Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Implications For Soil Microbe Research: Investigations Into The Feasibility Of Dna Amplification From Stained Roots And Temporal Patterns In Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities., Catherine Ausland

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are obligate biotrophs that form symbiotic relationships with 80% of vascular plants around the world. Because of their beneficial relationship with plants in almost all terrestrial ecosystems, the implication of utilizing AM fungi in ecological restorations is immense. The following investigations seek to increase knowledge of the community ecology of AM fungi in order to enhance the potential for use of AM in ecological restoration. The first investigation replicated a novel method of AM visualization in plant roots, utilizing ink and vinegar as less destructive staining agents, to determine whether molecular studies could be feasibly performed …

An Integrated Research Approach To The Development Of Fungal Isolates As Bioherbicides For The Control Of Woody Weeds, Patrick Mershon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Prickly acacia (Acacia nilotica) is an invasive weed tree in Australia, ranked seventh on the list of Weeds of National Significance because of its aggressiveness and its economic and environmental impacts. The significant downsides to manual and chemical control of this species drove the search for a biological control mechanism. Surveying and sampling stands of A. nilotica naturally exhibiting disease symptoms yielded several native Australian fungi capable of pathogenesis in this species, which are currently under assessment as potential bioherbicides for this weed. Three field trials were established at the same site in order to further advance current …

“Hariyo Ban Nepalko Dhan” (“Nepal’S Wealth Is The Green Forest”): The People’S Participation In Structuring Sustainable Development Through Community Forestry, Natasha Eulberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community forestry has a long history in Nepal, and despite the nationalization of the country’s forests in the mid-twentieth century, current legislation determines that rights and execution of community forest management lies largely with community forest user groups (CFUGs). This research questions to what extent CFUGs truly represent autonomous bodies with the full power and ability to manage and utilize community forests and forest resources. This research also seeks to determine the impact and distribution of CFUG operations and benefits on CFUG members, and the ways in which CFUG management practices have impacted how group members perceive and interact with …

Pollinator Habitat Availability And Diversity In Various Tropical Agroforestry Management Systems Of Coffea Arabica In Santa Clara, Chiriqui, Julia Brokaw

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Habitat loss due to increasing agricultural intensification and chemical use may result in the loss of biodiversity of bee species. This has implications for global economies and food security for people world wide. Focusing on coffee cultivation, an important cash crop in the tropics, this study aims to understand the availability for pollinator habitat resources in a management gradient from shade-grown coffee agroforestry to conventional farming systems that employ both organic and non-organic management practices. I examined the influence of farming and land-use practices on the availability and quality of habitats for social and solitary bee species through observations of …

Perdido En La Cadena: Un Análisis Del Impacto Económico Y Ambiental De Cajas De Embalaje En Baños, Ecuador, Zhang Yuan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La cuestión del calentamiento de la atmósfera causa de la pérdida del carbono de la biomasa está una preocupación a nivel mundial. Con la emisión de CO2 por la combustión de los combustibles fósiles, la temperatura ha subido aproximadamente 0.16 °C desde 1990 hasta 2000. El bosque, por otra parte, sirve como un tranque y el regulador de carbono mediante el intercambio de carbono entre la atmósfera y biosfera. Sin embargo, varios usos antropogénicos del bosque ha causado la desaparición de árboles y la gran pérdida de carbono de la biomasa global. Para medir la pérdida de carbono causada por …

Nunca Han Visitado, No Han Vivido Ecoturismo Comunitario: Una Alternativa Sostenible Y Constitucional De Desarrollo En La Zona De Intag, Jenny Johnston

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Durante mi estudio en Ecuador y a través de todas mis clases, conversaciones, y experiencias, han habido muchos temas nuevos e interesantes. Aunque todas me han enseñado mucho, la experiencia que me impactó más fue mi semana en Intag. Durante toda mi vida siempre tuve una fascinación con el bosque nublado con la combinación de palabras más mística y romántica. La verdad es que antes de llegar en Intag la mi primera vez, no sabía nada sobre el poder de la belleza de los bosques, la naturaleza, y también sobre la lucha en contra de la minería. A través de …

Deforestación En El Corredor De Sangay- Llanaganates, Ecuador: Un Análisis Con Gps Y Satélite, Joel Mandella

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación usa puntos de GPS e imágenes de satélite para marcar los sitios de deforestación en el programa Google Earth de una región de Ecuador—una región nunca estudiada en este caso. La región estudiada se extiende desde 1º 20.200’S al norte hasta 1º 30.200’S al sur, y 78º 30.128’W al oeste hasta 78º 0.128’W al este. Esta región está ubicada en la provincia de Tungurahua, Ecuador, con la ciudad de Baños de Agua Santa al extremo oeste, y la ciudad de Puyo al extremo este. La economía de la región es basada en la agricultura y la crianza de …

A Distributed Intelligence Approach To Multidisciplinarity: Encouraging Divergent Thinking In Complex Science Issues In Society., Jarod Kawasaki, Dai Toyofuku

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

The scientific issues that face society today are increasingly complex, open-ended and tentative (Sadler, 2004). Finding solutions to these issues, not only requires an understanding of the science, but also, concurrently dealing with political, social, and economic dimensions that exist (Hodson, 2003). For example, 40 years after the first congressional hearing on climate change held by Al Gore in 1976, the 2012 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states that climate change is still getting worse, despite efforts by governments, businesses, social actors such as Non-Government Organizations, and scientists. With the top minds in the world, across all disciplines, …

Where Has All The Road Kill Gone?, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

An estimated 80 million birds are killed by colliding with vehicles on U.S. roads each year [1], and millions more die annually in Europe [2] and elsewhere. Losses to vehicles are a serious problem for which various changes in roadway design and maintenance have been proposed [3]. Yet, given the magnitude of the mortality reported for some species [4], we might expect natural selection to favor individuals that either learn to avoid cars or that have other traits making them less likely to collide with vehicles. If so, the frequency of road kill should decline over time. No information is …

Behavioural Salinity Preferences Of Juvenile Green Sturgeon Acipenser Medirostris Acclimated To Fresh Water And Full-Strength Salt Water, J. B. Poletto, D. E. Cocherell, A. P. Klimley, J. J. Cech Jr., N. A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

To quantify the salinity preference of juvenile green sturgeon Acipenser medirostris, two groups of A. medirostris [140 days post hatch (dph); total length (L_T) 38.0–52.5 cm] were acclimated to either near fresh water (mean ± S.E. salinity = 3.2 ± 0.6) or full-strength salt water (34.1 ± 1.2) over 8 weeks. Following acclimation, the two groups were divided into experimental and control groups, where experimental A. medirostris from both freshwater and saltwater acclimations were individually introduced (200–220 dph) into a rectangular salinity-preference flume (maximum salinity gradient: 5–33). Control A. medirostris were presented with only their acclimation …

2013 Keya Paha Biological Unique Landscape Ecological Evaluation, Robert F. Steinauer

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project (Schneider et al, 2005), a statewide comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy developed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC), identified the Keya Paha River drainage as a “Biologically Unique Landscape” (BUL). To facilitate conservation efforts, ecological evaluations of mesic prairie, wetlands, and bur oak woodland plant communities and surveys for Tier 1 and Tier 2 at-risk-plant species were conducted within the Keya Paha BUL.

Nebraska Natural Heritage Program (NNHP) Ecological Community Survey Forms were completed to document native plant communities and NNHP Rare Plant Survey Forms were completed to document rare plant occurrences (S1-S2 species) …

Evaluating Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaeides Melissa Samuelis Nabokov) Habitat Selection In The State Of Wisconsin, Usa, Anna Nahuel Hess

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The federally endangered Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis Nabokov) persists in rare oak/pine grassland communities spanning across the Great Lakes region, relying on host plant wild blue lupine (Lupinus perennis). Conservation efforts since 1992 have led to the development of several programs that restore and monitor habitat. This study aims to evaluate Karner blue habitat selection in the state of Wisconsin and develop high-resolution tools for use in conservation efforts. Spatial predictive models developed during this study accurately predicted potential habitat across state properties based on soils and canopy cover, and identified ~51-100% of Karner blue occurrences based on …

Overwinter Mortality Of Sympatric Juvenile Bluegill And Yellow Perch In Mid-Temperate Prairie Lakes, Jeffrey C. Jolley, Mark A. Kaemingk, David W. Willis, Richard S. Holland

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Substantial mortality can occur in age-0 fish populations during their first year of life, especially in winter; this can potentially influence overall recruitment into the adult population. As such, we compared relative abundances between fall and spring catches of sympatric juvenile bluegill Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque and yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) to evaluate the magnitude of overwinter mortality across locations (five lakes for two years) and through time (one lake for six years). In addition, we compared both quantile-quantile and increment plots, based on length-frequency histograms from fall- and spring-caught cohorts from 2004 to 2010, to determine if mortality was …

Atrazine And Nitrate In Public Drinking Water Supplies And Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma In Nebraska, Usa, Martha G. Rhoades, Jane L. Meza, Cheryl L. Beseler, Patrick J. Shea, Andy Kahle, Julie M. Vose, Kent M. Eskridge, Roy F. Spalding

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A secondary analysis of 1999–2002 Nebraska case-control data was conducted to assess the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) associated with exposure to nitrate- and atrazine-contaminated drinking water. Water chemistry data were collected and weighted by well contribution and proximity of residence to water supply, followed by logistic regression to determine odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). We found no association between NHL risk and exposure to drinking water containing atrazine or nitrate alone. Risk associated with the interaction of nitrate and atrazine in drinking water was elevated (OR, 2.5; CI, 1.0–6.2). Risk of indolent B-cell lymphoma was higher …

2013 Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover Monitoring, Research, Management, And Outreach Report For The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen, Lauren R. Dinan

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This document reports on our monitoring, research, management, and outreach activities during the past 12 months (2012–2013). We prepared it to inform our partners, cooperating agencies, funding sources, and other interested parties of our activities and to provide a preliminary summary of our results.

The lower Platte River and its major tributaries provide important nesting and migratory stopover habitat for two bird species of special conservation concern: the state and federally endangered Interior Least Tern (Sternula antillarum athalassos) and threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership (TPCP), based at the University of …

Ua12/13 Big Red, Small Planet, Christian Ryan-Downing , Editor, Leslie North , Editor

Sustainability Publications and Resources

At WKU, “The Spirit Makes the Master”. Our commitment to continuous improvement is clearly reflected in our sustainability efforts. WKU’s commitment to sustainability, whether demonstrated in campus operations or in educational programs, helps to ensure that our graduates are prepared to address the complicated environmental, social and economic issues we face today. They will be able to think critically, solve problems creatively and be engaged citizens. If that’s all we accomplish then we will have achieved great success. But our sustainability commitment pays dividends, as it also leads us to reduce our environmental footprint, practice social responsibility, and conserve natural …

Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser

Environment and Nature Conservation Collection

Human activities may cause conservation concerns when animal populations or ecosystems are harmed and animal welfare concerns when individuals are harmed. In general, people are concerned with one or the other, as the concepts may be regarded as separate or even at odds. An online purposive survey of 339 British Columbians explored differences between groups that varied by gender, residency, wildlife engagement level and value orientation (conservation-oriented or animal welfare-oriented), to see how they rated the level of harm to wildlife caused by different human activities. Women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement, and welfare-orientated participants generally scored activities …

Uncertainty Associated With Estimating A Short-Term (1–3 Hr) Particulate Matter Concentration From A Human-Sighted Visual Range, William C. Malm, Bret A. Schichtel

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Several state air quality agencies have developed policies to issue air quality health index (AQI) warnings based on low values of visual range (V_r). Vr has been defined in the context of how far away a black object has to be such that it is just noticeable or visible. This distance at which a landscape feature can just be detected is referred to as the V_r. AQI warnings are based on the levels of particulates (PM_2.5) resulting from fire smoke, often with less than 24-hr average concentrations. Because monitoring data are not available in …

A Fire Severity Mapping System For Real-Time Fire Management Applications And Long-Term Planning: The Firesev Project, Robert E. Keane, Penny M. Morgan, Gregory K. Dillon, Pamela G. Sikkink, Eva C. Karau, Zack A. Holden, Stacy A. Drury

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Accurate, consistent, and timely fire severity maps are needed in all phases of fire management including planning, managing, and rehabilitating wildfires. The problem is that fire severity maps are commonly developed from satellite imagery that is difficult to use for planning wildfire responses before a fire has actually happened and can’t be used for real-time wildfire management because of the timing of the imagery delivery. Moreover, imagery is difficult to use for controlled fires such as prescribed burning. This study, called FIRESEV (FIRE SEVerity Mapping Tools) created a comprehensive set of tools and protocols to deliver, create, and evaluate fire …

An Investigation Of The Differences Between Real Time Mesoscale Analysis And Observed Meteorological Conditions At Raws Stations In The Northeast United States, Joseph J. Charney, Shiyuan Zhong, Michael T. Kiefer, Xiaoqing Zhu, Greg Soter, Adam Cinderich

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project investigates the differences between the gridded meteorological fields produced by the Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) and observed meteorological conditions at Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) for two years in the northeastern United States. National Weather Service (NWS) fire weather forecasts are produced using the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD), which is a gridded analysis of meteorological fields generated by forecasters at NWS forecast offices nationwide. The NDFD is verified by comparing its gridded meteorological fields against the RTMA, which is an advanced modeling and data assimilation system that provides the best-available hourly gridded estimate of surface and …

Archival Of Eastern U.S. Fire Scar History Data, Michael C. Stambaugh, Joseph M. Marschall, Richard P. Guyette

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fire scar histories are a critical fire data source because they form a foundation for defining fire regimes. The objective of this project was to properly archive the data (fire scar event chronologies, tree-ring chronologies) and metadata of eastern U.S. fire scar study sites developed under project #06-3-1-16, “Developing and Using Fire Scar Histories in the Southern and Eastern United States”, PI: Richard Guyette. Datasets to be archived included tree-ring chronologies (annual resolution), fire event chronologies (annual to seasonal resolution), and wood samples. Crossdated tree-ring measurements used to date fire scars have been submitted to the International Tree-Ring Databank. All …

Archiving Data For The National Fire And Fire Surrogate Study (Ffs), James Mclver

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This final report describes the results of the project ‘Archiving Data for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS)’, which was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program ($9,982; Project 12-­‐04-­‐ 01-­‐7) under Task Statement RFA 2012-­‐4 (Dataset Archival Task). To complete this project, we gathered, documented, and archived the complete dataset for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study, including pre-­‐treatment data, and post-­‐treatment data collected through four years after treatment. The FFS was originally funded by the JFSP in spring 2000 and was completed in spring 2006, at which time a final report was submitted. The study …

Archiving Of Data On Occurrence Of Breeding Birds Associated With Fire Treatments And Controls, Erica Fleishman, Jeanne C. Chambers, David S. Dobkin

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Since 2001, we have collected data on occupancy and relative abundance of Greater Sage- Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and other species of breeding birds in the central Great Basin, and characterized the vegetation structure and composition of breeding birds’ habitats, through four projects supported by the Joint Fire Science Program (00-2-15, 01B-3-3-01, 05-2-1- 94, and 09-1-08-4). These projects collectively have generated dozens of refereed publications, dozens of invited papers or presentations, multiple M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and many workshops and field tours. Bird data included in refereed publications to date were based on point counts with a fixed radius of …

Bark Beetles, Fuels And Future Fire Hazard In Contrasting Conifer Forests Of Greater Yellowstone, Monica G. Turner, William H. Romme, Philip A. Townsend, Roy A. Renkin, Daniel C. Donato, Martin Simard, Brian J. Harvey, Jacob M. Griffin

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The extent and severity of bark beetle (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) epidemics and the frequency of large, severe fires have reached unprecedented levels in recent decades, and these trends are expected to continue with ongoing climate change. Insects and fire have tremendous ecological and economic effects in western forests, yet their interactions are poorly understood. We combined field studies and simulation modeling to understand how bark beetle infestation and post-outbreak management affect fire hazard in two widespread but contrasting forest types, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in northwestern Wyoming. We directly addressed key …

Assessing The Compatibility Of Fuel Treatments, Wildfire Risk, And Conservation Of Northern Spotted Owl Habitats And Populations In The Eastern Cascades: A Multi-Scale Analysis., Martin G. Raphael, Paul Hessburg, Rebecca Kennedy, John Lehmkuhl, Bruce G. Marcot, Robert Scheller, Peter Singleton, Thomas Spies

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

National Forests in the dry forest provinces on the east-side of the Oregon and Washington Cascades have been managed under the guidelines of local Forest Plans and the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), both of which specify large areas of late-successional reserves (LSRs). In contrast, the recently-released USDI Fish and Wildlife Service Revised Recovery Plan (RRP) for the Northern Spotted Owl (NSO) calls for development of dynamic and shifting mosaics in the dry forests, and retention of LSRs in moist forests of eastern Cascades of Oregon and Washington, to address NSO habitat and wildfire concerns. Our objectives in this study were …

Characterization Of Masticated Fuelbeds And Fuel Treatment Effectiveness In Southeastern Us Pine Ecosystems., L N. Kobziar, Alan J. Long, Wayne C. Zipperer, Jesse K. Kreye

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Mechanical fuels treatments are being widely used in fire prone ecosystems where fuel loading poses a hazard, yet little research examining fuel dynamics, fire behavior, and ecological effects exists, especially in the southeastern US. In order to broaden our understanding of these treatments, effects of mechanical mastication ("mowing") were examined in a common pine ecosystem of the southeastern US Coastal Plain, where the post-mastication fuel environment is unique among ecosystems where mastication is being employed. Foliar litter dominates surface fuels after understory mastication in palmetto/gallberry pine flatwoods, however rapid recovery of shrubs quickly regains control over fire behavior. Treatments were …

Characterizing Crown Biomass And Crown Profiles In Conifer Forests Of The Interior Northwest, David Affleck, Carl Seielstad, John Goodburn, Lloyd Queen, Robert Keane

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Detailed and accurate models of conifer crown biomass and its distribution are needed for a range of forest management and planning applications, ranging from fuels treatment designs to forest carbon inventory and monitoring. This project focused on the development and integration of novel data collection strategies and analytical methods to better inform crown biomass and fuels estimation for coniferous forests in the interior northwest. Crown biomass data were collected for 7 important conifer species across the interior northwest using randomized branch sampling strategies, and terrestrial laser scanning was used to characterize crown profiles and internal heterogeneity. Results highlight (1) the …

Consequences Of Alternative Response Strategies To Wildland Fires In The Northern Rockies And Southwest In 2007 And 2008., Carol Miller, Aldo Leopold

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project addressed JFSP project announcement FA-FRA09-001, and the task statement “Trade-off assessments of AMR decisions”. The project evaluated the consequences of alternative responses to 2007 and 2008 wildland fires in three wilderness areas. Specifically, it examined alternative initial response strategies and what could have happened if ignitions had been allowed to burn. Consequences were quantified in terms of area and type of area burned, days of fire activity, and impact on landscape scale fire risk. Situational factors were also examined for their influence on the response strategy and outcome. Simulations of three case study extended duration fires were also …

Crown Fire Behavior Characteristics And Prediction In Conifer Forests: A State-Of-Knowledge Synthesis, Martin E. Alexander Dr., Miguel G. Cruz Dr., Nicole M. Vaillant, David L. Peterson

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) project 09-S-03-1 was undertaken in response to JFSP Project Announcement No. FA-RFA09-0002 with respect to a synthesis on extreme fire behavior or more specifically a review and analysis of the literature dealing with certain features of crown fire behavior in conifer forests in the United States and adjacent regions of Canada. The key findings presented are organized along nine topical areas: types of crown fires; crown fire initiation; crown fire propagation; crown fire rate of spread; crown fire intensity and flame zone characteristics; crown fire area and perimeter growth; crown fire spotting activity; models, systems, …

Data Archival For Fire Studies In The Coastal Plain, Piedmont, And Southern Appalachian Mountains, Ross J. Phillips, Thomas A. Waldrop, Mac A. Callaham

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Datasets from on-going and previous fire studies in the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Southern Appalachian regions in the southeastern U.S. dating back over the past 50 years were compiled and publically made available to other interested persons. The projects included for this data archival have helped to advanced fire science and provided much needed information about fire effects on ecosystem components. The research from these projects has demonstrated how returning fire to once fire-adapted communities is an on-going process that needs to be repeated frequently. They also have given some insight into alternative treatments that may be used for fuel …