Wildlife management by habitat units: A preliminary plan of action

Procedures for yielding vegetation type maps were developed using LANDSAT data and a computer assisted classification analysis (LARSYS) to assist in managing populations of wildlife species by defined area units. Ground cover in Travis County, Texas was classified on two occasions using a modified version of the unsupervised approach to classification. The first classification produced a total of 17 classes. Examination revealed that further grouping was justified. A second analysis produced 10 classes which were displayed on printouts which were later color-coded. The final classification was 82 percent accurate. While the classification map appeared to satisfactorily depict the existing vegetation, two classes were determined to contain significant error. The major sources of error could have been eliminated by stratifying cluster sites more closely among previously mapped soil associations that are identified with particular plant associations and by precisely defining class nomenclature using established criteria early in the analysis

Valley Erosion Since Pliocene "Algal Limestone" Deposition in Central Kansas

Major stream valleys of central Kansas have been cut to depths of more than 200 feet below the top of the Pliocene Ogallala formation. The top of the Ogallala is marked by discontinuous thin deposits of "Algal limestone" which is believed to have been deposited over an extensive fluvial plain, approximately at the level of present ridges, prior to erosion of the present valleys. Recently this "Algal limestone" has been observed at 12 localities atop the Saline-Smoky Hill Divide in Russell, Lincoln, and Ellsworth counties, east of any previously described exposures. It here rests directly on Cretaceous shale and chalk. The geographic and topographic position of these exposures suggests that the "Algal limestone" was formed in lakes which occupied consequent depressions and abandoned channel segments on a piedmont alluvial plain. This interpretation furnishes a stratigraphic datum for measuring erosion in post-Ogallala time. After deposition of the "Algal limestone," major streams of this area cut through more than 150 feet of bedrock prior to the Wilson Valley fill of possible Kansan age. Since about Kansan time the Saline River has eroded more than 150 feet of bedrock plus a probable 60 feet of Pleistocene fill, and the Smoky Hill River has eroded 75 feet of bedrock plus a probable 60 feet of valley fill

Reconnaissance of Ground-Water Resources of Atchison County, Kansas

A severe drought during the fall and winter of 1939-40 gave rise to a shortage of water supplies in parts of eastern Kansas. In an attempt to locate areas in which additional supplies could be obtained from wells, a brief investigation was undertaken in Atchison County by the Federal and State geological surveys in cooperation with the Division of Sanitation of the Kansas State Board of Health and the Division of Water Resources of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture

Graded Slopes in Western Kansas

Graded erosional slopes of several types occur in western Kansas. As these surfaces are developed on relatively nonresistant and uniform rocks they present particularly favorable conditions for study of their origin. They are described in three groups: (1) graded surfaces of the interfluves, judged to have developed prior to Illinoian time; (2) flanking pediments, controlled by the position of an adjacent stream course, that have developed during late Pleistocene time; and (3) "pedimented tributary" valleys or "concavo-convex" gullies that have developed since mid-Wisconsinan time. It is concluded that although lateral planation by minor streams may have been an important factor in the origin of the first category, the forms classed in the third category were cut by some form of surface sheet action of running water

Nicotine and Alcohol Interactions

Charles C.J. Frye, a graduate student in the Behavior Analysis program at Utah State University, completed this dissertation as part of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. Alcohol and Nicotine are the two most commonly abused drugs in the United States, often used at the same time. The goal of the dissertation was to more fully understand how exposure to one drug alters motivation for the other. In Chapter I, we investigated how exposure to nicotine affects relapse for alcohol in rats. Nicotine did not affect relapse for alcohol, possibly due to the method of nicotine delivery used. In Chapter II, we investigated how exposure to nicotine and nicotine combined with MAOI (a drug commonly used as an antidepressant and found in tobacco cigarettes) affects motivation for alcohol in rats. We found that nicotine increased motivation for alcohol, but nicotine combined with MAOI reduced motivation for alcohol. Chapter IV consisted of 3 experiments using hypothetical purchase tasks with human participants. In Experiment 1, we assessed how the hypothetical opportunity to smoke cigarettes at a concert influenced purchasing of hypothetical alcohol. We found that having the opportunity to smoke did not alter purchasing alcohol. In Experiment 2, we assessed the opposite relation: how the hypothetical opportunity to drink alcoholic beverages at a concert altered purchasing of hypothetical tobacco cigarettes. We found that the Maximum Expenditure was greater when participants were told that they could not drink alcohol at the concert. Lastly, in Experiment 3, we assessed how consumption of alcohol and cigarettes was affected by manipulating the price of one of the drugs. Specifically, we assessed how purchasing of tobacco cigarettes changed (despite a constant price) when we increased the cost of alcoholic beverages. We also assessed how the purchasing of alcoholic beverages changed (despite a constant price) when we increased the price of tobacco cigarettes. We found that tobacco cigarette purchasing was independent of alcohol beverage price and alcoholic beverage purchasing was independent of tobacco cigarette price. Each study in this dissertation produced surprising results and has the potential to stimulate new research questions

Silicified Rock in the Ogallala Formation

Silicified zones and lentils in the Ogallala formation of Pliocene age provide the most abundant rocks of hard and durable character in the central Great Plains, and are known to occur over a region extending from South Dakota to west-central Texas. The two major rock types are so-called quartzite (sandstone and conglomerate with opaline cement) and chert, which consists of opal, chalcedony, various quantities of calcium carbonate, and scattered sand grains. Silicified rock occurs at many stratigraphic positions within the formation, but the type here referred to as quartzite is restricted to the lower part, below the horizon of prominent volcanic ash deposits. The cementing material of the quartzite is believed to have been derived from the hydration and leaching of volcanic ash during Ogallala time; the source of the silica in the chert is thought to have been largely Pleistocene volcanic ash. Deposition of the opaline silica seems to have occurred by the replacement of calcium carbonate. Field examination, petrographic studies, chemical analyses, and physical tests indicate that the silicified Ogallala rock has a wide range of possible commercial uses. Several million tons of quartzite are available in northwestern Kansas, the greatest abundance being found in southern Phillips County. Sizable quantities of Ogallala chert are known to occur at many localities in Kansas

The Late Pleistocene Loesses of Central Kansas

The texture and composition of widespread loess deposits in central and northern Kansas are described. The discovery of buried soils in uplands of these areas provides basis for correlating loesses of the central part of the State with those in northern Kansas and in Nebraska. The loess deposits are classed as belonging to the Sanborn formation, originally defined in northwesternmost Kansas, inasmuch as they correspond to the type section of the Sanborn in lithologic character and stratigraphic span. Subdivisions of the Sanborn formation are correlated with units in Nebraska and Iowa and are here designated the Loveland silt member (Loveland soil at the top), the Peoria silt member (Brady soil at the top), and the Bignell silt member (surface soil at the top). Names are not proposed for the channel facies of the silt members