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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A Desert In Disguise: The Resilience Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Jeff Hartman
A Desert In Disguise: The Resilience Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Jeff Hartman
School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The Nebraska Sandhills are the largest sand dune system in the Western Hemisphere, and are unique because they remain relatively undisturbed from row crop agriculture. Research in the past two decades demonstrated that the Sandhills are dynamic on millennial timescales, switching between stabilized, vegetated states to non-vegetated, mobilized states. The Sandhills are currently stabilized, but understanding how ecological processes are altered as sand dunes transition from stabilized to mobilized states, provides insight into the thresholds, stability, and resilience of this grassland ecosystem. My research investigated the impacts of vegetation disturbances on ecological processes and the sand dune surface stability. For …
Insights Into The Evolution Of The Great Plains Grassland Ecosystem Over The Last 5 Million Years From Paleotemperature And Paleovegetation Records, Anne Fetrow
Honors Program Theses
Over the last 10 million years, the Great Plains transitioned to the modern C4 grass dominated ecosystem. Well-preserved late Miocene to Holocene fossils and paleosols make the Meade Basin in southwest Kansas, USA a unique place to determine how paleoenvironmental conditions changed during C4 grassland evolution. δ18O values of paleosol carbonates (δ18Ocarb) in the Meade Basin decreased from the Miocene to Holocene while δ13C values increased; these trends were interpreted as an increase in temperature and/or in aridity coincident with an increase of C4 grass biomass on the landscape. …
Strengthening Livelihood Of Rural Farmer Populations Through Improved Grasslands, Sujatha Premaratne, S. C. Somasiri
Strengthening Livelihood Of Rural Farmer Populations Through Improved Grasslands, Sujatha Premaratne, S. C. Somasiri
IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)
This paper reviews the current background of the grassland resource with a purpose of livestock perspective to improve the livelihood of rural farmers. The use of grasslands for livestock rearing by rural farmers has been a long tradition. In climate and vegetation contrast, these grasslands are much more diverse. They are likely to play an economical role in increasing the milk production in many Asian countries. With an increase of human population, the traditional feeding, breeding and surviving habitats for livestock have been acutely restricted in many countries. Therefore, a continued effort is needed to maintain production for sustainable management …
Impact Of Market Forces On Product Quality And Grassland Condition, David L. Michalk, Jianping Wu, Warwick B. Badgery, David R. Kemp
Impact Of Market Forces On Product Quality And Grassland Condition, David L. Michalk, Jianping Wu, Warwick B. Badgery, David R. Kemp
IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)
Meeting demands for livestock products which are predicted to more than double during the next 20 years, is central to the challenge of feeding the world sustainably. Smallholders will play a key role in achieving global security in animal protein. However, this requires a shift from subsistence to market-oriented farming where production efficiency not the number of livestock is the key focus with the aim of producing ‘more from less’. For grassland-based ruminant production, reducing stocking rate from current unsustainable levels under subsistence management is an essential first step to producing more production and profit from fewer animals. This is …