Date of Award
3-24-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Environmental Sciences, MS
First Advisor
Jennifer Bouldin
Committee Members
David Harding; Lorin Neuman-Lee; Maureen Dolan
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2020 S64
Abstract
Freshwater is an important commodity for society and for various flora and fauna that inhabit them. Smaller tributaries and subwatersheds contribute to downstream water quality and are crucial components in impairment remediation. Targeting upstream Mississippi River Alluvial Plain watersheds such as Bayou DeView Watershed, AR, identified as priority watersheds within the Mississippi River Basin Initiative are part of the conservation proposal to reduce sediment and nutrient loads to the Gulf of Mexico. This study found turbidity impairment levels exceeded at four sites in the Bayou DeView and all sites exhibited excess total nitrogen suggesting sites for best management practices. Physiological study of Blanchard’s cricket frog within Bayou DeView Watershed revealed potential energetic trade-offs between immune function, life history stages, and reproduction. Evidence-based conservation physiology may potentially assist change in water quality management and increase protection of amphibian populations while benefiting the farmers that own the fields adjacent to stream habitat.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Spence, Amber Lynn, "Water Quality and Amphibian Ecoimmunology Assessment in The Bayou Deview Watershed, Arkansas" (2021). Student Theses and Dissertations. 326.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/326
