The Environmental Science and Design Symposium, formerly the Land and Water Symposium, is a multidisciplinary forum that promotes the exchange of ideas related to the resiliency of natural and built systems. This year’s theme, Complexity of Environmental Legacies, reflects the challenges of developing sustainable systems in landscapes transformed by decades of modification and contamination. Speakers from a wide range of disciplines (fashion, geology, geography, architecture, and ecology) will address topics related to urban, sustainability, restoration, and the integration of design with biological systems.
Browse the Environmental Science and Design Research Initiative 2019 Collections
Eutrophication: can we reverse the process with Algae?
03/21/2019Eutrophication is hallmarked by excessive algal growth due to the increased availability of inorganic and organic compounds in the water. Pollution is usually one of the major reason that induces eutrophication. In addition, polluted water is one of the leading factors that induce a wide range of diseases, especially in children. Currently about 45% of U.S. streams, 40% of America’s rivers, 47% of lakes, and 32% of bays are polluted, which are not suitable for drinking, swimming, fishing nor aquatic lives. To ensure the quality, residential water is usually suppled after treatment, and the water treatment also induces toxic components, for example, trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and bromodichloromethane, which both are cancer inducers. The national average concentration of these compounds in tap water are 4.92 ppb (part per billion) and 4.31 ppb respectively. In groundwater, the nitric components are one of the major contaminants, which significantly promote the growth of green algae, leading to eutrophication. Single cell algae Chlorella is one of the common algae that involves in eutrophication, and our recent study indicated it also can help reduce the concentration of some contaminants, including TCA, iron, and nitric oxide. This support our hypothesis that green algae can absorb the pollutants and reduce their concentration in the water to reverse the eutrophication.Evidence for net nitrogen gas production in Lake Erie surface waters
03/21/2019Two methods are commonly employed to quantify rates of N2-fixation in surface waters. Acetylene reduction assays (ARA) are an indirect measure of N2-fixation, relying on the conversion of acetylene to ethylene at a known mole ratio with respect to dissolved nitrogen gas. An alternative method, membrane-inlet-mass-spectrometry (MIMS), can directly quantify dissolved N2 gas concentrations in water.Here, surface sample grabs (0.5m depth) were collected at 6 sites in Sandusky Bay on 4 dates (N=24) and bioassays were performed using both techniques. Significant levels of N2-fixation were detected with ARA in 83% of samples, whereas net N2-fixation was not detected in any samples (0%) by analysis via MIMS. In contrasts, significant levels of N2-production were observed in 40% of the samples. N2-production is not possible to detect with ARA and would have been missed had MIMS not been employed. Notably, 36% of the samples yielded significant rates of N2-fixation via ARA and also net N2-production via MIMS. In order for analysis via MIMS to show significant increases in concentrations of dissolved N2, the rates of N2-production must exceed the rates of N2-fixation in those samples. It is well documented that members of the cyanobacterial order Nostocales produce specialized cells (heterocyst) that can fix nitrogen, converting inert gaseous N2 into ammonium ion (NH4+). Thus, detecting N2-fixation in Sandusky Bay is not atypical. However, N2-production is known to occur via two pathways within the microbial nitrogen cycle (i.e., anaerobic ammonium oxidation and denitrification). Currently, neither of these N2-production pathways are known to be associated with oxygenated surface waters, but rather anoxic lake sediments (denitrification) or groundwater (anaerobic ammonium oxidation). Additional research is needed to resolve the net N2-production observed by the methods employed in this study.
Evidence of Colloidal pyrite transport in soils developing on historic coal mine spoils
03/21/2019Historic coal mines are one of the major generators of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in the United States. Past coal mining activities in Huff Run, Ohio generated large mine spoils and oxidation of these mine spoils led to a serious AMD generation in the Huff Run watershed. A remediation project conducted in the Huff Run watershed costing over $590,000 failed to resolve AMD generation. The persistent AMD generation could be associated with the possible formation, transportation and oxidation of colloidal pyrite from mine spoils. To investigate the transport of colloidal pyrite through unsaturated soil in Huff Run subwatershed HR#25, eight lysimeters were installed and pore water samples were collected during summer of 2018. Initial studies have indicated the presence of colloidal pyrites in the porewater. The scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) analysis of the colloidal particles isolated from pore water samples revealed the presence of iron (Fe), sulfur (S) and oxygen (O) bearing phases in the colloids which are consistent with pyrite (FeS2) and the oxidation product Fe oxides. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the colloidal samples confirmed the presence of multiple phases of sulfide bearing minerals (FeS2, FeAsS2, CuFeS2). Both SEM-EDS and XRD detected the presence of Fe oxides associated with colloidal pyrite which can have a significant environmental impact in terms of colloidal pyrite oxidation, AMD generation and trace metals adsorption.
Food Web Structure in a Constructed Wetland
03/21/2019Wetlands are globally important ecosystems known for strong interactions among aquatic and terrestrial animals and plants. While natural wetlands are known for their complex food webs, constructed wetlands are often simpler, containing reduced levels of biodiversity. However, these systems generally reflect similar inter- and intra-specific interactions, with the advantage of having replicate sites. This project assessed food web interactions of macrofauna in ten wetland cells during an 8-week summer period in constructed wetlands at Kent State University. In each wetland cell, fish and amphibian (tadpoles/adults) assemblages were sampled twice/week using modified minnow traps to gain insight into population size and fish/amphibian size distributions. Next, to assess mammal and bird activity and their potential interactions in these wetlands, game cameras were strategically placed around each of the wetlands. Finally, odonates (i.e., dragonflies and damselflies) were also identified and counted in each wetland. Overall, species richness was relatively low, with only two fish species and two frog species captured from the minnow traps. In contrast, multiple mammal, bird, and odonate species were detected at the site in other sampling. Analyses of food web structure suggest a strong, negative relationship between sunfish abundance and frog/tadpole abundance and level of development, likely as a result of predation. The distribution of beavers, green herons, and great blue herons also appeared to be associated with food availability (woody vegetation for beavers, fish/frogs for herons). In summary, while simple, the food web in these constructed wetlands was structured similarly to what we see in natural wetlands.Fostering a people's forest: using Citizen Science-driven biodiversity monitoring to understand restoration processes
03/21/2019Ecosystem restoration takes place over a longer time scale than the typical ecological study, particularly when the ecosystem includes slow-growing taxa, such as trees. Yet, humans take strong interest in ecosystem restoration- both as a process to participate in (i.e. contributing to tree planting and Citizen Science), and as a process to measure (i.e. asking “is our restoration activity working?”). This project examines both of these facets through restoration activities within former surface mine sites at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We use the lens of beetle communities observed through participatory models of data collection to examine how functional groups of organisms can give information on how an ecosystem is operating. With the help of community members, we will conduct “bio-blitzes” and systematic sampling to document Coleoptera communities within 5 sites undergoing restoration, and their surrounding forest at CVNP. We will then use these communities to describe the functional ‘health’ of their surrounding landscape. This project will also examine how effectively citizen scientists contribute to ecological research within a national park and what implications this may have on future ecological research. We will combine these data with observations from public databases (iNaturalist) and use these data to effectively map the ‘health’ of mature and restored forest within CVNP– with respect to beetle community composition - providing a means to assess the effectiveness of Citizen Science on supporting ecological research.