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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 793 records · Page 44
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Ecological objectives can be achieved with wood-derived bioenergy

Renewable, biomass-based energy options can reduce the climate impacts of fossil fuels. However, calculating the effects of wood-derived bioenergy on greenhouse gases (GHGs), and thus on climate, is complicated (Miner et al. 2015). To clarify concerns and options about bioenergy, in November 2014, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) produced a second draft of its Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO 2 Emissions fromStationary Sources (http://1.usa.gov/1dikgHq), which considers the latest scientific information and input from stakeholders. Furthermore, the EPA is expected to make decisions soon about the use of woody biomass under the Clean Power Plan, which sets targets for carbon pollution from power plants.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Final Technical Report-The Ecology and Genomics of Co2 Fixatiion in Oceanic River Plumes

Oceanic river plumes represent some of the most productive environments on Earth. As major conduits for freshwater and nutrients into the coastal ocean, their impact on water column ecosystems extend for up to a thousand km into oligotrophic oceans. Upon entry into the oceans rivers are tremendous sources of CO 2 and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Yet owing to increased light transmissivity from sediment deposition coupled with the influx of nutrients, dramatic CO 2 drawdown occurs, and plumes rapidly become sinks for CO 2 . Using state-of-the-art gene expression technology, we have examined the molecular biodiversity of CO 2 fixation in the Mississippi River Plume (MRP; two research cruises) and the Orinoco River Plume (ORP; one cruise).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Impacts of elevated temperature on ant species, communities and ecological roles at two temperate forests in Eastern North America

Over the course of five years we have established a long-term array of warming chambers at Duke and Harvard Forest that simulate future conditions with regard to temperature. In these chambers, we have studied, ants, other animal taxa, fungi, bacteria and plants and their responses to the treatments. We have coupled these studies with lab experiments, large-scale observations, and models to contextualize our results. Finally, we have developed integrative models of the future distribution of species and their consequences as a result of warming in eastern North America and more generally.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Golden Eagle Territories and Ecology at Site 300

Garcia and Associates (GANDA) was contracted by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to collect information on golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) use of Site 300. During 2014, we conducted surveys at Site 300 and for an area including a 10-mile radius of Site 300. Those surveys documented 42 golden eagle territories including two territories that overlapped with Site 300. These were named ‘Tesla’ and ‘Linac Road’. In 2015, we conducted surveys to refine the territory boundaries of golden eagle territories that overlapped with Site 300 and to document eagle activity at Site 300.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Developing a Map Catalog to Display Water Right Information from Washington State Department of Ecology Database

The procedure for developing an ArcGIS Map catalog is described using Data Driven Pages ArcGIS extension for depicting wells and associated water rights by township and range in eastern Washington intersecting Franklin, Adams, Benton, Walla Walla, Yakima, and Klickitat counties. A series of queries against a geodatabase were written to distill the most relevant information by each well for mapping purposes. A labeling system was designed using the advanced Maplex Label Engine to account for the dense spatial distribution of wells in certain areas, and to ensure this information was legible at mapped extents and zoom level. A total of 110 maps were generated.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Scat Detection Dog Surveys for the San Joaquin Kit Fox on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Experimental Test Site (Site 300) and the Corral Hollow Ecological Reserve: 2020 Deployment

The San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) historically occupied an extensive range in the San Joaquin Valley, California; however, their populations and habitat have since been significantly reduced by human impacts (United States Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS] 1998). More than 95% of the potential habitat for kit foxes on the San Joaquin Valley floor has been converted to irrigated agriculture, urbanized, or industrialized lands. The San Joaquin kit fox was listed as endangered by the USFWS in 1967 and as threatened by the State of California in 1971. Records from local surveys, research projects, and incidental sightings indicate the present distribution of kit foxes extends from 1) southern Kern County north to Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Joaquin counties on the west side of the valley and to Stanislaus County on the east side; 2) into some of the larger, uncultivated valley-floor land parcels in Kern, Tulare, Kings, Fresno, Madera, and Merced counties; and 3) westward within 5 counties in the interior coastal range (USFWS 1998). Kit foxes have been denoted to occur in 3 geographically distinct core and several satellite populations in a heavily fragmented landscape, with the largest extant populations concentrated in the southern part of the range and smaller populations and isolated sightings in the central and northern portions (USFWS 1998, 2010).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluating the Long-Term Ecological Responses to Riparian Ecosystem Restoration at the Fort Benning, Georgia Military Installation

Riparian and instream restorations are commonly implemented to improve ecosystem condition. However, very few restoration activities are monitored for multiple years to assess long-term effectiveness. At the Department of Defense’s Fort Benning Military Installation (FBMI) in west-central Georgia, two experimental restoration projects (ephemeral drainage revitalization and instream habitat augmentation [i.e., coarse woody debris (CWD) additions]) were implemented ~14 years ago with the goal of reducing environmental impacts of military training activities. A SERDP project found that instream restoration improved some aspects of ecosystem function and community structure but not others. The objective of the current study was to re-evaluate the effect of these restoration practices on stream ecosystem processes ~14 years after implementation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microbial Ecology of the Plant Rhizosphere (PlantMicrobe)

The growth of bioenergy crops has the potential to help fulfill the nation’s demand for energy. However, growing these crops on arable lands may lead to socioeconomic concerns. One proposed solution is to grow biofuel crops in nutrient poor soils that aren’t well suited for food-crop growth. Therefore, in order to understand the impact of nutrient poor environments on plants, there is a need to investigate model plants and their rhizospheres in these environments using high throughput molecular analyses. Here the rhizosphere can be defined as the zone around underground portion of the plant that is influenced by the plant’s roots, and can include chemical, biological, and physical influences.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantitative, trait-based microbial ecology to accurately model the impacts of nitrogen deposition on soil carbon cycling in the Anthropocene (Final Technical Report)

Atmospheric nitrogen pollution has altered fundamental soil processes, challenging our understanding of the extent to which soils will continue to sequester carbon and slow the pace of future environmental change. While most evidence shows that increases in soil nitrogen have enhanced carbon storage in temperate forests, it remains unclear whether these effects will persist as nitrogen pollution continues to decline. Moreover, there remains uncertainty as to why some forests gain more carbon in response to nitrogen pollution than others. At the heart of this knowledge gap is a failure to link nitrogen–induced shifts in microbial biodiversity with gains or losses in their functional ability to decompose, assimilate, and ultimately stabilize soil carbon. Given that this uncertainty impedes the ability of predictive models to project future soil carbon stocks, there is a critical need to determine how key microbial traits drive soil carbon responses to nitrogen pollution. As such the goals of this project were to: (1) Quantify variation in taxon–specific and community–level microbial traits across gradients in microbial community composition, mycorrhizal symbioses, and nitrogen availability. (2) Integrate empirical data into a novel predictive framework that enhances our ability to project the regional soil carbon consequences of historical nitrogen pollution in temperate forests.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Ecological Monitoring Report Vernal Pools on the Hanford Site

Shallow ephemeral wetlands (also known as vernal pools) in very small to rarely large depressions occur throughout the exposed, volcanic scablands on the Columbia Plateau. These pools are characterized by fresh water inundation for much of the winter and spring, followed by dramatic lowering of the water table at the approach of summer. On the Columbia Plateau, vernal pools are geographically limited but can be locally common (Rocchio and Crawford 2015b). In the state of Washington the Columbia Plateau Vernal Pool ecosystem is considered to be “Imperiled,” that is with a high to moderate risk of extirpation (Rocchio and Crawford 2015a). In 1997, during surveys conducted on the Hanford Site for the U. S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) located three previously undocumented clusters of approximately 20 vernal pools. The Hanford Site pools were located on the east end of Umtanum Ridge, in the central part of Gable Butte, and at the eastern end of Gable Mountain (TNC 1998). The fall and winter of 1996/1997 was unusually wet; 9.7 in. (25 cm) of precipitation fell from October 1996 through March 1997 compared with a normal (30-year average) precipitation of 4.85 in. (12.3 cm) (MSA 2018). The fall and winter of 2016/2017 was also an unusually wet period with 6.86 in. (17.4 cm) of precipitation, which included 28 in. (71 cm) of snow falling between October and the end of February. During the late winter of 2017, the vernal pools documented in 1996/1997 were rediscovered and found to contain significant amounts of water. This report documents the study of roughly 25 vernal pools found on Umtanum Ridge, Gable Butte, and Gable Mountain during 2017.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Risk Assessment Information System Compendium of Ecological Screening Benchmarks for Chemicals and Radionuclides (2025) (Volume VIII – Chemicals for Sediment: General)

Volume VIII presents the chemical benchmarks for sediment: general. The benchmarks here are applicable to both freshwater sediments and marine sediments or where no differentiation was made by the source. These values are not repeated in the freshwater sediment and marine sediment categories. Likewise, values listed in the freshwater sediment and marine sediment categories are not repeated in the generic categories. Consult Volume I for information on the sources.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Risk Assessment Information System Compendium of Ecological Screening Benchmarks for Chemicals and Radionuclides (2025) (Volume V – Chemicals for Surface Water: General)

Volume V presents the chemical benchmarks for surface water: general. The benchmarks here are applicable to both fresh water and marine or where no differentiation was made by the source. These values are not repeated in the fresh water and marine categories. Likewise, values listed in the fresh water and marine categories are not repeated in the generic categories. Consult Volume I for information on the sources.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗