The influence of grazing on surface climatological variables of tallgrass prairie

Mass and energy exchange between most grassland canopies and the atmosphere are mediated by grazing activities. Ambient temperatures can be increased or decreased by grazers. Data have been assembled from simulated grazing experiments on Konza Prairie Research Natural Area and observations on adjacent pastures grazed by cattle show significant changes in primary production, nutrient content, and bidirectional reflectance characteristics as a function of grazing intensity. The purpose of this research was to provide algorithms that would allow incorporation of grazing effects into models of energy budgets using remote sensing procedures. The approach involved: (1) linking empirical measurements of plant biomass and grazing intensities to remotely sensed canopy reflectance, and (2) using a higher resolution, mechanistic grazing model to derive plant ecophysiological parameters that influence reflectance and other surface climatological variables

Development and Comparative Morphology of the Gonopodium of Goodeid Fishes

The Goodeidae, one of four families of the cyprinodont fishes and all of whose species are viviparous have a modified anal fin in males for intromission of sperm. This gonopodium, with structures specific for each species, develop under the dual controls of genetically determined patterns and endogenous androgenic hormones. In males of all species of the family, rays 2 to 7 of the anal fin are shorter than the other rays and in some species they are single instead of bifurcated. The rays of this complex are strongly recurved and slender in some species. A comparative study of rays 2 to 7 in adult males of different species reveals that the primitive unspecialized structure of the juvenile fin is basic and that, in the modifications in the male fin, evolution has proceeded independently and in varying degrees in the several subfamilies

Notes on the Food Habits of Young of Cottus Ictalops (Millers Thumb)

Author Institution: Zoological Laboratory, Beloit Colleg

Food on the Common Ohio Darters

Author Institution: Zoological Laboratory, Beloit Colleg