Digital Commons Network^™

Ecological Services To And From Rangelands Of The United States, Ed Frederickson, Kris Havstad, Debra Peters, Rhonda Skaggs, Joel Brown, Brandon Bestelmeyer, Jeffrey Herrick, Jack Wright

Ed L. Frederickson

The over 300 million ha of public and private rangelands in the United States are characterized by low and variable precipitation, nutrient-poor soils, and high spatial and temporal variability in plant production. This land type has provided a variety of goods and services, with the provisioning of food and fiber dominating through much of the 20th century. More recently, food production from a rangeland-based livestock industry is often pressured for a variety of reasons, including poor economic returns, increased regulations, an aging rural population, and increasingly diverse interests of land owners. A shift to other provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting …

Woody Invasive Plant Species Occurrence And Abundance As, Jyoti Patnaik

All Theses

The spread of invasive plants is one of the most challenging ecological problems in the 21st century, causing a $35 billion loss per year to the economy in the United states alone. More than 85% of woody invasive species were introduced originally for ornamental and landscape use. As a result, over the last few decades, perennial woody invaders have appeared in fence rows, rights-of-way, old fields, understories, and the canopies of eastern forests of the United States. Besides the information about the geographical distribution, general biological characteristics, and response to herbicides, very little information is available on the occurrence and …

Fate And Transport Of Pathogen Indicators From Pasturelands, Michelle L. Soupir

Michelle L. Soupir

The U.S. EPA has identified pathogen indicators as a leading cause of impairments in rivers and streams in the U.S. Elevated levels of bacteria in streams draining the agricultural watersheds cause concern because they indicate the potential presence of pathogenic organisms. Limited understanding of how bacteria survive in the environment and are released from fecal matter and transported along overland flow pathways results in high uncertainty in the design and selection of appropriate best management practices (BMPs) and in the bacterial fate and transport models used to identify sources of pathogens.

The overall goal of this study was to improve …

Effects Of Season Of Fire On Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides Borealis) Reproduction And The Breeding Bird Community Of A Longleaf Pine Ecosystem, Sarah Lauerman

All Theses

Fire is the most important management tool in restoring and maintaining the longleaf pine ecosystem but the effects of season of burning on fauna are not fully understood. Of particular concern is the community of birds which breed in the longleaf pine forest, several of which are endangered, threatened or species of concern. This study examined the effects of season of fire on the breeding bird community and a population of red-cockaded woodpeckers (RCW) at Brosnan Forest in Dorchester, South Carolina. Fifty-eight RCW territories received dormant or growing season fire over a five-year period from 2001 to 2005. Prior to …

Provisioning And Prey Quality In Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis) In Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, Elena Sachs

All Theses

I examined parent and nestling behavior during early chick rearing in Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) nesting at a colony in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina during the 2006 breeding season. There were significant differences in the frequency of feeding, attendance, and chick aggression according to chick age, although the pattern differed among behaviors. The rate of adult feeding, chick feeding and adult attendance all decreased with chick age while chick aggressive behavior peaked when chicks were ca. 21 d post-hatch. I found that nests with at least one juvenile parent had a lower average clutch size, hatch rate, and number of …

Predicting The Growth Of Deciduous Tree Species In Response To Water Stress: Fvs-Bgc Model Parameterization, Application And Evaluation, Ying Wang

All Theses

A hybrid model (FVS-BGC) that couples the process-model STAND-BGC to the empirically based forest vegetation simulator (FVS) was parameterized with comprehensive ecophysiological, site, and silvicultural data collected on Acer rubrum L. (A. rubrum), Paulownia elongata (P. elongata), Quercus nuttallii (Q. nuttallii), and Quercus phellos (Q. phellos) in 2006. A series of simulations provided of estimates species-specific carbon gain, growth, and yield under well-watered and water-stressed conditions. Simulations on a species-specific basis allowed assessment of drought effects on stand production and the ability of FVS-BGC to predict on a deciduous species basis. Under well watered conditions, FVS-BGC was able to predict …

Small Grains And Field Peas: 2008 Variety Recommendations (2007 Crop Performance Results), Cooperative Extension Service, South Dakota State University

SDSU Extension Circulars

Variety selection is a fundamental element in a sound crop production program. This report contains variety recommendations, descriptions, and yield data for the spring-seeded small grains – hard red spring wheat, oat, and barley, along with the fall-seeded small grain –hard red winter wheat. Key factors in variety selection include yield, yield stability, maturity, straw strength, height, test weight, quality, and disease resistance. Yield is an important factor; however, a variety with good disease resistance, straw strength, and high grain quality may be more profitable in some cases than the highest yielding variety. Disease resistance information is based on reactions …

The Leading Object: December 2007

Leading Object

Content:
Perspectives: John C. Owens
‘Know how, Know now’ Seeks to Educate about Value of Extension
Extension Guardianship Program Nationally Recognized
Alumnus Gets Degree 58 Years After Starting School
Dairy Store Busy Preparing Cheese and Gift Boxes
Natural Resources, Plant Industries Halls Renamed
Dinsdale Award To Go to Three Assistant Professors
Hart, Baxendale Receive Awards

Extended Visions, November/December 2007

Extended Visions Newsletter of ARDC

Contents:
ARDC Director's Comments
ARDC FEATURE UNIT - Foundation Seed Division
About the People
About the Research
Introducing Husker Genetics
How a University of Nebraska HUSKER GENETICS Foundation Seed Variety Goes from the Lab to the Farmer
Annual Festival Teaches Youth About Ag
Bergman Recognized at Retirement Reception
Dec. 6 Workshop to Focus on Alternative Energy for Home, Farm, and Acreages
December Programs... Ethanol By-Product Use for Cow/Calf Producers and Farmer Feeders
How the Field Days Stack Up
MEAD MAGNET Update - Mead High School Agriculture Student Works at the Swine Unit
Nebraska Soybean Day and Machinery Expo

Ard News December 2007

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

Contents:

Comments from the Dean
William G. Whitmore Student Travel Endowment
David H. and Annie E. Larrick Fund, 2008
Undergraduate Honors Research Program
Mussehl Endowment
New or Revised Projects September and October 2007
Proposals Submitted for Federal Grants September and October 2007
Grants and Contracts Received for September and October 2007

Ard News December 2007

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

CONTENTS:
Comments from the Dean
William G. Whitmore Student Travel Endowment
David H. and Annie E. Larrick Fund, 2008
Undergraduate Honors Research Program
Mussehl Endowment
New or Revised Projects September and October 2007
Proposals Submitted for Federal Grants September and October 2007
Grants and Contracts Received for September and October 2007

Crop/Livestock Integration Effects On Soil Quality, Crop Production, And Soil Nitrogen Dynamics, Ellen B. Mallory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regional integration of potato and dairy farms has developed in Maine through arrangements where manure, feed, and sometimes land, are exchanged between neighboring farms. The effects of integration on soil quality, crop production, nitrogen (N) cycling, and N loss were investigated in field and laboratory studies of contrasting amended (manure, compost, green manure, and supplemental fertilizer) and nonamended (fertilizer only) soil management systems within 2-year potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) rotations in the Maine Potato Cropping Systems Project (MPEP). Additionally, soil quality of 48 integrated and nonintegrated Maine potato and dairy farm fields was assessed. The MPEP’s amended soil system enhanced …

When Using Intensive Grazing Practices, Does It Matter How Often You Move Cattle To A New Paddock On Improved, Irrigated Pastures In Utah?, R. D. Weidmeier

All Current Publications

This publication includes results from a study that answers the question of how often to move cattle to a new paddock when using intensive grazing practices.

Skeleton Weed - Best Practice Management Guidelines For Cropping Programs, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Bulletins 4000 -

Skeleton weed (Chondrilla juncea L.) is the only species within the genus Chondrilla that is found in Australia. It belongs to the tribe Cichoriae (chicory tribe) of the family Asteraceae (the daisies). Other closely related species in this tribe include lettuce, endive, dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), hawkweed (Hieracium spp.), and sow thistle (Sonchus spp.).

Diffusion Of Collective-Action Innovations Among Pastoralists In Liben District, Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Getachew Kassa, Seyoum Tezera

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In 2001 PARIMA and her partners began to create collective-action groups among illiterate, settled pastoralists in Ethiopia. These groups—soon dominated by women—focused on savings-led microfinance, small business activity, and livestock marketing to increase incomes and diversify livelihoods. Fifty-nine groups with over 2,100 members were formed using intensive training methods, and they have subsequently merged into legally recognized cooperatives. We regard this approach as successful and sustainable. We were curious, however, if “the word has spread” and collective-action has spontaneously arisen beyond our immediate project area. Preliminary findings from recent surveys of settlements in Liben District indicate that diffusion of collective-action …

Building Effective Community Participation And Stakeholder Partnerships To Promote Positive Change In The Southern Ethiopian Rangelands, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera, Dadi Amosha

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Recently there has been increased recognition that authentic community participation and creating strong inter-institutional partnerships are both important in the process of capacity building, generating innovation, and sustaining development achievements in rural Africa. Here we summarize a process of community participation and formation of institutional partnerships in support of pastoral risk-management interventions over the past seven years on the Borana Plateau. Community involvement has been stimulated using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods. This has resulted in the proliferation of pastoral collective-action groups that have diversified livelihoods, engaged markets, and improved incomes. Implementing and sustaining positive change, however, has also been …

Can Collective Action And Capacity Building Reduce Vulnerability Among Settled Pastoralists?, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In 2001 PARIMA and her partners began to create collective-action groups among illiterate, settled pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. These groups—dominated by women—focused on savings-led microfinance, small business, and livestock marketing to increase incomes and diversify livelihoods. Fifty-nine groups with over 2,100 members were formed using intensive capacity- building methods. After six years we wanted to compare group members with their neighbors who never participated in the PARIMA program. We surveyed 180 individuals from groups and paired control (traditional) communities. Respondents were asked to assess the extent that they perceived positive, negative, or no change in their lives over the past …

Stakeholder Alliance Facilitates Re-Introduction Of Prescribed Fire On The Borana Plateau Of Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Lemma Gizachew, Dadhi Amosha, Feyissa Taffa

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The implementation of a new prescribed fire program to restore bush-encroached rangelands in southern Ethiopia—and hence increase herbaceous forage supplies for livestock—is given as an example of an integrated action involving multiple institutions to address resource-management problems. The resumption of planned fire—traditionally conducted over hundreds of years by pastoralists until the 1970s—was preceded by key activities including mobilization of the pastoral community, review of government proclamations regarding use of fire, interaction with policy makers, capacity building among pastoralists and agency personnel on how to implement and manage planned fires, development of an overall prescribed burn plan, selection of geo-referenced sites, …

Corn, Unknown Unknown

All Current Publications

This fact sheet lists details of corn crop insurance.

Collective Action Among Agro-Pastoralists In Baringo District, Kenya: Identifying And Nurturing The Entrepreneurs, D. Layne Coppock, Mark N. Mutinda, Stellamaris K. Muthoka, Abdillahi A. Aboud

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The rural population of Baringo District in the Rift Valley of north-central Kenya faces numerous challenges including widespread environmental degradation and poverty. The region has endured decades of failed development projects, proliferation of food aid, and has been studied extensively. We have recently undertaken a different approach focused on bottom-up participatory action research and outreach among the Il Chamus and Tugen ethnic communities. The objective is to explore new ways to empower local people via provision of information, novel experiences, and initial access to resources to allow them to envision an alternative future and implement their own activities to better-manage …

Dry Beans, Unknown Unknown

All Current Publications

This fact sheet lists details of dry bean crop insurance.

Hobo Or Not A Hobo-That Is The Question: A Photographic Key To Discerning Hobo From Non-Hobo Spiders, Ryan Davis

All Current Publications

This key is intended for use with, at a minimum, a microscope with 8-35x zoom capability. In addition to couplet choices based on anatomy, this key is accompanied by pictures taken with a Leica EZ4D stereoscope (the same scopes given to selected Utah Extension offices) to aid in identification.

Agris: An Fao Information Resource For The Agricultural Journalist, Joe Zumalt

Joseph R. Zumalt

A review of AGRIS.

2007 Oregon Harvest Report, Oregon Wine Board

Oregon Wine Board Documents

This harvest report for the Oregon wine industry from 2007 explains how, despite weather challenges, farmers and winemakers were able to produce good quality wines with lower alcohol levels. Rains came at an unusual time in the year for the Willamette Valley; in the Applegate, Rogue, and Umpqua Valleys, cooler conditions resulted in less heat stress, producing more balanced fruit and higher yields for growers. The report also includes four-region comparative data prepared by climatologist Dr. Greg Jones.

The Leading Object: November 2007

Leading Object

Content:
Perspectives by John C. Owens
NCTA’s 100 Cow Program Aims to Help Beginning Farmers, Ranchers
Longtime Agronomist Furrer Dies
Public Service to Ag Awards Given
Maunder Receives First Henry Beachell Alumnus Award
Nebraska Master Conservationist Award Winners Announced
Wilson Receives Employee Award
Three with UNL Ties Served as Equine Residents at Texas A&M
Terry Assumes Post of CIT Director
Boeckner Named Interim Director of Panhandle Research and Extension

Third Thursday 11-2007, Institute Of Agriculture

Third Thursday

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Tillage And Cropping Sequence Effects On Dryland Residue And Soil Carbon Fractions, Upendra M. Sainju, Thecan Caesar-Tonthat, Andrew W. Lenssen, Robert G. Evans, Robert Kolberg

Andrew W. Lenssen

Long-term management practices are needed to increase dryland C storage and improve soil quality. We evaluated the 21-yr effects of combinations of tillage and cropping sequences on dryland crop biomass (stems + leaves) returned to the soil, residue C, and soil C fractions at the 0- to 20-cm depth in a Dooley sandy loam (fine-loamy, mixed, frigid, Typic Argiborolls) in eastern Montana. Treatments were no-till continuous spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (NTCW), spring-tilled continuous spring wheat (STCW), fall- and spring-tilled continuous spring wheat (FSTCW), fall- and spring-tilled spring wheat–barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) (1984–1999) followed by spring wheat–pea (Pisum sativum L.) …

Dynamic Water Adsorption Characteristics Of Distillers Dried Grains With Solubles (Ddgs), V. Ganesan, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is one of the coproducts obtained from dry-grind ethanol manufacturing. As the ethanol industry is growing exponentially, the production of DDGS has been significantly increasing as well. To optimize the use of DDGS, it has to be economically transported from one part of the country to other parts, and stored efficiently. But DDGS has some flow issues, which often makes storage and transportation very problematic. So the objective of this study was to investigate the dynamic water adsorption characteristics of DDGS with four soluble levels at four temperatures and four relative humidities. Three mathematical …

The Nebline, November-December 2007

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Contents:

Internet is Popular Way to Access Extension
When it Comes to Being Wired, Youth are Leading the Way
Storage Methods to Reduce Loss of Hay Quality
Grain Stubble Rental Rates
Organic Production
Winter Protection for Roses
Make a Holiday Wreath
Winter Gardening Activities for Kids of All Ages
Turkey Tips
Cheesy Turkey Lasagna Recipe
Mediterranean Diet Offers Healthy Benefits
FREE Seminar, “Making Many Meals Using a Few Ingredients”
Mediterranean Soup
President’s Notes — Alice’s Analysis
Household Hints: Caring for Fleece
The Holidays When There are No Close Family Ties
FCE News & Events
Holiday Safety Tips
Holiday Gifts Needed …

Effects Of Eugenol, Α-Terpineol, Terpin-4-Ol, And Methyl Eugenol On Consumption Of Alfalfa Pellets By Sheep, Ed Frederickson

Ed L. Frederickson

Many secondary compounds are typically present in unpalatable shrubs on arid and semi-arid rangelands. However, the relationship between intake by livestock and concentration of individual chemicals has been examined for very few of these compounds. Four experiments were conducted to examine effects of individual volatile compounds on intake of alfalfa pellets by lambs. Forty-five lambs (9 lambs/treatment) were individually fed alfalfa pellets with eugenol, α-terpineol, terpin-4-ol, or methyl eugenol applied at one of five concentrations. Treatments were multiples (0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 10×) of the concentration (×) of each compound on the leaf surface of Flourensia cernua. Treatment solutions …