Bamboo, a versatile woody grass with over 1200 species, plays a critical role in the livelihoods of approximately 2.5 billion people globally, particularly in Asia, due to its diverse applications ranging from bioenergy production to construction and furniture manufacturing. Bamboo's significant potential in carbon farming and trading has garnered global attention. In the United States of America (U.S.A.), native bamboo species, collectively known as "cane", are represented by four species, including the historically abundant species giant river cane (Arundinaria gigantea). Historically forming extensive canebrakes in the southeastern U.S.A. and across 22 states, giant river cane is a resilient, perennial monocot capable of thriving across varied environments, from floodplains to mountain slopes. However, habitat loss due to agricultural expansion, urban development, overgrazing and fire suppression has reduced canebrake coverage to less than 2 % of its historical range. Giant river cane demonstrates exceptional environmental benefits, including sediment filtration, nutrient attenuation and habitat provision for diverse wildlife. Studies highlight its effectiveness in riparian buffers, significantly reducing sediment, nitrate and phosphorus levels in agricultural runoff, while its dense rhizome system aids in soil stabilization and water infiltration. Advanced propagation techniques, including rhizome planting and novel container-based methods, offer promising solutions for large-scale restoration of canebrakes, particularly in bottomland forest and riparian zones. Restoring giant river cane in degraded habitats not only supports biodiversity but also enhances ecosystem services, making it a critical component of riparian and agricultural land management. Giant cane’s contribution to ecological restoration is further supported by its impressive biomass production and carbon sequestration capabilities. In a 1720 m² plot, giant cane sequestered an estimated 5.8 metric tonnes of carbon, with a significant portion allocated to its below-ground system, emphasizing its role in soil stabilization and long-term carbon storage. Soil properties, such as calcium and phosphorus levels, also influence its growth dynamics, with soil calcium correlating with culm counts and cation exchange capacity affecting rhizome internodes. GIS-based site suitability analyses further enable targeted restoration efforts by identifying ideal conditions for giant cane growth. Future research should focus on optimizing propagation methods, evaluating its ecological impacts at watershed scales, and expanding its use in carbon trading frameworks to maximize its economic and environmental potential.

Oak (Quercus spp.) woodlands are vital ecosystems, heavily dependent on prescribed fire to support the regeneration and dominance of oak species. Despite this, the varied responses of non-oak species to fire and their potential ecological feedback remain underrepresented in current literature. One such example involves the emergence of sassafras (Sassafras albidum) saplings in an oak woodland subjected to regular prescribed burns since 1999 that had not been burned in over 80 years. These saplings began appearing in sample plots 14 years after the transition from biennial to triennial fire treatments (2015) but started to become dominant by 2020. This study took place within the 1200-hectare Drury-Mincy Conservation Area (DMCA), associated with the Bull Shoals Field Station in Taney County, Missouri (MO). Following a spring burn in March 2021, we monitored community- and ecosystem-scale responses by measuring sapling density, height, and specific leaf weight (SLW) for white oak (Quercus alba) and sassafras (saplings <1.0 m tall) from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022. In Fall 2021, sassafras saplings reached a density of 560 per 0.1 ha, with an average height of 25.42 cm and a SLW of 4.36 mg/cm(2). In comparison, white oak saplings had a density of 171 per 0.1 ha, an average height of 10.2 cm, and a SLW of 6.8 mg/cm(2). By Fall 2022, sassafras density slightly increased to 582 per 0.1 ha, with a notable rise in average height to 71.69 cm and a decline in SLW to 3.6 mg/cm(2). White oak density rose to 213 per 0.1 ha, with an average height of 50.54 cm and an SLW of 4.3 mg/cm(2). To evaluate decomposition, we analyzed the mass loss of both species over a 198-day period. Sassafras exhibited a mass loss of 0.86 +/- 0.13 g after 61 days, compared to 0.79 +/- 0.11 g for white oak. Over longer durations, sassafras mass loss increased to 1.94 +/- 0.12 g (day 105), 3.34 +/- 0.13 g (day 153), 4.22 +/- 0.18 g (day 198), and 4.82 +/- 0.12 g (day 244). White oak followed a similar trend, with mass loss values of 1.87 +/- 0.14 g, 2.86 +/- 0.16 g, 3.34 +/- 0.23 g, and 4.28 +/- 0.19 g at the respective time intervals. Further investigation into the nutrient profiles and carbon storage potential of sassafras and white oak is essential to fully understand their roles within fire-adapted management strategies in degraded oak woodlands of the southwest MO Ozarks.

Missouri Ozark woodlands are a unique but imperiled ecosystem type because of fragmentation, lack of proper management and a changing climate. Management, restoration and conservation of Ozark woodlands is a conservation priority. The ecosystem services provided by Ozark woodlands include carbon and nutrient sequestration via primary productivity. We have assessed over- and mid-story leaf production, collecting leaves in baskets every fall, in a 1,200ha conservation area in SW Missouri since 2000. Leaf production data from 2000 to 2020 was compared among sites; control, burned (periodically burned) and reference (continuously burned). Average oak leaf production was high in the burned while the other leaf production was high in control. Sapling density of oak was found high in the burned site compared to the other sites. We applied the regression among productivity, temperature, and precipitation. Reference site showed a statistical significance with the precipitation but not with the temperature. While other sites did not show any statistical significance with the precipitation. No statistically significance difference in effect was observed between the productivity and temperature on any sites. March-June, March-May and June-August precipitation showed a statistically significant difference with the productivity while the other average precipitation and temperature showed no statistical significance.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are known to affect the physiology and morphology of plants in various ways, but the exact mechanism by which they interact with plant cells remains to be elucidated. An unresolved question of silver nanotoxicology is whether the interaction is triggered by the physical features of the particles, or by silver ions leached from their surface. In this study, we germinated and grew Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings in synthetic medium supplemented with sub-morbid concentrations (4 μg/mL) of AgNPs and silver nitrate (AgNO3). This treatment led to in planta accumulation of 106 μg/g and 97 μg/g of silver in the AgNO3- and AgNP-exposed seedlings, respectively. Despite the statistically indistinguishable silver accumulation, RNA sequencing data demonstrated distinct changes in the transcriptome of the AgNP-exposed, but not in the AgNO3-exposed plants. AgNP exposure induced changes in the expression of genes involved in immune response, cell wall organization, photosynthesis and cellular defense against reactive oxygen species. AgNO3 exposure, on the other hand, caused the differential expression of only two genes, neither of which belonged to any AgNP-enriched gene ontology categories. Moreover, AgNP exposure led to a 39% reduction (p < 0.001) in total chlorophyll concentration relative to untreated plants which was associated with a 56.9% and 56.2% drop (p < 0.05) in carbon assimilation rate at ambient and saturating light, respectively. Stomatal conductance was not significantly affected by AgNP exposure, and limitations to carbon assimilation, as determined through analysis of light and carbon dioxide (A/Ci) curves, were attributed to rates of electron transport, maximum carboxylation rates and triose phosphate use. AgNO3-exposure, on the other hand, did not lead to significant reduction either in chlorophyll concentration or in carbon assimilation rate. Given these data, we propose that the impact of AgNPs cannot be simply attributed to the presence of the metal in plants, but is innate to the particulate nature of nanosilver.

Missouri Ozark woodlands are a unique, but imperilled ecosystem type due to fragmentation, lack of proper management and a changing climate. The management, restoration, and conservation of Ozark woodlands is a conservation priority. The Ozark woodlands contribute to the sequestration of carbon and nutrients through their robust productivity, effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the biomass and soil while cycling essential nutrients to support the ecosystem's health and vitality. We have assessed the over- and mid-storey leaf production, collecting leaves in baskets every autumn in a 1 200-ha conservation area in southwest Missouri since 2000. The leaf production data from 2000 to 2021 were compared among sites; control (not burnt for over 80 years), burnt (fire resumed in March of 1999 and repeated in 2001, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2021) and reference (fire resumed in 1980 and repeated every 2 years). The average oak leaf production was statistically higher in the burnt site than the reference site, but only marginally higher than the control site. The leaf production varies statistically between the years. We applied a regression analysis among the productivity, temperature, and precipitation to associate the temporal variability in the weather with the productivity. The reference woodland showed statistical significance with the precipitation, but not with the temperature, while the other sites did not show any statistical significance with the precipitation. No statistically significance difference was observed between the productivity and temperature across any of the woodland burn histories. The March-June, March-May, and June-August precipitation statistically predicted the productivity. The results indicate that long-term burning is predictably associated with woodland leaf production and precipitation, but the precipitation is uncoupled with the productivity in woodlands that were more recently burnt or where burning has been suppressed. Sassafras saplings of approximately 1 m in height have emerged as the dominant species in the understorey of burnt woodlands while being completely absent from the control and reference woodlands. However, the productivity is the highest in the woodlands where burning has been suppressed and 20 years of prescribed fire does not significantly reduce the productivity. Oak regeneration over 20 years of burning is being suppressed by competition with sassafras, which may result in a significant shift in the ecosystem variables.

Oak woodlands are a keystone ecosystem that may not be sustainable under ongoing fire management regimes and climate change. For example, in 2014, sassafras saplings started to emerge in degraded woodlands at the 1200 ha Drury Conservation Area as part of research at the Bull Shoals Field Station in Taney County, Missouri where burning was initiated in 1999. After Spring (March) 2021 burnt, we examined trend in the potential community and ecosystem effects, we assessed sapling density, height, and specific leave weigh (SLW) of white oak and sassafras (<1.0 m) from fall 2021 through fall 2022. In fall 2021, sassafras density was 560/0.1ha with mean height of 25.42cm and SLW of 0.00436g/cm2 while white Oak density was 171/0.1ha with mean height of 10.2cm and SLW of 0.00680g/cm. However, in fall 2022, Sassafras density was 582/0.1ha with mean height of 71.689cm and SLW of 0.00366 g/cm2 meanwhile, white Oak density was 213/0.1ha with mean height of 50.544cm and SLW of 0.00563 g/cm2. We analyzed mass loss for sassafras and white oak after buried for 198 days. The weight loss for sassafras was 0.857g while oak was 0.790g for 61 days of buried. Subsequent sassafras weight loss was 1.942g, 3.343g, 4.222g and 4.82g while that of white Oak was 1.877g, 2.862g, 3.344g and 4.28g for day 105, 153 and 198 respectively. The nutrients composition and carbon sequestration of sassafras and white oak species need to be determined to better understand the effect of their dominance in fire management regime of degraded oak woodland in Southwest Missouri Ozarks.

Wildfires are a major disturbance in forest ecosystems around the world and may lead to changes in vegetation succession trajectories. This study examined the impact of time since wildfires on the successional gradients of the degraded Zagros semi-arid oak forest in Iran. Here, we investigated the role of soil seed bank in postfire understory vegetation successional trajectories after wildfires and how time-since-fire influenced plant recovery of this disturbed site. Three adjacent high severity burned areas with different fire histories and the same physiographic conditions were considered. In sampling, we surveyed both aboveground understory vegetation and soil seed bank in all the 96 plots taken along the transects of each area. Soil samples were also collected from each plot and physicochemical properties were analysed in the laboratory. Species composition in the seed bank showed divergent successional trajectories compared to the aboveground vegetation after wildfire. The diversity of soil seed banks followed a gradual decrease, while aboveground understory plants revealed an increasing trend of diversity over time. In addition, the physical and chemical composition of soils was significantly altered by fire. This study presents important insights into soil seed bank dynamics compared to the corresponding aboveground vegetation during postfire succession. The observed changes in diversity and vegetation composition after wildfire can give important insights to management strategies involving prescribed fire in the restoration efforts of highly disturbed semiarid oak forest.

We examined the effects of two types of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and one type of silver quantum dot (Ag-QD) on potential plant toxicity through effects on plant gas exchange across four different experiments. First, Arabidopsis thaliana seeds were directly grown in growth medium containing 75% solid content CNTs at concentrations of 24.93µg/ml and 53.55 µg/ml in petri dishes. Second, A. thaliana seeds were directly grown in growth medium containing 95% solid content CNTs at concentrations of 4μg/ml; or third, 18 nm Ag-QDs at a concentration of 4μg/ ml. Fourth, we grew A. thaliana in soil for 6 weeks and added the 95% solid content CNT suspension at increasing concentrations of 10, 30, 90, 150, 190, 250 μg/ ml each week. The 75% solid content CNT, and the CNTRENE® C100LM material production waste produced for disposal, had no negative effects on growth or gas exchange. We found that gas exchange in petri dish grown A. thaliana was greatly negatively affected by the Ag-QD, and relatively marginally negatively affected by the 95% solid content CNT. There were significant reductions in photosynthesis rates and related light and carbon fixation reactions in both the Ag-QD and 95% solid content CNT A. thaliana grown in petri dishes. We found that gas exchange in soil grown A. thaliana was unaffected by 95% solid content CNTs, even at very high concentrations. These findings have implications for understanding toxicity of engineered nanoparticles on plant and animal health, public awareness, and environmental remediation.

We investigated the influence of mature of oak trees of various dimensions on soil properties, acorn and oak seedling characteristics in semi-arid forests in western Iran. A total of 24 oak trees were selected in comparable site conditions according to three size categories: small trees (DBH< 20 cm), medium trees (DBH: 20-50 cm) and large trees (DBH> 50 cm). Soil properties, light availability below canopy, acorn dimensions and weight, various below- and above-ground seedling morphological traits were measured. Besides, a seedling quality index (SQI) was also produced as an integrative measure of the seedling response. We found an increasing light availability from small trees to large trees (1512-103 μmol m-2 s-1) and soil fertility was largely improved from small trees to large trees: soil organic carbon (1.33-2.2%), available phosphorus (12.9-18.1 ppm) and potassium (301.2-470.4 ppm). However, soil properties did not significantly differ between medium and large trees. In contrast, acorn weight and dimensions as well as many seedling traits, including the aerial and belowground biomass and the SQI, were the highest in the medium tree category. To fully explore the relationships among our large set of variables, we produced a partial least square path model which explained 72% of the variation of SQI across the three tree classes. To conclude, we identified a clear effect by mature trees which provided favourable conditions for seedling establishment, but that effect was mediated by tree size and optimal conditions were found below the canopy of medium trees.

Phyllosphere bacteria are an important determinant of plant growth and resistance to pathogens. However, the efficacy of phyllosphere bacteria in regulating infection of Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea (Psg) and its influence on soybean growth and physiology is unknown. In a greenhouse study, we assessed the influence of a phyllosphere bacterial consortium (BC) of 13 species isolated from field-grown soybean leaves on uninfected and deliberately Psg infected soybean plants. We measured Psg density on infected leaves with and without the application of the BC. The BC application resulted in a significant reduction in Psg cells. We also measured plant biomass, nodule mass and number, gas exchange, and leaf chlorophyll and nitrogen in four treatment groups: control plants, plants with a BC and no infection (BC), plants with BC and infected with Psg (BC + Psg), and plants infected with Psg alone. For all variables, plants infected with Psg alone showed significant reduction in measured variables compared to both BC treatments. Therefore, the bacterial consortium was effective in controlling the negative effects of Psg on growth and physiology. The BC treatment sometimes resulted in increases in measured variables such as plant biomass, nodule numbers, and leaf chlorophyll as compared to control and BC + Psg treatments. Overall, the positive influence of BC treatment on plant growth and physiology highlights its potential applications to increase crop yield and control bacterial pathogens.

Urban prairie "gardens/plots" are gaining popularity for providing similar ecological services as remnant and restored prairies, which are predominantly found in rural areas. However, it is not known to what extent small urban prairies can sustain the plant-pollinator interactions that are vital to both the insects and the plants. The goal of our research was to examine plant/pollinator interactions in three urban prairies in southwest Missouri and compare them to rural managed/restored prairies using a visit-based approach. Urban prairies were all in Springfield, Mo. and shared similar habitat matrices (within an area of 8 km(2)); rural prairies were located within 68 km of urban prairies, shared similar habitat matrices to each other, and shared soil edaphic characteristics with an urban prairie. From May through August 2018 in all six prairies, we observed the five most abundant forbs in bloom, the number of pollinator visits by bees, butterflies/moths, wasps, beetles, and flies; and, pollinator fidelity from dawn to dusk. The areas observed within a prairie, hereafter "plot(s)", were determined randomly by where at least two plants of the same species, out of the five most abundant forbs, were located. Using these criteria of observations on the five most abundant species across six prairies and four months, a total of 66 forb species were identified, with 58 of the species native to tallgrass prairies. However, only eight of the 58 native forb species were shared across urban and rural prairies. Jaccard similarity indices indicate lower similarity of the five abundant forbs within urban plots (9%) when compared to rural plots (24%), and low similarity between urban and rural plots (9%). Insect visitation varied by prairie type (rural/urban), month, and insect group; however, urban plots received 61% of the total visits compared to 39% in rural plots. Bees accounted for 5913 visits out of 10,113 visits recorded; high bee visits were similar in urban and rural plots. Insect fidelity was over 97% and did not significantly differ between rural and urban prairies. Therefore, the lack of similarity among and across urban and rural prairies in dominant species did not affect insect visitation rates or fidelity in our study. Our results suggest that establishment and management of urban prairie gardens and plots of various size may sustain the same or greater levels of pollinator services as rural prairies.

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) have seen a drastic increase in their use over the past decade in various consumer products. ENPs will therefore enter terrestrial ecosystems and soils with increasing frequencies, yet research into the effects of ENPs on living organisms and crops is greatly lacking. Currently, there is only one major study reported on the effects of a single ENP, silver quantum dots, on Sorghum bicolor , the 5 th largest crop in the world. I examined the effects of a commonly used metal oxide nanoparticle, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), on the growth and development of sorghum grown in petri dishes (n=25) with agar media and Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with concentrations of 5, 10, 20, and 40 µg/ml. I measured seedling germination rates, gas exchange rates using a LI-6400 Portable Photosynthesis System, and biomass after 14 days of growth in a growth chamber. There is a significant decrease of on instantaneous water use efficiency rates due to increasing TiO 2 concentrations, but all other gas exchange rates, germination rates, and biomass accumulation were not significant. I also grew sorghum in a greenhouse in potting soil (n = 36 pots) with concentrations of 100, 200, 500, and 1000 mg/kg. I measured sorghum physiology and biomass accumulation at full maturity. There were no measurable effects on physiology or biomass accumulation. While my research indicates no negative effects of this ENP on the growth or development in sorghum, further research will be necessary to identify if TiO 2 ENPs are taken up and translocated by the plant, as well as possible intergenerational effects of ENP exposure. Future research may also be conducted into the possible application of TiO 2 as an antimicrobial agent for use in pesticides or herbicides if no negative effects are found.

We present Missouri distribution records for four species of Nematomorpha (horsehair worms) based on records from the literature and our locality records for reference specimens identified from macroinvertebrate community samples collected from reaches of wadeable streams sampled and surveyed throughout the state from years 2000 through 2015. The species found to occur in Missouri are: Gordionus violaceus, Gordius robustus, Chordodes morgani, and Paragordius varius. Select habitat characteristics we found associated with occurrence of G. robustus, C. morgani, and P. varius at sites where reference specimens of these species were collected are also provided. 8) Nonpoint pollution source modeling in Mineral Fork and Mill Creek watersheds, Washington County, Missouri: assessment of channel erosion inputs using LiDAR and historical aerial photography. Kayla Coonen, Marc Owen, and Robert Pavlowsky ABSTRACT: Non-point source (NPS) pollution is the leading source of water-quality impacts to surface water in the United Sates. The Clean Water Act (Section 303d) specifies that watershed models should be used to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) to determine pollutant load limits and evaluate plans and effectiveness for best management practices. This study aims to develop a nonpoint source model for sediment and nutrients using STEP-L for Mineral Fork and Mill Creek watersheds in Washington County, Missouri. These watersheds offer a challenge in that the drainage network and sediment transport has been disturbed by largescale barite mining with pits, ponds, and tailings dams. In addition, modeled sediment loads will be used to estimate the lead loads into Big River to evaluate the relative contributions of mining-related lead from St. Francois and Washington counties. This poster reports preliminary results on the sampling and spatial analysis of bank erosion rates in the watersheds to provide input data to support NPS modeling. Historical aerial photography and LiDAR are used to estimate bank erosion inputs for different locations along the channel network. Ultimately, this study will contribute to a better understanding of nonpoint sources in southeastern Missouri and aid in evaluating the influence of historical mining in Washington County on lead contamination in Big River. 9) Hornyhead Chub Spawning Associates in the East Fork of the Black River. Eric Cox, John Brant ABSTRACT: Lithophilic spawning fish require silt free substrate for successful spawning. Male Hornyhead Chubs use available substrate of sizes ranging from 5.6 mm to 22.4 mm to build spawning mounds. Affiliated lithophilic spawning fish use these mounds for reproduction and aide in protection during mound construction. On the East Fork of the Black River, species that utilize these mounds are Bleeding Shiners, Ozark Minnows, Carmine Shines, and Striped Shiners. The East Fork of the Black River is a substrate deprived system due to the presence of an upstream dam which has inhibited bed movement. Our objectives were to determine how lithophilic spawning communities are influenced by the presence of Hornyhead Chub mounds and to assess these communities in relationship to the distance from the Lower Taum Sauk Dam. This research was performed in 6.3 km of the East Fork of the Black River immediately downstream of Lower Taum Sauk Dam. We sampled fish communities in riffles and runs during fall of 2017 and 2018 using backpack electrofishing, grid electrofishing, and seining. Thirty Hornyhead Chub spawning mounds were located between 2.0 km and 2.6 km downstream of the dam but were absent from the rest of the study reach in 2017 and 2018. The purpose of this research is to provide suggestions for gravel augmentation in the East Fork of the Black River to benefit fish communities. 10) Climatic effects and habitat conditions explain variation in the demography of long-distance migrant birds. Stephanie Cunningham, Mitch D. Weegman, Qing Zhao ABSTRACT: Populations of North American Arctic-nesting geese, such as greater white-fronted geese (A. albifrons) have increased in previous decades. These geese utilize agricultural landscapes, including rice-dominated agriculture in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley in Arkansas and Mississippi, and Sacramento Valley in California. We examined the relationship between adult and juvenile survival, productivity, and population growth rates in the Pacific population of greater white-fronted geese and environmental conditions between 1965 and 2016, utilizing a two-stage matrix model. We obtained banding records from 5913 birds, including 852 dead recoveries. Our data set included only bandings from breeding areas in southwest Alaska. We estimated time-dependent adult survival (mean 0.80 ± 0.06) and decadal time-constant juvenile survival (mean 0.50 ± 0.14) with Bayesian mark-recovery models. We utilized age ratios from the Parts Collection Survey and bandings to estimate productivity (0.77 ± 0.30 offspring per female). Over our time series, the mean population growth rate (1.04 ± 0.24) suggests an increasing population but with large annual variability. We developed regressions to explain variation in population growth rate, and included hypothesized landscape features (i.e., rice acreage in Sacramento Valley during winter and grass in Klamath Basin during spring) and weather effects (i.e., Pacific Decadal Oscillation during summer). We found a significant relationship between rice acreage and productivity (P = 0.024), as well as between date of last snow cover and juvenile survival (P = 0.032). These results provide an initial understanding of Pacific whitefronted goose demography and drivers, which will be useful for more informed conservation practices and management actions of this and related species. 11) Herb-Chronology: Past regional work and future applications in Missouri landscapes. Justin Dee, Michael Stambaugh ABSTRACT: Herb-chronology is the study of annual growth rings in roots of perennial forbs. Though annual growth rings in trees has established potential for better understanding how trees respond to the environment so informed policy and management may take place, the occurrence of growth and the utility of rings in forbs has only recently been considered. In the last several years a few regional studies have occurred in the tallgrass prairie in which several species have been identified to have distinct annual rings. In general, and similar to tree-rings, two main lines of data may be acquired by studying annual rings to understand how forb species respond to environment. First, by counting the absolute number of rings in individuals, population age structures may be inferred which can answer key questions regarding the implications of management. In this poster we will present one study on local Milkweed species in which we used population age structures amongst different management regimes to better understand how to manage resources for the Monarch butterfly. The other major utility of annual ring analysis is measuring incremental growth and correlating ring chronologies of populations with annual climate or site conditions. Further work outlined here with local milkweed species and various legumes has found a significant decrease in growth during excessively hot and dry summers, as well as a decline in growth with fire suppression. To close, we consider further applications of herb-chronology, particularly for better understanding growth response of perennial forb populations locally in different Missouri habitats. 12) Fish community and Topeka Shiner monitoring at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas. Hope R. Dodd ABSTRACT: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR), located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, was established to protect and preserve the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. An integral part of tallgrass systems is water quality/quantity and biotic integrity of prairie streams. The federally endangered Topeka Shiner is located within the streams of TAPR, but has shown a decline within the streams of this national park. Thirteen stream reaches were sampled from 20012009, and 2015 to assess fish communities and Topeka Shiner population status. Additional sampling occurred in 2010, 2013 and 2014 at stream reaches where the Topeka Shiner had previously been recorded. Community richness and diversity, species composition and abundance, and the index of biotic integrity were calculated for the 13 reaches sampled to examine relationships between fish communities, habitat and water quality parameters. A non-metric Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR), located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, was established to protect and preserve the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. An integral part of tallgrass systems is water quality/quantity and biotic integrity of prairie streams. The federally endangered Topeka Shiner is located within the streams of TAPR, but has shown a decline within the streams of this national park. Thirteen stream reaches were sampled from 20012009, and 2015 to assess fish communities and Topeka Shiner population status. Additional sampling occurred in 2010, 2013 and 2014 at stream reaches where the Topeka Shiner had previously been recorded. Community richness and diversity, species composition and abundance, and the index of biotic integrity were calculated for the 13 reaches sampled to examine relationships between fish communities, habitat and water quality parameters. A non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis was used to determine sites with similar community composition and to determine habitat variables important to fish communities and the Topeka Shiner. These results will be used by NPS and USFWS to re-establish Topeka Shiner populations within watersheds in the park where the species previously occurred and to introduce this species into watersheds where suitable habitat is available. 13) Comparing Substrate Sampling Methods in the East Fork Black River. Lea

This study examines a management strategy for restoring grassland and prairie communities that have become degraded due to high density stands of invasive nitrogen-fixing plants.The novel management applications minimize the use of herbicides and maximize the competitive interactions of native species.The management method includes two seasons of application of organic fertilizer (4-1-4), an initial herbicide (Pasture Gard, Dow Agro) application, and mowing, where mowing was a necessary treatment to control secondary growth in prairie habitats, to control high density patches of Lespedeza (L.) Cuneata, in a completely randomized factorial experiment.The herbicide was effective in reducing L. Cuneate stem density 0 stems/m 2 from an initial 88 stems/m 2 with cover reduced to 0% from 16%.The fertilizer only treatment reduced L. Cuneata percent cover to 6% from initial cover of 16%, but did not reduce the number of stems.The management strategy is an effective first step in restoring a native prairie invaded by a nitrogen-fixing plant.

The interactive effects of fire and herbivory were examined to assess oak advanced regeneration potential and commercial selective harvesting. This study quantified loss of oak sapling leaf area to insect herbivores in recently burned or unburned oak forest and oak savanna in Missouri. Foliar area and damage were measured on 180 oak saplings (< 1.5 m height) across the four habitat types; water status and foliar nitrogen (N) concentration were measured on 75 oak saplings. Foliar area of saplings was significantly greater in savannas than forests. Foliar damage was significantly greater in forests, with the greatest amount of foliar damage occurring in burned forest. Oak saplings in forest were less water stressed and had greater foliar N concentration than oak saplings in savanna. These data suggest that oak saplings in forests are potentially more susceptible to herbivore damage than oaks managed in savannas, especially following a prescribed burn.