Life, time, and the organism:Temporal registers in the construction of life forms

In this paper, we articulate how time and temporalities are involved in the making of living things. For these purposes, we draw on an instructive episode concerning Norfolk Horn sheep. We attend to historical debates over the nature of the breed, whether it is extinct or not, and whether presently living exemplars are faithful copies of those that came before. We argue that there are features to these debates that are important to understanding contemporary configurations of life, time and the organism, especially as these are articulated within the field of synthetic biology. In particular, we highlight how organisms are configured within different material and semiotic assemblages that are always structured temporally. While we identify three distinct structures, namely the historical, phyletic and molecular registers, we do not regard the list as exhaustive. We also highlight how these structures are related to the care and value invested in the organisms at issue. Finally, because we are interested ultimately in ways of producing time, our subject matter requires us to think about historiographical practice reflexively. This draws us into dialogue with other scholars interested in time, not just historians, but also philosophers and sociologists, and into conversations with them about time as always multiple and never an inert background

WATER-BUDGET MODEL OF THE SOUTH-CENTRAL SAND HILLS OF NEBRASKA

The Sand Hills of Nebraska are typified by dunes separated by broad valleys, many of which contain lakes and/or wet meadows. The area is underlain by a vast amount of groundwater in the hydraulically well-connected Miocene, Pliocene, and Plio/Quaternary sediments that constitute the groundwater reservoir. Development of irrigated agriculture in the Sand Hills, since the early 1970s, has led to concern over the future of the area\u27s groundwater and lake-water resources. An excellent way to understand the groundwater/lake resource is to examine the water budget of the area and to define the nature of the linkage between the lakes and the groundwater reservoir. Herein is a study of the magnitude of the components of the water budget and an analysis of the nature of the connection between the two water resources. Two complementary models were used to quantify flow relationships. The Hubbard and Hanks Soil Moisture Model was adapted to permit year-round evapotranspiration estimates and was employed to determine drainage to the groundwater reservoir and the soil moisture deficit. The Regional Aquifer Simulation Model, RAQSIM, was adapted to accommodate lakes and the complex evapotranspiration calculations necessitated by the subdivision of the study area into evapotranspiration zones. The adapted RAQSIM was used to simulate the groundwater flow system. Most study-area lakes were determined to be net groundwater sinks and all were found to have some degree of hydraulic connection with the groundwater reservoir. During a 3$1\over 2$-yr simulation period, 44.68 in. of precipitation fell in the study area. During the same period, groundwater recharge from precipitation, the groundwater contribution to stream base flow, and groundwater discharge to evapotranspiration, were determined to be 30%, 16% and 5% percent of precipitation, i.e. 13.26 in., 7.21 in., and 2.13 in., respectively