Digital Commons Network^™

Larval Green And White Sturgeon Swimming Performance In Relation To Water-Diversion Flows, Christine E. Verhille, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Bethany Decourten, Sarah Baird, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Little is known of the swimming capacities of larval sturgeons, despite global population declines in many species due in part to fragmentation of their spawning and rearing habitats by man-made water-diversion structures. Larval green (Acipenser medirostris) and white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) inhabit the highly altered Sacramento–San Joaquin watershed, making them logical species to examine vulnerability to entrainment by altered water flows. The risk of larval sturgeon entrainment is influenced by the ontogeny of swimming capacity and dispersal timing and their interactions with water-diversion structure operations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe and compare …

Efficacy Of A Sensory Deterrent And Pipe Modifications In Decreasing Entrainment Of Juvenile Green Sturgeon (Acipenser Medirostris) At Unscreened Water Diversions, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Timothy D. Mussen, Ali Ercan, Hossein Bandeh, M. Levent Kavvas, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Water projects designed to extract fresh water for local urban, industrial and agricultural use throughout rivers and estuaries worldwide have contributed to the fragmentation and degradation of suitable habitat for native fishes. The number of water diversions located throughout the Sacramento–San Joaquin watershed in California’s Central Valley exceeds 3300, and the majority of these are unscreened. Many anadromous fish species are susceptible to entrainment into these diversions, potentially impacting population numbers. In the laboratory, juvenile green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) have been shown to have high entrainment rates into unscreened diversions compared with those of other native California fish …

Parameterization Of The Satellite-Based Model (Metric) For The Estimation Of Instantaneous Surface Energy Balance Components Over A Drip-Irrigated Vineyard, Marcos Carrasco-Benavides, Samuel Ortega-Farias, Luis Octavio Lagos, Jan Kleissl, Luis Morales-Salinas, Ayse Kilic

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A study was carried out to parameterize the METRIC (Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) model for estimating instantaneous values of albedo (shortwave albedo) (αi), net radiation (Rni) and soil heat flux (Gi), sensible (Hi) and latent heat (LEi) over a drip-irrigated Merlot vineyard (location: 35°25′ LS; 71°32′ LW; 125 m.a.s. (l). The experiment was carried out in a plot of 4.25 ha, processing 15 Landsat images, which were acquired from 2006 to 2009. An automatic weather station was placed inside the experimental plot to measure αi, …

Biofrag – A New Database For Analyzing Biodiversity Responses To Forest Fragmentation, Marion Pfeifer, Andrew Tyre

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Habitat fragmentation studies have produced complex results that are challenging to synthesize. Inconsistencies among studies may result from variation in the choice of landscape metrics and response variables, which is often compounded by a lack of key statistical or methodological information. Collating primary datasets on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in a consistent and flexible database permits simple data retrieval for subsequent analyses. We present a relational database that links such field data to taxonomic nomenclature, spatial and temporal plot attributes, and environmental characteristics. Field assessments include measurements of the response(s) (e.g., presence, abundance, ground cover) of one or more species …

Spectroscopic Analysis Of Seasonal Changes In Live Fuel Moisture Content And Leaf Dry Mass, Yi Qi, Philip E. Dennison, W. Matt Jolly, Rachael C. Kropp, Simon C. Brewer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Predicting Soil Bulk Density For Incomplete Databases, Cleiton H. Sequeira, Skye A. Wills, Cathy A. Seybold, Larry T. West

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Soil bulk density (ρ_b) is important because of its direct effect on soil properties (e.g., porosity, soilmoisture availability) and crop yield. Additionally, ρ_b measurements are needed to express soil organic carbon (SOC) and other nutrient stocks on an area basis (kg ha−1). However, ρbmeasurements are commonlymissing fromdatabases for reasons that include omission due to sampling constraints and laboratory mishandling. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of novel pedotransfer functions (PTFs) in predicting ρ_b as a function of textural class and basic pedon description information extracted from the horizon of interest (the horizon …

Carbon–Temperature–Water Change Analysis For Peanut Production Under Climate Change: A Prototype For The Agmip Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3mp), Alex Ruane, Sonali Mcdermid, Cynthia Rosenzweig, Guillermo Baigorria, James W. Jones, Consuelo Romero, L. Dewayne Cecil

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Climate change is projected to push the limits of cropping systems and has the potential to disrupt the agricultural sector from local to global scales. This article introduces the Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP), an initiative of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) to engage a global network of crop modelers to explore the impacts of climate change via an investigation of crop responses to changes in carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), temperature, and water. As a demonstration of the C3MP protocols and enabled analyses, we apply the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) CROPGRO-Peanut crop model for …

Assessing Risk Of Disease Transmission: Direct Implications For An Indirect Science, Michael Lavelle, Justin Fischer, Gregory Phillips, Tyler Campbell, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Aaron Hildreth, David Hewiltt, Scott Hygnstrom

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

By definition, contact denotes the ;unction of at least two objects. In the context of disease transmission, contact implies interaction with potential to spread disease. Mischaracterization of contacts may res"lt in inaccurate estimates of transmission rates. To collect more-accurate contact data among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), "'e built a deer-borne contact detection system (DCDS) consisting of a camera and a proximity logger installed on a GPS (Global Positioning System) collar. We outfitted 26 adult male deer with DCDSs to record GPS locations, proximity of equipped deer to other equipped deer, and video of deer interactions in southern Texas during arltUmn …

Patch Burn‐Grazing: An Annotated Bibliography, Rajeeva Voleti, Stephen L. Winter, Sherry Leis

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Patch burn‐grazing is a rangeland management strategy that exploits the attraction of grazing animals to recently burned areas in order to achieve management objectives. When fire is applied to a landscape in a patchy manner, leaving some patches unburned, the resulting grazing animal activity, forage utilization, and animal impact are patchily distributed within that landscape as well. Areas that have been recently burned tend to be characterized by the highest levels of grazing animal activity while areas that have gone the longest without burning tend to be characterized by the lowest levels of grazing animal activity. This can be advantageous …

Data-Driven Diagnostics Of Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics Over North America, Jingfeng Xiao, Scott V. Ollinger, Steve Frolking, George Hurtt, David Y. Hollinger, Kenneth J. Davis, Yude Pan, Xiaoyang Zhang, Feng Deng, Jiquan Chen, Dennis D. Baldocchi, Beverly E. Law, M. Altaf Arain, Ankur R. Desai, Andrew D. Richardson, Ge Sun, Brian Amiro, Hank Margolis, Lianhong Gu, Russell L. Scott, Peter D. Blanken, Andrew E. Suyker

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The exchange of carbon dioxide is a key measure of ecosystem metabolism and a critical intersection between the terrestrial biosphere and the Earth’s climate. Despite the general agreement that the terrestrial ecosystems in North America provide a sizeable carbon sink, the size and distribution of the sink remain uncertain. We use a data-driven approach to upscale eddy covariance flux observations from towers to the continental scale by integrating flux observations, meteorology, stand age,aboveground biomass, and a proxy for canopy nitrogen concentrations from AmeriFlux and Fluxnet-Canada Research Network as well as a variety of satellite data streams from the MODIS sensors. …

Estimation Of Crop Gross Primary Production (Gpp): FaparChl Versus Mod15a2 Fpar, Qingyuan Zhang, Yen-Ben Cheng, A. I. Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Feng Gao, Andrew E. Suyker, Shashi B. Verma, Elizabeth M. Middleton

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Photosynthesis (PSN) is a pigment level process in which antenna pigments (predominately chlorophylls) in chloroplasts absorb photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for the photochemical process. PAR absorbed by foliar non-photosynthetic components is not used for PSN. The fraction of PAR absorbed (fAPAR) by a canopy/vegetation (i.e., fAPAR_canopy) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images, referred to as MOD15A2 FPAR, has been used to compute absorbed PAR (APAR) for PSN (APAR_PSN) which is utilized to produce the standard MODIS gross primary production (GPP) product, referred to as MOD17A2 GPP. In this study, the fraction of PAR …

Variation In Age Composition Among Colony Sizes In Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Variation in group size is characteristic of most social species. The extent to which individuals sort among group sizes based on age may yield insight into why groups vary in size and the age-specific costs and benefits of different social environments. We investigated the age composition of Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) colonies of different sizes over 18 yr at a long-term study site in western Nebraska, USA. Using years elapsed since banding as a relative measure of age for over 194,000 birds, we found that the proportion of age-class-1 swallows (birds banded as nestlings or juveniles or adults in the …

On The Role Of Budget Sufficiency, Cost Efficiency, And Uncertainty In Species Management, Max Post Van Der Burg, Bartholomew B. Bly, Tammy Vercauteren, James B. Grand, Andrew J. Tyre

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many conservation planning frameworks rely on the assumption that one should prioritize locations for management actions based on the highest predicted conservation value (i.e., abundance, occupancy). This strategy may underperform relative to the expected outcome if one is working with a limited budget or the predicted responses are uncertain. Yet, cost and tolerance to uncertainty rarely become part of species management plans. We used field data and predictive models to simulate a decision problem involving western burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) using prairie dog colonies (Cynomys ludovicianus) in western Nebraska. We considered 2 species management strategies: …

Relationship Between Fraction Of Radiation Absorbed By Photosynthesizing Maize And Soybean Canopies And Ndvi From Remotely Sensed Data Taken At Close Range And From Modis 250 M Resolution Data, Anatoly A. Gitelson, Yi Peng, Karl Fred Huemmrich

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The fraction of incident photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the photosynthesizing tissue in a canopy (fAPAR) is a key variable in the assessment of vegetation productivity. It also plays tremendous role in accurate retrieval of light use efficiency, which is essential for assessing vegetation health status. The main goal of this work was to study in detail relationships of fAPAR absorbed by photosynthetically active vegetation (fAPARgreen) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for two crops with contrasting leaf structures (C3 vs. C4) and canopy architectures, using close range (6 m above the canopy) radiometric data and daily MODIS data taken …

You Are Not Always What We Think You Eat: Selective Assimilation Across Multiple Whole-Stream Isotopic Tracer Studies, W. K. Dodds, S. M. Collins, S. K. Hamilton, J. L. Tank, S. Johnson, J. R. Webster, K. S. Simon, M. R. Whiles, H. M. Rantala, W. H. Mcdowell, S. D. Peterson, T. Riis, C. L. Crenshaw, S. A. Thomas, P. B. Kristensen, B. M. Cheever, A. S. Flecker, N. A. Griffiths, T. Crowl, E. J. Rosi-Marshall, R. El-Sabaawi, E. Marti

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Analyses of 21 ¹⁵N stable isotope tracer experiments, designed to examine food web dynamics in streams around the world, indicated that the isotopic composition of food resources assimilated by primary consumers (mostly invertebrates) poorly reflected the presumed food sources. Modeling indicated that consumers assimilated only 33–50% of the N available in sampled food sources such as decomposing leaves, epilithon, and fine particulate detritus over feeding periods of weeks or more. Thus, common methods of sampling food sources consumed by animals in streams do not sufficiently reflect the pool of N they assimilate. Isotope tracer studies, combined with modeling and …

Variations In The Influence Of Diffuse Light On Gross Primaryproductivity In Temperate Ecosystems, Susan J. Cheng, Gil Bohrer, Allison L. Steiner, David Y. Hollinger, Andrew E. Suyker, Richard P. Phillips, Knute J. Hadelhoffer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The carbon storage potential of terrestrial ecosystems depends in part on how atmospheric conditions influence the type and amount of surface radiation available for photosynthesis. Diffuse light, resulting from interactions between incident solar radiation and atmospheric aerosols and clouds, has been postulated to increase carbon uptake in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the magnitude of the diffuse light effect is unclear because existing studies use different methods to derive above-canopy diffuse light conditions. We used site-based, above-canopy measurements of diffuse light and gross primary productivity (GPP) from 10 temperate ecosystems (including mixed conifer forests, deciduous broad leaf forests,and croplands) to quantify the …

Iron Clad Wetlands: Soil Iron-Sulfur Buffering Determines Coastal Wetland Response To Salt Water Incursion, Valerie Anne Schoepfer, Emily S. Bernhardt, Amy J. Burgin

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Coastal freshwater wetland chemistry is rapidly changing due to increased frequency of salt water incursion, a consequence of global change. Seasonal salt water incursion introduces sulfate, which microbially reduces to sulfide. Sulfide binds with reduced iron, producing iron sulfide (FeS), recognizable in wetland soils by its characteristic black color. The objective of this study is to document iron and sulfate reduction rates, as well as product formation (acid volatile sulfide (AVS) and chromium reducible sulfide (CRS)) in a coastal freshwater wetland undergoing seasonal salt water incursion. Understanding iron and sulfur cycling, as well as their reduction products, allows us to …

Prevalence Rates Of Sleep Paralysis Among The Auc Undergraduate Students: An Investigation Of A Hypothesized Relation Between Sleep Paralysis Occurrence Rates And Exam Days And The Effect Of Sleep Paralysis On Academic Performance, Khaled Atya Hassan

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This study aimed at finding the prevalence rates of sleep paralysis among the undergraduates of the American University in Cairo. In addition, it tested a hypothesis that the AUC undergraduates will be more likely to experience sleep paralysis during exam days compared to normal days. Furthermore, it investigated whether there is a relation between sleep paralysis and academic performance or not. An online Google form survey was conducted and 170 undergraduate students from the AUC participated in the survey. It was found that 35% of the participants experienced sleep paralysis at least once in their lives. Moreover, even though some …

2013-2014 President's Report, Mardi Mileham, Laura Davis

Presidential Reports

The Linfield College President's Annual Report is a collection of information about the year in review, including academics, student life and athletics, enrollment, finances, philanthropy, and leadership.

African American Women, Hiv/Aids, And Human Rights In The Us, Monica L. Melton

Societies Without Borders

In the US alone, 84 percent of women’s HIV infections are due to heterosexual contact (CDC 2013). Fifty percent of all people globally who are living with HIV/AIDS are women (UNAIDS 2009), yet, HIV-positive women’s perspectives on prevention are mostly missing from the trajectory of scholarly literature on HIV/AIDS. I thought it imperative to go to the source (women living with HIV/AIDS) to get an insiders perspective on HIV prevention. Thirty HIV-positive Black women were recruited to participate in the study, which lasted seven months. These women live in a Florida innercity and range in age from 21 to 60. …

Stonehill Alumni Magazine Winter/Spring 2014, Stonehill College Office Of Communications And Media Relations

Stonehill Alumni Magazine

This issue of the magazine includes the following features:

• Words of Wisdom: Alumni recall the clever one-liners, nuggets of advice and notable lessons that they heard while at Stonehill and still remember today.
• Hitting the Road: The Living American Literature course takes students to Plymouth, Salem, Boston and Concord to better understand the place of literature in our culture, past and present. By Geoffrey Smith with Laura Thiemann Scales
• News Radio Days Remixed: Calling all radio heads and music junkies! WSHL-FM 91.3 is celebrating more than four decades on air. Tune in to discover how the radio station started and …

Tennessee Oversight Agreement Status Report To The Public Fiscal Year 2014, Tennessee. Department Of Environment And Conservation. Division Of Department Of Energy Oversight

Annual Status Reports

This report was produced by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Remediation, DOE Oversight Office.

Lincoln University Cooperative Extension And Research Annual Report 2013, Lincoln University Cooperative Extension And Research

LUCER Reports

This is LUCER-MC Report #01-14

Published by Lincoln University Cooperative Extension and Research (LUCER) Media Center; 900 Chestnut Street, 301 Allen Hall; Jefferson City, MO 65101.

2nd Annual Faculty Research & Innovation Day Program, Dan Douglas, Robert W. Darling, Trisch Pemberton, Seyed Goosheh, Martin Volkening, Helen Harrison, Katherine Harrison, Richi Jurakhan, Kerry Ritchie, Hossein Khalili, Lorie Katsadema, Mary Anne Krahn, Sandra Deluca, Carmen Hall, Natalia Aguillon, Shannon Webb, Karen Jenkins, Eli Paddle, Michael Costa, Jodi Hall, Candace Miller, Farveh Ghafouri, Ke Liu, Kate Toth, Amy Turnbull, Lyndsay Fitzgeorge, Mia Tritter, Therese Haper, Harry Prapavessis, Liz Lorusso, Jenna Lorusso, Liz Fitzgeorge, Gholamreza (Sam) Samigorganroodi, Carol Butler

Centre for Research and Innovation Publications

No abstract provided.

How Much Do West Virginia College Graduates Add To The State's Economy, Christiadi, Eric Bowen, Patrick Manzi, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

From Higher Education To Work In West Virginia 2012, Eric Bowen, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

Wilderness Imperatives And Untrammeled Nature, Sandra Zellmer

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

Wilderness is often considered the epitome of naturalness – what nature ought to be. Indeed, in many ways, society, through its environmental laws, has prioritized the protection of wilderness over other areas of nature and other aspects of naturalness. We give our wilderness areas iconic names, like Delirium, Desolation, Devil’s Backbone, River of No Return, and Superstition, and we idealize themand treat them as something utterly unique and apart from our technology-ridden daily lives.

The nation’s preeminent wilderness statute, the Wilderness Act of 1964, is credited with significant preservation achievements. Over the years, the Act has remained remarkably robust, with …

Wilderness Preserves: Still Relevant And Resilient After All These Years, Sandra Zellmer, John M. Anderies

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

This chapter explores the continuing relevance of preserving wilderness by preventing active human intervention. It concludes that the symbolic and ecological benefits of wilderness are as significant today as they were fifty years ago. Indeed, the importance of preserving wilderness areas will only increase as the climate changes. Land managers face complex challenges, however, when they are managing wilderness resources that are already degraded due to climate change or other human impacts and that may require intervention to prevent further degradation. Deciding whether and how to intervene with active management tools while maintaining the overarching “wild” values of wilderness is …

Women's Studies News, Spring 2014, University Of Alabama In Huntsville

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Playing For High Stakes: Findings From The Irish Neighbourhood Play Research Project And Their Implications For Education, Doireann O'Connor, M Mccormack, P Maclaughlin, J Angus, V O'Rourke

Education Conference Papers

The Irish Neighbourhood Play Research Project included almost 1700 families and 240 communities throughout Ireland. The findings hold clear implications for educational policy and practice. Using surveys, interviews and naturalistic observation, data was secured on how children in modern Ireland aged 0 - 15 are playing. An all-island approach was taken incorporating cities, towns and rural areas across a variety of socio-economic groupings. Interesting findings arose from the data relating to generational differences in levels of freedom, play, exercise, engagement with risk, with nature, with scheduled/timetabled extracurricular activities, with homework, with electronics, with creative activities and with traditional play types …