The Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities invited posters from all disciplines on environmental topics in the Hudson and Mohawk River watershed. 

TITLE:  Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign

AUTHORS: Kelsey Adler, Alexandra Knoth, Kelsey Scott, Kristen Sharpe, Aya Yamamoto, and Jack P. Manno
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

PRESENTERS: Kelsey Adler, Alexandra Knoth, Kelsey Scott, Kristen Sharpe, and Aya Yamamoto    

ABSTRACT:  This student-led project aims to provide context and support for the 2013 Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign. 2013 marks the 400th anniversary of the Two Row Wampum - the first agreement made between the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and Europeans. The wampum belt outlines a relationship of peace, friendship, and perpetuity. Its tenets aim to establish a sustainable relationship among people and with the land, so that future generations may have intact ecosystems to live in. Severe environmental degradation gives testament to settler nations’ failure to live up to the responsibilities outlined in these treaties. The Two Wampum Renewal Campaign is a collaborative effort between the Onondaga Nation, Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON), and other allies to retrieve these neglected responsibilities, so that we may all move forward together towards a sustainable future. The campaign points to collaborative stewardship as key to lasting harmony with each other and with the earth.  It also seeks to inspire participants and the general public to uphold the tenets of the Two Row Wampum, and to fundamentally change the way that federal and state governments relate to indigenous peoples. As indigenous peoples around the world carry deep ecological knowledge of their ancestral homelands, this approach would have profound implications for environmental policy, resource management, conservation, and ecological restoration. The campaign will involve educational events throughout the state, culminating in a symbolic enactment of the treaty with Haudenosaunee in canoes and allies in other boats paddling in parallel down the Hudson River from Albany to New York City, holding educational events along the way. Students of SUNY ESF and Syracuse University will be involved in planning the enactment and associated events.  They will also conduct campus outreach, curriculum development, and ethnohistoric research exploring the role of the Haudenosaunee in current environmental issues.   

TITLE:    Landscapes, habitat mapping and bird distributions in the Fonteynkill Watershed

AUTHORS: Sasha Brown ('13), Professor Mary Ann Cunningham, Geography, Vassar College

PRESENTER: Sasha Brown

ABSTRACT:  This project set forth to examine bird habitats and communities on the Vassar College campus and Ecological Preserve.  Specifically, this project examines how local bird species' presence responds to changes in habitat cover at local scales and landscape scales within a generally suburban and semi-urban area. Our methods included a survey of bird species at locations across Vassar Campus and the Ecological Preserve, a survey of density of vegetative cover at a selection of sites, and a logistical regression using GIS landcover data that described the responses of different bird species to habitat cover and between urban and non-urban bird species. The results of these surveys present a preliminary portrait of bird communities in this area and suggest the different responses some bird species have to landcover at different scales. One of the most important conclusions from this project is the negative correlation of non-urban birds to impervious surface cover. This project has also created maps and resources that can be used as a tool for education or for further research.

TITLE:  An Analysis of the Differences in Annual Carbon Dioxide Levels Measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory

AUTHOR:  Dr. Robert Cassidy, Associate Professor, Mathematics & Physical Sciences, SUNY Ulster County Community College

PRESENTER: Dr. Robert Cassidy

ABSTRACT:  The differences in the annual carbon dioxide concentrations appear to have increased from about 5.3 ppm to about 6.2 ppm during the period from 1958 to 2001, potentially reflecting increased photosynthetic activity, as the gas concentrations increased from about 315 ppm to about 370 ppm.  A global response to the increase in carbon dioxide levels during the latter half of the twentieth century is addressed through this research.  Global mechanisms for decreasing carbon dioxide levels apparently are not keeping pace with the rate of increase in CO2 production, which would indicate a need to decrease anthropogenic production of this gas.

TITLE:   The Marcellus Shale Environmental Review

AUTHORS:   Kayla Every, Environmental Studies Major
Mat Banville, Student in Department of Computer Science
Dr. Sharon Small, Department of Computer Science
Dr. James Booker, Departments of Economics and Environmental Studies
Siena College

PRESENTER:  Kayla Every

ABSTRACT:  High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (HVHF) is a process that requires the propagation of fractures within the Marcellus Shale, a sedimentary rock layer submerged below the Earth’s surface that holds trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.  It has led to a heated debate within New York State.  Our research analyzes the public comments that were submitted to the NYSDEC in reference to its 2011 revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS), which proposes HVHF regulations and gives examples on how the numerous externalities from this activity will be mitigated.  Utilizing automated computational techniques has allowed us to scan through the public comment database and unearth the public’s reflected ideas associated with water quality (WQ) and local economic impacts (LEI) events brought on by HVHF.  We have identified the public’s suggested monitoring techniques, in order to determine the prevalence of alternative regulatory approaches and what they are precisely calling for.  Sentences are manually read through first to find trigger words, which create different attributes in relation to the WQ and LEI events.  Our automated annotator then scanned through 27,085 comments from the public comment database, extracting sentences which contained an ideal number of these created attributes, showing its relation to the event.  We were able to successfully distinguish sentences that related to WQ events, with recall being 39%, accuracy 99% and precision 100%.  In identifying events related to LEI, we found that using the content of all sentences within a single comment was useful with our computational technique.  We were able to substantially increase recall (to 80%), while still maintaining high precision and accuracy (80% and 89%, respectively).  This technique of analyzing comments would be useful for different organizations as an online technology to extract any relevant information sought after.  

TITLE:  Developing a Management Plan for a College Nature Preserve

AUTHORS:   Richard S. Feldman, Ph.D. and Sarah Sterner, Class of 2010, Marist College

PRESENTER: Richard S. Feldman

ABSTRACT: Fern Tor is a 12-acre forested plot of oak-hickory ridges and hemlock-northern hardwood cove, with a pond and first order creek that flows directly to the Hudson River. It forms the northern boundary of Marist College, adjoining a county park to the north.  It therefore has potential to be part of the Hudson Valley Greenway.  Before such inclusion, it is necessary to establish a plan to protect its natural resources, e.g. native vegetation, soil, water quality and aesthetics. Additionally, it is an important educational & recreational resource.  We highlight a plan to control Japanese knotweed and list several other concerns that need attention, e.g. litter, campfires, soil erosion and dumping of landscaping debris.

TITLE: Archaeological Research on the Shawangunk Ridge

AUTHORS: Emma Goodwin (’14), Nate Gorlin-Crenshaw (’13), Melanie Horn (’13), Sarah Mincer (’15), and Dr. Lucy Johnson, Professor of Anthropology,Vassar College

PRESENTERS: Emma Goodwin and Lucy Johnson

ABSTRACT:  This summer we conducted a broad scale archaeological excavation and survey of several sites within the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, New York. The Shawangunks are the northernmost extension of the Appalachian Mountains, and due to their unique geological make-up, weather easily, forming numerous rock shelters. These shelters have been used as human habitations for the past 10,000 years. Some of the sites that we excavated lie adjacent to a major prehistoric pathway that crossed the ridge at the Gap, which suggests that some of these shelters may have been rest areas for groups of people moving back and forth across the mountains. Excavating and studying these high elevation rock shelter sites is important; it allows researchers an insight into the resting places of past inhabitants and high elevation hunters that traveled back and forth over the Shawangunk Ridge. The goal of this research was to learn more about the prehistoric settlement patterns and seasonal migration along the Shawangunk Ridge, and to demonstrate the importance of such research. Over the ten-week period that we worked, we found only a small number of diagnostic lithic artifacts, which reinforces our current theory that the past inhabitants of the area used the shelters primarily as seasonal hunting camps. In addition to processing our own collections, we also worked on the analysis of older collections in the Archaeological lab.

TITLE:  Protecting the Quassaick Creek Watershed

AUTHOR:  Ed Helbig, Education Coordinator, Orange County Water Authority 

PRESENTER:  Ed Helbig

ABSTRACT:  This poster defines what a watershed is and describes the nesting levels of basin, watershed and cachement. Maps show the scale and relationship between the Hudson River Watershed and the Quassaick Creek Watershed. Graphics and maps illustrate the impact of impervious surfaces on watersheds, and the relationship between watersheds and wetlands.

TITLE:  The Grass Isn't Always Greener on the Other Side: An Introduction to Environmental Racism

AUTHOR:   Chelsea Hebert, Political Science Student, Marist College

PRESENTER: Chelsea Hebert

ABSTRACT:  The competitive nature of the world’s nations, both leading and developing, has led to many misconceptions and discrepancies in regards to countless of issues. Whether they are problems arising out of the government, economy, or political culture of the nation, there is a constant call for solutions and improvement of everything, and anything, that the government and rulers of nations have found a way to meddle in, from religious freedom, employment, and national security, to freedom of speech, healthcare, and environmental quality. This “constant call”—for help, for change, for freedom—is rooted in society’s desire for justice and, even more deeply, in the quest for the answer to the question, “What are my rights as a human being?” It is my duty as an emerging political scientist to distinguish between these two concepts, “law” and “morality”, and to determine what all people, as human beings living together on this earth beneath one atmosphere, are entitled to in regards to human rights.  Though we are often separated by oceans, miles, and wars, we are all people—human beings—looking to survive and to thrive while living the best quality of life we can. However, it is obvious that there exist prejudices and injustices that keep some people from enjoying the same quality of life as their neighbor, whether it is their neighbor in the house next door or in the house in the Middle East. As the environmental movement continues to grow and push its way up the governmental agendas of specific nations, you will find that there are places in which the concept of “environmentalism” does not exist, even though the environmental quality of some of these places is poor and potentially harmful to people’s health. This poster will present information regarding environmental racism and its origins.

TITLE:  Employer Perceptions of Sustainability in Business Curricula

AUTHORS:  Beate Klingenberg, PhD, Associate Professor of Management, Marist College
Susan Kochanowski, PhD, Assisant Professor of Management, Marist College

PRESENTERS:  Beate Klingenberg, PhD and Susan Kochanowski, Phd, Marist College

ABSTRACT:  Sustainability appears to be one of the hot topics in the 21st century business world. A number of studies provide indices of the importance of sustainability both in current and future  businesses worldwide.  Among these indices are measures of CEO perceptions of the importance of sustainability, organizational spending in the area of sustainability and expected investment growth in green product development. These indices, which point to an increasing importance of sustainability in businesses, raise the question of the level of expertise of executives, managers and employees in general with regards to what it means to run a business sustainably. Existing research indicates that environmental ignorance persists even among well-educated and influential members of society and suggests that colleges are not doing enough to provide education in environmental issues and sustainability.  In particular, the research literature indicates gaps especially in term of multiple stakeholder views regarding the depth of necessary environmental literacy for undergraduate business majors.  The authors propose an exploratory pilot study to determine employers’ expectations for knowledge of sustainability in future hires. A survey of firms participating in the semi-annual job fair at a small liberal arts college with an AASCB accredited business undergraduate program will be conducted. This survey aims to determine the perception of importance of the education in sustainability for the college’s Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration graduates.

TITLE:   Vernal Pool Protection: Regulation and Statutes

AUTHORS:   Mary Beth Kolozsvary, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Siena College
Anne Duperault, The Nature Conservancy California Field Office

PRESENTER:  Mary Beth Kolozsvary

ABSTRACT:   Vernal pools are a unique class of small, isolated, ephemeral wetlands that undergo cyclical periods of drying and inundation.  In the Northeast, vernal pools typically occur in forested landscapes and are an important ecological resource, including habitat for many invertebrate and amphibian species.  The small size and dynamic nature of vernal pools creates challenges to their conservation and not all states regulate them in their freshwater wetland policies.  We examined current regulations governing vernal pools for the District of Columbia and the northeastern states of Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.  This review reflects only freshwater wetland policies at the state level; many municipalities have enacted local laws that enhance or include protections of vernal pools.  Six of the 14 jurisdictions surveyed have legislation and policies that directly recognize and provide protection to vernal pools, although the degree of protection varies greatly.  The remaining eight jurisdictions do not have regulations that specifically target vernal pools; however, five of these jurisdications have other regulations that provide limited protection to some vernal pools.  An assessment of the effectiveness of the various regulatory strategies that have been implemented to date is recommended, after which a strategy for a more unified approach to regulation and management of this important resource across the region could be pursued.

TITLE:   Baseline Study of Macroinvertebrates in the Vlomanskill

AUTHORS:  Amanda Kopet, Biology Major, and Dr. Paul Benzing, The College of Saint Rose

PRESENTER:  Amanda Kopet

ABSTRACT:  We conducted a bioassessment of the Vlomanskill, a small creek located on the property of the Five Rivers Educational Center in Delmar.  Biomonitoring programs use living organisms and their responses in order to determine the quality of the surrounding environment.  The baseline information collected in this study will help to establish historic data to be used in a program to monitor water quality at Five Rivers.  Two sites were assessed, one farther upstream that receives fewer disturbances and one downstream that is frequented by school groups.  Surber Sampler nets and Hester-Dendy Samplers were used to collect macroinvertebrates. Hester-Dendy Samplers were left in the stream for 6 weeks and then retrieved.  Invertebrates were preserved in the field with 70% ethanol and were brought back to be counted and identified down to family using An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America¹. Visual assessments were conducted using a protocol developed by the NRCS².  Percent EPT taxa shows the abundance of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Tricoptera and was calculated for each sample. Three different taxa of Ephemeroptera were found including Baetidae, Leptophlebiidae and Heptageniidae. The former, which was found more frequently in the Hester-Dendy sample is dorso-ventrally flattened and is normally found on the underside of rocks fulfilling the role of a scraper. The only representative order of Plecoptera that was found to be present was Perlidae, and they were present in all samples. Two taxa of Tricoptera were present in all samples; Hydropsychidae and Hydroptilidae. The EPT composition of samples collected with Surber nets are nearly identical. It is notable that the Hester-Dendy Samplers favored insects that are more commonly found under rocks, while Surber Samplers collected taxa that are free swimming or live in sediment.

¹ Merrit, R.W., K.W. Cummins, and M.B Berg. An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America. 4th ed. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2008. Print.

² Newton,B. ,Pringle,C., & Bjorkland,R. (1998). Stream Visual Assessment Protocol. United States Department of Agriculture.

TITLE:  Bee and syrphid fly diversity of green roofs and urban meadows

AUTHORS:  Jeremy Law, M.A. Student, Columbia University; Matt Palmer, Lecturer, Columbia University; John Ascher, American Museum of Natural History; F. Christian Thompson, Smithsonian Institution

PRESENTER:  Jeremy Law

ABSTRACT:  Various bee species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) have been subject to long-term declines throughout North America.  However, little evidence has shown that hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), which also play an important role in pollination, are facing comparable declines.  Recently, researchers have begun to explore how properly designed and maintained urban environments may provide suitable habitat for native species.  Green roofs are rooftops that have a vegetated surface and substrate constructed atop an engineered membrane that provide a variety of ecosystem services including stormwater retention and temperature regulation.  Urban meadows are another potentially important and unique, yet understudied, habitat for pollinators in the urban environment. In this study, I compare the pollinator diversity of green roofs and urban meadows and determine what factors influence how suitable green roofs and urban meadows are in providing habitat for pollinators. From June through September, 2012, I sampled insects using sweep netting and pan trapping each month from 10 identically planted roofs located on recreation centers and 9 ground-level urban meadows located in parks throughout New York City.  I will identify specimens to genus, while J.S. Ascher (AMNH) and F.C. Thompson (Smithsonian) will verify and identify to species.  I will calculate species richness and abundance and compare them to various landscape characteristics using ArcGIS to determine what factors influence pollinator diversity on green roofs and in urban meadows.  This study will likely provide information on the role that green roofs and urban meadows play in providing habitat for native pollinator species and aid in the development of guidelines for greenroof location and design to promote pollinator activity and diversity.

TITLE:  Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria of Nestling American Crows in Newburgh, NY

AUTHORS:   James Liporace & Douglas A. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D., Mount Saint Mary College

PRESENTER: James Liporace, Chemistry Major

ABSTRACT:   Evidence indicates species living in close proximity to sites of high antibiotic use (e.g., livestock operations) are very likely to carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but the range of species known to carry such bacteria is limited.  We investigated whether a common bird that nests around human dwellings, American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) carried bacteria that were resistant to antibiotics used by humans and administered by veterinarians.  Data for our study were collected over the two summers, Cloacal samples were collected from 6 broods (n= 22 nestlings) in the summer of 2011, 8 broods (n= 29 nestling) in the summer of 2012 in Newburgh, NY.  Bacterial species were isolated following culturing on an agar media and tested for susceptibility to 12 common antibiotics using the Kirby-Bauer method. Our results indicate that all nestlings had at least 1 bacterium isolate that showed antibiotic resistance. Between 2011 and 2012, bacteria had the highest overall resistance to the antibiotics Oxacillin and Vancomycin. Ciprofloxacin and Oxytetracycline had the greatest decrease in antibiotic resistance between 2011 and 2012, while Sulfathiazole had the greatest increase in percent of bacterial isolates the showed ABR. Future studies will address the identity of the bacterial isolates, their origin in the environment, and the means by which nestlings are acquiring the bacteria.

TITLE: Black Creek Glass Eel Citizen Science Connecting Youth and University Students in Research

AUTHOR: Rosemary Millham, PhD, Assistant Professor, SUNY New Paltz

PRESENTERS:  Rosemary Millham, PhD; Krista Munger, Graduate Student; Justine Dill, Science Education Major, SUNY New Paltz; Ian McAllister, High School Student; Sierra Sockhocky and Max Weires, Middle School Students

ABSTRACT: This project connects pre-service teachers with middle school students through relevant action research in science related to local and regional environmental issues as a means for understanding the connections that exist between student-directed investigative activities and meaningful teaching and learning in the scientific community. Middle School students have the opportunity to participate in important real-life scientific study locally and regionally on the health of an individual species, and local environment as a whole, while learning the process of science. University students determine the impact these experiences exhibit on the attitudes and aptitudes of middle school students participating in the program.

TITLE: Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System: a collaborative effort in real-time monitoring

AUTHORS: Alene M. Onion, Sarah H. Fernald, and Gary Wall

PRESENTER: Neil Fitzgerald, Professor, Chemistry Department, Marist College

ABSTRACT:  In 2008, The Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS) was established to provide high frequency geographically distributed real-time data between Albany and New York Harbor. It builds upon existing monitoring and observing activities on the Hudson River estuary, including the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), the US Geological Survey, and the NYS DEC Rotating Integrated Basin Studies.  HRECOS is operated by a consortium of partners from the government and research community who collaborate to provide data in real-time to a public website (www.hrecos.org).  The goals of HRECOS are to provide baseline monitoring data necessary for applied research and modeling, to improve the capacity of research entities to understand the ecosystem and manage estuarine resources, to provide policy makers with timely data products to guide decision making, and to support the use of real-time data in educational settings. Recent additions to the HRECOS network include a pumped monitoring station at Poughkeepsie to collect water from the main channel, allowing for sampling of microbiology, toxics, and endocrine disruptors; and a new station at lock 8 in Schenectady expands the network into the Mohawk Watershed.

TITLE:   Platinum Group Metals: The Toxic Catalysts

AUTHORS:  Melody Wren, Thomas DesMarais, Brandon Harrand, School of Science, Marist College

PRESENTER:  Melody Wren, Environmental Science Major

ABSTRACT:  Platinum Group Metals (PGM), such as platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), and rhodium (Rd), are of increasing concern due to rising anthropogenic input to aquatic systems.  In this study, PGMs’ effects on bioaccumulation and histopathological changes were investigated using Orconectes virilis, a native species of the Hudson River, as a model.  Organisms were exposed to varying concentrations of water-soluble PGM salts for ten days.  The following experimental treatments were established:  0.0, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 ppm Pt(IV), 1.0 ppm Rh(III), 1.0 ppm Pd(II), and a PGM Mix (1.0ppm Pt(IV), Rh(III), Pd(II) each) dissolved in raw Hudson River water.  Metal content in the tissue samples were analyzed by SPECTRO GENESIS ICP-OES. SPSS statistical package was used to analyze Pt, Pd, and Rh content in different treatments and behavioral changes during the experiment.  Paraffin sections, 6 µm thick, were prepared in E&H stain and examined for histological abnormalities within the liver, exoskeleton, brain, and ganglia.  Statistically significant differences in bioaccumulation of PGMs were observed in all organs, with highest concentrations found in liver tissue, 816.83 μg/0.1g dw for1.0 ppm Pd treatment, 200.33 μg/0.1g dw Rh for 1.0 ppm Rh treatment, and 815.83 μg/0.1g dw Pt for the 5.0 ppm Pt treatment.  Platinum content was significantly lower at the 10 ppm exposure, suggesting severe structural damage to the tissue.  Hyper-segmentation of vacuoles and swelling of the vascular channels were observed in the hepatocyte structure of the liver. Exoskeletal tissue showed visible bands in the exocuticle indicating demineralization, while the brain and ganglia demonstrated extensive vacuolization.  Behavioral analysis showed a significant increase of maximum response intensity over the experimental period within each treatment.  Bioaccumulation and cellular abnormalities observed in exposed aquatic organisms raise concern of PGM bio-magnification within the food chain and its effect on the environment and human health.