Natural Resource Economics Commons^™

U.S. Drought Monitor, May 3, 2016, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for May 3, 2016 (5/3/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, April 19, 2016, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for April 19, 2016 (4/19/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, April 12, 2016, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for April 12, 2016 (4/12/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, April 5, 2016, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for April 5, 2016 (4/5/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, March 29, 2016, Brad Rippey

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for March 29, 2016 (3/29/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Environmental Variables Affecting The Performance Of Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants, Parikhit Sinha

Climate Sustainability Lecture Series

The environmental sciences have been critical to identifying global environmental challenges such as climate change, but they have been less extensively utilized in deploying solutions to those challenges, such as solar energy. Environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, aerosols, clouds, soiling, and snowfall have important effects on solar PV performance, and these effects can vary regionally. The current status of large-scale solar PV deployment will be discussed along with the role of environmental variables on PV performance.

U.S. Drought Monitor, March 22, 2016, Brad Rippey

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for March 22, 2016 (3/22/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Powering The Planet: The Role Chemistry Plays In Solar Energy Technology, Amy M. Scott

Climate Sustainability Lecture Series

Global energy demands are projected to double by 2050, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and solar energy has the greatest potential as the most benign, universal resource for generating electricity. However, harnessing the solar energy efficiently and converting it towards useful forms of power that are compatible with our current infrastructure remains an elusive goal. Today’s solar energy utilization relies on silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) technology, which converts photon energy to electrical energy. The efficiency of these devices remains low (< 30%) and the cost of processing silicon and installing solar panels in homes makes PV uneconomical compared to the current price of electricity. Research efforts towards developing new inorganic and organic materials for thin film PV to replace silicon are currently underway. Organic materials are particularly interesting from the standpoint of developing simple, cheap materials that can be easily tailored for future PV devices. The future of solar energy utilization relies on developing solar paints for vehicles, solar shingles for rooftops, and spray-on solar ink for small device applications, but continued fundamental research is needed for decreasing cost and improving efficiency for next generation devices.

U.S. Drought Monitor, March 15, 2016, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for March 15, 2016 (3/15/16) plus: United States crop areas experiencing drought (map), the approximate percentage of crop located in drought by state (bar graph), and the percentage of crop area located in drought during past 52 weeks (line graph) for corn, soybeans, hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, March 8, 2016, David Miskus

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for March 8, 2016 (3/8/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, March 1, 2016, David Miskus

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for March 1, 2016 (3/1/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

A Statistical Assessment Of Maritime Socioeconomic Indicators For The European Atlantic Area, Javier Fernandez-Macho

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Ever since the introduction into marine and maritime policy strategies worldwide of the relatively new concept of Blue Growth there has been an increasing interest in developing integrated systems of indicators for the maritime economy.

The Marnet project has been a recent attempt to develop a comparative maritime socioeconomic framework for the European Atlantic area and its database contains a large number of socioeconomic indicators for many maritime activities at different territorial levels that provide the information needed to help analyze and compare the maritime economy of the European Atlantic regions.

However, there are still many gaps with respect to …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 23, 2016, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 23, 2016 (2/23/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 16, 2016, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 16, 2016 (2/16/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 9, 2016, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 9, 2016 (2/9/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Bats Serves As Nebraska's Natural Pest Control Agents, Michael Whitby, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

You don't notice them flying in the night sky as you drive home, or in the trees above you as you walk your dog or under the bark of the dead tree at your fishing hole, but bats are everywhere in Nebraska. In fact, there are 13 species of bats inhabiting our state. They exhibit a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Some migrate to unknown locations each winter. others stay in Nebraska and hibernate in caves, mines and occasionally homes. You probably won't notice them unless you happen to catch a glimpse of one eating insects under a …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 2, 2016, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 2, 2016 (2/2/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 26, 2016, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 26, 2016 (1/26/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 19, 2016, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 19, 2016 (1/19/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 12, 2016, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 12, 2016 (1/12/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 5, 2016, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 5, 2016 (1/5/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Ex-Situ Conservation Programs: Worthwhile?, Nicolette Sliwa, Aaron Sieve

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The effectiveness of conservation programs was researched, specifically within zoos, and their attempts to repopulate areas with captive-born individuals of endangered species. There are major biological and economic concerns with these programs focused on, including potential genetic adaptation to captivity, effects of inbreeding, and if this is a truly worthwhile use of funds to restore a species. Looking at the black-footed ferret, the whooping crane, and other supposed successful captive-breeding programs, it is explored whether reintroduced individuals thrive in their new habitats sufficiently enough to contribute to the restoration of the species, and more broadly, their ecosystems.

Open Polar Server (Ops)—An Open Source Infrastructure For The Cryosphere Community, Weibo Liu, Kyle Purdon, Trey Stafford, John Paden, Xingong Li

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) at the University of Kansas has collected approximately 1000 terabytes (TB) of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also primary roles of the CReSIS. The Open Polar Server (OPS) project developed a free and open source infrastructure to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected …

The Influence Of A Severe Reservoir Drawdown On Springtime Zooplankton And Larval Fish Assemblages In Red Willow Reservoir, Nebraska, Jason A. Deboer, Christa M. Webber, Taylor A. Dixon, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Reservoirs can be dynamic systems, often prone to unpredictable and extreme waterlevel fluctuations, and can be environments where survival is difficult for zooplankton and larval fish. Although numerous studies have examined the effects of extreme reservoir drawdown on water quality, few have examined extreme drawdown on both abiotic and biotic characteristics. A fissure in the dam at Red Willow Reservoir in southwest Nebraska necessitated an extreme drawdown; the water level was lowered more than 6 m during a two-month period, reducing reservoir volume by 76%. During the subsequent low-water period (i.e., post-drawdown), spring sampling (April-June) showed dissolved oxygen concentration was …

Potential Population And Assemblage Influences Of Non-Native Trout On Native Nongame Fish In Nebraska Headwater Streams, Kelly C. Turek, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope, Steve Schainost

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Non-native trout are currently stocked to support recreational fisheries in headwater streams throughout Nebraska. The influence of non-native trout introductions on native fish populations and their role in structuring fish assemblages in these systems is unknown. The objectives of this study were to determine (i) if the size structure or relative abundance of native fish differs in the presence and absence of non-native trout, (ii) if native fish-assemblage structure differs in the presence and absence of non-native trout and (iii) if native fish-assemblage structure differs across a gradient in abundances of non-native trout. Longnose dace Rhinichthys cataractae were larger in …

Letter Resisting Resilience Theory: Aresponse To Connelland Ghedini, Shana M. Sundstrom, Craig R. Allen, Lance H. Gunderson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

ConnellandGhedini [1] arguethatecolo- gistsareprimarily [1TD$DIF]concernedwithcommu- nitychangeandtendtoignoreprocesses liketrophiccompensationthatcontribute to communityorsystem-levelstability. Resilience,theyclaim,isthestudyof change,andresearchersshouldspend moretimestudyingstabilizingprocesses to betterpredictthetypesofchanges documentedbyecologistswhostudyresil- ience [2,3]. Thebulkoftheirpaper addressesresilienceandrelatedconcepts to contextualizeresistancetochange,but theirargumentsarediminishedbecause theauthorsfailtoexplicitlyplacetheirwork withintherangeofresilienceconceptsthat haveproliferatedacrossacademicdisci- plines.Moreimportantly,thepaperfurthers confusionregardingcoreecologicalresil- ienceconcepts.Withinthedisciplineof ecology,resilienceconceptshavebeen developedinafundamentallycohesive way [4]. Understandingtheresilienceof complexsystemsofhumansandnature duringthistimeofrapidglobalchangeis importantandthemisuseorcasualuseof conceptswithspecific meaningismore thansimplyatrivialpointofcontention;it potentiallyobscuresprocessesandprop- ertiesthathavedirectrelevancetohuman- ity'sinteractionwiththeenvironment.

Influence Of Anglers’ Specializations On Catch, Harvest, And Bycatch Of Targeted Taxa, Kevin L. Pope, Christopher J. Chizinski, Christopher L. Wiley, Dustin R. Martin

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Fishery managers often use catch per unit effort (CPUE) of a given taxon derived from a group of anglers,those that sought said taxon, to evaluate fishery objectives because managers assume CPUE for this group of anglers is most sensitive to changes in fish taxon density. Further, likelihood of harvest may differ for sought and non-sought taxa if taxon sought is a defining characteristic of anglers’ attitude toward harvest.We predicted that taxon-specific catch across parties and reservoirs would be influenced by targeted taxon after controlling for number of anglers in a party and time spent fishing (combine to quantify fishing effort …

Adaptive Management For Soil Ecosystem Services, Hannah E. Birge, Rebecca A. Bevans, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Sara G. Baer, Diana H. Wall Colorado State University

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Transformative Environmental Governance, Brian C. Chaffin, Ahjond Garmestani, Lance Gunderson, Melinda Harm Benson, David G. Angeler, Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold, Barbara Cosens, Robin Kundis Craig, J.B. B. Ruhl, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Transformative governance is an approach to environmental governance that has the capacity to respond to, manage, and trigger regime shifts in coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) at multiple scales. The goal of transformative governance is to actively shift degraded SESs to alternative, more desirable, or more functional regimes by altering the structures and processes that define the system. Transformative governance is rooted in ecological theories to explain cross-scale dynamics in complex systems, as well as social theories of change, innovation, and technological transformation. Similar to adaptive governance, transformative governance involves a broad set of governance components, but requires additional capacity to …

Using Standardized Fishery Data To Inform Rehabilitation Efforts, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Nathaniel T. Stewart, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope, Mark T. Porath

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Lakes and reservoirs progress through an aging process often accelerated by human activities, resulting in degradation or loss of ecosystem services. Resource managers thus attempt to slow or reverse the negative effects of aging using a myriad of rehabilitation strategies. Sustained monitoring programs to assess the efficacy of rehabilitation strategies are often limited; however, long-term standardized fishery surveys may be a valuable data source from which to begin evaluation.We present 3 case studies using standardized fishery survey data to assess rehabilitation efforts stemming from the Nebraska Aquatic Habitat Plan, a large-scale program with the mission to rehabilitate waterbodies within the …