Active Research

(1) Understand family members' experiences (thoughts and feelings) related toelder financial exploitation by a relative.   (2)  Identify risk and protective factors in family systems that increase or decrease the likelihood of family elder financial exploitation. (3) Identify the range and scope of family experiences foundational to family elder financial exploitation, including the consequences of EFE on family systems. (4) Disseminate findings and implications to gerontology, family studies, and family economics researchers and educators, law enforcement and attorneys, community-based practitioners, and family members. (5) Continue to design further studies that build on earlier findings and create a conceptual model or expand Rabiner et al. (2004) Conceptual Model of Elder Financial Exploitation.

(1) Resource Management    

(2) Economic Valuation     

(3) Integrated Policy and Decision-Making

Objectives:To grow and identify profitable first-grains for Wyoming farmersDevelop niche products for the first-grains identifiedDevelop niche markets for first-grainsShepherd the nascent first-grain industry in the state through vertical integration of first-grain markets and products, and spin-off the resulting entity to private sector.Increase jobs and income for Wyoming residents through this projectEvaluate nutrient characteristics of first grainsEvaluate consumer perception of sensory characteristics of first-grainsProvide science-based nutritional education on first-grains nutritional content

There are 6 major goals/objectives of this project and they are listed below:Leverage and streamline existing application functionality and capabilities, and identify and prioritize additional ones with input from major stakeholders.Develop SARRA 2.0 through JavaScript, HTML5 and other cutting-edge web-based application programming tools.Develop content and deliver end-user training on SARRA 2.0.Explore the feasibility of porting specific SARRA components to mobile platform.Investigate the potential applicability of SARRA 2.0 beyond Wyoming.Develop a stewardship plan for SARRA 2.0 after its release.

(1) Evaluate the short- and long-term chemistry and bioavailability of nutrients, potentially toxic inorganic trace elements, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (TOrCs) in residuals, reclaimed water, and amended soils in order to assess the environmental and health risk-based effects of their application at a watershed scale.  Specific tasks:  (i) To develop and evaluate in vitro (including chemical speciation) and novel in vivo methods to correlate human and ecological health responses with risk-based bioavailability of trace elements and TOrCs in residuals and residual-treated soils. (ii) Predict the long-term bioavailability and toxicity of trace elements and TOrCs in residual-amended urban, agricultural and contaminated soils. (iii) Evaluate long-term effects of residuals application and reclaimed wastewater irrigation on fate and transport of nutrients, trace elements, TOrCs, and emergence/spread of antibiotic resistance in high application rate systems.  (iv) Evaluate plant uptake and ecological effects of potentially toxic trace elements and TOrCs from soils amended with residuals and reclaimed wastewater.   (2) Evaluate the uses and associated agronomic and environmental benefits for residuals in agricultural and urban systems. Specific tasks:  (i) Evaluate the ability of in situ treatment of contaminated soil with residuals to reduce chemical contaminant bioavailability and toxicity.  (ii) Determine the climate change impacts of organic residuals end use options (i.e., C sequestration, N2O emissions). (iii) Quantify sustainability impacts such as water quality (reduced N impairment) and quantity benefits (increased plant available water, increased drought tolerance) and soil quality improvements associated with a range of organic residuals end uses. (iv) Explore the potential for waste by-products to be used in urban areas including urban agriculture, stormwater infrastructure, green roofs, and in urban green space. (v)Evaluate ecosystem services of degraded urban soils amended with residuals. (vi) Use tools such as life cycle assessment to understand and compare the impacts of a range of residuals end use/disposal options.  

Major Goals: To collect data, disseminate information, and promote collaboration on evapotranspiration and other energy balance components for irrigation water use conservation.To study the impact of micro-climate on agricultural crop water productivity.Specific Objectives:Measure growing season crop evapotranspiration (ETc), transpiration (T), evaporation (E), and crop coefficients (Kc) for key vegetative surfaces, including sugarbeet and drybeans in Northwest Wyoming.Quantify evaporative losses and surface coefficients during non-growing (dormant) season.Quantify and analyze short and long-term surface energy balance components (i.e. latent heat, net radiation, sensible heat, and soil heat flux) to understand the interaction between surface, water and energy fluxes.Assess the performance of the METRIC and SEBS algorithm to estimate ETc and other energy fluxes using Landsat imagery with respect to Bowen Ratio Energy Balance Systems (BREBS) measured surface energy variables for several vegetation surfaces in Northwest Wyoming.Quantify and evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of ETc in Northwest Wyoming.Develop Extension, educational and outreach materials to disseminate project progress and outcomes and publish project findings in scientific refereed journals.

(1) Measure trends, patterns, and sources of agricultural productivity growth. (2) Estimate the net benefits of public and private investments in agricultural research and characterize the nature of those benefits to consumers, producers, and the environment. (3) Analyze decision strategies for funding, planning, managing, and evaluating agricultural research by public and private organizations. (4) Analyze opportunities, risks, and net benefits from public-private sector linkages and technology transfer arrangements, including joint ventures, partnering, consortia, specialty research centers, start-up companies, and intellectual property arrangements. 

The goal of this project is to establish and maintain field and laboratory studies that will improve the scientific understanding of the pathways of water movement through watersheds and ecosystems.Objectives:1. Quantify differences in hydrologic reponses in high alpine and rangeland watersheds using an established network of field instrumentation for watershed hydrologic observations.2. Use spatial datasets of watershed characteristics and hydrologic response units to characterize differences in contributing source areas with storm size and type.3. Develop analytical approaches and techniques for partitioning water movement through the field systems.

The overall goal of the proposed applied research is to further refine grasshopper control strategy ofReduced Area and Agent Treatments (RAATs)by including new IPM treatment options after their field evaluation. To achieve this goal, the following research objectives will be pursued:(1) Evaluate efficacy, economics and environmental impacts of new chemical control agents within the RAATs application strategy.(2) Develop practical guidelines for their use in RAATs context.(3) Field test biological grasshopper control agents to assess their potential for inclusion in the RAATs strategy.

The overall goal of this project is to add to the knowledge base of sheep production efficiency and develop tools that if adopted by producers will increase efficiency and therefore, the sustainability of the sheep industry.This project encompasses many different objectives which will are necessary to fulfill the overall objective.Determine relationships between RFI and other traits of economic importance in sheepDetermine potential selection tools to improve feed efficiency in sheepDetermine the neural basis for sexual inactivity in ramsIncreasing lambing rate and productivity by altering selection of ewe lamb replacements

Major GoalExplore the genetic and physiological basis of Brisket disease and the relationships to cattle production.Objectives1. Develop a physical phenotype for animals in the Laramie Research & Extension Center Center cattle herd including physical screening for clinical signs of Brisket disease and identification of underperforming cattle.2. Correlate hemodynamic parameters (via PAP testing) with physical phenotype.3. Screen Bos germplasm for genetic resistance to high altitude disease.

Major Goal: To determine the effectiveness of rumen-inert long-chain omega-3 fatty acids on growth and reproductive parameters in cattle and sheep.Objectives:1: Determine the effectiveness of molasses lick tubs as a delivery system for long-chain n-3 fatty acids, when present as the calcium salt (rumen inert) of fish oil, for supplementation of grass-fed beef cattle.2: Determine the effects of supplemental long-chain n-3 fatty acids on reproductive efficiency of beef cows and heifers when the fatty acids are provided as the calcium salt of fish oil using the molasses lick tub delivery system.3: Determine the impact of cow and heifer rumen inert n-3 fatty acid supplementation on milk fatty acids and calf health.4: Determine the effectiveness of molasses lick tubs as a delivery system for long-chain n-3 fatty acids, when present as the calcium salt (rumen inert) of fish oil, for supplementation of forage fed lamb.5: Determine the effects of supplemental long-chain n-3 fatty acids on reproductive efficiency of ewes when the fatty acids are provided as the calcium salt of fish oil using the molasses lick tub delivery system. Additionally, the impacts on milk composition and lamb health will be determined.

I have three primary interrelated areas of research:Assess distribution & functional connectivity of species in changing landscapes.Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function are central land management goals. To address these needs, I am developing and applying landscape genetic approaches to estimate current species' distribution and functional connectivity (the degree of movement or flow of organisms through their distribution on the landscape, necessary for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function). I am then applying this framework to estimate functional connectivity under potential land-use scenarios and assess risk of functional connectivity loss for a variety of species. Currently projects include: Greater Sage-grouse in NE Wyoming in relation to oil and gas development; Swift fox in Wyoming, Colorado and Texas (collaborating with Donnelle Schwalm, Texas Technical University/Oregon State University and Sam Cushman, USDA Forest Service RMRS) and Boreal chorus frogs in Northern Colorado in relation to land acquisition priorities (collaborating with W. Chris Funk, Colorado State University and Erin Muths, USGS).Evaluate water availability and ecosystem services under climate change scenarios. Climate change will affect not only temperature and moisture but timing. The timing of the water's presence is the critical factor affecting water availability for both biodiversity and anthropogenic use. Semi-permanent wetlands, those that retain water seasonally, may be an indicator of water availability. My aim is to assess surface water availability for both biodiversity and anthropogenic use by linking wetland hydroperiod (length of time water is available in a wetland) to climatic variation in a semi-arid environment. In this context, I am also investigating ecosystem services provided by beaver in the context of wetland dynamics (water quality and biodiversity). In addition, I am developing eDNA methods to identify wetland dependent species as a way to measure biodiversity while reducing observer bias.Develop and test analytical tools for landscape genetics. Reliable estimates of functional connectivity may require decades of field data, information not generally available when addressing pressing management concerns. In response to the challenge of quantifying functional connectivity, the emerging field of landscape genetics combines landscape ecology and population genetics. Landscape genetics applies molecular mark

1. Insure that submissions to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory represent an accurate reflection of the incidence of disease in domesticated and wild animal species throughout Wyoming and the region2. Determine the cause and pathogenesis of naturally occurring diseases in wildlife and domestic animals, identify those potentially impacting human health, and identify those that may be due to environmental causes3. Document and track the incidence, prevalence and trends of spontaneous diseases as they occur state-wide4. Sustain the infrastructure to assure timely and up-to-date animal disease diagnostic testing and methodology across species5. Leverage preliminary data from spontaneous disease in animals and wildlife or studies of environmental toxins to generate extramural grants to support applied and basic research

1. Determine plant composition, forage production responses, and resultant threshold sagebrush abundances following manipulation of different abundances of Wyoming big sagebrush (A. tridentata var. Wyomingensis) with emphasis on long term responses. 2. Determine the influence of anticedent environmental conditions on the annual response of sagebrush plant communities with and without manipulation. 3. Determine the economic threshold abundance of sagebrush justifying control.

The goal of this CRIS project is to continue to build on my previous two decades of research in Wyoming forests by continuing sampling, specimen preparation, discovery, and documentation of Braconidae wasp species from forest ecosystems.The specific objectives of this research will be:1. prepare and deposit museum voucher specimens of Braconidae species,2. record new species and new biological host association data,3. discovery and publication of new species of Braconidae.

Determine the impact of limited irrigation on efficacy of soil-applied herbicides that are commonly used in corn and dry-bean production.Limited irrigation may reduce weed control from soil-applied herbicides early in the season, which may increase reliance on post emergence herbicide use.By reducing microbial breakdown, limited irrigation may increase late-season herbicide availability, improving late-season weed control.Determine the impact of limited irrigation on herbicide dissipation in the soil and potential carryover to rotational crops.By reducing microbial breakdown of the herbicide, limited irrigation may result in increased availability of the herbicide the following year, causing potential yield loss in rotational crops.It is possible that a fall soil bioassay may predict crop yield loss potential or the following spring under limited irrigation conditions.

Our long-term goal is to understand the impact of non-herbicidal weed control practices on development of herbicide-resistant weed populations in order to develop sustainable cropping systems that prolong the utility of existing herbicide resources. In order to accomplish our long-term goal, we propose the following specific objectives for this research project: 1. Determine the impact of crop rotation diversity and tillage on enrichment of an herbicide resistance trait within a weed population. 2. Quantify the economic benefits and risks of adopting a diversified weed management program to delay the development of herbicide resistance. 3. Evaluate the fitness of the most common mutation that confers resistance to acetolactate-synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides in Kochia scoparia (Trp574) under field conditions.

Our goal is to develop common-use technology and physical resources in support of the research mission of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Department of Molecular Biology with the following objectives:Support ongoing studies of livestock disease, molecular genetics of animal disease, food safety, crop improvement, sustainable energy and science outreach, by maintaining a robust research infrastructure in the areas of molecular and cell biology and microbiology.Enable collaboration among faculty members within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and support new faculty members by providing a functional research environment.Provide a venue for science outreach to students, teachers and the community.Achievement of Objective 1 will require the Department to provide access to and maintain autoclaves, cold rooms, and instrumentation such as spectrophotometers, PCR, qPCR, imagers, incubators, specialty freezers and other instrumentation in addition to animal facilities as described in our management plan. Objective 2 is aimed at building our human resources by (a) hiring of elite new faculty members, which is dependent on a supportive research infrastructure, and (b) building research ties to research stations and community colleges in Wyoming, which often are limited in their access to research instrumentation. Objective 3 will enable education both at K-12 as well as our community colleges by providing resources and a venue for training in the molecular life sciences.

Wyoming is dominated by rangelands that are critical for livestock production and the conservation of natural resources. The provision of ecosystem services from Wyoming's rangelands has led to concern by the general public about endangered species, increasing litigation, management of wild horses, changing policies regarding water resources, and potential deleterious effects of climate variation. These concerns have also further complicated the many challenges to livestock production including animal distribution, parasitism, drought, fire, forage quality and quantity, and competition with wild and feral wildlife. This research program will focus on critical ecological interactions between grazing animals and plant communities in Wyoming within the context of social interests and livelihoods.Specific Goals Include:1. Address the most challenging issues affecting livestock production and the conservation of natural resources within the context of animal-plant interactions in Wyoming. Determine rangeland monitoring techniques to evaluate associated conflicts.2. Understand how disturbances such as drought and fire affect plant communities and distribution of livestock and wildlife to develop innovative strategies for coping with wildfire. Assist managers in making best management decisions to respond to these disturbances and strategically apply prescribed fire as a management tool.3. Determine adaptive grazing management strategies that are beneficial ecologically, agriculturally, and socially while looking out for the best interests of livelihoods and natural resources.4. Understand the complexity of livestock and wildlife parasites as it relates to topography, climate, vegetation structure, and animal movements in Wyoming.5. Develop impartial data about how wild horses move through landscapes, affect plant communities, and interact with wildlife and livestock.Areas of focus to address these goals include:1. Rangeland Vegetation Monitoring2. Drought and Climate Variation3. Wildfire and Prescribed Burning4. Livestock Production Under Harsh Range Conditions5. Parasites and Diseases of Livestock and Wildlife6. Wild Horse Management

The Central High Plains have been largely left out of the "Soil Health Movement" because many of the central principles are not viewed as effective where fallow periods are perceived as necessary for moisture conservation. Dryland agriculture is very important to livelihoods in this region despite the resource-limited and challenging environment. Projections of increased recurrence of drought caused by variable precipitation and extreme winds during fall and early spring mean that the future of agricultural production may be even more challenging. Winter wheat is the primary cash crop even though typical yields are only 20 to 35 bushels per acre. Low biomass yields mean that no-till is not as effective at moisture conservation or SOM accumulation as in other regions, and few farmers practice reduced tillage. A few producers do successfully use no- or reduced-tillage practices, however, and some use cover crops on an opportunistic basis. But the few published research articles suggest that using cover crops in this region negatively impacts crop yields due to competition for water. It is unknown how synergistic effects of reducing tillage and planting cover crops will work in this region and whether one or the other practice should be most recommended.Major Goal: Evaluate whether cover crops, reduction of tillage or a combination of both can be viable practices for dryland crop rotations in the Central High Plains in order to improve soil quality and soil health.Specific objectives:Evaluate integrated cover crops/tillage scenarios on crop yields;Evaluate their effects on soil properties and processes that indicate soil quality, soil moisture, insect populations, and weed competition;Disseminate results to local, regional, and national audiences.Economic analyses are not included but all costs and revenues will be recorded and if these alternative cropping systems show promise a partial budget analysis will be performed.