The What, Why, When and How of Reading Response Journals

Today much student time is spent in preparation for mandated reading and writing tests. Consequently, students rarely get a chance to generate their own meanings as they read and compose from their own thoughts as they write. Ruth (1987) points out the need to present opportunities for students to ask and answer real questions of their own about reading and writing. Reading response journals provide students with an opportunity to respond and interpret their reading personally

Competitor and ally: the Texas Tribune's impact on a depleted Austin press corps

Professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism from the School of Journalism, University of Missouri--Columbia.By allowing for-profit media companies to run its content for free, the Texas Tribune positioned itself as a polarizing figure. On one hand, it is a fierce competitor to the state's largest newspapers, wielding a deep and vigorous reporting staff. On the other, it's a friend to the struggling newspaper model, providing quality coverage of state policy and politics at no charge. The early days between the Trib and the state's largest newspapers yielded turmoil. But the hard feelings have mostly given way, leaving in its wake an Austin press corps that is more competitive but less diversified.Includes bibliographic references

Comparing 40-year sediment records of aquatic ecosystem evolution in two large lakes in the blast zone of Mount St. Helens

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens dramatically altered the surrounding landscape, removing vegetation and impacting hydrology. The pyroclastic debris flow partially filled Spirit Lake and dammed Coldwater Creek, creating Coldwater Lake. Spirit Lake was sterilized by the eruption, and fallen trees from the blast washed into the lake forming a floating log mat covering 20% of the surface. While significant research has gone into understanding the history of ecosystem recovery in Spirit Lake, nearby Coldwater Lake has not been studied as extensively. These two lakes provide a unique opportunity to study how volcanic eruptions alter freshwater environments. Recent research at Spirit Lake has focused on spatial heterogeneity in the post-eruption lake ecosystem related to patterns of log mat coverage, and our current work at Coldwater Lake provides an important point of comparison in a lake without the influence of woody debris. In order to study the evolution of the Coldwater Lake ecosystem, we collected four sediment cores (~30 centimeters each), extruded and sectioned the cores, and analyzed diatom abundance and diversity, and carbon and nitrogen biogeochemistry through time. These sediment records reflect changes in lake conditions, such as water chemistry, and in aquatic ecology. Our data show a substantial increase in diatom abundance and diversity through time, with highest levels in the top 15 centimeters of the cores. The percent carbon and nitrogen also increases in younger core sediments. Coldwater Lake displays some spatial variability in diatom abundance between deeper and shallower locations in the lake, but benthic taxa are dominant across the lake. Coldwater Lake has a lower ratio of pelagic to benthic diatom taxa than Spirit Lake, implying that Coldwater Lake is more nutrient poor. The differences between the two lakes can likely be mainly explained by the differences in their geologic formations, and both have come to ecological equilibrium

Could Biological Soil Crusts Act as Natural Fire Fuel Breaks in the Sagebrush Steppe?

For decades, large portions of the semi-arid sagebrush ecosystem have been experiencing increased frequency and extent of wildfire, even though small, infrequent fire is a natural disturbance in this ecosystem (Baker, 2006). Increased wildfire is threatening the existence of sagebrush ecosystems and the wildlife species that depend upon them (Baker, 2006; Coates et al., 2016). Increased wildfire in sagebrush ecosystems is often driven by invasive annual grasses, especially cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum (L.). Invasion can initiate a trajectory toward a “grass-fire cycle”, in which cheatgrass increases fine fuel loadings that promote fire, and native plant species do not recover quickly after fire, leading frequently burned sites to transition to monocultures of cheatgrass (Brooks et al., 2004). Although cheatgrass has been extensively studied in the sagebrush steppe, less attention has been given to the organisms that would have filled the interspaces that cheatgrass replaces, namely, biological soil crusts (“biocrusts”). Semi-arid environments are characterized by sparse cover of vascular plants and substantial cover of biocrusts (Belnap & Lange, 2001). Biocrusts contain organisms that live on the soil surface and include lichens, mosses, and light algal crusts (including cyanobacteria). Although biocrusts were included in some of the first descriptions of the vegetation in the region (Flowers, 1934), biocrusts are rarely included in contemporary studies of sagebrush ecosystems. Comprehensive community studies have concluded consistent negative relationships between abundance of biocrusts and annual invasive grasses, specifically cheatgrass (Condon & Pyke, 2018a,b; Daubenmire, 1970). We postulate that biocrusts, and particularly lichens, facilitate a pattern of small, infrequent, low intensity fire given their association with reduced fine fuels (cheatgrass)

Comparing modern and presettlement forest dynamics of a subboreal wilderness: Does spruce budworm enhance fire risk?

Insect disturbance is often thought to increase fire risk through enhanced fuel loadings, particularly in coniferous forest ecosystems. Yet insect disturbances also affect successional pathways and landscape structure that interact with fire disturbances (and vice-versa) over longer time scales. We applied a landscape succession and disturbance model (LANDIS-II) to evaluate the relative strength of interactions between spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks and fire disturbances in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota (USA). Disturbance interactions were evaluated for two different scenarios: presettlement forests and fire regimes vs. contemporary forests and fire regimes. Forest composition under the contemporary scenario trended toward mixtures of deciduous species (primarily Betula papyriferaand Populus spp.) and shade-tolerant conifers (Picea mariana, Abies balsamea, Thuja occidentalis), with disturbances dominated by a combination of budworm defoliation and high-severity fires. The presettlement scenario retained comparatively more “big pines” (i.e., Pinus strobus, P. resinosa) and tamarack (L. laricina), and experienced less budworm disturbance and a comparatively less-severe fire regime. Spruce budworm disturbance decreased area burned and fire severity under both scenarios when averaged across the entire 300-year simulations. Contrary to past research, area burned and fire severity during outbreak decades were each similar to that observed in non-outbreak decades. Our analyses suggest budworm disturbances within forests of the BWCA have a comparatively weak effect on long-term forest composition due to a combination of characteristics. These include strict host specificity, fine-scaled patchiness created by defoliation damage, and advance regeneration of its primary host, balsam fir (A. balsamea) that allows its host to persist despite repeated disturbances. Understanding the nature of the three-way interaction between budworm, fire, and composition has important ramifications for both fire mitigation strategies and ecosystem restoration initiatives. We conclude that budworm disturbance can partially mitigate long-term future fire risk by periodically reducing live ladder fuel within the mixed forest types of the BWCA but will do little to reverse the compositional trends caused in part by reduced fire rotations

Ecological restoration needs derived from reference conditions for a semi-arid landscape in Western Colorado, USA

Abstract Semi-arid ecosystems cover tens of millions of hectares in the Intermountain West of the United States, and most have altered plant communities due to land use, especially livestock grazing. Thus, relatively unaltered ''reference'' plant community information is needed to guide restoration. Plant communities were sampled over a large ($600 000 ha) semiarid landscape in western Colorado, within pin˜on-juniper woodlands, sagebrush shrublands, and grasslands, and over conditions ranging from relict areas without livestock grazing to heavily utilized areas. Ordination was used to group samples into ranked categories of ecological condition within 18 communities, and means-tests and other techniques were used to identify ecological differences among ranks across vegetation types. With few exceptions, grass and forb cover, biological soil crust cover, and species diversity declined concomitant with ranks representing increasingly degraded conditions, while non-native species cover was variable among ranks. Landscape-level species abundance patterns also differed significantly among ranks, with herbaceous species generally exhibiting less constancy and cover within degraded samples compared to samples of reference quality. These semi-arid ecosystems will require both active (e.g., reseeding) and passive (grazing management) restoration approaches, at local-and landscape-levels, respectively, if the goal is to restore native plant composition and abundance.

Uptake of a dashboard designed to give realtime feedback to a sentinel network about key data required for influenza vaccine effectiveness studies

Dashboards are technologies that bringing together a range of data sources for observational or analytical purposes. We have created a customised dashboard that includes all the key data elements required for monitoring flu vaccine effectiveness (FVE). This delivers a unique dashboard for each primary care provider (general practice) providing data to the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC), one of the oldest European surveillance systems. These FVE studies use a test negative case control (TNCC) design. TNCC requires knowledge of practice denominator; vaccine exposure, and results of influenza virology swabs carried out to identify in an influenza-like-illness (ILI), a clinical diagnosis, really is influenza. The dashboard displays the denominator uploaded each week into the surveillance system, compared with the nationally known practice size (providing face-validity for the denominator); it identifies those exposed to the vaccine (by age group and risk category) and virology specimens taken and missed opportunities for surveillance (again by category). All sentinel practices can access in near real time (4 working days in areas) their rates of vaccine exposure and swabs conducted. Initial feedback is positive; 80%(32/40) practices responded positively