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School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

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2014

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Enso Teleconnection Pattern Changes Over The Southeastern United States Under A Climate Change Scenario In Cmip5 Models, Ji-Hyun Oh, D.W. Shin, Steven D. Cocke, Guillermo A. Baigorria Dec 2014

Enso Teleconnection Pattern Changes Over The Southeastern United States Under A Climate Change Scenario In Cmip5 Models, Ji-Hyun Oh, D.W. Shin, Steven D. Cocke, Guillermo A. Baigorria

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A strong teleconnection exists between the sea surface temperature (SST) over the tropical Pacific and the winter precipitation in the southeastern United States (SE US).This feature is adopted to validate the fidelity of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) in this study. In addition, the authors examine whether the teleconnection pattern persists in the future under a global warming scenario. Generally, most of the eight selected models show a positive correlation between November SST over Ni˜no 3 region and December–February (DJF) mean daily precipitation anomalies over the SE US, consistent with the observation. However, the models with poor realization …


Modeling The Snow Surface Temperature With A One-Layer Energy Balance Snowmelt Model, J. You, D. G. Tarboton, C. H. Luce Dec 2014

Modeling The Snow Surface Temperature With A One-Layer Energy Balance Snowmelt Model, J. You, D. G. Tarboton, C. H. Luce

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Snow surface temperature is a key control on and result of dynamically coupled energy exchanges at the snow surface. The snow surface temperature is the result of the balance between external forcing (incoming radiation) and energy exchanges above the surface that depend on surface temperature (outgoing longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes) and the transport of energy into the snow by conduction and meltwater influx. Because of the strong insulating properties of snow, thermal gradients in snow packs are large and nonlinear, a fact that has led many to advocate multiple layer snowmelt models over single layer models. In an effort …


The Effect Of Weather During Rearing On Morphometric Traits Of Juvenile Cliff Swallows, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown Dec 2014

The Effect Of Weather During Rearing On Morphometric Traits Of Juvenile Cliff Swallows, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Episodes of food deprivation may change how nestling birds allocate energy to the growth of skeletal and feather morphological traits during development. Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are colonial, insectivorous birds that regu­larly experience brief periods of severe weather–induced food deprivation during the nesting season which may affect offspring development. We investigated how annual variation in timing of rearing and weather were associated with length of wing and tail, skeletal traits, and body mass in juvenile cliff swallows reared in southwestern Nebraska during 2001–2006. As predicted under conditions of food deprivation, nestling skeletal and feather measurements were generally smaller …


Translating Aboveground Cosmic-Ray Neutron Intensity To High-Frequency Soil Moisture Profiles At Sub-Kilometer Scale, R. Rosolem, T. Hoar, A. Arellano, J. L. Anderson, W. J. Shuttleworth, X. Zeng, Trenton E. Franz Nov 2014

Translating Aboveground Cosmic-Ray Neutron Intensity To High-Frequency Soil Moisture Profiles At Sub-Kilometer Scale, R. Rosolem, T. Hoar, A. Arellano, J. L. Anderson, W. J. Shuttleworth, X. Zeng, Trenton E. Franz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Above-ground cosmic-ray neutron measurements provide an opportunity to infer soil moisture at the subkilometer scale. Initial efforts to assimilate those measurements have shown promise. This study expands such analysis by investigating (1) how the information from aboveground cosmic-ray neutrons can constrain the soil moisture at distinct depths simulated by a land surface model, and (2) how changes in data availability (in terms of retrieval frequency) impact the dynamics of simulated soil moisture profiles. We employ ensemble data assimilation techniques in a “nearly-identical twin” experiment applied at semi-arid shrubland, rainfed agricultural field, and mixed forest biomes in the USA. The performance …


Connections Between Student Explanations And Arguments From Evidence About Plant Growth, Jenny Dauer, Jennifer H. Doherty, Allison L. Freed, Charles W. Anderson Oct 2014

Connections Between Student Explanations And Arguments From Evidence About Plant Growth, Jenny Dauer, Jennifer H. Doherty, Allison L. Freed, Charles W. Anderson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We investigate how students connect explanations and arguments from evidence about plant growth and metabolism—two key practices described by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study reports analyses of interviews with 22 middle and high school students postinstruction, focusing on how their sense-making strategies led them to interpret—or misinterpret—scientific explanations and arguments from evidence. The principles of conservation of matter and energy can provide a framework for making sense of phenomena, but our results show that some students reasoned about plant growth as an action enabled by water, air, sunlight, and soil rather than a process of matter and energy …


Macroinvertebrate Prey Availability And Food Web Dynamics Of Nonnative Trout In A Colorado River Tributary, Grand Canyon, Daniel P. Whiting, Craig P. Paukert, Brian D. Healy, Jonathan Spurgeon Sep 2014

Macroinvertebrate Prey Availability And Food Web Dynamics Of Nonnative Trout In A Colorado River Tributary, Grand Canyon, Daniel P. Whiting, Craig P. Paukert, Brian D. Healy, Jonathan Spurgeon

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Nonnative fishes have been linked to the decline of native fishes and may affect aquatic food webs through direct and indirect pathways. These concerns have led to efforts to remove nonnative Brown and Rainbow Trout, which are abundant in tributaries of the Colorado River, to enhance native fish communities. We sampled fish, benthic, and drifting macroinvertebrates in November 2010, January 2011, June 2011, and September 2011 to assess resource availability and to evaluate the effects of nonnative Brown and Rainbow Trout in a tributary of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. We evaluated trout diets from stomach samples collected …


A Geospatial Approach For Prioritizing Wind Farm Development In Northeast Nebraska, Usa, Adam Miller, Ruopu Li Jul 2014

A Geospatial Approach For Prioritizing Wind Farm Development In Northeast Nebraska, Usa, Adam Miller, Ruopu Li

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Being cleaner and climate friendly, wind energy has been increasingly utilized to meet the ever-growing global energy demands. In the State of Nebraska, USA, a wide gap exists between wind resource and actual energy production, and it is imperative to expand the wind energy development. Because of the formidable costs associated with wind energy development, the locations for new wind turbines need to be carefully selected to provide the greatest benefit for a given investment. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been widely used to identify the suitable wind farm locations. In this study, a GIS-based multi-criteria approach was developed to …


Juvenile Green Sturgeon (Acipenser Medirostris) And White Sturgeon (Acipenser Transmontanus) Behavior Near Water-Diversion Fish Screens: Experiments In A Laboratory Swimming Fume, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Natalie Ho, Joseph J. Cech Jr., A. Peter Klimley, Nann A. Fangue Jul 2014

Juvenile Green Sturgeon (Acipenser Medirostris) And White Sturgeon (Acipenser Transmontanus) Behavior Near Water-Diversion Fish Screens: Experiments In A Laboratory Swimming Fume, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Natalie Ho, Joseph J. Cech Jr., A. Peter Klimley, Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Water diversions that extract fresh water for urban, industrial, and agricultural uses, as well as export to southern California, are prevalent throughout the Sacramento–San Joaquin watershed. Many water diversions are fitted with fish-exclusion screens designed to prevent fish from entrainment (i.e., being drawn in). The impact of fish screens on the behavior of migrating juvenile fishes remains largely unknown, especially for threatened species such as sturgeon. We placed individual juvenile green (Acipenser medirostris) or white (Acipenser transmontanus) sturgeon in a laboratory swimming flume in the presence of standard fish screens (2 mm bar spacing) at two …


Patch-Burn Grazing Effects On Cattle Performance: Research Conducted In A Working Landscape, Stephen L. Winter, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Mark Goes Jun 2014

Patch-Burn Grazing Effects On Cattle Performance: Research Conducted In A Working Landscape, Stephen L. Winter, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Mark Goes

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

• Patch-burn grazing is a range management strategy that might be able to simultaneously optimize livestock production objectives and wildlife habitat objectives.

• We compared patch-burn grazing to a traditional range management strategy in multiple pastures, representing a variety of land ownership and management histories, dispersed across a relatively large geographic area. Our results likely represent what land managers could expect if they adopted patch-burn grazing in similar situations.

• We found that cattle performance in pastures managed with patch-burn grazing did not differ from that found in pastures managed with a traditional range management strategy. This suggests that land …


A Combined Chemical And Biological Approach To Transforming And Mineralizing Pahs In Runoff Water, Chainarong Sakulthaew, Steve D. Comfort, Chanat Chokejaroenrat, Clifford Harris, Xu Li Jun 2014

A Combined Chemical And Biological Approach To Transforming And Mineralizing Pahs In Runoff Water, Chainarong Sakulthaew, Steve D. Comfort, Chanat Chokejaroenrat, Clifford Harris, Xu Li

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The water quality of lakes, rivers and streams associated with metropolitan areas is declining from increased inputs of urban runoff that contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Our objective was to transform and mineralize PAHs in runoff using a combined chemical and biological approach. Using 14C-labeled phenanthrene, 14C-benzo(a)pyrene and a mixture of 16 PAHs, we found that ozone transformed all PAHs in a H2O matrix within minutes but complete mineralization to CO2 took several weeks. When urban runoff water (7.6 mg C L−1) replaced H2O as the background matrix, some delays in degradation rates …


Macroinvertebrate Prey Availability And Food Web Dynamics Of Nonnative Trout In A Colorado River Tributary, Grand Canyon, Daniel P. Whiting, Craig P. Paukert, Brian Healy, Jonathan Spurgeon May 2014

Macroinvertebrate Prey Availability And Food Web Dynamics Of Nonnative Trout In A Colorado River Tributary, Grand Canyon, Daniel P. Whiting, Craig P. Paukert, Brian Healy, Jonathan Spurgeon

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Nonnative fishes have been linked to the decline of native fishes and may affect aquatic food webs through direct and indirect pathways. These concerns have led to efforts to remove nonnative Brown and Rainbow Trout, which are abundant in tributaries of the Colorado River, to enhance native fish communities. We sampled fish, benthic, and drifting macroinvertebrates in November 2010, January 2011, June 2011, and Septem- ber 2011 to assess resource availability and to evaluate the effects of nonnative Brown and Rainbow Trout in a tributary of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. We evaluated trout diets from stomach samples …


An Evaluation Of Two Traps And Sets For Trapping The Plains Pocket Gopher, Stephen M. Vantassel, Andrew J. Tyre, Scott E. Hygnstrom Apr 2014

An Evaluation Of Two Traps And Sets For Trapping The Plains Pocket Gopher, Stephen M. Vantassel, Andrew J. Tyre, Scott E. Hygnstrom

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We investigated the efficiency of DK-1 and Macabee® pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) traps placed in lateral tunnels in both open and closed tunnel sets in rangeland and nonirrigated alfalfa fields in Nebraska. We observed no statistical difference between the traps in capture efficiency when used in open, versus closed, tunnel sets. Trapping of pocket gophers was more effective in rangeland (probability of capture in a single tunnel system using 3 traps; 63%) than nonirrigated alfalfa fields (26%). We did not determine whether this variance was due to behavioral differences between Geomys bursarius and Geomys lutescens. We found that trapping pocket …


Land Management And Land-Cover Change Have Impacts Of Similar Magnitude On Surface Temperature, Sebastiaan Luyssaert, Mathilde Jammet, Paul C. Stoy, Stephen Estel, Julia Pongratz, Eric Ceschia, Galina Churkina, Axel Don, Karl Heinz Erb, Morgan Ferlicoq, Bert Gielen, Thomas Grünwald, Richard A. Houghton, Katja Klumpp, Alexander Knohl, Thomas Kolb, Tobias Kuemmerle, Tuomas Laurila, Annalea Lohila, Denis Loustau, Matthew J. Mcgrath, Patrick Meyfroidt, Eddy J. Moors, Kim Naudts, Kim Novick, Juliane Otto, Kim Pilegaard, Casimiro A. Pio, Serge Rambal, Corinna Rebmann, James Ryder, Andrew E. Suyker, Andrej Varlagin, Martin Wattenbach, A. Johannes Dolman Apr 2014

Land Management And Land-Cover Change Have Impacts Of Similar Magnitude On Surface Temperature, Sebastiaan Luyssaert, Mathilde Jammet, Paul C. Stoy, Stephen Estel, Julia Pongratz, Eric Ceschia, Galina Churkina, Axel Don, Karl Heinz Erb, Morgan Ferlicoq, Bert Gielen, Thomas Grünwald, Richard A. Houghton, Katja Klumpp, Alexander Knohl, Thomas Kolb, Tobias Kuemmerle, Tuomas Laurila, Annalea Lohila, Denis Loustau, Matthew J. Mcgrath, Patrick Meyfroidt, Eddy J. Moors, Kim Naudts, Kim Novick, Juliane Otto, Kim Pilegaard, Casimiro A. Pio, Serge Rambal, Corinna Rebmann, James Ryder, Andrew E. Suyker, Andrej Varlagin, Martin Wattenbach, A. Johannes Dolman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic changes to land cover (LCC) remain common, but continuing land scarcity promotes the widespread intensification of land management changes (LMC) to better satisfy societal demand for food, fibre, fuel and shelter. The biophysical effects of LCC on surface climate are largely understood, particularly for the boreal and tropical zones, but fewer studies have investigated the biophysical consequences of LMC; that is, anthropogenic modification without a change in land cover type. Harmonized analysis of ground measurements and remote sensing observations of both LCC and LMC revealed that, in the temperate zone, potential surface cooling from increased albedo is typically offset …


Productivity And Carbon Dioxide Exchange Of Leguminous Crops: Estimates From Flux Tower Measurements, Tagir Gilmanov, John M. Baker, Carl J. Bernacchi, David P. Billesbach, George G. Burba, Saulo Castro, Jiquan Chen, Werner Eugster, Marc L. Fischer, John A. Gamon, Maheteme T. Gebremedhin, Aaron J. Glenn, Timothy J. Griffis, Jerry L. Hatfield, Mark W. Heuer, Daniel M. Howard, Monique Y. Leclerc, Henry W. Loescher, Oliver Marloie, Tilden P. Meyers, Albert Olioso, Rebecca L. Phillips, John H. Prueger, R. Howard Skinner, Andrew E. Suyker, Mario Tenuta, Bruce K. Wylie Mar 2014

Productivity And Carbon Dioxide Exchange Of Leguminous Crops: Estimates From Flux Tower Measurements, Tagir Gilmanov, John M. Baker, Carl J. Bernacchi, David P. Billesbach, George G. Burba, Saulo Castro, Jiquan Chen, Werner Eugster, Marc L. Fischer, John A. Gamon, Maheteme T. Gebremedhin, Aaron J. Glenn, Timothy J. Griffis, Jerry L. Hatfield, Mark W. Heuer, Daniel M. Howard, Monique Y. Leclerc, Henry W. Loescher, Oliver Marloie, Tilden P. Meyers, Albert Olioso, Rebecca L. Phillips, John H. Prueger, R. Howard Skinner, Andrew E. Suyker, Mario Tenuta, Bruce K. Wylie

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Net CO2 exchange data of legume crops at 17 flux tower sites in North America and three sites in Europe representing 29 site-years of measurements were partitioned into gross photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration by using the nonrectangular hyperbolic lightresponse function method. The analyses produced net CO2 exchange data and new ecosystem-scale ecophysiological parameter estimates for legume crops determined at diurnal and weekly time steps. Dynamics and annual totals of gross photosynthesis, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem production were calculated by gap filling with multivariate nonlinear regression. Comparison with the data from grain crops obtained with the same method …


Stochastic Models To Generate Geospatial-, Temporal-, And Cross-Correlated Daily Maximum And Minimum Temperatures, Guillermo A. Baigorria Feb 2014

Stochastic Models To Generate Geospatial-, Temporal-, And Cross-Correlated Daily Maximum And Minimum Temperatures, Guillermo A. Baigorria

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Weather generators are tools used to downscale monthly to seasonal climate forecasts, from numerical climate models to daily values for use as inputs for crop and other environmental models. One main limitation of most of weather generators is that they do not incorporate neither the spatial/temporal correlations between/within sites nor the cross-correlations between variables, characteristics specially important when aggregating, for example, simulated crop yields, freeze events, or heat waves in a watershed or region.Three models were developed to generate realization of daily maximum and minimum temperatures for multiple sites. The first model incorporates only spatial correlation, whereas temporal correlation using …


Estimating Temperature Fields From Modis Land Surface Temperature And Air Temperature Observations In A Sub-Arctic Alpine Environment, Scott N. Williamson, David S. Hik, John A. Gamon, Jeffrey L. Kavanaugh, Gwenn E. Flowers Jan 2014

Estimating Temperature Fields From Modis Land Surface Temperature And Air Temperature Observations In A Sub-Arctic Alpine Environment, Scott N. Williamson, David S. Hik, John A. Gamon, Jeffrey L. Kavanaugh, Gwenn E. Flowers

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Spatially continuous satellite infrared temperature measurements are essential for understanding the consequences and drivers of change, at local and regional scales, especially in northern and alpine environments dominated by a complex cryosphere where in situ observations are scarce. We describe two methods for producing daily temperature fields using MODIS ―clear-sky‖ day-time Land Surface Temperatures (LST). The Interpolated Curve Mean Daily Surface Temperature (ICM) method, interpolates single daytime Terra LST values to daily means using the coincident diurnal air temperature curves. The second method calculates daily mean LST from daily maximum and minimum LST (MMM) values from MODIS Aqua and Terra. …


Summer Soil Moisture Spatiotemporal Variability In Southeastern Arizona, Susan Stillman, Jason Ninneman, Xubin Zeng, Trenton E. Franz, Russell L. Scott, William J. Shuttleworth, Ken Cummins Jan 2014

Summer Soil Moisture Spatiotemporal Variability In Southeastern Arizona, Susan Stillman, Jason Ninneman, Xubin Zeng, Trenton E. Franz, Russell L. Scott, William J. Shuttleworth, Ken Cummins

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Soil moisture is important for many applications, but its measurements are lacking globally and even regionally. The Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW) in southeastern Arizona has measured near surface 5-cm soil moisture with 19 in situ probes since 2002 within its 150km2 area. Using various criteria to identify erroneous data, it is found that in any given period from 1 July to 30 September from 2002 to 2011, 13– 17 of these probes were producing reasonable data, and this is sufficient to estimate area-averaged seasonal soil moisture. A soil water balance model is then developed using rainfall as its only …


Piping Plovers Charadrius Melodus And Dogs: Compliance With And Attitudes Toward A Leash Law On Public Beaches At Lake Mcconaughy, Nebraska, Usa, Joel G. Jorgensen, Mary Bomberger Brown Jan 2014

Piping Plovers Charadrius Melodus And Dogs: Compliance With And Attitudes Toward A Leash Law On Public Beaches At Lake Mcconaughy, Nebraska, Usa, Joel G. Jorgensen, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Humans often recreate with their dogs Canis familiaris on public beaches; beaches that may also be used as breeding habitat by imperiled shorebirds. The Piping Plover Charadrius melodus is one such shorebird and is protected by the Endangered Species Act 1973 (ESA) in the United States. Dogs, especially dogs that are not restrained and allowed access to breeding areas because their owners choose not abide by “leash laws”, will sometimes negatively impact Piping Plovers. We evaluated leash-law compliance and recreationists’ awareness of and attitudes toward leash laws at Lake McConaughy, Nebraska, USA, during 2013–2014. Leash-law compliance was chronically low (< 25% of all dogs observed) during all days and time periods we evaluated, even though 78.1% of recreationists with dogs were aware of the leash-law requirements. All 487 individuals surveyed possessed favorable attitudes towards Piping Plovers and continued dog access to the beach, while having generally unfavorable attitudes toward unleashed dogs. It appears the potential exists at Lake McConaughy to improve leash-law compliance through a comprehensive program that uses education, enforcement and reinforcement of social norms.


Local Awareness Of And Attitudes Toward Pygmy Hippopotamus Conservation In The Moa River Island Complex, Sierra Leone., April L. Conway, Sonia M. Hernandez, John P. Carroll, Gary T. Green, Lincoln Larson Jan 2014

Local Awareness Of And Attitudes Toward Pygmy Hippopotamus Conservation In The Moa River Island Complex, Sierra Leone., April L. Conway, Sonia M. Hernandez, John P. Carroll, Gary T. Green, Lincoln Larson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Abstract The pygmy hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis is an Endangered species found only in the Upper Guinea rainforests of West Africa. Using a two-phase approach, with initial semi-structured interviews followed by more extensive questionnaires, we examined local residents’ awareness of and attitudes towards the pygmy hippopotamus along the Moa River near Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Sierra Leone. The interviews and questionnaires addressed human–hippopotamus interactions, local knowledge and awareness of pygmy hippopotamus ecology and behaviour, and public attitudes towards hippopotamus conservation. Overall, 22% of questionnaire respondents acknowledged benefits related to hippopotamus conservation; factors affecting the perception of benefits included age, livestock …


Using Art To Assess Environmental Education Outcomes, Ami G. Flowers, John P. Carroll, Gary T. Green, Lincoln R. Larson Jan 2014

Using Art To Assess Environmental Education Outcomes, Ami G. Flowers, John P. Carroll, Gary T. Green, Lincoln R. Larson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Construction of developmentally appropriate tools for assessing the environmental attitudes and awareness of young learners has proven to be challenging. Art-based assessments that encourage creativity and accommodate different modes of expression may be a particularly useful complement to conventional tools (e.g. surveys), but their efficacy and feasibility across diverse contexts has not been adequately explored. To examine the potential utility of integrating art into evaluations of environmental education outcomes, we adapted an existing drawing prompt and corresponding grading rubric to assess the environmental attitudes and awareness of children (ages 6–12) at summer camps in Athens, GA, USA (n = …


Evidence For Bluegill Spawning Plasticity Obtained By Disentangling Complex Factors Related To Recruitment, Mark A. Kaemingk, Kristopher J. Stahr, Jeffrey C. Jolley, Richard S. Holland, David W. Willis Jan 2014

Evidence For Bluegill Spawning Plasticity Obtained By Disentangling Complex Factors Related To Recruitment, Mark A. Kaemingk, Kristopher J. Stahr, Jeffrey C. Jolley, Richard S. Holland, David W. Willis

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Fishes can exhibit many forms of plasticity to maximize fitness. However, limited information exists on the ability of freshwater fish to adjust spawning behavior and characteristics (e.g., timing, duration, magnitude of spawning events) to minimize mortality of recruits and ultimately maximize fitness.Wewanted to test the life history hypothesis for bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) (i.e., opportunistic strategy) utilizing existing literature and results from our study to further evaluate the potential for spawning plasticity in this species. Our objective was to identify bluegill recruitment bottlenecks (i.e., periods of high mortality) and factors associated with these events in a single lake during …


Temperature, Hatch Date, And Prey Availability Influence Age-0 Yellow Perch Growth And Survival, Mark A. Kaemingk, Brian D. S. Graeb, David W. Willis Jan 2014

Temperature, Hatch Date, And Prey Availability Influence Age-0 Yellow Perch Growth And Survival, Mark A. Kaemingk, Brian D. S. Graeb, David W. Willis

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Throughout their range, Yellow Perch Perca flavescens are an important ecological and economic component of many fisheries, but they often exhibit highly variable recruitment. Much research effort has been devoted to better understanding the mechanisms responsible for these erratic recruitment patterns, yet few studies have examined this process at the detail necessary to reveal complex interactions that may exist across multiple early life stages. Our current understanding of the early life recruitment patterns of Yellow Perch suggests a strong abiotic component. Using existing information, we developed three working hypotheses to examine Yellow Perch recruitment at two larval stages (5–14 and …


Does Human Predation Risk Affect Harvest Susceptibility Of White-Tailed Deer During Hunting Season?, Andrew R. Little, Stephen Demarais, Kenneth L. Gee, Stephen L. Webb, Samuel K. Riffell, Joshua A. Gaskamp, Jerrod L. Belant Jan 2014

Does Human Predation Risk Affect Harvest Susceptibility Of White-Tailed Deer During Hunting Season?, Andrew R. Little, Stephen Demarais, Kenneth L. Gee, Stephen L. Webb, Samuel K. Riffell, Joshua A. Gaskamp, Jerrod L. Belant

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Large carnivores are considered a primary source of mortality for many ungulate populations, but harvest by hunters is the primary means of population management. However, research is needed to evaluate how human predation risk influences observability (a surrogate to harvest susceptibility) of ungulates. We determined how hunting intensity and duration influence observation rates of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and how deer behavior (i.e., movement rate and resource selection) affects observation rates. We sampled 37 adult (≥2 yr) male deer at 2 levels of risk (i.e., low-risk = 1 hunter/101 ha; and high-risk = 1 hunter/30 ha) during 3 …


Eastern Wild Turkey Reproductive Ecology In Longleaf Pine Forests, Andrew R. Little, Mary M. Streich, Michael J. Chamberlain, L. Mike Conner, Robert J. Warren, Joseph W. Jones Jan 2014

Eastern Wild Turkey Reproductive Ecology In Longleaf Pine Forests, Andrew R. Little, Mary M. Streich, Michael J. Chamberlain, L. Mike Conner, Robert J. Warren, Joseph W. Jones

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Unscreened Water-Diversion Pipes Pose An Entrainment Risk To The Threatened Green Sturgeon, Acipenser Medirostris, Timothy D. Mussen, Dennis Chocherell, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Jon S. Reardon, Zachary Hockett, Ali Ercan, Hossein Bandeh, M. Levent Kavvas, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue Jan 2014

Unscreened Water-Diversion Pipes Pose An Entrainment Risk To The Threatened Green Sturgeon, Acipenser Medirostris, Timothy D. Mussen, Dennis Chocherell, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Jon S. Reardon, Zachary Hockett, Ali Ercan, Hossein Bandeh, M. Levent Kavvas, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Over 3,300 unscreened agricultural water diversion pipes line the levees and riverbanks of the Sacramento River (California) watershed, where the threatened Southern Distinct Population Segment of green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, spawn. The number of sturgeon drawn into (entrained) and killed by these pipes is greatly unknown. We examined avoidance behaviors and entrainment susceptibility of juvenile green sturgeon (3560.6 cm mean fork length) to entrainment in a large (.500-kl) outdoor flume with a 0.46-m-diameter water-diversion pipe. Fish entrainment was generally high (range: 26–61%), likely due to a lack of avoidance behavior prior to entering inescapable inflow conditions. We estimated that …


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 Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

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.