Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

The Kentucky Mesonet: Perspectives On Data Access, Distribution, And Use For A Meso-Scale Surface Network, D. M. Grogan, S. Foster, Rezaul Mamood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Stunting On Morphology Of Freshwater Fishes, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope, G.R. Wilde, R.E. Strauss

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The purpose of this study was to assess morphological differences between stunted and non-stunted white perch Morone americana and green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus. Few female M. americana were captured; thus, morphological differences between adult males and juveniles were assessed for M. americana. Similarly, few immature (juvenile) L. cyanellus were captured for the stunted morphotype; thus, male and female morphological differences were assessed for L. cyanellus. Features of the head tended to be relatively larger in stunted fish of both species, whereas the mid-body tended to be relatively larger in non-stunted M. americana, but not in non-stunted …

Risk Assessment: Simultaneously Prioritizing The Control Of Invasive Plant Species And The Conservation Of Rare Plant Species, Thaddeus K. Miller, Craig R. Allen, Wayne G. Landis, James W. Merchant

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Although the consequences of the homogenization of Earth’s flora and fauna are not well understood, experts agree that biological invasions pose hazards to rare species. As a result, there is a need for a systematic approach to assess risks from invasive species. The Relative Risk Model can be adapted to assess combinations of rare species, invasive species, and regions. It also can be applied to different taxonomic groups and at different spatial scales. This flexibility makes it a promising tool for invasive species risk assessment. We used the Relative Risk Model to quantify risks posed to endangered plant species by …

The Effect Of Predation On Stunted And Nonstunted White Perch, Nathan J.C. Gosch, L. L. Pierce, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Predation is widely regarded as a means to prevent or minimise the establishment of a stunted (high density of slow growing individuals) population. We investigated the effect of predation on two different white perch Morone americana populations (stunted and nonstunted) by examining the stomach contents of piscivorous fishes. White perch and gizzard shad dominated piscivore diets in Branched Oak Lake, whereas white perch dominated piscivore diets in Pawnee Lake. White perch consumed in the stunted population (Branched Oak Lake) were larger and older than white perch consumed in the nonstunted population (Pawnee Lake). Many of the consumed white perch in …

Food Habits Of Stunted And Non-Stunted White Perch (Marone Americana), Nathan J.C. Gosch, Jeffrey R. Stittle, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

We studied food habits of white perch (Morone americana) from two populations with different stable states (stunted [Branched Oak Lake, Nebraska] and non-stunted [Pawnee Lake, Nebraska]) to determine if change in food habits of white perch is likely to occur in situations where a stunted while perch population is altered to a non-stunted state and vice versa. Three approaches were used to quantitatively describe seasonal (spring= March-May, summer= June-August, autumn = September-November) diets of white perch - 1) frequency of occurrence, 2) percentage of composition by volume, and 3) mean stomach fullness. White perch diets were dominated by …

Methods For Assessing Fish Populations, Kevin L. Pope, Steve E. Lochmann, Michael K. Young

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Fisheries managers are likely to assess fish populations at some point during the fisheries management process. Managers that follow the fisheries management process (see Chapter 5) might find their knowledge base insufficient during the steps of problem identification or management action and must assess a population before appropriate actions can be taken. Managers will implement some type of assessment during the evaluation step as a means of measuring progress relative to objectives. Choosing how to assess a population is an important decision because managers strive to maximize their knowledge of a population while minimizing the time and money expended to …

Evaluating Food Availability And Nest Predation Risk As Sources Of Bias In Aural Bird Surveys, Bruce A. Robertson, Richard L. Hutto, Joseph J. Fontaine

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The use of aural surveys to estimate population parameters is widespread in avian studies.Despite efforts to increase the efficacy of this method, the potential for ecological context to bias population estimates remains largely unexplored. For example, food availability and nest predation risk can influence singing activity independent of density and, therefore, may bias aural estimates where these ecological factors vary systematically among habitats or other categories of ecological interest. We used a natural fire event in a mixed-conifer forest that experienced variation in fire severity (low, intermediate, and high) to determine if aural surveys produce accurate density estimates of Dark-eyed …

New Insights On The Sequence Stratigraphic Architecture Of The Dakota Formation In Kansas-Nebraska-Iowa From A Decade Of Sponsored Research Activity, G. A. Ludvigson, B. J. Witzke, Robert Matthew Joeckel, R. L. Ravn, P. L. Phillips, L. A. Gonzalez, R. L. Brenner

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Communicator, Volume 6, Issue 1, February 2010

The Communicator: News from the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

New Faces (Christopher Jorgensen; Ryan Stutzman; Christina Hoffman) NSF Assistantships New Research Assessing Landscape Constraints on Habitat Management of Upland Birds Avian Conservation in the Prairie Pothole Region: Understanding the Links Between Climate, Ecosystem Processes, Wetland Management, and Bird Communities Missouri River Mitigation: Implementation of Amphibian Monitoring and Adaptive Management for Wetland Restoration Evaluation Research Highlight Monitoring, Mapping and Risk Assessment for Non-Indigenous Invasive Species in Nebraska (Nebraska Invasive Species Project) ANNUAL MEETING Conferences/Meetings/Workshops Graduate Student News (Michelle Hellman; Christina Hoffman; Christopher Jorgensen; Kristine Nemec; Ryan Stutzman) Teaching

Niobrara National Scenic River Condition Assessment, Sunil Narumalani, Gary D. Willson, Christine K. Lockert, Paul B. T. Merani

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Niobrara National Scenic River spans a 122-km (76-mile) long reach of the Niobrara River in rural, north-central Nebraska. The scenic river encompasses 9,338 ha (23,074 acres) of land and water, all of which is in private ownership, except for about 320 ha (790 acres). Because the scenic river does not own land, it achieves management goals by coordinating and collaborating with federal, state, and local jurisdictions and private landowners.

The central Niobrara River Valley is often referred to as a “biological crossroads” with plant and animal species representative of northern boreal forest, eastern deciduous forest, rocky mountain coniferous …

Absorption And Biotransformation Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers De-71 And De-79 In Chicken (Gallus Gallus), Mallard (Anas Platyrhynchos), American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius) And Black-Crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax Nycticorax) Eggs, Moira A. Mckernan, Barnett A. Rattner, Jeff S. Hatfield, Robert C. Hale, Mary Ann Ottinger

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We recently reported that air cell administration of penta-brominated diphenyl ether (penta-BDE; DE-71) evokes biochemical and immunologic effects in chicken (Gallus gallus) embryos at very low doses, and impairs pipping (i.e., stage immediately prior to hatching) and hatching success at 1.8 µg g^-1 egg (actual dose absorbed) in American kestrels (Falco sparverius). In the present study, absorption of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners was measured following air cell administration of a penta-BDE mixture (11.1 lg DE-71 g^-1 egg) or an octa-brominated diphenyl ether mixture (octa BDE; DE-79; 15.4 lg DE-79 g^{- …}

How Long Does This Litter Last?, Public Lands Institute

Anti-littering Presentations

Timeline for how long different types of waste last in the Nevada desert.

Native Species Interactions With Red Brome: Suggestions For Burn-Area Revegetation, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

In deserts, native perennial plants often actually facilitate the establishment of exotic annual grasses. One of our focal areas of research is to identify native species for use in revegetation projects that reduce the establishment of exotic annual grasses, or at least do not strongly facilitate exotic species establishment. An initial research effort involving a competition experiment of red brome with native species and a correlational field study of brome distribution among native perennial plants is in press with the journal Invasive Plant Science and Management.

Trying To Beat The Brome: Understanding Establishment Thresholds And Choosing Competitive Native Species At Parashant National Monument, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Desert fires fueled by exotic grasses like the omnipresent red brome (Bromus rubens) can be intense and cause widespread mortality of native vegetation. Native desert scrub communities such as those dominated by blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) do not readily reestablish after fire (Abella 2009) and may even become more abundant in the post-burn landscape initiating a fire cycle that occurs at a greater frequency than the recovery time of the long-lived desert perennial community.

Undergraduate And Graduate Programs In Environmental Science At Unlv, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

The School of Environmental and Public Affairs at UNLV houses B.A. and B.S. degrees in Environmental Studies and M.S. and PhD degrees in Environmental Science. These degrees are flexible, multi-purpose, interdisciplinary programs that can be tailored for both breadth and depth.

A Modelling Approach To Evaluate Potential Management Actions Designed To Increase Growth Of White Perch In A High-Density Population, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope, G.R. Wilde

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

A deterministic, age-structured population model was developed to simulate potential management scenarios designed to increase growth of individuals (quantified by maximum length) in a hypothetical population of white perch, Morone americana (Gmelin). Four scenarios were developed that included non-selective mortality of adult white perch, increased mortality of age groups most influential on population growth, increased age-0 mortality and inhibiting recruitment after spawning. The greatest increase in maximum length occurred with nonselective adult mortality when population biomass was reduced by 97%; lesser increases in maximum length were achieved with the other management scenarios. Populations returned to their original state after control …

Methods For Assessing Fish Populations, Kevin L. Pope, Steve E. Lochmann, Michael K. Young

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Fisheries managers are likely to assess fish populations at some point during the fisheries management process. Managers that follow the fisheries management process (see Chapter 5) might find their knowledge base insufficient during the steps of problem identification or management action and must assess a population before appropriate actions can be taken. Managers will implement some type of assessment during the evaluation step as a means of measuring progress relative to objectives. Choosing how to assess a population is an important decision because managers strive to maximize their knowledge of a population while minimizing the time and money expended to …

Effects Of Lightning And Other Meteorological Factors On Fire Activity In The North American Boreal Forest: Implications For Fire Weather Forecasting, David Peterson, Jun Wang, Charles Ichoku, Lorraine Remer

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The effects of lightning and other meteorological factors on wildfire activity in the North American boreal forest are statistically analyzed during the fire seasons of 2000–2006 through an integration of the following data sets: the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) level 2 fire products, the 3-hourly 32-km gridded meteorological data from North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), and the lightning data collected by the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) and the Alaska Lightning Detection Network (ALDN). Positive anomalies of the 500 hPa geopotential height field, convective available potential energy (CAPE), number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, and the number of consecutive dry …

Promiscuous Mating In Feral Pigs (Sus Scrofa) From Texas, Usa, Johanna Delgado-Acevedo, Angeline Zamorano, Randy W. Deyoung, Tyler A. Campbell, David G. Hewitt, David B. Long

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Context. Feral pigs represent a significant threat to agriculture and ecosystems and are disease reservoirs for pathogens affecting humans, livestock and other wildlife. Information on the behavioural ecology of feral pigs might increase the efficiency and effectiveness of management strategies.

Aims. We assessed the frequency of promiscuous mating in relation to oestrous synchrony in feral pigs from southern Texas, USA, an agroecosystem with a widespread and well established population of feral pigs. An association between multiple paternity of single litters and synchrony of oestrous may indicate alternative mating strategies, such as mateguarding.

Methods. We collected gravid sows at …

Subspecies Status And Population Genetic Structure In Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus), Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig, Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor, Thomas D. Mullins

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is a migratory shorebird that is listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S. Great Lakes and as threatened throughout the rest of its breeding and winter range. We undertook a comprehensive molecular-genetic investigation to (1) address subspecific taxonomy, (2) characterize population genetic structure, and (3) infer past bottlenecks and demographic processes in this species. Analyses included individuals from 23 U.S. states and Canadian provinces and were based on mitochondrial DNA sequences (580 base pairs, n = 245) and 8 nuclear microsatellite loci (n = 229). Our findings provide support for separate Atlantic and …