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Water Rights And Land Values In The West-Central Plains, Allan Jenkins, Bruce Elder, Ram Valluru, Paul Burger

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

Irrigation is vital to the economic activity of the west-central Great Plains. The crops grown, the distribution of center-pivot irrigation systems, and the basic transportation infrastructure is the same in northwest Kansas, northeast Colorado, and southwest Nebraska. But buyers of agricultural land face a different price for irrigated cropland in each of the states, even when the production characteristics of the land are similar. After accounting for factors like productivity and local property tax differences, we argue that it is the difference in water marketing rights between the three states that explains the price difference. The link between land values …

The October 1998 Flood Of The Upper Guadalupe River System, Central Texas, Richard A. Earl

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

The October 1998 flood on the upper Guadalupe River system was produced by a 24-hour precipitation amount of 483 mm at one station, over 380 mm at several other stations, and up to 590 mm over five days, precipitation amounts greater than the 100-year storm as prescribed in Weather Bureau Technical Papers 40 (1961) and 49 (1964). This study uses slope-area discharge estimates and published discharge and precipitation data to analyze flow characteristics of the three major branches of the Guadalupe River on the Edwards Plateau. The main channel of the Guadalupe has a single large flood-control structure at Canyon …

Notes And News- Spring 2007

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

NOTES AND NEWS

CALL FOR PAPERS

PLAINS INDIANS AND THE MAORI

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Candidate Sex Pheromones Of The New World Screwworm Cochliomyia Hominivorax, D.A. Carlson, Dennis Berkebile, S.R. Skoda, K. Mori, S. Mihok

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Five novel homologous acetate derivatives of long-chain secondary alcohols and a related ketone were tested for their efficacy as contact mating stimulants for Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Full copulatory behaviour at a high percentage was found in tests with racemic 6-acetoxy-19-methylnonacosane at 2.5 – 20 μg using fertile males from three strains. Males of two strains responded nearly as well to 7-acetoxy-15-methylnonacosane, but an older strain first colonized in 1992 did not respond to this compound. Few or no copulatory responses were obtained to the other secondary alcohol acetates and a related ketone. These two acetate derivatives are the …

Lacustrine Evidence For Moisture Changes In The Nebraska Sand Hills During Marine Isotope Stage 3, Kimberly C. Jacobs, Sherilyn C. Fritz, James B. Swinehart

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

In the central Great Plains of North America, loess stratigraphy suggests that climate during the late Pleistocene was cold and dry. However, this record is discontinuous, and there are few other records of late-Pleistocene conditions. Cobb Basin, located on the northern edge of the Nebraska Sand Hills, contains lacustrine sediments deposited during Marine Isotope Stage 3, beginning approximately 45,000 cal yr BP and continuing for at least 10,000 yr. The lake was formed by a dune dam blockage on the ancient Niobrara River, and its deposits contain a diatom record that indicates changes through time in lake depth driven by …

Graduate Connections- February 2007

Graduate Connections: A Newsletter for UNL Graduate Students

In This Issue:

Click on links to navigate the newsletter

Professional Development.........1

Fellowship Application Workshop

Teaching Documentation Program Preparing Future Faculty

Teaching Tip ………………………2

Leading Discussions

Calendar......................................3

Workshops & Events

Degree Deadlines

Announcements:.........................4

Deadline for UNL Fellowships

Seeking Former McNair Scholars

Wash. State Summer Program

Mentoring Guidebooks

Navigating Graduate School.....5

Writing Fellowship Applications

Research News...........................7

Grant Writing Workshop

UNL Research Fair

Research Poster Competition

Tip for Researchers

Funding Opportunities...............8

Interactions...............................10

Graduate Award Winners

Notes from the GSA

Readers’ Corner........................12

On Writing Well

Water Current, Volume 39, No. 1. Winter 2007

Water Current Newsletter

Contents

• Future of Water Use in Agriculture Topic of Fourth Annual Water Law, Policy and Science Conference by Steve Ress

• June Water Tour to New Mexico Compares Republican and Pecos River Compacts By Steve Ress

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• EPAGrant Helps Researchers Study Feedlot Waste Impacts by Steve Ress

• Lawmakers Get Briefings on Top Water Issues by Jessica Harder

• UNL Hosts Biofuels and Water Resources Retreat By Steve Ress

• Fish and Wildlife Coop Supports Students, Lends Assistance by Brent Atema

• UNL Land Purchase Will Help Farmers and Ranchers Deal …

Peptidomic Analysis Of Skin Secretions Supports Separate Species Status For The Tailed Frogs, Ascaphus Truei And Ascaphus Montanus, J. Michael Conlon, Catherine R. Bevier, Laurent Coquet, Jérôme Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Hubert Vaudry, Blake R. Hossack

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The tailed frog Ascaphus truei Stejneger, 1899 is the most primitive extant anuran and the sister taxon to the clade of all other living frogs. The species occupies two disjunct ranges in the Northwest region of North America: the Cascade Mountains and coastal area from British Columbia to Northern California, and an inland range in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Blue andWallowa mountains. A previous study led to the isolation of eight peptides with antimicrobial activity (termed the ascaphins) from skin secretions of A. truei from the coastal range. The present study has used peptidomic analysis to identify the …

Terminal Cretaceous Climate Change And Biotic Response In Antarctica, V. C. Thorn, J. E. Francis, J. B. Riding, R. W. Raiswell, D. Pirrie, A. Haywood, J. A. Crame, J. M. Marshall

ANDRILL Related Publications of Affiliates

Latest Cretaceous to early Palaeogene climates in Antarctica are being investigated from an exceptional sedimentary sequence on Seymour Island (James Ross Basin, Antarctic Peninsula) to determine the nature of climate change at the end of the Cretaceous. It has been suggested that, following peak mid Cretaceous warmth, cooling during the Maastrichtian (~71-65 Ma) may have been severe enough for short-term glaciations at high latitudes, challenging the current view of an ice-free, Cretaceous greenhouse world. High resolution records of palaeontological, sedimentological, and geochemical signals are being obtained to investigate the climate and environmental context at the Antarctic margin prior to the …

A Sediment Model And Retreat History For The Ross Ice (Sheet) Shelf In The Western Ross Sea Since The Last Glacial Maximum, R. M. Mckay, G. B. Dunbar, T. R. Naish, P. J. Barrett, L. Carter, M. Harper

ANDRILL Related Publications of Affiliates

Three sediment gravity cores collected from beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf and six piston cores from the Erebus Basin (in McMurdo Sound) and the Lewis Basin (north of Ross Island) were analysed in order to construct a retreat history for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Ross embayment since the Last Glacial Maximum. The cores display a characteristic succession of sedimentary facies that record a transition from deposition beneath a marine terminating ice sheet to open-marine conditions. The base of the succession comprises a slightly consolidated, clast-rich muddy diamict dominated by basement clasts from the Transantarctic Mountains, and interpreted …

Geology Of The Byrd Glacier Discontinuity (Ross Orogen): New Survey Data From The Britannia Range, Antarctica, R. Carosi, F. Giacomini, F. Talarico, Edmund Stump

ANDRILL Related Publications of Affiliates

Field activities in the Britannia Range (Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica) highlighted new geological features around the so-called Byrd Glacier discontinuity. Recent field surveys revealed the occurrence of significant amounts of medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks, intruded by abundant coarse-grained porphyritic granitoids. Most of the granitoids are deformed, with foliation parallel to the regional foliation in the metamorphics. Two main episodes of deformation are observed. Tight to isoclinal folds and penetrative axial plane foliation are related to the D1 phase, open folds to the D2. The main foliation (D1) trends nearly E-W in agreement with the trend in the southern portion of …

Hungarian National Report On Iahs: 2003-2006, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mississippi River Stories: Lessons From A Century Of Unnatural Disasters, Sandi Zellmer, Christine Klein

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the nation pondered how a relatively weak Category 3 storm could have destroyed an entire region. Few appreciated the extent to which a flawed federal water development policy transformed this apparently natural disaster into a “man-made” disaster; fewer still appreciated how the disaster was the predictable, and indeed predicted, sequel to almost a century of similar disasters. This article focuses upon three such stories: the Great Flood of 1927, the Midwest Flood of 1993, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. Taken together, the stories reveal important lessons, including the inadequacy of engineered flood …

Late Pleistocene To Holocene Strata From Soft-Sediment Coring At The And-1b Site, Andrill Mcmurdo Ice Shelf Project, Antarctica, Gavin B. Dunbar, F. Niessen, S. Vogel, S. Tulaczyk, K. Mandernack, L. Krissek, L. Carter, E. A. Cowan, T. Wilch, C. Peng, C. P. Strong, R. Scherer, C. Sjunneskog, D. Winter, R. Mckay, F. Talarico, M. Pompilio, Andrill-Mis Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Prior to rotary coring, a range of soft-sediment coring tools were deployed to recover the sediment-water interface and the upper few metres of strata, whose integrity was threatened by embedment of the sea riser for drilling of the ANDRILL (AND)-1A/1B holes. These coring options included (1) a sediment gravity corer deployed through the ice-shelf hole, and (2) a push corer deployed through the sea riser suspended a few metres above the seabed. Within the AND-1A hole (during an attempt at sea-riser embedment) an extended-nose corer was advanced in front of the sea riser with limited success. The hydraulic piston corer …

Science, Engineering, And Mathematics Education: Status And Issues, Christine M. Matthews

Congressional Research Service Reports

An important aspect of U.S. efforts to maintain and improve economic competitiveness is the existence of a capable scientific and technological workforce. A major concern of the 110th Congress may be regarding the future ability of the U.S. science and engineering base to generate the technological advances needed to maintain economic growth. Discussions have centered on the quality of science and mathematics education and training and on the scientific knowledge of those students entering other disciplines. Even students pursuing nonscientific and nonmathematical specialities are likely to require basic knowledge of scientific and technological applications for effective participation in the workforce. …

A World Revision Of The Pycnostigminae (Cynipoidea: Figitidae) With Descriptions Of Seven New Species, Matthew L. Buffington, Simon Van Noort

USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Pycnostigmus rostratus Cameron, 1905, is redescribed and four new species of Pycnostigmus are described: P. mastersonae Buffington & van Noort, new species; P. incognito Buffington & van Noort, new species; P. fossilensis Buffington & van Noort, new species; and P. hoerikwaggoensis Buffington & van Noort, new species. Pycnostigmus mastersonae is the only known species of Cynipoidea with a metallic sheen on the head and mesosoma. A redescription of Tylosema nigerrimum Kieffer, 1905, is provided as well as the description of two new species: Tylosema dayae Buffington & van Noort, new species and Tylosema ronquisti Buffington & …

The Yellowstone Hotspot, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, And Human Geography, Kenneth L. Pierce, Don G. Despain, Lisa A. Morgan, John M. Good

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Active geologic processes associated with the Yellowstone hotspot are fundamental in shaping the landscapes of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE), a high volcanic plateau flanked by a crescent of still higher mountainous terrain. The processes associated with the Yellowstone hotspot are volcanism, faulting, and uplift and are observed in the geology at the surface. We attribute the driving forces responsible for the northeastward progression of these processes to a thermal plume rising through the Earth’s mantle into the base of the southwest-moving North American plate. This progression began 16 million years ago (Ma) near the Nevada-Oregon border and arrived at …

Loess Deposits, Origins And Properties, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is an eolian (windblown) sediment that is an important archive of Quaternary climate changes. It may provide one of the most complete terrestrial records of interglacial–glacial cycles. Loess is unusual as a record of Quaternary climate change because it is one of the few sediments that is deposited directly from the atmosphere. Thus, it is a geologic deposit that contains a record of atmospheric circulation and can be used to reconstruct synoptic-scale paleoclimatology. Loess is also unusual in that it can be dated directly using ‘trapped electron’ or luminescence methods that require only the sediment itself. Commonly, loess deposits …

The Floor Of Yellowstone Lake Is Anything But Quiet—New Discoveries From High-Resolution Sonar Imaging, Seismic- Reflection Profiling, And Submersible Studies, Lisa A. Morgan, Wayne C. Shanks Iii, Kenneth L. Pierce, David A. Lovalvo, Gregory K. Lee, Michael W. Webring, William J. Stephenson, Samuel Y. Johnson, Stephen S. Harlan, Boris Schulze, Carol A. Finn

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Discoveries from multibeam sonar mapping and seis-mic-reflection surveys of Yellowstone Lake provide new insight into the recent geologic forces that have shaped a large lake at the active front of the Yellowstone hot spot, a region strongly affected by young (<2 >m.y.), large-volume (>100–1,000s km3) silicic volcanism, active tectonism, and accompanying uplift.

Specifically, our mapping has identified the extent of postcaldera-collapse volcanism and active hydrothermal processes occurring above a large magma chamber beneath the lake floor. Multiple advances and recessions of thick glacial ice have overlapped volcanic and hydrothermal activity leaving a lake basin that has been shaped predominantly …

Discovering Price In All The Wrong Places: The Work Of Commodity Definition And Price Under Neoliberal Environmental Policy, Morgan Robertson

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Price plays a unique role in neoliberal economic theory, quantifying value and providing markets with the information needed to produce equilibrium conditions and optimal social welfare. While the role of price is clear, the mechanisms by which prices are discovered, and by which the commodities they value are defined, are left obscure in neoliberal theory. Automatic price discovery, and self-evident commodity identities, are assumed. Observation of newly created markets in ecosystem services suggests that this is a moment of significant tension within neoliberal practice, as potential market participants seek guidance from the state on appropriate commodity measures and pricing practices. …

Noaa's Climate Database Modernization Program: Rescuing, Archiving, And Digitizing History, Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, Thomas F. Ross, Joe D. Elms, Raymond Truesdell, Stephen R. Doty

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Historic weather, climate, and ocean observations from as far back as the mid-1700s are being made easily available on the Internet for use in studying global climate variability and change and for helping to improve mitigation and response. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP) began in 2000 with a major emphasis on imaging and keying worldwide climate and environmental records from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. This multimillion dollar program is an ongoing effort to process data from the United States and elsewhere, improve its access, and maintain a permanent data archive. The …

Pacific Salmon Extinctions: Quantifying Lost And Remaining Diversity, Richard G. Gustafson, Robin Waples, James M. Myers, Laurie A. Weitkamp, Gregory J. Bryant, Orlay W. Johnson, Jeffrey J. Hard

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Widespread population extirpations and the consequent loss of ecological, genetic, and life-history diversity can lead to extinction of evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) and species. We attempted to systematically enumerate extinct Pacific salmon populations and characterize lost ecological, life history, and genetic diversity types among six species of Pacific salmon (Chinook [Oncorhynchus tshawytscha], sockeye [O. nerka], coho [O. kisutch], chum [O. keta], and pink salmon [O. gorbuscha] and steelhead trout [O. mykiss]) from the western contiguous United States. We estimated that, collectively, 29% of nearly 1400 historical populations of …

Hydrogeologic Setting And Ground-Water Flow Simulations Of The Eastern High Plains Regional Study Area, Nebraska, Matthew K. Landon, Michael J. Turco

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The transport of anthropogenic and natural contaminants to public-supply wells was evaluated in a part of the High Plains aquifer near York, Nebraska, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program. The aquifer in the Eastern High Plains regional study area is composed of Quaternary alluvial deposits typical of the High Plains aquifer in eastern Nebraska and Kansas, is an important water source for agricultural irrigation and public water supply, and is susceptible and vulnerable to contamination. A six-layer, steady-state ground-water flow model of the High Plains aquifer near York, Nebraska, was constructed and calibrated to average …

Late Quaternary Paleoenvironments Of An Ephemeral Wetland In North Dakota, Usa: Relative Interactions Of Ground-Water Hydrology And Climate Change, Catherine H. Yansa, Walter E. Dean, Edward C. Murphy

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This study of fossils (pollen, plant macrofossils, stomata and fish) and sediments (lithostratigraphy and geochemistry) from the Wendel site in North Dakota, USA, emphasizes the importance of considering ground-water hydrology when deciphering paleoclimate signals from lakes in postglacial landscapes. The Wendel site was a paleolake from about 11,500 ¹⁴C yr BP to 11,100 ¹⁴C yr BP. Afterwards, the lake-level lowered until it became a prairie marsh by 9,300 ¹⁴C yr BP and finally, at 8,500 ¹⁴C yr BP, an ephemeral wetland as it is today. Meanwhile, the vegetation changed from a white spruce parkland (11,500 to …

Fire Managers Field Guide: Hazardous Fuels Management In Subtropical Pine Flatwoods And Tropical Pine Rocklands, Joseph J. O'Brien, Kathyryn A. Mordecai, Leslie Wolcott, James Snyder, Kenneth Outcalt

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Preface This document, The Fire Managers Field Guide: Hazardous Fuels Management in Sub-tropical Pine Flatwoods and Tropical Pine Rocklands is intended to provide an overview of techniques and tactics under actual use for addressing hazardous fuels in tropical and subtropical pine forests found in Florida, the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean. The information presented here was distilled from peer reviewed literature, technical reports, and the experiences of on-theground fire managers. Managing fuels is complex and idiosyncratic. This guide is intended to provide only a broad introduction to currently available techniques; some well known and others newer and untested. The …

Morphology, Reproduction And Mortality Of Equus Hemionus Hemionus In Mongolia, Annegret Stubbe, Michael Stubbe, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

There are collected materials on morphology, reproduction rate, and mortality of Dschiggetajs Equus h. hemionus between 2001 and 2006 in the South Gobi of Mongolia. It were found 794 skeletons of wild asses, 95% of these were pouched, ⅔ of them in winter coat. Pouching was also located in the protected areas of this region. The main living resources of Equus hemionus are registered in the South eastern Gobi. For the first time statistical data on morphology measurements of body length, tail and tuft, ear length, and hoofs are given. There are no significant differences between the sexes. The reproduction …

Up-Date On The Behaviour And Status Of The Critically Endangered Onager, Equus Hemionus Onager, From Iran, Laurent Tatin, Bijan F. Darreh-Shoori, Christophe Tourenq, David Tatin, Bijan Azmayesh

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The onager, Equus hemionus onager, an Asiatic wild ass endemic to Iran, is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Its biology and conservation requirements are poorly documented. We report some observations made in 1997 and 2000 on the behavior and ecology of the two remaining populations, located in the Touran Protected Area and the Bahram-e-Goor Reserve. Recent population counts by the Department of Environment of Iran (471 in the Protected Area, and 96 in the Reserve) are markedly lower than the count of 600-770 made in the 1970s in the Touran Protected Area. We observed social …

Asiatic Wild Ass In Israel, David A. Blank

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The Syrian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemippus) lived in Israel in historic times until the 1930s, when it disappeared from the entire Middle East region. Khulans from other subspecies (E. h. onager - six individulas and E. h. kulan - five individuals) were brought to Israel from European zoos during 1968-69 (the authors of project considered that onager and kulan were the same subspecies) and these animals bred together in the semi-captivity conditions of the Haibar Yotvata Reserve. Later, during a 12-year period from 1982 through 1993, six groups totalling 38 khulans (17 males and 21 females) …

Contributions To The Chiroptera Of Mongolia With First Evidences On Species Communities And Ecological Niches, Dietrich Dolch, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Klaus Thiele, Frank Burger, Ingo Scheffler, Andreas Kiefer, Frieder Mayer, Ravčigijn Samjaa, Annegret Stubbe, Michael Stubbe, Leonard Krall, Dirk Steinhauser

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In this paper are presented the accounts of 13 identified bat species from a total of 628 captured specimens from 32 locations in Mongolia during three field expeditions. These species accounts include taxonomical, morphological, and ecological data resulting from observations and further analyses. As a result of this work the distribution of some bat species in Mongolia can be drawn in more detail. For instance, Vespertilio murinus is much wider distributed and abundant than the former records indicate. The Plecotus species were clearly identified by genetic analyses combined with morphological characteristics. Moreover, the second record for Eptesicus serotinus and the …

Über Die Federmerkmale Der Mongolischen Habichte Und Sperber Accipiter Spec. Im Vergleich Zu Den Mitteleuropäischen Unterarten, Wolf-Dieter Busching

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Zusammenfassung

Der Autor vergleicht und beschreibt die Federmerkmale und Kleider- und Alterskennzeichen der mongolischen mit den mitteleuropäischen Habichten und Sperber Accipter-spec. Dabei sind Habicht Accipiter gentilis und Sperber Accipiter nisus in der Mongolei in den Unterarten Accipiter gentilis schvedowi bzw. A. nisus nisosimilis verbreitet. Zum Trillersperber Accipiter gularis, der in der Mongolei in der ssp. sibiricus brütet, gibt es kein mitteleuropäisches Gegenstück. Die Federmerkmale der mongolischen Accipiter-Arten werden hier erstmals eingehend beschrieben und abgebildet.

Summary

A comparison of the characteristic features, the plumage and age-classes of Accipiter gentilis and A. nisus of Middle Europe and Mongolia is given …