Controlling Piute Ground Squirrels in Southwest Utah

The Piute ground squirrel, (Spermophilus mollis), populations on agricultural lands in Beaver County, Utah are increasing. It is a small gray squirrel found in Nevada and western Utah. It eats grasses, alfalfa and other agronomic crops. High populations of ground squirrels can compete with livestock for forage; destroy food crops, golf courses, and lawns; and can be reservoirs for diseases such as plague. Their burrowing activities alter irrigation systems. Burrow mounds not only cover and kill vegetation, but can damage haying machinery. These squirrels are currently costing farmers in western Utah hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost crops and in control costs. For the past 10 years USU Extension has conducted a number of trials to determine best management practices to reduce squirrel numbers in Southern Utah. These control methods include using different types of bait, timing, and baiting strategies and using different methods of fumigation. Because of our research we were able to get a Section 24(c) Special Local Need Label from the State of Utah for the Rozol Vole Bait for the control of the Piute Ground Squirrel

Comparison of Three Traps Used for Pocket Gopher Management (Thomomys Bottae) in Alfalfa Fields

This fact sheet is a report of a study that compared three traps used for pocket gopher management to determine which trap may be the most effective at capturing valley pocket gophers and was the most time efficient

The Influence of Nutrients and Physical Habitat in Regulating Algal Biomass in Agricultural Streams

This study examined the relative influence of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and habitat on algal biomass in five agricultural regions of the United States. Sites were selected to capture a range of nutrient conditions, with 136 sites distributed over five study areas. Samples were collected in either 2003 or 2004, and analyzed for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) and algal biomass (chlorophyll a). Chlorophyll a was measured in three types of samples, fine-grained benthic material (CHLFG), coarse-grained stable substrate as in rock or wood (CHLCG), and water column (CHLS). Stream and riparian habitat were characterized at each site. TP ranged from 0.004–2.69 mg/l and TN from 0.15–21.5 mg/l, with TN concentrations highest in Nebraska and Indiana streams and TP highest in Nebraska. Benthic algal biomass ranged from 0.47–615 mg/m2, with higher values generally associated with coarse-grained substrate. Seston chlorophyll ranged from 0.2–73.1 μg/l, with highest concentrations in Nebraska. Regression models were developed to predict algal biomass as a function of TP and/or TN. Seven models were statistically significant, six for TP and one for TN; r2 values ranged from 0.03 to 0.44. No significant regression models could be developed for the two study areas in the Midwest. Model performance increased when stream habitat variables were incorporated, with 12 significant models and an increase in the r2 values (0.16–0.54). Water temperature and percent riparian canopy cover were the most important physical variables in the models. While models that predict algal chlorophyll a as a function of nutrients can be useful, model strength is commonly low due to the overriding influence of stream habitat. Results from our study are presented in context of a nutrient-algal biomass conceptual model

Plant community structure mediates potential methane production and potential iron reduction in wetland mesocosms.

Abstract Wetlands are the largest natural source of methane to the atmosphere, but factors controlling methane emissions from wetlands are a major source of uncertainty in greenhouse gas budgets and projections of future climate change. We conducted a controlled outdoor mesocosm experiment to assess the effects of plant community structure (functional group richness and composition) on potential methane production and potential iron reduction in freshwater emergent marshes. Four plant functional groups (facultative annuals, obligate annuals, reeds, and tussocks) were arranged in a full-factorial design and additional mesocosms were assigned as no-plant controls. Soil samples from the top 10 cm were collected three times during the growing season to determine potential methane production and potential iron reduction (in unamended soils and in soils amended with 200 mM formate). These data were compared to soil organic matter, soil pH, and previously published data on above and belowground plant biomass. We found that functional group richness was less important than the presence of specific functional groups (reeds or tussocks) in mediating potential iron reduction. In our mesocosms, where oxidized iron was abundant and electron donors were limiting, iron reducing bacteria outcompeted methanogens, keeping methane production barely detectable in unamended lab incubations. When the possibility of re-oxidizing iron was eliminated via anaerobic incubations and the electron donor limitation was removed by adding formate, potential methane production increased and followed the same patterns as potential iron reduction. Our findings suggest that in the absence of abundant oxidized iron and/or the presence of abundant electron donors, wetlands dominated by either reeds or tussocks may have increased methane production compared to wetlands dominated by annuals. Depending on functional traits such as plant transport and rhizospheric oxygenation capacities, this could potentially lead to increased methane emissions in some wetlands. Additional research examining the role these plant functional groups play in other aspects of methane dynamics will be useful given the importance of methane as a greenhouse gas

Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic

Suspension of face-to-face instruction in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to concerns about consequences for students’ learning. So far, data to study this question have been limited. Here we evaluate the effect of school closures on primary school performance using exceptionally rich data from The Netherlands (n ≈ 350,000). We use the fact that national examinations took place before and after lockdown and compare progress during this period to the same period in the 3 previous years. The Netherlands underwent only a relatively short lockdown (8 wk) and features an equitable system of school funding and the world’s highest rate of broadband access. Still, our results reveal a learning loss of about 3 percentile points or 0.08 standard deviations. The effect is equivalent to one-fifth of a school year, the same period that schools remained closed. Losses are up to 60% larger among students from less-educated homes, confirming worries about the uneven toll of the pandemic on children and families. Investigating mechanisms, we find that most of the effect reflects the cumulative impact of knowledge learned rather than transitory influences on the day of testing. Results remain robust when balancing on the estimated propensity of treatment and using maximum-entropy weights or with fixed-effects specifications that compare students within the same school and family. The findings imply that students made little or no progress while learning from home and suggest losses even larger in countries with weaker infrastructure or longer school closures

The Influence of Nutrients and Physical Habitat in Regulating Algal Biomass in Agricultural Streams

This study examined the relative influence of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and habitat on algal biomass in five agricultural regions of the United States. Sites were selected to capture a range of nutrient conditions, with 136 sites distributed over five study areas. Samples were collected in either 2003 or 2004, and analyzed for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) and algal biomass (chlorophyll a). Chlorophyll a was measured in three types of samples, fine-grained benthic material (CHLFG), coarse-grained stable substrate as in rock or wood (CHLCG), and water column (CHLS). Stream and riparian habitat were characterized at each site. TP ranged from 0.004–2.69 mg/l and TN from 0.15–21.5 mg/l, with TN concentrations highest in Nebraska and Indiana streams and TP highest in Nebraska. Benthic algal biomass ranged from 0.47–615 mg/m2, with higher values generally associated with coarse-grained substrate. Seston chlorophyll ranged from 0.2–73.1 lg/l, with highest concentrations in Nebraska. Regression models were developed to predict algal biomass as a function of TP and/or TN. Seven models were statistically significant, six for TP and one for TN; r2 values ranged from 0.03 to 0.44. No significant regression models could be developed for the two study areas in the Midwest. Model performance increased when stream habitat variables were incorporated, with 12 significant models and an increase in the r2 values (0.16–0.54). Water temperature and percent riparian canopy cover were the most important physical variables in the models. While models that predict algal chlorophyll a as a function of nutrients can be useful, model strength is commonly low due to the overriding influence of stream habitat. Results from our study are presented in context of a nutrient-algal biomass conceptual model

RNA-mediated interaction of Cajal bodies and U2 snRNA genes

Cajal bodies (CBs) are nuclear structures involved in RNA metabolism that accumulate high concentrations of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs). Notably, CBs preferentially associate with specific genomic loci in interphase human cells, including several snRNA and histone gene clusters. To uncover functional elements involved in the interaction of genes and CBs, we analyzed the expression and subcellular localization of stably transfected artificial arrays of U2 snRNA genes. Although promoter substitution arrays colocalized with CBs, constructs containing intragenic deletions did not. Additional experiments identified factors within CBs that are important for association with the native U2 genes. Inhibition of nuclear export or targeted degradation of U2 snRNPs caused a marked decrease in the levels of U2 snRNA in CBs and strongly disrupted the interaction with U2 genes. Together, the results illustrate a specific requirement for both the snRNA transcripts as well as the presence of snRNPs (or snRNP proteins) within CBs. Our data thus provide significant insight into the mechanism of CB interaction with snRNA loci, strengthening the putative role for this nuclear suborganelle in snRNP biogenesis

Inequalities in healthcare use during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic led to reductions in non-COVID related healthcare use, but little is known whether this burden is shared equally. This study investigates whether reductions in administered care disproportionately affected certain sociodemographic strata, in particular marginalised groups. Using detailed medical claims data from the Dutch universal health care system and rich full population registry data, we predict expected healthcare use based on pre-pandemic trends (2017 – Feb 2020) and compare these expectations with observed healthcare use in 2020 and 2021. Our findings reveal a 10% decline in the number of weekly treated patients in 2020 and a 3% decline in 2021 relative to prior years. These declines are unequally distributed and are more pronounced for individuals below the poverty line, females, older people, and individuals with a migrant background, particularly during the initial wave of COVID-19 hospitalisations and for middle and low urgency procedures. While reductions in non-COVID related healthcare decreased following the initial shock of the pandemic, inequalities persist throughout 2020 and 2021. Our results demonstrate that the pandemic has not only had an unequal toll in terms of the direct health burden of the pandemic, but has also had a differential impact on the use of non-COVID healthcare

National Crystallography Service (NCS) Grid Service

Conference poster about the NCS Grid Service.The EPSRC funded National Crystallography Service (NCS) is a facility available to the entire UK academic Chemistry community. The EPSRC funds a team of experts and 'state of the art' instrumentation, based in Southampton University School of Chemistry, to provide this service. This is an exceptionally important service as crystal structure determination is easily the most information rich method of characterisation of a compound and many research papers cannot be published without confirmation of identity by crystal structure analysis