Villa Angela beach in Northeast Ohio has been closed multiple times over the past decade due to high influxes of E. Coli bacteria. Problems often arise after large rain storms due to the flooding of multiple combined sewer overflow systems feeding into the streams of the Euclid Creek watershed and being deposited off the shore of the beach. This project is an attempt to use discharge data to assess times of high flow and assess the content and contamination influx of these dates using specific remote sensing techniques. Landsat-8 images were combined with the KSU spectral decomposition method of image analysis, which employs varimax-rotated principal component analysis (VPCA) to determine the main contributors to the water’s overall content and their interaction with the aquatic systems in the lake and around the mouth of the creek. This more cost- and time-effective method can reduce potential biases in traditional remote sensing techniques by separating individual components based on their respective spectral fingerprints and comparing against a known library of spectra.

The eastern redcedar Juniperus virginiana is the most widespread conifer in the eastern United States. J. virginiana is a range-expanding (encroaching) species that is native to the United States. This species contributes to the decline of grassland biodiversity because it competes with native species for nutrients, resources and changes the landscape of the areas where it encroaches. In Ohio, J. virginiana is particularly abundant on limestone-derived substrates, either because this species prefers to grow on limestone or due to the absence of competition with other species. We are interested in investigating the factors that are most important in facilitating the encroachment of J. virginiana into new areas. We tested the effects of nutrient content, high pH, and interspecific competition with a common invasive grass (Bromus inermis) and a native tree (Quercus stellata) on the growth and survival of J. virginiana seedlings. We recorded J. virginiana and Q. stellata height and trunk diameter weekly as an estimate of seedling quality and performance. We found that J. virginiana seedlings competing with the invasive grass B. inermis grew more slowly than J. virginiana growing without B. inermis or J. virginiana seedlings with the post oak Q. stellata. In addition, there was a negative effect of limestone addition on J. virginiana growth rate. Our results suggest that J. virginiana does not prefer high pH soil, but rather it thrives in these soils to minimize competition. Future efforts will determine if competition is the main factor affecting the encroachment of J. virginiana into new habitats and areas, which in turn will assist efforts to control woody encroachment into grasslands.