Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Species Richness Gradients Of Oak Forest Plants Along The Missouri River In Nebraska And Iowa, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The upland deciduous forests of the Missouri River valley contain many plants typical of forests to the east of this area, which are assumed to have migrated northward and westward along the river in postglacial times. Previous workers have reported a gradient of decreasing species richness upstream among woody species, which is suggested to be the result of climatic gradients and differential dispersal capabilities of the immigrant species. Floristic work on all vascular species in eight woodland sites along the Nebraska-Iowa border quantifies the presence of similar gradients for herbaceous species, but of differing degrees. These studies also reveal the …

The Nebraska Natural Heritage Program: Two Year Progress Report, Mary Clausen, Mike Fritz, Gerry Steinauer

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

Since European settlement, human activities have totally eliminated the natural vegetation from approximately 50 percent of Nebraska’s landscape, and of that remaining most has been heavily impacted. As a result, numerous plants and animals have been extirpated from the state and many others are threatened.

The destruction of Nebraska’s natural diversity resulted in both public and private conservation groups recognizing the need for a centralized and accessible biological database for the state’s rare species and natural community types. Toward this end, the Nebraska Natural Heritage Program (NENHP) was established in August, 1987 through a cooperative effort between The Nature Conservancy …

Habitat Use And Diet Analysis Of Breeding Common Barn-Owls In Western Nebraska, Joseph A. Gubanyi M.S.

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

I studied barn owl (Tyto alba) breeding biology in western Nebraska 1984-1986. I had greatest success capturing males (56% success) at night using trap doors at nest sites and females (91 % success) using hoop nets at nest sites during the day. Barn owls removed 16 of 23 tail-mounted radios. Eight birds were radio-tracked for 7-14.5 hours. The mean foraging range was 198 ha (32- 299 ha, n = 8) with < 1 % overlap among birds from adjacent nest sites. Field-tested telemetry error was high (mean displacements of radio-locations for 2 birds were 208 and 241 m). I found no relationship between percent cover in foraging habitat and reproductive success. I identified 10,140 prey items from 15 nest sites and found both annual and seasonal variation in barn owl diets. Microtus ochrogaster occurred most frequently (32.7%) and increased in the diet from 17.6 to 27.2 to 43.5% 1984-1986. M. ochrogaster and Perognathus hispidus annual frequencies were …