Education Commons^™

Critical Research Needs For Successful Food Systems Adaptation To Climate Change, Michelle Miller, Molly Anderson, Charles A. Francis, Chad Kruger, Carol Barford, Jacob Park, Brent H. Mccown

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

There is a growing sense of the fragility of agricultural production in the Global North and South and of increasing risks to food security, as scientific observations confirm significant changes in the Gulf Stream, polar ice, atmospheric CO₂, methane release, and other measures of climate change. This sense is heightened as each of us experiences extreme weather, such as the increasing frequency of droughts, floods, unseasonal temperatures, and erratic seasonality. The central research challenge before us is how global, national, regional, and local food systems may adapt to accelerating climate change stresses and uncertainties to ensure the availability, …

Biochemical Research On Mongolian Lichens, Bryophytes And Vascular Plants – In Memoriam, Dr. Siegfried Huneck (1928–2011), Hans D. Knapp

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Dr. Siegfried Huneck, biochemist and lichenologist from the Institute for Biochemistry of Plants in Halle/Saale, died on September 9, 2011. He was a world wide leading expert on lichen substances. An obituary with curriculum vitae and a complete list of publications was published by Stordeur et al. (2011)

The Diffusion Of Environmental Literacy In An American Urban Community Through Children, Kelley Phillips

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Environmental literacy is a contentious issue in the United States of America because citizens feel it is forced upon them and interferes with our materialistic culture. Also, many Americans have limited access to green space and little time to devote to increasing their environmental mindset. This project documents a technique to introduce environmental literacy to American citizens by working with single communities in a common subset of American culture. Based on a model used by anthropologists in third world countries, the goal was to diffuse environmental literacy into a community by only instructing the children of that community in environmental …

Designing A School Garden Space That Emphasizes Children's Wants And Uses Permaculture Design Methods, Mikhaela Mullins

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at Saratoga Elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraska to obtain data on what children desire in a garden space. To collect this data a school garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented. Students who participated in the after school garden club partook in the study by drawing their ideal garden. Elements that the subjects drew were identified and categorized into ‘highly desired’ and ‘somewhat desired’.

These elements were then incorporated into a proposed garden design plan for Saratoga. The proposal plan uses Permaculture design methods to emphasize sustainability.

Does Socio/Economic Status Affect Environmental Awarness In Elementary School Children Interacting With School Gardens?, Grady C. Erickson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This is a case study involving three elementary schools in the greater Lincoln, Nebraska area. These schools were chosen to provide insight to three different economic backgrounds. Saratoga and Randolph from Lincoln Public Schools, and Norris Elementary part of Norris Public Schools 160 was the third school involved in the study. This case study focused on seeing whether socio/economic background had any effect on environmental awareness. To do so, surveys were handed out to each school to help measure environmental awareness. These surveys also helped determine where the environmental literacy standards were in the elementary schools of Lincoln, Nebraska. The …

Educators' Attitudes Toward Outdoor Classrooms And The Cognitive Benefits In Children, Carlie Speedlin

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at a K-5 elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraksa. This school is Saratoga Elementary School and is a United States Title I Distinguished School1 under No Child Left Behind. It has a population of 266 students, with 47% being minority, 1% gifted, and 28% special education (LPS School Profile Brochure). 80% of the student population is eligible for free/reduced meals, implying that it’s a school with a lower socioeconomic status. At this school a garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented for this case study. The club had been running since …

Connection To Nature In Park Visitors: A Look At Structured And Unstructured Recreational Activities, Chelsea D. West

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is evidence that park visitation is on the decline (Pergams & Zaradic, 2008) and if this is the case, and budgets decrease proportionately, there is a chance park land will be lost. Definitive explanations of the decline in park visits and time spent in nature are not available. In addition, there has been some discussion and research pertaining to the possible effects on people of not going into the natural environment and experiencing a connection with nature.

This study represents the first research known to focus on connectedness to nature and its relationship to structured and unstructured recreational activities. …

Farming Systems Education: Case Study Of Swedish Test Pilots, Lennart Salomonsson, Anna Nilsson, Sofia Palmer, Adam Roigart, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

We describe and analyze a pedagogical experiment that introduced a broad and holistic perspective on complete farming systems, systemic learning tools, and a participatory learning strategy at an early stage in agronomy education. The paper describes the adventure of three students, who came from a conventional agronomy program at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), who were frustrated with the lack of integrated approaches to the study of agricultural systems and a strong focus on molecular-level processes in their first year of education. They encountered a narrow focus in most courses and the overall curricula of agricultural education that …

An Assessment Of Local Peoples Opinions Of Community Conservation Initiatives In Relation To Livelihood Strategies In Kenya, Jill Mechtenberg

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract This paper analyzed the changing livelihood strategies in Kenya, and their cultural impacts via a literature review. I then combined this understanding with the data I collected while in Kenya to examine the opinions local people have of community conservation initiatives, based on their changing livelihood strategies. I expected to find that the following factors would have an affect on the opinions local community members have of community conservation initiatives: livelihood strategy, gender, ethnicity, whether or not they believe the distribution of benefits coming from wildlife conservation is equitable, what issues they would like to see improved within community …

Multifunctional Rural Landscapes: Economic, Environmental, Policy, And Social Impacts Of Land Use Changes In Nebraska, Twyla M. Hansen, Charles A. Francis, J. Dixon Esseks, J. Allen Williams Jr.

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The conversion of farmland near cities to other human uses is a global trend that challenges our long-term capacity to provide food, fiber, and ecosystem services to a growing world population. If current trends continue in the United States, the population will reach 450 million by the year 2050. At the same time, an accelerating change in land use will reduce today’s two acres per person of farmland to less than one acre per person. This is scarcely enough to produce food for our domestic population, without any food available for export – even assuming advances in technology. We need …

Lewis And Clark State Park Signs, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Les Howard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Bob Diffendal wrote text and Les Howard created maps for new Lewis and Clark signs at Ponca State Park on the Missouri River.

The Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark reached what is now southeastern Nebraska on July 10, 1804. It arrived at the point on the Missouri River adjacent to what is now Ponca State Park on August 22, 1804; and entered fully into South Dakota on September 8, 1804. Over this span of nearly two months members of the expedition saw and described many geologic features. The locations of some of the more prominent …

Science-Based Organic Farming: A Resource For Educators, Charles A. Francis, Mindi Schneider, Brad Kindler

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Organic farming is an important and growing part of the United States food system. The organic sector has grown by at least 20% per year for the past two decades, and currently shows no indication of slowing in this growth. There is increasing consumer concern about where and how food is produced, and people want to be assured access to safe and healthy food products. Interest and concern about food security, and discussion about the merits of a local food system as compared to the vulnerable globalized marketplace are also becoming increasingly important. In Nebraska we have only limited local …

Action Education In Land Use Decisions: Student Views On Urbanization And Farmland Loss, Mindi Schneider, Charles A. Francis, Dick Esseks

CARI Extension and Education Materials for Sustainable Agriculture

Loss of prime farmland is a serious concern in the United States and around the globe. With rapid urban population increases, the activities and perceived needs of concentrated groups of people result in the swallowing of some of the most fertile lands in this country. Today we have just under 2 acres of productive farmland per person in the United States. Given the current population growth rate due to births and immigration, plus the present rate of farmland loss, World Watch Institute estimates that we will have about 0.6 acres or one-third as much farmland available per person by 2055--a …

Proposal For Center For Grassland Studies, Ron Case, Dick Clark, Charles A. Francis, Tony Joern, Terry J. Klopfenstein, Lowell E. Moser, Bob Shearman, Ken Vogel, Steven S. Waller

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Its my pleasure, on behalf of the Grassland Studies Task Force, to forward a proposal for a Center for Grassland Studies for your consideration. The Task Force is extremely pleased with the overwhelming support from a broad base of input. The Task Force has made a major effort through internal and external listening sessions to insure that there was support and in doing so develop a coalition of partners across the University of Nebraska System, state colleges, community colleges, industry, state and federal agencies, public groups, private non-profit organizations and other educational institutions in the region.

Nebraska has a rich …

Geological Field Guide To The Cedar Point Biological Station, Keith County, Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Roger K. Pabian

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This field guide was produced by staff members of the Conservation and Survey Division of the University of Nebraska originally in 1979 at the request of Dr. Brent Nickol, former Director of the Cedar Point Biological Station. It is an introduction to the geologic history and paleoecology of the Cedar Point area intended for students, staff, and other persons using the camp. This revision has been made some 15 years after the first version to reflect changes in ideas resulting from new data collected during that time.

Users of this guide should take care when studying the rock exposures described …

G93-1128 Understanding Groundwater, William L. Kranz, Delynn Hay, James W. Goeke

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide provides information on how groundwater exists, where it exists, and how it moves. Key definitions are highlighted. Water is the life blood of every living creature on earth. Approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Through the wonders of nature, water can take on many different forms, from the water we drink, to the ice we use to chill a glass of lemonade, to the water vapor used to steam clean equipment. It is easy to understand the significance water plays in our lives, but it may be much more difficult to understand the …

G93-1191 Glossary Of Water-Related Terms, William L. Kranz, Delynn Hay, James W. Goeke, David Gosselin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide is a glossary of water quantity, quality and human health related terms involving water. Terms are defined in contexts that could affect Nebraskans. We depend upon water for our very existence. The impact of water quality and quantity issues has never been greater. Yet the terminology used to describe the water we drink, the water we provide to plants and animals, the water stored underground, in lakes, rivers, and oceans, is not well understood by many Nebraskans. This listing of water-related terms is intended to reduce the potential for misunderstanding presentations made by elected officials, environmental agencies and …

G93-1128 Understanding Groundwater, William L. Kranz, Delynn R. Hay, James W. Goeke

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide provides information on how groundwater exists, where it exists, and how it moves. Key definitions are highlighted. Water is the life blood of every living creature on earth. Approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Through the wonders of nature, water can take on many different forms, from the water we drink, to the ice we use to chill a glass of lemonade, to the water vapor used to steam clean equipment. It is easy to understand the significance water plays in our lives, but it may be much more difficult to understand the …

Plate Tectonics, Space, Geologic Time, And The Great Plains: A Primer For Non-Geologists, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

For most Americans, "The Great Plains" evokes images of grasslands, dust storms, prairie fires, Native Americans on horseback, cowboys and wheat lands, and perhaps flat valleys crossed by braided rivers carrying a heavy load of sand and gravel, extremes of weather, and a climate typified by an alternation of droughts and wetter periods. Geologists picture such general images, too, but they also see radical changes in the landscape over periods expressed in millions rather than hundreds of years. Geologically speaking, human activities on the Great Plains are too recent to have much of a place in the broad geologic history …

Farming Systems Research/Extension And The Concepts Of Sustainability, Charles A. Francis, Peter E. Hildebrand

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Farming Systems Research and Extension (FSR/E) has strongly influenced the direction of agricultural development over the past two decades. Involving farmers, change agents and researchers, this participatory approach to technological improvement has evolved as an efficient means to develop individual components and more integrated systems that are uniquely suited to specific biophysical and socioeconomic conditions. Farmers with similar conditions and for whom specific recommendations are appropriate are grouped, in FSR/E, into identifiable Recommendation Domains. The technologies recommended conform with the biophysical and socioeconomic constraints that create environments within the domains, based on the philosophy that new technologies must conform with …

Die Mongoleisammlung Im Herbarium Der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Werner Hilbig

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Das Herbarium der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg besitzt eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Pflanzen aus der Mongolei. Das im wesentlichen während gemeinsamer deutsch-mongolischer biologischer Expeditionen gesammelte Material liegt als selbständige Sammlung vor. Sie enthält ca. 8000 Bögen höherer Pflanzen und umfaßt ca. 1300 determinierte Arten. Ein bedeutender Teil wurde von Spezialisten bestimmt. Umfangreich sind auch die Aufsammlungen von Flechten und Moosen , geringer die von Pilzen. Es konnten hierbei wie bei den höheren Pflanzen zahlreiche Erstnachweise erbracht werden.

In der Hauptsammlung des Herbariums sind Herbarbelege v on Pflanzen des mongolischen und südsibirischen Raumes aus dem 19. Jahrhundert enthalten, z. T. von A . …

Internationales Symposium Über Die Erforschung Biologischer Ressourcen Der Mongolischen Volksrepublik, Michael Stubbe, W. Hilbig, N. Dawaa

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

First two paragraphs:

Vom 29. 8. b is 2. 9. 1983 organisierte die Sektion Biowissenschaften der Martin-Luther-Universität gemeinsam mit der Biologischen Gesellschaft der DDR in Halle/ Saale die bisher größte internationale wissenschaftliche Konferenz über die Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der MVR.

166 Biologen, Fachleute anderer Disziplinen der Naturwissenschaften, der Landwirtschaftswissenschaften und Medizi aus der UdSSR (18), CSSR (15), MVR (13), VR olen (3), Frankreich (2) und der DDR (115) nahmen an diesem Symposium teil, um in einem intensiven Erfahrungsaustausch Fragen der Erforschung der biologischen Ressourcen der MVR zu beraten.