Soil properties limiting vegetation establishment along roadsides.

Roadside vegetation provides a multitude of ecosystem services, including pollutant remediation, runoff reduction, wildlife habitat, and aesthetic scenery. Establishment of permanent vegetation along paved roads after construction can be challenging, particularly within 1 m of the pavement. Adverse soil conditions could be one of the leading factors limiting roadside vegetation growth.

Abundance and Diversity of Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) as Affected by Grazing Management in the Nebraska Sandhills Ecosystem.

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) serve a significant role in regulating ecosystem services on rangelands. However, the influence of grazing management on dung beetle communities remains largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate dung beetle abundance and diversity throughout the grazing season in the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion.

Dung Beetles Increase Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Dung Pats in a North Temperate Grassland.

Soil fauna plays a critical role in various ecosystem processes, but empirical data measuring its impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rangelands are limited. We quantified the effects of dung beetles on in situ CO, CH, and NO emissions from simulated cattle dung deposits. Soil in meadows of the semiarid Nebraska Sandhills was treated with three treatments (dung pats with exposure and without exposure to dung beetles, and a no dung control).

Vegetation and Soil Responses to Concrete Grinding Residue Application on Highway Roadsides of Eastern Nebraska.

As a precautionary principle, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit establishes that the primary pollutant in concrete grinding residue (CGR) is its alkalinity and restricts CGR roadside discharge to 11 Mg ha or the agronomic liming rate, whichever is lower. We evaluated the effect of CGR application on roadside soil chemical properties, existing vegetation, and rainfall runoff. Five CGR rates (0, 11, 22, 45, and 90 dry Mg ha) were tested on roadsides slopes at two different locations in eastern Nebraska.

Patch burning: implications on water erosion and soil properties.

Patch burning can be a potential management tool to create grassland heterogeneity and enhance forage productivity and plant biodiversity, but its impacts on soil and environment have not been widely documented. In summer 2013, we studied the effect of time after patch burning (4 mo after burning [recently burned patches], 16 mo after burning [older burned patches], and unburned patches [control]) on vegetative cover, water erosion, and soil properties on a patch-burn experiment established in 2011 on a Yutan silty clay loam near Mead, NE. The recently burned patches had 29 ± 8.

Measuring runoff-suspended solids using an improved turbidometer method.

Differences in particle size distribution between runoff standards and unknown samples affect the accuracy of estimation of total suspended solids (TSS) concentration using the nephelometric turbidity (NTU) method. The objective was to quantify the effects of a sucrose solution as suspending medium and contrasting particle size distribution on nephelometric turbidity and accuracy of TSS estimation. Nineteen benchmark soils varying in texture and color were divided into particle size distribution of <250 and <2000 microm.