Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons^™

Center For Grassland Studies, November 2021

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents

Ranchers’ Preferences for Payment for Ecosystem Services Programs in Nebraska by Kyle Martens

Center for Grassland Studies Policy Advisory Committee

Director's Column by Walt Schacht (Interim Director)

Fall Army Worms Reared Their Ugly Heads and Wings in Nebraska in 2021by Roch Gaussoin

Dalbey-Halleck Open House by Margo McKendree

Internships – Let’s Get More Students on the Land! by Shelly Kelly

Jim Gerrish Insightful and Relatable for Grazing Livestock (GLS) Club Members

Free-Ranging And Feral Cats, Alex Dutcher, Kyle Pias, Grant Sizemore, Stephen M. Vantassel

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Domestic cats (Felis catus) are a common household pet in the United States, with an estimated 25.4% of households owning cats (American Veterinary Medical Association 2018). While an increasing number of cat owners keep their pet cats exclusively indoors, a portion of society maintains that domestic cats are entitled to a free-ranging lifestyle and may even consider unowned domestic cats to be wildlife. Although wildlife managers recognize the beliefs of many concerned stakeholders, including advocates who use strong emotional appeals on behalf of cats, it remains that free-ranging and feral domestic cats are an invasive species spread by humans (Lowe …

Center For Grassland Studies, September 2021

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents

Nebraska Grazing Conference Recap by Daren Redfearn

Center for Grassland Studies Policy Advisory Committee

Director's Column by Walt Schacht (Interim Director)

Land Use and Property Taxes by Jordan Johnson

Congratulations August 2021 Graduates

Wildfires are Changing the Future of Nebraska’s Woodland-Grassland Complexes by Amanda Hefner

PGA WORKS Scholarship Recipients Announced by PGA Reach

Grazing Livestock Systems Internships Provide Diverse Experience by Bryan Reiling

Jim Choquette Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Nematode Biodiversity In Lincoln, Nebraska's Tallgrass Prairie Corridor, Abigail Borgmeier

Department of Plant Pathology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The tallgrass prairie was once one of the most diverse grasslands on the planet, however over 95% has been converted to agriculture in the past 150 years. The remaining prairie is still host to a wide variety of plants, insects, mammals, and soil-dwelling microorganisms, creating an incredibly complex ecosystem. The first aim of this study is to compare three approaches for the measurement of nematode diversity within a 10-mile-long protected prairie habitat corridor near Lincoln, Nebraska. The methods are 1) a traditional morphological analysis of 150 nematodes per study site, 2) a metabarcoding analysis using the 18S genetic marker of …

Center For Grassland Studies, July 2021

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents

21st Nebraska Grazing Conference on the Horizon by Daren Redfearn

Center for Grassland Studies Policy Advisory Committee

Director's Column by Walt Schacht (Interim Director)

21st Annual Nebraska Grazing Conference Schedule, August 9-11, 2021

Club Officers Elected for FY 21-22 by Jessica Windh

2021 Fall Seminar Series Schedule

CGS Scholarships and Fellowship Awarded for FY 21-22

Congratulations May 2021 Graduates

Gray Wolves, Eric Gese, John P. Hart, Patricia Terletzky

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Wolf conflicts are primarily related to predation on livestock, pets and other domestic animals, as well as their direct and indirect impacts on native ungulates (i.e., big game). Economic losses vary widely with some livestock producers facing high levels of depredation in some areas. This publication focuses on wolf ecology, damage, and management, particularly as it relates to wolf depredation on livestock and other conflicts with people.

Wolves and people share the same environments more than people realize. In the U.S., wolves are not confined to wilderness areas. Though curious, wolves generally fear people and rarely pose a threat to …

Center For Grassland Studies, May 2021

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents

Prescribed Burn Associations by Brian Teeter

Center for Grassland Studies Policy Advisory Committee

Director's Column by Walt Schact (Interim Director)

Looking for a Career in Conservation – How to Apply in USAJOBS for NRCS Positions by Mary Reece

Monitoring Sandhills Rangelands: A Key Step in Understanding Plant Community Dynamics by Mitch Stephenson

Development of Novel Plant Fluorescence Based Techniques for Remote Assessment of Grasslands and Pastures Health and Resilience by Anastasios Mazis

UNL PGA Golf Management Alumni Among Nebraska Section Award Winners by Brad Goetsch

Nebraska’s Grassland Legacy by Walt Schacht

Nebraska Grazing Conference: Save the Date, August 9-11, …

Monitoring For Wolves, Jeff Hansen, Cat Urbigkit

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) and Mexican wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) once again roam across landscapes where they have been absent for decades (Figure 1). With wolf range expansion comes increased opportunities for conflicts when wolves harass or prey on domestic livestock or other animals. Wolves have relatively high reproductive and dispersal rates but detecting individual animals in low-density populations is difficult without a concerted monitoring effort. In fact, wolf presence in an area often is not known until there is a confirmed livestock depredation. Ranchers and wildlife damage management experts need not wait for livestock depredations to occur before wolves …

Observations On The Distribution And Status Of Selected Nebraska Mammals, Zachary P. Roehrs, Russell A. Benedict, Thomas E. Labedz, Hugh H. Genoways

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Information on the distribution and current status of 25 species or subspecies of mammals occurring in Nebraska are presented. The species covered include one shrew, an armadillo, eight bats, 10 rodents (including two subspecies of one species), three carnivores, and one artiodactyl. Distributional information reported includes the first state record for one species (Sorex nanus) and new county records for 18 species. In Nebraska, we know that mammals are shifting their geographic ranges with some extending populations into the state, whereas others are expanding their geographic ranges within the state. The current status of six additional mammalian taxa …

Jaguars And Pumas Exhibit Distinct Spatiotemporal Responses To Human Disturbances In Colombia’S Most Imperiled Ecoregion, Joe J. Figel, Sebastián Botero-Cañola, Juan David Sánchez-Londoño, Javier Racero-Casarrubia

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Abstract

Coexistence of sympatric felids is facilitated by mutual avoidance and the partitioning of habitats, prey, and time. Anthropogenic disturbances disrupt this coexistence in fragmented landscapes, potentially triggering cascading influences in ecological communities. We used photographic data from 8,717 trap nights (November 2014–June 2016) at 87 camera trap sites in Colombia’s middle Magdalena River basin to compare spatiotemporal overlap among jaguars (Panthera onca), pumas (Puma concolor), their prey, and humans, at sites of high and low disturbance, as determined by the human influence index. Human disturbance events (e.g. domestic dogs, livestock, and humans, including armed hunters) …

Conservation Status And Natural History Of Ctenomys, Tuco-Tucos In Bolivia, Scott Lyell Gardner, Sebastian Botero-Cañola, Enzo Aliaga Rossel, Altangerel Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan, Jorge A. Salazar-Bravo

Scott L. Gardner Publications

The genus Ctenomys consists of about 70 species and in addition to the Geomyidae of the Nearctic, Neotropical tuco-tucos represent a well-documented case of diversification in the subterranean biotype. Here we will: i) Provide an updated summary of the natural history of the 12 species of extant tuco-tucos from Bolivia; ii) Update information on distributions of each species; and iii) Using ecological niche modeling, evaluate recent and projected habitat transformation or habitat degradation within the known range of each species to provide a preliminary assessment of the preservation or conservation status of ctenomyids within Bolivia. We follow Gardner et al. …