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The Probe, Issue 190 – July 1998

The Probe: Newsletter of the National Animal Damage Control Association

Research, Cooperation Pays Off for Fish Farmers -- Peter Butchko, District Supervisor, USDA-APHIS-WS, Mississippi and NADCA Vice-President, East
Thoughts... Robert H. Giles, Jr., President, NADCA
Book Review : The Wildlife Damage Inspection Handbook, by Stephen Vantassel with Tom Olander; Reviewed by Rex E. Marsh
British Fox Hunting Ban Fails Passage
Recent Coyote Research From Texas: Diets of Coyotes (Canis latrans) in the Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos regions of Texas, by J. Harris Glass, S.K. Canon, and D. Rollins
Long-time NADCA Member Robert H. Schmidt Featured in Associated Press Article on Nuisance Animal Control Industry
Research Continues in New Zealand and …

Flea News 56 (July 1998), Robert E. Lewis

Flea News

Miscellanea

Siphonaptera literature

Mailing list changes

Analysis Of Social Behavior In Individuals With Social Phobia And Nonanxious Participants Using A Psychobiological Model, Kenneth S. Walters, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study sought to test hypotheses derived from Trower and Gilbert’s (1989) psychobiological/ethological model of social anxiety. This model purports that social anxiety should be characterized by less social cooperation and dominance and greater submission and escape/avoidance. Individuals with social phobia and nonanxious participants completed a structured social interaction. Behavioral measures related to cooperativeness, dominance, submissiveness, and escape/avoidance were coded by independent observers. Those with social phobia exhibited fewer behaviors of social cooperativeness and dominance than did nonanxious participants. The groups did not differ with regard to submissive and escape/avoidance behaviors. Two dominance behaviors correlated with a self-report measure of …

The Role Of Rituals In The Management Of The Dialectical Tension Of “Old” And “New” In Blended Families, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Leslie A. Baxter, Anneliese M. Harper

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In this study we examined how members of step- or blended families interact and develop their families by examining their successful and unsuccessful ritual enactments. Blended families provide a fertile context in which to study ritual adaptiveness and the possible relationship between successful enactment of rituals and their adaptability. Data were in-depth interviews with 53 members of blended families concerning their successful and unsuccessful ritual enactments. A qualitative/interpretive analysis indicated that blended families face an ongoing dialectical opposition between the “old family” and the “new family.” Blended family rituals are important communicative practices that enable blended family members to embrace …

Optimization Of Variable Area Transect Sampling Using Monte Carlo Simulation, Richard M. Engeman, Robert T. Sugihara

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

An extensive simulation study was conducted to optimize the number, r, of population members to be encountered from each random starting point in variable area transect (VAT) sampling. The quality of estimation provided by the original calculation formula presented by K. R. Parker in 1979 was compared to another formula that was a Morisita analog intended to reduce bias when sampling aggregated populations. Monte Carlo simulations covered 64 combinations of four spatial patterns, four sample sizes, and four densities. Values of r from 3 through 10 were considered in each case. Relative root mean squared error was used as …

Runoff And Erosion Following Field Application Of Beef Cattle Manure And Compost, John E. Gilley, Bahman Eghball

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Manure or compost from beef cattle feedlots can be excellent sources of nutrients and organic matter when added to soils. This study was conducted to determine the effect of a single application of manure and compost on runoff and erosion under no-till and tillage conditions. Tillage consisted of a single disking operation up and down the slope on a Sharpsburg soil which was cropped to grain sorghum or wheat the previous season. Manure and compost were applied at rates required to meet corn fertility requirements. Additional experimental treatments included the application of inorganic fertilizer and an untreated check. The addition …

The Physiology Of Life-History Trade-Offs: Experimental Analysis Of A Hormonally Induced Life-History Trade-Off In Gryllus Assimilis, Anthony J. Zera, Jason Potts, Kari Kobus

Anthony Zera Publications

Adult Gryllus assimilis given an analog of juvenile hormone exhibited reduced flight muscles and enlarged ovaries similar to those found in naturally occurring flightless individuals of species that are polymorphic for dispersal capability. Control and hormone-treated (flightless) G. assimilis did not differ in the amount of food consumed or assimilated on any of three diets that differed in nutrient quantity. Thus, enhanced ovarian growth of flightless individuals resulted from increased allocation of internal nutrients to reproduction (i.e., a trade-off) rather than from increased acquisition of nutrients. Compared with flight-capable controls, flightless G. assimilis also had reduced whole-organism respiration, reduced respiration …

Review Of A Guide To The Nests, Eggs, And Nestlings Of North American Birds, Paul A. Johnsgard

Papers in Ornithology

In 1978, during a visit to England, I purchased a copy of the first edition of this book, then called a field guide. It was written by Colin Harrison, published by Collins, and produced in standard field guide size. It never was effectively distributed in North America, which was unfortunate, because it was far better than the guide to bird nests by Hal Harrison in the well-known Peterson field guide series. Not only did it illustrate the eggs of about 550 species, in color and life size, but it also offered nestling paintings of nearly 150 species, plus numerous line …

Infectivity And Pathogenicity Of Baculovirus Penaei (Bp) In Cultured Larval And Postlarval Pacific White Shrimp, Penaeus Vannamei, Related To The Stage Of Viral Development, Hugh S. Hammer, Kenneth C. Stuck, Robin M. Overstreet

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

The infectivity and pathogenicity of the penaeid shrimp virus, Baculovirus penaei (BP), is influenced by the stage of viral development. This study consisted of a preliminary experiment which showed that nonoccluded virus administered per os is infective, followed by two infectivity experiments. In the first phase of each infectivity experiment, mysis stage larvae of Penaeus vannamei were inoculated with BP and samples of infected tissue were collected at various times postinoculation (p.i.). These samples were then used to inoculate either mysis or postlarval stage P. vannamei in the second phase of each experiment. Viral inocula prepared from patently infected tissues …

Agricultural Research Division 112th Annual Report 1998

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

It is a pleasure to provide you with a copy of the 112th Annual Report of the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research Division (ARD). This report is our chance to provide you with information about our programs and accomplishments and for us to evaluate the effectiveness of our collective research efforts. After examining this report, we hope that you will agree with our assessment that ARD research has provided new knowledge and technology to Nebraskans to improve the profitability of their enterprises, to enhance environmental quality and to improve their quality of life.

This report provides some highlights of research …

Waxy Wheats: Origin, Properties, And Prospects, Robert A. Graybosch

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Starch amylose is synthesized through the activity of the granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS). In wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ), there are three structural genes encoding iso- forms of GBSS. Naturally occurring mutations (null alleles) resulting in the loss of one or more GBSS isoforms have recently been identified. The presence of one or two GBSS null alleles results in the production of starch with reduced amylose content. Reduced amylose wheats have been termed `partial waxy'. Wheats with three GBSS null alleles produce essentially amylose-free, or waxy, starch. Partial waxy wheats are sources of flours with optimal quality characteristics in …

Epidemic Leptospirosis Associated With Pulmonary Hemorrhage—Nicaragua, 1995, Rosalie T. Trevejo, José G. Rigau-Pérez, David A. Ashford, Emily M. Mcclure, Carlos Jarquín-González, Juan J. Amador, José O. De Los Reyes, Alcides Gonzalez, Sherif R. Zaki, Wun-Ju Shieh, Robert G. Mclean, Roger S. Nasci, Robbin S. Weyant, Carole A. Bolin, Sandra L. Bragg, Bradley A. Perkins, Richard A. Spiegel

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In October 1995, epidemic “hemorrhagic fever,” without jaundice or renal manifestations, was reported in rural Nicaragua following heavy flooding; 2259 residents were evaluated for nonmalarial febrile illnesses (cumulative incidence, 6.1%) and 15 (0.7%) died with pulmonary hemorrhage. A case-control study found that case-patients were more likely than controls to have ever walked in creeks (matched odds ratio [MOR], 15.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7–132.3), have household rodents (MOR, 10.4; 95% CI, 1.1–97.1), or own dogs with titers ≥ 400 to Leptospira species (MOR, 23.4; 95% CI, 3.6–`). Twenty-six of 51 case-patients had serologic or postmortem evidence of acute leptospirosis. Leptospira …

The Probe, Issue 189 – June 1998

The Probe: Newsletter of the National Animal Damage Control Association

When Deer Are Too Dear and Elk Are Too Elegant -- Gary W. Witmer, NADCA Regional Director, Southern Rockies Region, Region 2
Understanding Home Range -- Jeff Jackson, Extension Wildlife Specialist, School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia
Notes from Nigeria: Wildlife Crop Interactions in Threatened Sahelian Wetland -- Augustine U. Ezealor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and Robert H. Giles, Jr., Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321.
Two Women Animal Rights Activists Protest Prairie Dog Control
Rats on the Rise-Urban Wildlife Control Proves to Be Bonanza …

Sustainability And Resource Assessment: A Case Study Of Soil Resources In The United States, Dana L. Hoag, Jennie S. Hughes Popp, D. Eric Hyatt

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Assessment of environmental condition is critical to wise management and policy decisions. However, for some concerns such as sustainability, it is difficult to assess environmental condition because it involves disparate social objectives and an understanding of complex ecological systems. Here, a general framework is proposed to examine sustainability of environmental resources in objective, measurable ways. By using soil quality as an example, sustainability research is taken beyond theory and into application.
Sustainability depends on the quality of resource endowment. Endowment of a natural resource can be modeled as an index of quality to assess the degree of sustainable management. This …

Evolutionarily Significant Units, Distinct Population Segments, And The Endangered Species Act: Reply To Pennock And Dimmick, Robin Waples

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Taxonomy and systematics have long been characterized by heated debates over methodology and pointed exchanges between “lumpers” and “splitters.” Therefore, when I wrote the paper (Waples 1991) outlining the concept of evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) for identifying “distinct population segments” of Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), I realized that any attempt to identify conservation units below the species level would also generate a good deal of scientific discussion. This has proved to be the case (e.g., Dizon et al. 1992; Rojas 1992; Moritz 1994 a ; Vogler & DeSalle 1994; Nielsen 1995).

At …

Ard News June 1998

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

CONTENTS:
Comments from the Dean
Graduate Research Assistantships Paid from USDA Funds
CSREES Leadership Change
Fund for Rural America Update
"Pioneering the Future" Database
Nominations Sought for Junior Faculty Excellence in Research Award
Grants and Contracts Received April and May, 1998
New and Revised Projects
Proposals Submitted for Federal Grants
Campus Master Planning Activity
National Research Initiative Program - FY 1997
Agricultural Productivity in the U.S.
ARB Interdisciplinary Research Grants Program
Supporting ARD Researchers - IANR Land and Physical Facilities

In Memoriam: Charles G. Sibley, Paul A. Johnsgard

Nebraska Bird Review

On April 12 this year, Dr. Charles Sibley passed away in California. Although a Nebraskan by neither birth nor occupation, his work on hybrid zones among various passerines in the Platte Valley of central Nebraska during the 1950s became a model for modern studies in field approaches to both evolutionary biology and species-level taxonomy. His study also identified for the first time the Platte Valley as a major evolutionary "suture zone" between eastern and western avifaunas. When I arrived at Cornell in 1955, all of Dr. Sibley's graduate students were doing their fieldwork in Nebraska, collecting specimens of the various …

Nativity, Domesticity, And Exile In Edward Abbey's "One True Home", Thomas Lynch

Department of English: Faculty Publications

On April first, 1956, only a few days prior to recording in his journal the birth of his son, Edward Abbey began the first of three seasons as a ranger in Arches National Monument. He immortalized this sojourn in the influential classic of nature writing Desert Solitaire, a work whose very title suggests that his experience of the desert was one essentially aloof from familial or other ties. As Abbey reveled in his desert solitude, his wife, Rita, and new son, Joshua, were summering in Hoboken. During subsequent years his wife and son visited periodically with him, but never for …

Expression Of Human Lactoferrin Cdna Confers Resistance To Ralstonia Solanacearum In Transgenic Tobacco Plants, Zhanyuan Zhang, Dermot P. Coyne, Anne K. Vidaver, Amitava Mitra

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

A construct containing a human lactoferrin cDNA was used to transform tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) using an Agrobacterium-mediated DNA-transfer system to express this human protein in transgenic plants. Transformants were analyzed by Southern, Northern, and Western blots to determine integration of the cDNA into the plant genome and lactoferrin gene expression levels. Most transgenic plants demonstrated significant delays of bacterial wilt symptoms when inoculated with the bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. Quantification of the expressed lactoferrin protein by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in transgenic plants indicated a significant positive relationship between lactoferrin gene expression levels and levels of disease …

Water Current, Volume 30, No. 3, June 1998

Water Current Newsletter

Summer Water Tour to Visit Arkansas and Republican Rivers
EPA Help for Community Drinking Water Systems; Studying Corroded Systems
State's First Constructed Wetland Treatment System Fills Unique Need
Legislative Shuffle Adds to Nebraska's Water Law
NU Study Ranks Small Town's Ability to Pay for Sewer and Water
Water News Briefs
Twenty Most Endangered Rivers
Chlorinated Drinking Water Under Fire
Former NRCS Chief to Speak at Conference
Call for Papers, Bringing Groundwater to Life
New Tabloid Availble (Wetlands - Understanding a Resource)
MSEA Water Quality Project Tops Team Awards

Uptake And Bioconcentration Of Atrazine By Selected Freshwater Algae, Jixin Tang, Kyle D. Hoagland, Blair Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Atrazine bioconcentration and uptake were determined for eight freshwater green algae and diatoms. Atrazine uptake was extremely rapid in all species examined, with nearly 90% of total uptake occurring within the first hour of exposure. Within each division, different species had different bioconcentration capacities, although the accumulation of atrazine was consistently higher in green algae (5.43–12.73 ng/mg) than in diatoms (0.33–1.69 ng/mg). Atrazine concentrations in the algal cells were much higher than in the medium, although the total amount of atrazine taken up by algae was small relative to the total atrazine in solution (1–3%). The ability of algal cells …

Physiologic Specialization Of Puccinia Recondita F. Sp. Tritici In Nebraska During 1995 And 1996, J. E. Watkins, S. S. Rutledge, P. Stephen Baenziger, W. Youngquist

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Field samples of Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici, collected from four wheat-growing regions in Nebraska in 1995 and from three in 1996, were characterized for virulence. Twenty virulence phenotypes were identified in 1995 and 18 in 1996. Virulence phenotypes MBR-10,18 (virulent on Lr genes, 1, 3, 3ka, 10, 11, 18, and 30) and MDR-10,18 (virulent on Lr genes 1, 3, 3ka, 10, 11, 18, 24, and 30) were the most prevalent, with each phenotype comprising 21.6% of the isolates characterized in 1995. Of the 1995 isolates, 24% were virulent on 10 or more host genes. No virulence to Lr16 and …

In Memorium: Charles G. Sibley, Paul A. Johnsgard

Papers in Ornithology

Dr. Charles Sibley, who passed away in April 1998, is recalled and appreciated by a former student, lab assistant, co-worker, and colleague, who first encountered him at Cornell University in 1955, beginning a 43-year working relationship.

Wild Primate Populations In Emerging Infectious Disease Research: The Missing Link?, Nathan D. Wolfe, Ananias A. Escalante, William B. Karesh, Annelisa Kilbourn, Andrew Spielman, Altaf A. Lal

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Wild primate populations, an unexplored source of information regarding emerging infectious disease, may hold valuable clues to the origins and evolution of some important pathogens. Primates can act as reservoirs for human pathogens. As members of biologically diverse habitats, they serve as sentinels for surveillance of emerging pathogens and provide models for basic research on natural transmission dynamics. Since emerging infectious diseases also pose serious threats to endangered and threatened primate species, studies of these diseases in primate populations can benefit conservation efforts and may provide the missing link between laboratory studies and the well-recognized needs of early disease detection, …

Echinocephalus Janzeni N. Sp. (Nematoda: Gnathostomatidae) In Himantura Pacifica (Chondrichthyes: Myliobatiformes) From The Pacific Coast Of Costa Rica And Mexico, With Historical Biogeographic Analysis Of The Genus, Eric P. Hoberg, Daniel R. Brooks, Helena Molina Ureña, Eric Erbe

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Echinocephalus janzeni n. sp. in the stingray, Himantura pacifica, is described from the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Costa Rica and southern Mexico. On the basis of the presence of 6 postanal caudal papillae, and modified annules anterior to the caudal alae in males, E. janzeni is most similar to Echinocephalus daileyi and Echinocephalus diazi. Specimens of E. janzeni are distinguished from those of E. daileyi by bilobed caudal alae and long cervical sacs that extend up to 65% of the length of the esophagus; E. janzeni is differentiated from E. diazi by the number of …

Review Of Meyer, Olsen And Schmidt's Essentials Of Parasitology, 6th Ed., By Murray D. Dailey; Brown, 1996, Robert L. Rausch

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Review of Meyer, Olsen and Schmidt's Essentials of Parasitology, 6th ed., by Murray D. Dailey; Brown, 1996. 289 p., ill., index. ISBN: 0-697-15983-3.

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 30, No.2 June 1998

The Prairie Naturalist

REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF SHARP-TAILED GROUSE IN CENTRAL MONTANA ▪ K. R. Bousquet and J. J. Rotella

EFFECTS OF DROUGHT ON RECLAIMED GRASSLANDS IN WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ D. R. Kirby, L. M. Stewart, K. D. Krabbenhoft, and D. J. Nilson

MALE COMMON NIGHTHAWK USE OF GRAVEL ROADS AT NIGHT ▪ R. G. Poulin, L. D. Todd, and R. M. Brigham

RESTORATION AND STATUS OF THE RUFFED GROUSE IN KANSAS ▪ R. D. Rodgers, R. W. Wells, K. E. Church, R. L. Whiteaker, M. T. McFadden, D. S. Lekie, R. A. Bergquist, H. J. Abel, and R. D. Applegate

PITFALL TRAPPING …

Two Capture Techniques For American White Pelicans And Great Blue Herons, D. Tommy King, John D. Paulson, Dwight J. Leblanc, Kevin Bruce

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We describe two techniques for capturing American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), and other large wading birds in aquatic habitats. One technique involved using #3 padded jaw leghold traps modified by replacing both factory coil springs with weaker #1.5 coil springs, to reduce the closing force of the jaws, and replacing the factory chain with a length of aircraft cable and an elastic shock cord, to minimize injury caused by lunging. The second technique involved using a modified portable rocket net that can be set in shallow water. We captured 142 American …

Genetic Parameters For Sex-Specific Traits In Beef Cattle, R. K. Splan, Larry V. Cundiff, L. Dale Van Vleck

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Data from 3,593 beef heifers and 4,079 of their steer paternal half-sibs were used to estimate genetic parameters of and among female growth and reproductive traits and male carcass traits. Estimates of heritability for adjusted 205-d weight, adjusted 365-d weight, age at puberty, calving rate, and calving difficulty measured on females were .16, .38, .47, .19, and .18, respectively; estimates for calving rate and calving difficulty were expressed on a normal scale. Estimates of heritability for hot carcass weight; retail product percentage; fat percentage; bone percentage; rib eye area; kidney, pelvic, and heart fat percentage; adjusted fat thickness; marbling score; …

Cropwatch No. 98-10, May 22, 1998, Lisa Brown Jasa

Crop Watch (1994–2005)

Inside

Field updates………….90

Few wheat disease………….91

Yield lag or yield drag………….92

Ecofarming meetings………….93

Postemergence herbicides………….94

Weed/crop competition………….94

Mixing herbicides………….97

Crop update………….97

Sugar beet maggots………….97

Precipitation………….97

New pest management guide………….98

Black stem in alfalfa………….98