Digital Commons Network^™

Site-Specific Space Use And Resource Selection By Black Vultures (Coragyps Atratus) In The Southeastern Usa, Betsy Evans, John S. Humphrey, Eric A. Tillman, Michael L. Avery, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

North American populations of Black Vultures Coragyps atratus have increased and expanded their distribution in the southern and eastern USA. In conjunction with these patterns has been a rise in human–vulture conflicts. To improve our understanding of space use patterns and better inform management, we evaluated the movements of Black Vultures (n = 23) in the southeastern USA using a long-term GPS tracking database. Our specific objectives were to: (1) quantify home-range sizes in relation to season and geographical study location and (2) examine within-home-range resource selection to identify landscape and anthropogenic factors influencing roost and diurnal space use. …

Antipredator Blood-Squirting Defense In Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma): Chemical Isolation Of Plasma Component(S), Pogonomyrmex Ant Dietary Origin, And Evolution, Wade C. Sherbrooke, Bruce A. Kimball

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

North American horned lizards of the genus Phrynosoma are largely myrmecophagous and squirt systemic blood from circumocular sinuses during encounters with certain mammalian predators. The predators react with distinct revulsion. Using bioassay-guided fractionation of blood plasma, we endeavored to identify the source and characteristics of the active chemical compound(s) responsible for this negative oral response. Our results of coyote bioassays and a series of novel mouse bioassay experiments were largely concordant. The active compound(s) was likely plasma-borne with a molecular weight (mw) of between 800 and 1,600. To identify the source of the active compound(s), we noted bioassay responses …

Eradication Of Feral Swine From A Barrier Island In Florida, Usa: An Examination Of Effort And Multi-Method, Multi-Species Population Indexing, Richard M. Engeman, Eric A. Tillman, Betsy A. Evans, John C. Griffin, Garrison Grobaski, Bradley S. Smith, John Stark, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) were targeted for and successfully eradicated from Saint Vincent Island (SVI), a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) along the coast of Florida’s panhandle to protect its habitats and uncharacteristically high diversity of wildlife species for barrier islands in the region, including federal and state-listed threatened and endangered species. The eradication effort was initiated in early 2015 and concluded in 2019. A total of 438 feral swine were removed from the Island, 417 by federal control experts and 21 by recreational hunters. In general, the amount of effort needed to eradicate each feral swine slowly increased …

Downed Wood Removal Effects On Survival And Site Fidelity Of Woodrats In A California Oak Woodland, Timothy J. Smyser, Michael A. Hardy, Amy J. Davis, William L. Preston, William D. Tietje

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Owing to the increasing intensity and frequency of wildfires in the western United States, the removal of woody debris (downed dead wood and snags) from fire‐prone landscapes is being evaluated for wildfire mitigation. Consequently, the study of the ecological value of coarse woody debris to sustain dependent species has become of foremost importance. From 2004–2009, we used a before‐after control‐impact (BACI) study design to assess the effects of downed wood removal on a population of big‐eared woodrats (Neotoma macrotis) in an oak woodland (Quercus spp.) in coastal‐central California, USA. Using Pollock's robust design mark‐recapture analyses (with 12 …

High Thermal Quality Rookeries Facilitate High Thermoregulatory Accuracy In Pregnant Female Rattlesnakes, Haley A. Moniz, Jack Henry Buck, Hayley L. Crowell, Scott M. Goetz, Trevor D. Ruiz, Emily N. Taylor, Scott M. Bobacks

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Temperature is a primary factor influencing organismal development, and the fluctuating daily and seasonal thermal regimes of temperate climates may challenge the ability of viviparous reptiles to optimize body temperatures during gestation. Testing how viviparous reptiles navigate highly variable thermal conditions (e.g., relatively cold nights and/or highly fluctuating temperatures) is a powerful way to understand how they use microhabitats for thermoregulatory benefits. We assessed the thermal ecology of pregnant and non-pregnant female prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) inhabiting a high-elevation, montane shrubland in northwest Colorado throughout their short summer active season, addressing the thermal consequences of microhabitat selection with …

Characterizing Feral Swine Movement Across The Contiguous United States Using Neural Networks And Genetic Data, Rachael M. Giglio, Courtney F. Bowden, Ryan K. Brook, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Timothy J. Smyser

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Globalization has led to the frequent movement of species out of their native habitat. Some of these species become highly invasive and capable of profoundly altering invaded ecosystems. Feral swine (Sus scrofa × domesticus) are recognized as being among the most destructive invasive species, with populations established on all continents except Antarctica. Within the United States (US), feral swine are responsible for extensive crop damage, the destruction of native ecosystems, and the spread of disease. Purposeful human-mediated movement of feral swine has contributed to their rapid range expansion over the past 30 years. Patterns of deliberate introduction of …

Bayesian Integrated Species Distribution Models For Hierarchical Resource Selection By A Soaring Bird, Ryo Ogawa, Guiming Wang, L. Wes Burger, Bronson Strickland, J. Brian Davis, Fred L. Cunningham

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Migratory birds exhibit seasonal geographic range (hereafter, range) dynamics during the annual cycle. Few studies have examined how migratory birds select their habitats for range occupancy at the species level and space use at the individual level simultaneously. We hypothesized that environmental variables directly related to fitness components would affect the range occupancy probabilities of migrants, whereas environment variables related to movements and flights would affect the space use intensities of migrants. We built Bayesian integrated species distribution models (ISDMs) to evaluate the effects of climate conditions, wind conditions, and landcover compositions on the seasonal range dynamics of American white …

Raccoon Density Estimation From Camera Traps For Raccoon Rabies Management, Amy J. Davis, Wesley C. Dixon, Richard B. Chipman, Amy T. Gilbert, Jacob E. Hill, James C. Beasley, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Guha Dharmarajan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Density estimation for unmarked animals is particularly challenging, yet density estimates are often necessary for effective wildlife management. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the primary terrestrial wildlife reservoir for Lyssavirus rabies within the United States. The raccoon rabies variant (RRVV) is actively managed at landscape scales using oral rabies vaccination (ORV) within the eastern United States. To effectively manage RRVV, it is important to know the density of raccoons to appropriately scale the density of ORV baits distributed on the landscape. We compared methods to estimate raccoon densities from camera‐trap data versus more intensive capture‐mark‐recapture (CMR) estimates across 2 …

Using Open-Path Dual-Comb Spectroscopy To Monitor Methane Emissions From Simulated Grazing Cattle, C. Weersekara, L. C. Morris, N. A. Malarich, F. R. Giorgetta Et Al.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Retention Of P-Chip Microtransponders And Post-Tagging Survival Of Small-Bodied Stream Fishes, J. Spooner, Jonathan J. Spurgeon

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Reduced Representation Sequencing Reveals Weak Genetic Differentiation Between Canadian And European Larus Hyperboreus (Glaucous Gull), E. Lachance Linklater, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, G. J. Robertson, L. Colston-Nepali, F. Vigfusdottir, V. L. Friesen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Altruism In Facility Location Problems, Houyu Zhou, Hau Chan, Minming Li

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

We study the facility location problems (FLPs) with altruistic agents who act to benefit others in their affiliated groups. Our aim is to design mechanisms that elicit true locations from the agents in different overlapping groups and place a facility to serve agents to approximately optimize a given objective based on agents’ costs to the facility. Existing studies of FLPs consider myopic agents who aim to minimize their own costs to the facility.We mainly consider altruistic agents with well-motivated group costs that are defined over costs incurred by all agents in their groups. Accordingly, we define Pareto strategyproofness to account …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2024

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

The report's highlights updates including ongoing research, know your well, and the Nebraska master irrigator launch.

Negro Cloth: African American Textile Design History, Karen Baker

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Negro cloth is American history. Filled with the contributions to free and enslaved African Americans, this history has gone untold. Even within the narratives and historical archives on African Americans' history with cotton, this conversation goes beyond suffering, pain, and separation. The research reveals how African Americans contributed to indigo and cotton agriculture, weaving, and manufacturing from 1745 to 1865. The historical and narrative research has revealed the buried history of African American textile history, the American Civil War in Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project. The narratives reveal that enslaved African Americans were weavers who carded, spun, dyed, and …

Inhabiting Numbers: Weaving, Polyphony, And Embodied Mathematics, Kristine Barrett

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Inhabiting Numbers: Polyphony as Woven Sound explores connections between vocal polyphony and textile practices, specifically weaving and spinning. Rather than consider music and weaving as separate from one another, the following paper presents the ways in which they are deeply intertwined and mutually constitutive forms of cultural expression. The technical modes of thinking produced through repetition inherent in both—particularly as practices utilizing complex mathematical structures—produce ways of thinking unique to each. Through practice, I suggest these technical modes of making transit across different materials and mediums—in both explicit and implicit ways. The music created through the interweaving of multiple voices …

Dung Dkar Cloak: Exploring Soft Interfaces For Sonic Interactions, Judit Eszter Kárpáti, Esteban De La Torre

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The importance of crossmodal interaction within the contemporary cultural, technological and scientific panorama has evidently gained significant attention due to its remarkable advantages in creating a meaningful, interwoven, and integrated experience. The use and recontextualization of textiles in such exploratory quest into the human senses has proven to be critical. Computational science, algorithmic logic and digital devices have always been rooted and closely interwoven with textile crafts and practices. Recent technological advancements have further combined technology and textile, generating interactive textile surfaces, constructing endless possibilities for multisensorial experiences. In this presentation we will examine how we can weave a sensitive …

Woven Life Systems, Melanie Olde

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

What is it like to be at the intersection between the natural and technological? I see plants as living cloth – can we build cloth using human-evolved technology (weaving) and natural life systems? In this practice-as-research, I take growth models from plants such as algae, then process these codes on a loom to exploring the emergence and narrative that develop.

Looms are tools and technology evolved with humans to organise systems of strands, connecting in myriad ways to form something new. Plants are systems of organised cells, dividing and branching creating functional entities. The commonalities are individual elements and rules …

Perception And Prospects Of Art Of Clothing Maintenance As A Sustainable Fashion, Boiso Maria Owodiong-Idemeko, Adetona Sekinat Ajoke, Udom Owodiong

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The study focused on the perception of the art of clothing maintenance and its prospects as a sustainable fashion for consumers in Lagos state. 250 respondents were involved. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Two hypotheses were formulated and a thirty-one (31) item questionnaire was the main instrument used to collect data for the study. The statistical tools used were, percentages, mean and Friedman’s test. The result revealed that, 200 (80%) perceived ripped clothes bring dismay to the wearer, 198 (79%), perceived ripped clothes needed to be reconstructed, 200 (80%) perceived consumers lack practical ability to repair clothes. 241 (96%) …

Speculative Futures With Southern California Fibershed, Lesley Roberts

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Regenerative agriculture disruptor Fibershed embraces and gives voice to the fullness of textile paradigms, economies, societies, ecologies, and skill traditions, seeks to address and rectify the sins and the promises of textile making and textile futures, and promotes healthy, holistic wellbeing. Fibershed is a movement of farmers, fashion activists, and makers growing a new textile economy. Founded in 2012 in a bioregion in Northern California, the community has grown to more than 75 chapters worldwide. Fibershed touts a soil-to-soil paradigm that asks us to consider the entire lifecycle of our textiles. It proposes a climate beneficial, regenerative system whose scope …

Wild Silk: Repairing And Healing Our Planet And Social Fabric, Karen Selk

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Wild silk, tasar, muga and eri, is much more than miraculous journey of metamorphosis from caterpillar to silken luxury. Caring for wild silkworms in open jungles is nothing like raising white, cultivated silkworms - it is primal - a whole new perspective of the world of silk. The passage from rearing caterpillars to unravelling cocoons making yarn and weaving cloth that possesses the essence of mother nature, is tightly woven to an ancient living culture in remote forests of central and eastern India. It is a celebration of indigenous, Adivasi people ushering their heritage into the contemporary world while preserving …

Environmental Metrics In Action: Exploring U.S. Superfund Sites Affiliated With The Fashion Industry, Nidia K. Trejo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Little is known of Superfund sites, long-term clean up sites, affiliated with the apparel and footwear supply chain in the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) manages the clean up of contaminated sites that pose a significant risk to human health and the environment under the Superfund program. A site can become contaminated if hazardous waste from industrial operations are mismanaged or dumped into the environment, in an uncontrolled manner. In this study, a proposed Superfund site (Mohawk Tannery in Nashua, New Hampshire), an active Superfund site (Ciba-Geigy Corp. in Toms River, New Jersery), and a …

Wics Conference 2024: Announcement, Wics Conference

Water and Integrated Cropping Systems Conferences

Announcement for the 2024 Water and Integrated Cropping Systems (WICS) Conference to be held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, discussing the theme: Creating Connections Together with the goals of addressing Team Science.

Concepts In Animal Parasitology, Chapter 61: Transversotrematidae Witenberg, 1944 (Family): Ectoparasitic Trematodes [Platyhelminthes], Scott C. Cutmore, Thomas H. Cribb

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

An overview of the family Transversotrematidae Witemberg, 1944, a small but biologically significant group of plagiorchiid digenean trematodes (flukes), including discussion of identification, general morphology, life cycles, host range, and the significance of their evolutionary position and biology.

Chapter 61 in Concepts in Animal Parasitology, by Scott C. Cutmore and Thomas H. Cribb. 2024. S. L. Gardner and S. A. Gardner, editors. Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ciap061

Concepts In Animal Parasitology, Chapter 62: Hirudinea (Subclass): Parasitic Leeches, Alejandro Oceguera-Figueroa, Sebastian Kvist

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

An overview of the parasitic leeches, subclass Hirudinea, including discussion of leeches as parasites, vectors, and hosts, their general morphology, reproduction, zoogeography, classification, phylogeny, medical uses, and preparation of specimens.

Chapter 62 in Concepts in Animal Parasitology, by Alejandro Oceguera-Figueroa and Sebastian Kvist. 2024. S. L. Gardner and S. A. Gardner, editors. Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ciap062

Knot Anomalies On Inka Khipus: Revising Locke’S Knot Typology, Sabine Hyland

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

In 2007, in the IV Actas de las Jornadas Internacionales sobre Textiles Precolombinos, Kylie Quave noted the existence of various structural anomalies in khipus presumed to date to the Late Horizon. These anomalies included the use of non-cotton vegetal fibres, the inclusion of single red strings, subsidiary cords that are plied through rather than half hitched, and the placement of long knots and figure-8 knots “in a way that precludes a numerical reading”. Since Quave’s article, there has been little examination of such anomalies, nor have scholars known whether such anomalies were to be found in khipus that had …

Perennializing Marginal Croplands: Going Back To The Future To Mitigate Climate Change With Resilient Biobased Feedstocks, Salvador Ramirez Ii, Marty R. Schmer, Virginia L. Jin, Robert B. Mitchell, Catherine E. Stewart, Jay Parsons, Daren D. Redfearn, John J. Quinn, Gary E. Varvel, Kenneth P. Vogel, Ronald F. Follett

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

Managing annual row crops on marginally productive croplands can be environmentally unsustainable and result in variable economic returns. Incorporating perennial bioenergy feedstocks into marginally productive cropland can engender ecosystem services and enhance climate resiliency while also diversifying farm incomes. We use one of the oldest bioenergy-specific field experiments in North America to evaluate economically and environmentally sustainable management practices for growing perennial grasses on marginal cropland. This long-term field trial called 9804 was established in 1998 in eastern Nebraska and compared the productivity and sustainability of corn (Zea mays L.)—both corn grain and corn stover—and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2024, 144th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Aeronautics and Space Science Poster Session

Anthropology: Humans Past and Present

Maiben Lecture: "Platte Basin Timelapse: A Watershed in Motion," Grant Reiner

Applied Science and Technology

Biological Sciences

Biomedical Sciences

Chemistry

Earh Sciences

Environmental Sciences

Physics

Science Education

Researching Teacher Self-Efficacy: Linking Self-Efficacy To Teacher Effectiveness, Persistence And Retention, Sarah Haines, Deepika Menon, Jeanna R. Wieselmann, Sumreen Asim

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

Introduction

Self-efficacy is an important construct in teacher education. Applied to teacher education, self-efficacy is a key variable that influences preservice teachers’ beliefs within teacher preparation programs, which further influences teacher effectiveness, persistence, and retention in the field. In this poster, we propose a model, guided by the prior literature, with the goal of generating a set of recommendations and guidelines for researchers working in the field of self-efficacy.

Landscape-Scale Epidemiological Dynamics Of Sars-Cov-2 In White-Tailed Deer, Joshua Hewitt, Grete Wilson-Henjum, Derek T. Collins, Timothy J. Linder, Julianna B. Lenoch, Jonathan D. Heale, Christopher A. Quintanal, Robert Pleszewski, Dillon S. Mcbride, Andrew S. Bowman, Jeffrey C. Chandler, Susan A. Shriner, Sarah N. Bevins, Dennis J. Kohler, Richard B. Chipman, Allen L. Gosser, David L. Bergman, Thomas J. Deliberto, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Understanding pathogen emergence in new host species is fundamental for developing prevention and response plans for human and animal health. We leveraged a large-scale surveillance dataset coordinated by United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and State Natural Resources Agencies to quantify the outbreak dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; WTD) throughout its range in the United States. Local epidemics in WTD were well approximated by a single-outbreak peak followed by fade out. Outbreaks peaked early in the northeast and mid- Atlantic. Local effective reproduction ratios of SARS-CoV-2 were between …

What Is Known, Unknown, And Needed To Be Known About Damage Caused By Wild Pigs, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Kim M. Pepin, Seth M. Cook, Sophie Mckee, Abigail Pagels, Keely J. Kohen, Ingrid A. Messner, Michael P. Glow, Nathan P. Snow

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Damage assessments provide evidence for initiating and evaluating management programs that protect natural resources and human livelihoods against invasive species. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) cause extensive damage in their native and non-native ranges, but the extent of current damage and efficacy of management of the damage (i.e., population control of wild pigs, exclusion fencing, etc.) remains poorly described. We conducted a systematic review of physical damage caused by wild pigs to summarize what is known and identify knowledge gaps for damage assessment. Wild pig damage assessments have been overwhelmingly qualitative (84% of studies) and measured differently across studies, …