 4 (quatro) canais paralelos dentro da mesma, seguida por uma lagoa de maturação com apenas 1 (um) divisor de fluxo (chicanas) formando 2 (dois) canais paralelos, formando chicanas do tipo vai e vem. O monitoramento foi realizado no período de novembro de 2000 a junho de 2003. Os ensaios de investigação dos parâmetros de controle foram realizados em duas etapas, sendo a primeira etapa com quatro pontos de coletas realizadas quinzenalmente, no período de novembro de 2000 a junho de 2002, e a segunda etapa, com oito pontos de coletas com freqüência semanal, no período de março a junho de 2003. Os parâmetros investigados no monitoramento foram: DBO (mg/L), DQO (mg/L), OD, Temperatura (°C), pH, Sólidos Totais (mg/L), Sólidos Suspensos Totais (mg/L), Coliformes Totais (NMP/100mL) e Coliformes Fecais (NMP/100mL) das amostras coletadas em pontos de interesse ao longo das lagoas da ETE conforme etapas de investigação. Os parâmetros investigados e analisados na ETE durante o período de monitoramento foram animadores, apresentando valores de eficiência de remoção dos mesmos melhores em comparação as das ETEs da região. / Abstract: This work had as objective the accompaniment and evaluation of the efficiency of the Sewage Treatment Station of Santa Fé do Sul city, São Paulo state, Brazil, and the comparison of the obteined results with others stations of the same region. The station are composed with stabilization ponds. The first pond is anaerobic, followed by one facultative pond, with three parallel flow divisors (baffle), forming four parallel channels. This pond is followed by a maturation pond, with only one flow divisor (Baffle), forming two parallel channels. The accompaniment was accomplished in the period of november from 2000 to june of 2003. The chemical and bacteriological tests of investigation were accomplished in two stages. In the the first stage, the samples are collected in four different points every fifteen days, in the period of november of 2000 to june of 2002. In the second stage, the samples are collected in eigth different points every seven days, in the period of march to june of 2003. The parameters investigated in the acconpaniment were: Biochmical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Temperature (T), pH, Total Solids (TS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Coliforms, and Faecal Coliforms. The samples was collected in strategical points in the ponds, according to investigation stages. The investigated and analyzed parameters in station during the acconpaniment period were exciting, presenting better values of efficiency of removal of polluents in comparison with others stations of the region. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2003-10-31Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:17:37Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 takeuti_mrs_me_ilha.pdf: 1785772 bytes, checksum: 40aee906baf147862ac1f7e479a97ff5 (MD5) / Este trabalho teve como objetivo o monitoramento e avaliação da eficiência da Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto (ETE) na cidade de Santa Fé do Sul - SP, e a comparação dos resultados auferidos com ETEs da região. A Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto de Santa Fé do Sul investigada era composta de uma lagoa anaeróbia seguida por uma lagoa facultativa com 3 (três) divisores de fluxo (chicanas) paralelos, formando 4 (quatro) canais paralelos dentro da mesma, seguida por uma lagoa de maturação com apenas 1 (um) divisor de fluxo (chicanas) formando 2 (dois) canais paralelos, formando chicanas do tipo vai e vem. O monitoramento foi realizado no período de novembro de 2000 a junho de 2003. Os ensaios de investigação dos parâmetros de controle foram realizados em duas etapas, sendo a primeira etapa com quatro pontos de coletas realizadas quinzenalmente, no período de novembro de 2000 a junho de 2002, e a segunda etapa, com oito pontos de coletas com freqüência semanal, no período de março a junho de 2003. Os parâmetros investigados no monitoramento foram: DBO (mg/L), DQO (mg/L), OD, Temperatura (°C), pH, Sólidos Totais (mg/L), Sólidos Suspensos Totais (mg/L), Coliformes Totais (NMP/100mL) e Coliformes Fecais (NMP/100mL) das amostras coletadas em pontos de interesse ao longo das lagoas da ETE conforme etapas de investigação. Os parâmetros investigados e analisados na ETE durante o período de monitoramento foram animadores, apresentando valores de eficiência de remoção dos mesmos melhores em comparação as das ETEs da região. / This work had as objective the accompaniment and evaluation of the efficiency of the Sewage Treatment Station of Santa Fé do Sul city, São Paulo state, Brazil, and the comparison of the obteined results with others stations of the same region. The station are composed with stabilization ponds. The first pond is anaerobic, followed by one facultative pond, with three parallel flow divisors (baffle), forming four parallel channels. This pond is followed by a maturation pond, with only one flow divisor (Baffle), forming two parallel channels. The accompaniment was accomplished in the period of november from 2000 to june of 2003. The chemical and bacteriological tests of investigation were accomplished in two stages. In the the first stage, the samples are collected in four different points every fifteen days, in the period of november of 2000 to june of 2002. In the second stage, the samples are collected in eigth different points every seven days, in the period of march to june of 2003. The parameters investigated in the acconpaniment were: Biochmical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Temperature (T), pH, Total Solids (TS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Coliforms, and Faecal Coliforms. The samples was collected in strategical points in the ponds, according to investigation stages. The investigated and analyzed parameters in station during the acconpaniment period were exciting, presenting better values of efficiency of removal of polluents in comparison with others stations of the region.