This project encompasses the relationship and issues connected to Alaskan Natives and wildlife. Their relationship to the land and wildlife is deeply rooted in their history, and most Alaska natives practice traditional hunting and gathering practices. Native Alaskan interactions with the natural world is interwoven in the way in which they define subsistence, which is synonymous with culture, identity, and self-determination and involves conservation and perpetuation of natural resources. The US Federal and Alaska State government define subsistence differently and have passed Acts and policies that interfere with the Native’s aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.

The Hobet Coal Mine is located in West Virginia and was an active mining site for 41 years and was one of the largest surface coal mines in the United States. The impacts of this particular mine are especially pronounced because of the sheer scale of alteration to the landscape caused by mountaintop removal to retrieve the coal, and valley fill techniques to dispose of the mining debris. In order to reach the coal located in shallow seams below these Central Appalachian Mountain peaks, hundreds of vertical feet of earth were demolished. This mining has impacted nearly every aspect of the geography of the region, from the environment to the surrounding human communities.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is an iron rich region in the Marquette Iron Range (aka Negaunee Iron Formation) that has been mined since the mid-1800's. By the 1950's most of the easily accessible high grade ore had been mined, forcing the mining companies to dig deeper for less valuable ore. The entire complex depicted in this map is commonly referred to as the National Mine, but it is broken up into two separate facilities: the Empire Mine to the east (which closed in 2016), and the Tilden Mine to the west (the last active Iron mine in Michigan). While these mines have been great for the local economy, this has come at the cost of major environmental impacts.

I will be describing research done by the Native Medicinal Plant Research Program relating to ethnobotany. The research includes: their botany database, plants collected, Physalis research, osha, at risk plants, asclepius, and echinacea. The core values of this research are Conservation and sustainable harvest of medicinal plants , Respect for Indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants , and Education toward ecological responsibility,

Traditional ecological knowledge has great potential with regard to its ability to inform and direct scientific research. We will be exploring various aspects of traditional ecological knowledge for the purpose of pinpointing and observing important changes in -- and uses for -- native plant and animal species over time, in order to find areas that would benefit from greater scientific attention or conservation efforts.

Heavy metal contamination of soils and waterways due to industrial processes continues to be a problem in the United States. Recent reports indicate that microbial surface layers (S-layers) can bind and sequester heavy metals, thereby removing them from the environment. Our approach is to enhance this process for lead bioremediation. Through this study, C. vibrioides strains were morphologically characterized through transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and recombinant surface layer export was genetically verified. Using a fluorescence-based assay, we show that our engineered strains were 10% more effective in bioremediating lead than the wildtype in nanomolar concentrations.

We are focusing our topic on the role that animals have in Native American storytelling, and how these animal's behaviors in real life are reflected in the stories. Storytelling is a way of communication that Natives use to share knowledge between generations; often, these stories use animals as symbolism. Our group is composed of all zoology majors interested in studying animal behavior, and we will compare the personality traits and characteristics of these animals to their role played in these stories.

Upwelling in the California Current System (CCS) brings nutrient rich water to the continental shelf. Included with these nutrients are some trace metals. Trace iron (Fe) has been shown to be a control on primary productivity in the CCS. 2014 marked a year of low upwelling along the CA coast. This anomaly provides an opportunity to assess annual variability in processes affecting micronutrient distributions here. In 2014, the IRNBRU research cruise measured surface macronutrient and trace metal distributions in the CCS. Their results show lower nutrient concentrations than found in previous studies, and suggest an unusual uptake ratio of macronutrients by microorganisms in the area.

On my poster I would like to Show the intersection of the study of Native American peoples and the idea of wildlife management and resource conservation.

The North American Bison once ranged across the Great Plains, but during the era of market hunting, their numbers dropped drastically. These large herbivores are highly valued in the indigenous tribes from their native region. In an effort to restore these culturally significant herds, zoos across the nation have bred them to be reintroduced into their homeland.