Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Linking Mosquito Surveillance To Dengue Fever Through Bayesian Mechanistic Modeling, Clinton B. Leach, Jennifer A. Hoeting, Kim M. Pepin, Alvaro E. Eiras, Mevin B. Hooten, Colleen T. Webb

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Our ability to effectively prevent the transmission of the dengue virus through targeted control of its vector, Aedes aegypti, depends critically on our understanding of the link between mosquito abundance and human disease risk. Mosquito and clinical surveillance data are widely collected, but linking them requires a modeling framework that accounts for the complex non-linear mechanisms involved in transmission. Most critical are the bottleneck in transmission imposed by mosquito lifespan relative to the virus’ extrinsic incubation period, and the dynamics of human immunity. We developed a differential equation model of dengue transmission and embedded it in a Bayesian hierarchical …

Agriculture, Food Security And Climate Change Panel, Andrew Walsh

Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020

8 graduate student/recent graduate presentations on varying topics of agriculture, food security and climate change. Moderated by Dr. Andrew Walsh. Reporting of panel done by current GHS students of the 2021 class. Abstracts can be found under "Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts". Presenters as follows:

Daniel Amoak, "Coping Strategies of Agrarian Households"

Eunice Annan-Aggrey, "The Conundrum of Vanishing 'Gold' in the African Savannah"

Evans Batung, "Credit Access and Perceived Climate Change Resilience of Smallholder Farmers in semi-arid Northern Ghana"

Chengyu (Jennifer) Guo et al., "Production of Flavoured Fiti Probiotic Yoghurt for the London Community"

Daniel Kpienbaareh et al., "Estimating Yield …

Water Quality And Water Security Panel, Lameck Osinde

Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020

8 graduate student/recent graduate presentations on the topic of water security and water quality. Moderated by Dr. Lameck Osinde. Reporting of panel done by current GHS students of the 2021 class. Abstracts can be found under "Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts". Presenters as follows:

Thelma Zulfawu Abu et al., "When you Preach Water and you Drink Wine: Exploring the Implementation, Use and Management of WaSH in Healthcare Facilities in Kisumu County"

Katherine Butler, Eva Chang, "Western Heads East Remote Internship: Canada-Rwanda Partnership"

Josephine De Leon, Ryan Grilli, Yasmina Garber, Riddhi Nandola, Mofiyin Lawal, "Ecoland"

Maurice Dogoli et al., "Tackling Access …

Flowers Are Essential To Maintain High Beetle Diversity (Coleoptera) In A Neotropical Rainforest Canopy, Susan Kirmse, Caroline S. Chaboo

Publications of UNSM Staff and Affiliates

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the megadiversity of angiosperms and insects. Flowers and their pollinators represent the most common terrestrial mutualistic interaction today and this is thought to have driven the evolution of angiosperms and their visitors. Within the framework of that interaction, this paper develops and tests two new hypotheses: 1) megadiversity of canopy beetles in tropical rainforests is largely based on flower resources, and 2) the majority of adult canopy beetles are adapted to visit flowers. To test hypothesis 1, the beetle fauna associated with 23 canopy tree species (13 families, 45 individuals) in a 1.4 …

Assessing The Impact Of Land Use And Land Cover Data Representation On Weather Forecast Quality: A Case Study In Central Mexico, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In atmospheric modeling, an accurate representation of land cover is required because such information impacts water and energy budgets and, consequently, the performance of models in simulating regional climate. This study analyzes the impact of the land cover data on an operational weather forecasting system using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for central Mexico, with the aim of improving the quality of the operative forecast. Two experiments were conducted using different land cover datasets: a United States Geological Survey (USGS) map and an updated North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) map. The experiments were conducted as a …

The Birds Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Paul A. Johnsgard, Josef Kren

Zea E-Books Collection

This book provides basic information on all the species of birds that have been reliably reported from the Nebraska Sandhills region as of 2020. They include 46 permanent residents, 125 summer breeders, 125 migrants, and 102 rare or accidental species, totaling 398 species. Information on status, migration, and habitats is provided for all but the very rare and accidental species. There are also descriptions of 46 refuges, preserves, and other public-access natural areas in the region and seven suggested birding routes. The text contains more than 90,000 words and over 250 literature references along with more than 20 drawings, 9 …

Reduced Lignin Decomposition And Enhanced Soil Organic Carbon Stability By Acid Rain: Evidence From 13c Isotope And 13c Nmr Analyses, Jianping Wu, Qi Deng, Dafeng Hui, Xin Xiong, Huiling Zhang, Mengdi Zhao, Xuan Wang, Minghui Hu, Yongxian Su, Hongou Zhang, Guowei Chu, Deqiang Zhang

Biology Faculty Research

Due to the emissions of air pollutants, acid rain in southern China poses a great threat to terrestrial ecosystems. However, its influences on ecological processes such as litter decomposition and soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation are still not clear. The aim of this study was to understand the potential mechanisms of carbon sequestration change in response to long-term acid rain in a subtropical forest. A field experiment with simulated acid rain (SAR) treatment was conducted in a monsoon evergreen broadleaf forest in southern China. Four levels of SAR treatment were implemented by irrigating the plots with water of different pH …

Connections In The Underworld: A Morphological And Molecular Study Of Diversity And Connectivity Among Anchialine Shrimp., Robert Eugene Ditter

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the distribution and population structure of crustaceans, endemic to anchialine systems in the tropical western Atlantic focusing on cave-dwelling shrimp from the family Barbouriidae. Taxonomic and molecular tools (genetic and genomic) are utilized to examine population dynamics and the presence of phenotypic hypervariation (PhyV) of the critically endangered species Barbouria cubensis (von Martens, 1872). The presence of PhyV and its geographic distribution is investigated among anchialine populations of B. cubensis from 34 sites on Abaco, Eleuthera, and San Salvador, Bahamas. Examination of 54 informative morphological characters revealed PhyV present in nearly 90% (n=463) of specimens with no …

Garbage From Ship Sources In Cameroon: The Case Of Marpol 1973/78 Annex V, Yvonne Ayamba Ayuk

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Waterfall Crisis, Guiliana G. Grisaffi

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

While the Earth’s surface is 71% covered in water, that does not mean that one day all our water could be gone. The current global water crisis is not just a water crisis-it is a waterfall crisis. One wicked, terrible problem that leads to many other wicked problems, a waterfall crisis. Millions of women and young girls are taken out of work and school and instead forced to collect and gather fresh water for their families. Children are suffering from irreversible health consequences from toxic, contaminated water, an example of a health consequence is a lower IQ from lead poisoning. …

The Role Of Eolian-Fluvial Interactions And Dune Dams In Landscape Change, Late Pleistocene-Holocene, Mojave Desert, Usa, Mark R. Sweeney, Eric V. Mcdonald, Lucas P. Chabela, Paul R. Hanson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The formation of the Kelso Dunes in the eastern Mojave Desert, California, was a landscape-changing event triggered by an increase in sediment supply that followed the incision of Afton Canyon by the Mojave River ca. 25 ka. Eastward migration of sand dunes occurred along a well-defined eolian trans­port corridor. Dunes temporarily blocked washes resulting in substantial aggradation of eolian and fluvial sediments. Stratigraphic exposures reveal numerous fining-up sequences with interbedded eolian sands that provide evidence of dune dams and subsequent aggradation. Luminescence ages reveal that dune blocking and aggradation correspond to a regional pulse of alluvial fan sedimentation that occurred …

Spotted Owls And Forest Fire: Comment, Gavin M. Jones, R. J. Gutiérrez, William M. Block, Peter C. Carlson, Emily J. Comfort, Samuel A. Cushman, Raymond J. Davis, Stephanie A. Eyes, Alan B. Franklin, Joseph L. Ganey, Shaula Hedwall, John J. Keane, Rodd Kelsey, Damon B, Lesmeister, Malcolm P. North, Susan L. Roberts, Jeremy T. Rockweit, Jamie S. Sanderlin, Sarah C. Sawyer, Ben Solvesky, Douglas J. Tempel, Ho Yi Wan, A. Leroy Westerling, Gary C. White, M. Zachariah Peery

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Western North American forest ecosystems are experiencing rapid changes in disturbance regimes because of climate change and land use legacies (Littell et al. 2018). In many of these forests, the accumulation of surface and ladder fuels from a century of fire suppression, coupled with a warming and drying climate, has led to increases in the number of large fires (Westerling 2016) and the proportion of areas burning at higher severity (Safford and Stevens 2017, Singleton et al. 2018). While the annual area burned by fire is still below historical levels (Taylor et al. 2016), some forest types in the west …

Significance Statements Communicate Our Science More Widely, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) mission statement specifically calls for advancing ‘‘the atmospheric and related sciences . . . for the benefit of society.’’ To further the goal of communicating the importance of the science in our journals more widely, AMS is encouraging the inclusion in submitted papers of a ‘‘significance statement,’’ written in plain language and aimed at an educated layperson without formal training or education in the atmospheric and related sciences. As of 6 November 2020, Earth Interactions authors now have the option to include a significance statement with their submitted papers. A significance statement is an explanation …

Data Availability Principles And Practice, Rezaul Mahmood, Joseph A. Santanello, Xiaoyang Zhang

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Science requires evidence. Making data available lets other scientists confirm results, uncover errors, or find new insights. Moreover, gathering data can be expensive and time consuming. Since the same data can be used for a range of purposes, making data available can be an efficient use of limited research resources. Doing so can also improve traceability and, thus, accountability, when it comes to research findings. These reasons and more lie behind recent efforts to promote data availability. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) recently updated its data policy guidelines (https://www.ametsoc.org/ index.cfm/ams/publications/ethical-guidelines-and-ams-policies/data-policy-and-guidelines/) to require, among other things, that papers in its journals …

Toward The Standardization Of Mesoscale Meteorological Networks, Christopher Fiebrich, Kevin Brinson, Rezaul Mahmood, Stuart Foster, Megan Schargorodski, Nathan L. Edwards, Christopher A. Redmond, Jennie R. Atkins, Jeffrey Andresen, Xiaomao Lin

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Although they share many common qualities in design and operation, mesonetworks across the United States were established independently and organically over the last several decades. In numerous instances, the unique ways each network matured and developed new protocols has led to important lessons learned. These experiences have been shared in informal ways among various network operators over the years to promote reliable operation. As existing networks begin to introduce new sensors and technologies, and as new networks come online, there is a common need for guidance on best practices. This paper aims to formally provide recommendations to improve and harmonize …

Loci Associated With Antibody Response In Feral Swine (Sus Scrofa) Infected With Brucella Suis, Courtney F. Pierce, Vienna R. Brown, Steven C. Olsen, Paola Boggiatto, Kerri Pedersen, Ryan S. Miller, Scott E. Speidel, Timothy J. Smyser

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are a destructive invasive species widespread throughout the United States that disrupt ecosystems, damage crops, and carry pathogens of concern for the health of domestic stock and humans including Brucella suis—the causative organism for swine brucellosis. In domestic swine, brucellosis results in reproductive failure due to abortions and infertility. Contact with infected feral swine poses spillover risks to domestic pigs as well as humans, companion animals, wildlife, and other livestock. Genetic factors influence the outcome of infectious diseases; therefore, genome wide association studies (GWAS) of differential immune responses among feral swine can provide …

A Review Of Avian Influenza A Virus Associations In Synanthropic Birds, Susan A. Shriner, J. Jeffrey Root

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Avian influenza A viruses (IAV) have received significant attention due to the threat they pose to human, livestock, and wildlife health. In this review, we focus on what is known about IAV dynamics in less common avian species that may play a role in trafficking IAVs to poultry operations. Specifically, we focus on synanthropic bird species. Synanthropic species, otherwise known as peridomestic, are species that are ecologically associated with humans and anthropogenically modified landscapes, such as agricultural and urban areas. Aquatic birds such as waterfowl and shorebirds are the species most commonly associated with avian IAVs, and are generally considered …

Satellite-Based Monitoring Of Irrigation Water Use: Assessing Measurement Errors And Their Implications For Agricultural Water Management Policy, T. Foster, Taro Mieno, Nicholas Brozovic

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Reliable accounting of agricultural water use is critical for sustainable water management. However, the majority of agricultural water use is not monitored, with limited metering of irrigation despite increasing pressure on both groundwater and surface water resources in many agricultural regions worldwide. Satellite remote sensing has been proposed as a low-cost and scalable solution to fill widespread gaps in monitoring of irrigation water use in both developed and developing countries, bypassing the technical, socioeconomic, and political challenges that to date have constrained in situ metering. In this paper, we show through a systematic meta-analysis that the relative accuracy of different …

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Human–Wildlife Conflicts In The Kenya Greater Tsavo Ecosystem, Joseph M. Mukeka, Joseph O. Ogutu, Erustus Kanga, Eivin Røskaft

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Biodiversity conservation in developing countries is faced with many and mounting challenges, including increasing human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs). In Africa and other developing countries, increasing HWCs, particularly those adjacent to protected areas, can adversely affect local stakeholder perceptions and support for conservation. We analyzed HWC reports for multiple wildlife species compiled >23 years (1995–2017) from the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem (GTE) in Kenya to determine HWC trends. The GTE is the largest protected area in Kenya, covering 22,681 km². Overall, 39,022 HWC incidents were reported in 6 GTE regions (i.e., Taveta, Mutomo, Kibwezi, Rombo, Galana, Bachuma). The 5 wildlife species …

Indigenous Guardianship And Moose Monitoring: Weaving Indigenous And Western Ways Of Knowing, Jesse N. Popp, Pauline Priadka, Megan Young, Kevin Koch, James Morgan

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Increasing global rates of wildlife species extinctions, extirpations, and declines warrant improvements to population monitoring and management approaches. To address regional environmental and wildlife issues, Indigenous communities globally are re-establishing traditional roles as stewards of the land through emerging Indigenous Guardianship Programs (IGPs). By providing the opportunity for community-level participation in monitoring and management, IGPs help foster cohesive solutions for long-term conservation of species while promoting environmental stewardship at the community level. Addressing challenges in monitoring and management of wildlife is especially critical for species that are of cultural and ecological importance at both community and distribution-wide scales. Herein, we …

Resource Selection At Homesites By Wolves And Eastern Coyotes In A Canis Hybrid Zone, Teresa Oliveira, John F. Benson, Connor Thompson, Brent R. Patterson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We modeled resource selection by wolves (Canis spp.), eastern coyotes (C. latrans), and admixed canids during the pup-rearing season at den and rendezvous sites (collectively, homesites) within a largely unprotected landscape proposed as the recovery zone for federally and provincially threatened eastern wolves (C. lycaon) in Ontario, Canada. Overall, canids selected wetlands, while avoiding secondary roads and open-structure rock-grass habitat patches. Packs with greater wolf ancestry selected wetlands and tertiary roads more strongly, while avoiding mixed conifer-hardwood forests. Contrary to our prediction, canids with greater coyote ancestry did not establish homesites closer to roads, which likely mitigated their risk of …

Developing A Model Of Graduate Teaching Assistant Teacher Efficacy: How Do High And Low Teacher Efficacy Teaching Assistants Compare?, Cody R. Smith, Cesar Delgado

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are often responsible for teaching introductory courses to undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students. The TAs are usually novices at teaching, and an important factor in their resilience and persistence in the face of inevitable challenges is self-efficacy. Little is known about what affects TA teacher efficacy or whether and how high- and low-efficacy TAs differ in their development as teachers. Bridging these gaps in the literature will inform best practices in developing and implementing professional development (PD) for TAs. Using a mixed-methods sequential exploratory research design, this study found differences in high- and low-efficacy …

A Periglacial Landsystem Analysis In The Canadian High Arctic: A Tool For Planetary Geomorphology, Chimira Nicole Andres

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Permafrost underlies 50% of Canada’s terrain and underlies 24% of the Earth’s total land area. It is a major driving force in the generation and evolution of patterned ground landforms such as polygons, stone circles, mud boils, and stripes, etc. that are seen on both the surface of the Earth and Mars, specifically in periglacial domains. The distribution of subsurface ice in these landforms (i.e. polygonal terrain) on Earth is a key constraint on past climate and process-form relationships in high arctic and periglacial regions. These landforms also have the potential of storing ice in the subsurface meaning that the …

Restoration Of Seagrass Habitat Leads To Rapid Recovery Of Coastal Ecosystem Services, Robert J. Orth, Jonathan S. Lefcheck, Karen S. Mcglathery, Lillian Aoki, Mark Luckenbach, Kenneth A. Moore, Matthew P.J. Oreska, Richard A. Snyder, David J. Wilcox, Bo Lusk

VIMS Articles

There have been increasing attempts to reverse habitat degradation through active restoration, but few largescale successes are reported to guide these efforts. Here, we report outcomes from a unique and very successful seagrass restoration project: Since 1999, over 70 million seeds of a marine angiosperm, eelgrass (Zostera marina), have been broadcast into mid-western Atlantic coastal lagoons, leading to recovery of 3612 ha of seagrass. Well-developed meadows now foster productive and diverse animal communities, sequester substantial stocks of carbon and nitrogen, and have prompted a parallel restoration for bay scallops (Argopecten irradians). Restored ecosystem services are approaching historic levels, but we …

A Profile Shape Correction To Reduce The Vertical Sensitivity Of Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Of Soil Moisture, Lena M. Scheiffele, Gabriele Baroni, Trenton E. Franz, Jannis Jakobi, Sascha E. Oswald

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

n recent years, cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) has shown a large potential among proximal sensing techniques to monitor soil moisture noninvasively, with high frequency and a large support volume (radius up to 240 m and sensing depth up to 80 cm). This signal is, however, more sensitive to closer distances and shallower depths. Inherently, CRNS-derived soil moisture is a spatially weighted value, different from an average soil moisture as retrieved by a sensor network. In this study, we systematically test a new profile shape correction on CRNS-derived soil moisture, based on additional soil moisture profile measurements and vertical unweighting, which …

An Open-Sourced, Web-Based Application To Improve Our Ability To Understand Hunter And Angler Purchasing Behavior From License Data, Nathaniel B. Price, Christopher J. Chizinski, Joseph J. Fontaine, Kevin L. Pope, Micaela Rahe, Jeff Rawlinson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

State fish and wildlife agencies rely on hunters and anglers (i.e., sportspersons) to fund management actions through revenue generated from license sales and excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment. There is a need to develop new techniques that bridge the information gap on participation and provide agencies with an understanding of sportspersons at a resolution that can more directly inform efforts to engage sportspersons. Monitoring sportsperson participation using information about their license-purchasing behavior has the potential to reveal important patterns in recruitment (first-time purchase of a hunting or fishing license), retention (continued purchase of licenses across multiple years), and …

Instability Of Glucocorticoid Metabolites In Coyote Scats: Implications For Field Sampling, Erika T. Stevenson, Eric M. Gese, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Susannah S. French

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Studying physiologic stress responses can assist in understanding the welfare of animals. One method of measuring the physiologic stress response is evaluating concentrations of glucocorticoid metabolites in feces. Previously, using an adrenocorticotropic hormone challenge, we found fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels were a reliable indicator of physiologic stress response in coyotes (Canis latrans). We determine whether glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations remain stable when collecting feces over a 2-week period, a timeframe commonly used in scat surveys for wild canids. We collected feces from 6 captive coyotes maintained at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Predator …

Tools, Techniques And Teamwork: Transferring New Technologies For Wildlife Management, Conservation And Economic Development, John Eisemann, Gail Keirn

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Did you ever wonder who invented radio telemetry? Or breakaway snares? What about the bird repellent methyl anthranilate or the livestock protection collar? These and many other tools used in wildlife damage management resulted from creative thinking by biologists, technicians, researchers and managers working to solve complex wildlife issues. Over the past 90 years, these “aha moments” within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program have ranged from developing novel scare devices, traps and vaccines to exploiting an animal’s visual capabilities to stop unwanted behaviors. Once discovered, these unique ideas may lead to practical, feasible and cost-effective wildlife damage …

Interests And Priorities In Sockeye Salmon Management: How Are Policies Enacted And Interpreted On Three Alaskan Rivers?, Jake P. Palazzi

University Honors Theses

The large export abundance of Alaskan salmon is well documented, and many studies have been performed to assess the economic and environmental viability of the industry and its management. Less research has been done to characterize how state intentions regarding fisheries allocation are conceived of by management or perceived by vulnerable groups in the user pool. This study seeks to qualitatively characterize the disconnect between state and Native Alaskan perceptions of management effectiveness, public interest, and Native Alaskan involvement using interviews. Results showed that Native Alaskan and state manager respondents had very different perceptions of management effectiveness and equity. When …

Instability Of Glucocorticoid Metabolites In Coyote Scats: Implications For Field Sampling, Erika T. Stevenson, Eric M. Gese, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Susannah S. French

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Studying physiologic stress responses can assist in understanding the welfare of animals. One method of measuring the physiologic stress response is evaluating concentrations of glucocorticoid metabolites in feces. Previously, using an adrenocorticotropic hormone challenge, we found fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels were a reliable indicator of physiologic stress response in coyotes (Canis latrans). We determine whether glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations remain stable when collecting feces over a 2-week period, a timeframe commonly used in scat surveys for wild canids. We collected feces from 6 captive coyotes maintained at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Predator …