Fascism on the Plains in "Capital City"

Mari Sandoz, Western writer and Great Plains historian, uncovered issues that the individual finds in negotiating the corrupt community or state in the Midwest. Her 1939 text, Capital City, depicts a corrupt allegorical Midwestern city and captures the ways in which the individual, as part of a larger social unit, fights for power in the community and for equal rights versus a corrupt state. Capital City is a part of her efforts to advocate for disenfranchised farmers, laborers, and workers of the Great Plains region. Her work clearly explicates how individuals with a common ideology can function within a community or social unit to unite for social protest. My research will ascertain how Sandoz’s historical fiction comments on the rights of the worker and, more importantly, the effect of her writing

Sandoz Writing (Righting) History

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on July 8, 2015Dissertation advisors: Anthony Shiu and John HerronVitaIncludes bibliographic references (pages 232-250)Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of English Language and Literature and Department of History, University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2015Mari Sandoz’s dedication to her research topics, personality, candor, and work ethic allowed her an intimate place alongside those she chose to write about. This yielded a moving written product. In the same way that Sandoz was able to infiltrate the groups she researched, they permeated Sandoz’s consciousness. As she developed story ideas and noted observations about Plains life, Sandoz encountered factions that she saw were unjustly treated. She utilized her platform as a writer to attempt to redress these injustices. Her work with Native Americans, women, and workers greatly touched the people she wrote about and, ultimately, for. This work considers how this frontierswoman was able to transgress gender boundaries and question authority about those she felt were disenfranchised. Her acerbic writing, in both her literary texts and letters, was remarkable in a time and place when and where women typically did not provide such pointed commentary. Mari Sandoz’s literary works were supported by extensive historical research, which employed ethnohistory, and detailed research notes to support her stories of both fiction and non-fiction. Her advocacy through her writing and personal efforts were important in shaping opinions in Nebraska and the United States. While Sandoz’s intricate work invites critique, analysis, and commentary, her work has remained obscure to scholars in either a historical or a literary sense. This work demonstrates the methodology by which Sandoz comments on issues of her time more accurately and, more importantly, the effect of her writing on those issues. The importance of this research is how Sandoz effectively comments about these issues and utilized her texts and letters to promote her advocacy, providing interest to feminist rhetoricians. Sandoz’s interventions are related to ongoing issues, as they demonstrate the ways by which an author can influence and affect public sympathy and awareness in order to effect change.Introduction -- Constructing women: "Well-knit bone and nerve" -- Advocating for the working man/woman: laborers, farmers, and immigrants -- Stoking while stalking: Sandoz increases awareness while "stalking the ghost of Crazy Horse

Genetic variation and effective population size in isolated populations of coastal cutthroat

Abstract Following glacial recession in southeast Alaska, waterfalls created by isostatic rebound have isolated numerous replicate populations of coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) in short coastal streams. These replicate isolated populations offer an unusual opportunity to examine factors associated with the maintenance of genetic diversity. We used eight microsatellites to examine genetic variation within and differentiation among 12 population pairs sampled from above and below these natural migration barriers. Geological evidence indicated that the above-barrier populations have been isolated for 8,000-12,500 years. Genetic differentiation among below-barrier populations (F ST = 0.10, 95% C.I. 0.08-0.12) was similar to a previous study of more southern populations of this species. Above-barrier populations were highly differentiated from adjacent below-barrier populations (mean pairwise F ST = 0.28; SD 0.18) and multiple lines of evidence were consistent with asymmetric downstream gene flow that varied among streams. Each above-barrier population had reduced within-population genetic variation when compared to the adjacent belowbarrier population. Within-population genetic diversity was significantly correlated with the amount of available habitat in above-barrier sites. Increased genetic differentiation of above-barrier populations with lower genetic diversity suggests that genetic drift has been the primary cause of genetic divergence. Long-term estimates of N e based on loss of heterozygosity over the time since isolation were large (3,170; range 1,077-7,606) and established an upper limit for N e if drift were the only evolutionary process responsible for loss of genetic diversity. However, it is likely that a combination of mutation, selection, and gene flow have also contributed to the genetic diversity of above-barrier populations. Contemporary above-barrier N e estimates were much smaller than long-term N e estimates, not correlated with withinpopulation genetic diversity, and not consistent with the amount of genetic variation retained, given the approximate 10,000-year period of isolation. The populations isolated by waterfalls in this study that occur in larger stream networks have retained substantial genetic variation, which suggests that the amount of habitat in headwater streams is an important consideration for maintaining the evolutionary potential of isolated populations

A case of isolation by distance and short-term temporal stability of population structure in brown trout (Salmo trutta) within the River Dart, southwest England

This is an open access article that is freely available in ORE or from the publisher's web site. Please cite the published version.© 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing LtdSalmonid fishes exhibit high levels of population differentiation. In particular, the brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) demonstrates complex within river drainage genetic structure. Increasingly, these patterns can be related to the underlying evolutionary models, of which three scenarios (member-vagrant hypothesis, metapopulation model and panmixia) facilitate testable predictions for investigations into population structure. We analysed 1225 trout collected from the River Dart, a 75 km long river located in southwest England. Specimens were collected from 22 sample sites across three consecutive summers (2001–2003) and genetic variation was examined at nine microsatellite loci. A hierarchical analysis of molecular variance revealed that negligible genetic variation was attributed among temporal samples. The highest levels of differentiation occurred among samples isolated above barriers to fish movement, and once these samples were removed, a significant effect of isolation-by-distance was observed. These results suggest that, at least in the short-term, ecological events are more important in shaping the population structure of Dart trout than stochastic extinction events, and certainly do not contradict the expectations of a member-vagrant hypothesis. Furthermore, individual-level spatial autocorrelation analyses support previous recommendations for the preservation of a number of spawning sites spaced throughout the tributary system to conserve the high levels of genetic variation identified in salmonid species

Early Marine Migration Patterns of Wild Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarki clarki), Steelhead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and Their Hybrids

Hybridization between coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki clarki) and steelhead or rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has been documented in several streams along the North American west coast. The two species occupy similar freshwater habitats but the anadromous forms differ greatly in the duration of marine residence and migration patterns at sea. Intermediate morphological, physiological, and performance traits have been reported for hybrids but little information has been published comparing the behavior of hybrids to the pure species.This study used acoustic telemetry to record the movements of 52 cutthroat, 42 steelhead x cutthroat hybrids, and 89 steelhead smolts, all wild, that migrated from Big Beef Creek into Hood Canal (Puget Sound, Washington). Various spatial and temporal metrics were used to compare the behavior of the pure species to their hybrids. Median hybrid residence time, estuary time, and tortuosity values were intermediate compared to the pure species. The median total track distance was greater for hybrids than for either cutthroat or steelhead. At the end of each track, most steelhead (80%) were located near or north of the Hood Canal, as expected for this seaward migrating species, whereas most cutthroat (89%) were within 8 kilometers of the estuary. Most hybrids (70%) were detected leaving Hood Canal, though a substantial percentage (20%) remained near the Big Beef Creek estuary. More hybrids (7.5%) than pure cutthroat (4.5%) or steelhead (0.0%) were last detected in the southern reaches of Hood Canal.Given the similarity in freshwater ecology between the species, differences in marine ecology may play an important role in maintaining species integrity in areas of sympatry

Development of a Standardized DNA Database for Chinook Salmon

An international multi-laboratory project was conducted to develop a standardized DNA database for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). This project was in response to the needs of the Chinook Technical Committee of the Pacific Salmon Commission to identify stock composition of Chinook salmon caught in fisheries during their oceanic migrations. Nine genetics laboratories identified 13 microsatellite loci that could be reproducibly assayed in each of the laboratories. To test that the loci were reproducible among laboratories, blind tests were conducted to verify scoring consistency for the nearly 500 total alleles. Once standardized, a dataset of over 16,000 Chinook salmon representing 110 putative populations was constructed ranging throughout the area of interest of the Pacific Salmon Commission from Southeast Alaska to the Sacramento River in California. The dataset differentiates the major known genetic lineages of Chinook salmon and provides a tool for genetic stock identification of samples collected from mixed fisheries. A diverse group of scientists representing the disciplines of fishery management, genetics, fishery administration, population dynamics, and sampling theory are now developing recommendations for the integration of these genetic data into ocean salmon management.Original Abstract: Se realizo un proyecto internacional con la participation de diversos laboratorios con la finalidad de desarrollar una base de datos estandarizada de DNA para el salmon rey (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Dicho proyecto surgi6 como respuesta a las necesidades del Comite Tecnico Chinook de la Comision del Salmon del Pacifico para identificar la composition poblacional del salmon rey que es capturado por la pesqueria durante su migration. Un total de nueve laboratorios de analisis geneticos identificaron y reprodujeron cada uno 13 loci microsatelites. Con el objeto de probar que dichos loci fueran reproducibles entre laboratorios, se condujeron pruebas anonimas para verificar la consistencia de casi 500 alelos. Una vez estandarizada, se construyo una base de datos construida con information proveniente de mas de 16,000 salmones que representan 110 poblaciones putativas distribuidas a lo largo del area de interes de la Comision del Salm6n del Pacifico, del sureste de Alaska hasta el Rio Sacramento, California. La base de datos sirve tanto para identificar gene'ticamente los distintos stocks de salmon rey a partir de muestras combinadas provenientes de la pesqueria como para diferenciar el linaje genetico conocido mas importante de esta especie. En la actualidad, un importante grupo de cientificos especializados en disciplinas como el manejo y administracion de pesquerias, genetica, dinamica poblacional y teoria del muestreo estan desarrollando recomendaciones para que esta base de datos geneticos se incorpore en el manejo del salmon

The gift of a calling (Video)

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatschapelservices/6560/thumbnail.jp

Alaskan coho salmon genotypes

Genotype data from nine microsatellite loci for 2584 coho salmon in 32 locations in Alaska. This data file is formatted for use in the computer program GenePop v4.0. The genotypes in this file have NOT been standardized with other laboratories -- see readme file for further information