Not all Fuel-Reduction Treatments Degrade Biocrusts: Herbicides Cause Mostly Neutral to Positive Effects on Cover of Biocrusts

In response to increasing fire, fuel‐reduction treatments are being used to minimize large fire risk. Although biocrusts are associated with reduced cover of fire‐promoting, invasive grasses, the impact of fuel‐reduction treatments on biocrusts is poorly understood. We use data from a long‐term experiment, the Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project, testing the following fuel‐reduction treatments: mowing, prescribed fire, and the use of two herbicides: one commonly used to reduce shrub cover, tebuthiuron, and one commonly used to combat cheatgrass, imazapic. Looking at sites with high cover of biocrusts prior to treatments, we demonstrate positive effects of the herbicide, tebuthiuron on lichens with an increase in cover of 10% and trending towards slightly negative effects on moss cover. Across plots, imazapic trended towards a decrease in lichen and moss cover without being statistically significant. Mowing and prescribed fire reduced cover of mosses, with the latter leading to greater declines across sites (declines of 18% vs. 32%). Reductions in moss cover mirrored gains in cover of bare soil, which is associated with increased risk of invasion by grasses responsible for increasing fire risk. We demonstrate that the use of herbicides simultaneously reduces fuels and maintains greater cover of lichens and mosses compared with other fuel‐reduction treatments, possibly reducing risk of invasion by annual grasses that are responsible for increasing fire risk

Engaging national organizations for knowledge translation: Comparative case studies in knowledge value mapping

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Government sponsors of research and development, along with their funded investigators, are increasingly tasked with demonstrating evidence of knowledge use by nontraditional audiences. This requires efforts to translate their findings for effective communication. For technology-related knowledge, these audiences include clinicians, consumers, manufacturers, public policy agencies, and knowledge brokers. One potentially efficient approach is to communicate research findings through relevant national organizations. However, this requires an understanding of how such organizations view and treat research knowledge, which can be determined through knowledge-value mapping. Do knowledge values differ between national organizations representing different audiences? Can a deeper understanding of knowledge values help sponsors, investigators, and organizations better communicate research findings to stakeholders?</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A series of comparative case studies on knowledge-value mapping were derived through interviews with spokespersons for six national organizations. The semi-structured interviews followed a 10-item questionnaire to characterize different ways in which each organization engages with research-based knowledge. Each participating organization represents a particular stakeholder group, while all share a common interest in the research subject matter.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Each national organization considers the value of the research knowledge in the context of their organization's mission and the interests of their members. All are interested in collaborating with researchers to share relevant findings, while they vary along the following dimensions of knowledge engagement: create, identify, translate, adapt, communicate, use, promote, absorptive capacity, and recommendations for facilitation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The principles of knowledge translation suggest that investigators can increase use by tailoring the format and context of their findings to the absorptive capacity of nonscholars. Greater absorption should result in higher levels of knowledge awareness, interest, and use, which can then be documented. National organizations and their members, in turn, can strive to optimize their absorptive capacities regarding the state of the sciences. This combination will ensure the highest possible return on public investment in research activities. This knowledge-value mapping study concludes that national organizations are appropriate channels for communicating research findings and for meeting statutory requirements and general expectations for generating and documenting knowledge use.</p

The role of public funding in nanotechnology scientific production: Where Canada stands in comparison to the United States

This paper presents cross-country comparisons between Canada and the United States in terms of the impact of public grants and scientific collaborations on subsequent nanotechnology-related publications. In this study we present the varying involvement of academic researchers and government funding to capture the influence of funded research in order to help government agencies evaluate their efficiency in financing nanotechnology research. We analyze the measures of quantity and quality of research output using time-related econometric models and compare the results between nanotechnology scientists in Canada and the United States. The results reveal that both research grants and the position of researchers in co-publication networks have a positive influence on scientific output. Our findings demonstrate that research funding yields a significantly positive linear impact in Canada and a positive non-linear impact in the United States on the number of papers and in terms of the number of citations we observe a positive impact only in the US. Our research shows that the position of scientists in past scientific networks plays an important role in the quantity and quality of papers published by nanotechnology scientists

Association of the wheat stem sawfly with basin wildrye

The association of the wheat stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus Nort., Hymenoptera: Cephidae) and basin wildrye (Elymus cinereus Scribn. & Merr) was investigated in 2 wildrye stands in southern Idaho during the summers of 1982 and 1983. From 62 to 88% of wildrye plants were infested with the sawfly at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and Craters of the Moon National Monument. Plant phenology was a good predictor of sawfly emergence. Larvae that developed within culms consumed vascular tissues and may have impaired transport of water and carbohydrates. Seed weight and the number of caryopses developing within wildrye florets were significantly reduced in culms containing sawfly larvae (P0.05).This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202