Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Least And Merriam’S Shrews From Banner County, Nebraska, Jennifer N. Merlino, Alexandra R. Frohberg, Jamie Harmon, Keith Geluso

The Prairie Naturalist

Four species of shrews occur in the panhandle of western Nebraska – the masked shrew (Sorex cinereus), Merriam’s shrew (S. merriami), dwarf shrew (S. nanus), and least shrew (Cryptotis parva; Genoways et al. 2008). Little information is known regarding the distribution and habitat of those species due to few captures of individuals throughout the region (e.g., Jones 1964, Freeman et al. 1993, Benedict et al. 1999, 2000, Geluso et al. 2004). To date, no shrew has been reported from the southwestern part of the panhandle in Banner, Kimball, or Cheyenne counties. Here we present distributional records for the least shrew …

Grass And Canada Goldenrod (Solidago Canadensis) Competition And Implications For Management In The Northern Tallgrass Prairie, Alexander J. Smart, Gary E. Larson, Peter J. Bauman

The Prairie Naturalist

Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis L.) is a native perennial forb that can form dense clonal patches and become weedy in pastures of the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Ecoregion. Our objectives were to determine 1) the competitive effects between Canada goldenrod and grass, 2) the relationship between Canada goldenrod stem density and grass biomass, and 3) the distribution of Canada goldenrod stem density at the pasture scale. We used regression analysis to develop a relationship between Canada goldenrod stem density and grass biomass. Additionally, we estimated the frequency distribution of Canada goldenrod stem density categories using three evenly distributed 100 × 100-m …

Spatiotemporal Variation In Vegetation Structure Resulting From Pyric-Herbivory, Sherry Leis, Lloyd W. Morrison, Michael D. Debacker

The Prairie Naturalist

Pyric-herbivory is a process that is widely assumed to create greater habitat heterogeneity in grasslands at the landscape scale than could be achieved by either fire or grazing alone. Yet, few studies have actually quantified the effects of pyric- herbivory on vegetation structure within layers of the grass canopy. Here we quantify the effects of pyric-herbivory on a pasture at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas. We subdivided the pasture into three patches and burned one patch each year in a three-year rotation. We estimated visual obstruction for 25-cm strata and recorded maximum vegetation height. We found that recently burned …

Sickleweed On The Fort Pierre National Grassland: An Emerging Threat, Jack L. Bulter, Stefanie D. Wacker

The Prairie Naturalist

We report the first detailed field survey of sickleweed (Falcaria vulgaris L.) in the United States. Sickleweed is native to Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and Iran and was first reported in the United States in 1922. It is listed by the Nebraska Invasive Species Council as a Category II invasive plant species. In recent years, abundance and distribution of sickle- weed has increased dramatically in and around the Fort Pierre National Grassland (FPNG), South Dakota. Management of such a rapidly expanding population is hampered by a general lack of baseline information on the biology and ecology of sickleweed. We …

Spatial Ecology Of Urban Raccoons In Northeastern Ohio: Implications For Oral Rabies Vaccination, Are R. Berentsen, Mike R. Dunbar, Chadd E. Fitzpatrick, W. David Walter

The Prairie Naturalist

In 1977, rabies was detected in a raccoon (Procyon lotor) in West Virginia, and since the mid-1980s raccoon variant rabies has spread throughout the eastern United States and moved west as far as the eastern edge of Cleveland, Ohio. The primary tool to combat this spread is the distribution of oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits. A thorough knowledge of raccoon space use is critical in determining bait placement, particularly in urban areas. We monitored nine raccoons in urban areas of Cleveland, Ohio, calculated home range sizes, monitored raccoon movement with respect to potential movement barriers, and used resource selection functions …

Improving Woody Biomass Estimation Efficiency Using Double Sampling, David L. Parrott, John M. Lhotka, Songlin Fei, B. Scott Shouse

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Although double sampling has been shown to be an effective method to estimate timber volume in forest inventories, only a limited body of research has tested the effectiveness of double sampling on forest biomass estimation. From forest biomass inventories collected over 9,683 ha using systematic point sampling, we examined how a double sampling scheme would have affected precision and efficiency in these biomass inventories. Our results indicated that double sample methods would have yielded biomass estimations with similar precision as systematic point sampling when the small sample was ≥ 20% of the large sample. When the small to large sample …

Territories,Territoriality, And Conservation Of The Louisiana Waterthrush And Its Habitat, The Watershed Of The Upper Buffalo National River, Leesia Cheryl Marshall

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Louisiana Waterthrush, Parkesia motacilla, is a migratory wood-warbler and breeding season resident of the eastern United States. Males defend breeding territories that extend linearly along clear, fast-flowing, gravel-bottomed, forest streams. Defense includes two song types, primary and extended song. As riverine specialists, birds rely upon aquatic invertebrates as prey and riparian habitat features for nesting. They use a unique foraging maneuver, leaf-pulling, that involves picking up or pulling a leaf from water, and turning it over to search for prey. Their relationship with riparian habitat introduces potential for Louisiana Waterthrushes to serve as indicators of stream health. The …

An Evaluation Of Stocking And Habitat Influences On Channel Catfish In Lentic Ecosystems Of The Great Plains, Lindsey K. Chizinski

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

Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus is an important sport fish, particularly in the Great Plains. In Nebraska, a majority of anglers target channel catfish, and fishing activities are a vital part of the state’s economy. Lentic water bodies provide the primary fishing opportunity for catfish anglers in Nebraska. Despite the popularity and economic importance of channel catfish, little is known of its population dynamics or habitat requirements, and existing studies often profile river populations. Current standards for sampling channel catfish in lentic systems often yield inadequate catch to assess populations. The objective of this study was to utilize a recently developed …

Sediment Removal From The San Gabriel Mountains, Mary C. Ferguson

Pitzer Senior Theses

The issue of sediment removal from the San Gabriel Mountains has been a complex issue that has created problems with beach replenishment, habitat destruction and the need to spend millions of dollars at regular intervals to avoid safety hazards. Most recently 11 acres of riparian habitat, including 179 oaks and 70 sycamores, were removed for sediment placement. Other sites including Hahamongna Watershed Park and La Tuna Canyon also face a similar fate. This thesis questions: How did we get to this point of destroying habitat to dump sediment which is viewed as waste product? What are the barriers for creating …

The Effect Of Phosphite On Mycorrhiza Formation In American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata), Matthew T. Perkins

Honors Theses

One of the primary hindrances to Castanea dentata restoration in the Southeast is the root rot disease caused by the fungus-like microorganism Phytophthora cinnamomi. Root rot can be combated by the application of mono- and di-potassium salts of phosphorous acid, which are marketed as phosphite fungicides. Despite its value in preventing infection by P. cinnamomi it is also thought that phosphite may impede root colonization by beneficial, ectomycorrhizal fungi. I hypothesized that plants given a routine application of phosphite will display fewer mycorrhizas in the root tips than those plants that were not treated with potassium phosphite. Therefore I attempted …

Natural And Constructed Wetlands For Ecosystem And Engineering Services In The Arid And Semi-Arid Regions, Achyut Raj Adhikari

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Las Vegas Wash (LVW) has undergone significant wetlands degradation and soil erosion over the past thirty years due to increasing flow resulting from urbanization and large rainfall events in the Las Vegas Valley Watershed. The increased flow and associated pollution load in the LVW and its adverse impact in Lake Mead have alerted stakeholders to pay a greater attention to explore alternative measures for rehabilitation of wetland ecosystems. This dissertation, using the case of changes in LVW, analyzes and describes ecological and engineering services provided by wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions and provides a knowledge base that can …

Agenda: A Life Of Contributions For All Time: Symposium In Honor Of David H. Getches, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, University Of Colorado Law Review

A Life of Contributions for All Time: Symposium in Honor of David H. Getches (April 26-27)

On April 26-27, 2012, Colorado Law honored David H. Getches with a symposium to celebrate his life and legacy of trailblazing scholarship. “A Life of Contributions for All Time” featured a keynote address by Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson entitled, “Hero for the People, Hero for the Land and Water: Reflections on the Enduring Contributions of David Getches.” Top scholars in the fields of natural resources, water, and American Indian law reflected on Dean Getches’ contributions and their own insights into these fields, including Professor John Leshy, John Echohawk, Professor Carole Goldberg, Professor Joe Sax, Professor Rebecca Tsosie, Justice Greg Hobbs, …

Coarse Woody Debris In A Tropical Rainforest In North Queensland, Australia: Relationships With Stand Structure And Disturbance, Nadine Rea

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coarse woody debris (CWD) refers to the woody material on the forest floor, including fallen stems, large branches, coarse roots, wood pieces, and standing dead trees (snags) (Harmon et al. 1986). CWD is an essential but often overlooked aspect of ecosystems. It plays many key ecosystem roles and is instrumental in overall ecosystem functionality. While a piece of CWD decomposes, it provides key habitat for many different species, minimizes soil erosion, affects soil development, stores nutrients and water, and influences the global carbon cycle (Harmon and Hua 1991). In some forests, CWD can exist on the forest floor for hundreds …

Water And Energy Balance Response Of A Riparian Wetland To The Removal Of Phragmites Australis, Phillip Mykleby

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Vegetation and climate both play integral roles in water availability, particularly for arid to semi-arid regions. Changes in these variables can lead to extreme shortages in water for regions that rely on water for crop irrigation (i.e., the Great Plains). The objective of this study is to evaluate the impacts of vegetation on water availability in the Republican River basin in central Nebraska. Decreases in streamflow have been observed in the river basin for many years and, as a result, an invasive riparian plant species (Phragmites australis) is being removed in an effort to reduce evapotranspiration and reclaim …

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering January 1, 2012 To March 31, 2012, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased by 4.96% over the last quarter. The database now contains 7,423 records.
• Results show an average of 1,259 visits per month, and with an average of 3,015 pages viewed per month.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported 14 volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized 364 volunteers whom contributed approximately 2,414 hours of service.
• Three community outreach events were attended, resulting in 293 direct contacts with 50 names added to the database.
• The automated volunteer orientation training project has been completed and disks have been delivered to the 4 agencies. …

2011 Deer Creek Ranch Wetland Vegetation Survey, Robert F. Steinauer

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

The approximately 75,000 acre Deer Creek Ranch (owned by Ted Turner) lies on the south side of the Niobrara River in northeastern Sheridan County, Nebraska (Figure 1). The majority of the ranch lies within the Sandhills, with Sandhill dune prairie being the predominant vegetation type. Two significant streams, Deer Creek and the Snake River, originate on the ranch. The primary purpose of the Deer Creek Ranch surveys was to document native wetland plant communities and rare plant species occurrences and to provide vegetation management recommendations for plant communities bordering these two stream. Also surveyed were Chokecherry and Hackberry Lakes in …

Two New Species Of Trigonotylus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Stenodemini) From Western Canada And Northwestern United States, G G.E. Scudder, Michael D. Schwartz

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

No abstract provided.

Slides: Natural Gas: Game Changer Or Runner Left On Base? Working To Get It Right In Co!, Gary Graham

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

Presenter: Dr. Gary Graham, Director, Lands Program, Western Resource Advocates

21 slides

The Kennebec River: A Historic Maine Resource, Elise Begin

Historical Ecology Atlas of New England

The Kennebec River has been considered one of Maine’s most important resources for at least the past 6-8 thousand years; its basin is located in west central Maine and drains 5,893 square miles, an area that is approximately one-fifth the area of the state. The river originates at Moosehead lake and runs 170 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. The river can be divided into two basins: the upper basin, which spans from Moosehead Lake to Waterville; and the lower basin, which spans from Waterville to the ocean.

Before the arrival of Europeans in 1606, the Abenaki Indians controlled the entirety …

The Happy Valley, Cassie Raker

Historical Ecology Atlas of New England

On the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts, there exists the Happy Valley. Surrounded by the humble Holyoke Range, today you will find a bustling New England settlement dominated by local colleges and universities. But it was not always so. The picturesque Mount Holyoke and its accompanying hotel, known as the Summit House, have overlooked the area for hundreds of years, watching it change from forest to farmland to industry to the modern landscape it is today.

Changing Water Quality In Great Pond: The Roles Of Lake Sediments, Invasive Macrophytes, And The Watershed, Colby Environmental Assessment Team, Colby College, Problems In Environmental Science Course (Biology 493), Colby College

Colby College Watershed Study: Great Pond (2012, 2010, 1998)

Eutrophication as a result of human activity is a threat to lake water quality globally and within the state of Maine. Great Pond, in the Belgrade Lakes region of Maine, has traditionally been an oligotrophic lake that is experiencing early signs of eutrophication and is currently classified as a mesotrophic lake. In the fall of 2012, the Colby Environmental Assessment Team (CEAT) measured the primary sources of nutrient loading to Great Pond including the catchment and the lake sediment, current water quality in Great Pond, and the potential impact of the variable milfoil invasion on the lake’s water quality. An …

2012 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). 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 habitat for two state and federally protected bird species, the Interior Least Tern (Sternula antillarum athalassos) and Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership (TPCP), based at the University of Nebraska-School of Natural Resources, and the Nongame Bird …

Mid-Contract Management Of Conservation Reserve Program Grasslands Provides Benefits For Ring-Necked Pheasant Nest And Brood Survival, Ty W. Matthews, J. Scott Taylor, Larkin A. Powell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields may provide good habitat for nesting and brood-rearing ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) during early stages of succession. But, the success of hens in early successional CRP, relative to late successional CRP and other grassland habitats, has yet to be evaluated. The reproductive period is especially critical for populations of pheasants, and CRP’s benefits to hens and chicks may decrease as fields age because of loss of vegetative diversity, decrease in vegetation density, and accumulation of residual litter. During 2005– 2006, we evaluated spatial and temporal variation in nest and brood survival for radio-marked hen pheasants …

Rural Inhabitant Perceptions Of Sandhill Cranes In Wintering Areas Of Northern Mexico, Ingrid Barcelo, Juan Carlos Guzmán-Aranda, Felipe Chávez-Ramírez, Larkin A. Powell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Trends in the mid-continent population of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) indicate that the species is increasing. A large proportion of this population winters in northern Mexico where possible conflicts between local inhabitants and cranes can occur. We conducted interviews of 40 rural inhabitants living near wetlands used by cranes in three Mexican states. All interviewees had knowledge of cranes and were capable of describing them. The arrival of cranes affected 43% of interviewees. The negative effects were mainly destroyed crops with a subsequent diminished production. Seventy percent of those affected implemented scare tactics to deter the birds, while others (15%) …

The Role Of Fine-Scale Habitat Associations In Structuring Spider Assemblages: Determinants Of Spatial Patterns In Community Compostion, Stephanie M. Cobbold

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

No abstract provided.

Livestock Foraging Behavior In Response To Sequence And Interactions Among Alkaloids, Tannins, And Saponins, Tiffany L. Jensen

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

No abstract provided.

Changing The Way We Address Change, Richard Straight

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Covers factors impacting private forest management in the United States, and other related issues.

Assessment Of Windbreak Condition And Indicators To Renovate, Steve Rasmussen

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

A presentation covering assessment of windbreak condition and indicators to renovate.

Fire And The Invasive Annual Grass Microstegium Vimineum In Eastern Deciduous Forests, S. Luke Flory, Keith Clay, Sarah Emery, Joseph Robb

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Non-native plant invasions have the potential to change natural and prescribed fire regimes by increasing fuel loads, continuity of fuels, and fuel composition, which may alter fire intensity, damage native species, and promote further invasions. In this project we sought to evaluate the interaction between fire and the invasive annual grass Microstegium vimineum in eastern deciduous forests. Our goal was to determine if invasions enhance fire intensity, including fire temperatures, flame heights, and fire duration, and negatively affect tree regeneration, and stimulate further invasions. We also sought to determine how prescribed fires and the timing of fires affect the density …

Wildfire Regime Shifts In Temperate Forest Ecosystems: International Symposium In New Zealand, Tomas Veblen, Alan Tepley, Andres Holz

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project consisted of organizing and executing a one-day symposium on “Wildfire Regime Shifts in Temperate Forest Ecosystems” in conjunction with the triennial meeting of the Southern Connection Congress. The VIIth Southern Connection Congress drew together more than 350 environmental scientists and resource managers for its triennial meeting in Dunedin, New Zealand from January 25 to 30, 2013. The Southern Connection Congress (SCC) is a meeting of interdisciplinary researchers and natural resource managers who are interested in the biota and ecosystems of the temperate latitudes of the southern hemisphere. Attendees are from a wide range of research and professional disciplines …