Digital Commons Network^™

Does Choice Of Estimators Influence Conclusions From True Metabolizable Energy Feeding Trials?, Mark H. Sherfy, Roy L. Kirkpatrick, Kenneth E. Webb Jr.

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

True metabolizable energy (TME) is a measure of avian dietary quality that accounts for metabolic fecal and endogenous urinary energy losses (EL) of non-dietary origin. The TME is calculated using a bird fed the test diet and an estimate of EL derived from another bird (Paired Bird Correction), the same bird (Self Correction), or several other birds (Group Mean Correction). We evaluated precision of these estimators by using each to calculate TME of three seed diets in blue-winged teal (Anas discors). The TME varied by <2% among estimators for all three diets, and Self Correction produced the least variable TMEs for each. The TME did not differ between estimators in nine paired comparisons within diets, but variation between estimators within individual birds was sufficient to be of practical consequence. Although differences in precision among methods were slight, Self Correction required the lowest sample size to achieve a given precision. Feeding trial methods that minimize variation among individuals have several desirable properties, including higher precision of TME estimates and more rigorous experimental control. Consequently, we believe that Self Correction is most likely to accurately represent nutritional value of food items and should be considered the standard method for TME feeding trials.

Preliminary Assessment Of Sand Dune Stability Along A Bioclimatic Gradient, North Central And Northwestern Oklahoma, Carlos Cordova, Jess Porter, Kenneth Lepper, Regina Kalchgruber, Gregory Scott

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Sandhills of eolian origin and currently active dunes in Oklahoma are located mainly on the northern side of the main rivers. Their longitudinal distribution spans a gradient of annual precipitation ranging from 914 mm in the east to 403 mm in the west. Vegetation types along this gradient include cross-timbers woodlands in the east and sand-sage and short grasses in the west. The information presented here is a preliminary assessment of sand dune dynamics and morphology, soils, and vegetation as the basis for an ongoing study on past and present processes of sand dune stability. For this purpose, six areas …

Family Predictors Of Well-Functioning Midwestern Adolescents, Douglas A. Abbott, Scott Hall, William Meredith

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The purpose of our project was to investigate well-functioning adolescents to identify familial influences that may account for their positive developmental outcomes and healthy life choices. A family systems perspective was used to conceptualize this project. More than 300 teenagers were surveyed about family influences on adolescent outcomes. Results indicated that teen religiosity, parental warmth, parental monitoring, and a low occurrence of stressful life events were related to teen depression, participation in risky behaviors, and parental-teen conflict. General conclusions were drawn about the importance of the family environment on teen behavior and the usefulness of a systems point of view …

Optimum Windbreak Spacing In Great Plains Agriculture, Glenn A. Helmers, James Brandle

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Integer programming techniques were used to determine the optimal windbreak pattern for corn and soybean production over a 70-year planning horizon. Field windbreaks provide numerous benefits to agricultural producers, including increased crop yields, erosion control, and wildlife habitat. However, windbreaks involve costs of establishment, maintenance, removal, localized yield reductions, and a loss of income resulting from cropland dedicated to windbreaks. As with any farm investment, windbreaks must be economically viable if they are to be adopted by producers. In addition to the direct costs of establishment, maintenance, and removal, yield increases must be large enough to replace opportunity costs of …

Language Skills Of Elementary-Aged Children With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Gregory Benner

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

A cross-sectional design was used to assess the language skills and prevalence of language disorders among 84 randomly selected public school children (K-5) receiving special education services for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The mean receptive language standard score fell in the nonclinical range, whereas the mean total and expressive standard scores fell in the clinical range. The prevalence rates of total, expressive, and receptive disorders among children with EBD were 54%, 55%, and 42%, respectively. Approximately two-thirds of children experienced a language disorder (i.e., total, expressive, and/or receptive). Half of those experiencing a language disorder met clinical criteria in …

Great Plains Research 15:2 (Fall 2005) - Frontmatter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Frontmatter

Breeding Bird Communities In Riparian Forests Along The Central Platte River, Nebraska, Craig Davis

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The Platte River has changed from a nearly treeless prairie river to a heavily forested river. These habitat changes have likely benefited many woodland birds, but have harmed other migratory birds such as cranes. In response to this impact on migratory birds, conservation groups implemented a tree-clearing program to enhance habitat for these species. This practice is not without controversy because of concerns about its effect on woodland birds. The goal of this study was to determine the composition and abundance of breeding birds that use these forests and discuss the potential impacts of tree clearing on woodland birds. Surveys …

Assessing The Economic Development Of Nature Tourism, Nancy Hodur, F. Larry Leistritz, Kara Wolfe

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Nature tourism is increasingly being considered as an economic development opportunity for rural areas of the Great Plains. As rural communities seek to develop nature tourism, questions regarding the attributes and interests of the nature tourist arise. This study sought to address these questions through a survey of participants at a birding festival held in central North Dakota in June 2004. The festival participants were predominately from outside the local area, and most of these visitors were from out of state. The festival participants were middle-aged and highly educated, and had relatively high income. The visitors spent an average of …

Potential Of Restored Prairie Wetlands In The Glaciated North American Prairie To Sequester Atmospheric Carbon, Robert A. Gleason, Ned H. Euliss Jr., Rhonda L. Mcdougal, Kevin E. Kermes, Edward N. Steadman, John A. Harju

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) covers about 900,000 km² (347,500 mi²), which is approximately a fourth of the area in the Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership region. Specifically, the PPR covers portions of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States and Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba in Canada. Formed largely by glacial events, this region historically was dominated by grasslands interspersed with shallow palustrine wetlands.
Prior to European settlement, this region may have supported more than 20 million ha (49 million acres) of wetlands, making it the largest wetland complex in North America. …

A Fishing Farm In The West Fjords Of Iceland: A Preliminary Report Of The Archaeofauna From Gjögur, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

The date for the onset of full scale commercial fisheries in Iceland remains somewhat controversial, but thus far the earliest radiocarbon dated seasonal fishing station (11th- 13th century) is in NW Iceland’s Strandasýsla County at Akurvík. This paper presents a preliminary report of the ongoing analysis of the large archaeofauna from the farm mound at Gjögur, 3 km from Akurvík, places the site of Gjögur in the wider context of the NW region of Iceland by comparing the site with the Akurvík archaeofauna, and outlines new methodologies of reconstructing live fish size and age based on recovered fish bones. Although …

Book Notes- Spring 2005

Great Plains Quarterly

Book Notes

The True Life Wild West Memoir of a Bush Popping Cow Waddy

Jim Courtright of Fort Worth: His Life and Legend

Native American Literatures: An Introduction

Charles Fritz: An Artist with the Corps of Discovery

Saskatchewan Writers: Lives Past and Present

The Art of American Arms Makers: Marketing Guns, Ammunition and Western Adventure during the Golden Age of Illustration

Nebraska Simply Beautiful

Review Of Wilderness Journey: The Life Of William Clark By William E. Foley & William Clark And The Shaping Of The West By Landon Y. Jones, Jay H. Buckley

Great Plains Quarterly

Following the Lewis and Clark expedition's return in 1806, almost a decade passed before the first official record of their journey was published by Nicholas Biddle and James Allen in 1814. Two hundred years later Gary E. Moulton's definitive thirteen-volume editing of the journals was completed. In the past two centuries dozens of books and thousands of articles have explored various aspects of the Corps of Discovery and its participants. Dozens of biographies have chronicled the lives of Meriwether Lewis, George Drouillard, York, and, especially, Sacagawea. Amazingly, William Clark has received little notice. One important exception was Jerome O. Steffen's …

Adversaries And Allies Rival National Suffrage Groups And The 1882 Nebraska Woman Suffrage Campaign, Carmen Heider

Great Plains Quarterly

In September 1882, Nebraska was the setting for a significant moment in the history of the United States women's rights movement: the two rival suffrage organizations, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), both held their annual conventions in Omaha, an event Sally Roesch Wagner describes as "an unprecedented move." Furthermore, the AWSA and NWSA "act[ed] in conjunction with the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association" to schedule speakers during the 1882 campaign. Susan B. Anthony even participated in the AWSA thirteenth annual meeting held in Omaha in 1882. "I feel at home," she said, "on …

Availability Of Suitable Habitat For Northern River Otters In South Dakota, Alyssa M. Kiesow, Charles D. Dieter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Currently, the northern river otter (Lontra canadensis) is listed as a threatened species in South Dakota. We determined whether adequate habitat was available for reintroducing river otters in South Dakota. The 17 rivers/creeks included in the analysis were selected according to stream size, water gradient, and water permanence. A vegetation transect was conducted and a water sample was collected at each study site, ranging from one to four per river. Rivers/creeks were rated (1 = least suitable to 5 = most suitable) according to habitat requirements of river otters in the following categories: stream characteristics, watershed features, water …

Wither The Fruited Plain: The Long Expedition And The Description Of The "Great American Desert", Kevin Z. Sweeney

Great Plains Quarterly

The view from Pikes Peak is breathtaking. Situated where the Great Plains meets the Rocky Mountains, one feels as if the whole nation is laid out before you. It is the perfect vantage point from which to write an inspirational anthem to the environmental magnificence of the United States. In the summer of 1893, Katherine Lee Bates, a Wellesley College English professor, sat on the summit of Pikes Peak, inspired by the panorama to pen the words to "America the Beautiful." Her poem was set to the tune "Materna" by Samuel Augustus Ward two years later to become one of …

Predictors Of Earnings For Mexican Americans In The Midwest, Rosalie Torres Stone, Bandana Purkayastha

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Much of the research on Mexican Americans and earnings has focused on either national samples or on states such as California and Texas. Even though Mexican Americans have become more visible in the Midwest, we know very little about their earnings in the Midwest. Using an individual level sample consisting of data on 1,807 Mexican Americans from the 2000 Integrated 1% Public Use Microdata Series, we examine the extent to which human capital, family status and industry concentration predict earnings. Multivariate analyses reveal that education and years in the U.S. are positively associated with earnings. However, Mexican American women yield …

Potential Ecological Impact Of Diet Selectivity And Bison Herd Composition, Claudia Rosas, David Engle, James Shaw

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Behavioral segregation between the sexes of bison (Bas bison), coupled with artificially manipulated sex ratios of bison herds, might profoundly influence prairie ecosystems. Therefore, we measured carbon isotopes in hair collected from bison from the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeast Oklahoma to determine if adult male, adult female, and juvenile bison segregate on the basis of botanical composition of their diet. Sex ratio of bison herds in the Great Plains and behavioral differences between sexes were used to assess potential effects of sex ratio on tallgrass prairie. Botanical composition of diet differed among the three bison groups, in …

Evidence Of Holocene Climate Change In A Nebraska Sandhills Wetland, Barbara Nicholson, James B. Swinehart

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The Nebraska Sandhills consist of 50,000 km² of dunes, currently stabilized by vegetation. Radiocarbon dates of paleosols, blocked paleovalleys, and sand beds found in interdunal wetlands suggest that the Holocene had significant periods of dune reactivation. A paleoecological investigation was conducted in Jumbo Valley, NE, in an interdunal wetland known to contain sand layers interbedded with peat. The sedimentary record in two cores is continuous, except for some loss due to surficial burns. Macrofossils indicate that the late Pleistocene was cool and wet, with current vegetation establishing around 12,000 years ago. Sand and bulk density profiles reveal significant periods …

Review Of Eighteenth-Century Naturalists Of Hudson Bay By Stuart Houston, Tim Ball, And Mary Houston, Greg Michalenko

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay by Stuart and Mary Houston, veteran Saskatchewan ornithologists and historians of northern Canadian exploration, and climatologist Tim Ball provides a welcome, colorful addition to McGill-Queen's University Press's thirty-four-volume Native and Northern Series.
The 1670 Crown charter to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) granted a vast trading territory including substantial parts of the northern Canadian Plains and a portion of North Dakota and Minnesota. Furs were brought from a network of posts for shipping out of Hudson Bay, primarily at Fort Churchill and York Factory. Most of the posts and their commercial activities were outside of …

Great Plains Research, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 2005 - Editorial Matter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Distribution Of Carnivore Burrows In A Prairie Landscape, Glennis Kaufman, Scott Kocher, Donald Kaufman

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Mammals impact prairie ecosystems through burrowing activities. Burrows used by carnivores were studied in four habitat types at the Konza Prairie Biological Station, a native tallgrass prairie near Manhattan, KS. We surveyed nearly 40 km of l0-m-wide transects and counted burrows in upland, slope, and lowland prairie and along ravines. Burrows were placed selectively along slopes (7.3 per km) and to a lesser extent along edges of ravines (4.2), but only infrequently in upland (0.6) and never in lowlands (0.0). We also recorded features (e.g., location, aspect, and slope steepness) along slope transects at a 30 m intervals to estimate …

The Buffalo Commons: Great Plains Residents' Responses To A Radical Vision, Amanda Rees

Great Plains Quarterly

The American Great Plains has gained and shed various regional meanings since Euro-American exploration began. From a desert to a garden to a dust bowl to a breadbasket, this region's identity has shifted radically and dramatically over the last 200 years. In Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas, he argues that this Plains state can be understood as empty and bare: "The blank landscape prompted dreams of a blank-slate society, a place where institutes might be remade as humans saw fit." Authors such as Jonathan Raban have characterized the Great Plains as a whole in this manner. Raban …

Book Review: Feasting And Fasting With Lewis & Clark: A Food And Social History Of The Early 1800s, Barbara G. Shortridge

Great Plains Quarterly

This volume is an intriguing combination of narrative and reference material. A first section sets the historical context for the famous voyage of discovery by discussing such topics as contemporary food preservation, outdoor cooking, and knowledge about nutrition and food safety. Then a longer second section chronologically details the food events of the journey, beginning with shopping in Philadelphia. Here the author gives attention not only to obvious topics such as food and beverage provisioning, indigenous flora and fauna food sources, and the diplomatic aspects of eating together with Native Americans, but also much about illness, starvation, and shortage of …

Natural History And Karyology Of The Yucatán Vesper Mouse, Otonyctomys Hatti, Hugh H. Genoways, Robert M. Timm, Mark D. Engstrom

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Seventeen specimens of the rare Yucatán vesper mouse, Otonyctomys hatti, are now known from Belize, Guatemala, and the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán. We herein report a second specimen of O. hatti, from Belize, extending the known geographic range of the species 95 km to the southeast in the country. This is the first location at which O. hatti has been taken sympatrically with the Central American vesper mouse, Nyctomys sumichrasti. We also report data on three additional specimens of O. hatti from Campeche. Nyctomys and Otonyctomys share similar habits and habitat requirements, and …

A Fresh Look At The Taxonomy Of Midcontinental Sandhill Cranes, Douglas Johnson, Jane Austin, Jill Shaffer

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

The midcontinental population of sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) includes about 500,000 birds and provides valuable recreational crane-watching and hunting opportunities in Canada and the United States. It comprises three subspecies, one of which (G. c. rowani) was of uncertain taxonomic status and another of which (G. c. tabida) merited protection from excessive harvest due to its small population size. We obtained measurements of cranes used by Johnson and Stewart (1973) and additional crane specimens to 1) evaluate the subspecies designation of midcontinental sandhill cranes and 2) to seek improved methods for classifying cranes from …

Population Genetic Structure In Migratory Sandhill Cranes And The Role Of Pleistocene Glaciations, Kenneth L. Jones, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt, Mary V. Ashley

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Previous studies of migratory sandhill cranes (Grus Canadensis) have made significant progress explaining evolution of this group at the species scale, but have been unsuccessful in explaining the geographically partitioned variation in morphology seen on the population scale. The objectives of this study were to assess the population structure and gene flow patterns among migratory sandhill cranes using microsatellite DNA genotypes and mitochondrial DNA haplotypes of a large sample of individuals across three populations. In particular, we were interested in evaluating the roles of Pleistocene glaciation events and postglaciation gene flow in shaping the present-day population structure. Our …

Causes Of Wolf Depredation Increase In Minnesota From 1979-1998, Elizabeth K. Harper, William J. Paul, L. David Mech

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Wolf (Canis lupus) depredations on livestock in Minnesota have been increasing over the last 20 years. A major explanation cited for this increase is wolf range expansion, but no studies have tested this explanation. Additional reasons could include 1) wolf colonization of new areas within long-existing wolf range, 2) learning by wolves in established range, and 3) increased wolf density. We did not assess increasing wolf density as a factor because estimated wolf density in Minnesota has not increased. To assess how each of the other factors might have affected depredations, we created and analyzed a database of …

Inter-Species Variation In Yolk Steroid Levels And A Cowbird-Host Comparison, D. Caldwell Hahn, Jeff S. Hatfield, Mahmoud A. Abdelnabi, Julie M. Wu, Lawrence D. Igl, Mary A. Ottinger

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

We examined variability in yolk hormone levels among songbird species and the role of yolk steroids as a mechanism for enhanced exploitation of hosts by the parasitic brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater. Within-clutch variation in yolk steroids has been found in several avian species in single species studies, but few comparisons have been made among species. We found a large range of differences in yolk testosterone among the seven passerine species examined, with significant differences between those at the high end (song sparrow Melospiza melodia, red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus, and house sparrow, Passer domesticus) and those at the …

Habitat And Nesting Of Le Conte's Sparrows In The Northern Tallgrass Prairie, Maiken Winter, Jill A. Shaffer, Douglas H. Johnson, Therese M. Donovan, W. Daniel Svedarsky, Peter W. Jones, Betty R. Euliss

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

ABSTRACT. Little is known about the breeding biology of the Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus leconteil), probably because of its secretive nature. We provide new information on several aspects of Le Conte's Sparrow breeding biology, including rates of nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) and potential factors affecting breeding densities and nesting success of the species. Our study was conducted in the tallgrass prairie of northwestern Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota during 1998-2002. Breeding densities varied among years, but this variation was not clearly linked to climatic patterns. Vegetation had some influence on densities of Le …

Habitat Preferences Of Migrant And Wintering Northern Harriers In Northwestern Texas, Caroll D. Littlefield, Douglas H. Johnson

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

We studied habitat preferences of northern harriers (Circus cyaneus) in 4 counties of the Southern High Plains of northwestern Texas from October 1989 to May 1995. Harriers generally arrived in late July and departed in April. They hunted over a variety of habitats in the study area but mainly in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands and vegetated playa basins. CRP grasslands, playa basins, and shortgrass prairie were used disproportionately to their availability, whereas winter wheat was used less than its availability. Brown harriers (adult females or subadults of either sex) foraged in CRP about as often as adult …