Recent Developments

This section highlights recent developments in federal and state environmental and land use case law. The section also summarizes Florida Legislation from the 2002 Legislative Session. Readers may also research these topics online at the official website of the Florida Legislature, http://www.leg.state.fl.us, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection\u27s website, http://www.dep.state.fl.us, and the Florida Department of Community Affairs\u27 website, HTTP://www.dca.state.fl.us

NovaNET\u27s Effect on the Reading Achievement of At-Risk Middle School Students

At-risk and special education students in the 7th and 8th grades in a rural middle school in western Alabama, in the years following the introduction of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation in 2002, failed to achieve adequate yearly progress in reading. School districts are increasingly implementing flexible computer-based intervention programs to improve their students\u27 reading achievement. Using a between-group design, the purpose of this study was to determine whether NovaNET, a newly adopted reading intervention program, enhanced the reading attainment of at-risk and special education students. Guided by constructivist theory, archived reading achievement data from the 2009-2013 Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test were analyzed for 3 consecutive cohorts of special education and at-risk students who did (n = 76) or did not (n = 73) participate in the NovaNET program. With dependent variables of reading achievement at the end of 7th and 8th grade, with independent variables of experimental-control group, gender, and general-special education status, and a covariate of reading achievement at the end of 6th grade, a multivariate analysis of covariance indicated a significant main effect associated with participation in the program (F = 4.13, df = 2, p \u3c .02), whereas significant higher-order interaction effects pointed to differential program benefits for specific subgroups of students. Although overall effect sizes were small to modest, the results indicated that NovaNET can increase educational attainment for at-risk and special education students who are struggling with reading. This study may contribute to positive social change by providing educators with scientific data about a flexible, technology-enhanced program to promote reading instruction and achievement for at-risk general education and special-education students entering middle school

Spatial distribution of adult Dectes texanus (Leconte, Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and its effects on Kansas soybean (Glycine max L.)

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of EntomologyBrian P. McCornackDectes texanus LeConte (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Dectes stem borer, is native to North American and can be found throughout Kansas in areas with soybean (Glycine max, L) production fields. In Kansas, adult D. texanus are present in production soybean fields between mid-June and September most years; however, the larval stage is the most damaging stage to the plant, due to pith removal and consequent girdling of the main stem prior to overwintering. Although loss from physiological (i.e., indirect feeding of non-seed tissue) and mechanical (i.e., harvestability) mechanisms is variable, soybean growers need viable management strategies to mitigate losses caused by this annual pest. As such, there is a need to update current management recommendations for controlling D. texanus; however, several knowledge gaps about D. texanus behavior in the field exist and need to be addressed prior to successful implementation of new management strategies. The major goal of this research was to examine and improve our understanding of the biology and behavior of D. texanus as well as soybean plant responses to infestation through multiple on-farm field experiments. To achieve this, we conducted three field studies. The objectives of the first study were to: 1) monitor adult D. texanus activity within soybean fields to determine if D. texanus adults and/or larvae are aggregated within the field, and if so, 2) identify when during the growing season aggregation occurs. The objective of the second study was to estimate within field dispersal capabilities of adult D. texanus using a protein-based, mark-capture techniques. The final objective was to investigate the utility of vegetation indices as a method to detect soybean infested with D. texanus. To determine if D. texanus adults and or larvae aggregate and when during the growing season we conducted grid sampling throughout June-September, to monitor activity within the field. The results of this study indicate that adult aggregation occurs during July when adult presence is at its highest (mid-late July). By using protein markers, we were able to determine dispersal capabilities of adult D. texanus, within a given soybean field. Results showed that on average D. texanus traveled between 52 to 389 m. Results also found that infested soybean plants had more node and 1% larger stem diameters than non-infested plants. Multiple vegetation indices were used to examine difference in spectral response to D. texanus infestation. Interestingly, only the 2014 exclusion cage study showed a significant difference between D. texanus infested and non-infested cages for several indices, including ENDVI, ENDVI2, ENDVI3, GBNDVI, NIR Green Diff. and NIRBRVI. Given that we were able to detect changes in crop phenology through time, there is great potential in using remote sensing methods to determine optimal times to harvest soybean before D. texanus infestations lodge plants. Such an application would require further investigation