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Sex differences in behavior and morphology are usually assumed to be stronger in polygynous species compared to monogamous species. A few brain structures have been identified as sexually dimorphic in polygynous rodent species, but it is less clear whether these differences persist in monogamous species. California mice are among the 5% or less of mammals that are considered to be monogamous and as such provide an ideal model to examine sexual dimorphism in neuroanatomy. In the present study we compared the volume of hypothalamic- and limbic-associated regions in female and male California mice for sexual dimorphism. We also used tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunohistochemistry to compare the number of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in female and male California mice. Additionally, tract tracing was used to accurately delineate the boundaries of the VTA. The total volume of the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA), the principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), and the posterodorsal medial amygdala (MEA) was larger in males compared to females. In the SDN-POA we found that the magnitude of sex differences in the California mouse were intermediate between the large differences observed in promiscuous meadow voles and rats and the absence of significant differences in monogamous prairie voles. However, the magnitude of sex differences in MEA and the BNST were comparable to polygynous species. No sex differences were observed in the volume of the whole brain, the VTA, the nucleus accumbens or the number of TH-ir neurons in the VTA. These data show that despite a monogamous social organization, sexual dimorphisms that have been reported in polygynous rodents extend to California mice. Our data suggest that sex differences in brain structures such as the SDN-POA persist across species with different social organizations and may be an evolutionarily conserved characteristic of mammalian brains.

The large volumes of sequencing data required to sample complex environmentsdeeply pose new challenges to sequence analysis approaches. De novo metagenomicassembly effectively reduces the total amount of data to be analyzed butrequires significant computational resources. We apply two pre-assemblyfiltering approaches, digital normalization and partitioning, to make largemetagenome assemblies more comput\ ationaly tractable. Using a human gut mockcommunity dataset, we demonstrate that these methods result in assembliesnearly identical to assemblies from unprocessed data. We then assemble twolarge soil metagenomes from matched Iowa corn and native prairie soils. Thepredicted functional content and phylogenetic origin of the assembled contigsindicate significant taxonomic differences despite similar function. Theassembly strategies presented are generic and can be extended to anymetagenome; full source code is freely available under a BSD license.

The large volumes of sequencing data required to sample complex environmentsdeeply pose new challenges to sequence analysis approaches. De novo metagenomicassembly effectively reduces the total amount of data to be analyzed butrequires significant computational resources. We apply two pre-assemblyfiltering approaches, digital normalization and partitioning, to make largemetagenome assemblies more comput\ ationaly tractable. Using a human gut mockcommunity dataset, we demonstrate that these methods result in assembliesnearly identical to assemblies from unprocessed data. We then assemble twolarge soil metagenomes from matched Iowa corn and native prairie soils. Thepredicted functional content and phylogenetic origin of the assembled contigsindicate significant taxonomic differences despite similar function. Theassembly strategies presented are generic and can be extended to anymetagenome; full source code is freely available under a BSD license.

The National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) and its predecessor laboratories have a long history of developing materials and methods for managing rodents and the damage they cause. The NWRC has been influential in exploring, developing, and maintaining legal uses of many traditional field rodenticides such as strychnine and zinc phosphide. Products have been developed for managing rodents in a variety of locales, and for managing a variety of species, from commensal rodents in urban areas, to pocket gophers and mountain beaver in forests, prairie dogs and ground squirrels on rangelands, and nutria and beaver in wetlands. Considerable research has also been conducted on developing methods of managing rodents in underdeveloped countries. Recent efforts by NWRC have focused on development of tools for managing invasive rodents in conservation areas such as island ecosystems and development of alternative, nonlethal control methods.

The posterodorsal preoptic nucleus (PdPN), lateral part of the posterodorsal medial amygdala (MeApd) and medial part of the medial preoptic nucleus (MPNm) are activated at ejaculation in male gerbils as assessed by Fos expression. We sought to immunocytochemically visualize substance P (SP), cholecystokinin (CCK), oxytocin, vasopressin and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), a catecholaminergic marker, in the mating-activated cells, but the need for colchicine precluded behavioral testing. Instead, we detailed distributions of cells containing these molecules in the medial amygdala, caudal preoptic area and caudal bed nuclei of the stria terminalis (BST) and quantified their densities in the PdPN, MPNm and lateral MeApd for comparison to densities previously assessed for mating-activated efferents from these sites. TH cells were as dense in the PdPN and lateral MeApd as activated efferents to the anteroventral periventricular nucleus. In the lateral MeApd, TH cells were grouped where cells activated at ejaculation are clustered and where CCK cells form a ball. Lateral MeApd CCK cells and PdPN SP cells were as dense as activated efferents to the principal BST. Oxytocinergic PdPN cells and SP cells in the MPNm were as dense as mating-activated efferents to the lateral MeApd. If some oxytocin cells in the PdPN project to the neurohypophysis, as in rats, they could be a source of the oxytocin secreted at ejaculation. Since gerbils are monogamous and biparental, it was also interesting that, unlike monogamous prairie voles, they had few TH cells in the MeApd or dorsal BST, resembling promiscuous rats, hamsters and meadow voles.

Early experiences can alter adaptive emotional responses necessary for social behavior as well as physiological reactivity in the face of challenge. In the highly social prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), manipulations in early life or hormonal treatments specifically targeted at the neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP), have long-lasting, often sexually dimorphic, consequences for social behavior. Here we examine the hypothesis that behavioral changes associated with differential early experience, in this case handling the family during the first week of life, may be mediated by changes in OT or AVP or their brain receptors. Four early treatment groups were used, differing only in the amount of manipulation received during the first week of life. MAN1 animals were handled once on post-natal day 1; MAN1 treatment produces a pattern of behavior usually considered typical of this species, against which other groups were compared. MAN1-7 animals were handled once a day for post-natal days 1-7, MAN 7 animals were handled once on post-natal day 7, and MAN0 animals received no handling during the first week of life. When tested following weaning, males in groups that had received manipulation during the first few days of life (MAN1 and MAN1-7) displayed higher alloparenting than other groups. Neuroendocrine measures, including OT receptor binding and OT and AVP immunoreactivity, varied by early treatment. In brain areas including the nucleus accumbens, bed nucleus of stria terminalis and lateral septum, MAN0 females showed increased OT receptor binding. MAN1 animals also displayed higher numbers of immunoreactive OT cell bodies in the supraoptic nucleus. Taken together these findings support the broader hypothesis that experiences in the first few days of life, mediated in part by sexually dimorphic changes in neuropeptides, especially in the receptor for OT, may have adaptive consequences for sociality and emotion regulation.

The posterodorsal preoptic nucleus (PdPN), lateral part of the posterodorsal medial amygdala (MeApd) and medial part of the medial preoptic nucleus (MPNm) are activated at ejaculation in male gerbils as assessed by Fos expression. We sought to immunocytochemically visualize substance P (SP), cholecystokinin (CCK), oxytocin, vasopressin and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), a catecholaminergic marker, in the mating-activated cells, but the need for colchicine precluded behavioral testing. Instead, we detailed distributions of cells containing these molecules in the medial amygdala, caudal preoptic area and caudal bed nuclei of the stria terminalis (BST) and quantified their densities in the PdPN, MPNm and lateral MeApd for comparison to densities previously assessed for mating-activated efferents from these sites. TH cells were as dense in the PdPN and lateral MeApd as activated efferents to the anteroventral periventricular nucleus. In the lateral MeApd, TH cells were grouped where cells activated at ejaculation are clustered and where CCK cells form a ball. Lateral MeApd CCK cells and PdPN SP cells were as dense as activated efferents to the principal BST. Oxytocinergic PdPN cells and SP cells in the MPNm were as dense as mating-activated efferents to the lateral MeApd. If some oxytocin cells in the PdPN project to the neurohypophysis, as in rats, they could be a source of the oxytocin secreted at ejaculation. Since gerbils are monogamous and biparental, it was also interesting that, unlike monogamous prairie voles, they had few TH cells in the MeApd or dorsal BST, resembling promiscuous rats, hamsters and meadow voles.

Early experiences can alter adaptive emotional responses necessary for social behavior as well as physiological reactivity in the face of challenge. In the highly social prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), manipulations in early life or hormonal treatments specifically targeted at the neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP), have long-lasting, often sexually dimorphic, consequences for social behavior. Here we examine the hypothesis that behavioral changes associated with differential early experience, in this case handling the family during the first week of life, may be mediated by changes in OT or AVP or their brain receptors. Four early treatment groups were used, differing only in the amount of manipulation received during the first week of life. MAN1 animals were handled once on post-natal day 1; MAN1 treatment produces a pattern of behavior usually considered typical of this species, against which other groups were compared. MAN1-7 animals were handled once a day for post-natal days 1-7, MAN 7 animals were handled once on post-natal day 7, and MAN0 animals received no handling during the first week of life. When tested following weaning, males in groups that had received manipulation during the first few days of life (MAN1 and MAN1-7) displayed higher alloparenting than other groups. Neuroendocrine measures, including OT receptor binding and OT and AVP immunoreactivity, varied by early treatment. In brain areas including the nucleus accumbens, bed nucleus of stria terminalis and lateral septum, MAN0 females showed increased OT receptor binding. MAN1 animals also displayed higher numbers of immunoreactive OT cell bodies in the supraoptic nucleus. Taken together these findings support the broader hypothesis that experiences in the first few days of life, mediated in part by sexually dimorphic changes in neuropeptides, especially in the receptor for OT, may have adaptive consequences for sociality and emotion regulation.

Aboriginal peoples in Canada are increasingly moving to urban communities in search of educational and economic opportunities. For many urbanization is not an easy process, in particular when they move to cities that historically have had few Aboriginal citizens and where social traditions of resistance and resentment towards Aboriginal rights prevail. In this paper we explore one such case through studying the phenomenon known as NIMBY (not in my backyard). We apply critical discourse analysis to understand how concepts of citizenship were taken up when a non-profit society of Aboriginal women sought to establish a transition home for women and children moving to a small Canadian prairie city. Resistance to the women’s plans was expressed in neoliberal discourses that denied the women civic citizenship while affirmation of the women in terms of collective values and relational citizenship was undermined in the political maneuvers of public debate.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) of fecal samples has been used to predict the crude protein and digestible organic matter of forages consumed by grazing animals. However, for NIRS predictions to be accurate, the equation used must be based on samples from the target population. The Texas A&M Grazinglands Animal Nutrition Laboratory has developed a NIRS program based on forages in Texas, the Midwest and Canada's lower prairie provinces. California producers have been using these equations even though they had never been evaluated for California conditions. We conducted beef-cattle digestibility trials on two California rangeland summer forages to produce forage-fecal pairs for testing the existing NIRS ones and developing new equations as necessary. The predictions from the original equations were significantly different from the true values determined in the digestibility trials. The addition of data from this research has improved the predictive capability for both crude protein and digestible organic matter in California.

Monogamy is a relatively rare social system in mammals, occurring only in about 3% of mammalian species. Monogamous species are characterized by the formation of pair-bonds, biparental care, and a very low level of sexual dimorphism. Whereas in most polygynous species males engage in more rough-and-tumble play than females, we predicted that males and females of monogamous species would have similar, or monomorphic, play behavior. In this study, we focused on two monogamous species: coppery titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus) and prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). We documented the development of play behavior in both species, and quantified different types of play behavior. We did not find any sex differences in either species in the frequencies and types of play. However, we did find sex differences in the choice of play partner in titi monkeys: female offspring spent a higher proportion of time playing with their father, while male offspring played equally with their mother and father. It is possible that rough-and-tumble play behavior is monomorphic in many monogamous mammals, perhaps reflecting differences from polygynous species in the effects of exposure to early androgens or in the estrogen receptor distribution. However, more subtle differences in monomorphic play behavior, such as choice of partner, may still exist. © 2008 The Authors.

Monogamy is a relatively rare social system in mammals, occurring only in about 3% of mammalian species. Monogamous species are characterized by the formation of pair-bonds, biparental care, and a very low level of sexual dimorphism. Whereas in most polygynous species males engage in more rough-and-tumble play than females, we predicted that males and females of monogamous species would have similar, or monomorphic, play behavior. In this study, we focused on two monogamous species: coppery titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus) and prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). We documented the development of play behavior in both species, and quantified different types of play behavior. We did not find any sex differences in either species in the frequencies and types of play. However, we did find sex differences in the choice of play partner in titi monkeys: female offspring spent a higher proportion of time playing with their father, while male offspring played equally with their mother and father. It is possible that rough-and-tumble play behavior is monomorphic in many monogamous mammals, perhaps reflecting differences from polygynous species in the effects of exposure to early androgens or in the estrogen receptor distribution. However, more subtle differences in monomorphic play behavior, such as choice of partner, may still exist. © 2008 The Authors.

I measured the preliminary effects of chicken egg baits treated with DRC-1339 on removing common ravens for the purpose of reducing raven depredation of prairie grouse nests in northeastern Nevada. Greater sage grouse and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse are game species that are declining in distribution and abundance throughout their historic range. Reduced nest success due to egg depredation by ravens is thought to be an important cause of nest failure. Ravens are subsidized nest predators that have substantially increased in abundance throughout their range within the past 25 years. During 2002-2004, I removed ravens from a treatment site using chicken egg baits treated with DRC-1339 to protect sage grouse and a nascent population of reintroduced Columbian sharp-tailed grouse in northeastern Nevada. I performed raven surveys at the treatment site and 2 control sites, located 22 and 53 km northwest of the treatment site, to measure the effects of using DRC-1339. Preliminary analyses indicate chicken egg baits treated with DRC-1339 significantly reduced raven densities at the treatment site, and change in densities over time was different at the treatment site than the control sites (F = 10.212,59, P < 0.001). Also, anthropogenic resource subsidies (i.e., power-lines, roads, agricultural fields, and public landfills) appeared to influence raven abundance. If lethal removal of ravens is implemented as a short-term management action to protect areas from ecological or economical damage, the technique described here is valuable to managers.

The purpose of this project was to develop methods to analyze impacts from and find solutions for habitat fragmentation resulting from the construction of a new highway across two military bases (McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis Army Base). The bases contain large blocks of rare terrestrial habitats. The need to maintain the security of the bases limits the ability to use on-site methods, such as underpasses and crossing structures. In 2003, the Crossbase highway project, which had been a Pierce County-sponsored project, was identified as a new state highway, and thus became the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) responsibility. The six-mile-long highway cuts through two adjoining military bases to connect a heavily developed urban/industrial area with Interstate 5. Both military bases have core areas containing airfields, housing, operational, and commercial areas that are surrounded by largely undeveloped natural habitats consisting of large wetlands, coniferous forests, rare oak woodlands, and rare native prairie areas. These natural areas are bisected by an extensive network of gravel and paved roads and are used for military training activities. These rare habitats support four federal candidate species, and one state-listed endangered species. Development activities surrounding the military bases have fragmented and eliminated much of the habitats outside of the bases. The new highway is expected to result in three main ecological impacts: direct loss of rare habitat types, decreased use of surrounding habitat due to impacts associated with the operation of the highway (e.g., noise), and habitat fragmentation or isolation of habitats. While mitigation ratios exist to address the elimination of habitats such as wetlands, no ratios or methods exist to quantify impacts associated with operation impacts or habitat fragmentation. Working in conjunction with Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), WSDOT developed a method to assess these impacts based on the level of function that would be lost. This method was used to determine what the total habitat enhancement and restoration package for the Crossbase highway should be. The resulting habitat enhancement and restoration package that was developed consists of three parts: acquisition of a large parcel of rare habitat, restoration and enhancement of the acquired site, and providing funding for additional restoration, acquisition, and enhancement activities. While construction of the highway has not begun, WSDOT is proceeding with acquiring the restoration and enhancement site and has provided funding for the additional acquisition, restoration, and enhancement activities. The developed method will be used on other new highway projects in the future.

The Richmond Field Station Natural Restoration Project is a five-year, multimillion dollar effort by the University of California to remedy polluted marsh lands, restore upland prairie habitat, and to convert a concrete flood control channel into a free flowing creek and riparian corridor. Historically no creek existed here so the dynamics of this concrete drain system must be understood to properly design a new channel. This study assesses multiple aspects of the concrete channel to determine the health(assessed using EPA standards) and qualifications for restoration. We measured flow at various intervals along the channel using velocity observations and cross sectional areas, developing a stage-discharge relationship. On a weekly basis for three months during the winter/spring of 2004 we measured water quality characteristics: dissolved oxygen, turbid ity, and conductivity. This information addresses the question of what the hydrological characteristics are for this unique system and the health of this system with regards to these variables. The channel had a consistent base flow of about 1 cubic foot per second (cfs) over the period of January 2004 to April 2004 with a peak flow around 152cfs. A linear relationship exists between depth and flow. The slope of the channel water surface is about 0.36%. The water quality parameters were indicative of a healthy system. The results of this project provide baseline knowledge for future investigations.

We examine some consequences of dumping used oil in the environment and review some policies to foster used oil recycling. We then contrast policies adopted in the Canadian Prairie Provinces for managing used oil, used oil filters, and containers, with those put in place in the rest of Canada. Our analysis proposes that public-private partnerships relying on economic instruments and public education can be more effective for recycling used oil than public agencies relying mostly on regulations.

Drought stress affects plant photosynthesis and transpiration, as well as soil respiration and evaporation. In a coupled plant and soil system, drought can strongly impact the exchange of 18O in CO2 between the ecosystem and atmosphere. In this study we present diurnally resolved measurements of d18O values in ecosystem water pools in a sorghum field in the ARMCART SGP region (Oklahoma, USA). Over a 4-day period we measured continuous ecosystem CO2 and H2O fluxes using eddy correlation; soil moisture and temperature; d18O of soil water in 4 soil layers, leaves, and stems 4 times per day; and 18O in H2O at 2 heights above the plant canopy. Ecosystem CO2 fluxes reflect the impact of midday water stress. Measured soil water d18O values showed strong diurnal patterns reflecting soil-surface evaporation during the day and recharge from deeper soil layers at night. Diurnal soil water d18O values in the top soil layers varied by up to 6%. The d18O values of stemwater also varied over the course of the day, but to a smaller extent. Leaf water d18O values increased by up to 10 over the day. To interpret these data and to estimate C18OO ecosystem fluxes we applied a mechanistic model, called ISOLSM, which simulates H218O and C18OO ecosystem stocks and fluxes between ecosystems and the atmosphere. ISOLSM includes modules to compute canopy vapor, leaf water, and vertically resolved soil water H218O content; leaf photosynthetic and retro-diffusive fluxes of C18OO; root and microbial production of CO2; soil diffusive fluxes of CO2 and C18OO and equilibration of CO2 with 18O in soil water; and abiotic soil exchanges of C18OO. The model has been tested in a C4 dominated tallgrass prairie site close to the field studied here. Drought stress strongly affected the variability of the 18O content of near-surface soil water. The low soil moisture levels impacted the soil-surface C18OO fluxes via interactions with the soil-gas diffusion coefficient, microbial and root CO2 production, and

Drought stress affects plant photosynthesis and transpiration, as well as soil respiration and evaporation. In a coupled plant and soil system, drought can strongly impact the exchange of 18O in CO2 between the ecosystem and atmosphere. In this study we present diurnally resolved measurements of d18O values in ecosystem water pools in a sorghum field in the ARMCART SGP region (Oklahoma, USA). Over a 4-day period we measured continuous ecosystem CO2 and H2O fluxes using eddy correlation; soil moisture and temperature; d18O of soil water in 4 soil layers, leaves, and stems 4 times per day; and 18O in H2O at 2 heights above the plant canopy. Ecosystem CO2 fluxes reflect the impact of midday water stress. Measured soil water d18O values showed strong diurnal patterns reflecting soil-surface evaporation during the day and recharge from deeper soil layers at night. Diurnal soil water d18O values in the top soil layers varied by up to 6 . The d18O values of stemwater also varied over the course of the day, but to a smaller extent. Leaf water d18O values increased by up to 10 over the day. To interpret these data and to estimate C18OO ecosystem fluxes we applied a mechanistic model, called ISOLSM, which simulates H218O and C18OO ecosystem stocks and fluxes between ecosystems and the atmosphere. ISOLSM includes modules to compute canopy vapor, leaf water, and vertically resolved soil water H218O content; leaf photosynthetic and retro-diffusive fluxes of C18OO; root and microbial production of CO2; soil diffusive fluxes of CO2 and C18OO and equilibration of CO2 with 18O in soil water; and abiotic soil exchanges of C18OO. The model has been tested in a C4 dominated tallgrass prairie site close to the field studied here. Drought stress strongly affected the variability of the 18O content of near-surface soil water. The low soil moisture levels impacted the soil-surface C18OO fluxes via interactions with the soil-gas diffusion coefficient, microbial and root CO2 production, and the heavy near-surface soil water. Drought stress also impacted stomatal conductance, which in turn affected transpiration, the canopy air space vapor and vapor 18O content, and leaf C18OO exchange. Finally, we present a sensitivity analysis of the ecosystem C18OO exchange to the method used to quantify the impacts of plant water stress.

Many fossorial species of wildlife cause damage in a variety of land-use settings. Research of these species is challenging because of the complications associated with working underground. Traditional methods of conducting research on fossorial rodents in their natural environments are expensive, labor intensive, and invasive on the landscape. More innovative and effective methods of doing research underground are needed. We evaluated a burrow-probe camera for viewing inside the burrows of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) as part of an anticoagulant baiting study. It was useful for locating carcasses as well as for collecting information on live squirrels and non-target species. We also used burrow cameras to aid in on-going studies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) and evaluated their utility in the burrows and dens of other mammals along the front range of Colorado. We will discuss our evaluations of burrow cameras and applications for their use in wildlife damage research.

Wendy Lopez and Associates, Inc. (WLA) was asked to provide a conservation and ecological restoration overview for the City of Dallas as part of an Elm Fork Floodplain Management Study. This study encompasses a unique portion of the main stem of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, Dallas County, Dallas, Texas. The project area includes approximately 8.5 square miles, half of which lie within a 100-year floodplain. Approximately 15% of the project area is mature bottomland hardwood forest and serves as an inner city haven for wildlife. Historically, the project area is located in the Blackland Prairie physiographic region, includes 5 to 10 percent jurisdictional waters and wetlands, and contains wildlife habitat typical of bottomland hardwood forest and riparian communities. At least six identified federal and state listed threatened and endangered species have utilized Dallas County as a migratory corridor. Over the last 100 years, the project area has experienced industrial development, including several inactive landfills. Due to the practice of filling the floodplain for development and the resulting seasonal flooding, the City of Dallas has decided to evaluate several flood management alternatives. Critical objectives for this study involved defining areas for valley storage, recreational development, and identifying ecological restoration opportunities. The study deliverables included a local drainage master plan for three tributaries of the Elm Fork and a report outlining overall watershed management concepts and restoration opportunities for the project ecosystem. The WLA assessment included natural and cultural resource impacts, hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste (HTRW) issues, and general water quality concerns. In order to assess local concerns, coordination with an Elm Fork advisory committee and numerous public meetings with property owners and stakeholders were completed. Additional advisement for the project was sought through federal, state, and city agency coordination. A Section 404 review and a comprehensive natural resources inventory of existing conditions within the main stem and the three tributaries were completed. Existing wetlands, vegetation cover, land use patterns, water and cultural resources, and related wildlife habitat utilization were documented. Assembled information included aerial photographs (historical and existing), soil classifications, and site hydrology. In addition, a modified Phase I environmental assessment (ESA) was performed to assess the risk of hazardous, toxic and radioactive waste (HTRW) impact. Several site visits revealed industrial uses and inactive registered and unregistered landfills occupied most of the project area, while residential areas were minimal. The preferred alternative, selected by an advisory committee, included channel improvements to existing waterways, a new diversion channel, new recreational areas, and habitat restoration opportunities. Recommendations for future work include developing a natural resource and forest management plan, outlining detailed environmental preservation and restoration opportunities and incorporating them into a phased approach and framework plan.

The path-breaking documentary video, The Spirit of Crazy Horse, opens with a scene of Milo Yellow Hair walking on the prairie and singing. After offering tobacco, he narrates in a flat, matter-of-fact voice, “My people have not adapted well to the white man’s world.” As he speaks, the camera pans to an upturned car marooned in the middle of a field. Despite waving grass and other natural integration, the car remains alien to this setting. Turned on its head and abandoned, the car is useful now only as a den for enterprising animals. The car’s original function has been thwarted. Even its value as scrap metal is disregarded. Yet it does offer a metaphor for how acculturation and adaptation have always been key issues in Indian-white conflicts in the United States. The car is a valuable site of analysis because it has such vastly different significance for each culture. Its difficult fit within Indian cultures provides one entry point for understanding those differences and for better understanding the work of contemporary American Indian writers and filmmakers. Automobiles serve, in much Native literature and film, as expressions of characters’ differences from and relationships to the larger culture.The automobile has assumed near mythic proportions in mainstream American life. The federal government has actively supported the car industry in a variety of ways ranging from a subsidized highway system to deductible interest on car loans. Indeed, so much of US culture has developed as a result of and in response to the automobile that it would be difficult to determine the extent of its effects. These car-induced cultural developments include suburban living and the loss of small, tightly knit neighborhoods; interstate trucking that expands markets and delivers goods from all over the country; drive-through services at banks, restaurants, liquor stores, dry cleaners, chapels, funeral parlors, movie theaters, and video rental stores; chains of motor inns; the development of tourism; and, on the more negative side, the limitless air pollution and diminishment of fossil fuels.

IN THIS ISSUE OF TRANSECT- (feature article) Science, Art, and Community Service Converge When Kids Meet in the Carpinteria Marsh "Classroom"- Carpinteria Marsh Kids- Multilevel Outreach at SNARL/Valentine Camp- Jepson Prairie Docents- Wilderness Medicine at James San Jacinto Mtns- Many, Many Thanks to the Packard Foundation!

Urban Canada goose (Branta canadensis) populations have grown rapidly during the past three decades. This paper reviews short-term and long-term urban goose management techniques, and using data for the Twin. Cities of Minnesota, assesses the potential utility of habitat modification. Ninety-four percent of Twin Cities damage complaints occurred during the brood-rearing period, 5% in fall, and >1% in spring and winter. The potential for reducing goose damage by altering nest habitat is insignificant, brood-rearing habitat high but expensive, and fall and winter habitat low and also costly. Fences effectively thwart flightless geese but can entrap birds leading to starvation. Cost projections for programs limiting the Twin Cities summer population at 25,000 were $125,000/year for relocation, $325,000/year for processing for human consumption, $12.3 million/25 years for wire fences, $33.9 million for tall grass prairie, and $1.8 billion for ground juniper (Juniperus spp.). Human preference for savanna and the fear of urban crime associated with dense vegetation may hamper implementation of goose habitat modification.

When I was going to high school I wasn't taught anything about my own [Stó:lo] history. But I was taught that there were Prairie Indians, and that to be lndian you lived in a tipi and had a long flowing head dress. . . . I wasn't taught about local native culture. And of course watching TV, and watching movies, and everything that was to be lndian was exactly what we were taught in school. Pan-lndianism . . . you take that one culture and one people and apply it to everyone.INTRODUCTIONChildren in the Stó:lo community of southwestern of British Columbia, Canada, face a confusing cultural paradox at school in the 1990s. In both B.C.'s public schools and in native-run classrooms, Stó:lo children learn more native history and heritage than ever before. Ironically, much of the native curriculum presents local native people as Plains Indians, and pan-Indian iconography dominates these classroom lessons. These mixed identity messages reflect a community distress caused by the increasing prevalence of Plains Indian cultural traits and activities in the Stó:lo's Fraser Valley territory. This influx of nontraditional cultural expression into Stó:lo society is one aspect of a more general debate concerning shifting claims on identity within the Stó:lo community. This paper describes local perspectives on the competing versions of Stó:lo identity. The most widely accepted identity is, however, neither that of a unique Stó:lo past nor fully pan-Indian. It is a blend.

I found myself once again leaving my beloved Indian reservation that blustery March morning, but an unspoken realization that my circle would soon be complete carried me forward. After saying the proper and sometimes emotional farewells to my family and the mountains, I climbed into the van and headed eastward across the rolling prairie to New York City.Seeking a positive way in which to occupy the many traveling hours ahead, the historian in me began to record my perceptions and thoughts and to describe the beauty of our spectacular country. After a few hundred miles and many hours of constructing this journal, a theme began to emerge.As various sites and geological features passed the van’s windows, I noted and commented on them and fitted them into the grand scheme of things. For example, down the road are two rocks that have been moved to their present site from what is called the Cree (Indian) Crossing of the Milk River. They are shaped like kneeling buffalo and are part of a larger distant group. The sign by the road says “Sleeping Buffalo Rock.” They are now considered sacred, and Indian people stop there and pray.Further on are the two Porcupine Creek names that figured in determining the boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation long ago. Later, I passed the Garrison Dam, which flooded Indian land on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Later still, I passed the Red River of the north, as well as the Sauk Centre, the Missouri River, Illinois, and so on; these names and places are filled with past and present Indian history. It became obvious that Indian people have been here a long time and that we have left our proud imprint upon the face of this continent. As I considered these things, it occurred to me that the eyes and mind that were observing these things now were not always so filled with Indian history and the pride such things evoke. Long ago, I was a markedly different person.

Theory is defined as a view or description of the nature of something. The nature of theory relating to records management is examined, including information retrieval, the records life cycle, and information policy. Records management theory should not be seen in isolation and need not be unique to records management. Functional, professional, and educational contexts of records management theory are outlined, with examples.Note: This paper is reprinted, with a few minor changes, from Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Proceedings of the ARMA International 35th Annual Conference, 1990 (Prairie Village, Kans.: ARMA, 1990), pp. 801-13.

A catchment scale water balance model is presented and used to predict evaporation from the King's Creek catchment at the First ISLSCP Field Experiment site on the Konza Prairie, Kansas. The model incorporates spatial variability in topography, soils, and precipitation to compute the land surface hydrologie fluxes. A network of 20 rain gages was employed to measure rainfall across the catchment in the summer of 1987. These data were spatially interpolated and used to drive the model during storm periods. During interstorm periods the model was driven by the estimated potential evaporation, which was calculated using net radiation data collected at site 2. Model-computed evaporation is compared to that observed, both at site 2 (grid location 1916-BRS) and the catchment scale, for the simulation period from June 1 to October 9, 1987.

The mixing of the races, as the cliche would have it, began in North America as soon as Europeans and Amerindians met; it was another manifestation of a universal phenomenon that was re-experienced under the particular conditions of the New World. But the universality of the event in its biological sense was not matched by a corresponding generality in its social and political aspects. In this regard, racial intermixing was as individual as the societies experiencing it. In the New World, such powers as Portugal and Spain accepted it as an inevitable consequence of colonization and sought to deal with it by integration and assimilation. France also sought to assimilate Amerindians, but added her own dimension by trying to use racial intermixing as an instrument of empire. In so doing, she unwittingly helped to prepare the way for a phenomenon which she not only did not want, but would have disapproved of thoroughly: that is, the development, among the Metis of the Canadian Northwest, of the sense of a separate identity, the spirit of the "New Nation." Although in Canada today, the Metis are identified with the West, specifically with the three prairie provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta), it is doubtful that there was any more mixing of the races, in a biological sense, in those regions than in the East or on the West Coast. In fact, the reverse may well be true, at least as far as the East is concerned; Jacques Rousseau, eminent Quebec biologist, claimed in 1970 that 40% of French-Canadians could find at least one Amerindian in their family trees. What did not occur on either coast or in the St. Lawrence Valley was the emergence of a clearly defined sense of separate identity, of a "New Nation." In comparing the Metis of the Northwest with those of the Northwest (principally Red River, but also Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes), the question immediately presents itself: why did a "New Nation" arise in the latter region but not in the former? And why do we never hear of the Metis on the West Coast? For that matter, why do we practically never hear of Metis in the Northeast?

The present study was undertaken principally in order to obtain information regarding the extent of natural mortality during the egg and larval stages of certain salmonid fishes in a small California stream, to gather essential knowledge of the spawning behavior of these fishes, and to compare the results of such observations with similar evidence from other waters.Daily stream observations were conducted during the fall, winter, and spring of two separate seasons. The study was begun on October 15, 1948, and continued until June 1, 1949. It was resumed on October 20, 1950, and was finally concluded on May 30, 1951. During the 1950–51 season temperature and flow records were taken at a centrally located station (near the confluence of Godwood and Prairie Creeks) which was close to the spawning areas of the species being studied. The water temperatures in nearby parts of the watershed rarely varied more than 1 degree F. from those taken at this station.The temperature (F.) was taken at midday with a standard laboratory thermometer immersed in the center of the stream. The volume of flow was calculated by means of a standard float method over a 50-foot section.

While no epidemiological data exist for disease risk particular to pest control operators, several potential diseases are discussed: rabies, leptospirosis, plague, murine typhus, and ornithosis. Contact with rabid animals most likely may occur from skunks, foxes, and bats. While leptospirosis is typically found in rats, it may also occur in opossums, foxes, raccoons, and skunks. While rat-borne plague caused outbreaks in the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century, more recent incidents have resulted from human contact with wild rodent species and their ectoparasites; epizootics have been noted in squirrels, prairie dogs, rabbits, and pack rats and the disease is found in the 15 western states. Murine typhus, not to be confused with classical louse-borne typhus which is transmissible from person to person, is typically contracted by the bite of the rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis. Recent cases have been confined to 11 Southeastern states. Ornithosis (or psittacosis) is often mild or undetected and common reservoirs in the U.S. include parakeets, turkeys, and pigeons. Thus, pest control operators involved in pigeon control may be at risk by inhaling droplets or dry particles as aerosols of dried droppings and bird exudates. Precautions to avoid exposure to these diseases are discussed, and literature references are provided.

Of the many toxicants tested to control field rodents, compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate), strychnine alkaloid, and zinc phosphide are the only effective single-dose rodenticides currently available. Considering the federal requirements for use in food and feed crops, zinc phosphide is the toxicant most likely to be registered for field rodent control. It is generally well accepted by rodents, is relatively safe for nontarget species, and does not seriously contaminate the environment. It is already registered, with an established tolerance, for use in one food crop (Hawaiian sugarcane). The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife is conducting research, some in cooperation with other agencies, to register zinc phosphide for controlling: prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) in shortgrass rangeland; jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) along cropland-rangeland borders; cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus), rice rats (Oryzomys palustris), black rats (Rattus rattus), and Florida water rats (Neofiber alleni) in Florida sugarcane; ground squirrels (Spermophilus spp.) and meadow voles (Microtus spp.) in alfalfa, sugarbeets, artichokes, and rangeland.

The transitional zone between prairie and boreal forest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is more suited to the needs of forestry than to agriculture. Tree production is difficult in this zone for a number of reasons, one of which is the depredations of small mammals, especially the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord). Vole populations peak every 3 to 5 years and on the average irruptions of serious importance occur about every 10 years. Populations in the transitional zone are generally higher than those in the treed areas of adjacent zones: areas of extreme populations coincide with areas of greatest forestry concern. Key factor analysis indicates that a high degree of damage predictability may be achieved by measuring juvenile vole survival. Spruce, jack pine, white pine, red pine and Scotch pine are increasingly vulnerable to rodent damage. Seed and stand density also influence degree of impact. Strategy of vole damage control must involve prediction surveys coupled with cultural, operational, and baiting tactics.