Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

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 …

Near Infrared-Red Models For The Remote Estimation Of Chlorophyll-Α Concentration In Optically Complex Turbid Productive Waters: From In Situ Measurements To Aerial Imagery, Daniela Gurlin

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

Today the water quality of many inland and coastal waters is compromised by cultural eutrophication in consequence of increased human agricultural and industrial activities and remote sensing is widely applied to monitor the trophic state of these waters. This study explores near infrared-red models for the remote estimation of chlorophyll-a concentration in turbid productive waters and compares several near infrared-red models developed within the last 35 years.

Three of these near infrared-red models were calibrated for a dataset with chlorophyll-a concentrations from 2.3 to 81.2 mg m^-3 and validated for independent and statistically significantly different datasets with …

Remote Estimation Of Crop Gross Primary Production With Landsat Data, Anatoly Gitelson, Yi Peng, Jeffrey G. Masek, Donald Rundquist, Shashi Verma, Andrew E. Suyker, John M. Baker, Tilden Meyers

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

An accurate and synoptic quantification of gross primary production (GPP) in crops is essential for studies of carbon budgets at regional and global scales. In this study, we tested a model, relating crop GPP to a product of total canopy chlorophyll (Chl) content and potential incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR_potential). The approach is based on remotely sensed data; specifically, vegetation indices (VI) that are proxies for total Chl content and PARpotential, which is incident PAR under a condition of minimal atmospheric aerosol loading. Using VI retrieved from surface reflectance Landsat data, we found that the model is capable …

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 …

Understanding Of The Hydrologic Connections Between Wide-Channel And Adjacent Aquifers Using Numerical And Field Techniques, Cheng Cheng

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

Streambed sedimentary structure plays a vital role in controlling the interactions between surface water and groundwater. In the study, three rivers -the Big Blue River, the Little Blue River, and the lower reach of the Platte River in Nebraska were chosen to characterize the shallow streambed for the two types of rivers (braided and meandering rivers) and investigated the variations of the streambed electrical and hydraulic conductivities with depth. In-situ and laboratory permeameter tests were conducted to determine streambed hydraulic conductivity up to 20 m below the channel surface in the three rivers. Additionally, the electrical conductivity logs were obtained …

Droughtscape, Spring 2012, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s report.

Climate Masters 1

Ranch plan workshop . 3

Winter climate summary 4

Winter impacts summary . 6

Zhao research.

Getachew research 0

Other international news

Wardlow move 13

IPCC disaster report .

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 …

Predictors Of Insect Diversity And Abundance In A Fragmented Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem, Kody M. Unstad

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

Despite providing many services, the tallgrass prairie and its ecological community is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. Remaining habitat exists as remnants in a highly-fragmented landscape. To make informed conservation decisions we need to better understand the effects of this fragmentation. Using the ecologically important insect groups, ants and ground beetles, this study provides baseline data on the biological diversity of southeast Nebraska prairies and investigates what management, landscape, and habitat characteristics affect them. Pitfall trap sampling was conducted in 23 tallgrass remnants scattered throughout the Southeast Prairies Biologically Unique Landscape in 2010 and 2011. Multi-model …

West Of Eden: Resource Wars And Nature-Cultures In The American West, Scout Calvert

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The richness and variety of the western landscape is what is at stake in hot political contests for the resources of the West: much of this public land is available to economic activity, including for mining, grazing, logging, and recreation. These uses threaten to outpace the land’s ability to renew these resources along with others, like air and water. Now in the first decade of the millennium with a new environmental awareness emerging partly from media coverage of global warming and peak oil, The American West at Risk offers a wide-ranging look at the degradation of the environment in the …

Global Monthly Water Scarcity: Blue Water Footprints Versus Blue Water Availability, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ashok K. Chapagain, Ruth E. Mathews, Brian D. Richter

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996–2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing …

The Water Footprint Of Humanity, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study quantifies and maps the water footprint (WF) of humanity at a high spatial resolution. It reports on consumptive use of rainwater (green WF) and ground and surface water (blue WF) and volumes of water polluted (gray WF). Water footprints are estimated per nation from both a production and consumption perspective. International virtual water flows are estimated based on trade in agricultural and industrial commodities. The global annual average WF in the period 1996–2005 was 9,087 Gm3 ∕y (74% green, 11% blue, 15% gray). Agricultural production contributes 92%. About one-fifth of the global WF relates to production for export. …

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 …

Groundwater Pollution Risk Assessment Under Scenarios Of Climate And Land Use Change In The Northern Great Plains, Ruopu Li

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

Modeling groundwater vulnerability to pollution is critical for implementing programs to protect groundwater quality. Traditionally, groundwater vulnerability was modeled based on current hydrogeology and land use conditions. However, groundwater vulnerability is strongly dependent on factors such as depth-to-water, recharge and land use conditions that may change in response to future changes in climate and/or socio-economic conditions. For example, global warming may lead to northward shifts in cropping patterns and changes in crop mixes (and use of farm chemicals). Meanwhile, growing demands for biofuels are resulting in expanding corn acreage, and may lead to pressures to remove land from the Conservation …

Complex Terrain Leads To Bidirectional Responses Of Soil Respiration To Inter-Annual Water Availability, Diego Andrés Riveros-Iregui, Brian L. Mcglynn, Ryan E. Emanuel, Howard E. Epstein

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Research on the terrestrial C balance focuses largely on measuring and predicting responses of ecosystem-scale production and respiration to changing temperatures and hydrologic regimes. However, landscape morphology can modify the availability of resources from year to year by imposing physical gradients that redistribute soil water and other biophysical variables within ecosystems. This article demonstrates that the well-established biophysical relationship between soil respiration and soil moisture interacts with topographic structure to create bidirectional (i.e., opposite) responses of soil respiration to inter-annual soil water availability within the landscape. Based on soil respiration measurements taken at a subalpine forest in central Montana, we …

A Global Assessment Of The Water Footprint Of Farm Animal Products, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The increase in the consumption of animal products is likely to put further pressure on the world’s freshwater resources. This paper provides a comprehensive account of the water footprint of animal products, considering different production systems and feed composition per animal type and country. Nearly one-third of the total water footprint of agriculture in the world is related to the production of animal products. The water footprint of any animal product is larger than the water footprint of crop products with equivalent nutritional value. The average water footprint per calorie for beef is 20 times larger than for cereals and …

The General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System (Gems) And Its Applications To Agricultural Systems In The United States, Shuguang Liu, Zhengxi Tan, Mingshi Chen, Jinxun Liu, Anne Wein, Zhengpeng Li, Shengli Huang, Jennifer Oeding, Claudia Young, Shashi Verma, Andrew Suyker, Stephen Faulkner, Gregory W. Mccarty

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS) (Liu, 2009; Liu et al., 2004c) was developed to integrate well-established ecosystem biogeochemical models with various spatial databases for the simulations of biogeochemical cycles over large areas. Figure 18.1 shows the overall structure of the GEMS. Some of the key components are described below.

General Ensemble Biogeochemical

Modeling System (GEMS) 310

Multiple Underlying Biogeochemical Models 310

Monte Carlo Simulations 311

Model Inputs: Management Practices and Others 311

Model Outputs 311

Data Assimilation 311

Simulation of Agricultural Practices: EDCM as an Example 312

Net Primary Production (NPP) and Improvements in Crop Genetics and Agronomics …

Interior Least Tern Powerline Collision On The Lower Platte River, Lauren R. Dinan, Joel G. Jorgensen, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Collisions with electrical powerlines are a well-known documented cause of avian mortality (Avian Power Line Interaction Committee [APLIC] 1994, Savereno et al. 1996). Mortality caused by collisions with powerlines can be an important concern for many bird species, but is a serious conservation problem for threatened and endangered species because any mortality can have biological and legal ramifications (Janss 2000). Loss of individuals, particularly breeding adults, from an already small population may impede a species’ recovery by reducing reproduction and recruitment into the breeding population. The death of an individual from a threatened or endangered species as a result of …

Fish Assemblage Shifts And Population Dynamics Of Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieu) In The Beaver Archipelago, Northern Lake Michigan: A Comparison Between Historical And Recent Time Periods Amidst Ecosystem Changes., Mark A. Kaemingk, Tracy L. Galarowicz, John A. Clevenger, David F. Clapp, Herbert L. Lenon

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The ecological and economic importance of Great Lakes nearshore areas and the paucity of information on nearshore Lake Michigan fish assemblages prompted us to document changes that occurred from a historical time period (1969–1972, 1975, 1977, and 1984) to a recent period (2005–2008) in a nearshore northern Lake Michigan (Beaver Archipelago) fish assemblage, with an emphasis on smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu. From historical to recent periods, the Beaver Archipelago fish assemblage shifted from predominantly brown bullheads Ameiurus nebulosus to predominantly smallmouth bass. Relative abundance of brown bullheads and white suckers Catostomus commersonii declined from historical to recent time periods, as …

Priority Effects Among Young-Of-The-Year Fish: Reduced Growth Of Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus) Caused By Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens)?, Mark A. Kaemingk, Jeffrey C. Jolley, David W. Willis, Steven R. Chipps

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

1. When available, Daphnia spp. are often preferred by age-0 yellow perch and bluegill sunfish because of energetic profitability. We hypothesised that predation by age-0 yellow perch could lead to a midsummer decline (MSD) of Daphnia spp. and that priority effects may favour yellow perch because they hatch before bluegill, allowing them to capitalise on Daphnia spp. prior to bluegill emergence.

2. Data were collected from 2004 to 2010 in Pelican Lake, Nebraska, U.S.A. The lake experienced a prolonged MSD in all but 1 year (2005), generally occurring within the first 2 weeks of June except in 2008 and 2010 …

Phosphorus In Phoenix: A Budget And Spatial Representation Of Phosphorus In An Urban Ecosystem, Genevieve S. Metson, Rebecca L. Hale, David M. Iwaniec, Elizabeth M. Cook, Jessica R. Corman, Christopher S. Galletti, Daniel L. Childers

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

As urban environments dominate the landscape, we need to examine how limiting nutrients such as phosphorus (P) cycle in these novel ecosystems. Sustainable management of P resources is necessary to ensure global food security and to minimize freshwater pollution. We used a spatially explicit budget to quantify the pools and fluxes of P in the Greater Phoenix Area in Arizona, USA, using the boundaries of the Central Arizona– Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research site. Inputs were dominated by direct imports of food and fertilizer for local agriculture, while most outputs were small, including water, crops, and material destined for recycling. Internally, …

Monitoring Live Fuel Moisture Using Soil Moisture And Remote Sensing Proxies, Yi Qi, Philip E. Dennison, Jessica Spencer, David Riano

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Live fuel moisture (LFM) is an important fuel property controlling fuel ignition and fire propagation. LFM varies seasonally, and is controlled by precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and plant physiology. LFM is typically sampled manually in the field, which leads to sparse measurements in space and time. Use of LFM proxies could reduce the need for field sampling while potentially improving spatial and temporal sampling density. This study compares soil moisture and remote sensing data to field-sampled LFM for Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii Nutt) and big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt) in northern Utah. Bivariate linear regression models were constructed …

Bats In And Around Structures, Dennis M. Ferraro, Lisa Pennisi, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Stephen M. Vantassel

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program: A History And Overview Of The First Projects, Courtney A. Schultz, Theresa Jedd

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Predation, Herbivory, And Parasitism, Alison N.P. Stevens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Planet Protectors, A.P. Stevens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dynamics Of Predation, Alison N.P. Stevens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Factors Affecting Global Climate, Alison N.P. Stevens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Chlorophyll-A Concentration In Turbid Productive Waters Using Airborne Hyperspectral Data, Wesley J. Moses, Anatoly Gitelson, Richard L. Perk, Daniela Gurlin, Donald C. Rundquist, Bryan C. Leavitt, Tadd M. Barrow, Paul Brakhage

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Algorithms based on red and near infra-red (NIR) reflectances measured using field spectrometers have been previously shown to yield accurate estimates of chlorophylla concentration in turbid productive waters, irrespective of variations in the bio-optical characteristics of water. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of NIR-red models when applied to multi-temporal airborne reflectance data acquired by the hyperspectral sensor, Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Applications (AISA), with non-uniform atmospheric effects across the dates of data acquisition. The results demonstrated the capability of the NIR-red models to capture the spatial distribution of chlorophyll-a in surface waters without the need …

Application Of Day And Night Digital Photographs For Estimating Maize Biophysical Characteristics, Toshihiro Sakamoto, Anatoly Gitelson, Brian D. Wardlow, Timothy J. Arkebauer, Shashi Verma, Andrew E. Suyker, Michio Shibayama

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In this study, an inexpensive camera-observation system called the Crop Phenology Recording System (CPRS), which consists of a standard digital color camera (RGB cam) and a modified near-infrared (NIR) digital camera (NIR cam), was applied to estimate green leaf area index (LAI), total LAI, green leaf biomass and total dry biomass of stalks and leaves of maize. The CPRS was installed for the 2009 growing season over a rainfed maize field at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead, NE, USA. The vegetation indices called Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI) and two green–red–blue (2g–r–b) were calculated …