Life Sciences Commons^™

A Probabilistic Framework For Behavioral Identification From Animal-Borne Accelerometers, Jane Dentinger, Luca Börger, Mark D. Holton, Ruholla Jafari-Marandi, Durham A. Norman, Brian K. Smith, Seth F. Oppenheimer, Bronson K. Strickland, Rory P. Wilson, Garrett M. Street

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Many studies of animal distributions use habitat and climactic variables to explain patterns of observed space use. However, without behavioral information, we can only speculate as to why and how these characteristics are important to species persistence.

Animal-borne accelerometer and magnetometer data loggers can be used to detect behaviors and when coupled with telemetry improve our understanding of animal space use and habitat requirements. However, these loggers collect tremendous quantities of data requiring automated machine learning techniques to identify patterns in the data. Supervised machine learning requires a set of training signals with known behaviors to train the model to …

Physiological Functioning And Productivity In Eastern Cottonwood And Hybrid Poplars On Contrasting Sites In The Southeastern Us, Heidi Renninger

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Using Hyperspectral Leaf Reflectance To Estimate The Photosynthetic Capacity And Nitrogen Content Across Eastern Cottonwood And Hybrid Poplar Genotypes, Thu Ya Kyaw, Courtney M. Siegert, Padmanava Dash, Krishna P. Poudel, Justin J. Pitts, Heidi J. Renninger

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Changes In Bark Properties And Hydrology Following Prescribed Fire, Courtney Siegert, Anna Ilek, Adam Wade

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

End-Grain Of Eleven Softwood Species, Dercilio Lopes, Gabrielly Dos Santos Bobadilha, Edward Entsminger, Optimal Llc

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

End-grain of eleven softwoods species.

Changes In Forest Hydrology And Soil Biogeochemistry Following A Simulated Tree Mortality Event Of Southern Pine Beetle, Courtney Siegert, Heidi Renninger, Nicole Hornslein

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Putting Out The Fire: A Review Of Wildlife Agency Responses To Chronic Wasting Disease, Miranda Huang, Noelle Thompson, Sonja Christensen, Steve Demarais

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

End-Grain Of 10 North American Hardwoods, Lopes Dercilio Verly Junior, Greg W. Burgreen, Edward D. Entsminger

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

This technical note determines the feasibility of using an InceptionV4_ResNetV2 convolutional neural network (CNN) to correctly identify hardwood species from macroscopic images. The method is composed of a commodity smartphone fitted with a 14× macro lens for photography. The end-grains of ten different North American hardwood species were photographed to create a dataset of 1709 images. The stratified 5-fold cross-validation machine-learning method was used, in which the number of testing samples varied from 341 to 342. Data augmentation was performed on-the-fly for each training set by rotating, zooming, and flipping images. It was found that the CNN could correctly identify …

Aquatic Habitat Changes Along The Arkansas River (Supporting Data And Code), Mike Rhodes, Jonathan Spurgeon, Wes Neal, Kristine Evans

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

The associated code and data are supporting information for an assessment of large-scale changes in aquatic habitats within the varying pools of the Arkansas River, Arkansas, USA following impoundment of the river as part of the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. We used a combination of Landsat satellite data (30 m resolution) from 1984-2016 and the European Commission Joint Research Center’s (JRC) Global Surface Water dataset (GSW) to assess changes in water availability by aquatic habitat category and river pool in the Arkansas River system. Analysis was completed using Google Earth Engine, with code available in this repository. We also …

Aquatic Habitat Changes Along The Arkansas River (Supporting Data For Analysis), Jonathan Spurgeon, Mike Rhodes, Wes Neal, Kristine Evans

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

The associated code and data represent a second set of supporting information for an assessment of large-scale changes in aquatic habitats within the varying pools of the Arkansas River, Arkansas, USA following impoundment of the river as part of the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. We used a combination of Landsat satellite data (30 m resolution) from 1984-2016 and the European Commission Joint Research Center’s (JRC) Global Surface Water dataset (GSW) to assess changes in water availability by aquatic habitat category and river pool in the Arkansas River system. Here we provide compiled .csv files of Arkansas River gauge data, …

Species Distribution Models To Inform At-Risk Species Status Assessments In The Southeastern Us, Carlos Ramirez-Reyes, Mona Nazeri, Garrett Street, Francisco Vilella, D. Todd Jones-Farrand, Kristine O. Evans

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

The USFWS is working collaboratively with State Wildlife Agencies, Universities, Non-profits and others in the southeast to address the National Listing Workplan. The USFWS needs up-to-date information on current status and the likely impact of future changes to develop Species Status Assessments (SSAs), which help inform listing decisions. States, Universities and other partners are providing species expertise, location data, analytical support and logistical support (e.g. surveys). However, a significant knowledge gap remains in understanding potential species distributions, from which status surveys can be more strategically implemented. This project provides a bridge between species location information and the SSAs by developing …

Data Archive: Using A Coproduction Approach To Map Future Forest Retention Likelihood In The Southeastern United States, Rachel E. Greene, Kristine O. Evans, Michael T. Gray, D. Todd Jones-Farrand, William G. Wathen

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Supporting data for publication titled: Using a Coproduction Approach to Map Future Forest Retention Likelihood in the Southeastern United States;

Journal of Forestry, 2020, 28–43 doi:10.1093/jofore/fvz063

Mowing Effects On Woody Stem Density And Woody And Herbaceous Vegetation Heights Along Mississippi Highway Right-Of-Ways., Edward D. Entsminger, Jeanne C. Jones, John W. Guyton, Bruce D. Leopold, Bronson K. Strickland

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Roadside right-of-ways (ROWs) undergo regular disturbances such as mowing, maintenance, wrecks, and road developments, which affect soils, groundwater, surface hydrology, and the composition of vegetation. Roadsides can provide and support an environment for diverse plant communities, but management practices have reduced native grasses, wildflowers, and woody plants. Woody plants are not desirable for traffic safety, maintenance, and visibility along road ROWs. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate effects of roadside mowing frequency on native and nonnative herbaceous and woody plant vertical height coverage and native and nonnative woody stem density within plant communities along highway ROWs. We …

Data Repository - Influence Of Disturbance On Avian Communities In Agricultural Conservation Buffers In Mississippi, Usa, The Open Ornithology Journal, Heidi Lynn Adams, L. Wes Burger Jr, Sam Riffell

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Abstract: Introduction: Periodic disturbance of agricultural conservation buffers is required to maintain early successional plant communities for grassland birds. However, a disturbance may temporarily reduce the availability of vegetation cover, food, and nesting sites in a buffer. Objective: Our objective was to determine how the type of disturbance (i.e., prescribed burning, light disking) and time since the last disturbance event in agricultural conservation buffers influence the grassland bird community. Methods: Data collected during line-transect surveys conducted in 46 agricultural conservation buffers in northeast Mississippi during the 2007-2009 breeding seasons (May-early August) demonstrate periodic disturbance through prescribed burning and light disking …

Conservation Database For The Gulf Coast Region Of The United States, Andrew Shamaskin, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Jiangdong Liu, Kristine Evans, Anna Linhoss

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Strategic, data-driven conservation approaches are gaining popularity. A high-resolution geospatial database indicating the ecosystem functions and socioeconomic activity can be very useful for any conservation expert or funding agency. This database presents the developed measures that are derived from openly available geospatial and non-geospatial data sources, and is intended to provide ecological and socioeconomic evidence to support conservation planning efforts along the Gulf Coast Region of the United States. This database was developed by the Strategic Conservation Assessment of Gulf Coast Landscapes (SCA) Project, which is building a series of online tools that can aid in conservation planning efforts along …

Evaluation Of Mowing Frequency On Right-Of-Way Plant Communities In Mississippi., Edward D. Entsminger, Jeanne C. Jones, John W. Guyton, Bronson K. Strickland, Bruce D. Leopold

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Native grasses and native wildflowers are declining, especially along roadside right-of-ways because of intensive mowing and herbicide management practices. Roadside right-of-ways undergo regular disturbances such as mowing, maintenance, and road developments that affect soils, groundwater, surface hydrology, and vegetation composition. We investigated species richness and percent coverage within plant communities along highway right-of-ways to determine if reduced mowing increased native plant coverage. The study was conducted using 10 research plots situated along Highway 25 in Oktibbeha and Winston counties, Mississippi. Each research plot consisted of three different treatments as follows: one that included greater than four mowings per year, one …

Data And Code For "Net Displacement And Temporal Scaling: Model Fitting, Interpretation, And Implementation", Garrett Street, Tal Avgar, Luca Börger

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Activated Carbon Derived From Pyrolyzed Pinewood Char Using Elevated Temperature, Koh, H3po4, And H2o2., Yan Luo, Jason T. Street, Philip H. Steele, Edward D. Entsminger, Vamshi K. Guda

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Activated carbon was prepared from pyrolyzed pinewood char using KOH, H3PO4, H2O2, and heat-only treatments. Activated carbon prepared by the heat-only treatment had a total surface area of 233.2 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.138 cm3/g, a microporous surface area of 129.9 m2/g, and a microporous volume of 0.07 cm3/g. The most significant improvement of pore properties for the chemically treated pinewood char was obtained by the KOH treatment, which produced a total surface area of 1124.4 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.723 cm3/g, a microporous surface area of 923.6 m2/g, and a microporous volume of 0.485 cm3/g. …

Alternative Mowing Regimes’ Influence On Native Plants And Deer., John W. Guyton, Jeanne C. Jones, Edward D. Entsminger

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

This study evaluated mowing regimes, changes in native and non-native plant communities, deer presence in the research plots,and public perception of various management practices on ROWs. No significant difference was found in the height of vegetation 3 weeks after each mowing between research plots mowed 4 times per year and plots mowed only once per year in uplands or lowlands. Native plants increased in plots mowed once per year and deer preferred the frequently mowed plots where clovers and vetches had been seeded. Increasing the carrying capacity of the lowlands with more extensive plantings of clover and vetch may attract …

Overexpression Of Constans Homologs Co1 And Co2 Fails To Alter Normal Reproductive Onset And Fall Bud Set In Woody Perennial Poplar., Chuan-Yu Hsu, Joshua P. Adams, Kyoungok No, Haiying Liang, Richard Meilan, Olga Pechanova, Abdelali Barakat, John E. Carlson, Grier P. Page, Cetin Yuceer

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

CONSTANS (CO) is an important flowering-time gene in the photoperiodic flowering pathway of annual Arabidopsis thaliana in which overexpression of CO induces early flowering, whereas mutations in CO cause delayed flowering. The closest homologs of CO in woody perennial poplar (Populus spp.) are CO1 and CO2. A previous report showed that the CO2/FLOWERING LOCUS T1 (FT1) regulon controls the onset of reproduction in poplar, similar to what is seen with the CO/FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) regulon in Arabidopsis. The CO2/FT1 regulon was also reported to control fall bud set. Our long-term field observations show that overexpression of CO1 and CO2 …

Despotism And Risk Of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection, Nathan S. Libal, Jerrold L. Belant, Bruce D. Leopold, Guiming Wang, Patricia A. Owen

College of Forest Resources Publications and Scholarship

Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal despotic distribution, juveniles should similarly avoid adult males to reduce predation risk. Den-site selection and use is an important component of grizzly bear ecology and may be influenced by multiple factors, including risk from conspecifics. To test the role of predation risk and the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation, we compared adult female (n = 142), adult male …

Evolution Of Genome Size And Complexity In Pinus., Alison M. Morse, Daniel G. Peterson, M. Nurul Islam-Faridi, Katherine E. Smith, Zenaida V. Magbanua, Saul A. Garcia, Thomas L. Kubisiak, Henry V. Amerson, John E. Carlson, C. Dana Nelson, John M. Davis

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Publications and Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Genome evolution in the gymnosperm lineage of seed plants has given rise to many of the most complex and largest plant genomes, however the elements involved are poorly understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Gymny is a previously undescribed retrotransposon family in Pinus that is related to Athila elements in Arabidopsis. Gymny elements are dispersed throughout the modern Pinus genome and occupy a physical space at least the size of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. In contrast to previously described retroelements in Pinus, the Gymny family was amplified or introduced after the divergence of pine and spruce (Picea). If retrotransposon expansions are responsible …