Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Evaluation Of An Autonomous Acoustic Surveying Technique For Grassland Bird Communities In Nebraska, Grace E. Schuster, Leroy J. Walston, Andrew R. Little

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Monitoring trends in wildlife communities is integral to making informed land management decisions and applying conservation strategies. Birds inhabit most niches in every environment and because of this they are widely accepted as an indicator species for environmental health. Traditionally, point counts are the common method to survey bird populations, however, passive acoustic monitoring approaches using autonomous recording units have been shown to be cost-effective alternatives to point count surveys. Advancements in automatic acoustic classification technologies, such as BirdNET, can aid in these efforts by quickly processing large volumes of acoustic recordings to identify bird species. While the utility of …

Towards Sustainable Development: Civic Architecture As Material Banks, Kathleen O'Gara

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

This thesis posed the question, “How can buildings be designed to be disassembled and reused to reduce construction and demolition waste and reduce our unsustainable reliance on raw materials?” Designing for disassembly and reuse has the potential to dramatically increase the life of building materials, thus decreasing construction and demolition waste relating to architecture. When designing with deconstruction and reuse in mind, designers must consider the next life of these materials. The thesis was further narrowed to push the adaptability of these materials by designing a structural kit of parts. The structure system is often seen as a stable and …

Effect Of Biomass Water Dynamics In Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor Observations: A Long-Term Analysis Of Maize–Soybean Rotation In Nebraska, Tanessa Morris

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

The precise measurement of soil water content (SWC) is crucial for effective water resource management. This study utilizes the Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensor (CRNS) for area-averaged SWC measurements, emphasizing the need to consider all hydrogen sources, including the time-variable ones like plant biomass and water content. Chapter 1 presents a background on soil moisture estimation, CRNS technology, and an overview of the study. It discusses various soil moisture measurement techniques, highlights the gap in knowledge addressed by CRNS technology, explains CRNS functionality and advancements, and outlines the study's motivations and methods.

Chapter 2 reports a study conducted near Mead, Nebraska, …

Stress Phenotyping Analysis Leveraging Autofluorescence Image Sequences With Machine Learning, Sruti Das Choudhury, Carmela Rosaria Guadagno, Srinidhi Bashyam, Anastasios Mazis, Brent E. Ewers, Ashok Samal, Tala Awada

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background: Autofluorescence-based imaging has the potential to nondestructively characterize the biochemical and physiological properties of plants regulated by genotypes using optical properties of the tissue. A comparative study of stress tolerant and stress susceptible genotypes of Brassica rapa with respect to newly introduced stress-based phenotypes using machine learning techniques will contribute to the significant advancement of autofluorescence-based plant phenotyping research.

Methods: Autofluorescence spectral images have been used to design a stress detection classifier with two classes, stressed and non-stressed, using machine learning algorithms. The benchmark dataset consisted of time-series image sequences from three Brassica rapa genotypes (CC …

Globe-Lfmc 2.0, An Enhanced And Updated Dataset For Live Fuel Moisture Content Research, Marta Yebra, Gianluca Scortechini, Karine Adeline, Nursema Aktepe, Turkia Almoustafa, Avi Bar-Massada, María Eugenia Beget, Matthias Boer, Ross Bradstock, Tegan Brown, Francesc Xavier Castro, Rui Chen, Emilio Chuvieco, Mark Danson, Cihan Ünal Değirmenci, Ruth Delgado-Dávila, Philip Dennison, Carlos Di Bella, Oriol Domenech, Jean-Baptiste Féret, Greg Forsyth, Eva Gabriel, Zisis Gagkas, Fatma Gharbi, Elena Granda, Anne Griebel, Binbin He, Matt Jolly, Ivan Kotzur, Tineke Kraaij, Agnes Kristina, Pınar Kütküt, Jean-Marc Limousin, M. Pilar Martín, Antonio T. Monteiro, Marco Morais, Bruno Moreira, Florent Mouillot, Samukelisiwe Msweli, Rachael H. Nolan, Grazia Pellizzaro, Yi Qi, Xingwen Quan, Victor Esco De Dios, Dar Roberts, Çağatay Tavşanoğlu, Andy F. S. Taylor, Jackson Taylor, İrem Tüfekcioğlu, Andrea Ventura, Nicolas Younes Cardenas

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Globe-LFMC 2.0, an updated version of Globe-LFMC, is a comprehensive dataset of over 280,000 Live Fuel Moisture Content (LFMC) measurements. These measurements were gathered through field campaigns conducted in 15 countries spanning 47 years. In contrast to its prior version, Globe-LFMC 2.0 incorporates over 120,000 additional data entries, introduces more than 800 new sampling sites, and comprises LFMC values obtained from samples collected until the calendar year 2023. Each entry within the dataset provides essential information, including date, geographical coordinates, plant species, functional type, and, where available, topographical details. Moreover, the dataset encompasses insights into the sampling and weighing procedures, …

Water Current, Volume 56, No. 1, Spring 2024

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Demographic Consequences Of Off-River Nesting For Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus) And Interior Least Tern (Sternula Antillarum Athalassos) In The Lower Platte River System, Nebraska, Elsa M. Forsberg

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

Piping plovers (Charadrius melodus; hereafter, plovers) and interior least terns (Sternula antillarum athalassos; hereafter, terns) are two avian species that nest along the Lower Platte River system (LPRS) in Nebraska. In the LPRS, river sandbars provide natural nesting habitat, but off-river sites provide substantial nesting habitat especially when sandbar habitat is scarce. Although presumed to be important for the persistence of plovers and terns, off-river habitat is not self-sustaining and predicted to decline. Understanding the vital rates of plovers and terns in the LPRS will inform the role of off- river sites in the future conservation …

Amethod To Estimate Climate Drivers Ofmaize Yield Predictability Leveraging Genetic-By-Environment Interactions In The Us And Canada, Parisa Sarzaeim, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Throughout history, the pursuit of diagnosing and predicting crop yields has evidenced genetics, environment, and management practices intertwined in achieving food security. However, the sensitivity of crop phenotypes and genetic responses to climate still hampers the identification of the underlying abilities of plants to adapt to climate change. We hypothesize that the PiAnosi and WagNer (PAWN) global sensitivity analysis (GSA) coupled with a genetic by environment (GxE) model built of environmental covariance and genetic markers structures, can evidence the contributions of climate on the predictability of maize yields in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada. The GSA-GxE framework estimates the relative …

Field Testing Of Gamma-Spectroscopy Method For Soil Water Content Estimation In An Agricultural Field, Sophia Becker, Trenton E. Franz, Tanessa Morris, Bailey Mullins

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Gamma-ray spectroscopy (GRS) enables continuous estimation of soil water content (SWC) at the subfield scale with a noninvasive sensor. Hydrological applications, including hyper-resolution land surface models and precision agricultural decision making, could benefit greatly from such SWC information, but a gap exists between established theory and accurate estimation of SWC from GRS in the field. In response, we conducted a robust three-year field validation study at a wellinstrumented agricultural site in Nebraska, United States. The study involved 27 gravimetric water content sampling campaigns in maize and soybean and ⁴⁰K specific activity (Bq kg⁻¹) measurements from a stationary …

Where East Meets West: Phylogeography Of The High Arctic North American Brant Goose, Robert E. Wilson, W. Sean Boyd, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, David H. Ward, Preben Clausen, Kathryn M. Dickson, Barwolt S. Ebbinge, Gudmundur A. Gudmundsson, George K. Sage, Jolene R. Rearick, Dirk V. Derksen, Sandra L. Talbot

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Genetic variation in Arctic species is often influenced by vicariance during the Pleistocene, as ice sheets fragmented the landscape and displaced populations to low-and high-latitude refugia. The formation of secondary contact or suture zones during periods of ice sheet retraction has important consequences on genetic diversity by facilitating genetic connectivity between formerly isolated populations. Brant geese (Branta bernicla) are a maritime migratory waterfowl (Anseriformes) species that almost exclusively uses coastal habitats. Within North America, brant geese are characterized by two phenotypically distinct subspecies that utilize disjunct breeding and wintering areas in the northern Pacific and Atlantic. In the …

Within-Field Soil Moisture Variability And Time-Invariant Spatial Structures Of Agricultural Fields In The Us Midwest, Yi Yang, Bin Peng, Kaiyu Guan, Ming Pan, Trenton E. Franz, Michael H. Cosh, Carl J. Bernacchi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding soil moisture variability and estimating high-resolution soil moisture at subfield to field scales is critical for agricultural research and applications. However, systematic investigation of subfield scale soil moisture variability over cropland is still lacking from both measurement and satellite remote sensing. In this study, we aim to investigate (1) the characteristics of within-field soilmoisture distribution over typical cropland in the US Midwest and (2) the capabilities of satellite remote sensing in capturing the spatiotemporal variabilities of soil moisture at subfield scale. Specifically, we conducted soil moisture field experiments in three typical commercial agricultural fields (∼85 acres per field) in …

Considerations For The Use Of Porcine Organ Donation Models In Preclinical Organ Donor Intervention Research, Frazer I. Heinis, Shaheed Merani, Nicholas W. Markin, Kim F. Duncan, Michael J. Moulton, Lance Fristoe, William E. Thorell, Raechel A. Sherrick, Tami R. Wells, Matthew T. Andrews, Marian Urban

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Use of animal models in preclinical transplant research is essential to the optimization of human allografts for clinical transplantation. Animal models of organ donation and preservation help to advance and improve technical elements of solid organ recovery and facilitate research of ischemia–reperfusion injury, organ preservation strategies, and future donor-based interventions. Important considerations include cost, public opinion regarding the conduct of animal research, translational value, and relevance of the animal model for clinical practice. We present an overview of two porcine models of organ donation: donation following brain death (DBD) and donation following circulatory death (DCD). The cardiovascular anatomy and physiology …

Describing Undergraduate Students’ Reasoning And Use Of Evidence During Argumentation About Socioscientific Issues Systems, P. Citlally Jimenez, Ashley R. Alred, Jenny M. Dauer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Introduction: We conducted research in a post-secondary, large-enrollment science literacy course that asks students to apply multidisciplinary scientific evidence when providing an argument about the potential social and ecological consequences of policy solutions to socioscientific issues (SSI).

Methods: Coding schemes were developed to describe students’ levels of proficiency in constructing arguments about the nature of SSI systems and were created through inductive coding of student arguments about SSI systems embedded within a structured decision-making process.

Results: The coding schemes included student practices in 1) providing reasoning about the potential consequences of multiple solutions for an SSI, 2) …

Combining Multi-View Uav Photogrammetry, Thermal Imaging, And Computer Vision Can Derive Cost-Effective Ecological Indicators For Habitat Assessment, Qiao Hu, Ligang Zhang, Jeff Drahota, Wayne Woldt, Dana Varner, Andy Bishop, Ted Lagrange, Christopher M. U. Neale, Zhenghong Tang

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Recent developments in Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs), thermal imaging, and Automachine learning (AutoML) have shown high potential for precise wildlife surveys but have rarely been studied for habitat assessment. Here, we propose a framework that leverages these advanced techniques to achieve cost-effective habitat quality assessment from the perspective of actual wildlife community usage. The framework exploits vision intelligence hidden in the UAV thermal images and AutoML methods to achieve cost-effective wildlife distribution mapping, and then derives wildlife use indicators to imply habitat quality variance. We conducted UAV-based thermal wildlife surveys at three wetlands in the Rainwater Basin, Nebraska. Experiments were …

Development Of A Composite Drought Indicator For Operational Drought Monitoring In The Mena Region, Karim Bergaoui, Makram Belhaj Fraj, Stephen Fragaszy, Ali Ghanim, Omar Hamadin, Emad Al‑Karablieh, Jawad Al‑Bakri, Mona Fakih, Abbas Fayad, Fadi Comair, Mohamed Yessef, Hayat Ben Mansour, Haythem Belgrissi, Kristi Arsenault, Christa Peters‑Lidard, Sujay Kumar, Abheera Hazra, Wanshu Nie, Michael Hayes, Mark D. Svoboda, Rachael Mcdonnell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This paper presents the composite drought indicator (CDI) that Jordanian, Lebanese, Moroccan, and Tunisian government agencies now produce monthly to support operational drought management decision making, and it describes their iterative co-development processes. The CDI is primarily intended to monitor agricultural and ecological drought on a seasonal time scale. It uses remote sensing and modelled data inputs, and it reflects anomalies in precipitation, vegetation, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration. Following quantitative and qualitative validation assessments, engagements with policymakers, and consideration of agencies’ technical and institutional capabilities and constraints, we made changes to CDI input data, modelling procedures, and integration to tailor …

What Waterfowl Hunters Want: Exploring Heterogeneity In Hunting Trip Preferences, Katherine A. Sainsbury, Howard W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas W. Cole, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennie N. Duberstein, Andrew H. Raedeke, Rudy M. Schuster, Mark P. Vrtiska

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Canadian and American waterfowl hunters were surveyed to identify their hunting trip preferences. Respondents were individuals that were now participating or had participated in waterfowl hunting, and most had hunted the majority of the last five years. We identified four latent classes of waterfowl hunters that varied in their preferences for harvest, access effort, length of travel, quantity of waterfowl seen, and the potential for interference/competition. We found a diminishing return associated with the number of waterfowl harvested, and that ‘devoted’ and ‘local’ hunters did not perceive appreciable benefit from harvesting more birds beyond harvesting a single bird. Results highlight …

Heavy Metal Movement Through Insect Food Chains In Pristine Thermal Springs Of Yellowstone National Park, Braymond Adams, John Bowley, Monica Rohwer, Erik Oberg, Kelly Willemssens, Wendy Wintersteen, Robert K.D. Peterson, Leon G. Higley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Yellowstone National Park thermal features regularly discharge various heavy metals and metalloids. These metals are taken up by microorganisms that often form mats in thermal springs. These microbial mats also serve as food sources for invertebrate assemblages. To examine how heavy metals move through insect food webs associated with hot springs, two sites were selected for this study. Dragon-Beowulf Hot Springs, acid-sulfate chloride springs, have a pH of 2.9, water temperatures above 70 ^oC, and populations of thermophilic bacterial, archaeal, and algal mats. Rabbit Creek Hot Springs, alkaline springs, have a pH of up to 9, some water temperatures …

Development Of The Quantitative Modelling Observation Protocol (Qmop) For Undergraduate Biology Courses: Validity Evidence For Score Interpretation And Uses, Lyrica Lucas, Anum Khushal, Robert Mayes, Brian Couch, Joseph Dauer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Educational reform priorities such as emphasis on quantitative modelling (QM) have positioned undergraduate biology instructors as designers of QM experiences to engage students in authentic science practices that support the development of datadriven and evidence-based reasoning. Yet, little is known about how biology instructors adapt to the pedagogical movement towards incorporating QM opportunities for students in the courses they teach. This study presents the development of the Quantitative Modelling Observation Protocol (QMOP), a classroom observation instrument designed to support the need to characterise various approaches that instructors use to implement QM instruction in undergraduate biology. QMOP provides information about the …

Declining Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana) Population Productivity Caused By Woody Encroachment And Oil And Gas Development, Victoria M. Donovan, Jeffrey L. Beck, Carissa L. Wonkka, Caleb P. Roberts, Craig R. Allen, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Conservation is increasingly focused on preventing losses in species’ populations before they occur. Tracking changes in demographic parameters that can impact a population’s resilience in response to drivers of global change can support early conservation efforts. We assessed trends in population productivity (late summer juveniles per 100 females) relative to drivers of global change in 40 pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) herds across sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) steppe in Wyoming. Pronghorn are an iconic rangeland species that have been exposed to increasing levels of anthropogenic, climatic, and land-use change. Using data collected across the state of Wyoming, we (1) assessed …

Experimental Sars-Cov-2 Infection Of Elk And Mule Deer, Stephanie M. Porter, Airn E. Hartwig, Helle Bielefeldt-Ohmann, Jeffrey M. Marano, J. Jeffrey Root, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

To assess the susceptibility of elk (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) to SARS-CoV-2, we performed experimental infections in both species. Elk did not shed infectious virus but mounted low-level serologic responses. Mule deer shed and transmitted virus and mounted pronounced serologic responses and thus could play a role in SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology.

Parallels Of Quantum Superposition In Ecological Models: From Counterintuitive Patterns To Eco-Evolutionary Interpretations Of Cryptic Species, David G. Angeler, Hannah B. Fried-Petersen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background Superposition, i.e. the ability of a particle (electron, photon) to occur in different states or positions simultaneously, is a hallmark in the subatomic world of quantum mechanics. Although counterintuitive at first sight, the quantum world has potential to inform macro-systems of people and nature. Using time series and spatial analysis of bird, phytoplankton and benthic invertebrate communities, this paper shows that superposition can occur analogously in redundancy analysis (RDA) frequently used by ecologists.

Results We show that within individual ecosystems single species can be associated simultaneously with different orthogonal axes in RDA models, which suggests that they operate in …

Factors Affecting Walleye And Sauger Recruitment In Lewis And Clark Lake, South Dakota, 2001–2022, William J. Radigan, Phil Chvala, Christopher Longhenry, Mark A. Pegg

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Abundance of adult walleye (Sander vitreus) and sauger (Sander canadensis), two important sport fishes, decreased significantly during 2001–2022 in Lewis and Clark Lake, a border water between Nebraska and South Dakota, despite walleye fingerling stocking and stable age-0 abundance of both species. We sought to identify factors that drove variation in age-0 abundance from 2001 to 2022 using an information theoretic approach. Age-0 walleye catch per unit effort (CPUE) was correlated to mean monthly outflow, mean annual precipitation, and mean April gauge height in a delta. Age-0 sauger CPUE was correlated to adult conspecific CPUE, mean …

Habitat Characteristics, Distribution, And Abundance Of Cicindelidia Haemorrhagica (Leconte) (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) In Yellowstone National Park, K. A. Willemssens, J. L. Bowley, L. Cavallini, E. Oberg, R.K.D. Peterson, Leon G. Higley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Rates Of Freshwater Drum Near The Northern Extent Of Their Range: Evidence Of Environment-Recruitment Relationships, M. Stuart, N. Kludt, M. A. Pegg, F. Montesanto, C. Lyon, C. J. Chance-Ossowski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

High-Altitude Adaptation Is Accompanied By Strong Signatures Of Purifying Selection In The Mitochondrial Genomes Of Three Andean Waterfowl, A. M. Graham, P. Lavretsky, R. E. Wilson, K. G. Mccracken

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Croplands Water Productivity In Response To Management And Climate In The Western Us Corn Belt, M. Khorchani, Tala Awada, M. Schmer, V. Jin, G. Birru, S.R.S. Dangal, Andrew E. Suyker, A. Freidenreich

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Current Challenges And Future Of Agricultural Genomes To Phenomes In The Usa, C. K. Tuggle, J. L. Clarke, B. M. Murdoch, E. Lyons, N. M. Scott, B. Benes, J. D. Campbell, H. Ching, C. L. Daigle, S. D. Choudhury, J.C. M. Dekkers, J.R.R. Dorea, D. S. Erti, B. O. Fragomeni, J. E. Fulton, C. R. Guadagno, D. E. Hagen, A. S. Hess, L. M. Kramer, C. J. Lawrence-Dill, A. E. Lipka, T. Lubberstedt, F. M. Mccarthy, P. S. Schnable

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

15-Yr Biomass Production In Semiarid Nebraska Sandhills Grasslands: Part 1—Plant Functional Group Analysis, B. Zhao, B. M. Stephenson, T. Awada, J. Volesky, B. Wardlow

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Identifying Untapped Legal Capacity To Promote Multi‑Level And Cross‑Sectoral Coordination Of Natural Resource Governance, Nicola Harvey, Ahjond Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Anoeska Buijze, Marleen Van Rijswick

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Natural resource governance in the face of climate change represents one of the seminal challenges of the Anthropocene. A number of innovative approaches have been developed in, among others, the fields of ecology, governance, and sustainability sciences for managing uncertainty and scarcity through a coordinated approach to natural resource governance. However, the absence of an enabling legal and regulatory framework has been identified in the literature as one of the primary barriers constraining the formal operationalization of these governance approaches. In this paper, we show how these approaches provide tools for analyzing procedural mandates across governmental levels and sectors in …

Implementing Interdisciplinary Sustainability Education With The Food-Energy-Water (Few) Nexus, C. B. Romulo, S. Venkataraman, S. Caplow, S. Ajgaonkar, C. R. Allen, A. Anandhi, S. W. Anderson, C. B. Azzarello, K. Brundiers, E. Blavascunas, J. M. Dauer, D. L. Druckenbrod, E. Fairchild, L. R. Horne, K. Lee, M. Mwale, J. Mischler, E. Pappo, N. S. Patel, N. D. Sintov, C. S. Ramsdell, S. G. Vincent

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.