Timothy O Randhir

University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst · Department of Environmental Conservation

Moringa is the sole genus in the family Moringaceae used for medicinal and nutrient purposes. Morphological features, phytochemical attributes, and molecular characterization were used for the genetic association and classification among Moringa oleifera, M. peregrina, and M. stenopetala. Moringa peregrina recorded a similarity of 84% lonely and pl...

This article is devoted to the analysis and development of ranking criteria for microcredit organizations to increase their investment attractiveness. The need to solve problematic issues is associated with the need to minimize risks before the start of the lending process through the correct selection of participants in the credit transaction. Thi...

Examining the distribution patterns of sympatric large carnivores provides critical insights into the roles of prey availability and human disturbances in shaping the landscape use of these key predators. The Thung Yai Naresuan (East) Wildlife sanctuary (TYNE) in western Thailand has been presumed to be a natural stronghold for tigers (Panthera tig...

This study investigates the potential anthropogenic land use activities in the 114,000-km2 Chindwin River Watershed (CRW) in northwestern Myanmar, a biodiversity hotspot. This research evaluates current and future land use scenarios, particularly focusing on areas that provide ecosystem services for local communities and those essential for biodive...

The composition of food baskets can significantly influence the water consumption rate and society’s environmental impact. This study evaluates the sustainability of Iran’s food and nutrition security by evaluating five food baskets using water and carbon-footprint indices. These food baskets are the common Iranian food basket (CIFB), the vegetaria...

Oil palm plantations can impact hydrological processes in many tropical watersheds. The rapid conversion of tropical rainforests for commercial operations in recent decades has been associated with water scarcity, flooding, and polluted rivers. However, this widespread and emerging issue is less studied and underreported due to limited data availab...

Instream flows are vital to the ecology of riverine and riparian systems. The influence of watershed characteristics on these systems is helpful in developing landscape policies to maintain these flows. Watershed characteristics like precipitation, forest cover, impervious cover, soil drainage, and slope affect baseflows. Spatial analysis using GIS...

Elephants in Africa are declining rapidly due to habitat loss and human-wildlife conflicts, with these problems worsening with climate change. Understanding how age classes respond to such events is crucial to designing and implementing mitigation strategies and developing the adaptive capacity of wildlife managers to respond to these challenges ad...

Sustainable management of common pool resources requires local information and participation. We develop a framework for managing commons based on threats, consequences, and solutions (TCS). The status of the community’s interaction with their local commons is critical in developing viable solutions to avoiding the loss of natural resources, enhanc...

We assessed habitat occupancy and distribution of principal tiger (Panthera tigris) ungulate prey species to assess factors affecting their occurrence and their potential contribution to low tiger presence in the core part of the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, in northern Myanmar. We surveyed for signs on 1,651 km of transects partitioned into...

Salt stress is a major issue in agriculture and crop production that influences global food security. Mitigation options to address salt stress through agronomic practices can help manage this issue. Experiments were performed in two summer seasons in an experimental farm to test the impact of three salinity levels (S): 300 (control), 1000, 2000, a...

The types and intensification of land use in the watershed affect the living organisms in aquatic ecosystems differently; this impact will also vary according to temporal and spatial scales. Understanding these interactions is crucial in the design of biomonitoring programs to detect the effect of different pollutants in freshwater ecosystems and i...

Integrated biofertilizers such as Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPRs), cyanobacteria, and yeast can considerably improve the growth, integrity, and overall health of crops, including cowpea. In this study, we assess the benefits of applying microbial fertilizers as an eco-friendly approach to partially substitute chemical fertilizers while...

The changes in energy balance resulting from land-use change may significantly affect the amount and timing of water loss to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration (ET). Also, these will impact water fluxes in the watershed system, influencing runoff rate, flow volume, intensity, and frequency of floods. During the past century, land-use change in th...

Fennel fruits (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) represent one of the plant-based natural spices. This study aims to improve the fruit yield and essential oil (EO) quality by reducing the undesirable component, estragole, under different fertilizer treatments. The fertilizers included chemical nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK), and also the organic...

Improper abstraction of groundwater in Iran has led to an average annual subsidence rate of 15 cm/yr. The management of Iran's water resources is essential due to its arid and semiarid climate and traditional agriculture. Monitoring groundwater storage (GWS) changes and their correct interpretation using deep learning (DL) methods can improve our u...

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) causes bacterial leaf blight that is a major threat to rice production. Crop losses in extreme situations can reach up to75%, and millions of hectares of rice are affected each year. Management of the disease required information about the spatial distribution of BLB incidence, severity, and prevalence. In this s...

Plant diseases are biotic stresses that restrict crop plants’ ability to develop and produce. Numerous foliar diseases, such as chocolate spots, can cause significant production losses in Vicia faba plants. Certain chemical inducers, including salicylic acid (SA), oxalic acid (OA), nicotinic acid (NA), and benzoic acid (BA), were used in this study...

The verification of taxonomic identities is of the highest significance in the field of biological study and categorization. Morpho-molecular characterization can clarify uncertainties in distinguishing between taxonomic groups. In this study, we characterized five local taxa of the genus Cichorium using morphological and molecular markers for taxo...

Hydropower projects involve enormous investments that require an efficient cost–benefit framework and optimization model for proper development. Dams and hydropower plants have many impacts on the environment. These environmental impacts are often not included in the economic calculations and planning of the projects, which leads to the loss of nat...

Se realiza un análisis territorial e histórico de la actividad ganadera en la Cuenca Coapa, municipio de Pijijiapan, Chiapas. Se identifican cambios importantes en la cobertura forestal territorial de la zona de estudio y cómo se diversas instituciones de conservación han promovido iniciativas para el desarrollo de sistemas silvopastoriles. Estos p...

Climatic and environmental stresses on water resources, increasing water demands, and farmers' adverse economic conditions are significant drivers of increased conflicts between farmers and water managers. These conflicts remain a major hurdle in sustaining water resources, which should be addressed using sustainable development concepts. A non-coo...

Salinity is a major environmental phenomenon that affects watersheds and irrigated areas worldwide. The watershed-scale salinity modeling requires a watershed-scale model like the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) that simulates hydrologic processes throughout a watershed. The Richards equation can assist in addressing very complex processes th...

Background Germplasm identification is an essential connection linking the conservation and exploitation of crop genetic resources in several plant breeding programs. This study highlights the biochemical and molecular variations in a collection of pumpkin genotypes representing four climate zones. The information could help improve germplasm manag...

The assessment and prediction of the groundwater resource quality are required for the sustainable management of this crucial resource. This study develops a new index for assessing and a model for predicting the quality of groundwater resources. The Groundwater Quality Index (GWQI), the Shannon entropy method, was used to determine the weight of p...

Forecasting the groundwater level is crucial to managing water resources supply sustainably. In this study, a simulation–optimization hybrid model was developed to forecast groundwater levels in aquifers. The model uses the PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) algorithm to optimize SVR (Support Vector Regression) parameters to predict groundwater leve...

Bulb fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) has gained importance for its high-value bulb production. A field experiment was conducted in a farm in El-Santa, Gharbia, Egypt, to enhance productivity and quality attributes of F. vulgare bulbs using different fertilizers: biofertilizer, organic fertilizer (rabbit manure), and mineral fertilizer [nitrogen (...

Plant growth promotion using beneficial bacteria is an eco-friendly approach to meet the worldwide need for raising crop yields. This research was done in a greenhouse during 2017 and 2018 seasons to investigate the effect of bacterial biofertilization using three strains, AP-28 of Pseudomonas koreensis, AP-29 of Ralstonia pickettii, and AP-51 of B...

Forecasting Urban Water Consumption (UWC) has a significant impress in efficient urban water management in rapidly growing cities in arid regions. Enhancing forecasting accuracy of UWC using novel models is a crucial requirement in order to the management of smart cities. In this study, Bayesian Networks (BN) is developed as a probabilistic model a...

Low-order streams are important places for river formation and are highly vulnerable to changes in terrestrial ecosystems. Thus, the land-use/land-cover plays an important role in the maintenance of water quality. However, only land-use/land-cover composition may not explain the spatial variation in water quality, because it does not consider land-...

Land surface temperature (LST) and vegetation cover changes are two indicators of landscapes in a region. The relationship between LST anomalies, elevation, vegetation, and urban growth is significant to conservation. This study addresses this issue using night-time satellite imagery, kernel methods (points aggregation), and the trend analysis for...

Patents are essential for university technology diffusion to society; however, patent quality in universities, especially in Latin America, has been poorly studied. We create a quality index for patents granted to regional universities by using patent quality variables as patent production, technical relevance, use of top knowledge, technological s...

With increasing exploitation of groundwater resources, integrated assessment of aquifers is an essential step to maintain aquifers’ sustainability. The DPSIR-GOF (Drivers, pressures, states, impacts, responses-Goal oriented framework) combined approach is used in this study to conceptualize and identify various factors affecting the Najafabad aquif...

Strategies to enhance economic opportunities, while minimizing environmental impacts, are primary goals in watershed development. This study aims to evaluate ecotourism and socioeconomic strategies using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) decision framework. This framework is especially suitable to evaluate complex issues...

Water scarcity is a significant global challenge. Water resources planning and management are vital to all sectors, primarily for the agricultural sector identified as a significant consumer. Conjunctive water use management is ideal for decreasing water scarcity, especially in arid and semiarid regions. More importantly, considering uncertainties...

Natural and anthropogenic complex processes release salts into the environment. These change the balances of natural systems in the watersheds. Models can assist study of salinity processes throughout watersheds. This study proposes a flexible water and soil salinity module for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) that can profitably incorpora...

Land use is rapidly changing in coastal watersheds, with implications on eutrophication of coastal watersheds. The long-term consequences of climate change on these impacts are critical to watershed management. With coastal watersheds facing frequent hypoxic events and cultural eutrophication, the coupled influence of land use and climate change ca...

Improving the groundwater governance structure can help reduce groundwater decline and improve the state of an aquifer. This study develops an approach to modify groundwater governance based on a participatory, water-food-energy (WFE) nexus. Given the need for the participation of actors in the decision-making for the WFE nexus, we identified and s...

Antecedentes: La adopción tecnológica es el principal reto para lograr la transición hacia una ganadería sustentable. Objetivo: En esta investigación se evaluaron los factores que influyen en la adopción de tecnologías silvopastoriles en Chiapas, México. Metodología: A través de una metodología integrativa que relaciona variables de desempeño insti...

Achieving sufficient water supplies for multiple uses in the watershed is a major public policy issue. Understanding the current ecohydrologic processes is essential to assess potential impacts on hydrologic regimes. The Tuul River (TR) watershed faces a cold, continental climate with water supply variability. This study aims to simulate watershed...

The groundwater mitigation issues and moving toward sustainable quality and quantity conditions of the aquifers are primary water resources management objectives in arid and semi-arid regions. A framework is required to assess groundwater restoration strategies' impacts on the aquifer's qualitative and quantitative sustainability. In this study, tw...

A low carbon economy gives a new connotation to enterprise value and developing carbon assets is an effective way to enhance enterprise low carbon value. Using the theory of stakeholders, sustainable development and value chain, and taking the low carbon practice of Toyota Motor Company as the research object, this paper explores and constructs the...

Low-order streams are important regions for river formation and are highly vulnerable to changes in terrestrial systems. Thus, the land-use/land-cover plays an important role in the maintenance of water quality. However, only its composition may not explain the spatial variation in water quality, because it does not consider landscape configuration...

Climate change has implications for wildlife survival worldwide. Changing precipitation and temperature patterns increase the frequency and severity of storms with significant impacts on watershed hydrologic processes that change the ecosystem characteristics at a landscape scale. Biota either adapts to the changes, shifts ranges, or becomes extinc...

Salinity is a complex process in watersheds, and there is a need for data and modeling salinity in arid and semi-arid watersheds. Development and application of a salinity model to accurately predict the salinity processes are difficult tasks at the watershed scale. Available salinity models are limited in sufficiently modeling natural salinity pro...

Irrigation water quality has important implications on salinity, ion toxicity, production cost, and crop failures. There is a need for a comprehensive analysis of spatial and temporal dynamics in parameters at a watershed scale. This information is critical for irrigation management in agricultural production. The Lake Uluabat watershed is a signif...

It is vital to identify factors that affect the overwintering of waterbirds for conservation purposes. In this study, during the winter of 2018–2019, we documented 177,414 individuals of 74 species of waterbirds in the Jiangsu coastal area, an important but poorly known overwintering location. Of the species observed, 12 were listed as threatened....

Environmental performance evaluation is an essential part of environmental management—however, current methods of environmental performance overlook efficiencies in individual operational processes. Environmental pollutant waste not only causes internal resource loss but also leads to external environmental damage through emissions and generation o...

Brazil contains the largest volume of freshwater of any nation in the world; however, this essential natural resource is threatened by rapid increases in water consumption and water quality degradation, mainly as a result of anthropogenic pressures. Declining water quality has become an increasingly more significant global concern as economic activ...

This research proposes an enhanced Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) with application to an international wetland. The integrated model enhances GMCR using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods to extract the relative preferences of decision-makers in conflict resolutio...

Rhinoceros poaching has been recognized the world over as a conservation crisis, the result of the high price of horn and demand in Asian markets. The commitment and participation of local people in conservation activities, however, are crucial for conservation success. Here we assess attitudes and perceptions towards rhino poaching and conservatio...

It is necessary to incorporate Sustainable Development Goals into the selection of Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs). This paper is assessing the FRMPs by grouped Sustainable Development Criteria (SDC) criteria. The utilized Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) models to evaluate FRMPs were chosen from three groups of compensatory, Semi-non comp...

The effectiveness of water policies depends upon the behavioral features of users and factors influencing these processes. Behavioral changes such as a reduction in watering the lawns, reducing water pressure, and taking shorter showers can be used to design policies that can be effective. However, the most impactful changes come from technological...

Background Land use change has a significant impact on ecosystem services in watershed systems. The upper part of Qiantang River, Kaihua Country has experienced land-use changes over the past 15 years, but the effect of these changes on ecosystem services remains unknown. Objective This study evaluates land-use changes in response to ecological pr...

Faced with increasingly strict carbon surveillance from carbon-related laws and regulations, it has become urgent for high-emission enterprises to find effective methods by which to reduce carbon emissions and control carbon emission costs. However, although carbon emission costs are closely related to the production process, current costing method...

Faced with increasingly strict carbon emission control, high-emission enterprises need scientific and rational management systems and methods to strengthen carbon emission reduction management. Among the many management systems and methods, the carbon budget has become an effective emission reduction management tool, allowing the planning of carbon...

Conversion of forest land to farmland in the Hyrcanian forest of northern Iran increases the nutrient input, especially the phosphorus (P) nutrient, thus impacting the water quality. Modeling the effects of forest loss on surface water quality provides valuable information for forest management. This study predicts the future impacts of forest loss...

Evaluating the uncertainty of climatic impacts on watershed systems is critical in planning for water supplies, water allocation, and demand at multiple scales. With the increasing frequency of water crises worldwide, understanding the nature of climatic impacts along spatial and temporal dimensions is vital to the development of timely, and spatia...

Tropical forests are under continued threat due to deforestation and fragmentation, mainly because of clear-cutting for agriculture and cattle ranching, and it can lead to water quality degradation. However, there is a need for understanding the role of forest areas as an indicator of water quality in the current diverse landscape in tropical water...

All otter species are of conservation concern and are used both as flagship species for conservation and as indicators of watershed health; consequently, identifying and understanding their distribution is a basic necessity. We reviewed the published literature to identify otter distribution modeling efforts worldwide and then compiled information...

This study aims at identifying suitable sites for underground or subsurface dams using a spatial multicriteria evaluation (SMCE) for water supplies in an arid watershed in southwestern Iran. Specific constraints and three groups of criteria were used in developing a spatial decision model. Constraints included slope, fault, land use, and geology. S...

Land-use/land-cover (LULC) pattern influences water quality, however, this relation may be different for various spatial scales. We evaluated the LULC effects on water quality of tropical low-order streams, comparing watershed and riparian zone models. Water quality parameters were analyzed separately and together using linear mixed and multivariat...

Conversion of forest land to farmland in the Hyrcanian forest of northern Iran increases the nutrient input, especially the phosphorus (P) nutrient, thus impacting the water quality. Modeling the effect of forest loss on surface water quality provides valuable information for forest management. This study predicts the future impacts of forest loss...

With ignorance and potential surprise dominating decision making in water resources, a framework for dealing with such uncertainty is a critical need in hydrology. We operationalize the ‘potential surprise’ criterion proposed by Shackle, Vickers, and Katzner (SVK) to derive decision rules to manage water resources under uncertainty and ignorance. W...

Effective carbon asset management is necessary for decreasing carbon resource inputs and reducing carbon emission. Furthermore, carbon asset management is an important measure to realize low-carbon transformation and low-carbon competitiveness for enterprises. However, a systematic theoretical framework and an effective management method for carbon...

Sand dunes occupy a vast expanse of desert area in Iran and they are considered as a threat for urban areas and agricultural lands. Erg is an area of desert covered with shifting sand dunes. Saduq (Ashkezar) city, located in the west and northwest of the Yazd City, Iran, is surrounded by these mobile sand dunes. The aim of this study was the risk a...

Water resources sustainability is critical to urban areas that are facing increasing water crises. Understanding the interactions in a system perspective is necessary for designing policies for sustaining water systems serving concentrated urban centers. This study uses the dynamics of Cantareira Water Supply System to diagnose the recent water cri...

Modeling nutrient pollution remains important in assessing and managing impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Phosphorus is a limiting factor in inland water bodies, and there is a need for modeling land use impacts on loading at multiple scales. Downscaling watershed simulations to practice at site scales remains a difficult challenge. A combination of s...