Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

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, …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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

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

No abstract provided.

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.

Movements And Habitat Use By Shovelnose And Pallid Sturgeon In The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Benjamin D. Swigle

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

No abstract provided.

Wattle Size Is Correlated With Male Territorial Rank In Juvenile Ring-Necked Pheasants, Anna Papeschi, John P. Carroll, Francesco Dessi-Fulgheri

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We used morphological measurements and behavioral observations to investigate the relationship between male ornaments and male social rank during the breeding season in a free-ranging population of one-year-old Ring-necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus). The sample was of birds of the same age class to avoid the confounding effect of age differences. Tail length, used by females in mate choice, and tarsal spur length, used by males as a weapon in fights, were not correlated with male rank, whereas the size of the wattle was the most important trait. This combined with recent studies showing that wattle size reliably indicates …

State-Space Discretization Of The Kalinin-Milyukov-Nash Cascade In A Sample-Data System Framework For Streamflow Forecasting, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Aggradation Of Gravels In Tidally Influenced Systems: Upper Albian (Lower Cretaceous) On The Cratonic Margin Of The North American Western Interior Foreland Basin., Robert L. Brenner, Gregory A. Ludvigson, Brian L. Witzke, Preston Lee Phillips, Timothy S. White, David F. Ufnar, Luis A. Gonzalez, R. Matthew Joeckel, Adrian Goettemoeller, Benjamin R. Shirk

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comment On "A Reappraisal Of The Kalman Filtering Technique As Applied In River Flow Forecasting" By M. Ahsan And K. M. O'Connor, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Vadose Zone Influences On Aquifer Parameter Estimates Of Saturated-Zone Hydraulic Theory, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sensitivity Analysis Of Aquifer Parameter Estimations Based On The Laplace-Equation With Linearized Boundary Conditions, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Survival Rates And Recovery Distributions Of Canada Geese Banded In Nebraska, Larkin A. Powell, Mark Vrtiska, Nick Lyman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We analyzed banding and recovery data for Canada geese (Branta canadensis) banded in Nebraska during 1990–2000. Survival rates were lower during 1996–2000 (adult: 0.688, SE = 0.016; juvenile: 0.611, SE = 0.029), than 1990–1995 (adult: 0.727, SE = 0.011; juvenile: 0.639, SE = 0.024). Average juvenile-to-adult ratio from banding data was 0.834 (SD = 0.485), resulting in an annual population growth rate (λ) estimate for 1990–1995 of 0.995 (95% CI = 0.021), and 0.922 (0.018) for 1996–2000. Our recovery analysis suggests that 67% of geese banded in Nebraska are shot in Nebraska. Over 30% of both juvenile and adult recoveries …

Urban Canada Geese In Georgia: Assessing A Golf Course Survey And A Nuisance Relocation Program, Larkin A. Powell, Michael J. Conroy, Kipling S. Balkcom, Joe Caudell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Nuisance complaints about Canada geese (Branta canadensis), have risen in recent years. In Georgia, managers have responded by relocating some nuisance geese to rural areas. During 1993–1996, we used band recoveries of relocated geese to determine the efficacy of relocation as a management strategy. We also used data from a post-card survey of golf courses to monitor the urban subpopulation of Canada geese in Georgia during 1998–2001. Flocks considered by golf course superintendents to be a nuisance were larger (1998: 48.8 geese, 1999: 71.5, 2000: 73.2, 2001: 67.2) than nonnuisance flocks (1998: 13.1 geese, 1999: 16.7, 2000: 25.8, 2001: 18.1). …

Temporal Variations Of Extreme Precipitation Events In The United States: 1895–2000, Kenneth E. Kunkel, David R. Easterling, Kelly Redmond, Kenneth Hubbard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A newly available data set of daily precipitation observations was used to study the temporal variability of the frequency of short-duration extreme precipitation events for 1895–2000 in the conterminous United States. Event durations of 1, 5, 10, and 30 day and return periods of 1, 5, and 20 year were analyzed. For all combinations of duration and return period, heavy precipitation frequencies were relatively high during the late 19th/early 20th Centuries, decreasing to a minimum in the 1920s and 30s, followed by a general increase into the 1990s. The frequencies at the beginning of the 20th Century were nearly as …

Fire Climate Interactions And Predicting Fire Season Severity In The Mediterranean Climate Areas Of California, Southern Oregon, And Western Nevada, Alan H. Taylor, Carl N. Skinner, Andrew M. Carleton, Scott L. Stephens, Valerie Trouet, Bernd Haupt, Andrew Pierce

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

• We identified annual area burned for 37 National Forests in Washington, Oregon, and California between 1929 and 2004 from annual fire reports. Variation in area burned each year on National Forest lands is strongly related (r2 = 0.87) to total area burned in California. This indicates area burned in National Forests is a good indicator of total area burned in a state. • Four large groups of National Forests were identified that had similar temporal patterns of fire extent. Three of these groups were spatially coherent and included mainly: 1) Washington and northern Oregon; 2) northern California and California …

The Ceres-Rice Model-Based Estimates Of Potential Monsoon Season Rainfed Rice Productivity In Bangladesh, Rezaul Mahmood, Mark Meo, David R. Legates, Mark L. Morrissey

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Agricultural practices in Bangladesh are largely dependent on the monsoonal rainfall. Historically, Bangladesh often experiences severe droughts and floods during the monsoon months, with significant crop losses during both extreme conditions. This article provides a quantitative assessment of potential monsoon-season aman rice for four transplanting dates: 1 June, 1 July, 15 July, and 15 August. A crop-growth simulation model, the CERES-Rice, is applied to sixteen locations representing major rice-growing regions of Bangladesh to determine baseline yield estimates for four transplanting dates. The applications were conducted for 1975 through 1987. Average potential yield in Bangladesh is 6,907, 5,039, 3,637, and 1,762 …

Democratizing Science, Management, And Public Policy In The Missouri River Ecosystem: A Pilot Study Of Agricultural Producers' Amenability To Adaptive And Collaborative Management, Meghan Sittler

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

Agricultural stakeholder involvement is central to the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) National Research Council (NRC)(2002) recommendation for development and implementation of adaptive, ecosystem management principles, as well as the definition of a new management regime for the Missouri River. This document represents a pilot study of fifteen agricultural producers in three counties, Atchison County, Missouri, Fremont County, Iowa, and Otoe County, Nebraska, who were contacted via telephone and completed structured interviews. The interview questions centered upon the producers' relationship to the river, perceptions of the current management of the river, and willingness to support and participate in a proposed …

Analysis Of Integrated Farming Systems In Eastern Nebraska, Lori A. Hoagland

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

Agroecosystems in the U.S. are beset with social, ecological and environmental problems as large industrial farming methods are edging out small family-sized farms and replacing ecological services provided by biodiversity with synthetic inputs and practices. While many of the benefits of smaller diversified or integrated farming systems are well known, farm producers need a concrete model that shows how integration is possible and with what crops. The objective of this study was to investigate some of these supplemental farm activities, and identify and evaluate whether they were compatible given the time and resource constraints of a typical eastern Nebraska farm. …

Effectiveness Of Frightening Devices For Reducing Deer Damage In Cornfields, Jason M. Gilsdorf

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

No abstract provided.

A Regional Gis-Based Analysis Of Elk Habitat Suitability In Northeast Nebraska, J W. Fisher

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

No abstract provided.

A Regional Gis-Based Analysis Of Elk Habitat Suitability In Northwestern Nebraska, Justin W. Fischer

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

The need to accurately assess the use and suitability of elk (Cervus elaphus spp.) habitat at regional scales will continue to increase as human development encroaches into what was once optimum elk habitat. The objectives of this research were to calculate the relative proportions of habitat use by elk in the Pine Ridge region of Northwestern Nebraska from a set of radio-collared elk locations and generate a habitat suitability model. Habitat variables (Iandcover type, aspect, slope, distance to a road, road density, and distance from the ponderosa pine edge) were measured for each elk location (n = 5,787 dating …

Influence Of Light And Nutrients On Atrazine Toxicity To Freshwater Algae, Crystal J. Hansen

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

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Irrigation On Midsummer Surface Fluxes And Temperature Under Dry Synoptic Conditions: A Regional Atmospheric Model Study Of The U.S. High Plains, Jimmy O. Adegoke, Roger A. Pielke Sr., J. Eastman, Rezaul Mahmood, Kenneth G. Hubbard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The impact of irrigation on the surface energy budget in the U.S. high plains is investigated. Four 15-day simulations were conducted: one using a 1997 satellite-derived estimate of farmland acreage under irrigation in Nebraska (control run), two using the Olson Global Ecosystem (OGE) vegetation dataset (OGE wet run and OGE dry run), and the fourth with the Kuchler vegetation dataset (natural vegetation run) as lower boundary conditions in the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). In the control and OGE wet simulations, the topsoil in the irrigated locations, up to a depth of 0.2 m, was saturated at …

Anthropogenic Land-Use Change In The North American Tall Grass-Short Grass Transition And Modification Of Near-Surface Hydrologic Cycle, Rezaul Mamood, Kenneth Hubbard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the landscape of the North American Great Plains was rapidly modified from natural grasslands to agricultural farmlands. These changes affected much of the continent with potential impacts in grasslands equal to deforestation elsewhere. Therefore, the resulting impacts on weather and climate should be studied. In this study, a soil water balance model is applied for 3 land uses at 3 locations. These locations are representative of the east to west declining precipitation gradient of the Great Plains. It was found, in McCook, Nebraska, for example, that annual total evapotranspiration for irrigated maize is 36% …

Realtime Data Filtering Models For Air Temperature Measurements, Kenneth G. Hubbard, X. Lin

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Air temperature measurement biases caused by solar radiation and ambient wind speed are well-known. However, realtime air temperature filtering models are essential for generating homogeneous climate data by transforming one air temperature measurement system into another, and correcting in-situ air temperature biases especially for non-aspirated radiation shield systems. This study investigated the air temperature biases caused in the commonly used radiation shields in the United States, including the ASOS, MMTS, Gill, CRS, ASP-ES, and NON-ASPES shields along with corresponding temperature sensors. The realtime air temperature filtering models developed for each air temperature system are capable of removing the solar radiation …

Macrohabitat Composition Surrounding Successful And Depredated Northern Bobwhite Nests, Eric L. Staller, William E. Palmer, John P. Carroll

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Relationships among macrohabitat and depredation of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) nests are poorly understood. Yet, macrohabitat composition may influence the nest predator community and, therefore, the vulnerability of northern bobwhite nests to depredation. We determined if macrohabitat composition surrounding bobwhite nests influenced nest placement, nest success, and which predators were responsible for depredating nests. We characterized macrohabitats at 2 scales, 8 and 16 ha, by surrounding both bobwhite nests, and an equal number of random locations, with a circular buffer. Random points were placed within the area used by bobwhites on our study area. We then determined the …