Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

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

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

No abstract provided.

Sorption Of Phosphorus By Soils : How It Is Measured In Western Australia, Michael D A Bolland, D G. Allen, N J. Barrow

Bulletins 4000 -

Most soils used for agriculture in Western Australia had insufficient indigenous native phosphorus P for the introduced agricultural plant species used in the region so fertiliser P had to be applied. This bulletin covers how water-soluble P WSP fertilisers are made, and how the P in the fertilisers dissolves and reacts with soil in the year of application and in the years after application, how soils sorb P and procedures and soil tests used to estimate the capacity of soils to sorb P.

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 …

Ancient Maize From Chacoan Great Houses: Where Was It Grown?, Larry Benson, Linda Cordell, Kirk Vincent, Howard E. Taylor, John Stein, G. Lang Farmer, U.S. Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

In this article, we compare chemical (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and elemental) analyses of archaeological maize from dated contexts within Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, to potential agricultural sites on the periphery of the San Juan Basin. The oldest maize analyzed from Pueblo Bonito probably was grown in an area located 80 km to the west at the base of the Chuska Mountains. The youngest maize came from the San Juan or Animas river floodplains 90 km to the north. This article demonstrates that maize, a dietary staple of southwestern Native Americans, was transported over considerable distances in …

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 …

Mid-Holocene Climates Of The Americas: A Dynamical Response To Changed Seasonality, S. P. Harrison, J. E. Kutzbach, Z. Liu, P. J. Bartlein, B. Otto-Bliesner, Daniel R. Muhs, I. C. Prentice, R. S. Thompson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Abstract Simulations of the climatic response to mid- Holocene (6 ka BP) orbital forcing with two coupled ocean–atmosphere models (FOAM and CSM) show enhancement of monsoonal precipitation in parts of the American Southwest, Central America and northernmost South America during Northern Hemisphere summer. The enhanced onshore flow that brings precipitation into Central America is caused by a northward displacement of the inter-tropical convergence zone, driven by cooling of the equatorial and warming of the northern subtropical and mid-latitude ocean. Ocean feedbacks also enhance precipitation over the American Southwest, although the increase in monsoon precipitation there is largely driven by increases …

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 …

Importance Of Food Ration And Water Temperature On Growth Of Juvenile Green Sunfish (Lepomis Cyanellus), Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

A randomized design was used to test the difference in growth rates of juvenile green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) subjected to three treatments (food ration, temperature and salinity). Food ration and water temperature were similarly important in affecting growth of juvenile green sunfish. Juvenile green sunfish were found to accomplish similar growth with scarce food and optimum temperature as with abundant food and sub-optimum temperature. This equal and independent relation to biotic and abiotic factors should be expected in a ubiquitous generalist species, such as green sunfish.

Estimation Of Fishing Tournament Mortality And Its Sampling Variance, Gene R. Wilde, Kevin L. Pope, Richard E. Strauss

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The mortality of fish captured in fishing tournaments has commonly been estimated incorrectly and, thus far, only one account has presented an estimate of the standard error or confidence interval for tournament-associated mortality. In this article we describe methods for estimating the initial, delayed, and total mortality of tournament-caught fish and provide formulae for estimating the sampling variances of these estimates. The absence of such estimates from previous studies may explain an observed lack of change in tournament-associated mortality between the 1980s and the 1990s. Our methods provide insight into the design of studies of tournament-associated mortality and suggest, for …

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 …

Yellow Jackets May Be An Underestimated Component Of An Ant-Seed Mutualism, Megan T. Bale, Jennifer A. Zettler, Bradford A. Robinson, Timothy P. Spira, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Yellow jackets (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) are attracted to the typically ant-dispersed seeds of trilliums and will take seeds from ants in the genus Aphaeogaster.  To determine if yellow jacket, Vespulla maculifrons (Buysson), presence interferes with seed foraging by ants, we presented seeds of Trillium discolor Wray to three species (A. texana carolinesis Wheeler, Formica schaufussi Mayr, and Solenopsis invicta Buren) of seed-carrying ants in areas where vespids were present or excluded.  We found that interspecific aggression between yellow jackets and ants is species specific.  Vespid presence decreased average foraging time and increased foraging efficiency of two of the three …

Late-Holocene Climate And Ecosystem History From Chesapeake Bay Sediment Cores, Usa, Debra A. Willard, Thomas M. Cronin, Stacey Verardo

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Palaeoclimate records from late-Holocene sediments in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the USA, provide evidence that both decadal to centennial climate variability and European colonization had severe impacts on the watershed and estuary. Using pollen and dinoflagellate cysts as proxies for mid-Atlantic regional precipitation, estuarine salinity and dissolved oxygen (DO) during the last 2300 years, we identified four dry intervals, centred on ad 50 (P1/D1), ad 1000 (P2/D2), ad 1400 (P3) and ad 1600 (P4). Two centennial-scale events, P1/D1 and P2/D2, altered forest composition and led to increased salinity and DO levels in the estuary. Intervals P3 and P4 …

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 …

Calibration Of Remotely Sensed, Coarse Resolution Ndvi To Co2 Fluxes In A Sagebrush–Steppe Ecosystem, Bruce K. Wylie, Douglas A. Johnson, Emilio Laca, Nicanor Z. Saliendra, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Bradley C. Reed, Larry L. Tieszen, Bruce B. Worstell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon flux can be partitioned into gross primary productivity (GPP) and respiration (R). The contribution of remote sensing and modeling holds the potential to predict these components and map them spatially and temporally. This has obvious utility to quantify carbon sink and source relationships and to identify improved land management strategies for optimizing carbon sequestration. The objective of our study was to evaluate prediction of 14-day average daytime CO₂ fluxes ( F_day) and nighttime CO₂ fluxes (R_n) using remote sensing and other data. F_{day …}

An Approach For Mapping Large-Area Impervious Surfaces: Synergistic Use Of Landsat-7 Etm+ And High Spatial Resolution Imagery, Limin Yang, Chengquan Huang, Bruce K. Wylie, Michael J. Coan

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A wide range of urban ecosystem studies, including urban climate, land use planning, and resource management, require current and accurate geospatial data of urban impervious surfaces. We developed an approach to quantify urban impervious surfaces as a continuous variable by using multisensor datasets. Subpixel percent impervious surfaces at 30-m resolution were mapped using a regression tree model. The utility, practicality, and affordability of the proposed method for large-area imperviousness mapping were tested over three spatial scales (Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Richmond, Virginia, and the Chesapeake Bay areas of the United States). Average error of predicted versus actual percent impervious surface …

Influence Of The Pacific Decadal Oscillation On The Climate Of The Sierra Nevada, California And Nevada, Larry Benson, Braddock Linsley, Joe Smoot, Scott Mensing, Steve Lund, Scott Stine, Andre Sarna-Wojcicki

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Mono Lake sediments have recorded five major oscillations in the hydrologic balance between A.D. 1700 and 1941. These oscillations can be correlated with tree-ring-based oscillations in Sierra Nevada snowpack. Comparison of a tree-ring-based reconstruction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index (D’Arrigo et al., 2001) with a coral-based reconstruction of Subtropical South Pacific sea-surface temperature (Linsley et al., 2000) indicates a high degree of correlation between the two records during the past 300 yr. This suggests that the PDO has been a pan-Pacific phenomena for at least the past few hundred years. Major oscillations in the hydrologic balance of the …

Age Of The Mono Lake Excursion And Associated Tephra, Larry Benson, Joseph Liddicoat, Joseph Smoot, Andrei Sarna-Wojcicki, Robert M. Negrini, Steve Lund

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Mono Lake excursion (MLE) is an important time marker that has been found in lake and marine sediments across much of the Northern Hemisphere. Dating of this event at its type locality, the Mono Basin of California, has yielded controversial results with the most recent effort concluding that the MLE may actually be the Laschamp excursion (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 197 (2002) 151). We show that a volcanic tephra (Ash #15) that occurs near the midpoint of the MLE has a date (not corrected for reservoir effect) of 28,620 ± 300 ¹⁴C yr BP (~32,400 GISP2 yr BP) …

Rare-Earth Elements And Nd And Pb Isotopes As Source Indicators For Labrador Sea Clay-Size Sediments During Heinrich Event 2, Larry V. Benson, Don Barber, John T. Andrews, Howard E. Taylor, Paul Lamothe

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Elemental abundances and Nd and Pb isotope ratios were determined on samples from the carbonate-free, clay-size fractions of sediments from intervals above, within, and below Heinrich event 2 (H-2) in core HU87-9 from the Northwest Labrador Sea slope. In HU87-9, rare-earth element (REE) distributions and elemental concentrations within the H-2 event are distinct from those outside this event. ɛ_Nd(0) and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb data also indicate different values for sediments deposited within and outside the H-2 event. Comparisons of REE patterns from the H-2 interval with those from bedrock units in Baffin Island, northern Quebec, and Labrador …

Response Of North American Great Basin Lakes To Dansgaard–Oeschger Oscillations, Larry Benson, Steve Lund, Robert M. Negrini, Braddock Linsley, Mladen Zic

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We correlate oscillations in the hydrologic and/or cryologic balances of four Great Basin surface-water systems with Dansgaard– Oeschger (D–O) events 2–12. This correlation is relatively strong at the location of the magnetic signature used to link the lake records, but becomes less well constrained with distance/time from the signature. Comparison of proxy glacial and hydrologic records from Owens and Pyramid lakes indicates that Sierran glacial advances occurred during times of relative dryness. If our hypothesized correlation between the lake-based records and the GISP2 δ¹⁸O record is correct, it suggests that North Atlantic D–O stades …