U.S. Public Opinion of Reproductive Control Options for Free-roaming Horses on Western Public Lands

Free-roaming horses (Equus ferus caballus; horses) inhabit public rangelands located primarily in 10 western U.S. states. Recent horse population increases are impacting rangeland ecosystems, native wildlife species and their habitats, and exacerbating conflicts with domestic livestock grazing. While contraceptives and physical sterilization are promising options to manage horse herd levels, public opinion concerning the use of fertility control is not well understood. To better inform policymakers, we completed a rigorous study of a random sample of public land stakeholders across the United States (n = 3,500) in 2020 using a Likert scale online survey to assess their level of agreement with the general use of reproductive controls and their preferences regarding 4 available reproductive control options. We used chi-square likelihood ratio tests to determine the associations between the knowledge of horse origins in North America and horse management in the United States, and public support of contraception and sterilization methods to control horse populations. We also assessed the associations between survey responses and respondent demographics. Most respondents either “somewhat agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the use of contraceptives to control horse birth rates (36.6% and 26.9%, respectively) when no specific type of contraceptive was described. Respondents who believed horses were native to North America “strongly agreed” with the statement regarding the use of contraceptives less often (22.2%) than respondents who recognized that European explorers introduced horses (36.6%) or believed horses arrived by crossing a land bridge (35.8%); however, this association exhibited very low power to predict the response (λ \u3c 0.1). Similarly, while there were some associations indicated by chi-square analyses between demographic variables and support for contraceptives, these associations exhibited very low power to explain the responses. When asked to rank 4 generalized population control options, more respondents ranked physical sterilization as their preferred option (37.1%). There was an association between age and ranking order of sterilization. For ages 18–53, the range was 40.6–45.3%, significantly more than older ages, 54 to ≥73, where the range was 31.1–33.8%. Knowledge did not influence the preference for control options. Our results suggest that our respondents were more supportive of the use of contraceptives or sterilization, when described in generalities, to control the birth rates in free-roaming horses. Our research provides policymakers with objective, novel insights into public knowledge and perceptions concerning the population control of free-roaming horses on designated western rangelands. We encourage the federal, state, and tribal agencies charged with the management of free-roaming horses to develop and deliver outreach programs to better educate public land stakeholders about the ecological and economic impacts of free-roaming horses on western landscapes and efficacy of available population management options to mitigate impact and sustain herds

Assessment of Groundwater Quality in a Remediated Abandoned Feedlot, Henderson County, Kentucky: Data Report

A three-phase project investigated the influence of past and present agricultural practices on groundwater resources in the Western Kentucky Coal Field. Phase III concentrated on an abandoned dairy feedlot that had been remediated. Results of phase III analyses are presented in this report

Assessment of Groundwater Quality in an Abandoned Feedlot, Henderson County, Kentucky: Data Report

A three-phase project investigated the influence of past and present agricultural practices on groundwater resources in the Western Kentucky Coal Field. Phase II concentrated on past practices, specifically those associated with an abandoned dairy feedlot and an old homestead. Results of phase II analyses are presented in this report

Assessment of Row Crop, Alfalfa, and Pasture Field Practices on Groundwater Quality in an Upland Bedrock Setting, Henderson County, Kentucky: Report of Soil- and Water-Quality Data

An assessment of how present agricultural practices have influenced shallow groundwater and soil quality was conducted on a 540-acre farm in north-central Henderson County. Groundwater- and soil-quality data were collected from row crop (corn and soybean), alfalfa, and pasture fields. In addition to the field settings, groundwater and soil data were collected from the existing farmyard and an abandoned feedlot. Groundwater samples were analyzed for pH, specific conductance, temperature, oxidation-reduction potential, metals, anions, nutrients, herbicides, and various isotopes. Soil samples were analyzed for pH, bioavailable phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, organic matter, total nitrogen, and inorganic nitrogen (nitrate-N). Soil- and groundwater-quality data are presented in the appendices

Soil- and Groundwater-Quality Data for an Abandoned Cattle and Hog Feedlot in Henderson County, Kentucky

Groundwater samples collected from a livestock well in southwestern Henderson County, Ky., contained nitrate-N concentrations greater than 20 mg/L, two times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level. The well is located in an abandoned cattle and hog feedlot. The feedlot is located in an upland bedrock setting with Pleistocene loess overlying Pennsylvanian bedrock. One hundred twenty-one soil cores were collected to better define the areal extent of organic-rich soil believed to be the source of the elevated nitrate-N in the groundwater. Cores were collected on 25-ft centers to a depth of 4 ft below the land surface. Soil samples were analyzed for pH, bioavailable phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, organic matter, total nitrogen, and inorganic nitrogen (nitrate-N). Groundwater samples were analyzed for pH, specific conductance, temperature, oxidation-reduction potential, nitrate-N, chloride, herbicides, and nitrogen and oxygen isotopes. The resulting soil- and groundwater-quality data are presented in this report

Asking, Learning, Seeking Out : An Exploration of Data Literacy for Teaching

The current study explored preservice and inservice teachers’ perspectives on data literacy for teaching. Semi-structured interviews were employed with 12 teacher candidates in elementary and special education. The findings revealed participants’ misconceptions regarding formative and summative data; their understanding of the value of formative data; perceptions of challenges related to data literacy for teaching including time, making sense of data, and reliability and validity; and candidates’ preferences for authentic data literacy instruction

A new way to estimate disease prevalence from random partial-mouth samples

Standard partial-mouth estimators of chronic periodontitis that define an individual’s disease status solely in terms of selected sites underestimate prevalence. This study proposes an improved prevalence estimator based on randomly sampled sites and evaluates its accuracy in a well characterized population cohort

Derivation and Validation of the Periodontal and Tooth Profile Classification System for Patient Stratification

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study is to use bioinformatics tools to explore identification and definition of distinct periodontal and tooth profile classes (PPCs/TPCs) among a cohort of individuals by using detailed clinical measures at the tooth level, including both periodontal measurements and tooth loss. METHODS: Full-mouth clinical periodontal measurements (seven clinical parameters) from 6,793 individuals from the Dental Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (DARIC) were used to identify PPC. A custom latent class analysis (LCA) procedure was developed to identify clinically distinct PPCs and TPCs. Three validation cohorts were used: NHANES (2009 to 2010 and 2011 to 2012) and the Piedmont Study population (7,785 individuals). RESULTS: The LCA method identified seven distinct periodontal profile classes (PPCs A to G) and seven distinct tooth profile classes (TPCs A to G) ranging from health to severe periodontal disease status. The method enabled identification of classes with common clinical manifestations that are hidden under the current periodontal classification schemas. Class assignment was robust with small misclassification error in the presence of missing data. The PPC algorithm was applied and confirmed in three distinct cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest PPC and TPC using LCA can provide robust periodontal clinical definitions that reflect disease patterns in the population at an individual and tooth level. These classifications can potentially be used for patient stratification and thus provide tools for integrating multiple datasets to assess risk for periodontitis progression and tooth loss in dental patients