Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Factors Affecting White Bass Abundance In Two Missouri River Reservoirs, William J. Radigan, Mark J. Fincel

The Prairie Naturalist

Annual angler harvest of white bass (Morone chrysops) increased from 1985–2005 in Lake Oahe and Lake Sharpe, two mainstem Missouri River reservoirs in South Dakota. In 2006, harvest rates dropped appreciably in both reservoirs and remained low through 2015. It is hypothesized that a confirmed 2005 columnaris disease outbreak led to reduced annual angler harvest of white bass from both reservoirs. Mean annual angler harvest prior to the outbreak (1985–2005) in Lake Oahe decreased 65% and in Lake Sharpe decreased 57% post outbreak (2006–2015). To assess potential causes of sustained decreased adult white bass abundance in the reservoirs, …

Incidental Captures Of Plains Spotted Skunks In Central South Dakota, Samantha Fino, Joshua D. Stafford, Aaron T. Pearse, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

The plains spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius interrupta) had a historically broad distribution in the central United States, extending from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains. This subspecies of the eastern spotted skunk (S. putorius) has experienced population declines in recent decades possibly due to habitat loss and reduction of prey through conversion of grasslands and forests to croplands, as well as reductions in abandoned buildings, fence rows, creek bottoms, and wood piles throughout the region (Crabb 1948, Kaplan and Mead 1991, Gompper and Hackett 2005, Sasse 2017). Woody debris provides access to prey, and …

Channel Catfish Reproductive Traits In The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Usa, Mackenzie Zwiener, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Mark Pegg

The Prairie Naturalist

Reproductive traits including fecundity, egg diameter, and condition of freshwater fishes influence offspring survival and abundance and may provide insight regarding timing of reproduction (Winemiller and Rose 1992, Johnston and Leggett 2002). Fish size (i.e., length or weight) may influence the number of eggs produced by an individual female (i.e., fecundity; Michaletz 1998). Larger individuals may, thus, disproportionately contribute to year-classes through increased fecundity if egg and larval survival is similar or greater than those from smaller reproductive females (Gwinn et al. 2015). Likewise, maternal fish size may influence egg diameter and offspring survival, whereby larger egg diameters are associated …

Review Of Birds Of Prey Of The West: A Field Guide, By Brian K. Wheeler, Daniel Casey

The Prairie Naturalist

Birds of prey epitomize much of what attracts us to birding. Many are large and easy to observe, particularly in open landscapes. Their predatory nature and behavior give them an added aura of wildness; their migrations can be spectacular. And even veteran birders should enjoy the challenge of identifying the myriad of plumage variations shown by different ages, sexes, subspecies, and color morphs. With his newest effort, Birds of Prey of the West, Brian Wheeler has compiled a comprehensive and enhanced field guide with illustrations that stunningly capture that variation, combined with enough additional context to make it a valuable …

Review Of Carnivores Of The World, Second Edition, By Luke Hunter, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer

The Prairie Naturalist

Cracking open this fully revised field guide invites a new appreciation for the diversity of carnivores (members of the order Carnivora) in the world. Dig a little deeper and you’ll uncover just how little we know about so many of them. This second edition of the Carnivores of the World features 250 mammalian species—from a species so tiny it can squeeze through a wedding ring to one weighing thousands of times more, the polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Each detailed species account includes an illustration of the species (and sometimes varying forms or subspecies), information on morphological and identifying features, distribution …

Quantifying Signpost Usage By Captive Male White-Tailed Deer, Cassie L. Auxt, Eric S. Michel, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) use rubbing of signpost structures to communicate during the breeding season. Rubbing of signpost structures allows deer to communicate via visual and chemical cues, which allows them to establish dominance hierarchies and maintain hierarchal status throughout the breeding season (Moore and Marchinton 1974, Miller et al. 1981, Hewitt 2011). Once a living tree is rubbed, the exposed light-colored sapwood creates a stark contrast in wooded areas, increasing visibility and further enticing deer to investigate the structure (Oehler et al. 1995). Anatomically, the tubular apocrine sudoriferous glands of white-tailed deer are located at the antler …

Preparing An Effective Poster Presentation, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Greetings GPNSS members! By the time you read this editorial, many of have been experiencing the fury unleashed by ‘Old Man Winter’ and may find yourself counting the days until warmer spring temperatures return once again to the Great Plains. Until then, just a couple more months of bitter cold temperatures, strong winds, and blowing and drifting snow. But not to worry, winter also provides the cold weather enthusiasts among us a chance to enjoy a range of outdoor recreational opportunities, a chance to reflect on the previous year in review, exciting professional and personal opportunities ushered in by the …

Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria Occipitomaculata) Copulation In South Dakota, Drew R. Davis

The Prairie Naturalist

Storeria occipitomaculata is a small, terrestrial species of snake that occurs across much of eastern North America (Ernst and Barbour 1989, Ernst 2002, Ernst and Ernst 2003). Due to this widespread distribution, S. occipitomaculata faces varied climates that likely result in regional differences in reproductive phenology. Much of what is known about the reproductive ecology of S. occipitomaculata has been documented from the southeastern portion of its range in North America (South Carolina: Semlitsch and Moran 1984, North Carolina: Willson and Dorcas 2004), though Blanchard (1937) studied a population from northern Michigan. The exact reproductive timing in this species has …

New Breeding Record And Location For Wilson’S Phalarope (Phalaropus Tricolor) In The Nebraska Great Plains, Usa, Madison O. Sutton, Nico Arcilla

The Prairie Naturalist

Wilson’s phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor; Scolopacidae) is a migratory shorebird that relies on interior wetlands for foraging and breeding (Colwell and Jehl 1994, van Gils et al. 2018). Its global population status is unclear (Colwell and Jehl 1994, Lesterhuis and Clay 2010), and is variously listed as declining (Morrison et al. 2006, van Gils et al. 2018), increasing (Andres 2009, BirdLife International 2018), and exhibiting a long-term decline but recent stability (Sauer et al. 2011, Andres et al. 2012). Its global population estimate of 1.5 million birds has not been updated for 30 years, since 1988 (Colwell and Jehl 1994, Lesterhuis …

Edges And Rushes Of Minnesota: The Completeguidetospeciesidentification. Welby R. Smith; Photography By Richard Haug., Edward S. Dekeyser

The Prairie Naturalist

Even the most seasoned individual with a plant identification background can relate to the difficulty of identifying sedges and rushes to the species level. Historically, one has had to rely on dichotomous keys to identify a sedge or rush species in the field. After hours of frustration, a person ends up collecting the plant and, if lucky, bringing the collection back to a herbarium where it can be compared to known specimens. I have been collecting and identifying sedge and rush species for over 25 years, and author Welby Smith along with photographer Richard Haug have published what I believe …

Metabolic Gas Emissions From Prairie Soil Containing Foraging Termites, Charles E. Konemann, B.M. Kard, Tom A. Royer, Mark E. Payton

The Prairie Naturalist

Differences in subterranean termite metabolic gas emissions are readily observed in laboratory experiments. However, in natural field ecosystems a primary difficulty in measuring subterranean termite gases is non-homogeneous distribution of foraging termites in soil. Our field experiment was designed to aggregate foragers of the 'eastern subterranean termite', Reticulitermes flavipes Kollar (EST), in one of four flux chamber configurations placed on a tallgrass prairie throughout 2014 and 2015. We used differently configured flux chambers to measure metabolic gas emissions from soil with or without foraging termites on The Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve (TGPP) in north-central Oklahoma. Foraging termitesaggregated in …

Notes: Two-Headed White-Tailed Deer Fetus, William F. Jensen, Daniel M. Grove, Ryan J. Herigstad, William J. Haase

The Prairie Naturalist

On 6 April 2018 a female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus dakotensis) was hit and killed by a vehicle along HWY 1806 in rural Morton County, North Dakota, USA (N46o 38.617; W100o 42.901). Based upon dental eruption and wear (Severinghaus 1949), the female was estimated to be a >4.5 years-of-age. A male fetus with parapagus diprosopus (i.e., shared face) apparently was expelled from the adult female, and a domestic canine (Canis lupus familiaris) carried the fetus to a private residence. The resident contacted the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD) to turn in the fetus. On 10 April 2018, NDGFD …

Comparison Of Northern Flying And Red Squirrel Phylogenies With Focus On The Insular United States, Alyssa M. Kiesow, Hugh B. Britten

The Prairie Naturalist

Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) and red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) populations are endemic to northern North America, including the Black Hills. The Black Hills populations are considered disjunct from other populations within their range. We examined insular populations to determine whether arboreal squirrels in the Black Hills each represent a unique population. We trapped and collected ear samples from northern flying and red squirrels in the Black Hills and in areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to infer population phylogenies with special consideration of the Black Hills population. Microsatellite loci and two mtDNA sequences were used for …

Review: Canids Of The World: Wolves, Wild Dogs, Foxes, Jackals, Coyotes, And Their Relatives. José R. Castelló., Jonathan (Jon) Way

The Prairie Naturalist

Canids of the World is one of those reads where just when you think that something cannot be beat, this book comes out. What I mean by that is that I have read many works on wolves and other canids, most recently Nate Blakeslee’s American Wolf (Way 2017), and I have enjoyed and been enthralled with many of them. But Canids of the World may take the cake for being the most impressive book available on canids. For a modest price of just under $30.00, you can own a book that has over 600 amazing high-resolution glossy photographs of every …

Review: North American Ducks, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide. Frank S. Todd., Kevin M. Ringelman

The Prairie Naturalist

The North American Duck, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide, released in 2018, is the culmination of a lifetime of waterfowl photography by the late Frank Todd. Indeed, this book stands apart from other identification guides as being entirely photo-driven, with minimal introductory material, notations of field marks, or descriptions of the various waterfowl species. It is small enough to be carried in the field (6.5” × 9” × 0.5”), but most readers will find it less useful than a standard bird identification book (Sibley 2014), even for waterfowl. As the title suggests, the Todd guide focuses on North American species, …

Review: Behavior Of The Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. David H. Ellis (Illustrated By N. John Schmitt)., Jeremy E. Guinn

The Prairie Naturalist

Author David H. Ellis and illustrator N. John Schmitt deliver precisely what is promised in Behavior of the Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. This “little volume,” as the author coins it, represents a single source for defining, identifying, and describing behaviors of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). With the inclusion of Schmitt’s exceptional drawings, the book is a piece of art, as well as the most useful manual describing Golden Eagle behaviors. Nearly four decades earlier, Ellis (1979) authored the very first Golden Eagle ethogram—the set of repeated standard behaviors for a species called action patterns—and in his new book, …

The Prairie Naturalist: The Journal Of The Great Plains Natural Science Society Volume 50 No. 2

The Prairie Naturalist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

43 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

46 Metabolic Gas Emissions from Prairie Soil Containing Foraging Termites Charles E. Konemann, B. M. Kard, Tom A. Royer, and Mark. E. Payton

59 Comparison of northern flying and red squirrel phylogenies with focus on the insular United States Alyssa M. Kiesow, and Hugh B. Britten

NOTES

70 Two-Headed White-Tailed Deer Fetus

72 Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomacilata) Copulation in South Dakota

74 New Breeding Record and Location for Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) in the Nebraska Great Plains, USA

BOOK REVIEWS

76 Sedges and Rushes of Minnesota: The Complete Guide to Species Identification. …

Lekking Behavior Of A Sharp-Tailed Grouse In South-Central Nebraska, Kelsey C. King, Andrew J. Caven, Keith Geluso

The Prairie Naturalist

Sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus; STGR) occur throughout much of the northern Great Plains, and historically were suspected to have ranged as far south as Kansas (Connelly et al. 1998). Sharp-tailed grouse were the dominant grouse in Nebraska 200 years ago, but early settlers and their associated agricultural practices extirpated STGR from much of their former range, including Kansas and southern Nebraska (Sisson 1976, Johnsgard 2016). During the period of initial land conversion, the greater prairie-chicken (T. cupido; GRPC) filled the void, benefiting from small plots of cropland providing winter forage, and outcompeting the STGR (Johnsgard and Wood 1968, Svedarsky et …

Age And Growth Of Cottonwood Trees Along The Missouri River, North Dakota, Jonathan M. Friedman, Fisher R. Ankney, J. Marshall Wolf

The Prairie Naturalist

The relict plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides subsp. monilifera) forest along the Missouri River between Lakes Sakakawea and Oahe includes trees as large as two meters in diameter. We cored 24 of these trees to determine their age and suitability for flow reconstruction. Because most of the trees were rotten in the center, we developed a method to estimate the date of the center ring that accounts for the increase in ring width toward the center. Estimated center ring dates were as early as 1806. Cottonwood growth at a dry site was correlated with April–August flow prior to construction of Lake …

A Short Narrative For Writing For The Prairie Naturalist, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

The abstract should be written upon completion of the paper. A well-written abstract is a single short (≤1 line/page of text), concise, and includes 1) an introductory sentence justifying why the study was conducted, 2) a statement of the principal objectives or hypotheses tested during the study, 3) a brief description of pertinent methods, 4) a summary of significant results, 5) a punchy conclusion, and 6) management implications (i.e., utility of results explaining how, when, where, and by whom data or interpretations can be applied; Krausman and Cox 2017). Keep in mind that abstracts are read more than authors than …

Spatiotemporal Distribution Of Waterfowl Disease Outbreaks In Kansas, Usa, Thomas A. Becker, Adam A. Ahlers, Shane Hesting, David A. Haukos

The Prairie Naturalist

Causes and impacts of disease outbreaks in wild bird populations are rarely studied beyond documentation of large epizootic events. In Kansas, USA, a central disease surveillance and reporting protocol currently does not exist within the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, which has led to a lack of available knowledge of disease occurrences that could be used to predict and manage future outbreaks. We compiled historic records of documented waterbird disease outbreaks in Kansas from 1967–2014 and related the frequency of outbreaks with light geese (Ross’s goose [Anser rossii]; Snow goose [A. caerulescens]) populations from 1970–2014. We found 32 …

Book Reviews: Force Of Nature: George Fell, Founder Of The Natural Areas Movement. Arthur Melville Pearson., James R. Herkert

The Prairie Naturalist

Arthur Melville Pearson’s Force of Nature is a book that tells two very interesting and intertwined stories. One is a story of how perseverance and determination can drive an individual to accomplish great things. And the other is a story of how the modern day natural areas movement came to be. Fortunately for those interested in conservation and natural areas protection, those two stories were combined in the life of George Fell (1916-1994). In Fell’s home state of Illinois, where his impact is widely known, his name is synonymous with conservation. In other places where his impact is less well …

The Prairie Naturalist: The Journal Of The Great Plains Natural Science Society Volume 50 No. 1

The Prairie Naturalist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

3 Spatiotemporal Distribution of Waterfowl Disease Outbreaks in Kansas, USA Thomas A. Becker, Adam A. Ahlers, Shane Hesting, and David A. Haukos

14 Wild Turkey Occupancy in a Prairie Landscape Joshua C. Courlas and R. Scott Lutz

24 Age and Growth of Cottonwood Trees along the Missouri River, North Dakota Jonathan M. Friedman, Fisher R. Ankeny, and Marshall Wolf

NOTES

34 Hoary Bat Impaled on Barbed Wire Fence

37 Lekking Behavior of a Sharp-Tailed Grouse in South-Central Nebraska

BOOK REVIEWS

40 Force of Nature: George Fell, Founder of The Natural Areas Movement. …

Wild Turkey Occupancy In A Prairie Landscape, Joshua C. Courlas, R. Scott Lutz

The Prairie Naturalist

We investigated wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) distribution in prairie landscapes in North Dakota using occupancy modeling in two stages. In 2012, we extensively surveyed ecoregions across the state and in 2013, intensively surveyed the ecoregion with the highest probability of occupancy. Occupancy models from the statewide survey indicated wild turkeys were sparse in ecoregions with primarily agricultural landscapes, were found associated with wooded riparian cover, and found most frequently in the Missouri River Plateau ecoregion. In the Missouri River Plateau, our occupancy models identified that an additive model including mean patch area of cropland fields and spatial aggregation of forest …

A Swift Guide To Butterflies Of North America, Second Edition., Ann B. Swengel

The Prairie Naturalist

As soon as I got my hands on A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America, I immediately checked the species account for Aphrodite Fritillary (Speyeria aphrodite). The prairie version of this species can be sufficiently different from the typically illustrated nominate subspecies such that it must be specifically explained as being distinct. This book passed my first test—describing details that were not only essential for identifying this fritillary species but also for realizing how similar its underside can be to our prairie specialty, the stunning Regal Fritillary (S. idalia).

Much of my research on butterflies occurs in grasslands. For …

Avian Diversity, Abundance, And Nest Success Among Managed Prairies And Agricultural Plots In Oklahoma And Texas, Phillip J. Leonard, Douglas R. Wood, Wayne E. Meyer

The Prairie Naturalist

Over the last 50 years, grassland birds experienced rapid declines due to habitat loss and degradation as a result of agricultural practices. Our objective was to document the diversity, abundance, and nest success of bird communities using managed prairie and agricultural plots at the Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in southern Oklahoma and Hagerman NWR in northern Texas. From April 1 to July 15, 2013–2014, point count surveys, nest searches, nest monitoring, and vegetation sampling were conducted among three habitat treatments: managed prairie, unharvested wheat, and fallow agricultural plots. Species richness values for potential nesting species were higher in managed …

Severe Drought Impacts Female Pheasant Physiology In Southwest Nebraska, Jessica A. Laskowski, Gwen C. Bachman, Joseph J. Fontaine

The Prairie Naturalist

In 2012, Nebraska experienced one of the worst droughts since the 1930s, accompanied by abnormally high temperatures. We studied the impacts of the 2012 summer drought on female ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) body condition and baseline and stress-induced corticosterone concentrations (CORT). We hypothesized that drought conditions would reduce pheasant body condition, increase chronic stress resulting in elevated baseline CORT levels, and down-regulate pheasant stress response to acute stressors, resulting in reduced stress-induced CORT concentrations. In southwestern Nebraska, we captured female pheasants in 2012 (pre-drought) and 2013 (post-drought). Pheasants had poorer body condition after the drought. Although female CORT measures were …

Energy Sprawl Solutions, Nicola Koper

The Prairie Naturalist

Energy sprawl affects all the major conservation issues of our age, from habitat loss and fragmentation to anthropogenic noise and climate change. As such, minimizing and solving its associated problems should be a key focus for conservation biologists. Kiesecker and Naugle provide an impressive and compact book that focusses on solving environmental and social problems likely to result from a transition from non- renewable to far less efficient renewable energy sources.

Energy Sprawl Solutions summarizes numerous relevant peer-reviewed academic papers, and outlines management and planning implications of each one, ultimately resolving these into fairly clear prescriptive recommendations for moving forward. …

Unique Nesting Behavior By Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus Buccinator), Heather M. Johnson, Michael Forsberg, Letitia Reichart, Mark P. Vrtiska

The Prairie Naturalist

Nesting behavior by Trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) has been well documented for most populations. Both sexes cooperate in nest construction, which takes 11–35 days to complete (Hansen et al. 1971, Cooper 1979). Nests generally range from 1.5–3.6 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters in height and are typically built on solid structures such as a muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) house or an island (Hansen et al. 1971, Cooper 1979). However, we discovered an atypical Trumpeter swan nest built of cattail (Typha angustifolia L.) located on Vaughn Lake, in Cherry County, Nebraska on 13 May 2016.

We monitored the atypical nest by …

The Considerations Given To Determining Authorship, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Greetings GPNSS members! Over the past year, I have been asked by prospective authors and colleagues whether The Prairie Naturalist has criteria for authorship. Given that this issue continues to arise, it is comforting to know that I am not the only one who struggles with considerations given to determining authorship. I checked the current submission guidelines and found nothing specific, which in turn motivated me to explore what other journals such as the Journal of Wildlife Management, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Ecology recommend to prospective authors (Merrill 2015). Much to my surprise, discussions of authorship …