Ten study plots on the Fitch Natural History Reservation were checked for invading arborescent vegetation in 1999 after 50 years of protection as a natural area. These plots were treeless or nearly so in 1948. Plots were one hectare (8), 0.52 hectare (1), and 1.30 hectare (1). All trees of 6 cm or more in diameter breast high were counted, and totaled 6,530 of 25 species with American elm, Osage orange, white ash, black walnut, common hackberry, honey locust, red cedar, Plains cottonwood, black oak, black cherry, redbud, and red mulberry as the most important species, and with 13 other species each less than one percent. The climax oaks and hickory constituted 3.5% of the total. Trees reached maximum abundance on two bottomland plots that earlier had been cultivated. Upland areas, including prairie, old-fields and former pasture were somewhat less productive in terms of tree numbers, but some were more diverse or were characterized by a larger average basal area per tree than the old-field bottomlands.

Kite aerial photography (KAP) involves the use of large kites to lift compact camera systems for capturing images of ground features. Our goal has been to develop equipment and techniques for infrared kite aerial photography. Attempting to conduct infrared photography from kites has proven to be a considerable challenge for several reasons. Among the most important limitations are those inherent in infrared film and conventional cameras. Infrared film has no ISO speed rating, and camera light meters do not measure infrared energy in the scene. Furthermore, KAP equipment should be relatively compact, rugged, light weight, and inexpensive.

We have designed, built, and field tested two KAP rigs based on the Canon EOS RebelX camera, which is a 35-mm, full-featured, SLR camera. Our first rig is a dual-camera setup, in which the cameras take simultaneous color-visible and color-infrared photographs. This rig has radio control of the camera shutters. Camera tilt and pan positions are set manually prior to each flight. The second rig is for a single camera (color-infrared only); the rig has full radio control for pan, tilt, and shutter. The dual-camera rig weighs 1.5 kg, and the single-camera rig is just over 1 kg. Based on considerable field testing, we have determined appropriate manual light settings under full-sun conditions–1/250 shutter speed and f-9.5 aperture. Our preliminary results suggest that infrared KAP may be valuable for detailed investigations of vegetation, soils, and other environmental features.

During the winter, large birds such as crows and hawks may compete at animal carcasses for food. Carcasses were placed along county roads to measure competition. American crows in a flock of 20–30 were more likely to out-compete red-tailed hawks at road kills than were crows in flocks of 4–6 birds.

The theory of operation of a Langmuir probe in a magnetic field is incomplete. To overcome this limitation a neural network software model is developed for the automated real-time analysis of probe current-voltage characteristics taken in magnetized plasmas. The results of the network analysis are calibrated against energy analyzers and tested with a large set of experimental data.

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on DNA templates prepared from thirty veterinary Salmonella typhimurium isolates. The templates were isolated by four different methods, each differing in their level of purity as determined by 260 nm/280 nm ratios. Dendrogram analysis of RAPD-PCR amplification patterns resulted in the organisms being placed into a range of 26-12 discrete groupings dependent on the DNA template isolation method used. Thus, DNA purity plays an important role in amplification patterns obtained by RAPD-PCR and investigators must consider this variable before making judgements on the genetic relatedness of a group of organisms.

Since the Mushroom Rocks first were reported in the scientific and popular literature of the 1860s, they have captured the curiosity and imagination of geologists, travelers, and illustrators. It was a likely landmark of interest as well to indigenous peoples of the region for centuries before. Alexander Gardner made the first photographs there the fall of 1867 in the commission of the Kansas Pacific Railway. Though the years, other photographs and reports record and illustrate changes since that time. These changes are not geologic, although the rocks have clearly been impacted by the many years of visitors. But the landscapes around these outcrops, natural and domestic, flora and fauna, as well as the human inhabitants, have been completely transformed. The reports and photographs of this location provide a record of the changes and the processes, natural and human, which have brought about this transformation.

The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk was deposited in the Western Interior Sea during a span of about five million years extending from the upper Coniacian through the lower Campanian. Coincidentally, this period also encompasses much of the early evolution and radiation of the family Mosasauridae. Thousands of mosasaur specimens have been collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of western Kansas since the first Yale College Scientific Expedition in 1870. Early workers viewed the entire Smoky Hill Chalk Member as the “Pteranodon beds” and were not able to provide accurate stratigraphic information. Even though mosasaurs are represented by numerous complete and well preserved specimens, the ranges of the various species could not be defined further without better stratigraphic data. In 1898, S. W. Williston first described the general distribution of mosasaurs within the Rudistes and Hesperornis beds of the Smoky Hill Chalk Member. Seventy years later, D. A. Russell grouped mosasaur species into upper and lower zones in the chalk and in 1990, J. D. Stewart incorporated D. E. Hattin's stratigraphic data into his biostratigraphic zones and refined the occurrences of mosasaur species to a higher degree than had been done previously. B. A. Schumacher in 1993, and M. A. Sheldon in 1996, reviewed existing collections and provided further definition to mosasaur biostratigraphy. New specimens of Tylosaurus proriger, and Clidastes liodontus with accurate stratigraphic information reported by M. J. Everhart and co-workers in 1997 further expanded and refined the temporal distribution of these species within the Smoky Hill Chalk Member.

A revision of the chrysophyte genus Synuropsis Schiller is proposed and its taxonomic status is validated. The closely related genera Volvochrysis Schiller, Synochromonas Korshikov, Pseudosynura Kisselew, Pseudosyncrypta Kisselew, and Chrysomoron Skuja are reexamined and placed in synonymy with Synuropsis. A key to the six species now recognized of Synuropsis is given.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is responsible for administering more than 25 million acres of federally owned land in the United States. As a land manager, the DoD must comply with the intent and directives of a number of cultural resources related statutes, regulations, and policy memoranda. Because of these statutes, regulations, and policy memoranda, the potential impacts of land-use proposals on elements of Native American people's culture have become part of the social impact assessment studies used to evaluate the social soundness of proposed projects. These statutes, regulations, and policy memoranda requiring consultation with Native American groups and preservation of traditional cultural properties require comprehensive surveys that may include ethnobotanical surveys. Ethnobotanical surveys do not exist for most installations. A preliminary ethnobotanical survey of Fort Riley, Kansas was conducted. Results of this survey are reported and the approach used defines methodology and data sources applicable to many DoD installations.

A detailed paleocurrent study of Cretaceous Dakota Formation sandstones in Washington County, Kansas was undertaken to determine directions of sand movement and depositional environments along the eastern margin of the Western Interior Seaway. Azimuth measurements of cross-stratified units were plotted in “rose diagrams” and examined with respect to their geographic and approximate stratigraphic position. A general southwestward direction of sediment transport is indicated (244° mean azimuth). Although mean paleocurrent directions can differ markedly from outcrop to outcrop, most sandstones in the lower part of the Dakota Formation generally have unimodal paleocurrent directions. Some of these sandstones have channel-like geometry and are situated in paleovalleys, with their mean paleocurrent direction oriented subparallel to the channel axis. Fluvial deposition is indicated. Higher in the Dakota Formation unimodal and bipolar paleocurrent azimuths are oriented nearly perpendicular to the axis of the sandbody, suggesting tidally influenced deposition. Unimodal paleocurrents again dominate the highest part of the Dakota Formation, but with overall less directional variability than in the lower part of the unit. Sheetlike sandbody geometry is suspected and more open-marine deposition could be inferred, but fluvial depositional conditions also may be possible.