Digital Commons Network^™

Sprague’S Pipit (Anthus Spragueii) Conservation Plan, Stephanie L. Jones

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Apparently widespread during early European settlement, Sprague’s Pipits breeding distribution has contracted sharply from its historical range. Sprague’s Pipits were recorded as abundant during early European exploration; currently, they are common only in remnant large grassland patches in the northern mixed-grass native prairie of North America. Much of the decline of Sprague’s Pipits occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the short- and mixed-grass prairies were converted to agriculture. Since ca. 1900, approximately 75% of native Canadian prairie and 80% of aspen parkland have been converted from native grassland; in the United States, approximately 60% of native …

Diversity Plans And Programs: Arl Spec Kit 319, Charlene Maxey-Harris, Toni Anaya

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

In 1990, ARL published SPEC Kit 165 Cultural Diversity Programming in ARL Libraries and SPEC Kit 167 Minority Recruitment and Retention in ARL Libraries. Both of these documents provided a wealth of information about library programs and services that addressed the needs of a diverse user group, minority staff recruitment and retention strategies, and approaches to managing an ethnically/culturally diverse workforce. While survey results in those SPEC Kits indicated that progress had been made since the 1960s, respondents indicated they thought there was much more to do to ensure that academic and research library staff are representative of all …

Urban And Community Forests Of The North Central West Region, David J. Nowak, Eric J. Greenfield

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

This report details how land cover and urbanization vary within the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota by community (incorporated and census designated places), county subdivision, and county. Specifically this report provides critical urban and community forestry information for each state including human population characteristics and trends, changes in urban and community lands, tree canopy and impervious surface cover characteristics, distribution of land-cover classes, a relative comparison of urban and community forests among local government types, determination of priority areas for tree planting, and a summary of urban tree benefits. Report information can improve …

Avian Foods, Foraging And Habitat Conservation In World Rice Fields, Richard M. Kaminski, Kenneth J. Reinecke, Joshua D. Stafford

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Worldwide, rice (Oryza sativa) agriculture typically involves seasonal flooding and soil tillage, which provides a variety of microhabitats and potential food for birds. Water management in rice fields creates conditions ranging from saturated mud flats to shallow (<30 cm) water, thereby attracting different guilds of birds. Grain not collected during harvest (i.e. waste rice) is typically the most abundant potential food of birds in rice fields, with estimates of seed mass from North America ranging from 66-672 kg/ha. Although initially abundant after harvest, waste rice availability can be temporally limited. Few abundance estimates for other foods, such as vertebrate prey or forage vegetation, exist for rice fields. Outside North America, Europe and Japan, little is known about abundance and importance of any avian food in rice fields. Currently, flooding rice fields after harvest is the best known management practice to attract and benefit birds. Studies from North America indicate specific agricultural practices (e.g. burning stubble) may increase use and improve access to food resources. Evaluating and implementing management practices that are ecologically sustainable, increase food for birds and are agronomically beneficial should be global priorities to integrate rice production and avian conservation. Finally, land area devoted to rice agriculture appears to be stable in the USA, declining in China, and largely unquantified in many regions. Monitoring trends in riceland area may provide information to guide avian conservation planning in rice-agriculture ecosystems.

Waterfowl Of North America: Sources, Paul A. Johnsgard

Waterfowl of North America, Revised Edition (2010) by Paul A. Johnsgard

Approximately 500 citations.

See also the updated bibliography in the 2010 supplement: "North America’s Ducks, Geese and Swans in the 21st Century"

Effects Of Drought On Avian Community Structure, Thomas P. Albright, Anna M. Pidgeon, Chadwick D. Rittenhouse, Murray K. Clayton, Curtis H. Flather, Patrick D. Culbert, Brian D. Wardlows, Volker C. Radeloff

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Droughts are expected to become more frequent under global climate change. Avifauna depend on precipitation for hydration, cover, and food. While there are indications that avian communities respond negatively to drought, little is known about the response of birds with differing functional and behavioral traits, what time periods and indicators of drought are most relevant, or how response varies geographically at broad spatial scales. Our goals were thus to determine (1) how avian abundance and species richness are related to drought, (2) whether community variations are more related to vegetation vigor or precipitation deviations and at what time periods relationships …

Sandhill Cranes Of Coastal British Columbia: Results Of Helicopter Surveys And Preliminary Observations Of Habitat Use, Krista Roessingh, Briony Penn

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

A pilot study on sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) was conducted on the central coast of British Columbia in May 2006, followed by 2 summers of inventory and observation in 2007 and 2008. Fieldwork consisted of gathering local knowledge of crane locales, helicopter and boat surveys, and observations from blinds. We located 29 nest sites on 14 different islands and 1 mainland peninsula, as well as several beach foraging areas and bog roost sites. Observed average crane and nest density in areas of suitable habitat was 0.21/km² and 0.044/km², respectively, for 2007 and 2008. Nest and …

Colonial Metropolis: The Urban Grounds Of Anti-Imperialism And Feminism In Interwar Paris, Jennifer Anne Boittin

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

World War I gave colonial migrants and French women unprecedented access to the workplaces and nightlife of Paris. After the war they were expected to return without protest to their homes–either overseas or metropolitan. Neither group, however, was willing to be discarded. Between the world wars, the mesmerizing capital of France’s colonial empire attracted denizens from Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Paris became not merely their home but also a site for political engagement. Colonial Metropolis tells the story of the interactions and connections of these black colonial migrants and white feminists in the social, cultural, and political …

Holocene Landscape Response To Seasonality Of Storms In The Mojave Desert, David M. Miller, Kevin M. Schmidt, Shannon A. Mahan, John P. Mcgeehin, Lewis A. Owen, John A. Barron, Frank Lehmkuhl, Rene Lohrer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

New optically stimulated and radiocarbon ages for alluvial fan and lake deposits in the Mojave Desert are presented, which greatly improves the temporal resolution of surface processes. The new Mojave Desert climate-landscape record is particularly detailed for the late Holocene. Evidence from ephemeral lake deposits and landforms indicates times of sustained stream flow during a wet interval of the latter part of the Medieval Warm Period at ca. AD 1290 and during the Little Ice Age at ca. AD 1650. The former lakes postdate megadroughts of the Medieval Warm Period, whereas the latter match the Maunder Minimum of the Little …

Temporal And Spatial Variations In Freshwater 14C Reservoir Effects: Lake Mývatn, Northern Iceland, Philippa L. Ascough, G. T. Cook, M. J. Church, E. Dunbar, Á. Einarsson, Thomas H. Mcgovern, A. J. Dugmore, Sophia Perdikaris, H. Hastie, A. Friðriksson, H. Gestsdóttir

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Lake Mývatn is an interior highland lake in northern Iceland that forms a unique ecosystem of international scientific importance and is surrounded by a landscape rich in archaeological and paleoenvironmental sites. A significant freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) has been identified in carbon from the lake at some Viking (about AD 870–1000) archaeological sites in the wider region (Mývatnssveit). Previous accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements indicated this FRE was about 1500–1900 ¹⁴C yr. Here, we present the results of a study using stable isotope and ¹⁴C measurements to quantify the Mývatn FRE for both the Viking and modern periods. …

Correlation Between Normalized Ddifference Vvegetation Index And Malaria In A Subtropical Rain Forest Undergoing Rapid Anthropogenic Alteration, Nicole M. Wayant, Diego Maldonado, Antonieta Rojas De Arias, Blanca Cousino, Douglas G. Goodin

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

Time-series of coarse-resolution greenness values derived through remote sensing have been used as a surrogate environmental variable to help monitor and predict occurrences of a number of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, including malaria. Often, relationships between a remotely-sensed index of greenness, e.g. the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and disease occurrence are established using temporal correlation analysis. However, the strength of these correlations can vary depending on type and change of land cover during the period of record as well as inter-annual variations in the climate drivers (precipitation, temperature) that control the NDVI values. In this paper, the correlation between …

Views On Agriculture, Energy And Food In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska, Rebecca J. Vogt

Nebraska Rural Poll

Well-Being in Non-Metropolitan Nebraska: Perceptions of the Present and Views of the Future

Complete Mitochondrial Genome Phylogeographic Analysis Of Killer Whales (Orcinus Orca) Indicates Multiple Species, Phillip A. Morin, Frederick I. Archer, Andrew D. Foote, Julia Vilstrup, Eric E. Allen, Paul Wade, John Durban, Kim Parsons, Robert Pitman, Lewyn Li, Pascal Bouffard, Sandra C. Abel Nielsen, Morten Rasmussen, Eske Willerslev, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Timothy Harkins

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) currently comprise a single, cosmopolitan species with a diverse diet. However, studies over the last 30 yr have revealed populations of sympatric ‘‘ecotypes’’ with discrete prey preferences, morphology, and behaviors. Although these ecotypes avoid social interactions and are not known to interbreed, genetic studies to date have found extremely low levels of diversity in the mitochondrial control region, and few clear phylogeographic patterns worldwide. This low level of diversity is likely due to low mitochondrial mutation rates that are common to cetaceans. Using killer whales as a case study, we have developed a method …

A Mixed-Model Moving-Average Approach To Geostatistical Modeling In Stream Networks, Erin E. Peterson, Jay M. Ver Hoef

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Spatial autocorrelation is an intrinsic characteristic in freshwater stream environments where nested watersheds and flow connectivity may produce patterns that are not captured by Euclidean distance. Yet, many common autocovariance functions used in geostatistical models are statistically invalid when Euclidean distance is replaced with hydrologic distance. We use simple worked examples to illustrate a recently developed moving-average approach used to construct two types of valid autocovariance models that are based on hydrologic distances. These models were designed to represent the spatial configuration, longitudinal connectivity, discharge, and flow direction in a stream network. They also exhibit a different covariance structure than …

Adapting Modis-Derived Lai And Fractional Cover Into The Rams In East Africa, Nathan Moore, Nathan Torbick, Brent Lofgren, Jing Wang, Bryan Pijanowski, Jeffrey Andresen, Dong-Yun Kim, Jennifer Olson

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Land cover and its associated biophysical parameters govern many land–atmosphere interactions. Several previous studies have demonstrated the utility of incorporating satellite-derived observations of land cover into climate models to improve prediction accuracy. In the developing world where agriculture is a primary livelihood, a better understanding of seasonal variability in precipitation and near-surface temperature is critical to constructing more effective coping strategies for climate changes and food security. However, relatively few studies have been able to assess the impacts of improved surface parameterisation on these variables and their seasonality. Using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived products, we sought to address this …

Geochemical And Mineralogical Evidence For Sahara And Sahel Dust Additions To Quaternary Soils On Lanzarote, Eastern Canary Islands, Spain, Daniel R. Muhs, James Budahn, Gary Skipp, Joseph M. Prospero, Deanna Patterson, E. Arthur Bettis Iii

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Africa is the most important source of dust in the world today, and dust storms are frequent on the nearby Canary Islands. Previous workers have inferred that the Sahara is the most important source of dust to Canary Islands soils, with little contribution from the Sahel region. Soils overlying a late Quaternary basalt flow on Lanzarote, Canary Islands, contain, in addition to volcanic minerals, quartz and mica, exotic to the island!s bedrock. Kaolinite in the soils also likely has an exotic origin. Trace-element geochemistry shows that the soils are derived from varying proportions of locally derived basalt and African dust. …

Development And Application Of A Pollen-Based Paleohydrologic Reconstruction From The Lower Roanoke River Basin, North Carolina, Usa, Debra Willard, Christopher Bernhardt, Roger Brown, Bryan Landacre, Philip A. Townsend

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We used pollen assemblages to reconstruct late-Holocene paleohydrologic patterns in floodplain deposits from the lower Roanoke River basin (North Carolina, southeastern USA). Using 120 surface samples from 38 transects, we documented statistical relationships between pollen assemblages, vegetation, and landforms. Backswamp pollen assemblages (long hydroperiods) are dominated by Nyssa (tupelo) and Taxodium (cypress) and have high pollen concentrations. Sediments from elevated levees and seasonally flooded forests (shorter hydroperiods) are characterized by dominant Pinus (pine) pollen, variable abundance of hardwood taxa, and low pollen concentrations. We apply the calibration data set to interpret past vegetation and paleohydrology. Pollen from a radiocarbon-dated sediment …

The Role Of Adaptive Capacity In Creating Fire-Adapted Human Communities, Pamela J. Jakes, Matthew S. Carroll, Travis B. Paveglio, Soren Newman

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

In this research we sought answers to the question: What are the social characteristics and conditions of human communities that promote adaptive capacity for wildfire? The Quadrennial Fire Review (USDA and USDI 2009) promotes a goal of “achieving fire-adapted communities” in the wildland urban interface (WUI), and identifies metrics for determining whether a community is fire-adapted. While these metrics address some of the biophysical conditions necessary for fire-adapted human communities, they offer little insight into the social elements that promote or sustain adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity refers to the individual and collective resources, capabilities, and actions that alleviate the risk …

Fire Regimes Of The Southern Appalachian Mountains: Temporal And Spatial Variability Over Multiple Scales And Implications For Ecosystem Management, Charles W. Lafon, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Sally P. Horn, Robert N. Klein

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Information about historic fire regimes and the departure of current fire regimes from historic conditions is essential for guiding and justifying management actions, such as prescribed burning programs for ecosystem process restoration and fuel reduction. Such information is noticeably lacking for the southern Appalachian Mountains, where human populations are encroaching onto wildland areas, and where decades of fire exclusion have contributed to the decline of fire-associated communities and also to altered fuel loads. We address this knowledge gap via a multi-scale investigation of the variability in fire regimes over time and space using tree-ring reconstructions of fire history and stand …

Modeling Whole-Tree Carbon Assimilation Rate Using Observed Transpiration Rates And Needle Sugar Carbon Isotope Ratios, Jia Hu, David J. P. Moore, Diego Andrés Riveros-Iregui, Sean P. Burns, Russell K. Monson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

• Understanding controls over plant–atmosphere CO₂ exchange is important for quantifying carbon budgets across a range of spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we used a simple approach to estimate whole-tree CO₂ assimilation rate (A_Tree) in a subalpine forest ecosystem.
• We analysed the carbon isotope ratio (δ¹³C) of extracted needle sugars and combined it with the daytime leaf-to-air vapor pressure deficit to estimate tree water-use efficiency (WUE). The estimated WUE was then combined with observations of tree transpiration rate (E) using sap flow techniques to estimate A_Tree. …

A Continuous Measure Of Gross Primary Production For The Conterminous United States Derived From Modis And Ameriflux Data, Jingfeng Xiao, Qianlai Zhuang, Beverly E. Law, Jiquan Chen, Dennis D. Baldocchi, David R. Cook, Ram Oren, Andrew D. Richardson, Sonia Wharton, Siyan Ma, Timothy A. Martin, Shashi Verma, Andrew E. Suyker, Russell L. Scott, Russell K. Monson, Marcy Litvak, David Y. Hollinger, Ge Sun, Kenneth J. Davis, Paul Bolstad, Sean Burns, Peter S. Curtis, Bert G. Drake, Matthias Falk, Marc L. Fischer, David R. Foster, Lianhong Gu, Julian L. Hadley, Gabriel G. Katul, Roser Matamala, Steve Mcnulty, Tilden P. Meyers, J. William Munger, Asko Noormets, Walter Oechel, Kyaw Tha Paw U, Hans Peter Schmid, Gregory Starr, Margaret S. Torn, Steven C. Wofsy

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The quantification of carbon fluxes between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere is of scientific importance and also relevant to climate-policy making. Eddy covariance flux towers provide continuous measurements of ecosystem-level exchange of carbon dioxide spanning diurnal, synoptic, seasonal, and interannual time scales. However, these measurements only represent the fluxes at the scale of the tower footprint. Here we used remotely sensed data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to upscale gross primary productivity (GPP) data from eddy covariance flux towers to the continental scale. We first combined GPP and MODIS data for 42 AmeriFlux towers encompassing a wide …

The Kentucky Mesonet: Perspectives On Data Access, Distribution, And Use For A Meso-Scale Surface Network, D. M. Grogan, S. Foster, Rezaul Mamood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Scwds Briefs: Volume 26, Number 1 (April 2010), Gary L. Doster , Editor, Scwds Briefs, Michael J. Yabsley

Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study: Publications

Table of Contents:

AI Diagnostics Research

White Nose Syndrome Update

More CWD News

Pneumonia Kills Bighorn Sheep

MCF in a Key Deer

National Feral Swine Mapping System

Brucella suis in North America

Sam Hamilton

Partners In The Parks: Field Guide To An Experiential Program In The National Parks (First Edition), Joan Digby, Bill Atwill, Angela Calise, James Clarke, Rebecca Cole-Will, Rony Enriquez, Greg Fahy, Sarah L. Fann, Pavel Goriacko, Andy Grube, Kathleen King, Matt Nickerson, Joy Ochs, Elizabeth O’Donnell, C. P. Price, Heather Thiessen-Reily

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

When Joan Digby first proposed taking collegiate honors students into our national parks, I jumped at the chance. Within minutes of reading her email, I not only responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” but went so far as to volunteer the resources of the Southern Utah University Honors Program to get things started. Nestled among 5 national parks in southwestern Utah, I felt our campus would be a natural focal point for the kind of program Joan envisioned. Within weeks we had laid the groundwork for a proof-of-concept pilot project at nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. Little did I know at …

Chapter 2- Global Perspectives On Water For Food, Prem S. Paul, Monica Norby, Gillian Klucas, Ashley Washburn, Elizabeth Banset, Vicki Miller

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

The water crisis will play a major role in the future of global poverty, yet little awareness of this critical issue exists and few discussions are taking place about securing water for food, Jeff Raikes said. In a call to action, Raikes advocated an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, one that pulls on all levers to solve the pending crisis.

The Crisis
Already about 75 to 80 percent of human water consumption is used to grow food, Raikes said. The projected doubling in food demand, coupled with climate change’s impact on geographic availability of water, will significantly increase the demand for …

New Insights On The Sequence Stratigraphic Architecture Of The Dakota Formation In Kansas-Nebraska-Iowa From A Decade Of Sponsored Research Activity, G. A. Ludvigson, B. J. Witzke, Robert Matthew Joeckel, R. L. Ravn, P. L. Phillips, L. A. Gonzalez, R. L. Brenner

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Red Gold - Raising Cochineal In Oaxaca, Eric Chávez Santiago, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Oaxaca’s diversity may be appreciated in its geography, people, and food. Therefore, artistic expressions throughout the state are truly rich in their variety. Textiles are one of the major expressions that have transcended through time and among the vast offer of materials, cochineal has been one of Oaxaca’s treasures. Capable of producing many different shades, cochineal has been widely used for dyeing since Pre-Columbian times. After reaching a point of extraordinary production as an exporting good, the cochineal cultivation started to decrease as the use of synthetic dyes started to spread. The Museo Textil de Oaxaca (Textile Museum of Oaxaca …

Colcha Embroidery As Cartography: Mapping Landscapes Of Memory And Passage, Suzanne P. Macaulay

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Stitching is one of the oldest forms or technologies of textile craft – if we regard technology in its elemental sense as artistry, process, invention or method. This presentation explores the notion of embroidered maps as creations of a cartographic visionary imagination. In terms of the Symposium’s theme promoting new links between traditional textile-based concepts and contemporary digital processes, these cartographic embroideries are viewed as compositions of space-time in which landscapes are rendered as illusions of three dimensions (space) with an implied fourth dimension (time). In these pictorial embroideries, time melds with memory in order to transcend the physical division …

The International Limits And Population At Risk Of Plasmodium Vivax Transmission In 2009, Carlos A. Guerra, Rosalind E. Howes, Anand P. Patil, Peter W. Gething, Thomas P. Van Boeckel, William H. Temperley, Caroline W. Kabaria, Andrew J. Tatem, Bui H. Manh, Iqbal R.F. Elyazar, J. Kevin Baird, Robert W. Snow, Simon I. Hay

United States Public Health Resources

Background: A research priority for Plasmodium vivax malaria is to improve our understanding of the spatial distribution of risk and its relationship with the burden of P. vivax disease in human populations. The aim of the research outlined in this article is to provide a contemporary evidence-based map of the global spatial extent of P. vivax malaria, together with estimates of the human population at risk (PAR) of any level of transmission in 2009.

Methodology: The most recent P. vivax case-reporting data that could be obtained for all malaria endemic countries were used to classify risk into three …

The International Limits And Population At Risk Of Plasmodium Vivax Transmission In 2009, Carlos A. Guerra, Rosalind E. Howes, Anand P. Patil, Peter W. Gething, Thomas P. Van Boeckel, William H. Temperley, Caroline W. Kabaria, Andrew J. Tatem, Bui H. Manh, Iqbal R.F. Elyazar, J. Kevin Baird, Robert W. Snow, Simon I. Hay

United States Public Health Resources

Background: A research priority for Plasmodium vivax malaria is to improve our understanding of the spatial distribution of risk and its relationship with the burden of P. vivax disease in human populations. The aim of the research outlined in this article is to provide a contemporary evidence-based map of the global spatial extent of P. vivax malaria, together with estimates of the human population at risk (PAR) of any level of transmission in 2009.

Methodology: The most recent P. vivax case-reporting data that could be obtained for all malaria endemic countries were used to classify risk into three classes: malaria …