Month: September 2021

ENMU Student Awarded Research Grant to Study Rio Grande Cooter Nesting

By Marcus Gay, NM WRRI Senior Student Program Coordinator

The Pecos River originates in the mountains of northern New Mexico and runs 926 miles through the Chihuahuan Desert before flowing into the Rio Grande on Texas’ southern border. The Pecos River represents a major water resource and habitat for wildlife throughout Texas and New Mexico. This wildlife includes numerous species in diverse aquatic, riparian, and upland habitats. Anthropogenic alterations to the Pecos River, like dam construction and channelization, have contributed to altered flow regimes and increased salinity. As conditions across the watershed have changed, the biological diversity of the Pecos River has decreased.

One species of particular concern is a freshwater turtle called the Rio Grande cooter. Habitat degradation due to river flow alterations (e.g., dam construction, oil and gas extraction, etc.) can be a major threat to this species’ survival. The Rio Grande cooter’s status is currently being reviewed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for potential federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. Still, there is a need for more research about this turtle species in the United States and New Mexico. The Black River, a tributary of the Pecos River in Eddy County, New Mexico, is one of the only systems where the Rio Grande cooter is found in relatively high numbers; however, there have been no reports on nesting behavior to date and no reports of Rio Grande cooter nests being found on the Black River. This illustrates a gap in knowledge about nest site selection and hatching success for this species.

To fill this knowledge gap, NM WRRI awarded Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) masters student, Frank Rodriguez, a Student Water Research Grant to study the nesting ecology of this elusive species. Under the guidance of his Faculty Advisor, Dr. Ivana Mali, Rodriguez will be working on a project entitled, Nesting ecology of the Rio Grande cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) on the Black River, New Mexico. The objectives of this project are to conduct pedestrian surveys in search of Rio Grande cooter nesting females, set fresh nests on the Black River, and monitor the nests via game cameras to assess successful hatching rates and possible predation levels. In addition to pedestrian surveys, hoop-net trap surveys, and installing cameras, GPS transmitters will be attached to gravid females to gain more information about nesting behavior.

According to Rodriguez, freshwater turtles represent important bio-indicators of their respective ecosystems and evidence of reproduction in the Rio Grande cooter populations could be an indicator of riverine system health. Therefore, understanding the nesting ecology of the Rio Grande cooter is beneficial to managing the species and New Mexico’s water resources. According to Rodriguez, this project is significant because it will assess the relationship between Rio Grande cooter nesting success and habitat characteristics like river width, depth, water conductivity, and riparian land-use practices. If the water conditions and riparian vegetation are affecting Rio Grande cooter reproduction and nesting site selection, this study can inform water management practices on the Black River to ensure the survival of this species in one of its last strongholds.

Originally from Miami, Rodriguez received his undergraduate degree from Southern Oregon University, where he majored in Biology with an emphasis in Evolutionary Biology. He is planning to graduate from ENMU in May 2023 with a Master of Science in Biology degree. After graduation, Rodriguez plans to enroll in a doctoral program in wildlife biology or another relevant branch of biology and hopes to be directly involved in the conservation and management of endangered and threatened wildlife. Rodriguez plans to present his research at the 66^th Annual New Mexico Water Conference.

Meet the Researcher, Frank Ramos, Professor, New Mexico State University

By Jeanette Torres, NM WRRI Program Coordinator

This month, our featured researcher is Frank Ramos, a professor at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in the Department of Geological Sciences. He has been affiliated with NMSU since 2008 and has held his current position since 2019. Ramos typically teaches four classes a year, including undergraduate-level courses such as Introductory Geology, Petrology, Geochemistry, and graduate-level Isotope Geochemistry and Analytical Geochemistry. He is currently advising five masters students performing thesis-related research and consistently works alongside two to five undergraduate researchers at any one time. Ramos believes in “training students to critically think, integrate information from different sources, and write clearly and concisely, done in an honest and ethical context. [He tries] to train students in a direct and honest fashion, not only to be able to act as ethical scientists but to also appreciate the world and environment in which they work and live.”

Ramos has been involved with the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI) for several years as a key member in several research projects (i.e., Produced Water Chemistry in the Permian Basin), and as a student advisor to students funded through the NM WRRI Student Water Research Program. In 2020, he advised Lin Chen on a project entitled, Recovery of Rare Earth Elements and Potable Water from Produced Water. Ramos describes this project as being centered around creating a process to concentrate and extract Rare Earth Elements (REEs) while generating clean potable water from Permian Basin Oil and Gas extraction-related produced water in southeast New Mexico and west Texas. REEs are critical components used in creating cell phones and high-end ceramics, which makes them valuable commodities. The process of extracting REEs while also generating clean water for agricultural and industrial use could prove significant in potentially helping address some of New Mexico’s unique water challenges. To read more about Lin Chen’s research project, please click here.

Ramos graduated with his BS in Geology from Stanford University (1989). He earned his MS in Geology (1992), and PhD in Geochemistry (2000) from the University of California in Los Angeles. He has over twenty-five publications across a wide variety of journals and guidebooks. Ramos has also received multiple funding opportunities for his work from the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences and other organizations.

Ramos has served his community and university by being an active member in several societies and outreach efforts. He is the director of the NMSU Johnson Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, which assists students and researchers in the use of analytical tools to address problems associated with Geochemistry and Petrology. Ramos is also the president of the New Mexico Geological Society Foundation board in Socorro, New Mexico, and sits on the NMSU Radiation Safety Committee. Ramos holds memberships to several professional organizations such as the American Geophysical Union, and the Mineralogical Society of America.

Ramos is currently active in several research investigations ranging from scavenging REEs from water and coal ash to remediating lands by removing radionuclides in water, soils, and plant materials. A critical project he is leading involves a group of student researchers attempting to identify the Ra/Th ages of crystals in lavas erupted from active or recently active volcanoes worldwide. This research and all methods associated with the project are being developed and tested at NMSU alongside ongoing research in the NMSU Johnson Mass Spectrometry Lab. Ramos intends to expand the laboratory’s capabilities to include inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry trace element analyses to supplement their current isotope ratio measuring equipment. With the acquisition of this new unit, he believes it would greatly expand the range of elements and isotopes available for testing. This would allow researchers to access a wider variety of analytical tools and assist NM WRRI researchers in their water-related projects by allowing more isotopes (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr or ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) to be examined. In addition to the five scientists Ramos has trained that currently fulfill technician or lab manager positions, he plans to guide at least five more to operate and maintain mass spectrometers in state-, national-, and educational-related labs across the U.S.

To anyone interested in pursuing a career in the water research field, Ramos imbues this parting message: “Water is a critical component to our nation’s well-being. Especially with the challenges that are building as a result of climate change, we have to begin to address water issues in more coherent and insightful ways. As such, water and water-related employment opportunities will expand greatly in the foreseeable future, and scientists will need to be well-versed in multiple research fields. This is the time to expand yourself and learn to 1) think critically, 2) hone your ability to integrate information from multiple sources, and 3) better your writing and communication skills. Focusing on these attributes will offer big rewards in your future.”

NMSU Researchers Analyze Produced Water Chemistry in the Permian Basin

By Robert Sabie, Jr., NM WRRI Research Scientist

Each month NM WRRI is featuring an eNews article describing an individual research focus of the ongoing New Mexico Universities Produced Water Synthesis Project (NMUPWSP). This month we are featuring research being performed by Drs. Pei Xu, Yanyan Zhang, Kenneth Carroll, Tanner Schaub, Frank Ramos, and Jackie Jarvis at New Mexico State University (NMSU).

The extraction of oil and gas has economic benefits as well as environmental concerns, one being the management of produced water. Efforts to treat and find beneficial uses for produced water are met with fair skepticism given the constituents in the water can pose a risk to public health and the environment. Management decisions are often made using water quality parameters such as salinity, total organic carbon, and heavy metal content, however, these parameters are not enough to capture the full range of risk and toxicity of the produced water. Previous research determined there are up to 1,198 constituents identified in produced water, while only 527 of those have associated toxicity data publicly available in a database (Danforth et al. 2020). Although many of the produced water constituents are known, there is still a need for a comprehensive assessment of produced water quality and removal efficiency of treatment technologies for reducing environmental toxicity.

Researchers at NMSU are addressing this need by conducting this comprehensive assessment in their project entitled, Characterization of Produced Water in the Permian Basin for Potential Beneficial Use. Through this project, the NMSU research team is developing effective methods to analyze the organic and inorganic constituents, radionuclides, and toxicology of highly saline produced water, as well as producing a better understanding of the chemical composition and toxicity of produced water in the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico.

The team is collaborating with industry partners and has already completed site visits in January 2020. Analysis of the produced water quality are being performed at NMSU using advanced instrumentation such as ion chromatography (IC), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), agilent gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GC LECO TOF MS), Waters Acquity Ultraperformance liquid chromatography Q-TOF MS systems (LC-QTOF-MS-MS), ultrahigh resolution Orbitrap-based mass spectrometry, total organic carbon (TOC) and fluorescence excitation and emission mapping (F-EEM). In vitro tests are being performed on a mouse macrophage cell line to determine the environmental toxicity of the produced water constituents from different wells and disposal sites. The research performed in this study will help establish improved management practices, proper risk assessment, spill response, treatment, and beneficial use applications.

Reference

Danforth, W.A. Chiu, I. Rusyn, K. Schultz, A. Bolden, C. Kwiatkowski, E. Craft, An integrative method for identification and prioritization of constituents of concern in produced water from onshore oil and gas extraction, Environment international, 134 (2020) 105280.