Digital Commons Network^™

Demonstration Of A Conceptual Model For Using Lidar To Improve The Estimation Of Floodwater Mitigation Potential Of Prairie Pothole Region Wetlands, Shengli Huang, Claudia Young, Min Feng, Karl Heidemann, Matthew Cushing, David M. Mushet, Shuguang Liu

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Recent flood events in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America have stimulated interest in modeling water storage capacities of wetlands and their surrounding catchments to facilitate flood mitigation efforts. Accurate estimates of basin storage capacities have been hampered by a lack of high-resolution elevation data. In this paper, we developed a 0.5 m bare-earth model from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data and, in combination with National Wetlands Inventory data, delineated wetland catchments and their spilling points within a 196 km² study area. We then calculated the maximum water storage capacity of individual basins and modeled the connectivity …

Foreword, From Holy Places And Pilgrimages: Essays On India, Robert H. Stoddard

Geography Program: Faculty Publications

This collection of twelve articles continues a long and rich body of information about pilgrimages. Written materials in the form of pamphlets, guidebooks, manuals, itineraries, and treatises about pilgrimages date from antiquity (see, e.g. the discussion in this volume by Rana Singh about ancient epics, pp. 15-20). Travelling to places regarded by worshippers as having extraordinary spiritual power is a phenomenon permeating all religious traditions so it is logical that it appears in various literary forms.

Annual Seroprevalence Of Yersinia Pestis In Coyotes As Predictors Of Interannual Variation In Reports Of Human Plague Cases In Arizona, United States, Heidi E. Brown, Craig E. Levy, Russell E. Enscore, Martin E. Schriefer, Thomas J. Deliberto, Kenneth L. Gage, Rebecca J. Eisen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Although several health departments collect coyote blood samples for plague surveillance, the association between reported human cases and coyote seroprevalence rates remains anecdotal. Using data from an endemic region of the United States, we sought to quantify this association. From 1974 to 1998, about 2,276 coyote blood samples from four Arizona counties were tested for serological evidence of exposure to Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. Using a titer threshold presumed to be indicative of recent infection (serum titers of ≥1:256), we found a statistically significant relationship between years with > 17% sero-positive coyotes and years with two or …

The Human-Environment Dialog In Award-Winning Children’S Picture Books, J. Allen Williams, Christopher Podeschi, Nathan Palmer, Philip Schwadel, Deanna Meyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Picture books often play an important role in childhood socialization. Given the seriousness of environmental problems, we ask how natural, modified, and built environments have been portrayed in children’s books. To answer this question, we analyze the 296 books receiving Caldecott awards from 1938 to 2008. Two possibilities are explored with respect to content change. Growing concern about critical environmental problems, such as decline in biodiversity and deforestation, may have led to an increase in illustrations and stories about wild animals and the natural environment. Alternatively, the increasing isolation of people from the natural world may have resulted in a …

Sensitivity Of Planetary Boundary Layer Atmosphere To Historical And Future Changes Of Land Use/Land Cover, Vegetation Fraction, And Soil Moisture In Western Kentucky, Usa, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Irrigation On Dry Season Precipitation In India, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Land Use/Land Cover Changes And Climate: Modeling Analysis And Observational Evidence, Roger A. Pielke Sr., Andy Pitman, Dev Niyogi, Rezaul Mahmood, Clive Mcalpine, Faisal Hossain, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Udaysankar S. Nair, Richard Betts, Souleymane Fall, Markus Reichstein, Pavel Kabat, Nathalie De Noblet

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This article summarizes the changes in landscape structure because of human land management over the last several centuries, and using observed and modeled data, documents how these changes have altered biogeophysical and biogeochemical surface fluxes on the local, mesoscale, and regional scales. Remaining research issues are presented including whether these landscape changes alter large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns far from where the land use and land cover changes occur. We conclude that existing climate assessments have not yet adequately factored in this climate forcing. For those regions that have undergone intensive human landscape change, or would undergo intensive change in the …

A Dual-Network Testbed For Wireless Sensor Applications, Jedrzej Kowalczuk, Mehmet C. Vuran, Lance C. Pérez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A dual-network Cyber-physical Networking (CPN) testbed developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is described. The CPN testbed consists of two geographically disparate wireless sensor networks connected by a traditional TCP/IP network and enables peer-to-peer communication between each sensor in the network. The functionality of the testbed is enhanced by a range of software tools that support remote programming and network monitoring, and real-time visualization of sensor data. The resulting architecture supports easy deployment and evaluation of applications for both traditional and interconnected wireless sensor networks. To demonstrate the features of this testbed, a novel ping application was developed and deployed …

About The Authors

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Squares: Ideology In Landscape Archaeology And The Rectangular Land Survey Of The United States Of America, Owen O'Reilly

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Rectangular Land Survey, which covers 69 percent of the Unites States continuously, was a system of federal land management that began in 1785 and continued into the early twentieth century. Straight, gridded patterns were stretched across the country in an attempt to make the consolidation and distribution of land by the United States government quick and easy. Using the Dominant Ideology Thesis, developed by Louis Althusser, and applied to landscape archaeology by Mark Leone, the rectangular land survey can be seen as an attempt by the government of the United States to control the lives of their citizens through …

Ship To Shore: Inuit, Early Europeans, And Maritime Landscapes In The Northern Gulf Of St. Lawrence, William W. Fitzhugh, Anja Herzog, Sophia Perdikaris, Brenna Mcleod

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Recent research at Hare Harbor on the Quebec Lower North Shore in the northeastern Gulf of St. Lawrence reveals great potential for archaeological and historical research on Basque and other early European activities in the northwestern North Atlantic. Although considerable data have been retrieved from Red Bay, Labrador, and a few other sixteenth-century sites in the Strait of Belle Isle and Gulf of St. Lawrence, archaeological knowledge of the early European phase of North American history in this region is limited, and information about post-sixteenth-century Basque occupations is nearly nonexistent. This chapter reports on a multicomponent site with late sixteenth-century …

Heat Waves Measured With Modis Land Surface Temperature Data Predict Changes In Avian Community Structure, Thomas P. Albright, Anna M. Pidgeon, Chadwick D. Rittenhouse, Murray K. Clayton, Curtis H. Flather, Patrick D. Culbert, Volker C. Radeloff

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

Heat waves are expected to become more frequent and severe as climate changes, with unknown consequences for biodiversity. We sought to identify ecologically-relevant broad-scale indicators of heat waves based on MODIS land surface temperature (LST) and interpolated air temperature data and assess their associations with avian community structure. Specifically, we asked which data source, time periods, and heat wave indices best predicted changes in avian abundance and species richness. Using mixed effects models, we analyzed associations between these indices and data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey in the central United States between 2000 and 2007 in four ecoregions …

Forest Structure And Aboveground Biomass In The Southwestern United States From Modis And Misr, Mark Chopping, Crystal B. Schaaf, Feng Zhao, Zhuosen Wang, Anne Nolin, Gretchen G. Moisen, John V. Martonchik, Michael Bull

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

Red band bidirectional reflectance factor data from the NASA MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired over the southwestern United States were interpreted through a simple geometric–optical (GO) canopy reflectance model to provide maps of fractional crown cover (dimensionless), mean canopy height (m), and aboveground woody biomass (Mg ha⁻¹) on a 250 m grid. Model adjustment was performed after dynamic injection of a background contribution predicted via the kernel weights of a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model. Accuracy was assessed with respect to similar maps obtained with data from the NASA Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) and to contemporaneous …

Great Plains Quarterly Volume 31 / Number 1 / Winter 2011

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Notes and News

"We Were Beet Workers, And That Was All" Beet Field Laborers In The North Platte Valley, 1902-1930, Dustin Kipp

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

John and Alex Loos, two brothers who spent their childhood summers working in the beet fields of western Nebraska in the 1910s, suggested that a migrant beet field laborer could become, by the end of one season, "a trusted member of the community."¹ It took years of hard work and saving, but field workers could become farmers. Families could own land and work for their own benefit rather than for the subsistence wages of the migratory laborer. Although locals often viewed them with suspicion as outsiders, German Russian migrants were increasingly encouraged to stay to help build the burgeoning …

Genetic Applications In Avian Conservation, Susan M. Haig, Whitcomb M. Bronaugh, Rachel S. Crowhurst, Jesse D'Elia, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Clinton W. Epps, Brian Knaus, Mark P. Miller, Michael L. Moses, Sara Oyler-Mccance, W. Douglas Robinson, Brian Sidlauskas

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A fundamental need in conserving species and their habitats is defining distinct entities that range from individuals to species to ecosystems and beyond (Table 1; Ryder 1986, Moritz 1994, Mayden and Wood 1995, Haig and Avise 1996, Hazevoet 1996, Palumbi and Cipriano 1998, Hebert et al. 2004, Mace 2004, Wheeler et al. 2004, Armstrong and Ball 2005, Baker 2008, Ellis et al. 2010, Winker and Haig 2010). Rapid progression in this interdisciplinary field continues at an exponential rate; thus, periodic updates on theory, techniques, and applications are important for informing practitioners and consumers of genetic information. Here, we outline conservation …

Presidential Address--New Editorial Futures For The Past, Kenneth M. Price

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Documentary Editing has served the association well since 1979 as a print journal, but it has run into the familiar problems of a print journal with a limited circulation and ever-increasing costs for paper, printing, and mailing. There have also been problems in having a lack of continuity in the position of editor. The association owes many thanks to the publications committee, and in particular to Ron Bosco and Rich Leffler for their recent work as co-editors. Bosco and Leffler agreed to serve for two years, and with time slipping away we needed new leadership. Luckily Amanda Gailey and Andrew …

Evaluation Of The Modis Lai Product Using Independent Lidar-Derived Lai: A Case Study In Mixed Conifer Forest, Jennifer L.R. Jensen, Karen S. Humes, Andrew T. Hudak, Lee A. Vierling, Eric Delmelle

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

This study presents an alternative assessment of the MODIS LAI product for a 58,000 ha evergreen needleleaf forest located in the western Rocky Mountain range in northern Idaho by using lidar data to model (R²=0.86, RMSE=0.76) and map LAI at higher resolution across a large number of MODIS pixels in their entirety. Moderate resolution (30 m) lidar-based LAI estimates were aggregated to the resolution of the 1-km MODIS LAI product and compared to temporally-coincident MODIS retrievals. Differences in the MODIS and lidar-derived values of LAI were grouped and analyzed by several different factors, including MODIS retrieval algorithm, sun/sensor …

Prototyping An Online Wetland Ecosystem Services Model Using Open Model Sharing Standards, Min Feng, Shuguang Liu, Ned H. Euliss Jr., Claudia Young, David M. Mushet

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Great interest currently exists for developing ecosystem models to forecast how ecosystem services may change under alternative land use and climate futures. Ecosystem services are diverse and include supporting services or functions (e.g., primary production, nutrient cycling), provisioning services (e.g., wildlife, groundwater), regulating services (e.g., water purification, floodwater retention), and even cultural services (e.g., ecotourism, cultural heritage). Hence, the knowledge base necessary to quantify ecosystem services is broad and derived from many diverse scientific disciplines. Building the required interdisciplinary models is especially challenging as modelers from different locations and times may develop the disciplinary models needed for ecosystem simulations, and …

Socio-Economic Impacts Of Climate Change On Rural United States, Pankaj Lal, Janaki R. R. Alavalapati, Evan D. Mercer

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

Directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, climate change will affect all sectors and regions of the United States. The impacts, however, will not be homogenous across regions, sectors, population groups or time. The literature specifically related to how climate change will affect rural communities, their resilience, and adaptive capacity in the United States (U.S.) is scarce. This article bridges this knowledge gap through an extensive review of the current state of knowledge to make inferences about the rural communities vulnerability to climate change based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios. Our analysis shows that rural communities tend to …

Phylogenetic And Population Genetic Assessment Of Rafinesque’S Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus Rafinesquii), Antoinette J. Piaggio, David A. Saugey, D. Blake Sasse

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rafinesque’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) is distributed across the Southeastern United States. Due to habitat loss and low population numbers, this species is a Federal species of concern and protected by every State within its range. Effective management of any species of concern is dependent on an unambiguous understanding of taxonomic relationships. However, for this species, there are discordant inferences about subspecific designations from previous studies. Further, there have been no assessments of population genetic status for this species. Such assessments could provide information on genetic diversity and population connectivity and increase our understanding of the need for …

Parasitism Of Prehistoric Humans And Companion Animals From Antelope Cave, Mojave County, Northwest Arizona, Martín Horacio Fugassa, Karl Reinhard, Keith L. Johnson, Scott L. Gardner, Mônica Vieira, Adauto Araujo

Karl Reinhard Publications

Previously, we reported a tick recovered from Antelope Cave in extreme northwest Arizona. Further analyses of coprolites from Antelope Cave revealed additional parasitological data from coprolites of both human and canid origin. A second tick was found. This site is the only archaeological locality where ticks have been recovered. We also discovered an acanthocephalan in association with Enterobius vermicularis eggs in the same coprolite. This association shows that the coprolite was deposited by a human. This discovery expands our knowledge of the range of prehistoric acanthocephalan infection. In addition, findings from canid coprolites of Trichuris vulpis are reported. This is …

Mass Wasting As A Geologic Hazard In The Province Of Salta, Argentina, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The north-south orient ation ofthe mo unta inous part ofthe Province ofSalta form s a massive barrier to easy communication between the more populate d region in the central pan of the provin ce and the communities to the west. Routes follow deeply entrenched valleys th at are frequ entl y th e sites ofdebris flows that cause disruptions in th e flow of traffic during the months of December through March , wh en most of the precipitation of the region is recorded . The steep topography and the tecton ic settings have resulted in nearly 150 large landslides …

Distribution And Properties Of Vesicular Horizons In The Western United States, Judith K. Turk, Robert C. Graham

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Vesicular horizons are thin (usuallycm) surface or near-surface horizons characterized by the predominance of vesicular porosity. Th ey are widespread in arid and semiarid lands, occurring on every continent and covering 156,000 km2 of the western United States. Vesicular horizons have critical implications for management due to their role in controlling surface hydrology and dust mobilization. Th is study evaluates the distribution and varia-tion in expression of vesicular horizons across the western United States using the soil databases available from the USDA. A vesicular horizon index (VHI) that incorporates vesicular horizon thickness and the size and quantity of vesicular pores …

Estimating Hydraulic Conductivity For The Martian Subsurface Based On Drainage Patterns — A Case Study In The Mare Tyrrhenum Quadrangle, Wei Luo, Bartosz Grudzinski, Darryll T. Pederson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Hydraulic conductivity K, as the coefficient of proportionality in Darcy’s Law, is critical in understanding the past Martian hydrologic cycle, climate, and landform evolution. However, K and its spatial variability on Mars are thus far poorly constrained due to lack of accessibility. Using an innovative method based on surface drainage dissection patterns, which has been successfully tested in the Oregon Cascades on Earth, we estimated K in the Mare Tyrrhenum Quadrangle on Mars. The basic assumption is that under long-term dynamic equilibrium conditions, the overall dissection pattern in a watershed as reflected in drainage density is controlled by the …

Late Pleistocene Dune Activity In The Central Great Plains, Usa, Joseph A. Mason, James B. Swinehart, Paul R. Hanson, David Loope, Ronald J. Goble, Xiaodong Miao, Rebecca L Schmeisser

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Stabilized dunes of the central Great Plains, especially the megabarchans and large barchanoid ridges of the Nebraska Sand Hills, provide dramatic evidence of late Quaternary environmental change. Episodic Holocene dune activity in this region is now well-documented, but Late Pleistocene dune mobility has remained poorly documented, despite early interpretations of the Sand Hills dunes as Pleistocene relicts. New optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages from drill cores and outcrops provide evidence of Late Pleistocene dune activity at sites distributed across the central Great Plains. In addition, Late Pleistocene eolian sands deposited at 20–25 ka are interbedded with loess south of the …

Soil Moisture: A Central And Unifying Theme In Physical Geography, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Heat Flux Measurements And Modeling Of Malodorous Compounds Above An Anaerobic Swine Lagoon, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Learning Gains And Response To Digital Lessons On Soil Genesis And Development, Martha Mamo, James A. Ippolito, Timothy A. Kettler, Ronald Reuter, Dennis L. Mccallister, Patricia Morner, Dann E. Husmann, Erin E. Blankenship

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Evolving computer technology is offering opportunities for new online approaches in teaching methods and delivery. Well-designed web-based (online) lessons should reinforce the critical need of the soil science discipline in today's food, energy, and environmental issues, as well as meet the needs of the diverse clientele with interest in agricultural and/ or environmental disciplines. The objectives of the project were to: (1) develop web-based lessons in soil genesis and development and (2) evaluate context-based case studies or application lessons (agronomic, environmental, and ecological situations) to teach soil genesis and development. Six principles lessons, along with three applications lessons, were developed …

White-Tailed Deer Incidents With U.S. Civil Aircraft, Kirsten M. Biondi, Jerrold L. Belant, James A. Martin, Travis L. Devault, Guiming Wang

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Aircraft incidents with ungulates cause substantial economic losses and pose risks to human safety. We analyzed 879 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) incidents with United States civil aircraft from 1990 to 2009 reported in the Federal Aviation Administration National Wildlife Strike Database. During that time, deer incidents followed a quadratic response curve, peaking in 1994 and declining thereafter. There appeared to be some seasonal patterning in incident frequency, with deer incidents increasing overall from January to November, and peaking in October and November (30.7%). Most incidents (64.8%) occurred at night, but incident rates were greatest (P 0.001) at dusk. Landing-roll represented …