Landscaping for wildlife

Cover title.

Special education for your handicapped child : your legal rights.

Cover title.

Early Western travels ... /

Reprints, including facsimiles of title pages, of earlier editions of the individual works published 1818-1822.

Aphorisms from Latham /

Mode of access: Internet.

The leather-stocking tales /

Each volume has special t.p.

The leather-stocking tales,

Half-title. Each volume has special t.-p.

Trees, prairies, and people : a history of tree planting in the Plains States /

Bicentennial project of the Texas Woman's University and Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture."

Die Steppe, eine Erzählung,

Translation of: The Prairie.

[The works of J. Fenimore Cooper].

Introd. to many v. by S.F. Cooper.

The works of Francis Parkman.

Each volume has special t.-p.

Patch dynamics in grazed subtropical native pastures in south-east Queensland

Patch formation is common in grazed grasslands but the mechanisms involved in the formation and maintenance of patches are not clear. To increase our knowledge on this subject we examined possible reasons for patch formation and the influence of management on changes between patch states in three experiments in native pasture communities in the Crows Nest district, south-east Queensland. In these communities, small-scale patches (tall grassland (dominated by large and medium tussock grasses), short swards (dominated by short tussock grasses and sedges), and lawns (dominated by stoloniferous and/or rhizomatous grasses)) are readily apparent. We hypothesized that the formation of short sward and lawn patches in areas of tall grassland was due to combinations of grazing and soil fertility effects. This was tested in Experiment 1 by applying a factorial combination of defoliation, nutrient application and transplants of short tussock and stoloniferous species to a uniform area of tall grassland. Total species density declined during the experiment, was lower with high nutrient applications, but was not affected by defoliation. There were significant changes in abundance of species that provided support for our hypotheses. With light defoliation and low nutrients, the tall grassland remained dominated by large tussock grasses and contained considerable amounts of forbs. With heavy defoliation, the pastures were dominated by medium tussock grasses and there were significant decreases in forbs and increases in sedges (mainly with low nutrients) and stoloniferous grasses (mainly with high nutrients). Total germinable seed densities and those of most species groups were significantly lower in the heavy defoliation than the light defoliation plots. Total soil seed numbers were not affected by nutrient application but there were fewer seeds of the erect forbs and more sedge seeds in plots with high nutrients. The use of resting from grazing and fire to manage transitions between patches was tested. In Experiment 2, changes in species density and abundance were measured for 5 years in the three patch types with and without grazing. Experiment 3 examined the effects of fire, grazing and resting on short sward patches over 4 years. In Experiment 2, total species density was lower in lawn than short sward or tall grassland patches, and there were more species of erect forbs than other plant groups in all patch types. The lawn patches were originally dominated by Cynodon spp. This dominance continued with grazing but in ungrazed patches the abundance of Cynodon spp. declined and that of forbs increased. In the short sward patches, dominance of short tussock grasses continued with grazing but in ungrazed plots their abundance declined while that of large tussock grasses increased. The tall grassland patches remained dominated by large and medium tussock species. In Experiment 3, fire had no effect on species abundance. On the grazed plots the short tussock grasses remained dominant but where the plots were rested from grazing the small tussock grasses declined and the large tussock grasses increased in abundance. The slow and relatively small changes in these experiments over 4 or 5 years showed how stable the composition of these pastures is, and that rapid changes between patch types are unlikely.

Understanding anuran community dynamics in temporary wetlands: The interaction and importance of landscape and biotic processes

The major objective of this study was to determine the relative importance of landscape factors, local abiotic factors, and biotic interactions in influencing tadpole community structure in temporary wetlands. I also examined the influence of agricultural activities in South-central Florida by comparing tadpole communities in native prairie wetlands (a relatively unmodified habitat) at the Kissimmee Prairie Sanctuary (KPS) to tadpole communities in three agriculturally modified habitats found at MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center (MAERC). Environmental characteristics were measured in 24 isolated wetlands, and tadpoles were sampled using throw-traps and dipnets during the 1999 wet season (June–October). Landscape characteristics were expected to predominately influence all aspects of community structure because anurans associated with temporary wetland systems are likely to exist as metapopulations. Both landscape characteristics (wetland proximity to nearest woodland and the amount of woodland surrounding the wetland) and biotic interactions (fish predation) had the largest influence on tadpole community structure. Predatory fish influenced tadpole communities more than expected due to the ubiquity of wetlands, lack of topographic relief, and dispersal abilities of several fish species. Differences in tadpole community structure among habitat types were attributed to differences in woodland attributes and susceptibility to fish colonization. Furthermore, agricultural modification of prairie habitats in South-central Florida may benefit amphibian communities, particularly woodland-dwelling species that are unable to coexist with predatory fish. From a conservation standpoint, temporary wetlands proximal to woodland areas and isolated from permanent water sources appear to be most important to amphibians. In addition, the high tadpole densities attained in these wetlands suggest that these wetlands serve as biological hotspots within the landscape, and their benefits extend into the adjacent terrestrial matrix. Further research efforts are needed to quantify the biological productivity of these systems and determine spatial dynamics of anurans in surrounding terrestrial habitats. ^

Local biomass control on the composition and reactivity of particulate organic matter in aquatic environments

Freshwater ecosystems have been recognized as important components of the global carbon cycle, and the flux of organic matter (OM) from freshwater to marine environments can significantly affect estuarine and coastal productivity. The focus of this study was the assessment of carbon dynamics in two aquatic environments, namely the Florida Everglades and small prairie streams in Kansas, with the aim of characterizing the biogeochemistry of OM. In the Everglades, particulate OM (POM) is mostly found as a layer of flocculent material (floc). While floc is believed to be the main energy source driving trophic dynamics in this oligotrophic wetland, not much is known about its biogeochemistry. The objective of this study was to determine the origin/sources of OM in floc using biomarkers and pigment-based chemotaxonomy to assess specific biomass contributions to this material, on a spatial (freshwater marshes vs. mangrove fringe) and seasonal (wet vs. dry) scales. It was found that floc OM is derived from the local vegetation (mainly algal components and macrophyte litter) and its composition is controlled by seasonal drivers of hydrology and local biomass productivity. Photo-reactivity experiments showed that light exposure on floc resulted in photo-dissolution of POC with the generation of significant amounts of both dissolved OM (DOM) and nutrients (N & P), potentially influencing nutrient dynamics in this ecosystem. The bio-reactivity experiments determined as the amount and rate of CO2 evolution during incubation were found to vary on seasonal and spatial scales and were highly influenced by phosphorus limitation. Not much is known on OM dynamics in small headwater streams. The objective of this study was to determine carbon dynamics in sediments from intermittent prairie streams, characterized by different vegetation cover for their watershed (C4 grasses) vs. riparian zone (C3 plants). In this study sedimentary OM was characterized using a biomarker and compound specific carbon stable isotope approach. It was found that the biomarker composition of these sediments is dominated by higher plant inputs from the riparian zone, although inputs from adjacent prairie grasses were also apparent. Conflicting to some extent with the River Continuum Concept, sediments of the upper reaches contained more degraded OM, while the lower reaches were enriched in fresh material deriving from higher plants and plankton sources as a result of hydrological regimes and particle sorting.

Controls on fish distribution and abundance in temporary wetlands

Our main goal was to determine if fish distribution and adundance in temporary wetlands were shaped primarily by large-scale (landscape) or small-scale (local) characteristics and to investigate the influence of cattle ranching on fish assemblages. A total of 24 temporary ponds were selected at the Kissimmee Prairie Sanctuary and the Mac- Arthur Agro-Ecology Research Center. Each wetland was sampled for fish using throw traps and dip nets during 1999. Landscape processes (connectivity to permanent water bodies) predominately influenced fish assemblages, although local processes (depth–hydroperiod) were also important. Furthermore, no colonizing species went locally extinct before wetlands began to dry. Our findings suggest that large-scale processes that influence colonization dynamics are of more importance than small-scale processes that influence extinction dynamics. Finally, hydrological changes (ditching) associated with agriculture (cattle ranching) have adversely affected temporary wetland fish assemblages by reducing wetland hydroperiods and connectivity.

Forest Resource Islands in a Sub-tropical Marsh: Soil–Site Relationships in Everglades Hardwood Hammocks

Spatial heterogeneity in soils is often characterized by the presence of resource-enriched patches ranging in size from a single shrub to wooded thickets. If the patches persist long enough, the primary constraint on production may transition from one limiting environmental factor to another. Tree islands that are scattered throughout the Florida Everglades basin comprise nutrient-enriched patches, or resource islands, in P-limited oligotrophic marshes. We used principal component analysis and multiple regressions to characterize the belowground environment (soil, hydrology) of one type of tree island, hardwood hammocks, and examined its relationship with the three structural variables (basal area, biomass, and canopy height) indicative of site productivity. Hardwood hammocks in the southern Everglades grow on two distinct soil types. The first, consisting of shallow, organic, relatively low-P soils, is common in the seasonally flooded Marl Prairie landscape. In contrast, hammocks on islands embedded in long hydroperiod marsh have deeper, alkaline, mineral soils with extremely high P concentrations. However, this edaphic variation does not translate simply into differences in forest structure and production. Relative water depth was unrelated to all measures of forest structure and so was soil P, but the non-carbonate component of the mineral soil fraction exhibited a strong positive relationship with canopy height. The development of P-enriched forest resource islands in the Everglades marsh is accompanied by the buildup of a mineral soil; however, limitations on growth in mature islands appear to differ substantively from those that dominate incipient stages in the transformation from marsh to forest. Key words: resource island; tree