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Report of Progress 1164
Get PDFObjectives of the National Winter Canola Variety Trial (NWCVT) are to evaluate the performance of released and experimental varieties, determine where these varieties are best adapted, and increase visibility of winter canola across the nation. Breeders, marketers, and producers use information collected from the trials. Over the past decade, the number of environments and entries tested have increased. The NWCVT is planted at locations in the Great Plains, Midwest, northern United States, and Southeast. The wide diversity of environments has improved our knowledge and understanding of winter canola variety performance
Growing farms and groundwater depletion in the Kansas High Plains
Get PDFThe average farm size has more than doubled within the United States over the last three decades, transforming the agricultural industry and rural farming communities. It is unclear, however, how this ubiquitous trend has affected and is affected by the environment, particularly groundwater resources critical for food production. Here, we leverage a unique multi-decadal dataset of well-level groundwater withdrawals for crop irrigation over the Kansas High Plains Aquifer to determine the interactions between groundwater depletion and growing farms. Holding key technological, management, and environmental variables fixed, we show that doubling a farm's irrigated cropland decreases groundwater extractions by 2%–5% depending on the initial farm size. However, a corresponding shift by larger farms to different irrigation technologies offsets this reduction in groundwater use, leading to a slight increase in overall groundwater use. We find groundwater depletion increases the likelihood farmland is sold to a larger farm, amplifying the cycle of groundwater depletion and the consolidation of farmland
RPT104_2021_02
No full textThis informal report to the Kansas Legislature summarizes the wide-ranging impact of K-State Research and Extension in 2021, highlighting initiatives in agriculture, environmental stewardship, public health, and community development across Kansas. This report focuses on the effects of the Covid-19 crisis
Fields from Afar: Evidence of Heterogeneity in United States Corn Rotational Response from Remote Sensing Data
Get PDFWe construct estimates of own- and cross-price corn rotation elasticities using a field-level dataset that accounts for over 83% of the US corn-producing area. We allow rotational response to vary by estimating separate models across 115 subsamples that we delineate using Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) and soil characteristics. The results show a high degree of rotational response heterogeneity. Across the country, we find that rotational response is elastic in some areas and near zero in others. After aggregating the results to the national level, we find that modeling rotational response without allowing for heterogeneity produces a short-run own-price elasticity of corn planting of around 0.50, which conforms to the latest estimates in the literature. When allowing heterogeneous price sensitivity, our preferred estimate of the rotation elasticity is 0.69. This is evidence that imposing a uniform rotation response could seriously bias aggregate elasticity estimates
Émile de Rousseau: La pédagogie, la volonté, l’independence
No full textKirmser Undergraduate Research Award - Individual Freshman category, grand prizeMelinda CroÉmile ou de l’Éducation (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau presents an ideal world within which the relationship of the teacher and the student has been changed greatly from the contemporary norm. While society at the time suggested an educational system that treats the child as if they were young learning adults and encouraged reading the classics, Rousseau suggests an environment wherein the education of the student is centered around their volition to independently increase their own epistemological understanding of the world through physical experience and play. Drawing upon the works of Enit K. Steiner and Eliyah Rosenow and their theories on the totalitarian contradictions of Rousseau’s writings, I will be analysing the Bois de Montmorency episode from book 3 in the hopes of examining the role of the student and mentor in greater detail, showing the paradoxes between Rousseau’s ideals and his philosophical actions. This presentation represents a part of a larger project in which I am examining this student-mentor relationship across multiple episodes of Emile in the hopes of further elucidating the claims of Steiner and Rosenow and continuing this discussion of an anti-utopian system of concealed control by means of environmental conditioning
RPT103_2021_02
No full textK-State Research and Extension's program report for 2019-2020. This report to a variety of stakeholders illustrates the statewide extension work for the programming year
An experimental design to assess soil-plant-water relations on a Kansas green roof
Get PDFDoctor of PhilosophyEnvironmental Design and Planning ProgramLee R. SkabelundGreen roofs are increasingly common as cities seek environmentally sustainable approaches to mitigate climate change impacts while providing urban amenities. However, water availability is one of the most limiting factors in a green roof system and understanding the substrate-plant-water relationships within green roof ecosystems is key for understanding plant success and failures for individual green roofs. To provide insight on green roof plant and substrate selection for green roofs in the Flint Hills Ecoregion (Kansas, USA) and similar climates, three experimental research green roof beds were designed for the Kansas State University (KSU) College of Architecture, Planning and Design (APD) building and were initially planted in October 2017, with replacement plantings completed by June 2018. The three green roof beds provide three different depths (approximately 4, 6, and 8 inches [10.2, 15.3, and 20.4 cm]). The experimental design is a strip plot design within a randomized complete block design for each green roof depth. Each green roof depth contains two substrates (Rooflite® Extensive MC and Kansas BuildEx), and three different species mixes (all-Sedums, Sedums and native grasses, and all-natives). Each of the three specified mixes contain 6 different species planted in triplicate within each replication cell.
The main objectives for this APD Experimental Green Roof research are twofold: (1) understand how a locally blended substrate (Kansas BuildEx) and a commercially provided, regionally mixed substrate (Rooflite® Extensive MC) vary in the way they store and dispense water and how different plant mixes may affect the hydrologic processes within these substrates; and (2) understand how vegetative coverage and above-ground biomass of three mixed-species plantings and selected native plant species change over time. Using lessons learned from this experimental study of the two different substrate types, three different substrate depths, and three species mixes, the desire was to improve our collective understanding of the selected plants and substrates and ultimately to improve the design, implementation, and management of green roofs in this part of Kansas and in locations with similar climates.
To realize these objectives, our interdisciplinary team has been investigating the relationships between micro-meteorological and subsurface temperatures and soil moisture dynamics, two different substrates installed at depths ranging from 2.4-5.2 inches (6.1-13.2 cm) called the 4-inch bed, 4.5-7.5 inches (11.4-19.1 cm) called the 6-inch bed, and 6.5-10.1 inches (16.5-25.7 cm) called the 8-inch bed, and vegetative coverage of specified mixes and biomass associated with the three distinct species mixes and seven native species (sideoats grama, blue grama, little bluestem, shortbeak or prairie sedge, purple prairie clover, prairie junegrass, and prairie dropseed). This dissertation research examined water holding capacities of the roof while soil moisture release curves were estimated to provide insight on how water is stored and the energy status of this water within the two selected green roof substrates. Lab tests to understand water holding capacities were done at KSU while lab tests on substrate-water energy status were sent to the Turf and Soil Diagnostics Lab in Linwood, Kansas. Soil moisture dynamics in each of the substrate types were investigated by analyzing the recession curve slopes for Rooflite® Extensive MC and Kansas BuildEx to provide insight as to how green roof substrate properties can cause variations in soil moisture retention and recession.
Soil moisture recession rates were analyzed for 1-hour and 24-hour periods following rainfall events in two configurations. Configuration 1 assessed soil moisture recession rates within the all-natives species mix planted in both substrates in all three green roof depths from March 2018 to early July 2019. Configuration 2 assessed soil moisture recession rates for the Sedums only and all-natives species mixes planted in both substrates for the 4- and 8-inch depths from late July 2019 to May 2020. For both configurations, soil moisture monitoring was done in situ. In terms of soil moisture, it was found that Kansas BuildEx (BuildEx) had a greater roof capacity than the Rooflite® Extensive MC substrate, and these substrates varied in the energy status of water within the soil. However, there was little to no difference in the rate at which these substrates dispense water (recession rates). For Configuration 1, there was only an effect of substrate in the shallowest bed (4-inch depth) when looking at a 1-hour recession period. For Configuration 2, there was only a slight effect of mix on recession in the 8-inch bed for the 1-hour recession period.
Plant coverage and above-ground biomass measurements were taken at the end of the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons. Coverage measurements utilized overhead photography. When looking at species mix performance in these beds, by the end of the second growing season there was a significant effect of mix type on amount of cover (or vegetative coverage within each plot), with the all-natives and Sedum and natives mixes having the greatest cover in the 4-inch and 8-inch beds. In the 6-inch bed there was a significant interaction effect between mix and substrate types. When looking at cover for each mix, Rooflite® Extensive MC yielded greater cover in the Sedums only mix; and when looking at cover in each substrate, the Sedums and natives mix having the greatest cover in Rooflite® Extensive MC, and the Sedums and natives mix and the all-natives mix having the greatest cover in Kansas BuildEx.
Regarding individual species performance, by the end of 2019, little bluestem had greater biomass in the Rooflite® Extensive MC substrate than in the BuildEx substrate for the 4-, 6-, and 8-inch beds. In the 6-inch bed, sideoats grama had greater biomass in the Rooflite® Extensive MC substrate than in BuildEx, while purple prairie clover had greater biomass in Kansas BuildEx substrate than in Rooflite® Extensive MC. Buffalograss was one of the species planted in the Sedums and native grasses mix. Based on personal observations this grass performed exceptionally well throughout this study with photographs and visual assessments clearly indicating buffalograss dominance in most plots where it was planted, corresponding to findings in Liu et al., 2019.
The outcomes of this study show that there are important relationships occurring between substrate type and mixed-species performance in varying substrate depths for green roof systems associated with the APD Experimental Green Roof. Plant above-ground biomass can be affected by substrate type and particular species. Substrate types influence the percent cover of green roof species mixes, and how water is stored and taken up by plants.
The results and work related to this dissertation have enhanced the knowledge of soil-water relations of green roof ecosystems in this part of Kansas, which can help improve design, implementation, and management practices and make green roofs more sustainable. Future research should focus on analyses of how substrate chemical and physical properties change over time (if possible, five and ten after the first full growing season) and how these changes affect water movement within the substrate and plant species and mix performance over the long-term. It is likely that plant patterns will change over time depending on how well each species does over the long-term. Cover and biomass should continue to be monitored to see how the selected mixes and individual species perform over time
Native Stone Scenic Byway: Art & Architecture Transcription Archive
No full textDea "Dede" Brokesh, President of LDB Landscape Architecture & Engineering, LLP, Manhattan, KS, is the Project Director. She developed the idea for the project, wrote the grant, interviewed people, transcribed interviews, wrote a summary report, prepared the slide presentation, and managed the project. The Native Stone Scenic Byway Committee hired LDB to direct the project. Dr. Bonnie Lynn Sherow was hired to advise the NSSBC on the grant application as well as best practices for capturing oral histories. Marsha Ericson, Chair of the Native Stone Scenic Byway Committee, led her volunteers to invite people to the program and was the public speaker of the program. Debbie Bell is the treasurer of the NSSBC.
Funding for this project was provided by the Humanities Kansas, a nonprofit cultural organization that connects communities with history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life. Additional time for this project was donated by the Native Stone Scenic Byway Committee, Marsha Ericson, Chair and Dea "Dede" Brokesh, LDB Landscape Architecture & Engineering LLP, Manhattan, KS.
Interview release forms are kept only for project documentation and are not available for public access
“The Marrow Thieves” Reader’s Guide
No full textThis guide provides resources for the 2021 common book, “The Marrow Thieves” by Cherie Dimaline. Included in the guide are discussion questions, suggested classroom activities, other titles of interest, vocabulary, and additional resources
A New Hypothesis of the Origin of Life ─ Did eukaryotes evolve from the "tamago of life"?
Get PDFThis article is an English translation of the following original article written in the Japanese language and published in 2008. Its English translation was completed and posted by the same author in March, 2021.
Life on Earth is generally classified into bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, but how eukaryotes, including humans, were originated is a mystery. Recent achievements in geobiochemistry and genomic biology have overturned previous thoughts that the eukaryotes are relatively new and instead showed that their origin can be as old as those of bacteria and archaea. Therefore, searching for the origin of eukaryotes must be reconciled with searching for the origin of cells, and a certain scenario emerges when this problem is considered along with Earth’s geological history