Life history aspects of the screech owl (Otus asio) in Tennessee

The objectives of this study were to: (1) delineate the nesting cycle of the screech owl (Otus asio) in Tennessee, (2) investigate food habits of the screech owl in Tennessee and (3) determine the adaptability of the screech owl to artificial nesting structures in a variety of habitat types. Based on 25 active screech owl nests examined in east Tennessee in 1978, average clutch size was 4.1. An incubation period of 25-26 days was determined from daily monitoring of two of these nests. Peak egg laying, hatching and fledging periods were 29 March-11 April (80%), 26 April-9 May (76%) and 24 May-6 June (82%), respectively, from 25 nests examined in 1978. Sexual size dimorphism between male and female screech owls was slight. Of 74 screech owls collected dead on roads (DOR) in Tennessee, the culmen, tarsus, and tail lengths of female owls were not significantly larger than those of male owls. However, wing lengths of female owls were significantly larger than wing lengths of male owls. Food habits information was obtained from identification of food items cached in nest boxes and from analysis of stomach contents of DOR birds. Food caches revealed a preponderance of birds consumed in all seasons; stomach contents indicated the importance of mammals in late fall and winter and insects in spring and summer. From 117 DOR screech owls collected from November 1976 to June 1978 in Tennessee, 89 (76.1%) were red, 25 (21.3%) were gray and 3 (2.6%) were intermediate in coloration. Ratio of red to gray phase birds was 3.6:1. Use of 150 nest boxes examined in 1977-1978 (50 each in rural, urban-suburban and woodland areas) by roosting screech owls was significantly higher (p \u3c .05) in urban-suburban and rural areas than in woodland areas. Boxes in urban-suburban areas supported the largest number of nesting screech owls. In the woodland area, 40 nest boxes were never used by vertebrate animals; this was compared to four and five next boxes that were unused in rural and urban-suburban areas, respectively

Optical Spectroscopy of Galactic Cirrus Clouds: Extended Red Emission in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium

We present initial results from the first optical spectroscopic survey of high latitude Galactic cirrus clouds. The observed shape of the cirrus spectrum does not agree with that of scattered ambient Galactic starlight. This mismatch can be explained by the presence of Extended Red Emission (ERE) in the diffuse interstellar medium, as found in many other astronomical objects, probably caused by photoluminescence of hydrocarbons. The integrated ERE intensity, I_ERE \approx 1.2 x 10^{-5} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} sr^{-1}, is roughly a third of the scattered light intensity, consistent with recent color measurements of diffuse Galactic light. The peak of the cirrus ERE (lambda_{0} \sim 6000 AA) is shifted towards short (bluer) wavelengths compared to the ERE in sources excited by intense ultraviolet radiation, such as HII regions (lambda_{0} sim 8000 AA); such a trend is seen in laboratory experiments on hydrogenated amorphous carbon films.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

CC116 Suggestions for Handling Summer Fallowed Land which will not be Planted to Winter Wheat

Extension Circular CC116 This circular contains suggestions for handling summer fallowed land which will not be planted to winter wheat

A Reanalysis of the Carbon Abundance in the Translucent Cloud toward HD 24534

We have reanalyzed the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph data set presented by Snow et al. which contains the interstellar intersystem C II] 2325A line through the translucent cloud toward HD 24534 (X Persei). In contrast to the results of Snow et al., we clearly detect the C II] feature at the 3-sigma confidence level and measure a C^+ column density of 2.7 +/- 0.8 x 10^17 cm^-2. Accounting for the C I column density along the line of sight, we find 10^6 C/H = 106 +/- 38 in the interstellar gas toward this star. This gas-phase carbon-to-hydrogen ratio suggests that slightly more carbon depletion may be occurring in translucent as compared to diffuse clouds. The average diffuse-cloud C/H, however, is within the 1-sigma uncertainty of the measurement toward HD 24534. We therefore cannot rule out the possibility that the two cloud types have comparable gas-phase C/H, and therefore comparable depletions of carbon.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

EC171 Stubble Mulch Farming

Extension circular 171 discusses the importance and details of stubble mulch farming

EC171 Stubble Mulch Farming

Extension circular 171 discusses the importance and details of stubble mulch farming

The adsorption and desorption of ethanol ices from a model grain surface

Reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and temperature programed desorption (TPD) have been used to probe the adsorption and desorption of ethanol on highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) at 98 K. RAIR spectra for ethanol show that it forms physisorbed multilayers on the surface at 98 K. Annealing multilayer ethanol ices (exposures > 50 L) beyond 120 K gives rise to a change in morphology before crystallization within the ice occurs. TPD shows that ethanol adsorbs and desorbs molecularly on the HOPG surface and shows four different species in desorption. At low coverage, desorption of monolayer ethanol is observed and is described by first-order kinetics. With increasing coverage, a second TPD peak is observed at a lower temperature, which is assigned to an ethanol bilayer. When the coverage is further increased, a second multilayer, less strongly bound to the underlying ethanol ice film, is observed. This peak dominates the TPD spectra with increasing coverage and is characterized by fractional-order kinetics and a desorption energy of 56.3 +/- 1.7 kJ mol(-1). At exposures exceeding 50 L, formation of crystalline ethanol is also observed as a high temperature shoulder on the TPD spectrum at 160 K. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics

EC58-123 Questions and Answers about Stubble Mulching

Extension Circular 58-123 provides questions and answers about Stubble Mulch farming

EC58-123 Questions and Answers about Stubble Mulching

Extension Circular 58-123 provides questions and answers about Stubble Mulch farming

The Photophysics of the Carrier of Extended Red Emission

Interstellar dust contains a component which reveals its presence by emitting a broad, unstructured band of light in the 540 to 950 nm wavelength range, referred to as Extended Red Emission (ERE). The presence of interstellar dust and ultraviolet photons are two necessary conditions for ERE to occur. This is the basis for suggestions which attribute ERE to an interstellar dust component capable of photoluminescence. In this study, we have collected all published ERE observations with absolute-calibrated spectra for interstellar environments, where the density of ultraviolet photons can be estimated reliably. In each case, we determined the band-integrated ERE intensity, the wavelength of peak emission in the ERE band, and the efficiency with which absorbed ultraviolet photons are contributing to the ERE. The data show that radiation is not only driving the ERE, as expected for a photoluminescence process, but is modifying the ERE carrier as manifested by a systematic increase in the ERE band's peak wavelength and a general decrease in the photon conversion efficiency with increasing densities of the prevailing exciting radiation. The overall spectral characteristics of the ERE and the observed high quantum efficiency of the ERE process are currently best matched by the recently proposed silicon nanoparticle (SNP) model. Using the experimentally established fact that ionization of semiconductor nanoparticles quenches their photoluminescence, we proceeded to test the SNP model by developing a quantitative model for the excitation and ionization equilibrium of SNPs under interstellar conditions for a wide range of radiation field densities.Comment: 42 p., incl. 8 fig. Accepted for publication by Ap