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Center For Grassland Studies Newsletter, Spring 2008, Volume 14, No. 2

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents:

Restricted Feeding Can Improve Performance of Growing Steers Prior to Grazing on Burned Native Flint Hills Pasture by Chad Anglin, Dale Blasi, KC Olson, Chris Reinhardt, Marc Epp, Rodney Derstein, and Brian Barnhardt, Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Kansas State University

UNL Study Reports on the Cost of Growing Switchgrass as Ethanol Feedstock by Brian Williams and Richard Perrin, Department of Agricultural Economics, UNL

Water Is Focus of Prairie Conference

Professional Golf Management Highlights

2008 Nike Golf Camp in Lincoln This July

Program for 2008 Nebraska Grazing Conference

The Nebraska Range Shortcourse

2008 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report Available …

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter, Spring 2008, University Of Northern Iowa. Tallgrass Prairie Center.

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter

Inside This Issue:

-- Lost Landscape Teachers Workshop
-- Native Seed Production Manual
-- Frost Seeding Natives
-- Spring Seminar Series: A Blooming Success
-- Recognizing Twenty Years of the Living Roadway Trust Fund
-- Prairie Arts
-- Prescribed Fire in Grasslands DVD Available
-- Seedling Identification Workshop
-- Student Employees Gain Experiences in Their Fields

Testing A Simple Field Method For Assessing Nitrate Removal In Riparian Zones, Philippe Vidon, Michael G. Dosskey

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

Being able to identify riparian sites that function better for nitrate removal from groundwater is critical to using efficiently the riparian zones for water quality management. For this purpose, managers need a method that is quick, inexpensive, and accurate enough to enable effective management decisions. This study assesses the precision and accuracy of a simple method using three ground water wells and one measurement date for determining nitrate removal characteristics of riparian buffer zones. The method is a scaled-down version of a complex field research method that consists of a large network of wells and piezometers monitored monthly for over …

The Mads-Domain Transcriptional Regulator Agamous-Like15 Promotes Somatic Embryo Development In Arabidopsis And Soybean, Dhiraj Thakare, Weining Tang, Kristine Hill, Sharyn E. Perry

Dartmouth Scholarship

The MADS-domain transcriptional regulator AGAMOUS-LIKE15 (AGL15) has been reported to enhance somatic embryo development when constitutively expressed. Here we report that loss-of-function mutants of AGL15, alone or when combined with a loss-of-function mutant of a closely related family member, AGL18, show decreased ability to produce somatic embryos. If constitutive expression of orthologs of AGL15 is able to enhance somatic embryo development in other species, thereby facilitating recovery of transgenic plants, then AGL15 may provide a valuable tool for crop improvement. To test this idea in soybean (Glycine max), a full-length cDNA encoding a putative ortholog of AGL15 was isolated from …

Sfa Gardens Newsletter, Spring 2008, Sfa Gardens, Stephen F. Austin State University

SFA Gardens Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Plant Community Response To Fire: A Chronosequence Study, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Fires are becoming more prevalent events across the landscape in the southwestern US. Over the next several decades the already arid southwest is predicted to become warmer and drier, with longer summers, and an increase of “extreme” weather events such as lightening inducing thunderstorms. While the “hotter and drier” forecast may indicate less abundant plant life, and thus less available biomass for fuel, exotic invasive plant species are becoming more dominant across the landscape with increases in human travel and commerce. Exotic species (particularly many of the invasive grasses) are adding fuel for the fires to burn when the annuals …

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Spring 2008, Lesley Defalco, E. Cayenne Engel, Scott R. Abella, Jessica E. Spencer, Jill E. Craig

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

Post-fire restoration, fire chronosequence study, Joint Fire Science update, Weed Sentry program and DNWR surveys

Location, Acceptance And Suitability Of Lepidopteran Stemborers Feeding On A Cultivated And Wild Host-Plant To The Endoparasitoid Cotesia Flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Meshack Obonyo, Fritz Schulthess, Juma Gerald, Onesmus Wanyama, Bruno Le Rü, Paul André Calatayud

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Maize fields in Africa are usually surrounded by land occupied by wild plants many of which harbor lepidopteran stemborer species not found on crops. It is not known if the exotic braconid parasitoid Cotesia flavipes, which was released in Kenya in 1993 against the invasive crambid Chilo partellus, searches for and attacks these borers in their natural habitats and whether they are suitable for parasitoid development. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between acceptance and suitability of six stemborer species attacking cultivated sorghum (C. partellus, Busseola fusca, Sesamia calamistis, and S. nonagrioides) or Napier grass (Busseola …

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, January 1— March 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Fence built.

• Seeds and plants obtained.

• Seeding experiment initiated at Goodsprings burn site.

• Three hundred twenty plants, comprising eight species, planted at the Goodsprings burn site on February 12, 2008.

• First of a series of Joint Fire Science update articles submitted to Mojave Applied Ecology Notes newsletter.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, January 1— March 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

Executive Summary

• The Weed Sentry program surveyed 104 miles of transportation corridors on federal land in Clark County for incipient populations of exotic plants.
• Seven manuscripts attained in-press or published status and two manuscripts were submitted for review this quarter. Among other in-press manuscripts, are one documenting Sahara mustard germination patterns (Western North American Naturalist), one assessing exotic species distributions in Clark County (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment), and another is a synthesis of burro effects on Mojave Desert vegetation (Environmental Management).
• Staff delivered four presentations this quarter at conferences or at agency meetings. Twenty-six Las Vegas bearpoppy sites were assessed …

Chloroplast Dna Analysis Of Putative Chestnut Chinquapin Hybrids, Sarah Emmalyne Kennedy

Honors Theses

The American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) has been reduced from a key canopy hardwood to an understory shrub by the chestnut blight disease. C. dentata shares similar morphological characteristics with the Allegheny chinquapin (C.pumila variety pumila) and the Ozark chinquapin (C.pumila variety ozarkensis). Before the chestnut blight epidemic, the easiest and most obvious means of separating species of American chestnut and chinquapins was based on habit or flower morphology. C.dentata existed as a large tree, while varieties of C. pumila existed as shrubs or small trees; C. dentata contains three nuts per bur, while varieties of C. pumila contain one …

Systems Approach Identifies An Organic Nitrogen-Responsive Gene Network That Is Regulated By The Master Clock Control Gene Cca1, Rodrigo A. Gutierrez, Trevor L. Stokes, Karen Thum, Xiaodong Xu, Mariana Obertello, Manpreet S. Katari, Milos Tanurdzic, Alexis Dean, Damion C. Nero, C Robertson Mcclung, Gloria M. Coruzzi

Dartmouth Scholarship

Understanding how nutrients affect gene expression will help us to understand the mechanisms controlling plant growth and development as a function of nutrient availability. Nitrate has been shown to serve as a signal for the control of gene expression in Arabidopsis. There is also evidence, on a gene-by-gene basis, that downstream products of nitrogen (N) assimilation such as glutamate (Glu) or glutamine (Gln) might serve as signals of organic N status that in turn regulate gene expression. To identify genome-wide responses to such organic N signals, Arabidopsis seedlings were transiently treated with ammonium nitrate in the presence or absence of …

Delineating Site-Specific Management Zones For Ph-Induced Iron Chlorosis, T. Kyaw, Richard B. Ferguson, Viacheslav I. Adamchuk, Dennis L. Mccallister, David B. Marx, D. D. Tarkalson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Iron chlorosis can limit crop yield, especially on calcareous soil. Typical management for iron chlorosis includes the use of iron fertilizers or chlorosis tolerant cultivars. Calcareous and non-calcareous soil can be interspersed within fields. If chlorosisprone areas within fields can be predicted accurately, site-specific use of iron fertilizers and chlorosis-tolerant cultivars might be more profitable than uniform management. In this study, the use of vegetation indices (VI) derived from aerial imagery, on-the-go measurement of soil pH and apparent soil electrical conductivity (EC_a) were evaluated for their potential to delineate chlorosis management zones. The study was conducted at six …

Adding Value To Swine Manure Through Accurate Prediction Of Organic Nitrogen Availability, Charles S. Wortman, Charles Shapiro, Aaron Nygren

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Animal manure contains organic and inorganic nitrogen. The inorganic N, which is mostly ammonium-N but nitrate-N can be significant in composted manure, is typically considered to be 100% plant available if there are not significant losses, especially due to volatilization of ammonia-N. The availability of organic N, which is mostly from undigested and partially digested plant material needs to be mineralized to become plant available, is less predictable. Field research was conducted in eastern Nebraska to improve the basis for estimating organic N availability from injected or incorporated swine manure and from surface applied composted and stockpiled FM. The factors …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colonies Affected By Plague, David J. Augustine, Marc R. Matchett, Theodore P. Toombs, Jack F. Cully, Tommy L. Johnson, J. G. Sidle

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

Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are a key component of the disturbance regime in semi-arid grasslands of central North America. Many studies have compared community and ecosystem characteristics on prairie dog colonies to grasslands without prairie dogs, but little is known about landscape-scale patterns of disturbance that prairie dog colony complexes may impose on grasslands over long time periods. We examined spatiotemporal dynamics in two prairie dog colony complexes in southeastern Colorado (Comanche) and northcentral Montana (Phillips County) that have been strongly influenced by plague, and compared them to a complex unaffected by plague in northwestern Nebraska (Oglala). …

Nebline, March 2008

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Eat Smart: How to Fill Up, Not Out!
Foods Which Help You Feel Full
Portion Control Tips
East Campus Walking Tour
All-America Selections for 2008
Easter Lily Care
Colony Collapse Disorder: Recent Loss of Hives a Mystery
Beginning Beekeeping 2-Day Workshop
Drain Flies
Voles
Rental Arrangements Changing with the Times Part 1 — Traditional Leases
Biosolids Improves Soil and Cuts Production Costs: Workshop March 3
Chemigation Training and Testing, March 6
Pioneer Farm Family Award Applications Due May 1
So You’re Considering an Orchard
Establishing a Commercial Vineyard
Plant Propagation: Grafting
Tiny Bites Total Big Calories!
Easy Deviled Eggs Recipe …

West Nile Virus Antibodies In Breeding North Dakota Icterids, Jennifer L. Newbrey, Wendy L. Reed

The Prairie Naturalist

Exotic infectious diseases can have devastating effects on the distribution and abundance ofnaYve wildlife species (Friend et al. 2001). West Nile Virus (WNV) is an exotic disease that was introduced into North America in 1999 and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of birds (Marra et al. 2004). The natural cycle of WNV involves Culex spp. mosquitoes as principle vectors and birds as principle hosts, although humans, horses, and other mammals can become incidental hosts (Lanciotti et al. 2000). Because the virus can be fatal, outbreaks have become a national health concern for the human population, an …

Review Of Basic Texas Birds: A Field Guide By Mark W. Lockwood, Thomas M. Langschied

The Prairie Naturalist

Texas has an incredible diversity of birds. This diversity is a result of its geographic location, size, and diversity of habitats. Given this wealth of birds, there is a wonderful opportunity in Texas for both residents and visitors alike to learn and appreciate the birdlife found there. Basic Texas Birds has been written to provide a foundation for anyone who is either new to bird-watching or has been bird-watching casually for several years. The book covers 161 commonly occurring birds in Texas and includes an additional 23 species that are considered Texas specialty birds, those that occur regularly in Texas …

The Prairie Naturalist. Volume 40, No. 112 March/June 2008, The Great Plains Natural Science Society

The Prairie Naturalist

LOW REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF MALLARDS IN A GRASSLAND-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE IN THE SANDHILLS OF NEBRASKA. J. A. Walker, Z. J. Cunningham, M. P. Vrtiska, S. E. Stephens, and L. A. Powell

USE OF PASSIVE INTEGRATED TRANSPONDERS IN HATCHLING TEXAS HORNED LIZARDS. S. E. Henke

INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND DISCHARGE ON REPRODUCTIVE TIMING OF COMMON CARP IN A NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS RIVER. T. Resseguie and S. Kelsch

RAPTOR USE OF ARTIFICIAL PERCHES AT NATURAL AREAS, CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO. G. Witmer, M. Pipas, P. Burke, D. Rouse, D. Dees, and K. Manci

WEST NILE VIRUS ANTIBODIES IN BREEDING NORTH DAKOTA ICTERIDS. …

Review Of Oology And Ralph's Talking Eggs By Carrol L. Henderson, Kristin R. Johnson

The Prairie Naturalist

Ralph Handsaker was an Iowan farmer whose "ravenous curiosity" (page 4) about the natural world inspired him to become an oologist, or egg collector. This book tells the story of Handsaker's eggs, contained in two large cabinets that remained hidden in the living room of his boarded-up house after his death in 1969, until they were rediscovered in 2003 and shown to the author, wildlife conservationist, and photographer, Carrol Henderson. Ralph's eggs can "talk" by virtue of Henderson's chronicle-using the eggs as guides-of not only Ralph's own passion for natural history and egg collecting, but also the history of conservation …

Influence Of Temperature And Discharge On Reproductive Timing Of Common Carp In A Northern Great Plains River, Tim Resseguie, Steve Kelsch

The Prairie Naturalist

Reproductive timing of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was examined in the Red River of the North and compared with environmental factors that might have triggered spawning during 1999 and 2000. We estimated spawn dates for individual common carp larvae collected in the drift by back-calculating from datc of capture and by accounting for developmental stage at capture and water temperature during the period of egg incubation. Reproductive timing was compared with discharge and water temperature to determine which of these likely might be a synchronizing cue for spawning of common carp in the Red River basin. In both years of …

Soybean Sowing Date: The Vegetative, Reproductive, And Agronomic Impacts, A. M. Bastidas, T. D. Setiyono, Achim Dobermann, Kenneth G. Cassman, Roger Wesley Elmore, George L. Graef, James E. Specht

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The sensitivity of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] main stem node accrual to ambient temperature has been documented in greenhouse-grown plants but not with field-grown plants in the north-central United States. Biweekly V-node and R-stage, stem node number, internode length, and other traits were quantified in an irrigated split-plot, four-replicate, randomized complete block experiment conducted in Lincoln, NE, in 2003–2004. Main plots were early-, mid-, late- May, and mid-June sowing dates. Subplots were 14 cultivars of maturity groups 3.0 to 3.9. Node appearance was surprisingly linear from V1 to R5, despite the large increase in daily temperature from early …

Review Of Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography By Douglas Carlson, Laura Erickson

The Prairie Naturalist

August 28, 2008, marks the centennial of Roger Tory Peterson's birth, and books related to the most prominent naturalist of the twentieth century have been sprouting up everywhere. I was disappointed that Douglas Carlson shied away from examining Peterson's personal life to provide insights into the forces and relationships that shaped, and were shaped by, this man so consumed with birds. Instead, Carlson focuses almost entirely on Peterson's work, writing, "Because his death is so recent, there are many who have a personal investment in his story; beyond a request for an interview, no attempts have been made to invade …

Breeding By The Snowy Plover In North Dakota And South Dakota, Carol Aron, Paul Van Ningten, Michael Rabenberg, Cheryl Jacobs, Greg Pavelka, Ricky D. Olson

The Prairie Naturalist

The snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) is a small shorebird that breeds on unvegetated beaches along coastlines, rivers, and alkaline lakes. In North America, its breeding distribution extends along the coasts of California, Oregon, and southern Washington, where the population is listed as federally threatened (USFWS 1993), and an interior population occurs on wetlands in western and central states and central Mexico (Page et al. 1995). There have been rare breeding reports in Montana, Wyoming, and Saskatchewan (Page et al. 1995), but no documented breeding records in North Dakota or South Dakota. However, the United States Army Corps of Engineers reported …

Raptor Use Of Artificial Perches At Natural Areas, City Of Fort Collins, Colorado, G. W. Witmer, Michael Pipas, Patrick Burke, David Rouse, Donna Dees, Karen Manci

The Prairie Naturalist

The black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) remains a critical element of the prairie ecosystem even though its numbers and occupied range have declined dramatically since the arrival of Europeans in North America (Antol in et al. 2002). Prairie dog colonies are used by many species of wildlife and help maintain high levels of biodiversity (Kotliar et al. 1999). In the urban-suburban setting, the occurrence of prairie dog colonies also provides opportunities for wildlife viewing and environmental education. Unfortunately, prairie dogs also can come into conflict with humans, especially in the urban-suburban setting, where they cause vegetation and property …

Low Reproductive Success Of Mallards In A Grassland-Dominated Landscape In The Sandhills Of Nebraska, Johann A. Walker, Zach J. Cunningham, Mark P. Vrtiska, Scott E. Stephens, Larkin Powell

The Prairie Naturalist

The Sandhills of Nebraska comprise approximately 5,000,000 ha of native grassland interspersed with numerous groundwater-fed wetlands. A substantial population of the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) nests in this region. Previous investigations of nest survival probability of ducks in the Sandhills have estimated surprisingly low rates of nest survival for a grassland-dominated landscape. These investigations were conducted on public lands and most nest searching took place near wetlands where activity of nest predators might be highest. We predicted that mallards would nest at varying distances from wetlands and that survival probability of a representative sample of duck nests would increase …

Release And Establishment Of Cotesia Flavipes For Biological Control Of Maize Stemborers In Zimbabwe, P. Chinwada, F. Schulthess, W. A. Overholt, P. Jowah, C. O. Omwega

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Five populations of the crambid stemborer Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and one of the noctuid borer Busseola fusca (Fuller) from Zimbabwe were evaluated for their suitability for immature development of the exotic braconid larval parasitoid Cotesia flavipes Cameron. Successful parasitoid development occurred only on C. partellus but parasitism as well as egg-to-adult development time did not vary among the five populations. Smallest parasitoid broods, and sex ratios as the proportion of female offspring, however, were produced with C. partellus from the Muzarabani area of Zimbabwe. Co. flavipes became successfully established in five out of eight locations, where it had been released …

Variation In Molybdenum Content Across Broadly Distributed Populations Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Is Controlled By A Mitochondrial Molybdenum Transporter (Mot1), Ivan Baxter, Balasubramaniam Muthukumar, Hyeong Cheol Park, Peter Buchner, Brett Lahner, John Danku, Keyan Zhao, Joohyun Lee, Malcolm J. Hawkesford, Mary Lou Guerinot, David E. Salt

Dartmouth Scholarship

Molybdenum (Mo) is an essential micronutrient for plants, serving as a cofactor for enzymes involved in nitrate assimilation, sulfite detoxification, abscisic acid biosynthesis, and purine degradation. Here we show that natural variation in shoot Mo content across 92 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions is controlled by variation in a mitochondrially localized transporter (Molybdenum Transporter 1 - MOT1) that belongs to the sulfate transporter superfamily. A deletion in the MOT1 promoter is strongly associated with low shoot Mo, occurring in seven of the accessions with the lowest shoot content of Mo. Consistent with the low Mo phenotype, MOT1 expression in low Mo accessions …

Effect Of Irrigation Amounts Applied With Subsurface Drip Irrigation On Corn Evapotranspiration, Yield, Water Use Efficiency, And Dry Matter Production In A Semiarid Climate, Jose O. Payero, David D. Tarkalson, Suat Irmak, Don Davison, James L. Petersen

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

Quantifying the local crop response to irrigation is important for establishing adequate irrigation management strategies. This study evaluated the effect of irrigation applied with subsurface drip irrigation on field corn (Zea mays L.) evapotranspiration (ETc), yield, water use efficiencies (WUE = yield/ETc, and IWUE = yield/irrigation), and dry matter production in the semiarid climate of west central Nebraska. Eight treatments were imposed with irrigation amounts ranging from 53 to 356 mmin 2005 and from 22 to 226mmin 2006. A soil water balance approach (based on FAO-56) was used to estimate daily soil water and ETc. Treatments resulted in seasonal …

Alfalfa: Forage Crop Of The Future, Neal P. Martin, David Mertens, Ronald Hatfield, Hans Jung

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

In 2007, U.S. farmers harvested 23.6 million acres of alfalfa. Alfalfa harvested as hay and haylage produced 82.8 million tons valued at approximately $9.4 billion, ranking behind only corn and soybeans. Alfalfa hay supports dairy, beef, sheep, and horse production in the U.S. as well as a growing export market.