Characterization of Lake Michigan coastal lakes using zooplankton assemblages

USGS Publications Warehouse

Whitman, Richard L.; Nevers, Meredith B.; Goodrich, Maria L.; Murphy, Paul C.; Davis, Bruce M.

2004-01-01

Zooplankton assemblages and water quality were examined bi-weekly from 17 April to 19 October 1998 in 11 northeastern Lake Michigan coastal lakes of similar origin but varied in trophic status and limnological condition. All lakes were within or adjacent to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan. Zooplankton (principally microcrustaceans and rotifers) from triplicate Wisconsin net (80 I?m) vertical tows taken at each lake's deepest location were analyzed. Oxygen-temperature-pH-specific conductivity profiles and surface water quality were concurrently measured. Bray-Curtis similarity analysis showed small variations among sample replicates but large temporal differences. The potential use of zooplankton communities for environmental lake comparisons was evaluated by means of BIOENV (Primer 5.1) and principal component analyses. Zooplankton analyzed at the lowest identified taxonomic level yielded greatest sensitivity to limnological variation. Taxonomic and ecological aggregations of zooplankton data performed comparably, but less well than the finest taxonomic analysis. Secchi depth, chlorophyll a, and sulfate concentrations combined to give the best correlation with patterns of variation in the zooplankton data set. Principal component analysis of these variables revealed trophic status as the most influential major limnological gradient among the study lakes. Overall, zooplankton abundance was an excellent indicator of variation in trophic status.

The biogeochemistry of metal cycling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nealson, Kenneth H. (Editor); Nealson, Molly (Editor); Dutcher, F. Ronald (Editor)

1990-01-01

The results of the Planetary Biology and Microbial Ecology's summer 1987 program are summarized. The purpose of the interdisciplinary PBME program is to integrate, via lectures and laboratory work, the contributions of university and NASA scientists and student interns. The 1987 program examined various aspects of the biogeochemistry of metal cycling, and included such areas as limnology, metal chemistry, metal geochemistry, microbial ecology, and interactions with metals. A particular area of focus was the use of remote sensing in the study of biogeochemistry. Abstracts and bibliographies of the lectures and reports of the laboratory projects are presented.

Limnology. Student Fieldbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Michael

This student fieldbook provides exercises for a three-week course in limnology. Exercises emphasize applications of knowledge in chemistry, physics, and biology to understand the natural operation of freshwater systems. Fourteen field exercises include: (1) testing for water quality; (2) determination of water temperature, turbidity, dissolved…

Inverse Problems in Hydrologic Radiative Transfer

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-09-30

Light scattering by nonspherical particles: application to coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi, Limnology and Oceanography, 46, 1438⎯1454...coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi, Limnology and Oceanography, 46, 1438⎯1454. G.C. Boynton and H.R. Gordon, 2002, An irradiance inversion

Limnology of Sawtooth Valley Lakes in 1995

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Luecke, C.; Slater, M.; Budy, P.

1996-05-01

Included in this section of the report on limnology of Lakes in the Snake River Plain are descriptions of the limnological characteristics of the four lakes in reference to their potential effect of growth and survival of juvenile sockeye salmon. Physical parameters included light penetration, Secchi transparency, and water temperature; chemical parameters included oxygen, and both dissolved and particulate forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. Phytoplankton parameters included chlorophyll concentration, biovolume of dominant taxa, and rates of primary production; zooplankton parameters included density and biomass estimate, length frequencies, and the number of eggs carried by female cladocerans. 11 figs., 5 tabs.

Snake River Sockeye Salmon Habitat and Limnological Research; 1995 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teuscher, David; Taki, Doug

1996-05-01

This report contains studies which are part of the Bonneville Power Administration`s program to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the development and operation of hydroelectric facilities on the Columbia River and its tributaries. Attention is focused on population monitoring studies in the Sawtooth Valley Lakes. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

1960-69 Cumulative Index of Articles Related to Oceanography and Limnology Education in The Science Teacher.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Maxwell

Indexed are articles relating to oceanography and limnology published in "The Science Teacher" between 1960 and 1969. Articles are indexed under title, author, and topic. Topics include background information, course descriptions, and laboratory equipment and techniques. (EB)

Changing Patterns of Limnology Literature, 1966-1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milby, T. H.

Literature citations were analyzed to identify periodical literature used in the field of limnology. Journals published in four different countries during 1976 were selected as source journals of cited literature. The results of this analysis were compared to those of a similar study conducted in 1968 using conference proceedings as source…

Inquiry in Limnology Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Variano, Evan; Taylor, Karen

2006-01-01

Inquiry can be implemented in various ways, ranging from simple classroom discussions to longterm research projects. In this article, the authors developed a project in which high school students were introduced to the nature and process of scientific discovery through a two-week guided inquiry unit on "limnology"--the study of fresh water, which…

Limnological regime shifts caused by climate warming and Lesser Snow Goose population expansion in the western Hudson Bay Lowlands (Manitoba, Canada)

PubMed Central

MacDonald, Lauren A; Farquharson, Nicole; Merritt, Gillian; Fooks, Sam; Medeiros, Andrew S; Hall, Roland I; Wolfe, Brent B; Macrae, Merrin L; Sweetman, Jon N

2015-01-01

Shallow lakes are dominant features in subarctic and Arctic landscapes and are responsive to multiple stressors, which can lead to rapid changes in limnological regimes with consequences for aquatic resources. We address this theme in the coastal tundra region of Wapusk National Park, western Hudson Bay Lowlands (Canada), where climate has warmed during the past century and the Lesser Snow Goose (LSG; Chen caerulescens caerulescens) population has grown rapidly during the past ∽40 years. Integration of limnological and paleolimnological analyses documents profound responses of productivity, nutrient cycling, and aquatic habitat to warming at three ponds (“WAP 12”, “WAP 20”, and “WAP 21″), and to LSG disturbance at the two ponds located in an active nesting area (WAP 20, WAP 21). Based on multiparameter analysis of 210Pb-dated sediment records from all three ponds, a regime shift occurred between 1875 and 1900 CE marked by a transition from low productivity, turbid, and nutrient-poor conditions of the Little Ice Age to conditions of higher productivity, lower nitrogen availability, and the development of benthic biofilm habitat as a result of climate warming. Beginning in the mid-1970s, sediment records from WAP 20 and WAP 21 reveal a second regime shift characterized by accelerated productivity and increased nitrogen availability. Coupled with 3 years of limnological data, results suggest that increased productivity at WAP 20 and WAP 21 led to atmospheric CO2 invasion to meet algal photosynthetic demand. This limnological regime shift is attributed to an increase in the supply of catchment-derived nutrients from the arrival of LSG and their subsequent disturbance to the landscape. Collectively, findings discriminate the consequences of warming and LSG disturbance on tundra ponds from which we identify a suite of sensitive limnological and paleolimnological measures that can be utilized to inform aquatic ecosystem monitoring. PMID:25750718

Limnological regime shifts caused by climate warming and Lesser Snow Goose population expansion in the western Hudson Bay Lowlands (Manitoba, Canada).

PubMed

MacDonald, Lauren A; Farquharson, Nicole; Merritt, Gillian; Fooks, Sam; Medeiros, Andrew S; Hall, Roland I; Wolfe, Brent B; Macrae, Merrin L; Sweetman, Jon N

2015-02-01

Shallow lakes are dominant features in subarctic and Arctic landscapes and are responsive to multiple stressors, which can lead to rapid changes in limnological regimes with consequences for aquatic resources. We address this theme in the coastal tundra region of Wapusk National Park, western Hudson Bay Lowlands (Canada), where climate has warmed during the past century and the Lesser Snow Goose (LSG; Chen caerulescens caerulescens) population has grown rapidly during the past ∽40 years. Integration of limnological and paleolimnological analyses documents profound responses of productivity, nutrient cycling, and aquatic habitat to warming at three ponds ("WAP 12", "WAP 20", and "WAP 21″), and to LSG disturbance at the two ponds located in an active nesting area (WAP 20, WAP 21). Based on multiparameter analysis of (210)Pb-dated sediment records from all three ponds, a regime shift occurred between 1875 and 1900 CE marked by a transition from low productivity, turbid, and nutrient-poor conditions of the Little Ice Age to conditions of higher productivity, lower nitrogen availability, and the development of benthic biofilm habitat as a result of climate warming. Beginning in the mid-1970s, sediment records from WAP 20 and WAP 21 reveal a second regime shift characterized by accelerated productivity and increased nitrogen availability. Coupled with 3 years of limnological data, results suggest that increased productivity at WAP 20 and WAP 21 led to atmospheric CO2 invasion to meet algal photosynthetic demand. This limnological regime shift is attributed to an increase in the supply of catchment-derived nutrients from the arrival of LSG and their subsequent disturbance to the landscape. Collectively, findings discriminate the consequences of warming and LSG disturbance on tundra ponds from which we identify a suite of sensitive limnological and paleolimnological measures that can be utilized to inform aquatic ecosystem monitoring.

Limnological Monitoring on the Upper Mississippi River System, 1993-1996: Lake City Field Station

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-10-01

Reports of this type provide a synopsis of the collected data and collection methods, as well as a preliminary report of remarkable or unusual conditions ... conditions . To meet this need, Congress authorized a Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). The LTRMP...primarily for human consumption or regulatory purposes (e.g., chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, total coliform bacteria , fecal coliform

Gas-analytic measurement complexes of Baikal atmospheric-limnological observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pestunov, D. A.; Shamrin, A. M.; Shmargunov, V. P.; Panchenko, M. V.

2015-11-01

The paper presents the present-day structure of stationary and mobile hardware-software gas-analytical complexes of Baikal atmospheric-limnological observatory (BALO) Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), designed to study the processes of gas exchange of carbon-containing gases in the "atmosphere-water" system, which are constantly updated to include new measuring and auxiliary instrumentation.

Limnological Monitoring on the Upper Mississippi River System, 1993-1996: Long Term Resource Monitoring Program Havana Field Station

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-11-01

synopsis of the collected data and collection methods, as well as a preliminary report of remarkable or unusual conditions in the system. They are intended...resource requires scientific understanding of the ecosystem and of its long-term trends and conditions . To meet this need, Congress authorized a Long...chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, total coliform bacteria , fecal coliform bacteria , fecal streptococcus, heavy metals, pesticides, and

Evaluating the potential of Iberian lakes as sensors of climate circulation patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández, Armand; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Jerez, Sonia; Rico-Herrero, Maria T.; Vega, José C.; Jambrina-Enríquez, Margarita; Valero-Garcés, Blas L.; Giralt, Santiago

2013-04-01

Lakes are one of the best continental sensors for reconstructing past environmental and climatic changes. Recent lacustrine systems may be used for reconstructing with high-temporal resolution past climate parameters (e.g. precipitation, temperature, wind), land management changes and limnological conditions such as pH, salinity, or nutrients concentrations using a large set of techniques and proxies. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions can be improved by validating them with instrumental data, and the availability of monitoring data greatly enhances the potential of lakes to evaluate the link between the measured physical-chemical-biological parameters and the indicators from lake sediments. The Iberian Peninsula (IP) is an excellent site to conduct quantitative climate reconstructions owing to its location between the Eurosiberian and Mediterranean regions. Due to its geographic position, a large fraction of the IP climate is dominated by the most important large scale pattern of the Northern Hemisphere, i.e. the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). However, a number of recent works has put into evidence that besides the NAO mode there are other relevant atmospheric circulation patterns over the North Atlantic and European sector that play an important role in terms of Western Mediterranean climate. Among these we have evaluated particularly the so-called Scandinavian (SCAND) and eastern Atlantic (EA) which have commonly been overlooked. Monthly limnological monitoring in Lake Sanabria (42°07'N, 06°43'W) and Lake Las Madres (40°18'N, 3°31'W) since 1986 and 1991, respectively, provided a unique opportunity to test the spatio-temporal relationships between meteorological data and climate modes, hydrology, lake dynamics and, in the Lake Sanabria case, how the climate signal is transferred to the lake sediments. For this purpose, we have used five complementary datasets: (1) meteorological (air temperature, total precipitation and wind intensity), (2) climate modes index (NAO, EA, SCAND), (3) limnological (Secchi disk, water temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, total phosphorus and chlorophyll) in both lake systems; and in Lake Sanabria (4) hydrological (Tera River water input and output) and (5) XRF core scanner measurements carried out in short cores. The preliminary results based on linear models and Principal Component Analyses between the different dataset variables show how the climate signal is transferred from the atmosphere to the lake, and ultimately to the sediments. Establishment of such links allowed us to infer quantitatively the pattern of precipitation and its temporal and spatial relationship with the main climate over the last decades using the limnological and sediment data in these two IP lakes. These results highlight that besides NAO, the SCAND and EA patterns must be taken into account on any analysis of climate variability in the IP.

Snapshot science: new research possibilities facilitated by spatially dense data sets in limnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, E. H.; Loken, L. C.; Crawford, J.; Butitta, V.; Schramm, P.

2017-12-01

The recent increase in availability of high frequency sensors is transforming the study of inland aquatic ecosystems, allowing the detection of rare or difficult-to-capture events, revealing previously unappreciated temporal dynamics, and providing rich data sets that can be used to calibrate or inform process-based models in ways that have not previously been possible. Yet sensor deployment is typically a 1-D practice, so insights are tempered by device placement. Limnologists have long known that there can be substantial spatial variability in physical, chemical, and biological features within water bodies, but in most cases, logistical difficulties limit our ability to quantify this heterogeneity. Recent improvements in remote sensing are helping to overcome this deficit for a subset of variables. Alternatively, devices such as the Fast Limnology Automated Measurement platform that deploy sensors on watercraft can be used to quickly generate spatially-rich data sets. This expanded capacity leads to new questions about what can be seen and learned about underlying processes. Surveys of multiple Wisconsin lakes reveal both homogeneity and heterogeneity among sites and variables, indicating that the limnological tradition of sampling at a single fixed point is unlikely to represent the entire lake area. Initial inferences drawn from surface water maps include identification of biogeochemical hotspots or areas of elevated loading. At a more sophisticated level, evaluation of changes in spatial structure among sites or dates is commonly used to infer process by landscape ecologists, and these same practices can now be applied to lakes and rivers. For example, a recent study documented significant changes in spatial variance and the magnitude of spatial autocorrelation of phycocyanin prior to the onset of a cyanobacterial bloom. This may provide information on population growth dynamics of cyanobacteria, and be used as early warnings of impending algal blooms. As the application of aquatic mapping tools expands in limnology, both by themselves and complemented by Lagrangian and traditional measurement approaches, we expect that the questions and insights they provide will again expand and shift our understanding of pattern and process in inland waters.

Dry season limnological conditions and basin geology exhibit complex relationships with δ13C and δ15N of carbon sources in four Neotropical floodplains.

PubMed

Zaia Alves, Gustavo H; Hoeinghaus, David J; Manetta, Gislaine I; Benedito, Evanilde

2017-01-01

Studies in freshwater ecosystems are seeking to improve understanding of carbon flow in food webs and stable isotopes have been influential in this work. However, variation in isotopic values of basal production sources could either be an asset or a hindrance depending on study objectives. We assessed the potential for basin geology and local limnological conditions to predict stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of six carbon sources at multiple locations in four Neotropical floodplain ecosystems (Paraná, Pantanal, Araguaia, and Amazon). Limnological conditions exhibited greater variation within than among systems. δ15N differed among basins for most carbon sources, but δ13C did not (though high within-basin variability for periphyton, phytoplankton and particulate organic carbon was observed). Although δ13C and δ15N values exhibited significant correlations with some limnological factors within and among basins, those relationships differed among carbon sources. Regression trees for both carbon and nitrogen isotopes for all sources depicted complex and in some cases nested relationships, and only very limited similarity was observed among trees for different carbon sources. Although limnological conditions predicted variation in isotope values of carbon sources, we suggest the resulting models were too complex to enable mathematical corrections of source isotope values among sites based on these parameters. The importance of local conditions in determining variation in source isotope values suggest that isotopes may be useful for examining habitat use, dispersal and patch dynamics within heterogeneous floodplain ecosystems, but spatial variability in isotope values needs to be explicitly considered when testing ecosystem models of carbon flow in these systems.

Dry season limnological conditions and basin geology exhibit complex relationships with δ13C and δ15N of carbon sources in four Neotropical floodplains

PubMed Central

Hoeinghaus, David J.; Manetta, Gislaine I.; Benedito, Evanilde

2017-01-01

Studies in freshwater ecosystems are seeking to improve understanding of carbon flow in food webs and stable isotopes have been influential in this work. However, variation in isotopic values of basal production sources could either be an asset or a hindrance depending on study objectives. We assessed the potential for basin geology and local limnological conditions to predict stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of six carbon sources at multiple locations in four Neotropical floodplain ecosystems (Paraná, Pantanal, Araguaia, and Amazon). Limnological conditions exhibited greater variation within than among systems. δ15N differed among basins for most carbon sources, but δ13C did not (though high within-basin variability for periphyton, phytoplankton and particulate organic carbon was observed). Although δ13C and δ15N values exhibited significant correlations with some limnological factors within and among basins, those relationships differed among carbon sources. Regression trees for both carbon and nitrogen isotopes for all sources depicted complex and in some cases nested relationships, and only very limited similarity was observed among trees for different carbon sources. Although limnological conditions predicted variation in isotope values of carbon sources, we suggest the resulting models were too complex to enable mathematical corrections of source isotope values among sites based on these parameters. The importance of local conditions in determining variation in source isotope values suggest that isotopes may be useful for examining habitat use, dispersal and patch dynamics within heterogeneous floodplain ecosystems, but spatial variability in isotope values needs to be explicitly considered when testing ecosystem models of carbon flow in these systems. PMID:28358822

Aquatic Plant Control Research Program. Growth and Rooting Depth Characteristics of Hydrilla Verticillata (L.f.) Royle and Myriophyllum Spicatum L. on Fertilized and Unfertilized Sediments

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-05-01

publication, or promotional purposes. Citation of trade names does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of the use of such commercial products ...demonstrated that in response to poor sediment conditions, root growth of submersed macrophytes may dramatically increase relative to shoot production ...The majority of these studies have examined effects of limnological factors including light, temperature, sediment, and water chemistry (Steward and

Treating floodplain lakes of large rivers as study units for variables that vary within lakes; an evaluation using chlorophyll a and inorganic suspended solids data from floodplain lakes of the Upper Mississippi River

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gray, B.R.; Rogala, J.R.; Houser, J.N.

2013-01-01

Contiguous floodplain lakes ('lakes') have historically been used as study units for comparative studies of limnological variables that vary within lakes. The hierarchical nature of these studies implies that study variables may be correlated within lakes and that covariate associations may differ not only among lakes but also by spatial scale. We evaluated the utility of treating lakes as study units for limnological variables that vary within lakes based on the criteria of important levels of among-lake variation in study variables and the observation of covariate associations that vary among lakes. These concerns were selected, respectively, to ensure that lake signatures were distinguishable from within-lake variation and that lake-scale effects on covariate associations might provide inferences not available by ignoring those effects. Study data represented chlorophyll a (CHL) and inorganic suspended solids (ISS) data from lakes within three reaches of the Upper Mississippi River. Sampling occurred in summer from 1993 through 2005 (except 2003); numbers of lakes per reach varied from 7 to 19, and median lake area varied from 53 to 101 ha. CHL and ISS levels were modelled linearly, with lake, year and lake x year effects treated as random. For all reaches, the proportions of variation in CHL and ISS attributable to differences among lakes (including lake and lake x year effects) were substantial (range: 18%-73%). Finally, among-lake variation in CHL and ISS was strongly associated with covariates and covariate effects that varied by lakes or lake-years (including with vegetation levels and, for CHL, log(ISS)). These findings demonstrate the utility of treating floodplain lakes as study units for the study of limnological variables and the importance of addressing hierarchy within study designs when making inferences from data collected within floodplain lakes.

Snake River Sockeye Salmon Habitat and Limnological Research : 2008 Annual Progress Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kohler, Andre E.; Griswold, Robert G.; Taki, Doug

2009-07-31

In March 1990, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list Snake River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) as endangered. Snake River sockeye salmon were officially listed as endangered in November 1991 under the Endangered Species Act (56 FR 58619). In 1991, the Snake River Sockeye Salmon Habitat and Limnological Research Project was implemented. This project is part of an interagency effort to prevent the extinction of the Redfish Lake stock of Snake River sockeye salmon. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribal goal for this project is two tiered: the immediate goal is to increase the population of Snake Rivermore » sockeye salmon while preserving the unique genetic characteristics of the evolutionarily significant unit (ESU). The Tribes long term goal is to maintain a viable population that warrants delisting and provides Tribal harvest opportunities. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) provides funding for this interagency Recovery effort. Collaborators in the recovery effort include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), the University of Idaho (UI), and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (SBT). This report summarizes activities conducted by Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Fisheries Department personnel during the 2008 calendar year. Project tasks include: (1) monitor limnological parameters of the Sawtooth Valley lakes to assess lake productivity; (2) conduct lake fertilization in Pettit and Alturas lakes; (3) reduce the number of mature kokanee salmon spawning in Alturas Lake Creek; (4) monitor, enumerate, and evaluate sockeye salmon smolt migration from Pettit and Alturas lakes; (5) monitor spawning kokanee salmon escapement and estimate fry recruitment in Fishhook and Alturas Lake creeks; (6) conduct sockeye and kokanee salmon population surveys; (7) evaluate potential competition and predation between stocked juvenile sockeye salmon and a variety of fish species in Redfish, Pettit, and Alturas lakes; and (8) assist IDFG with captive broodstock production activities.« less

Integrating limnological characteristics of high mountain lakes into the landscape of a natural area

USGS Publications Warehouse

Larson, Gary L.; Wones, A.; McIntire, C.D.; Samora, B.

1994-01-01

A general conceptual watershed-lake model of the complex interactions among climatic conditions, watershed location and characteristics, lake morphology, and fish predation was used to evaluate limnological characteristics of high mountain lakes. Our main hypothesis was that decreasing elevation in mountainous terrain corresponds to an increase in diversity of watershed size and lake area, depth, temperature, nutrient concentrations, and productivity. A second hypothesis was that watershed location and aspect relative to climatic gradients within mountainous terrain influences the limnological characteristics of the lakes. We evaluated these hypotheses by examining watershed location, aspect and size; lake morphology; water quality; and phytoplankton and zooplankton community characteristics among high mountain forest and subalpine lakes in Mount Rainier National Park. Although many of the comparisons between all forest and subalpine lakes were statistically insignificant, the results revealed trends that were consistent with our hypotheses. The forest lake group included more lakes with larger watersheds, larger surface areas, greater depths, higher concentrations of nutrients, and higher algal biovolumes than did the group of subalpine lakes. Deep lakes, which were mostly of the forest lake type, exhibited thermal stratification and relatively high values of some of the water-quality variables near the lake bottoms. However, the highest near-surface water temperatures and phytoplankton densities and the taxonomic structures of the phytoplankton and zooplankton assemblages were more closely related to geographical location, which corresponded to a west-east climate gradient in the park, than to lake type. Some crustacean and rotifer taxa, however, were limited in distribution by lake type. Fish predation did not appear to play an important role in the structure of the crustacean zooplankton communities at the genus level with the exception of Mowich Lake, where crustacean taxa were absent from the zooplankton community. This was the only lake inhabited by a true zooplanktivourous species of fish.

Over-winter ecology of Oncorhynchus nerka in the Sawtooth Valley Lakes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steinhart, G.B.; Wurtsbaugh, W.A.

1996-05-01

Included in this section of the report on limnology of Lakes in the Snake River Plain are descriptions of winter limnological conditions and kokanee growth characteristics from 1993 to 1995. The winter is usually a very harsh period for animals, and little is know about the over-winter ecology os sockeye salmon. They are active a temperatures below 4 F. The chapter discusses methods and results. 14 figs, 4 tabs.

Early Limnology of Dworshak Reservoir. Part 1. Limnology. Part 2. Impact of Log Leachates on Phytoplankton. Part 3. Fate of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Dynamics. Part 4. Bacteriology.

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-01-01

Streptococcus faecalis var. liquefaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes , and a Salmonella sp. in filtered Dworshak water, 3 August 1973...4-52 * 35, Survival of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis ./ var. liquefaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes , and a_ _.__ _ _, Salmonella...after appropriate enrich- ment. The organisms and enrichments used were as follows: Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes and Salmonella; brain heart

Limnological surveys of the Great Lakes--early and recent

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Stanford H.

1957-01-01

Early explorations on the Great Lakes were concerned largely with things easily collected or observed—common organisms, water levels, surface temperatures … Even when more scientific studies were undertaken, they were at first scattered and small-scale. Effective surveys became possible only through inter-agency cooperation which permits a pooling of facilities, staff, and equipment. Expansion of limnological research on the Great Lakes has been rapid in later years and the outlook for the future is good.

Limnology in the Upper Paraná River floodplain: large-scale spatial and temporal patterns, and the influence of reservoirs.

PubMed

Roberto, M C; Santana, N N; Thomaz, S M

2009-06-01

Knowledge of abiotic limnological factors is important to monitor changes caused by humans, and to explain the structure and dynamics of populations and communities in a variety of inland water ecosystems. In this study, we used a long term data-set (eight years) collected in 10 habitats with different features (river channels, and connected and isolated lakes) to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of some of the principal limnological factors. In general, the degree of connectivity of the lakes, together with the rivers to which the lakes are connected, were important determinants of their limnological characteristics. These differences are expected, because rivers entering the floodplain come from different geological regions and are subject to different human impacts. At large spatial scales, these differences contribute to the increased habitat diversity of the floodplain and thus to its high biodiversity. With regard to temporal variation, Secchi-disk transparency increased, and total phosphorus decreased in the Paraná River main channel during the last 20 years. Although these changes are directly attributed to the several reservoir cascades located upstream, the closing of the Porto Primavera dam in 1998 enhanced this effect. The increase in water transparency explains biotic changes within the floodplain. The lower-phosphorus Paraná River water probably dilutes concentrations of this element in the floodplain waterbodies during major floods, with future consequences for their productivity.

American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Symposium Report on What Controls Phytoplankton Production in Nutrient-Rich Areas of the Open Sea Held at San Marcos, California on 22-24 February 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-25

issue of Lininology and Oceantg- raphv (in prep.) was provided by: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Global Change Research Program and the...proposition, along with the outstanding scientific issues , call for rigorous discussion and debate on the regulation of productivity in these regions. To...this issue are convinced that sufficient evidence exists in support of the hypothesis that iron plays an important role in regulating the produc

Pristine aquatic systems in a Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site of the Brazilian Cerrado.

PubMed

Fonseca, Bárbara Medeiros; de Mendonça-Galvão, Luciana

2014-12-01

The maintenance of limnological monitoring programs in the Cerrado Domain is crucial as a provision of useful information about temporal variations in land use and their respective water quality responses, considering its importance as water source for different Brazilian hydrographic basins. The purpose of this research was to describe limnological variables of low-order lotic systems located in the Cerrado Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site (Environmental Protection Area (APA) Gama and Cabeça de Veado, Federal District of Brazil). Altogether, nine different streams were considered in this study. Samplings were conducted between 2010 and 2012, concentrated in the dry and rainy seasons. The sampling sites were generally characterized by low nutrient concentrations (e.g., medians, TP = 14.8 μg L(-1), TN = 20.0 μg L(-1), NO3 = 13.8 μg L(-1)) and slightly acidic waters (median, pH = 5.3), with quite low electrical conductivity values (median = 6.4 μS cm(-1)). However, water quality degradation as a response to diffuse pollution was reported in some sampling points (e.g., Onça and Gama streams), expressed by relatively higher N and P concentrations, which were probably highlighted by the good water quality of the data set as whole. Although there was a trend to higher values of nitrogen forms during the dry season, significant statistical differences between the seasonal periods were reported only for the variables temperature and dissolved silica, which were higher in the dry and rainy season, respectively. The streams located in the preserved areas inside the ecological stations of APA Gama and Cabeça de Veado can still be considered good examples of reference lotic systems in the Cerrado Domain; notwithstanding, this study reported incipient signs of water quality degradation which cannot be overlooked in future limnological monitoring.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Program Hatcheries Division: Ford Hatchery, Annual Report 2001-2002.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lewis, Mike; Polacek, Matt; Knuttgen, Kamia

2002-11-01

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife implemented the Banks Lake Fishery Evaluation Project (BLFEP) in September 2001 with funds from the Bonneville Power Administration. The first year of the BLFEP was used to gather historic information, establish methods and protocols, collect limnology data, and conduct the first seasonal fish surveys. Water quality parameters were collected monthly from February to May and bi-monthly from June to August. Banks Lake water temperatures began to increase in April and stratification was apparent by June at all 3 limnology collection sites. By late August, the thermocline had dropped to nearly 20 m deep,more » with 19-20 C temperatures throughout the epilimnion. Dissolved oxygen levels were generally above 10 mg/L until mid summer when dissolved oxygen dropped near or below 5 mg/L below 20-m deep. Secchi depths ranged from 3-10 m and varied by location and date. Nearshore and offshore fish surveys were conducted in May and July using boat electrofishing, fyke net, gill net, and hydroacoustic surveys. Smallmouth bass Micropterous dolomieui (24%) and lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis (20%) dominated the nearshore species composition in May; however, by July yellow perch Perca flavescens (26%) were the second most common species to smallmouth bass (30%). Lake whitefish dominated the offshore catch during May (72%) and July (90%). The May hydroacoustic survey revealed highest densities of fish in the upper 1/3 of the water column in the mid- to northern sections of the reservoir near Steamboat Rock. In the future, data from seasonal surveys will be used to identify potential factors that may limit the production and harvest of kokanee, rainbow trout, and various spiny-rayed fishes in Banks Lake. The limiting factors that will be examined consist of: abiotic factors including water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, habitat, exploitation and entrainment; and biotic factors including food limitation and predation. The BLFEP will also evaluate the success of several rearing and stocking strategies for hatchery kokanee in Banks Lake.« less

Dynamics of limnological parameters in reservoirs: A case study in South Brazil using remote sensing and meteorological data.

PubMed

Breunig, Fábio Marcelo; Pereira Filho, Waterloo; Galvão, Lênio Soares; Wachholz, Flávio; Cardoso, Maria Angélica Gonçalves

2017-01-01

Reservoirs are important in Brazil for the production of hydroelectric power and human water consumption. The objective was to evaluate the variability of total suspended solids (TSS) and chlorophyll-a as well as the rainfall/temperature and land use impacts on these optically active constituents (OAC). The study area is the Passo Real reservoir in south Brazil. The methodology was divided in four steps. First, we used wavelet to detect anomalous periods of rainfall and temperature (2002-2014). Second, we carried out 12 field campaigns to obtain in situ measurements for limnological characterization (2009-2010). The third step was the analysis of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Terra and Aqua satellites data corrected and non-corrected for bidirectional effects. Finally, we evaluated potential drivers of OAC changes over time using cross-correlation analysis. The results showed a decrease in the TSS and chlorophyll-a concentrations from the upper to the lower streams of the reservoir. The exponential regression between the MODIS red reflectance and TSS had an adjusted r 2 of 0.63. It decreased to 0.53 for the relationship between the green reflectance and chlorophyll-a. MODIS data corrected for bidirectional effects provided better OAC estimates than non-corrected data. The validation of MODIS TSS and chlorophyll-a estimates using a separate set of measurements showed a RMSE of 2.98mg/l and 2.33μg/l, respectively. MODIS estimates indicated a gradual transition in OAC from the upper to the lower streams in agreement with the patterns observed using field limnological data. The analysis of land use (greenness) showed two well-defined crop cycles per year. The highest seasonal concentrations of TSS and chlorophyll-a were observed in December and the lowest concentrations in April. Despite the interrelationships between both factors, our cross-correlation analysis indicated that the great concentrations of TSS and chlorophyll-a were primarily controlled by rainfall and secondarily by land use. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of volcanic activity and anthropic impact in the trace element contents of fishes from the North Patagonia in a global context.

PubMed

Bubach, D F; Macchi, P J; Pérez Catán, S

2015-11-01

The elemental contents in salmonid muscle and liver tissues from different lakes around the world were investigated. Fish from pristine areas were compared with those fishes from impacted environments, both by volcanic and anthropogenic activities. Within the data, special attention was given to fishes from the Andean Patagonian lakes in two contexts: local and global. The local evaluation includes geological and limnological parameters and diet composition which were obtained through a data search from published works. The volcanic influence in Andean Patagonian lakes was mainly observed by an increase of cesium (Cs) and rubidium (Rb) concentrations in fishes, influenced by calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) water contents. Zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), silver (Ag), and mercury (Hg) contents in fishes showed the effect of the geological substratum, and some limnological parameters. The diet composition was another factor which affects the elemental concentration in fishes. The analyzed data showed that the fishes from Andean Patagonian lakes had elemental content patterns corresponding to those of pristine regions with volcanic influence. Selenium and Ag contents from Andean Patagonian fishes were the highest reported.

Conifer density within lake catchments predicts fish mercury concentrations in remote subalpine lakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Eagles-Smith, Collin A.; Herring, Garth; Johnson, Branden L.; Graw, Rick

2016-01-01

Remote high-elevation lakes represent unique environments for evaluating the bioaccumulation of atmospherically deposited mercury through freshwater food webs, as well as for evaluating the relative importance of mercury loading versus landscape influences on mercury bioaccumulation. The increase in mercury deposition to these systems over the past century, coupled with their limited exposure to direct anthropogenic disturbance make them useful indicators for estimating how changes in mercury emissions may propagate to changes in Hg bioaccumulation and ecological risk. We evaluated mercury concentrations in resident fish from 28 high-elevation, sub-alpine lakes in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Fish total mercury (THg) concentrations ranged from 4 to 438 ng/g wet weight, with a geometric mean concentration (±standard error) of 43 ± 2 ng/g ww. Fish THg concentrations were negatively correlated with relative condition factor, indicating that faster growing fish that are in better condition have lower THg concentrations. Across the 28 study lakes, mean THg concentrations of resident salmonid fishes varied as much as 18-fold among lakes. We used a hierarchal statistical approach to evaluate the relative importance of physiological, limnological, and catchment drivers of fish Hg concentrations. Our top statistical model explained 87% of the variability in fish THg concentrations among lakes with four key landscape and limnological variables: catchment conifer density (basal area of conifers within a lake's catchment), lake surface area, aqueous dissolved sulfate, and dissolved organic carbon. Conifer density within a lake's catchment was the most important variable explaining fish THg concentrations across lakes, with THg concentrations differing by more than 400 percent across the forest density spectrum. These results illustrate the importance of landscape characteristics in controlling mercury bioaccumulation in fish.

Conifer density within lake catchments predicts fish mercury concentrations in remote subalpine lakes.

PubMed

Eagles-Smith, Collin A; Herring, Garth; Johnson, Branden; Graw, Rick

2016-05-01

Remote high-elevation lakes represent unique environments for evaluating the bioaccumulation of atmospherically deposited mercury through freshwater food webs, as well as for evaluating the relative importance of mercury loading versus landscape influences on mercury bioaccumulation. The increase in mercury deposition to these systems over the past century, coupled with their limited exposure to direct anthropogenic disturbance make them useful indicators for estimating how changes in mercury emissions may propagate to changes in Hg bioaccumulation and ecological risk. We evaluated mercury concentrations in resident fish from 28 high-elevation, sub-alpine lakes in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Fish total mercury (THg) concentrations ranged from 4 to 438 ng/g wet weight, with a geometric mean concentration (±standard error) of 43 ± 2 ng/g ww. Fish THg concentrations were negatively correlated with relative condition factor, indicating that faster growing fish that are in better condition have lower THg concentrations. Across the 28 study lakes, mean THg concentrations of resident salmonid fishes varied as much as 18-fold among lakes. We used a hierarchal statistical approach to evaluate the relative importance of physiological, limnological, and catchment drivers of fish Hg concentrations. Our top statistical model explained 87% of the variability in fish THg concentrations among lakes with four key landscape and limnological variables: catchment conifer density (basal area of conifers within a lake's catchment), lake surface area, aqueous dissolved sulfate, and dissolved organic carbon. Conifer density within a lake's catchment was the most important variable explaining fish THg concentrations across lakes, with THg concentrations differing by more than 400 percent across the forest density spectrum. These results illustrate the importance of landscape characteristics in controlling mercury bioaccumulation in fish. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

[The model of development of science by the example of limnology].

PubMed

Menshutkin, V V; Levchenko, V F

2010-01-01

Limnology--the science about lakes is the young and relatively closed area of studies; its existence is owing to several hundreds of scientists. The International Society of Limnologists holds its meetings since 1922. We used materials of these meetings to find out the main stages of development of this science; among these stages there were both fast and relatively calm periods. Based on analysis of these data, we constructed a model of development of the science, the same data being used for tuning and verification of the model. We have suggested that the main regularities and of development of limnology can be extrapolated to other sciences. The main "acting person" in the model is population of scientists. Each scientist, with some probability, can propose new ideas as well as use in his elaborations some particular complex of the already accumulated knowledge and ideas. The model also takes into consideration how the scientific information is spreading, specifically some individual peculiarities of model scientists, such as age, experience, communicability. After the model parameters had been chosen in such a way that is described adequately the development of limnology, we performed a series of experiments by changing some of the characteristics and obtained rather unexpected results published preliminary in the short work (Levchenko V. F and Menshutkin V. V. Int. J. Comp. Anticip. Syst., 2008, vol. 22, p. 63-75) and discussed here in the greater detail. It is revealed, that the development of science is passing irregularly and sharply decelerated at low level of scientists communication and absence of scientific schools, and that the age of "scientific youth" of scientist begins usually only after 40 years.

Simulated limnological effects of the Shasta Lake temperature control device

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bartholow, J.; Hanna, R.B.; Saito, L.; Lieberman, D.; Horn, M.

2001-01-01

We estimated the effects of a temperature control device (TCD) on a suite of thermodynamic and limnological attributes for a large storage reservoir, Shasta Lake, in northern California. Shasta Dam was constructed in 1945 with a fixed-elevation penstock. The TCD was installed in 1997 to improve downstream temperatures for endangered salmonids by releasing epilimnetic waters in the winter/spring and hypolimnetic waters in the summer/fall. We calibrated a two-dimensional hydrodynamic reservoir water quality model, CE-QUAL-W2, and applied a structured design-of-experiment simulation procedure to predict the principal limnological effects of the TCD under a variety of environmental scenarios. Calibration goodness-of-fit ranged from good to poor depending on the constituent simulated, with an R2 of 0.9 for water temperature but 0.3 for phytoplankton. Although the chemical and thermal characteristics of the discharge changed markedly, the reservoir's characteristics remained relatively unchanged. Simulations showed the TCD causing an earlier onset and shorter duration of summer stratification, but no dramatic affect on Shasta's nutrient composition. Peak in-reservoir phytoplankton production may begin earlier and be stronger in the fall with the TCD, while outfall phytoplankton concentrations may be much greater in the spring. Many model predictions differed from our a priori expectations that had been shaped by an intensive, but limited-duration, data collection effort. Hydrologic and meteorological variables, most notably reservoir carryover storage at the beginning of the calendar year, influenced model predictions much more strongly than the TCD. Model results indicate that greater control over reservoir limnology and release quality may be gained by carefully managing reservoir volume through the year than with the TCD alone.

Limnological study with reference to fish culture of Bothali (Mendha) reservoir, district - Gadchiroli (India).

PubMed

Tijare, Rajendra V

2012-04-01

Limnological study with reference to fish culture was carried out at Bothali (Mendha) reservoir, district Gadchiroli, India. Water samples from different sampling locations were collected and processed for physico-chemical analysis. The physico-chemical analysis revealed that the reservoir is favourable for fish culture as the phosphate content in water is moderate in amount. This reservoir can produce a good yield of fishes. Though the reservoir is presently exploited and is under pisciculture, a better treatment of the reservoir such as prevention of entry of organic matter, reduction of phosphate ion concentration to certain extent is necessary to obtain a maximum fish yield.

Sampling protocol for monitoring abiotic and biotic characteristics of mountain ponds and lakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hoffman, Robert L.; Tyler, Torrey J.; Larson, Gary L.; Adams, Michael J.; Wente, Wendy; Galvan, Stephanie

2005-01-01

This document describes field techniques and procedures used for sampling mountain ponds and lakes. These techniques and procedures will be used primarily to monitor, as part of long-term programs in National Parks and other protected areas, the abiotic and biotic characteristics of naturally occurring permanent montane lentic systems up to 75 ha in surface area. However, the techniques and procedures described herein also can be used to sample temporary or ephemeral montane lentic sites. Each Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) section addresses a specific component of the limnological investigation, and describes in detail field sampling methods pertaining to parameters to be measured for each component.

State-of-the-art techniques for inventory of Great Lakes aquatic habitats and resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Edsall, Thomas A.; Brock, R.H.; Bukata, R.P.; Dawson, J.J.; Horvath, F.J.; Busch, W.-Dieter N.; Sly, Peter G.

1992-01-01

This section of the Classification and Inventory of Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat report was prepared as a series of individually authored contributions that describe, in various levels of detail, state-of-the-art techniques that can be used alone or in combination to inventory aquatic habitats and resources in the Laurentian Great Lakes system. No attempt was made to review and evaluate techniques that are used routinely in limnological and fisheries surveys and inventories because it was felt that users of this document would be familiar with them.

Long-term limnological data from the larger lakes of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Theriot, E.C.; Fritz, S.C.; Gresswell, Robert E.

1997-01-01

Long-term limnological data from the four largest lakes in Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone, Lewis, Shoshone, Heart) are used to characterize their limnology and patterns of temporal and spatial variability. Heart Lake has distinctively high concentrations of dissolved materials, apparently reflecting high thermal inputs. Shoshone and Lewis lakes have the highest total SiO2 concentrations (averaging over 23.5 mg L-1), apparently as a result of the rhyolitic drainage basins. Within Yellowstone Lake spatial variability is low and ephemeral for most measured variables, except that the Southeast Arm has lower average Na concentrations. Seasonal variation is evident for Secchi transparency, pH, and total-SiO2 and probably reflects seasonal changes in phytoplankton biomass and productivity. Total dissolved solids (TDS) and total-SiO2 generally show a gradual decline from the mid-1970s through mid-1980s, followed by a sharp increase. Ratios of Kjeldahl-N to total-PO4 (KN:TP) suggest that the lakes, especially Shoshone, are often nitrogen limited. Kjeldahl-N is positively correlated with winter precipitation, but TP and total-SiO2 are counterintuitively negatively correlated with precipitation. We speculate that increased winter precipitation, rather than watershed fires, increases N-loading which, in turn, leads to increased demand for TP and total SiO2.

78 FR 53285 - Seagoing Barges

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-29

... exclusively in instruction in oceanography or limnology, or both, or exclusively in oceanographic research.... 441 an oceanographic research vessel ``. . . being employed exclusively in instruction in oceanography...

Ecology, mythology and the organismic way of thinking in limnology.

PubMed

Ghilarov, A M

1992-01-01

For laymen, the word 'ecology' has become naturally surrounded with mythological mist. The influence of mythological thinking on ecology as a science is not so evident, but it certainly exists and in some aspects it can hardly be overestimated. The idea of the organism as a model or matrix for shaping new knowledge about populations, communities and ecosystems is extremely important in the maintenance of mythological thinking in modern ecology. We may even consider the organismic ideas as a vehicle of mythology in modern ecology. to this article, the problem is illustrated with limnology - an advanced branch of ecology in which it is easier to see the connections and contradictions between the dominant approaches. Copyright © 1992. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An ERTS-1 investigation for Lake Ontario and its basin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polcyn, F. C.; Falconer, A. (Principal Investigator); Wagner, T. W.; Rebel, D. L.

1975-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Methods of manual, semi-automatic, and automatic (computer) data processing were evaluated, as were the requirements for spatial physiographic and limnological information. The coupling of specially processed ERTS data with simulation models of the watershed precipitation/runoff process provides potential for water resources management. Optimal and full use of the data requires a mix of data processing and analysis techniques, including single band editing, two band ratios, and multiband combinations. A combination of maximum likelihood ratio and near-IR/red band ratio processing was found to be particularly useful.

Seasonal variation of limnological features and trophic state index of two oligotrophic reservoirs of southeast Brazil.

PubMed

Oliveira, S A; Bicudo, C E M

2017-01-01

Limnological features of two reservoirs were studied in dry (August 2013) and rainy (January 2014) periods to evaluate the water quality that supply the city of Guarulhos, southeast Brazil. Water samples were collected in three depths and the following characteristics were measured: alkalinity, dissolved O2, free and total CO2, HCO3, soluble reactive silica, dissolved and total nitrogen and phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a. Water transparency was also measured and temperature, pH and electric conductivity profiles were obtained. Great seasonal and low spatial variability of the water characteristics occurred in the reservoirs. High values of water transparency, free CO2 availability, and low of pH, soluble reactive silica and total and dissolved nutrients values were recorded at the dry period, and different conditions were found at the rainy season. The two reservoirs were characterized by low nutrients, chlorophyll-a and turbidity, and high transparency, these features being typical of oligotrophic systems. The two reservoirs still remain under low anthropogenic impact conditions, and are presently considered reference systems for the SPMR, São Paulo Metropolitan Region. The need for actions that will reduce the input of nutrients from the neighboring cities and the main tributaries of the hydrographic basin is emphasized to maintain the ecological quality of the reservoirs and their reference conditions among the SPRM reservoirs.

46 CFR 90.10-16 - Industrial vessel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... ventures. Included in this classification are such vessels as drill rigs, missile range ships, dredges... classification are vessels carrying freight for hire or engaged in oceanography, limnology, or the fishing...

46 CFR 90.10-16 - Industrial vessel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... ventures. Included in this classification are such vessels as drill rigs, missile range ships, dredges... classification are vessels carrying freight for hire or engaged in oceanography, limnology, or the fishing...

46 CFR 90.10-16 - Industrial vessel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... ventures. Included in this classification are such vessels as drill rigs, missile range ships, dredges... classification are vessels carrying freight for hire or engaged in oceanography, limnology, or the fishing...

46 CFR 90.10-16 - Industrial vessel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ventures. Included in this classification are such vessels as drill rigs, missile range ships, dredges... classification are vessels carrying freight for hire or engaged in oceanography, limnology, or the fishing...

46 CFR 90.10-16 - Industrial vessel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... ventures. Included in this classification are such vessels as drill rigs, missile range ships, dredges... classification are vessels carrying freight for hire or engaged in oceanography, limnology, or the fishing...

76 FR 56789 - Call for Nominations: North Slope Science Initiative, Science Technical Advisory Panel, Alaska

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... disciplines: North Slope traditional and local knowledge, landscape ecology, petroleum engineering, civil engineering, geology, botany, hydrology, limnology, habitat biology, wildlife biology, biometrics, sociology...

Geology of Utah and Nevada by ERTS-1 imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jensen, M. L.

1973-01-01

Repetitive ERTS-1 imagery covering Utah and Nevada is studied as an aid in structural geology, mineral exploration, and limnological and hydrological aspects. Limnological features of algal blooms and varying biological activities in Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake are grossly evident on the imagery with more subtle details detected on the different bands. Major structural breaks, lineages, or trends are abundant throughout the area of study. The correlation of positive aeromagnetic anomalies with the trends suggests near surface intrusive bodies, not yet exposed at the surface, that can be tested for possible associated mineralization by collecting soil-gas at the surface which is analyzed for mercury that is (1) apparently associated with mineralization, (2) escapes as a vapor, and (3) can be readily measured in extremely low amounts of less than 1 ppb by absorption.

Sensitivity of two Iberian lakes to North Atlantic atmospheric circulation modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández, Armand; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Pla-Rabes, Sergi; Valero-Garcés, Blas L.; Jerez, Sonia; Rico-Herrero, Mayte; Vega, José C.; Jambrina-Enríquez, Margarita; Giralt, Santiago

2015-12-01

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) exerts a major influence on the climate of the North Atlantic region. However, other atmospheric circulation modes (ACMs), such as the East Atlantic (EA) and Scandinavian (SCAND) patterns, also play significant roles. The dynamics of lakes on the Iberian Peninsula are greatly controlled by climatic parameters, but their relationship with these various ACMs has not been investigated in detail. In this paper, we analyze monthly meteorological and limnological long-term datasets (1950-2011 and 1992-2011, respectively) from two lakes on the northern and central Iberian Peninsula (Sanabria and Las Madres) to develop an understanding of the seasonal sensitivity of these freshwater systems to the NAO, EA and SCAND circulation modes. The limnological variability within Lake Sanabria is primarily controlled by fluctuations in the seasonal precipitation and wind, and the primary ACMs associated with the winter limnological processes are the NAO and the SCAND modes, whereas only the EA mode appears to weakly influence processes during the summer. However, Lake Las Madres is affected by precipitation, wind and, to a lesser extent, temperature, whereas the ACMs have less influence. Therefore, we aim to show that the lakes of the Iberian Peninsula are sensitive to these ACMs. The results presented here indicate that the lake dynamics, in some cases, have a higher sensitivity to variations in the ACMs than single local meteorological variables. However, certain local features, such as geography, lake morphology and anthropic influences, are crucial to properly record the signals of these ACMs.

[Limnology of high mountain tropical lake, in Ecuador: characteristics of sediments and rate of sedimentation].

PubMed

Gunkel, Günter

2003-06-01

Equatorial high mountain lakes are a special type of lake occurring mainly in the South American Andes as well as in Central Africa and Asia. They occur at altitudes of a few thousand meters above sea level and are cold-water lakes (< 20 degrees C). Relatively little is known about them. A long-term limnological study was therefore undertaken at Lake San Pablo, Ecuador, to analyze the basic limnological processes of the lake, which has a tendency for eutrophication. Sediment quality of San Pablo Lake is given under consideration of horizontal and vertical distribution using sediment cores. Significance of sediments for eutrophication process of lakes is demonstrated using phosphorus concentration of sediments as well as the phosphorus retention capacity of the sediments by ratio Fe/P. Dating of the sediments is done using 137Cs and 210Pb, but the activity of 137Cs in the sediment was very low nearly at the detection level. Sedimentation rate is determined to be 3.5 mm/year and the sediment cores represent about 110 years. P concentration of the sediments is high (approximately 5 g/kg dry substance), and P retention capacity by Fe is insufficient (Fe/P = 4). The sediment quality did not change significantly during the past decades, and the trophic state of San Pablo Lake was already less or more eutrophic 110 years ago. The contamination of the lake sediments by heavy metals is insignificant.

Limnology of nine small lakes, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, and the survival and growth rates of rainbow trout

USGS Publications Warehouse

Woods, P.F.

1985-01-01

The survival and growth rates of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnieri) were concurrently measured with selected limnological characteristics in nine small (surface area < 25 sq hectometers) lakes in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The project goal was to develop empirical models for predicting rainbow trout growth rates from the following variables: total phosphorus concentration, chlorophyll a concentration, Secchi disc transparency, or the morphoedaphic index--a means of characterizing potential biological productivity. No suitable model could be developed from the data collected during 1982 and 1983. The lack of significant correlation was attributed in part to the wide variation in survival of rainbow trout. Winterkills, caused by severe depletion of dissolved oxygen, were suspected in four of the lakes. Varied levels of fishing pressure and competition with threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) also influenced survival of rainbow trout but their effects were overshadowed by winterkill. Predictive capability was also reduced because of inconsistencies in rankings generated by each of the four limnological variables chosen as indicators of potential biological productivity. A lake ranked low in productivity by one variable was commonly ranked high in productivity by another variable. The survivability of rainbow trout stocked in lakes such as these nine may be a more important indicator of potential biomass production than are indicators of lake fertility. Assessments of a lake 's susceptibility to winterkill and the degree of competition with threespine stickleback are suggested as important topics for additional research. (Author 's abstract)

Using Stormwater Detention Ponds for Aquatic Science Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cahoon, Lawrence B.

1996-01-01

Describes the use of recently constructed stormwater detention ponds to conduct a set of field and laboratory exercises in an undergraduate limnology course. Provides a number of logistical advantages that can benefit those teaching aquatic sciences. (JRH)

MANAGEMENT-DRIVEN LIMNOLOGICAL RESEARCH. (R826282)

EPA Science Inventory

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Concl...

Index to limnological data for southcentral Alaska Lakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maurer, M.A.; Woods, P.F.

1987-01-01

South-central Alaska lakes are a valuable natural resource and provide a variety of recreational opportunities to the public. Lakeside development has increased significantly in the past 10 years and several south-central Alaskan lakes have documented pollution problems. Cultural eutrophication, the process by which man-induced nutrient loading to a lake results in large increases in biological productivity, can also produce noxious algae blooms, dissolved oxygen depletion at depth, reduced water transparency, and fish kills. The potential for cultural eutrophication of south-central Alaska lakes prompted the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Division and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources-Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS) to provide lake researchers, managers, and the public with this index of published historical and current limnological references. The purpose of the index is to provide reference to the data which can be used to identify and monitor cultural eutrophication of south-central Alaska lakes. (Lantz-PTT)

Using landscape limnology to classify freshwater ecosystems for multi-ecosystem management and conservation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Soranno, Patricia A.; Cheruvelil, Kendra Spence; Webster, Katherine E.; Bremigan, Mary T.; Wagner, Tyler; Stow, Craig A.

2010-01-01

Governmental entities are responsible for managing and conserving large numbers of lake, river, and wetland ecosystems that can be addressed only rarely on a case-by-case basis. We present a system for predictive classification modeling, grounded in the theoretical foundation of landscape limnology, that creates a tractable number of ecosystem classes to which management actions may be tailored. We demonstrate our system by applying two types of predictive classification modeling approaches to develop nutrient criteria for eutrophication management in 1998 north temperate lakes. Our predictive classification system promotes the effective management of multiple ecosystems across broad geographic scales by explicitly connecting management and conservation goals to the classification modeling approach, considering multiple spatial scales as drivers of ecosystem dynamics, and acknowledging the hierarchical structure of freshwater ecosystems. Such a system is critical for adaptive management of complex mosaics of freshwater ecosystems and for balancing competing needs for ecosystem services in a changing world.

Patchiness in a large floodplain river: Associations among hydrology, nutrients, and fish communities

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeJager, Nathan R.; Houser, Jeff N.

2016-01-01

Large floodplain rivers have internal structures shaped by directions and rates of water movement. In a previous study, we showed that spatial variation in local current velocities and degrees of hydrological exchange creates a patch-work mosaic of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and ratios in the Upper Mississippi River. Here, we used long-term fish and limnological data sets to test the hypothesis that fish communities differ between the previously identified patches defined by high or low nitrogen to phosphorus ratios (TN:TP) and to determine the extent to which select limnological covariates might explain those differences. Species considered as habitat generalists were common in both patch types but were at least 2 times as abundant in low TN:TP patches. Dominance by these species resulted in lower diversity in low TN:TP patches, whereas an increased relative abundance of a number of rheophilic (flow-dependent) species resulted in higher diversity and a more even species distribution in high TN:TP patches. Of the limnological variables considered, the strongest predictor of fish species assemblage and diversity was water flow velocity, indicating that spatial patterns in water-mediated connectivity may act as the main driver of both local nutrient concentrations and fish community composition in these reaches. The coupling among hydrology, biogeochemistry, and biodiversity in these river reaches suggests that landscape-scale restoration projects that manipulate hydrogeomorphic patterns may also modify the spatial mosaic of nutrients and fish communities. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Limnological characteristics and trophic state of a newly created site: the Pareja Limno-reservoir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina-Navarro, E.; Martínez-Pérez, S.; Sastre-Merlín, A.

2012-04-01

The creation of dams in the riverine zone of large reservoirs is an innovative action whose primary goal is to generate water bodies that ensure a stable level of water there. We have termed these bodies of water "limno-reservoirs" because their water level becomes constant and independent of the fluctuations occurring in the main reservoir. In addition, limno-reservoirs represent environmental initiatives with corrective and/or compensatory effects. Pareja Limno-reservoir, located near the left side of Entrepeñas Reservoir (Guadalajara province, central Spain), is one of the first initiatives of this type in Spain. We are investigating the hydrology, limnology, microbiology, siltation risk and other aspects of this site. This research has a special interest since the building of limno-reservoirs is rising in Spain. To acquire knowledge about their behavior may be helpful for further constructions. In fact, every new reservoir building project usually includes a limno-reservoir. Moreover, there are many initiatives related with the construction of this kind of hydraulic infrastructures in the reservoirs under exploitation. This work focuses on the limnological study of the Pareja Limno-reservoir. To conduct this research, twelve seasonal sample collections at two sampling points (the dam and inflow zones) have been made in Pareja Limno-reservoir, from spring 2008 to winter 2011. The primary goal of this study is to describe the limnological characteristics of the limno-reservoir. Special interest is placed in the study of the trophic state through different indicators (nutrients, transparency, phytoplankton and zooplankton populations), as the European Water Framework Directive objective is to achieve a "good ecological status" in every aquatic ecosystem by 2015. The results of the study show that the Pareja Limno-reservoir follows a warm monomictic water stratification pattern. Water was slightly alkaline and conductivity values were mostly over 1000 μS cm-1 due to the high SO4= concentrations. The highest N and P levels were found in the winter, whereas the highest chlorophyll aand phytoplankton biomass values were found in the summer and autumn. The total zooplankton species richness was high, especially in the inflow zone. Globally, the results obtained suggest that the Pareja Limno-reservoir is oligo-mesotrophic, so it may be under the WFD requirements, although some differences were found using a variety of trophic state criteria.

Banks Lake Fishery Evaluation Project Annual Report : Fiscal Year 2001 (September 1, 2001 to August 31, 2002).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Polacek, Matt; Knuttgen, Kamia; Baldwin, Casey

2003-03-01

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife implemented the Banks Lake Fishery Evaluation Project (BLFEP) in September 2001 with funds from the Bonneville Power Administration. The first year of the BLFEP was used to gather historic information, establish methods and protocols, collect limnology data, and conduct the first seasonal fish surveys. Water quality parameters were collected monthly from February to May and bi-monthly from June to August. Banks Lake water temperatures began to increase in April and stratification was apparent by June at all 3 limnology collection sites. By late August, the thermocline had dropped to nearly 20 m deep,more » with 19-20 C temperatures throughout the epilimnion. Dissolved oxygen levels were generally above 10 mg/L until mid summer when dissolved oxygen dropped near or below 5 mg/L below 20-m deep. Secchi depths ranged from 3-10 m and varied by location and date. Nearshore and offshore fish surveys were conducted in May and July using boat electrofishing, fyke net, gill net, and hydroacoustic surveys. Smallmouth bass Micropterous dolomieui (24%) and lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis (20%) dominated the nearshore species composition in May; however, by July yellow perch Perca flavescens (26%) were the second most common species to smallmouth bass (30%). Lake whitefish dominated the offshore catch during May (72%) and July (90%). The May hydroacoustic survey revealed highest densities of fish in the upper 1/3 of the water column in the mid- to northern sections of the reservoir near Steamboat Rock. In the future, data from seasonal surveys will be used to identify potential factors that may limit the production and harvest of kokanee, rainbow trout, and various spiny-rayed fishes in Banks Lake. The limiting factors that will be examined consist of: abiotic factors including water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, habitat, exploitation and entrainment; and biotic factors including food limitation and predation. The BLFEP will also evaluate the success of several rearing and stocking strategies for hatchery kokanee in Banks Lake.« less

LakeMIP Kivu: Evaluating the representation of a large, deep tropical lake by a set of 1-dimensional lake models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thiery, Wim; Stepanenko, Viktor; Darchambeau, François; Joehnk, Klaus; Martynov, Andrey; Mironov, Dmitrii; Perroud, Marjorie; van Lipzig, Nicole

2013-04-01

The African great lakes are of utmost importance for the local economy (fishing), as well as being essential to the survival of the local people. During the last decades, these lakes experienced fast changes in ecosystem structure and functioning and their future evolution is a major concern. In this study, for the first time a set of one-dimensional lake models are evaluated over East-Africa, in particular over Lake Kivu (2.28 °S; 28.98 °E). The unique limnology of meromictic Lake Kivu, with the importance of salinity and geothermal springs in a tropical high-altitude climate, presents a worthy challenge to the 1D-lake models currently involved in the Lake Model Intercomparison Project (LakeMIP). Furthermore, this experiment will serve as the basis for a future, more complex intercomparison, coupling lake models with atmospheric circulation models to analyse climate change effects on the lake. Meteorological observations from two automatic weather stations, one at Kamembe airport (Rwanda, 2003-2008), the other at ISP Bukavu (DRC, 2003-2011), are used to drive each of these models. For the evaluation, a unique dataset is used which contains over 150 temperature profiles recorded since 2002. The standard LakeMIP protocol is adapted to mirror the limnological conditions in Lake Kivu and to unify model parameters as far as possible. Since some lake models do not account for salinity and its effect upon lake stratification, two sets of simulations are performed with each model: one for the freshwater layer only (60 m) and one for the average lake depth (240 m) including salinity. Therewith, on the one hand it is investigated whether each model is able to reproduce the correct mixing regime in Lake Kivu and captures the controlling of this seasonality by the relative humidity, which constrains evaporation except during summer (JJA). On the other hand, the ability of different models to simulate salinity- and geothermal-induced effects upon deep water stratification is analysed. Finally, different models are tested for their sensitivity to variations in respectively the light extinction coefficient, the geothermal heat flux, the applied wind speed correction and the bottom sediments routine.

AmeriFlux US-Pnp Lake Mendota, Picnic Point Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Desai, Ankur

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-Pnp Lake Mendota, Picnic Point Site. Site Description - The site is located on the shoreline of Lake Mendota on the rooftop of UW-Madison's Center for Limnology.

LIMNOLOGICAL OPTOMETRY: EXAMINING EARTH'S EYE

EPA Science Inventory

In Thoreau's Walden, a lake is described as the landscape's most expressive feature and the earth's eye. Collectively, scientists are charged by society to assess, monitor, and remedy maladies of earth's eye in the same way optometrists maintain the health of the human eye. This ...

Near-Real-Time Acoustic Monitoring of Beaked Whales and Other Cetaceans Using a Seaglider(TM)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-18

their copepod prey observed from ocean gliders. Limnology and Oceanography 53: 2197–2209. Acoustic Monitoring of Cetaceans Using a Seaglider PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 8 May 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 5 | e36128

Modern limnology of two lakes in the Tibetan Plateau - evidence from in-situ monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, M.; Li, X.; Lei, L.; He, Y.; Hou, J.

2013-12-01

The mechanisms of climate change in the Tibetan Plateau, known as the Third Pole, receive more and more attention due to its unique geographic location and the influence of multiple climate systems. Among the paleoclimate archives, widespread lakes provide abundant information on past climate changes and have been investigated for decades. Though many high-quality paleolimnological records have been reported in the Tibetan Plateau, little is known about the modern limnological processes in most Tibetan lakes as most lakes are difficult to access and not ready for long-term monitoring. We have installed a series of temperature data logger at different water levels in two Tibetan lakes, Bangong Co and Dagze Co in July 2012 to monitor hourly variability of temperature profile. Bangong Co (33.5°N, 79.8°E, 4245 m asl) is a freshwater lake (salinity ~0.5 g/L) in the westernmost Tibetan Plateau, receiving melt water from mountain glaciers in the basin. Dagze Co (31.9°N, 87.5°E, 4470 m asl) is saline lake (salinity ~15 g/L) in the central Tibetan Plateau, mostly fed by precipitation. In combination with the climate data in the nearby weather stations, we wish to understand the modern limnological processes in the two lakes and their potential effect on the lake biology, sedimentation, and sedimentary biomarkers. Based on the data collected for the first calendar year (Jul 2012 ~ Aug 2013), we anticipate to understand: 1) the influence of climate on the hydrological processes in high elevation lakes; 2) the difference in the metalimnion in meltwater-fed lake (Bangong Co) and precipitation-fed lake (Dagze Co) and their potential effect on the lake biology; 3) the difference in the spring turnover and fall turnover and the effect of meltwater and salinity.

Determining diatom ecotones and their relationship to terrestrial ecoregion designations in the central Canadian Arctic Islands.

PubMed

Antoniades, Dermot; Douglas, Marianne S V; Michelutti, Neal; Smol, John P

2014-08-01

Ecotones are key areas for the detection of global change because many are predicted to move with shifts in climate. Prince of Wales Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, spans the transition between mid- to high-Arctic ecoregions. We analyzed limnological variables and recent diatom assemblages from its lakes and ponds to determine if assemblages reflected this ecotone. Limnological gradients were short, and water chemistry explained 20.0% of diatom variance in a redundancy analysis (RDA), driven primarily by dissolved organic carbon, Ca and SO4 . Most taxa were small, benthic forms; key taxa such as planktonic Cyclotella species were restricted to the warmer, southern portion of the study area, while benthic Staurosirella were associated with larger, ice-dominated lakes. Nonetheless, there were no significant changes in diatom assemblages across the mid- to high-Arctic ecoregion boundary. We combined our data set with one from nearby Cornwallis Island to expand the study area and lengthen its environmental gradients. Within this expanded data set, 40.6% of the diatom variance was explained by a combination of water chemistry and geographic variables, and significant relationships were revealed between diatom distributions and key limnological variables, including pH, specific conductivity, and chl-a. Using principal coordinates analysis, we estimated community turnover with latitude and applied piecewise linear regression to determine diatom ecotone positions. A pronounced transition was present between Prince of Wales Island and the colder, more northerly Cornwallis Island. These data will be important in detecting any future northward ecotone movement in response to predicted Arctic climate warming in this highly sensitive region. © 2014 Phycological Society of America.

Limnological Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hambler, David J.; Dixon, Jean M.

1982-01-01

Describes collection of quantitative samples of microorganisms and accumulation of physical data from a pond over a year. Provides examples of how final-year degree students have used materials and data for ecological projects (involving mainly algae), including their results/conclusions. Also describes apparatus and reagents used in the student…

46 CFR 188.10-71 - Scientific personnel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... scientific research, or in instructing, or receiving instruction, in oceanography or limnology, and shall not... 46 Shipping 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Scientific personnel. 188.10-71 Section 188.10-71 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSELS GENERAL...

46 CFR 188.10-71 - Scientific personnel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... scientific research, or in instructing, or receiving instruction, in oceanography or limnology, and shall not... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Scientific personnel. 188.10-71 Section 188.10-71 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSELS GENERAL...

Environmental Influences on Diel Calling Behavior in Baleen Whales

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-30

small copepods (e.g., Oithona spp.) to large euphausiids (e.g., Meganyctiphanes norvegica). Sampling will occur during both day and night to assess...vocalization rates and the vertical migration of their copepod prey observed from ocean gliders. Limnology and Oceanography 53:2197-2209

Cylindrospermopsis in Lake Erie: Testing its association with other cyanobacterial genera and major limnological parameters

EPA Science Inventory

We report the first documented observation of the potentially toxic cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis in lake Erie and Sandusky Bay in 2005 and quantify the physical and chemical parameters and the cyanobacterial community composition contemporaneous to its occurrence. We hypothe...

Breaking Waves, Langmuir Circulation and Bubbles in the Mixed Layer

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-09-30

Langmuir circulation, derived from the acoustical imaging and is also in accord with predictions of Li et al., (1995) and Gnanadesikan , (1996), who...Structure of Langmuir Circulation. IUTAM Symposium - Physical Limnology, Broome,Australia, Sept. 10-14, 1995 Gnanadesikan , A., 1996: Mixing driven

The role of trans-disciplinary skills in environmental education and science

EPA Science Inventory

In the past three decades there have been tremendous changes in how environmental scientists address issues relating to societal needs. In the early 1980s interdisciplinary work may have involved one or two related disciplines such as limnology, statistics and biogeochemistry in...

Evaluation of the Eological Management and Enhancement Alernative for Remediation of the K1007-P1 Pond

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peterson, M.J.

2005-10-31

An evaluation of the human and ecological risks associated with the P1 Pond and surrounding environs was conducted as part of the ETTP Site-Wide Remedial Investigation. The RI provides the basis for the focus on PCBs as the most important unacceptable risk to human and ecological health in the pond. Other P1 contaminants, media, or pathways of risk to receptors are identified in the RI, but are not addressed as a major risk reduction goal for the ETTP Site-Wide Feasibility Study. Therefore, the goal of the Ecological Management alternative is to reduce unacceptable risks associated with PCBs in fish. Manymore » of the actions proposed for this alternative, however, are likely to reduce risks associated with other contaminants and their pathways. The high PCB concentrations in fish from the P1 Pond are most certainly due in part to the current ecological condition of the pond that maximizes PCB biomagnification. This basic assumption and the factors contributing to it were evaluated by conducting an intensive field study of the P1 Pond in the summer of 2004 (for a thorough presentation of current P1 Pond biological conditions, see Peterson et al. 2005). Major hypotheses regarding the P1 Pond's current fish community, PCB fate and transport processes, pond vegetation, and limnological conditions that contribute to the high PCB levels in fish were validated by the study (Appendix A), The results of the 2004 ecological assessment, in concert with long-term datasets obtained as part of the ETTP Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) and recent abiotic sampling for the RI, provide the basis for the assessment of current conditions.« less

Quantifying Trophic and Demographic Rates of Plankton-Rich Layers in East Sound, Orcas Island, Washington

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

are used, two independent methods to measure primary productivity and the dilution method to measure heterotrophic protists grazing rate. In...dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protist plankton. Limnology and Oceanography 45: 569-579 Menden-Deuer S, EJ Lessard & J Satterberg. 2001

Quantifying Trophic and Demographic Rates of Plankton-Rich Layers in East Sound, Orcas Island, Washington

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-30

different methods are used, two independent methods to measure primary productivity and the dilution method to measure heterotrophic protists grazing...relationships for dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protist plankton. Limnology and Oceanography 45: 569-579 Menden-Deuer S, EJ Lessard & J

Quantifying Trophic and Demographic Rates of Plankton-Rich Layers in East Sound, Orcas Island, Washington

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

ratios (Welschmeyer & Lorenzen, 1984), heterotrophic protist grazing rates (Montagnes & Lessard, 1999), and cellular carbon content (Putt & Stoecker 1989...dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protist plankton. Limnology and Oceanography 45: 569-579 Menden-Deuer S, EJ Lessard & J Satterberg. 2001. Effect of

Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Patterns in Open-Water Lake Michigan from the 2015 CSMI

EPA Science Inventory

Water quality patterns in the Laurentian Great Lakes broadly reflect climate, surficial geography, and landuse but are also shaped by limnological and biological processes. Open-water sampling conducted as part of the 2015 Lake Michigan interagency coordinated science and monito...

Limnological Investigations: Lake Koocanusa, Montana. Part 4. Factors Controlling Primary Productivity.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-06-01

meant that the reservoir’s phytoplankton comunity spent much of its time below it during reservoir filling. The phytoplanktonic 52 light environment...Handbook No. 12. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. Vollenweider, R. A. (1975) Input-output models, with special reference to the phosphorus

lakemorpho: Calculating lake morphometry metrics in R

EPA Science Inventory

Metrics describing the shape and size of lakes, known as lake morphometry metrics, are important for any limnological study. In cases where a lake has long been the subject of study these data are often already collected and are openly available. Many other lakes have these data ...

Light Scattering by Marine Particles: Modeling with Non-spherical Shapes

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-30

coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi, Limnology and Oceanography, 46, 1438−1454, 2001. Gordon, H.R., T.J. Smyth, W.M. Balch, and G.C. Boynton...Light scattering by coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi, Applied Optics, (2009). PUBLICATIONS H.R. Gordon, Light scattering by randomly

Light Scattering by Marine Particles: Modeling with Non-spherical Shapes

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

Emiliania huxleyi, Limnology and Oceanography, 46, 1438−1454. Gordon, H.R., 2004, Inverse Radiative Transfer, Coccolith Backscattering, and Light Scattering...16430. Voss, K.J., W.M. Balch, and K.A. Kilpatrick, 1998, Scattering and attenuation properties of Emiliania huxleyi cells and their detached

A Fishy Problem for Advanced Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patterson, Richard A.

1977-01-01

While developing a research course for gifted high school students, improvements were made in a local pond. Students worked for a semester learning research techniques, statistical analysis, and limnology. At the end of the course, the three students produced a joint scientific paper detailing their study of the pond. (MA)

Limnological Studies at Eau Galle Lake, Wisconsin. Report 1. Introduction and Water Quality Monitoring Studies.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

the phototrophic zone, high photo- ;ynthetic activity utilized CO thus reducing the alkalinity; at the 2’ ;ame time, the release of bicarbonate...1982). Like turbidity, suspended solids levels were elevated in the phototrophic zone due to phytoplankton blooms. This was especially noticeable

40 CFR 35.1605-8 - Diagnostic-feasibility study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Diagnostic-feasibility study. 35.1605-8... Freshwater Lakes § 35.1605-8 Diagnostic-feasibility study. A two-part study to determine a lake's current... the study includes gathering information and data to determine the limnological, morphological...

40 CFR 35.1605-8 - Diagnostic-feasibility study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Diagnostic-feasibility study. 35.1605-8... Freshwater Lakes § 35.1605-8 Diagnostic-feasibility study. A two-part study to determine a lake's current... the study includes gathering information and data to determine the limnological, morphological...

A Killer Lake

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horvath, Thomas

2005-01-01

In 1986, Lake Nyos, a volcanic lake in Cameroon, released a huge amount of carbon dioxide gas, killing over 1,700 people in the surrounding area. This case study, developed for use in a limnology or aquatic biology course, explores that event, introducing students to concepts relating to lake formation, thermal stratification, and dissolved gases.…

The limnology of a Mississippi River alluvial plain oxbow lake following the application of conservation practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

From 1995 and 2011 Beasley Lake watershed near Indianola, MS, was subjected to a variety of conservation measures designed to reduce water velocity, erosion and discharge of sediment laden water. Water quality monitoring during the period indicated a number of long term trends and relationships bet...

Microscopic Analysis of Plankton, Periphyton, and Activated Sludge. Training Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Water Programs.

This manual is intended for professional personnel in the fields of water pollution control, limnology, water supply and waste treatment. Primary emphasis is given to practice in the identification and enumeration of microscopic organisms which may be encountered in water and activated sludge. Methods for the chemical and instrumental evaluation…

Modeling chlorophyll-a and dissolved oxygen concentration in tropical floodplain lakes (Paraná River, Brazil).

PubMed

Rocha, R R A; Thomaz, S M; Carvalho, P; Gomes, L C

2009-06-01

The need for prediction is widely recognized in limnology. In this study, data from 25 lakes of the Upper Paraná River floodplain were used to build models to predict chlorophyll-a and dissolved oxygen concentrations. Akaike's information criterion (AIC) was used as a criterion for model selection. Models were validated with independent data obtained in the same lakes in 2001. Predictor variables that significantly explained chlorophyll-a concentration were pH, electrical conductivity, total seston (positive correlation) and nitrate (negative correlation). This model explained 52% of chlorophyll variability. Variables that significantly explained dissolved oxygen concentration were pH, lake area and nitrate (all positive correlations); water temperature and electrical conductivity were negatively correlated with oxygen. This model explained 54% of oxygen variability. Validation with independent data showed that both models had the potential to predict algal biomass and dissolved oxygen concentration in these lakes. These findings suggest that multiple regression models are valuable and practical tools for understanding the dynamics of ecosystems and that predictive limnology may still be considered a powerful approach in aquatic ecology.

Elucidation and short-term forecasting of microcystin concentrations in Lake Suwa (Japan) by means of artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms.

PubMed

Chan, Wai Sum; Recknagel, Friedrich; Cao, Hongqing; Park, Ho-Dong

2007-05-01

Non-supervised artificial neural networks (ANN) and hybrid evolutionary algorithms (EA) were applied to analyse and model 12 years of limnological time-series data of the shallow hypertrophic Lake Suwa in Japan. The results have improved understanding of relationships between changing microcystin concentrations, Microcystis species abundances and annual rainfall intensity. The data analysis by non-supervised ANN revealed that total Microcystis abundance and extra-cellular microcystin concentrations in typical dry years are much higher than those in typical wet years. It also showed that high microcystin concentrations in dry years coincided with the dominance of the toxic Microcystis viridis whilst in typical wet years non-toxic Microcystis ichthyoblabe were dominant. Hybrid EA were used to discover rule sets to explain and forecast the occurrence of high microcystin concentrations in relation to water quality and climate conditions. The results facilitated early warning by 3-days-ahead forecasting of microcystin concentrations based on limnological and meteorological input data, achieving an r(2)=0.74 for testing.

Limnological study of Shasta Lake, Shasta County, California, with emphasis on the effects of the 1977 drought

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rettig, S.A.; Bortleson, Gilbert C.

1983-01-01

An intensive limnological study of Shasta Lake was made in conjunction with the California Department of Water Resources during the 1977 drought. Water-quality data were collected from March 1977 through September 1978 at six lake stations and four lake tributary stations. Data collected during and after the drought were compared. Lake water quality is described as a function of lake morphometry, climate, hydrology, and reservoir hydraulics. Results indicate Shasta Lake is a warm monomictic lake. Tributary inflow to the lake and outflow through the dam generate density currents which promote mixing at depth and the development of an extensive metalimnion. During the drought, record low lake levels resulted in the exposure of an extensive nearshore sediment zone. Resuspended sediments caused a deterioration of water quality. The most notable effects, in comparison with post-drought conditions, were decreased light penetration, increased dissolved-solids concentration and specific conductance, decreased dissolved-oxygen concentrations, and elevated nutrient levels. A hypolimnetic anoxic condition was observed at the upstream stations of the lake. (USGS)

The limnology and biology of the Dufek Massif, Transantarctic Mountains 82° South

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodgson, Dominic A.; Convey, Peter; Verleyen, Elie; Vyverman, Wim; McInnes, Sandra J.; Sands, Chester J.; Fernández-Carazo, Rafael; Wilmotte, Annick; De Wever, Aaike; Peeters, Karolien; Tavernier, Ines; Willems, Anne

2010-08-01

Very little is known about the higher latitude inland biology of continental Antarctica. In this paper we describe the limnology and biology of the Dufek Massif, using a range of observational, microscopic and molecular methods. Here two dry valleys are home to some of the southernmost biota on Earth. Cyanobacteria were the dominant life forms, being found in lakes and ponds, in hypersaline brines, summer melt water, relict pond beds and in exposed terrestrial habitats. Their species diversity was the lowest yet observed in Antarctic lakes. Green algae, cercozoa and bacteria were present, but diatoms were absent except for a single valve; likely windblown. Mosses were absent and only one lichen specimen was found. The Metazoa included three microbivorous tardigrades ( Acutuncus antarcticus, Diphascon sanae and Echiniscus (cf) pseudowendti) and bdelloid rotifer species, but no arthropods or nematodes. These simple faunal and floral communities are missing most of the elements normally present at lower latitudes in the Antarctic which is probably a result of the very harsh environmental conditions in the area.

Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleolimnology of two mountain lakes in western Tasmania.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Platt, Bradbury J.

1986-01-01

The analysis of diatoms from two lake-sediment cores from southwestern Tasmania that span the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary provides insight about paleolimnological and paleoclimatic change in this region. Both Lake Vera and Eagle Tarn have lacustrine records that begin about 12 000 yr ago. Both lakes have had similar limnological histories. Each appears to have been larger and more alkaline 12 000 yr ago and both became shallower through time. Fossil diatom assemblages about 11 000 yr old indicate shallow- water environments that fluctuated in pH, and between dilute and possibly slightly saline hydrochemical conditions. Beginning 11 500 yr ago, limnological conditions of shallow, dilute water of neutral pH prevailed, indicating reduction of moisture stress. A subsequent transition to diatom assemblages indicative of acidic conditions about 10 000 yr ago parallels the establishment of rain-forest vegetation and essentially modern climatic conditions with excess precipitation over evaporation. Changes at these separate and distinctive sites suggests a regional paleoclimatic cause rather than local environmental effects. Latest Pleistocene climates were apparently more continental and drier than Holocene climates in southwestern Tasmania.-from Author

Recent Warming, Rather than Industrial Emissions of Bioavailable Nutrients, Is the Dominant Driver of Lake Primary Production Shifts across the Athabasca Oil Sands Region

PubMed Central

Summers, Jamie C.; Kurek, Joshua; Kirk, Jane L.; Muir, Derek C. G.; Wang, Xiaowa; Wiklund, Johan A.; Cooke, Colin A.; Evans, Marlene S.; Smol, John P.

2016-01-01

Freshwaters in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) are vulnerable to the atmospheric emissions and land disturbances caused by the local oil sands industry; however, they are also affected by climate change. Recent observations of increases in aquatic primary production near the main development area have prompted questions about the principal drivers of these limnological changes. Is the enhanced primary production due to deposition of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from local industry or from recent climatic changes? Here, we use downcore, spectrally-inferred chlorophyll-a (VRS-chla) profiles (including diagenetic products) from 23 limnologically-diverse lakes with undisturbed catchments to characterize the pattern of primary production increases in the AOSR. Our aim is to better understand the relative roles of the local oil sands industry versus climate change in driving aquatic primary production trends. Nutrient deposition maps, generated using geostatistical interpolations of spring-time snowpack measurements from a grid pattern across the AOSR, demonstrate patterns of elevated total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and bioavailable nitrogen deposition around the main area of industrial activity. However, this pattern is not observed for bioavailable phosphorus. Our paleolimnological findings demonstrate consistently greater VRS-chla concentrations compared to pre-oil sands development levels, regardless of morphological and limnological characteristics, landscape position, bioavailable nutrient deposition, and dibenzothiophene (DBT)-inferred industrial impacts. Furthermore, breakpoint analyses on VRS-chla concentrations across a gradient of DBT-inferred industrial impact show limited evidence of a contemporaneous change among lakes. Despite the contribution of bioavailable nitrogen to the landscape from industrial activities, we find no consistency in the spatial pattern and timing of VRS-chla shifts with an industrial fertilizing signal. Instead, significant positive correlations were observed between VRS-chla and annual and seasonal temperatures. Our findings suggest warmer air temperatures and likely decreased ice covers are important drivers of enhanced aquatic primary production across the AOSR. PMID:27135946

Limnological and geochemical survey of Williams Lake, Hubbard County, Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

LaBaugh, J.W.; Groschen, G.E.; Winter, Thomas C.

1981-01-01

Calcium and bicarbonate represent more than 90 percent of the dissolved constituents in Williams Lake and the contiguous ground-water system. Major mineralogical constituents of the lake sediments are quartz, dolomite, and calcite. Marl is present only in the littoral zone of the lake. Organic sediments in the lake consist of loose organic floe and gyttja.

Physical limnology of Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron

USGS Publications Warehouse

Beeton, Alfred M.; Smith, Stanford H.; Hooper, Frank F.

1967-01-01

The average flushing time was 186 days, but was 113 days during the period of peak river discharge. The lakeward transport of Saginaw River water ranged from 619 to 2,294 feet per day in the inner bay to 1,410 to 3,000 feet per day in the outer bay on June 7 and October 30, respectively.

High mountain lake Research Natural Areas in Idaho

Treesearch

Fred W. Rabe

2001-01-01

High mountain lakes in Idaho total about 1800 and represent one of the most pristine type ecosystems in the country. Limnological characteristics are described for 27 lakes and 20 ponds in 32 established and proposed Research Natural Areas (RNA) representing seven subregions in the state. Field collections were made from the 1960s through 1999 by different researchers...

Is Littoral Habitat Affected by Residential Development and Land Use in Watersheds of Wisconsin Lakes?

Treesearch

Martin J. Jennings; Edward E. Emmons; Gene R. Hatzenbeler; Clayton Edwards; Michael A. Bozek

2003-01-01

We measured differences in nearshore littoral zone habitat among lakes with different amounts of residential development and different patterns of watershed land use. Sampling stations were located at randomly selected sites within the nearshore littoral zone of limnologically similar lakes. An index of development density (based on counts of residential structures)...

Progress and plans of a remote sensing program for the International Field Year for the Great Lakes (IFYGL)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polcyn, F. C.; Wagner, T. W. (Principal Investigator)

1972-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 coverage of the 32,000 square mile Lake Ontario Basin is being used to study short term and seasonal changes which affect many aspects of water problems in the Great Lakes. As part of the International Field Year for the Great Lakes (IFYGL), a coordinated, synoptic study of the Lake Ontario Basin, processed ERTS-1 imagery will contribute to the data base of synchronized observations being made by investigators from many U.S. and Canadian government agencies and universities. The first set of ERTS data has been received and will be processed shortly for parameters of hydrological and limnological significance such as land use, terrain features, and water quality. When complete, nine ERTS-1 frames recorded during a substantially clear period will provide coverage of the entire Basin. Seven frames show all but a small portion of the southern and eastern end of the Basin. Many drainage basin characteristics are clearly identifiable on the imagery.

Simulated growth and production of endangered Snake River Sockeye Salmon: Assessing management strategies for the nursery lakes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Luecke, C.; Wurtsbaugh, W.A.; Budy, P.

1996-06-01

This document examines the potential of employing a series of lake management strategies to enhance production of endangered Snake River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in its historical nursery lakes in central Idaho. A combination of limnological sampling, experimentation, and simulation modeling was used to assess effects of lake fertilization and kokanee reduction on growth and survival of juvenile sockeye salmon. Juvenile sockeye salmon from a broodstock of this endangered species are being introduced into the lakes from 1995 to 1998. Results of our analyses indicated that several lakes were suitable for receiving broodstock progeny. Field experimentation and simulation modeling indicatedmore » that lake fertilization, coupled with a program of kokanee reduction, provided the management option most likely to enhance the survival of stocked juvenile sockeye salmon. Simulation models that encompass physiological requirements, ecological interactions, and life-history consequences could be used as templates to help develop recovery plans for other endangered fishes. 4 figs., 2 tabs.« less

The Copper River Delta pulse study: an interdisciplinary survey of aquatic habitats.

Treesearch

M.D. Bryant

1991-01-01

In July 1987, a 2-week synoptic survey was conducted on the wetlands of the Copper River Delta by an interdisciplinary team of scientists. Disciplines included geomorphology, limnology—water chemistry and nutrients, plankton and macroinvertebrates, anadromous fish populations, and wetland plant ecology. The purpose of this report is to present a summary of the findings...

Federal Grant "Seed Money"--Sprouted, Growing and Blooming in the Kansas Sandhills: Interdisciplinary Studies--Their "Place in the Sun."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bogner, Donna

The Outdoor Research Project of Hutchinson Senior High School in Hutchinson, Kansas, was funded in 1977 to conduct a scientific baseline study of an outdoor education center and a state park. Gifted students used initial limnology tests, fish population studies, and groundcover analyses to produce management recommendations and a computer…

Coefficients for Use in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Reservoir Model, CE-QUAL-R1.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-10-01

temiper- atares . 53 . Tem,:n ratur: acclimation . The temperature cf1- cicnts for aiaIpoutonare ucoecndesnt upon the acclima- t ion te rt i nd th...Health Bulletin No. 171. 101 4 4- " / Hutchinson, G. E. 1957. A Treatise on Limnology. I. Geog- raphy, Physics and Chemistry . John Wiley and Sons, NY

An Integrated Limnology, Microbiology & Chemistry Exercise for Teaching Summer Lake Stratification, Nutrient Consumption & Chemical Thermodynamics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunnivant, Frank M.

2006-01-01

Most chemistry and biology teachers will agree that students have a "disconnect" between these two disciplines. This likely results from the categorization of the topics into two classes or two separate years of study. In this article, the author provides one example of how the two disciplines can be related in an environmental application that…

Limnology and cyanobacterial diversity of high altitude lakes of Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, India.

PubMed

Singh, Y; Khattar, Jis; Singh, D P; Rahi, P; Gulati, A

2014-09-01

Limnological data of four high altitude lakes from the cold desert region of Himachal Pradesh, India, has been correlated with cyanobacterial diversity. Physico-chemical characteristics and nutrient contents of the studied lakes revealed that Sissu Lake is mesotrophic while Chandra Tal, Suraj Tal and Deepak Tal are ultra-oligotrophic. Based on morphology and 16S rRNA gene sequence, a total of 20 cyanobacterial species belonging to 11 genera were identified. Canonical correspondence analysis distinguished three groups of species with respect to their occurrence and nutrient/physical environment demand. The first group, which included Nostoc linckia, N. punctiforme, Nodularia sphaerocarpa, Geitlerinema acutissimum, Limnothrix redekii, Planktothrix agardhii and Plank. clathrata, was characteristic of water with high nutrient content and high temperature. The second group, including Gloeocapsopsis pleurocapsoides, Leptolyngbya antarctica, L. frigida, Pseudanabaena frigida and N. spongiaeforme, occurred in oligotrophic water with high pH and low temperature. The distribution of third group of Cyanobium parvum, Synechocystis pevalekii, L. benthonica, L. foveolarum, L. lurida, L. valderiana, Phormidium autumnale and P. chalybeum could not be associated with a particular environmental condition because of their presence in all sampling sites.

Spatial patterns in assemblage structures of pelagic forage fish and zooplankton in western Lake Superior

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Timothy B.; Hoff, Michael H.; Trebitz, Anett S.; Bronte, Charles R.; Corry, Timothy D.; Kitchell, James F.; Lozano, Stephen J.; Mason, Doran M.; Scharold, Jill V.; Schram, Stephen T.; Schreiner, Donald R.

2004-01-01

We assessed abundance, size, and species composition of forage fish and zooplankton communities of western Lake Superior during August 1996 and July 1997. Data were analyzed for three ecoregions (Duluth-Superior, Apostle Islands, and the open lake) differing in bathymetry and limnological and biological patterns. Zooplankton abundance was three times higher in the Duluth-Superior and Apostle Islands regions than in the open lake due to the large numbers of rotifers. Copepods were far more abundant than Cladocera in all ecoregions. Mean zooplankton size was larger in the open lake due to dominance by large calanoid copepods although size of individual taxa was similar among ecoregions. Forage fish abundance and biomass was highest in the Apostle Islands region and lowest in the open lake ecoregion. Lake herring (Coregonus artedi), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) and deepwater ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) comprised over 90% of the abundance and biomass of fishes caught in midwater trawls and recorded with hydroacoustics. Growth and condition of fish was good, suggesting they were not resource limited. Fish and zooplankton assemblages differed among the three ecoregions of western Lake Superior, due to a combination of physical and limnological factors related to bathymetry and landscape position.

Coeur d'Alene Lake, Idaho: Insights Gained From Limnological Studies of 1991-92 and 2004-06

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wood, Molly S.; Beckwith, Michael A.

2008-01-01

More than 100 years of mining and processing of metal-rich ores in northern Idaho's Coeur d'Alene River basin have resulted in widespread metal contamination of the basin's soil, sediment, water, and biota, including Coeur d'Alene Lake. Previous studies reported that about 85 percent of the bottom of Coeur d'Alene Lake is substantially enriched in antimony, arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, silver, and zinc. Nutrients in the lake also are a major concern because they can change the lake's trophic status - or level of biological productivity - which could result in secondary releases of metals from contaminated lakebed sediments. This report presents insights into the limnological functioning of Coeur d'Alene Lake based on information gathered during two large-scale limnological studies conducted during calendar years 1991-92 and water years 2004-06. Both limnological studies reported that longitudinal gradients exist from north to south for decreasing water column transparency, loss of dissolved oxygen, and increasing total phosphorus concentrations. Gradients also exist for total lead, total zinc, and hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen concentrations, ranging from high concentrations in the central part of the lake to lower concentrations at the northern and southern ends of the lake. In the southern end of the lake, seasonal anoxia serves as a mechanism to release dissolved constituents such as phosphorus, nitrogen, iron, and manganese from lakebed sediments and from detrital material within the water column. Nonparametric statistical hypothesis tests at a significance level of a=0.05 were used to compare analyte concentrations among stations, between lake zones, and between study periods. The highest dissolved oxygen concentrations were measured in winter in association with minimum water temperatures, and the lowest concentrations were measured in the Coeur d'Alene Lake hypolimnion during late summer or autumn as prolonged thermal stratification restricted mixing of the oxygenated upper water column and the hypolimnion, where oxygen was consumed. Large differences in median concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen were measured between the euphotic zone and hypolimnion in the deep areas of the lake. These differences in nitrogen concentrations were attributable to several limnological processes, including seasonal inflow plume routing, isolation from wind-driven circulation and associated hypolimnetic enrichment, phytoplanktonic assimilation during summer months, and benthic flux. Increased chlorophyll-a and total phosphorus concentrations were measured throughout the lake in the 2004-06 study compared with results from the 1991-92 study. No significant change in hypolimnetic dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration throughout the lake was noted even though total nitrogen loads into the lake decreased between study periods. Total zinc and total lead decreased throughout the lake from the 1991-92 study to the 2004-06 study except in the southern part of the lake, where concentrations were typically low. Median detected nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios decreased from the 1991-92 study to the 2004-06 study. Whereas the lake was clearly phosphorus-limited in 1991-92, in 2004-06 the lake may have been much closer to the boundary value of 7.2 that separates nitrogen from phosphorus limitation. However, due to changes in analytical reporting limits in the period between the two studies, the data are insufficiently certain to draw reliable conclusions with regard to limiting nutrients. For both studies, the trophic state of the lake was classified as oligotrophic (less productive) or mesotrophic (moderately productive), depending on the constituent used for classification. Internal circulation from wind-generated waves and changes in the lake's thermocline are important processes for distribution of water-quality constituents throughout Coeur d'Alene Lake. Surficial distribution of trace metals throughout most o

Integrated multi-site U-Th chronology of the last glacial Lake Lisan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torfstein, Adi; Goldstein, Steven L.; Kagan, Elisa J.; Stein, Mordechai

2013-03-01

We present a new integrated multi-site chronology for Lake Lisan, which occupied the Dead Sea basin and Jordan Valley during the last glacial period (70-14 kka, Marine Isotope Stages 4, 3, 2). The Dead Sea basin lacustrine deposits are unique among closed basin sediments in that they formed in a deep, hypersaline water body that precipitated primary aragonite which is amenable to radiometric dating by U-series, providing a solid basis for studies of the relationship of Middle East climate to other changes in the high latitudes or the tropics. The application of U-Th dating for lacustrine carbonates requires corrections for detrital U and Th and hydrogenous ("initial") 230Th. Here we followed an iterative approach, in which we evaluate the composition of the detrital contamination independently for every set of coeval samples to determine the corrected ages. These were further filtered and combined with lithological-limnological considerations, which were used to construct age-height models for all studied stratigraphic sections. Finally, the ages of stratigraphic tie-points were used to integrate the individual age-height models into a unified chronology. The resulting chronological framework indicates that the ages of several primary gypsum units associated with catastrophic lake level drops correspond with the timing of Heinrich events in the North Atlantic. Thus, a final iterative step involves refining the ages of "Lisan-gypsum events" based on the ages of Heinrich events 6, 5, 5a, 4, and 1. This approach yields an unprecedented basin-wide, unified, event-anchored chronology for the Lisan Formation, with typical age uncertainties ca. 1000-2000 years (95% confidence limit) across the entire last glacial, well below those typically related to individual U-Th and radiocarbon dating of "dirty" carbonates from similar time intervals. The results can be further extrapolated to new sites and serve as a geochronometric reference for the reconstruction of the limnological history of Lake Lisan.

Drivers of Plankton Patch Formation, Persistence and Decline in East Sound, Orcas Island, Washington

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-30

processes, including phytoplankton growth rates, carbon to Chl a ratios (Welschmeyer & Lorenzen 1984), heterotrophic protist grazing rates (Montagnes...dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protist plankton. Limnology and Oceanography 45: 569-579 Menden-Deuer S, EJ Lessard & J Satterberg. 2001. Effect of...nutrient availability on measurements of heterotrophic protist grazing rates in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA. ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting

Drivers of Plankton Patch Formation, Persistence and Decline in East Sound, Orcas Island, Washington

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-30

protist grazing rates (Montagnes & Lessard 1999), and cellular carbon content (Putt & Stoecker 1989, Crawford & Stoecker 1996). The radiolabeling...Lessard. 2000. Carbon to volume relationships for dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protist plankton. Limnology and Oceanography 45: 569-579 Menden...2011. Effects of copepod addition and nutrient availability on measurements of heterotrophic protist grazing rates in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

Activities for Studying Ponds (Limnology), Grade Level 5-6. Environmental Education Series, Bulletin No. 247-D.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD.

This bulletin is one in a series of environmental education activity guides for grades K-12, developed and field-tested by teachers in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. Primarily for use in the middle grades four through six, the guides are not intended to constitute complete units in themselves. They are, rather, a compilation of…

Air–water CO2 and CH4 fluxes along a river–reservoir continuum: Case study in the Pengxi River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Water surface greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in freshwater reservoirs are closely related to limnological processes in the water column. Affected by both reservoir operation and seasonal changes, variations in the hydro-morphological conditions in the river–reservoir continuum will create distinctiv...

Light Scattering by Marine Particles: Modeling with Non-Spherical Shapes

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-15

scattering by nonspherical particles: application to coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi. Limnology and Oceanography, 46. 1438— 1454,2001. H.R...application to coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi," Limnol. Oceanogr. 46, 1438-1454 (2001). 5. H.R.Gordon, "Backscattering of light from...by coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi," Applied Optics, 48, 6059-6073 (2009). Light scattering by coccoliths detached from Emiliania

Abiotic variability among different aquatic systems of the central Amazon floodplain during drought and flood events.

PubMed

Affonso, A G; Queiroz, H L; Novo, E M L M

2015-11-01

This paper examines water properties from lakes, (depression lakes, sensu Junk et al., 2012), channels (scroll lakes with high connectivity, sensu Junk et al., 2012) and paleo-channels (scroll lakes with low connectivity-sensu Junk et al., 2012, locally called ressacas) located in Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve, in Central Amazon floodplain, Amazonas, Brazil. We analysed surface temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, transparency, suspended inorganic and organic matter, chlorophyll-a, pheophytin, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, organic and inorganic carbon in 2009 high water phase, 2009 and 2010 low water phases. Multivariate statistical analyses of 24 aquatic systems (6 ressacas, 12 lakes and 6 channels, 142 samples) were applied to the variables in order to: 1) quantify differences among aquatic system types; 2) assess how those differences are affected in the different phases of the hydrological year. First, we analysed the entire set of variables to test for differences among phases of the hydrological year and types of aquatic systems using a PERMANOVA two-way crossed design. The results showed that the all measured limnological variables are distinct regarding both factors: types of aquatic systems and hydrological phases. In general, the magnitude and amplitude of all variables were higher in the low water phase than in the high water phase, except for water transparency in all aquatic system's types. PERMANOVA showed that the differences between aquatic system's types and hydrological phases of all variables were highly significant for both main factors (type and phase) and for the type x phase interaction. Limnological patterns of Amazon floodplain aquatic systems are highly dynamic, dependent on the surrounding environment, flood pulse, main river input and system type. These patterns show how undisturbed systems respond to natural variability in such a diverse environment, and how distinct are those aquatic systems, especially during the low water phase. Aquatic systems in Mamirauá floodplain represent limnological patterns of almost undisturbed areas and can be used as future reference for comparison with disturbed areas, such as those of the Lower Amazon, and as a baseline for studies on the effects of anthropogenic influences and climate change and on Amazon aquatic ecosystem.

Fisheries and Limnological Studies on West Point Reservoir, Alabama-Georgia. Phase IV.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-05-01

opportunities. In this resepct newly impounded reservoirs provide exceptional fishing, especially for carnivorous species such as the largemough bass...formalin containing rose bengal, a stain selective for tissues . The stain facilitated sorting and removal of the invertebrates from the ’ P remaining debris...notable increases in abundance of aquatic plants during 1979-80. Observations indicated a reduction in the area of coverage of the most abundant aquatic

Light Scattering by Marine Particles: Modeling with Non-spherical Shapes

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

coccoliths detached from Emiliania huxleyi , Limnology and Oceanography, 46, 1438−1454, 2001. Gordon, H.R., Backscattering of light from disk-like...the backscattering by coccoliths detached from E. huxleyi ; however, they found that, while the resulting spectral variation of the backscattering...Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 APPROACH I use detached coccoliths from the coccolithophorid E. huxleyi (Figure 1) as a case study for applying non

Limnology and fish ecology of sockeye salmon nursery lakes of the world

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hartman, Wilbur L.; Burgner, R.L.

1972-01-01

Many important, recently glaciated oligotrophic lakes that lie in coastal regions around the northern rim of the Pacific Ocean produce anadromous populations of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka. This paper describes the limnology and fish ecology of two such lakes in British Columbia, five in Alaska, and one in Kamchatka. Then we discuss the following general topics: the biogenic eutrophication of nursery lakes from the nutrients released from salmon carcasses wherein during years of highest numbers of spawners, lake phosphate balances in Lakes Babine, Iliamna, and Dalnee are significantly affected; the use of nursery lakes by young sockeye that reveals five patterns related to size and configuration of lake basins and the distribution of spawning areas; the interactions between various life history stages of sockeye salmon and such resident predators, competitors, and prey as Arctic char, lake trout, Dolly Varden, cutthroat trout, lake whitefish, pygmy whitefish, pond smelt, sticklebacks, and sculpins; the self-regulation of sockeye salmon abundance in these nursery lakes as controlled by density-dependent processes; the interrelations between young sockeye salmon biomass and growth rates, and zooplankton abundance in Babine Lake; and finally, the diel, vertical, pelagial migratory behavior of young sockeye in Babine Lake and the new hypothesis dealing with bioenergetic conservation.

Limnology of the Green Lakes Valley: Phytoplankton ecology and dissolved organic matter biogeochemistry at a long-term ecological research site

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, Matthew P.; McKnight, Diane M.

2015-01-01

Background: Surface waters are the lowest points in the landscape, and therefore serve as excellent integrators and indicators of changes taking place in the surrounding terrestrial and atmospheric environment.Aims: Here we synthesise the findings of limnological studies conducted during the past 15 years in streams and lakes in the Green Lakes Valley, which is part of the Niwot Ridge Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Site.Methods: The importance of these studies is discussed in the context of aquatic ecosystems as indicators, integrators, and regulators of environmental change. Specifically, investigations into climatic, hydrologic, and nutrient controls on present-day phytoplankton, and historical diatom, community composition in the alpine lake, Green Lake 4, are reviewed. In addition, studies of spatial and temporal patterns in dissolved organic matter (DOM) biogeochemistry and reactive transport modelling that have taken place in the Green Lakes Valley are highlighted.Results and conclusions: The findings of these studies identify specific shifts in algal community composition and DOM biogeochemistry that are indicative of changing environmental conditions and provide a framework for detecting future environmental change in the Green Lakes Valley and in other alpine watersheds. Moreover, the studies summarised here demonstrate the importance of long-term monitoring programmes such as the LTER programme.

A preliminary report on the growth of the rock bass, Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque), in two lakes of northern Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wright, Stillman

1929-01-01

For several years the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey has been making a limnological study of lakes in the northern part of the State. Because of the fact that so much has been learned of the physical, chemical and biological conditions in these lakes, the region seems particularly favorable for a study of the growth rates of fishes in relation to environmental factors.

Comment on: "Bachmann, R. W., M. V. Hoyer, and D. E. Canfield. 2013. The extent that natural lakes in the United States of America have been changed by cultural eutrophication. Limnology and Oceanography 58:945-950."

EPA Science Inventory

In a recent paper, Bachmann et al. (2013) conclude, based on paleolimnological reconstructions, that lakes in the conterminous U.S. have undergone very little cultural eutrophication. They go on to suggest that their results invalidate the efforts of the U.S. EPA to establish num...

Water-quality characteristics of selected public recreational lakes and ponds in Connecticut

USGS Publications Warehouse

Healy, D.F.; Kulp, K.P.

1995-01-01

Reconnaissance limnological and lakebed-sediment surveys were conducted in Connecticut during 1989-91 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protec- tion, to evaluate water-quality characteristics of selected public recreational lakes and ponds in the State. Limnological surveys were conducted on 49 lakes and ponds selected from a list of 105 publicly owned waterbodies that qualified for water- quality assessments under Section 314 of the Federal Clean Water Act. Lakebed-sediment surveys were conducted in 9 river impoundments and 1 riverine lake below industrial areas and 2 headwater lakes in relatively pristine areas. The limnological surveys consisted of two sampling events--during spring turnover and during the summer stratifi- cation. Each sampling event included depth profiles of water temperature, specific conductance, hydrogen-ion activity, and dissolved oxygen concen- trations; measurements of Secchi disc transparency; and the collection of samples for the analyses of alkalinity, chlorophyll, phosphorus, and nitrogen concentrations. Areal extent and population density of the dominant aquatic macrophytes were qualita- tively noted during the summer sampling event. These water-quality data were used to determine the trophic classification and acidification status of the 49 lakes. The trophic classification yielded the following results: 2 oligotrophic, 8 early mesotrophic, 13 mesotrophic, 5 late mesotrophic, 10 eutrophic, and 11 highly eutrophic lakes. In terms of acidification status, 7 lakes were classified as acid threatened and 42 as not threatened. A Wilcoxon two-tailed signed rank test was used to compare data for 13 lakes and ponds from the present survey with data from the 1973-75 or 1978-79 surveys conducted by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. The test showed no significant difference at the 90 percent confidence level for spring nitrogen and summer chlorophyll-a concen- trations, a significant increase at the 90 percent confidence level in summer phosphorus concentra- tions, and a significant decrease at the 95 percent confidence level in summer transparency. For the lakebed-sediment surveys, composite-grab samples were collected from the deepest part of each lake. Samples were analyzed for arsenic, cyanide, organic and inorganic carbon, selected metals, and methylene-extractable, synthetic organic compounds classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as semi-volatile priority pollutants. Hanover Pond, Eagleville Lake, and West Thompson Lake had three of the four highest concentrations of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, and cyanide. The four lakes with the highest concentrations of arsenic (Aspinook Pond, Fitchville Pond, Mashapaug Pond, and West Thompson Lake) are located in the eastern part of Connecticut. The three samples with the highest mercury concentrations were from Lake Lillinonah and Lake Zoar. There appears to be a positive correlation between the concentrations of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, and cyanide. Only 15 of the 54 synthetic organic compounds analyzed for were detected in 9 of the 12 lakes sampled. Of these 15 compounds, 14 are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the 15th is a phthalate ester. Hanover Pond had the most compounds detected (9), and phenanthrene was the compound detected in the most lakes (8).

Limnological Investigations: Lake Koocanusa, Montana. Part 1. Pre-Impoundment Study, 1967-1972.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-01

iacuc ol In suspended sediment and turbidity which suppressed khe aquatic Insect popua tion in the river downstream. Abnormally high backgrbund...vwL#3’~F1 fII .b~ ’* CC’ro6* 1942 Il’ sporweaa 1*66 40C TL .441 JAitk ntscř’M’ 1041tT.6 LINh c I1r.W,- T? 41 1 LIAO n39Co蔒 1&ATION t.c 1 AAI

Eutrophication Assessment and Management at Tioga, Hammond, Cowanesque, Whitney Point, and East Sidney Lakes, Pennsylvania-New York.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

assessment of general limnological conditions at each lake. 28 0. 40. Sampling stations at each lake are depicted in Figure 10 through 13. In- situ ...necessary (based on in- situ measurements) to adequately describe chemical profiles at each station. Chemical analysis included alkalinity, turbidity...concentra- tions of total iron, manganese and phosphorus in anoxic bottom waters in Cowanesque Lake. A complete listing of in- situ and chemical data

Dissolved oxygen transfer to sediments by sweep and eject motions in aquatic environments

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Connor, B.L.; Hondzo, Miki

2008-01-01

Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were quantified near the sediment-water interface to evaluate DO transfer to sediments in a laboratory recirculating flume and open channel under varying fluid-flow conditions. DO concentration fluctuations were observed within the diffusive sublayer, as defined by the time-averaged DO concentration gradient near the sediment-water interface. Evaluation of the DO concentration fluctuations along with detailed fluid-flow characterizations were used to quantify quasi-periodic sweep and eject motions (bursting events) near the sediments. Bursting events dominated the Reynolds shear stresses responsible for momentum and mass fluctuations near the sediment bed. Two independent methods for detecting bursting events using DO concentration and velocity data produced consistent results. The average time between bursting events was scaled with wall variables and was incorporated into a similarity model to describe the dimensionless mass transfer coefficient (Sherwood number, Sh) in terms of the Reynolds number, Re, and Schmidt number, Sc, which described transport in the flow. The scaling of bursting events was employed with the similarity model to quantify DO transfer to sediments and results showed a high degree of agreement with experimental data. ?? 2008, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Trends in historical mercury deposition inferred from lake sediment cores across a climate gradient in the Canadian High Arctic.

PubMed

Korosi, Jennifer B; Griffiths, Katherine; Smol, John P; Blais, Jules M

2018-06-02

Recent climate change may be enhancing mercury fluxes to Arctic lake sediments, confounding the use of sediment cores to reconstruct histories of atmospheric deposition. Assessing the independent effects of climate warming on mercury sequestration is challenging due to temporal overlap between warming temperatures and increased long-range transport of atmospheric mercury following the Industrial Revolution. We address this challenge by examining mercury trends in short cores (the last several hundred years) from eight lakes centered on Cape Herschel (Canadian High Arctic) that span a gradient in microclimates, including two lakes that have not yet been significantly altered by climate warming due to continued ice cover. Previous research on subfossil diatoms and inferred primary production indicated the timing of limnological responses to climate warming, which, due to prevailing ice cover conditions, varied from ∼1850 to ∼1990 for lakes that have undergone changes. We show that climate warming may have enhanced mercury deposition to lake sediments in one lake (Moraine Pond), while another (West Lake) showed a strong signal of post-industrial mercury enrichment without any corresponding limnological changes associated with warming. Our results provide insights into the role of climate warming and organic carbon cycling as drivers of mercury deposition to Arctic lake sediments. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of seasonal variation on the hydro-biogeochemical characteristics of two upland lakes in the Southeastern Amazon, Brazil.

PubMed

Sahoo, Prafulla K; Guimarães, José T F; Souza-Filho, Pedro W M; Silva, Marcio S DA; Silva, Renato O; Pessim, Gustavo; Moraes, Bergson C DE; Pessoa, Paulo F P; Rodrigues, Tarcísio M; Costa, Marlene F DA; Dall'agnol, Roberto

2016-01-01

Limnological characteristics of the Violão and Amendoim lakes, in the Serra dos Carajás, Amazon, were studied interannually (2013-2014). Climate data indicate anomalous conditions during the 2013 rainy period with higher rainfall and lower temperature in the beginning (November). Lake levels were influenced after the first and second hour of each rainfall, which showed a strong synchronization between seasonal fluctuation of lake levels and local weather patterns. Based on the water quality, both lakes are classified as classes "1" and "2" in the CONAMA (Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente) scheme and as "excellent" to "good" in the WQI (Water Quality Index) categories. However, the limnology is distinctly different between the lakes and seasons. Higher trophic state and phytoplankton productivity were observed mainly during the rainy period in Violão Lake compared to Amendoim Lake. This may be due to deposition of leached nutrients in the former, mainly total phosphorus (TP), which was probably derived from mafic soils and guano. This is consistent with the significant positive correlation between Chlorophyll-a and TP at the end of the rainy period (March-April), whereas this was not observed in the beginning (November). This could possibly be a consequence of the more intense cloud cover, and unusual high rainfall that limits nutrient availability.

A reevaluation of the cultural eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee using multiproxy sediment records.

PubMed

Engstrom, Daniel R; Schottler, Shawn P; Leavitt, Peter R; Havens, Karl E

2006-06-01

Lake Okeechobee, the hydrological lynchpin of the Everglades ecosystem, is the subject of an ambitious, multiagency restoration effort aimed at reducing phosphorus inputs and resulting algal blooms and impaired water clarity. This restoration is predicated on returning the lake to something closer to its predisturbance condition, but that goal has been challenged on the premise that the lake has always been eutrophic. The resolution of this debate and the appropriateness of the nutrient reduction goals thus depend on obtaining a reliable sediment record of past limnological conditions--the aim of this study. Because of the potential for severe sediment mixing from tropical storms, this investigation used multiple dating tools to examine the integrity of the sediment record and then analyzed proxies for nutrient enrichment, phytoplankton composition, and paleoproductivity. Sediment profiles for atmospheric pollutants, fertilizer contaminants, and radiocesium from three widely spaced cores showed good preservation of stratigraphic detail and coherence with the 210Pb chronologies. These results demonstrated that sediment stratigraphy is largely intact and retains a reliable record of limnological change. Geochemical proxies provide strong evidence of increased nutrient loading beginning ca. 1950. Concentrations of sediment P double, and N:P and C:N ratios drop, while those for N isotopes (delta15N) increase. At the same time, tracers of phosphate fertilizers (uranium, vanadium, and arsenic) rise. These changes are synchronous among cores and constitute a robust, internally consistent record of increasing water-column P. Biotic responses are manifested in higher concentrations and in changing composition of fossil algal pigments, including (1) large increases in the concentrations of chemically robust carotenoids, (2) corresponding decreases in the ratios of pigments from diatoms to chlorophyte and cyanobacterial algae, and (3) increases in UVR-photo-protective compounds indicating greater prevalence of surface algal blooms. This study provides strong evidence that Lake Okeechobee has experienced accelerated eutrophication linked with post-1950s land use changes in its watershed, a conclusion consistent with the nutrient reduction goals of the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program. The results contradict recent claims that the lake's trophic state has not changed over time, as well as the assertion that sediments of large shallow lakes cannot support a reliable chronology of past events.

Remote sensing and lake eutrophication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wrigley, R. C.; Horne, A. J.

1974-01-01

An infrared photograph of part of Clear Lake, Cal., shows complex patterns of blue-green algal blooms which were not observed by conventional limnological techniques. Repeated observations of patterns such as these can be used to chart the surface movement of these buoyant algae and can also be used to help control algal scums in eutrophic lakes. Although it is believed that most of the observed patterns resulted from Aphanizomenon (a few were also observed which resulted from suspended sediment), spectral signatures of the algal patterns varied.

Papers Selected for Presentation at the International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment (16th) Held at Buenos Aires, Argentina on 2-9 June 1982. Volume 1.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-06-01

Subsurface Water Parameters Using Radiance Measurements from Space. POOP 022 Limnological Study of the Coastal Lagoon ’Coyuca de Benitez, Guerrero...unlimited. ORGANIZED BY Comisi6n Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales Buenos Aires, Argentina Environmental Research Institute of Michigan Ann Arbor...Michigan, USA SPONSORED, IN PART, BY ARGENTINA Comando en Jefe de la Fuerza Aerea Argentina Secretarla de Planeamiento de la Presidencia de la Naci6n

Environmental and Water Quality Operational Studies. Supplemental Limnological Studies at Richard B. Russell and Clarks Hill Lakes, 1983-1985

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-04-01

Simulation Division (ERSD), Environmental Laboratory (EL), WES. Dr. Thomas L. Hart was Chief, APEG; Mr. Donald L. Robey was Chief, ERSD; and Dr. John...a technical committee to outline potential problems at the project site. b. Simulation of the Hartwell-Russell-Clarks Hill Lake system using physical...Heath (1979) reported the release of phosphate from two different classes of dissolved organic compounds. One of these classes had a high molecular

Environmental and Water Quality Operational Studies: Limnological Studies at Eau Galle, Lake, Wisconsin. Report 2. Special Studies and Summary.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-03-01

received greater attention (Kalff and Knoechel 1978). As implied in the study of Nicholls, Kennedy, and Hammett (1980), and perhaps applicable 35 . I...from associated increases in DIN availability (Nicholls, Kennedy, and Hammett 1980). Since Cyanophytes among other algae are effective at luxuriously...phytoplankton % in Lake Erken. Symb. Bot. Ups. 17:163. (In German.) Nicholls, K. H., W. Kennedy, and C. Hammett . 1980. A fish-kill in Heart Lake

Evaluation of groundwater discharge into small lakes based on the temporal distribution of radon-222

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dimova, N.T.; Burnett, W.C.

2011-01-01

In order to evaluate groundwater discharge into small lakes we constructed a model that is based on the budget of 222Rn (radon t1/2 5 3.8 d) as a tracer. The main assumptions in our model are that the lake's waters are wellmixed horizontally and vertically; the only significant 222Rn source is via groundwater discharge; and the only losses are due to decay and atmospheric evasion. In order to evaluate the groundwater-derived 222Rn flux, we monitored the 222Rn concentration in lake water over periods long enough (usually 1-3 d) to observe changes likely caused by variations in atmospheric exchange (primarily a function of wind speed and temperature). We then attempt to reproduce the observed record by accounting for decay and atmospheric losses and by estimating the total 222Rn input flux using an iterative approach. Our methodology was tested in two lakes in central Florida: one of which is thought to have significant groundwater inputs (Lake Haines) and another that is known not to have any groundwater inflows but requires daily groundwater augmentation from a deep aquifer (Round Lake). Model results were consistent with independent seepage meter data at both Lake Haines (positive seepage of ??? 1.6 ?? 104 m3 d-1 in Mar 2008) and at Round Lake (no net groundwater seepage). ?? 2011, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Limnological characteristics of selected lakes in the Nebraska sandhills, U.S.A., and their relation to chemical characteristics of adjacent ground water

USGS Publications Warehouse

La Baugh, J.W.

1986-01-01

Limnological characteristics of Crane, Hackberry, Island and Roundup Lakes, and chemical characteristics of shallow ground water, within the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, western Nebraska, were determined during a preliminary investigation of the interaction between lakes and ground water in this study area between 1980 and 1984. When ice cover was absent, the lakes were well-mixed vertically, regardless of season. Depth to which 1% of surface illumination penetrated was commonly less than 1m. Variability in light penetration, as measured by Secchidisk transparency, appeared to be unrelated to changes in algal biomass, even though algal biomass, measured as chlorophyll a, varied seasonally within a two-order-of-magnitude range. Blue-green algae were the most abundant phytoplankton; this condition occurred most often when the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus in the lakes' water was less than 29. Although rotifers and copepod naupli commonly were the most abundant zooplankton in the lakes, cladocerans were dominant occasionally. Either sodium or calcium was the most abundant cation, and bicarbonate was the most abundant anion, in water from water-table wells and lakes sampled during the study. The second most abundant cation in the ground water was related to the location of the sampled well within the ground-water system. The lakes were a source of dissolved organic carbon seeping to ground water. Chemical and hydrologic data indicate there is interaction between lakes and ground water in the study area. ?? 1986.

Annual contribution of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus by migrant Canada geese to a hardwater lake

USGS Publications Warehouse

Manny, Bruce A.; Wetzel, Robert G.; Johnson, W.C.

1975-01-01

Each year more than 6,000 migrant Canada geese (Branta canadensis interior Todd) rest for 3 to 10 days during the months of March, October, November, and December on Wintergreen Lake, a productive 15 ha (33 acre) hardwater lake in the W. K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary of Michigan State University in southwestern Michigan. For the past six years accurate weekly counts have been made of resident and migrant waterfowl using Wintergreen Lake. During the past four years Wintergreen Lake has been the site of extensive limnological investigations relating nutrient dynamics and primary productivity. These limnological investigations suggested nutrients contributed by migrant Canada geese were the chief cause of hypereutrophic primary productivity conditions in Wintergreen Lake. Until January 1970, the unpredictable habits of wild Canada geese using Wintergreen Lake prevented accurate estimation of nutrients contributed ton the lake in the form of goose feces. An opportunity to measure this source of nutrients was presented on 9 to 11 January 1970 when about 600 late fall migrant Canada geese rested part of three days in a clearly defined area on newly fallen snow covering frozen Wintergreen Lake. During their stay on the lake accurate records were kept of goose numbers, their location on the lake surface, hours spent on the ice and hours spent feeding off the lake. After the geese left on 11 January 1970, a random sampling procedure was used to measure the density of droppings deposited within the area used by the geese on the lake surface.

Bibliography, indices, and data sources of water-related studies, upper Colorado River basin, Colorado and Utah, 1872-1995

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bauch, N.J.; Apodaca, L.E.

1995-01-01

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program, current water-quality conditions in the Upper Colorado River Basin in Colorado and Utah are being assessed. This report is an initial effort to identify and compile information on water-related studies previously conducted in the basin and consists of a bibliography, coauthor and subject indices, and sources of available water-related data. Computerized literature searches of scientific data bases were carried out to identify past water-related studies in the basin, and government agencies and private organizations were contacted regarding their knowledge or possession of water-related publications and data. Categories of information in the bibliography include: aquatic biology, climate, energy development, geology, land use, limnology, runoff, salinity, surface- and ground-water hydrology, water chemistry, water quality and quantity, and water use and management. The approximately 1,400 indexed references date from 1872 through February 1995 and include books, journal articles, maps, and reports. In many instances, an abstract has been provided for a given reference. Sources of water-related data in the basin are included in a table.

Changes in tundra pond limnology: re-sampling Alaskan ponds after 40 years.

PubMed

Lougheed, Vanessa L; Butler, Malcolm G; McEwen, Daniel C; Hobbie, John E

2011-09-01

The arctic tundra ponds at the International Biological Program (IBP) site in Barrow, AK, were studied extensively in the 1970s; however, very little aquatic research has been conducted there for over three decades. Due to the rapid climate changes already occurring in northern Alaska, identifying any changes in the ponds' structure and function over the past 30-40 years can help identify any potential climate-related impacts. Current research on the IBP ponds has revealed significant changes in the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of these ponds over time. These changes include increased water temperatures, increased water column nutrient concentrations, the presence of at least one new chironomid species, and increased macrophyte cover. However, we have also observed significant annual variation in many measured variables and caution that this variation must be taken into account when attempting to make statements about longer-term change. The Barrow IBP tundra ponds represent one of the very few locations in the Arctic where long-term data are available on freshwater ecosystem structure and function. Continued monitoring and protection of these invaluable sites is required to help understand the implications of climate change on freshwater ecosystems in the Arctic.

Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada - An investigation of potentially unique freshwater microbialites, and their application to Mars exploration.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, D. S.; Laval, B.; Slater, G.; Andersen, D.; Airo, A.; Mullins, G.; Schulze-Makuch, D.; Cady, S.; McKay, C.

2005-12-01

Pavilion Lake, B. C., Canada has become the first target site of an on-going NASA effort to investigate the Mars analogue potential of terrestrial lacustrine carbonates. A combination of hypothesis and exploration driven research activities are underway to study the unusual freshwater microbialite structures found in this lake. These structures are of interest in terms of models of Precambrian reefs and may also be relevant to carbonate formation in ancient lakes on Mars. Laval et al. (2000) provides an overview of the morphological characteristics of the microbialites, and explores the physical limnology of Pavilion Lake. Several key hypotheses and questions related to the role of biology in the formation of the microbialites, and the effect of varying light levels on the microbialite morphologies have since resulted from Laval et al., but to date remain unanswered. In August 2004, the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) was established to commence a new round of investigations into Pavilion Lake, to test hypotheses concerning the factors controlling carbonate formation, and to collect further exploration data related to understanding the lake's limnology and development. Laval et al. classified the differing microbialite structures into four depth categories: shallow to intermediate (5-10m), intermediate (~20m), intermediate to deep (20-30m), and deep facies (30-35m). There is a variation of the morphology and mechanical strength of the structures with depth, which may reflect a change in the relative role of biotic and non-biotic precipitation with lowering light levels. Recent field investigations (August 2005) revealed carbonate structures at depths beyond what was reported in Laval et al. (2000). These new structures appear at 46-55m, and are morphologically distinct from the previously described microbialites. Here we present our current research activities at Pavilion Lake, along with recent data collection results. Excursions to the lake have included the use of SCUBA to sample collect and to install a variety of sensors including a thermistor chain and a Licor light meter. Seepage meters have also been placed in strategic regions of the lake to collect incoming lake groundwater for future chemical limnological analyses and hydrological mapping of the area. In addition, conventional Conductivity/Temperature/Depth (CTD) profiles and water sampling has been conducted during a winter and summer period, and will be presented here. Microbialite samples recovered from each of the discernible morphological depth transects have been investigated for relative variations in d13C isotopic signatures, and the results will presented here.

Highlights of the 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharp, Jonathan; Briscoe, Melbourne; Itsweire, Eric

2014-07-01

The 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting was the 17th biennial gathering since the inception of ocean sciences meetings in 1982. A joint venture of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), The Oceanography Society (TOS), and the Ocean Sciences section of AGU, the meeting was by far the largest ever: More than 5600 attendees made this meeting more than 30% larger than any previous one. Forty percent of attendees live outside the United States, hailing from 55 countries, showing the importance of this meeting as an international gathering of ocean scientists.

Unique properties of humic substances from sapropel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumyantsev, V. A.; Mityukov, A. S.; Kryukov, L. N.; Yaroshevich, G. S.

2017-04-01

Sapropel from inland Russian water reservoirs is becoming a popular raw material for medicinal purposes, production of sorbents, organomineral fertilizers, and food supplements. A comparative study of the granulometric and biological properties of humic substances obtained from sapropel in a typical way and using ultrasonic treatment of the relevant reaction masses was performed at the Institute of Limnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is shown that the humic substances of sapropel with an increased content of nanoparticles used as veterinary preparations lead to a significant economic effect without using imported preparations.

Compound-specific stable isotopes of organic compounds from lake sediments track recent environmental changes in an alpine ecosystem, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Enders, S.K.; Pagani, M.; Pantoja, S.; Baron, Jill S.; Wolfe, A.P.; Pedentchouk, N.; Nunez, L.

2008-01-01

Compound-specific nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen isotope records from sediments of Sky Pond, an alpine lake in Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, United States of America), were used to evaluate factors contributing to changes in diatom assemblages and bulk organic nitrogen isotope records identified in lake sediments across Colorado, Wyoming, and southern Montana. Nitrogen isotopic records of purified algal chlorins indicate a substantial shift in nitrogen cycling in the region over the past ???60 yr. Temporal changes in the growth characteristics of algae, captured in carbon isotope records in and around Sky Pond, as well as a -60??? excursion in the hydrogen isotope composition of algal-derived palmitic acid, are coincident with changes in nitrogen cycling. The confluence of these trends is attributed to an increase in biologically available nitrogenous compounds caused by an expansion of anthropogenic influences and temporal changes in catchment hydrology and nutrient delivery associated with meltwater dynamics. ?? 2008, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Banks Lake Fishery Evaluation Annual Report 2002-2003.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Polacek, Matt; Knuttgen, Kamia; Shipley, Rochelle

2003-11-01

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife implemented the Banks Lake Fishery Evaluation Project (BLFEP) in September 2001 with funds from the Bonneville Power Administration. Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 of the BLFEP was used to gather historic information, establish methods and protocols, collect limnology data, and conduct the first seasonal fish surveys. FY 2002 was used to continue seasonal fish and lakewide creel surveys and adjust methods and protocols as needed. Water quality parameters were collected monthly from February to May and bi-monthly from June to August. Banks Lake water temperatures began to increase in April and stratification was apparentmore » by June at all 3 limnology collection sites. By late August, the thermocline had dropped to nearly 20 meters deep, with 16-17 C temperatures throughout the epilimnion. Dissolved oxygen levels were generally above 10 mg/L until August when dissolved oxygen dropped near or below 5 mg/L below 20-meters deep. Secchi depths ranged from 2.5-8 meters and varied by location and date. Nearshore and offshore fish surveys were conducted in October 2002 and May and July 2003 using boat electrofishing, fyke net, gill net, and hydroacoustic surveys. Yellow Perch Perca flavescens (32 %) and cottid spp. (22 %) dominated the nearshore species composition in October; however, by May yellow perch (12 %) were the third most common species followed by smallmouth bass Micropterous dolomieui (34 %) and lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis (14 %). Lake whitefish dominated the offshore catch during October (78 %) and May (81 %). Fish diet analysis indicated that juvenile fishes consumed primarily insects and zooplankton, while adult piscivores consumed cottids spp. and yellow perch most frequently. For FY 2002, the following creel statistics are comprehensive through August 31, 2003. The highest angling pressure occurred in June 2003, when anglers were primarily targeting walleye and smallmouth bass. Boat anglers utilized Steamboat State Park more frequently than any other boat ramp on Banks Lake. Shore anglers used the rock jetty at Coulee City Park 76 % of the time, with highest use occurring from November through April. An estimated total of 11,915 ({+-}140 SD) smallmouth bass, 6,412 ({+-}59 SD) walleye, 5,470 ({+-}260 SD) rainbow trout, and 1,949 ({+-}118 SD) yellow perch were harvested from Banks Lake in FY 2002. Only 3 kokanee were reported in the catch during the FY 2002 creel survey. In the future, data from the seasonal surveys and creel will be used to identify potential factors that may limit the production and harvest of kokanee, rainbow trout, and various spiny-rayed fishes in Banks Lake. The limiting factors that will be examined consist of: abiotic factors including water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, habitat, exploitation and entrainment; and biotic factors including food limitation and predation. The BLFEP will also evaluate the success of several rearing and stocking strategies for hatchery kokanee in Banks Lake.« less

Mercury bioaccumulation in fishes from subalpine lakes of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, northeastern Oregon and western Idaho

USGS Publications Warehouse

Eagles-Smith, Collin A.; Herring, Garth; Johnson, Branden L.; Graw, Rick

2013-01-01

Mercury (Hg) is a globally distributed pollutant that poses considerable risks to human and wildlife health. Over the past 150 years since the advent of the industrial revolution, approximately 80 percent of global emissions have come from anthropogenic sources, largely fossil fuel combustion. As a result, atmospheric deposition of Hg has increased by up to 4-fold above pre-industrial times. Because of their isolation, remote high-elevation lakes represent unique environments for evaluating the bioaccumulation of atmospherically deposited Hg through freshwater food webs, as well as for evaluating the relative importance of Hg loading versus landscape influences on Hg bioaccumulation. The increase in Hg deposition to these systems over the past century, coupled with their limited exposure to direct anthropogenic disturbance make them useful indicators for estimating how changes in Hg emissions may propagate to changes in Hg bioaccumulation and ecological risk. In this study, we evaluated Hg concentrations in fishes of high-elevation, sub-alpine lakes in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in northeastern Oregon and western Idaho. Our goals were to (1) assess the magnitude of Hg contamination in small-catchment lakes to evaluate the risk of atmospheric Hg to human and wildlife health, (2) quantify the spatial variability in fish Hg concentrations, and (3) determine the ecological, limnological, and landscape factors that are best correlated with fish total mercury (THg) concentrations in these systems. Across the 28 study lakes, mean THg concentrations of resident salmonid fishes varied as much as 18-fold among lakes. Importantly, our top statistical model explained 87 percent of the variability in fish THg concentrations among lakes with four key landscape and limnological variables— catchment conifer density (basal area of conifers within a lake’s catchment), lake surface area, aqueous dissolved sulfate, and dissolved organic carbon. The basal area of conifers within a lake’s catchment was by far the most important variable explaining fish THg concentrations, with an increase in THg concentrations of more than 400 percent across the forest density spectrum. Across all study lakes, fish THg concentrations ranged from 0.004 to 0.438 milligrams per kilogram wet weight (mg/kg ww). Only a single individual fish sample exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) human health tissue residue criteria of 0.3 mg/kg ww. However, 54 percent of fish (N=177) exceeded the more stringent tissue residue criteria (0.04 mg/kg ww) adopted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to better protect subsistence fishers. Additionally, 2 and 10 percent of fish exceeded levels associated with reduced common loon reproduction and behavior, respectively. Whereas 25 and 68 percent of fish sampled exceeded concentrations deemed protective of mink and kingfisher, respectively. These results suggest that THg concentrations may be present in these lakes at levels associated with ecological risk. It is important to note however, that accurate inference on potential impairment cannot be made within the context of this study design and further research is needed to better quantify these risks.

Trematode metacercariae of fishes as sentinels for a changing limnological environment.

PubMed

Dzikowski, R; Diamant, A; Paperna, I

2003-07-08

Trematode metacercaria populations infecting cichlids in Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) were used as sentinels for the changing limnological environment. Parasitological data from 0+ cichlid fingerlings (Tilapia zillii, Oreochromis aureus, Sarotherodon galilaeus) were collected from the northwest shore of the lake during 1999 to 2001 and compared with data obtained from 1982 to 1984. The results show that the composition of the metacercarial populations changed significantly between the 2 samplings periods. The total number of metacercarial species found in the Kinneret cichlids was lower in 1999 to 2001 than in 1982 to 1984. Metacercariae transmitted by the snail Bulinus truncatus (Clinostomum tilapiae, Euclinostomum heterostomum, Bolbophorus levantinus and Neascus-type metacercariae--black spot and others) that were commonly found in 1982 to 1984 were absent from the fishes sampled during 1999 to 2001. The other trematode metacercariae (Centrocestus sp. and Haplorchis sp. transmitted by Melanoides tuberculata, Pygidiopsis genata transmitted by Melanopsis costata, as well as Phagicola longa, Strigeidae sp.1, an unidentified metacercaria typically found in the liver, and glochidia) increased in abundance in fishes sampled during 1999 to 2001. The calculated 'true' species richness of the habitat, extrapolated as a function of sampling effort, was significantly lower in the 1999 to 2001 versus 1982 to 1984 samples, while significantly fewer fishes needed to be sampled ('sampling effort') during 1999 to 2001 in order to reach the 'true' species richness. The higher calculated values of species richness and diversity for the 1999 to 2001 samples despite the overall decline in species number is explained by the overall increase in metacercariae prevalence.

Seasonal Dynamics of Microcystis spp. and Their Toxigenicity as Assessed by qPCR in a Temperate Reservoir

PubMed Central

Martins, António; Moreira, Cristiana; Vale, Micaela; Freitas, Marisa; Regueiras, Ana; Antunes, Agostinho; Vasconcelos, Vitor

2011-01-01

Blooms of toxic cyanobacteria are becoming increasingly frequent, mainly due to water quality degradation. This work applied qPCR as a tool for early warning of microcystin(MC)-producer cyanobacteria and risk assessment of water supplies. Specific marker genes for cyanobacteria, Microcystis and MC-producing Microcystis, were quantified to determine the genotypic composition of the natural Microcystis population. Correlations between limnological parameters, pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and conductivity and MC concentrations as well as Microcystis abundance were assessed. A negative significant correlation was observed between toxic (with mcy genes) to non-toxic (without mcy genes) genotypes ratio and the overall Microcystis density. The highest proportions of toxic Microcystis genotypes were found 4–6 weeks before and 8–10 weeks after the peak of the bloom, with the lowest being observed at its peak. These results suggest positive selection of non-toxic genotypes under favorable environmental growth conditions. Significant positive correlations could be found between quantity of toxic genotypes and MC concentration, suggesting that the method applied can be useful to predict potential MC toxicity risk. No significant correlation was found between the limnological parameters measured and MC concentrations or toxic genotypes proportions indicating that other abiotic and biotic factors should be governing MC production and toxic genotypes dynamics. The qPCR method here applied is useful to rapidly estimate the potential toxicity of environmental samples and so, it may contribute to the more efficient management of water use in eutrophic systems. PMID:22072994

Limnology of Jagatpur wetland, Bhagalpur (Bihar), India.

PubMed

Kumar, Brajnandan

2011-10-01

The water quality in Jagatpur wetland was assessed in terms of physico - chemical characteristics for two years, between August 2003-July 2005. The variations in different physico-chemical parameters have been discussed in this paper in relation to fluctuating climatic condition. The wetland is experiencing racing eutrophication as evidenced by pH was acidic to alkaline, total hardness was considerably high, bicarbonate was in moderate amount, phosphate-phosphorus content was in a range of medium to high and higher values of COD. The present status of the quality of water of Jagatpur wetland is delineated in this paper.

Earth resources-regional transfer activity contracts review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bensko, J., Jr.; Daniels, J. L.; Downs, S. W., Jr.; Jones, N. L.; Morton, R. R.; Paludan, C. T.

1977-01-01

A regional transfer activity contracts review held by the Earth Resources Office was summarized. Contracts in the earth resources field primarily directed toward applications of satellite data and technology in solution of state and regional problems were reviewed. A summary of the progress of each contract was given in order to share experiences of researchers across a seven state region. The region included Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Research in several earth science disciplines included forestry, limnology, water resources, land use, geology, and mathematical modeling. The use of computers for establishment of information retrieval systems was also emphasized.

AVIRIS user's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Howell K.; Green, Robert O.

1995-01-01

This paper serves as a brief overview of the AVIRIS instrument (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer). The AVIRIS sensor collects data that will be used for quantitative characterization of the Earth's surface and atmosphere from geometrically coherent spectroradiometric measurements. This data can be applied to studies in the fields of oceanography, environmental science, snow hydrology, geology, volcanology, soil and land management, atmospheric and aerosol studies, agriculture, and limnology. Applications under development include the assessment and monitoring of environmental hazards such as toxic waste, oil spills, and land/air/water pollution. Mission planning and flight operations are discussed, and recommendations are given regarding the deployment of ground truth experiments.

Limnological and climatic environments at Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon during the past 45 000 years

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bradbury, J.P.; Colman, Steven M.; Dean, W.E.

2004-01-01

Upper Klamath Lake, in south-central Oregon, contains long sediment records with well-preserved diatoms and lithological variations that reflect climate-induced limnological changes. These sediment archives complement and extend high resolution terrestrial records along a north-south transect that includes areas influenced by the Aleutian Low and Subtropical High, which control both marine and continental climates in the western United States. The longest and oldest core collected in this study came from the southwest margin of the lake at Caledonia Marsh, and was dated by radiocarbon and tephrochronology to an age of about 45 ka. Paleolimnological interpretations of this core, based upon geochemical and diatom analyses, have been augmented by data from a short core collected from open water environments at nearby Howards Bay and from a 9-m core extending to 15 ka raised from the center of the northwestern part of Upper Klamath Lake. Pre- and full-glacial intervals of the Caledonia Marsh core are characterized and dominated by lithic detrital material. Planktic diatom taxa characteristic of cold-water habitats (Aulacoseira subarctica and A. islandica) alternate with warm-water planktic diatoms (A. ambigua) between 45 and 23 ka, documenting climate changes at millennial scales during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 3. The full-glacial interval contains mostly cold-water planktic, benthic, and reworked Pliocene lacustrine diatoms (from the surrounding Yonna Formation) that document shallow water conditions in a cold, windy environment. After 15 ka, diatom productivity increased. Organic carbon and biogenic silica became significant sediment components and diatoms that live in the lake today, indicative of warm, eutrophic water, became prominent. Lake levels fell during the mid-Holocene and marsh environments extended over the core site. This interval is characterized by high levels of organic carbon from emergent aquatic vegetation (Scirpus) and by the Mazama ash (7.55 ka), generated by the eruption that created nearby Crater Lake. For a brief time the ash increased the salinity of Upper Klamath Lake. High concentrations of molybdenum, arsenic, and vanadium indicate that Caledonia Marsh was anoxic from about 7 to 5 ka. After the mid-Holocene, shallow, but open-water environments returned to the core site. The sediments became dominated (>80%) by biogenic silica. The open-water cores show analogous but less extreme limnological and climatic changes more typical of mid-lake environments. Millennial-scale lake and climate changes during OIS 3 at Upper Klamath Lake contrast with a similar record of variation at Owens Lake, about 750 km south. When Upper Klamath Lake experienced cold-climate episodes during OIS 3, Owens Lake had warm but wet episodes; the reverse occurred during warmer intervals at Upper Klamath Lake. Such climatic alternations apparently reflect the variable position and strength of the Aleutian Low during the mid-Wisconsin.

Age depth model construction of the upper section of ICDP Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project based on the high-resolution 14C dating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitagawa, H.; Nakamura, T.; Neugebauer, I.; Schwab, M. J.; Brauer, A.; Goldstein, S. L.; Stein, M.

2014-12-01

To reconstruct environmental, climatic and tectonic histories of the Levant, a deep drilling has been accomplished in the northern basin of the Dead Sea during the fall winter of 2010-2011 by the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project (DSDDP) in the framework of the ICDP program. The sediment cores from site 5017-1 (water depth of ~300 m) recorded the paleoenvironmental and paleohydrological changes in the Dead Sea and the Levant during the last two glacial-interglacial cycles (Neugebauer et al., QSR in press). To provide precise timing of sedimentological - limnological events in the lake and its watershed, and more critically the relative timing of these events, radiocarbon dating of >70 well-preserved terrestrial plants and some carbonate deposits from the upper 150 m long section of the sediment core were performed. Based on the high-resolution radiocarbon dating, a statistical age-depth model was constructed with assumptions on the deposition condition and the radiocarbon age offset of carbonate samples. We discuss the practicality and the limitation of the age-depth model toward interpreting the high-resolution records of environmental, climatic and tectonic events recorded in the long sediment cores from site 5017-1.

Lack of nitrogen as a causing agent of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii intermittent blooms in a small tropical reservoir.

PubMed

Figueredo, Cleber C; von Rückert, Gabriela; Cupertino, Arthur; Pontes, Marília A; Fernandes, Luyara A; Ribeiro, Solange G; Maran, Natália R C

2014-03-01

Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is the focus of many studies due to its toxicity and increasing blooms frequency. The comprehension of the factors that might trigger these blooms is fundamental for the maintenance of good freshwater quality. To better understand the autoecology of C. raciborskii and to identify the factors controlling its dominance, general limnological features were evaluated in Pedalinhos reservoir, Brazil. Samplings were performed monthly between 2011 and 2013. Although C. raciborskii is considered a relatively perennial species in the tropics, it presented an interesting nonunimodal variation, with biovolume varying from 0 to c. 30 mm³ L⁻¹ in short time intervals (< 30 days). These temporal trends allowed the evaluation of the isolated effects of nonclimatic variables. Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii was connected with several variables, but nitrogen was the major determinant of its dynamics. Blooms were observed when dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was scarce (< 50 μg L⁻¹), mainly in relation to the availability of phosphorus and total-N (DIN : total-P < 3 and DIN : total-N < 0.04). This paper contributes to establish strategies to avoid C. raciborskii blooms, suggesting that a management in P levels would be not sufficient. It is necessary to consider N availability to avoid its dominance in the reservoir. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

SWOT Hydrology in the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, M. M.; Destaerke, D.; Butler, D. M.; Pavelsky, T.

2014-12-01

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission Education Program will participate in the multinational, multiagency program, Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE). GLOBE is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education community of over 24,000 schools in more than 100 countries. Over 1.5 million students have contributed more than 23 million measurements to the GLOBE database for use in inquiry-based science projects. The objectives of the program are to promote the teaching and learning of science; enhance environmental awareness, literacy and stewardship; and contribute to science research and environmental monitoring.SWOT will measure sea surface height and the heights, slopes, and inundated areas of rivers, lakes, and wetlands. This new SWOT-GLOBE partnership will focus on the limnology aspects of SWOT. These measurements will be useful in monitoring the hydrologic cycle, flooding, and climate impacts of a changing environment.GLOBE's cadre of teachers are trained in five core areas of Earth system science, including hydrology. The SWOT Education teams at NASA and CNES are working with the GLOBE Program implementers to develop and promote a new protocol under the Hydrology topic area for students to measure attributes of surface water bodies that will support mission science objectives. This protocol will outline and describe a methodology to measure width and height of rivers and lakes.This new GLOBE protocol will be included in training to provide teachers with expertise and confidence in engaging students in this new scientific investigation. Performing this additional measurement will enhance GLOBE students experience in scientific investigation, and will provide useful measurements to SWOT researchers that can support the SWOT mission research goals.SWOT public engagement will involve communicating the value of its river and lake height measurements, lake water storage, and river discharge. This is also important to the GLOBE Program as curriculum integration of its hydrology measurements can be enhanced by strengthened ties to the concepts of watersheds and the hydrologic cycle. Understanding can also be increased of the relation of lake and river levels to drought and water supply.

Iron Speciation in the Subtropical Waters East of New Zealand using Multi Detection Window CLE-AdCSV Titrations.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandrasekhar, Anoop; Sander, Sylvia; Milnes, Angie; Boyd, Philip

2015-04-01

Iron plays a significant role in the ocean productivity as a micro nutrient that facilitates the growth of marine phytoplankton and microbes. The bioavailability of iron in the ocean depends on it speciation. Iron is bio available in its dissolved form and about 99.9% of dissolved iron in seawater is organically complexed with natural ligands. The competitive ligand equilibration - adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (CLE-AdCSV) is the widely used technique to examine Fe speciation. The method has its own limitations. The analytical window employed in this technique has a distinct impact on Fe speciation results (Buck, Moffett et al. 2012). Recently, (Pizeta, Sander et al. in preparation) have shown that the accuracy of complexometric titrations improve if multiple analytical windows (MAW) are solved as a united dataset. Several programs are now available that enable this approach with the KMS (Kineteql.xls , Hudson 2014), which is based on an Excel application based on speciation calculation (Hudson, Rue et al. 2003, Sander, Hunter et al. 2011), being one of them. In the present work, the unified MAW data analysis method is applied to determine iron speciation by CLE-AdCSV with salicyl aldoxime (SA) (Abualhaija and van den Berg 2014) in real seawater samples from the Spring bloom FeCycle III voyage, which took place in an anticyclonic eddy in subtropical waters east of New Zealand in spring 2012. Two different analytical windows (5 and 15µM SA) were applied to samples from depth profiles taken during this cruise. The data obtained was analysed using the program KMS (Kineteql.xls). Most samples only returned one Fe-binding ligands class. Higher ligand concentrations were observed in the upper water column and the stability constants were above 22 (e.g. 22.25 ± 0.21 for station 63). Our results will be discussed in the context of microbial community distribution as well as other biogeochemical parameters. Abualhaija, M. M. and C. M. G. van den Berg (2014). "Chemical speciation of iron in seawater using catalytic cathodic stripping voltammetry with ligand competition against salicylaldoxime." Marine Chemistry 164(0): 60-74. Buck, K. N., J. Moffett, K. A. Barbeau, R. M. Bundy, Y. Kondo and J. Wu (2012). "The organic complexation of iron and copper: an intercomparison of competitive ligand exchange-adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (CLE-ACSV) techniques " Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 10: 496-515. Hudson, R. J. M., E. L. Rue and K. W. Bruland (2003). "Modeling Complexometric Titrations of Natural Water Samples." Environ. Sci. Tech. 37: 1553-1562. Pizeta, I., S. G. Sander, O. Baars, K. Buck, R. Bundy, G. Carrasco, P. Croot, C. Garnier, L. Gerringa, M. Gledhill, K. Hirose, D. R. Hudson, Y. Kondo-Jacquot, L. Laglera, D. Omanovic, M. Rijkenberg, B. Twining and M. Wells (in preparation). "Intercomparison of estimating metal binding ligand parameters from simulated titration data using different fitting approaches." for Limnology and Oceanography: Methods. Sander, S. G., K. A. Hunter, H. Harms and M. Wells (2011). "Numerical approach to speciation and estimation of parameters used in modeling trace metal bioavailability." Environmental Science and Technology 45(15): 6388-6395.

Trends in freshwater microcrustaceans studies in Brazil between 1990 and 2014.

PubMed

Silva, W M; Perbiche-Neves, G

2017-01-01

This study presents a review of scientiometric data about freshwater microcrustaceans (Copepoda, Ostracoda, Branchiopoda: Cladocera, Anostraca, Notostraca and Conchostraca) in Brazil from 1990-2014. This review is based on 179 papers published across four databases, using the following keywords in the search: microcrustaceans, Copepoda, Cyclopoida, Calanoida, Harpacticoida, Ergasilidae, Daphniidae, Moinidae, Cladocera, Ostracoda, Conchostraca, zooplankton, reservoir, river, ponds, reservoirs, wetlands, caves, lakes, limnology, ecology, aquatic, taxonomy, systematics, morphology and biogeography. No studies were identified that addressed freshwater microcrustaceans in four (Amapá, Roraima, Alagoas and Espírito Santo) of the 27 Brazilian Federative States. Forty-five percent of the included studies were concentrated within three of the most populous states (São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Paraná), which also have a long tradition of limnological study. The included studies mostly addressed reservoirs for hydropower generation (22%), multiple environments (22%), rivers (14%) and small artificial reservoirs (11%). Pools, ponds, small lakes, wetlands and phytothelma were not widely studied. Cladocera (48%) and Copepoda (48%) were the most studied groups. No studies were identified that addressed Notostraca, Anostraca or Conchostraca. The sharp increase in the number of published freshwater studies after 2000 is likely a result of increased internet facilities and the implementation of the Scielo platform. Ecology was most frequently the study focus (~50%), followed by taxonomy. Three journals (two Brazilian and one international) accounted for the publication of 44% of the Brazilian studies on microcrustaceans. We expect the frequency of studies employing newer technologies to increase in the coming years. Based on our findings, we propose that future studies should focus on the least well-studied states and should integrate biogeography and systematic approaches. Further data on the fauna within environmental sub-types in Brazil is required.

Limnology of Kharland (saline) ponds of Ratnagiri, Maharashtra in relation to prawn culture potential.

PubMed

Saksena, D N; Gaidhane, D M; Singh, H

2006-01-01

The coastal saline soils, Kharlands, have great potential for their use in aquaculture. This study has been taken up to understand the limnology of the ponds in Kharland area for assessing their prawn culture potential. This study was carried out during September, 1999 to August, 2001. Each Kharland pond has an area of 0.045 hectare. During the study, depth of pond water was 47.7 to 120.0 cm, temperature varied from 25.7 to 34.5 degrees C; transparency from nil to 65.0 cm; specific conductivity from 1.78 to 94.5 microS.cm(-1); total dissolved solids from 0.89 to 27.55 ppt; pH 5.42 to 8.25; dissolved oxygen 1.6 to 8 mg.l(-1); free carbon dioxide 10.00 to 44.00 mg.l(-1); total alkalinity 5.00 to 142.00 mg.l(-1); salinity 0.45 to 39.55 ppt; total hardness 245.00 to 5945.00; calcium 56.05 to 1827.6; magnesium 110.74 to 4507.75 mg.l(-1); dissolved organic matter 1.45 to 9.68 mg.l(-1); ammonia 1.00-8.00 microg.l(-1); nitrite nil to 20.00 micro l(-1) and nitrate 7.5 to 17.5 microg.l(-1). These Kharland ponds are unique in physio-chemical characteristics during their seasonal cycle. From July to October, these ponds have nearly freshwater while from November to May pond water becomes saline. Thus, there is a great possibility of taking up monoculture of both the freshwater and brackish water prawns as well as polyculture of prawns and fishes in the Kharland ponds.

A hypothesis linking chrysophyte microfossils to lake carbon dynamics on ecological and evolutionary time scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolfe, Alexander P.; Siver, Peter A.

2013-12-01

Chrysophyte algae are common in the plankton of oligotrophic lakes and produce a rich microfossil record of siliceous cysts and scales. Paleolimnological investigations and phytoplankton records suggest that chrysophyte populations are increasing in a wide range of boreal and arctic lakes, ultimately representing one component of the limnological response to contemporary global changes. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for widespread increases of chrysophyte populations remain elusive. We hypothesize that recent increases in chrysophytes are related to rising pCO2 in lakes, in part because these algae lack carbon concentrating mechanisms and therefore rely on diffusive entry of CO2 to Rubisco during photosynthesis. We assessed the abundance of modern sediment chrysophyte microfossils in relation to summer CO2 relative saturation in 46 New England (USA) lakes, revealing significant positive relationships for both cysts and scales. These observations imply that correlations between chrysophytes and limnological conditions including low pH, oligotrophy, and elevated dissolved organic matter are ultimately underscored by the high pCO2 associated with these conditions. In lakes where chrysophyte populations have expanded over recent decades, we infer that increasingly heterotrophic conditions with respect to CO2 have stimulated production by these organisms. This linkage is supported by the remarkable abundance and diversity of chrysophytes from middle Eocene lake sediments, deposited under atmospheric CO2 concentrations significantly higher than present. The Eocene assemblages suggest that any chrysophyte-CO2 connection borne out of results from modern and sub-recent sediments also operated on evolutionary time scales, and thus the absence of carbon concentrating mechanisms appears to be an ancient feature within the group. Chrysophyte microfossils may potentially provide important insights concerning the temporal dynamics of carbon cycling in aquatic ecosystems.

Watershed-Induced Limnological and Microbial Status in Two Oligotrophic Andean Lakes Exposed to the Same Climatic Scenario

PubMed Central

Echeverría-Vega, Alex; Chong, Guillermo; Serrano, Antonio E.; Guajardo, Mariela; Encalada, Olga; Parro, Victor; Blanco, Yolanda; Rivas, Luis; Rose, Kevin C.; Moreno-Paz, Mercedes; Luque, José A.; Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Demergasso, Cecilia S.

2018-01-01

Laguna Negra and Lo Encañado are two oligotrophic Andean lakes forming part of the system fed by meltwater from distinct glacial tongues of the Echaurren glacier in central Chile, which is in a recession period. The recent increase in temperature and decline in precipitation have led to an increase of glacial meltwater and sediments entering these lakes. Although the lacustrine systems are also hydrogeologically connected, the limnology of the lakes is strongly controlled by the surface processes related to the respective sub-watersheds and hydrology. Watershed characteristics (area and length, slope, lithology, resistance to erosion, among others) affect the chemical and physical characteristics of both lakes (e.g., nutrient concentration and turbidity). We studied physical and chemical variables and performed 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to determine the specific microbial signature of the lakes. The transparency, temperature, turbidity and concentrations of chlorophyll-a, dissolved organic matter, nutrients and the total number of cells, revealed the different status of both lakes at the time of sampling. The predominant bacterial groups in both lakes were Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Bacteroidetes. Interestingly, the contribution of phototrophs was significantly higher in LN compared to LE (13 and 4% respectively) and the major fraction corresponded to Anoxygenic Phototrophs (AP) represented by Chloroflexi, Alpha, and Betaproteobacteria. Multivariate analyses showed that the nutrient levels and the light availability of both lakes, which finally depend on the hydrological characteristics of the respective watersheds, explain the differential community composition/function. The abundance of a diverse photoheterotrophic bacterioplankton community suggests that the ability to utilize solar energy along with organic and inorganic substrates is a key function in these oligotrophic mountain lakes. PMID:29556224

Watershed-Induced Limnological and Microbial Status in Two Oligotrophic Andean Lakes Exposed to the Same Climatic Scenario.

PubMed

Echeverría-Vega, Alex; Chong, Guillermo; Serrano, Antonio E; Guajardo, Mariela; Encalada, Olga; Parro, Victor; Blanco, Yolanda; Rivas, Luis; Rose, Kevin C; Moreno-Paz, Mercedes; Luque, José A; Cabrol, Nathalie A; Demergasso, Cecilia S

2018-01-01

Laguna Negra and Lo Encañado are two oligotrophic Andean lakes forming part of the system fed by meltwater from distinct glacial tongues of the Echaurren glacier in central Chile, which is in a recession period. The recent increase in temperature and decline in precipitation have led to an increase of glacial meltwater and sediments entering these lakes. Although the lacustrine systems are also hydrogeologically connected, the limnology of the lakes is strongly controlled by the surface processes related to the respective sub-watersheds and hydrology. Watershed characteristics (area and length, slope, lithology, resistance to erosion, among others) affect the chemical and physical characteristics of both lakes (e.g., nutrient concentration and turbidity). We studied physical and chemical variables and performed 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to determine the specific microbial signature of the lakes. The transparency, temperature, turbidity and concentrations of chlorophyll-a, dissolved organic matter, nutrients and the total number of cells, revealed the different status of both lakes at the time of sampling. The predominant bacterial groups in both lakes were Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Bacteroidetes. Interestingly, the contribution of phototrophs was significantly higher in LN compared to LE (13 and 4% respectively) and the major fraction corresponded to Anoxygenic Phototrophs (AP) represented by Chloroflexi, Alpha, and Betaproteobacteria. Multivariate analyses showed that the nutrient levels and the light availability of both lakes, which finally depend on the hydrological characteristics of the respective watersheds, explain the differential community composition/function. The abundance of a diverse photoheterotrophic bacterioplankton community suggests that the ability to utilize solar energy along with organic and inorganic substrates is a key function in these oligotrophic mountain lakes.

A modeling tool to evaluate regional coral reef responses to changes in climate and ocean chemistry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buddemeier, R.W.; Jokiel, P.L.; Zimmerman, K.M.; Lane, D.R.; Carey, J.M.; Bohling, Geoffrey C.; Martinich, J.A.

2008-01-01

We developed a spreadsheet-based model for the use of managers, conservationists, and biologists for projecting the effects of climate change on coral reefs at local-to-regional scales. The COMBO (Coral Mortality and Bleaching Output) model calculates the impacts to coral reefs from changes in average SST and CO2 concentrations, and from high temperature mortality (bleaching) events. The model uses a probabilistic assessment of the frequency of high temperature events under a future climate to address scientific uncertainties about potential adverse effects. COMBO offers data libraries and default factors for three selected regions (Hawai'i, Great Barrier Reef, and Caribbean), but it is structured with user-selectable parameter values and data input options, making possible modifications to reflect local conditions or to incorporate local expertise. Preliminary results from sensitivity analyses and simulation examples for Hawai'i demonstrate the relative importance of high temperature events, increased average temperature, and increased CO2 concentration on the future status of coral reefs; Illustrate significant interactions among variables; and allow comparisons of past environmental history with future predictions. ?? 2008, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanugraphy, Inc.

Limnological and Fisheries Studies of the St. Marys River, Michigan, in Relation to Proposed Extension of the Navigation Season, 1982 and 1983. Volume 2. Appendices A - P.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-01-01

0 0 0 Overall 1213 1105 1155 1899 2140 2017 1 0 1 -1* STATION 1, 16 August 1982 Tow Replicate: P-i P-2 P S-i S-2 S C-I C-2 C Time (h): 2320 2325 Total...860 4 3618 5 447- Lake Herring 1 340 1 274 2 1714 TOTAL 5 2620 6 45K2 9 7:4- NI5 Sear 5~~~ Sat 2~ DEEP LL. 1lwPer:n 4 7 4 *tenP:e 2 224 .:r~zw ielt

Community-based management induces rapid recovery of a high-value tropical freshwater fishery

PubMed Central

Campos-Silva, João Vitor; Peres, Carlos A.

2016-01-01

Tropical wetlands are highly threatened socio-ecological systems, where local communities rely heavily on aquatic animal protein, such as fish, to meet food security. Here, we quantify how a ‘win-win’ community-based resource management program induced stock recovery of the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish (Arapaima gigas), providing both food and income. We analyzed stock assessment data over eight years and examined the effects of protected areas, community-based management, and landscape and limnological variables across 83 oxbow lakes monitored along a ~500-km section of the Juruá River of Western Brazilian Amazonia. Patterns of community management explained 71.8% of the variation in arapaima population sizes. Annual population counts showed that protected lakes on average contained 304.8 (±332.5) arapaimas, compared to only 9.2 (±9.8) in open-access lakes. Protected lakes have become analogous to a high-interest savings account, ensuring an average annual revenue of US$10,601 per community and US$1046.6 per household, greatly improving socioeconomic welfare. Arapaima management is a superb window of opportunity in harmonizing the co-delivery of sustainable resource management and poverty alleviation. We show that arapaima management deserves greater attention from policy makers across Amazonian countries, and highlight the need to include local stakeholders in conservation planning of Amazonian floodplains. PMID:27731319

Community-based management induces rapid recovery of a high-value tropical freshwater fishery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campos-Silva, João Vitor; Peres, Carlos A.

2016-10-01

Tropical wetlands are highly threatened socio-ecological systems, where local communities rely heavily on aquatic animal protein, such as fish, to meet food security. Here, we quantify how a ‘win-win’ community-based resource management program induced stock recovery of the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish (Arapaima gigas), providing both food and income. We analyzed stock assessment data over eight years and examined the effects of protected areas, community-based management, and landscape and limnological variables across 83 oxbow lakes monitored along a ~500-km section of the Juruá River of Western Brazilian Amazonia. Patterns of community management explained 71.8% of the variation in arapaima population sizes. Annual population counts showed that protected lakes on average contained 304.8 (±332.5) arapaimas, compared to only 9.2 (±9.8) in open-access lakes. Protected lakes have become analogous to a high-interest savings account, ensuring an average annual revenue of US$10,601 per community and US$1046.6 per household, greatly improving socioeconomic welfare. Arapaima management is a superb window of opportunity in harmonizing the co-delivery of sustainable resource management and poverty alleviation. We show that arapaima management deserves greater attention from policy makers across Amazonian countries, and highlight the need to include local stakeholders in conservation planning of Amazonian floodplains.

Strategic science: new frameworks to bring scientific expertise to environmental disaster response

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stoepler, Teresa Michelle; Ludwig, Kristin A.

2015-01-01

Science is critical to society’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from environmental crises. Natural and technological disasters such as disease outbreaks, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, oil spills, and tsunamis require coordinated scientific expertise across a range of disciplines to shape effective policies and protocols. Five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, new organizational frameworks have arisen for scientists and engineers to apply their expertise to disaster response and recovery in a variety of capacities. Here, we describe examples of these opportunities, including an exciting new collaboration between the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Strategic Sciences Group (SSG).

IDEAL Symposium on the East African Lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, T. C.; Kelts, K.; Lehman, J. T.; Wuest, A.

A vast array of interdisciplinary problems presented by the African Great Lakes were highlighted at the International Symposium on the Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes, organized by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL) February 17-21 in Jinja, Uganda. Approximately 125 scientists attended from North America, Europe, Africa, and New Zealand. Jinja is located on the northern shore of Lake Victoria at the head-waters of the Nile and is the site of the host institution for the symposium, the Uganda Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization (UFFRO). The conveners of the symposium were Tom Johnson of Duke University, George Kitaka of UNESCO-ROSTA, and Eric Odada of the University of Nairobi.

Application of ERTS imagery to environmental studies of Lake Champlain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lind, A. O.

1974-01-01

ERTS Imagery has provided data relating to a number of environmental and limnological concerns such as water quality, lake flooding and lake ice formation. Pollution plume data provided by ERTS was recently used in the Supreme Court case involving the States of Vermont and New York and a paper company. Flooding of lowland tracts has been a major concern due to a repetitive pattern of high lake levels over the past three years, and ERTS imagery is being used to construct the first series of flood maps of the affected areas. Lake ice development and turbidity patterns have also been studied from ERTS, since these have significance for shore erosion studies.

Life from a plantary perspective: Fundamental issues in global ecology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Botkin, D. B.

1980-01-01

Twenty-three scientists from diverse disciplines met for one week at the University of California, Santa Barbara to discuss life from a planetary perspective. The scientists represented the major disciplines concerned with the Earth's biota, oceans, atmosphere and sediments, including geochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, chemical oceanography, limnology, forestry, terrestrial ecology, microbiology, biophysics, geography and remote sensing as well as mathematics. These twenty-three scientists met to discuss whether there was, at this time, a set of scientific issues concerning life and the entire Earth as a single unit, to set down the major tractable issues, and to suggest a set of activities that would promote the study of the issues identified. Their conclusions are summarized.

Mid-Holocene hydrologic model of the Shingobee watershed, Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Filby, S.K.; Locke, Sharon M.; Person, M.A.; Winter, T.C.; Rosenberry, D.O.; Nieber, J.L.; Gutowski, W.J.; Ito, E.

2002-01-01

A hydrologifc model of the Shingobee Watershed in north-central Minnesota was developed to reconstruct mid-Holocene paleo-lake levels for Williams Lake, a surface-water body located in the southern portion of the watershed. Hydrologic parameters for the model were first estimated in a calibration exercise using a 9-yr historical record (1990-1998) of climatic and hydrologic stresses. The model reproduced observed temporal and spatial trends in surface/groundwater levels across the watershed. Mid-Holocene aquifer and lake levels were then reconstructed using two paleoclimatic data sets: CCM1 atmospheric general circulation model output and pollen-transfer functions using sediment core data from Williams Lake. Calculated paleo-lake levels based on pollen-derived paleoclimatic reconstructions indicated a 3.5-m drop in simulated lake levels and were in good agreement with the position of mid-Holocene beach sands observed in a Williams Lake sediment core transect. However, calculated paleolake levels based on CCM1 climate forcing produced only a 0.05-m drop in lake levels. We found that decreases in winter precipitation rather than temperature increases had the largest effect on simulated mid-Holocene lake levels. The study illustrates how watershed models can be used to critically evaluate paleoclimatic reconstructions by integrating geologic, climatic, limnologic, and hydrogeologic data sets. ?? 2002 University of Washington.

Phytoplankton biodiversity changes in a shallow tropical reservoir during the hypertrophication process.

PubMed

Crossetti, L O; Bicudo, D C; Bicudo, C E M; Bini, L M

2008-11-01

Study aimed at evaluating phytoplankton biodiversity changes in a shallow tropical reservoir during its hypertrophication process. Samplings were carried out monthly during 8 consecutive years (1997-2004) in 5 depths. Conspicuous limnological changes in the reservoir derived from the presence and/or removal of the water hyacinth, characterized 3 different phases. Over the time series, reservoir changed from a typical polymictic eutrophic system to hypertrophic one, leading to a reduction of approximately 70 species (average 37%). Chlorophyceae accounted for the highest species richness (46%) among all algal classes and strictly followed total species richness variation. Internal feedback mechanisms intensification over phase III clearly promoted the sharp decrease in biodiversity. Highest decreases, mainly during springs, occurred simultaneously to the highest Cyanobacteria blooms. Increased turbidity due to heavy phytoplankton blooms suppressed all other algal groups, so that at the end of the present study even Cyanobacteria species richness decreased. Total dissolved phosphorous was included in most of the best selected models used to analyze the temporal patterns in species richness loss. Present data show that biodiversity loss following trophic change was not a single dimension of a single factor but, rather, a template of factors (e.g. light, stability) co-varying in consequence of the larger levels of biomass supported in the reservoir.

Patterns of Distribution of the Helminth Parasites of Freshwater Fishes of Mexico

PubMed Central

Quiroz-Martínez, Benjamín; Salgado-Maldonado, Guillermo

2013-01-01

In order to draw patterns in helminth parasite composition and species richness in Mexican freshwater fishes we analyse a presence-absence matrix representing every species of adult helminth parasites of freshwater fishes from 23 Mexican hydrological basins. We examine the distributional patterns of the helminth parasites with regard to the main hydrological basins of the country, and in doing so we identify areas of high diversity and point out the biotic similarities and differences among drainage basins. Our dataset allows us to evaluate the relationships among drainage basins in terms of helminth diversity. This paper shows that the helminth fauna of freshwater fishes of Mexico can characterise hydrological basins the same way as fish families do, and that the basins of south-eastern Mexico are home to a rich, predominantly Neotropical, helminth fauna whereas the basins of the Mexican Highland Plateau and the Nearctic area of Mexico harbour a less diverse Nearctic fauna, following the same pattern of distribution of their fish host families. The composition of the helminth fauna of each particular basin depends on the structure of the fish community rather than on the limnological characteristics and geographical position of the basin itself. This work shows distance decay of similarity and a clear linkage between host and parasite distributions. PMID:23359347

Patterns of distribution of the helminth parasites of freshwater fishes of Mexico.

PubMed

Quiroz-Martínez, Benjamín; Salgado-Maldonado, Guillermo

2013-01-01

In order to draw patterns in helminth parasite composition and species richness in Mexican freshwater fishes we analyse a presence-absence matrix representing every species of adult helminth parasites of freshwater fishes from 23 Mexican hydrological basins. We examine the distributional patterns of the helminth parasites with regard to the main hydrological basins of the country, and in doing so we identify areas of high diversity and point out the biotic similarities and differences among drainage basins. Our dataset allows us to evaluate the relationships among drainage basins in terms of helminth diversity. This paper shows that the helminth fauna of freshwater fishes of Mexico can characterise hydrological basins the same way as fish families do, and that the basins of south-eastern Mexico are home to a rich, predominantly Neotropical, helminth fauna whereas the basins of the Mexican Highland Plateau and the Nearctic area of Mexico harbour a less diverse Nearctic fauna, following the same pattern of distribution of their fish host families. The composition of the helminth fauna of each particular basin depends on the structure of the fish community rather than on the limnological characteristics and geographical position of the basin itself. This work shows distance decay of similarity and a clear linkage between host and parasite distributions.

Reconstruction of limnology and microbialite formation conditions from carbonate clumped isotope thermometry.

PubMed

Petryshyn, V A; Lim, D; Laval, B L; Brady, A; Slater, G; Tripati, A K

2015-01-01

Quantitative tools for deciphering the environment of microbialite formation are relatively limited. For example, the oxygen isotope carbonate-water geothermometer requires assumptions about the isotopic composition of the water of formation. We explored the utility of using 'clumped' isotope thermometry as a tool to study the temperatures of microbialite formation. We studied microbialites recovered from water depths of 10-55 m in Pavilion Lake, and 10-25 m in Kelly Lake, spanning the thermocline in both lakes. We determined the temperature of carbonate growth and the (18)O/(16)O ratio of the waters that microbialites grew in. Results were then compared to current limnological data from the lakes to reconstruct the history of microbialite formation. Modern microbialites collected at shallow depths (11.7 m) in both lakes yield clumped isotope-based temperatures of formation that are within error of summer water temperatures, suggesting that clumped isotope analyses may be used to reconstruct past climates and to probe the environments in which microbialites formed. The deepest microbialites (21.7-55 m) were recovered from below the present-day thermoclines in both lakes and yield radioisotope ages indicating they primarily formed earlier in the Holocene. During this time, pollen data and our reconstructed water (18)O/(16)O ratios indicate a period of aridity, with lower lake levels. At present, there is a close association between both photosynthetic and heterotrophic communities, and carbonate precipitation/microbialite formation, with biosignatures of photosynthetic influences on carbonate detected in microbialites from the photic zone and above the thermocline (i.e., depths of generally <20 m). Given the deeper microbialites are receiving <1% of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), it is likely these microbialites primarily formed when lower lake levels resulted in microbialites being located higher in the photic zone, in warm surface waters. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Desert potholes: Ephemeral aquatic microsystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chan, M.A.; Moser, K.; Davis, J.M.; Southam, G.; Hughes, K.; Graham, T.

2005-01-01

An enigma of the Colorado Plateau high desert is the "pothole", which ranges from shallow ephemeral puddles to deeply carved pools. The existence of prokaryotic to eukaryotic organisms within these pools is largely controlled by the presence of collected rainwater. Multivariate statistical analysis of physical and chemical limnologic data variables measured from potholes indicates spatial and temporal variations, particularly in water depth, manganese, iron, nitrate and sulfate concentrations and salinity. Variation in water depth and salinity are likely related to the amount of time since the last precipitation, whereas the other variables may be related to redox potential. The spatial and temporal variations in water chemistry affect the distribution of organisms, which must adapt to daily and seasonal extremes of fluctuating temperature (0-60 ??C), pH changes of as much as 5 units over 12 days, and desiccation. For example, many species become dormant when potholes dry, in order to endure intense heat, UV radiation, desiccation and freezing, only to flourish again upon rehydration. But the pothole organisms also have a profound impact on the potholes. Through photosynthesis and respiration, pothole organisms affect redox potential, and indirectly alter the water chemistry. Laboratory examination of dried biofilm from the potholes revealed that within 2 weeks of hydration, the surface of the desiccated, black biofilm became green from cyanobacterial growth, which supported significant growth in heterotrophic bacterial populations. This complex biofilm is persumably responsible for dissolving the cement between the sandstone grains, allowing the potholes to enlarge, and for sealing the potholes, enabling them to retain water longer than the surrounding sandstone. Despite the remarkable ability of life in potholes to persist, desert potholes may be extremely sensitive to anthropogenic effects. The unique limnology and ecology of Utah potholes holds great scientific value for understanding water-rock-biological interactions with possible applications to life on other planetary bodies. ?? Springer 2005.

Processes of seasonal layer formation in varved Lake Czechowskie (N Poland): Linking monitoring and sediment core data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ott, Florian; Brykała, Dariusz; Gierszewski, Piotr; Schwab, Markus; Brademann, Brian; Dräger, Nadine; Kienel, Ulrike; Pinkerneil, Sylvia; Plessen, Birgit; Słowiński, Michał; Błaszkiewicz, Mirosław; Brauer, Achim

2017-04-01

The interpretation of environmental and climate records, such as lake sediments, rely on the profound understanding of the proxy sensitivity towards past changes. Monitoring of lake sedimentation, limnological, hydrological and climate parameters are natural experiments combining measurements and observations. In this study, we present monitoring data from Lake Czechowskie (N Poland) for the period 2013-2016. Lake Czechowskie has a surface area of 73 ha and a maximum water depth of 32 m. Sediment has been trapped in a 4-cylinder and an automatic sequential trap installed at 12 and 30 m water depths close to the deepest part of the lake, respectively. Sampling intervals range from 15 (sequential) to 30 days (4 cylinder) days. The sediment has been analyzed for total sediment flux, calcium carbonate and organic matter contents. Continuous water temperature measurements (30 min. intervals) are based on 17 data loggers covering the entire water column (1 m steps from 0-12 m; 5 m steps from 12-32 m). Limnological measurements (e.g. electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH) have been carried out manually on a monthly routine. Air temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction are available for the same period from a meteorological station installed at the shore of Lake Czechowskie. Our dataset exhibit seasonal deposition starting with diatom blooms and calcite precipitation in spring after lake stratification. A second deposition peak occurs at the onset of lake mixing in late autumn and winter. This is caused by an initial deposition of planktonic diatoms (mainly Fragilaria spp.) indicating lake productivity, followed by an increase in larger calcite patches (>30 µm) and periphyitic diatoms (mainly Navicula spp.) representing resuspension of littoral sediments. We paired sediment trap data with micro-facies analyses from a sediment core obtained in autumn 2016 covering the same time interval. This study is a contribution to the Virtual Institute of Integrated Climate and Landscape Evolution Analyses - ICLEA - of the Helmholtz Association, grant number VH-VI-415.

Integrative investigations on sediments in the Belauer See catchment (northern Germany)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dreibrodt, Stefan

2015-04-01

The Holocene history of lake development, catchment vegetation, soil formation and human impact since the onset of the Neolithic period was reconstructed via the analysis of sediment sequences at Lake Belau (northern Germany). The chronology of the annually laminated lake sediment sequence was established via varve counts, radiocarbon dating and tephra analysis. Sequences of colluvial sediments and buried soils studied in 19 large exposures and supplementing auger cores within the lake catchment area were dated via radiocarbon dating and archaeological dating of embedded artifacts. The long term development of the lake status was found to be strongly influenced by local human activity. This is indicated by coincidence of phases of landscape openness deduced from pollen data with input of detritus and solutes into the lake. A comparison with palaeo-climate reconstructions reveals that calcite precipitation in the lake reflects climate variability at least to a certain degree. Calibrating the sediment record of the sub-recent lake sediments (micro-facies) on limnological and meteorological records discovered the influence of the NAO as well as solar activity on the limnological processes during the last century reflected by distinguished sedimentation patterns. A comparative study of additional laminated surface sediment sequences from northern Germany corroborates the results. A high resolution reconstruction of Neolithic weather conditions in northern Germany based on the varves of Lake Belau and Lake Poggensee was facilitated by the calibration. The quantitative records of sediments originating from soil erosion (colluvial sediments, allochthonous input into the lake) illustrate the dominance of short distance surface processes (slopes) acting in Holocene mid-latitude landscapes. Coincidence of gully incision in the lake catchment area and increased allochthonous input into the lake indicates the former occurrence of hydrological high energy runoff events (e. g. in the 14th century or at ca. 200 cal BC) whose regional significance is testable via comparative investigations in additional lake catchments.

Limnological Conditions and Occurrence of Taste-and-Odor Compounds in Lake William C. Bowen and Municipal Reservoir #1, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, 2006-2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Journey, Celeste A.; Arrington, Jane M.; Beaulieu, Karen M.; Graham, Jennifer L.; Bradley, Paul M.

2011-01-01

Limnological conditions and the occurrence of taste-and-odor compounds were studied in two reservoirs in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, from May 2006 to June 2009. Lake William C. Bowen and Municipal Reservoir #1 are relatively shallow, meso-eutrophic, warm monomictic, cascading impoundments on the South Pacolet River. Overall, water-quality conditions and phytoplankton community assemblages were similar between the two reservoirs but differed seasonally. Median dissolved geosmin concentrations in the reservoirs ranged from 0.004 to 0.006 microgram per liter. Annual maximum dissolved geosmin concentrations tended to occur between March and May. In this study, peak dissolved geosmin production occurred in April and May 2008, ranging from 0.050 to 0.100 microgram per liter at the deeper reservoir sites. Peak dissolved geosmin production was not concurrent with maximum cyanobacterial biovolumes, which tended to occur in the summer (July to August), but was concurrent with a peak in the fraction of genera with known geosmin-producing strains in the cyanobacteria group. Nonetheless, annual maximum cyanobacterial biovolumes rarely resulted in cyanobacteria dominance of the phytoplankton community. In both reservoirs, elevated dissolved geosmin concentrations were correlated to environmental factors indicative of unstratified conditions and reduced algal productivity, but not to nutrient concentrations or ratios. With respect to potential geosmin sources, elevated geosmin concentrations were correlated to greater fractions of genera with known geosmin-producing strains in the cyanobacteria group and to biovolumes of a specific geosmin-producing cyanobacteria genus (Oscillatoria), but not to actinomycetes concentrations. Conversely, environmental factors that correlated with elevated cyanobacterial biovolumes were indicative of stable water columns (stratified conditions), warm water temperatures, reduced nitrogen concentrations, longer residence times, and high phosphorus concentrations in the hypolimnion. Biovolumes of Cylindrospermopsis, Planktolyngbya, Synechococcus, Synechocystis, and Aphanizomenon correlated with the greater cyanobacteria biovolumes and were the dominant taxa in the cyanobacteria group. Related environmental variables were selected as input into multiple logistic regression models to evaluate the likelihood that geosmin concentrations could exceed the threshold level for human detection. In Lake William C. Bowen, the likelihood that dissolved geosmin concentrations exceeded the human detection threshold was estimated by greater mixing zone depths and differences in the 30-day prior moving window averages of overflow and flowthrough at Lake Bowen dam and by lower total nitrogen concentrations. At the R.B. Simms Water Treatment Plant, the likelihood that total geosmin concentrations in the raw water exceeded the human detection threshold was estimated by greater outflow from Reservoir #1 and lower concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen. Overall, both models indicated greater likelihood that geosmin could exceed the human detection threshold during periods of lower nitrogen concentrations and greater water movement in the reservoirs.

Toxicity of methanol to fish, crustacean, oligochaete worm, and aquatic ecosystem.

PubMed

Kaviraj, A; Bhunia, F; Saha, N C

2004-01-01

Static renewal bioassays were conducted in the laboratory and in outdoor artificial enclosures to evaluate toxic effects of methanol to one teleost fish and two aquatic invertebrates and to limnological variables of aquatic ecosystem. Ninety-six-hour acute toxicity tests revealed cladoceran crustacea Moina micrura as the most sensitive to methanol (LC50, 4.82 g/L), followed by freshwater teleost Oreochromis mossambicus (LC50, 15.32 g/L) and oligochaete worm Branchiura sowerbyi (LC50, 54.89 g/L). The fish, when exposed to lethal concentrations of methanol, showed difficulties in respiration and swimming. The oligochaete body wrinkled and fragmented under lethal exposure of methanol. Effects of five sublethal concentrations of methanol (0, 23.75, 47.49, 736.10, and 1527.60 mg/L) on the feeding rate of the fish and on its growth and reproduction were evaluated by separate bioassays. Ninety-six-hour bioassays in the laboratory showed significant reduction in the appetite of fish when exposed to 736.10 mg/L or higher concentrations of methanol. Chronic toxicity bioassays (90 days) in outdoor enclosures showed a reduction in growth, maturity index and fecundity of fish at 47.49 mg/L or higher concentrations of methanol. Primary productivity, phytoplankton population, and alkalinity of water were also reduced at these concentrations. Chronic exposure to 1527.60 mg/L methanol resulted in damages of the epithelium of primary and secondary gill lamellae of the fish. The results revealed 23.75 mg/L as the no-observed-effect concentration (NOEC) of methanol to freshwater aquatic ecosystem.

Beach science in the Great Lakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nevers, Meredith B.; Byappanahalli, Murulee N.; Edge, Thomas A.; Whitman, Richard L.

2014-01-01

Monitoring beach waters for human health has led to an increase and evolution of science in the Great Lakes, which includes microbiology, limnology, hydrology, meteorology, epidemiology, and metagenomics, among others. In recent years, concerns over the accuracy of water quality standards at protecting human health have led to a significant interest in understanding the risk associated with water contact in both freshwater and marine environments. Historically, surface waters have been monitored for fecal indicator bacteria (fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, enterococci), but shortcomings of the analytical test (lengthy assay) have resulted in a re-focusing of scientific efforts to improve public health protection. Research has led to the discovery of widespread populations of fecal indicator bacteria present in natural habitats such as soils, beach sand, and stranded algae. Microbial source tracking has been used to identify the source of these bacteria and subsequently assess their impact on human health. As a result of many findings, attempts have been made to improve monitoring efficiency and efficacy with the use of empirical predictive models and molecular rapid tests. All along, beach managers have actively incorporated new findings into their monitoring programs. With the abundance of research conducted and information gained over the last 25 years, “Beach Science” has emerged, and the Great Lakes have been a focal point for much of the ground-breaking work. Here, we review the accumulated research on microbiological water quality of Great Lakes beaches and provide a historic context to the collaborative efforts that have advanced this emerging science.

Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Evaluation Program; Limnological and Fisheries Monitoring, Annual Report 2000.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Chuck; Scofield, Ben; Pavlik, Deanne

2003-03-01

A slightly dryer than normal year yielded flows in Lake Roosevelt that were essentially equal to the past ten year average. Annual mean inflow and outflow were 3,160.3 m3/s and 3,063.4 m3/s respectively. Mean reservoir elevation was 387.2 m above sea level at the Grand Coulee Dam forebay. The forebay elevation was below the mean elevation for a total of 168 days. During the first half of the 2000 forebay elevation changed at a rate of 0.121 m/d and during the last half changed at a rate of 0.208 m/d. The higher rate of elevation change earlier in the yearmore » is due to the drawdown to accommodate spring runoff. Mean annual water retention time was 40 days. Annual mean total dissolved gas was 108%. Total dissolved gas was greatest at upriver locations (110% = US/Canada Border annual mean) and decreased moving toward Grand Coulee Dam (106% = Grand Coulee Dam Forebay annual mean). Total dissolved gas was greatest in May (122% reservoir wide monthly mean). Gas bubble trauma was observed in 16 fish primarily largescale suckers and was low in severity. Reservoir wide mean temperatures were greatest in August (19.5 C) and lowest in January (5.5 C). The Spokane River and Sanpoil River Arms experienced higher temperatures than the mainstem reservoir. Brief stratification was observed at the Sanpoil River shore location in July. Warm water temperatures in the Spokane Arm contributed to low dissolved oxygen concentrations in August (2.6 mg/L at 33 m). However, decomposition of summer algal biomass was likely the main cause of depressed dissolved oxygen concentrations. Otherwise, dissolved oxygen profiles were relatively uniform throughout the water column across other sampling locations. Annual mean Secchi depth throughout the reservoir was 5.7 m. Nutrient concentrations were generally low, however, annual mean total phosphorus (0.016 mg/L) was in the mesotrophic range. Annual mean total nitrogen was in the meso-oligotrophic range. Total nitrogen to total phosphorus ratios were large (31:1 annual mean) likely indicating phosphorus limitations to phytoplankton.« less

Find the future from the past: Paleolimnology in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Retnaningsih Soeprobowati, Tri; Suedy, Sri Sidodo Agung; Hadiyanto

2018-02-01

Agriculture, hydro electricity power, fisheries, source of drinking water, recreation, and industrial use has led to wide-spread impairment of Indonesia surface waters. Indonesia is rich with various freshwaters, including 840 unique lakes with different size and types, 735 ponds, and 162 dams that covering about 21,000 km2 of area, contain about 500 km3 of water functions as both economically and ecologically purposes. Indonesia is also one of the biggest listed freshwater endemic species in Asia. However, an increase of population and human activities affect a decrease in quantity and quality of several lake ecosystems that able to induce the destruction up to extinction of the lake ecosystem. An increase of lake utilization, with partial management system without considering the preservation and sustainability of ecosystem had reduced lake functions. Paleolimnological approach is one of science and technological approach to support the successfull of grand design of Indonesian lakes conservation and rehabilitation, specifically on the program of lakes' development ecosystem monitoring, evaluation, and information system. The studied on (paleo) limnology in Indonesia had been collected and compared. The vertical distribution of trace elements of Ni, Mg, and B were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) with mass spectrophotometry for 44 cm sediment core from Telaga Pengilon Dieng, Java. The paleolimnological studies in Indonesia have been limited, particularly for Indonesian as the first author. Lakes' sediment records the changes condition of catchment area, like a diary book. Reconstruction of the past environmental condition is required to predict the future condition. This can be done using the organism preserved in the sediment, such as diatoms and pollen. Diatoms are unicellular algae that are used extensively in paleoecology. The diatom assemblages in sedimentary records can make direct and indirect inferences about past environmental conditions. The palynological data on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem are used as an indicator of recent and paleoecological changes, particularly on the climate, history and floral diversity. Paleolimnological analysis increasingly attention is being given to developing the technique to model human activities.

A Limnological Examination of the Southwestern Amazon, Madre de Dios, Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belcon, Alana Urnesha

This dissertation investigates the limnology of the southwestern Peruvian Amazon centered on the Madre de Dios department by examining first the geomorphology and then the ecology and biogeochemistry of the region's fluvial systems. Madre de Dios, Peru is world renowned for its prolific biodiversity and its location within the Andes biodiversity hotspot. It is also a site of study regarding the development of the Fitzcarrald Arch and that feature's geomorphological importance as the drainage center for the headwaters of the Madeira River---the Amazon's largest tributary and as well as its role as a physical divider of genetic evolution in the Amazon. Though each of these has been studied by a variety of prominent researchers, the ability to investigate all the aspects of this unique region is hampered by the lack of a regional geomorphological map. This study aims to fill that gap by using remote sensing techniques on digital elevation models, satellite imagery and soil, geology and geoecological maps already in publication to create a geomorphological map. The resulting map contains ten distinct landform types that exemplify the dominance of fluvial processes in shaping this landscape. The river terraces of the Madre de Dios River are delineated in their entirety as well as the various dissected relief units and previously undefined units. The demarcation of the boundaries of these geomorphic units will provide invaluable assistance to the selection of field sites by future researchers as well as insights into the origin of the high biodiversity indices of this region and aid in planning for biodiversity conservation. Secondly this study examines 25 tropical floodplain lakes along 300 km of the Manu River within the Manu National Park in the Madre de Dios department. Alternative stable state and regime shifts in shallow lakes typically have been examined in lakes in temperate and boreal regions and within anthropogenically disturbed basins but have rarely been studied in tropical or in undisturbed regions. In contrast this study focuses on a tropical region of virtually no human disturbance and evaluates the effects of hydrological variability on ecosystem structure and dynamics. Using satellite imagery a 23 yr timeline of ecological regime shifts in Amazon oxbow lakes or "cochas" is reconstructed. The study shows that almost 25% of the river's floodplain lakes experience periodic abrupt vegetative changes with an average 3.4% existing in an alternative stable state in any given year. State changes typically occur from a stable phytoplankton-dominated state to a short lived, <3 yr, floating macrophytic state and often occur independent of regional flooding. We theorize that multiple dynamics, both internal and external, drive vegetative regime shifts in the Manu but insufficient data yet exists in this remote region to identify the key processes. To complete the investigation of tropical limnology the third study compares and contrasts the nutrient-productivity ration of floodplain and non-floodplain lakes globally and regionally. For over 70 years a strong positive relationship between sestonic chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and total phosphorus (TP) has been established with phosphorus generally viewed as the most limiting factor to productivity. Most of these studies, however, have focused on northern, temperate regions where the lakes are typically postglacial, isolated and fed by small streams. Relatively little work has been done on floodplain lakes which are semi or permanently connected to the river. This study examines the relationship between nutrients and productivity in floodplain lakes globally through an extensive literature synthesis. Values for total phosphorus, total nitrogen and chlorophyll-a were collected for 523 floodplain lakes, represented by 288 data points while 551 data points were collected for 5444 non-floodplain lakes. Analysis revealed that globally, floodplain lakes do not show any significant difference in the total phosphorus/chlorophyll-a relationship from that found in non-floodplain lakes but significant differences are seen between tropical and temperate lakes. We propose that the term 'floodplain' lake should serve as purely a geographical descriptor and that it is lacking as an ecological indicator. Instead factors such as precipitation seasonality, hydrological connectivity and regional flooding regimes are better indicators of high or low productivity in floodplain lakes.

Class@Baikal: the Endurance of the UNESCO Training-Through-Research Programme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzini, A.; Akhmanov, G.; Khlystov, O.; Tokarev, M.; Korost, D. V.; Poort, J.; Fokina, A.; Giliazetdinova, D. R.; Yurchenko, A.; Vodopyanov, S.

2014-12-01

In July 2014, by the initiative of the Moscow State University and Limnological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, the first Training-through-Research Class@Baikal was launched in Lake Baikal, Russia. The cruise program focused on seafloor sampling and acoustic investigations of gas seeps, flares, mud volcanoes, slumps and debris flows, canyons and channels in the coastal proximity. A comprehensive multidisciplinary program to train students has been developed to cover sedimentology, fluid geochemistry, biology, geophysics and marine geology in general. Daily lectures were conducted on board by academics presenting pertinent research projects, and cruise planning and preliminary results were discussed with all the scientific crew. A daily blog with updates on the expedition activities, images, and ongoing cruise results, was also completed (i.e. visit the cruise blog: http://baikal.festivalnauki.ru/) and gave the opportunity to interact with experts as well as attract the interest also of a broader audience. This project is a follow up to the well-established UNESCO Training-through-Research (TTR) Floating University Programme (http://floatinguniversity.ru/) that covered large areas on the European and arctic margins since 1991 with 18 research cruises attended by about 1000 BSc, MSc and PhD students from Europe, Asia, Africa and America. The crucial goal of both programmes is the training of new generations of scientists through active research directly on the field. Students can access the collected data and samples for their Master and PhD projects. Typically an extensive set of analyses and data processing is completed in-house and the results and interpretations are presented at post cruise meetings and international conferences. The Baikal lake is 25 million years old rift zone and provides a large variety of active geological features that can be easily reached at daily sailing distance. This represents an extraordinary opportunity to switch and focus on different disciplines and processes. We envisage extending the duration of the following expeditions completing several crew changes in order to broaden the international cooperation.

Lake Whitney Comprehensive Water Quality Assessment, Phase 1B- Physical and Biological Assessment (USDOE)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Doyle, Robert D; Byars, Bruce W

2009-11-24

Baylor University Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research (CRASR) has conducted a phased, comprehensive evaluation of Lake Whitney to determine its suitability for use as a regional water supply reservoir. The area along the Interstate 35 corridor between Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex and the Waco / Temple Centroplex represents one of the fastest growth areas in the State of Texas and reliable water supplies are critical to sustainable growth. Lake Whitney is situated midway between these two metropolitan areas. Currently, the City of Whitney as well as all of Bosque and Hill counties obtain their potable water frommore » the Trinity Sands aquifer. Additionally, parts of the adjoining McLennan and Burleson counties utilize the Trinity sands aquifer system as a supplement to their surface water supplies. Population growth coupled with increasing demands on this aquifer system in both the Metroplex and Centroplex have resulted in a rapid depletion of groundwater in these rural areas. The Lake Whitney reservoir represents both a potentially local and regional solution for an area experiencing high levels of growth. Because of the large scope of this project as well as the local, regional and national implications, we have designed a multifaceted approach that will lead to the solution of numerous issues related to the feasibility of using Lake Whitney as a water resource to the region. Phase IA (USEPA, QAPP Study Elements 1-4) of this research focused on the physical limnology of the reservoir (bathymetry and fine scale salinity determination) and develops hydrodynamic watershed and reservoir models to evaluate how salinity would be expected to change with varying hydrologic and climatic factors. To this end, we implemented a basic water quality modeling program in collaboration with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to add to the developing long-term database on Lake Whitney. Finally, we conducted an initial assessment of knowledge of watershed and water quality related issues by local residents and stakeholders of Lake Whitney and design an intervention educational program to address any deficiencies discovered. Phase IA was funded primarily from EPA Cooperative Agreement X7-9769 8901-0. Phase IC (USEPA, QAPP Study Element 5) of this research focused on the ambient toxicity of the reservoir with respect to periodic blooms of golden algae. Phase IC was funded primarily from Cooperative Agreement EM-96638001. Phase 1B (USDOE, Study Elements 6-11) complemented work being done via EPA funding on study elements 1-5 and added five new study elements: 6) Salinity Transport in the Brazos Watershed to Lake Whitney; 7) Bacterial Assessment; 8) Organic Contaminant Analysis on Lake Whitney; 9) Plankton Photosynthesis; 10) Lake Whitney Resident Knowledge Assessment; and 11) Engineering Scoping Perspective: Recommendations for Use.« less

[Ecological observations on Biomphalaria straminea (Dunker, 1848) in areas of the northeast, Brazil].

PubMed

Rosas, E

1987-01-01

The different climatic regions determine the zoogeographic distribution of various animal species depending on their particular conditions and ecological preferences. The host schistosomiasis planorbid is one of these species. This paper deals with the distribution of Biomphalaria straminea in northeast Brazil. It starts from the analysis of different climatic peculiarities in this region, associated to limnological observation done by the author in three different hydric collections in the state of Sergipe. It has been concluded that this is an "eurióioca" species. Its broad ecological valence permits this species to survive in regions where climate asperties are evident, requiring behavior and physiological adaptations. The species survives in all northeast region, from "zona da mata", in the coast, to the semi-arid "sertão".

Quantification of Hungry Horse Reservoir Water Levels Needed to Maintain or Enhance Reservoir Fisheries; Methods and Data, 1983-1987 Summary Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

May, Bruce; Michael, Gary; Wachsmuth, John

1988-06-01

The Hungry Horse Reservoir study is part of the Northwest Power Planning Council's resident fish and wildlife plan. The plan is responsible for mitigating damages to the fish and wildlife resources caused by hydroelectric development in the Columbia River Basin. The major goal of our study is to quantify seasonal water levels needed to maintain or enhance the reservoir fishery. This study began in May, 1983, and the initial phase will be completed July, 1988. This report summarizes limnological, fish abundance, fish distribution and fish food habits data collected from 1983 to 1988. The effect of reservoir operation upon fishmore » habitat, fish food organisms and fish growth is discussed. 71 refs., 36 figs., 46 tabs.« less

Marine effect of introduced salmonids: Prey consumption by exotic steelhead and anadromous brown trout in the Patagonian Continental Shelf

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ciancio, J.; Beauchamp, D.A.; Pascual, M.

2010-01-01

On the basis of stable isotope analysis, we estimated the marine diet of the most abundant anadromous salmonid species in Patagonian Atlantic basins. The results were coupled with bioenergetic and population models to estimate the consumption of food by salmonids and was compared with that by seabirds, the most abundant top predators in the area. Amphipods were the main salmonid prey, followed by sprat, silversides, squid, and euphausiids. The total consumption, even assuming large anadromous salmonid populations, represented <5% of the total consumption by seabirds. We also identified the particular seabird colonies and artisanal fisheries with which salmonid trophic interactions at a more local scale could be significant. ?? 2010, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Zooplankton responses to sandbar opening in a tropical eutrophic coastal lagoon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santangelo, Jayme M.; de M. Rocha, Adriana; Bozelli, Reinaldo L.; Carneiro, Luciana S.; de A. Esteves, Francisco

2007-02-01

The effects of a disturbance by sandbar opening on the zooplankton community were evaluated through a long-term study in an eutrophic and oligohaline system, Imboassica Lagoon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Zooplankton samples and limnological data were collected monthly from March 2000 to February 2003. Before the sandbar was opened in February 2001, the lagoon showed eutrophic conditions, with high mean nutrient concentrations and low salinity (total nitrogen - TN = 190.28 μM, chlorophyll a content - Chl. a = 104.60 μg/L and salinity = 0.87'). During this period, the zooplankton species present, such as the rotifers Brachionus calyciflorus and Brachionus havanaensis, were typical of freshwater to oligohaline and eutrophic environments. After the sandbar opening, the lagoon changed to a lower trophic status and increased salinity (TN = 55.11 μM, Chl. a = 27.56 μg/L and salinity = 19.64'). As a result, the zooplankton community came to consist largely of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis, marine copepods and meroplanktonic larvae, mainly Gastropoda. Salinity was the main force structuring the zooplankton community after the sandbar opening. Two years after this episode, the prior zooplankton community had not reestablished itself, indicating a low resilience to this disturbance. The conditions developed prior to a sandbar opening can be crucial to the community responses in the face of this disturbance and for the capacity of the original zooplankton community to re-establish itself.

Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Evaluation Program : Limnological and Fisheries Monitoring Annual Report 1999.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McLellan, Holly; Lee, Chuck; Scofield, Ben

1999-08-01

The Grand Coulee Dam was constructed in 1939 without a fish ladder, which eliminated steelhead (Onchorhynchus mykiss), chinook salmon (O. twshwastica), coho salmon (O. kisutch) and sockeye salmon (O. nerka) from returning to approximately 1,835 km (1,140 miles) of natal streams and tributaries found in the upper Columbia River Drainage in the United States and Canada. The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 gave the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the authority and responsibility to use its legal and financial resources, 'to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife to the extent affected by the development andmore » operation of any hydroelectric project of the Columbia River and its tributaries. This is to be done in a manner consistent with the program adopted by the Northwest Power Planning Council (NWPPC), and the purposes of the Act' (NWPPC, 1987). With the phrase 'protect, mitigate and enhance', Congress signaled its intent that the NWPPC's fish and wildlife program should do more than avoid future hydroelectric damage to the basin's fish and wildlife. The program must also counter past damage, work toward rebuilding those fish and wildlife populations that have been harmed by the hydropower system, protect the Columbia Basin's fish and wildlife resources, and mitigate for harm caused by decades of hydroelectric development and operations. By law, this program is limited to measures that deal with impacts created by the development, operation and management of hydroelectric facilities on the Columbia River and its tributaries. However, off-site enhancement projects are used to address the effects of the hydropower system on fish and wildlife (NWPPC 1987). Resident game fish populations have been established in Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam, since the extirpation of anadromous fish species. The resident game fish populations are now responsible for attracting a large percentage of the recreational visits to the region. An increase in popularity has placed Lake Roosevelt fifth amongst the most visited State and Federal parks in Washington. Increased use of the reservoir prompted amplified efforts to enhance the Native American subsistence fishery and the resident sport fishery in 1984 with hatchery supplementation of rainbow trout (O. mykiss) and kokanee salmon (O. nerka). This was followed by the formation of the Spokane Tribal Lake Roosevelt Monitoring Project (LRMP) in 1988 and later by formation of the Lake Roosevelt Data Collection Project in 1991. The Lake Roosevelt Data Collection Project began in July 1991 as part of the BPA, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers System Operation Review process. This process sought to develop an operational scenario for the federal Columbia River hydropower system to maximize the in-reservoir fisheries with minimal impacts to all other stakeholders in the management of the Columbia River. The Lake Roosevelt Monitoring/Data Collection Program (LRMP) is the result of a merger between the Lake Roosevelt Monitoring Program (BPA No. 8806300) and the Lake Roosevelt Data Collection Project (BPA No. 9404300). These projects were merged in 1996 forming the Lake Roosevelt Monitoring Program (LRMP), which continues the work historically completed under the separate projects. The LRMP has two main goals. The first is to develop a biological model for Lake Roosevelt that will predict in-reservoir biological responses to a range of water management operational scenarios, and to develop fisheries and reservoir management strategies accordingly. The model will allow identification of lake operations that minimize impacts on lake biota while addressing the needs of other interests (e.g. flood control, hydropower generation, irrigation, and downstream resident and anadromous fisheries). Major components of the model will include: (1) quantification of entrainment and other impacts to phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish caused by reservoir drawdowns and low water retention times; (2) quantification of seasonal distributions, standing crop, and habitat use of fish food organisms; (3) examination of variations in fish growth and abundance in relation to reservoir operations, prey abundance and predator/prey relationships; and (4) quantification of habitat alterations due to hydrooperations. The second goal of the LRMP is to evaluate the impacts of hatchery kokanee salmon and rainbow trout on the ecosystem and to determine stocking strategies that maximize angler harvest and return of adult kokanee salmon to egg collection facilities. Major tasks of the hatchery evaluation portion of the project include conducting a year round reservoir wide creel survey, sampling the fishery during spring, summer and fall via electro-fishing and gillnet surveys, and collecting information on diet, growth, and age composition of various fish species in Lake Roosevelt.« less

Physical and chemical limnology of Ides Cove near Rochester, New York, 1970-1982

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bubeck, R.C.; Staubitz, W.W.; Weidemann, A.D.; Spittal, L.P.

1995-01-01

Ides Cove is a small embayment on the western shore of Irondequoit Bay near Rochester, N.Y. In 1982, alum was applied to the cove to seal the bottom sediments and thereby decrease nutrient fluxes in an effort to assess the applicability of this technique to Irondequoit Bay. Published data were used to develop a baseline analysis of the chemical and physical limnology of Ides Cove prior to the alum treatment and to provide a basis for comparison and evaluation of post-treatment data. The baseline analysis also enables evaluation of trends in the nutrient status and mixing patterns in Ides Cove since the decrease of sewage inflows and use of road salt in the Irondequoit Bay and Ides Cove drainage basins during 1970-82. Data from 1970-72 and 1979-82 were used to construct partial and full-year depth profiles of several physical properties and chemical constituents of water in the cove; comparison of these profiles indicates a significant improvement in water quality between 1970 and 1982. The diversion of sewage out of the Irondequoit Creek drainage basin in the late 1970's resulted in an 80-percent decrease in total phosphate concentration and a 50- to 60-percent decrease in nitrogen (nitrate and ammonia) concentration in the cove. Indications of decreased primary productivity are associated with these lowered nutrient concentrations. Summer Secchi-disk transparency increased from 0.6 m (meters) in 1970-72 to 1.2 m in 1980-82; peak epilimnetic dissolved oxygen levels decreased from a range of 22 to 28 mg/L (milligrams per liter) to a range of 16 to 20 mg/L; and peak epilimnetic pH decreased from greater than 9.4 to between 8.8 and 9.0. The decrease in the use of road salt in the Irondequoit basin beginning in 1974 resulted in a decrease in chloride concentration and gradient (difference between the surface and bottom con- centration). The maximum annual chloride concentration in the epilimnion decreased from the 210-to-225-mg/L range in the spring of 1971-72 to the 140-to-l50-mg/L range in the spring of 1980-82, and the gradient between the hypolimnion and epilimnion during the spring decreased from the 80- to 160-mg/L range in 1971-72 to the O- to 90-mg/L range in 1980-82. Specific conductance values decreased similarly and indicate a comparable decrease in the density gradient from 1970-72 to 1980-82. The decrease in the density gradient resulted in an increase in the depth and duration of mixing in both the spring and fall of 1980-82, as illustrated by the profiles of physical properties, including temperature and specific conductance, and of chemical properties and constituents, including pH, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, chloride, silica, and several species of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. These data indicate that Ides Cove, which was described as marginally meromictic in the early 1970's, had evolved by the early 1980's into a spring meromictic water body that underwent complete mixing in the fall and was approaching a consistent dimictic condition with spring and fall mixing. Thus, water quality and mixing patterns of the cove improved with the removal of sewage and the decrease in the use of road salt.

Limnology in El Dorado: some surprising aspects of the regulation of phytoplankton productive capacity in a high-altitude Andean lake (Laguna de Guatavita, Colombia).

PubMed

Donato, Jhon; Jimenez, Paola; Reynolds, Colin

2012-09-01

High-altitude mountain lakes remain understudied, mostly because of their relative inaccessibility. Laguna de Guatavita, a small, equatorial, high-altitude crater lake in the Eastern Range of the Colombian Andes, was once of high cultural importance to pre-Columban inhabitants, the original location of the legendary El Dorado. We investigated the factors regulating the primary production in Laguna de Guatavita (4degrees58'50" N - 73degrees46'43" W, alt. 2 935m.a.s.l., area: 0.11km2, maximum depth: 30m), during a series of three intensive field campaigns, which were conducted over a year-long period in 2003-2004. In each, standard profiles of temperature, oxygen concentration and light intensity were determined on each of 16-18 consecutive days. Samples were collected and analysed for chlorophyll and for biologically-significant solutes in GF/F-filtered water (NH4+, NO3(-), NO2(-); soluble reactive phosphorus). Primary production was also determined, by oxygen generation, on each day of the campaign. Our results showed that the productive potential of the lake was typically modest (campaign averages of 45-90mg C/m2.h) but that many of the regulating factors were not those anticipated intuitively. The lake is demonstrably meromictic, reminiscent ofkarstic dolines in higher latitudes, its stratification being maintained by solute- concentration gradients. Light penetration is poor, attributable to the turbidity owing to fine calcite and other particulates in suspension. Net primary production in the mixolimnion of Laguna de Guavita is sensitive to day-to-day variations in solar irradiance at the surface. However, deficiencies in nutrient availability, especially nitrogen, also constrain the capacity of the lake to support a phytoplankton. We deduced that Laguna de Guatavita is something of a limnological enigma, atypical of the common anticipation of a "mountain lake". While doubtlessly not unique, comparable descriptions of similar sites elsewhere are sufficiently rare to justify the presentation of the data from Laguna de Guatavita that our studies have revealed so far.

A new node on the SE Asian paleoclimate map: the alkaline crater lakes of central Myanmar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smittenberg, Rienk H.; Chabangborn, Akkaneewut; Thu Aung, Lin; Fritz, Sherilyn; Wohlfarth, Barbara

2014-05-01

SE Asia is climatically a key region where the Asian monsoon system connects with the Indo-Pacific warm pool and from where much (latent) heat gets transported to higher latitudes. We recently obtained sediment cores from four crater lakes located in Central Myanmar, with the aim to further colour the still largely white space on the SE Asian paleoclimate map. The chain of volcanic craters extending northeast to southwest in the vicinity of the lower Chindwin River in central Myanmar have been known for a long time. These craters are aligned west of the Sagaing Fault, which is a continental transform fault between the Indian and Sunda continental plates. Four of the craters still contain lakes, while several of the smaller craters are drained and used for agriculture. The region has a tropical Savannah climate, with warm temperatures throughout the year. Precipitation is almost absent during the dry season but increases to an average monthly precipitation of 100-134 mm per month during the monsoon season (May through October). Three of the four lakes, named Twin Ywa (30 m depth), Twin Taung (60 m), and Twin Pyauk (8m), are highly alkaline (pH 10-11), support extensive cyanobacterial blooms and are anoxic below a few meters water depth. Their sediments are composed of highly organic and laminated algae gyttjas. The shallower (2m), oxic and more neutral (pH 7.5) Lake Leshe contains organic-lean clays but with clear variations in colour and bulk density that likely mark changes in humidity though time. The lake levels of the relatively small crater lakes are solely regulated by precipitation and evaporation, and their limnology and water isotope compositions are therefore sensitive to changes in monsoon intensity. We will present limnological data including water isotopic compositions, and initial bulk sedimentary data as well as preliminary age determinations. These will form the basis for more extensive multi-proxy analyses that should result in an improved insight in SE Asian paleoclimate variability, particular from a paleo-hydrological perspective.

Upscaling aquatic ecology: Pairing modern analytics with Big Data to simulate 2500 U.S. lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Read, J. S.; Winslow, L.; Hansen, G.; Van Den Hoek, J.; Markfort, C. D.; Booth, N.

2013-12-01

Lakes are increasingly recognized as relevant engines in global processes, as recent estimates of the number of lakes and their contribution to biogeochemical cycles greatly exceed estimates from earlier assessments. Currently, our understanding of the diversity of physical controls on lake ecosystems is lacking, in part due to geographically limited observational campaigns and a failure to integrate Big Data products and informatics into modern limnological science practices. Momentum towards the interoperability of cyber-infrastructure in the fields of hydrology, climatology, remote sensing, and the geosciences has provided timely access to the pursuit of research aimed at upscaling our knowledge of the drivers of aquatic ecosystems. Here we share details of an open-source, standards-based data manipulation framework and one-dimensional model that were used to simulate water temperature dynamics for thousands of individual lakes. In addition to the automated scaling of gridded meteorological driver data, we integrated satellite estimates of water clarity and surrounding canopy heights in order to parameterize important lake-specific characteristics that influence lake physics. These methods keep terabyte-scale data off of the desktop through the use of web processing services, which performed many of our data-rich and computationally intensive tasks. We highlight results from a regional test-bed (the state of Wisconsin), as well as discuss opportunities for aquatic ecologists to leverage future pairings between Big Data and web-informatics. Supporting datasets include satellite imagery, space and airborne LIDAR, gridded climate reanalysis data, hydrography inventories, and citizen scientist measurements of water temperature; all components of the successful modeling of daily water temperature profiles for 2,500 lakes during 1979-2011. These results are being used to explain the long-term climate component of trends in the populations of two staples of the statewide fishery (bass and walleye). This framework can be used to capture hydrodynamic processes across the full distribution of lakes, removing many of the barriers to limnological research questions at global and continental scales. Future efforts could improve our estimates of greenhouse gas transfer, available thermal habitat, and the coupled physical-biogeochemical responses of lakes to climate change.

Tracking climate change in oligotrophic mountain lakes: Recent hydrology and productivity synergies in Lago de Sanabria (NW Iberian Peninsula).

PubMed

Jambrina-Enríquez, Margarita; Recio, Clemente; Vega, José Carlos; Valero-Garcés, Blas

2017-07-15

Mountain lakes are particularly sensitive to global change as their oligotrophic conditions may be rapidly altered after reaching an ecological threshold, due to increasing human impact and climate change. Sanabria Lake, the largest mountain lake in the Iberian Peninsula and with a recent history of increased human impact in its watershed, provides an opportunity to investigate recent trends in an oligotrophic, hydrologically-open mountain lake, and their relationship with climate, hydrological variability and human pressure. We conducted the first systematic and detailed survey of stable isotope compositions of Sanabria Lake and Tera River together with limnological analyses during 2009-2011. δ 18 O lakewater and δD lakewater seasonal fluctuations are strongly linked to river discharges, and follow the monthly mean isotopic composition of precipitation, which is controlled by NAO dynamics. δ 13 C POM and δ 13 C DIC revealed higher contribution of allochthonous organic matter in winter and spring due to higher river inflow and lower primary productivity. Increased phytoplankton biomass in late summer correlated significantly with higher pH and Chl-a, and higher nutrient input and lower river inflow. However, the small δ 13 C POM seasonal amplitude underlines the stability of the oligotrophic conditions and the isotopic variation in POM and DIC reflect small seasonal fluctuations mostly as a consequence of strong throughflow. The stability of hydrology and productivity patterns is consistent with Holocene and last millennium reconstructions of past limnological changes in Sanabria Lake. The results of this study indicate that trophic state in this hydrologically-open mountain lake is strongly controlled by climate variability, but recent changes in human-land uses have increased sediment delivery and nutrients supply to the lake and have to be considered for management policies. Monitoring surveys including isotope techniques provide snapshots of modern isotope variability, and serve as a benchmark for assessing the environmental impacts of future developments and long-term climate changes in mountain lakes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distribution and diversity of diatom assemblages in surficial sediments of shallow lakes in Wapusk National Park (Manitoba, Canada) region of the Hudson Bay Lowlands.

PubMed

Jacques, Olivier; Bouchard, Frédéric; MacDonald, Lauren A; Hall, Roland I; Wolfe, Brent B; Pienitz, Reinhard

2016-07-01

The hydrology of shallow lakes (and ponds) located in the western Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL) is sensitive to climate warming and associated permafrost thaw. However, their biological characteristics are poorly known, which hampers effective aquatic ecosystem monitoring. Located in northern Manitoba along the southwestern coast of Hudson Bay, Wapusk National Park (WNP) encompasses numerous shallow lakes representative of the subarctic zone. We analyzed the distribution and diversity of diatom (microscopic algae; class Bacillariophyceae) assemblages in surficial sediments of 33 lakes located in three different ecozones spanning a vegetation gradient, from NE to SW: the Coastal Fen (CF), the Interior Peat Plateau (IPP), and the Boreal Spruce Forest (BSF). We found significant differences (P < 0.05) in diatom community composition between CF and IPP lakes, and CF and BSF lakes, but not between IPP and BSF lakes. These results are consistent with water chemistry measurements, which indicated distinct limnological conditions for CF lakes. Diatom communities in CF lakes were generally dominated by alkaliphilous taxa typical of waters with medium to high conductivity, such as Nitzschia denticula. In contrast, several IPP and BSF lakes were dominated by acidophilous and circumneutral diatom taxa with preference for low conductivity (e.g., Tabellaria flocculosa, Eunotia mucophila, E. necompacta var. vixcompacta). This exploratory survey provides a first detailed inventory of the diatom assemblages in the WNP region needed for monitoring programs to detect changes in shallow lake ecosystems and ecozonal shifts in response to climate variations.

[The limnology of Tunisia: physicochemical study].

PubMed

Boumaiza, M

1984-01-01

Several chemical and physical parameters are measured in forty seven stations, distributed on the most part of the hydrographic systems of Tunisia. Some parameters: temperature of the water (T), salinity (S, electric conductivity (CE), chloride (Cl-), total hardness (DT) and turbidity (TUR) show great variations in the Northern hydrographic systems. In these systems, the parameters (S, CE, Cl-, DT) are generally elevated in the tributaries of the south bank of the Medjerda, the North-East streams, Melah and Tine Streams which flow in the Ichkeul lake. The waters in these septentrional systems are sometimes very turbid. The waters of the meridional hydrological system are very clear. The resurgence thermal waters are characterized by the small amplitude of variations of the studied parameters. The waters are alkaline, generally very mineralized they are well oxygenized in the no-polluted stations.

The Open Source DataTurbine Initiative: Streaming Data Middleware for Environmental Observing Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fountain T.; Tilak, S.; Shin, P.; Hubbard, P.; Freudinger, L.

2009-01-01

The Open Source DataTurbine Initiative is an international community of scientists and engineers sharing a common interest in real-time streaming data middleware and applications. The technology base of the OSDT Initiative is the DataTurbine open source middleware. Key applications of DataTurbine include coral reef monitoring, lake monitoring and limnology, biodiversity and animal tracking, structural health monitoring and earthquake engineering, airborne environmental monitoring, and environmental sustainability. DataTurbine software emerged as a commercial product in the 1990 s from collaborations between NASA and private industry. In October 2007, a grant from the USA National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure allowed us to transition DataTurbine from a proprietary software product into an open source software initiative. This paper describes the DataTurbine software and highlights key applications in environmental monitoring.

Freshwater Microbialites of Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada: A Limnological Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lim, D. S. S.; McKay, C. P.; Laval, B.; Bird, J.; Cady, S.

2004-01-01

Pavillion Lake is 5.7km long and an average of 0.8 km in width, and is located in Marble Canyon in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is a slightly alkaline, freshwater lake with a maximum-recorded depth of 65m. The basin walls of Pavilion Lake are lined with microbialite structures that are oriented perpendicularly to the shoreline, and which are found from depths of 5 meters to the bottom of the photic zone (light levels 1% of ambient; approximately 30m depth). These structures are speculated to have begun formation nearly 11,000 years ago, after the glacial retreat of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. They are likely a distinctive assemblage of freshwater calcite microbialites, which display micromorphologies possibly related to the ancient Epiphyton and Girvanella classes of calcareous organosedimentary structures.

Limnology of Laguna Tortuguero, Puerto Rico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Quinones-Marquez, Ferdinand; Fuste, Luis A.

1978-01-01

The principal chemical, physical and biological characteristics, and the hydrology of Laguna Tortuguero, Puerto Rico, were studied from 1974-75. The lagoon, with an area of 2.24 square kilometers and a volume of about 2.68 million cubic meters, contains about 5 percent of seawater. Drainage through a canal on the north side averages 0.64 cubic meters per second per day, flushing the lagoon about 7.5 times per year. Chloride and sodium are the principal ions in the water, ranging from 300 to 700 mg/liter and 150 to 400 mg/liter, respectively. Among the nutrients, nitrogen averages about 1.7 mg/liter, exceeding phosphorus in a weight ratio of 170:1. About 10 percent of the nitrogen and 40 percent of the phosphorus entering the lagoon is retained. The bottom sediments, with a volume of about 4.5 million cubic meters, average 0.8 and 0.014 percent nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. (Woodard-USGS)

Temperature Trends in Montane Lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melack, J. M.; Sadro, S.; Jellison, R.

2014-12-01

Long-term temperature trends in lakes integrate hydrological and meteorological factors. We examine temperature trends in a small montane lake with prolonged ice-cover and large seasonal snowfall and in a large saline lake. Emerald Lake, located in the Sierra Nevada (California), is representative of high-elevation lakes throughout the region. No significant trend in outflow temperature was apparent from 1991to 2012. Snowfall in the watershed accounted for 93% of the variability in average summer lake temperatures. Mono Lake (California) lies in a closed, montane basin and is hypersaline and monomictic or meromictic. Temperature profiles have been collected from 1982 to 2010. In the upper water column, the July-August-September water temperatures increased 0.8-1.0°C over the 29 years. This rate of warming is less than published estimates based on satellite-derived skin temperatures and will discussed in the context of general limnological interpretation of temperature trends.

An experimental analysis of harmful algae-zooplankton interactions and the ultimate defense

USGS Publications Warehouse

Remmel, E.J.; Kohmescher, N.; Larson, J.H.; Hambright, K.D.

2011-01-01

We examined effects of the invasive, toxigenic haptophyte Prymnesium parvum on grazing rates, feeding behaviors, and life-history characteristics of clonal lineages of three daphniid zooplankton species. Grazing experiments revealed similar clearance rates for P. parvum and a common green alga. Behavioral observations revealed no significant effects of P. parvum on daphniid feeding behaviors after 30 min, but major declines in appendage beat rates after 1 h. Chronic exposure (10 d) to P. parvum resulted in severe reductions in daphniid growth rates, age at first reproduction, fecundity, and survivorship at densities as low as 7750 cells mL-1. Thus, in addition to direct fish mortality during P. parvum blooms of 50,000-200,000 cells mL-1, the entire food web of an invaded system may be subjected to potentially severe negative consequences even at nonbloom densities of P. parvum. ?? 2011, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

The effect of long-term spatiotemporal variations in urbanization-induced eutrophication on a benthic ecosystem, Osaka Bay, Japan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Yasuhara, Moriaki; Yamazaki, Hideo; Tsujimoto, Akira; Hirose, K.

2007-01-01

Detailed spatiotemporal patterns of the influence of urbanization-induced eutrophication on a metazoan benthic community in Osaka Bay were determined using sediment cores and fossil ostracode assemblages from the last 200 yr. Results suggest that total abundance of ostracodes increased in the middle part of the bay as a result of the increase of food supply by eutrophication. Conversely, abundance decreased in the inner bay, likely because of bottom-water hypoxia by eutrophication. The variation in species composition among sites within the bay may have decreased because of the effect of eutrophication, i.e., the dominance of species that prefer food-rich environments throughout all sites. These eutrophication-induced changes occurred around 1900 as a result of Japan's industrial revolution and around 1960 as a result of rapid urbanization, depending upon location. ?? 2007, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Reproductive ecology of Prochilodus brevis an endemic fish from the semiarid Region of Brazil.

PubMed

Gurgel, Liliane de Lima; Verani, José Roberto; Chellappa, Sathyabama

2012-01-01

The commercially important migratory fish Prochilodus brevis is from the Neotropical region, and understanding the reproductive ecology of this potamodromous fish is essential for its conservation and management. This study investigated the length-mass relationship, sex ratio, length at first gonadal maturity, gonadal development stages, gonadosomatic index, condition factor, and reproductive period of P. brevis. Temporal distribution of rainfall, temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, pH, and electrical conductivity of the water were related to the reproductive period of this fish. Rainfall seems to be the main environmental factor which modulates changes in limnological parameters and the timing of the spawning period of this fish. P. brevis migrates into lower reaches of the river to feed during the dry season and returns to the upper reaches during the rainy season to spawn. Inadequate facilities for migration create obstacles for spawning success of this ecologically important fish.

Perils of correlating CUSUM-transformed variables to infer ecological relationships (Breton et al. 2006; Glibert 2010)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cloern, James E.; Jassby, Alan D.; Carstensen, Jacob; Bennett, William A.; Kimmerer, Wim; Mac Nally, Ralph; Schoellhamer, David H.; Winder, Monika

2012-01-01

We comment on a nonstandard statistical treatment of time-series data first published by Breton et al. (2006) in Limnology and Oceanography and, more recently, used by Glibert (2010) in Reviews in Fisheries Science. In both papers, the authors make strong inferences about the underlying causes of population variability based on correlations between cumulative sum (CUSUM) transformations of organism abundances and environmental variables. Breton et al. (2006) reported correlations between CUSUM-transformed values of diatom biomass in Belgian coastal waters and the North Atlantic Oscillation, and between meteorological and hydrological variables. Each correlation of CUSUM-transformed variables was judged to be statistically significant. On the basis of these correlations, Breton et al. (2006) developed "the first evidence of synergy between climate and human-induced river-based nitrate inputs with respect to their effects on the magnitude of spring Phaeocystis colony blooms and their dominance over diatoms."

A Journalist's View From the Bottom of the Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, R.

2003-12-01

Each year, a few journalists travel to Antarctica under the aegis of the National Science Foundation, to report about research at the ends of the earth. National Public Radio science correspondent Richard Harris took that trip in November, 2000. Listeners, readers and viewers are fascinated by exotic locales, so a trip to the ice provides an ideal backdrop to report on topics such as limnology and glaciology, which are otherwise unlikely to make the news. Journalists have to be flexible and creative - just as the researchers do - to overcome constraints imposed by weather and logistics. In this case, a trip to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was canceled at the last minute and replaced with a trip to study the chemistry of an icebound lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. But the essential ingredient for a compelling story remained the same: Scientists, willing to endure hardship to pursue their passion.

Limnological and water-quality data from Wonder Lake, Chilchukabena Lake, and Lake Minchumina, Denali National Park and Preserve and surrounding area, Alaska, June 2006-August 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Long, D.A.; Arp, C.D.

2011-01-01

Growing visitor traffic and resource use, as well as natural and anthropogenic land and climatic changes, can place increasing stress on lake ecosystems in Denali National Park and Preserve. Baseline data required to substantiate impact assessment in this sub-arctic region is sparse to non-existent. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, conducted a water-quality assessment of several large lakes in and around the Park from June 2006 to August 2008. Discrete water-quality samples, lake profiles of pH, specific conductivity, dissolved-oxygen concentration, water temperature, turbidity, and continuous-record temperature profile data were collected from Wonder Lake, Chilchukabena Lake, and Lake Minchumina. In addition, zooplankton, snow chemistry data, fecal coliform, and inflow/outflow water-quality samples also were collected from Wonder Lake.

Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition induces rapid ecological changes in alpine lakes of Colorado Front Range (USA)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wolfe, A.P.; Baron, Jill S.; Cornett, R.J.

2001-01-01

Recent sediments from two alpine lakes (> 3300 m asl) in the Colorado Front Range (USA) register marked and near-synchronous changes that are believed to represent ecological responses to enhanced atmospheric deposition of fixed nitrogen from anthropogenic sources. Directional shifts in sediment proxies include greater representations of mesotrophic diatoms and increasingly depleted δ15N values. These trends are particularly pronounced since ~ 1950, and appear to chronicle lake responses to excess N derived from agricultural and industrial sources to the east. The rate and magnitude of recent ecological changes far exceed the context of natural variability, as inferred from comparative analyses of a long core capturingthe entire 14,000-year postglacial history of one of the lakes. Nitrogen deposition to these seemingly pristine natural areas has resulted in subtle but detectable limnological changes that likely represent the beginning of a stronger response to nitrogen enrichment.

Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition induces rapid ecological changes in alpine lakes of the Colorado Front Range (USA)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wolfe, A.P.; Baron, Jill S.; Cornett, R.J.

2001-01-01

Recent sediments from two alpine lakes (> 3300 m asl) in the Colorado Front Range (USA) register marked and near-synchronous changes that are believed to represent ecological responses to enhanced atmospheric deposition of fixed nitrogen from anthropogenic sources. Directional shifts in sediment proxies include greater representations of mesotrophic diatoms and increasingly depleted ??15N values. These trends are particularly pronounced since ??? 1950, and appear to chronicle lake responses to excess N derived from agricultural and industrial sources to the east. The rate and magnitude of recent ecological changes far exceed the context of natural variability, as inferred from comparative analyses of a long core capturing the entire 14,000-year postglacial history of one of the lakes. Nitrogen deposition to these seemingly pristine natural areas has resulted in subtle but detectable limnological changes that likely represent the beginning of a stronger response to nitrogen enrichment.

The importance of lake-specific characteristics for water quality across the continental United States.

PubMed

Read, Emily K; Patil, Vijay P; Oliver, Samantha K; Hetherington, Amy L; Brentrup, Jennifer A; Zwart, Jacob A; Winters, Kirsten M; Corman, Jessica R; Nodine, Emily R; Woolway, R Iestyn; Dugan, Hilary A; Jaimes, Aline; Santoso, Arianto B; Hong, Grace S; Winslow, Luke A; Hanson, Paul C; Weathers, Kathleen C

2015-06-01

Lake water quality is affected by local and regional drivers, including lake physical characteristics, hydrology, landscape position, land cover, land use, geology, and climate. Here, we demonstrate the utility of hypothesis testing within the landscape limnology framework using a random forest algorithm on a national-scale, spatially explicit data set, the United States Environmental Protection Agency's 2007 National Lakes Assessment. For 1026 lakes, we tested the relative importance of water quality drivers across spatial scales, the importance of hydrologic connectivity in mediating water quality drivers, and how the importance of both spatial scale and connectivity differ across response variables for five important in-lake water quality metrics (total phosphorus, total nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, turbidity, and conductivity). By modeling the effect of water quality predictors at different spatial scales, we found that lake-specific characteristics (e.g., depth, sediment area-to-volume ratio) were important for explaining water quality (54-60% variance explained), and that regionalization schemes were much less effective than lake specific metrics (28-39% variance explained). Basin-scale land use and land cover explained between 45-62% of variance, and forest cover and agricultural land uses were among the most important basin-scale predictors. Water quality drivers did not operate independently; in some cases, hydrologic connectivity (the presence of upstream surface water features) mediated the effect of regional-scale drivers. For example, for water quality in lakes with upstream lakes, regional classification schemes were much less effective predictors than lake-specific variables, in contrast to lakes with no upstream lakes or with no surface inflows. At the scale of the continental United States, conductivity was explained by drivers operating at larger spatial scales than for other water quality responses. The current regulatory practice of using regionalization schemes to guide water quality criteria could be improved by consideration of lake-specific characteristics, which were the most important predictors of water quality at the scale of the continental United States. The spatial extent and high quality of contextual data available for this analysis makes this work an unprecedented application of landscape limnology theory to water quality data. Further, the demonstrated importance of lake morphology over other controls on water quality is relevant to both aquatic scientists and managers.

Limnology of Big Lake, south-central Alaska, 1983-84

USGS Publications Warehouse

Woods, Paul F.

1992-01-01

The limnological characteristics and trophic state of Big Lake in south-central Alaska were determined from the results of an intensive study during 1983-84. The study was begun in response to concern over the potential for eutrophication of Big Lake, which has experienced substantial residential development and recreational use because of its proximity to Anchorage. The east and west basins of the 1,213 square-hectometer lake were each visited 36 times during the 2-year study to obtain a wide variety of physical, chemical, and biological data. During 1984, an estimate was made of the lake's annual primary production. Big Lake was classified as oligotrophic on the basis of its annual mean values for total phosphorus (9.5 micrograms per liter), total nitrogen (209 micrograms per liter), chlorophyll-a (2.5 micrograms per liter), secchi-disc transparency (6.3 meters), and its mean daily integral primary production of 81.1 milligrams of carbon fixed per square meter. The lake was, however, uncharacteristic of oligotrophic lakes in that a severe dissolved-oxygen deficit developed within the hypolimnion during summer stratification and under winter ice cover. The summer dissolved-oxygen deficit resulted from the combination of strong and persistent thermal stratification, which developed within 1 week of the melting of the lake's ice cover in May, and the failure of the spring circulation to fully reaerate the hypolimnion. The autumn circulation did reaerate the entire water column, but the ensuing 6 months of ice and snow cover prevented atmospheric reaeration of the water column and led to development of the winter dissolved-oxygen deficit. The anoxic conditions that eventually developed near the lake bottom allowed the release of nutrients from the bottom sediments and facilitated ammonification reactions. These processes yielded hypolimnetic concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, which were much larger than the oligotrophic concentrations measured within the epilimnion. An analysis of nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios showed that nitrogen was the nutrient most likely to limit phytoplankton growth during the summer. Although mean chlorophyll-a concentrations were at oligotrophic levels, concentrations did peak at 46.5 micrograms per liter in the east basin. During each year and in both basins, the peak chlorophyll-a concentrations were measured within the hypolimnion because the euphotic zone commonly was deeper than the epilimnion during the summer. The annual integral primary production of Big Lake in 1984 was 29.6 grams of carbon fixed per square meter with about 90 percent of that produced during May through October. During this time period, the lake received 76 percent of its annual input of solar irradiance. Monthly integral primary production, in milligrams of carbon fixed per square meter, ranged from 1.5 in January to 7,050 in July. When compared with the range of annual integral primary production measured in 50 International Biological Program lakes throughout the world, Big Lake had a low value of annual integral primary production. The results of this study lend credence to the concerns about the potential eutrophication of Big Lake. Increases in the supply of oxygen-demanding materials to Big Lake could worsen the hypolimnetic dissolved-oxygen deficit and possibly shift the lake's trophic state toward mesotrophy or eutrophy.

Limnological Conditions in Lake William C. Bowen and Municipal Reservoir #1, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, August to September 2005, May 2006, and October 2006

USGS Publications Warehouse

Journey, Celeste A.; Abrahamsen, Thomas A.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Spartanburg Water System, conducted three spatial surveys of the limnological conditions in Lake William C. Bowen (Lake Bowen) and Municipal Reservoir #1 (Reservoir #1), Spartanburg County, South Carolina, during August to September 2005, May 2006, and October 2006. The surveys were conducted to identify spatial distribution and concentrations of geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol, common trophic state indicators (nutrients, transparency, and chlorophyll a), algal community structure, and stratification of the water column at the time of sampling. Screening tools such as the Carlson trophic state index, total nitrogen to total phosphorus ratios, and relative thermal resistance to mixing were used to help compare data among sites and among seasons. Water-column samples were collected at two depths at each selected site: a near-surface sample collected above a 1-meter depth and a lake-bottom sample collected at a depth of 2.5 to 7 meters, depending on the depth at the site. The degree of stratification of the water column was demonstrated by temperature-depth profiles and computed relative thermal resistance to mixing. Seasonal occurrence of thermal stratification (August to September 2005; May 2006) and de-stratification (October 2006) was evident in the depth profiles of water temperature in Lake Bowen. The most stable water-column (highest relative thermal resistance to mixing) conditions occurred in Lake Bowen during the August to September 2005 survey. The least stable water-column (destratified) conditions occurred in Lake Bowen during the October 2006 survey and Reservoir #1 during all three surveys. Changes with depth in dissolved oxygen (decreased with depth to near anoxic conditions in the hypolimnion), pH (decreased with depth), and specific conductance (increased with depth) along with thermal stratification indicated Lake Bowen was exhibiting characteristics common to both mesotrophic and eutrophic conditions. Nutrient dynamics were different in Lake Bowen during the May 2006 survey from those during the August to September 2005 and October 2006 surveys. Total organic nitrogen concentrations (total Kjeldahl nitrogen minus ammonia) remained relatively constant within the surveys and ranged from 0.15 to 0.36 milligram per liter during the period of study. Nitrate was the dominant inorganic species of nitrogen during May 2006. Ammonia was the dominant species during the August to September 2005 and October 2006 surveys. During the August and September 2005 survey, ammonia was detected only in bottom samples collected in the near anoxic hypolimnion, but during the October 2006 survey, ammonia was detected under destratified conditions in surface and bottom samples. In Lake Bowen, total phosphorus concentrations in bottom samples did not exhibit the dramatic, high values during the May 2006 and October 2006 surveys (0.009 to 0.014 milligram per liter) that were identified for the August to September 2005 survey (0.022 to 0.034 milligram per liter). Chlorophyll a concentrations appeared to vary with the species of inorganic nitrogen. Greater chlorophyll a concentrations were identified in samples from the May 2006 survey (6.8 to 15 micrograms per liter) than in the August to September 2005 (1.2 to 6.4 micrograms per liter) and October surveys (5.6 to 8.2 micrograms per liter) at all sites in Lake Bowen and Reservoir #1. For the three limnological surveys, surface concentrations of chlorophyll a and total phosphorus were well below established numerical criteria for South Carolina. In general, the computed trophic state indices indicated that mesotrophic conditions were present in Lake Bowen and Reservoir #1. The total nitrogen to total phosphorus ratios in Lake Bowen and Reservoir #1 were below 22:1 for the August to September 2005 survey, indicating a high probability of dominance by nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. Ratios during the May and October 2006 surveys at

Temporal coherence among tropical coastal lagoons: a search for patterns and mechanisms.

PubMed

Caliman, A; Carneiro, L S; Santangelo, J M; Guariento, R D; Pires, A P F; Suhett, A L; Quesado, L B; Scofield, V; Fonte, E S; Lopes, P M; Sanches, L F; Azevedo, F D; Marinho, C C; Bozelli, R L; Esteves, F A; Farjalla, V F

2010-10-01

Temporal coherence (i.e., the degree of synchronicity of a given variable among ecological units within a predefined space) has been shown for several limnological features among temperate lakes, allowing predictions about the structure and function of ecosystems. However, there is little evidence of temporal coherence among tropical aquatic systems, where the climatic variability among seasons is less pronounced. Here, we used data from long-term monitoring of physical, chemical and biological variables to test the degree of temporal coherence among 18 tropical coastal lagoons. The water temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration had the highest and lowest temporal coherence among the lagoons, respectively, whereas the salinity and water colour had intermediate temporal coherence. The regional climactic factors were the main factors responsible for the coherence patterns in the water temperature and water colour, whereas the landscape position and morphometric characteristics explained much of the variation of the salinity and water colour among the lagoons. These results indicate that both local (lagoon morphometry) and regional (precipitation, air temperature) factors regulate the physical and chemical conditions of coastal lagoons by adjusting the terrestrial and marine subsidies at a landscape-scale. On the other hand, the chlorophyll-a concentration appears to be primarily regulated by specific local conditions resulting in a weak temporal coherence among the ecosystems. We concluded that temporal coherence in tropical ecosystems is possible, at least for some environmental features, and should be evaluated for other tropical ecosystems. Our results also reinforce that aquatic ecosystems should be studied more broadly to accomplish a full understanding of their structure and function.

Turbid releases from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona, following rainfall-runoff events of September 2013

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wildman, Richard A.; Vernieu, William

2017-01-01

Glen Canyon Dam is a large dam on the Colorado River in Arizona. In September 2013, it released turbid water following intense thunderstorms in the surrounding area. Turbidity was >15 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) for multiple days and >30 NTU at its peak. These unprecedented turbid releases impaired downstream fishing activity and motivated a rapid-response field excursion. At 5 locations upstream from the dam, temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a, and turbidity were measured in vertical profiles. Local streamflow and rainfall records were retrieved, and turbidity and specific conductance data in dam releases were evaluated. Profiling was conducted to determine possible sources of turbidity from 3 tributaries nearest the dam, Navajo, Antelope, and Wahweap creeks, which entered Lake Powell as interflows during this study. We discuss 4 key conditions that must have been met for tributaries to influence turbidity of dam releases: tributary flows must have reached the dam, tributary flows must have been laden with sediment, inflow currents must have been near the depth of dam withdrawals, and the settling velocity of particles must have been slow. We isolate 2 key uncertainties that reservoir managers should resolve in future similar studies: the reach of tributary water into the reservoir thalweg and the distribution of particle size of suspended sediment. These uncertainties leave the source of the turbidity ambiguous, although an important role for Wahweap Creek is possible. The unique combination of limnological factors we describe implies that turbid releases at Glen Canyon Dam will continue to be rare.

Correcting acoustic Doppler current profiler discharge measurement bias from moving-bed conditions without global positioning during the 2004 Glen Canyon Dam controlled flood on the Colorado River

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gartner, J.W.; Ganju, N.K.

2007-01-01

Discharge measurements were made by acoustic Doppler current profiler at two locations on the Colorado River during the 2004 controlled flood from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona. Measurement hardware and software have constantly improved from the 1980s such that discharge measurements by acoustic profiling instruments are now routinely made over a wide range of hydrologic conditions. However, measurements made with instruments deployed from moving boats require reliable boat velocity data for accurate measurements of discharge. This is normally accomplished by using special acoustic bottom track pings that sense instrument motion over bottom. While this method is suitable for most conditions, high current flows that produce downstream bed sediment movement create a condition known as moving bed that will bias velocities and discharge to lower than actual values. When this situation exists, one solution is to determine boat velocity with satellite positioning information. Another solution is to use a lower frequency instrument. Discharge measurements made during the 2004 Glen Canyon controlled flood were subject to moving-bed conditions and frequent loss of bottom track. Due to site conditions and equipment availability, the measurements were conducted without benefit of external positioning information or lower frequency instruments. This paper documents and evaluates several techniques used to correct the resulting underestimated discharge measurements. One technique produces discharge values in good agreement with estimates from numerical model and measured hydrographs during the flood. ?? 2007, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

A multiple testing approach for hazard evaluation of complex mixtures in the aquatic environment: the use of diesel oil as a model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, B. Thomas

1989-01-01

Traditional single species toxicity tests and multiple component laboratory-scaled microcosm assays were combined to assess the toxicological hazard of diesel oil, a model complex mixture, to a model aquatic environment. The immediate impact of diesel oil dosed on a freshwater community was studied in a model pond microcosm over 14 days: a 7-day dosage and a 7-day recovery period. A multicomponent laboratory microcosm was designed to monitor the biological effects of diesel oil (1·0 mg litre−1) on four components: water, sediment (soil + microbiota), plants (aquatic macrophytes and algae), and animals (zooplanktonic and zoobenthic invertebrates). To determine the sensitivity of each part of the community to diesel oil contamination and how this model community recovered when the oil dissipated, limnological, toxicological, and microbiological variables were considered. Our model revealed these significant occurrences during the spill period: first, a community production and respiration perturbation, characterized in the water column by a decrease in dissolved oxygen and redox potential and a concomitant increase in alkalinity and conductivity; second, marked changes in microbiota of sediments that included bacterial heterotrophic dominance and a high heterotrophic index (0·6), increased bacterial productivity, and the marked increases in numbers of saprophytic bacteria (10 x) and bacterial oil degraders (1000 x); and third, column water acutely toxic (100% mortality) to two model taxa: Selenastrum capricornutum and Daphnia magna. Following the simulated clean-up procedure to remove the oil slick, the recovery period of this freshwater microcosm was characterized by a return to control values. This experimental design emphasized monitoring toxicological responses in aquatic microcosm; hence, we proposed the term ‘toxicosm’ to describe this approach to aquatic toxicological hazard evaluation. The toxicosm as a valuable toxicological tool for screening aquatic contaminants was demonstrated using diesel oil as a model complex mixture.

Using on-site bioassays to determine selenium risk to propagated endangered fishes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Allert, Ann L.; Fairchild, James F.; May, Thomas W.; Sappington, Linda C.; Darnall, N.; Wilson, M.

2006-01-01

The Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission is determining the feasibility of establishing a hatchery and grow-out facility for endangered June suckers Chasmistes liorus at Goshen Warm Springs, Utah. A survey of water quality indicated that selenium and other contaminants may be of concern at Goshen Warm Springs. We conducted an ecotoxicological study with three objectives: (1) to determine the growth rates of juvenile June suckers in two ponds (Lily Pond and North Pond) at Goshen Warm Springs and in Utah Lake, (2) to determine the uptake and depuration rates of selenium in juvenile June suckers, and (3) to evaluate limnological factors that may influence growth and selenium accumulation in June suckers. Fish growth was significantly greater at Utah Lake and North Pond than at Lily Pond or under current hatchery conditions. At the end of the uptake phase of the study (day 87), selenium concentrations in June suckers from Lily Pond, North Pond, and Utah Lake were 1.62, 1.90, and 1.32 μg/g of dry weight, respectively. Selenium uptake in June suckers was statistically significant at Lily Pond (0.005 μg·g−1 ·d−1), North Pond (0.010 μg·g−1 ·d−1), and Utah Lake (0.003 μg·g−1 ·d−1). At day 87, the fish were transferred to well water for selenium depuration. Significant selenium depuration occurred after the transfer of June suckers to clean water. Results indicated that selenium bioaccumulated to statistically significant levels at both Lily and North ponds. However, these concentrations are not likely to be of concern because they are not known to cause chronic toxicity. Depuration experiments indicated that June suckers stocked into Utah Lake would eliminate accumulated selenium residues within 3 months. Results indicated that Goshen Warm Springs could be used for fish propagation. In addition, further evaluation of Utah Lake as an interim hatchery site for June suckers should be considered.

Remote sensing data supporting EULAKES project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bresciani, Mariano; Matta, Erica; Giardino, Claudia

2013-04-01

EULAKES Project (European Lakes Under Environmental Stressors), funded by Central Europe Programme 2010-2013, includes four European lakes study: Garda Lake (Italy), Charzykowskie Lake (Poland), Neusiedl Lake (Austria) and Balaton Lake (Hungary). Aim of the Project is to evaluate lakes exposure to different type of risks in order to provide some useful tools to improve natural resources planning and management. The goal is to build an informatics system to support decision makers' purposes, which also provides a list of possible measures to be undertaken for water quality protection. Thanks to remote sensing techniques water quality characteristics have been assessed. Our activity provided photosynthetic cyanobacteria specific pigments spatial distribution in Charzykowskie Lake, macrophyte mapping in Garda Lake using MIVIS images, and common reeds change detection in Neusiedl Lake through Landsat satellite images analysis. 4800 MODIS 11A products, from 2004 to 2010, have been acquired to evaluate surface water temperature trends, significant input data for future global change scenarios. Temperature analysis allowed the evaluation of lakes different characteristics, temperature temporal trends and temperature spatial variability inside each lake. Optical active parameters (Chlorophyll-a, Total Suspended Matter, Colored Dissolved Organic Matter), as well as water transparency, have been estimated from 250 MERIS images processing. Satellite images, acquired following Water Frame Directive monitoring rules, have been corrected for adjacent effects using ESA Beam-Visat software (ICOL tool). Atmospheric correction has been performed applying different softwares: 6S radiative transfer code and Beam Neural-Network. Different algorithms for the water quality parameters estimation have been applied to reflectance values, after their validation with spectroradiometric field measures. Garda Lake has been analysed with ESA Case 2 Regional algorithm, while for Balaton and Neusiedl lakes a new dedicated algorithm from Case 2 Regional and Eutrophic algorithms integration have been purposely created. Eutrophic algorithm has been used for Charzykowskie Lake. Results, validated through limnological data, highlighted Garda Lake's oligotrophic characteristics and other lakes' meso-eutrophic properties. Neusiedl Lake came out as highly turbid and colored organic dissolved matter rich lake, while Charzykowskie Lake is characterised by frequent cyanobacteria blooms.

Single Investigator or Group Projects? Which is the More Successful Model for a REU Site?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boush, L. P.; Myrbo, A.; Berman, M. J.; Gnivecki, P.; Michelson, A.; Brady, K. L.

2012-12-01

Undergraduate research programs have become popular and effective mechanisms for developing future geoscientists and increasing participation of under-represented groups in the sciences. There are many models for implementing such programs that span different philosophies and goals. Our Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in the Bahamas is in the second of its three year award and has used two different models each year of its operation. In the first year, we used the individual student project model, where students pursued their own research much like an honors or masters thesis approach. Specifically, students did individual projects in four areas: paleobiology, geoarcheology, geobiology and limnogeology. In the second year, we used the team concept model, where students were divided into two teams, coring different lakes. The students combined efforts in both the field and lab, doing basic limnology of the basins, and then collecting and analyzing the cores that they took. While both pedagogy models were successful in teaching basic science skills in the field and lab, each one had different strengths and weaknesses. The single investigator model allowed students to have complete intellectual ownership of their projects, while the group model allowed students to work together in teams and produce a more comprehensive dataset that was higher quality and more likely to be published. In addition, while student knowledge gains were statistically the same for both years, the attitudes towards science scores were higher for the 'team model' year than for the single investigator. Since one of the goals of the REU program is to engage students and foster a desire to continue scientific inquiry or careers in science, the 'team model' could be regarded as more successful. It also allowed higher quality datasets to be produced and a more realistic view of how most science is done—in a collaborative, multidisciplinary way. Each student learned all of the field and lab techniques and helped one another as a cooperative group but was held individually responsible for various aspects of the data collection and analysis. Further, it can be argued that in the short amount of time allotted for REU projects (8-10 weeks), it is difficult for inexperienced students to design a publishable project; and one could question if this is the appropriate venue for having students initiate either projects that are too large to do in the timeframe of the REU or too specific or limited in data and methods to be significant scientific contributions. Thus, we will pursue the 'team model' in our third year of our REU project because it has yielded better scientific outcomes and more satisfying experiences for our students.

Hydrodynamic control of phytoplankton loss to the benthos in an estuarine environment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, N.L.; Thompson, J.K.; Arrigo, K.R.; Monismith, Stephen G.

2009-01-01

Field experiments were undertaken to measure the influence of hydrodynamics on the removal of phytoplankton by benthic grazers in Suisun Slough, North San Francisco Bay. Chlorophyll a concentration boundary layers were found over beds inhabited by the active suspension feeders Corbula amurensis and Corophium alienense and the passive suspension feeders Marenzellaria viridis and Laonome sp. Benthic losses of phytoplankton were estimated via both the control volume and the vertical flux approach, in which chlorophyll a concentration was used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass. The rate of phytoplankton loss to the bed was positively correlated to the bed shear stress. The maximum rate of phytoplankton loss to the bed was five times larger than estimated by laboratory-derived pumping rates for the active suspension feeders. Reasons for this discrepancy are explored including a physical mechanism whereby phytoplankton is entrained in a near-bed fluff layer where aggregation is mediated by the presence of mucus produced by the infaunal community. ?? 2009, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Cold fronts and reservoir limnology: an integrated approach towards the ecological dynamics of freshwater ecosystems.

PubMed

Tundisi, J G; Matsumura-Tundisi, T; Pereira, K C; Luzia, A P; Passerini, M D; Chiba, W A C; Morais, M A; Sebastien, N Y

2010-10-01

In this paper the authors discuss the effects of cold fronts on the dynamics of freshwater ecosystems of southeast South America. Cold fronts originating from the Antarctic show a monthly frequency that promotes turbulence and vertical mixing in reservoirs with a consequence to homogenize nutrient distribution, dissolved oxygen and temperature. Weak thermoclines and the athelomixis process immediately before, during and after the passage of cold fronts interfere with phytoplankton succession in reservoirs. Cyanobacteria blooms in eutrophic reservoirs are frequently connected with periods of stratification and stability of the water column. Cold fronts in the Amazon and Pantanal lakes may produce fish killings during the process of "friagem" associated mixing events. Further studies will try to implement a model to predict the impact of cold fronts and prepare management procedures in order to cope with cyanobacteria blooms during warm and stable water column periods. Changes in water quality of reservoirs are expected during circulation periods caused by cold fronts.

Transport and Mixing of the Oglio River Inflow into Lake Iseo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hogg, Charlie; Huppert, Herbert; Imberger, Jorg

2011-11-01

The fate of river water entering a lake remains an uncertainty in many important limnological questions. These questions include how to improve standard water management practices and how lake ecosystems will change in future climate scenarios. This paper describes a field campaign carried out to understand the transport and mixing of a river inlet into Lake Iseo, a subalpine lake in Italy. We observed the low Froude number inflow to fall laterally after entering the lake. We suggest that this is caused by baroclinic acceleration. This laterally falling regime has not, to our knowledge, previously been described in the literature. In addition, measurements of a range of tracers were taken to find the dilution of the river after it had started to intrude into the lake. The tracers used were temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, coloured dissolved organic matter and turbidity. Our results found self-consistent mixing rates from the available natural tracers. These findings contribute added evidence and improve the understanding of what mechanisms cause mixing of river inflows.

An occurence records database of Irregular Echinoids (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) in Mexico.

PubMed

Martínez-Melo, Alejandra; Solís-Marín, Francisco Alonso; Buitrón-Sánchez, Blanca Estela; Laguarda-Figueras, Alfredo

2016-01-01

Research on echinoderms in Mexico began in the late nineteenth century. We present a dataset that includes the taxonomic and geographic information of irregular echinoids from Mexico, housed in four collections: 1) Colección Nacional de Equinodermos "Ma. Elena Caso Muñoz" from the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (ICML), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); 2) Invertebrate Zoology Collection, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., United States of America (USA); 3) Invertebrate Collection, Museum of Comparative Zoology, University of Harvard, Boston, Massachusetts, USA and 4) Invertebrate Zoology, Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. A total of six orders, 17 families, 35 genera and 68 species are reported, 37 distributed in the Pacific coast and 31 in the Atlantic coast, none of them was found in both coasts. The most diverse region is the Gulf of California (S=32); the most diverse order is Spatangoida with 31 species reported in mexican waters.

Biogeochemistry and limnology in Antarctic subglacial weathering: molecular evidence of the linkage between subglacial silica input and primary producers in a perennially ice-covered lake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takano, Yoshinori; Kojima, Hisaya; Takeda, Eriko; Yokoyama, Yusuke; Fukui, Manabu

2015-12-01

We report a 6,000 years record of subglacial weathering and biogeochemical processes in two perennially ice-covered glacial lakes at Rundvågshetta, on the Soya Coast of Lützow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica. The two lakes, Lake Maruwan Oike and Lake Maruwan-minami, are located in a channel that drains subglacial water from the base of the East Antarctic ice sheet. Greenish-grayish organic-rich laminations in sediment cores from the lakes indicate continuous primary production affected by the inflow of subglacial meltwater containing relict carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other essential nutrients. Biogenic silica, amorphous hydrated silica, and DNA-based molecular signatures of sedimentary facies indicate that diatom assemblages are the dominant primary producers, supported by the input of inorganic silicon (Si) from the subglacial inflow. This study highlights the significance of subglacial water-rock interactions during physical and chemical weathering processes and the importance of such interactions for the supply of bioavailable nutrients.

APEX - the Hyperspectral ESA Airborne Prism Experiment

PubMed Central

Itten, Klaus I.; Dell'Endice, Francesco; Hueni, Andreas; Kneubühler, Mathias; Schläpfer, Daniel; Odermatt, Daniel; Seidel, Felix; Huber, Silvia; Schopfer, Jürg; Kellenberger, Tobias; Bühler, Yves; D'Odorico, Petra; Nieke, Jens; Alberti, Edoardo; Meuleman, Koen

2008-01-01

The airborne ESA-APEX (Airborne Prism Experiment) hyperspectral mission simulator is described with its distinct specifications to provide high quality remote sensing data. The concept of an automatic calibration, performed in the Calibration Home Base (CHB) by using the Control Test Master (CTM), the In-Flight Calibration facility (IFC), quality flagging (QF) and specific processing in a dedicated Processing and Archiving Facility (PAF), and vicarious calibration experiments are presented. A preview on major applications and the corresponding development efforts to provide scientific data products up to level 2/3 to the user is presented for limnology, vegetation, aerosols, general classification routines and rapid mapping tasks. BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) issues are discussed and the spectral database SPECCHIO (Spectral Input/Output) introduced. The optical performance as well as the dedicated software utilities make APEX a state-of-the-art hyperspectral sensor, capable of (a) satisfying the needs of several research communities and (b) helping the understanding of the Earth's complex mechanisms. PMID:27873868

Carbon and energy fluxes from China's largest freshwater lake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, G.; LIU, Y.

2017-12-01

Carbon and energy fluxes between lakes and the atmosphere are important aspects of hydrology, limnology, and ecology studies. China's largest freshwater lake, the Poyang lake experiences tremendous water-land transitions periodically throughout the year, which provides natural experimental settings for the study of carbon and energy fluxes. In this study, we use the eddy covariance technique to explore the seasonal and diurnal variation patterns of sensible and latent heat fluxes of Poyang lake during its high-water and low-water periods, when the lake is covered by water and mudflat, respectively. We also determine the annual NEE of Poyang lake and the variations of NEE's components: Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (Re). Controlling factors of seasonal and diurnal variations of carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed, and land cover impacts on the variation patterns are also studied. Finally, the coupling between the carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed under different atmospheric, boundary stability and land cover conditions.

Trophic state and toxic cyanobacteria density in optimization modeling of multi-reservoir water resource systems.

PubMed

Sulis, Andrea; Buscarinu, Paola; Soru, Oriana; Sechi, Giovanni M

2014-04-22

The definition of a synthetic index for classifying the quality of water bodies is a key aspect in integrated planning and management of water resource systems. In previous works [1,2], a water system optimization modeling approach that requires a single quality index for stored water in reservoirs has been applied to a complex multi-reservoir system. Considering the same modeling field, this paper presents an improved quality index estimated both on the basis of the overall trophic state of the water body and on the basis of the density values of the most potentially toxic Cyanobacteria. The implementation of the index into the optimization model makes it possible to reproduce the conditions limiting water use due to excessive nutrient enrichment in the water body and to the health hazard linked to toxic blooms. The analysis of an extended limnological database (1996-2012) in four reservoirs of the Flumendosa-Campidano system (Sardinia, Italy) provides useful insights into the strengths and limitations of the proposed synthetic index.

AGU journals continue to rank highly in Impact Factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sears, Jon; Warner, Mary

2012-07-01

AGU journals continue to rank highly in the 2011 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), which was released by Thomson Reuters on 28 June. The impact factor of several AGU journals increased significantly, continuing their trend over the previous 5 years, while others remained consistent with the previous year's ranking. Paleoceanography is an outstanding performer in both the Paleontology and Oceanography categories. Since 1995, Paleoceanography has been the top-ranked journal in the Paleontology category (of 49 titles in 2011), with an Impact Factor of 3.357. In the Oceanography group (59 journals total), Paleoceanography ranks third in Impact Factor. Reviews of Geophysics, with an Impact Factor of 12.364 (an increase of 2.826 from the prior year's score of 9.538), ranks second in Geochemistry and Geophysics out of a total of 77 journals in this cohort. Water Resources Research comes in at second place in the Limnology group, with 19 titles, and third place in the Water Resources group, which has a cohort of 78 titles.

elevatr: Access Elevation Data from Various APIs | Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Several web services are available that provide access to elevation data. This package provides access to several of those services and returns elevation data either as a SpatialPointsDataFrame from point elevation services or as a raster object from raster elevation services. Currently, the package supports access to the Mapzen Elevation Service, Mapzen Terrain Service, and the USGS Elevation Point Query Service. The R language for statistical computing is increasingly used for spatial data analysis . This R package, elevatr, is in response to this and provides access to elevation data from various sources directly in R. The impact of `elevatr` is that it will 1) facilitate spatial analysis in R by providing access to foundational dataset for many types of analyses (e.g. hydrology, limnology) 2) open up a new set of users and uses for APIs widely used outside of R, and 3) provide an excellent example federal open source development as promoted by the Federal Source Code Policy (https://sourcecode.cio.gov/).

Thermal Pollution Mathematical Model. Volume 2; Verification of One-Dimensional Numerical Model at Lake Keowee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, S. S.; Sengupta, S.; Nwadike, E. V.

1980-01-01

A one dimensional model for studying the thermal dynamics of cooling lakes was developed and verified. The model is essentially a set of partial differential equations which are solved by finite difference methods. The model includes the effects of variation of area with depth, surface heating due to solar radiation absorbed at the upper layer, and internal heating due to the transmission of solar radiation to the sub-surface layers. The exchange of mechanical energy between the lake and the atmosphere is included through the coupling of thermal diffusivity and wind speed. The effects of discharge and intake by power plants are also included. The numerical model was calibrated by applying it to Cayuga Lake. The model was then verified through a long term simulation using Lake Keowee data base. The comparison between measured and predicted vertical temperature profiles for the nine years is good. The physical limnology of Lake Keowee is presented through a set of graphical representations of the measured data base.

Effective Practices for Evaluating Education and Public Outreach Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkerson, S.

2013-12-01

Stephanie Baird Wilkerson, PhD Carol Haden EdD Magnolia Consulting,LLC Education and public outreach (EPO) program developers and providers seeking insights regarding effective practices for evaluating EPO activities programs benefit from understanding why evaluation is critical to the success of EPO activities and programs, what data collection methods are appropriate, and how to effectively communicate and report findings. Based on our extensive experience evaluating EPO programs, we will share lessons learned and examples of how these practices play out in actual evaluation studies. EPO program developers, providers, and evaluators must consider several factors that influence which evaluation designs and data collection methods will be most appropriate, given the nature of EPO programs. Effective evaluation practices of EPO programs take into account a program's phase of development, duration, and budget as well as a program's intended outcomes. EPO programs that are just beginning development will have different evaluation needs and priorities than will well-established programs. Effective evaluation practices consider the 'life' of a program with an evaluation design that supports a program's growth through various phases including development, revision and refinement, and completion. It would be premature and inappropriate to expect the attainment of longer-term outcomes of activities during program development phases or early stages of implementation. During program development, EPO providers should clearly define program outcomes that are feasible and appropriate given a program's scope and expected reach. In many respects, this directly relates to the amount of time, or duration, intended audiences participate in EPO programs. As program duration increases so does the likelihood that the program can achieve longer-term outcomes. When choosing which outcomes are reasonable to impact and measure, program duration should be considered. Effective evaluation practices include selecting appropriate data collection methods given a program's duration and corresponding intended outcomes. Data collection methods for programs of short duration might involve simple evaluation activities, whereas programs of longer duration might involve ongoing data collection measures including longitudinal student surveys, implementation logs, student journals, and student achievement measures. During our presentation, we will share examples from our own experience to illustrate how effective evaluation practices can be applied to various EPO programs based on program duration. Irrespective of duration, we find that EPO program developers and providers want both formative feedback to guide improvements and summative feedback on outcomes. More often than not, evaluation budgets for EPO programs are meager at best, yet come with the same information needs and priorities as programs with larger evaluation budgets. So how do program providers get the information they need given their limited funds for evaluation? We will offer several recommendations for helping EPO program providers work with evaluators to become better-informed consumers of evaluation by maximizing evaluation offerings and minimizing costs. During our presentation we also will share examples of communicating and reporting results for EPO program developers, EPO facilitators and practitioners, and funders.

Non-formal educator use of evaluation results.

PubMed

Baughman, Sarah; Boyd, Heather H; Franz, Nancy K

2012-08-01

Increasing demands for accountability in educational programming have resulted in increasing calls for program evaluation in educational organizations. Many organizations include conducting program evaluations as part of the job responsibilities of program staff. Cooperative Extension is a complex organization offering non-formal educational programs through land grant universities. Many Extension services require non-formal educational program evaluations be conducted by field-based Extension educators. Evaluation research has focused primarily on the efforts of professional, external evaluators. The work of program staff with many responsibilities including program evaluation has received little attention. This study examined how field based Extension educators (i.e. program staff) in four Extension services use the results of evaluations of programs that they have conducted themselves. Four types of evaluation use are measured and explored; instrumental use, conceptual use, persuasive use and process use. Results indicate that there are few programmatic changes as a result of evaluation findings among the non-formal educators surveyed in this study. Extension educators tend to use evaluation results to persuade others about the value of their programs and learn from the evaluation process. Evaluation use is driven by accountability measures with very little program improvement use as measured in this study. Practical implications include delineating accountability and program improvement tasks within complex organizations in order to align evaluation efforts and to improve the results of both. There is some evidence that evaluation capacity building efforts may be increasing instrumental use by educators evaluating their own programs. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Guidelines for the Evaluation of Bilingual Education Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cardoza, Desdemona

Principles of program evaluation research are outlined so that bilingual education program coordinators can conduct methodologically acceptable program evaluations. The three basic principles of evaluation research are: identification of the program participants, definition of the program intervention, and assessment of program effectiveness.…

Reconstructing Late Holocene Climate Variability in North East China From Varved Maar Lake Sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panizzo, V. N.; Mackay, A. W.; Rioual, P.; Chu, G.; Leng, M. J.

2008-12-01

Reconstructing climatic variability over the past c. 2 ka years is recognised as a key PAGES timeframe (focus 2). However few high-resolution records exist from the climate sensitive region of N) China which receives the majority of its precipitation from the east Asian summer monsoon (EASM). Interactions between the EASM and the global climate system have great resonance. Such examples include how the EASM responded to changes in climate over the documented e.g. "Medieval Warm Period" (c. AD 900 - 1300), "Little Ice Age" (c. AD 1350-1850) and recent warming. At present, literature remains contradictory to such environmental changes in NE China over this time-frame due to poor chronological control, low resolution of existing studies and even due to the inexact terminology of these climatic periods. Xiaolongwan Lake (XLW) is a small, closed, maar lake located in the Long Gang Volcanic Field, NE China (42°18'N; 126°19'E). It is at an elevation of 655 m a.s.l. with a maximum depth of 15 m. A varve chronology has been created for a 143 cm composite core (2 cores collected in 2006), and here we present diatoms and organic geochemistry (δ13C, TOC, C/N) evidence for environmental change over the past c. 2 ka years. Results show a gradual change in diatom species, moving from a composition where opportunistic species (e.g. Achnanthidium minutissimum) dominate (between c. 100 BC to 500 years AD) at the beginning of the record to one comprised of benthic/epiphytic species (e.g. Staurosira construens var venter, Punctastriata discoidea, Gomphonema parvulum). The introduction after c. 1850 years AD of the planktonic diatom species, Discotella woltereckii, not previously seen in the record, coincides with recent warming. This may be a response to changing limnological conditions, such as decreasing duration of lake ice-cover. Bulk organic δ13C results conducted on a short core collected from XLW in summer 2007, show that over the past c. 350 years there is a distinct decreasing trend in lake macrophytes. At the same time, trends in decreasing mean annual precipitation and an increasing trend in mean annual temperatures for the region are documented from meteorological records. It is possible that reduced EASM intensity may be affecting the limnology and therefore biology of XLW as seen in more recent years. Quantitative techniques (siZer) will later provide a method of assessing periodicities of EASM from this high-resolution record in order to compare with other independent palaeorecords.

An Investigation of the Impacts of Climate and Environmental Change on Alpine Lakes in the Uinta Mountains, Utah

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moser, K. A.; Hundey, E. J.; Porinchu, D. F.

2007-12-01

Aquatic systems in alpine and sub-alpine areas of the western United States are potentially impacted by atmospheric pollution and climate change. Because these mountainous regions are an important water resource for the western United States, it is critical to monitor and protect these systems. The Uinta Mountains are an east- west trending mountain range located on the border between Utah, Wyoming and Colorado and downwind of the Wasatch Front, Utah, which is characterized by a rapidly expanding population, as well as mining and industry. This alpine area provides water to many areas in Utah, and contributes approximately nine percent of the water supply to the Upper Colorado River. Our research is focused on determining the impacts of climate change and pollution on alpine lakes in the Uinta Mountains. The results presented here are based on limnological measurements made at 64 Uinta Mountain lakes spanning a longitude gradient of one degree and an elevation gradient of 3000 feet. At each lake maximum depth, conductivity, salinity, pH, Secchi depth, temperature, alkalinity, and concentrations of major anions, cations and trace metals were measured. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed to determine relationships between these variables and to examine the variability of the values of these variables. Our results indicate that steep climate gradients related to elevation and longitude result in clear differences in limnological properties of the study sites, with high elevation lakes characterized by greater amounts of nitrate and nitrite compared to low elevation sites. As well, diatoms in these lakes indicate that many high elevation sites are mesotrophic to eutrophic, which is unexpected for such remote aquatic ecosystems. We hypothesize that elevated nitrate and nitrite levels at high elevation sites are related to atmospherically derived nitrogen, but are being exacerbated relative to lower elevation sites by greater snow cover and reduced plant cover. Paleolimnological analyses of well dated sediments from selected lakes indicate that some of these high elevation sites have undergone rapid and dramatic change beginning in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Many of these lakes have become more productive as indicated by loss-on-ignition and diatom analyses. Although the exact mechanism of these changes is uncertain, the timing closely follows recent increases in air and chironomid-inferred surface water temperatures, and increased fossil fuel burning in the region. Regardless of the exact mechanism, our results clearly indicate dramatic changes at these high elevation sites, which threaten critical water resources.

Steps to a HealthierUS Cooperative Agreement Program: foundational elements for program evaluation planning, implementation, and use of findings.

PubMed

MacDonald, Goldie; Garcia, Danyael; Zaza, Stephanie; Schooley, Michael; Compton, Don; Bryant, Terry; Bagnol, Lulu; Edgerly, Cathy; Haverkate, Rick

2006-01-01

The Steps to a HealthierUS Cooperative Agreement Program (Steps Program) enables funded communities to implement chronic disease prevention and health promotion efforts to reduce the burden of diabetes, obesity, asthma, and related risk factors. At both the national and community levels, investment in surveillance and program evaluation is substantial. Public health practitioners engaged in program evaluation planning often identify desired outcomes, related indicators, and data collection methods but may pay only limited attention to an overarching vision for program evaluation among participating sites. We developed a set of foundational elements to provide a vision of program evaluation that informs the technical decisions made throughout the evaluation process. Given the diversity of activities across the Steps Program and the need for coordination between national- and community-level evaluation efforts, our recommendations to guide program evaluation practice are explicit yet leave room for site-specific context and needs. Staff across the Steps Program must consider these foundational elements to prepare a formal plan for program evaluation. Attention to each element moves the Steps Program closer to well-designed and complementary plans for program evaluation at the national, state, and community levels.

Air-water CO2 and CH4 fluxes along a river-reservoir continuum: Case study in the Pengxi River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China.

PubMed

Huang, Yang; Yasarer, Lindsey M W; Li, Zhe; Sturm, Belinda S M; Zhang, Zengyu; Guo, Jinsong; Shen, Yu

2017-05-01

Water surface greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in freshwater reservoirs are closely related to limnological processes in the water column. Affected by both reservoir operation and seasonal changes, variations in the hydro-morphological conditions in the river-reservoir continuum will create distinctive patterns in water surface GHG emissions. A one-year field survey was carried out in the Pengxi River-reservoir continuum, a part of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) immediately after the TGR reached its maximum water level. The annual average water surface CO 2 and CH 4 emissions at the riverine background sampling sites were 6.23 ± 0.93 and 0.025 ± 0.006 mmol h -1  m -2 , respectively. The CO 2 emissions were higher than those in the downstream reservoirs. The development of phytoplankton controlled the downstream decrease in water surface CO 2 emissions. The presence of thermal stratification in the permanent backwater area supported extensive phytoplankton blooms, resulting in a carbon sink during several months of the year. The CH 4 emissions were mainly impacted by water temperature and dissolved organic carbon. The greatest water surface CH 4 emission was detected in the fluctuating backwater area, likely due to a shallower water column and abundant organic matter. The Pengxi River backwater area did not show significant increase in water surface GHG emissions reported in tropical reservoirs. In evaluating the net GHG emissions by the impoundment of TGR, the net change in the carbon budget and the contribution of nitrogen and phosphorus should be taken into consideration in this eutrophic river-reservoir continuum.

Maximizing the Impact of Program Evaluation: A Discrepancy-Based Process for Educational Program Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cantor, Jeffrey A.

This paper describes a formative/summative process for educational program evaluation, which is appropriate for higher education programs and is based on M. Provus' Discrepancy Evaluation Model and the principles of instructional design. The Discrepancy Based Methodology for Educational Program Evaluation facilitates systematic and detailed…

The Evaluation Handbook: Guidelines for Evaluating Dropout Prevention Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smink, Jay; Stank, Peg

This manual, developed in an effort to take the mysticism out of program evaluation, discusses six phases of the program evaluation process. The introduction discusses reasons for evaluation, process and outcome evaluation, the purpose of the handbook, the evaluation process, and the Sequoia United School District Dropout Prevention Program. Phase…

Curated Collections for Educators: Five Key Papers about Program Evaluation.

PubMed

Thoma, Brent; Gottlieb, Michael; Boysen-Osborn, Megan; King, Andrew; Quinn, Antonia; Krzyzaniak, Sara; Pineda, Nicolas; Yarris, Lalena M; Chan, Teresa

2017-05-04

The evaluation of educational programs has become an expected part of medical education. At some point, all medical educators will need to critically evaluate the programs that they deliver. However, the evaluation of educational programs requires a very different skillset than teaching. In this article, we aim to identify and summarize key papers that would be helpful for faculty members interested in exploring program evaluation. In November of 2016, the 2015-2016 Academic life in emergency medicine (ALiEM) Faculty Incubator program highlighted key papers in a discussion of program evaluation. This list of papers was augmented with suggestions by guest experts and by an open call on Twitter. This resulted in a list of 30 papers on program evaluation. Our authorship group then engaged in a process akin to a Delphi study to build consensus on the most important papers about program evaluation for medical education faculty. We present our group's top five most highly rated papers on program evaluation. We also summarize these papers with respect to their relevance to junior medical education faculty members and faculty developers. Program evaluation is challenging. The described papers will be informative for junior faculty members as they aim to design literature-informed evaluations for their educational programs.

Curated Collections for Educators: Five Key Papers about Program Evaluation

PubMed Central

Gottlieb, Michael; Boysen-Osborn, Megan; King, Andrew; Quinn, Antonia; Krzyzaniak, Sara; Pineda, Nicolas; Yarris, Lalena M; Chan, Teresa

2017-01-01

The evaluation of educational programs has become an expected part of medical education. At some point, all medical educators will need to critically evaluate the programs that they deliver. However, the evaluation of educational programs requires a very different skillset than teaching. In this article, we aim to identify and summarize key papers that would be helpful for faculty members interested in exploring program evaluation. In November of 2016, the 2015-2016 Academic life in emergency medicine (ALiEM) Faculty Incubator program highlighted key papers in a discussion of program evaluation. This list of papers was augmented with suggestions by guest experts and by an open call on Twitter. This resulted in a list of 30 papers on program evaluation. Our authorship group then engaged in a process akin to a Delphi study to build consensus on the most important papers about program evaluation for medical education faculty. We present our group’s top five most highly rated papers on program evaluation. We also summarize these papers with respect to their relevance to junior medical education faculty members and faculty developers. Program evaluation is challenging. The described papers will be informative for junior faculty members as they aim to design literature-informed evaluations for their educational programs. PMID:28589073

Pavilion Lake Research Project - using multi-scaled approaches to understanding the provenance, maintenance and morphological characteristics of microbialites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, D. S.; Brady, A. L.; Cardman, Z.; Cowie, B. R.; Forrest, A.; Marinova, M.; Shepard, R.; Laval, B.; Slater, G. F.; Gernhardt, M.; Andersen, D. T.; Hawes, I.; Sumner, D. Y.; Trembanis, A. C.; McKay, C. P.

2009-12-01

Microbialites can be metre-scale or larger discrete structures that cover kilometre-scale regions, for example in Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, while the organisms associated with their growth and development are much smaller (less than millimeter scale). As such, a multi-scaled approach to understanding their provenance, maintenance and morphological characteristics is required. Research members of the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) (www.pavilionlake.com) have been working to understand microbialite morphogenesis in Pavilion Lake, B.C., Canada and the potential for biosignature preservation in these carbonate rocks using a combination of field and lab based techniques. PLRP research participants have been: (1) exploring the physical and chemical limnological properties of the lake, especially as these characteristics pertain to microbialite formation, (2) using geochemical and molecular tools to test the hypothesized biological origin of the microbialites and the associated meso-scale processes, and (3) using geochemical and microscopic tools to characterize potential biosignature preservation in the microbialites on the micro scale. To address these goals, PLRP identified the need to (a) map Pavilion Lake to gain a contextual understanding of microbialite distribution and possible correlation between their lake-wide distribution and the ambient growth conditions, and (b) sample the microbialites, including those from deepest regions of the lake (60m). Initial assessments showed that PLRP science diving operations did not prove adequate for mapping and sample recovery in the large and deep (0.8 km x 5.7 km; 65m max depth) lake. As such, the DeepWorker Science and Exploration (DSE) program was established by the PLRP. At the heart of this program are two DeepWorker (DW) submersibles, single-person vehicles that offer Scientist-Pilots (SP) an opportunity to study the lake in a 1 atm pressurized environment. In addition, the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for landscape level geophysical mapping (side-scan and multibeam) provides and additional large-scale context of the microbialite associations. The multi-scaled approach undertaken by the PLRP team members has created an opportunity to weave together a comprehensive understanding of the modern microbialites in Pavilion Lake, and their relevance to interpreting ancient carbonate fabrics. An overview of the team’s findings to date and on-going research will be presented.

The Spiral-Interactive Program Evaluation Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khaleel, Ibrahim Adamu

1988-01-01

Describes the spiral interactive program evaluation model, which is designed to evaluate vocational-technical education programs in secondary schools in Nigeria. Program evaluation is defined; utility oriented and process oriented models for evaluation are described; and internal and external evaluative factors and variables that define each…

A Qualitative Program Evaluation of a Structured Leadership Mentoring Program at a Large Aerospace Corporation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teller, Romney P.

2011-01-01

The researcher utilized a qualitative approach to conduct a program evaluation of the organization where he is employed. The study intended to serve as a program evaluation for the structured in-house mentoring program at a large aerospace corporation (A-Corp). This program evaluation clarified areas in which the current mentoring program is…

Interfacing theories of program with theories of evaluation for advancing evaluation practice: Reductionism, systems thinking, and pragmatic synthesis.

PubMed

Chen, Huey T

2016-12-01

Theories of program and theories of evaluation form the foundation of program evaluation theories. Theories of program reflect assumptions on how to conceptualize an intervention program for evaluation purposes, while theories of evaluation reflect assumptions on how to design useful evaluation. These two types of theories are related, but often discussed separately. This paper attempts to use three theoretical perspectives (reductionism, systems thinking, and pragmatic synthesis) to interface them and discuss the implications for evaluation practice. Reductionism proposes that an intervention program can be broken into crucial components for rigorous analyses; systems thinking view an intervention program as dynamic and complex, requiring a holistic examination. In spite of their contributions, reductionism and systems thinking represent the extreme ends of a theoretical spectrum; many real-world programs, however, may fall in the middle. Pragmatic synthesis is being developed to serve these moderate- complexity programs. These three theoretical perspectives have their own strengths and challenges. Knowledge on these three perspectives and their evaluation implications can provide a better guide for designing fruitful evaluations, improving the quality of evaluation practice, informing potential areas for developing cutting-edge evaluation approaches, and contributing to advancing program evaluation toward a mature applied science. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Culturally Responsive Evaluation Approach Applied to the Talent Development School-to-Career Intervention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manswell-Butty, Jo-Anne L.; Reid, Malva Daniel; LaPoint, Velma

2004-01-01

Program evaluation has long been used to reveal program characteristics, merits, and challenges. While providing information about program effectiveness, evaluations can also ensure understanding of program outcomes, efficiency, and quality. Furthermore, evaluations can analyze and examine a program's political and social environment as well as…

The State of Evaluation in Internal Medicine Residency

PubMed Central

Holmboe, Eric; Beasley, Brent W.

2008-01-01

Background There are no nationwide data on the methods residency programs are using to assess trainee competence. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has recommended tools that programs can use to evaluate their trainees. It is unknown if programs are adhering to these recommendations. Objective To describe evaluation methods used by our nation’s internal medicine residency programs and assess adherence to ACGME methodological recommendations for evaluation. Design Nationwide survey. Participants All internal medicine programs registered with the Association of Program Directors of Internal Medicine (APDIM). Measurements Descriptive statistics of programs and tools used to evaluate competence; compliance with ACGME recommended evaluative methods. Results The response rate was 70%. Programs were using an average of 4.2–6.0 tools to evaluate their trainees with heavy reliance on rating forms. Direct observation and practice and data-based tools were used much less frequently. Most programs were using at least 1 of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)’s “most desirable” methods of evaluation for all 6 measures of trainee competence. These programs had higher support staff to resident ratios than programs using less desirable evaluative methods. Conclusions Residency programs are using a large number and variety of tools for evaluating the competence of their trainees. Most are complying with ACGME recommended methods of evaluation especially if the support staff to resident ratio is high. PMID:18612734

Lessons from the trenches: meeting evaluation challenges in school health education.

PubMed

Young, Michael; Denny, George; Donnelly, Joseph

2012-11-01

Those involved in school health education programs generally believe that health-education programs can play an important role in helping young people make positive health decisions. Thus, it is to document the effects of such programs through rigorous evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals. This paper helps the reader understand the context of school health program evaluation, examines several problems and challenges, shows how problems can often be fixed, or prevented, and demonstrates ways in which challenges can be met. A number of topics are addressed, including distinguishing between curricula evaluation and evaluation of outcomes, types of evaluation, identifying stakeholders in school health evaluation, selection of a program evaluator, recruiting participants, design issues, staff training, parental consent, instrumentation, program implementation and treatment fidelity, participant retention, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, presentation of results, and manuscript preparation and submission. Although there is a lack of health-education program evaluation, rigorous evaluations that have been conducted have, at least in some cases, led to wider dissemination of effective programs. These suggestions will help those interested in school health education understand the importance of evaluation and will provide important guidelines for those conducting evaluations of school health-education programs. © 2012, American School Health Association.

Feedback Improvement in Automatic Program Evaluation Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skupas, Bronius

2010-01-01

Automatic program evaluation is a way to assess source program files. These techniques are used in learning management environments, programming exams and contest systems. However, use of automated program evaluation encounters problems: some evaluations are not clear for the students and the system messages do not show reasons for lost points.…

Use of program logic models in the Southern Rural Access Program evaluation.

PubMed

Pathman, Donald; Thaker, Samruddhi; Ricketts, Thomas C; Albright, Jennifer B

2003-01-01

The Southern Rural Access Program (SRAP) evaluation team used program logic models to clarify grantees' activities, objectives, and timelines. This information was used to benchmark data from grantees' progress reports to assess the program's successes. This article presents a brief background on the use of program logic models--essentially charts or diagrams specifying a program's planned activities, objectives, and goals--for evaluating and managing a program. It discusses the structure of the logic models chosen for the SRAP and how the model concept was introduced to the grantees to promote acceptance and use of the models. The article describes how the models helped clarify the program's objectives and helped lead agencies plan and manage the many program initiatives and subcontractors in their states. Models also provided a framework for grantees to report their progress to the National Program Office and evaluators and promoted the evaluators' visibility and acceptance by the grantees. Program logics, however, increased grantees' reporting requirements and demanded substantial time of the evaluators. Program logic models, on balance, proved their merit in the SRAP through their contributions to its management and evaluation and by providing a better understanding of the program's initiatives, successes, and potential impact.

A novel resident-as-teacher training program to improve and evaluate obstetrics and gynecology resident teaching skills.

PubMed

Ricciotti, Hope A; Dodge, Laura E; Head, Julia; Atkins, K Meredith; Hacker, Michele R

2012-01-01

Residents play a significant role in teaching, but formal training, feedback, and evaluation are needed. Our aims were to assess resident teaching skills in the resident-as-teacher program, quantify correlations of faculty evaluations with resident self-evaluations, compare resident-as-teacher evaluations with clinical evaluations, and evaluate the resident-as-teacher program. The resident-as-teacher training program is a simulated, videotaped teaching encounter with a trained medical student and standardized teaching evaluation tool. Evaluations from the resident-as-teacher training program were compared to evaluations of resident teaching done by faculty, residents, and medical students from the clinical setting. Faculty evaluation of resident teaching skills in the resident-as-teacher program showed a mean total score of 4.5 ± 0.5 with statistically significant correlations between faculty assessment and resident self-evaluations (r = 0.47; p < 0.001). However, resident self-evaluation of teaching skill was lower than faculty evaluation (mean difference: 0.4; 95% CI 0.3-0.6). When compared to the clinical setting, resident-as-teacher evaluations were significantly correlated with faculty and resident evaluations, but not medical student evaluations. Evaluations from both the resident-as-teacher program and the clinical setting improved with duration of residency. The resident-as-teacher program provides a method to train, give feedback, and evaluate resident teaching.

Program Evaluation of a Special Education Day School for Conduct Problem Adolescents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maher, Charles A.

1981-01-01

Describes a procedure for program evaluation of a special education day school. The procedure enables a program evaluator to: (1) identify priority evaluation information needs of a school staff, (2) involve those persons in evaluation design and implementation, and (3) determine the utility of the evaluation for program decision-making purposes.…

Evaluating programs that address ideological issues: ethical and practical considerations for practitioners and evaluators.

PubMed

Lieberman, Lisa D; Fagen, Michael C; Neiger, Brad L

2014-03-01

There are important practical and ethical considerations for organizations in conducting their own, or commissioning external, evaluations and for both practitioners and evaluators, when assessing programs built on strongly held ideological or philosophical approaches. Assessing whether programs "work" has strong political, financial, and/or moral implications, particularly when expending public dollars, and may challenge objectivity about a particular program or approach. Using a case study of the evaluation of a school-based abstinence-until-marriage program, this article discusses the challenges, lessons learned, and ethical responsibilities regarding decisions about evaluation, specifically associated with ideologically driven programs. Organizations should consider various stakeholders and views associated with their program to help identify potential pitfalls in evaluation. Once identified, the program or agency needs to carefully consider its answers to two key questions: Do they want the answer and are they willing to modify the program? Having decided to evaluate, the choice of evaluator is critical to assuring that ethical principles are maintained and potential skepticism or criticism of findings can be addressed appropriately. The relationship between program and evaluator, including agreements about ownership and eventual publication and/or promotion of data, should be addressed at the outset. Programs and organizations should consider, at the outset, their ethical responsibility when findings are not expected or desired. Ultimately, agencies, organizations, and programs have an ethical responsibility to use their data to provide health promotion programs, whether ideologically founded or not, that appropriately and effectively address the problems they seek to solve.

Educational Evaluation: Key Characteristics. ACER Research Series No. 102.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maling-Keepes, Jillian

A set of 13 key characteristics is presented as a framework for educational evaluation studies: (1) program's stage of development when evaluator is appointed; (2) program's openness to revision; (3) program uniformity from site to site; (4) specificity of program objectives; (5) evaluator's independence; (6) evaluator's orientation to value…

42 CFR 491.11 - Program evaluation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Program evaluation. 491.11 Section 491.11 Public... Certification; and FQHCs Conditions for Coverage § 491.11 Program evaluation. (a) The clinic or center carries out, or arranges for, an annual evaluation of its total program. (b) The evaluation includes review of...

Evaluating Educational Programs. ERIC Digest Series Number EA 54.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beswick, Richard

In this digest, readers are introduced to the scope of instructional program evaluation and evaluators' changing roles in school districts. A program evaluation measures outcomes based on student-attainment goals, implementation levels, and external factors such as budgetary restraints and community support. Instructional program evaluation may be…

Development and evaluation of ice phenology algorithm from space-borne active and passive microwave measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, K.; Duguay, C. R.

2013-12-01

The presence (or absence) of ice cover plays an important role in lake-atmosphere interactions at high latitudes during the winter months. Knowledge of ice phenology (i.e. freeze-onset/melt-onset, ice-on/ice-off dates, and ice cover duration) is crucial for understanding both the role of lake ice cover in and its response to regional weather and climate. Shortening of the ice cover season in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere over recent decades has been shown to significantly influence the thermal regime as well as the water quality and quantity of lakes. In this respect, satellite remote sensing instruments are providing invaluable measurements for monitoring changes in timing of ice phenological events and the length of the ice cover (or open water) season on large northern lakes, and also for providing more spatially representative limnological information than available from in situ measurements. In this study, we present a new ice phenology retrieval algorithm developed from the synergistic use of Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT), Oceansat-2 Scatterometer (OSCAT) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E). Retrieved ice dates are then evaluated against those derived from the NOAA Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) 4 km resolution product (2004-2011) during the freeze-up and break-up periods (2002-2012) for 11 lakes (Amadjuak, Nettilling, Great Bear, Great Slave, Manitoba, and Winnipeg in North America as well as Inarijrvi, Ladoga, Onega, Qinghai (Koko Nor), and Baikal in Eurasia). In addition, daily wind speed derived from QuikSCAT/OSCAT is analyzed along with WindSAT surface wind vector products (2002-2012) during the open water season for the large lakes. A detailed evaluation of the new algorithm conducted over Great Slave Lake (GSL) and Great Bear Lake (GBL) reveals that estimated ice-on/ice-off dates are within 4-7 days of those derived from the IMS product. Preliminary analysis of ice dates show that ice-on occurs three to five months earlier and ice-off two months later on GSL and GBL (Canada) compared to Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (Russia) mostly due to regional climate differences. Overall, the synergistic use of microwave satellite data from various sensors provides an invaluable opportunity for operational monitoring of ice cover on large northern lakes.

Developing Your Evaluation Plans: A Critical Component of Public Health Program Infrastructure.

PubMed

Lavinghouze, S Rene; Snyder, Kimberly

A program's infrastructure is often cited as critical to public health success. The Component Model of Infrastructure (CMI) identifies evaluation as essential under the core component of engaged data. An evaluation plan is a written document that describes how to monitor and evaluate a program, as well as how to use evaluation results for program improvement and decision making. The evaluation plan clarifies how to describe what the program did, how it worked, and why outcomes matter. We use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) "Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health" as a guide for developing an evaluation plan. Just as using a roadmap facilitates progress on a long journey, a well-written evaluation plan can clarify the direction your evaluation takes and facilitate achievement of the evaluation's objectives.

Evaluation of Career Guidance Programs: Models, Methods, and Microcomputers. Information Series No. 317.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crites, John O.

Evaluating the effectiveness of career guidance programs is a complex process, and few comprehensive models for evaluating such programs exist. Evaluation of career guidance programs has been hampered by the myth that program outcomes are uniform and monolithic. Findings from studies of attribute treatment interactions have revealed only a few…

Challenges to Evaluating Physical Activity Programs in American Indian/Alaska Native Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Erica Blue; Butler, James; Green, Kerry M.

2018-01-01

Despite the importance of evaluation to successful programming, a lack of physical activity program (PAP) evaluation for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) programs exists, which is significant given the high rates of obesity and diabetes in this population. While evaluation barriers have been identified broadly among AI/AN programs, challenges…

Evaluating Evaluations: The Case of Parent Involvement Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mattingly, Doreen J.; Prislin, Radmila; McKenzie, Thomas L.; Rodriguez, James L.; Kayzar, Brenda

2002-01-01

This article analyzes 41 studies that evaluated K-12 parent involvement programs in order to assess claims that such programs are an effective means of improving student learning. It examines the characteristics of the parent involvement programs, as well as the research design, data, and analytical techniques used in program evaluation. Our…

Development of a program logic model and evaluation plan for a participatory ergonomics intervention in construction.

PubMed

Jaegers, Lisa; Dale, Ann Marie; Weaver, Nancy; Buchholz, Bryan; Welch, Laura; Evanoff, Bradley

2014-03-01

Intervention studies in participatory ergonomics (PE) are often difficult to interpret due to limited descriptions of program planning and evaluation. In an ongoing PE program with floor layers, we developed a logic model to describe our program plan, and process and summative evaluations designed to describe the efficacy of the program. The logic model was a useful tool for describing the program elements and subsequent modifications. The process evaluation measured how well the program was delivered as intended, and revealed the need for program modifications. The summative evaluation provided early measures of the efficacy of the program as delivered. Inadequate information on program delivery may lead to erroneous conclusions about intervention efficacy due to Type III error. A logic model guided the delivery and evaluation of our intervention and provides useful information to aid interpretation of results. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development of a Program Logic Model and Evaluation Plan for a Participatory Ergonomics Intervention in Construction

PubMed Central

Jaegers, Lisa; Dale, Ann Marie; Weaver, Nancy; Buchholz, Bryan; Welch, Laura; Evanoff, Bradley

2013-01-01

Background Intervention studies in participatory ergonomics (PE) are often difficult to interpret due to limited descriptions of program planning and evaluation. Methods In an ongoing PE program with floor layers, we developed a logic model to describe our program plan, and process and summative evaluations designed to describe the efficacy of the program. Results The logic model was a useful tool for describing the program elements and subsequent modifications. The process evaluation measured how well the program was delivered as intended, and revealed the need for program modifications. The summative evaluation provided early measures of the efficacy of the program as delivered. Conclusions Inadequate information on program delivery may lead to erroneous conclusions about intervention efficacy due to Type III error. A logic model guided the delivery and evaluation of our intervention and provides useful information to aid interpretation of results. PMID:24006097

An Evaluation Program for the Eckerd Foundation Therapeutic Wilderness Camping Program: An Evaluation of an Atypical Alternative Education Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, William H.; Carter, James D.

The strategy used in evaluating an out-of-doors resident camping program for emotionally disturbed children is outlined. This strategy calls for examining the following elements in the program: (1) program goals and objectives; (2) collection and processing program data; (3) camper progress assessment; (4) program audit; (5) assessment of past…

Evaluation Planning, Evaluation Management, and Utilization of Evaluation Results within Adult Literacy Campaigns, Programs and Projects (with Implications for Adult Basic Education and Nonformal Education Programs in General). A Working Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhola, H. S.

Addressed to professionals involved in program evaluation, this working paper covers various aspects of evaluation planning, including the following: planning as a sociotechnical process, steps in evaluation planning, program planning and implementation versus evaluation planning and implementation, the literacy system and its subsystems, and some…

Planning Evaluation through the Program Life Cycle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheirer, Mary Ann; Mark, Melvin M.; Brooks, Ariana; Grob, George F.; Chapel, Thomas J.; Geisz, Mary; McKaughan, Molly; Leviton, Laura

2012-01-01

Linking evaluation methods to the several phases of a program's life cycle can provide evaluation planners and funders with guidance about what types of evaluation are most appropriate over the trajectory of social and educational programs and other interventions. If methods are matched to the needs of program phases, evaluation can and should…

The Evaluator's Role in Recommending Program Closure: A Model for Decision Making and Professional Responsibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eddy, Rebecca M.; Berry, Tiffany

2009-01-01

Evaluators face challenges when programs consistently fail to meet expectations for performance or improvement and consequently, evaluators may recommend that closing a program is the most prudent course of action. However, the evaluation literature provides little guidance regarding when an evaluator might recommend program closure. Given…

Limnology of Taylor Creek impoundment : with reference to other bodies in Upper St Johns River Basin, Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Goolsby, D.A.; McPherson, Benjamin F.

1978-01-01

Taylor Creek Impoundment, on the western part of the upper St. Johns basin, Fla., provides flood control and flow regulation. The 4,000-acre impoundment was first filled in 1969. The water was of relatively poor quality during the first three years of its existence, 1970-72. The impoundment is deep enough for thermal stratification, and a thermocline usually develops at 8 to 10 feet. During 1970-72 the hypolimnion remained anaerobic for more than six months. The poor water quality is attributed to the decomposition of flooded vegetation, of soil organic matter, and to heavy growths of phytoplankton and duckweed stimulated by an abundant supply of nutrients. Since 1972, the quality of the water has improved because of flushing of the impoundment and depletion of leachable nutrients and soil organic matter. The water is now similar in quality to that of nearby Wolf and Jane Green Creeks. Large releases of water may produce velocities great enough to resuspend bottom sediments several miles downstream where Taylor Creek flows into Lake Poinsett. (Woodard-USGS)

Extreme diel dissolved oxygen and carbon cycles in shallow vegetated lakes.

PubMed

Andersen, Mikkel R; Kragh, Theis; Sand-Jensen, Kaj

2017-09-13

A common perception in limnology is that shallow lakes are homogeneously mixed owing to their small water volume. However, this perception is largely gained by downscaling knowledge from large lakes to their smaller counterparts. Here we show that shallow vegetated lakes (less than 0.6 m), in fact, undergo recurring daytime stratification and nocturnal mixing accompanied by extreme chemical variations during summer. Dense submerged vegetation effectively attenuates light and turbulence generating separation between warm surface waters and much colder bottom waters. Photosynthesis in surface waters produces oxygen accumulation and CO 2 depletion, whereas respiration in dark bottom waters causes anoxia and CO 2 accumulation. High daytime pH in surface waters promotes precipitation of CaCO 3 which is re-dissolved in bottom waters. Nocturnal convective mixing re-introduces oxygen into bottom waters for aerobic respiration and regenerated inorganic carbon into surface waters, which supports intense photosynthesis. Our results reconfigure the basic understanding of local environmental gradients in shallow lakes, one of the most abundant freshwater habitats globally. © 2017 The Author(s).

Methylmercury in a predatory fish (Cichla spp.) inhabiting the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Kehrig, Helena do A; Howard, Bruce M; Malm, Olaf

2008-07-01

This research tested whether limnological conditions, biological characteristics of fish and anthropogenic impacts influenced the assimilation of methylmercury into the muscle of a sedentary piscivorous fish, Cichla spp., from three rivers (Negro, Madeira, Tapajós) and two hydroelectric reservoirs (Balbina, Tucuruí) within the Brazilian Amazon. Methylmercury in this fish ranged from 0.04 to 1.43microgg(-1) w.w. across sites. No significant differences were observed in the methylmercury concentrations between males and females, or for different morphotypes of this species. Positive correlations were found between methylmercury and fish body weight. No differences were found between the weight normalized methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations or its percent of total mercury in fish from the three rivers; weight normalized MeHg was highest in one of the two reservoirs. In Rio Tapajós, where gold mining and deforestation cause high water turbidity, fish showed the highest MeHg and concentrations were different across the four sites examined. In all sampling areas, the %MeHg was found to be higher than 70.

Ectoparasites of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in cage farming in a hydroelectric reservoir in Brazil.

PubMed

Zago, Aline Cristina; Franceschini, Lidiane; Garcia, Fabiana; Schalch, Sérgio Henrique Canello; Gozi, Kátia Suemi; Silva, Reinaldo José da

2014-01-01

For this study, we performed a parasitological analysis of cage-cultured Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from the Água Vermelha Reservoir, Southeastern Brazil, and verified relationships with limnological data, seasonality, and fish growth phase. From March 2010 to March 2011, sixty-three specimens of O. niloticus in three growth phases (i.e., initial, intermediate, and final) were collected. All fish specimens were infested with at least one ectoparasite species (prevalence = 100%). Five species of protozoans (Trichodina compacta, Trichodina magna, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Piscinoodinium pillulare, and Epistylis sp.) and five species of monogenoids (Cichlidogyrus halli, Cichlidogyrus thurstonae, Cichlidogyrus sp. 1, Scutogyrus longicornis, and Gyrodactylus sp.) were observed. The abundance of Trichodina spp. and the prevalence of Epistylis sp. were higher in the dry season, and the prevalence of C. halli was higher in the rainy season. For the majority of ectoparasites found in this study, fish in the intermediate and final phases had higher parasitism rates than those in the initial phase. The data presented may help fish farmers to understand the parasite dynamics of the fish species studied in cage-farming systems.

Trophic transfer of metals along freshwater food webs: Evidence of cadmium biomagnification in nature

USGS Publications Warehouse

Croteau, M.-N.; Luoma, S.N.; Stewart, A.R.

2005-01-01

We conducted a study with cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) in the delta of San Francisco Bay, using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes to identify trophic position and food web structure. Cadmium is progressively enriched among trophic levels in discrete epiphyte-based food webs composed of macrophyte-dwelling invertebrates (the first link being epiphytic algae) and fishes (the first link being gobies). Cadmium concentrations were biomagnified 15 times within the scope of two trophic links in both food webs. Trophic enrichment in invertebrates was twice that of fishes. No tendency toward trophic-level enrichment was observed for Cu, regardless of whether organisms were sorted by food web or treated on a taxonomic basis within discrete food webs. The greatest toxic effects of Cd are likely to occur with increasing trophic positions, where animals are ingesting Cd-rich prey (or food). In Franks Tract this occurs within discrete food chains composed of macrophyte-dwelling invertebrates or fishes inhabiting submerged aquatic vegetation. Unraveling ecosystem complexity is necessary before species most exposed and at risk can be identified. ?? 2005, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Limnological characterization of freshwater systems of the Thomas Point Oasis (Admiralty Bay, King George Island, West Antarctica)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nędzarek, Arkadiusz; Pociecha, Agnieszka

2010-12-01

Hydrochemical research into the small, shallow water bodies and wetland areas around the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station (King George Island) is presented. Concentrations of nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, and total nitrogen in these waters were determined, as were those of reactive and total phosphorous, inorganic carbon, organic carbon, total carbon, silicate, and chloride and sulfate ions. Conductivity and pH were also measured. Average concentrations ranged widely, e.g., total nitrogen 0.176-29.21 mg L -1, total phosphorus 0.022-18.35 mg L -1, total carbon 1.38-26.90 mg L -1, Cl - 30.17-850 mg L -1, and SO 42- 2.11-236 mg L -1. The trophic status was influenced by influxes of nitrogen and phosphorus from penguin rookeries. Selected water bodies supported 31 taxa of algae and 11 invertebrate taxa, with Euglenophyta dominating in waters with high concentrations of ammonium-nitrogen, whereas diatoms characterized Lake Wujka, with low ammonium concentrations. All water bodies studied had rotifers, but crustaceans were only represented in Lake Wujka.

An Equation of State for Hypersaline Water in Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Naftz, D.L.; Millero, F.J.; Jones, B.F.; Green, W.R.

2011-01-01

Great Salt Lake (GSL) is one of the largest and most saline lakes in the world. In order to accurately model limnological processes in GSL, hydrodynamic calculations require the precise estimation of water density (??) under a variety of environmental conditions. An equation of state was developed with water samples collected from GSL to estimate density as a function of salinity and water temperature. The ?? of water samples from the south arm of GSL was measured as a function of temperature ranging from 278 to 323 degrees Kelvin (oK) and conductivity salinities ranging from 23 to 182 g L-1 using an Anton Paar density meter. These results have been used to develop the following equation of state for GSL (?? = ?? 0.32 kg m-3): ?? - ??0 = 184.01062 + 1.04708 * S - 1.21061*T + 3.14721E - 4*S2 + 0.00199T2 where ??0 is the density of pure water in kg m-3, S is conductivity salinity g L-1, and T is water temperature in degrees Kelvin. ?? 2011 U.S. Government.

Structure and diversity of fishes in a freshwater and coastal subtropical lagoon.

PubMed

Ferreira, N C; Guereschi, R M; Machado, C; Lopes, C A; Nuñer, A P O

2017-04-01

This study examined the fish communities of Peri Lagoon in southern Brazil to aid in the development of an effective management plan because the area is under threat from human activities. Sampling of fish fauna, ichthyoplankton and limnological data were compared between sites, differing by habitat type and characteristics such as depth, substratum composition and vegetation type. Results were significantly related to site, with the highest diversity and abundance recorded at shallow vegetated sites. A total of 14 fish species were recorded throughout the lagoon, with the most abundant being Hyphessobrycon luetkenii. Of the 14 species, half were sampled at their larval stage, suggesting a healthy and protected system. Significantly more larvae and eggs were collected during colder months (autumn to winter) and at sites closer to stream flow, possibly owing to increased food sources and habitat protection. This study highlights the importance of Peri Lagoon as a nursery ground for a wide range of fish species, providing essential information for incorporation into the future protection of fish stocks throughout Brazil. © 2016 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Trophic State and Toxic Cyanobacteria Density in Optimization Modeling of Multi-Reservoir Water Resource Systems

PubMed Central

Sulis, Andrea; Buscarinu, Paola; Soru, Oriana; Sechi, Giovanni M.

2014-01-01

The definition of a synthetic index for classifying the quality of water bodies is a key aspect in integrated planning and management of water resource systems. In previous works [1,2], a water system optimization modeling approach that requires a single quality index for stored water in reservoirs has been applied to a complex multi-reservoir system. Considering the same modeling field, this paper presents an improved quality index estimated both on the basis of the overall trophic state of the water body and on the basis of the density values of the most potentially toxic Cyanobacteria. The implementation of the index into the optimization model makes it possible to reproduce the conditions limiting water use due to excessive nutrient enrichment in the water body and to the health hazard linked to toxic blooms. The analysis of an extended limnological database (1996–2012) in four reservoirs of the Flumendosa-Campidano system (Sardinia, Italy) provides useful insights into the strengths and limitations of the proposed synthetic index. PMID:24759172

The importance of submarine groundwater discharge to the nearshore nutrient supply in the Gulf of Aqaba (Israel)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shellenbarger, G.G.; Monismith, Stephen G.; Genin, A.; Paytan, A.

2006-01-01

We used two short-lived radium isotopes (223Ra, 224Ra) and a mass balance approach applied to the radium activities to determine the nutrient contribution of saline submarine groundwater discharge to the coastal waters of the northern Gulf of Aqaba (Israel). Radium isotope activities were measured along transects during two seasons at a site that lacked any obvious surficial water input. An onshore well and an offshore end member were also sampled. For all samples, nutrients and salinity data were collected. Radium isotope activities generally decreased with distance offshore and exhibited significant tidal variability, which is consistent with a shore-derived tidally influenced source. Submarine groundwater contributes only 1-2% of the water along this coast, but this groundwater provides 8-46% of the nutrients. This saline groundwater is derived predominately from tidally pumped seawater percolating through the unconfined coastal aquifer and leaching radium and nutrients. This process represents a significant source of nutrients to the oligotrophic nearshore reef. ?? 2006, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.

Evaluation of programs to improve complementary feeding in infants and young children.

PubMed

Frongillo, Edward A

2017-10-01

Evaluation of complementary feeding programs is needed to enhance knowledge on what works, to document responsible use of resources, and for advocacy. Evaluation is done during program conceptualization and design, implementation, and determination of effectiveness. This paper explains the role of evaluation in the advancement of complementary feeding programs, presenting concepts and methods and illustrating them through examples. Planning and investments for evaluations should occur from the beginning of the project life cycle. Essential to evaluation is articulation of a program theory on how change would occur and what program actions are required for change. Analysis of program impact pathways makes explicit the dynamic connections in the program theory and accounts for contextual factors that could influence program effectiveness. Evaluating implementation functioning is done through addressing questions about needs, coverage, provision, and utilization using information obtained from process evaluation, operations research, and monitoring. Evaluating effectiveness is done through assessing impact, efficiency, coverage, process, and causality. Plausibility designs ask whether the program seemed to have an effect above and beyond external influences, often using a nonrandomized control group and baseline and end line measures. Probability designs ask whether there was an effect using a randomized control group. Evaluations may not be able to use randomization, particularly for programs implemented at a large scale. Plausibility designs, innovative designs, or innovative combinations of designs sometimes are best able to provide useful information. Further work is needed to develop practical designs for evaluation of large-scale country programs on complementary feeding. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Using Evaluation to Guide and Validate Improvements to the Utah Master Naturalist Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larese-Casanova, Mark

2015-01-01

Integrating evaluation into an Extension program offers multiple opportunities to understand program success through achieving program goals and objectives, delivering programming using the most effective techniques, and refining program audiences. It is less common that evaluation is used to guide and validate the effectiveness of program…

Fate and effects of nitrogen and phosphorus in shallow vegetated aquatic ecosystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fairchild, James F.; Vradenburg, Leigh Ann

2006-01-01

Nitrate concentrations have greatly increased in streams and rivers draining agricultural regions of the Midwestern United States, increasing nitrate transport to the Gulf of Mexico has been implicated in the hypoxic conditions that threaten the productivity of marine fisheries. Increases in nitrate concentrations have been attributed to a combination of factors including agricultural expansion, increased nitrogen application rates, increased tile drainage, and loss of riparian Wetlands, These landscape-level changes have resulted in a decreased natural capacity for nitrogen uptake, removal, and cycling back to the atmosphere. Land managers are increasingly interested in using wetland construction and rehabilitation as a management practice to reduce loss of nitrate from the terrestrial systems. Yet, relatively little is known about the limnological factors involved in nitrate removal by Wetland systems.We conducted a series of studies from 1999-2000 to investigate the functional capacity of shallow, macrophyte-dominated pond wetland systems for uptake, assimilation, and retention of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). We evaluated four factors that were hypothesized to influence nutrient uptake and assimilation: 1) nitrate loading rates; 2) nitrogen to phosphorus (N.P) ratios; 3) frequency of dosing/application; and 4) timing of dose initiation.Nutrient assimilation was rapid; store than 90% of added nutrients were removed from the water column in all treatments. Neither variation in N:P ratios (evaluated range, <13:1 to -114.1), frequency of application (weekly or bi-weekly), nor liming of dose initiation relative to macrophyte development (0%, 15-25%, or 75-90% maximum biomass) had significant effects on nutrient assimilation of wetland community dynamics. Maximum loading of nitrate (60 g N/m2 2.4 g P/m2) applied as six weekly doses stimulated algal communities, but inhibited macrophyte communities.Predicted shifts from a stable state of macrophyte- to phytoplankton-dominance did not occur due to nutrient additions. Macrophytes, phytoplankton, and the sediment surface were all significant factors in the removal of nitrate from the Water column. Overall, these shallow macrophyte-dominated systems provided an efficient means of removing nutrients from the water column. Construction or rehabilitation of shallow, vegetated wetlands may offer promise as land management practices for nutrient removal in agricultural watersheds.

Landsat Spectral Indices Applied to Chl-a Monitoring in Finnish Lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeda, E. E.; Lisboa, F. B.; Brotas, V.; Kuikka, S.; Kaikkonen, L.

2017-12-01

With the launch of a new generation of multispectral space borne sensors, remote sensing of lakes has seen large progress in recent years. However, estimating the spatial and temporal distribution of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) across different environmental conditions remains challenging. In particular, constructing long time series of chl-a concentrations is hindered by the relatively recent use of ocean color satellites. The Landsat (LT) archive currently provides over three decades of images with suitable spatial resolution, and previous studies demonstrated good relationships between in situ measurements and LT reflectance bands. However, the estimation of limnological phytoplankton biomass based on LT data remains elusive, given its coarse spectral and temporal resolutions. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between chl-a concentrations, taken from in situ measurements, and LT spectral indices across 19 Finnish lakes. Image gathering and analysis of remotely sensed data were carried out using Google Earth Engine, allowing the assessment of the entire LT 5 and 7 archives. The boundaries of lakes' surfaces were defined using the permanent water regions of the Global Surface Water data set. We developed algorithms to iteratively derive models for chl-a estimation in all 19 lakes, resulting in a data set of correlation coefficients and statistical significances, from which we identified the best models for each lake. We evaluated models driven by single bands, band ratios, and multivariate fittings. Additionally, we included a variable time-window for matching up our imagery with the in situ data. Our results showed that the correlation between LT data and in-situ chl-a varies strongly among lakes. In some cases, a strong correlation can be found over specific bands or reflectance indices: Pyhäjärvi, multivariable model, R2 = 0.9, p-values = {0.04, 0.03} and Köyliönjärvi, R2 = 0.6, p-value = 0.009. Further studies will evaluate the reasons for discrepancies between lakes, as well as the chl-a threshold detection level among lakes with different trophic states.

Program Fair Evaluation--Summative Appraisal of Instructional Sequences with Dissimilar Objectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Popham, W. James

A comparative evaluation involving two instructional programs is given, although the approach can easily serve to compare more than two programs. The steps involved in conducting a program fair evaluation of two instructional programs are: (1) Identify objectives (a) common to both programs, (b) unique to one program, and (c) unique to the other…

Critical evaluation of international health programs: Reframing global health and evaluation.

PubMed

Chi, Chunhuei; Tuepker, Anaïs; Schoon, Rebecca; Núñez Mondaca, Alicia

2018-04-01

Striking changes in the funding and implementation of international health programs in recent decades have stimulated debate about the role of communities in deciding which health programs to implement. An important yet neglected piece of that discussion is the need to change norms in program evaluation so that analysis of community ownership, beyond various degrees of "participation," is seen as central to strong evaluation practices. This article challenges mainstream evaluation practices and proposes a framework of Critical Evaluation with 3 levels: upstream evaluation assessing the "who" and "how" of programming decisions; midstream evaluation focusing on the "who" and "how" of selecting program objectives; and downstream evaluation, the focus of current mainstream evaluation, which assesses whether the program achieved its stated objectives. A vital tenet of our framework is that a community possesses the right to determine the path of its health development. A prerequisite of success, regardless of technical outcomes, is that programs must address communities' high priority concerns. Current participatory methods still seldom practice community ownership of program selection because they are vulnerable to funding agencies' predetermined priorities. In addition to critiquing evaluation practices and proposing an alternative framework, we acknowledge likely challenges and propose directions for future research. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Applications of optical sensors for high-frequency water-quality monitoring and research

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pellerin, Brian

2015-01-01

The recent commercial availability of in-situ optical sensors, together with new techniques for data collection and analysis, provides the opportunity to monitor a wide range of water-quality constituents over time scales during which environmental conditions actually change. Traditional approaches for data collection (daily to monthly discrete samples) are often limited by high sample collection, processing, and analytical costs, difficult site access, and logistical challenges, particularly for long-term sampling at a large number of sites. Optical sensors that continuously measure constituents in the environment by absorbance or fluorescence properties (Figure 1) have had a long history of use in oceanography for measuring highly resolved concentrations and fluxes of organic matter, nutrients, and algal material. However, much of the work using commercially-available optical sensors in rivers and streams has taken place in only the last few years. Figure 1. [NOT SHOWN] Optical sensor technology is now sufficiently developed to warrant broader application for research and monitoring in coastal and freshwater systems, and the United States Geological Survey (a U.S. science agency) is now using these sensors in a variety of research and monitoring programs to better understand water quality in-situ and in real-time. Examples are numerous and range from the applications of nitrate sensors for calculating loads to estuaries susceptible to hypoxia (Pellerin et al., 2014) to the use of fluorometers to estimate methymercury fluxes (Bergamaschi et al., 2011) and disinfection byproduct formation (Carpenter et al., 2013). Transmitting these data in real-time provides information that can be used for early trend detection, help identify monitoring gaps critical for water management, and provide science-based decision support across a range of issues related to water quality, freshwater ecosystems, and human health. Despite the value of these sensors, collecting data that meet high-quality standards requires investment in and adherence to tested and established methods and protocols for sensor operation and data management (Pellerin et al., 2013). For example, optical sensor measurements can be strongly influenced by a variety of matrix effects, including water temperature, inner filtering from highly colored water, and scattering of light by suspended particles (Downing et al., 2012). Characterizing and correcting sensors for these effects – as well as the continued development of common methodologies and protocols for sensor use – will be critical to ensuring comparable measurements across sites and over time. In addition, collaborative efforts such as the Nutrient Sensor Challenge (www.nutrients-challenge.org) will continue to accelerate the development, production and use of affordable, reliable and accurate sensors for a range of environments. REFERENCES Bergamaschi .B.A., Fleck J.A., Downing B.D., Boss E., Pellerin B.A., Ganju N.K., Schoellhamer D.H., Byington A.A., Heim W.A., Stephenson M., Fujii R. (2011), Methyl mercury dynamics in a tidal wetland quantified using in situ optical measurements. Limnology and Oceanography, 56(4): 1355-1371. Carpenter K.D., Kraus T.E.C., Goldman J.H., Saraceno J., Downing B.D., Bergamaschi B.A., McGhee G., Triplett T. (2013), Sources and Characteristics of Organic Matter in the Clackamas River, Oregon, Related to the Formation of Disinfection By-products in Treated Drinking Water: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5001, 78 p. Downing .B.D., Pellerin B.A., Bergamaschi B.A., Saraceno J., Kraus T.E.K. (2012), Seeing the light: The effects of particles, temperature and inner filtering on in situ CDOM fluorescence in rivers and streams. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 10: 767-775. Pellerin B.A., Bergamaschi B.A., Downing B.D., Saraceno J., Garrett J.D., Olsen L.D. (2013), Optical Techniques for the Determination of Nitrate in En

A systematic review of evaluated suicide prevention programs targeting indigenous youth.

PubMed

Harlow, Alyssa F; Bohanna, India; Clough, Alan

2014-01-01

Indigenous young people have significantly higher suicide rates than their non-indigenous counterparts. There is a need for culturally appropriate and effective suicide prevention programs for this demographic. This review assesses suicide prevention programs that have been evaluated for indigenous youth in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The databases MEDLINE and PsycINFO were searched for publications on suicide prevention programs targeting indigenous youth that include reports on evaluations and outcomes. Program content, indigenous involvement, evaluation design, program implementation, and outcomes were assessed for each article. The search yielded 229 articles; 90 abstracts were assessed, and 11 articles describing nine programs were reviewed. Two Australian programs and seven American programs were included. Programs were culturally tailored, flexible, and incorporated multiple-levels of prevention. No randomized controlled trials were found, and many programs employed ad hoc evaluations, poor program description, and no process evaluation. Despite culturally appropriate content, the results of the review indicate that more controlled study designs using planned evaluations and valid outcome measures are needed in research on indigenous youth suicide prevention. Such changes may positively influence the future of research on indigenous youth suicide prevention as the outcomes and efficacy will be more reliable.

Let's get technical: Enhancing program evaluation through the use and integration of internet and mobile technologies.

PubMed

Materia, Frank T; Miller, Elizabeth A; Runion, Megan C; Chesnut, Ryan P; Irvin, Jamie B; Richardson, Cameron B; Perkins, Daniel F

2016-06-01

Program evaluation has become increasingly important, and information on program performance often drives funding decisions. Technology use and integration can help ease the burdens associated with program evaluation by reducing the resources needed (e.g., time, money, staff) and increasing evaluation efficiency. This paper reviews how program evaluators, across disciplines, can apply internet and mobile technologies to key aspects of program evaluation, which consist of participant registration, participant tracking and retention, process evaluation (e.g., fidelity, assignment completion), and outcome evaluation (e.g., behavior change, knowledge gain). In addition, the paper focuses on the ease of use, relative cost, and fit with populations. An examination on how these tools can be integrated to enhance data collection and program evaluation is discussed. Important limitations of and considerations for technology integration, including the level of technical skill, cost needed to integrate various technologies, data management strategies, and ethical considerations, are highlighted. Lastly, a case study of technology use in an evaluation conducted by the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State is presented and illustrates how technology integration can enhance program evaluation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Environmental Education in Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connect, 1984

1984-01-01

This newsletter discusses the evaluation of environmental education (EE) in schools, highlighting an introductory chapter of a proposed Unesco-United Nations environmental program guide on evaluating such programs. The benefits of evaluating an EE program (including program improvement, growth in student learning, better environment, and program…

Development, implementation, and evaluation of a multi-addiction prevention program for primary school students in Hong Kong: the B.E.S.T. Teen Program.

PubMed

Shek, Daniel T L; Yu, Lu; Leung, Hildie; Wu, Florence K Y; Law, Moon Y M

Based on the evaluation findings of the B.E.S.T. Teen Program which aimed at promoting behavioral, emotional, social, and thinking competencies in primary school students, it is argued in this paper that promotion of psychosocial competence to prevent addiction in primary school students is a promising strategy. A total of 382 Primary 5 (Grade 5) and 297 Primary 6 (Grade 6) students from five primary schools in Hong Kong participated in the program. Different evaluation strategies were adopted to evaluate the program. First, objective outcome evaluation adopting a non-equivalent group pretest-posttest experimental-control group design was conducted to examine change in the students. Second, to gauge students' perceptions of the program, subjective outcome evaluation was conducted. The evaluation findings basically converged to tentatively suggest that young adolescents benefited from participating in the program. Implications on the development, implementation, and evaluation of addiction prevention programs for teenagers are discussed.

Evaluating Faculty Development and Clinical Training Programs in Substance Abuse: A Guide Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klitzner, Michael; Stewart, Kathryn

Intended to provide an overview of program evaluation as it applies to the evaluation of faculty development and clinical training programs in substance abuse for health and mental health professional schools, this guide enables program developers and other faculty to work as partners with evaluators in the development of evaluation designs that…

The Discrepancy Evaluation Model: A Systematic Approach for the Evaluation of Career Planning and Placement Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buttram, Joan L.; Covert, Robert W.

The Discrepancy Evaluation Model (DEM), developed in 1966 by Malcolm Provus, provides information for program assessment and program improvement. Under the DEM, evaluation is defined as the comparison of an actual performance to a desired standard. The DEM embodies five stages of evaluation based upon a program's natural development: program…

Learning From Small-Scale Experimental Evaluations of After School Programs. Snapshot Number 8

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvard Family Research Project, Harvard University, 2006

2006-01-01

The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database contains profiles of out-of-school time (OST) program evaluations. Its purpose is to provide accessible information about previous and current evaluations to support the development of high quality evaluations and programs in the OST field. Types of Programs…

Evaluation of NASA space grant consortia programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisenberg, Martin A.

1990-01-01

The meaningful evaluation of the NASA Space Grant Consortium and Fellowship Programs must overcome unusual difficulties: (1) the program, in its infancy, is undergoing dynamic change; (2) the several state consortia and universities have widely divergent parochial goals that defy a uniform evaluative process; and (3) the pilot-sized consortium programs require that the evaluative process be economical in human costs less the process of evaluation comprise the effectiveness of the programs they are meant to assess. This paper represents an attempt to assess the context in which evaluation is to be conducted, the goals and limitations inherent to the evaluation, and to recommend appropriate guidelines for evaluation.

Right timing in formative program evaluation.

PubMed

Hall, Jori; Freeman, Melissa; Roulston, Kathy

2014-08-01

Since many educational researchers and program developers have limited knowledge of formative evaluation, formative data may be underutilized during the development and implementation of an educational program. The purpose of this article is to explain how participatory, responsive, educative, and qualitative approaches to formative evaluation can facilitate a partnership between evaluators and educational researchers and program managers to generate data useful to inform program implementation and improvement. This partnership is critical, we argue, because it enables an awareness of when to take appropriate action to ensure successful educational programs or "kairos". To illustrate, we use examples from our own evaluation work to highlight how formative evaluation may facilitate opportune moments to (1) define the substance and purpose of a program, (2) develop understanding and awareness of the cultural interpretations of program participants, and (3) show the relevance of stakeholder experiences to program goals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Moving the Needle on Program Quality: An Examination of the Organizational Characteristics That Drive Improvement in Expanded Learning Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Silvana

2017-01-01

Program evaluation can play a critical role in supporting high quality implementation of social programs to help them achieve their goal of social impact. Evaluation scholars have developed a wide range of strategies to help build programs' internal evaluation capacity in an effort to support meaningful use of evaluation. However, the evaluation…

FHWA Research and Technology Evaluation: Public-Private Partnership Capacity Building Program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-02-01

This report details the evaluation of the Federal Highway Administrations Office of Innovative Program Delivery Public-Private Partnership (P3) Capacity Building Program (P3 Program). The evaluators focused on the P3 Programs P3 Toolkit as an e...

The Value in Evaluating and Communicating Program Impact: The Ohio BR&E Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daivs, Gregory

2012-01-01

Assessing program impact can provide useful program evaluation data. It also provides a basis for program development, marketing, and justification. This article discusses recent impact evaluation efforts and findings of a long-time Extension program; referred to as Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E). How such information can be…

76 FR 62813 - Pilot Program To Evaluate Proposed Proprietary Name Submissions; Public Meeting on Pilot Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-11

...] Pilot Program To Evaluate Proposed Proprietary Name Submissions; Public Meeting on Pilot Program Results... voluntary pilot program that enabled participating pharmaceutical firms to evaluate proposed proprietary... public meeting at the end of fiscal year 2011 to discuss the results of the pilot program, but the Agency...

General Criteria for Evaluating Social Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shipman, Stephanie

1989-01-01

A framework of general evaluation criteria for ensuring the comprehensiveness of program reviews and appropriate and fair comparison of children's programs is outlined. It has two components: (1) descriptive; and (2) evaluative. The framework was developed by researchers at the General Accounting Office for evaluation of federal programs. (TJH)

29 CFR 1960.80 - Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... EMPLOYEE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs § 1960.80 Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health... evaluating an agency's occupational safety and health program. To accomplish this, the Secretary shall...

29 CFR 1960.80 - Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... EMPLOYEE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs § 1960.80 Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health... evaluating an agency's occupational safety and health program. To accomplish this, the Secretary shall...

29 CFR 1960.80 - Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... EMPLOYEE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs § 1960.80 Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health... evaluating an agency's occupational safety and health program. To accomplish this, the Secretary shall...

29 CFR 1960.80 - Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... EMPLOYEE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs § 1960.80 Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health... evaluating an agency's occupational safety and health program. To accomplish this, the Secretary shall...

Program Evaluation Interest and Skills of School Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Astramovich, Randall L.

2017-01-01

School counselors participated in a study examining their program evaluation interest and skills. Findings suggest that school counselors understand the importance of program evaluation, yet they may lack the skills and confidence to successfully engage in program evaluation activities. Professional development training may be an important method…

29 CFR 1960.80 - Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... EMPLOYEE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs § 1960.80 Secretary's evaluations of agency occupational safety and health... evaluating an agency's occupational safety and health program. To accomplish this, the Secretary shall...

Evaluating adolescent pregnancy programs: rethinking our priorities.

PubMed

Stahler, G J; DuCette, J P

1991-01-01

Noting that impact evaluations of adolescent pregnancy programs are characterized by poor quality, the authors recommend using a different standard in assessing the value of programs. While the number of adolescent pregnancy programs has multiplied during the last 3 decades, little is known about their impact in ameliorating the negative consequences of too-early childbearing. An ideal evaluation of these programs would randomly select and randomly assign subjects to experimental and control groups. But evaluations conducted by individual program generally face obstacles that limit the randomness of the study. most individual programs lack the financial resources and do not employ the full-time professional evaluators needed to carry out a valid evaluation. These factors result in too short an evaluation period, incomplete and inaccurate data, and lack of randomness in the assignment of control groups. To more accurately assess the impact of the programs, the authors recommend that individual programs focus on process evaluation and collection of complete and reliable data on their clients. From the onset, a program should have a clear description of its content, logic of intervention, and method of implementation. It should maintain thorough records on client characteristics, service utilization, and should conduct long-term follow-ups. For rigorous impact evaluations, programs should rely on 3rd party entities. These independent organizations -- universities or research institutes -- do not have a stake in the outcome of the evaluation, making the study all the more objective. Furthermore, they provide experienced researchers.

Evaluation readiness: improved evaluation planning using a data inventory framework.

PubMed

Cohen, A B; Hall, K C; Cohodes, D R

1985-01-01

Factors intrinsic to many programs, such as ambiguously stated objectives, inadequately defined performance measures, and incomplete or unreliable databases, often conspire to limit the evaluability of these programs. Current evaluation planning approaches are somewhat constrained in their ability to overcome these obstacles and to achieve full preparedness for evaluation. In this paper, the concept of evaluation readiness is introduced as a complement to other evaluation planning approaches, most notably that of evaluability assessment. The basic products of evaluation readiness--the formal program definition and the data inventory framework--are described, along with a guide for assuring more timely and appropriate evaluation response capability to support the decision making needs of program managers. The utility of evaluation readiness for program planning, as well as for effective management, is also discussed.

Measuring Success: Evaluating Educational Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Yael

2010-01-01

This paper reveals a new evaluation model, which enables educational program and project managers to evaluate their programs with a simple and easy to understand approach. The "index of success model" is comprised of five parameters that enable to focus on and evaluate both the implementation and results of an educational program. The…

The Role of Evaluation and Plans for Evaluating the Current Testing Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winters, Lynn

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Office of Program Evaluation and Research is responsible for providing information for program development and improvement; providing test information to special programs coordinators; and acting as a clearinghouse for all information concerning tests, evaluation methodology, and educational…

Tools for Formative Evaluation: Gathering the Information Necessary for Program Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jayaratne, K. S. U.

2016-01-01

New Extension educators experience a steep learning curve when attempting to develop effective Extension programs. Formative evaluation is helpful to new, and experienced, Extension educators in determining the changes necessary for making programs more effective. Formative evaluation is an essential part of program evaluation. However, its use…

Dissemination and implementation science in program evaluation: A telemental health clinical consultation case example.

PubMed

Arora, Prerna G; Connors, Elizabeth H; Blizzard, Angela; Coble, Kelly; Gloff, Nicole; Pruitt, David

2017-02-01

Increased attention has been placed on evaluating the extent to which clinical programs that support the behavioral health needs of youth have effective processes and result in improved patient outcomes. Several theoretical frameworks from dissemination and implementation (D&I) science have been put forth to guide the evaluation of behavioral health program implemented in the context of real-world settings. Although a strong rationale for the integration of D&I science in program evaluation exists, few examples exist available to guide the evaluator in integrating D&I science in the planning and execution of evaluation activities. This paper seeks to inform program evaluation efforts by outlining two D&I frameworks and describing their integration in program evaluation design. Specifically, this paper seeks to support evaluation efforts by illustrating the use of these frameworks via a case example of a telemental health consultation program in pediatric primary care designed to improve access to behavioral health care for children and adolescents in rural settings. Lessons learned from this effort, as well as recommendations regarding the future evaluation of programs using D&I science to support behavioral health care in community-based settings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From Implementation to Outcomes to Impacts: Designing a Comprehensive Program Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shebby, S.

2015-12-01

Funders are often interested in learning about the impact of program activities, yet before the impacts are determined, educational evaluations should first examine program implementation and outcomes. Implementation evaluation examines how and the extent to which program activities are delivered as intended, including the extent to which activities reached the targeted participants. Outcome evaluation is comprised of a systematic examination of the effects that a program has on program participants, such as changes in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors. In this presentation, presenters will share insights on evaluating the implementation, outcomes, and impacts associated with an online science curriculum for K-2 students. The science curriculum was designed to provide students with access to science concepts and skills in an interactive and innovative environment, and teachers with embedded, aligned, and on-demand professional development. One of the most important—and challenging—steps in this evaluation was to select outcomes that were well-defined, measurable, and aligned to program activities, as well as relevant to program stakeholders. An additional challenge was to measure implementation given limited access to the classroom environment. This presentation will include a discussion of the process evaluators used to select appropriate implementation indicators and outcomes (teacher and student), design an evaluation approach, and craft data collection instruments. Although examples provided are specific to the K-2 science intervention, the best practices discussed are pertinent to all program and event evaluations. Impact evaluation goes beyond implementation and outcome evaluation to inform whether a program is working or not. It requires a comparison group to inform what outcomes would have been in the absence of the intervention. As such, this presentation will also include a discussion of impacts, including how impacts are defined and measured, and some common challenges in evaluating program impact.

Lazy evaluation of FP programs: A data-flow approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wei, Y.H.; Gaudiot, J.L.

1988-12-31

This paper presents a lazy evaluation system for the list-based functional language, Backus` FP in data-driven environment. A superset language of FP, called DFP (Demand-driven FP), is introduced. FP eager programs are transformed into DFP lazy programs which contain the notions of demands. The data-driven execution of DFP programs has the same effects of lazy evaluation. DFP lazy programs have the property of always evaluating a sufficient and necessary result. The infinite sequence generator is used to demonstrate the eager-lazy program transformation and the execution of the lazy programs.

Summary of Program Evaluation Results: 1985-1986 School Year Pre-Kindergarten Educational Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heath, Robert W.; And Others

Reported are findings of the 1985-86 program evaluation of the prenatal-to-preschool and preschool programs operating under the auspices of the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate. Evaluation of the prenatal-to-preschool program (the Kupulani Program) included item analysis of the Questions about Pregnancy Test, development of a revised data…

Integrating Program Theory and Systems-Based Procedures in Program Evaluation: A Dynamic Approach to Evaluate Educational Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grammatikopoulos, Vasilis

2012-01-01

The current study attempts to integrate parts of program theory and systems-based procedures in educational program evaluation. The educational program that was implemented, called the "Early Steps" project, proposed that physical education can contribute to various educational goals apart from the usual motor skills improvement. Basic…

Leisure Today. Leisure Programming: The State of the Art.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Busser, James A.; And Others

1993-01-01

Nine articles examine current topics in leisure programing, including program design and evaluation, program design through imagery, keys to quality leisure programing, programing with style, total quality program planning, evaluation of leisure programs, programing for older adults, and the intergenerational entrepreneurship demonstration…

Evaluating Educational Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ball, Samuel

The activities of Educational Testing Service (ETS) in evaluating educational programs are described. Program evaluations are categorized as needs assessment, formative evaluation, or summative evaluation. Three classic efforts which illustrate the range of ETS' participation are the Pennsylvania Goals Study (1965), the Coleman Report--Equality of…

The opportunities and challenges of multi-site evaluations: lessons from the jail diversion and trauma recovery national cross-site evaluation.

PubMed

Stainbrook, Kristin; Penney, Darby; Elwyn, Laura

2015-06-01

Multi-site evaluations, particularly of federally funded service programs, pose a special set of challenges for program evaluation. Not only are there contextual differences related to project location, there are often relatively few programmatic requirements, which results in variations in program models, target populations and services. The Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery-Priority to Veterans (JDTR) National Cross-Site Evaluation was tasked with conducting a multi-site evaluation of thirteen grantee programs that varied along multiple domains. This article describes the use of a mixed methods evaluation design to understand the jail diversion programs and client outcomes for veterans with trauma, mental health and/or substance use problems. We discuss the challenges encountered in evaluating diverse programs, the benefits of the evaluation in the face of these challenges, and offer lessons learned for other evaluators undertaking this type of evaluation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Bereavement Support Program for Survivors of Cancer Deaths: A Description and Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Souter, Susan J.; Moore, Timothy E.

1990-01-01

Describes bereavement support program for survivors of cancer deaths developed by Riverdale Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Presents detailed program evaluation which asked bereaved survivors who were program participants for one year to evaluate program aspects and facilitation of their grief by volunteers. Recommendations for expansion and…

Title V Delinquency Prevention Program. Community Self-Evaluation Workbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caliber Associates, Fairfax, VA.

This workbook is designed to help communities and program administrators assess the success of their Title V delinquency prevention programs, but it may serve as an evaluation tool for other prevention efforts as well. It provides information and resource aids on program planning, conducting evaluations, tracking programs, describing activities,…

The Evaluation and Research of Multi-Project Programs: Program Component Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Eva L.

1977-01-01

It is difficult to base evaluations on concepts irrelevant to state policy making. Evaluation of a multiproject program requires both time and differentiation of method. Data from the California Early Childhood Program illustrate process variables for program component analysis, and research questions for intraprogram comparison. (CP)

LEA Title VII Program Evaluations. Panel Presentations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balu, Raj

These panel presentations focus on LEA Title VII Program Evaluations. Raj Balu, an administrator of bilingual programs in Chicago presents information regarding the bilingual education program in the Chicago public schools, as well as information on Title VII programs and what kind of evaluation is being done. Jesus Salazar, who is currently…

Evaluating Social Programs at the State and Local Level. The JTPA Evaluation Design Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blalock, Ann Bonar, Ed.; And Others

This book on evaluating social programs is an outcome of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Evaluation Design Project, which produced a set of 10 guides for the evaluation of state and local JTPA programs. This book distills ideas from these guides and applies them to a larger context. Part 1 presents a general approach to program evaluation…

Program Theory and Quality Matter: Changing the Course of Extension Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Mary E.; Cater, Melissa

2016-01-01

As internal evaluators for the 4-H program in two states, we simultaneously yet independently began to change the way we approached our evaluation practices, turning from evaluation capacity building (ECB) efforts that prepared educators to define and measure program outcomes to strategies that engage educators in defining and measuring program…

Program Evaluation of Community College Learning Assistance Centers: What Do LAC Directors Think?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Doug; Blankenberger, Bob

2016-01-01

Objective: This study seeks to determine the nature of current program evaluation practices for learning assistance centers (LACs), the practices being used for program evaluation, and whether LAC directors believe their practices are appropriate for evaluating program effectiveness. Method: We conducted a survey (n = 61) of community college LAC…

The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation: Early Findings on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. A Report to Congress. OPRE Report 2015-11

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michalopoulos, Charles; Lee, Helen; Duggan, Anne; Lundquist, Erika; Tso, Ada; Crowne, Sarah Shea; Burrell, Lori; Somers, Jennifer; Filene, Jill H.; Knox, Virginia

2015-01-01

"The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation: Early Findings on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program--A Report to Congress" presents the first findings from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE), the legislatively mandated national evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, and…

EVALUE : a computer program for evaluating investments in forest products industries

Treesearch

Peter J. Ince; Philip H. Steele

1980-01-01

EVALUE, a FORTRAN program, was developed to provide a framework for cash flow analysis of investment opportunities. EVALUE was designed to assist researchers in evaluating investment feasibility of new technology or new manufacturing processes. This report serves as user documentation for the EVALUE program. EVALUE is briefly described and notes on preparation of a...

Using Evaluability Assessment to Improve Program Evaluation for the Blue-Throated Macaw Environmental Education Project in Bolivia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salvatierra da Silva, Daniela; Jacobson, Susan K.; Monroe, Martha C.; Israel, Glenn D.

2016-01-01

An evaluability assessment of a program to save a critically endangered bird helped prepare the Blue-throated Macaw Environmental Education Project for evaluation and program improvement. The evaluability assessment facilitated agreement among key stakeholders on evaluation criteria and intended uses of evaluation information in order to maximize…

An evaluation capacity building toolkit for principal investigators of undergraduate research experiences: A demonstration of transforming theory into practice.

PubMed

Rorrer, Audrey S

2016-04-01

This paper describes the approach and process undertaken to develop evaluation capacity among the leaders of a federally funded undergraduate research program. An evaluation toolkit was developed for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering(1) Research Experiences for Undergraduates(2) (CISE REU) programs to address the ongoing need for evaluation capacity among principal investigators who manage program evaluation. The toolkit was the result of collaboration within the CISE REU community with the purpose being to provide targeted instructional resources and tools for quality program evaluation. Challenges were to balance the desire for standardized assessment with the responsibility to account for individual program contexts. Toolkit contents included instructional materials about evaluation practice, a standardized applicant management tool, and a modulated outcomes measure. Resulting benefits from toolkit deployment were having cost effective, sustainable evaluation tools, a community evaluation forum, and aggregate measurement of key program outcomes for the national program. Lessons learned included the imperative of understanding the evaluation context, engaging stakeholders, and building stakeholder trust. Results from project measures are presented along with a discussion of guidelines for facilitating evaluation capacity building that will serve a variety of contexts. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Software Line-up: What Reviewers Look for When Evaluating Software.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ELECTRONIC Learning, 1982

1982-01-01

Contains a check list to aid teachers in evaluating software used in computer-assisted instruction on microcomputers. The evaluation form contains three sections: program description, program evaluation, and overall evaluation. A brief description of a software evaluation program in use at the Granite School District in Utah is included. (JJD)

Using Program Theory-Driven Evaluation Science to Crack the Da Vinci Code

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Stewart I.

2005-01-01

Program theory-driven evaluation science uses substantive knowledge, as opposed to method proclivities, to guide program evaluations. It aspires to update, clarify, simplify, and make more accessible the evolving theory of evaluation practice commonly referred to as theory-driven or theory-based evaluation. The evaluator in this chapter provides a…

The Cost-Income Compenent of Program Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miner, Norris

Cost-income studies are designed to serve two functions in instructional program evaluation. First, they act as the indicator of the economic value of a program. This economic value in conjunction with the other educational values needed in program evaluation allow for the most realistic appraisal of program worth. Second, if the studies show a…

Program Theory Evaluation: Logic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brousselle, Astrid; Champagne, Francois

2011-01-01

Program theory evaluation, which has grown in use over the past 10 years, assesses whether a program is designed in such a way that it can achieve its intended outcomes. This article describes a particular type of program theory evaluation--logic analysis--that allows us to test the plausibility of a program's theory using scientific knowledge.…

Better Crunching: Recommendations for Multivariate Data Analysis Approaches for Program Impact Evaluations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braverman, Marc T.

2016-01-01

Extension program evaluations often present opportunities to analyze data in multiple ways. This article suggests that program evaluations can involve more sophisticated data analysis approaches than are often used. On the basis of a hypothetical program scenario and corresponding data set, two approaches to testing for evidence of program impact…

Testing of a Program Evaluation Model: Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagler, Phyllis J.; Marson, Arthur A.

A program evaluation model developed by Moraine Park Technical Institute (MPTI) is described in this report. Following background material, the four main evaluation criteria employed in the model are identified as program quality, program relevance to community needs, program impact on MPTI, and the transition and growth of MPTI graduates in the…

The Houston Community College Eligible Legalized Alien Program. Evaluation Program. Evaluation Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seaman, Don F.; Cuellar, Sylvia

The Houston Community College (Texas) program (TOTAL ACCESS) designed in response to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, is described and evaluated. The program offers classes to eligible aliens (97% Hispanic Americans from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala) wishing to pursue the educational program required for legalization. Program…

Redesigning and aligning assessment and evaluation for a federally funded math and science teacher educational program.

PubMed

Hardré, Patricia L; Slater, Janis; Nanny, Mark

2010-11-01

This paper examines the redesign of evaluation components for a teacher professional development project funded by the National Science Foundation. It focuses on aligning evaluation instrumentation and strategies with program goals, research goals and program evaluation best practices. The study identifies weaknesses in the original (year 1) program evaluation design and implementation, develops strategies and tracks changes for year 2 implementation, and then reports enhancement of findings and recommendations for year 3. It includes lessons learned about assessment and evaluation over the project lifespan, with implications for research and evaluation of a range of related programs. This study functions as a classic illustration of how critical it is to observe first principles of assessment and evaluation for funded programs, the risks that arise when they are ignored, and the benefits that accrue when they are systematically observed. Copyright (c) 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Solar energy program evaluation: an introduction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

deLeon, P.

The Program Evaluation Methodology provides an overview of the practice and methodology of program evaluation and defines more precisely the evaluation techniques and methodologies that would be most appropriate to government organizations which are actively involved in the research, development, and commercialization of solar energy systems. Formal evaluation cannot be treated as a single methodological approach for assessing a program. There are four basic types of evaluation designs - the pre-experimental design; the quasi-experimental design based on time series; the quasi-experimental design based on comparison groups; and the true experimental design. This report is organized to first introduce the rolemore » and issues of evaluation. This is to provide a set of issues to organize the subsequent sections detailing the national solar energy programs. Then, these two themes are integrated by examining the evaluation strategies and methodologies tailored to fit the particular needs of the various individual solar energy programs. (MCW)« less

Iterative Evaluation in a Mobile Counseling and Testing Program to Reach People of Color at Risk for HIV--New Strategies Improve Program Acceptability, Effectiveness, and Evaluation Capabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spielberg, Freya; Kurth, Ann; Reidy, William; McKnight, Teka; Dikobe, Wame; Wilson, Charles

2011-01-01

This article highlights findings from an evaluation that explored the impact of mobile versus clinic-based testing, rapid versus central-lab based testing, incentives for testing, and the use of a computer counseling program to guide counseling and automate evaluation in a mobile program reaching people of color at risk for HIV. The program's…

State Education Department: Security over Pupil Evaluation Program and Program Evaluation Test Materials Needs Improvement. Report 91-S-2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York State Office of the Comptroller, Albany.

Findings of an audit of the New York State Education Department's procedures to maintain security over Pupil Evaluation Program (PEP) and Program Evaluation Test (PET) examination materials are presented in this report. The audit sought to determine whether the department's security procedures adequately prevented unauthorized access to exam…

Austin Independent School District Office of Program Evaluation Agenda 1998-99. Publication Number 98.01.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin Independent School District, TX. Office of Program Evaluation.

The Office of Program Evaluation (OPE) of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) (AISD) is charged with evaluating federally, locally, and state funded programs in the AISD. OPE staff carry out mandated reporting for federal and state grants and are increasingly involved in formative evaluations designed for program improvement and…

How To Design a Program Evaluation. CSE Program Evaluation Kit, Volume 3. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitz-Gibbon, Carol Taylor; Morris, Lynn Lyons

The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, the third in the kit, discusses the logic underlying the use of quantitative research designs, including the pretest-posttest design, and supplies step-by-step procedures for setting up and interpreting the…

Integrating Data Mining in Program Evaluation of K-12 Online Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Jui-Long; Hsu, Yu-Chang; Rice, Kerry

2012-01-01

This study investigated an innovative approach of program evaluation through analyses of student learning logs, demographic data, and end-of-course evaluation surveys in an online K-12 supplemental program. The results support the development of a program evaluation model for decision making on teaching and learning at the K-12 level. A case study…

45 CFR 2516.850 - What will the Corporation do to evaluate the overall success of the service-learning program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... overall success of the service-learning program? 2516.850 Section 2516.850 Public Welfare Regulations...-LEARNING PROGRAMS Evaluation Requirements § 2516.850 What will the Corporation do to evaluate the overall success of the service-learning program? (a) The Corporation will conduct independent evaluations. These...

45 CFR 2516.850 - What will the Corporation do to evaluate the overall success of the service-learning program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... overall success of the service-learning program? 2516.850 Section 2516.850 Public Welfare Regulations...-LEARNING PROGRAMS Evaluation Requirements § 2516.850 What will the Corporation do to evaluate the overall success of the service-learning program? (a) The Corporation will conduct independent evaluations. These...

Non-Formal Educator Use of Evaluation Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baughman, Sarah; Boyd, Heather H.; Franz, Nancy K.

2012-01-01

Increasing demands for accountability in educational programming have resulted in increasing calls for program evaluation in educational organizations. Many organizations include conducting program evaluations as part of the job responsibilities of program staff. Cooperative Extension is a complex organization offering non-formal educational…

SUPERFUND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION PROGRAM: PROGRESS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS - FISCAL YEAR 1991

EPA Science Inventory

The Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program was the first major program for demonstrating and evaluating full-scale innovative treatment technologies at hazardous waste sites. Having concluded its fifth year, the SITE program is recognized as a leading advocate ...

Using Curriculum-Based Measurements for Program Evaluation: Expanding Roles for School Psychologists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tusing, Mary E.; Breikjern, Nicholle A.

2017-01-01

Educators increasingly need to evaluate schoolwide reform efforts; however, complex program evaluations often are not feasible in schools. Through a case example, we provide a heuristic for program evaluation that is easily replicated in schools. Criterion-referenced interpretations of schoolwide screening data were used to evaluate outcomes…

Using Evaluation and Research Theory to Improve Programs in Applied Settings: An Interview with Thomas D. Cook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buescher, Thomas M.

1986-01-01

An interview with T. Cook, author of works on the use of research and evaluation theory and design, touches on such topics as practical evaluation, planning programs with evaluation or research design, and evaluation of programs for gifted students. (CL)

Modification and Adaptation of the Program Evaluation Standards in Saudi Arabia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alyami, Mohammed

2013-01-01

The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation's Program Evaluation Standards is probably the most recognized and applied set of evaluation standards globally. The most recent edition of The Program Evaluation Standards includes five categories and 30 standards. The five categories are Utility, Feasibility, Propriety, Accuracy, and…

Evaluation Strategies in Financial Education: Evaluation with Imperfect Instruments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Lauren; Dudensing, Rebekka; Granovsky, Nancy L.

2016-01-01

Program evaluation often suffers due to time constraints, imperfect instruments, incomplete data, and the need to report standardized metrics. This article about the evaluation process for the Wi$eUp financial education program showcases the difficulties inherent in evaluation and suggests best practices for assessing program effectiveness. We…

Library Programs. Evaluating Federally Funded Public Library Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.

Following an introduction by Betty J. Turock, nine reports examine key issues in library evaluation: (1) "Output Measures and the Evaluation Process" (Nancy A. Van House) describes measurement as a concept to be understood in the larger context of planning and evaluation; (2) "Adapting Output Measures to Program Evaluation"…

Responsive Meta-Evaluation: A Participatory Approach to Enhancing Evaluation Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sturges, Keith M.; Howley, Caitlin

2017-01-01

In an era of ever-deepening budget cuts and a concomitant demand for substantiated programs, many organizations have elected to conduct internal program evaluations. Internal evaluations offer advantages (e.g., enhanced evaluator program knowledge and ease of data collection) but may confront important challenges, including credibility threats,…

When Unintended Consequences Become the Main Effect: Evaluating the Development of a Foster Parent Training Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loesch-Griffin, Deborah A.; Ringstaff, Cathy

A program of education, training, and support provided to foster parents in a California county through a nonprofit agency is evaluated. The evaluators' experience indicates that: (1) evaluations are gaining in popularity; (2) role shifts by evaluators are sometimes difficult to perceive; (3) program staff are unlikely to use evaluative feedback…

INSREC: Computational System for Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Effects Covering All Radiation Field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dong Hoon Shin; Young Wook Lee; Young Ho Cho

2006-07-01

In the nuclear energy field, there are so many difficult things that even people who are working in this field are not much familiar with, such as, Dose evaluation, Dose management, etc. Thus, so many efforts have been done to achieve the knowledge and data for understanding. Although some data had been achieved, the applications of these data to necessary cases were more difficult job. Moreover, the type of Dose evaluation program until now was 'Console type' which is not easy enough to use for the beginners. To overcome the above causes of difficulties, the window-based integrated program and databasemore » management were developed in our research lab. The program, called as INSREC, consists of four sub-programs as follow; INSREC-NOM, INSREC-ACT, INSREC-MED, and INSREC-EXI. In ICONE 11 conference, INSREC-program(ICONE-36203) which can evaluates on/off-site dose of nuclear power plant in normal operation was introduced. Upgraded INSREC-program which will be presented in ICONE 14 conference has three additional codes comparing with pre-presented INSREC-program. Those subprograms can evaluate on/off-site Dose of nuclear power plant in accident cases. And they also have the functions of 'Dose evaluation and management' in the hospital and provide the 'Expert system' based on knowledge related to nuclear energy/radiation field. The INSREC-NOM, one of subprograms, is composed of 'Source term evaluation program', 'Atmospheric diffusion factor evaluation program', 'Off-site dose evaluation program', and 'On-site database program'. The INSREC-ACT is composed of 'On/Off-site dose evaluation program' and 'Result analysis program' and the INSREC-MED is composed of 'Workers/patients dose database program' and 'Dose evaluation program for treatment room'. The final one, INSREC-EXI, is composed of 'Database searching program based on artificial intelligence', 'Instruction program,' and 'FAQ/Q and A boards'. Each program was developed by using of Visual C++, Microsoft Access mainly. To verify the reliability, some suitable programs were selected such as AZAP and Stardose programs for the comparison. The AZAP program was selected for the on/off-site dose evaluation during the normal operation of nuclear reactor and Stardose program was used for the on/off-site dose evaluation in accident. The MCNP code was used for the dose evaluation and management in the hospital. Each comparison result was acceptable in errors analysis. According to the reliable verification results, it was concluded that INSREC program had an acceptable reliability for dose calculation and could give many proper dada for the sites. To serve the INSREC to people, the proper server system was constructed. We gave chances for the people (user) to utilize the INSREC through network connected to server system. The reactions were pretty much good enough to be satisfied. For the future work, many efforts will be given to improve the better user-interface and more necessary data will be provided to more people through database supplement and management. (authors)« less

Evaluation of the Radiography Program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute--Summer, 1982.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pipes, V. David

As part of a periodic evaluation of the occupational programs at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCC&TI), a study of the radiography program was conducted to collect information to facilitate planning, aid in program improvement, and meet accountability demands. The specific objectives of the program evaluation were to…

Is Evaluative Research on Youth Suicide Programs Theory-Driven? The Canadian Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breton, Jean-Jacques; Boyer, Richard; Bilodeau, Henriette; Raymond, Sylvaine; Joubert, Natacha; Nantel, Marie-Andree

2002-01-01

A review found that only 15 Canadian youth suicide programs were evaluated over the last decade. Descriptions of the programs were incomplete and theoretical bases for programs were not presented. Only two programs led to a reduction in suicidal behavior. Suggests that future evaluative research needs to place greater emphasis on content and…

Guidelines "PEP," Peer Evaluation Program. A Systematic Approach for Evaluating Educational Programs, 1973-1974.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grotsky, Jeffery N.; And Others

The Peer Evaluation Program (PEP) has been instituted by the Division of Special Education, Pennsylvania State Department of Education, to allow intermediate units an opportunity to continuously improve their programs. The advantages of the PEP system are: (1) it is a self-improvememt system of program development; (2) PEP allows local autonomy as…

Handbook for Evaluating Drug and Alcohol Prevention Programs: Staff/Team Evaluation of Prevention Programs (STEPP).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, J. David; Nederhood, Britt

This handbook was developed for the purpose of providing drug and alcohol prevention program managers with a comprehensive yet easy-to-use tool to help their evaluation efforts. The handbook emphasizes program staff members working together as a team. It provides instruments and activities for determining program effectiveness, as well as…

Design and Operation of the Transformed National Healthy Start Evaluation.

PubMed

Banks, Jamelle E; Dwyer, Maura; Hirai, Ashley; Ghandour, Reem M; Atrash, Hani K

2017-12-01

Purpose Improving pregnancy outcomes for women and children is one of the nation's top priorities. The Healthy Start (HS) program was created to address factors that contribute to high infant mortality rates (IMRs) and persistent disparities in IMRs. The program began in 1991 and was transformed in 2014 to apply lessons from emerging research, past evaluation findings, and expert recommendations. To understand the implementation and impact of the transformed program, there is a need for a robust and comprehensive evaluation. Description The national HS evaluation will include an implementation evaluation, which will describe program components that affect outcomes; a utilization evaluation, which will examine the characteristics of women and infants who did and did not utilize the program; and an outcome evaluation, which will assess the program's effectiveness with regard to producing expected outcomes among the target population. Data sources include the National HS Program Survey, a HS participant survey, and individual-level program data linked to vital records and the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey. Assessment Descriptive analyses will be used to examine differences in risk profiles between participants and non-participants, as well as to calculate penetration rates for high-risk women in respective service areas. Multivariable analyses will be used to determine the impact of the program on key outcomes and will explore variation by dose, type of services received, and grantee characteristics. Conclusion Evaluation findings are expected to inform program decisions and direction, including identification of effective program components that can be spread and scaled.

Evaluation of the Academic Occupational Program of the County of Leduc, From September, 1981 to June, 1984. Executive Summary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nyberg, V. R.

The paper reports results of an academic occupational program intended for educable mentally handicapped and learning disabled secondary students in Leduc, Alberta. An introduction reviews history of the program and the evaluation process. The evaluation plan, based on R. Stake's model for program evaluation, is described, and sources of data…

Human Services Program Evaluation: "How to Improve Your Accountability and Program Effectiveness"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrett, Thomas; Sorensen, James

2015-01-01

The term "outcome evaluation" has become one of the most popular terms among human service providers and those whose job it is to evaluate the impact of human service programs. In the public sector alone, there are over a hundred instruments in use to evaluate the impact of state human service programs. Most states, many providers, and…

A multidimensional evaluation of a nursing information-literacy program.

PubMed Central

Fox, L M; Richter, J M; White, N E

1996-01-01

The goal of an information-literacy program is to develop student skills in locating, evaluating, and applying information for use in critical thinking and problem solving. This paper describes a multidimensional evaluation process for determining nursing students' growth in cognitive and affective domains. Results indicate improvement in student skills as a result of a nursing information-literacy program. Multidimensional evaluation produces a well-rounded picture of student progress based on formal measurement as well as informal feedback. Developing new educational programs can be a time-consuming challenge. It is important, when expending so much effort, to ensure that the goals of the new program are achieved and benefits to students demonstrated. A multidimensional approach to evaluation can help to accomplish those ends. In 1988, The University of Northern Colorado School of Nursing began working with a librarian to integrate an information-literacy component, entitled Pathways to Information Literacy, into the curriculum. This article describes the program and discusses how a multidimensional evaluation process was used to assess program effectiveness. The evaluation process not only helped to measure the effectiveness of the program but also allowed the instructors to use several different approaches to evaluation. PMID:8826621

Resident Evaluation and Remediation: A Comprehensive Approach

PubMed Central

Wu, Jim S.; Siewert, Bettina; Boiselle, Phillip M.

2010-01-01

Background A comprehensive evaluation and remediation program is an essential component of any residency program. The evaluation system should identify problems accurately and early and allow residents with problems to be assigned to a remediation program that effectively deals with them. Elements of a proactive remediation program include a process for outlining deficiencies, providing resources for improvement, communicating clear goals for acceptable performance, and reevaluating performance against these goals. Intervention In recognition of the importance of early detection and prompt remediation of the struggling resident, we sought to develop a multifaceted approach to resident evaluation with the aim of early identification and prompt remediation of difficulties. This article describes our comprehensive evaluation program and remediation program, which uses resources within our radiology department and institutional graduate medical education office. Discussion An effective evaluation system should identify problems accurately and early, whereas a proactive remediation program should effectively deal with issues once they are identified. PMID:21975628

Language Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, John M.

2016-01-01

Language program evaluation is a pragmatic mode of inquiry that illuminates the complex nature of language-related interventions of various kinds, the factors that foster or constrain them, and the consequences that ensue. Program evaluation enables a variety of evidence-based decisions and actions, from designing programs and implementing…

Putting program evaluation into practice: enhancing the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun program.

PubMed

Bean, Corliss N; Kendellen, Kelsey; Halsall, Tanya; Forneris, Tanya

2015-04-01

In recent years there has been a call for increased community physical activity and sport programs for female youth that are deliberately structured to foster positive developmental outcomes. In addition, researchers have recognized the need to empirically evaluate such programs to ensure that youth are provided with optimal opportunities to thrive. This study represents a utilization-focused evaluation of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, a female-only physical activity-based life skills community program. A utilization-focused evaluation is particularly important when the evaluation is to help stakeholders utilize the findings in practice. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to gain an understanding of the ongoing successes and challenges after year two of program implementation and (b) to examine how the adaptations made based on feedback from the first year evaluation were perceived as impacting the program. From interviews with youth participants and program leaders, three main themes with eight sub-themes emerged. The main themes were: (a) applying lessons learned can make a significant difference, (b) continually implementing successful strategies, and (c) ongoing challenges. Overall, this evaluation represents an important step in understanding how to improve program delivery to better meet the needs of the participants in community-based programming. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of doctoral nursing programs in Japan by faculty members and their educational and research activities.

PubMed

Arimoto, Azusa; Gregg, Misuzu F; Nagata, Satoko; Miki, Yuko; Murashima, Sachiyo

2012-07-01

Evaluation of doctoral programs in nursing is becoming more important with the rapid increase in the programs in Japan. This study aimed to evaluate doctoral nursing programs by faculty members and to analyze the relationship of the evaluation with educational and research activities of faculty members in Japan. Target settings were all 46 doctoral nursing programs. Eighty-five faculty members from 28 programs answered the questionnaire, which included 17 items for program evaluation, 12 items for faculty evaluation, 9 items for resource evaluation, 3 items for overall evaluations, and educational and research activities. A majority gave low evaluations for sources of funding, the number of faculty members and support staff, and administrative systems. Faculty members who financially supported a greater number of students gave a higher evaluation for extramural funding support, publication, provision of diverse learning experiences, time of supervision, and research infrastructure. The more time a faculty member spent on advising doctoral students, the higher were their evaluations on the supportive learning environment, administrative systems, time of supervision, and timely feedback on students' research. The findings of this study indicate a need for improvement in research infrastructure, funding sources, and human resources to achieve quality nursing doctoral education in Japan. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flight program language requirements. Volume 2: Requirements and evaluations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The efforts and results are summarized for a study to establish requirements for a flight programming language for future onboard computer applications. Several different languages were available as potential candidates for future NASA flight programming efforts. The study centered around an evaluation of the four most pertinent existing aerospace languages. Evaluation criteria were established, and selected kernels from the current Saturn 5 and Skylab flight programs were used as benchmark problems for sample coding. An independent review of the language specifications incorporated anticipated future programming requirements into the evaluation. A set of detailed language requirements was synthesized from these activities. The details of program language requirements and of the language evaluations are described.

Practical strategies for nursing education program evaluation.

PubMed

Lewallen, Lynne Porter

2015-01-01

Self-evaluation is required for institutions of higher learning and the nursing programs within them. The literature provides information on evaluation models and instruments, and descriptions of how specific nursing education programs are evaluated. However, there are few discussions in the nursing education literature of the practical aspects of nursing education program evaluation: how to get started, how to keep track of data, who to involve in data collection, and how to manage challenging criteria. This article discusses the importance of program evaluation in the academic setting and provides information on practical ways to organize the evaluation process and aggregate data, and strategies for gathering data from students, graduates, alumni, and employers of graduates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation and capacity building to improve precollege science and mathematics achievement in the US: 10 CFR, Part 605. Technical progress report, June--December 1992

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-12-31

The National Center for Improving Science Education has undertaken activities to achieve evaluation goals for DOE`s Precollege programs: develop means to determine program quality; develop means for determining the contribution of DOE precollege programs to both teacher enhancement and student achievement; provide evaluation designs and instruments and reports of program quality and impact; and strengthen both DOE`s and the Labs` capacity to do both short- and long-term planning as well as deliver effective programs and evaluation. Appendices include evaluation/technical assistance report, profiling teacher research participation and teacher development programs, teacher surveys, impact assessment design, and teacher research participation programs anecdotesmore » for 8 labs.« less

The NLM evaluation lecture series: introduction to the special section on evaluating health communication programs.

PubMed

Logan, Robert A; Kreps, Gary L

2014-12-01

This article introduces the Journal of Health Communication's special section, Evaluating Health Communication Programs. This special section is based on a public lecture series supported by the National Library of Medicine titled "Better Health: Evaluating Health Communication Programs" designed to share best practices for using evaluation research to develop, implement, refine, and institutionalize the best health communication programs for promoting public health. This introduction provides an overview to the series, summarizes the major presentations in the series, and describe implications from the series for translational health communication research, interventions, and programs that can enhance health outcomes.

Tailored program evaluation: Past, present, future.

PubMed

Suggs, L Suzanne; Cowdery, Joan E; Carroll, Jennifer B

2006-11-01

This paper discusses measurement issues related to the evaluation of computer-tailored health behavior change programs. As the first generation of commercially available tailored products is utilized in health promotion programming, programmers and researchers are becoming aware of the unique challenges that the evaluation of these programs presents. A project is presented that used an online tailored health behavior assessment (HBA) in a worksite setting. Process and outcome evaluation methods are described and include the challenges faced, and strategies proposed and implemented, for meeting them. Implications for future research in tailored program development, implementation, and evaluation are also discussed.

Evaluation of the impact of the drug evaluation and classification program on enforcement and adjudication

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1992-12-01

This study examined the effect of the Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program on impaired driving (DWI) enforcement and adjudication. Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) in DEC programs evaluate suspects when drugs other than alcohol are suspect...

Program Evaluation: The Board Game--An Interactive Learning Tool for Evaluators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Febey, Karen; Coyne, Molly

2007-01-01

The field of program evaluation lacks interactive teaching tools. To address this pedagogical issue, the authors developed a collaborative learning technique called Program Evaluation: The Board Game. The authors present the game and its development in this practitioner-oriented article. The evaluation board game is an adaptable teaching tool…

The Nursing Leadership Institute program evaluation: a critique

PubMed Central

Havaei, Farinaz; MacPhee, Maura

2015-01-01

A theory-driven program evaluation was conducted for a nursing leadership program, as a collaborative project between university faculty, the nurses’ union, the provincial Ministry of Health, and its chief nursing officers. A collaborative logic model process was used to engage stakeholders, and mixed methods approaches were used to answer evaluation questions. Despite demonstrated, successful outcomes, the leadership program was not supported with continued funding. This paper examines what happened during the evaluation process: What factors failed to sustain this program? PMID:29355180

A responsive evaluation of an Aboriginal nursing education access program.

PubMed

Curran, Vernon; Solberg, Shirley; LeFort, Sandra; Fleet, Lisa; Hollett, Ann

2008-01-01

Nursing education access programs have been introduced in a number of countries to address the shortage of healthcare providers of Aboriginal descent. An evaluation study of a nursing education access program in Labrador, Canada, was undertaken using a Responsive Evaluation approach. Interviews and focus groups with program stakeholders were conducted. Program effectiveness was influenced by culturally relevant curriculum, experiential and authentic learning opportunities, academic and social support, and the need for partnership building between stakeholders. The authors report key findings resulting from the Responsive Evaluation.

Program Implementers' Evaluation of the Project P.A.T.H.S.: Findings Based on Different Datasets over Time

PubMed Central

Shek, Daniel T. L.; Ma, Cecilia M. S.

2012-01-01

This paper integrates the evaluation findings based on program implementers in nine datasets collected from 2005 to 2009 (244 schools and 7,926 implementers). Using consolidated data with schools as the unit of analysis, results showed that program implementers generally had positive perceptions of the program, themselves, and benefits of the program, with more than four-fifths of the implementers regarding the program as beneficial to the program participants. The subjective outcome evaluation instrument was found to be internally consistent. Multiple regression analyses revealed that perceived qualities of the program and program implementers predicted perceived effectiveness of the program. In conjunction with evaluation findings based on other sources, the present study provides support for the effectiveness of the Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) in Hong Kong. PMID:22629224

Adult Literacy Education: Program Evaluation and Learner Assessment. Information Series No. 338.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lytle, Susan L.; Wolfe, Marcie

Adult literacy programs need reliable information about program quality and effectiveness for accountability, improvement of practice, and expansion of knowledge. Evaluation and assessment reflect fundamental beliefs about adult learners, concepts of literacy, and educational settings. Resources for planning program evaluations include surveys,…

Evaluating a Small-Group Counseling Program--A Model for Program Planning and Improvement in the Elementary Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bostick, Dee; Anderson, Ron

2009-01-01

School counselors are under increasing pressure to evaluate their programs in a manner consistent with teachers and other educators. A small-group counseling intervention was used by a school counselor as part of a three-level program planning initiative that illustrated best research practices to evaluate program outcomes. Forty-nine third-grade…

Using a Non-Equivalent Groups Quasi Experimental Design to Reduce Internal Validity Threats to Claims Made by Math and Science K-12 Teacher Recruitment Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moin, Laura

2009-10-01

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act national policy established in 2009 calls for ``meaningful data'' that demonstrate educational improvements, including the recruitment of high-quality teachers. The scant data available and the low credibility of many K-12 math/science teacher recruitment program evaluations remain the major barriers for the identification of effective recruitment strategies. Our study presents a methodology to better evaluate the impact of recruitment programs on increasing participants' interest in teaching careers. The research capitalizes on the use of several control groups and presents a non-equivalent groups quasi-experimental evaluation design that produces program effect claims with higher internal validity than claims generated by current program evaluations. With this method that compares responses to a teaching career interest question from undergraduates all along a continuum from just attending an information session to participating (or not) in the recruitment program, we were able to compare the effect of the program in increasing participants' interest in teaching careers versus the evolution of the same interest but in the absence of the program. We were also able to make suggestions for program improvement and further research. While our findings may not apply to other K-12 math/science teacher recruitment programs, we believe that our evaluation methodology does and will contribute to conduct stronger program evaluations. In so doing, our evaluation procedure may inform recruitment program designers and policy makers.

Evaluation of a peer assessment approach for enhancing the organizational capacity of state injury prevention programs.

PubMed

Hunter, Wanda M; Schmidt, Ellen R; Zakocs, Ronda

2005-01-01

To conduct a formative and pilot impact evaluation of the State Technical Assessment Team (STAT) program, a visitation-based (visitatie) peer assessment program designed to enhance the organizational capacity of state health department injury prevention programs. The formative evaluation was based on observational, record review, and key informant interview data collected during the implementation of the first 7 STAT visits. Pilot impact data were derived from semi-structured interviews with state injury prevention personnel one year after the visit. Formative evaluation identified 6 significant implementation problems in the first visits that were addressed by the program planners, resulting in improvements to the STAT assessment protocol. Impact evaluation revealed that after one year, the 7 state injury prevention programs had acted on 81% of the recommendations received during their STAT visits. All programs reported gains in visibility and credibility within the state health department and increased collaboration and cooperation with other units and agencies. Other significant program advancements were also reported. Specific program standards and review procedures are important to the success of peer assessment programs such as STAT. Early impact evaluation suggests that peer assessment protocols using the visitatie model can lead to gains in organizational capacity.

Housing First and Photovoice: Transforming Lives, Communities, and Systems

PubMed Central

Barile, John P.; Ogawa, Terry Yasuko; Peralta, Nelson; Bugg, Reumell; Lau, John; Lamberton, Thomas; Hall, Corazon; Mori, Victor

2018-01-01

This article presents findings from a community-based participatory evaluation of a Housing First program on the Island of O’ahu. In this study, clients in a Housing First program used Photovoice to evaluate the program and to advocate for progressive housing policies. Written together by members of the Housing First Photovoice group, this collaborative article describes the outcomes from both the Housing First program and the Photovoice project and demonstrates the ways in which participatory program evaluations can interact with client-driven programs like Housing First to produce a cumulative, transformative impact. Findings suggest that community psychologists hoping to re-engage with community mental health systems through enacting transformative change should consider taking a community-based participatory approach to program evaluation because increased client voice in community mental health programs and their evaluations can have far-reaching, transformative impacts for research, practice, and policy. PMID:29323410

An Interprofessional Program Evaluation Case Study: Utilizing Multiple Measures To Assess What Matters. AIR 1997 Annual Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delaney, Anne Marie

This paper reviews the first two years of a model program-evaluation case study which is intended to show: (1) how program evaluation can contribute to academic and professional degree programs; (2) how qualitative and quantitative techniques can be used to produce reliable measures for evaluation studies; and (3) how the role of the institutional…

Exploring the Suitability of an English for Health Sciences Program: Model and Report of a Self-Evaluation Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrer, Erica; Pérez, Yuddy

2017-01-01

Program evaluation is a process of carefully collecting information in order to make informed decisions to strengthen specific components of a given program. The type of evaluation an institution decides to undertake depends on the purpose as well as on the information the institution wants to find out about its program. Self-evaluation represents…

Motivation for Evaluation: A roadmap for Improving Program Efficacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taber, J. J.; Bohon, W.; Bravo, T. K.; Dorr, P. M.; Hubenthal, M.; Johnson, J. A.; Sumy, D. F.; Welti, R.; Davis, H. B.

2016-12-01

Over the past year, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program has undertaken a new effort to increase the rigor with which it evaluates its programs and products. More specifically we sought to make evaluation an integral part of our EPO staff's work, enable staff to demonstrate why we do the activities we do, enhance the impact or our products and programs, and empower staff to be able to make evidence-based claims. The challenges we faced included a modest budget, finding an applicable approach to both new and legacy programs ranging from formal and informal education to public outreach, and implementing the process without overwhelming staff. The Collaborative Impact Analysis Method (IAM; Davis and Scalice, 2015) was selected as it allowed us to combine the EPO staff's knowledge of programs, audiences and content with the expertise of an outside evaluation expert, through consultations and a qualitative rubric assessing the initial state of each product/program's evaluation. Staff then developed action plans to make incremental improvements to the evaluation of programs over time. We have found that this approach promotes the development of staff knowledge and skills regarding evaluation, provides a common language among staff, increases enthusiasm to collect and share data, encourages discussions of evaluative approaches when planning new activities, and improves each program's ability to capture the intended and unintended effects on the behaviors, attitudes, skills, interests, and/or knowledge of users/participants. We will share the initial IAM Scores for products and programs in the EPO portfolio, along with examples of the action plans for several key products and programs, and the impact that implementing those actions plans has had on our evaluations. Davis, H. & Scalice, D. (2015). Evaluate the Impact of your Education and Outreach Program Using the Quantitative Collaborative Impact Analysis Method (Invited). Abstract ED53D-0871 presented at 2015 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 14 - 18 Dec.

Conceptual framework for development of comprehensive e-health evaluation tool.

PubMed

Khoja, Shariq; Durrani, Hammad; Scott, Richard E; Sajwani, Afroz; Piryani, Usha

2013-01-01

The main objective of this study was to develop an e-health evaluation tool based on a conceptual framework including relevant theories for evaluating use of technology in health programs. This article presents the development of an evaluation framework for e-health programs. The study was divided into three stages: Stage 1 involved a detailed literature search of different theories and concepts on evaluation of e-health, Stage 2 plotted e-health theories to identify relevant themes, and Stage 3 developed a matrix of evaluation themes and stages of e-health programs. The framework identifies and defines different stages of e-health programs and then applies evaluation theories to each of these stages for development of the evaluation tool. This framework builds on existing theories of health and technology evaluation and presents a conceptual framework for developing an e-health evaluation tool to examine and measure different factors that play a definite role in the success of e-health programs. The framework on the horizontal axis divides e-health into different stages of program implementation, while the vertical axis identifies different themes and areas of consideration for e-health evaluation. The framework helps understand various aspects of e-health programs and their impact that require evaluation at different stages of the life cycle. The study led to the development of a new and comprehensive e-health evaluation tool, named the Khoja-Durrani-Scott Framework for e-Health Evaluation.

An Overview of the National Nutrition Education and Training Program Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Pierre, Robert G.; Rezmovic, Victor

1982-01-01

Presents the organizing framework used in evaluating the National Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET) and summarizes the descriptive, evaluative, and meta-evaluative findings. Concludes that positive effects on children's nutrition-related knowledge have resulted from different nutrition education programs. (DC)

Documenting Progress and Demonstrating Results: Evaluating Local Out-of-School Time Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Priscilla; DuPree, Sharon; Deich, Sharon

A collaborative publication between Harvard Family Research Project and The Finance Project, this brief offers guidance in documenting progress and demonstrating results in local out-of-school-time programs. Following introductory remarks providing a rationale for program evaluation, discussing principles of program evaluation, and clarifying key…

What Do We Know about School-Based Management?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Fasih, Tazeen; Barrera, Felipe; Garcia-Moreno, Vicente A.; Bentaouet-Kattan, Raja; Baksh, Shaista; Wickramasekera, Inosha

2007-01-01

Impact evaluations of school-based management (SBM) programs, or any other kind of program, are important because they can demonstrate whether or not the program has accomplished its objectives. Furthermore, these evaluations can identify ways to improve the design of the program. These evaluations can also make successful interventions…

40 CFR 51.353 - Network type and program evaluation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Network type and program evaluation. 51... Requirements § 51.353 Network type and program evaluation. Basic and enhanced I/M programs can be centralized.... (a) Presumptive equivalency. A decentralized network consisting of stations that only perform...

Creating an Information Literacy Badges Program in Blackboard: A Formative Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tunon, Johanna; Ramirez, Laura Lucio; Ryckman, Brian; Campbell, Loy; Mlinar, Courtney

2015-01-01

A formative program evaluation using Stufflebeam's (2010) Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) model was conducted to assess the use of digital badges for tracking basic library instructional skills across academic programs at Nova Southeastern University. Based on the evaluation of pilot library modules and Blackboard Learn's badges…

29 CFR 1960.79 - Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs. 1960.79 Section 1960.79 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH... AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs...

29 CFR 1960.79 - Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs. 1960.79 Section 1960.79 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH... AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs...

29 CFR 1960.79 - Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs. 1960.79 Section 1960.79 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH... AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs...

29 CFR 1960.79 - Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs. 1960.79 Section 1960.79 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH... AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs...

Home-Start between Childhood and Maturity: A Programme Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terpstra, Linda; van Dijke, Anke

A crucial question for evaluating nationally or internationally implemented programs is whether local adaptations detract from program quality and effectiveness. An evaluation examined the program successes and challenges encountered in the first 5 years of Home-Start in the Netherlands, a home-based family support program for families with young…

Maryland Community Colleges 1980 Program Evaluations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maryland State Board for Community Colleges, Annapolis.

This report contains qualitative evaluations of 48 programs throughout the Maryland community college system, as well as a statewide evaluation of Teacher Education transfer programs. A summary of the Teacher Education programs is presented first, in which the purpose and role of teacher education in the community college, enrollment trends,…

29 CFR 1960.79 - Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Self-evaluations of occupational safety and health programs. 1960.79 Section 1960.79 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH... AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND RELATED MATTERS Evaluation of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Programs...

Evaluating a physician leadership development program - a mixed methods approach.

PubMed

Throgmorton, Cheryl; Mitchell, Trey; Morley, Tom; Snyder, Marijo

2016-05-16

Purpose - With the extent of change in healthcare today, organizations need strong physician leaders. To compensate for the lack of physician leadership education, many organizations are sending physicians to external leadership programs or developing in-house leadership programs targeted specifically to physicians. The purpose of this paper is to outline the evaluation strategy and outcomes of the inaugural year of a Physician Leadership Academy (PLA) developed and implemented at a Michigan-based regional healthcare system. Design/methodology/approach - The authors applied the theoretical framework of Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation and used surveys, observations, activity tracking, and interviews to evaluate the program outcomes. The authors applied grounded theory techniques to the interview data. Findings - The program met targeted outcomes across all four levels of evaluation. Interview themes focused on the significance of increasing self-awareness, building relationships, applying new skills, and building confidence. Research limitations/implications - While only one example, this study illustrates the importance of developing the evaluation strategy as part of the program design. Qualitative research methods, often lacking from learning evaluation design, uncover rich themes of impact. The study supports how a PLA program can enhance physician learning, engagement, and relationship building throughout and after the program. Physician leaders' partnership with organization development and learning professionals yield results with impact to individuals, groups, and the organization. Originality/value - Few studies provide an in-depth review of evaluation methods and outcomes of physician leadership development programs. Healthcare organizations seeking to develop similar in-house programs may benefit applying the evaluation strategy outlined in this study.

Collaborative evaluation of a high school prevention curriculum: How methods of collaborative evaluation enhanced a randomized control trial to inform program improvement.

PubMed

Orsini, Muhsin Michael; Wyrick, David L; Milroy, Jeffrey J

2012-11-01

Blending high-quality and rigorous research with pure evaluation practice can often be best accomplished through thoughtful collaboration. The evaluation of a high school drug prevention program (All Stars Senior) is an example of how perceived competing purposes and methodologies can coexist to investigate formative and summative outcome variables that can be used for program improvement. Throughout this project there were many examples of client learning from evaluator and evaluator learning from client. This article presents convincing evidence that collaborative evaluation can improve the design, implementation, and findings of the randomized control trial. Throughout this paper, we discuss many examples of good science, good evaluation, and other practical benefits of practicing collaborative evaluation. Ultimately, the authors created the term pre-formative evaluation to describe the period prior to data collection and before program implementation, when collaborative evaluation can inform program improvement. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National Weatherization Assistance Program Characterization - Describing the Pre-ARRA Progam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bensch, Ingo; Keene, Ashleigh; Cowan, Claire

2014-09-01

This report characterizes the Department of Energy s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) as it was administered in Program Year 2008. WAP has supported energy efficiency improvements to the homes of low-income households in the United States since 1976. The program provides grants, guidance, and other support to grantees: weatherization programs administered by each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and some Native American tribes. Although there have been studies of some grantee-administered weatherization programs, the overall effectiveness of the national weatherization program has not been formally evaluated since Program Year 1989. Since that time, the program has evolvedmore » significantly, with an increased focus on baseload electric usage, continued evolution of diagnostic tools, new guidelines and best practices for heating-related measures, and adjustments in program rules. More recently, the program has also adjusted to large, temporary funding increases and changes in federal rules spurred by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Because the Weatherization Assistance Program of today is dramatically different from the one evaluated in 1989, DOE determined to undertake a new comprehensive evaluation of the national program. This new national evaluation is managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Under a competitive solicitation process, ORNL selected APPRISE, Inc., Blasnik & Associates, Dalhoff Associates and the Energy Center of Wisconsin to conduct the evaluation. The national evaluation comprises two independent evaluations. The first evaluation of which this report is a part focuses on Program Year 2008 (PY08). The second evaluation focuses on the ARRA-funded years of 2009 through 2011. This report, together with its companion the Eligible Population Study addresses specific program characterization goals established for the greater evaluation. The Energy Center led grantee and subgrantee data collection efforts, administering surveys to 51 grantees and 851 of the approximately 900 subgrantees that were slated to receive DOE weatherization funds in PY08. In all, seven different data collection instruments were used to gather the needed data two instruments for grantees and five for subgrantees. See Table 1 for a list of these survey instruments. These surveys were used to determine, among other things: Structure and funding of weatherization programs Training and staff development of service providers How weatherization services are delivered Clients served« less

Intern evaluation strategies in family medicine residency education: what is-and is not-being done.

PubMed

Yates, Jennifer E

2013-06-01

Family medicine interns often have deficiencies that are not initially appreciated. By recognizing those growth opportunities early, programs may be able to better meet their interns' training needs. This study provides a needs assessment to ascertain what evaluation tools are being utilized by residency programs to assess their incoming interns. A questionnaire was sent to all US family medicine residency program coordinators (439 programs) via Survey Monkey© inquiring about whether intern evaluation is performed and, if so, what strategies are used. A mixed mode methodology was used: mailing with incentive, email prompts, and telephone calls. Of 439 programs, 220 (50%) responded to the survey. Most respondents (145, 66%) think intern evaluation is needed. However, only 79 (36%) programs are actually doing intern evaluations-only 14 (6.4%) extensively. Most programs are performing simulations (81, 45%) and assessing knowledge/comfort levels (79, 36%); less than one third are considering personality/learning styles, and almost no programs are evaluating skills such as typing (three, 1.4%) and math (one, 0.5%). Many programs use evaluations to guide future planning, help with early identification of challenging learners, and to match training to the residents' needs. Several programs expressed concern about how they would use the information once obtained. The majority of respondents agreed that a baseline intern evaluation is useful; few are actually doing it. This area is not well-described in the literature; residency programs could benefit from information sharing. The next step is to encourage interest in and implementation of such strategies.

Process Evaluation for Improving K12 Program Effectiveness: Case Study of a National Institutes of Health Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health Research Career Development Program.

PubMed

Raymond, Nancy C; Wyman, Jean F; Dighe, Satlaj; Harwood, Eileen M; Hang, Mikow

2018-06-01

Process evaluation is an important tool in quality improvement efforts. This article illustrates how a systematic and continuous evaluation process can be used to improve the quality of faculty career development programs by using the University of Minnesota's Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) K12 program as an exemplar. Data from a rigorous process evaluation incorporating quantitative and qualitative measurements were analyzed and reviewed by the BIRCWH program leadership on a regular basis. Examples are provided of how this evaluation model and processes were used to improve many aspects of the program, thereby improving scholar, mentor, and advisory committee members' satisfaction and scholar outcomes. A rigorous evaluation plan can increase the effectiveness and impact of a research career development plan.

Using an Evaluability Assessment To Select Methods for Evaluating State Technology Development Programs: The Case of the Georgia Research Alliance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Youtie, Jan; Bozeman, Barry; Shapira, Philip

1999-01-01

Describes an evaluability assessment of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), a technology development program. Presents the steps involved in conducting an evaluability assessment, including development of an understanding of the program and its stakeholders. Analyzes and compares different methods by which the GRA could be evaluated. (SLD)

Indian Economic Development: An Evaluation of EDA's Selected Indian Reservation Program. Volume II: Individual Reservation Reports, Appendices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boise Cascade Center for Community Development, ID.

As the appendices to an evaluation of the Economic Development Administration's (EDA) Selected Indian Reservation Program, this portion of the evaluation report presents individualized evaluations of each of the 16 reservations originally selected for the program in 1967. Each reservation evaluation is presented in terms of the following format:…

Data Collection Methods for Evaluating Museum Programs and Exhibitions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Amy Crack; Cohn, Sarah

2015-01-01

Museums often evaluate various aspects of their audiences' experiences, be it what they learn from a program or how they react to an exhibition. Each museum program or exhibition has its own set of goals, which can drive what an evaluator studies and how an evaluation evolves. When designing an evaluation, data collection methods are purposefully…

Continuous Evaluation in Ethics Education: A Case Study.

PubMed

McIntosh, Tristan; Higgs, Cory; Mumford, Michael; Connelly, Shane; DuBois, James

2018-04-01

A great need for systematic evaluation of ethics training programs exists. Those tasked with developing an ethics training program may be quick to dismiss the value of training evaluation in continuous process improvement. In the present effort, we use a case study approach to delineate how to leverage formative and summative evaluation measures to create a high-quality ethics education program. With regard to formative evaluation, information bearing on trainee reactions, qualitative data from the comments of trainees, in addition to empirical findings, can ensure that the training program operates smoothly. Regarding summative evaluation, measures examining trainee cognition, behavior, and organization-level results provide information about how much trainees have changed as a result of taking the ethics training. The implications of effective training program evaluation are discussed.

An evaluation toolkit for Florida's Commuter Assistance Programs (CAP) : a companion to the 1999 CAP evaluation manual

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

This manual is a companion piece to the Commuter Assistance Program Evaluation Manual that was developed to assist Florida's Commuter Assistance Programs (CAP) in their efforts to measure and evaluate their performance. This manual is intended to pro...

Alternative Designs for Evaluating Workplace Literacy Programs. Conference Proceedings and Commissioned Papers at the "Design Guidance for Evaluating Workplace Literacy Programs" Work Group Conference (Washington, D.C. April 13, 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Research Triangle Inst., Research Triangle Park, NC.

This document contains the five papers presented at a meeting at which key issues in evaluating workplace literacy programs were discussed. In "Key Components of Workplace Liteacy Projects and Definitions of Project 'Modules,'" Judith A. Alamprese describes the context for evaluating the National Extension Program, components of workplace literacy…

Multimethod Strategy for Assessing Program Fidelity: The National Evaluation of the Revised G.R.E.A.T. Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esbensen, Finn-Aage; Matsuda, Kristy N.; Taylor, Terrance J.; Peterson, Dana

2011-01-01

This study reports the results of the process evaluation component of the Process and Outcome Evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program. The process evaluation consisted of multiple methods to assess program fidelity: (a) observations of G.R.E.A.T. Officer Trainings (G.O.T); (b) surveys and interviews of…

Phoenix Rising: use of a participatory approach to evaluate a federally funded HIV, hepatitis and substance abuse prevention program.

PubMed

Dryden, Eileen; Hyde, Justeen; Livny, Ayala; Tula, Monique

2010-11-01

This paper highlights the value of utilizing a participatory evaluation approach when working with community agencies receiving federal funding for prevention and intervention services. Drawing from our experience as evaluators of a SAMHSA-funded substance abuse, HIV and Hepatitis prevention program targeting homeless young adults, we describe the importance of and strategies for creating a participatory evaluation partnership with program implementers. By participatory evaluation we mean the active involvement of program implementers in defining the evaluation, developing instruments, collecting data, discussing findings, and disseminating results. There are a number of challenges faced when using this approach with federally funded programs that require the use of standardized measurement tools and data collection procedures. Strategies we used to strike a balance between federal requirements and local needs are presented. By increasing the understanding of and participation in the evaluation process, program implementers have greater support for data collection requirements and are appreciably more interested in learning from the evaluation data. This approach has helped to build the capacity of a program and stimulated new possibilities for learning, growing, and ultimately improving the services offered to those the program strives to reach. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential pros and cons of external healthcare performance evaluation systems: real-life perspectives on Iranian hospital evaluation and accreditation program.

PubMed

Jaafaripooyan, Ebrahim

2014-09-01

Performance evaluation is essential to quality improvement in healthcare. The current study has identified the potential pros and cons of external healthcare evaluation programs, utilizing them subsequently to look into the merits of a similar case in a developing country. A mixed method study employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques was adopted to achieve the study end. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and professionals were approached for two-stage process of data collection. Potential advantages included greater attractiveness of high accreditation rank healthcare organizations to their customers/purchasers and boosted morale of their personnel. Downsides, as such, comprised the programs' over-reliance on value judgment of surveyors, routinization and incurring undue cost on the organizations. In addition, the improved, standardized care processes as well as the judgmental nature of program survey were associated, as pros and cons, to the program investigated by the professionals. Besides rendering a tentative assessment of Iranian hospital evaluation program, the study provides those running external performance evaluations with a lens to scrutinize the virtues of their own evaluation systems through identifying the potential advantages and drawbacks of such programs. Moreover, the approach followed could be utilized for performance assessment of similar evaluation programs.

An Evaluation of the Right Choices Program to Determine Effectiveness in Delivering Constructive Interventions and Providing an Early Support Program in Order to Modify Behavior of First-Time Student Offenders Who Commit Drug and Violent Acts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Lisa B.

2010-01-01

The purpose of the study was to perform a program evaluation of the Right Choices Program to determine the program's effectiveness in delivering constructive interventions that modify student behavior once students have left the program and have returned to their regular learning environment. This mixed-method evaluation consisted of an…

Experiments in evaluation capacity building: Enhancing brain disorders research impact in Ontario.

PubMed

Nylen, Kirk; Sridharan, Sanjeev

2017-05-08

This paper is the introductory paper on a forum on evaluation capacity building for enhancing impacts of research on brain disorders. It describes challenges and opportunities of building evaluation capacity among community-based organizations in Ontario involved in enhancing brain health and supporting people living with a brain disorder. Using an example of a capacity building program called the "Evaluation Support Program", which is run by the Ontario Brain Institute, this forum discusses multiple themes including evaluation capacity building, evaluation culture and evaluation methodologies appropriate for evaluating complex community interventions. The goal of the Evaluation Support Program is to help community-based organizations build the capacity to demonstrate the value that they offer in order to improve, sustain, and spread their programs and activities. One of the features of this forum is that perspectives on the Evaluation Support Program are provided by multiple stakeholders, including the community-based organizations, evaluation team members involved in capacity building, thought leaders in the fields of evaluation capacity building and evaluation culture, and the funders. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A review of elementary school-based substance use prevention programs: identifying program attributes.

PubMed

Hopfer, S; Davis, D; Kam, J A; Shin, Y; Elek, E; Hecht, M L

2010-01-01

This article takes a systematic approach to reviewing substance use prevention programs introduced in elementary school (K-6th grade). Previous studies evaluating such programs among elementary school students showed mixed effects on subsequent substance use and related psychosocial factors. Thirty published evaluation studies of 24 elementary school-based substance use prevention programs were reviewed. The study selection criteria included searching for program evaluations from 1980 to 2008. Among 27 evaluation studies that examined program effects on substance use, 56% (n = 15) found significant decreases. In addition, programs most often demonstrated effects on increasing negative substance use attitudes, increasing knowledge, decreasing perceptions of prevalence rates (i.e., descriptive norms), and improving resistance skills. These results have implications for the appropriateness and value of introducing substance use prevention programs to youth in elementary school.

Reaching Your Program Goals: The Secret to a Successful Relationship with Your Evaluator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warburton, J.; Crowley, S.; Larson, A.

2012-12-01

PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded program in which K-12 teachers participate in hands-on field research experiences in the Polar Regions. PolarTREC has become a leader in the evaluation of teacher research experiences (TREs) and offers a model for outside evaluation for education and public outreach. Programs such as TRE's offer a direct package of outreach opportunities for effective broader impacts. This presentation offers a model for the evaluative process beginning with project design and goals, which involve an outside evaluator, and that provide funders with an outlined scope of projects as well as outcomes and products for use by the public to advance scientific understanding. Outcomes are determined before the program is developed to ensure that all components are striving for program efficacy. Formative and summative evaluations for all audiences ensure robust program reports via survey's, knowledge assessments, conference calls, outreach implementation plans for multiple diverse audiences and in-depth case studies with teachers back in their classrooms. PolarTREC has become part of a larger, international working group of evaluators and program managers on program assessment. As part of this working group, sharing best practices for effective evaluation to better support science efforts, inform funders, and communicate with the public, has been integral to the evolution and advancement of our successful evaluation model.

Evaluation of ridesharing programs in Michigan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kulp, G.; Tsao, H.J.; Webber, R.E.

1982-10-01

The design, implementation, and results of a carpool and vanpool evaluation are described. Objectives of the evaluation were: to develop credible estimates of the energy savings attributable to the ridesharing program, to provide information for improving the performance of the ridesharing program, and to add to a general understanding of the ridesharing process. Previous evaluation work is critiqued and the research methodology adopted for this study is discussed. The ridesharing program in Michigan is described and the basis for selecting Michigan as the evaluation site is discussed. The evaluation methodology is presented, including research design, sampling procedure, data collection, andmore » data validation. Evaluation results are analyzed. (LEW)« less

Strategies for Evaluating a Freshman Studies Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ketkar, Kusum; Bennett, Shelby D.

1989-01-01

The study developed an economic model for the evaluation of Seaton Hall University's freshman studies program. Two techniques used to evaluate the economic success of the program are break-even analysis and elasticity coefficient. (Author/MLW)

1999 commuter assistance program evaluation manual

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

This manual was developed to assist Florida's Commuter Assistance Programs (CAP) to measure and evaluate their performance. It provides information necessary for a CAP to create and implement its own evaluation program. It discusses performance measu...

Purposive Facebook Recruitment Endows Cost-Effective Nutrition Education Program Evaluation

PubMed Central

Wamboldt, Patricia

2013-01-01

Background Recent legislation established a requirement for nutrition education in federal assistance programs to be evidence-based. Recruitment of low-income persons to participate and evaluate nutrition education activities can be challenging and costly. Facebook has been shown to be a cost-effective strategy to recruit this target audience to a nutrition program. Objective The purpose of our study was to examine Facebook as a strategy to recruit participants, especially Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) eligible persons, to view and evaluate an online nutrition education program intended to be offered as having some evidence base for SNAP-Ed programming. Methods English-speaking, low-income Pennsylvania residents, 18-55 years with key profile words (eg, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Food bank), responded to a Facebook ad inviting participation in either Eating Together as a Family is Worth It (WI) or Everyone Needs Folic Acid (FA). Participants completed an online survey on food-related behaviors, viewed a nutrition education program, and completed a program evaluation. Facebook set-up functions considered were costing action, daily spending cap, and population reach. Results Respondents for both WI and FA evaluations were similar; the majority were white, <40 years, overweight or obese body mass index, and not eating competent. A total of 807 Facebook users clicked on the WI ad with 73 unique site visitors and 47 of them completing the program evaluation (ie, 47/807, 5.8% of clickers and 47/73, 64% of site visitors completed the evaluation). Cost per completed evaluation was US $25.48; cost per low-income completer was US $39.92. Results were similar for the FA evaluation; 795 Facebook users clicked on the ad with 110 unique site visitors, and 73 completing the evaluation (ie, 73/795, 9.2% of ad clickers and 73/110, 66% of site visitors completed the evaluation). Cost per valid completed survey with program evaluation was US $18.88; cost per low-income completer was US $27.53. Conclusions With Facebook we successfully recruited low-income Pennsylvanians to online nutrition program evaluations. Benefits using Facebook as a recruitment strategy included real-time recruitment management with lower costs and more efficiency compared to previous data from traditional research recruitment strategies reported in the literature. Limitations prompted by repeated survey attempts need to be addressed to optimize this recruitment strategy. PMID:23948573

Purposive facebook recruitment endows cost-effective nutrition education program evaluation.

PubMed

Lohse, Barbara; Wamboldt, Patricia

2013-08-15

Recent legislation established a requirement for nutrition education in federal assistance programs to be evidence-based. Recruitment of low-income persons to participate and evaluate nutrition education activities can be challenging and costly. Facebook has been shown to be a cost-effective strategy to recruit this target audience to a nutrition program. The purpose of our study was to examine Facebook as a strategy to recruit participants, especially Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) eligible persons, to view and evaluate an online nutrition education program intended to be offered as having some evidence base for SNAP-Ed programming. English-speaking, low-income Pennsylvania residents, 18-55 years with key profile words (eg, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Food bank), responded to a Facebook ad inviting participation in either Eating Together as a Family is Worth It (WI) or Everyone Needs Folic Acid (FA). Participants completed an online survey on food-related behaviors, viewed a nutrition education program, and completed a program evaluation. Facebook set-up functions considered were costing action, daily spending cap, and population reach. Respondents for both WI and FA evaluations were similar; the majority were white, <40 years, overweight or obese body mass index, and not eating competent. A total of 807 Facebook users clicked on the WI ad with 73 unique site visitors and 47 of them completing the program evaluation (ie, 47/807, 5.8% of clickers and 47/73, 64% of site visitors completed the evaluation). Cost per completed evaluation was US $25.48; cost per low-income completer was US $39.92. Results were similar for the FA evaluation; 795 Facebook users clicked on the ad with 110 unique site visitors, and 73 completing the evaluation (ie, 73/795, 9.2% of ad clickers and 73/110, 66% of site visitors completed the evaluation). Cost per valid completed survey with program evaluation was US $18.88; cost per low-income completer was US $27.53. With Facebook we successfully recruited low-income Pennsylvanians to online nutrition program evaluations. Benefits using Facebook as a recruitment strategy included real-time recruitment management with lower costs and more efficiency compared to previous data from traditional research recruitment strategies reported in the literature. Limitations prompted by repeated survey attempts need to be addressed to optimize this recruitment strategy.

Achievement Testing of Disadvantaged and Minority Students for Educational Program Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wargo, Michael J., Ed.; Green, Donald Ross, Ed.

The following papers were delivered: Introductory Remarks, John W. Evans; An Evaluator's Perspective, Michael J. Wargo; Problems of Achievement Tests in Program Evaluation, Donald Ross Green; Diverse Human Populations and Problems in Educational Program Evaluation via Achievement Testing, Edmund W. Gordon; Critical Issues in Achievement Testing of…

Evaluating Federal Social Programs: An Uncertain Act.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levitan, Sar A.; Wurzburg, Gregory K.

This study of the federal government's evaluation of social programs indicates that it is virtually impossible to establish a bias-free, valid, and reliable system of inquiry to determine the effects of social programs. Divided into five chapters, the document examines the aspirations and limitations of evaluations, methodology, evaluation in the…

Issues Involved in the Evaluation of Gifted Programmes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ali, A. Sidiq

2001-01-01

This article discusses the purpose of gifted program evaluation and identifies some of the pertinent issues involved in evaluating gifted programs. The gifted program delivered by the Peel District Board of Education in Ontario, Canada, is used to illustrate key evaluation considerations, including gifted identification procedures and gifted…

Improve the Quality of Teaching in Your Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Brenda Z.

1985-01-01

Teacher quality can be improved through teacher evaluation, intervention programs, incentives or rewards, and counseling. In the Toledo, Ohio, peer evaluation program, evaluation and staff development go hand in hand. The program was developed through a collaborative and cooperative process and uses teacher consultants to evaluate and supervise…

Program Evaluation: Two Management-Oriented Samples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alford, Kenneth Ray

2010-01-01

Two Management-Oriented Samples details two examples of the management-oriented approach to program evaluation. Kenneth Alford, a doctorate candidate at the University of the Cumberlands, details two separate program evaluations conducted in his school district and seeks to compare and contrast the two evaluations based upon the characteristics of…

Evaluation Processes Used to Assess the Effectiveness of Vocational-Technical Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruhns, Arthur E.

Evaluation is quantitative or qualitative, the criteria determined by or given to the student. The criteria show how close he has come to the program's objectives and the ranking of individual performance. Vocational education programs susceptible to evaluation are listed and relevant evaluative techniques discussed. Graduate interviews concerning…

The Implementation of Program Evaluation Recommendations in Wisconsin Technical Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruhland, Sheila K.

Implementation of program evaluation recommendations should persuade people that the rewards of an evaluation outweigh the reasons for resistance. A study was undertaken with the following purposes: identify facilitators and barriers to the implementation of program evaluation; determine the proportion of recommendations made in each of the nine…

Practical Considerations in Evaluating Patient/Consumer Health Education Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, Nancy H.

This report contains brief descriptions of seven evaluative efforts and outcomes of health education programs, some considerations of problems encountered in evaluating the programs, and detailed descriptions of two case studies: (1) a process evaluation of preoperative teaching and (2) a retrospective study of visiting nurse association use by…

Experiential Education and Empowerment Evaluation: Mars Rover Educational Program Case Example.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David; Bowman, Cassie

2002-01-01

Empowerment evaluation helps people improve their programs using self-evaluation. Empowerment evaluation has three steps: establishing a mission; taking stock of the most significant activities; and planning for the future by establishing goals, strategies, and criteria for evidence. A NASA experiential program for small, distributed groups of…

Program Evaluation in Gifted Education. Essential Readings in Gifted Education Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callahan, Carolyn M., Ed.; Reis, Sally M., Ed.

2004-01-01

The readings in this ready-reference report on specific program evaluations, offer critical guidance in the development and utilization of instruments for assessing gifted and talented programs, and are designed to stimulate the discussion of issues surrounding the evaluation of gifted programs. Key features include: (1) Carolyn M. Callahan's…

A Program Evaluation Tool for Dual Enrollment Transition Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grigal, Meg; Dwyre, Amy; Emmett, Joyce; Emmett, Richard

2012-01-01

This article describes the development and use of a program evaluation tool designed to support self-assessment of college-based dual enrollment transition programs serving students with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 18-21 in college settings. The authors describe the need for such an evaluation tool, outline the areas addressed by…

EVALUATION OF THE WEIGHT-BASED COLLECTION PROJECT IN FARMINGTON, MINNESOTA: A MITE PROGRAM EVALUATION

EPA Science Inventory

This project evaluates a test program of a totally automated weight-based refuse disposal rate system. his test program was conducted by the City of Farmington, Minnesota between 1991 and 1993. he intent of the program was to test a mechanism which would automatically assess a fe...

Applying the Concept of Trustworthiness to the Evaluation of a Clinical Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barzansky, Barbara; And Others

An attending tutor program designed to increase faculty-student contact within an Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship was evaluated. Sessions were observed, written documents were reviewed, and faculty and students were interviewed in order to determine if the program was meeting its goals. Based on the evaluation data, the program was…

Evaluation of a Community-Based Aging Intervention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Hui-Chuan; Wang, Chun-Hou; Chen, Yi-Chun; Chang, Ming-Chen; Wang, Jean

2010-01-01

This study evaluated the outcome and process of a community-based aging intervention program for the elderly in Taiwan. The program included education on nutrition and dietary behavior and on physical activities. Outcome and process evaluations were conducted. The program may have had some effects on decreasing some dietary behavioral problems and…

Assessment and Evaluation of the Utah Master Naturalist Program: Implications for Targeting Audiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larese-Casanova, Mark

2011-01-01

The Utah Master Naturalist Program trains citizens who provide education, outreach, and service to promote citizen stewardship of natural resources within their communities. In 2007-2008, the Watersheds module of the program was evaluated for program success, and participant knowledge was assessed. Assessment and evaluation results indicated that…

Some Measures of Evaluation and Effectiveness in Social Work Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapoor, J. M.

Measures of accountability and evaluation of social work program efforts are examined. Evaluation of program effort refers to an assessment of the amount and kinds of program activities considered necessary for the accomplishment of program goals within a particular stage of development. It refers not only to staff time, activity, and commitment,…

Formative Evaluation of the Canada Student Loans Program. Final Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2004

2004-01-01

The "Formative Evaluation of the Canada Student Loans Program" was undertaken to assess issues of program relevance, design and delivery and for the purposes of examining the early impacts of changes made to the program since 1998. The evaluation also reviewed the Performance Measurement Strategy contained in the July 2002 Results-Based…

Evaluation of a Research Mentorship Program in Community Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ploeg, Jenny; de Witt, Lorna; Hutchison, Brian; Hayward, Lynda; Grayson, Kim

2008-01-01

This article describes the results of a qualitative case study evaluating a research mentorship program in community care settings in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of the program was to build evaluation and research capacity among staff of community care agencies through a mentorship program. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured…

Evaluation of a federally funded workforce development program: The Centers for Public Health Preparedness☆

PubMed Central

Sobelson, Robyn K.; Young, Andrea C.

2017-01-01

The Centers for Public Health Preparedness (CPHP) program was a five-year cooperative agreement funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The program was initiated in 2004 to strengthen terrorism and emergency preparedness by linking academic expertise to state and local health agency needs. The purposes of the evaluation study were to identify the results achieved by the Centers and inform program planning for future programs. The evaluation was summative and retrospective in its design and focused on the aggregate outcomes of the CPHP program. The evaluation results indicated progress was achieved on program goals related to development of new training products, training members of the public health workforce, and expansion of partnerships between accredited schools of public health and state and local public health departments. Evaluation results, as well as methodological insights gleaned during the planning and conduct of the CPHP evaluation, were used to inform the design of the next iteration of the CPHP Program, the Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers (PERLC). PMID:23380597

Collaborative Evaluation within a Framework of Stakeholder-Oriented Evaluation Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Sullivan, Rita G.

2012-01-01

Collaborative Evaluation systematically invites and engages stakeholders in program evaluation planning and implementation. Unlike "distanced" evaluation approaches, which reject stakeholder participation as evaluation team members, Collaborative Evaluation assumes that active, on-going engagement between evaluators and program staff,…

Assessing the effects of employee assistance programs: a review of employee assistance program evaluations.

PubMed

Colantonio, A

1989-01-01

Employee assistance programs have grown at a dramatic rate, yet the effectiveness of these programs has been called into question. The purpose of this paper was to assess the effectiveness of employee assistance programs (EAPs) by reviewing recently published EAP evaluations. All studies evaluating EAPs published since 1975 from peer-reviewed journals in the English language were included in this analysis. Each of the articles was assessed in the following areas: (a) program description (subjects, setting, type of intervention, format), (b) evaluation design (research design, variables measured, operational methods), and (c) program outcomes. Results indicate numerous methodological and conceptual weaknesses and issues. These weaknesses included lack of controlled research designs and short time lags between pre- and post-test measures. Other problems identified are missing information regarding subjects, type of intervention, how variables are measured (operational methods), and reliability and validity of evaluation instruments. Due to the aforementioned weaknesses, positive outcomes could not be supported. Recommendations are made for future EAP evaluations.

Assessing the effects of employee assistance programs: a review of employee assistance program evaluations.

PubMed Central

Colantonio, A.

1989-01-01

Employee assistance programs have grown at a dramatic rate, yet the effectiveness of these programs has been called into question. The purpose of this paper was to assess the effectiveness of employee assistance programs (EAPs) by reviewing recently published EAP evaluations. All studies evaluating EAPs published since 1975 from peer-reviewed journals in the English language were included in this analysis. Each of the articles was assessed in the following areas: (a) program description (subjects, setting, type of intervention, format), (b) evaluation design (research design, variables measured, operational methods), and (c) program outcomes. Results indicate numerous methodological and conceptual weaknesses and issues. These weaknesses included lack of controlled research designs and short time lags between pre- and post-test measures. Other problems identified are missing information regarding subjects, type of intervention, how variables are measured (operational methods), and reliability and validity of evaluation instruments. Due to the aforementioned weaknesses, positive outcomes could not be supported. Recommendations are made for future EAP evaluations. PMID:2728498

Evaluative Thinking in Practice: The National Asthma Control Program.

PubMed

Fierro, Leslie A; Codd, Heather; Gill, Sarah; Pham, Phung K; Grandjean Targos, Piper T; Wilce, Maureen

2018-01-01

Although evaluative thinking lies at the heart of what we do as evaluators and what we hope to promote in others through our efforts to build evaluation capacity, researchers have given limited attention to measuring this concept. We undertook a research study to better understand how instances of evaluative thinking may present in practice-based settings-specifically within four state asthma control programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Asthma Control Program. Through content analyses of documents as well as interviews and a subsequent focus group with four state asthma control programs' evaluators and program managers we identified and defined twenty-two indicators of evaluative thinking. Findings provide insights about what practitioners may wish to look for when they intend to build evaluative thinking and the types of data sources that may be more or less helpful in such efforts.

Do State Pre-K Programs Improve Children's Pre-Literacy and Math Learning? Evaluation Science Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation, 2008

2008-01-01

"Evaluation Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study evaluating the effects of an early childhood program or environment. This Brief evaluates the study "An Effectiveness-Based Evaluation of Five State Pre-Kindergarten Programs" (V. C. Wong, T. D. Cook, W. S. Barnett, and K. Jung.) States have high aspirations for…

Toward building a typology for the evaluation of services in family support programs.

PubMed

Manalo, V; Meezan, W

2000-01-01

This article briefly reviews the history, philosophy, practice principles, and foci of family support programs, examines the typologies currently in use to classify these programs, and discusses the difficulties these classifications pose for program evaluators. The authors introduce a new typology that deconstructs family support programs into their component services and discuss the potential of this typology for evaluation of family support services.

Program evaluation of FHWA pedestrian and bicycle safety activities.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

"Introduction : FHWAs Office of Highway Safety (HSA) initiated a program evaluation by Booz Allen Hamilton to assess the overall effectiveness of the Agencys Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program. The evaluation covers pedestrian and bicycle sa...

Second NBL measurement evaluation program meeting: A summary

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spaletto, M.I.; Clapper, M.; Tolbert, M.E.M.

New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL), the US government`s nuclear materials measurements and reference materials laboratory, administers interlaboratory measurement evaluation programs to evaluate the quality and adequacy of safeguards measurements. The NBL Measurement Evaluation Program covers several types of safeguards analytical measurements. The Safeguards Measurement Evaluation (SME) program distributes test materials destructive measurements of uranium for both elemental concentration and isotopic abundances, and of plutonium for isotopic abundances. The Calorimetry Exchange (CalEx) Program tests the quality of nondestructive measurements of plutonium isotopic abundances by gamma spectroscopy and plutonium concentration by calorimetry. In May 1997, more than 30 representatives from the Department ofmore » Energy (DOE), its contractor laboratories, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensees met at NBL in Argonne, Illinois, for the annual meeting of the Measurement Evaluation Program. The summary which follows details key points that were discussed or presented at the meeting.« less

Using program evaluation to support knowledge translation in an interprofessional primary care team: a case study.

PubMed

Donnelly, Catherine; Shulha, Lyn; Klinger, Don; Letts, Lori

2016-10-06

Evaluation is a fundamental component in building quality primary care and is ideally situated to support individual, team and organizational learning by offering an accessible form of participatory inquiry. The evaluation literature has begun to recognize the unique features of KT evaluations and has described attributes to consider when evaluating KT activities. While both disciplines have focused on the evaluation of KT activities neither has explored the role of evaluation in KT. The purpose of the paper is to examine how participation in program evaluation can support KT in a primary care setting. A mixed methods case study design was used, where evaluation was conceptualized as a change process and intervention. A Memory Clinic at an interprofessional primary care clinic was the setting in which the study was conducted. An evaluation framework, Pathways of Influence provided the theoretical foundation to understand how program evaluation can facilitate the translation of knowledge at the level of the individual, inter-personal (Memory Clinic team) and the organization. Data collection included questionnaires, interviews, evaluation log and document analysis. Questionnaires and interviews were administered both before and after the evaluation: Pattern matching was used to analyze the data based on predetermined propositions. Individuals gained program knowledge that resulted in changes to both individual and program practices. One of the key themes was the importance clinicians placed on local, program based knowledge. The evaluation had less influence on the broader health organization. Program evaluation facilitated individual, team and organizational learning. The use of evaluation to support KT is ideally suited to a primary care setting by offering relevant and applicable knowledge to primary care team members while being sensitive to local context.

Methods for evaluating a mature substance abuse prevention/early intervention program.

PubMed

Becker, L R; Hall, M; Fisher, D A; Miller, T R

2000-05-01

The authors describe methods for work in progress to evaluate four workplace prevention and/or early intervention programs designed to change occupational norms and reduce substance abuse at a major U.S. transportation company. The four programs are an employee assistance program, random drug testing, managed behavioral health care, and a peer-led intervention program. An elaborate mixed-methods evaluation combines data collection and analysis techniques from several traditions. A process-improvement evaluation focuses on the peer-led component to describe its evolution, document the implementation process for those interested in replicating it, and provide information for program improvement. An outcome-assessment evaluation examines impacts of the four programs on job performance measures (e.g., absenteeism, turnover, injury, and disability rates) and includes a cost-offset and employer cost-savings analysis. Issues related to using archival data, combining qualitative and quantitative designs, and working in a corporate environment are discussed.

Using Art For Health Promotion: Evaluating an In-School Program Through Student Perspectives.

PubMed

McKay, Fiona H; McKenzie, Hayley

2017-09-01

The value of incorporating arts-based approaches into health promotion programs has long been recognized as useful in affecting change. Such approaches have been used in many schools across Australia and have been found to promote general well-being and mental health. Despite these positive findings, few programs have used or evaluated an integrated arts-based approach to achieve health and well-being goals. This article presents the findings of an evaluation of an integrated arts-based program focused on creativity and improving well-being in students. The findings of this evaluation suggest that students who took part in the program were more interested in art and music at the end of the program and had gained an overall increase in awareness and mindfulness and a positivity toward leisure activities. This evaluation provides some evidence to suggest that this type of program is a promising way to promote well-being in schools.

Evaluation of a Demonstration Program for Postsecondary Hospitality Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weis, Susan F.

A three-phase program evaluation effort employing comparison groups and a pre-post test design indicate formative guidelines for programs revision and summative results indicative of the effectiveness of a demonstration associate degree program for hospitality education. Program effectiveness is defined in terms of the program's enrollment of…

Process Evaluation for a Prison-based Substance Abuse Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staton, Michele; Leukefeld, Carl; Logan, T. K.; Purvis, Rick

2000-01-01

Presents findings from a process evaluation conducted in a prison-based substance abuse program in Kentucky. Discusses key components in the program, including a detailed program description, modifications in planned treatment strategies, program documentation, and perspectives of staff and clients. Findings suggest that prison-based programs have…

Evaluation of a Postdischarge Call System Using the Logic Model.

PubMed

Frye, Timothy C; Poe, Terri L; Wilson, Marisa L; Milligan, Gary

2018-02-01

This mixed-method study was conducted to evaluate a postdischarge call program for congestive heart failure patients at a major teaching hospital in the southeastern United States. The program was implemented based on the premise that it would improve patient outcomes and overall quality of life, but it had never been evaluated for effectiveness. The Logic Model was used to evaluate the input of key staff members to determine whether the outputs and results of the program matched the expectations of the organization. Interviews, online surveys, reviews of existing patient outcome data, and reviews of publicly available program marketing materials were used to ascertain current program output. After analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data from the evaluation, recommendations were made to the organization to improve the effectiveness of the program.

An Evaluation System for the Online Training Programs in Meteorology and Hydrology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yong; Zhi, Xiefei

2009-01-01

This paper studies the current evaluation system for the online training program in meteorology and hydrology. CIPP model that includes context evaluation, input evaluation, process evaluation and product evaluation differs from Kirkpatrick model including reactions evaluation, learning evaluation, transfer evaluation and results evaluation in…

Iterative evaluation in a mobile counseling and testing program to reach people of color at risk for HIV--new strategies improve program acceptability, effectiveness, and evaluation capabilities.

PubMed

Spielberg, Freya; Kurth, Ann; Reidy, William; McKnight, Teka; Dikobe, Wame; Wilson, Charles

2011-06-01

This article highlights findings from an evaluation that explored the impact of mobile versus clinic-based testing, rapid versus central-lab based testing, incentives for testing, and the use of a computer counseling program to guide counseling and automate evaluation in a mobile program reaching people of color at risk for HIV. The program's results show that an increased focus on mobile outreach using rapid testing, incentives and health information technology tools may improve program acceptability, quality, productivity and timeliness of reports. This article describes program design decisions based on continuous quality assessment efforts. It also examines the impact of the Computer Assessment and Risk Reduction Education computer tool on HIV testing rates, staff perception of counseling quality, program productivity, and on the timeliness of evaluation reports. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for programmatic responses to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV testing recommendations.

Evaluating Continuing Education Needs and Program Effectiveness Using a Survey of Virginia's SHARP Logger Program Participants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrett, Scott M.; Bolding, M. Chad; Munsell, John F.

2012-01-01

Virginia's SHARP logger program is a Cooperative Extension program currently providing training to over 1,500 loggers, foresters, and others. We conducted a mail survey of SHARP loggers to characterize program participants, assess programming needs, and evaluate program effectiveness. Results indicate a diverse group of participants in terms of…

Evaluating an English Language Teacher Education Program through Peacock's Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coskun, Abdullah; Daloglu, Aysegul

2010-01-01

The main aim of this study is to draw attention to the importance of program evaluation for teacher education programs and to reveal the pre-service English teacher education program components that are in need of improvement or maintenance both from teachers' and students' perspectives by using Peacock's (2009) recent evaluation model in a…

Using a Crystal Ball Instead of a Rear-View Mirror: Helping State Legislators Assess the Future Impacts of Major Federal Legislation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alter, Joel; Patterson, John

2006-01-01

Typically, program evaluation agencies in the legislative branch of state government examine programs that have already been implemented. These evaluations often consider whether a program achieved the legislature's original goals or complied with statutory requirements. Program evaluations frequently determine whether executive branch agencies…

Participants' perceptions of the 1997-1998 Missouri State Parks Passport Program

Treesearch

Yi-Jin Ye; Jaclyn Card

2002-01-01

Service quality is increasingly important to park managers. Recreation and park evaluation measures the implementation and outcome of programs for decision-making. Decisions based on evaluations are often concerned with improving the quality of the program for participants. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the Missouri State Parks Passport Program (MSPPP) by...

Evaluation of Turkish Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durmuscelebi, Mustafa

2010-01-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the new Turkish education program that has been being implemented since 2005 gradually in light of teacher suggestions. The study has been done in scanning model. In this study which has been conducted with the purpose of evaluating the newly prepared Turkish education programs, the program has been tried to be…

An Evaluation of On-Line, Interactive Tutorials Designed to Teach Practice Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seabury, Brett A.

2005-01-01

This paper presents an evaluation of two on-line-based programs designed to teach practice skills. One program teaches crisis intervention and the other teaches suicide assessment. The evaluation of the use of these programs compares outcomes for two groups of students, one using the interactive program outside a class context and the other using…

Evaluation of Selected New York City Umbrella Programs, 1974-1975 School Year.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fordham Univ., Bronx, NY. Inst. for Research and Evaluation.

An evaluation of twelve different New York City Umbrella Programs coordinated in New York City public schools during the 1974-1975 school year is contained in this document. This report presents a description and evaluation of these programs, together with the major findings. The programs were implemented in the following areas: (1) tutoring in…

Implementing and Evaluating a Rural Community-Based Sexual Abstinence Program: Challenges and Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stauss, Kimberly; Boyas, Javier; Murphy-Erby, Yvette

2012-01-01

Informing both program evaluation and practice research, this paper describes lessons learned during the planning, implementation, and pilot phases of an abstinence education program based in a rural community in a southern state in the USA. Although a number of challenges can emerge in successfully implementing and evaluating such a program in a…

45 CFR 2516.840 - By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs? 2516.840 Section 2516.840 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to... Learn and Serve America programs? The Corporation will evaluate programs based on the following: (a) The...

45 CFR 2516.840 - By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs? 2516.840 Section 2516.840 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to... Learn and Serve America programs? The Corporation will evaluate programs based on the following: (a) The...

45 CFR 2516.840 - By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs? 2516.840 Section 2516.840 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to... Learn and Serve America programs? The Corporation will evaluate programs based on the following: (a) The...

45 CFR 2516.840 - By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false By what standards will the Corporation evaluate individual Learn and Serve America programs? 2516.840 Section 2516.840 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to... Learn and Serve America programs? The Corporation will evaluate programs based on the following: (a) The...

From Schools to Community Learning Centers: A Program Evaluation of a School Reform Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magolda, Peter; Ebben, Kelsey

2007-01-01

This manuscript reports on a program evaluation of a school reform initiative conducted in an Ohio city. The paper describes, interprets, and evaluates this reform process aimed at transforming schools into community learning centers. The manuscript also describes and analyzes the initiative's program evaluation process. Elliot Eisner's [(1998).…

Evaluating public participation in environmental decision-making: EPA's superfund community involvement program.

Treesearch

Susan Charnley; Bruce Engelbert

2005-01-01

This article discusses an 8-year, ongoing project that evaluates the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund community involvement program. The project originated as a response to the Government Performance and Results Act, which requires federal agencies to articulate program goals, and evaluate and report their progress in meeting those goals. The evaluation...

Formative Evaluation in a Cognitive Developmental Program for Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, Sherry L.; And Others

The Cognitive Developmental Early Childhood program at Pennsylvania State University has formulated a program, curriculum, and evaluation system guided by Piagetian theory. The evaluation system described in this paper is a result of an intensive examination of the purposes and types of evaluation systems for their compatibility with the Piagetian…

The Do's and Don'ts in Regard to the Evaluation of Bilingual Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriquez-Brown, Flora V.

The difficulties in evaluating bilingual education appear to have prevented success in all but a few evaluation attempts, but better and more meaningful evaluation is neccessary in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of bilingual programs. Many bilingual programs are undergoing constant modification, adequate assessment instruments have…

Evaluating Federal Social Programs: Finding out What Works and What Does Not

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muhlhausen, David B.

2012-01-01

Federal social programs are rarely evaluated to determine whether they are actually accomplishing their intended purposes. As part of its obligation to spend taxpayers' dollars wisely, Congress should mandate that experimental evaluations of every federal social program be conducted. The evaluations should be large-scale, multisite studies to…

What Have We Learned about the Politics of Program Evaluation?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chelimsky, Eleanor

The politics of program evaluation are discussed from the personal perspective of the Director of the General Accounting Office's Program Evaluation and Methodology Division, which has produced reports for committees of the United States Congress. It is concluded that successful evaluations must be useful to others and must understand the…

Adapting the Empowerment Evaluation Model: A Mental Health Drop-In Center Case Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullins, Carolyn D.

2003-01-01

Empowerment evaluation involves a program's stakeholders in designing and implementing an evaluation of their own program, thus contributing to the program's improvement and self-determination (Fetterman, 1994, 1996). It appeared to be an appropriate approach for evaluating a mental health drop-in center, which had congruent goals of collaboration…

Formative Evaluation of the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program. Final Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2010

2010-01-01

This report presents the results of the formative evaluation of the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program (ALLESP). Data collection related to this evaluation took place between November 2008 and May 2009. The evaluation resulted in the following four recommendations: (1) It is recommended that Program objectives and activities…

Development and application of course-embedded assessment system for program outcome evaluation in the Korean nursing education: A pilot study.

PubMed

Park, Jee Won; Seo, Eun Ji; You, Mi-Ae; Song, Ju-Eun

2016-03-01

Program outcome evaluation is important because it is an indicator for good quality of education. Course-embedded assessment is one of the program outcome evaluation methods. However, it is rarely used in Korean nursing education. The study purpose was to develop and apply preliminarily a course-embedded assessment system to evaluate one program outcome and to share our experiences. This was a methodological study to develop and apply the course-embedded assessment system based on the theoretical framework in one nursing program in South Korea. Scores for 77 students generated from the three practicum courses were used. The course-embedded assessment system was developed following the six steps suggested by Han's model as follows. 1) One program outcome in the undergraduate program, "nursing process application ability", was selected and 2) the three clinical practicum courses related to the selected program outcome were identified. 3) Evaluation tools including rubric and items were selected for outcome measurement and 4) performance criterion, the educational goal level for the program, was established. 5) Program outcome was actually evaluated using the rubric and evaluation items in the three practicum courses and 6) the obtained scores were analyzed to identify the achievement rate, which was compared with the performance criterion. Achievement rates for the selected program outcome in adult, maternity, and pediatric nursing practicum were 98.7%, 100%, and 66.2% in the case report and 100% for all three in the clinical practice, and 100%, 100%, and 87% respectively for the conference. These are considered as satisfactory levels when compared with the performance criterion of "at least 60% or more". Course-embedded assessment can be used as an effective and economic method to evaluate the program outcome without running an integrative course additionally. Further studies to develop course-embedded assessment systems for other program outcomes in nursing education are needed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

SUPERFUND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION PROGRAM TECHNOLOGY PROFILES: SIXTH EDITION

EPA Science Inventory

The Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program evaluates new and promising treatment and monitoring and measurement technologies for cleanup of hazardous waste sites. The program was created to encourage the development and routine use of innovative treatment techn...

SUPERFUND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION PROGRAM - TECHNOLOGY PROFILES - SEVENTH EDITION

EPA Science Inventory

The Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program evaluates new and promising treatment and monitoring and measurement technologies for cleanup of hazardous waste sites. The program was created to encourage the development and routine use of innovative treatment techn...

Solar and atmospheric forcing on mountain lakes.

PubMed

Luoto, Tomi P; Nevalainen, Liisa

2016-10-01

We investigated the influence of long-term external forcing on aquatic communities in Alpine lakes. Fossil microcrustacean (Cladocera) and macrobenthos (Chironomidae) community variability in four Austrian high-altitude lakes, determined as ultra-sensitive to climate change, were compared against records of air temperature, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and solar forcing over the past ~400years. Summer temperature variability affected both aquatic invertebrate groups in all study sites. The influence of NAO and solar forcing on aquatic invertebrates was also significant in the lakes except in the less transparent lake known to have remained uniformly cold during the past centuries due to summertime snowmelt input. The results suggest that external forcing plays an important role in these pristine ecosystems through their impacts on limnology of the lakes. Not only does the air temperature variability influence the communities but also larger-scale external factors related to atmospheric circulation patterns and solar activity cause long-term changes in high-altitude aquatic ecosystems, through their connections to hydroclimatic conditions and light environment. These findings are important in the assessment of climate change impacts on aquatic ecosystems and in greater understanding of the consequences of external forcing on lake ontogeny. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Competition for spectral irradiance between epilimnetic optically active dissolved and suspended matter and phytoplankton in the metalimnion. Consequences for limnology and chemistry.

PubMed

Bracchini, Luca; Dattilo, Arduino Massimo; Falcucci, Margherita; Hull, Vincent; Tognazzi, Antonio; Rossi, Claudio; Loiselle, Steven Arthur

2011-06-01

In deep lakes, water column stratification isolates the surface water from the deeper bottom layers, creating a three dimensional differentiation of the chemical, physical, biological and optical characteristics of the waters. Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and total suspended solids (TSS) play an important role in the attenuation of ultraviolet and photosynthetically active radiation. In the present analysis of spectral irradiance, we show that the wavelength composition of the metalimnetic visible irradiance was influenced by epilimnetic spatial distribution of CDOM. We found a low occurrence of blue-green photons in the metalimnion where epilimnetic concentrations of CDOM are high. In this field study, the spatial variation of the spectral irradiance in the metalimnion correlates with the observed metalimnetic concentrations of chlorophyll a as well as chlorophyll a : chlorophyll b/c ratios. Dissolved oxygen, pH, and nutrients trends suggest that chlorophyll a concentrations were representative of the phytoplankton biomass and primary production. Thus, metalimnetic changes of spectral irradiance may have a direct impact on primary production and an indirect effect on the spatial trends of pH, dissolved oxygen, and inorganic nutrients in the metalimnion.

Lakes and lake-like waters of the Hawaiian Archipelago

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maciolek, J.A.

1982-01-01

This summary of Hawaiian lacustrine limnology is based on 12 years of field and literature surveys of archipelagic inland waters. Lakes here are distinguished from other standing waters by limits on surface oceanic area (> 0.1 ha) and depth (> 2 m), and by the absence of flatural surface oceanic connection. A variety of extinct and existing water bodies, sometimes referred to as lakes, are noted. Six lakes are described. Five of them are in crater basins, 3 are freshwater, and 2 are elevated (highest = 3969 m). The scarcity of elevated lakes results from general permeability of the substrata. Among the 6 lakes, surface areas range from 0.22 to 88 ha and maximum depths from 3 to 248 m. Naturally occurring aquatic biota generally is low in species diversity except for phytoplankton; fishes and submersed vascular plants are absent. Two lowland lakes, freshwater Green (Wai a Pele) and saline Kauhak6, are described for the first time. Profundal Kauhak6, 248 m deep, has a surface area of only 0.35 ha, which results in an extraordinary relative depth of 370%. It is permanently stratified, a condition apparently due primarily to the unique morphometry of its basin. 

Tundra ponds of the Yukon Delta, Alaska, and their macroinvertebrate communities.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maciolek, J.A.

1989-01-01

The Yukon Delta, a low alluvial tundra in western Alaska, has more than 105 thaw-basin ponds within its 70000 km2 area. In 1984 and 1985, 68 ponds in three interior areas of the Delta were surveyed to determine limnological features, macroinvertebrate fauna, and trophic character. Ponds ranged up to 90 ha in area, 2 m in depth, and 17 m in elevation, and occurred in various temporal stages of growth and senescence. Among the 18 major invertebrate taxa collected, in order of decreasing frequency of occurrence, Trichoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Pelecypoda, Isopoda, Coleoptera, Gastropoda, and Oligochaeta were found in over 50% of the ponds. Trichoptera, the only taxon occurring in all ponds, was represented by 22 species of 6 families. The average Delta pond had 6.6 of the nine more common taxa. This measure of faunal richness was similar among study areas but was higher in low-tundra (sea level) ponds and in older ponds on raised tundra. In comparison, lentic invertebrate communities in five other areas of Alaskan and Canadian tundra had fewer taxa and also lower average richness based on occurrence of the same nine taxa.

The Dead Sea, The Lake and Its Setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brink, Uri ten

I cannot think of a subject more befitting the description of interdisciplinary research with societal relevance than the study of the Dead Sea, a terminal lake of the Jordan River in Israel and Jordan. The scientific study of the Dead Sea is intimately connected with politics, religion, archeology, economic development, tourism, and environmental change.The Dead Sea is a relatively closed geologic and limnologic system with drastic physical changes often occurring on human timescales and with a long human history to observe these changes. Research in this unique area covers diverse aspects such as active subsidence and deformation along strike-slip faults; vertical stratification and stability of the water column; physical properties of extremely saline and dense (1234 kg/m3) water; spontaneous precipitation of minerals in an oversaturated environment; origin of the unusual chemical composition of the brine; existence of life in extreme environments; use of lake level fluctuations as a paleoclimatic indicator; and effects on the environment of human intervention versus natural climatic variability. Although the Dead Sea covers a small area on a global scale, it is nevertheless one of the largest natural laboratories for these types of research on Earth. These reasons make the Dead Sea a fascinating topic for the curious mind.