Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Imaging Spectroscopic Analysis Of Biochemical Traits For Shrub Species In Great Basin, Usa, Yi Qi, Susan L. Ustin, Nancy F. Glenn

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The biochemical traits of plant canopies are important predictors of photosynthetic capacity and nutrient cycling. However, remote sensing of biochemical traits in shrub species in dryland ecosystems has been limited mainly due to the sparse vegetation cover, manifold shrub structures, and complex light interaction between the land surface and canopy. In order to examine the performance of airborne imaging spectroscopy for retrieving biochemical traits in shrub species, we collected Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer—Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) images and surveyed four foliar biochemical traits (leaf mass per area, water content, nitrogen content and carbon) of sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) and …

Road Induced Edge Effects On A Forest Bird Community In Tropical Asia, Daphawan Khamcha, Richard T. Corlett, Larkin A. Powell, Tommaso Savini, Antony J. Lynam, George A. Gale

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background: Edge effects cause changes in bird community richness, abundance, and/or distribution within a landscape, but the avian guilds most influenced can vary among regions. Although Southeast Asia has the highest rates of deforestation and projected species loss, and is currently undergoing an explosive growth in road infrastructure, there have been few studies of the effects of forest edges on avian communities in this region.

Methods: We examined avian community structure in a dry evergreen forest in northeastern Thailand adjacent to a five-lane highway. We evaluated the richness and abundance of birds in 11 guilds at 24 survey points on …

Validation Of A Process-Based Agro-Ecosystem Model (Agro-Ibis) For Maize In Xinjiang, Northwest China, Tureniguli Amuti, Geping Luo, Gang Yin, Qi Hu, Elizabeth A. Walter-Shea

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Agricultural oasis expansion and intensive management practices have occurred in arid and semiarid regions of China during the last few decades. Accordingly, regional carbon and water budgets have been profoundly impacted by agroecosystems in these regions. Therefore, study on the methods used to accurately estimate energy, water, and carbon exchanges is becoming increasingly important. Process-based models can represent the complex processes between land and atmosphere among agricultural ecosystems. However, before the models can be applied they must be validated under different environmental and climatic conditions. In this study, a process-based agricultural ecosystem model (Agro-IBIS) was validated for maize crops using …

The Spatial Sensitivity Of The Spectral Diversity–Biodiversity Relationship: An Experimental Test In A Prairie Grassland, Ran Wang, John A. Gamon, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Philip A. Townsend, Arthur I. Zygielbaum

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Remote sensing has been used to detect plant biodiversity in a range of ecosystems based on the varying spectral properties of different species or functional groups. However, the most appropriate spatial resolution necessary to detect diversity remains unclear. At coarse resolution, differences among spectral patterns may be too weak to detect. In contrast, at fine resolution, redundant information may be introduced. To explore the effect of spatial resolution, we studied the scale dependence of spectral diversity in a prairie ecosystem experiment at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, Minnesota, USA. Our study involved a scaling exercise comparing synthetic pixels resampled from …

Extreme Group Sizes In A Colonial Bird Favored During A Rare Climatic Event, Charles R. Brown, Mary B. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

What maintains stasis in animal group-size distributions is an unresolved problem in behavioral ecology. One potential driver could be rare climatic events that favor certain group sizes in ways that do not occur in normal conditions. We investigated mortality among colonially nesting cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) during a rare climatic event in western Nebraska in 1996 that led to the starvation of thousands of adult birds. Colonies at the extreme end of the size distribution exhibited less size reduction (higher adult survival) than those of intermediate size. That this event resulted in disruptive selection on colony size was …

Enhancing Quantitative Approaches For Assessing Community Resilience, W. C. Chuang, A. Garmestani, T. N. Eason, T. L. Spanbauer, H. B. Fried-Peterson, C. P. Roberts, S. M. Sundstrom, J. L. Burnett, D. G. Angeler, B. C. Chaffin, L. Gunderson, D. Twidwell, C. R. Allen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Scholars from many different intellectual disciplines have attempted to measure, estimate, or quantify resilience. However, there is growing concern that lack of clarity on the operationalization of the concept will limit its application. In this paper, we discuss the theory, research development and quantitative approaches in ecological and community resilience. Upon noting the lack of methods that quantify the complexities of the linked human and natural aspects of community resilience, we identify several promising approaches within the ecological resilience tradition that may be useful in filling these gaps. Further, we discuss the challenges for consolidating these approaches into a more …

Tiered Approach To Resilience Assessment, Igor Linkov, Cate Fox-Lent, Laura Read, Craig R. Allen, James C. Arnott, Emanuele Bellini, Jon Coaffee, Marie-Valentine Florin, Kirk Hatfield, Iain Hyde, William Hynes, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Roger Kasperson, John Katzenberger, Patrick W. Keys, James H. Lambert, Richard Moss, Peter S. Murdoch, Jose Palma-Oliveira, Roger S. Pulwarty, Dale Sands, Edward A. Thomas, Mari R. Tye, David Woods

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Regulatory agencies have long adopted a three-tier framework for risk assessment. We build on this structure to propose a tiered approach for resilience assessment that can be integrated into the existing regulatory processes. Comprehensive approaches to assessing resilience at appropriate and operational scales, reconciling analytical complexity as needed with stakeholder needs and resources available, and ultimately creating actionable recommendations to enhance resilience are still lacking. Our proposed framework consists of tiers by which analysts can select resilience assessment and decision support tools to inform associated management actions relative to the scope and urgency of the risk and the capacity of …

River Otter Distribution In Nebraska, Nathan R. Bieber, Samuel P. Wilson, Craig R. Allen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The river otter (Lontra canadensis) was extirpated from Nebraska, USA, in the early 1900s and reintroduced starting in 1986. Information is needed regarding the distribution of river otters in Nebraska before decisions can be made regarding its conservation status. Understanding distribution of a species is critically important for effective management. We investigated river otter distribution in Nebraska with occupancy modeling and maximum entropy (Maxent) modeling using 190 otter sign observations on Nebraska’s navigable rivers and 380 historical otter records from November 1977 to April 2014. Both methods identified the Platte River, Elkhorn River, central and eastern Niobrara River, …

The Distribution And Role Of Functional Abundance In Cross‐Scale Resilience, Shana M. Sundstrom, David G. Angeler, Chris Barichievy, Tarsha Eason, Ahjond Garmestani, Lance Gunderson, Melinda Knutson, Kirsty L. Nash, Trisha Spanbauer, Craig Stow, Craig R. Allen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The cross-scale resilience model suggests that system-level ecological resilience emerges from the distribution of species’ functions within and across the spatial and temporal scales of a system. It has provided a quantitative method for calculating the resilience of a given system and so has been a valuable contribution to a largely qualitative field. As it is currently laid out, the model accounts for the spatial and temporal scales at which environmental resources and species are present and the functional roles species play but does not inform us about how much resource is present or how much function is provided. In …

The Perpetual State Of Emergency That Sacrifices Protected Areas In A Changing Climate, Dirac Twidwell, Carissa L. Wonkka, Christine H. Bielski, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Jacob Drozda, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Julia Johnson, Larkin A. Powell, Caleb P. Roberts

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A modern challenge for conservation biology is to assess the consequences of policies that adhere to assumptions of stationarity (e.g., historic norms) in an era of global environmental change. Such policies may result in unexpected and surprising levels of mitigation given future climate-change trajectories, especially as agriculture looks to protected areas to buffer against production losses during periods of environmental extremes. We assessed the potential impact of climate-change scenarios on the rates at which grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are authorized for emergency harvesting (i.e., biomass removal) for agricultural use, which can occur when precipitation for the …

Comparison Of Agricultural Stakeholder Survey Results And Drought Monitoring Datasets During The 2016 Us Northern Plains Flash Drought, Jason A. Otkin, Tonya Haigh, Anthony Mucia, Martha Anderson, Christopher Hain

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing Responses Of Betula Papyrifera To Climate Variability In A Remnant Population Along The Niobrara River Valley In Nebraska, U.S.A., Through Dendroecological And Remote-Sensing Techniques, E. Bumann, T. Awada, B. Wardlow, M. Hayes, J. Okalebo, C. Helzer, A. Mazis, J. Hiller, P. Cherubini

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ranchers: Perceptions Of Vegetation Heterogeneity In The Northern Great Plains, Maggi Sliwinski, Mark Burbach, Larkin A. Powell, Walter Schacht

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Agreement Between Volunteer- And Researcher-Collected Urban Tree Inventory Data, Nick Bancks, Eric A. North, Gary R. Johnson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Changes In Co2 During The Ocean Anoxic Event 1d Indicate Similarities To Other Carbon Cycle Perturbations, Jon D. Richey, Garland R. Upchurch, Isabel P. Montanez, Barry H. Lomax, Marina B. Suarez, Neil M.J. Crout, R.M. Joeckel, Greg A. Ludvigson, Jon J. Smith

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Water In Society: An Interdisciplinary Course To Support Undergraduate Students' Water Literacy, Cory T. Forbes, Nicholas Brozovic, Trenton E. Franz, Diane E. Lally, Destini N. Petitt

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tree Rings Of Pinus Ponderosa And Juniperus Virginiana Show Different Responses To Stand Density And Water Availability In The Nebraska Grassland, R. Aus Der Au, Tala Awada, J. Hiller, G. Battipaglia, M. Saurer, P. Cherubini

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ups And Downs Of Nebraska: Recognizing Gilgai In The State, R.M. Joeckel, L.M. Howard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Supporting Science Teachers In Creating Lessons With Explicit Conceptual Storylines, Dante Cisterna, Kelsey Lipsitz, Deborah Hanuscin, Zandra De Araujo, Delinda Van Garderen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

African Lion (Panthera Leo) Space Use In The Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area, Andrei Snyman, Edward Raynor, Chris Chizinski, Larkin Powell, John Carroll

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.