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Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Management: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

Executive Summary

• Two new Weed Sentry research assistants were hired.
• Weed Sentry staff surveyed for exotic species on 89 miles of roads on NPS and BLM land and treated more than 21,000 exotic plants in incipient populations.
• A grid-based rare plant monitoring method was tested this quarter.
• A manuscript detailing vegetation succession on a water pipeline at Lake Mead NRA was submitted for review to the journal Crossosoma.
• New integrative projects undertaken this quarter included establishing a competition study between a native grass and the exotic Sahara mustard, salvaging plants for research purposes from private sites with permission from landowners, …

Varietal Role In The Management Of The Larger Grain Borer, Prostephanus Truncatus (Horn) In Stored Maize, C. P. Rugumamu

Tanzania Journal of Science

The study determined the amount of haemolymph vitellogenin (Vg) of the Larger Grain Borer (LGB), Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) vitellogenic females reared on different maize varieties. The varieties were ZM 521, ZM 421, ECAVL1-DLN, WEEVIL A, LOCAL 1 and LOCAL 2. Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate-Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS - PAGE) was conducted on the insect haemolymph. F1 LGB adults from each variety were used to determine Indices of Susceptibility (IS) of the varieties to the insect pest attack. Percentages of Vg from female insects and IS were in the order ZM 521>ZM 421> ECAVL1-DLN>WEEVIL A >LOCAL 1>LOCAL 2. Weight …

Evaluating The Performance Of Leucaena Accessions For Agroforestry In Sub-Humid Environment, Southern Tanzania, A. E. Majule

Tanzania Journal of Science

The performance of Leucaena accessions on acid soils in eastern coast Tanzania for agroforestry was evaluated for three years. Plant tree parameters assessed were fodder yield and plant stem height, stem girth, the number of total branches and poles production. Also, Leucaena psyllid, a common pest threatening the plants was also counted. Soil parameters assessed were pH organic carbon, total nitrogen, exchangeable calcium and magnesium. Result showed significant difference in growth between Leucaena accessions. Leucaena leucocephal cv K8 and Leucaena diversifolia were able to grow fast reaching 4.7 and 3.3 m respectively within a period of three years. Leucaena diversifolia …

Vegetation Structure And Heavy Metal Uptake By Plants In The Mining-Impacted And Non Mining-Impacted Sites Of Southern Lake Victoria Wetlands, G. Y. S. Mtui, C. Mligo, M. K. D. Mutakyahwa, J. R. Ikingura

Tanzania Journal of Science

This study assessed the plant species composition and the heavy metal uptake by plants in the mining-impacted and non mining-impacted areas of the southern Lake Victoria basin. The vegetation of the wetlands was stratified into riverine forest, riverine thickets, swampy grassland, open woodland and floodplain grassland. Plant diversity at Nyamtukuza ranged between 2.34 to 2.70; at Geita was 2.29 to 2.57 and Mwakitolyo was between 1.08 to 1.70, which was significantly lower than the other two sites; whereas variation in plant species richness was not significant. TWINSPAN classification resulted into four clusters of the vegetation communities. Cluster A, a shrubby …

Biomass Estimation And Classification Of Secondary Succession Using Radar And Optical Remote Sensing Data Based On Textural And Spectral Analysis In Amazonia, Ping Jiang

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Deforestation that happened during past decades in the Amazon Basin has been potentially affecting the global climate and carbon-cycle by contributing a vast amount of carbon into the atmosphere. Above-ground biomass (AGB) estimation of secondary successional and mature forests using remote sensing technology has been attracting scientists' attention. Optical sensor data are sensitive to forest canopies only, and therefore have limitations in AGB estimation, especially for tropical forests with complex structures and abundant species. Radar signals have the ability to penetrate canopies to detect the sub-layers of forests, and therefore potentially have a better performance in AGB estimation. Based on …

Spring Ephemeral Plant Diversity As It Relates To Gap Dynamics In Vigo County, Indiana, Jodi K. Farrell Sparks

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the course of 25 years, plant specimens from several local locations have been collected and deposited into the Indiana State University (ISU) Herbarium by plant taxonomy students. The locations of some of these plots were reestablished in the spring of 2004. In each plot, all woody and spring herbaceous plants were collected from 26 February 2004 to 12 May 2004. These specimens were identified and compared to previous collections to examine species change in the context of gap dynamics. I compiled a species list for each plot and each preserve. Objectives for this thesis were to document plant diversity …

Evaluating Diet Composition Of Pronghorn In Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, Christopher N. Jacques, Jaret D. Sievers, Jonathan A. Jenks, Chad L. Sexton, Daniel E. Roddy

The Prairie Naturalist

The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) was reintroduced into Wind Cave National Park (WCNP), South Dakota, in 1914, and thus, has inhabited the Park for nearly a century. During the 1990's, a decline in the population raised concern for the continued existence of pronghorn inside WCNP; an investigation into the observed decline was initiated. Primary objectives of our study were to evaluate diet composition and forage selection by pronghorn in WCNP. Microhistological analysis was conducted on 58 fecal samples collected opportunistically from pronghorn during 2002. Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), common juniper (Juniperus communis), and northern bedstraw …

The Prairie Naturalist, Volume 38, 2006: Reviewers, Author Index, And Subject Index, Elmer J. Finck, Hilary Gillock

The Prairie Naturalist

The list of reviewers, author index, and subject index for volume 38 (2006) of The Prairie Naturalist published by the Great Plains Natural Science Society out of Fort Hays State University in Kansas, United States.

Amphibians And Reptiles In A Mixed-Grass Prairie In Northwestern North Dakota, Robert K. Murphy, Robert F. Danley, Patricia K. Moore

The Prairie Naturalist

There have been almost no surveys of herpetofauna at 109 km² Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge (LNWR) or surrounding counties in northwestern North Dakota, an area possibly undergoing significant environmental change from fossil fuel extraction and use. We used 30 m drift fences to survey amphibian and reptile species in prairie-wetland transition zones at LNWR during mid-May to early-July in 1985 to 1987, and again in 1999 and 2000. We captured only four amphibian and two reptilian species and noted one other reptilian species incidental to our survey. Several species expected to occur in the area were not detected.

The Prairie Naturalist, Volume 38, Number 4, December 2006, Elmer J. Finck, Hilary Gillock

The Prairie Naturalist

Full issue of The Prairie Naturalist (December 2006), volume 38, number 4.

Amphibians and Reptiles in a MixedGrass Prairie in Northwestern North Dakota by Robert K. Murphy, Robert F. Danley, and Patricia K. Moore, pages 207-212

Morphometrics of Six Turtle Species from South Dakota by Sarah J. Bandas and Kenneth F. Higgins, pages 213-222

Evaluation of Habitat Enhancement Structure Use by Spotted Bass by Stanley L. Proboszcz and Christopher S. Guy, pages 223-238

Evaluating Diet Composition of Pronghorn in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota by Christopher N. Jacques , Jaret D. Sievers, Jonathan A. Jenks, Chad L. Sexton, and …

Kfgc Forage Spokesman Contest, Todd A. Clark, Farms, Inc., Robey Farms

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

New Options For Extending Grazing, Edward N. Ballard

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Feed costs represent the major cost in most livestock production systems. A recently completed analysis of 225 Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) Beef Cow Records on herds in Illinois and Iowa showed that feed cost was the overriding factor determining profitability, explaining over 57 percent of the herd-to-herd variation.

Dollars & Cents Of Intensive Grazing, Kenneth H. Burdine

Kentucky Grazing Conference

A rotational grazing system can generally be defined as the use of several pastures with one being grazed while the others are rested. On the contrary, conventional or continuous grazing systems allow livestock access to the entire pasture area and let them decide where, what, and how long to graze. In most cases, Kentucky pastures employing continuous grazing systems are too large for efficient management and forage utilization. In such instances, cattle overgraze more palatable forages and areas close to shade and water, while other sections of the pasture are underutilized. This leads to lower animal output per acre than …

Uk Horse Pasture Evaluation Program, Tom Keene, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The University of Kentucky is developing stronger ties with the state’s horse industry in the areas of research, extension and teaching. Many horse farms in the bluegrass region are interested in UK’s assistance with pasture evaluation. During the fall of 2005 a team from the UK Forage Extension Program (Ray Smith, Tom Keene, Jesse Morrison, Gabriel Roberts) conducted a pilot project to evaluate horse pastures on 14 central KY farms. One of the focuses of the pilot was the evaluation of pastures for percent tall fescue and the potential of fescue stands to cause fescue toxicity in pregnant broodmares. We …

Managing Pasture Growth And Quality With Grazing, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Grazing Conference

One of the keys to profitable livestock production is to minimize the costs of producing a marketable animal or animal product. Feed costs are commonly 70-80 percent of the cost of growing or maintaining an animal. Pastures provide feed at a cost of .01-.02 cents/lb of TDN while hay costs .04-.06 cents/lb TDN. Improved pasture management offers the single greatest opportunity to lower production costs, assuming that animal genetics, health, marketing procedures, and other areas of management have been addressed. A primary goal of livestock producers should be to utilize grazed forage for as many months of the year as …

Everyday Cattle Graze Is Money Saved, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Grazing Conference

During one of my first visits to New Zealand over twenty years ago, I had the opportunity to visit many different dairy, beef, sheep and deer farms. While visiting a dairy farm, I remember the farmer telling me about his grazing program and their goal to “optimize grazing and minimize stored feed.” I remember him saying, “everyday grazed is money saved”. I admit, the reality of that statement didn’t truly sink in that day; but over the years, the truth of what he said has not only “sunk in” but has been reinforced by visits to other farms literally around …

Bermudagrass In Kentucky, David C. Ditsch

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Interest in bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers] is increasing in Kentucky as livestock producers continue their search for warm-season perennial forages capable of filling in the mid-summer growth slump we commonly experience with our traditional cool-season grasses. This is partially due to the recent availability of seeded bermudagrass varieties with improved winter hardiness thereby reducing establishment cost and increasing the odds of success.

Grazing Corn, Chad Lee

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Grazing is the cheapest form of feed for cattle. While perennial grasses and alfalfa are reliable components to a grazing system, another component could be corn.

Grazing corn is an option for a couple of situations: 1) as a bridge crop when pasture renovation is needed, and 2) as an insurance crop in an overall grazing system.

Forages On The Web, Scott Flynn

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Foreword And Kfgc Award Winners [2006], Garry D. Lacefield, Christi L. Forsythe

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

The Circuitous Path To The Comparison Of Simulated Values From Crop Models With Field Observations, Albert Weiss, Wally Wilhelm

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge has been a fixture in dissemination of crop simulation models and the concepts and data upon which they are built since the inception of computers and computer modeling in the mid-20th century. To quantify the performance of a crop simulation model, model outputs are compared with observed values using statistical measures of bias, i.e. the difference between simulated and observed values. While applying these statistical measures is unambiguous for the experienced user, the same cannot always be said of determining the observed or simulated values. For example, differences in accessing crop development can be …

Alstroemeria, Aileen Reid

Bulletins 4000 -

About 60 species of Alstroemeria grow wild in South America, in habitats ranging from the snowline of the Andes and high mountain plateaus down through the highland forests to the coastal deserts.

A member of the lily family, Alstroemeria grows from a rhizome that also develops tuberous storage outgrowths and fleshy roots. The aerial shoots can be either vegetative or reproductive. Normally shoots that have unfolded more than 30 leaves will not flower and remain vegetative.

The leaves of Alstroemeria are unusual in that they rotate through 180 degrees as they unfold, so that the upper surface becomes the lower …

Water Supplies For Horticulture In The Lower Great Southern, D J. Mcfarlane Dr, Ruhi Ferdowsian, Arjen Ryder

Bulletins 4000 -

No abstract provided.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Management: Final Close-Out Report, Time Period: October 1, 2005 To September 30, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

The National Park Service (NPS) at Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAME) entered into a cooperative agreement with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to accomplish vegetation monitoring and management activities. This report summarizes activities that took place by UNLV under this task agreement between October 1, 2005, and September 30, 2006. The activities included:

• Weed Sentry mapping and treating incipient populations of exotic invasive plants throughout Clark County, including along shorelines of Lakes Mead and Mohave;
• Monitoring of targeted rare native plant species;
• Sahara mustard research; and
• Providing technical assistance upon request to the NPS vegetation manager.

In …

Ecophysiology Of Two Native Invasive Woody Species And Two Dominant Warm-Season Grasses In The Semiarid Grasslands Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Kathleen D. Eggemeyer, Tala Awada, David A. Wedin, F. Edwin Harvey, Xinhua Zhou

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Populations of Pinus ponderosa and Juniperus virginiana are expanding into semiarid Sandhills grasslands in Nebraska. To evaluate the physiological basis of their success, we measured the seasonal course of leaf gas exchange, plant water status, and carbon isotope discrimination in these two native trees and two native C₄ grasses (Schizachyrium scoparium and Panicum virgatum). Compared to the trees, grasses had higher net photosynthetic rates (A_net) and water use efficiency (WUE) and more negative predawn and midday water potentials (Ψ) in June and July. While leaf Ψ and rates of leaf gas exchange declined for all …

Habitat Characteristics Of Spring Blackbird Roosts In East-Central South Dakota, H. Jeffrey Homan, Richard S. Sawin, George M. Linz, William J. Bleier

The Prairie Naturalist

In the northern Great Plains, blackbirds (Icteridae) roost almost exclusively in emergent-dominated wetlands. The physical characteristics of wetland roosts are not well understood. From March 20 to April 20, 1999, we studied 16 wetlands used as blackbird roosts in east-central South Dakota. Six wetlands had major roosts (range: 102,000-298,000 blackbirds); whereas, 10 wetlands had minor roosts (range: 2,010-34,000 blackbirds). Maximum roost size was correlated directly with emergent vegetation area (P = 0.05) and possibly with wetland basin area (P ≤ 0.10). Water depths were greater at used sites within wetlands of major roosts (median = 44 cm) than …

The Prairie Naturalist, Volume 38, Number 3, September 2006, Elmer J. Finck, Hilary Gillock

The Prairie Naturalist

The Prairie Naturalist (September 2006) 38(3)

Editor: Elmer J. Finck

Assistant editor: Hilary Gillock

Great Plains Natural Science Society

Artificial Burrows and the Deer Mouse: Do Number of Entrances Influence Use? GLENNIS A. KAUFMAN1 and DONALD W. KAUFMAN, pages 145-154

Evaluating Genetic Viability of Pronghorn in Wind Cave National Park JONATHAN A. JENKSi , CHRISTOPHER N. JACQUES, JARET D. SIEVERS, ROBERT W. KLAVER, R. TERRY BOWYER, and DANIEL E. RODDY, pages 155-165

Age Structure and Reproductive Activity of the Blue Sucker in the Milk River, Missouri River Drainage, Montana JULIE BEDNARSKl1 and DENNIS L. SCARNECCHIA, pages 167-182

Habitat Characteristics of …

Current Status And 25 Year Trends For Soil Acidity, Fertility And Salinity In The Coastal Catchments Of The Peel-Harvey, Robert Summers, David Weaver

All other publications

The current status and trends of soil analyses in the coastal catchment of the Peel Harvey estuary were developed from historical soil data (1982 to 1991) combined with a renewed sampling to greater depth (1 m). This report encompasses the data collected from the first year of the project. Soil phosphorus content was found to be high but has dropped slightly since 1991. Soil pH is very low and is likely to be limiting production but have risen slightly since 1991. Soil potassium content is generally so low that it may be limiting production especially to the west of the …

Reviews: Natural History Of Javelinas; And Three Dvds On Bats, Louis A. Harveson, Jean Legge

The Prairie Naturalist

Reviews of Javelinas: Collared Peccaries of the Southwest (2006) by Jane Manaster, Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, Texas, 85 pages (review by Louis A. Harveson) and of The Secret World of Bats (DVD), Building Homes for Bats (DVD), and Kids Discover Bats (DVD) (2005) published by Bat Conservation International (review by Jean Legge).

First Record Of The Least Shrew In Wyoming; And Clostridium Perfingens Type A Enterotoxemia In A Captive Adult White-Tailed Deer, Shauna R. Marquardt, Brian C. Bartels, Cheryl A. Schmidt, Joshua A. Delger, Kevin L. Monteith, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

First Record of the Leaast Shrew in Wyoming by Shauna R. Marquardt, Brian C. Bartels, and Cheryl A. Schmidt; and Clostridium perfingens Type A Enterotoxemia in a Captive Adult White-tailed Deer by Joshua A. Delger , Kevin L. Monteith, and Jonathan A. Jenks.