Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond School Bells With Dakota Staggs, Michaela Neal, Megan Pfeifer, Haley Farr

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community Projects, fall 2021

A presentation titled Beyond School Bells with Dakota Staggs.

Problem/challenge statement:

How can we effectively teach students about water quality?

• Create lesson plans that are fun and engaging

• Special focus on AltEn plant in Mead, Nebraska

Why is this issue important?

• AltEn is close to home, shows students how water pollution can cripple a community

Improving The Southern Heights Food Forest, Shawnna Lofland, Anne Kluthe, Favian Mendez

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

A poster titled Improving the Southern Heights Food Forest for client Southern Heights Food Forest.

Fish & Wildlife News: Fall 2021, Matt Trott

Fish and Wildlife News

No abstract provided.

Gsl Researcher (Fall 2021)

GSL Researcher

GSL Researcher (Fall 2021)

Greetings

Students

GSL spotlight

Range and pasture update

Technical note

Ranch update

Highlighted research

GSL Open House agenda

Awards

Unl Emeriti And Retirees Association Newsletter, Fall 2021

UNL Emeriti and Retirees Association: Newsletters and Other Materials

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Emeriti and Retirees Association Newsletter, Fall 2021

Water Current, Volume 53, No. 2, Fall 2021

Water Current Newsletter

Fall Harvest: Research, News and More from the Nebraska Water Center

Free-Ranging And Feral Cats, Alex Dutcher, Kyle Pias, Grant Sizemore, Stephen M. Vantassel

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Domestic cats (Felis catus) are a common household pet in the United States, with an estimated 25.4% of households owning cats (American Veterinary Medical Association 2018). While an increasing number of cat owners keep their pet cats exclusively indoors, a portion of society maintains that domestic cats are entitled to a free-ranging lifestyle and may even consider unowned domestic cats to be wildlife. Although wildlife managers recognize the beliefs of many concerned stakeholders, including advocates who use strong emotional appeals on behalf of cats, it remains that free-ranging and feral domestic cats are an invasive species spread by humans (Lowe …

An Opportunistic Survey Reveals An Unexpected Coronavirus Diversity Hotspot In North America, Hon S. Ip, Kathryn M. Griffin, Jeffrey D. Messer, Megan E. Winzeler, Susan A. Shriner, Mary Lea Killian, Mia Kim Torchetti, Thomas J. Deliberto, Brian R. Amman, Caitlin M. Cossaboom, R. Reid Harvey, Natalie M. Wendling, Hannah Rettler, Dean Taylor, Jonathan S. Towner, Casey Barton Behravesh, David S. Blehert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In summer 2020, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detected on mink farms in Utah. An interagency One Health response was initiated to assess the extent of the outbreak and included sampling animals from on or near affected mink farms and testing them for SARS-CoV-2 and non-SARS coronaviruses. Among the 365 animals sampled, including domestic cats, mink, rodents, raccoons, and skunks, 261 (72%) of the animals harbored at least one coronavirus. Among the samples that could be further characterized, 127 alphacoronaviruses and 88 betacoronaviruses (including 74 detections of SARS-CoV-2 in mink) were identified. Moreover, at least 10% (n …

Variations, Validations, Degradations, And Noninvasive Determination Of Pregnancy Using Fecal Steroid Metabolites In Free-Ranging Pronghorn, Cole A. Bleke, Eric M. Gese, Susannah S. French

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Pregnancy status is a key parameter used to assess reproductive performance of a species as it represents a starting point for measuring vital rates. Vital rates allow managers to determine trends in populations such as neonate survival and recruitment; two important factors in ungulate population growth rates. Techniques to determine pregnancy have generally involved capture and restraint of the animal to obtain blood samples for determining serum hormone levels. Non-invasive pregnancy assessment, via feces, eliminates any hazards between handler and animal, as well as removes handling-induced physiological biases. Using noninvasive fecal sampling, we conducted hormone validations, investigated pregnancy rates, and …

Mitochondrial Contact Site And Cristae Organizing System (Micos) Machinery Supports Heme Biosynthesis By Enabling Optimal Performance Of Ferrochelatase, Jonathan V. Dietz, Mathilda M. Willoughby, Robert B. Piel, Teresa A. Ross, Iryna Bohovych, Hannah G. Addis, Jennifer L. Fox, William N. Lanzilotta, Harry A. Dailey, James A. Wohlschlegel, Amit R. Reddi, Amy E. Medlock, Oleh Khalimonchuk

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Heme is an essential cofactor required for a plethora of cellular processes in eukaryotes. In metazoans the heme biosynthetic pathway is typically partitioned between the cytosol and mitochondria, with the first and final steps taking place in the mitochondrion. The pathway has been extensively studied and its biosynthetic enzymes structurally characterized to varying extents. Nevertheless, understanding of the regulation of heme synthesis and factors that influence this process in metazoans remains incomplete. Therefore, we investigated the molecular organization as well as the physical and genetic interactions of the terminal pathway enzyme, ferrochelatase (Hem15), in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biochemical and …

¿Cómo Hemos Llegado Hasta Aquí? El Neoliberalismo En La Película El Hoyo (2019), De Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, Alfonso Bartolomé

Spanish Language and Literature Papers

La película El hoyo (2020), de Galder Gaztelo-Urrutia, es una crítica al neoliberalismo, régimen en el que prima la individualidad, la competencia y la insolidaridad. La cinta avisa del mundo neodarwinista que impera en la sociedad del presente si no se transforman de forma sustancial las estructuras económicas actuales. Este largometraje no solo muestra la sociedad que se ha creado y sus consecuencias, sino que también da claves como son la solidaridad, la empatía y el apoyo mutuo para poder salir de ella cuanto antes.

Cytoarchitectural Characteristics Associated With Cognitive Flexibility In Raccoons, Joanna Jacob, Molly Kent, Sarah Benson-Amram, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Mary Ann Raghanti, Emily Ploppert, Jack Drake, Bilal Hindi, Nick R. Natale, Sarah Daniels, Rachel Fanelli, Anderson Miller, Tim Landis, Amy Gilbert, Shylo Johnson, Annie Lai, Molly Hyer, Amanda Rzucidlo, Chris Anchor, Stan Gehrt, Kelly Lambert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

With rates of psychiatric illnesses such as depression continuing to rise, additional preclinical models are needed to facilitate translational neuroscience research. In the current study, the raccoon (Procyon lotor) was investigated due to its similarities with primate brains, including comparable proportional neuronal densities, cortical magnification of the forepaw area, and cortical gyrification. Specifically, we report on the cytoarchitectural characteristics of raccoons profiled as high, intermediate, or low solvers in a multiaccess problem-solving task. Isotropic fractionation indicated that high-solvers had significantly more cells in the hippocampus (HC) than the other solving groups; further, a nonsignificant trend suggested that this …

Satellite-Detected Ammonia Changes In The United States: Natural Or Anthropogenic Impacts, Yaqian He, Rongting Xu, Stephen A. Prior, Di Yang, Anni Yang, Jian Chen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Ammonia (NH3) is the most abundant alkaline component and can react with atmospheric acidic species to form aerosols that can lead to numerous environmental and health issues. Increasing atmospheric NH3 over agricultural regions in the US has been documented. However, spatiotemporal changes of NH3 concentrations over the entire US are still not thoroughly understood, and the factors that drive these changes remain unknown. Herein, we applied the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) monthly NH3 dataset to explore spatiotemporal changes in atmospheric NH3 and the empirical relationships with synthetic N fertilizer application, livestock manure production, and climate factors across the entire US …

Adaptation Of An Artificial Bait To An Automated Aerial Delivery System For Landscape-Scale Brown Treesnake Suppression, Rafael A. Garcia, Thomas W. Mcauliffe, Lorelie P. Bumanlag, Shane R. Siers, Bruce A. Kimball

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Dead neonatal mice are currently used as bait for delivery of toxin to invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam; once deployed in the field the mice are highly attractive to the snakes but only for about four days. An artificial bait containing a mixture of fats mimicking those in skin of the mice is also highly attractive to the snakes and remains attractive 2–3 times longer. The artificial bait, however, costs more than the mice, and is more difficult to attach to the capsules of a novel aerial bait delivery system. This paper describes a reformulation of the bait …

Movement, Space-Use And Resource Preferences Of European Golden Jackals In Human-Dominated Landscapes: Insights From A Telemetry Study, Skye Fenton, Paul R. Moorcroft, Duško Ćirović, József Lanszki, Miklós Heltai, Francesca Cagnacci, Stewart Breck, Neda Bogdanović, Ilija Pantelić, Kornél Ács, Nathan Ranc

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

During the last half-century, the distribution of golden jackals (Canis aureus) has rapidly increased throughout Europe. Today, golden jackals are thriving in human-dominated landscapes across Southeastern and Central Europe. Most studies on golden jackals have focused on large-scale distribution patterns; to date, little is known about the species’ fine-scale spatial ecology. In this study, we analyzed the movement behavior, space-use and resource selection of six golden jackals fitted with GPS-GSM collars in two study areas in Hungary and Serbia. Two of the jackals were a breeding pair. We found that home range size averaged 11.2 km² (90% …

Effects Of Translocation On Survival Of Nuisance Bears, Javan Bauder, D. Ruid, N. M. Roberts, B. Kohn, M. L. Allen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Effective mitigation of human–wildlife conflict should aim to reduce conflicts while also minimizing wildlife mortality. Translocation is often used to mitigate human–wildlife conflict but translocated individuals may have reduced survival, which could negatively affect population growth and social acceptance of translocation as a management tool. Yet, non-translocated nuisance individuals may also have low survival due to inherent risks associated with nuisance behavior. We used a 38-year dataset of 1233 marked and translocated nuisance American black bears (Ursus americanus) as a model system with which to evaluate the impacts of translocation on nuisance bear survival. We used multi-state mark-recapture models to …

Threading The Needle: How Humans Influence Predator–Prey Spatiotemporal Interactions In A Multiple-Predator System, Asia Murphy, Duane R. Diefenbach, Mark Ternent, Matt Lovallo, David Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Perceived predation risk and the resulting antipredator behaviour varies across space, time and predator identity. Communities with multiple predators that interact and differ in their use of space, time of activity and hunting mode create a complex landscape for prey to avoid predation. Anthropogenic presence and disturbance have the potential to shift interactions among predators and prey and the where and when encounters occur. We examined how white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus fawn spatiotemporal antipredator behaviour differed along an anthropogenic disturbance gradient that had black bears Ursus americanus, coyotes Canis latrans, bobcats Lynx rufus and humans present. We quantified (a) spatial …

How To Effectively Reach Farmers And Assist Them In Reaching Their Precision Management Goals, Courtney Nelson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Precision and digital agriculture have been popular buzz words floating around the last several years. These broad terms cover a plethora of topics including GPS ear tags for livestock, soil moisture probes, and aerial imagery. With such a wide number of technological advances at their fingertips, it can be overwhelming for farmers to know where to start.

A study conducted by Purdue University in 2019 took a deeper look at data and software usage across 800 farms larger than 1000 acres (DeLay et al, 2020). Their research revealed that over half of farmers who don’t use farm data or software …

Addressing The Harms Of Pornography, Gillian Allison

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Within this paper I look at the existing philosophical work on pornography, from scholars like Catherine MacKinnon, Ronald Dworkin, and Rae Langton to show the current state of the pornography debate that I intend to enter by presenting my own argument about the morality of pornography. I argue that while pornography is harmful, these harms are best resolved through increased sexual education and the popularization and production of more inclusive pornography. The harms pornography causes are so great because pornography is where a lot of people learn about sex. Pornography was never designed to depict an average sexual experience. If …

Spatial Frameworks For Robust Estimation Of Yield Gaps, Juan I. Rattalino Edreira, José F. Andrade, Kenneth G. Cassman, Martin K. Ittersum, Marloes P. Van Loon, Patricio Grassini

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Food security interventions and policies need reliable estimates of crop production and the scope to enhance production on existing cropland. Here we assess the performance of two widely used ‘top-down’ gridded frameworks (Global Agro-ecological Zones and Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project) versus an alternative ‘bottom-up’ approach (Global Yield Gap Atlas). The Global Yield Gap Atlas estimates extra production potential locally for a number of sites representing major breadbaskets and then upscales the results to larger spatial scales. We find that estimates from top-down frameworks are alarmingly unlikely, with estimated potential production being lower than current farm production at some …

Incorporating Molecular Markers And Causal Structure Among Traits Using A Smith-Hazel Index And Structural Equation Models, Juan Valente Hidalgo-Contreras, Josafhat Salinas-Ruiz, Kent M. Eskridge, Stephen P. Baenziger

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

The goal in breeding programs is to choose candidates that produce offspring with the best phenotypes. In conventional selection, the best candidate is selected with high genotypic values (unobserved), in the assumption that this is related to the observed phenotypic values for several traits. Multi-trait selection indices are used to identify superior genotypes when a number of traits are to be considered simultaneously. Often, the causal relationship among the traits is well known. Structural equation models (SEM) have been used to describe the causal relationships among variables in many biological systems. We present a method for multi-trait genomic selection that …

Socio-Economic And Governance Conditions Corresponding To Change In Animal Agriculture: South Dakota Case Study, Jacqueline S. Welles, Noelle Cielito T. Soriano, Freda Elikem Dorbu, G M. Pereira, Laura M. Rubeck, Erica L. Timmermans, Benjamin Ndayambaje, Alison V. Deviney, John J. Classen, Jacek A. Koziel, Erin L. Cortus

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding sustainable livestock production requires consideration of both qualitative and quantitative factors in a temporal and/or spatial frame. This study adapted Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to relate conditions of social, economic, and governance factors to changes in livestock inventory across several counties and over time. This paper presents an approach that (1) identified factors with the potential to relate to a change in livestock inventory and (2) analyzed commonalities within these factors related to changes spatially and temporally. This paper illustrates the approach and results when applied to five counties in eastern South Dakota. The specific response variables were periods …

Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) Of The White Peach Scale, Pseudaulacaspis Pentagona (Targioni-Tozzetti) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) On Prunus Salicina Lindl. (Rosales: Rosaceae) In South Korea, Soo-Jung Suh

Insecta Mundi

Four aphelinid and one encyrtid parasitoid species (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) were collected from Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni-Tozzetti) infesting twigs and stems of Japanese plum tree (Prunus salicina Lindl.) in a survey conducted in 2020 in South Korea. These were identified as Aphytis proclia (Walker), Encarsia berlesei (Howard), Marietta carnesi (Howard), Pteroptrix orientalis (Silvestri) (Aphelinidae) and Arrhenophagus chionaspidis Aurivillius (Encyrtidae). In this paper, the list of parasitoid species of P. pentagona that occur on Japanese plum trees in South Korea is updated and a brief diagnosis and photographs of each species are provided.

First Detection Of Colletotrichum Fructicola (Ascomycota) On Horsehair Worms (Nematomorpha), Mattia De Vivo, Wen-Hong Wang, Ko-Hsuan Chen, Jen-Pan Huang

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Fungal members of Colletotrichum (Ascomycota) were found to be associated with Chordodes formosanus, one of the three currently known horsehair worm (Nematomorpha) species in Taiwan. The fungi were identified as Colletotrichum fructicola, which is mostly known as a plant pathogen, through the use of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and partial large subunit (nrITS + nrLSU) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) DNA sequences. To our knowledge, this report represents both the first records for Colletotrichum associated with hairworms and for fungi on Nematomorpha. These findings expand the knowledge on the ecological relationships of both clades.

Based On Atmospheric Physics And Ecological Principle To Assess The Accuracies Of Field Co2 /H2o Measurements From Infrared Gas Analyzers In Closed-Path Eddy-Covariance Systems, Xinhua Zhou, Tian Gao, Yunchao Pang, Hayden Mahan, Xiufen Li, Ning Zheng, Andrew E. Suyker, Tala Awada, Jiaojun Zhu

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Field CO₂ /H₂O measurements from infrared gas analyzers in closed-path eddy-covariance systems have wide applications in earth sciences. Knowledge about exactness of these measurements is required to assess measurement applicability. Although the analyzers are specified with uncertainty components (zero drift, gain drift, cross-sensitivities, and precision), exactness for individual measurements is unavailable due to an absence of methodology to comprehend the components as an overall uncertainty. Adopting an advanced definition of accuracy as a range of all measurement uncertainty sources, the specified components are composited into a model formulated for studying analyzers’ CO₂ /H₂O accuracy …

Whole-Genome Sequencing To Investigate A Possible Genetic Basis Of Perosomus Elumbis In A Calf Resulting From A Consanguineous Mating, Alexa M. Barber, Alyssa Helms, Riley Thompson, Brian K. Whitlock, David J. Steffen, Jessica Lynn Petersen

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Perosomus elumbis (PE) is a lethal, congenital defect marked by aplasia of the lumbar and sacral spine and spinal cord. Contracture of the hind limbs is also commonly observed in affected individuals. PE has been reported in many domestic species, with numerous case reports in Holstein cattle in the past two decades (Jones, 1999; Karakaya et al., 2013; Agerholm et al., 2014). The etiology of PE remains unknown. In one instance, a stillborn Holstein calf with PE was found to be infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) (Karakaya et al., 2013), and thus, it is possible that PE may …

Multi-Agent Scavenging Patterns In Hawai‘I: A Forensic Archaeological And Skeletal Case Study, Jennifer F. Byrnes, William Belcher

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Knowledge of the behavior of local fauna can aid forensic investigators in developing awareness of site formation processes. In Hawai‘i, little has been published on the effects of feral domestic pig (Sus scrofa) and feral domestic dog (Canis familiaris) scavenging and bone dispersal on field recovery and laboratory observations. In this Pacific tropical setting, the most consequential terrestrial taphonomic agents are pigs and dogs, both in terms of hard tissue modification and dispersal of remains across the landscape. In 2017, an archaeologist discovered the remains of an unidentified decedent on the island of Kauaʻi, State of Hawai‘i during a cultural …

Lethal Microbial Blooms Delayed Freshwater Ecosystem Recovery Following The End-Permian Extinction, Chris Mays, Stephen Mcloughlin, Tracy D. Frank, Christopher R. Fielding, Sam M. Slater, Vivi Vajda

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Harmful algal and bacterial blooms linked to deforestation, soil loss and global warming are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. We demonstrate that climate changes and deforestation can drive recurrent microbial blooms, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for hundreds of millennia. From the stratigraphic successions of the Sydney Basin, Australia, our fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history, the end- Permian event (EPE; c. 252.2 Ma). Microbial communities proliferated in lowland fresh and brackish waterbodies, with algal concentrations typical of modern blooms. These initiated before …

A Phytobacterial Tir Domain Effector Manipulates Nad+ To Promote Virulence, Samuel Eastman, Thomas Smith, Mark A. Zaydman, Panya Kim, Samuel Martinez, Neha Damaraju, Aaron Diantonio, Jeffrey Milbrandt, Thomas E. Clemente, James R. Alfano, Ming Guo

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

• The Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 type III effector HopAM1 suppresses plant immunity and contains a Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain homologous to immunity-related TIR domains of plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors that hydrolyze nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) and activate immunity. In vitro and in vivo assays were conducted to determine if HopAM1 hydrolyzes NAD⁺ and if the activity is essential for HopAM1’s suppression of plant immunity and contribution to virulence.
• HPLC and LC-MS were utilized to analyze metabolites produced from NAD⁺ by HopAM1 in vitro and in both yeast and plants. Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression and in planta …

Engineered Clostridium Botulinum Toxin Adapted To Deliver Molecules Into Selected Cells, Benjamin J. Pavlik, Paul Blum, Kevin Van Cott

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

An engineered payload - delivery system includes a target cell binding unit, covalently bound to a pore forming unit, and a payload portion adapted with a region capable of non-covalently binding to the pore forming unit. The pore forming unit is derived from a particular sub-serotype of Clostridium toxin, while the payload region is derived from a different sub-serotype of Clostridium toxin. The disclosed chimeric protein-based composition is capable of specifically delivering payload to neural cells.