The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that the Hazen Plateau and North Coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada are two environmentally-sensitive area where relatively slight changes in meteorological conditions can lead to dramatic changes in snow and firn extent in the short-term, and to a systematic shift in the regional glaciation level in the long-term. The study represents an integrated program of field measurements, data analysis, and data modeling to determine the nature of the land-atmosphere-snow and ice interactions and to quantify the sensitivity of snow and ice cover on the Hazen Plateau and along the North Coast to climate change. The glaciers along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, specifically the Ward Hunt Ice Rise and Ice Shelf, are today not in equilibrium with climatic conditions and will disappear at some point in the near future unless climatic conditions deteriorate dramatically. Dynamical stresses related to wind, wave, and tidal action may further accelerate this process, as open water conditions on the Arctic Ocean become more prevalent. Mass losses occurring at the bottom of the floating ice shelf are more significant in terms of its stability than the associated surface mass losses. The Hazen Plateau ice caps have experienced considerable marginal recession and significant overall mass loss since at least 1959. The sensitivity of these ice caps to changes in climate is enhanced by the low amounts of winter snow accumulation, the absence of iceflow, and their small vertical relief. They are also out-of-equilibrium with modern climate and considered to be relicts of past climatic conditions with reduced summer melt and/or increased snowfall.

In Massachusetts both human and beaver population levels are rising, beaver damage complaints are escalating, and beaver management options are restricted by the 1996 Wildlife Protection Act. Employing the Cognitive Value Hierarchy, this study enhances understanding of the public's value orientations, attitudes, and norms regarding human-beaver conflicts in Massachusetts. A mailback questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 5,563 residents in three geographic regions in Massachusetts and to residents who submitted a beaver complaint to MassWildlife in 1999/2000 (47.3% overall response rate). Results indicate that respondents believe beaver are an important part of the natural environment and they have a right to exist. Respondents also support some form of beaver management. Most respondents believe that beaver-related damage in Massachusetts has either increased or remained the same over the past five years, and indicated a preference for fewer beaver, regardless of experience with beaver damage. Respondents' attitudes are influenced by their experience with beaver damage, perceptions of extent of beaver damage, and tolerance of beaver. As severity of beaver damage was perceived to increase, respondents were more willing to accept lethal management/control of beaver. Respondents characterized by a “wildlife-use” orientation expressed a greater willingness to accept lethal action in response to beaver activity than respondents characterized by a “wildlife-protection” orientation. This relationship was partially mediated when respondents believed beaver damage had increased and/or they preferred to see fewer beaver in Massachusetts. Value orientations proved to be predictive of both attitudes and norms, thus validating the propositions of the Cognitive Value Hierarchy. Results confirm the importance of understanding and monitoring public attitudes, norms, perceptions, and tolerance in a longitudinal framework and coupling this information with biological data to determine trends in relation to increases in beaver populations and human-beaver conflicts. The concepts and causal relationships posed by the Cognitive Value Hierarchy can provide information to link attitudes, norms, and values of wildlife stakeholder groups with socially acceptable management strategies. Replicating, expanding, and applying this framework to other wildlife species, and in different socio-political environments, can enhance the effectiveness and applicability of this theoretical perspective in understanding and resolving complex human-wildlife conflicts.

This work consists of four sections: (1) the adsorption behavior of bovine serum albumin (BSA) by three types of oxide nanoparticles (NPs), TiO 2 (50 ± 5 nm), SiO2 (30 ± 5nm), and Al 2O3 (150 ± 5 nm for &agr; type and 60 ± 5 nm for γ type) in deionized water; (2) phosphate adsorption on these oxide NPs and bulkparticles (BPs); (3) influence of phosphate ions on BSA adsorption; and (4) BSA desorption from oxide NPs in phosphate solution. BPs were also used for comparison with NPs. For BSA adsorption in deionized water, the adsorption maxima on oxide particles are controlled by the surface area and hydrogen content, while the adsorption process is primarily induced by electrostatic interaction, hydrophobic interaction, and ligand exchange between BSA and oxide surfaces. With increasing of hydrogen content, the BSA adsorption mechanism switches from a mainly hydrophobic interaction to hydrogen bonding and ligand exchange. Calculations based on surface area and BSA size, suggest that a multilayer of BSA covers &agr;-Al2O3, but only a single layer surrounds the other oxide particle surfaces. BPs lead to greater conformational change of BSA molecules after their adsorption on the surfaces of oxide particles, although NPs adsorbed more BSA than BPs by weight. For phosphate, the adsorption process is mainly governed by the surface charge of the oxides. Strong electrostatic repulsion can prevent the adsorption of phosphate ions on an oxide surface. Meanwhile, a good linear relationship was observed between surface-normalized BSA adsorption maxima and surface charge of the oxides. For the influence of phosphate ions on BSA adsorption, BSA adsorption is suppressed by phosphate ions, while BSA molecules have no influence on phosphate adsorption. The competition between BSA molecules and phosphate ions is regulated by electrostatic interaction, the hydrogen content of the oxides and oxide surface area (especially micropore surface area). The difference of influence between hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions on BSA adsorption reduces with the increase of phosphate concentration. Moreover, quantification was employed to calculate the displacing amount of phosphate ions to BSA molecules in competition. The displacing amount of phosphate ions is regulated by micropore surface area, and shows a good linearity with the hydrogen content. For BSA desorption, the BSA desorption hysteresis is observed for SiO2 NPs due to the high aggregation of this type of NPs. The aggregation of NPs can entrap BSA molecules in the closed interstitial spaces, leading to the BSA desorption hysteresis. For &agr;-Al2O 3 and γ-Al2O3 NPs, the hysteresis is observed only at low BSA concentration due to the influence of BSA molecules and electrostatic repulsion to the suspension of NPs. For TiO2 NPs, no significant hysteresis is observed because of their low aggregation and strong electrostatic repulsion. Phosphate adsorbed amounts remain unchanged within the adsorption and two-cycle desorption, indicating the entrapped BSA molecules may not bond to the oxide NPs.

Increasing attention has been given to the role of colloids in accelerating contaminant transport as evidence of significant subsurface transport of contaminants continues to be presented. Colloid migration models typically include the processes of advection, dispersion, deposition and release. Present models are limited in their ability to predict the transport and fate of colloids due to limited understanding of the interaction between these processes. The objective of this research is to gain a better understanding of the physical/chemical factors which affect the transport of colloidal particles. Laboratory-scale experiments were conducted in two phases to examine the effects of different chemical and physical factors on colloid transport. In the first phase, pulses of 1.09 and 0.28 $\mu$m fluorescent particles were injected into sand-packed columns under constant chemical conditions, and the response monitored over time. The second phase consisted of making a step change in solution chemistry (reduction in ionic strength or increase in pH) or flowrate to the system and monitoring the fluorescence response over time. The relative impact of various processes including advection, deposition/release, retardation and hydrodynamic chromatography on colloidal transport was evaluated using experimental results. Various mathematical models were evaluated for their effectiveness in describing the observed colloid migration. Results of finite pulse experiments conducted under constant chemical conditions confirm that solution chemistry is a key factor affecting particle deposition and release. Deposition results show evidence of the effects of hydrodynamic chromatography and retardation. As expected, deposition increases with increasing ionic strength. Perturbations in solution chemistry caused the subsequent release of particles. However, the amount released was only a fraction of the total deposit. The release process warrants further research.

A procedure based on the selective retention of either Cr(III) or Cr(VI) on alumina is evaluated and modified, and some mechanistic investigations made. Problems were encountered in selectively and quantitatively retaining either Cr(VI) or Cr(III) in the presence of the other, or in the presence of modest concentrations of various interferents. Evidence is presented that the poor recovery and selectivity were a function of chromatographic adsorption on alumina, a secondary retention mechanism which limits the practicality of the method. A modified and improved version of a plasma source atomic fluorescence spectrometer is described. Control of the spectrometer has been completely transferred to a PC-AT, which uses a control software package (LabVIEW, version 3.1) and two programmable circuit boards (AT-MIO-16DL and PC-TIO-10, both from National Instruments) to control lamp pulsing and data processing circuitry. A series of printed circuit boards have been constructed to process the photomultiplier tube current signal using a modified gated integration (boxcar integration) technique. Greater reproducibility and a two order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity were observed. Microwave assisted extraction, and sonication are compared to methanolic-HCl modified supercritical fluid extraction both quantitatively and qualitatively for the removal of organoarsenic species from National Institute of Standards (NIST) SRM1944 New York Harbor Sediment), SRM2704 (Buffalo River Sediment), and SRM2710 (Montana Soil). The extracted arsenic species were separated by ion exchange chromatography and introduced on-line into a hydride generation manifold prior to determination by plasma source mass spectrometry. Six different arsenic species were observed, and monomethyl arsonic acid (MMA) was quantified in each reference material. The determination of arsenic in soil and lake sediment samples taken in close proximity to CCA-treated wood structures revealed a highly elevated level of arsenic in soils and non-elevated arsenic level in the sediment. Though the level of arsenic in the exposed lake sediment was not elevated, the exposed sediments contained proportionally more monomethyl arsonic acid, (about 1.2% arsenic as MMA) than did the soil samples taken near pressure treated decks (from 0.02-0.30%, depending on sampling depth). The proportion of arsenic as MMA in the CCA exposed soils increased with the sampling depth.

The potential for enriching the population of propane-oxidizing microorganisms was tested in two sets of subsoils which yielded a total of seven different subsoils. In a preliminary experiment propane was rapidly consumed after an 18-day lag phase in two subsoils, contaminated either by chlorinated solvents or by petroleum-derived hydrocarbons, and in one surface soil with no history of contamination. In a subsequent study with five variously contaminated subsoils, one subsoil could not be enriched for propane or methane consumption, but oxidations of these gases in the remainder of the subsoils were partially enriched. Linear regression was utilized to test for the possible enrichment of propane oxidation in these four subsoils. The regressions were adjusted to avoid any unjustified claim of greater success of the enrichment process than probably occurred in some of the treatments. Overall, three soils seemed to offer some evidence of enrichment over 5 weeks. A high degree of statistical significance $(P < 0.001)$ offered the best evidence that enrichment of propane-oxidizing activity occurred in one subsoil. Screening for propane-oxidizing bacteria in the subsoils resulted in the isolation of 51 bacterial species including several aerobic bacteria such as Variovorax paradoxus, Pseudomonas putida, and Rhodococcus rhodochrous. These species were all capable of growth on propane, 2-propanol, and n-propanol as sole sources of carbon and energy. Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) analysis of isolate JGiao22 showed no match with fatty acid profiles of different genera recorded in the Microbial Identification System (Microbial ID, Inc., Newark, DE). This isolate was further characterized utilizing partial 16S rRNA sequencing that indicated a close relation to the genus Variovorax. Isolate JGiao22 is a Gram negative, motile rod with peritrichous flagella, and contains two plasmids, a single gas vesicle, unique circular dense inclusions, and extracellular polymers. Our results justify naming this isolate as a new species, Variovorax propanotrophica sp. nov. JGiao22.

Lymantria mathura Moore is a polyphagous defoliator of hardwood trees in the Russian Far East, Japan, India, and China. Its egg masses were intercepted on ships arriving to Pacific Northwest. If introduced and established in North America, L. mathura is likely to cause serious economic consequences. As a part of a program for development of monitoring and control measures, possible host range, larval air-borne dispersal, mating behavior, and pheromone communication of L. mathura were studied. Survival and development of first instars of L. mathura were examined on 24 hardwood and conifer tree species from North America, Europe, and Asia. Lymantria mathura performed well on hosts in the family Fagaceae. Survival and growth rate was high in the genus Fagus (beech) and Quercus (oak), particularly white oak group. Performance was intermediate on species of red oak group and species from Juglandaceae, Betulaceae, and Oleaceae. Survival was poor on Pinaceae. Dispersal rates, settling velocities, and diel periodicity of dispersal for both L. mathura and Asian L. dispar were studied to predict probable extent of neonate dispersal. Dispersal rates for L. mathura exceeded those of Asian and North American gypsy moths. Neonates of L. mathura weighed less and had slower settling velocities than Asian or North American gypsy moths. Pheromone-baited traps would be important for detecting introductions of L. mathura, but a sex pheromone has not yet been identified. I studied the olfactory reaction of males to females and to odor compounds in the wind tunnel. Number of males performing searching flight in a pheromone plume was lower than moths performing non-pheromone mediated flight. There was no difference in male performance when stimulated with preparations of female abdominal tip extracts or synthetic compounds derived from females. Studies of courtship showed that females initiated calling shortly after start of scotophase, and courtship occurred several hours later. Mating occurred after a calling female starts wing fanning, initiating a fanning response and flight in a nearby male. A receptive female lifts the wings and allows a male underneath. During behavioral studies, low frequency atonal sound associated with wing fanning was recorded in both sexes of L. mathura, and several other lymantriids tested for comparison. There were differences in wing beat frequencies between sexes and species.

During the 1950's, 60's and 70's, a great number of military and civilian airfields dumped thousands of gallons of fuel, waste oils and solvents into the subsurface environment as part of routine fire training activities. These areas now pose a threat to humans and wildlife. This research investigates bioventing and biosparging as remedial alternatives at Plattsburgh Air Force Base (PAFB) where soils are heavily contaminated with JP-4 and solvents. To begin the investigation, site geology and contaminant constituents were thoroughly characterized. Installation and sampling of soil gas monitoring points confirmed the presence of hydrocarbon and TCE vapors in the vadose zone as well as a gradient of decreasing oxygen and increasing carbon dioxide from the ground surface to the water table indicative of aerobic hydrocarbon degradation. New models were developed and used to determine soil gas constituent mass fluxes during ambient and bioventing/biosparging conditions. Mass fluxes of hydrocarbons, TCE, oxygen and carbon dioxide were calculated during ambient conditions based on the soil gas profiles. Combining this information with contaminant characterization and extent yielded an estimated cleanup time of approximately 150 years. After the initial characterization, the bioventing system, operating above the water table, was activated followed by sampling and analysis of O2, CO2, TCE, and HCs. Following 6 months of operation, compound mass fluxes under the pilot scale bioventing system indicated an increase in the hydrocarbon degradation rate by a factor of 4 for an estimated cleanup time of 37 years. After ending the bioventing phase, the biosparging system, injecting air below the water table, was subsequently activated and the same soil gas constituents measured over a period of 4 months. Compound mass flux results indicated a hydrocarbon degradation rate increase over ambient conditions by a factor of 2 (75 years). A new, near surface soil gas measurement tool was developed allowing sample collection in shallow (1m) soils with high resolution (2cm). Based on the pilot scale bioventing and biosparging results, either one or a combination of both of these remedial alternatives would accelerate the cleanup process at PAFB for a reasonable cost.

Pleistocene glaciation of New England excluded both terrestrial and aquatic herpetofauna from the region until the retreat of the ice began approximately 22,500 years ago. Three general dispersal routes appear to dominate the post-Pleistocene re-colonization of New England by reptiles and amphibians. (1) As the ice sheet receded beyond the St. Lawrence River, immigration from refugia in the Mississippi Valley was facilitated by the newly formed Prairie Peninsula corridor which channeled organisms north and east into New York and the Champlain Basin. (2) The Coastal Lowlands Corridor, connecting the southern coastal regions and the southern Appalachian refugia with coastal New England. (3) Exposed regions of Coastal Plain off the coast of New England allowed regional re-colonization. The mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) a wholly aquatic, perennibranchiate salamander, is the largest salamander found in New England (20–33 cm TL). Annual samples of Necturus were collected from 1990–1998, during the draw-down of a canal adjacent to the Connecticut River. Snout vent lengths were taken and animals were allotted to year class based on length. Skeletochronology confirmed the age/length correlation. The location of a subset of animals was marked and the depth at which they were found was calculated. The age of the animals was correlated with bottom structure and depth. The four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum), is the smallest and rarest of New England's salamanders. As adults, four-toed salamanders are terrestrial. Observations show that female four-toed salamanders migrate in early spring into wetland breeding sites where they nest colonially. Embryonic development is temperature dependent with hatching occurring in late spring. The pond-type larvae wriggle from the nest chamber into the water where, after six or seven weeks, they metamorphose into small terrestrial juveniles. Massachusetts populations of the eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii) are at the extreme northern limits of the species' range. Breeding sites and upland habitat are frequently destroyed by development. A survey of historic sightings and major museum collections shows the historical distribution of spadefoots. New collections and records were made of existing populations in Massachusetts. The habitat and other ecological requirements to maintain a viable population are characterized.

As availability of clean water resources decreases globally, evaluating water quality sensitively and reliably is becoming critical. Emerging contaminants, especially those categorized as endocrine disruptors, are of concern because of limited knowledge regarding non-target effects. Quantifying changes in the expression of vitellogenin, a gene normally expressed only in female fish but known to be induced in male fish exposed to estrogens, is a sensitive biomarker of estrogenic contamination in water. However, the utility and limitations of vitellogenin-gene-induction as a reliable bioassay are poorly defined. The work described here characterizes the assay by examining its sensitivity to experimental variables. After exposure to low levels of estradiol, two species demonstrated robust time- and concentration-dependent induction of vitellogenin mRNA. Exposure to a concentration gradient of environmental estrogens demonstrated that the Japanese medaka bioassay detects low, environmentally relevant levels of ethynylestradiol in a short laboratory assay, but does not detect low concentrations of a weakly estrogenic contaminant, bisphenol A. Although the expression of other genes was altered, the changes were not as robust as the vitellogenin response. The robustness of the vitellogenin bioassay was further investigated by manipulating the volume of test-water, the length of time between exposure and assessment, housing conditions, and access to food. The volume of test-water had no effect on the bioassay as all groups exposed to 100pM of estradiol expressed similar levels of vitellogenin. Furthermore, estradiol-induced vitellogenin levels remained high even after 72 hours of depuration in clean water and despite 72 hours of food deprivation while confined in field cages. These results demonstrate that the vitellogenin response is robust, reliable, and resistant to stresses associated with field applications. The effects of diclofenac, a pharmaceutical frequently detected in the environment, were assessed with the vitellogenin bioassay and cDNA microarray. Analyses revealed no robust differential regulation of gene expression and suggested that previous reports as to mechanisms of the drugs pathology are likely misleading. The information gained from this work forms a foundation of knowledge on gene expression bioassays in fish that will help guide implementation of the assays and interpretation of their data in a useful and appropriate way.