Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

White-Tailed Deer, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Scott E. Hygnstrom

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is one of two members of the deer family (Cervidae) commonly found in the Great Plains. When alarmed, white-tailed deer hold their tails erect, baring their white underside and white rump. Bucks (males) begin growing bonelike antlers early each summer and by early fall the antlers stop growing and harden. The antlers have a main beam with tines erupting from the top and are used for fighting and establishing rank in the social hierarchy.

Comparison Of Modis And Avhrr 16-Day Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Composite Data, Kevin P. Gallo, Lei Ji, Brad Reed, John Dwyer, Jeffrey Eidenshink

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data derived from visible and near-infrared data acquired by the MODIS and AVHRR sensors were compared over the same time periods and a variety of land cover classes within the conterminous USA. The relationship between the AVHRR derived NDVI values and those of future sensors is critical to continued long term monitoring of land surface properties. The results indicate that the 16-day composite values are quite similar over the 23 intervals of 2001 that were analyzed, and a linear relationship exists between the NDVI values from the two sensors. The composite AVHRR NDVI data were …

Animal Anti–Apoptotic Genes Enhance Recovery From Drought Stress In Tobacco, Tala Awada, David D. Dunigan, Martin B. Dickman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The anti–apoptotic nematode CED–9 gene and a 3’ non–coding mRNA region of the human Bcl–2 gene, referred to as 161–1, enhanced resistance to drought and recovery after re–watering in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum L. CV Glurk plants. The effect of drought on plant functions was investigated by withholding water from pots for 6, 8, 10 and 13 days. Results showed that controls and transgenic tobacco did not differ among each other under well–watered conditions. Differences appeared however, on day 3 of water deprivation, where controls exhibited a significantly steeper decline in photosynthesis (A) compared to the transgenic lines. On day 10 …

Regional Modis Analysis Of Abandoned Agricultural Lands In The Kazakh Steppes, Kirsten M. De Beurs, Geoffrey M. Henebry, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The institutional consequences of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 have been greatly underestimated as a significant forcing on the boundary layer through changes in land surface phenology. Upon independence, Kazakhstan lost the centralized agricultural planning, crop subsidy system, and access to international markets that the Soviet Union had been providing. These institutional changes led to substantial decreases in livestock populations, especially sheep, and in arable land area cultivated, especially rain-fed spring wheat in northern Kazakhstan. As a result the fallow fields reverted to weedy species and idle pastures produced denser grass cover.

In this case study we used MODIS …

The Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index And Its Potential Utility For Gap Analysis, Geoffrey M. Henebry, Andrés Viña, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In this brief note, the authors illustrate the prevalence of reduced sensitivity of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), introduce the Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index (WDRVI), and illustrate the advantages of the WDVRI over the NDVI using Landsat ETM+ data that spans a range of canopy densities.

Non-Destructive Assessment Of Chlorophyll Carotenoid And Anthocyanin Content In Higher Plant Leaves: Principles And Algorithms, Anatoly A. Gitelson, Mark N. Merzlyak

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Leaf pigment content provides valuable information about the physiological status of plants. Reflectance measurement makes it possible to quickly and non-destructively assess, in situ, the pigment content in leaves. The objective was to investigate the spectral behavior of the relationship between reflectance and pigment content (total chlorophyll, carotenoids and anthocyanins, which are the main pigments of leaves, and provide valuable information about plant physiological status) and to develop techniques for non-destructive pigment estimation in leaves using reflectance in a few spectral bands.

Satellite Monitoring Of Vegetation Dynamics: Sensitivity Enhancement By The Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index, Andrés Viña, Geoffrey Henebry, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Synoptic monitoring of vegetation dynamics relies on satellite observations of the distinctive spectral contrast between red and near infrared reflectance that photosynthetically active green vegetation exhibits. It has long been recognized that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) suffers a rapid decrease of sensitivity at moderate-to-high densities of photosynthetic green biomass. This decrease can conceal detection of vegetation change in croplands, woodlands, and productive grasslands.We applied a recent, straightforward modification of the NDVI, the Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index (WDRVI), to a standard AVHRR dataset to assess its sensitivity to variability within ecoregions and across years, relative to NDVI. In …

Remote Estimation Of Net Ecosystem Co2 Exchange In Crops: Principles, Technique Calibration And Validation, Anatoly A. Gitelson, Andrés Viña, Shashi Verma, Donald C. Rundquist, Timothy J. Arkebauer, Galina P. Keydan, Bryan Leavitt, Veronica Ciganda, George G. Burba, Andrew E. Suyker

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Accurate and synoptic estimation of spatially distributed CO2 fluxes is of great importance for regional and global studies of carbon balance. A technique solely based on remotely sensed data was developed and tested for estimating net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) in maize and soybean. The model is based on the reflectance in two spectral channels: the near-infrared and either the green or red-edge around 700 nm. The technique provides accurate estimations of mid-day NEE in both crops under either rainfed or irrigated conditions, explaining more than 85% of NEE variation in maize and more than 81% in soybean, and shows …

Collecting Spectral Data Over Cropland Vegetation Using Machine-Positioning Versus Hand-Positioning Of The Sensor, Donald Rundquist, Richard L. Perk, Bryan Leavitt, Galina P. Keydan, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The paper describes an all-terrain motorized platform for deploying sensors and compares data collected by means of that system with those collected by means of hand-held sensors. The results not only highlight the greater variability in spectra that can be expected when deploying field radiometers by hand but, more importantly, they quantify the difference. Researchers should be aware of the potential for diminishing the validity of findings based on reflectance spectra acquired by means of hand-held sensors.

Forecasting Vegetation Greenness With Satellite And Climate Data, Lei Ji, Albert J. Peters

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A new and unique vegetation greenness forecast (VGF) model was designed to predict future vegetation conditions to three months through the use of current and historical climate data and satellite imagery. The VGF model is implemented through a seasonality-adjusted autoregressive distributed-lag function, based on our finding that the normalized difference vegetation index is highly correlated with lagged precipitation and temperature. Accurate forecasts were obtained from the VGF model in Nebraska grassland and cropland. The regression R² values range from 0.97–0.80 for 2–12 week forecasts, with higher R² associated with a shorter prediction. An important application would be to …

Application Of Snowfall And Wind Statistics To Snow Transport Modeling For Snowdrift Control In Minnesota, Martha Shulski, Mark W. Seeley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Models were utilized to determine the snow accumulation season (SAS) and to quantify windblown snow for the purpose of snowdrift control for locations in Minnesota. The models require mean monthly temperature, snowfall, density of snow, and wind frequency distribution statistics. Temperature and precipitation data were obtained from local cooperative observing sites, and wind data came from Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS)/Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) sites in the region. The temperature-based algorithm used to define the SAS reveals a geographic variability in the starting and ending dates of the season, which is determined by latitude and elevation. Mean seasonal snowfall …

Ogallala Aquifer, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The Ogallala Aquifer, or High Plains Aquifer, is a porous body of complex sediments and sedimentary rock formations that conducts groundwater and yields significant quantities of water to wells and springs. The principal sediments and rocks of the aquifer range in age from 33 million years old to sediments being deposited today, but the majority is less than 12 million-years old. Much of the aquifer is composed of the Ogallala Group or Formation. The dominant sediments in the Ogallala and the other hydrogeologic units in the aquifer are riverand wind-deposited sands. The aquifer underlies about 174,000 square miles of the …

Topographic Maps, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Topographic maps show the general configuration of the land surface, including its relief and the position of natural and man-made features. The configuration is shown commonly by contour lines, imaginary lines connecting all points of equal elevation on the earth's surface above or below a datum plane such as mean sea level. When the land slope is steeper the contour lines are closer together. Topographic maps at scales of one inch to a mile or greater (shown as 1:63,360 on the map) are used in many ways. They are particularly important in preparation of various types of geologic maps and …

Empirical Measurement Of Parasite Transmission Between Groups In A Colonial Bird, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

While epidemiological models have suggested that the spread of parasites
and infectious diseases often depends critically on the extent of movement by infected
individuals between populations, there is little empirical information for any organism on
the frequency of between-group parasite transmission or how it varies spatially. The transmission
of parasites between discrete social groups or populations may also help determine
a host’s total parasite or pathogen exposure. We measured the introduction of parasitic bugs
(Oeciacus vicarius) into colonies of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) by transient
birds from outside each group. The transmission of bugs increased strongly …

Fire In Southern Appalachians: Fuels, Stand Structure And Oaks, David L. Loftis, Mary A. Arthur, Rex Mann, Jeffrey Lewis

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Managers responsible for maintaining the diversity and productivity of Southern Appalachian forests are increasingly turning to prescribed fire as an important management tool in oak dominated forests. The decision to use fire with increasing frequency and spatial extent is based, in part, on an emerging sense of the prehistoric significance of fire in this landscape and its potential to control the proliferation of fire-sensitive competitors in contemporary forests. While it is well documented that fire has been an important ecological force in Southern Appalachian forests for a very long time, there has been little research to demonstrate that prescribed fire …

Response Of Nebraska Sand Hills Natural Vegetation To Drought, Fire, Grazing, And Plant Functional Type Shifts As Simulated By The Century Model, Jennifer Mangan, Jonathan T. Overpeck, Robert S. Webb, Carol Wessman, Alexander Goetz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The Nebraska Sand Hills exist in a semi-arid climatic environment and the land surface is grassland growing on sandy soils. These soils have been periodically active throughout the Holocene, but are currently stabilized by the vegetation. However, a shift in climate could cause grassland death and eventual sand dune remobilization. Our studies used the CENTURY nutrient cycling and ecosystem model to investigate the impacts of drought, plant functional type, fire, grazing, and erosion on Nebraska Sand Hills vegetation and dune stability. Fire and grazing alone had little impact on the vegetation, but when combined with mild drought, biomass decreased. Overall …

Achieving Bat Conservation Through Tourism, Lisa A. Pennisi, Stephen M. Holland, Taylor V. Stein

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Self-Calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index, Nathan Wells, Steve Goddard, Michael Hayes

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) has been used for more than 30 years to quantify the long-term drought conditions for a given location and time. However, a common critique of the PDSI is that the behavior of the index at various locations is inconsistent, making spatial comparisons of PDSI values difficult, if not meaningless.

A self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (SC-PDSI) is presented and evaluated. The SC-PDSI automatically calibrates the behavior of the index at any location by replacing empirical constants in the index computation with dynamically calculated values. An evaluation of the SC-PDSI at 761 sites within Nebraska, …

An Analysis Of Simulated Long-Term Soil Moisture Data For Three Land Uses Under Contrasting Hydroclimatic Conditions In The Northern Great Plains, Rezaul Mahmood, Kenneth Hubbard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Soil moisture (SM) plays an important role in land surface and atmosphere interactions. It modifies energy balance near the surface and the rate of water cycling between land and atmosphere. The lack of observed SM data prohibits understanding of SM variations at climate scales under varying land uses. However, with simulation models it is possible to develop a long-term SM dataset and study these issues.

In this paper a water balance model is used to provide a quantitative assessment of SM climatologies for three land uses, namely, irrigated corn, rain-fed corn, and grass, grown under three hydroclimatic regimes in Nebraska. …

Modification Of Growing-Season Surface Temperature Records In The Northern Great Plains Due To Land-Use Transformation: Verification Of Modelling Results And Implication For Global Climate Change, Rezaul Mamood, Kenneth G. Hubbard, Christy Carlson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Land-use and land-cover change can modify near-surface atmospheric condition. Mesoscale modelling studies have shown that modification in land use affects near-surface soil moisture storage and energy balance. Such a study in the Great Plains showed that changes in land use from natural grass to irrigated agriculture enhanced soil water storage in the root zone and increased latent energy flux. This increase in latent energy flux would correspond to a decrease in sensible heat flux and, therefore, modify near-surface temperature records. To verify this deduction, we have investigated the changes in the historical near-surface temperature records in Nebraska, USA. We have …

The Role Of Soil Water Availability In Potential Rainfed Rice Productivity In Bangladesh: Applications Of The Ceres-Rice Mode, Rezaul Mahmood, David R. Legates, Mark Meo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Soil water stress and its impact on the monsoon season potential rainfed rice productivity in Bangladesh is investigated. A crop growth simulation model, CERES-Rice, is applied to 16 locations representative of the major rice growing regions of Bangladesh to determine the impact of soil water stress on the regional scale potential yield for four transplanting dates: 1 June, 1 July, 15 July, and 15 August. A quantified estimate of potential yield loss for four regions and for Bangladesh as a whole is calculated for water stress during flowering and maturing stages. For example, in Bangladesh, average potential yield for 1 …

Lewis And Clark And The Geology Of Nebraska And Parts Of Adjacent States, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Anne P. Diffendal

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark undertook their journey with the Corps of Discovery in 1804–1806 in order to explore the area that the United States had purchased from France in 1803. Then known as Louisiana, this region included almost everything west of the Mississippi to the continental divide (illustrated below). In order to find the best route across the continent, President Thomas Jefferson charged Lewis to follow the Missouri River to its headwaters and then locate rivers flowing down the west side of the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River and into the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson's written instructions further specified …

In-Field Labeling Of Western Corn Rootworm Adults (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) With Rubidium, Timothy M. Nowatzki, Bradley Niimi, Kelli J. Warren, Sean Putnam, Lance J. Meinke, David C. Gosselin, F. Edwin Harvey, Thomas E. Hunt, Blair Siegfried

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Field and laboratory studies were conducted in 2000 and 2001 to determine the feasibility of mass marking western corn rootworm adults, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, with RbCl in the field. Results showed that application of rubidium (Rb) in solution to both the soil (1 g Rb/plant) and whorl (1 g Rb/plant) of corn plants was optimal for labeling western corn rootworm adults during larval development. Development of larvae on Rb-enriched corn with this technique did not significantly influence adult dry weight or survival. Rb was also highly mobile in the plant. Application of Rb to both the soil and the …

Lewis And Clark And The Geology Of The Great Plains, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Anne P. Diffendal

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark undertook their journey with the Corps of Discovery in 1804-1806 in order to explore the area that the United States had purchased from France in 1803. Then known as Louisiana, this region included almost everything west of the Mississippi to the continental divide. In order to find the best route across the continent, President Thomas Jefferson charged Lewis with following the Missouri River to its headwaters and then locating rivers flowing down the west side of the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River and into the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson's written instructions further specified that the …

Leaf And Wood Utilization In The Middle Missouri River, Kim Rager

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

No abstract provided.

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 35, No.4 December 2003

The Prairie Naturalist

HOME RANGE AND MOVEMENTS OF EASTERN AND RIO GRANDE WILD TURKEY FEMALES IN NORTHEASTERN

SOUTH DAKOTA ▪ C. P. Lehman, L. D. Flake, and A. P. Leif

THE BAT FAUNA OF SOUTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA . J. E. Lane, C. L. Buck, and R. M. Brigham

FIRST REPORT OF THE NORTH DAKOTA RARE BIRD COMMITTEE ▪ D. Svingen and R. E. Martin

BREEDING CHRONOLOGY OF DABBLING DUCKS IN MINNEDOSA, MANITOBA ▪ A. M. Wells and H. H. Prince

A LIVE COLLECTION OF A PISTOLGRIP FROM NEBRASKA ▪ S. C. Schainost

NEW NESTING DATES FOR SOME BREEDING BIRDS IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ …

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln School Of Natural Resources Review: Final Report, December 2003, Michael O'Neill, Phaedra Budy, Stephen Degloria, Ed Kanemasu, Jamie Robertson, Derrel Martin, Anne K. Vidaver, Tylr Naprstek, Donna Woudenberg

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

In July 2003, the School of Natural Resource Sciences was merged with the Conservation and Survey Division and the Water Center Nebraska State Survey. This merger produced the School of Natural Resources (hereafter referred to as the "School") in its current form. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln requested a ten-year review of the School's programs and activities. The review was administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) in cooperation with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the College of Agriculture, and the School.

The review document is divided into nine sections. The first …

Applications Of Remote Sensing And Gis To The Studies Of Groundwater–Lake Interactions In The Nebraska Sandhills, Evgueni N. Tcherepanov

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

No abstract provided.

Csrees School Of Natural Resources Comprehensive Five-Year Review

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 35, No.3 September 2003

The Prairie Naturalist

BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS IN GRASSLANDS: THEIR HABITATS, HOSTS, AND RESPONSE TO MANAGEMENT ▪ J. A. Shaffer, C. M. Goldade, M. F. Dinkins, D. H. Johnson, L. D. Igl, and B. R. Euliss

LlGUMIA SUBROSTRATA (BIVALVIA: UNIONIDAE) IN MINNESOTA AND ITS STATUS IN THE UPPER MIDWEST ▪ B. E. Sietman, D. E. Kelner, R. A. Hart, and M. Davis

GUIDELINES FOR FINDING NESTS OF PASSERINE BIRDS IN TALLGRASS PRAIRIE ▪ M. Winter, S. E. Hawks, J. A. Shaffer, and D. H. Johnson

RESPONSE OF THE LEAST SHREW TO PREY OLFACTORY CUES ▪ F. Punzo and C. Gonzalez

Book Reviews

North Dakota's Butterflies …