Scholarship & Research
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Item Adaptation and water resources management: examining adaptive governance in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Gilbert, Ashlie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah P. Church; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.A pressing challenge facing water resource users and managers of the twenty-first century is how to address resource needs under the complexities of climate change, growth and development, habitat degradation, and more. Under these pressures, scholars and practitioners look to adaptive frameworks to increase the resilience of communities and ecosystems. Popular adaptive approaches to natural resource management include adaptive management, adaptive co-management, and adaptive governance. In this thesis, we examine adaptive governance in Montana, USA. Adaptive governance is commonly conceptualized as the multitude of actors, organizations, and institutions that utilize information sharing, collaboration, and flexible policies to promote resilient social-ecological systems. Although there has been a substantial increase in scholarship examining adaptive governance and related adaptation terms in the last forty years, scholars have yet to distinguish them from one another clearly. Further, there has been little research on adaptive governance conducted in the headwaters State of Montana. This thesis is an attempt to reduce these gaps in the literature. First, I review the command-and-control paradigm, decentralized approaches to natural resource management, adaptive management, and adaptive co-management. These concepts provide important background for examining the saliency of adaptive governance and separating it from related terminology. Then, we examine adaptive governance in Montana using semi-structured interviews (n=36), a round one survey (n=79), and a round two survey (n=42). Our findings show that water resource professionals and stewards working with non-governmental and governmental entities in Montana embrace collaboration, diverse viewpoints, information sharing, and local knowledge in their work, all of which are described as necessary for adaptive governance. However, we find that this water resource stewardship and protection work is sometimes stalled or derailed by a lack of government support and shifting administrations. Our findings lead us to assert the importance of governmental support in adaptive governance and propose a definition to re-frame the concept for future scholars and practitioners.Item Analysis of water transport phenomena in thin porous media of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2018) Battrell, Logan Robb; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ryan Anderson; Aubree Trunkle, Erica Eggleton, Lifeng Zhang and Ryan Anderson were co-authors of the article, 'Quantifying cathode water transport via anode humidity measurements in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell' in the journal 'Energies' which is contained within this thesis.; Ning Zhu, Lifeng Zhang and Ryan Anderson were co-authors of the article, 'Transient, spatially resolved desaturation of gas diffusion layers measured via synchrotron visualization' in the journal 'International journal of hydrogen energy' which is contained within this thesis.; Virat Patel, Ning Zhu, Lifeng Zhang and Ryan Anderson were co-authors of the article, '4-D imaging of the desaturation of gas diffusion layers by synchrotron radiography' submitted to the journal 'Journal of power sources' which is contained within this thesis.This thesis explores and quantifies water transport related to the desaturation of the thin porous layer known as the Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) associated with Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The proper management of water within this layer is critical to optimal fuel cell performance. If there is not enough water, the membrane can become dehydrated, which leads to poor cell performance, but if too much water accumulates or becomes flooded, gas transport is restricted, which also lowers performance and can potentially lead to total cell failure. Understanding the desaturation of this layer is thus key to obtaining and maintaining optimal fuel cell performance. This behavior is explored both at the macroscale, through the quantification of the removal of excess water from an active fuel cell, as well as at the micro-scale, through the use of synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) to visualize and quantify the desaturation of an initially flooded GDL. The macro-scale investigation extends the previously developed qualitative Anode Water Removal (AWR) test, which functions to identify when poor PEM fuel cell performance is due to excess water, to a diagnostic protocol that quantifies the amount of water being removed by the test through an analysis of the anode pressure drop. Results show that the protocol can be applied to a variety of fuel cell setups and can be used to quickly quantify water management capabilities of novel GDL materials. The microscale investigations show that while both convection and evaporation play a role in the desaturation, evaporation is required to fully desaturate the GDL. Additionally, the microscale investigation allows for the spatial segmentation of the GDL to identify local desaturation rates and temporal saturation profiles, which show that the overall desaturation of the GDL is a heterogeneous process that depends on initial conditions, flow field geometry and the natural anisotropy of the material. Results show that future control strategies and modeling studies will need to expand their investigated domains in order to accurately capture the fully heterogeneous nature of this process.Item Water stress in Montana cropping systems: effects of cultivar, management, and environment on crop production in dryland systems(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2016) Bestwick, Michael Linn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Richard E. Engel; Chengci Chen (co-chair)Crop productivity--defined as yield, protein, and economic returns--hinge on crop water use. Crop water use is a function of genetic, environment, and management factors. This thesis addresses how these factors interact with crop water use and productivity in Montana. In chapter 2, a two-year (2014-2015) study compared winter wheat yield and protein following fallow and three intensive sequences on deep and shallow soils. Water extraction was measured on deep soils, and kriged soil depth estimates served as a surrogate for stored soil moisture on shallow soils. On deep soils, yields ranged from 72-84% of fallow-wheat from 20.5 mm less water extracted below 45 cm, while protein was ~0.63% greater in intensified sequences. On shallow soils, sequence did not affect yield or protein. Yields increased with soil depth while protein decreased in 2014, but no trends were observed in 2015 due to 47 mm greater precipitation from joint to heading. Intensive sequences diminish wheat productivity on deep soils, whereas soil depth and precipitation timing control productivity on shallow soils. In chapter 3, state-wide cultivar testing, soils, and climate data was used to quantify four general drought patterns in winter wheat and five in pea. Cultivar had little impact on yield compared to drought pattern with winter wheat yields ranging from 4421 kg ha -1 to 2539 kg ha -1 and pea yields ranging from 2877 kg ha -1 to 975 kg ha -1. Yields negatively correlated with drought intensity at heading in wheat (r 2=-0.79) and flowering in pea (r 2=-0.76). Quantifying drought patterns provides a physical interpretation to improve management and breeding efforts. In chapter 4, yield-evapotranspiration (ET) functions were derived for spring wheat, pea, and chickpea from a three-year (2002-2004) seeding date trial. Yield-ET functions were coupled with ten-year (2005-2015) climate records to predict yields at four staggered seeding dates. Yield predictions were converted to marginal revenues based on high, medium, and low markets and fixed production costs. Across seeding dates and markets, simulated returns were highest for chickpea (~601 $ ha -1) followed by wheat (372 $ ha -1) and pea (202 $ ha -1). This indicates chickpea should be seeded before wheat and pea.Item Deriving equitable water rate structures for small municipalities(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1990) Robbins, Donna Sharon Woodward; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Richard L. HainesItem Water system alternatives for Neihart, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1987) Eggen, Allen Charles; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Howard S. PeavyItem State water quantity and quality management and planning, with recommendations for Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1981) Repac, Steven MichaelItem Endangered waters : interdependency on Montana's Big Hole River(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2015) Davis, Benjamin Avery; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brett WalkerThe Big Hole River brings life to this arid region of southwestern Montana, but its stream flows annually reach detrimentally low levels. The causes behind the low-flow levels are a direct reflection of Euro-American impacts dating back to the early nineteenth century. This is a story of dependency and scarcity, which presently makes the river the source of political conflict.Item Optimal allocation of water for agriculture and hydropower(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1987) Cawlfield, Larry DavidItem Optimal use of ground and surface water in the Gallatin Valley, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1971) Young, Kenneth BoydItem The economics of alternative uses of water in the Yellowstone Basin(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1976) Snyder, John Riley