Walnuts and bur oak acorns were buried in alternate positions in a 10-x-10 grid in a riparian forest with 10-m spacing between nuts. Bur oak acorns soaked in walnut extract and walnuts were buried in a second grid of similiar spacing. Fox squirrels removed walnuts fastest and at the same rate in both grids, whereas acorns soaked in walnut extract were removed faster than unsoaked acorns but slower than walnuts. In the light of earlier studies, these observations are interpreted as showing that squirrels can smell buried walnuts from a greater distance than buried acorns.
Heuchera sanguinea Engelm. 'Torch', 'Firefly', and H. micrantha Dougl. ex Lindl. 'Palace Purple'
were studied to examine the influence of photoperiod and cold temperature storage on vegetative
and reproductive growth. Petioles were longer and total leaf area was greater when plants were
grown under a 15-h photoperiod than under a 9-h photoperiod. There was no photoperiod x
plant maturity interaction with regards to reproductive growth. Plants held in a 7°C night
greenhouse flowered sooner than those stored in a constant 4°C cooler. Mature plants produced
more inflorescences and flowered earlier than young plants. Storage in the cooler had a
detrimental effect on the number of florets per inflorescence of 'Palace Purple' plants. 'Torch'
plants produced significantly more inflorescences per plant when held in the cold greenhouse
before forcing. More vegetative growth occurred under long photoperiods greater than 12 hours.
Long days of 15 h accelerated flowering after exposure to cold storage.
Crayfish were collected from 24 of 28 creek and river sites sampled in Cherokee County, Kansas,
during the summer 1991. A total of 894 individuals representing two species, Orconectes virilis
and Orconectes neglectus, was collected. Orconectes neglectus is present only in the Spring
River and its tributaries in the extreme eastern part of the county, whereas O. virilis occurs
throughout the county, except on the Ozark Plateau in the extreme southeastern corner of the
county. Both species are abundant in a majority of the sites where present and are represented by
healthy populations.
Water, sediment, crayfish (Orconectes nais), and orangespotted sunfish (Lepomis humilis) samples
from four sites in the vicinity of a Lyon County, Kansas, landfill were analyzed for total
recoverable Pb, Cd, Al, Zn, and Cu. Analytical data provided no evidence that the landfill is a
source of metal contamination for water, crayfish, or fish. However, concentrations of Pb, Cd,
Al, Zn, and Cu in sediment were significantly higher immediately downstream from the landfill
than upstream.
The hydrology of many watersheds in Kansas has changed within the past 30-35 years. Mass
and double-mass diagrams of hydrologic data indicate that watersheds began to adjust to different
environmental conditions in the late 1950s and continued throughout the 1960s. Comparison of
long-term mean annual runoff between a 19-year period prior to 1959 and a 20-year period after
1970 for 27 watersheds throughout Kansas illustrates the magnitude and spatial distribution of
change. With respect to the older comparison period, runoff for watersheds in western Kansas
during the recent period has declined from 42 to 93 percent; in central Kansas, runoff is generally
±20 percent of the amount during 1940-1958; and runoff for eastern Kansas watersheds has
increased by as much as 52 percent. Comparison of mean annual precipitation amount shows only
slight differences between the two comparison periods.
A survey was conducted in 1992 to determine the number and extent of black-tailed prairie dog
(Cynomys ludovicianus) towns in Kansas. Feed grain aerial transparencies made for the
Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) were examined for evidence of
prairie dog towns in 60 counties across the range of prairie dogs in Kansas. Ground truthing a
portion of the sites identified as prairie dog towns determined the accuracy of the technique and
was the basis for estimating the numbers of prairie dog towns and areas they occupy in each of the
counties. These efforts, plus data from a 1990 survey of prairie dog towns in 8 counties,
determined that approximately 1017 prairie dog towns covering 18,843 ha existed in Kansas
during 1990-1992. Suggestions are provided for conducting future surveys of prairie dog towns
using ASCS feed grain transparencies.
We conducted a survey in 1990 to determine the number, locations, and sizes of black-tailed
prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) towns in Gray and Meade counties in Kansas. We located 16
prairie dog towns in Gray County covering 533 ha and 47 towns in Meade County covering 1039
ha. The largest prairie dog town in Gray County covered 138.5 ha whereas, the largest in Meade
County covered 202.3 ha. This survey provides baseline data against which results of future
prairie dog surveys can be compared.
1GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A3, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany.
In Kansas, geothermal data in the sedimentary cover were measured and preliminarily interpreted
within the scope of different studies. Based on this knowledge, we looked for additional
information from other data sources that are available but not checked. Mineral waters from
springs and wells recorded at the turn of the 20th century and a map of geothermal gradients
based on BHT values were considered and checked using trend analysis. The results are related
to a 2-D temperature depth model computed on two cross sections in the area. On the basis of
this model and on BHT depth plots, it can be determined that the BHT gradient map can lead to
misinterpretaion of the geothermal field. Because of the use of uncorrected BHT values in
computing the gradients, in the situation of the Ozark Dome, too high gradients compared to the
actual temperature conditions are indicated; conversely in the Hugoton Embayment, the gradients
seem to be too low. The spring and water well data set shows only that there is a general
temperature increase with depth. However, the relation of temperatures to stratigraphic units can
be described in the context of the two regional water-flow systems in southeastern Kansas.
Additional geothermal, geochemical, and hydrological data are necessary to confirm our
preliminary interpretations.
Specimens of cottonflower (Gossypianthus lanuginosus) were acquired in 1990 from southeastern
Sumner County, Kansas. This acquisition documents a probable northward range extension of the
otherwise widely distributed taxon. Plants were growing on salt-affected soils (slick spots), which
supported little other plant life.
Tillering is an important yield component of grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench].
Temperature greatly influences tillering, and variability occurs among cultivars. Growth rate has
been used to describe mathematically cultivar tillering abilities for a range of environments. Our
objectives were to develop tillering coefficients for a range of temperate and tropical grain
sorghum cultivars and to test the accuracy of these coefficients in predicting productive tiller
numbers using independent field data. Eight grain sorghum cultivars of temperate (DK 39Y, DK
46, RS 610, and Pioneer 8500) and tropical adaptation (AT x 623 x RT x 430, DK E57,
Segaolane, and CSM 63) were grown in a growth chamber at Manhattan under three day/night
temperature regimes (20/15°C, 25/20°C, and 30/25°C) to determine
the relationship between dry
matter required per tiller and daily minimum air temperature. Field experiments at St. John and
Manhattan were used to determine the effects of dates and rates of planting on tillering of the
same cultivars. The results were used to evaluate the accuracy of the tiller dry matter
requirements. Growth chamber results showed that the number of tillers was related linearly to
daily rates of dry matter accumulation per plant. These dry matter requirements per tiller were
related linearly to daily minimum air temperature, with differences among cultivars. Predicted
number of productive tillers per plant was approximately 7 to 12 times actual tiller numbers in the
field experiments. This was accounted for by low cultivar-specific tillering coefficients, which
were not representative of the dry matter requirement of productive tillers.
Reproductive traits of the Neosho madtom, Noturus placidus, were studied in the Neosho River
in east-central Kansas, and in static and flow aquaria from May through July 1992. Artificial
substrata were placed in riffle and pool areas of the Neosho River, and in simulated riffle and pool
environments in our laboratory. On 13 July, a clutch of 63 eggs was discovered under a cinder
block in the flow aquarium at water temperature 26.5°C. Observations were made of habitat and
substrate utilization by nesting adults, and morphological and developmental characteristics of
breeding adults and their eggs.
Four binary solvent systems were investigated which contain N, N-dimethyl-formamide (DMF) as
the aprotic highly diplor component in common. These were: DMF-acetone, DMF-acetonitrile,
DMF-tetrahydrofuran, and DMF-1, 2-dimethoxyethane. The trends in the dielectric constant
data for the cosolvent pairs were compared in terms of the shifts in the Kirkwood-Onsager and
Block-Walker reaction field parameters with changing solvent composition. Two situations
showing some of the characteristics of dielectric continua were identified.
The term, runoff ratio, is the percent of drainage basin precipitation that becomes streamflow.
The isoline map of runoff ratio is based on isoline maps of mean annual precipitation and runoff.
Intersections of runoff isolines and isohyets define runoff ratio data points. Maps of all three
hydrologic elements are characterized by isolines that trend primarily north-south and by
numerical values with strong east-west gradients. Runoff ratio ranges from 0.1 percent in
extreme western Kansas to 35 percent in southeastern Kansas. Runoff ratio is a function of the
interactions among precipitation, evapotranspiration, slope, soil characteristics, and land use/land
cover.
We conducted surveys on sites (towns) of 27 individual colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs
(Cynomys ludovicianus) in southwestern Kansas to determine burrow-entrance densities. Mean
size of the prairie dog towns surveyed was 16 ha. Estimated mean active burrow-entrance
densities were 206/ha, higher than reported for Colorado, Oklahoma, Wyoming, New Mexico,
and South Dakota. Active prairie dog burrow-entrance densities are among the criteria used to
select reintroduction sites for black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) potentially making the
existence of towns with high burrow-entrance densities in Kansas of interest for such efforts if
other reintroduction criteria can be met.
The Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube effect is observed in a rotating magnetoplasma.
Our present understanding of the population structure and biology of Nomia triangulifera, a
solitary halictine sweat bee, suggests that genetic variability should exist, however we determined
that eight allozyme loci were monomorphic both within a nesting site and among five discrete
populations. Further study may reveal that polymorphisms exist at other loci, or that populations
have sufficient gene flow between them to preclude variability. Nomia triangulifera may have low
levels of polymorphisms because of haplodiploidy, reduced effective population size, or from
occupying homogeneous niches which tend to produce selection pressures favoring
monomorphism.
The bathochromic spectral shift by one of the aminobenzoxazinones, that is
7-dimethylamino-3(4-dimethyl aminostyryl)-1, 4-benzoxazin-2-one,
(BOZNMe2) has been measured in 21 nonaqueous solvents. For BOZNMe2
in nonpolar and polar aprotic and hydrogen bonding solvents, the
solvatochromic response of the solute conforms exactly to the requirements of the Kamlet-Taft
linear solvation free energy model of solvent-solute interactions. Likewise, it follows the
generally parallel predictions of a molecular orbital interpretation of the reaction field effects as
well.
Vitrinite reflectance was measured on coal samples from eight Pennsylvanian stratigraphic units
from the Bluejacket Coal (Cherokee Group, Desmoinesian) to a coal in the West Branch Shale
(Admire Group, Virgilian). A depth-burial gradient of 0.206% km was computed using these
data. This value was extrapolated to the surface and it was determined that for Chautauqua
County in southeastern Kansas, approximately 1750 ft. of overburden has been removed.
Electrically biased plasma guns firing across the magnetic field are an
effective way to heat a magnetically confined plasma.
2Kansas Geological Survey, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047.
Kenneth E. Kemp, Department of Statistics, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas 66506-0802.
M. Duane Nellis, Department of Geography, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas 66506-0801.
1Corresponding author.
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