Diverse University Students Across the United States Reveal Promising Pathways to Hunter Recruitment and Retention

Declining participation in hunting, especially among young adult hunters, affects the ability of state and federal agencies to achieve goals for wildlife management and decreases revenue for conservation. For wildlife agencies hoping to engage diverse audiences in hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) efforts, university settings provide unique advantages: they contain millions of young adults who are developmentally primed to explore new activities, and they cultivate a social atmosphere where new identities can flourish. From 2018 to 2020, we surveyed 17,203 undergraduate students at public universities across 22 states in the United States to explore R3 potential on college campuses and assess key demographic, social, and cognitive correlates of past and intended future hunting behavior. After weighting to account for demographic differences between our sample and the larger student population, 29% of students across all states had hunted in the past. Students with previous hunting experience were likely to be white, male, from rural areas or hunting families, and pursuing degrees related to natural resources. When we grouped students into 1 of 4 categories with respect to hunting (i.e., non-hunters [50%], potential hunters [22%], active hunters [26%], and lapsed hunters [3%]), comparisons revealed differences based on demographic attributes, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Compared to active hunters, potential hunters were more likely to be females or racial and ethnic minorities, and less likely to experience social support for hunting. Potential hunters valued game meat and altruistic reasons for hunting, but they faced unique constraints due to lack of hunting knowledge and skills. Findings provide insights for marketing and programming designed to achieve R3 objectives with a focus on university students. © 2021 The Wildlife Society

Variation of Agronomic Traits of Ravenna Grass and Its Potential as a Biomass Crop

Ravenna grass (Tripidium ravennae) is a tall robust bunchgrass with potential as an energy crop. The aim was to investigate the variation of agronomic traits of Ravenna grass. Univariate analyses of traits were conducted on 95 plants from 2013 to 2017. The traits were: biomass yield per plant; C, N, and ash concentrations; leaf and culm sap sucrose concentrations; percentage seed set, and the number of caryopses per panicle. In 2013, the biomass yield averaged 0.21 ± 0.09 kg per plant (mean ± the standard deviation). In 2014 to 2017, the yield averaged from 3.9 ± 0.8 kg per plant to 7.5 ± 1.8 kg per plant. Carbon concentration was generally higher than other energy crops, while N and ash concentrations were generally lower. Leaf sap sucrose ranged from 24.4 ± 4.6 g kg−1 in 2016 to 41.6 ± 7.6 g kg−1 in 2013. Culm sap sucrose varied from approximately 1.6 to 2.1 times that of leaf sap depending upon the harvest year. The percentage seed set varied between years ranging from 37.2 ± 12.4% to 56.6 ± 9.8%, and the mean number of caryopses per panicle varied from 4,770 ± 2,000 to 11,470 ± 3,075

Seed Germination and Early Seedling Growth of Barley at Negative Water Potentials

The impacts of climate change may increase the duration and frequency of droughts, which would have deleterious effects on crop establishment. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of moisture stress on seed germination and seedling growth of six winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) lines and discuss how the data are used to select plant materials for rapid germination. Twenty-five seeds of each line were germinated in water of potentials of −2.0, −1.6, −1.2, −0.8, −0.4, and 0 MPa for 4- and 7-days. The experimental design was a factorial arrangement of treatments (barley lines and water potential treatments) in a randomized block replicated four times and repeated twice. The 4- and 7-day percentage seed germination varied with line (p < 0.01), water potential treatment (p < 0.01), and line × treatment interactions (p < 0.01). The seed germination rate varied with water potential treatment (p < 0.01), and line × treatment interactions (p < 0.01). The data indicated that enough variation was present to effectively select and breed cultivars for improved germination at a negative water potential. Studying seed germination under moisture stress is the first step for developing an effected selection pressure for identifying plant materials with rapid seed germination