The social aspects of rural life and farm tenantry, Cedar County, Iowa

This survey is a detailed study of 400 farms and farm families located in the northwest corner of Cedar county, Iowa. The area comprises Pioneer, Fremont, Red Oak, Linn, and the northeast part of Cass townships, exclusive of the incorporated towns of Stanwood and Mechanicsville. Only a record of the organizations and institutions in these towns is included in this study. The study is a detailed analysis of the population, economic, educational, religious and social conditions as found on the 400 farms and among the farm people on these farms. The area covers 128 square miles, or a little over one-fifth of the entire county

One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants

Abstract: Green plants (Viridiplantae) include around 450,000–500,000 species1, 2 of great diversity and have important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, as part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative, we sequenced the vegetative transcriptomes of 1,124 species that span the diversity of plants in a broad sense (Archaeplastida), including green plants (Viridiplantae), glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and red algae (Rhodophyta). Our analysis provides a robust phylogenomic framework for examining the evolution of green plants. Most inferred species relationships are well supported across multiple species tree and supermatrix analyses, but discordance among plastid and nuclear gene trees at a few important nodes highlights the complexity of plant genome evolution, including polyploidy, periods of rapid speciation, and extinction. Incomplete sorting of ancestral variation, polyploidization and massive expansions of gene families punctuate the evolutionary history of green plants. Notably, we find that large expansions of gene families preceded the origins of green plants, land plants and vascular plants, whereas whole-genome duplications are inferred to have occurred repeatedly throughout the evolution of flowering plants and ferns. The increasing availability of high-quality plant genome sequences and advances in functional genomics are enabling research on genome evolution across the green tree of life

Spatial accumulation patterns of snow water equivalent in the southern Rocky Mountains

2016 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Only several point measurements may be taken within a given watershed to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) due to cost limitations, which necessitates basin-scale estimation of SWE. Modeling often assumes consistency in the spatial distribution of SWE, which may not be correct. Identifying patterns and variability in the spatial distribution of SWE can improve snow hydrology models and result in more accurate modeling. Most previous snow distribution studies focused on small domains, less than 10 km. This study examined SWE distribution at a domain of 757 km. This study used variogram analysis for SWE data from 90 long-term SNOTEL stations to determine if a physical distance exists at which snow accumulation patterns across the southern Rocky Mountains vary abruptly. The concurrent accumulation period from SNOTEL stations were paired one-by-one until all 90 stations were compared among each other for all years on record. This comparison generated a relative accumulation slope (relative to the accumulation slope of all other 89 SNOTEL stations from the period of record) and along with physical distance between station pairs, variograms were computed using the semi-variance of the relative accumulation slopes. A physical divide (a break in high-elevation terrain) exists in the topography of the study region that runs East-West about the parallel 38°45’N. Two subset variograms were computed, one by dividing station pairs by their location relative the parallel 38°45’N into a north zone and a south zone, and the second by the pair’s land cover type, specifically evergreen, non-evergreen, or mixed. From the variogram analyses two physical distances were determined (100 and 340 km) at which snow accumulation patterns in the southern Rocky Mountains vary abruptly. There was more variance in snow accumulation south of the 38°45’N parallel, as the zone north of the 38°45’N parallel experiences storm tracks different from the storm tracks that dominate the zone south of this dividing parallel. Land cover was shown to have little effect on snow accumulation patterns. The amount of variability in individual day SWE was found to be correlated to the magnitude of the average SWE among all SNOTEL stations, such that the greater the average SWE, the larger the variability in SWE across the southern Rock Mountains

The social aspects of rural life and farm tenantry, Cedar County, Iowa

This survey is a detailed study of 400 farms and farm families located in the northwest corner of Cedar county, Iowa. The area comprises Pioneer, Fremont, Red Oak, Linn, and the northeast part of Cass townships, exclusive of the incorporated towns of Stanwood and Mechanicsville. Only a record of the organizations and institutions in these towns is included in this study. The study is a detailed analysis of the population, economic, educational, religious and social conditions as found on the 400 farms and among the farm people on these farms. The area covers 128 square miles, or a little over one-fifth of the entire county.</p

AGU hydrology days 2015

2015 annual AGU hydrology days was held at Colorado State University on March 23 - March 25, 2015.Includes bibliographical references.Understanding the potential impacts of hydrologic changes on nutrient loading within a system is paramount to developing adaptation strategies. This case study investigates the impact of varying hydrologic conditions on water quality within the South Platte River Basin in northeastern Colorado. 80% of Colorado's population lives within the South Platte River Basin in addition to providing water for the most productive agricultural landscape in the state. Nutrient concentrations within the river basin depend on seasonality, land type, land use management practices, and point source inputs from wastewater treatment plants. The river basin contains mountainous, urban, and agricultural settings which, in combination with the semi-arid climate of the South Platte River Basin, produces the potential for droughts, fires, and floods to cause significant changes on the hydrology of the river. This study analyzed nutrient data from mountain, urban, and agricultural settings under various stream flow conditions which were present during the period of record. The hypotheses of this study were that water quality is related to stream flow during the time of sampling, the stream flow preceding the sampling date, as well as a relation with the dominant land cover classification of the area immediately upstream of the sampling location. The impact of extreme events, such as drought and fire, on water quality were also investigated. This talk will explore results of these investigations as well as some of the limiting factors such as data availability for long term studies in Colorado

Comparative Oncology: Evaluation of 2-Deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) for the Staging of Dogs with Malignant Tumors.

Introduction2-Deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose PET/CT is a well-established imaging method for staging, restaging and therapy-control in human medicine. In veterinary medicine, this imaging method could prove to be an attractive and innovative alternative to conventional imaging in order to improve staging and restaging. The aim of this study was both to evaluate the effectiveness of this image-guided method in canine patients with spontaneously occurring cancer as well as to illustrate the dog as a well-suited animal model for comparative oncology.MethodsTen dogs with various malignant tumors were included in the study and underwent a whole body FDG PET/CT. One patient has a second PET-CT 5 months after the first study. Patients were diagnosed with histiocytic sarcoma (n = 1), malignant lymphoma (n = 2), mammary carcinoma (n = 4), sertoli cell tumor (n = 1), gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) (n = 1) and lung tumor (n = 1). PET/CT data were analyzed with the help of a 5-point scale in consideration of the patients' medical histories.ResultsIn seven of the ten dogs, the treatment protocol and prognosis were significantly changed due to the results of FDG PET/CT. In the patients with lymphoma (n = 2) tumor extent could be defined on PET/CT because of increased FDG uptake in multiple lymph nodes. This led to the recommendation for a therapeutic polychemotherapy as a treatment. In one of the dogs with mammary carcinoma (n = 4) and in the patient with the lung tumor (n = 1), surgery was cancelled due to the discovery of multiple metastasis. Consequently no treatment was recommended.ConclusionFDG PET/CT offers additional information in canine patients with malignant disease with a potential improvement of staging and restaging. The encouraging data of this clinical study highlights the possibility to further improve innovative diagnostic and staging methods with regard to comparative oncology. In the future, performing PET/CT not only for staging but also in therapy control could offer a significant improvement in the management of dogs with malignant tumors

Wolf-dog admixture highlights the need for methodological standards and multidisciplinary cooperation for effective governance of wild x domestic hybrids

Abstract Hybridisation between wild and domestic taxa raises complex questions for conservation. Genetic advances offer new methods for hybrid identification, yet social and cultural factors can influence study design, and the interpretation, application, and communication of results. A relevant illustration is hybridisation between domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and wild canids, such as grey wolves (C. lupus). For regional European monitoring programs in areas with expanding wolf populations, priorities include shared genetic markers and inclusion of all relevant reference populations to ensure dispersing wolves are identified as such and not classified as wolf-dog hybrids, which may cause harmful management decisions. Beyond technical developments, hybrid research and conservation management can benefit from improved integration of legal and policy perspectives, recognition of phenotypic traits as broadly unreliable for identification, and attention to the drivers of, and responses to, evolution in human-dominated landscapes. Additionally, the proliferation of unsubstantiated reports about hybrids in popular and social media shows that communication based on verified findings of hybridisation is essential. Hybridisation requires more constructive discussion on how to balance potentially competing conservation objectives, and the integration of multidisciplinary perspectives. These encompass the welfare of individual animals and preservation of historical predator-prey relationships. Conservation measures centred on preserving the ecological function of wild canids likely offer the most sustainable prospects but require improved understanding of the extent to which their behavioural ecology might differ from that of hybrids. Accurate genetic identification is required to fill this critical knowledge gap, advance public discourse, and initiate relevant conservation actions

De novo discovery of SNPs for genotyping endangered sun parakeets (Aratinga solstitialis) in Guyana

Parrots (Psittaciformes) are among the most endangered groups of birds today and remain threatened by habitat loss and exploitation for the live bird trade. Under such conditions, reliable and non-invasive monitoring techniques are crucial for successful conservation measures. In this study, we developed a panel of 86 high quality SNPs for genotyping endangered sun parakeets (Aratinga solstitialis) in Guyana, which form one of the last known breeding populations of this South American species in the wild. Genotyping was tested on different types of samples (blood, feathers, feces, beak and cloacal swabs). While blood performed best, feathers and feces also yielded reliable results and could thus be used as non-invasive sources of DNA for future population monitoring. Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components (DAPC) on genotypes revealed that Guyanese sun parakeets clustered separately from other psittacine species as well as conspecifics from a captive population. A priori known first-order kinships were also adequately detected by the SNP panel. Using a series of experimental contaminations, we found that contamination from other psittacine species and slight contamination ( 10%) from conspecifics did not prevent successful genotyping and recognition of individuals. We show that instances of higher conspecific contamination ( 50%) can be detected through an increased level of heterozygosity that falls outside the distribution of uncontaminated samples