Cordgrass and Ribbed Mussels relationships in Salt Marshes

Cordgrass and Ribbed Mussels relationships in Salt Marshes

Patrick R. Lombardi

Department of Marine Science, Stockton University

MARS 1200 SEC 003: Introduction to Marine Biology

Dr. Christine Thompson

24th November 2021

Final Copy

Revision Notes:

Length was added to each section with the Results, and Discussion sections being reworked.

Cordgrass and Ribbed Mussel relationships in Salt Marshes

In the Great Mullica River there is a large variety of species that can be observed. These species range from marsh grasses and cyanobacteria to bass and crabs. The study is important because it gives us useful information on the river ecosystem. We can measure the populations, densities, and overall health of the river and its inhabitants by gathering information on these species. To gather this information it would be helpful to know the tides since in marsh environments the tides heavily influence the state of the marsh. More species could be exposed during low tide and less during high tide since it is submerged more than low tide. Previous studies have shown that the ecology is dependent on this mixture of salinity levels, “Organisms, both plants and animals, exist because of the mixture of salt and fresh water that bathes these low-lying areas” (Lippson & Lippson, 2006). With this in mind we can expect good diversity and relationships between the plant and marine life.

The density of the ribbed mussels are affected by the density of the cordgrass directly because the cordgrass thrives in the lower marsh areas which allows more ribbed mussels to latch onto them where in the higher marches where the cordgrass doesn't do as well in the higher marsh. This could be attributed to the lack of nutrients higher up because the cordgrass roots do not run as deep into the denser marsh sediment. The purpose of this study is to see the relationships between the plant and marine species, asking if one species is dependent on one another or if they just share similar habitats. The data was collected in the field at Graveling Point on the Mullica River on 10/5/2021 and we utilized quadrats to transect the species in the field study.

Methods

The first thing we did was gear up with our equipment. We used Transect tape to get a distance at a straight line to take data. A 1m2 quadrat to organize data in sections to get densities over the measured distance. A 1m measuring stick to measure the blade heights of specific plantlife. We used a YSI (Yellow Springs Instrument) to check water quality i.e. Salinity, pH, Temperature, and Turbidity. Lastly, a field guide in order to identify different species within our study. With these tools we headed out on the boat to the Graveling point location on the Great Mullica River.

Next we started to transect from the low marsh to the mid marsh and to the high marsh. The reason we transected in these 3 areas of the marsh is because they all have different levels of salinity as the tide brings water up and out from the marsh which could be attributed to different species. From each quadrat we divided them into 4 sections using light rope and we placed them on the marsh.

We then counted the amount of ribbed mussels per section, counted the number of fiddler crab holes, and estimated the percent coverage of each species per quadrant. Then we recorded the height in mm (millimeters) of the 10 blades of cordgrass and used them for an average later. We also recorded the tallest blade of each section.

With this data we then interpreted them into graphs and charts illustrated in the figures below. From this we could make inferences on the relationships between species at different marsh elevations and rudimentary studies on population sizes in a given area of the reserve.

Results

The different species held different densities and abundance across locations throughout the marsh zones. The Cordgrass has very high abundance in the low marsh and gradually goes down in density as you go up the marsh and while it does have the largest percent coverage in the low marsh there are species such as Glasswort and Marsh aster are present (Fig 1A). Up in the mid to high marsh areas the dominant species is the Salt hay. Salt hay is most abundant in the mid and high levels but also introduces different species such as Spike grass, Saltmarsh rush, Bull rush, and Seaside lavender (Fig 1 A). The Ribbed mussel densities also are highest in the low marsh and near to non-existent in the mid to high marsh (Fig 1 B). The Ribbed mussel densities were not present in the high marsh but a few were found in the mid marsh. The mean blade height of the Cordgrass and Ribbed mussel density relation has a p value of (p = > 0.001) showing us the correlation (Fig 2).

Discussion

From this we can gather that the cordgrass has a higher tolerance than the other species in either higher salinity or a more wet environment. We get this from the fact that the low marsh is more enveloped in water than the other two therefore having a higher salinity content. “The most spectacular growth of salt marsh Cordgrass Spartina alterniflora occurs in large, low-lying areas where the tidal waters sweep in and cover the marsh (Lippson & Lippson, 2006). This helps us to conclude that in the Low Marsh the Cordgrass is the most dominant species when it comes to abundance not just from this field study but from field studies in the past. The Mid and High Marsh is a different story however for the cordgrass. While it is present it is not nearly as abundant. The species that is most abundant in these areas is the Salt hay. The Ribbed Mussel population is present primarily in the Low Marsh area and none other than an outlier or two that are present in the Mid to High marsh range. With this data from the field study we can make the statement that the Ribbed mussel density does not only have a higher abundance in areas where the percent coverage of Cordgrass is the majority but where Cordgrass blade height is higher. Or in other words, The density of the ribbed mussel population has a higher percent coverage in the low marsh when S.alterniflora is abundant as well because the ribbed mussel population directly utilizes cordgrass species.

This is just 2 species that have a direct correlation to one another in this estuary and further studies can be done with similar species in different areas of the reserve such as further up the river where salinity levels are lower.

References

Lippson, A. J., & Lippson, R. L. (2006). Life in the Chesapeake Bay. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Tables and Figures

Figure 1: The graphs illustrate percentages of species found in the given areas of the marshes. Graph A shows the population densities in the different levels of the marsh. Graph B focuses on the Ribbed mussel density

Figure 2: The Box and Whisker shows the densities correlations between the ribbed mussels and the mean between the blade heights of the cordgrass T-TEST (p = > 0.001)
Figure 3: The Cordgrass has a significant different in density between the low and high marshes

Social Justice Issue Paper

Educational Psychology Overview of Methods and Theories of Cognitive Development

Patrick Lombardi

Dr. Wesley

PSYC-218-002 RL: Educational Psychology

17th December 2018

1. Motivation:

What is Motivation? Motivation is an internal state that arouses directs and maintains behavior. With this in mind, the importance of motivation in learning is that without motivation a student is not fully engaged. The learning environment is a crucial place for a student to learn and while not being motivated information does not absorb and is not learned by the student for future use.

One of the ways students can be motivated to be fully engaged in a lesson is to give an Incentive. An incentive is something for the student to work toward in their homework and class work. So the incentive would be working hard toward a high grade, and actually receiving the grade would be the Reward. Students are motivated when rewards are on the table and are also kept in line when the reward for negative behavior is moreso a punishment. An unmotivated learner in class would be rewarded with a punishment such as detention or limited access to certain privileges in the classroom. In short, a motivated learner will strive for success to receive rewards based on the incentive where a child with no positive reward at the end of the hard work would remain unmotivated to learn.

Humanistic approaches to motivation are about a students own self actualization to learn. In this approach, a student is more interested in the Need For Autonomy rather than any type of reward for keeping high grades. Therefore the motivation is self derived from this approach and is mainly based on the student. However the student can have more creativity if given the freedom to approach the work in their own way having the student believe the work is worthwhile.

Cognitive approaches to motivation include people who have motivation in solving problems relevant to their own personal needs. The way a students motivation is influenced is based on their Epistemological beliefs. The beliefs a student has on knowledge will lead to more motivation which is why some people regardless of prior punishment or reward will in fact go out on their own and seek knowledge of interest. So like humanistic approach giving the student the freedom to say write an essay on the topic of their choice will lead to moree deep enriching essays due to the students motivation and interest in the topic.

Social cognitive theories to motivation can be linked to the Expectancy x Value Theories. What this means is that a students expectation of a grade and the value of the end goal combined influence the overall motivation of the task. In example a student who is striving toward making the soccer team believes they can make it and i will make it because i want to make my father proud. The expectation is making the team and the value is that it means alot to him to have his father be proud of him. This being social cognitive because the child is in a sense holding value for himself and his father. Although not every instance does not directly affect others in society a majority play an overall role in the child's beliefs in their own community. Such as not believing in yourself not trying out for the team and shaming people who do hold value because the child lacked the motivation to try out.

As similar as the two are Cognitive and Social Cognitive approaches, one is more based on the individual and the other is based more on factors about their individual and social influences on them.

2. Memory:
The Process of knowledge building is hard to understand but can be interpreted as information traveling through different parts of the memory process. Information is sensed through the five senses being touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight. The information sensed is then coded into the working memory where information is either saved into the long term memory or immediately responded to. In the long term memory information id reactivated such as smelling something again which acts on sensory or is put into a response as in remembering a algorithm.

The sensory memory picks up for instance an apple which is the color red which is then brought into the working memory of of storing the information into the long term memory. Now that it's in the long term memory when someone shows you an apple your long term memory is accessed and you recall the shape and color of the apple and you then use the working memory to respond with its a red apple.

The central executive is what's responsible for the Information Processing which entails taking in information, storing it, and using it. This also creates responses and puts into action recollections of the five senses into responses.

Perception is an individual's interpretation of sensory memory. A pattern or whole is used by what are known as Gestalt Theorists who organize perceptions.Gestalt actually means as a pattern or whole in german. With this in mind Gestalts model includes Figureground, Proximity, Similarity, and Closure. In a high school biology class this could be used for students who are using microscopes. How exactly? The students could be given samples of algae and asked to depict what they see and the various perceptions of an individual's mind could lead to all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colorations.

3. Learning:

Classical conditioning is learning involuntary emotional or physical responses to new stimuli. The new stimuli could then be turned into a Respondent which means it's automatic, a reflex, or out of habit. Most are the idea of fear being someone going to punch you so you physically react to the punch by flinching. The fear of the punch creates the reaction of flinching becoming a prescribed response if frequent.

A personal example of classical conditioning that occured in my life was for four years at my house on thursday night my family would make homemade pizza so I would come home from school every thursday and expect to see all the ingredients sitting there waiting for us to cook the pizza. However, when I started to work tuesday nights we'd stop making the pizzas and I would come home some thursdays having off from work that week expecting the ingredients to be sitting there waiting like the thursdays in the past.

This qualifies as a prime example of classical conditioning because I was under a Conditioned Stimulus which had a Fixed-Interval of every thursday pizza was being made. The Stimulus was that it was thursday and the response was pizza and overtime I began associating thursdays with pizza. To this day I walk in when i'm off on thursday and question why my mother is making something other than pizza. To me it just feels off or out of p;place to do the conditioned stimulus i encountered for such a long period of time at the same time of the week.

Operant Conditioning is voluntary learning a response or Operant in your environment. An Antecedent is before the action and leads to the Consequence. A consequence is the event that follows the action from the conditioning which can be used as a Reinforcer. The consequence being what follows an action can either have a use of positive or negative reinforcement strengthening or weakening the actions for future use.

Positive Reinforcement is when an action is praised after it is done and reinforced. For example, a child playing soccer runs up and scores a goal and his father praises him from the sidelines “good job son” the action being he scored the positive reinforcement being the good job son. Negative Reinforcement is when there is no apparent praise or the opposite of praise shaming for instance. If the same kid scored the goal and the parent of the goalkeeper says to his son “that was terrible son” the action is his son failed to block the shot and the negative reinforcement did not assure the boy he could try again but rather he did a bad job at attempting which to the child could be very Aversive. Presentation Punishment is when attempting to stop a bad behavior from occurring by giving aversive tasks too the children. An example of this would be the class continuing to talk and not pay attention and neglected the warnings given by the teacher therefore the teacher assigns everyone extra work and explains its duee to the talking during the lesson in an attempt to avoid the distractions in the future. Removal Punishment is when decreasing the behavior is attempted by removing arousing or enticing things from the students such as a cellphone or recess. At home this can be implemented by a son failing in school due to him being on his xbox all night so when his parents see the bad report card they remove the xbox from his life causing him to potentially focus on school more now that he has less distractions in his life.

6. Assessment:

Firstly an Assessment is a method in which a students performance can be gauged.This helps a teacher to understand where a student fits in the classroom and if they are on pace with the lessons or rest of the class. The three assessments I would use for teaching high school science, are Classroom, Formative, and Summative. Classroom is made by the teacher and is in various forms. It is helpful because they are not pre created by anyone else they are made by the teacher. This is beneficial because the teacher sees the students on a day to day basis and would understand the best way to gauge the knowledge of the students. This also helps motivate the students because the teacher can have it be in a method in which the kids are keen to such as group work. An example of this would be a group presenting a powerpoint on the osprey they would all add to the information and the students could use their creativity to present it any way they would like and still produce the same information as a written report. Formative assessments non graded and are given pre instruction or prior to a test. They are crucial in every learning environment regardless of age because given the same format test as the Pretest makes it much less intimidating for the student the second time around. If a student were given every chemistry calculations with elements and then on the graded test given the same methods with different elements it would be easier for he student because they practiced the method and recognize the format. Lastly, summative is what follows the instruction so it is a demonstration of the knowledge you've learned. It is important because the the formative gave the student everything they would have needed to take on the real test. The real test can be used as motivation for the student to strive toward the A+ or having the self satisfaction of doing well in a certain subject and ultimately allows you to see whos doing well in the classroom.

Standardized testing is important because it allows the government and educational officials to determine how the guidelines for the educators is. It is important to make sure the students nationally and locally are all on a specific level to keep the nation a whole and on par with other countries. It is also important to make sure education holds Validity and has no Bias towards any group, race, religion, sex, or gender.

This should be done and is continuing to be done through the use of tests such as the NJASK, the HESPA, the SAT, ACT, and other nation wide tests. These tests help realize whos for intellectually inclined over other students.

7. Complex Cognitive Processes: (A & C)

Metacognition is a students knowledge on their own think process and capabilities. In short, it's what a student believes to be there limits and ways they think.

Three ways students can improve their metacognitive skills are Planning and Focusing Attention, Practice, and Organizing and Remembering. Planning and focusing involves setting goals, making timetables, underline, highlight, and skimming information for important parts. Doing this helps save time in research and helps to maintain a deadline. If a high schooler has a species report due in two weeks skimming through articles underlining quantitative, and qualitative facts while keeping to his time schedule will help the student get what they need and have the report due in time. Helping the for future affairs to read what's important and manage time. Practice is also a key strategy and is implemented in homework, classwork, and pretests which help you study for the summative assessments. A student who practices mathematical equations over and over again eventually begin to master and practice makes perfect they say so it's a great learning strategy. Lastly, organizing and remembering consists of making things such as mind maps which help bring a lot of important information and thoughts together and makes that information easily accessible and understandable for the student considering its their thoughts and writings. In example, a student studying for the pros and cons of specific forms of energy would use a venn diagram to organize their data on each energy.

Creativity is crucial because it allows the freedom of the students mind and gets the realistic ideas and thoughts of the student down on paper for the teacher to get a good sense of their students and make lasting impacts on them. To enhance the behavior of a student a teacher must use conditioning, rewards, incentive, positive reinforcement, and give good learning strategies in order to set a student up for success. All this is good and well but when it comes down to it a teacher isn't just somebody there to give all these vocabulary terms and principles and apply them onto the students. It's about being there for the student emotionally as well. For example as student who's having a hard time at home can be set up with all these great ideas we learn about in the text but what it can teach you is how to deal with these specific instances of child abuse, depression, bad neighborhood, or whatever else you come across. So the question asks how can you enhance a students behavior? Be that person they can look up to. Be that person they can know they are safe around. Be that person who can lend an ear whenever needed. That's how you change a child's behavior.

Study of Transgender College Students

Transgender Students In Higher Education

Study Of Transgender College Students

Patrick R. Lombardi

Brookdale Community College

Nambrath Wesley

PSYC-218-002 RL: Educational Psychology

October 25th, 2018

Final Draft: December 6th, 2018

Abstract

The topic of the study is about the research surrounding transgender and gender non-conforming college students, which means that they either identify as the gender opposite of the sex they were assigned at birth or somewhere in between genders. The article surveys 91 different transgender students to understand and gather insight surrounding their experiences in higher education. The majority of the questions involve identity, which would be obvious--how they and others feel about their identity, respect regarding it, as well as challenges faced because of it. The research goes on to conclude that trans students have a strong desire to do well in school and obtain a degree like their cisgender counterparts, and they even pursue graduate school and other advanced degrees, however, there prove to be many hardships that they may face along the way. It also states that family members of the gender non-conforming individual have little to no knowledge of the hardships faced during higher education.

Importance Of Trans Students

Research on the education progress of transgender students is vital due to the necessity for shedding light on a topic that many may not be aware of. Unless one identifies as transgender and/or gender-nonconforming, it may be difficult for them to be able to grasp the idea of the things that trans people struggle with on a daily basis-- that their cisgender counterparts would not even have to consider. These would include things like clothing, behavior, dorms, name and pronouns, bathrooms, as well as harassment--all simply for being true to themselves. Because of this, it is crucial that cisgender people become aware of these struggles that impact the productivity and ability for transgender students to participate in higher education. Then, hopefully, change can be cultivated and these hardships can be alleviated to ensure a safe and equal opportunity environment for everybody.

Recent research has concluded that the inherent cisnormativity that high school college institutions place on the students has a negative impact, as they “often navigate hostile school climates characterized by implicit and explicit denigration of non-cisgender identities” (Greytak, Kosciw, & Diaz, 2009; Kosciw, Greytak, Giga, Villenas, & Danischewski, 2016). This essentially meaning that for anybody who does not identify and align with the sex that they were assigned to at birth, school proves to be a place of hostility and harassment, whether it be blatant or subtle. This can include through means of verbal tactics, such as negative remarks, or physical and mental tactics such as forcing one to use the bathroom or locker room that aligns with their birth given sex rather than gender identity.

Nonetheless, in comparison to high school and some colleges, the topic of university as a whole may bring about a more positive outlook on having acceptance and understanding (Reay, Davies, David, & Ball, 2001), as it can be the first time that many people will be experiencing teachers and peers that have a stronger understanding and grasp of deeper topics even if they may not necessarily apply to them specifically. On the flip side, this may also force some trans students into facing more harassment depending on the type of school and education being provided or the ignorance and stigmas being perpetuated through teachings (Beemyn, 2016). This ignorance and stigma that yet again, much like high school, brings about a lack of feeling of belonging, as well as higher susceptibility to harassment and discrimination (Garvey & Rankin 2015; Rankin & Beemyn, 2012).

If not in a supportive school, many trans students feel the need to hide their identities for safety reasons in order to avoid potential threats with harassment in both verbal and physical, sometimes even sexual, ways--”a strategic response to the pressures and very real dangers imposed by a cisnormative climate” (Rankin & Beemyn, 2012). Essentially, many students who identify outside of the cisgender binary have to live with the perpetual fear of assault for being authentic in how they feel, which has a significant effect on their college experiences. Moreover, within the classroom setting, occurrences like misgendering and misnaming also bring about challenges due to created uncomfortability. This then perpetuates the idea of many having to mask themselves in order to avoid potential conflicts outside of their control (Pusch, 2005), (Bilodeau, 2009).

So, as a whole, even though the possibility of less severe discrimination within higher education is a possibility, it is often times not the case--in most cases it either stays the same or worsens due to added stressors such as dorming and a higher population of students. Many of the time there becomes legal issues with dorming, and also with ignorance inserting itself into the mix, it makes things even more unfortunate and hard for the transgender student involved. At the end of the day, every student deserves to have an equal and fair education. By there being many obstacles and hardships that transgender students have to navigate and deal with that cisgender people do not have to worry about, there becomes a huge disconnect separating the two groups. This then perpetuates the cycle of unfair treatment and discrimination. Not only are the students getting backlash for their identities by fellow peers who either refuse to allow them into the bathrooms or dorms that they identify with, but also within the classrooms by professors as well through misgendering, misnaming, and perpetuation of stigmas and ignorance through these behaviors. Due to this, the research surrounding transgender and gender non-conforming students in higher education proves vital in order to fix these occurrences and allow for a better system in the future.

Literature Review

The study began with an aim to understand the students on a descriptive level, as well as to know their physical concerns on campus--these including but not limited to: physical abuse from others, and angst due to the possibility of rejection from their environment (Singh & Dickey, 2017). These situations that many transgender and gender non-conforming students may be put in play major roles in the final outcomes of their personal academics, life achievements, and overall well beings (Tenenbaum, Crosby, & Gliner, 2001; Tompkins et al., 2016). This is why it is integral for one to have the support of either a role model or family and friends because "both instrumental and emotional support appear to be important to the personal well being and professional success of students with minority and marginalized statuses" (Lechuga, 2011; Patton, 2009). This can be correlated with race and ethnicity as well, which is another risk tied into discrimination that is heightened when paired with a gender identity that differs from the sex assigned at birth--people of racial and/or ethnic minorities often times also lack these role models (Girves, Zepeda, & Gwathmey, 2005; Williams, 2000), thus they can be extremely at risk of isolation and vulnerability. It is also key to ensure emotional support for both people who have marginalizations in gender, as well as race/ethnicity because it also proves crucial to the success of a student (Malik & Malik, 2015). Furthermore, without this guidance, isolationism would seem more pleasurable for the students’ lives, causing them to think more deeply about ceasing their progress in higher education (Fries-Britt & Snider, 2015).

Institutions are pressuring students to follow two extremes: closeting their identity or living up to the perpetuated stereotypes. Either a student must completely hide themselves from the cisnormative pressure by conforming, or completely feed into the stereotypes that come along with the identity--and oftentimes this choice is made by those around the student rather than from within (Bilodeau, 2009; Chang, Singh, & Rossman, 2017; Roen, 2002).

Surprisingly, even if they appeared uneducated on the subject of transgender and gender non-conforming students, individuals stated that they had positive experiences with supervisors, advisors, and staff (Goldberg, Kuvalanka, & Dickey, 2018, July 12). After being misgendered, the students began to correct the staff, giving them the correct name and pronouns to use instead when referring to them--this should be the normal interaction in the event of an honest mistake (Goldberg, Kuvalanka, & Dickey, 2018, July 12). This excerpt of research exemplifies the students’ willingness and ability to cooperate and understand the idea that not everybody will know how to interact with a transgender person, however, it is about how they are willing to handle their mistakes and become educated so that they do not happen again (McGuire et al., 2016).

Method

Data Collected

The research discusses transgender and gender non-conforming students in both college, as well as graduate school. It provides concentrated results on questions surrounding safety not only within one's self, but also with others--through clothing and other means of conformity. This test was given to 91 students, this being the narrowed down number that was taken from a group of over 300. They were able to gather such a mass due to the offering of a free raffle for an Amazon gift card.

The students surveyed were: 65% gender non-conforming and 35% binary conforming--this allows for a sense of diversity within the group. The research as a whole discusses trans students and their college environments. This survey only proves to be one research study regarding transgender students and higher education, thus the group is going to be smaller than other studies. The multiple choice answers of this questionnaire include: often, sometimes, never, and rarely--sometimes having a little deviance from those exact wordings.

Participants

Almost every student polled was from the United States. Ten students were from New York, six were from Texas, five were from California, five from Illinois, five from Michigan, five from Mississippi, four from Georgia, four from Massachusetts, three from Iowa, three from New Jersey, three from Ohio, three from Oklahoma, three from Virginia, and two from Colorado. One Participant lives in each of the following: Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Vermont. Fifteen participants lived in other countries which include: six in Germany, three in Austria, three in the United Kingdom, and one from each of the following: Australia, Canada, and Sweden.

Race and ethnicity was also polled, and participants were able to select from these standard categories, albeit they were granted the ability to choose more than one. Seventy five identified as White/European American, four as Latino, four as mixed race, four as Black/African American, three as Asian/Asian American, three as Middle Eastern, two as Native American/American Indian, and one as Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. These statistics are very important to the study because the varied backgrounds allow for a broader sense of inclusivity, however, the majority still being white. This will somewhat skew the results, as those of racial and/or ethnic minorities tend to be further marginalized even further than just from their gender identity. On a positive aspect of this notion, it does provide a more accurate depiction of the American higher education system and its dealing with transgender and gender non-conforming students.

Results

Students given a poll showed forty six percent of transgender and gender non-conforming students feel uncomfortable dressing in their preferred gender clothing in the college setting.

This being relatively high due to the correlation with being misgendered, treated different and often times in a poorer way, as well as being fearful of the possible outcomes of if they were wear clothing that they want to--this all stemming from the generalized cisnormativity of not only college and higher education, but society as a whole.The results prove to be in agreement with this claim, as at least sixteen of the participants in the study had taken the misgendering personally to an extent, causing them to feel hurt and upset.

Conclusion

The problem may not be so much that the faculty and institutions are deliberately attempting to ostracize transgender and gender non-conforming students, but that they, as a whole, are ignorant to the changing trends of society. There are many more people coming out as transgender now, much like after Stonewall when everybody finally began to come out as gay. It's not that it's "new" per say, it's just that people are beginning to feel accepted due to the growing community. Knowing this, it could be very helpful and easy even, to reach out to clubs or surrounding communities that are knowledgeable in transgender issues. Research shows that there are high rates of trans people being misgendered within their time in higher education, which places a strain on their participation and desire to continue school.

Implication

Pulling from the research and overarching themes of the article, it is clear that there needs to be more acceptance and inclusivity within colleges and other higher education institutes. Leveling it out to one specific way that this could potentially be achieved, the diction being used to surround the topic of transgender and gender non-conforming students needs to be changed. There needs to be more education and desire to do better surrounding these struggles that many individuals face daily. Simple awareness is not enough to offset the oppression and discrimination that the atmosphere of a classroom or dorm can create, and transgender students need to know that they’re in a place that wants them, that sees them as valid, and that stimulates an environment that strives to give them the same opportunity and treatment as those who identify with the sex they were assigned. This can potentially be accomplished through the training of faculty and students because not only would it no longer give them the excuse of ignorance, but it would allow them the opportunity to further understand the impact of their actions and beliefs on others. This surely is not the only thing that has to change, as this may not work with every individual to solve the components of harassment, but it would be a very good start at alleviating the alienation that transgender students feel everyday when it comes to having a roommate or using the restroom. It also would make it more of an everyday topic of conversation that eventually becomes normal to the campus rather than a taboo subject that perpetuates the stigma--people would become desensitized and learn to understand that everybody is there for an education and therefore has the right to be treated the same.

Limitations

As strong as the data may be in its concentrated area, there lacks an application to more than the 91 participants that were apart of the study. Although it does poll some students outside of the United states, it does not account for a vast majority of the population not even just within the entire the world in general. By having such a small sample, there needs to be further studies that would either confirm these findings across a generalized college campus or disprove these findings based on a bias test sample--mostly all majoring in social, psychological, or humanities. This could diminish the viability of the results, as it doesn’t account for experiences faced by someone who is in school or engineering, let’s say. Moreover, the research does not delve into specifics about the harassment apart from what it was; meaning, it neglected to account for crucial things that could have had effects on severity or prevalence of discrimination: race and ethnicity. This is important to take into consideration because transgender people of color are the most marginalized group, thus one can deduce that they may be at a higher vulnerability to facing these challenges and possibly in more severe instances. Because of this, the research has many holes that limit it from being completely sound; however, it does allow for means of future directions in research to take place.

Future Directions

Going off of the research provided in this article, it would be very beneficial to look into the rates of dropping out and/or rate of mental health issues faced by transgender and gender non-conforming students throughout their time in higher education, as I am sure that they are relatively high considering all of the evidence of daily hardships--some of which being extreme. Furthermore, it would be interesting and plausible to see question and research whether or not this discrimination and alienation transfers over into the workforce after graduating. This would help distinguish whether or not the problem being faced are lifelong or simply just due to the changing environment of having such an influx of different people.

References

Beemyn, G. (2016). Transgender inclusion on college campuses. In A. E. Goldberg (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of LGBTQ studies (pp. 1226 – 1229). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bilodeau, B. (2009). Genderism: Transgender students, binary systems, and higher education. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co

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Solar Analysis on Neptune Township New Jersey

By Patrick Lombardi

November 28, 2022

Introduction to LiDAR (ENVL 3308-001)

Fall 2022

Stockton University

Environmental Science and Geology Program

Instructor: Dr. Anthony Bevacqua

Introduction:

When looking into LiDAR data and how it is utilized, Solar came up as a top search result, and this piqued my interest. I knew that solar companies came door to door all the time and never thought much about it, but now I wonder where they get their solar data and how it is collected. First, we need to know what Solar Radiation is, and it is a simplified term for electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun (Energy.gov). It is divided into three types: Direct, Diffused, and Reflected. Direct is when the sunlight is unblocked by anything and has clear contact with the earth's surfaces. Diffused is when the sunlight passes through clouds or glass before making contact. Lastly, reflected is when the sunlight bounces off a surface, such as the atmosphere, the surface, glass, or ice depending on the albedo.

Without Solar Radiation organisms would not have the energy to produce for themselves and keep cycles of the earth in place. On top of that, Solar is a renewable energy source commonly used throughout the world. We use Solar panels to harness this radiation and power many everyday uses. For example, vehicles, homes, heating of water and ventilation, and even calculators, are powered through Solar panels. Solar has been used for thousands of years and the collection methods have advanced with the growth of technology. With its growth and practicality, it is sought after by many businesses, schools, and residential areas to supply the local grids with clean renewable energy. When it comes to gathering data for solar radiation, such as surface data, building elevations, and access to numerous open data sources, ArcGIS has LiDAR data that gives us the ability to gather this useful information. Bringing me to my question: how much solar radiation does my hometown, Neptune Township, New Jersey, put out in a year or day?

Methodology:

First, we must start by isolating Neptune Township on a map. We do this by adding a municipality layer and using the Clip tool to create a new layer with just Neptune. Next is to generate a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) of Neptune which we downloaded using the Statewide DEM & Hillshade 2021 Edition raster file available from NJGINs open data. The DEM is crucial for Solar Analysis and the Clip Rater tool is used to bring this just to Neptune because we do not need the entire state. Following this, we are to run the Run Solar Analysis tool. Using the NJGIN Northeast NJ Post-Sandy 2014 Tile Grid, the point data and associated tif files were easily accessible and free to download. Steps were taken to make sure every tile within the border of Neptune was used. Then, the tiles were converted from LAZ to LAS files using the Convert LAS tool, which were colorized using the Colorize LAS tool, and combined by the Mosaic To New Raster tool. The Area Solar Radiation Tool was used and took the amount of Solar Radiation and derived it by taking in data every 30 minutes from 2020-2021. This tool takes many factors into account, like solar declination and solar position to give the most accurate data from that year.

Now, we must single out the buildings in Neptune, which was done by (1 using a building footprint layer that was Clipped to Neptune and 2) using the Select Layer by Location tool to single out the solar raster layer. After this, it is necessary to get the buildings to be a cohesive Vector shapefile, rather than the individual cells that were generated. This was done by using the Extract by Mask tool, followed by the Raster to Polygon tool with the same building footprints as before to get the solid shapes. This housed all of the individual cells data for each building independently.

Finally, the total amount of KiloWatt hours per square meter (kWH/m2) on every building was the desired unit of measurement; however, the Area Solar Radiation tool gives the measurements in Watt hours per meters squared (WH/m2). To convert to the desired unit of measurement, we simply take the Average Solar radiation in WH/m2 and divide it by 1000, and this gives us the kWH/m2 on average in a year.

Results:

Now with this data the total amount of WH/m2 per building in Neptune Township from 2020-2021 is available to us. But we need the kWH/m2 since according to Solar.com the average amount produced from a single solar panel home in New Jersey is about 1.8 kWH/m 2

Taking the yearly average of a home in Neptune that gets a fair amount of solar based on the visuals which is 984197.95 WH/m2 and dividing that by 1000 gives us 984.20 kWH/m2 and that is the amount of kWH/m2 that home averages in a year. To get a day we take that yearly average and divide that by 365 which gives us an average daily of 2.696 kWH/m2. Now for the big question: how much raw solar data are all of the buildings in Neptune Township taking in on average in a day and year. We take the total average solar radiation from the vector building layer which is 1,762,725,091,311 WH/m2 and divided by 1000 gives us 1,762,725,091.311 kWH/m 2 on average in a year and this divided by 365 gives us 4,829,383.811 kWH/m 2 in a day on average. These numbers are still too big for a reasonable analysis so we are taking them to Terawatt Hours (TWh) in a year this is 1.762 TWh/m2 in a day this is 0.004 829 TWh/m2.

Discussion/Conclusion:

The Solar analysis was a success as far as the process and creation of the dataset. The total amount of raw solar radiation the buildings take in on average in a day or year was achieved. The data generated could be valuable for homeowners looking to get solar or even companies looking where to canvas for new solar clients. The data is also something the town could look into as far as expanding their renewable energy footprint.

The data used however was from 8 years ago and therefore was lacking in some aspects. For instance my house used to have a tree in the front yard which would block a lot of direct solar radiation to my home but has since been removed in the past eight years which takes away the total solar my home takes in. Also a new addition to the hospital in my town was built which was a large scale project that also would allow more solar to be recorded. These instances while isolated to what I know could be at hundreds of homes in my town so having a new dataset to run the Solar analysis on would make this a more efficient project. Also the slope of the rooftops of the buildings were not involved in the process which would also give different values to every building in the town. While the Total Area Solar Radiation tools take in the angle of instance from the sun it does not take into account the pitches of rooftops. This data is also raw solar data meaning it does not have the potential the buildings could take in but the solar that hits the surfaces. Taking into account things like chimneys, antenna or overall no where to place panels the amount a building could collect from this raw data would also be varied.

This project could easily be replicated and improved by following the ame steps and adding a few more elements to narrow down the results and once new data is put out should definitely be done to the benefit of homeowners, businesses, and solar companies.

Literature Cited:

Solar radiation basics. Energy.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-radiation-basics

https://www.solar.com/learn/how-much-energy-does-a-solar-panel-produce/

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/spatial-analyst/area-solar-radiation.htm

Impervious Surfaces and their effect on Stockton Campus’ Lake Fred

By Patrick Lombardi

November 28, 2022

Global Positioning Systems for Geographic Information Systems (ENVL 4622-001)

Fall 2022

Stockton University

Environmental Science and Geology Program

Instructor: Dr. Anthony Bevacqua

Introduction:

Stocktons very own Lake Fred has been around for quite some time and is situated in between the campus buildings where courses are held as well and the Student housing. These buildings have impervious surfaces surrounding them which can affect the water quality of Lake Fred. So do these impervious surfaces affect the water quality of Lake Fred.

To start, what is an impervious surface? An Impervious surface is a ground level surface usually man made and acts as a runway for chemicals or volatile compounds to runoff into water bodies, i.e. sidewalks, roads, or buildings. While they are useful for people they can cause issues in the environment especially with water quality. The world is currently undergoing a major switch from green spaces into impervious surfaces in many developed areas (Water Supply 1 November 2019).

What can Happen from surface runoff? Commonly affected parameters are not limited to but do include:

• Dissolved Oxygen %

• Dissolved Oxygen Concentration

• Temperature

• pH

• Conductivity

The parameters mentioned can have a high impact on ecosystems in different aspects such as vegetation growth, organisms tolerance in the water, or food chain disruption. The university of New Hampshire has also stated that as impervious surfaces are built water quality declines (NHEP, 2007). This only furthers the question of does Lake Fred suffer from a similar situation? The study area in the figure below shows where the lake is located and where the sampling will take place.

Methodology:

For the experimental procedure five points were sampled over the semester at specific locations on Lake Fred between (9/14/22-11/30/22). These locations were not chosen at random but chosen based on their distances from impervious surfaces. I will be testing for the five parameters commonly used for testing water quality listed above. The five locations were dubbed, Gazebo, Bridge, Dock, Dam, and Tiny Bridge. To collect the data a YSI multi parameter sonde (Yellow Springs Instrument) was used for the water quality parameters. To record the data, an online map was created using ArcGIS online. After the Field Collector app which is available on most cell phones was downloaded so that it can be linked to the online map and the data could be imputed per any specifications to the online map. Open source data was found online and used to make a cohesive map detailing the sampling points, and impervious surface data. The impervious surface data, building, and road footprints were taken from NJGIN and Atlantic County GIS Open data sources online for free. Open data sources like these are critical for studying our environment and other municipal needs. They make research both easily and affordably for anyone. The data was then run through a variety of Geoprocessing tools in order to better suit the needs of the experiment. First the layers of data were clipped to the stockton campus footprint in order to narrow down the data to where the study is taking place. The layers were then Buffered to see the distances from an impervious surface to see which of the sampling points were further or closer to an impervious surface. The data was also then symbolized by the parameter that had the most significant difference between the locations. In addition to the site map, a map of the watershed on campus was also delineated below to show where the water comes from that sources Lake Fred. Also a 3D map was made using Quick Terrain Model Builder and open LiDAR data to show the textures of the site. (Also below)

Results:

The parameters showed some significant differences between locations, the most notable being the amount of Dissolved Oxygen percent found at the Tiny Bridge and Dam in relation to the other three locations. The Tiny Bridge and Dam are also the furthest away from an impervious surface. The greatest difference in the DO% was between the Tiny Bridge ( 61.5%) and the Gazebo (38.9%). The gazebo being the closest to an impervious surface. These results show that the distance to an impervious surface is a potential factor on the water quality of Lake Fred. The figure below shows the Tiny Bridge (bottom left) and the Gazebo (bottom right) having the biggest difference in the DO%. The other parameters did not show a significant difference in the data to say they could also be affected by the impervious surfaces.

Discussion/Conclusion:

Sample areas that were further away from impervious surfaces had a significant difference in their water quality parameters. Although only the DO% was the only notable difference in the data from the sample points it was still sufficient enough to say impervious surfaces had an impact on that parameter which directly relates to overall water quality. This is a study that would benefit from more sampling frequency and longevity. If the study was done two times a week and over the course of a year this would give this experiment more weight and provide a more definite answer for all the parameters. The study was also done in the fall when student activity is more prevalent and could cause more runoff. The snowplows also put down road salt in the colder months when ice is present resulting in a higher salinity. This is why a year's worth of data would be more beneficial to the experiment. Future ideas for this could be a replication from future students to get an even more concrete answer if the impervious surfaces do have a significant impact on water quality in Lake fred. This project could also be replicated at Shark river parks lake which would lean more away from impervious surfaces, or the Hamilton fire company lake which is sloped and has probably the highest runoff. These lakes are both found in Neptune Township, New Jersey. If this experiment was done with all three locations we would see a significant difference in the data.

Literature Cited:

New Hampshire Estuaries Project, "The Impacts of Impervious Surfaces on Water Resources, NHEP" (2007). PREP Reports & Publications. 236. https://scholars.unh.edu/prep/236

Chunlin Li, Miao Liu, Yuanman Hu, Min Zong, Minghua Zhao, M. Todd Walter; Characteristics of impervious surface and its effect on direct runoff: a case study in a rapidly urbanized area. Water Supply 1 November 2019; 19 (7): 1885–1891. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2019.064