Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Understanding Bioprospecting: Can Indigenous Populations Benefit From The Search For Pharmaceuticals In Areas Of High Biodiversity, Emily Schwindt

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Bioprospecting is a controversial issue, and anthropologists and other scientists are quick to take sides. The idea of large corporations pumping money into conservation and development programs, while developing what could be the latest life-saving drug simply sounds too good to be true, and often times is. However, if all parties work together and proceed with caution, these benefits could become more than a fantasy. Looking at case studies from Costa Rica, India, South Africa and Panama this paper attempts to find patterns among successful bioprospecting agreements and note shortcomings and identify risks. This information will be used to suggest …

Morphological Variation Between Juvenile White Bass And Juvenile Hybrid Striped Bass, Ryan W. Lueckenhoff

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

While identifying recruitment bottlenecks for white bass Morone chrysops, we encountered difficulty distinguishing between age-0 white bass and age-0 hybrid striped bass M. saxatilis x chrysops. Accurate identification of juvenile white bass and hybrid striped bass will improve the quality of data gathered for research and monitoring efforts. The first objective of this study was to estimate biologists’ accuracy identifying juvenile white bass and juvenile hybrid striped bass, and to determine which characteristics biologists were using during identification. Overall, identification accuracy was 71%. Biologists who placed less emphasis using the characteristic "broken horizontal lines" or who examined >99 …

The North American Drought Monitor: A Continental Approach, Mark Svoboda

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The U.S. Drought Monitor

Since 1999, NOAA (CPC and NCDC), USDA, and the NDMC have produced a weekly composite drought map -- the U.S. Drought Monitor -- with input from numerous federal and non-federal partners.

History of the North American Drought Monitor (NADM)

• The concept for the NADM was developed and discussed in 2002
• The first NADM map was released in March 2003
• The first NADM map in all three languages (English, Spanish, and French)was released in October 2003

History of the NADM

• The United States started off as the only country to author and organize the map
• Canada …

Estimation Of Land Surface Evapotranspiration With A Satellite Remote Sensing Procedure, Ayse Kilic, Ian Ratcliffe, Pariskhit Ranade, Kenneth Hubbard, Ramesh K. Singh, Babuarao Kamble, Jeppe Kjaersgaard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

There are various methods available for estimating magnitude and trends of evapotranspiration. Bowen ratio energy balance system and eddy correlation techniques offer powerful alternatives for measuring land surface evapotranspiration. In spite of the elegance, high accuracy, and theoretical attractions of these techniques for measuring evapotranspiration, their practical use over large areas can be limited due to the number of sites needed and the related expense. Application of evapotranspiration mapping from satellite measurements can overcome the limitations. The objective of this study was to utilize the METRIC^TM (Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration) model in Great Plains environmental …

Do Invasive Riparian Woody Plants Affect Hydrology And Ecosystem Processes?, Julie A. Huddle, Tala Awada, Derrel L. Martin, Xinhua Zhou, Sue Ellen Pegg, Scott J. Josiah

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Political and socioeconomic pressures on riparian areas in semiarid regions of the Great Plains are growing as water resources become more limited. Management along waterways has altered stream ecology and hydrology in ways that encourage the invasion and expansion of native (e.g., Juniperus virginiana) and non-native (e.g., Tamarix sp. and Elaeagnus angustifolia) woody species. One management tool currently implemented to restore the hydrology or increase water yields along waterways in semiarid areas is the removal of vegetation or invasive species. How managers should respond to invasive woody plants to optimize hydrological functions without compromising other riparian ecosystem functions …

Droughtscape, Spring 2011, Kelly Smith

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

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Forecasters Say Dryness in TX and SW to Continue

Drought Planning, The Game: Coming Soon

Ding Takes New Post

South and Southwest Lose Crops, Fight Fires

Drought Monitor Authors Review Enhanced GIS Tools and New Processes

Review Of The River Returns: An Environmental History Of The Bow. By Christopher Armstrong, Matthew Evenden, And H.V. Nelles., Ted Binnema, David Vogt

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This book should be read more as a collection of essays on a wide variety of topics related to the Bow River than as a monograph. Each of its thirteen chapters examines an aspect of the history of human interactions with the river, ranging from ranching, forestry, hydroelectricity, and irrigation to urban sanitation, recreational fishing, flooding, and park building. The Bow River is amenable to a discussion of such diverse themes. Its headwaters are among the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains in Banff National Park, but it also flows through the ranching country of the foothills, the major urban center …

Review Of The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide To Prairie Restoration In The Upper Midwest. By Daryl Smith, Dave Williams, Greg Houseal, And Kirk Henderson., Gerry Steinauer

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Tallgrass prairie restoration in the Upper Midwest is the focus of this guide. Its geographic area of coverage includes the eastern fifth of South Dakota and Nebraska and northeast Kansas, a region some ascribe to the eastern Great Plains. Two types of prairie restoration are dealt with: prairie reconstruction, which the authors define as creating prairie from scratch on sites where prairie plants no longer exist; and prairie remnant restoration, defined as upgrading degraded existing prairies. The book comprises five sections: "Reconstruction Planning," "Implementing Reconstruction," "Prairie Restoration and Management," "Special Cases," and "Native Seed Production." There are 16 chapters, each …

Applications And Challenges For Adaptive Management, Jamie E. Mcfadden

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

Adaptive management is becoming an increasingly popular management-decision tool within the scientific community.  The application of adaptive management is appropriate for complicated natural-resources management problems high in uncertainty.  Two primary schools of thought have developed that may yield varying levels of success as they primarily differ in stakeholder involvement and model complexity.  I evaluated peer-reviewed literature that incorporated adaptive management to identify components of successful adaptive management plans and to make comparisons between the two schools of thought.  Identifying the elements of successful adaptive management is advantageous to natural-resources managers, such as those managing the Platte River, Nebraska.  The Platte …

Formation, Adsorption, And Degradation Of N-Nitrosoatrazine In Water And Soil, Hsin-Ro Wei

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

The products of xenobiotic reactions in environmental mammalian systems may pose risks equal to or greater than parent compounds. Products of concern include nitrosamines, which can be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Nitrosamines may form in soil, lake water, and sewage; they also can form in agricultural soils treated with agrichemicals containing amine moieties and nitrogen fertilizer. The nitrosamine-forming reaction of amines with nitrite is promoted at acidic pH. The widely used herbicide atrazine has secondary amine groups that can react with nitrite to form N-nitrosoatrazine (NNAT). The primary objective of this research was to characterize the formation, stability, and …

Ecology And Management Of Channel Catfish Ictalurus Punctatus And Flathead Catfish Pylodictis Olivaris Populations In The Missouri River, Ne, Cameron Wesley Goble

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

Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus and flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris are two of the most important freshwater recreational or commercial species in the United States. Catfish populations in the Missouri River are important resources to the people of Nebraska and surrounding states. The objective of my study was to determine the present status of catfish populations in the Missouri River, Nebraska. Specifically I evaluated population characteristics such as relative abundance, population size and density, size structure, condition, age structure, growth, and mortality. I used a stratified random sampling design and generalized linear mixed modeling approach to assess differences in population characteristics …

Native Grassland Management Guidelines For Nebraska's Wildlife Management Areas, Gerry Steinauer, Kent Pfeiffer, Jarren Kuipers

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

This document is one of a four part series produced by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to provide direction to managers of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in Nebraska. Other documents in the series cover management of woodlands, wetlands, and converted habitats.

Prior to EuroAmerican settlement grasslands covered 98% of the Nebraska landscape and supported the majority of the state’s biodiversity. Since settlement, Nebraska’s native grasslands have suffered serious decline. For example, approximately 98% of eastern Nebraska’s tallgrass prairie has been lost to development. In central and western Nebraska grassland losses have been less dramatic though still substantial. Remnant grasslands …

Nir-Red Reflectance-Based Algorithms For Chlorophyll-A Estimation In Mesotrophic Inland And Coastal Waters: Lake Kinneret Case Study, Yosef Z. Yacobi, Wesley Moses, Semion Kaganovsky, Benayahu Sulimani, Bryan Leavitt, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A variety of models have been developed for estimating chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration in turbid and productive waters. All are based on optical information in a few spectral bands in the red and near-infra-red regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelength locations in the models used were meticulously tuned to provide the highest sensitivity to the presence of Chl-a and minimal sensitivity to other constituents in water. But the caveat in these models is the need for recurrent parameterization and calibration due to changes in the biophysical characteristics of water based on the location and/or time of the year. In this …

Isolation By Distance Explains Genetic Structure Of Buggy Creek Virus, A Bird-Associated Arbovirus, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) show extensive genetic variability and are widely distributed over large geographic areas. Understanding how virus genetic structure varies in space may yield insight into how these pathogens are adapted to and dispersed by different hosts or vectors, the relative importance of mutation, drift, or selection in generating genetic variability, and where and when epidemics or epizootics are most likely to occur. However, because most arboviruses tend to be sampled opportunistically and often cannot be isolated in large numbers at a given locale, surprisingly little is known about their spatial genetic structure on the local …

Factors Affecting Space Use Overlap By White-Tailed Deer In An Urban Landscape, W. David Walter, Jeff Beringer, Lonnie P. Hansen, Justin W. Fischer, Joshua J. Millspaugh, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Variation in the size and overlap of space use by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has broad implications for managing deer–human conflicts and disease spread and transmission in urban landscapes. Understanding which factors affect overlap of home range by various segments (i.e., age, sex) of an urban deer population has implications to direct contact between deer on disease epidemiology. We assessed size of home range and overlap of space use using the volume of intersection index (VI) for deer in an urban landscape by sex, age, season, and time of day. We found mean space use was larger for …

River Geomorphology And Fish Barriers Affect On Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Fish Assemblages In The Niobrara River, Nebraska, Greg A. Wanner, Mark A. Pegg, Steven Schainost, Robert A. Klumb, Dane A. Shuman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The Niobrara River in northern Nebraska traverses the heart of the Great Plains with portions of the river protected under the National Wild and Scenic River system managed by the National Park Service. The Niobrara River changes from a narrow, entrenched stream to a wide, highly braided river with four fish barriers and 36 distinct geomorphic segments in the lower 531 river kilometers (rkm). Our objectives were to examine the spatial and temporal patterns of fish assemblages in the Niobrara River related to environmental variables, fish barriers, and river geomorphology. Tote-barge electrofishing occurred monthly from June to September in 2009 …

Evaluating Observed And Projected Future Climate Changes For The Arctic Using The Köppen-Trewartha Climate Classification, Song Feng, Chang-Hoi Ho, Qi Hu, Robert Oglesby, Su-Jong Jeong, Baek-Min Kim

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The ecosystems in the Arctic region are known to be very sensitive to climate changes. The accelerated warming for the past several decades has profoundly influenced the lives of the native populations and ecosystems in the Arc­tic. Given that the Köppen-Trewartha (K-T) climate classifi­cation is based on reliable variations of land-surface types (especially vegetation), this study used the K-T scheme to evaluate climate changes and their impact on vegetation for the Arctic (north of 50°N) by analyzing observations as well as model simulations for the period 1900–2099. The models include 16 fully coupled global climate mod­els from the Intergovernmental Panel …

2010 Vegetation Survey Of The Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge (Final Report To The Nebraska Game And Parks Commission, U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service, And The Sandhills Prairie Refuge Association), Robert F. Steinauer

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

Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge (FNNWR) is located on the Niobrara River in north central Cherry County, NE. There is little detailed information available documenting the vegetation of FNNWR. Tolstead (1942) studied the grasslands of northern Cherry County, (including FNNWR) with a focus on describing the dominant species of grassland types and determining the relationships between vegetation distribution and environmental variables and management practices. Churchill et al (1988) described the vascular flora of The Nature Conservancy’s nearby Niobrara Valley Preserve. Fiest et al (2010) conducted vascular plant surveys on portions of the FNNWR in 2009 and compiled a partial vascular …

Stormwater Management: Terminology, Kathryn A. Pekarek, David P. Shelton, Kelly Feehan, Bobbi A. Holm

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Stormwater runoff is the result of precipitation that does not infiltrate into the soil. Rather, it flows over land areas or through storm drains to streams, rivers, and lakes. This water collects pollutants as it moves over streets, parking lots, driveways, and other surfaces. Typically, stormwater runoff is untreated before being discharged to surface water. The quantity and quality of stormwater runoff is directly related to land use; as more urban development occurs — especially impervious surfaces — greater amounts of water and contaminants are generated. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), highly urbanized areas generate over five …

Nest Survival Of Long-Billed Curlew In Nebraska, Cory J. Gregory, Stephen J. Dinsmore, Larkin A. Powell, Joel G. Jorgensen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus is an imperiled shorebird of western North America. Populations have declined dramatically in the last 150 years from the conversion of prairie to agriculture and it is now listed as a “Tier I at-risk” species in Nebraska. We undertook a 3-year project (2008–2010) to study the nest survival of Long-billed Curlews in Nebraska. We measured vegetation characteristics at each nest site (n = 14 nests) on two different spatial scales and used program MARK to model nest survival as a function of multiple covariates. Apparent nest survival was 29% (n = 4 successful nests) and our …

Nebraska's Tern And Plover Conservation Partnership -- A Model For Sustainable Conservation Of Threatened And Endangered Species, Mary Bomberger Brown, Mark E. Burbach, John Dinan, Renae J. Held, Ron J. Johnson, Joel G. Jorgensen, Jeanine Lackey, Jeffrey F. Marcus, Gina S. Matkin, Christine M. Thody

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Implementing successful conservation programs is critical if we are to protect the earth's most imperiled species. These programs must respect state and federal legal concerns as well as local economic and social interests, Here we describe a sustainable partnership approach to Piping Plover and Interior Least Tern conservation in Nebraska, USA. Partners include industry groups, federal, state, and local agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The factor that unifies all partners is a desire to accomplish cooperative threatened and endangered species conservation. We believe that implementing this sort of partnership model could be useful in addressing the protection of other species of …

The Influence Of Habitat And Environment On Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieu) Nest Sites And Nest Success In Northern Lake Michigan, Mark A. Kaemingk, Alexander Clem, Tracy L. Galarowicz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Information on smallmouth bass nesting ecology is lacking in northern Lake Michigan, despite available information for other Great Lakes ecosystems. Our objectives were to identify factors that influenced nesting sites and nest success in a smallmouth bass population in northern Lake Michigan. Temperature, substrate firmness, and lake bottom rugosity were measured and related to the number of smallmouth bass nests in four bays. We also investigated the role of temperature, effective fetch, and storms to explain nest success. Temperature appeared to be most important in explaining the number of nests and nest success; transects that experienced the greatest number of …

Movement Of Smallmouth Bass Within The Beaver Island Archipelago, Northern Lake Michigan., Mark A. Kaemingk, Tracy L. Galarowicz, John A. Clevenger, David F. Clapp

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Fish movement may vary across a wide array of aquatic ecosystems and may be related to the overall size of the system inhabited. We investigated movement of smallmouth bass in Lake Michigan because this information is lacking for larger systems. A total of 16 smallmouth bass were surgically implanted with ultrasonic transmitters within the Beaver Archipelago, northern Lake Michigan. During 2007–2008, a maximum of one location per individual was recorded daily during three specific tracking periods – pre-spawn, spawning, and post-spawn – to determine diurnal movement patterns. Movement was evaluated as site fidelity, minimum displacement rate,maximumexcursion rate, and distance from …

Exploring Spatial Distributions Of Larval Yellow Perch Perca Flavescens, Bluegill Lepomis Macrochirus, And Their Prey In Relation To Wind., Mark A. Kaemingk, Jeffrey C. Jolley, David W. Willis, Brian Ds Graeb

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The objectives of the present study were to determine if spatial differences existed between zooplankton, larval yellow perch Perca flavescens and bluegill Lepomis macrochirus (length, LT) in Pelican Lake (332 ha), NE, U.S.A. It was hypothesized that wind could act as a transport mechanism for larval fishes in this shallow lake, because strong winds are common at this geographic location. Potential spatial differences were explored, relating to zooplankton densities, size structure and densities of larval P. flavescens and L. macrochirus. Density differences (east v. west side of the lake) were detected for small- (two occasions), medium- (two occasions) and large-sized …

Design Of An Underwater Telemetry Antenna For Locating And Retrieving Submerged Radiocollars, Stephen L. Webb, Joshua A. Gaskamp, Kenneth L. Gee, Stephen Demarais, Andrew R. Little

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Radiocollars represent a significant investment of financial resources, particularly global positioning system (GPS) collars, and loss of data imposes analytical limitations from reduced sample sizes. Radiocollars on large, terrestrial mammals are seldom lost in the water. However, several instances in Oklahoma, USA necessitated a reliable and cost-effective technique for retrieving GPS collars from underwater to salvage the financial investment and data. We designed an underwater telemetry antenna to find and retrieve collars in ≤ 3 m of water. We describe field simulations under varying environmental and water conditions, and provide a list of materials along with instructions and considerations for …

A Calibration-Free Evapotranspiration Mapping (Cremap) Technique, Jozsef Szilagyi, Janos Jozsa, Akos Kovacs

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Calibration-Free Evapotranspiration Mapping Technique For Spatially-Distributed Regional-Scale Hydrologic Modeling, Jozsef Szilagyi, Akos Kovacs

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Metageographic Communities: A Geographic Model Of Demassified Societies, K. Nashleanas

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Numerical Validation Of A Diurnal Streamflow-Pattern-Based Evapotranspiration Estimation Method, Zoltan Gribovszki, Peter Kalicz, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comment On Interference Of River Level Changes On Riparian Zone Evapotranspiration Estimates From Diurnal Groundwater Level Fluctuations By Zhu Et Al., Jozsef Szilagyi, Zoltan Gribovszki, Peter Kalicz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.