Digital Commons Network^™

Archaeobiogeography Of Extinct Rice Rats (Oryzomyini) In The Lesser Antilles During The Ceramic Age (500 Bce–1500 Ce), Marine Durocher, Violaine Nicolas, Sophia Perdikaris, Dominique Bonnissent, Gwenola Robert, Karyne Debue, Allowen Evin, Sandrine Grouard

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

During the Ceramic Age (500 BCE–1500 CE), Lesser Antilles rice rats (tribe Oryzomyini) made up a significant portion of the diet of Caribbean islanders. Archaeological excavations across the archipelago resulted to the discovery of large quantities of remains from to these now extinct taxa. It offers a unique opportunity to investigate the past biogeography of this taxon of high cultural and ecological importance. We have studied 1,140 first lower molars originating from 40 archaeological sites across eleven islands of the Lesser Antilles archipelago using two-dimensional geometric morphometric approaches to establish spatiotemporal pat-terns relying on phenotypic variations. This study identified three …

Nebraska Invasive Species Council, 2021-2024 Adaptive Management Plan

Nebraska Invasive Species Program

Nebraska Invasive Species Council, 2021-2024 Adaptive Management Plan

A Race Around The World, Lilly Zhou

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

Afterschool club that learns about different cultures, foods, holidays, and landmarks from countries around the world through interactive presentations. Hands-on activities help the students focus on teamwork, creativity, and active recall.

Developing A Strategy For The National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, Michael H. Cosh, Todd G. Caldwell, C. Bruce Baker, John D. Bolten, Nathan Edwards, Peter Goble, Heather Hofman, Tyson E. Ochsner, Steven Quiring, Charles Schalk, Marina Skumanich, Mark D. Svoboda, Mary E. Woloszyn

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Soil moisture is a critical land surface variable, affecting a wide variety of climatological, agricultural, and hydrological processes. Determining the current soil moisture status is possible via a variety of methods, including in situ monitoring, remote sensing, and numerical modeling. Although all of these approaches are rapidly evolving, there is no cohesive strategy or framework to integrate these diverse information sources to develop and disseminate coordinated national soil moisture products that will improve our ability to understand climate variability. The National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network initiative has developed a national strategy for network coordination with NOAA’s National Integrated Drought …

Empire And Catastrophe: Decolonization And Environmental Disaster In North Africa And Mediterranean France Since 1954, Spencer D. Segalla

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

Empire and Catastrophe examines natural and anthropogenic disasters during the years of decolonization in Algeria, Morocco, and France and explores how environmental catastrophes both shaped and were shaped by struggles over the dissolution of France’s empire in North Africa. Four disasters make up the core of the book: the 1954 earthquake in Algeria’s Chélif Valley, just weeks before the onset of the Algerian Revolution; a mass poisoning in Morocco in 1959 caused by toxic substances from an American military base; the 1959 Malpasset Dam collapse in Fréjus, France, which devastated the town’s Algerian immigrant community but which was blamed on …

Implications Of Historical And Contemporary Processes On Genetic Differentiation Of A Declining Boreal Songbird: The Rusty Blackbird, R. E. Wilson, S. M. Matsuoka, L. L. Powell, J. A. Johnson, D. W. Demarest, D. Stralberg, S. Sonsthagen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A 3d Point Cloud Deep Learning Approach Using Lidar To Identify Ancient Maya Archaeological Sites, Heather Richards-Rissetto, David Newton, Aziza Al Zadjali

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems allow archaeologists to capture 3D data of anthropogenic landscapes with a level of precision that permits the identification of archaeological sites in difficult to reach and inaccessible regions. These benefits have come with a deluge of LIDAR data that requires significant and costly manual labor to interpret and analyze. In order to address this challenge, researchers have explored the use of state-of-the-art automated object recognition algorithms from the field of deep learning with success. This previous research, however, has been limited to the exploration of deep learning processes that work with only 2D …

Managing For Radical Ecosystem Change: Applying The Resist-Accept- Direct (Rad) Framework, Abigail J. Lynch, Laura M. Thompson, Erik A. Beever, David N. Cole, Augustin C. Engman, Cat Hawkins Hoffman, Stephen T. Jackson, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, David J. Lawrence, Douglas Limpinsel, Robert T. Magill, Tracy A. Melvin, John M. Morton, Robert A. Newman, Jay O. Peterson, Mark T. Porath, Frank J. Rahel, Gregor W. Schuurman, Suresh A. Sethi, Jennifer L. Wilkening

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Ecosystem transformation involves the emergence of persistent ecological or social–ecological systems that diverge, dramatically and irreversibly, from prior ecosystem structure and function. Such transformations are occurring at increasing rates across the planet in response to changes in climate, land use, and other factors. Consequently, a dynamic view of ecosystem processes that accommodates rapid, irreversible change will be critical for effectively conserving fish, wildlife, and other natural resources, and maintaining ecosystem services. However, managing ecosystems toward states with novel structure and function is an inherently unpredictable and difficult task. Managers navigating ecosystem transformation can benefit from considering broader objectives, beyond a …

Long-Term African Dust Delivery To The Eastern Atlantic Ocean From The Sahara And Sahel Regions: Evidence From Quaternary Paleosols On The Canary Islands, Spain, Daniel R. Muhs, Joaquín Meco, James R. Budahn, Gary L. Skipp, Kathleen R. Simmons, Matthew C. Baddock, Juan F. Betancourt, Alejandro Lomoschitz

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Africa is the most important source of dust in the world today and dust storms from that continent frequently deposit sediment on the nearby Canary Islands. Many investigators have inferred African dust inputs to Canary Islands paleosols based only on the presence of quartz. However, some local rocks do contain this mineral, so quartz alone is insufficient proof of dust deposition. Further, it is not known whether the Sahara Desert or the Sahel region is more important as a dust source. We address these issues by study of sequences of Pleistocene aeolian sands on the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. …

Soils And Paleosols, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Publications

This article reviews the nature of modern and ancient soils. Soils are naturally occurring bodies that mantle most of the land surface of the Earth. They are found on virtually every part of the Earth’s land surface, other than areas covered by water bodies (lakes and rivers), glacial ice, or steep slopes in mountainous terrain. Soils occur at the interface of the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere and are the medium of growth for much of the Earth’s plant and animal life. The study of soils as naturally occurring bodies on the Earth’s surface is called pedology (in contrast to …

Evaluating Potential Effects Of Solar Power Facilities On Wildlife From An Animal Behavior Perspective, Rachel Y. Chock, Barbara Clucas, Elizabeth K. Peterson, Bradley Blackwell, Daniel T. Blumstein, Kathleen Church, Esteban Fernández-Juricic, Gabriel Francescoli, Alison L. Greggor, Paul Kemp, Gabriela M. Pinho, Peter M. Sanzenbacher, Bruce A. Schulte, Pauline Toni

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Solar power is a renewable energy source with great potential to help meet increasing global energy demands and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. However, research is scarce on how solar facilities affect wildlife. With input from professionals in ecology, conservation, and energy, we conducted a research-prioritization process and identified key questions needed to better understand impacts of solar facilities on wildlife. We focused on animal behavior, which can be used to identify population responses before mortality or other fitness consequences are documented. Behavioral studies can also offer approaches to understand the mechanisms leading to negative interactions (e.g., collision, singeing, …

Temporal Invariance Of Social-Ecological Catchments, Mark A. Kaemingk, Christine N. Bender, Chris Chizinski, Aaron J. Bunch, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Natural resources such as waterbodies, public parks, and wildlife refuges attract people from varying distances on the landscape, creating “social-ecological catchments.” Catchments have provided great utility for understanding physical and social relationships within specific disciplines. Yet, catchments are rarely used across disciplines, such as its application to understand complex spatiotemporal dynamics between mobile human users and patchily distributed natural resources. We collected residence ZIP codes from 19,983 angler parties during 2014–2017 to construct seven angler–waterbody catchments in Nebraska, USA. We predicted that sizes of dense (10% utilization distribution) and dispersed (95% utilization distribution) angler–waterbody catchments would change across seasons and …

Biodiversity Of Small Mammals And Paleoenvironment Of Transbaikalia And North Mongolia In The Late Pliocene, N. V. Alexeeva, M. A. Erbajeva

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

This paper reports the results of analysis on small mammal faunas dwelling during the Late Pliocene the Transbaikal and Northern Mongolia regions. They were found to share many common species, even though some differences linked with local and regional specifics of the environment are the case. High diversity of small mammal taxa, species richness and their prominent quantity specify the localities of Udunga, Beregovaya and Tologoi in Transbaikal region and in Shamar of Northern Mongolia. The compositions of all faunas point to the existence of the savanna-like landscapes and warm semiarid climate in that period.

Hypsugo Stubbei Sp. Nov., A Novel Cryptic Bat Species Of The Genus Hypsugo (Vespertilionidae, Chiroptera, Mammalia) From Mongolia, Dietrich Dolch, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Annegret Stubbe, Dirk Steinhauser

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

The occurrence of two members of the genus Hypsugo, namely H. alaschanicus and H. savii caucasicus, have been reported for Mongolia in the literature. Due to various taxonomic reassignments within and between genera, the number of records for the genus Hypsugo in Mongolia is quite scarce and sometimes not resolved at species or subspecies level. Despite recognition of the two above-mentioned species, recent reports based on genetic analyses describe only new and further records of H. alaschanicus. Thus, it exists a large uncertainty regarding the occurrence and distribution of H. savii caucasicus in Mongolia. Here, our efforts …

Zur Molekularen Klassifizierung Der Mongolischen Kormorane Phalacrocorax Carbo (Linnaeus, 1758), Lucie Marie Baltz, Michael Stubbe, Davaa Lchagvasuren, Lara-Sophie Dey

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

The cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) is a common breeding species at lake areas of Mongolia. Although molecular research has been conducted on many colonies worldwide, no studies of the genetic diversity of Mongolian colonies are known to date. In this study, we sequence for the first time a fragment of cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) from ten individuals of the 2017 resident population at Telmen-nuur. Here we perform molecular identification and analyze it in the context of existing data from populations studied worldwide. A clear assignment to the species P. carbo could be shown, but no identification on subspecies level …

Selten In Der Mongolei Nachgewiesene Fledermausarten, Dietrich Dolch, Dirk Steinhauser, Bernd Gärtner, Klaus Thiele, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Davaa Lchagvasuren, Annegret Stubbe, Michael Stubbe

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

In der Mongolei sind gegenwärtig 20 verschiedene Fledermausarten aus sieben Gattungen nachgewiesen worden. Hierbei handelt es sich um sieben Arten Myotis, vier Arten Plecotus, drei Arten Eptesicus, zwei Arten Vespertilio, zwei Arten Hypsugo und je eine Art der Gattungen Nyctalus und Murina. Von den bisher bekannten Species konnten 11 nur selten und zwei von ihnen nur einmal gefunden worden. Bis auf die Arten der Gattung Plecotus und Hypsugo, die in getrennten Publikationen in diesem Heft behandelt werden (DOLCH et al. 2021a, 2021b), sind nachfolgend diese seltenen Funde zusammengestellt. Die Grundlage für die Häufigkeitseinschätzung bilden …

Phylogenie, Morphologie Und Ökologie Mongolischer Langohrfledermäuse Der Gattung Plecotus (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), Dietrich Dolch, Bernd Gärtner, Klaus Thiele, Dirk Steinhauser, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Annegret Stubbe, Nyamsuren Batsajchan, Davaa Lchagvasuren

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

The Palaearctic is a zoogeographical region where knowledge of the distribution, taxonomy and ecology of bats (Chiroptera) is generally quite extensive. However, for many Palaearctic subregions, including Mongolia, detailed knowledge is still quite scarce. Also for some groups of species there are only few studies available to date. This holds also true for the long-eared bats of the genus Plecotus. For the long-eared bats, which live in close family groups and do not migrate over long distances, the development of different life form types can be expected. Studies tackling this are so far lacking.

The fundamental revision of the …

Civil Affairs Operations, United States Army

United States Army: Field Manuals

Civil Affairs Operations, United States Army Field Manual FM 3-57

The Effect Of Drought On The Bird Species Spiza Americana, Emily Nelson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Climate change is becoming an integral part of our environment. Recognizing its effects on ecosystems and species’ health is important for the future of the natural world. There is an influx of changes that are happening to species, specifically birds due to climate change, and these changes are largely negative. A variation that is happening from the changing climate is an increase in drought conditions, which may have effect on the avifauna community. Drought causes a significant difficulty for species survival in all parts of the globe that includes hardships finding food and unsuccessful nesting. The implications of this problem …

Dance As Dialog: A Metaphor Analysis On The Development Of Interculturality Through Arts And Community-Based Learning With Preservice Teachers And A Local Refugee Community, Theresa Catalano, Uma Ganesan, Alessia Barbici Wagner, Jenelle Reeves, Alison E. Leonard, Stephanie Wessels

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper explores the use of arts and community-based (ACB) approaches to intercultural teacher education. Twenty-four preservice teachers and five adult Yazidi refugees/community members participated in this study which involved a two-week arts-based workshop in Fall 2019 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Data for the study included pre- and post-group discussion recordings as well as oral and written reflections one week after the workshop. Using metaphor analysis, the authors examine the way project participants talk about their experiences in the workshop. Findings showed how ACB approaches hold promise as a vehicle for developing interculturality in teacher education.

Building Bridges In Interdisciplinary Team-Taught Honors Seminars, Laurence Carlin, Heike Alberts

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study presents perceived advantages of thematic, teamtaught interdisciplinary seminars for first-year honors students. Two student cohorts (n = 174) surveyed in two subsequent years (2018, 2019) weigh in on the challenges and benefits of different team-teaching models. Three first-semester offerings on the themes “Food,” “Creativity,” and “Social Justice” are evaluated. Results indicate that most students (70.1%) recognize the understanding of multiple perspectives to be the greatest benefit of the team-taught seminar. Other perceived benefits include the acquisition of additional information (21.3), cultivation of critical thinking (13.2), and the ability to make transdisciplinary connections (10.9). Data suggest that the degree …

Coordinating Multi-Campus Honors Programs And Colleges, Larry Andrews

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The leadership responsibility for coordinating a multi-campus honors program or college can be complex, and it needs to succeed in an atmosphere of mutual respect and flexibility. The work can be broken down into several key components: institutional context, quality standards, curriculum, faculty selection, student mobility, communication, scholarships, budget, and governance.

About The Authors

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

Biological Activity Of Saussurea Amara (L.) Dc., Shagjjav Oyungerel

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

The medicinal application of specific plants over the long period in traditional medicine, suggests the presence of biologically active substances in those plant species. Saussurea amara (L.) DC. is a wild plant with a high feeding value because of its high protein content, vitamins, and minerals. S. amara is used in the traditional Mongolian medicine for the treatment of hepato-biliary disorders. The goal of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of S. amara. The antioxidant capacity of a methanol extract of plants was evaluated by analyzing its DPPH free-radical scavenging activity and reducing power …

Blood Parasites Of Fish Of The Baikal Basin, T. R. Khamnueva, Darima R. Baldanova

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

Eight species of trypanosomes were found in nine species of fish in the Lake Baikal: Trypanosoma percae, T. amurensis, T. schulmani, T. dogieli, T. magna, T. sp.1, T. sp.2. Five species of trypanoplasms were detected in the blood of 13 species of Baikal fish: Trypanoplasma lomakini, T. littoralis, T. cotti, T. zaikai, T. sp. In the erythrocytes of the sand sculpin, Leocottus kesslerii were observed haemogregarins.

Der Kormoran Phalacrocorax Carbo In Der Mongolei, Michael Stubbe, Lucie Marie Baltz, Davaa Lchagvasuren, Lukas Kratzsch, Lara-Sophie Dey, Annegret Stubbe

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

The Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo is a wide spread breeding species in Mongolia with a progressive population trend. Observations of the Mongolian-German Biological Expeditions were analyzed and summarized with data from literature. About 1,500 young birds were ringed in 2016 and 2017. One important recovery was coming from the wintering area Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve of Hong Kong. It is unclear if all Mongolian Cormorants are flying at the same route to their wintering region in South China. The main feeding fishes in Mongolia belong to endemic species of the genus Oreoleuciscus (Cyprinidae). Measurements of 113 eggs from Tolbo- …

Mist-Netting Of Forest-Dwelling Bats In The Lazovsky State Nature Reserve, Russian Far East, Kerstin Birlenbach

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

Many bat species depend on a high value of healthy and undisturbed forests with a high ratio of roost sites in old tree stands. This investigation focused on the diversity, distribution and reproduction status of bats within the area of Lazovsky State Nature Reserve. The importance of an area for bats can be measured by the ratio of reproduction. The most important and sensitive time in a bats yearly circle is the time of hibernation in winter and the reproduction time of females. From the beginning of July to the end of August 2007, in total 139 bats of eight …

Records Of Hippoboscidae From Mongolian Birds Of Prey With Checklist, Update, Matthias Jentzsch, Benjamin Meissner, Nayamsuren Batsaikhan, Annegret Stubbe, Michael Stubbe

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

The hippoboscid species Ornithophila gestroi has been rediscovered from Mongolia. It is the easternmost of all the known occurrences. Specimens were collected from Amur Falcon Falco amurensis, Saker Falcon Falco cherrug, Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni, Eurasian Hobby, Falco subbuteo, Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 and Black Kite Milvus migrans in a breeding area located in southern Mongolia. Amur Falcon, Eurasian Hobby and Black Kite were identified as hosts of O. gestroi for the first time.

The Formation Of Aufeis And Its Impact On Infrastructure Around Ulaanbaatar, North-Central Mongolia, Michael Walther, Vanchindorj Batsaikhan, Avirmed Dashtseren, Yamkhin Jambaljav, Khurelbaatar Temujin, Ganbold Ulanbayar, Ulrich Kamp

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

In this study aufeis features and their formation under natural conditions and in an urban surrounding in north-central Mongolia were investigated. Used methods included field observations, Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) as well as analyses of satellite imagery and meteorological data. Aufeis formation is related to streams, springs, and ground conditions, particularly soil moisture; the formation of both spring aufeis and river aufeis follows a seasonal cycle. The meteorological data from 1969 to 2018 indicate that the mean annual air temperature (MAAT) increased by 2.6 °C, whilst no significant changes were observed for precipitation. Between 1992 and 2018, aufeis areas significantly …

The House Mouse Mus Musculus In Mongolia: Taxonomy, Status, And Ecology Of A Neglected Species, Rico Appenborn, Katrin Lammers, Bettina Harr, Davaa Lkhagvasuren, Ravchig Samiya, Michael Stubbe, Hermann Ansorge

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

Although the house mouse as a common and widely distributed species is probably best-studied among small mammals, there is a lack of fundamental knowledge regarding species identity, morphology and ecology in Mongolia. Consequently, this study provides results of basic biological research on the Mongolian house mouse. A total of 172 specimens have been studied based on samples collected during the period 1962 to 2016. Using genetic and morphological markers, the taxonomic examination resulted in classification as Mus musculus musculus LINNAEUS, 1758. To characterize the Mongolian house mouse, three fur color traits and 23 metric body and skull traits were analyzed. …