Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Impact Of The Tennessee Equine Industry, Olivia Watson

Masters Theses

The Tennessee equine industry is alive and prevalent across the entire state. However, due to the expansiveness of the industry, lack of consistent record keeping, and large discrepancies among reporting agencies, it has proven to be difficult to accurately account for the total impact of the industry in terms of population, demographics, and overall economic impact. The objective of this study was to 1) determine population demographics and economic impact of the equine industry in Tennessee and 2) determine the public perception on the addition of live equine racing within the state. An anonymous, online assessment was developed (March-August 2022; …

Predicting Immunization Status At Arrival In Tennessee Stocker Calves, Claire E. Hunkler

Masters Theses

Bovine respiratory disease is a multifaceted disease with agent, host, and environmental factors. Stocker calves are at high risk of contracting the disease through many stressors like weaning, transportation, commingling, etc. The purpose of this project was to test if externally observed physical characteristics of calves on arrival at a stocker facility can be used to predict calfhood vaccination status determined based on antibody titer levels. Knowledge of highly correlated characteristics could allow stocker operators to reduce the occurrence of BRD through targeted management strategies, thus lowering morbidity, mortality, and treatment costs. Ear notches, blood, and visual characteristics were collected …

Elk Abundance, Survival, And Health In The Cumberland Mountains Of Tennessee, Katherine Kurth

Doctoral Dissertations

Managing sustainable wildlife populations requires insight into population abundance and health. Since reintroduction, elk (Cervus canadensis) at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area (NCWMA) in Tennessee have shown marginal population growth using low-precision abundance estimates. Limited research investigating possible population limiting factors has occurred since evaluations conducted directly after translocation. To provide information necessary for effective population management, we estimated abundance, identified survival rates, and conducted mortality and health surveillance. Precise abundance estimates of eastern elk populations are challenging to obtain using traditional capture-recapture due to invasive handling of individuals and low detection in forested landscapes. Therefore, we …

Supplementing East Tennessee Landscapes For Pollinators With Native Perennials, Amani Khalil

Masters Theses

Tennessee, home to the Great Smoky Mountains, is a biodiversity hotspot for many plant and animal species, yet it receives relatively few conservation dollars (Jenkins et al., 2015). As a biodiversity hotspot, this region may be home to many endemic species, but little is known about the abundance or diversity of insect pollinators. In order to both estimate pollinator communities in East Tennessee and pollinator forage preferences for native Tennessee plants, we established four plots, comprised of three plant families across five common land use types. Over two field seasons we collected nearly 7,300 insect specimens with a total sampling …

Controlling Woody Vegetation For The Underplanting And Reintegration Of Shortleaf Pine Into Upland Hardwood Forests Of The Southeast, Max Street

Masters Theses

Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) has the widest distribution of any pine species in the southeastern United States. Shortleaf pine is an important softwood commercial timber species, second only to loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). The amount of shortleaf pine has diminished dramatically beginning in the early 19^th century.

The decline of shortleaf pine has been attributed to several, primarily societal factors. Old field abandonment has declined which provided optimum seed bed conditions for the establishment of shortleaf pine. The timber industry began to favor the faster-growing loblolly pine with shorter stand rotations at the expense of …

Phytophthora Capsici In Tennessee: Fungicide Resistance, Population Genetics And Cultural Control, Timothy Brent Siegenthaler

Masters Theses

Phytophthora capsici, a plant pathogenic oomycete, is the causal agent of the vegetable disease Phytophthora blight of pepper and cucurbits. Since the identification of P. capsici in 1922, a significant amount of research has been conducted to understand its biology and disease management. Despite this, little research had been conducted on this species in the state of Tennessee. Three studies were done from 2018 to 2020, focusing on fungicide resistance, population genetics, and testing management strategies in the field. In 2018 and 2019 a total of 248 isolate of P. capsici were collected from five counties in Tennessee. These isolates …

Social-Ecological Systems Considerations For Wildlife Reintroduction And Conservation, Cristina Elisa Watkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Wildlife management, especially projects requiring reintroduction, are complex undertakings requiring interdisciplinary approaches. This dissertation combines social science, ecology, economics, and policy to advance wildlife reintroduction science and improve conservation outcomes. The central focus of this dissertation involves wildlife reintroduction management, with a specific emphasis on the reintroduction of elk into East Tennessee. The dissertation is divided by three studies, each taking a unique interdisciplinary approach to wildlife reintroduction. The first study uses structural equation modeling to examine the social psychology constructs of risk perception and trust to examine their influence on attitudes towards reintroduced elk in Tennessee and support for …

Dyer, Susan Joan (Spear) (Fa 1326), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project FA 1326. Student folk studies project titled “’Sengin’: Cultivation of an Endangered Species” about growing and harvesting ginseng in Williamson County, Tennessee. Photos include the growing stages of the ginseng plant, the harvesting process, and related tools.

Control Efforts And Serologic Survey Of Pseudorabies And Brucellosis In Wild Pigs Of Tennessee, Lisa I. Muller, Neelam C. Poudyal, Roger Applegate, Chuck Yoest

Human–Wildlife Interactions

European wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are an introduced invasive species that now constitute a major threat to agriculture and the natural ecology of the environments they now inhabit. Wild pigs also carry many diseases known to infect wildlife, humans, and livestock. Two of these diseases, pseudorabies (PRV) and brucellosis, constitute major diseases in the United States. Better data are needed regarding the prevalence of these diseases in wild pigs to understand and manage the potential risks to wildlife, humans, and livestock. From July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2017, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency personnel trapped and euthanized 4,727 …

Mansfield, Sherry R. And Bruce Greene (Fa 1112), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1112. Student folk studies project titled: “Just a Man—Captain William Hicks” which includes an interview of C. Jeff Hicks, the son of Confederate Captain William Hicks. The interview includes a description of the life of the son and his father while living in Barren County, Kentucky and Sumner County, Tennessee.

Sutherland, David And Linda C. White (Fa 1044), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1044. Paper titled “From Mountain to Flatland: A Study of Two Homesteads” written by David Sutherland and Linda White. The authors attempt to compare two homesteads—one found in Pickett County, Tennessee, and the other in Simpson County, Kentucky—by exploring the family histories, topographical influences, and architectural styles of each location. The paper also includes photographs of informants, their farms, grave markers, aerial maps, and other personal ephemera.

Surface-Soil Properties Of Alder Balds With Respect To Grassy And Rhododendron Balds On Roan Mountain, North Carolina—Tennessee, James T. Donaldson, Zachary C. Dinkins, Foster Levy, Arpita Nandi

Foster Levy

We analyzed soils in Alder Bald, Grassy Bald, and Rhododendron Bald communities on Roan Mountain to infer the influence of vegetation on soil and to help guide management strategies. In all vegetation types, soils were acid (pH = 4–5) sandy loams. We found vegetation-associated differences for organic content, cation exchange capacity, acidity, two plant macronutrients (K, Mg), and three cations (Fe, Na, Zn). We predicted that nitrogen compounds would be highest in the Alder Bald because Alnus viridis ssp. crispa (Green Alder) can harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Organic content was highest at the alder-bald sites, ammonium was similar among vegetation types, …

Effect Of The Mutant Danbaekkong Or Stem Termination Alleles On Soybean Seed Protein Concentration, Amino Acid Composition, And Other Seed Quality And Agronomic Traits, Mia Justina Cunicelli

Masters Theses

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is the world’s leading source of vegetable oil and high quality protein meal. Increasing soybean protein concentration through selection while maintaining oil concentration and yield has been a constant goal for plant breeders, as there is a negative correlation between protein and oil and protein and yield. The objective of this study was to determine if marker assisted selection (MAS) for the Danbaekkong (Dan) protein allele influences agronomic and seed quality traits. A population of 24 F_8:10 [eighth filial generation advanced to the tenth filial generation] near isogenic lines (NILs) of soybean was …

Reasons Youth Choose Or Do Not Choose To Be Involved In 4-H Livestock Projects In Tennessee, Leigh Erin Fuson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to find reasons youth choose or do not choose to be involved in 4-H livestock projects. Livestock projects are an important part of 4-H youth development because they teach life skills like responsibility and hard work. However, many youth are unable to participate or do not have the interest. This study sought to discover what motivates some youth to become involved in a livestock project and why others do not.

Focus groups were used as the data collection tool. Two groups of youth livestock participants and two groups of non-livestock participants were utilized. Themes …

Slides: The Era Of River Anthropology: Social And Eco-Hydrological Science Connections And Capacity For Environmental Flows: Us Case Studies, Joseph E. Flotemersch, Lisa-Perras Gordon

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Joe Flotemersch, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development

21 slides

Urbanization Impacts On Land Snail Community Composition, Mackenzie N. Hodges

Masters Theses

Urbanization has tremendous impacts on most native species. Urban ecosystems are becoming increasingly prevalent, while urban ecology is a relatively underdeveloped field. This is especially true for terrestrial mollusks, which are a surprisingly understudied organism. Due to their low mobility and dispersal potential, land snails are valuable indicators of ecosystem disturbance. For this study, land snails were collected in 54 city parks along an urban gradient to understand influences of urbanization on snail communities. Sampled parks include small extensively landscaped downtown parks, neighborhood and community parks, district parks, and large nature parks, each with variable vegetation, soil characteristics, disturbance regimes, …

An Evaluation Of Cover Crop Species And Mixtures For Tennessee Organic Production Systems, Bonnie J. Craighead

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Parajulid Milliped Studies Xii: Initial Assessment Of Ptyoiulus Cook 1895 And Neotype Designations For Julus Impressus Say 1821 And J. Montanus Cope 1869 (Diplopoda: Julida), Rowland M. Shelley, Jamie M. Smith

Insecta Mundi

Ptyoiulus Cook 1895, the dominant parajulid diplopod genus in the eastern United States (US), comprises two species – P. impressus (Say 1821), with a slanted, fl ared, circumferentially entire, and marginally serrate apical calyx on the anterior gonopod coxal process, and P. montanus (Cope 1869), n. comb., with a smooth, upright, cupulate calyx that is open caudad and coaxial with the process’ stem. The genus occupies a broad area between the Mississippi River and Atlantic Ocean extending from southern New England, Ontario, and Michigan to the Florida Panhandle and four small disjunct ones – from Montreal, Québec, to northern …

Long-Term Impacts Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Carbon Storage, Stability, And Utilization Under Cotton Production In West Tennessee, Candace Brooke Wilson

Masters Theses

Biogeochemical cycling of soil carbon (C) is heavily influenced by conservation agricultural (CA) practices. This study examined SOC stability under three CA practices: reduced nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rate, cover cropping, and zero-tillage implemented for 31 years. Respiration rates measured from a 602-day incubation period were fitted to a double-pool first order exponential model of SOC decomposition. The active [respired] SOC pool showed distinct differences between applications of reduced (34N kg ha^-1 [-1]) and high fertilization rates (101N kg ha^-1) combined with tillage, and suggest that high fertilizer applications with conventional tillage allocated more C into a …

Conservation Planning In A Changing World, Austin Walker Milt

Doctoral Dissertations

As a science and practice dedicated to preventing, stopping, and reversing negative effects on nature, conservation is constantly faced with new challenges. Combine this fact with the rise of large, freely available datasets and computational power, and the result is a need to advance the methods and conceptual approach to conservation planning. In my dissertation I present novel methods and address research questions that aim to keep conservation science and practice relevant and effective in a changing world. This picture of continual change is illustrated in Chapter 1, in which I explore how the ongoing collection of observations of rare …

Influence Of Tlp5, Che1p, Tlp4a, And Che4stas Promoters On Chemotaxis In Azospirillum Brasilense, Brian W. Connor

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Vascular Flora Of Steele Creek Park And A Quantitative Study Of Vegetation Patterns In Canopy Gaps, Sullivan County, Tennessee, Phillip C. Klahs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An inventory of vascular plants was conducted in Steele Creek Park in Sullivan County, Tennessee from March 2013 to September 2014. The park covers an area of 892 ha and lies within the Ridge and Valley Province. The inventory of vascular plants documented 547 species of 323 genera and 101 families. Two hundred sixteen taxa were newly reported for Sullivan County. Tennessee Special Concern Species included Cardamine rotundifolia, Castanea dentata, Lonicera dioica, Allium tricoccum, Cypripedium acaule, and Panax quinquefolius. A single species, Juglans cinerea L., is considered a Tennessee Threatened Species. Vegetation patterns were studied quantitatively by installing 10 …

Surface-Soil Properties Of Alder Balds With Respect To Grassy And Rhododendron Balds On Roan Mountain, North Carolina—Tennessee, James T. Donaldson, Zachary C. Dinkins, Foster Levy, Arpita Nandi

ETSU Faculty Works

We analyzed soils in Alder Bald, Grassy Bald, and Rhododendron Bald communities on Roan Mountain to infer the influence of vegetation on soil and to help guide management strategies. In all vegetation types, soils were acid (pH = 4–5) sandy loams. We found vegetation-associated differences for organic content, cation exchange capacity, acidity, two plant macronutrients (K, Mg), and three cations (Fe, Na, Zn). We predicted that nitrogen compounds would be highest in the Alder Bald because Alnus viridis ssp. crispa (Green Alder) can harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Organic content was highest at the alder-bald sites, ammonium was similar among vegetation types, …

Redox Pioneer: Professor Joe M. Mccord, David M. Schnell, Daret K. St Clair

Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Dr. Joe McCord (Ph.D. 1970) is recognized here as a Redox Pioneer because he has published at least three articles on antioxidant/redox biology as first/last author that have been cited over 1000 times and has published at least 37 articles each cited over 100 times. Dr. McCord is known for the monumental discovery of the antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) while a graduate student under fellow redox pioneer Irwin Fridovich and demonstrating its necessity to aerobic life. Beyond this, McCord's career is distinguished for bridging the gap from basic science to clinical relevance by showing the application of SOD and superoxide …

Selected Costs And Benefits Of Protecting Vital Wildlife Habitats While Producing Biofuel, Benjamin Lewis Totty

Masters Theses

The objective of this study is to estimate selected costs and benefits of meeting the 2022 biofuel production mandates using switchgrass as the feedstock. This study involves the simulation of three scenarios to evaluate the cost of protecting and promoting biodiversity while producing switchgrass for biofuel. Two models are used in this study. The first, the Biofuels Facility Location Analysis Modeling Endeavor (BioFLAME), was developed at the University of Tennessee to study biorefinery location, feed stock source areas and costs associated with biofuel production. The second model was developed by the Nature Conservancy as part of Tennessee’s State Wildlife Action …

Pb1608 Soybean Production In Tennessee, Wayne T. Flinchum, Michael J. Buschermohle, H. Paul Denton, Charles M. Farmer, Delton C. Gerloff, Samuel G. Mcneil, Melvin A. Newman, G. Neil Rhodes Jr., Ronnie W. Seward, James B. Wills Jr.

Field & Commercial Crops

No abstract provided.

Sp747-B Manufacturing Formulated Acid Foods In Tennessee, Faith Critzer, P. Michael Davidson, John Mount

Food, Nutrition and Food Safety

No abstract provided.

Sp747-A Manufacturing Acidified Foods In Tennessee, Faith Critzer

Food, Nutrition and Food Safety

No abstract provided.

Sp746-B Good Agricultural Practices (Gap) Certification In Tennessee, Faith Critzer, Annette Wszelaki

Food, Nutrition and Food Safety

No abstract provided.

Sp742 Camphor Shot Borer: A New Nursery And Landscape Pest In Tennessee, Jason Oliver, Nadeer Youssef, Joshua Basham, Alicia Bray, Kenneth Copley, Frank Hale, William Klingeman, Mark Halcomb, Walker Haun

Field & Commercial Crops

Tennessee State University/UT Extension joint publication