Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Landowner Cooperative Key To Success In The Bee Ridge Quail Focus Area, John A. Pinkowski, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began establishing Quail Focus Areas (QFAs) on private lands in 2004. The goal of QFAs is to increase and expand quail habitat management efforts around a core area. Because most (93%) of the landscape of Missouri, USA is in private ownership, habitat improvement programs on private lands have greater potential to impact quail populations than on public lands alone. A motivated group of landowners led the charge to begin habitat improvement efforts in the Bee Ridge QFA. This group was instrumental in starting earlier monitoring efforts to determine whether habitat improvements were leading to …

Habitat Works: How Partnerships And Habitat Improvement Have Restored Quail Populations In The 2c Quail Focus Area, E. Lee Metcalf, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began establishing Quail Focus Areas (QFAs) on private lands in 2004. The goal of QFAs was to bring groups of landowners together to manage bobwhite habitat on a larger scale in a targeted landscape. Through a variety of state, federal, and other partnership programs, habitat improvement efforts have resulted in large increases in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) numbers in the 2C QFA. In spring 2013, MDC staff and Quail Forever biologists began monitoring bobwhite and songbirds in a portion of the 2C QFA in Carroll County, Missouri, USA and in …

Adaptive Management Facilitates Increase In Northern Bobwhite Populations, James A. Martin, Clay Sisson, Justin Rectenwald, Paige Howell

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Adaptive resource management (ARM) is an approach to managing that allows decision makers to learn about a system and subsequently change management actions based on new information about system processes (i.e., adapt) to better meet fundamental objectives. This is not to be confused with changing management actions when the state of the system changes. For example, changing a harvest regulation when populations decline is not ARM. This dynamic decision making may be fortuitously optimal, but if the effect of harvest is uncertain then changing regulations may be suboptimal—for example, weather may have caused the decline. Adaptive resource management can be …

Northern Bobwhite Demographics And Resource Selection Are Explained By Prescribed Fire With Grazing And Woody Cover In Southwest Missouri, Frank R. Thompson Iii, Mitch D. Weegman, Emily A. Sinnott, Alisha R. Mosloff, Kyle R. Hedges, Frank L. Loncarich, Thomas R. Thompson, Nicholas C. Burrell, Stasia Whitaker, David E. Hoover

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Understanding the effects of landscape management on northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) population growth requires information about seasonal- and stage-specific demographic parameters linked across the annual cycle. We review results to date from 3 years (2016–2018) of an intensive field study evaluating drivers of bobwhite population dynamics and resource selection during the breeding and non-breeding season in southwest Missouri, USA using data from adult and juvenile bobwhite fitted with radio-transmitters. Land cover of our study sites ranged from large blocks of native grasslands maintained with prescribed fire and grazing to more traditional management resulting in small patches …

Adaptive Management And Quail Conservation On Rangelands In The American West, Leonard A. Brennan, Ashley Tanner, Evan P. Tanner

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Adaptive management has been and is being practiced with the goal of sustaining populations of wild quails on large areas of rangelands in the American West. Because the current land use practices throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States largely do not promote early-successional vegetation communities, rangelands contain the largest remaining blocks of contiguous (unfragmented) habitat for the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and the other 5 species of quails found in the western states. Many wildlife professionals on both private and public rangelands are practicing a diverse array of quail habitat and population management actions …

Table Of Contents

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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In Memorium, Frank R. Thompson Iii

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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Foreword, Frank R. Thompson Iii

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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Committees

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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Copyright Page

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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Title Page, Frank R. Thompson Iii

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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Covers

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

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Unraveling The Effects Of Management And Climate On Carbon Fluxes Of U.S. Croplands Using The Usda Long-Term Agroecosystem (Ltar) Network, D. Menefee, Russell L. Scott, M. Abraha, J. G. Alfieri, J. Baker, Dawn M. Browning, Jiquan Chen, Jeff Gonet, J. M. F. Johnson, G. R. Miller, Rachel Nifong, Phil Robertson, E. S. Russell, N. Saliendra, Adam P. Schreiner-Mcgraw, Andrew E. Suyker, P. Wagle, Chris Wente, P. M. White, Doug Smith

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding the carbon fluxes and dynamics from a broad range of agricultural systems has the potential to improve our ability to increase carbon sequestration while maintaining crop yields. Short-term, single-location studies have limited applicability, but long-term data from a network of many locations can provide a broader understanding across gradients of climate and management choices. Here we examine eddy covariance measured carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes from cropland sites across the United States Department of Agriculture’s Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network. The dataset was collected between 2001 and 2020, spanning 13 sites for a total of 182 site-years. Average …

An Assessment Of The Location Of The Bears Ears National Monument Cultural Center, Jordan W. Smith, Eunjung Yang, Anna B. Miller

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

A cultural center at Bears Ears National Monument, if well planned, could serve as an anchor destination through which visitors could learn about, experience, and appreciate the cultures, histories, and landscapes that define southeastern Utah. A cultural center also holds the potential to bolster the regional economy, by signaling a long-term investment in the sustainability of the region’s outdoor recreation and tourism industry. Our intent with this analysis is to establish a foundational understanding of potential locations for a cultural center. We develop and analyze a set of cultural, environmental, and economic metrics that can be used to shape ongoing …

Relief Wells For Water Resources And Managing Salinity And Waterlogging, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources factsheets

Relief wells can provide water resources and help reduce the severity and extent of waterlogging and salinity caused by leaky artesian systems.

A relief well is a 'free flowing' groundwater bore driven by artesian pressure. Such a bore allows groundwater to flow continuously up to the surface by releasing confined pressure stored within the aquifer at depth. This confined artesian pressure is renewed by a percentage of rainfall that infiltrates the soil profile at a higher elevation and recharges aquifers that may be a source of water for a saline seep.

Siphons For Managing Groundwater Discharge And Salinisation In Western Australia, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources factsheets

Siphons are a way of passively moving water from areas of higher hydraulic head to areas of lower hydraulic head, through a pipe. Siphons can be used to lower the watertable under a seepage site if the flow from the siphon (or multiple siphons) is greater than the flow of groundwater to the site. Siphons can reduce surface salt levels at the seepage, but the discharge needs to be to a safe disposal site.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recommends that siphons are used as part of an integrated water and salinity management program.

Recovery Of Soil Microbial Diversity And Functions Along A Tropical Montane Forest Disturbance Gradient, Renee Sniegocki, Jessica B. Moon, Abigail L. Rutrough, Jude Gireneus, Jaya Seelan Sathiya Seelan, Michael C. Farmer, David C. Weindorf, Kusum Naithani

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Logging and forest conversion are occurring at alarming rates in tropical forests. These disturbances alter soil microbial community structure and functions. While direct links between changes in soil properties, such as pH and microbial community structure are well established, the indirect effects of logging and forest conversion on soil microbial community structure and functions are poorly understood. We used a space-for-time substitution to investigate the changes in soil microbial diversity and functions across a forest recovery gradient in the tropical montane forests of northern Borneo. We used surface (top 5 cm) soil to assess soil physicochemical and microbial (next-generation DNA …

Using Sentinel-2 Imagery And Machine Learning Algorithms To Assess The Inundation Status Of Nebraska Conservation Easements During 2018–2021, Ligang Zhang, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Zhenghong Tang

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Conservation easements (CEs) play an important role in the provision of ecological services. This paper aims to use the open-access Sentinel-2 satellites to advance existing conservation management capacity to a new level of near-real-time monitoring and assessment for the conservation easements in Nebraska. This research uses machine learning and Google Earth Engine to classify inundation status using Sentinel-2 imagery during 2018–2021 for all CE sites in Nebraska, USA. The proposed machine learning approach helps monitor the CE sites at the landscape scale in an efficient and low-cost manner. The results confirmed effective inundation performance in these floodplain or wetland-related CE …

Estimating The Burden Of Heat-Related Illness Morbidity Attributable To Anthropogenic Climate Change In North Carolina, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Azar M. Abadi, Kathryn C. Conlon, Jared J. Rennie, Stephanie C. Herring, Laurie Thie, Max J. Rudolph, Rebecca Owen, Jesse E. Bell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Climate change is known to increase the frequency and intensity of hot days (daily maximum temperature ≥30°C), both globally and locally. Exposure to extreme heat is associated with numerous adverse human health outcomes. This study estimated the burden of heat-related illness (HRI) attributable to anthropogenic climate change in North Carolina physiographic divisions (Coastal and Piedmont) during the summer months from 2011 to 2016. Additionally, assuming intermediate and high greenhouse gas emission scenarios, future HRI morbidity burden attributable to climate change was estimated. The association between daily maximum temperature and the rate of HRI was evaluated using the Generalized Additive Model. …

Permafrost Landscape History Shapes Fluvial Chemistry, Ecosystem Carbon Balance, And Potential Trajectories Of Future Change, Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj, Robert G. Striegl, Sarah Shakil, Carolina Voigt, Oliver Sonnentag, William L. Quinton, Edward A.G. Schuur, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Ryan C. Sullivan, Masahito Ueyama, David Billesbach, David Cook, Elyn R. Humphreys, Philip Marsh

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Intensifying permafrost thaw alters carbon cycling by mobilizing large amounts of terrestrial substrate into aquatic ecosystems. Yet, few studies have measured aquatic carbon fluxes and constrained drivers of ecosystem carbon balance across heterogeneous Arctic landscapes. Here, we characterized hydrochemical and landscape controls on fluvial carbon cycling, quantified fluvial carbon fluxes, and estimated fluvial contributions to ecosystem carbon balance across 33 watersheds in four ecoregions in the continuous permafrost zone of the western Canadian Arctic: unglaciated uplands, ice-rich moraine, and organic-rich lowlands and till plains. Major ions, stable isotopes, and carbon speciation and fluxes revealed patterns in carbon cycling across ecoregions …

The State Of Capacity Development Evaluation In Biodiversity Conservation And Natural Resource Management, Eleanor J. Sterling, Amanda Sigouin, Erin Betley, Jennifer Zavaleta Cheek, Jennifer N. Soloman, Kimberley Landrigan, Ana L. Porzecanski, Et. Al.

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Capacity development is critical to long-term conservation success, yet we lack a robust and rigorous understanding of how well its effects are being evaluated. A comprehensive summary of who is monitoring and evaluating capacity development interventions, what is being evaluated and how, would help in the development of evidence-based guidance to inform design and implementation decisions for future capacity development interventions and evaluations of their effectiveness. We built an evidence map by reviewing peer-reviewed and grey literature published since 2000, to identify case studies evaluating capacity development interventions in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. We used inductive and deductive …

Using Electrochemical Oxidation To Remove Pfas In Simulated Investigation-Derivedwaste (Idw): Laboratory And Pilot-Scale Experiments, Amy Yanagida, Elise Webb, Clifford E. Harris, Mark Christenson, Steven Comfort

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Repeated use of aqueous firefighting foams at military aircraft training centers has contaminated groundwater with per and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). To delineate the extent of PFAS contamination, numerous site investigations have occurred, which have generated large quantities of investigation-derived wastes (IDW). The commonly used treatment of incinerating PFAS-tainted IDW is costly, and was recently suspended by the Department of Defense. Given long-term IDW storage in warehouses is not sustainable, our objective was to use electrochemical oxidation to degrade PFAS in contaminated water and then scale the technology toward IDW treatment. This was accomplished by conducting a series of laboratory …

Acreage Of Foreign Owned Farmland In The Mountain West, 2020, Geneva Martin, Saha Salahi, Zachary Billot, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This fact sheet examines foreign-owned farmland in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, as originally reported by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency.

Divergent Neural And Endocrine Responses In Wild-Caught And Laboratory-Bred Rattus Norvegicus, Joanna Jacob, Sally Watanabe, Jonathan Richardson, Nick Gonzales, Emily Ploppert, Garet Lahvis, Aaron Shiels, Sadie Wenger, Kelly Saverino, Janhavi Bhalerao, Brendan Crockett, Erin Burns, Olivia Harding, Krista Fischer-Stenger, Kelly Lambert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Although rodents have represented the most intensely studied animals in neurobiological investigations for more than a century, few studies have systematically compared neural and endocrine differences between wild rodents in their natural habitats and laboratory strains raised in traditional laboratory environments. In the current study, male and female Rattus norvegicus rats were trapped in an urban setting and compared to weight-and sex-matched conspecifics living in standard laboratory housing conditions. Brains were extracted for neural assessments and fecal boli were collected for endocrine [corticosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] assays. Additionally, given their role in immune and stress functions, spleen and adrenal weights …

Collateral Damage From Agricultural Netting To Open-Country Bird Populations In Thailand, Rongrong Angkaew, Philip D. Round, Dusit Ngoprasert, Larkin A. Powell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Nets are used across a wide variety of food production landscapes to control avian pests typically resulting in deaths of entangled birds. However, the impact of nets on bird populations is a human–wildlife conflict that remains mostly unquantified. Here, we examined the scale of netting in the central plains of Thailand, a region dominated by ricefields, among which aquaculture ponds are increasingly interspersed. Nets/exclusion types, number of individual birds and species caught were recorded on 1312 road-survey transects (2-km length × 0.4-km width). We also interviewed 104 local farmers. The transect sampling took place in late- September 2020, and from …

Effects Of Spatially Heterogeneous Lakeside Development On Nearshore Biotic Communities In A Large, Deep, Oligotrophic Lake, Michael F. Meyer, Ted Ozersky, Kara H. Woo, Kirill Shchapov, Aaron W. E. Galloway, Julie B. Schram, Emma J. Rosi, Daniel D. Snow, Maxim A. Timofeyev, Dmitry Yu. Karnaukhov, Matthew R. Brousil, Stephanie E. Hampton

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Sewage released from lakeside development can reshape ecological communities. Nearshore periphyton can rapidly assimilate sewage-associated nutrients, leading to increases of filamentous algal abundance, thus altering both food abundance and quality for grazers. In Lake Baikal, a large, ultra-oligotrophic, remote lake in Siberia, filamentous algal abundance has increased near lakeside developments, and localized sewage input is the suspected cause. These shifts are of particular interest in Lake Baikal, where endemic littoral biodiversity is high, lakeside settlements are mostly small, tourism is relatively high (~1.2 million visitors annually), and settlements are separated by large tracts of undisturbed shoreline, enabling investigation of heterogeneity …

Experimental Infection Of Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats (Tadarida Brasiliensis) With Two Strains Of Sars-Cov-2, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Stephanie M. Porter, Karen A. Fox, Mary E. Wood, Daniel Neubaum, Marissa Quilici

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is presumed to have originated from wildlife and shares homology with other bat coronaviruses. Determining the susceptibility of North American bat species to SARS-CoV-2 is of utmost importance for making decisions regarding wildlife management, public health, and conservation. In this study, Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) were experimentally infected with two strains of SARS-CoV-2 (parental WA01 and Delta variant), evaluated for clinical disease, sampled for viral shedding and antibody production, and analyzed for pathology. None of the bats (n = 18) developed clinical disease associated with infection, shed infectious virus, or …

Long-Term Effect Of A Gnrh-Based Immunocontraceptive On Feral Cattle In Hong Kong, Rebecca Pinkham, Ka-Kei Koon, Jason To, Jason Chan, Flavie Vial, Matt Gomm, Douglas C. Eckery, Giovanna Massei

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Increasing human-wildlife conflicts worldwide are driving the need for multiple solutions to reducing “problem” wildlife and their impacts. Fertility control is advocated as a non-lethal tool to manage free-living wildlife and in particular to control iconic species. Injectable immunocontraceptives, such as GonaCon, stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which in turn affects the release of reproductive hormones in mammals. Feral cattle (Bos indicus or Bos taurus) in Hong Kong are an iconic species whose numbers and impacts on human activities have increased over the last decade. Previous studies have proven that a …

Long-Term Effect Of A Gnrh-Based Immunocontraceptive On Feral Cattle In Hong Kong, Rebecca Pinkham, Ka-Kei Koon, Jason To, Jason Chan, Flavie Vial, Matt Gomm, Douglas C. Eckery, Giovanna Massei

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Increasing human-wildlife conflicts worldwide are driving the need for multiple solutions to reducing “problem” wildlife and their impacts. Fertility control is advocated as a non-lethal tool to manage free-living wildlife and in particular to control iconic species. Injectable immunocontraceptives, such as GonaCon, stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which in turn affects the release of reproductive hormones in mammals. Feral cattle (Bos indicus or Bos taurus) in Hong Kong are an iconic species whose numbers and impacts on human activities have increased over the last decade. Previous studies have proven that a …

Evaluating The Sensitivity Of Heatwave Definitions Among North Carolina Physiographic Regions, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Azar M Abadi, Kathryn C. Conlon, Jared J. Rennie, Hunter Jones, Jesse E. Bell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Exposure to extreme heat is a known risk factor that is associated with increased heat-related illness (HRI) outcomes. The relevance of heat wave definitions (HWDs) could change across health conditions and geographies due to the heterogenous climate profile. This study compared the sensitivity of 28 HWDs associated with HRI emergency department visits over five summer seasons (2011–2016), stratified by two physiographic regions (Coastal and Piedmont) in North Carolina. The HRI rate ratios associated with heat waves were estimated using the generalized linear regression framework assuming a negative binomial distribution. We compared the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) values across the HWDs …