Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Prairie Naturalist, Vol. 52, Issue 2, December 2020

The Prairie Naturalist

Comparing Native Bee Communities on Reconstructed and Remnant Prairie in Missouri • Joseph LaRose, Elisabeth B. Webb, and Deborah Finke

Patterns and Potential Causes of Changing Winter Bird Distributions in South Dakota • David L. Swanson, Reza Goljani Amipkhiz, and Mark D. Dixon

Greater prairie-chickens and sharp-tailed grouse have similarly high nest survival in the Nebraska Sandhills • Larkin A. Powell, Walter H. Schacht, Julia P. Ewalt, and Katie R. McCollum

Captive Ring-necked Pheasant Response to Very High Experimental Doses of Lead • Travis J. Runia and Alex J. Solem

Trends in a Greater Prairie Chicken Population Established by Translocation …

Differences In Soil Water Changes And Canopy Temperature Under Varying Water × Nitrogen Sufficiency For Maize, Tsz Him Lo, Daran Rudnick, Kendall C. Dejonge, Geng Bai, Hope Njuki Nakabuye, Abia Katimbo, Yufeng Ge, Trenton E. Franz, Xin Qiao, Derek M. Heeren

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Crop nitrogen (N) status is known to affect crop water status and crop water use. To investigate further the N effects on soil water changes and on canopy temperature, three water levels × four N levels were imposed on two growing seasons of maize in west central Nebraska, USA. Soil water changes were measured using a neutron probe, whereas canopy temperature was measured using infrared thermometers on a ground-based mobile platform. At all water levels, soil water losses over monthlong intervals were generally greater as N levels increased. Given equal water levels, early afternoon canopy temperatures were usually lower with …

A Survey Of Dairy-Goat Keeping In Zanzibar, Tiffanie Stone, Charles A. Francis, L. O. Eik

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Dairy goats with improved genetics for milk production were recently introduced onto small-scale farms in Zanzibar through governmental and non-governmental projects. These projects were meant to support small-scale farmers by improving both income and household nutrition through milk production. No follow up had been conducted to understand what effects dairy goat keeping had on these small-scale farms, or how they could be improved. A survey of 193 dairy goat farmers in Zanzibar was conducted, including 30% and 60% of all dairy goat farmers on Unguja and Pemba, the two largest islands, respectively. The objective was to understand the impact keeping …

Optimal Allocation Of Two Resources In Annual Plants, David Mcmorris

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The fitness of an annual plant can be thought of as how much fruit is produced by the end of its growing season. Under the assumption that annual plants grow to maximize fitness, we can use techniques from optimal control theory to understand this process. We introduce two models for resource allocation in annual plants which extend classical work by Iwasa and Roughgarden to a case where both carbohydrates and mineral nutrients are allocated to shoots, roots, and fruits in annual plants. In each case, we use optimal control theory to determine the optimal resource allocation strategy for the plant …

Soil Chemical Properties After 12 Years Of Tillage And Crop Rotation, Maysoon M. Mikha, Gary Hergert, Xin Qiao, Bijesh Maharjan

Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Crop rotation in combinationwith tillage can improve productivity, enhance economical return, and reduce soil erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of moldboard plow (MP), strip tillage (ST), no-tillage (NT), and crop rotations on: (1) crop yield; (2) soil chemical properties; and (3) particulate organic matter (POM). The study was initiated in 2007 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center near Scottsbluff, NE. Crops in rotation were corn (C; Zea mays L.) and dry bean (DB; Phaseolus vulgaris L.) organized in a 3-yr rotation (C–DB–C) and a 4-yr rotation with the addition of …

The Prairie Naturalist, Vol. 52, Issue 1, June 2020

The Prairie Naturalist

EDITOR’S NOTE • Jane E. Austin, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief

Factors Associated with Larval Freshwater Drum Annual Peak Density in a Nebraska Irrigation Reservoir • Brett T. Miller, Brian C. Peterson, Keith D. Koupal, and Casey W. Schoenbeck

Small mammal communities in grasslands at the Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, USA • Lynda R. Lafond, Elizabeth H. Rave, and Kathryn A. Yurkonis

Evaluation of Four Larval Fish Sampling Methods in a Large Midwestern River • Nathan J. Lederman, Anthony R. Sindt, Douglas J. Dieterman, John D. Krenz, and Shannon J. Fisher

Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) in Southwestern Roberts …

Impact Of Agricultural Land Use On Stream Nitrate, Phosphorus, And Sediment Concentrations At The Watershed And Field Scale, Brittany A. Kirsch

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Water quality is directly impacted by the landscape through which it travels. As such, land use, including summer annual and winter annual/perennial agriculture, has dramatic influence on the water quality of downstream aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. I examined the impact of agricultural land use on water quality through two projects, one at a watershed scale and one at a field scale. In my first project, I investigated the impact of agricultural land use and climate on water quality in 13 HUC10 watersheds across Nebraska using public data from US Geological Survey (USGS), US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service …

Remediation Strategies To Reduce Heavy Metal Uptake In Lettuce Grown In Contaminated Urban Soil, Ryley Thomas

UCARE Research Products

Urban soils are increasingly used to produce food for local consumption, which requires at the same time management strategies that prevent the plant uptake of potentially present contaminants. This study was conducted to test different soil amendments for their ability to retain lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) within the soil matrix. The analyzed soil was taken from a potential community garden lot near a railroad in Lincoln, NE where elevated concentrations in Pb and As had been detected. Ponderosa pine biochar and spent coffee grounds were used as soil additives because of their documented chemical reactivity towards soil cations or …

Extreme Fire As A Management Tool To Combat Regime Shifts In The Range Of The Endangered American Burying Beetle, Alison K. Ludwig, Daniel R. Uden, Dirac Twidwell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study is focused on the population of federally-endangered American burying beetles in south-central Nebraska. It is focused on changes in land cover over time and at several levels of spatial scale, and how management efforts are impacting both the beetle and a changing landscape. Our findings are applicable to a large portion of the Great Plains, which is undergoing the same shift from grassland to woodland, and to areas where the beetle is still found.

Maize Growth, Yield, Water Productivity And Evapotranspiration Response To Different Irrigation Methods And Amounts And Different Timing And Methods Of Nitrogen Applications, Ali T. Mohammed

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Declining the quantity and quality of freshwater resources in many parts of the world, including Midwestern USA, especially in the light of rapidly growing world’s population and changing climate, imposes significant and, in some cases imminent, challenges for producers, policy- and decision-makers to produce more yield with less water and other inputs, particularly in water scarcity regions.

There is not comprehensive previous research has quantified and evaluated coupled impacts of irrigation rates and nitrogen timing management strategies and their interactions on maize (Zea mays L.) productivity and its various attributed efficiency index metrics under different irrigation methods under the same …

Factors Associated With Larval Freshwater Drum Annual Peak Density In A Nebraska Irrigation Reservoir, Brett T. Miller, Brian C. Peterson, Keith D. Koupal, Casey W. Schoenebeck

The Prairie Naturalist

Freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) represent one of the most widely distributed fish species in North America. Identifying biotic and abiotic factors that influence larval freshwater drum densities can improve understanding of early life history. Our objective was to investigate correlations between annual peak density of larval freshwater drum and combinations of five variables (chlorophyll a, growing degree days [GDD], reservoir discharge, turbidity, and cladoceran density) from a longterm (2003–2017) monitoring program in a Nebraska irrigation reservoir. Twenty-eight a priori candidate models were assessed to determine the relative support of explanatory variables associated with annual peak density of larval freshwater drum …

Small Mammal Communities In Grasslands At The Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, Usa, Lynda R. Lafond, Elizabeth H. Rave, Kathryn A. Yurkonis

The Prairie Naturalist

Small mammals are important in grasslands but are often overlooked in management and reconstruction efforts. We sampled small mammals in three sites on the Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) located in central Grand Forks County, North Dakota, USA. The study sites varied in their management history and represented the three major types of grasslands (reconstructed prairie, old field, and hay field) within Grand Forks County. We captured 463 individuals of six species with Sherman live traps in summer (June, July, August) 2014 and 2015. We captured the most individuals and species (295 individuals of 5 species), including all shrews …

Comparing Native Bee Communities On Reconstructed And Remnant Prairie In Missouri, Joseph Larose, Elisabeth B. Webb, Deborah Finke

The Prairie Naturalist

The tallgrass prairie of North America is an imperiled ecosystem that has been the subject of considerable restoration effort and research in the past two decades. While native prairie plant species are purposely introduced during restoration, prairie invertebrates, including native bees (Anthophila), are not and must colonize from surrounding remnants. Prairie restorations may not support the same bee communities as remnant prairies because of habitat differences and dispersal limitations. We sampled native bees on reconstructed and remnant prairies in Missouri in the summers of 2016 and 2017 and compared the communities by evaluating species richness, diversity, and community composition. We …

Greater Prairie-Chickens And Sharp-Tailed Grouse Have Similarly High Nest Survival In The Nebraska Sandhills, Larkin Powell, Walter Schacht, Julia P. Ewald, Kathryn R. Mccollum

The Prairie Naturalist

The ranges of two native galliform species overlap in the Nebraska Sandhills, the largest contiguous grassland in North America. We monitored nests of greater prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) and sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) in Cherry County, Nebraska, in 2015 and 2016. Our objectives were to 1) compare daily probability of nest survival between species, 2) evaluate vegetation structure at nests for potential effects on nest survival, 3) compare nest site topography between species, and 4) use a simple model of breeding season success to evaluate the potential for stable populations at our study sites. We captured and radiomarked 87 birds, and …

Patterns And Potential Causes Of Changing Winter Bird Distributions In South Dakota, David L. Swanson, Reza Goljani Amirkhiz, Mark D. Dixon

The Prairie Naturalist

Average winter temperatures in the north-central United States have been increasing since the 1970s, and this warming might influence winter distributions of birds in the region. Species potentially influenced by such winter warming include short-distance migrants for which the northern boundary of the winter range is influenced by temperature, such as hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus), yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata), and fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca). We examined winter records during 1974–2017 from a citizen-science bird observation database for South Dakota to determine recent trends in winter records for these three species. We compared their occurrence patterns with those for three benchmark …

Transformative Education In Agroecology: Student, Teacher, And Client Involvement In Co-Learning, Charles A. Francis, Anna Marie Nicolaysen, Geir Lieblein, Tor Arvid Breland

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Educational methods have evolved rapidly in agroecology, which is a complex and holistic field without a long history or the formal tradition of any single academic discipline. Definitions of agroecology have evolved from its initial conception as a marriage of agriculture with ecology, to an aggregation of different paths including science, practices, and movements, and recently as a broad appreciation of the ecology of food systems. In contrast with traditional courses that begin with a history of the discipline and review the contributions of early leaders, we have embraced phenomenology to firmly establish roots in students’ learning through their experiences …

Urban Food Sovereignty: Urgent Need For Agroecology And Systems Thinking In A Post-Covid-19 Future, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to challenges associated with our dominant industrial food system in the U.S. The general public now has more appreciation for farm workers and meatpacking employees, as well as those in grocery stores and in food transportation who are suddenly recognized as essential frontline workers. It apparently takes a crisis for us to focus clearly on the fragility of this system and the lives of people on whom we depend. In this commentary we discuss the definition of food sovereignty, how it manifests in urban areas, and how the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger viable …

Evaluation Of Four Larval Fish Sampling Methods In A Large Midwestern River, Nathan J. Lederman, Anthony R. Sindt, Douglas J. Dieterman, John D. Krenz, Shannon J. Fisher

The Prairie Naturalist

Understanding limitations of larval fish capture gears is critical for developing appropriate sampling protocols and interpreting catch data. We evaluated genera richness, genera diversity, assemblage similarities, abundance indices (i.e., density or catch per unit effort [CPUE]), and sample size requirements between a surface slednet and glow-stick light traps used in 2014 and 2015 and a benthic slednet and light-emitting diode light (LED) traps used in 2015 in the Minnesota River. The surface slednet captured the greatest number of larval fish genera (15) while the LED light trap captured the fewest (1). Similarities of assemblages sampled was highest between surface and …

Wood Frogs (Rana Sylvatica) In Southwestern Roberts County And Western Grant County, South Dakota, Dennis R. Skadsen, Drew R. Davis

The Prairie Naturalist

Historically, only six records of Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) existed from South Dakota, all represented by museum specimens. A single specimen was collected from Hartford Beach on Big Stone Lake, Roberts County in 1922 (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution [USNM] 65452) and five Wood Frogs were collected near the outlet of Blue Dog Lake, Day County in 1929 (USNM 312618– 312622; Fig. 1). After the 1920s, no other Wood Frogs were reported in South Dakota for the next six decades, and the species was presumed extirpated. Over (1923, 1943) reported the species was common in the wooded coulees …

Trends In A Greater Prairie Chicken Population Established By Translocation In North Dakota, Gary Huschle, John E. Toepfer

The Prairie Naturalist

In 1992, an effort was undertaken by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and North Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society to reestablish a viable population of greater prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus; hereafter prairie chickens) in northeast North Dakota. The release area was centered on the Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area located 22.5 km northwest of Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the northern part of Grand Forks County. Topography consists of poorly drained, saline flats and swells separated by poorly drained swales and sloughs in the Red River Valley (Beringer 1995). Permanent …

Captive Ring-Necked Pheasant Response To Very High Experimental Doses Of Lead, Travis J. Runia, Alex J. Solem

The Prairie Naturalist

Ingestion of spent lead pellets is a well-documented source of lead exposure in free-ranging birds, although the consequence of lead ingestion varies widely among avian guilds. Ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) appear to be less susceptible to lead poisoning than other game birds. Our objectives were to determine survival, liver lead accumulation, and body mass change of 129 captive-raised pheasants in response to being gavage-fed 5, 10, 20, or 40 lead pellets. All pheasants survived the 21-day experiment. Liver-lead levels were positively correlated with the number of lead pellets retained and negatively correlated with beginning body mass. Change in percent body …