Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, January 1— March 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

Executive Summary

• The Weed Sentry program surveyed 104 miles of transportation corridors on federal land in Clark County for incipient populations of exotic plants.
• Seven manuscripts attained in-press or published status and two manuscripts were submitted for review this quarter. Among other in-press manuscripts, are one documenting Sahara mustard germination patterns (Western North American Naturalist), one assessing exotic species distributions in Clark County (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment), and another is a synthesis of burro effects on Mojave Desert vegetation (Environmental Management).
• Staff delivered four presentations this quarter at conferences or at agency meetings. Twenty-six Las Vegas bearpoppy sites were assessed …

Fisheries Research Report No. 170 - Biomass And Commercial Catch Estimates For Abalone Stocks In Areas Proposed As Sanctuary Zones For The Capes Marine Park, A. Hesp, Neil R. Loneragan, Norman G. Hall, H T. Kobryn, A.M. Hart, Frank Fabris, Jeremy Prince

Fisheries Research Reports

This study was undertaken to estimate the biomasses, biologically sustainable catches and current average annual commercial catches of three fished species of abalone, Haliotis roei (Roei), Haliotis laevigata (Greenlip) and Haliotis conicopora (Brownlip) in the proposed sanctuaries of the Capes Marine Park, south-western Australia. The current annual, catch estimates represent the catches that would be foregone by commercial fishers if the sanctuaries are implemented and will be used to evaluate the potential compensation to fishers (not part of this study). The biomass and catch estimates for each species in the proposed sanctuaries were estimated from a combination of scientific survey …

Fisheries Research Report No. 173 - Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Reducing Dolphin Catches With Pingers And Exclusion Grids In The Pilbara Trawl Fishery, Peter Stephenson, S. Wells

Fisheries Research Reports

Final FRDC Report – Project 2004/068

“Savewave” acoustic pingers were trialed on one vessel to determine if they would deter dolphins entering the trawl net. During daylight hours, the pingers were deployed on alternate shots in the configuration recommended by the manufacturer. On the other alternate shots, no pingers were deployed. A video camera in an underwater housing was attached to the headrope facing downstream for 18 trawl shots. On the 14 shots where usable video footage was obtained (11 with pingers deployed and 7 with pingers not deployed) the number of dolphins viewed in the camera frame was counted …

West Nile Virus Antibodies In Breeding North Dakota Icterids, Jennifer L. Newbrey, Wendy L. Reed

The Prairie Naturalist

Exotic infectious diseases can have devastating effects on the distribution and abundance ofnaYve wildlife species (Friend et al. 2001). West Nile Virus (WNV) is an exotic disease that was introduced into North America in 1999 and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of birds (Marra et al. 2004). The natural cycle of WNV involves Culex spp. mosquitoes as principle vectors and birds as principle hosts, although humans, horses, and other mammals can become incidental hosts (Lanciotti et al. 2000). Because the virus can be fatal, outbreaks have become a national health concern for the human population, an …

Review Of Basic Texas Birds: A Field Guide By Mark W. Lockwood, Thomas M. Langschied

The Prairie Naturalist

Texas has an incredible diversity of birds. This diversity is a result of its geographic location, size, and diversity of habitats. Given this wealth of birds, there is a wonderful opportunity in Texas for both residents and visitors alike to learn and appreciate the birdlife found there. Basic Texas Birds has been written to provide a foundation for anyone who is either new to bird-watching or has been bird-watching casually for several years. The book covers 161 commonly occurring birds in Texas and includes an additional 23 species that are considered Texas specialty birds, those that occur regularly in Texas …

The Prairie Naturalist. Volume 40, No. 112 March/June 2008, The Great Plains Natural Science Society

The Prairie Naturalist

LOW REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF MALLARDS IN A GRASSLAND-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE IN THE SANDHILLS OF NEBRASKA. J. A. Walker, Z. J. Cunningham, M. P. Vrtiska, S. E. Stephens, and L. A. Powell

USE OF PASSIVE INTEGRATED TRANSPONDERS IN HATCHLING TEXAS HORNED LIZARDS. S. E. Henke

INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND DISCHARGE ON REPRODUCTIVE TIMING OF COMMON CARP IN A NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS RIVER. T. Resseguie and S. Kelsch

RAPTOR USE OF ARTIFICIAL PERCHES AT NATURAL AREAS, CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO. G. Witmer, M. Pipas, P. Burke, D. Rouse, D. Dees, and K. Manci

WEST NILE VIRUS ANTIBODIES IN BREEDING NORTH DAKOTA ICTERIDS. …

Review Of Oology And Ralph's Talking Eggs By Carrol L. Henderson, Kristin R. Johnson

The Prairie Naturalist

Ralph Handsaker was an Iowan farmer whose "ravenous curiosity" (page 4) about the natural world inspired him to become an oologist, or egg collector. This book tells the story of Handsaker's eggs, contained in two large cabinets that remained hidden in the living room of his boarded-up house after his death in 1969, until they were rediscovered in 2003 and shown to the author, wildlife conservationist, and photographer, Carrol Henderson. Ralph's eggs can "talk" by virtue of Henderson's chronicle-using the eggs as guides-of not only Ralph's own passion for natural history and egg collecting, but also the history of conservation …

Influence Of Temperature And Discharge On Reproductive Timing Of Common Carp In A Northern Great Plains River, Tim Resseguie, Steve Kelsch

The Prairie Naturalist

Reproductive timing of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was examined in the Red River of the North and compared with environmental factors that might have triggered spawning during 1999 and 2000. We estimated spawn dates for individual common carp larvae collected in the drift by back-calculating from datc of capture and by accounting for developmental stage at capture and water temperature during the period of egg incubation. Reproductive timing was compared with discharge and water temperature to determine which of these likely might be a synchronizing cue for spawning of common carp in the Red River basin. In both years of …

Review Of Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography By Douglas Carlson, Laura Erickson

The Prairie Naturalist

August 28, 2008, marks the centennial of Roger Tory Peterson's birth, and books related to the most prominent naturalist of the twentieth century have been sprouting up everywhere. I was disappointed that Douglas Carlson shied away from examining Peterson's personal life to provide insights into the forces and relationships that shaped, and were shaped by, this man so consumed with birds. Instead, Carlson focuses almost entirely on Peterson's work, writing, "Because his death is so recent, there are many who have a personal investment in his story; beyond a request for an interview, no attempts have been made to invade …

Breeding By The Snowy Plover In North Dakota And South Dakota, Carol Aron, Paul Van Ningten, Michael Rabenberg, Cheryl Jacobs, Greg Pavelka, Ricky D. Olson

The Prairie Naturalist

The snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) is a small shorebird that breeds on unvegetated beaches along coastlines, rivers, and alkaline lakes. In North America, its breeding distribution extends along the coasts of California, Oregon, and southern Washington, where the population is listed as federally threatened (USFWS 1993), and an interior population occurs on wetlands in western and central states and central Mexico (Page et al. 1995). There have been rare breeding reports in Montana, Wyoming, and Saskatchewan (Page et al. 1995), but no documented breeding records in North Dakota or South Dakota. However, the United States Army Corps of Engineers reported …

Raptor Use Of Artificial Perches At Natural Areas, City Of Fort Collins, Colorado, G. W. Witmer, Michael Pipas, Patrick Burke, David Rouse, Donna Dees, Karen Manci

The Prairie Naturalist

The black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) remains a critical element of the prairie ecosystem even though its numbers and occupied range have declined dramatically since the arrival of Europeans in North America (Antol in et al. 2002). Prairie dog colonies are used by many species of wildlife and help maintain high levels of biodiversity (Kotliar et al. 1999). In the urban-suburban setting, the occurrence of prairie dog colonies also provides opportunities for wildlife viewing and environmental education. Unfortunately, prairie dogs also can come into conflict with humans, especially in the urban-suburban setting, where they cause vegetation and property …

Low Reproductive Success Of Mallards In A Grassland-Dominated Landscape In The Sandhills Of Nebraska, Johann A. Walker, Zach J. Cunningham, Mark P. Vrtiska, Scott E. Stephens, Larkin Powell

The Prairie Naturalist

The Sandhills of Nebraska comprise approximately 5,000,000 ha of native grassland interspersed with numerous groundwater-fed wetlands. A substantial population of the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) nests in this region. Previous investigations of nest survival probability of ducks in the Sandhills have estimated surprisingly low rates of nest survival for a grassland-dominated landscape. These investigations were conducted on public lands and most nest searching took place near wetlands where activity of nest predators might be highest. We predicted that mallards would nest at varying distances from wetlands and that survival probability of a representative sample of duck nests would increase …

Multi-Ideal-Adic Completions Of Noetherian Rings, William J. Heinzer, Christel Rotthaus, Sylvia Wiegand

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Let R be a commutative ring with identity. A filtration on R is a decreasing sequence {In}∞ n=0 of ideals of R. Associated to a filtration is a well-defined completion R ∗ = l←i−mn R/In and a canonical homomorphism ψ : R → R ∗ [13, Chap. 9]. If ∞ n=0 In = (0), then ψ is injective and R may be regarded as a subring of R ∗ [13, p. 401]. In the terminology of Northcott, a filtration {In}∞ n=0 is multiplicative if I0 = R and InIm ⊆ In+m for all m ≥ 0 and n ≥ 0 …

2008 Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover Monitoring, Research, Management, And Outreach Report For The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This document reports on our monitoring, research, management, and outreach activities during the past 12 months. The report was prepared to inform our partners and funding agencies of our activities and to provide a preliminary summary of results. These data analyses are not final and should be treated as such when citing information, data, or analyses found in this document.

The Interior Least Tern (Sternula antillarum athallassos) is a state and federal endangered species; it was first listed in 1985. The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is a state and federal threatened species; it was also first …

Terrapene Ornata (Ornate Box Turtle) Predation On Cliff Swallows, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

During a 25-year study of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in southwestern Nebraska, we observed Terrapene ornata prey, or attempt to prey, on swallows. On one occasion as large numbers of birds flushed and hit the net, the weight of the birds pulled the net down to ground level. One T. ornata, which was seen regularly at the colony, approached one adult Cliff Swallow that was very low in the net and killed it by biting and eating its head. After killing the bird, the turtle walked away carrying the head.

From Debate To Design: Issues In Clean Energy And Climate Change Law And Policy, Leslie Parker, Jennifer Ronk, Rachel Maxwell, Bradford Gentry, Marijn Wilder, James Cameron

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

A report on the work of the REIL Network 2007-2008

Mammals Of Nebraska: Checklist, Key, And Bibliography, Hugh H. Genoways, Justin D. Hoffman, Patricia Freeman, Kenneth N. Geluso, Russell A. Benedict, Jeffrey J Huebschman

University of Nebraska State Museum: Staff and Affiliates, Publications

The Recent mammalian fauna of Nebraska is composed of 89 native species, 8 domestic species that can have feral populations, and 4 wild species introduced by humans, but not by intentional action. Thus, the included checklist and dichotomous key contain 101 species of mammals. Of the native species, 36 are rodents, 20 carnivores, 13 bats, 7 shrews and mole, 7 even-toed ungulates, 4 rabbits and hares, 1 armadillo, and 1 opossum. Another 8 species are identified as potentially occurring in peripheral areas of Nebraska. The bibliography includes 1693 entries that each contain data concerning one or more species of mammals …

Fisheries Research Report No.172 - Identifying Obstacles To Profitably Growing Out Western Rock Lobsters, Roy Melville-Smith, Danielle Johnston, B. Johnston, N. J. Thomson

Fisheries Research Reports

A Report Prepared for the Aquaculture Development Council.

The cost of growing out western rock lobsters from pueruli to marketable-sized lobsters has been modeled from available information. The model uses different scenarios of survival rates, marketing weights, market prices, feed costs, puerulus prices, labour costs, puerulus compensation costs, discount rates and capital costs. The sensitivity of estimated profitability to various input costs and rock lobster prices was assessed by estimating the impact of changes on the estimates of net present value (NPV) internal rate of return (IRR) and benefit:cost ratio. Importantly, the aim of the study was to identify key …

A Synthesis Of Live Fuel Moisture And Wildland Fire And Development Of A National Historical Live Fuel Moisture Database, William M. Jolly Dr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Live fuels are a key component to the wildland fuel complex but little is know about their contribution to fire danger or fire behavior. This review attempts to quantify our current understanding of the role that live fuels play in combustion and how those characteristics are quantified into prediction systems that fire managers use to assess fire danger or fire behavior as well as how live fuel parameters for those systems are measured. We review how live fuels are incorporated into three fire danger and fire behavior prediction systems that have found widespread use throughout the world. We discuss the …

Behaveplus And Flammap Technology Transfer, Patricia Andrews, Mark Finney

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project was conducted in response to the need identified under Task 1 (RFP 2005-4)—extension of technology transfer activities beyond the conclusion of successfully completed JFSP funded projects or other applicable wildland fire research. Development of the BehavePlus fire modeling system and the FlamMap fire behavior analysis and mapping system and supporting technology transfer material was funded in part under JFSP project #98-1-8-02. After successful completion of that project, development of those systems and supporting material continued under other funding. FlamMap was used in JFSP project #01-1-3-21 “Cumulative effects of fuel management on landscape-scale fire behavior and effects.” A significant …

Bringing The Fire Effects Information System Up-To-Date And Improving Service To Land Managers, Jane Kapler Smith, Fire Modeling Institute Information Team

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project delivers up-to-date, science-based information about species nominated by wildland managers for revision in or addition to the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). FEIS now provides 1,081 literature reviews covering 1,139 taxa. This JFSP task has supported the rewriting of 9% of FEIS reviews, addition of reviews that increase FEIS content by 9%, and small updates to 25% of the database. Each FEIS species review addresses the basic biology of the species, fire regimes, fire's role in the life history and persistence of the species, competition and successional patterns, and issues regarding fuel management, prescribed fire, and postfire rehabilitation. …

Burn Severity Mapping Using Simulation Modeling And Satellite Imagery, Robert E. Keane, Eva C. Karau, Elizabeth Reinhardt

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

As wildfires becomes an increasingly important issue affecting our nation’s landscapes, fire managers must quickly assess possible adverse fire effects to efficiently allocate resources for rehabilitation or remediation. While burn severity maps derived from satellite imagery can provide a landscape view of relative fire impacts, fire effects simulation models can also provide spatial fire severity estimates along with the biotic context in which to interpret severity. In this project, we evaluated two methods of mapping burn severity for four wildfires in western Montana using 64 plots as field reference: 1) an image-based burn severity mapping approach using the Differenced Normalized …

Carbon Cycling At The Landscape Scale: The Effect Of Changes In Climate And Fire Frequency On Age Distribution, Stand Structure, And Net Ecosystem Production., Michael G. Ryan, Daniel M. Kashian, Erica A.H. Smithwick, William H. Romme, Monica G. Turner, Daniel B. Tinker

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Understanding the interactions between climate, fire and forest characteristics-- and how carbon dynamics are affected by these factors--remains an important challenge in ecology. As the size and severity of fires in the western US continues to increase (Westerling et al. 2006), it has become increasingly important to understand carbon dynamics in response to fire. In this study, we investigated these key interactions in the landscape of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). We asked how initial post-fire heterogeneity in forest structure (especially tree density and stand age) controls carbon dynamics over the full life cycle of individual forest stands, and how climate-mediated …

Delayed Tree Mortality Following Fire In Western Conifers, Sheri Smith, Danny Chuck, Elizabeht Reinhardt, Kevin Ryan, Charles Mchugh

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We developed 3-year post-fire mortality models for 12 western conifer species by pooling data collected from multiple fire-injury studies. Models were developed for white fir, red fir, subalpine fir, incense cedar, western larch, lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, Engelmann spruce, and Douglas-fir. Two sets of models were created, one for use in pre-fire planning where only crown injury and DBH were potential variables, and a second, optimal model for use in post-fire planning that used all significant variables. Predictive accuracy of all models was compared to the accuracy of the mortality model currently used in …

Effects Of Fuels Treatments And Wildfire On Understory Species And Fuels In The Ponderosa Pine Zone Of The Colorado Front Range, Paula Fornwalt, Merrill Kaufmann

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The first clear indication that unnaturally dense forest conditions existed in ponderosa pine – Douglas-fir forests of the Colorado Front Range was the Buffalo Creek Fire, a large, catastrophic wildfire that burned in 1996. Ongoing research in the Front Range indicated that the Buffalo Creek Fire likely would have burned very differently under pre-settlement forest conditions; early photographs and written descriptions, as well as fire history and stand reconstruction data, all suggested that historically these forests were characterized by a matrix of low-density forests and shrubland or grassland openings that was created and maintained by a mixed-severity fire regime. As …

Effects Of Mechanically Generated Slash Particle Size On Prescribed Fire Behavior And Subsequent Vegetation Effects, Richy J. Harrod, David W. Peterson, Roger Ottmar, Peter Ohlson, Brad Flatten, Arlo Vanderwoude

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Forest managers have begun to restore ecosystem structure and function in fire-prone ecosystems that have experienced fire exclusion, commodity based resource extraction, and extensive grazing during much of the 20th century. Mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are the primary tools for thinning dense stands and restoring pre-settlement forest structure, reducing the likelihood of devastating crown fires. Mechanical thinning can be costly when trees are nonmerchantable and prescribed burning can be risky unless fuel loadings are first reduced. Furthermore, stands that remain dense after commercial thinning can produce undesirable wildland fire- or even prescribed fire- effects on vegetation and soils. Land …

Expansion Of The Southern Variant Of The Fire And Fuels Extension For The Forest Vegetation Simulator, S. M. Zedaker, S. A. Rebain, P. J. Radtke

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project specifically addressed AFP 2006-3, Task 3, by providing guidance for maintaining effective fire and non-fire fuels treatments, with the aim of supporting long-term fuels management. The overall goals of the project were to parameterize, expand, and improve the Southern Variant of the Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) with the best data currently available, to identify data weaknesses and gaps that may require additional research to reduce the uncertainty of Southern FFE model predictions, and to determine a validation framework for the Southern FFE. A wide variety of fire and fuels data and …

Evaluating The Efficacy And Ecological Impacts Of Baer Slope Stabilization Treatments On The Pot Peak/Deep Harbor Wildfire Complex, David W. Peterson, Richy J. Harrod, Terry Lillybridge, Mel Bennett

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Post-fire slope stabilization treatments are often prescribed for severely burned areas of a wildfire, through burned area emergency response (BAER), to reduce erosion, maintain soil productivity, protect water quality, and reduce risks to human life and property. Prescribed slope stabilization treatments can include seeding of cereal grains or grasses, fertilization, mulching, and installation of physical barriers across slope contours (e.g., contour-felled logs and straw wattles). Seeding and fertilization treatments have been proposed following several high severity wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. These treatments are designed to reduce erosion by supplementing native vegetation recovery with additional populations of fast-growing species (seeding) …

Evaluation Of Science Delivery Of Joint Fire Science Program Research, David Seesholtz

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Since its inception in 1998, the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) has funded over 400 projects. The Joint Fire Science Program has long recognized that the investments made in wildland fire science need to be accompanied by an emphasis on science interpretation and delivery. Program success is ultimately measured by how well information from research efforts is being conveyed to resource managers and end users, and whether this information is improving management decisions. This study reviewed a sample of environmental documents from three JFSP sponsoring agencies to determine to what extent JFSP research is being incorporated into local planning efforts …

Use Of Passive Integrated Transponders In Hatchling Texas Horned Lizards, Scott E. Henke

The Prairie Naturalist

The Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is a Texas state-threatened species and acquisition of data related to the species' ecology is essential. To accomplish this task individual animals need to be marked. Many marking techniques are available for lizards, however the majority of techniques have been tested on adults only. Studies involving hatchling and juvenile horned lizards are scarce due to problems associated with marking and relocating individuals in these age classes. I demonstrated that injection of passive integrated transponders (PIT's) can safely be used as a marking method in young Texas horned lizards. Thirty-two captive bred hatchling lizards were …