Return of Topeka Shiner (Notropis topeka) to Restored Oxbows in the White Fox Creek Watershed, Iowa, USA

The Topeka shiner (Notropis topeka), a federally endangered species of minnow endemic to the Great Plains region of the central United States, has experienced widespread population declines resulting from loss of habitat. N. topeka habitat in Iowa, most notably oxbow wetlands, was mostly eliminated from the landscape during European settlement and agriculturalization of the region. Over the last two decades, restoration of oxbow habitats in Iowa has been increasing. Restorations provide critical habitat for N. topeka and regenerate a variety of ecosystem services that benefit many species of flora and fauna. There are signs that restoration of oxbow ecosystems is generating positive impacts on N. topeka recovery. Recent studies revealed that N. topeka populations are recovering within a few Iowa watersheds. In the investigation described here, we report the 2020 discovery of two N. topeka specimens in different restored oxbows within the White Fox Creek HUC10 of north central Iowa. Prior to these collections, the species had been undetected within this basin for 36 years. (It is possible that N. topeka persisted within the basin but remained undetected during sampling efforts.) Multiple oxbows have been restored within the White Fox Creek basin in recent years, and significant source populations of N. topeka can be found in nearby watersheds. These collections suggest that as oxbow restorations continue and land stewardship practices improve, N. topeka populations might recover and become reestablished within the historical range.

Is a Face-to-Face Engineering Design Workshop Possible During the Pandemic?

Possible? Sure. Probable? No. A wise choice based on what was known at the time? No. Desired by public K-12 school districts in Iowa during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020? Mostly no. But let us fill in some details.

Number of Shoes Tested During a Running Shoe Mass Perception Task May Not Influence Accuracy

Commercially available running shoes differ in terms of their relative masses. It is unclear how well consumers may be able to judge mass differences from wearing alone, though previous studies suggest that perceptual outcomes may be influenced by experimental design factors such as the length of time worn. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the number of shoes used in a testing session impacts wearers' mass perceptual accuracy. Forty-eight young adult males ran for 5 min in 4 pairs of shoes (their own running shoes plus 3 unfamiliar pairs) before being asked whether an unfamiliar running shoe was heavier or lighter than their own, and to indicate perceptions of shoe heaviness (mass), comfort, stability, and temperature using visual analogue scales (VAS). A subset (n=18) was also asked to provide global rank orderings after wearing all 4 pairs of shoes. Participants were 67% accurate in the heavier/lighter task and 64% accurate in the global rank order task. Global rank order scores and VAS heaviness marks were significantly and positively correlated. Mass accuracy scores (n=48) were then compared to a previous study (n=25) performed by the same investigators using the same methods but with 6 pairs of shoes instead of 4. No difference in accuracy scores for either the heavier/lighter comparisons or global rank order scores between the study populations was found, suggesting that the number of test shoes may not influence mass perception accuracy.

A History Of Fire At Hitchcock Nature Center, Western Iowa, Reconstructed Through An Analysis Of Macroscopic Charcoal And Soil-Magnetic Properties

We analyzed soil-magnetic properties and macroscopic charcoal abundances for two soil profiles located in Hitchcock Nature Center (HNC), Honey Creek, Iowa. Both profiles are located on valley bottoms in the Loess Hills of western Iowa and developed in redeposited Peoria loess. Site HNC 15D is located on an elevated stream terrace and contains a moderately well-developed modern soil. Site HNC 15G is located on a valley floor and consists of a poorly developed modern soil and a series of buried soil horizons. Both sites record consistently low charcoal concentrations of 0.5 mm2/g in prehistoric deposits. While site HNC 15D remains undated, age control at site HNC 15G is provided through four radiocarbon dates from charcoal and snail shell fragments. At site HNC 15G, late 19th century deposits are characterized by a marked increase in charcoal abundance to 3 mm2/g and charcoal abundances return to near prehistoric levels in recent sediment. We observe a similar increase in charcoal abundances below the modern soil at HNC 15D and an accumulation of charcoal at the surface of the profile. Soil-magnetic properties show moderate increases in magnetic susceptibility and ARM/IRM ratios when compared to loessic parent material and confirm moderate to weak soil development. High values for χARM/χFD (40-100) and χARM/χ (2-5) further suggest that regional fires have not been intense enough to significantly heat the topsoil horizons and allow for the formation of strongly magnetic secondary iron-oxide minerals.

Chloride Dynamics in Urban Streams: An Eastern Iowa Case Study

A series of urban stream and snowmelt samples collected 2017-2018 provide a localized understanding of seasonal chloride concentrations in urban streams and establishes baseline knowledge of conditions in Cedar Rapids and Coralville, Iowa. Results indicate both variability in chloride concentrations based on location as well as conditions under which water was sampled.

ILED: Iowa Leadership in Engineering Design

Based on results of a 2018 Iowa Science Teacher Section survey, the Iowa Science Foundation of the Iowa Academy of Science funded a professional development opportunity focused on engineering design (ISF 19–01). A free one–day workshop was created for school districts in Iowa, and the first was held in fall of 2019. During this workshop, teachers learned more about engineering design, experienced engineering design activities from kindergarten through high school levels, and brainstormed facets of engineering design. The day ended with guiding teachers in writing their own engineering design activities. The workshop was successful and well–received according to a post–workshop survey using a five–point rating scale. Comments included “I have a better understanding of how to use engineering design in my classroom” (4.56/5.00), “I was able to make good progress in developing an engineering design activity” (4.67/5.00), and “I would recommend this workshop to friends and colleagues” (4.78/5.00. Participating teachers learned skills that will impact more than 1,100 students, and additional workshops continue to be scheduled.

Iowa Statewide Stream Nitrate Loading: 2017-2018 Update

In response to ongoing hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, several states in the Mississippi River basin have adopted nutrient reduction plans in recent years designed to arrest the flow of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from both point and non-point sources to the stream network. Iowa's Nutrient Reduction Strategy, implemented in 2012, aims to reduce stream loading of these nutrients by 45% within a yet-to-be-defined time frame. Because the state has chosen to integrate accountability into the strategy through the numerical objective, ongoing water monitoring is necessary to credibly measure progress. The primary objective of this research was to use water quality monitoring and discharge data to update statewide nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) loading using the combined data sets generated by in situ water quality sensors and traditional grab sample monitoring conducted by state government. Our research shows that the 5-year running annual average of nitrate-nitrogen loading continues to increase, and after the 2018 water year is 73% higher than that calculated in 2003. Loads from Iowa areas draining to the Missouri River are increasing more rapidly than loads from areas draining to the upper Mississippi River: 132% versus 55% since 2003. This shows that best management practices designed to stem the loss of nutrients from the corn-soybean system must be widely adopted and robustly designed for extreme environmental conditions if Iowa is to meet its water quality objectives.

Use of Surgical Tissue Adhesive and Body Mass Change to Assess Ring-necked Pheasant Brood Foraging Habitat

Foraging rates (arthropod consumption [g/min/chick]) of human-imprinted chicks provide a reasonable metric for assessing the quality of brood-rearing habitats for gallinaceous species. Arthropod foraging rates have been estimated using dry mass or allometric equations of crop and gizzard contents, and internal surgical ligature of the crop. Current methods are time- and labor-intensive. We describe a new method to estimate foraging rate using chick mass change (g/min) during a 30-min foraging trial. Our technique requires surgical tissue adhesive be applied to the cloaca to prevent bias in mass change measurements caused by defecation. We compare our mass change technique to a published internal surgical ligature technique using human-imprinted ring-necked pheasant chicks. Chicks treated with tissue adhesive had rates of mass gain (0.012 g/min, SE = 0.004) similar to ligatured chicks (0.006 g/min, SE = 0.004, F1,58 = 3.16, P = 0.0805). In contrast to the surgical ligature procedure, we found tissue adhesives can be applied quickly in the field and provide an efficient means to evaluate foraging quality of brood-rearing habitats. We provide suggestions for a set of standardized protocols for the use of imprinted chicks.

Perturbations Observed in The Orbital Elements of the Spectroscopic Binary 57 Cygni

We present spectroscopy that confirms periodic Doppler-shifts along with photometry that reinforces a lack of eclipsing in the double-lined spectroscopic binary 57 Cygni. Our spectroscopy concentrates on a range encompassing H-alpha and the helium 667.8 nm line, where we find Doppler-shifts of both stars resolved in the helium line but less so in the broader H-alpha profile. Although we find the radial velocities derived from both lines reasonably consistent, we retained only the helium-line derived velocities for sinusoidal curve-fits to the orbital dependence. The fit-amplitudes specify the ratio of the stellar masses as 1.03 ± 0.05, in agreement with previous assessments. We find an eccentricity of 0.028 ± 0.024 and a longitude of periastron of 163.5 ± 2.5°. The former is significantly lower than that previously reported, while the latter is in agreement but calls into question the apsidal motion predicted four decades ago. Our modeling suggests the presence of an external third body implicit in this previous apsidal motion, as well as the dominant mechanism for our reported change in eccentricity. Based upon the spectral type assignment, the near-circular orbit, and the well-established mass ratio, we can place restrictions on the orbital inclination from 51.5-to-53.0°, in reasonable agreement with previous estimates.

A statistical, spatial, and hydrologic comparison of gauge-based and MPE-based rainfall measurements

Gauge-based and multi-sensor precipitation estimation (MPE) data are compared on hourly, daily, monthly and event time scales at site locations over a 12-year period. Gauge data is collected at 16 sites within a 950 km2 portion of the Upper Iowa River in northeast Iowa. Average relative MPE bias is positive for all but the event time scale, and has a magnitude of less than 0.10 for all scales. Gauge and MPE average correlation coefficients range from 0.73 on the hourly scale to 0.92 on the event and monthly scales. The MPE relative bias standard deviation decreases from 1.70 mm on the hourly scale to 0.27 mm on the monthly scale. Decomposition of hourly bias reveals that the false positive portion is the most significant component. Seventy percent of MPE accumulation have a relative bias of 0.5 or less when hourly accumulations are 7 mm or greater. Pearson product-moment coefficient analysis reveals strong similarities in spatial correlations as a function of site separation. Rainfall time series for the basin are constructed from the two data sources and used as input to a Blocked Topmodel rainfall runoff scheme to provide another means of comparison on a basin-wide spatial scale. Five goodness-of-fit measures are used for quantifying the viability of simulated flows. No statistically significant difference in annual means using the difference sources is found for any of the measures.