Digital Commons Network^™

Recent Changes In Federal Bird Control, Gene H. Wilson

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Probably the most significant changes in U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service legislation that might have an effect on those engaged in animal control work would have to do with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 recently amended, and one piece of proposed legislation which I'll mention at closing.

In March 1972, an amendment to our treaty with Mexico became effective. And more recent, the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 had a section added to it having to do with airborne hunting.

About two years ago, the amendment to the Mexican treaty added …

The Monk Parakeet: A Potential Threat To Agriculture, Lewis R. Davis

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Small flocks of monk parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus, were recently sighted and reported in Southern California. This avian species, native to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, substantially damages grain, fruit, and vegetable crops grown within its native habitat. Overall crop losses in those areas range from two percent to 15 percent, with some as high as 45 percent annually. Because of its known ability to breed successfully in California and other states and to survive adverse climatic conditions, the possible effects of M. monachus on California's agricultural industry must be examined. This study evaluates the pest potential of this …

Rabies Vector Control In Alberta, J.B. Gurba

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Following the last serious outbreak of rabies in 1952-57, the province of Alberta remained virtually free of the disease for 13 years. In 1970 a sudden increase occurred with 16 cases in various species. The Alberta Central Rabies Control Committee was reactivated to cope with the situation. Pre-immunization of high risk personnel and domestic pets was initiated along with supportive research to monitor infection rates in various species. Vector control programs were established to stop the spread of rabies by known wildlife vectors, particularly skunks (Mephitis mephitis) which had brought rabies across the great plains to the Alberta-Saskatchewan …

Feral Hogs-Boon Or Burden, Daniel C. Pattern

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Feral hogs (Sus scrofa L. ) have long been considered a pest by most land managers because of the potential range and pasture damage that can result from their feeding habits. In recent years however, second only to deer, feral hogs have become the most sought after big game animal in California. Their great reproductive capacity coupled with the ruggedness of their preferred habitat has allowed the California State Fish and Game Department to set liberal seasons and bag limits. The freedom to work within the states liberal framework has prompted some private land managers to look at controlled …

Closing Remarks–Sixth Vertebrate Pest Conference, Charles C. Siebe

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

On behalf of the California Vertebrate Pest Committee I would like to thank you for the interest and attention that you have shown throughout this Conference.

It is the participation of those interested in vertebrate pest control that make for the success or failure of our Conference.

We have had participation during this Conference from people from ten foreign countries and twenty-seven states.

Feral Burros And Wildlife, Richard A. Weaver

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Feral burro have caused devastating damage to the vegetation and soil which has resulted in a deterioration of the entire biota. Wildlife numbers have declined where there is competition with burro for food, water or space.

The Department of Fish and Game made a burro survey in conjunction with bighorn investigations. There are an estimated 3,400 free-roaming wild burro in California. They are found in 7 of the 14 bighorn study areas and have caused problems in each of these areas.

Modelling For Research On Chemical Control Of Mammals In New Zealand, C.L. Batcheler, J. Bell

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Development of predictive formulae or qualitative statements about the probable outcome of control campaigns entails knowledge of bait quality and distribution, behavior, vagaries of weather at the time of the control campaign, and other factors which govern the probability that the target animals will accept bait.

This paper collates experience in recognizing, estimating and using some of these variables for predicting the outcome of large-scale poisoning, and discusses possible approaches to the solution of some hard-core problems.

Rabbit Behavior Research In Australia And Its Relevance In Control Operations, B.V. Fennessy

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Research in Australia on the behavior of wild rabbits has provided a basis for improvements in the tactics and strategy of control.

As the warren is a central focus for growth and survival of a population, a program for effective control or eradication should a i m at making the warren unavailable to rabbits.

Enclosure studies of behavior suggested that poisoning would be much more effective when carried out in the non-breeding season. This has been confirmed in field trials.

The behavioral importance of the odor-producing inguinal , submandibular, and anal glands is emphasized. It is suggested that further studies …

The Role Of W.H.O. In The Study And Control Of Rodent-Borne Disease, N.G. Gratz

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

While little information is available on the distribution and incidence of most of the diseases with rodent reservoirs, many of them are known to be widespread and may have considerable public health importance in some of the foci in which they are found. The World Health Organization is carrying out investigations on the epidemiology of several diseases with rodent reservoirs and on the biology and ecology of the rodent reservoir species themselves. These investigations are being carried out both at WHO research u n i t s and with collaborating laboratories. Based on the ecological information the organization is attempting …

The Detection Of Exotic Vertebrate Pests In California, Michael O. Keffer

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Numerous exotic vertebrates are imported into California each year for use in scientific research, zoological gardens, the commercial pet trade, and private collections. Certain of these imported species are known within their native range to depredate agricultural commodities, compete with other species of wildlife , and facilitate the spread of. diseases detrimental to humans or other animals.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture, in cooperation with other governmental agencies and conservation-oriented societies, is active in the exclusion, detection, and eradication of these detrimental species. Exclusion procedures include inspections of air cargo, truck, and postal terminals in addition to private …

The Role Of F.A.O. In Vertebrate Pest Problems, H.R. Shuyler

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 6th (1974)

Since 1947, when FAO began its involvement in vertebrate pest problems, its role has gradually expanded. Through short-term Consultants, Experts, Regional and Headquarters Officers, it advises Member Countries about vertebrate pest control needs and opportunities, fulfills requests for assistance suggesting needed modifications, and guides and reports on assistance rendered. Assistance may involve one or more international specialists for a few weeks up to national and regional projects of several years' duration. In cooperation with WHO it sponsors meetings of specialists, develops rodenticide specifications for international commerce, and has published rodent bibliographies covering 1950 to 1969.

Germ Plasm Evaluation Program Report No. 1, U.S. Meat Animal Research Center

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

The cattle germ plasm evaluation program at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center is designed to characterize breeds representing different biological types in the full spectrum of economic traits relating to growth, feed efficiency, reproduction, maternal ability and carcass and meat traits. The basic objective of this program is to develop an understanding relating to optimizing such biological factors as cow size, milk level, etc., in different feed environments and production situations.

The program was started with the 1969 breeding season. The first cycle involved breeding by artificial insemination (AI), Hereford, Angus, Jersey, South Devon, Limousin, Summental and Charolais bulls …

The Effect Of 2,4-D, Grazing Management And Nitrogen Fertilizer On Pasture Production, M. K. Mccarty, M. L. Cox, D. L. Linscott

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

Many pastures in eastern Nebraska and surrounding areas have gradually decreased in productivity. Over a long period of heavy grazing, native warm-season grasses have been largely replaced with Kentucky bluegrass, other less desirable grasses, and broadleaf weeds. A program was started in 1949 to study the effectiveness of protection from grazing in changing the botanical composition and yield of a pasture where the predominant forage was Kentucky bluegrass. Several weed control treatments were included in this experiment to determine if mowing or spraying would hasten the return of more desirable forage. After weed control and differential grazing treatments had been …

Agricultural Experiment Station News March 1974

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

CONTENTS:
FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
PERSONNEL ACTIONS
GRANTS AND CONTRACTS
GENERAL NOTES
NEBRASKA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION PUBLICATIONS – February 1974

Quail Music: The Complex Calls Of A Bird Contain Clues To Its Evolution, Paul A. Johnsgard

Papers in Ornithology

Ethological research has revealed that the vocal communications of birds are highly specialized behavioral adaptations that can shed light on evolutionary processes. The calls of the quails of the New World are a good example. This group of birds includes some thirty species, about half of which are limited to the tropical forests of Central and northern South America. The other species are North American, ranging as far north as southern Canada. Morphological evidence favors the view that the most generalized, or “primitive,” of these species are the tree quails of Mexico’s moist mountain forests. The more open-country and arid-adapted …

Whole Issue Nebraska Bird Review (March 1974) 42(1)

Nebraska Bird Review

Table of Contents

1973 Treasurer's ........................................... 2

1973 Nebraska Nesting Survey ...................................... 3

1973 Christmas Count ...................................... 10

Canyon Wren in Nebraska ......................... 16

A Nebraska Swainson's Thrush Nest .................................... 17

Another Black-throated Sparrow in Nebraska ................................. 18

Notes .......................................................... 19

Relationship Of Various Measures Of Performance With Ovulation Rate And Number Of Embryos 30 Days After Breeding In Gilts, L. D. Young, I. T. Omtvelt, R. K. Johnson

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

This study involved the records of 241 purebred Duroc, Hampshire and Yorkshire gilts and 103 two-breed cross gilts resulting from all possible crosses among the purebreds. In purebred gilts, the number of corpora lutea was correlated (P < .05) with average daily gain (r = 0.15), age at 100 kg(r =-.17), breeding weight (r = 0.23) and days from 100 kg to breeding(r= 0.20). In two-breed cross gilts, the number of corpora lutea was correlated (P < .05) with birth weight (r = 0.25), weaning weight (r = 0.28), average daily gain (r = 0.20), age at 100 kg (r = -.20) and breeding weight (r = 0.46).

The size of the litter the gilt was born or weaned in, her birth weight, average daily gain, age at 100 kg, and backfat probe were not significantly correlated with the number of embryos she had 30-days postbreeding regardless of the type of breeding of the embryo. The correlation between the gilt's weaning weight and number of embryos was significant (P<.05) for gilts with three-breed cross embryos but not for gilts with purebred or two-breed cross embryos (r = 0.35, 0.02 and 0.11, respectively). Breeding age and days from 100 kg to breeding were correlated (P<.05) with the number of embryos for gilts with two-breed cross embryos (r = 0.17 and 0.15, respectively) but these correlations were not significant for gilts with purebred embryos (r = -.13 and -.05, respectively) or for gilts with three-breed cross embryos (r = -.05 and 0.14, respectively). The correlation between breeding weight and number of embryos was significant for gilts with two-breed cross and three-breed cross embryos (r = 0.15 and 0.41, respectively) but not for gilts with purebred embryos (r = -.03). Ovulation rate accounted for 13.7, 5.8 and 23.0% of the variation in the number of purebred, two-breed cross and three-breed cross embryos, respectively (P < .05).

Water Current, Volume 6, No. 3, March 1974

Water Current Newsletter

From the Desk of the Director
Water Resources Seminar Series
1974 Summer Institute
Administration Water Budget - FY 1975
Bureau of Reclamation
Office of Water Resources Research
Office of Saline Water
Water Resources Council
Commisson on Water Quality
US Geological Survey
Stream Channelization Critiicized
Investments in Transportation
Cloud Seeding Impacts Researched
$7 Billion Proposed for Environmental Programs
WRC Issues New Guidelines
Research Review: Biological Control of Blue-Green Algae

Lysimetric Calibration Of The Bowen Ratio-Energy Balance Method For Evapotranspiration Estimation In The Central Great Plains, Blaine L. Blad, Norman J. Rosenberg

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Most reports show good agreement between evapotranspiration (ET) rates estimated by Bowen Ratio-Energy Balance (BREB) method and rates measured with lysimeters, although underestimation by the BREB model has occasionally been reported. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the BREB technique in the climatic conditions characteristic of the central Great Plains, a region where a significant proportion of the energy consumed by evapotranspiration is supplied from advected sensible heat.

Agreement between the BREB method and lysimetric measurements of ET is good during non-advective periods but during advective periods the BREB model underestimates ET by about 20%. Data collected …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 6, No.1. March 1974

The Prairie Naturalist

AVIAN MORTALITY FROM COLLISIONS WITH OVERHEAD WIRES IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ G. L. Krapu

NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF THE OLIVE-BACKED POCKET MOUSE PEROGNATHUS FASCIATUS ON THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS ▪ J. E. Pefaur & R. S. Hoffman

NOTE: Swans Resting on the Surface of A Dry Lake ▪ D. S. Gilmer

An Ok Science Teacher, Robert Fuller

Robert G. Fuller Publications

Many elementary school teachers feel insecure and unsure in their teaching of science, i.e., they have NOT OK feelings about themselves and science. These feelings are based on the teachers' previous science experiences and on their interactions with other persons in science courses. The improvement of elementary school science programs depends upon the teacher's ability to deal effectively with his feelings about science. A complete science education program for an elementary teacher includes three components: (1) science content, (2) science methods that take into consideration the intellectual development of children, and (3) a practical psychology for developing positive human attitudes …

A New Vespertilionine Bat From The Barstovian Deposits Of Montana, John F. Sutton, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

During the 1972 field season, a small collection of micromammals was obtained from the Anceney Local Fauna located 13 miles west of Bozeman, Gallatin County, Montana. The fauna is Barstovian in age (Upper Miocene) and is preserved in an ash-filled channel deposit in the Madison Valley Formation (Dorr, 1956). A single partial jaw of a chiropteran was recovered along with numerous bones and teeth of other mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The jaw is complete from incisors back to the level of the m2. Examination of the jaw and comparisons with Recent and fossil chiropterans has convinced us that it …

Phonon-Induced Second-Order Raman Scattering In Lif, T.P. Sharma, Roger D. Kirby, Sitaram Jaswal

Roger Kirby Publications

We have studied experimentally and theoretically the second-order Raman spectra of LiF. Theoretical calculations based on Born and Bradburn's approach explain the observed spectra fairly well when all the eight-nearest-neighbor, only two of the fifteen-next-nearest-neighbor negative-negative, and none of the fifteen next-nearest-neighbor positive-positive polarizability coefficients are used as adjustable parameters.

Resonance Fluorescence And Resonance Raman Scattering: Lifetimes In Molecular Iodine, P. F. Williams, D. L. Rousseau, D. H. Dworetsky

P. F. (Paul Frazer) Williams Publications

We report a significantly shortened scattering lifetime in molecular iodine when the frequency of a single-mode 5145-Å incident laser is tuned away from resonance with a discrete transition. This observation of a shortened scattering time is indicative of what has been conventionally called a Raman process. Off-resonance lifetime measurements, as reported here, may provide a means of determining the relative contribution to the absorption line-width of homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening.

A Mode Of Action Of Herbicides: Inhibition Of The Normal Process Of Nitrite Reduction, Lowell Klepper

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

Herbicides were shown to interfere in the normal process of enzymatic nitrite reduction by the plant in photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic plant tissues with little effect on nitrate reduction. This preferential inhibition caused nitrite to accumulate. The occurrence of free nitrite within the plant can help to explain the toxicity symptoms, nastic growth reactions, abnormal metabolism and rapid death due to herbicide action. This blockage of nitrite reduction was shown with all photosynthetic inhibitor herbicides tested and with numerous other herbicides. The effect was demonstrated using an in vivo assay, intact green plants and germinating seedlings. A basic in vivo method …

Agricultural Experiment Station News February 1974

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

CONTENTS:
OUR NEW LEADER
INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES 1974-75 CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION REQUESTS STATUS
PERSONNEL ACTIONS
GRANTS AND CONTRACTS
GENERAL NOTES
NEBRASKA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION PUBLICATIONS - January 1974
BULLETINS PRINTED

Pheasant Management Recommendations, William L. Baxter

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

Information on the life history and ecology of the ring-necked pheasant was collected on two, nine-square-mile study areas in Clay County, Nebraska, from 1954 through 1964. The study was designed to provide basic data that would allow scientifically based management decisions to be made for the maintenance and enhancement of ring-neck populations.

Findings indicate certain steps should be taken to improve pheasant populations on state-owned or controlled lands, as well as recommendations to improve habitat for pheasant populations on land not controlled by the Game Commission, These secondary proposals have statewide ramifications and offer potential for significantly improving pheasant populations …

Water Resources News, Volume 6, No. 2, February 1974

Water Current Newsletter

From the Desk of the Director
1974 Summer Institute
NWRRI Research Seminar
Water Resources Seminar Series
Future Water Use - Coal vs. Irrigation
Yellowstone River Basin Study Proposed
EPA Increases Tuition Fees
Changing Attitudes in the Corps
Social Effects of Public Works Projects
Water Programs Reorganized, Replaced and Removed
WRC's 6-7/8% Rate May Be Reduced
Cost Sharing Receives a Back Seat
Research Review: Digital Simulation of Conjunctive-Use Irrigation in Dawson County, Nebraska

Physiological And Morphological Correlation Of Rhizopus Stolonifer Spore Germination, James L. Van Etten, Lee Bulla Jr., Grant St. Julian

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Sporangiospores of Rhizopus stolonifer were examined at various stages of germination by scanning electron and phase-contrast microscopy. These observations were correlated with changes in spore dry weight, spore volume, respiration, and syntheses of ribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid, and protein during germination.

Some Digenetic Trematodes From Synaphobranchid Eels, Robin M. Overstreet, Douglas M. Martin

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Four trematodes, all new host records, were found in synaphobranchid eels from the continental slopes in the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida. Hypertrema ambovatum Manter, 1960 (Fellodistomidae), previously known only from near New Zealand, is reported from Synaphobranchus oregoni, including data in addition to the original description; Pseudopecoelus vulgaris (Manter, 1934) (Opecoelidae) and Hirudinella sp. (Hirudinellidae) are reported from S. affinis and S. oregoni, respectively, and commented upon briefly; and Helicometra robinsorum sp. n. (Opecoelidae) is described from S. oregoni and Ilyophis brunneus. The latter trematode most closely resembles H. antarcticae Holloway and Bier, …