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Diets Of Lesser Scaup During Spring Migration Throughout The Upper-Midwest Are Consistent With The Spring Condition Hypothesis, Michael J. Anteau, Alan Afton

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The spring condition hypothesis (SCH) states that the current decline of the North American scaup population (Lesser [Aythya affinis] and Greater Scaup [A. marila] combined) is due to a decline in quality or availability of scaup foods on wintering, spring migration, or breeding areas that has caused a reduction in female body condition and subsequent reproductive success. Our previous research indicated that forage quality in diets of Lesser Scaup (hereafter scaup) at two sites in Northwestern Minnesota was lower in springs 2000-2001 than that reported for springs 1986-1988, consistent with the SCH. Accordingly, we further tested …

Using Plasma-Lipid Metabolites To Index Changes In Lipid Reserves Of Free-Living Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis), Michael Anteau, Alan Afton

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Understanding daily lipid-reserve changes in migrating wild birds is important for habitat assessment and species conservation. Plasma-lipid metabolites have been used to estimate rates of lipid accumulation or catabolism in small-bodied wild birds(<75 g), but this has not been validated for larger-bodied wild birds such as waterfowl. We developed an index for detecting whether individual birds accumulate or catabolize lipid reserves by regressing plasma-lipid metabolite levels(triglyceride and β-hydroxybutyrate) and known one-day mass changes(daily mass change) of 22 free-living Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis; a larger-bodied species with typical mass range 600–1,000 g). Triglyceride and β-hydroxybutyrate predicted 75% of the variation in daily mass change (F = 28.85, df = 2 and 19, P < 0.001). Triglyceride was positively correlated (P = 0.029) with mass change, and β-hydroxybutyrate was negatively cor¬related (P < 0.001) with mass change (daily mass change = –54.49+ 11.82 [triglyceride] – 28.65 [β-hydroxybutyrate log]). Our results in¬dicate that triglyceride and β-hydroxybutyrate can estimate one-day changes in mass of free-living wild Lesser Scaup, which provides an index to daily changes in lipid reserves and should be useful for assessing quality of migration habitat.

A Two-Part Measure Of Degree Of Invasion For Cross-Community Comparisons, Qinfeng Guo, Amy Symstad

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Invasibility is a critical feature of ecological communities, especially for management decisions. To date, invasibility has been measured in numerous ways. Although most researchers have used the richness (or number) of exotic species as a direct or indirect measure of community invasibility, others have used alternative measures such as the survival, density, or biomass of either a single or all exotic species. These different measures, even when obtained from the same communities, have produced inconsistent results and have made comparisons among communities difficult. Here, we propose a measure of the degree of invasion (DI) of a community as a surrogate …

Comparing Local Vs. Global Visible And Near-Infrared (Visnir) Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Drs) Calibrations For The Prediction Of Soil Clay, Organic C And Inorganic C, Joel B. Sankey, David J. Brown, Melisa L. Bernard, Rick L. Lawrence

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Local, field-scale, VisNIR-DRS soil calibrations generally yield the most accurate predictions but require a substantial number of local calibration samples at every application site. Global to regional calibrations are more economically efficient, but don't provide sufficient accuracy for many applications. In this study, we quantified the value of augmenting a large global spectral library with relatively few local calibration samples for VisNIR-DRS predictions of soil clay content (clay), organic carbon content (SOC), and inorganic carbon content (IC). VisNIR models were constructed with boosted regression trees employing global, local+global, and local spectral data, using local samples from two low-relief, sedimentary bedrock …

Missouri River Recovery Program: Emergent Sandbar Habitat Program

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

States, cities and individuals benefit greatly from a healthy and thriving Missouri River. Maintaining a healthy river, including protecting species that live along the river, is a top priority for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Congress.

The survival of the endangered least tern and threatened piping plover is crucial to maintaining a thriving ecosystem on the Missouri River. While both shorebirds nest elsewhere as well, the sandbars of the Missouri River and reservoir shorelines are important to their overall survival. In 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated areas along much of the Missouri River …

Missouri River Recovery Program: Using The Best Available Science: Monitoring Program

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

There is a growing body of information surrounding the manner in which a healthy
river system, such as the Missouri River, functions naturally. As we work towards mitigation, recovery and ultimately restoration, an extensive science program has been implemented so that our actions can be assessed and adjusted as we move towards meeting Missouri River Recovery Program (MRRP) goals.

Missouri River Recovery Program: Finding The Right Balance: Sediment Management

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The goal of the Missouri River Recovery Program (MRRP) is to create a sustainable ecosystem for the river’s native species while protecting and maintaining the Corps’ congressionally-authorized project purposes. Many of the river’s uses – such as habitat, agriculture, municipal water use, flood protection, navigation and hydropower – can be threatened by imbalanced sediment distribution in sections of the Missouri River and its tributaries.

Missouri River Recovery Program: The Perils Of The Pallid Sturgeon

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The pallid sturgeon is native to the Yellowstone River, Missouri River, middle and lower Mississippi River, and the lower segments of their major tributaries. It is a bottom-dwelling fish that lives in large, turbid, freeflowing rivers. The pallid sturgeon has poor vision and relies on its highly sensitive barbels to locate food. Individuals can live up to 70 years, and females do not reproduce until they are 15 to 20 years old.

Historical records indicate that the pallid sturgeon was never a common species, but it has experienced significant declines in distribution and abundance over the last 75 years. During …

Missouri River Recovery Program: Spring Rise And The Missouri River

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Spring rise is a term used to describe the natural fluctuations in a river’s water level. Flooding is a natural part of a river’s relationship with its surrounding floodplain, and a river’s native wildlife and plant life become specially adapted to a river’s annual rise and fall. The frequency, duration, magnitude and timing of a river’s floods determine the types of species that associate with the river, over time creating an interdependent food web and ecosystem. In addition to controlling river biodiversity, spring rises affect the physical environment by adding nutrients to the surroundings, creating habitats for certain species, and …

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Omaha District Quarterly Drought Report, February 2008

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Current Conditions

Reservoir Predictions

Drought Outlook

Missouri River Region Mountain Snowpack Report

Ft. Peck, Montana

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Garrison, North Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Boat Ramp Information

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Other Areas of Interest/Concern

Oahe, South Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Mainstem Reservoir Storage Comparison Water Years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Ft. Peck, MT

Garrison, ND

Oahe, SD

Effects, Uptake, And Fate Of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene Aged In Soil In Plants And Worms, Elly Ph Best, Henry E. Tatem, Kaaren N. Geter, Melissa L. Wells, Brian K. Lane

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The present study was aimed at providing data to be used at predicting exposure-based effects of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) aged in soil on endpoint organisms representing two trophic levels. These data can be used to define criteria or reference values for environmental management and conducting specific risk assessment. Long-term exposure tests were conducted to evaluate sublethal toxicity and uptake of aged soil-based explosives, with TNT as the main contaminant. In these tests, plants were exposed for 55 d, and biomass and explosives residues were determined. Worms were exposed for 28 and 42 d, and biomass, number, and tissue residues were determined. …

Impact Of West Nile Virus And Other Mortality Factors On American White Pelicans At Breeding Colonies In The Northern Plains Of North America, Marsha A. Sovada, Pamela J. Pietz, Kathryn A. Converse, D. Tommy King, Erik K. Hofmeister, Paulette Scherr, Hon S. Ip

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) are colonial-nesting birds and their breeding sites are concentrated in a few small areas, making this species especially vulnerable to factors that can influence productivity, such as disease, disturbance, predation, weather events and loss of nesting habitat. Nearly half of the American white pelican population breeds at four colonies in the northern plains: Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in North Dakota, Bitter Lake (Waubay NWR) in South Dakota, Medicine Lake NWR in Montana, and Marsh Lake in Minnesota. Thus, sustained productivity at these colonies is crucial to the health of the entire …

Plant-Feeding Hemiptera And Orthoptera Communities In Native And Restored Mesic Tallgrass Prairies, Kristine T. Nemec, Thomas B. Bragg

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Aboveground Hemiptera and Orthoptera communities were compared among three native and three restored mesic tallgrass prairies along the Platte River in central Nebraska to assess both the relative success of restored sites and the relationship between insect and plant communities. Hemiptera and Orthoptera were sampled using sweep nets in early June, mid-July, and mid-August 2000. Plant species composition was assessed in early June and mid-August. A total of 89 Auchenorrhyncha (71 Cicadellidae, 15 Fulgoroidea, and 3 Membracidae) and 23 orthopterans (15 Acrididae and 8 Tettigoniidae) were collected. Eighty-five plant species were observed in combined study sites. Shannon diversity was significantly …

Towards Universal Cover Decoding, Nathan Axvig, Deanna Dreher, Katherine Morrison, Eric T. Psota, Lance C. Pérez, Judy L. Walker

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

Low complexity decoding of low-density paritycheck (LDPC) codes may be obtained from the application of iterative message-passing decoding algorithms to the bipartite Tanner graph of the code. Arguably, the two most important decoding algorithms for LDPC codes are the sum-product decoder and the min-sum (MS) decoder. On a bipartite graph without cycles (a tree), the sum-product decoder minimizes the probability of bit error, while the min-sum decoder minimizes the probability of word error [9]. While the behavior of sum-product and min-sum is easily understood when operating on trees, their behavior becomes much more difficult to characterize when the Tanner graph …

Ldpc Codes From Voltage Graphs, Christine A. Kelley, Judy L. Walker

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

Several well-known structure-based constructions of LDPC codes, for example codes based on permutation and circulant matrices and in particular, quasi-cyclic LDPC codes, can be interpreted via algebraic voltage assignments. We explain this connection and show how this idea from topological graph theory can be used to give simple proofs of many known properties of these codes. In addition, the notion of abelianinevitable cycle is introduced and the subgraphs giving rise to these cycles are classified. We also indicate how, by using more sophisticated voltage assignments, new classes of good LDPC codes may be obtained.

Average Min-Sum Decoding Of Ldpc Codes, Nathan Axvig, Deanna Dreher, Katherine Morrison, Eric T. Psota, Lance C. Pérez, Judy L. Walker

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

Simulations have shown that the outputs of minsum (MS) decoding generally behave in one of two ways: the output either eventually stabilizes at a codeword or eventually cycles through a finite set of vectors that may include both codewords and non-codewords. This inconsistency in MS across iterations has significantly contributed to the difficulty in studying the performance of this decoder. To overcome this problem, a new decoder, average min-sum (AMS), is proposed; this decoder outputs the average of the min-sum output vectors over a finite set of iterations. Simulations comparing MS, AMS, linear programming (LP) decoding, and maximum likelihood (ML) …

Numerical Simulation Of A Novel Blast Wave Mitigation Device, Zhenbi Su, Wen Peng, Zhaoyan Zhang, George Gogos, Reed Skaggs, Bryan Cheeseman

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper proposes a novel blast wave mitigation device, consisting of a piston–cylinder assembly. A shock wave is induced inside the device when it is subject to a blast wave. The shock wave propagates inside the device and is reflected repeatedly. The physical processes within the blast wave mitigation device are simulated numerically. Numerical predictions are in excellent agreement with analytical solutions for special cases of the investigated problem that are available in the literature. The peak pressure on the base of the device caused by the blast wave is studied using a number of design parameters. The numerical simulation …

A Dgge-Cloning Method To Characterize Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Community Structure In Soil, Zhanbei Liang, Rhae A. Drijber, Donald J. Lee, Ismail M. Dwiekat, Steven D. Harris, David A. Wedin

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Although arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are crucial for ecosystem functioning, characterizing AMF community structure in soil is challenging. In this study, nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) were combined with cloning of fungal 18S ribosomal gene fragments for the rapid comparison of AMF community structure in soil. Reference AMF isolates, representing four major genera of AMF, were used to develop the method. Sequential amplification of 18S rDNA fragments by nested PCR using primer pairs AM1-NS31 and Glo1-NS31GC followed by DGGE analysis yielded a high-resolution band profile. In parallel, 18S rDNA fragment clone libraries were constructed …

Virulence Diversity Of The Common Bean Rust Pathogen Within And Among Individual Bean Fields And Development Of Sampling Strategies, C. Jochua, M. I. V. Amane, J. R. Steadman, X. Xue, K. M. Eskidge

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

There is a dearth of information on pathogen variation within an individual field. In this study, virulence diversity of Uromyces appendiculatus, cause of bean rust, within individual fields was investigated. From six bean fields in the United States, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and South Africa, 380 U. appendiculatus isolates were differentiated into 65 virulence phenotypes on bean lines containing Andean- and Middle American-derived rust resistance genes. Race variation among bean rust isolates from different geographic regions was found, and virulence phenotypes found in fields from tropical and subtropical regions were more virulent and diverse than those found in fields from …

Branching Of Fungal Hyphae: Regulation, Mechanisms And Comparison With Other Branching Systems, Steven D. Harris

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

The ability of rapidly growing hyphae to generate new polarity axes that result in the formation of a branch represents one of the most important yet least understood aspects of fungal cell biology. Branching is central to the development of mycelial colonies and also appears to play a key role in fungal interactions with other organisms. This review presents a description of the two major patterns of hyphal branching, apical and lateral, and highlights the roles of internal and external factors in the induction of branch formation. In addition, potential mechanisms underlying branch site selection are outlined, and the possible …

First Report Of Annual Bluegrass Weevil, Listronotus Maculicollis, Damage In Ohio, John L. Koenig, David J. Shetlar, Joseph W. Rimelspach, Michael J. Boehm

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Annual bluegrass weevil [Listronotus maculicollis (Kirby) (1)] larvae, pupae, and adults were recovered and identified in a sample received by the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic (CWEPPDC) at Ohio State University on 19 June 2007. Damage to the approaches and collars of four golf course putting greens was detected by the superintendent of Stonewater Golf Club, Highland Heights, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) during the week of 11 June 2007. The superintendent suspected damage from the larvae of the black turfgrass ataenius, Ataenius spretulus (1). Insecticide applications applied to suppress black turfgrass ataenius did not provide …

Rapid Development Of Fungicide Resistance By Sclerotinia Homoeocarpa On Turfgrass, Young-Ki Jo, Seog Won Chang, Michael J. Boehm, Geunhwa Jung

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Dollar spot, caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, is the most prevalent and economically important turfgrass disease in North America. Increasing levels of fungicide resistance, coupled with tightening environmental scrutiny of existing fungicides, has left fewer options for managing dollar spot. More knowledge about S. homoeocarpa populations is needed to improve dollar spot management strategies, especially with respect to minimizing the development of fungicide resistance. Population diversity of S. homoeocarpa was examined using inter-simple sequence repeat markers and vegetative compatibility assays. Two subgroups were found in S. homoeocarpa field populations on both fairway and putting green turfgrass at a research field …

Inoculation Strategies To Assess Biological Interactions Between Fusarium And Alternaria Species Infecting Sorghum, Deanna L. Funnell-Harris, Jeffrey F. Pedersen

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

New cultivars of sorghum are being developed for increased food use, as livestock feed, and for the bioenergy industry by manipulation of secondary metabolic pathways through breeding. Previous work has suggested that such modifications may have an impact on cultivar response to fungal pathogens. We investigated four inoculation strategies that may be used in studies involving pathogens of sorghum. Plants of elite sorghum genotypes ‘Wheatland’ and RTx430, commonly used in breeding programs, were inoculated with isolates of Alternaria alternata, Fusarium equiseti, Fusarium proliferatum, Fusarium solani, Fusarium thapsinum, and Fusarium verticillioides recovered from field-grown sorghum. Wound inoculation of the peduncles …

Self-Harm, Substance Abuse And Age: Relatedness To Sexually Abusive Behaviors Toward Others By Juveniles, Tara K. Cossel

Department of Psychology: Presentations

The present study analyzes three factors as they relate to functioning: selfharm, substance abuse and age. Research has shown girls highest in mid-adolescent selfharm are those who engage in high levels of bullying (Barker, Arseneault, Brendgen, Fontaine, & Maughan, 2008). Little research has been done to analyze specific behaviors toward others among adolescents who self-harm. Dembo, la Voie, Schmeidler, & Washburn (1987) found a positive correlation between antisocial orientation and illicit drug use. Further research was done to understand the nature of behaviors and functioning of juveniles who abuse substances. Johnson (1988) found a history of substance abuse in the …

Bovine Herpesvirus Type 1 Induces Cell Death By A Cell Type Dependent Fashion, Vicki Geiser, Suzanne Rose, Clinton J. Jones

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1), a member of the alpha-herpesvirinae subfamily, causes significant losses to the cattle industry. BHV-1 establishes latency in trigeminal ganglionic sensory neurons, but periodically reactivates from latency. Previous studies suggested that infection with BHV-1 induced novel morphological changes in rabbit skin cells (RS) versus bovine kidney cells (MDBK). Consequently, we hypothesized that viral infection led to a novel form of cell death in RS cells compared to MDBK cells. To test this hypothesis, we examined the levels of apoptosis in these cell types following infection with BHV-1. Infection of RS, but not MDBK, cells leads to high …

A Review Of The Biology Of Bovine Herpesvirus Type 1 (Bhv-I), Its Role As A Cofactor In The Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex And Development Of Improved Vaccines, Clinton J. Jones, Shafiqul Chowdhury

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Infection of cattle by bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) can lead to upper respiratory tract disorders, conjunctivitis, genital disorders and immune suppression. BHV-1-induced immune suppression initiates bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC), which costs the US cattle industry approximately 3 billion dollars annually. BHV-1 encodes at least three proteins that can inhibit specific arms of the immune system: (i) bICPO inhibits interferon-dependent transcription, (ii) the UL41.5 protein inhibits CD8⁺ T-cell recognition of infected cells by preventing trafficking of viral peptides to the surface of the cells and (iii) glycoprotein G is a chemokine-binding protein that prevents homing of lymphocytes to …

How Does Age Affect Baseline Screening Mammography Performance Measures? A Decision Model, James Keen, John D. Keen

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: In order to promote consumer-oriented informed medical decision-making regarding screening mammography, we created a decision model to predict the age dependence of the cancer detection rate, the recall rate and the secondary performance measures (positive predictive values, total intervention rate, and positive biopsy fraction) for a baseline mammogram.
Methods: We constructed a decision tree to model the possible outcomes of a baseline screening mammogram in women ages 35 to 65. We compared the single baseline screening mammogram decision with the no screening alternative. We used the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results national cancer database as the primary input to …

Highly Resolved Absolute Cross-Sections For Dissociative Electron Attachment To Sf5cf3, K. Graupner, L. M. Graham, T. A. Field, Christopher A. Mayhew, Ilya I. Fabrikant, T. M. Miller, M. Braun, M.-W. Ruf, Harmut Hotop

Ilya Fabrikant Publications

Using two complementary experimental methods, we have measured partial (mass-resolved) cross-sections for dissociative electron attachment to the molecule trifluoromethyl sulfurpentafluoride (SF₅CF₃) at the gas temperature T_G = 300K over a broad range of electron energies (E = 0.001–12 eV).

Relativistic Magnetic Monopole Flux Constraints From Rice, Daniel P. Hogan, Dave Z. Besson, John P. Ralston, Ilya Kravchenko, D. Seckel

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We report an upper limit on the flux of relativistic monopoles based on the nonobservation of in-ice showers by the Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) at the South Pole.We obtain a 95% C.L. limit of order 10^-18 (cm² s sr)^-1 for intermediate-mass monopoles of 10⁷ ≤ γ ≤ 10¹² at the anticipated energy E_tot = 10¹⁶ GeV. This bound is over an order of magnitude stronger than all previously published experimental limits for this range of boost parameters γ and exceeds 2 orders of magnitude improvement over most of the range. We review …

Theory Of The Piezomagnetic Effect In Mn-Based Antiperovskites, Pavel Lukashev, Renat F. Sabirianov, Kirill D. Belashchenko

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Recent experimental and theoretical studies of the magnetoelectric (ME) effect in the nanocomposite structures and in laminates show an enhanced ME coefficient. These materials combine piezoelectric properties of the paramagnetic phase and piezomagnetic properties of the magnetic phase. We propose to fabricate heterostructures formed by piezoelectric materials and magnetic antiperovskites as magnetoelectric materials. We show that the magnetic structure of antiperovskite, such as Mn₃GaN, can be controlled by a small applied biaxial strain. The lowering of symmetry with the strain causes the local magnetic moments of Mn atoms to rotate from the trigonal Γ^5g structure with symmetric …