Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science最新文献

{"title":"Vegetation Change in a Sand Prairie over Ten Years Following a Gas Pipeline Installation","authors":"J. Piper","doi":"10.1660/062.125.0103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.125.0103","url":null,"abstract":"Sand prairies experience relatively high rates of small-scale disturbance, feature a high complement of annual plant species, and are fairly dynamic in terms of year-to-year micro-scale species composition. In summer 2011, an underground natural gas pipeline was installed across Sand Prairie Natural History Reservation 19 km west of North Newton, KS. The resulting excavation left a strip 560 m long and 24 m wide devoid of aboveground vegetation. From August 2012 to 2021, I monitored vegetation composition in 60 0.75 × 0.75 m2 quadrats along six parallel transect lines: three lines along the center of the excavated area and three placed 20 m away in prairie unaffected by earth-moving vehicles. Quadrat species richness was higher in the undisturbed reference area in the first year, but higher in the pipeline area in four later years. There were no consistent area differences in species evenness. Annual species richness was higher within the pipeline area every year. In contrast, perennial species richness was higher in the reference area during the first seven years. Coverage by annuals was higher every year within the pipeline area, whereas coverage by perennials was consistently higher in the reference area. Bray-Curtis Similarity for the two areas ranged from 29.2 to 55.8% across years, but was not trending upward with time. Twenty-one species were restricted to the pipeline area; several other species were beginning to move from the reference area to the pipeline area. Both Floristic Quality Index and modified FQI were consistently higher for the reference area than for the pipeline area. It is too early to project the time frame for the pipeline area to recover a species composition indistinguishable from the undisturbed reference site, but clearly a period longer than ten years will be required.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"125 1","pages":"31 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45961174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Glimpse into the Future of Midwest and Western Ecosystems: A Review of “Once There were Wolves”","authors":"A. Pratt","doi":"10.1660/062.125.0105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.125.0105","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"125 1","pages":"52 - 53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67437582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural Determinants of Blue to Red Fluorescent Protein Conversion","authors":"Sheryl S. Lambert, Ryan Larsen, Nora E. Wheatley, K. Simons","doi":"10.1660/062.125.0101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.125.0101","url":null,"abstract":"The color, brightness, and stability of a fluorescent protein are dictated by its amino acid sequence. Attempts to alter the physical properties of fluorescent proteins have focused on random amino acid changes directed at positions known to be a part of or near the fluorophore in the protein. In this study TagBFP and TagRFP, which differ by 13 amino acid mutations, are compared to understand which amino acids are critical for the fluorophore's color. Several site-directed mutants were created, and the in vivo fluorescence of the 17 different mutant proteins were evaluated. The fluorescence of the proteins was measured in vivo, skipping the time-consuming step of protein purification since the fluorescence was not affected by purification. Nearly all mutants exhibit blue fluorescence. The color conversion from blue to red required the mutation of a full set of six amino acids that contact the fluorophore.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"125 1","pages":"1 - 10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47735684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reappraisal of the Glaciation of Northeastern Kansas","authors":"J. Aber","doi":"10.1660/062.125.0104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.125.0104","url":null,"abstract":"The glaciation of northeastern Kansas has attracted scientific attention since the mid-19th century and has played a conspicuous role for glacial stratigraphy and chronology. Since the 1990s, many studies have been conducted in Kansas, other mid-western states, and elsewhere around the world that shed additional light on the glaciation of Kansas as well as its global role. All glacial and glacially related deposits in northeastern Kansas are designated as the Independence Formation with an age range in the interval approximately 810,000 to 640,000 years ago corresponding to MIS 20-16 (latest Matuyama - early Brunhes chrons). The Independence Glaciation took place as two, large ice lobes - Minnesota and Dakota, which are interpreted as low-profile ice masses that were quite thin at their margins and advanced by surging over thawed or deformable beds. The Independence Glaciation corresponds in part with the Don Glaciation in Europe and to MIS 16, which is appropriately one of the greatest glacial phases in the entire Pleistocene Epoch. The Independence and Don glaciations represent the farthest southward expansions into their respective continental interiors.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"125 1","pages":"41 - 51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42913942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Freckled Madtom (Noturus nocturnus) Discovered in the Spring River Subbasin of Kansas","authors":"Kali L. Boroughs, J. Whitney, R. Hrabik, Joshua A. Holloway, Aliyah N. Clemens, A. King, Austin D. Thompson","doi":"10.1660/062.124.0307","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.124.0307","url":null,"abstract":"The distribution of Freckled Madtom (Noturus nocturnus) in Kansas includes the Lower Arkansas and Walnut River drainages of southcentral Kansas and the Little Osage, Marais des Cygnes, Neosho, and Verdigris River drainages of eastern Kansas. Freckled Madtom have not been previously reported from the Spring River subbasin in southeastern Kansas, although there is one record in 1942 from the Spring River subbasin of Missouri. Here we report the collection of five Freckled Madtom individuals from four locations along the Spring River mainstem in Cherokee County, Kansas during July–August 2020. All individuals were presumed to be young-of-year at ≤ 21 mm total length. Our finding of Freckled Madtom in the Spring River of Kansas has conservation implications since it is a Tier 2 Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the state.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"124 1","pages":"199 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43974096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Curing Plant Blindness: A Review of “In Defense of Plants: An Exploration into the Wonder of Plants”","authors":"J. Dannaldson","doi":"10.1660/062.124.0305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.124.0305","url":null,"abstract":"When you look out across a landscape, do you see the plants as organisms engaged in the great struggles of life? Or do you see them as simply part of the scenery? Now consider a landscape teeming with animal life. Despite the fact the plants in that landscape would outnumber the animals by several orders of magnitude, your focus would be on the animals. People tend to see animals as dynamic actors and plants as a passive and static background. Even when we do notice the plants in our world, it is often for their utility to us. This is plant blindness, a concept originated by botanists J. H. Wandersee and E.E. Schussler. Simply put, people tend to ignore the plants in their environment and view them as uninteresting and inferior forms of life. In his book In Defense of Plants: An Exploration into the Wonder of Plants, ecologist, author, blogger, and podcaster Matt Candeias has made it his mission to cure us of plant blindness, to open our eyes so that we see plants as he does: as dynamic organisms worthy of our study, fascination, and respect for their own sakes.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"124 1","pages":"194 - 195"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46432634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring the Potential Role of Ants as Pollinators in a Tallgrass Prairie Following Varied Prescribed Burns","authors":"Tucker Eckols, Bethany Roberton, Brandon Clark, D. Rebar","doi":"10.1660/062.124.0301","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.124.0301","url":null,"abstract":"Prescribed burns are used to restore the herbaceous plant communities of tallgrass prairies. Unfortunately, land-use change has driven declines in animal communities that use that habitat, including insect pollinators. Flowering forbs in tallgrass prairies likely depend on insect pollinators for their reproduction, suggesting that restoration efforts may be limited if insect pollinators continue to decline. Further, prescribed burns may lead to the direct mortality of insect pollinators. We thus explore whether Formica ants may be able to compensate for the loss of insect pollinators in tallgrass prairies by monitoring visitation rates of ants and insect pollinators to the milkweed Asclepias tuberosa. Using replicated experimental plots burned at different times (summer, fall, or spring), we found that ants were robust to the timing of prescribed burns and that they averaged 50% of all visits across plots. The distribution of ants and other insect pollinators may be regulated by competitive interactions, as there was a negative relationship between the two potential pollinator communities: the more ant visits, the fewer pollinator visits, and vice versa. The high visitation rates suggest ants may potentially compensate, especially as competitive interactions decrease, but whether that may occur likely depends on their efficiency as pollinators, current plant features, or subsequent plant adaptations to utilize ants.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"124 1","pages":"155 - 164"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43458261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Black Spot on Our Record: Invasion History of the Nonnative Blackspotted Topminnow (Fundulus olivaceus) in the Spring River Subbasin of Kansas, with a Comparison to Long-Term Trends in Prevalence of Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus)","authors":"A. King, J. Whitney, Joshua A. Holloway, Kali L. Boroughs","doi":"10.1660/062.124.0309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.124.0309","url":null,"abstract":"The Blackspotted Topminnow (Fundulus olivaceus) is not native to the Spring River subbasin (SRS) of Kansas, where it was first collected from Shoal Creek in the early 2000s. To date, little is known concerning the contemporary prevalence of Blackspotted Topminnow in the SRS of KS, or how prevalence of the closely related Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus) in the SRS has varied since Blackspotted Topminnow invaded this system. To evaluate the contemporary prevalence of the Blackspotted Topminnow in the KS SRS, we sampled 55 sites using backpack electrofishing and seining during 2017-2020. We then compared long-term trends in occupancy and relative abundance of the Blackspotted and Blackstripe Topminnows in the KS SRS using four separate datasets collected during 1962-1964, 1993-1995, 1995-2013, and our contemporary dataset from 2017-2020. Between species comparisons of temporal trends were made for the entire SRS of KS, and for physiographic regions within the SRS that differed in habitat characteristics and Blackspotted Topminnow presence. In our contemporary survey, we detected the Blackspotted Topminnow at 11% of sites (6/55), including four Shoal Creek sites and two sites in the Spring River below Empire Lake. Blackstripe Topminnow prevalence was relatively stable in the SRS during 1962-2020, where it was most widespread and abundant within streams of the Cherokee Lowlands and Osage Cuestas. In contrast, between the 1995-2013 and 2017-2020 time periods Blackstripe Topminnow exhibited a declining trend in prevalence within the Ozark Plateau where it was sympatric with the Blackspotted Topminnow. This decline was not observed in the Ozark Plateau where Blackspotted Topminnow was absent. Declining Blackstripe Topminnow prevalence may be due to negative biotic interactions (e.g., competition; hybridization) with the Blackspotted Topminnow, or could be the result of unquantified environmental variation. Regardless, our research showed that the Blackspotted Topminnow is now an established nonnative in the SRS of KS. Consequently, further research of this species is necessary to determine how the invasion process proceeds regarding continued spread and potential concomitant ecological impacts.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"124 1","pages":"216 - 226"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46639205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occurrence of Multiple Fish Species in a Typically Fishless Prairie Wetland Following Flooding","authors":"Bus Novo-Gradac, Joseph LaForge, Kayleigh Geel, S. Vandervort, E. Martin","doi":"10.1660/062.124.0306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.124.0306","url":null,"abstract":"The Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge (FHNWR), located near Hartford, KS, USA (38° 18’ 18.00” N, 95° 54’ 17.99” W) was established in 1966. The refuge encompasses 18,463 acres within the 100-year floodplain of the Neosho River. Within this area, 35 moist soil units (MSUs) were established in response to wetland habitat loss resulting from the construction of the John Redmond Reservoir and Dam upstream on the Neosho River (US Fish & Wildlife, 2013). MSUs are managed by pumping water from the Neosho River into the units and subsequently draining water. Pumping and draining of water is performed seasonally, creating a variety of habitats and food supply for staging and overwintering migratory birds and other waterfowl. Water is typically pumped into the MSUs in the Fall and is drained by late-Spring (US Fish & Wildlife, 2018). The intake on the pump has a fine mesh screen (< 1⁄4 inch) that resticts the passage of debris and fish. Following a flood event, fishes from surrounding rivers, including the Neosho, were observed in these MSUs. Serving as documentation, this paper relays these opportune findings.","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"124 1","pages":"196 - 198"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44539551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Everyday Science: Submission Requests","authors":"","doi":"10.1660/062.124.0311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1660/062.124.0311","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":76755,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Kansas Academy of Science","volume":"124 1","pages":"232 - 232"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43619999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}