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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Characteristics Of In-Migrants To The Northern Great Plains: Survey Results From Nebraska And North Dakota, F. Larry Leistritz, Sam Cordes, Randall Sell, John C. Allen Iii, Rebecca Vogt
Characteristics Of In-Migrants To The Northern Great Plains: Survey Results From Nebraska And North Dakota, F. Larry Leistritz, Sam Cordes, Randall Sell, John C. Allen Iii, Rebecca Vogt
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Recent employment growth in the northern Great Plains may be stimulating increased in-migration. This study, expanding on our initial report (Leistritz et al. 2000), seeks to identify the salient characteristics of recent in-migrants to Nebraska and North Dakota, using data from mailed surveys conducted in Nebraska in 1996 and North Dakota in 1997. The survey respondents were generally younger than the populations of Nebraska and North Dakota overall; about 60% were between 21 and 40 years old. The educational level of the migrants was also higher than that of the states' populations overall-45% of the new residents were college graduates …
Influence Of Habitat On Distribution And Abundance Of The Eastern Woodrat In Kansas, Jon P. Beckmann, Glennis A. Kaufman, Donald W. Kaufman
Influence Of Habitat On Distribution And Abundance Of The Eastern Woodrat In Kansas, Jon P. Beckmann, Glennis A. Kaufman, Donald W. Kaufman
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Anthropogenic modification of native woodlands and grasslands in the Great Plains has altered the abundance and distribution of many species of mammals. To study habitat effects on the eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana), we surveyed nests of the eastern woodrat in woodlands, grasslands, and croplands along 77 km of secondary roads in three counties in north-central Kansas. All nests were located in woodlands ( < 2 %of habitat), although grasslands and croplands constituted 36% and 62% of habitat surveyed, respectively. In our survey, nests were associated positively with shelterbelts (3.6 nests per 100 m of road edge) but not with shrub patches (1.1 nests per 100 m of road edge) or riparian woodlands (0.3 nests per 100 m of road edge). Consequently, we specifically censused nests in an additional 12 riparian woodlands and 12 shelterbelts. Nests of eastern woodrats were less dense in riparian woodlands (9.4 nests/ha) than in shelterbelts (55.5 nests/ha). Density of woodrat nests decreased as width of a wooded area increased. Further, nests per 100 m of length of woodland did not increase as the width of woodland increased. These patterns suggest that woodland edge, not woodland interior, is the primary factor in abundance of eastern woodrats in this region. Although the eastern woodrat has previously been considered a woodland species, our results suggest that this assessment is incorrect. Our observations demonstrate that anthropogenic modification of the Great Plains, in the form of planted shelterbelts and expanded riparian woodland, likely has increased the distribution and abundance of eastern woodrats, compared to the mid-1800s.
Relationships Between Community Attributes And Residential Preference In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska, John C. Allen, Rebecca J. Vogt, Soonchul Ko
Relationships Between Community Attributes And Residential Preference In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska, John C. Allen, Rebecca J. Vogt, Soonchul Ko
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This paper examines the residential preferences of rural Nebraskans. Data from the 1998 Nebraska Rural Poll were analyzed at two levels. First, the residential preferences of rural Nebraskans were compared to those of the general population of the United States. Second, the relationships between the attributes of the respondents' current community and their residential preferences were examined. Current community size, the social attributes of the community, and evaluations of local community services were all determined to be important influences on residential preferences. The findings illustrate the possible positive impact on rural Great Plains communities of enhancing social interaction and creatively …
Review Of Communities Perennial Weeds: Characteristics And Identification Of Selected Herbaceous Species By Wood Powell Anderson, Stephan L. Hatch
Review Of Communities Perennial Weeds: Characteristics And Identification Of Selected Herbaceous Species By Wood Powell Anderson, Stephan L. Hatch
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This illustrated text focuses on the characteristics and identification of twenty-eight selected herbaceous weed species. (Its author is silent about his criteria for including specific taxa.) The book's objectives, poorly stated, are to present knowledge on the identification of weeds, their propagation, and how propagation characteristics influence weed control efforts. The book explains the principles of weed control using a small sample of species and then leaves the reader to determine how these principles apply to the hundreds of other weeds in the United States. Satisfactory as a supplemental text in an introductory weeds course, it treats only a small …
Review Of Contested Classrooms: Education, Globalization, And Democracy In Alberta Edited By Trevor W. Harrison And Jerrold L. Kachur, Veronika Bohac Clarke
Review Of Contested Classrooms: Education, Globalization, And Democracy In Alberta Edited By Trevor W. Harrison And Jerrold L. Kachur, Veronika Bohac Clarke
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Contested Classrooms is a collaboration of fourteen authors, most of whom hold doctorates in either educational administration, sociology, political science, psychology, or the humanities. They represent a broad range of educational stakeholders-professors, leaders in the province-wide Alberta Teachers' Association, associates of research institutes, and administrators in the province's public school systems. Together, they contribute experience, expertise, and scholarship to the volume.
The editors' intent is "not only to increase public understanding of education and the deep social, political, and economic change occurring in Alberta, but to goad readers into action and to shape the future direction of public education." Cautioning …
Review Of American Indian Grandmothers: Traditions And Transitions Edited By Marjorie M. Schweitzer, Paula Bennett
Review Of American Indian Grandmothers: Traditions And Transitions Edited By Marjorie M. Schweitzer, Paula Bennett
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This well-researched and deeply warm series of essays is intended to acquaint readers with twentieth-century Indian grandmothers as familial bridges between past cultural embeddedness and an increasingly dismembered culture stretched from its roots in myth and practice. The essays range from sociological monographs replete with statistics to intimate first-hand interpretive accounts from the grandmothers themselves. The historical, geographic, and psychological breadth of the vignettes assures their appeal to a wide range of scholars and ethno-elderphiles.
Schweitzer emphasizes that even when biology is the triggering event for becoming a grandmother, the context of Indian grandmotherhood is culturally construed. Kinship patterns determine …
Review Of The U.S. Army And The Texas Frontier Economy, 1845-1900 By Thomas T. Smith, Andres Tijerina
Review Of The U.S. Army And The Texas Frontier Economy, 1845-1900 By Thomas T. Smith, Andres Tijerina
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
While historians have richly documented Texas's economic growth through its cattle industry and the petrochemical industry, they have paid scarce attention to the US government's major role in that growth as a result of its infusion of capital through the US Army in Texas. According to Thomas T. Smith, the Army channeled its budget from the US Treasury through quartermaster contracts into the hands of civilian vendors, creating an "exponential benefit" for the rest of the frontier community as a consequence of the multiplier effect of the market. Thus, the US Army decisively supported and conditioned the civilian frontier economy …
Review Of Hog Ties: Pigs, Manure, And Mortality In American Culture By Richard P. Horwitz, John E. Ikerd
Review Of Hog Ties: Pigs, Manure, And Mortality In American Culture By Richard P. Horwitz, John E. Ikerd
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This book is "an attempt to track moral and practical connections among disparate things" concerning pigs, as Richard Horwitz finally points out in the last chapter. The first part dabbles with the role of pigs in American culture, but the author moves quickly to his personal experiences as a college professor with a part-time job on a hog farm, leading up to a key event in the book-an eyewitness account of a transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) outbreak on a hog farm.
Frontmatter
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Frontmatter
Growth, Condition, And Mortality Of Black Crappie, Bluegill, And Yellow Perch In Nebraska Sand Hills Lakes, Craig P. Paukert, David W. Willis, Andrew L. Glidden
Growth, Condition, And Mortality Of Black Crappie, Bluegill, And Yellow Perch In Nebraska Sand Hills Lakes, Craig P. Paukert, David W. Willis, Andrew L. Glidden
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
The growth, condition, and mortality of black crappie, bluegill, and yellow perch were measured in 30 Nebraska Sand Hills lakes (1998, 1999) to determine the value of these parameters in these fish populations compared to other Great Plains populations. Growth was variable for all three fish species, but similar to or higher than populations in other midwestern states. Bluegill condition, as measured by mean relative weight, ranged from 115 to 123, indicating these populations were in very good condition. Mean relative weight by length for black crappie ranged from 94 to 114, but only 83 to 95 for yellow perch. …
Abundance And Habitat Associations Of Birds Wintering In The Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Craig Davis
Abundance And Habitat Associations Of Birds Wintering In The Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Craig Davis
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
The abundance and habitat associations of overwintering birds in Platte River Valley of central Nebraska may influence their long-term survival. I observed a total of 51 species over a three-year period in shrub-grassland, forest, grassland, and cropland habitats during the winter. Grassland habitats had the lowest abundance of wintering birds, while abundances in shrub-grassland, forest, and cropland habitats were higher and similar. Species richness was highest in forests ( x= 2.97 species) and lowest in grasslands (x = 0.73 species) and croplands (x = 0.57 species). Overall, horned larks (Eremophila alpestris), American tree sparrows (Spizella arborea), …
Habitat Fragmentation Effects On Birds In Grasslands And Wetlands: A Critique Of Our Knowledge, Douglas Johnson
Habitat Fragmentation Effects On Birds In Grasslands And Wetlands: A Critique Of Our Knowledge, Douglas Johnson
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Habitat fragmentation exacerbates the problem of habitat loss for grassland and wetland birds. Remaining patches of grasslands and wetlands may be too small, too isolated, and too influenced by edge effects to maintain viable populations of some breeding birds. Knowledge of the effects of fragmentation on bird populations is critically important for decisions about reserve design, grassland and wetland management, and implementation of cropland set-aside programs that benefit wildlife. In my review of research that has been conducted on habitat fragmentation, I found at least five common problems in the methodology used. The results of many studies are compromised by …
Annual Index
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Annual Index
Review Of Sex In The Heartland By Beth Bailey, Julia Ehrhardt
Review Of Sex In The Heartland By Beth Bailey, Julia Ehrhardt
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
In her thorough analysis of six separate but interconnected historical episodes that signpost the "sexual revolution" in the university town of Lawrence, Kansas, from 1945 to 1975, Beth Bailey strives to identify the complicated factors that changed sex for good in America during the postwar period. Bailey argues that the sexual revolution has been erroneously characterized as a rapid transformation of sexual ideology that occurred first in large cities and then spread to smaller towns. Instead, the author claims that the "revolution" was actually a gradual re-evaluation of sexual mores influenced by government policies, the mass market, popular culture, technology, …
Review Of Insecticide Resistance: From Mechanisms To Management Edited By I. Denholm, J. A. Pickett, And A. L. Devonshire, Charles F. Chilcutt
Review Of Insecticide Resistance: From Mechanisms To Management Edited By I. Denholm, J. A. Pickett, And A. L. Devonshire, Charles F. Chilcutt
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
When asked to review this volume, I feared it might be an overly long and involved textbook on pesticide resistance. Happily, the book is actually a collection of papers by some of the world's top resistance researchers. Written in scientific journal style, it contains fourteen concise, articulate, informative papers divided into two sections: "Genes and Mechanisms" and "Ecological Genetics and Management." The book is heavily geared toward resistance researchers, although geneticists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists may also find it instructive. The general reader would be wise to start with papers in the second section, which offer longer introductions and more …
Social Values In The Assessment Of Livestock Grazing In The Great Plains, R. K. Heitschmidt, J. D. Johnson, K. D. Klement
Social Values In The Assessment Of Livestock Grazing In The Great Plains, R. K. Heitschmidt, J. D. Johnson, K. D. Klement
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
We examined the sustainability of the livestock grazing industry in the Great Plains of North America relative to ecological processes, economic viability, and social acceptance. We conclude from the review that livestock grazing is an appropriate use of Great Plains grasslands and, when properly managed, ecologically sustainable. However, we also present evidence that the Great Plains grazing industry is not always economically sustainable or socially acceptable. We attribute this anomaly in large part to the consuming public's general lack of understanding and appreciation for the ecological linkages between current livestock grazing tactics and the evolutionary history of the Great Plains. …
A Phenomenological Case For The Family Farmer As An Environmental Steward, Jim Hanson
A Phenomenological Case For The Family Farmer As An Environmental Steward, Jim Hanson
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This phenomenological analysis concludes that the American family farmer is a steward of the environment in a way that the corporate farmer is not. As a study of consciousness, phenomenology recognizes that family farmers have more sensitive and less selective experience because of living in the farm environment. It draws from the first-hand accounts articulated by family farmers-accounts that reflect their firsthand and direct experiences of the farm environment. Although considered to be irrelevant by many scientists and statisticians, phenomenological accounts of direct experience are important starting points for the scientific study of farmers and their knowledge of environmental problems.
The Contemporary Role Of The Federal Government In The Great Plains Economy: A Comprehensive Examination Of Federal Spending And Related Fiscal Activities, Sam Cordes, Evert Van Der Sluis
The Contemporary Role Of The Federal Government In The Great Plains Economy: A Comprehensive Examination Of Federal Spending And Related Fiscal Activities, Sam Cordes, Evert Van Der Sluis
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
The Great Plains economy is influenced much more by federal spending and taxation than is the nation as a whole. Results were generated from analyzing federal fiscal activities at three different levels: a state-by-state analysis, an analysis of the 478-county region, and an analysis by county category for two Great Plains states (Nebraska and South Dakota). In several Great Plains states, federal spending represents well in excess of 25% of the state's economic activity. Federal spending, especially farm program payments, are of particular significance to nonmetropolitan counties in the Great Plains. This level of federal dependency, coupled with recent and …
Review Of Standard Soil Methods For Long-Term Ecological Research Edited By G. Philip Robertson, David E. Coleman, Caroline S. Bledsoe, And Phillip Sollins, Mary Ann Vinton
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Standard Soil Methods for Long-Term Ecological Research is the second in a series of books dedicated to summarizing the research results and methods of ecological studies being conducted at sites around North America and Antarctica under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. The twenty-one sites range from arctic tundra to hot desert and from natural tropical rainforest to urban and suburban areas.
Review Of Policy Reform In American Agriculture: Analysis And Prognosis By David Orden, Robert Paarlberg, And Terry Roe, Thomas F. Stinson
Review Of Policy Reform In American Agriculture: Analysis And Prognosis By David Orden, Robert Paarlberg, And Terry Roe, Thomas F. Stinson
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Another farm policy debate is underway, and those who plan on participating, or even watching closely from the sidelines, would be well advised to read Policy Reform in American Agriculture. The authors make clear that what is at issue goes well beyond whether the 1996 farm bill's decoupled payment system (where the amount farmers receive is independent of the market price for their crops) is jettisoned or not. Indeed, decisions on how to construct a new safety net may be as important to the long-run outlook for US agriculture as the level at which it is set.
Orden, Paarlberg, …
Review Of Alien Species In North America And Hawaii: Impacts On Natural Ecosystems By George W. Cox, Roger Sheley
Review Of Alien Species In North America And Hawaii: Impacts On Natural Ecosystems By George W. Cox, Roger Sheley
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This enthusiastic conservationist chronicles the arrival and expansion of many keystone non-indigenous species into North America and Hawaii. A wealth of knowledge is pulled together to provide an overview of the impacts of invasive plants and animals on regional ecosystems. Alien Species should be required reading for natural resource managers.
The author provides regional, biotic, theoretical, and policy perspectives on invasive species and discusses key invasive plants and animals and their known impacts within ten regions. This is the most extensive and documented part of the volume and provides powerful testimony regarding the magnitude of the problem.
Review Of Swine Source Book: Alternatives For Pork Producers Edited By Julie Tranquilla, Daniel Schmidt
Review Of Swine Source Book: Alternatives For Pork Producers Edited By Julie Tranquilla, Daniel Schmidt
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This is a book that should be on every Ag teacher's desk in the country. Instead of espousing the factory production of hogs, the norm for the industry today, it gives alternative production techniques that should be useful to starting farmers, niche producers (including organic farmers), and anyone else who might want to raise hogs in a more ecologically sound and humane fashion.
The volume is a compilation of articles by various authors originally appearing as research papers or in magazines and journals. While each author has a different reason for presenting his or her system, all are alternatives to …
News And Notes
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Contents:
Errata
Conference
Review Of Women In Ancient America By Karen Olsen Bruhns And Karen E. Stothert, Marcel Kornfeld
Review Of Women In Ancient America By Karen Olsen Bruhns And Karen E. Stothert, Marcel Kornfeld
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
It is well known that the role and contribution of women to prehistory has long been ignored or undervalued. Because women represent approximately one half of humanity, have done so in the past, and make a contribution by sheer numbers alone, this book is a necessary attempt to remedy the shortcomings in the writing of American prehistory as it pertains to women and gender. The authors state in its preface that their book is "an introduction to the study of women in the American past."
The first chapter lays out the method for the study of women and gender in …
Review Of North America: A Geographical Mosaic Edited By Frederick W. Boal And Stephen A. Royle, William C. Johnson
Review Of North America: A Geographical Mosaic Edited By Frederick W. Boal And Stephen A. Royle, William C. Johnson
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Boal and Royle, geographers from Belfast's Queen's University, have assembled a volume consisting of twenty-four individually authored chapters (essays) organized into seven sections. Section A, an introduction by the editors, relates the geologic process of continental drift (collision) and accretion to social processes involved in the cultural history of North America. This enterprising chapter neatly sets the stage for the ensuing sections and chapters. “The Physical and Biotic Milieux” (Section B) consists of three chapters focusing on physiography and earth surface processes, weather and climate, and the relationship of culture to environment. The first of these chapters is a bit …
Review Of Pigs, Profits, And Rural Communities Edited By Kendall M. Thu And E. Paul Durrenberger, Mark S. Honeyman
Review Of Pigs, Profits, And Rural Communities Edited By Kendall M. Thu And E. Paul Durrenberger, Mark S. Honeyman
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
These are historic times of rapid change in US agriculture, particularly the swine production industry. Rapid change creates controversy. Controversy surrounding the industrialization of the US swine industry is often over-simplified as a two-sided debate. In Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities, editors Kendall Thu and Paul Durrenberger-anthropologists-effectively gather and present the multi-dimensional depth and breadth of the profoundly rapid change in the swine industry with a collection of eleven perspectives plus their own introductory comments.
Review Of The Economics Of Organic Grain And Soybean Production In The Midwestern United States By Rick Welsh, Glenn A. Helmers
Review Of The Economics Of Organic Grain And Soybean Production In The Midwestern United States By Rick Welsh, Glenn A. Helmers
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, this short report, its foreword claims, "synthesizes and interprets economic studies of organic grain and soybean production by Midwestern universities." In so doing it reviews and analyzes previously completed studies from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, along with two earlier studies of the Corn Belt.
The titles of the chapters that follow the introduction offer a clear idea of the report's attempt at coverage: " The Growing Organic Industry"; "Is Organic Agriculture Productive and Profitable?'; "Review of Midwestern Organic Grain and Soybean Studies"; "Additional Considerations"; and "Policy Implications." The work was completed …
Review Of Communities, Development And Sustainability Across Canada Edited By John T. Pierce And Ann Dale, Neil Gilson
Review Of Communities, Development And Sustainability Across Canada Edited By John T. Pierce And Ann Dale, Neil Gilson
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Communities, Development and Sustainability Across Canada is intended to serve as a synthesis of work on how Canadian communities can achieve sustainable development. Twelve essays by different authors discuss diverse theoretical and analytical perspectives and promote a variety of actions related to implementing sustainable development at the community level. The editors' introduction promises that the book will "highlight the importance of community as a critical link in achieving sustainable development." To this end, contributors were instructed to provide readers with both "retrospective and prospective analyses" and to make concrete proposals for action. Individual authors responded by producing work that consistently …
Great Plains Research Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2001 Contents
Great Plains Research Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2001 Contents
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
table of contents
Review Of Indian Reservations In The United States: Territory, Sovereignty, And Socioeconomic Change By Klaus Frantz, James Riding In
Review Of Indian Reservations In The United States: Territory, Sovereignty, And Socioeconomic Change By Klaus Frantz, James Riding In
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
This book addresses complicated social, economic, and political factors that have shaped the development of American Indian reservations. Authored by an Austrian geographer, it is a revised translation of the second edition in German. Its interdisciplinary approach is relevant to geography, history, American Indian studies, sociology, economics, anthropology, and political science.