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Jefferson Currents: Spring Volume 16, Issue 1, 2015

Jefferson Currents: The Energy Conservation Newsletter

Jefferson Current: Spring Volume 16, Issue 1, 2015

Historical Common Names Of Great Plains Plants, With Scientific Names Index. Volume Ii: Scientific Names Index, Elaine Nowick

Zea E-Books Collection

Containing thousands of entries of both vernacular and scientific names of Great Plains plants, the literature that informs this exhaustive listing spans nearly 300 years. Author Elaine Nowick has drawn from sources as diverse as Linnaeus, Lewis and Clark, and local university extension publications to compile the gamut of practical, and often fanciful, common plant names used over the years. Each common name is accompanied by a definitive scientific name with references and authority information. Interspersed with scientifically-correct botanical line drawings, the entries are written in standard ICBN format, making this a useful volume for scholars as well as lay …

Investigating Seed Dispersal Distances And Long Distance Dispersal Mechanisms Of The Invasive Plant, Alliaria Petiolata, Christopher Loebach

Theses and Dissertations

Alliaria petiolata, an herbaceous plant, has aggressively invaded North American woodlands. It has been extensively studied to understand why it is a successful invader, but certain aspects of its biology have been understudied such as seed dispersal distances and long distance dispersal mechanisms (LDDM). My thesis experimentally measured A. petiolata seed dispersal distances and determined if epizoochory (external animal transport) is a LDDM. To measure dispersal distances, seed traps were placed around three A. petiolata seed point sources to capture dispersed seeds at increasing distances away from the point sources. Eight mathematical functions that describe dispersal distances were fitted to …

Development Modeling Of Lucilia Sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Amanda Roe, Leon G. Higley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The relationship between insect development and temperature has been well established and has a wide range of uses, including the use of blow flies for postmortem (PMI) interval estimations in death investigations. To use insects in estimating PMI, we must be able to determine the insect age at the time of discovery and backtrack to time of oviposition. Unfortunately, existing development models of forensically important insects are only linear approximations and do not take into account the curvilinear properties experienced at extreme temperatures. A series of experiments were conducted with Lucilia sericata, a forensically important blow fly species, that met …

Joint Control Of Terrestrial Gross Primary Productivity By Plant Phenology And Physiology, Jianyang Xia, Shuli Niu, Philippe Ciais, Ivan A. Janssens, Jiquan Chen, Christof Ammann, Altaf Arain, Peter D. Blanken, Alessandro Cescatti, Damien Bonal, Nina Buchmann, Peter S. Curtis, Shiping Chen, Jinwei Dong, Lawrence B. Flanagan, Christian Frankenberg, Teodoro Georgiadis, Christopher M. Gough, Dafeng Hui, Gerard Kiely, Jianwei Li, Magnus Lund, Vincenzo Magliulo, Barbara Marcolla, Lutz Merbold, Leonardo Montagnani, Eddy J. Moors, Jorgen E. Olesen, Shilong Piao, Antonio Raschi, Oliver Roupsard, Andrew E. Suyker, Marek Urbaniak, Francesco P. Vaccari, Andrej Varlagin, Timo Vesala, Matthew Wilkinson, Ensheng Weng, Georg Wohlfahrt, Liming Yan, Yiqi Luo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) varies greatly over time and space. A better understanding of this variability is necessary for more accurate predictions of the future climate–carbon cycle feedback. Recent studies have suggested that variability in GPP is driven by a broad range of biotic and abiotic factors operating mainly through changes in vegetation phenology and physiological processes. However, it is still unclear how plant phenology and physiology can be integrated to explain the spatiotemporal variability of terrestrial GPP. Based on analyses of eddy–covariance and satellite-derived data, we decomposed annual terrestrial GPP into the length of the CO2 uptake period …

Signed Peer Reviews As A Means To Improve Scholarly Publishing, Linwood H. Pendleton

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Peer review is a necessary process with a long history of complaints, including over-solicitation of a small number of reviewers, delays, inadequate numbers of reviewers, and a lack of incentives to provide strong reviews or avoid reviews with little helpful information for the author. In the era of Web-based distribution of research, through working paper or project reports, anonymous peer reviews are much less likely. The Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics will use signed peer reviews and an open communication process among authors, reviewers, and editors. This approach, to be developed over time, should lead to stronger communication of …

Nebraska’S Natural Resources Districts: An Assessment Of A Large-Scale Locally Controlled Water Governance Framework, Ann Bleed, Christina Hoffman Babbitt

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

In 1972 the State of Nebraska created the Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) to consolidate a multitude of single-purpose local natural resource districts into a more comprehensive, holistic, and efficient natural resources governance system. While consolidation and efficiency was important, so was the concept of maintaining local control. Thus, Nebraska rejected the governance framework of a single top-down state agency, preferring to create NRDs that are each governed by a locally elected board. The locally elected governing boards of the NRDs were given broad authorities over many of the state’s natural resources, including groundwater. Such a governance structure was, and to …

Slides: Practicing Sustainability In Natural Resource Industries, Gary D. Libecap

Natural Resource Industries and the Sustainability Challenge (Martz Winter Symposium, February 27-28)

Presenter: Gary D. Libecap, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and Economics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

10 slides

The Evolution Of Non-Market Valuation Of U.S. Coastal And Marine Resources, Douglas Lipton, Dan K. Lew, Kristy Wallmo, Peter Wiley, Anthony Dvarskas

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

At the federal level, particularly within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), regulatory and programmatic needs have driven the continued development and application of non-market valuation approaches to marine and coastal resources. The evolution of these valuation approaches not only entails adopting the recommendations of the 1993 NOAA blue ribbon panel on contingent valuation, but also an expansion of stated preference approaches with increased use of stated preference choice experiments. Revealed preference approaches have also advanced with more sophisticated random utility models. We provide an overview of this evolution in the areas of natural resources damage assessment, protected resources, …

What Have We Learned From The Deepwater Horizon Disaster? An Economist’S Perspective, Daniel R. Petrolia

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

This paper outlines what we have learned about the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil disaster from the economics discipline as well as what effect the DWH disaster has had on the economics discipline. It appears that what we know about the economic impact of the DWH spill today is limited, possibly because such analysis is tied up in the federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process and other state-led efforts. There is evidence, however, that the NRDA process has changed over time to de-emphasize economic valuation of damages. There is also evidence that economists may be producing fewer …

Global Warming And Population Responses Among Great Plains Birds, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

Based on an analysis of 47 years (1967–2014) of Audubon Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), evidence for population changes and shifts in early winter (late December) ranges of nearly 150 species of birds in the Great Plains states is summarized, a region defined as including the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas panhandle. The rationale for this study had its origins in Terry Root’s 1988 Atlas of North American Wintering Birds. Root’s landmark study provided a baseline for evaluating the nationwide winter distributions of 253 North American birds in the mid-20th century, using data from the National Audubon Society’s …

Sustainability, Efficiency And Equitability Of Water Consumption And Pollution In Latin America And The Caribbean, Mesfin Mekonnen, Markus Pahlow, Maite M. Aldaya, Erika Zarate

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This paper assesses the sustainability, efficiency and equity of water use in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) by means of a geographic Water Footprint Assessment (WFA). It aims to provide understanding of water use from both a production and consumption point of view. The study identifies priority basins and areas from the perspectives of blue water scarcity, water pollution and deforestation. Wheat, fodder crops and sugarcane are identified as priority products related to blue water scarcity. The domestic sector is the priority sector regarding water pollution from nitrogen. Soybean and pasture are priority products related to deforestation. We estimate …

Land Use And Climate Change Bubbles: Resilience, Retreat, And Due Diligence, John R. Nolon

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article examines events on the ground in several localities where climate change is lowering property values and analyzes how those changes in value can be reckoned with by regulators. It merges practices and principles of real estate transactions and finance with those of land use and environmental regulation.

Climate change is a planetary phenomenon whose environmental implications are far-reaching. Reports on climate change consequences increasingly focus on what is happening locally and presently, while speculation continues about long-term global consequences. In numerous communities, property values are declining because of repeated flooding, continued threats of storm surges, sustained high temperatures, …

Agenda: Seeds Of Change: Responding To Global Change In A Bottom-Up World, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, Posner Center For International Development, Resolve (Firm), Newmont Mining Corporation

Seeds of Change: Responding to Global Change in a Bottom-Up World (Martz Winter Symposium, February 12-13)

Sponsors: Posner Center for International Development, RESOLVE, Inc., Newmont Mining Corporation, and Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment.

Conference moderators, panelists and speakers included University of Colorado Law School professors Phil Weiser, Sarah Krakoff, Britt Banks, and Lakshman Guruswamy.

This conference is made possible through the generous support of donors who sponsored this year’s Martz Sustainability Symposium (including Newmont Mining Corporation) and those who have invested in our Clyde O. Martz Endowed Fund for Natural Resources Management (including Brian Dolan and Davis Graham and Stubbs LLP). The Martz Natural Resources Management Fund was established in the memory …

Wastelands To Wonderlands: The Shifting Environmental Identities Of Alaska And Florida, Paul Arena

Quadrivium: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship

A look at two of the United States' most treasured and unique wilderness areas: the Florida Everglades and Alaska's varied ecosystems.

Productivity, Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation, And Light Use Efficiency In Crops: Implications For Remote Sensing Of Crop Primary Production, Anatoly A. Gitelson, Yi Peng, Timothy J. Arkebauer, Andrew E. Suyker

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Vegetation productivity metrics such as gross primary production (GPP) at the canopy scale are greatly affected by the efficiency of using absorbed radiation for photosynthesis, or light use efficiency (LUE). Thus, close investigation of the relationships between canopy GPP and photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation is the basis for quantification of LUE. We used multiyear observations over irrigated and rainfed contrasting C3 (soybean) and C4 (maize) crops having different physiology, leaf structure, and canopy architecture to establish the relationships between canopy GPP and radiation absorbed by vegetation and quantify LUE. Although multiple LUE definitions are reported in the literature, …

2015 Nebraska Groundwater Quality Monitoring Report

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The 2001 Nebraska Legislature passed LB329 (Neb. Rev. Stat. §46-1304) which, in part, directed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to report on groundwater quality monitoring in Nebraska. Reports have been issued annually since December 2001. The text of the statute applicable to this report follows: “The Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare a report outlining the extent of ground water quality monitoring conducted by natural resources districts during the preceding calendar year. The department shall analyze the data collected for the purpose of determining whether or not ground water quality is degrading or improving and shall present the …

The Critical Importance Of Large Expanses Of Continuous Forest For Bird Conservation, Robert A. Askins

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Integrating Naturalized Areas Onto The University At Albany Campus, Cassidy Drasser, Bryan King, Aidan Mcgovern, Ahren Von Schnell

Publications

The purpose of this management plan is to provide recommendations to create naturalized areas and increase biodiversity on the University at Albany campus. The University currently follows a number of environmental policies in an effort to promote uniformity. There are many benefits to increasing biodiversity on campus such as providing ecosystem services, increasing education and awareness, aiding in stormwater management, and support institutional advancement. There are already several areas on the campus that would serve as prime locations for projects of this nature including the front lawn and the Dutch and State parking lots. Future directions that the campus can …

An Anomaly-Based Method For Identifying Signals Of Spring And Autumn Low-Temperature Events In The Yangtze River Valley, China, Weihong Qian, Yun Cheng, Man Jiang, Qi Hu

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

June 2015 QIAN ET AL. Vol. 54 1216-1233

Eeflux: A Landsat-Based Evapotranspiration Mapping Tool On The Google Earth Engine, Richard Allen, Charles Morton, Baburao Kamble, Ayse Kilic, Justin Huntington, David Thau, Noel Gorelick, Tyler Erickson, Rebecca Moore, Ricardo Trezza, Ian C. Ratcliffe, Clarence Robison

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

“EEFlux” is an acronym for ‘Earth Engine Evapotranspiration Flux.’ EEFlux is based on the operational surface energy balance model “METRIC” (Mapping ET at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration), and is a Landsat-imagebased process. Landsat imagery supports the production of ET maps at resolutions of 30 m, which is the scale of many human-impacted and human-interest activities including agricultural fields, forest clearcuts and vegetation systems along streams. ET over extended time periods provides valuable information regarding impacts of water consumption on Earth resources and on humans. EEFlux uses North American Land Data Assimilation System hourly gridded weather data collection for energy …

Fitting Measured Evapotranspiration Data To The Fao56 Dual Crop Coefficient Method, R G. Allen, Ayse Kilic, Andrew Suyker, Jane A. Okalebo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The FAO-56 publication of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization contains guidelines on constructing and applying a ‘dual crop coefficient’ method to characterize the behavior of evapotranspiration (ET) on a day to day basis. The dual crop coefficient (Kc) method substantially improves the ability to fit simulated with measured data, as compared to the ‘single’ Kc method, by partitioning evaporation from soil (Es) from transpiration from vegetation. This permits the separate estimation of Es when there are known wetting events from precipitation and irrigation and assists in explaining behavior of measured data. The application of the dual Kc method is …

Density Dependent Double Brooding In Piping Plovers (Charadrius Melodus) In The Northern Great Plains, Usa, Kelsi L. Hunt, Lauren R. Dinan, Meryl J. Friedrich, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen, Daniel H. Catlin, James D. Fraser

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) are primarily monogamous birds that usually raise only one brood per season, but rare instances of double brooding have been documented. Piping Plovers breeding in the northern Great Plains, USA were studied in two locations: the Missouri River near the Gavins Point Dam (2005- 2013) and the lower Platte River (2008-2013). There were 25 confirmed instances of double brooding on the Missouri River across the 9-year duration of the study. There were no instances of double brooding observed locally on the lower Platte River. However, in 2013, two female Piping Plovers successfully hatched eggs …

Evaluating Recreationists’ Awareness And Attitudes Toward Piping Plovers (Charadrius Melodus) At Lake Mcconaughy, Nebraska, Usa, Joel G. Jorgensen, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) are shorebirds federally protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act that often nest on beaches in proximity to human recreation. We evaluated whether awareness of piping plovers and their legally protected status and attitudes toward species management varied between groups of recreationists at Lake McConaughy, Keith County, Nebraska, USA. Awareness of piping plovers varied primarily by the respondents’ number of annual visits to Lake McConaughy; the respondents’ age, sex, or location of primary residence had less influence. Recreationists with increased awareness of piping plovers and their protected status did not have more favorable attitudes toward plovers …

Space Use, Daily Movements, And Roosting Behavior Of Male Wild Turkeys During Spring In Louisiana And Texas, John T. Gross, Andrew R. Little, Bret A. Collier, Michael J. Chamberlain

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Because wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are an important game species and turkey hunter numbers are increasing, the need for better information on how turkeys use their environment is critical. With the recent advent of GPS technology suitable for use on wild turkeys, we are now able to collect data on a scale not previously possible. We used backpack style GPS units to detail home range and core area sizes, daily movement distances, and roosting characteristics of male Eastern (M. g. silvestris) and Rio Grande (M. g. intermedia) wild turkeys in Louisiana and Texas. Mean …

Habitat Characteristics Of Eastern Wild Turkey Nest And Ground-Roost Sites In 2 Longleaf Pine Forests, Mary M. Streich, Andrew R. Little, Michael J. Chamberlain, L. Mike Connor, Robert J. Warren

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Managing and restoring longleaf pine forests throughout the Southeast is a conservation priority. Prescribed fire is an integral part of these activities, as it is the primary means of controlling hardwood encroachment and maintaining native groundcover. Nest site and preflight brood groundroost site selection of eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) has not been well studied in longleaf pine systems. Therefore, we determined habitat characteristics associated with wild turkey nests and ground-roosts in 2 longleaf pine forests in southwestern Georgia. We radio-tagged 45 female turkeys and evaluated habitat characteristics associated with 84 nests and 51 ground-roosts during the …

Sturgeon In The Sacramento–San Joaquin Watershed: New Insights To Support Conservation And Management, A. Peter Klimley, Eric D. Chapman, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Dennis E. Cocherell, Nann A. Fangue, Marty Gingras, Zachary Jackson, Emily A. Miller, Ethan A. Mora, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Andrea M. Schreier, Alicia Seesholtz, Kenneth J. Sulak, Michael J. Thomas, David Woodbury, Megan T. Wyman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The goal of a day-long symposium on March 3, 2015, Sturgeon in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Watershed: New Insights to Support Conservation and Management, was to present new information about the physiology, behavior, and ecology of the green (Acipenser medirostris) and white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) to help guide enhanced management and conservation efforts within the Sacramento–San Joaquin watershed. This symposium identified current unknowns and highlighted new electronic tracking technologies and physiological techniques to address these knowledge gaps. A number of presentations, each reviewing ongoing research on the two species, was followed by a round-table discussion, in which …

Fish-Protection Devices At Unscreened Water Diversions Can Reduce Entrainment: Evidence From Behavioural Laboratory Investigations, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Timothy D. Mussen, Ali Ercan, Hossein Bandeh, M. Levent Kavvas, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Diversion (i.e. extraction) of water from rivers and estuaries can potentially affect native wildlife populations if operation is not carefully managed. For example, open, unmodified water diversions can act as a source of injury or mortality to resident or migratory fishes from entrainment and impingement, and can cause habitat degradation and fragmentation. Fish-protection devices, such as exclusion screens, louvres or sensory deterrents, can physically or behaviourally deter fish from approaching or being entrained into water diversions. However, empirical assessment of their efficacy is often lacking or is investigated only for particular economically or culturally important fishes, such as salmonids. The …

Reviews And Syntheses: Optical Sampling Of The Flux Tower Footprint, John A. Gamon

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this review is to address the reasons and methods for conducting optical remote sensing within the flux tower footprint. Fundamental principles and conclusions gleaned from over 2 decades of proximal remote sensing at flux tower sites are reviewed. The organizing framework used here is the light-use efficiency (LUE) model, both because it is widely used, and because it provides a useful theoretical construct for integrating optical remote sensing with flux measurements. Multiple ways of driving this model, ranging from meteorological measurements to remote sensing, have emerged in recent years, making it a convenient conceptual framework for comparative …

Response Of A Stoichiometrically Imbalanced Ecosystem To Manipulation Of Nutrient Supplies And Ratios, Zarraz M. Lee, Laura Steger, Jessica R. Corman, Marc Neveu, Amisha T. Poret-Peterson, Valeria Souza, James J. Elser

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) is a desert ecosystem that hosts a large diversity of water bodies. Many surface waters in this basin have imbalanced nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) stoichiometry (total N:P > 100 by atoms), where P is likely to be a limiting nutrient. To investigate the effects of nutrient stoichiometry on planktonic and sediment ecosystem components and processes, we conducted a replicated in situ mesocosm experiment in Lagunita, a shallow pond located in the southwest region of the basin. Inorganic N and P were periodically added to mesocosms under three different N:P regimes (P only, N:P = 16 and …