Vanishing riverscapes: A review of historical channel change on the western Great Plains

Author(s):  
Ellen Wohl ◽  
Dena Egenhoff ◽  
Kelly Larkin
2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 626-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailey Wilmer ◽  
David J. Augustine ◽  
Justin D. Derner ◽  
María E. Fernández-Giménez ◽  
David D. Briske ◽  
...  

Radiocarbon ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
D C Thorstenson ◽  
E P Weeks ◽  
Herbert Haas ◽  
D W Fisher

Data on the depth distribution of the major atmospheric gases and the abundance of gaseous 12CO2, 13CO2, and 14CO2 in the subsoil unsaturated zone have been obtained from several sites in the western Great Plains of the United States. Sample profiles range from land surface to depths of 50m. Although each site must be considered on an individual basis, several general statements can be made regarding the profiles. 1) Diffusion of these gaseous molecules through the unsaturated zone is an important transport mechanism. 2) As predicted by diffusion theory, depth profiles of the various isotopic species of CO2 differ substantially from one another, depending on individual sources and sinks such as root respiration and oxidation of organic carbon at depth. 3) In general, post-bomb (> 100% modern) 14C activities are not observed in the deep unsaturated zone, in contrast to diffusion model predictions. 4) In spite of generally decreasing 14C activities with depth, absolute partial pressures of 14CO2 in the subsoil unsaturated zone are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than the partial pressure of 14CO2 in the atmosphere.


Copeia ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 1991 (3) ◽  
pp. 659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt D. Fausch ◽  
Robert G. Bramblett

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myron P. Gutmann ◽  
Sara M. Pullum-Piñón ◽  
Kristine Witkowski ◽  
Glenn D. Deane ◽  
Emily Merchant

In agricultural settings, environment shapes patterns of settlement and land use. Using the Great Plains of the United States during the period of its initial Euro-American settlement (1880–1940) as an analytic lens, this article explores whether the same environmental factors that determine settlement timing and land use—those that indicate suitability for crop-based agriculture—also shape initial family formation, resulting in fewer and smaller families in areas that are more conducive to livestock raising than to cropping. The connection between family size and agricultural land availability is now well known, but the role of the environment has not previously been explicitly tested. Descriptive analysis offers initial support for a distinctive pattern of family formation in the western Great Plains, where precipitation is too low to support intensive cropping. However, multivariate analysis using county-level data at 10-year intervals offers only partial support to the hypothesis that environmental characteristics produce these differences. Rather, this analysis has found that the region was also subject to the same long-term social and demographic changes sweeping the rest of the country during this period.


2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (11) ◽  
pp. 6886-6893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Pfeffer ◽  
Jerome E. Foster ◽  
Eric A. Edwards ◽  
Mary Bomberger Brown ◽  
Nicholas Komar ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present the first detailed phylogenetic analysis of Buggy Creek virus (BCRV), a poorly known alphavirus with transmission cycles involving a cimicid swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius) vector and cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and house sparrows (Passer domesticus) as the principal avian hosts. Nucleotide sequences of a 2,075-bp viral envelope glycoprotein-coding region, covering the entire PE2 gene, were determined for 33 BCRV isolates taken from swallow bugs at cliff swallow colonies in Nebraska and Colorado in the summer of 2001 and were compared with the corresponding region of BCRV isolates collected from Oklahoma in the 1980s. We also analyzed isolates of the closely related Fort Morgan virus (FMV) collected from Colorado in the 1970s. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that BCRV falls into the western equine encephalomyelitis complex of alphaviruses, in agreement with antigenic results and a previous alphavirus phylogeny based on the E1 coding region. We found four distinct BCRV/FMV clades, one each unique to Nebraska, Colorado, and Oklahoma and one containing isolates from both Nebraska and Colorado. BCRV isolates within the two clades from Nebraska showed 5.7 to 6.2% nucleotide divergence and 0.7 to 1.9% amino acid divergence, and within these clades, we found multiple subclades. Nebraska subclades tended to be confined to one or a few cliff swallow colonies that were close to each other in space, although in some cases, near-identical isolates were detected at sites up to 123 km apart. Viral gene flow occurs when cliff swallows move (bugs) between colony sites, and the genetic structure of BCRV may reflect the limited dispersal abilities of its insect vector.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn L Smith ◽  
Christina D Difonzo ◽  
Tracey S Baute ◽  
Andrew P Michel ◽  
Christian H Krupke

Abstract The western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith) is a native North American pest of corn and dry beans. The historical geographic range of the western bean cutworm covered the western Great Plains states including Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Since 1999, the geographic range of the western bean cutworm has rapidly expanded eastward across the U.S. Corn Belt and eastern Canada, causing significant and economic damage to corn Zea mays (L.) and dry edible beans Phaseolus spp., in parts of this region. Since 2010, increasing challenges related to managing this pest in its new range prompted numerous research studies that provided new insights into the biology and management of western bean cutworm. This revision of a previous Journal of IPM profile summarizes new information regarding the ecology and biology of western bean cutworm, and discusses updated recommendations for scouting and management in corn and dry beans, with an emphasis in the expanded geographic range of the Great Lakes region.


1951 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. T. Harrison ◽  
W. B. Beckwith

The highest hail-thunderstorm ratio in the country is found over the western Great Plains and the east slope of the Rocky Mountains in a band extending from the Rio Grande northward to the Canadian border. Point frequency of hail over western United States is of little value in determining relative area exposures to hail. Frequency of hail in a metropolitan area such as Denver is at least ten times as great as random point frequency within that area. Hail probably occurs aloft during the growing stage of each thunderstorm which forms in the Denver Section. Hail is predominantly a post-coldfrontal phenomenon at Denver, but no satisfactory method has been found so far of predicting damaging hail. Airborne radar storm detection equipment offers the greatest hope of avoiding damaging hail in flight.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Haas ◽  
D W Fisher ◽  
D C Thorstenson ◽  
E P Weeks

Soil gas samples were obtained from the unsaturated zone at eight sites in the Great Plains. Three of these sites were sampled extensively for gas composition and carbon isotopes. Sampling equipment consisted of a nest of gas probes vertically spaced by roughly 3m at most sites, generally approaching the water table. Water wells, 10cm in diameter, were screened in the topmost layer groundwater. Inverted cattle tanks were used to collect CO2 samples from the soil surface. The major gas components were analyzed with emphasis on CO2, δ 13C, and 14C measurements. The same components were studied in groundwater samples. Higher than atmospheric CO2 concentrations were found in all soil samples. Root respiration and oxidation of organic matter were sources for the additional CO2. When lignite was present in the unsaturated zone, gaseous oxygen reacted almost completely, and CO2 levels rose to 19%. Near the surface, annual cycles in total CO2, δ 13C, and 14C were observed. 14C activities were close to present post-bomb levels at the surface and generally declined with depth. At some sites, oxidation of lignite caused decline of 14C levels to 1 or 2% of their surface value at 8m depth. Without lignite, the 14C activity remained above 50% at all depths. Concentrations of total carbon and its isotopes in ground water remained very stable throughout the study. This implies that geochemical processes in the aquifer vary on time scales longer than the seasonal effects observed in the near-surface unsaturated zone.


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