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Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network – Fall 2005

Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network

Content:

2005 NATS Fall Conference – Science is Relative, October 27- 29, 2005, Camp Calvin Crest, Fremont, NE

E-commerce Web site also allows for registration for SNR-sponsored events

K-12 Earth Science Teacher of the Year Award

GEON Summer 2006 Workshops

Great Resources Available on the NESEN Website

Field-based Natural Resources Policy focuses on conflicts over the Platte Cedar Point provides base for close look at Platte River policy

Youth Wildlife Education Fund

Field facilities make science come alive, inspire problem solving: State-of-the-art building dedicated at Barta brothers field lab in Sand Hills

Barta Brothers made conservation ranch profitable and award-winning: …

Mammalogy At Texas Tech University: A Historical Perspective, Lisa C. Bradley, John R. Suchecki, Brian R. Amman, Joel G. Brant, Hugh H. Genoways, L. Rex Mcaliley, Robert J. Baker, Francisca Mendez-Harclerode, Robert D. Bradley

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

The mammalogy program at Texas Tech University officially was established in 1962, when Robert L. Packard joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences. As the institution's first mammalogist, Packard took the initiative to develop a strong program of mammalian research and education. Influenced by the successful program built by his mentor, E. Raymond Hall, at the University of Kansas, Packard modeled similar goals for Texas Tech University. Those goals included a strong emphasis on both undergraduate and graduate education and research, with several mammalogy faculty members, and the establishment and growth of a large and active mammal collection.

Time-Series Analysis Of Clusters In City Size Distributions, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, K. Michael Bessey

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Complex systems, such as urban systems, emerge unpredictably without the influence of central control as a result of adaptive behavior by their component, interacting agents. This paper analyses city size distributions, by decade, from the south-western region of the United States for the years 1890–1990. It determines if the distributions were clustered and documents changes in the pattern of clusters over time. Clusters were determined utilizing a kernel density estimator and cluster analysis. The data were clustered as determined by both methods. The analyses identified 4–7 clusters of cities in each of the decades analysed. Cities cluster into size classes, …

Tularemia: Emergence/Re-Emergence, Jeannine M. Petersen, Martin E. Schriefer

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

Francisella tularensis is a gram-negative coccobacillus and the etiologic agent of the zoonotic disease tularemia. First described in 1911 in Tulare County, California, it has since been reported throughout the Northern Hemisphere, with natural infections reported among an unusually wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates. In recent years, tularemia has emerged in new geographic locations, populations, and settings. This review will serve to highlight mechanisms contributing to the recent emergence of tularemia as well as a repertoire of diagnostic tools useful for detecting and diagnosing disease.

The Communicator, Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2005

The Communicator: News from the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Getting to Know Us–Valerie Egger Current Research–Craig R. Allen Landowner Incentives Program (LIP) Graduate Students (Donald (Don) Wardwell; Aaron Lotz; Elizabeth (Beth) Forbus) New Location Research (cont'd) Resilience in Ecosystems Cross-Scale Structure in Ecosystems Rainwater Basin Project Career Opportunity Events

Wither The Fruited Plain: The Long Expedition And The Description Of The "Great American Desert", Kevin Z. Sweeney

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The view from Pikes Peak is breathtaking. Situated where the Great Plains meets the Rocky Mountains, one feels as if the whole nation is laid out before you. It is the perfect vantage point from which to write an inspirational anthem to the environmental magnificence of the United States. In the summer of 1893, Katherine Lee Bates, a Wellesley College English professor, sat on the summit of Pikes Peak, inspired by the panorama to pen the words to "America the Beautiful." Her poem was set to the tune "Materna" by Samuel Augustus Ward two years later to become one of …

The Benthic Community Of The Eastern Us Continental Shelf: A Literature Synopsis Of Benthic Faunal Resources, R. Allen Brooks, Carla N. Purdy, Susan S. Bell, Kenneth J. Sulak

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The existing scientific literature on offshore benthic assemblages (OBA) residing along the US East and Gulf of Mexico continental shelf was reviewed. Identification was made of any associations between the dominant OBA and particular sediment types and/or bathymetry. Of special interest was the evaluation of reported effects of sand dredge/mining activities on the dominant OBA and recognition of data deficiencies. One hundred and twenty-two references were selected and classified as to type of study with pertinent results extracted. Polychaetes were predominantly cited as the principal infaunal taxa present in studies from both the Gulf of Mexico and US Atlantic coast. …

Extended Visions, January/February 2005

Extended Visions Newsletter (ARDC)

Contents:
ARDC FEATURE – Forestry
Woody Florals Applied Research Jump-Starts Producer Enterprises
Consider the Natural Resource for Your College Education!!!
Four Decades of Windbreak Research at the ARDC
The People Behind the Research
Woody Florals Applied Research Jump-Starts Producer Enterprises
Assisting the Community
Calendar of Events
Caryl Carstensen Retires
Director's Comments
Welcome 2005!
Get Your Green Thumb Ready!
Magnet School Updates
National FFA Convention
Mark Your Calendar for These 4-H Events
4-H Leaders Training and Banquet
Market Beef Weigh-In Dates
Quality Assurance Training
Record Turnout at Soybean Day
Upcoming Ag-Related Education Opportunities
Nebraska No-Till Conference
Nitrogen Management Training
NSFGPP Annual …

Emerging Chemicals And Analytical Methods (2005), Matthew C. Morley, Daniel D. Snow, Vince Kuppig

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Emerging contaminants in the water environment continues to be a strong research focus, as evidenced by the abundance of material published during 2004. This review summarizes peer-reviewed literature pertinent to the field of environmental engineering and science and related to analysis, occurrence, and fate of emerging chemical contaminants in the water environment, focusing on the following broad categories of emerging organic contaminants: antibiotics and pharmaceuticals; personal care products ingredients (PCPIs), endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), halogenated compounds (particularly brominated and fluorinated compounds), and disinfection byproducts (DBPs). To maintain this focus, articles pertaining specifically to human and ecological toxicity, bioconcentration or bioaccumulation, …

Evolution Of The Magmatic-Hydrothermal Acid-Sulfate System At Summitville, Colorado: Integration Of Geological, Stable-Isotope, And Fluid-Inclusion Evidence, Philip M. Bethke, Robert O. Rye, Roger E. Stoffregen, Peter G. Vikre

Geochemistry of Sulfate Minerals: A Tribute to Robert O. Rye

The Summitville Au–Ag–Cu deposit is a classic volcanic dome-hosted high-sulfidation deposit. It occurs in the Quartz Latite of South Mountain, a composite volcanic dome that was emplaced along the coincident margins of the Platoro and Summitville calderas at 22.5±0.5 Ma, penecontemporaneous with alteration and mineralization. A penecontemporaneous quartz monzonite porphyry intrusion underlies the district and is cut and overlain by pyrite–quartz stockwork veins with traces of chalcopyrite and molybdenite. Alteration and mineralization proceeded through three hypogene stages and a supergene stage, punctuated by at least three periods of hydrothermal brecciation. Intense acid leaching along fractures in the quartz latite produced …

Supergene Destruction Of A Hydrothermal Replacement Alunite Deposit At Big Rock Candy Mountain, Utah: Mineralogy, Spectroscopic Remote Sensing, Stable-Isotope, And Argon-Age Evidences, Charles G. Cunningham, Robert O. Rye, Barnaby W. Rockwell, Michael J. Kunk, Terry B. Councell

Geochemistry of Sulfate Minerals: A Tribute to Robert O. Rye

Big Rock Candy Mountain is a prominent center of variegated altered volcanic rocks in west-central Utah. It consists of the eroded remnants of a hypogene alunite deposit that, at ~21 Ma, replaced intermediate-composition lava flows. The alunite formed in steam-heated conditions above the upwelling limb of a convection cell that was one of at least six spaced at 3- to 4- km intervals around the margin of a monzonite stock. Big Rock Candy Mountain is horizontally zoned outward from an alunite core to respective kaolinite, dickite, and propylite envelopes. The altered rocks are also vertically zoned from a lower pyrite– …

Crop Watch No. 2005-25, November 18, 2005, Lisa Brown Jasa

Crop Watch (1994–2005)

Field Reports & Briefs..........232

Cropping Profitability..........232

Conservation Sign-up..........233

Organic Farming Initiative..........234

Corn/Soybean Workshops..........235

Soybean Day & Expo..........235

Agronomy Highlights..........236

Fall Soil Testing..........236

Crop Protection Clinics..........237

Crop Management Programs..........237

CASNR Students Share..........238

Jump-Starting Honors Community With Introductory Biographies, James Swafford

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Last June, as they descended from the peak experience of high school graduation, the forty newly selected members of the Humanities and Sciences (H&S) Honors Program at Ithaca College received a summer-reading book from me, the Honors Director, with a request for information in exchange: enclosed in the packet was a brief questionnaire about their experiences, their likes and dislikes, their hopes for the future. The questionnaires took only a few minutes to complete, but once the replies were translated into a set of introductory biographical sketches and sent back to the students in August, the information provided a great …

Block & Bridle Club Annual 2004-2005

Block and Bridle Annual (1933–2021)

Historian Comments Animal Science Department Chairman Address Block and Bridle President's Address University of Nebraska-Lincoln Background CASNR Background Animal Science Department Options Animal Science Faculty Block and Bridle History Calendar of Events Membership List Club Officers Initiates Advisors Senior Tributes 2003-2004 Banquet Treasurer Report Secretary Report 4-H Involvement Beef Pit Big Red Welcome Steak Fry Little Aksarben Holiday Gathering National Convention Kid's Day Big Red Beef Show Agricultural Education Contests Little MAEC 2005 Honoree Programs Honors Banquet Meats Judging Livestock Judging Equestrian Team Block and Bridle Members A Few Final Thoughts

The Use Of Discontinuities And Functional Groups To Assess Relative Resilience In Complex Systems, Craig R. Allen, L. Gunderson, A. R. Johnson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

It is evident when the resilience of a system has been exceeded and the system qualitatively changed. However, it is not clear how to measure resilience in a system prior to the demonstration that the capacity for resilient response has been exceeded. We argue that self-organizing human and natural systems are structured by a relatively small set of processes operating across scales in time and space. These structuring processes should generate a discontinuous distribution of structures and frequencies, where discontinuities mark the transition from one scale to another. Resilience is not driven by the identity of elements of a system, …

Annual Movements Of Pacific Coast Sandhill Cranes, Gary L. Ivey, Caroline P. Herziger, Thomas J. Hoffmann

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The subspecies composition of migratory sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) which stage and winter along the Lower Columbia River in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington is uncertain, but may include all 3 using the Pacific Flyway: lesser (G. c. canadensis), Canadian (G. c. rowani), and greater (G. c. tabida). However, the status of rowani has been debated. During 2001-02, we captured and marked 8 cranes using a noose line trapping technique, and attached Platform Transmitter Terminals (PTTs) to 6 to ascertain locations of their breeding areas, migration corridors and winter sites. Morphometric data …

Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network – Winter 2004/05

Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network

Content:

Sand Hills Biocomplexity Project 2005 by Monica Sanford

The Sand Hills Biocomplexity Project: An Interview with Dr. Dave Wedin by Monica Sanford

Science: Think Outside the Box by Monica Sanford

New UNL Web Site Sells Everything from Maps to Rocks

Geographic Educators of Nebraska Sponsors Summer Workshops

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2004-2005

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration: Reports, Papers, Publications, and Presentations

Fact Book 2004-2005 Table of Contents

General Information

Role and Mission Statement....................................................................4

Institutional & Professional Accreditations......................................................7

UNL Organizational Chart..................................................................9

Student Credit Hours

Student Credit Hours UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall, by College 2000 to 2004................................................................10

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Spring, By College 2000 to 2004....................................................11

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall & Spring Semester, by College 1999—2003..........................12

Summer Sessions 2004 Student Credit Hours..........................................13

Retention, Degrees and Majors

Retention, Degrees and Majors UNL Student Retention & Graduation Rate Analysis..................................................................................14

Total Degrees conferred by UNL Fiscal Year 1994-95 to 2003-2004............................................................15

Degrees Conferred July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004...............................................................................16

Types …

Plant Composition Of Mixed-Grass Prairie Of Cedar Point Biological Research Station, Keith County, Nebraska, David A. Mckenzie

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

This study involved a vegetation analysis of 15 permanent plots established on the short-grass and mixed grass prairie slopes at the Cedar Point Biological Station in Keith County, Nebraska. Ninety-nine species were found in the plots, including members of 75 genera and 31 families. Twenty-one were graminoids, 71 were forbs or succulents, 6 were shrubs and one was a tree. Bouteloua gracilis (19 % cover) and Carex filifolia (15 % cover) were the dominant graminoids at the site, while Yucca glauca (1% cover) and Artemisia frigida (1% cover) were the most frequent forbs. Comparisons of species richness by slope categories …

Second Report Of The North Dakota Bird Records Committee: 2002-2003, Dan Svingen, Ron E. Martin

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Since 1979, North Dakota's bird records committee has collected, evaluated, and archived documentations of rare bird occurrences in the state. In 2002 and 2003 this committee resolved 202 rare bird records. On the basis of this review, seven species were added to the North Dakota state bird list: common crane (Grus grus) , lesser black-backed gull (Larus juscus), acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes jormicivorus), plumbeous vireo (Vireo plumbeus), Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus), prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor), and Cassin's finch (Carpodacus cassinii). Evidence was accepted that established Northern saw-whet …

Historic And Current Status Of The American White Pelican Breeding At Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota, Marsha A. Sovada, D. Tommy King, Michael Erickson, Cheryl Gray

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge currently supports the largest breeding colony of the American White Pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ) in North America. The first written account of the colony’s status was in 1905, when approximately 500 pelicans nested on two islands in Chase Lake. The colony grew to nearly 34,000 breeding birds by 2002. Surveys of breeding pelicans in the colony were sporadic from 1905 until 1972. Because the availability of foraging areas affects recruitment, pond counts from south-central North Dakota were used as an index of the relative availability of foraging areas. Pond counts varied widely in the …

In Memory Of Dr. Roger Sharpe

Nebraska Bird Review

In Memory of Dr. Roger Sharpe

Nebraska Ornithologists' Union member, author and educator Roger Sharpe passed away on June 27, 2003. He is survived by his wife Beverly, three daughters and one son.

Dr. Sharpe was born on March 31, 1941. His Ph.D. was in Vertebrate Zoology from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He was an instructor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha from 1968 until his retirement in 2000. He was a professor of ornithology, environmental biology and conservation biology, and he began and continued to coordinate the Environmental Studies Program there.

Dr. Sharpe also originated an …

Avian Use Of Harvested Crop Fields During Spring Migration Trrough North Dakota, Alegra M. Galle, George M. Linz, William J. Bleier

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Over the past century, the amount of mixed-grass prairie in North Dakota has diminished with a concomitant increase in land used for crop production. Consequently, the diversity of habitat available for migrant birds has decreased, and birds are now limited to choosing habitats that are uncharacteristic of those used during other times of the year. Because of the extensive agricultural production in this region, the value of harvested crop fields to spring-migrating birds was studied by examining avian habitat use in harvested fields to determine differences in bird use among these habitats. In the spring of 2003, 60 harvested fields …

Women In Honors Education: The Case Of Western Washington University, George Mariz

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay is concerned with women and their educational experience in an Honors Program, and with their educational choices. It deals briefly with the history of women in higher education in the Western world and in the light of this history compares WWU Honors women with historical trends, with men and women students in the institution, and with students nationally in terms of major choices and career aspirations. It is not an attempt to view Honors women’s education comprehensively nor to look at WWU women along side Honors women more generally. In fact, it is not possible to do so, …

Surviving English, Connie Schomburg

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

Noncredit English as a Second Language (ESL) classes often serve as a starting place for new immigrants aged eighteen or older who want to learn "survival English." The students attending these classes are widely diverse in terms of motivations, educational and cultural backgrounds, English-language fluency, life experiences, and learning styles. Classes are designed to equip these adult learners with basic English-language abilities in the context of the situations they are likely to encounter daily at work and in the community. This personal essay explores the challenges faced and the strengths revealed by students in these classes as witnessed by an …

Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network – Fall 2004

Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network

Content:

Careers for Students – Help Them Think Outside the Box by Dave Gosselin, NESEN Director

NATS Annual Conference

University of Nebraska State Museum Virtual Tour by Kathy French, Education Coordinator, University of Nebraska State Museum

Measurements from Nearly 5,000 Wells Show Groundwater Declines by Steven Ress

Second Annual Water Law, Policy and Science Conference

UNL Natural Resources Lectures Focus on Environment, Ecology by Steven Ress

Environmental studies students chart multiple careers, find many prospects by George Green

Job opportunities for foresters should be plentiful by George Green

Water Current, Volume 36, No. 4. Fall 2004

Water Current Newsletter

Contents

• Gleick to Speak at April Water Law Science and Policy Conference by Steve Ress

• Measurements From Nearly 5,000 Wells Show Groundwater Declines by Steve Ress

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• Combating An Odorless, Tasteless, Unseen Problem in Nebraska Drinking Water by Steve Ress

• UNL Researchers Studying SDI Technology Near Clay Center by Steve Ress

• UNL Study Looks at Economic Impacts of Water Allocations To Republican River Basin Economy

• Husker Harvest Days 2004

• Algae Test Kits Travel Far and Wide

• Missouri River Study Nets EPA Grant

• Free Lectures …

Pedogenic Factors Affecting Magnetic Susceptibility Of The Last Interglacial Palaeosol S1 In The Chinese Loess Plateau, Z.-D. Feng, H. B. Wang, C. G. Olson

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

The magnetic susceptibility has been used as a quantitative or semi-quantitative proxy for reconstructing the summer monsoon intensity in the Chinese Loess Plateau based on extensive studies on climatic or/and environmental mechanisms producing the magnetic susceptibility signatures. However, the precise nature of the link between past climates and the susceptibility signatures has remained uncertain primarily due to lack of our understanding in the finalizing and preserving processes of the signatures. This paper attempts to examine the reliability or acceptability of this summer monsoon proxy from non-magnetic perspectives of soil-forming processes. We chose nine sections along two transects: one across the …

Refuge Update – September/October 2004, Volume 1, Number 5

RefugeUpdate (USFWS-NWRS)

Table of Contents:

Prairie Science Class Celebrates Anniversary, page 16 Program integrates environmental education into routine public school curriculum.

Focus on Hunting, page 8-15 While the National Wildlife Refuge System has been shaped by a variety of public concerns, hunters were among the early, substantive voices.

Texas Brochures Turned Some Heads, page 17 South Texas Refuge series of brochures are notable for their beauty and more.

Forty Years for the Wilderness Act, Page 18 National Wilderness Preservation System protects more than 105.7 million acres, including more than 20 million acres on 65 refuges.

A Recommendation For An Enhanced Fujita Scale (Ef-Scale)

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Background

National Weather Service (NWS) personnel who are responsible for rating tornadoes have expressed frustrations in applying the Fujita Scale in a consistent and accurate manner. Weak links in a structural system or a slow-moving storm sometimes lead to an overrating of a tornado event. Several technical articles suggest that wind speeds associated with some descriptions of damage are too high. For example, a 260 mph wind speed is not required to completely destroy a well constructed house and blow away the debris. The damage occurs at significantly lower wind speeds. Minor et al. (1977) and Phan and Simiu (2003) …