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A Landscape Perspective Of Whooping Crane Migration Through Nebraska: Conservation And Management Implications, Felipe Chavez-Ramirez, Chris Helzer, Paul Tebbel

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Past and current discussions of conservation of whooping crane (Grus americana) stopover habitat in Nebraska have long been focused on the Platte River. We evaluated the distribution of whooping crane stopover sites in Nebraska in a broader context to (a) determine the distribution of whooping crane stopover sites on the Platte River relative to other landscapes and (b) use whooping migratory behavior data to systematically define and explain patterns of stopover clusters. The distribution of stopover clusters suggests rainwater basin wetlands and the Platte River may be used interchangeably by migrating whooping cranes. The Rainwater Basin and Platte River appear …

Mississippi Sandhill Crane Conservation Update, 2003–2005, Scott G. Hereford, Tracy E. Grazia

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The Mississippi sandhill crane (Grus canadensis pulla) is an endangered non-migratory subspecies found on and near the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Mississippi. From 2003 to 2005, conservation efforts for the recovery of this population included management activities such as protection and law enforcement, restocking, predator management, farming, prescribed burning, mechanical vegetation removal, hydrological restoration, pest plant management, and education. To maintain open savanna, 1842 hectares were burned annually, with 38% during the growing season. To restore open savanna, 506 hectares of woody vegetation were removed using mechanical methods. To bolster the population, we released 17-25 captive-reared …

Fish & Wildlife News: Winter 2008

Fish and Wildlife News

Contents:
Director’s Corner / 1
News / 3
Field Journal / 9
Landscape of Change / 10
Canine Companions / 18
The Battle for One House / 20
Miracle in the Berkshires / 22
Trading Places / 24
Around the Service / 28
Fish Tales / 39
Our People / 40
Transitions / 40
Honors / 41
In Memoriam / 44

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 9 2008, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Obituary: Terry Lamon Yates, 1950-2007., Robert J. Baker, David J. Schmidly, Joseph A. Cook, Jorge Salazar-Bravo, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

On December 11, 2007, the science of mammalogy lost one of its most valued and influential leaders. Terry Lamon Yates succumbed to complications of treatments for an aggressive form of brain cancer after a brief but courageous fight. He was born on March 17, 1950, in Mayfield, Kentucky, the older son of Ellen Wanda Byrd and William Hanley Yates. Terry’s only sibling was a brother, Johnny. He is survived by his wife Nancy Fennell Yates, his two sons, Brian Christopher and Michael Ryan, and daughter-in-law Laura Manchéno Macia.

Association Of Odor Measures With Annoyance: Results Of An Odor-Monitoring Field Study, Richard R. Stowell, Christopher G. Henry, Richard K. Koelsch, Dennis D. Schulte

Nebraska Swine Reports

Multiple assessments of ambient odor were made by trained individuals around a swine finishing operation in eastern Nebraska. Assessor responses were analyzed to determine relationships between field odor measurements/ ratings and ratings of annoyance potential, and to identify candidate measurement threshold values for causing annoyance. The likelihood of annoyance increased as odors became more offensive, intense, and concentrated, with r² values of 0.89, 0.81, and 0.64, respectively. Candidate thresholds were sought to delineate both “any degree of stated annoyance" and "consequential annoyance," defined as likely causing a change in behavior or activity level and instilling some memory of the …

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln Agricultural Research Division 122nd Annual Report July 1, 2007 To June 30, 2008, Institute Of Agriculture And Natural Resources

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

Our Mission ..... 4

Foreword..... 5

Faculty Awards and Recognitions.... 6

Graduate Student Awards and Recognitions...10

Undergraduate Honors Student Research Program...14

Variety and Germplasm Releases....15

Patents.....17

Administration..... 18

Administrative Personnel.... 18

Organizational Chart....19

Administrative Units....20

IANR Research Facilities.... 21

Faculty..... 22

Agricultural/Natural Resources Units... 23

Education and Human Sciences Departments...33

Off-Campus Research Centers....34

Interdisciplinary Activities....35

Visiting Scientists/Research Associates....36

Research Projects..... 43

Agricultural/Natural Resources Units... 43

Education and Human Sciences Departments...48

Off-Campus Research Centers....49

Interdisciplinary Activities ....50

Publications.....51

Agricultural/Natural Resources Units... 57

Education and Human Sciences Departments...77

Off-Campus Research Centers....80

Research Expenditures....82

Management Of Lands Along The Platte River From Elm Creek To Lexington, Nebraska, As Crane Habitat, James J. Jenniges, Mark M. Peyton

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

To meet Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license requirements for the operation of 5 hydroelectric power plants on the North Platte and Platte Rivers in Nebraska, the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) and The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (Central) together have become the second largest owners and managers of lands for the conservation of endangered species and migratory waterbirds along the central reach of the Platte River. We describe here the management activities on the properties, success of the management in achieving objectives, and the response of sandhill (Grus canadensis) and whooping cranes (G. …

Terrestrial Habitat Use Of Marbled Salamanders Ambystoma Opacum: A Site Specific Approach, Frank Piccininni

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation have contributed heavily to the decline of amphibian populations such as Marbled Salamanders (Ambystoma opacum). Often, ambystomatid water resources are conserved without consideration for the equally important terrestrial habitat. This is partly due to a lack of information regarding the relationship between ecological succession, plant community composition, microhabitat and salamander abundance. Three sampling transects consisting of drift fence arrays, vegetation assessments and microhabitat surveys were extended 100 m into the terrestrial habitat surrounding a seasonal wetland at Beech Fork State Park in Wayne County, West Virginia. Principal components analysis was used to identify …

Ontogenetic Changes In Feeding Morphology And Diet In The Chiselmouth Minnow, Acrocheilus Alutaceus, Corrie Murray

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The chiselmouth minnow (Acrocheilus alutaceus) is an herbivorous fish endemic to freshwater systems of the Pacific Northwest and abundant in mid-reaches of the Yakima River, WA. Uncommon in temperate streams, herbivorous fish are ecologically important because they provide a direct link between primary production and fish biomass. Chiselmouth minnows undergo ontogenetic morphological changes as they transform from insectivore to herbivore, the lower jaw becomes flattened, calcified and hardened for scraping algae and the intestine grows long for digestion. The timing of these changes in relation to diet and ecological status are poorly understood. By quantifying changes in jaw …

Tribute: In Memoriam, Jeheskel "Hezy" Shoshani, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The elephant community has lost one of its great ambassadors, Dr. Jeheskel "Hezy" Shoshani, at the age of 65. A wave of condolences and testimonials from colleagues and friends around the world followed his death on May 21, 2008.

Calf Development: Most Births At Night, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

For many years, field researchers studying both African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximas) elephants have indicated that they have observed relatively few births in situ, suggesting that most elephant dams give birth at night. For example, according to Cynthia Moss, "Possibly the majority of births occur at night and perhaps those that do take place in the daytime happen in secluded places" (1988, p. 151). Others, for example, Clive Spinage, have referred to "the old beliefs that the cows retreated to 'calving grounds' or that birth took place at night." (Spinage, 1994, p. 90). Although …

Supplementing Beef Cows Grazing Cornstalk Residue With A Distillers Based Cube, Zachary Hall, Richard J. Rasby, Mark Dragastin

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

A 4-year study is being conducted to determine the effect of excess undegrad¬able intake protein supplementation using a cube that is 2/3 dried distillers grains (DDG) to beef cows in late gesta¬tion on cow and calf performance and the performance of heifer calves whose dams were supplemented with protein. Feeding a supplement containing DDG did not influence calf birth and wean¬ing weights, cow body weight prior to calving, and calving interval. Cow body condition score and percentage of cows cyclic prior to breeding increased for supplemented cows.

Effects Of Distillers Grains And Manure Management On Nutrient Management Plans And Economics, Virgil R. Bremer, Richard K. Koelsch, Raymond E. Massey, Galen E. Erickson

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

Feed Nutrient Management Plan Economics software (FNMP$; Koelsch et al., 2007; available at http://cnmp.unl.edu under software resources) was used to evaluate the effect of distillers grains inclusion and manure application rate on feedlot nutrient management plans. Inclusion of distillers grains in diets resulted in greater nutrient excretion, land requirements, and manure hauling distances. However, the increased cost of manure management from feeding byproducts has the potential to be offset by increased manure fertilizer value. Changing from N-based to a P-based application rate increased the amount of land required and costs to apply manure. However, when manure was applied at a …

Mating Systems, Copulatory Organ Size, And Scaling Relationship In Mollies (Poecilia Spp.), Martha Divver, Eric T. Schultz

EEB Articles

Copulatory organs rapidly evolve and are subject to complex selective pressures affecting mating success. One feature of copulatory organs that is subject to such selective pressures is size. Benefits of longer organs may include greater signal effectiveness in courtship and longer ‘reach’ when attempting copulations with evasive females. Costs of longer organs may include impaired locomotion, increased energetic cost or reduced mechanical compatibility with female genitalia. The optimal size for a copulatory organ may vary with mating behavior. The objective of this study is to examine among-species variability in copulatory organ size, body size and the relationship between copulatory organ …

Predicting Aged Beef Tenderness With A Hyperspectral Imaging System, Lauren M. Grimes, Govindarajan Konda Naganathan, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Chris R. Calkins

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

A hyperspectral imaging apparatus was developed to predict, at 2-day postmortem, the 14 day aged tenderness of beef. USDA Choice and Select grade longissimus steaks (n = 314) from between the 12th and 13th ribs were scanned at 2 days postmortem, vacuum packaged, aged to 14 days, and frozen. For tenderness determination, steaks were thawed overnight, scanned, cooked in an impingement oven, and slice shear force values were obtained. The model predicted three tenderness categories (tender, intermediate, tough) with 77.1% accuracy, and two tenderness categories (acceptable, tough) with 93.7% accuracy. This hyperspectral imaging system was effective in predicting 14-day aged …

Statistics Used In The Nebraska Beef Report And Their Purpose

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

The purpose of beef cattle and beef product research at UNL is to provide reference information that represents the various populations (cows, calves, heifers, feeders, carcasses, retail products, etc.) of beef production. Obviously, the researcher cannot apply treatments to every member of a population; therefore, he or she must sample the population. The use of statistics allows the researcher and readers of the Nebraska Beef Report the opportunity to evaluate separation of random (chance) occurrences and real biological effects of a treatment. Following is a brief description of the major statistics used in the beef report. For a more detailed …

Engineer Cantonment, Missouri Territory, 1819-1820: America's First Biodiversity Ineventory, Hugh H. Genoways, Brett C. Ratcliffe

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

It is our thesis that members of the Stephen Long Expedition of 1819-20 completed the first biodiversity inventory undertaken in the United States at their winter quarters, Engineer Cantonment, Missouri Territory, in the modern state of Nebraska. This accomplishment has been overlooked both by biologists and historians, but it should rank among the most significant accomplishments of the expedition. The results of this inventory allow us to evaluate the environmental, faunal, and floral changes along the Missouri River in the intervening nearly 190 years. The historical records form a visual image of a dynamic riverine system in which a highly …

A Proposed Role For Vegf Isoforms In Sex-Specific Vasculature Development In The Gonad, Rebecca Bott, Debra T. Clopton, Andrea S. Cupp

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Many scientists have expended efforts to determine what regulates development of an indifferent gonad into either a testis or ovary. Expression of Sry and upregulation of Sox9 are factors that initiate formation of the testis-specific pathway to allow for both sex-specific vasculature and seminiferous cord formation. Migration of mesonephric precursors of peritubular myoid cells and endothelial cells into the differentiating testis is a critical step in formation of both of these structures. Furthermore, these events appear to be initiated downstream from Sry expression. Sertoli cell secretion of growth factors acts to attract these mesonephric cells. One hypothesis is that a …

A New Heat Load Index For Feedlot Cattle, J. B. Gaughan, Terry L. Mader, S. M. Holt, A. Lisle

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

The ability to predict the effects of extreme climatic variables on livestock is important in terms of welfare and performance. An index combining temperature and humidity (THI) has been used for more than 4 decades to assess heat stress in cattle. However, the THI does not include important climatic variables such as solar load and wind speed (WS, m/s). Likewise, it does not include management factors (the effect of shade) or animal factors (genotype differences). Over 8 summers, a total of 11,669 Bos taurus steers, 2,344 B. taurus crossbred steers, 2,142 B. taurus × Bos indicus steers, and 1,595 B. …

Evaluation And Application Of The Cpm Dairy Nutrition Model, L. O, Tedeschi, W. Chalupa, E. Janczewski, D. G. Fox, C. Sniffen, R. Munson, Paul J. Kononoff, R. Boston

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

The Cornell-Penn-Miner (CPM) Dairy is an applied mathematical nutrition model that computes dairy cattle requirements and the supply of energy and nutrients based on characteristics of the animal, the environment and the physicochemical composition of the feeds under diverse production scenarios. The CPM Dairy was designed as a steady-state model to use rates of degradation of feed carbohydrate and protein and the rate of passage to estimate the extent of ruminal fermentation, microbial growth, and intestinal digestibility of carbohydrate and protein fractions in computing energy and protein post-rumen absorption, and the supply of metabolizable energy and protein to the animal. …

Effect Of Feeding Das-59122-7 Corn Grain And Nontransgenic Corn Grain To Individually Fed Finishing Steers, T. J. Huls, G. E. Erickson, T. J. Klopfenstein, Matt K. Luebbe, K. J. Vander Pol, D. W. Rice, B. Smith, M. Hinds, F. Owens, M. Liebergesell

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

An experiment was conducted to evaluate feeding transgenic corn containing the cry34Ab1 and cry35Ab1 genes from a Bacillus thuringiensis strain and the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (pat) gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes to finishing cattle compared with nontransgenic corn. Expression of the cry34Ab1 and cry35Ab1 genes confers resistance to corn rootworms, and the pat gene confers tolerance to herbicides containing glufosinate-ammonium. Sixty crossbred steers (396 kg) were individually fed either transgenic corn (DAS-59122-7; 59122), a near-isogenic, nontransgenic control (Control), and a conventional, nontransgenic corn for 109 d to evaluate nutritional equivalency (20 steers/treatment). The corn was coarsely rolled (geometric mean diameter = 4,200 …

Dissection Of A Qtl Hotspot On Mouse Distal Chromosome 1 That Modulates Neurobehavioral Phenotypes And Gene Expression, Khyobeni Mozhui, Daniel C. Bastiaansen, Thomas Schikorski, Xusheng Wang, Lu Lu, Robert W. Williams

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

A remarkably diverse set of traits maps to a region on mouse distal chromosome 1 (Chr 1) that corresponds to human Chr 1q21–q23. This region is highly enriched in quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that control neural and behavioral phenotypes, including motor behavior, escape latency, emotionality, seizure susceptibility (Szs1), and responses to ethanol, caffeine, pentobarbital, and haloperidol. This region also controls the expression of a remarkably large number of genes, including genes that are associated with some of the classical traits that map to distal Chr 1 (e.g., seizure susceptibility). Here, we ask whether this QTL-rich region on Chr 1 …

Microarray Analysis Reveals Distinctive Signaling Between The Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis, Nucleus Accumbens, And Dorsal Striatum, Christopher M. Olsen, Yong Pandey, Shirlean Goodwin, Daniel C. Ciobanu, Lu Lu, Thomas R. Sutter, Danny G. Winder

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Microarray analysis reveals distinctive signaling between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, nucleus accumbens, and dorsal striatum. Physiol Genomics 32: 283–298, 2008. First published October 2, 2006; doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00224.2006.—To identify distinct transcriptional patterns between the major subcortical dopamine targets commonly studied in addiction we studied differences in gene expression between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and dorsal striatum (dStr) using microarray analysis. We first tested for differences in expression of genes encoding transcripts for common neurotransmitter systems as well as calcium binding proteins routinely used in neuroanatomical delineation of brain regions. This a priori …

Block And Bridle Annual, 2008

Block and Bridle Annual (1933–2021)

Table of Contents:

Letter from President
From the Department Head
Letter from Historian
2008 Block and Bridle Honoree: Jay Wolf
Animal Science Faculty
  Block & Bridle Members
Block & Bridle Officers
Block & Bridle Initiates
Block & Bridle Advisors
Block & Bridle Senior Tributes
2007 Honors Banquet
2007 Block & Bridle Awards
2007-2008 Calendar of Events
Treasurer’s Report
Initial Meeting Secretary's Report
Programs
Socials
Big Red Welcome
State Fair Beef Pit
Steak Fry
National Convention
Little AK-SAR-BEN
Little AK-SAR-BEN Winners
Kid’s Day
Big Red Beef Show
State FFA
Block & Bridle Honoree Trip
Livestock Judging Team
Meats Judging Team
MAEC …

Annual Review Of The World Pheasant Association 2007/2008, World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

Chairman of Trustees' report, G. R.(Dick) Potts

Treasurer's report for the year ended April 30, 2008, Peter Bond

Welcome, Philip J. K. McGowan

Report from the European Conservation Breeding Group, John Corder

Specialist groups: Global networks of technical excellence

WPA around the world: Highlights from the chapters

The European Galliformes census, Siro Serena

The importance of making regular galliform census returns, Natalie Clark and Simon Mayes

Guidelines for the re-introduction of Galliformes for conservation purposes, Philip J. K. McGowan

Making the best use of our resources: planning for effective action, Philip J. K. McGowan

WPA's Fourth International Galliformes Symposium; held …

High Rate Of Recent Transposable Element–Induced Adaptation In Drosophila Melanogaster, Josefa Gonzalez, Kapa Lenkov, Mikhail Lipatov, J. Michael Macpherson, Dmitri A. Petrov

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Although transposable elements (TEs) are known to be potent sources of mutation, their contribution to the generation of recent adaptive changes has never been systematically assessed. In this work, we conduct a genome-wide screen for adaptive TE insertions in Drosophila melanogaster that have taken place during or after the spread of this species out of Africa. We determine population frequencies of 902 of the 1,572 TEs in Release 3 of the D. melanogaster genome and identify a set of 13 putatively adaptive TEs. These 13 TEs increased in population frequency sharply after the spread out of Africa. We argue that …

Chapter 2: Use Of Distillers Co-Products In Diets Fed To Beef Cattle, Terry J. Klopfenstein, Galen E. Erickson, Virgil R. Bremer

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Consumers in the United States purchase 64 pounds of beef per year. That beef is considered “high quality” by international standards. In the distant past in the United States, beef was produced with forages, and it still is in most countries of the world today. Beef cattle are ruminants and therefore are able to convert grasses, hays, and crop residues into tasty, nutritious meat. Even today in the United States, about 80% to 90% of the feed required to produce “grain-fed” beef is forage. The U.S. beef produced today is “high quality” because the cattle are fed corn just prior …

Effects Of Prebreeding Body Weight Or Progestin Exposure Before Breeding On Beef Heifer Performance Through The Second Breeding Season, J. L. Martin, K. W. Creighton, Jacqueline A. Musgrave, Terry J. Klopfenstein, R. T. Clark, Don C. Adams, Richard N. Funston

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Two experiments evaluated prebreeding target BW or progestin exposure for heifers developed lighter than traditional recommendations. Experiment 1 evaluated the effects of the system on heifer performance through subsequent calving and rebreeding over 3 yr. Heifers (229 kg) were assigned randomly to be developed to 55% of mature BW (299 kg) before a 45-d breeding season (intensive, INT; n = 119) or 50% of mature BW (272 kg) before a 60-d breeding season (relaxed, RLX; n = 142). Prebreeding and pregnancy diagnosis BW were greater (P ≤ 0.006) for INT than RLX heifers. Overall pregnancy rate did not differ (88.4%; …