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A fifteen month experiment was conducted to study the pattern of utilization of Lehmann lovegrass by cows during different seasons at three stocking rates on four patch types (grazed, open; grazed, under-mesquite; mowed, artificial; and ungrazed control) at the Santa Rita Experimental Range. The purpose of the research was to determine the influence of standing biomass, proportion of green material and nutrient content of patch types on the relative time cattle grazed patch types. Cattle biting rate on patch types was also measured. Height of leaves and flowers, dry biomass (kg/ha and %), green biomass (kg/ha) and total biomass were greater on ungrazed patches. Proportion of green was greater in grazed than ungrazed patches. Protein, phosphorus, Calcium and IVDMD were higher in green and complete samples of grazed than ungrazed patches. Cattle concentrated grazing upon upland, open grazed patches and under-mesquite canopy. These selected areas were higher in proportion of green biomass and nutrient value and lower in total standing crop and total green biomass than ungrazed areas. Nutrient density, rather than biomass appeared to govern cattle grazing.

Foraging party and territory size of Heterotermes aureus (Snyder) were investigated on the Santa Rita Experimental Range south of Tucson, Arizona. A comparison of three techniques for delineating territorial extent suggested that the release and recapture of dyed termites was most useful, while agonistic behavior among termites may reflect past as well as current associations. Spatial and temporal patterns of termite attack on baits proved to be unreliable. Data obtained via the release and recapture of dyed termites indicated that most territories encompassed an area of several hundred to thousand square meters. These data sharply contrast with those obtained via spatial and temporal patterns of termite attack, which provided an estimate of 9.2 m² for average territory size. Although agonistic responses were useful for differentiating H. aureus colonies, the lack of this behavior among termites did not necessarily imply a current relationship, as they may have been from subgroups that previously had budded off from each other. These groups may be headed by neotenic reproductives, which were found for the first time under field conditions for this species. Data on foraging party size obtained via a mark-release-recapture technique indicated that many H. aureus colonies contained from ca. 50,000 to 300,000 foragers. However, the validity of these estimates is suspect because several of the assumptions of this technique were not met, i.e., marked individuals did not completely mix in the population, but their numbers tended to be more concentrated near release sites, and colonies may have represented open populations. However, exhaustive trapping data also indicated that colonies may contain tens or hundreds of thousands of foragers. As many as 100,000 foragers in a single colony were removed from fiberboard traps during a 1.5-year period. The average foraging party consisted of 1,456 individuals, of which 8.6% were soldiers.

A 15-month study was conducted on the Santa Rita Experimental Range to evaluate the factors influencing both plants and cattle in southern Arizona. Forage biomass, nutrient value, botanical composition, and ground cover were greater in the growing season than in the dormant season. Moderate and heavy pastures had lower plant parameters than very heavy pasture, except for forage biomass and Lehmann lovegrass proportion, forage fiber and ground cover. Slopes and washes had a higher forage nutrient content and lower biomass and ground cover than the uplands. Lehmann lovegrass was more abundant on the uplands and in the washes than on the slopes and the reverse was true for native grasses and shrubs. Understory forages contained greater nutrients and forbs than open forages and the opposite occurred for shrubs and ground cover. Grazing activities, drinking, salting, defecation, urination and rumination were greater in the growing seasons, but standing and idling were greater in winter. There were no differences among pastures in major activities, but walking, drinking and salting were greater on very heavy pasture than on moderate and heavy pastures. Most grazing activities were on the uplands and resting activities were in the washes. Biting rates were similar among topographic areas. Upland and wash defecation and urination frequencies were similar and higher than slope frequencies. Grazing activities were greater in the open than under canopy and the reverse was true for resting activities. Open and canopy areas were similar in defecation and urination frequencies and biting rates. Except for resting activities, major and minor activities were more intense in the afternoon than in the morning. Morning and afternoon biting rates were similar. The weather index was the most important predictor of all cattle activities, except for the defecation frequency which mostly depended on the proportion of green forage. The forage nutrients and green proportion were the second and third important predictors of cattle activities, respectively. In conclusion, plants and animals interact and both react to environmental conditions. The recommendations for best management of a grazing land ecosystem should consider these conditions.

Despite Canada’s official policy of multiculturalism, until recently, the perspectives of the country’s lesser-known, marginalized writers have not been usually taken into consideration in mainstream discussions on the nature of Canadian identity and its socio cultural mosaic. Specifically, minority life writing narratives had generally received little critical attention in Canada. This paper aims to fill this slowly-decreasing gap through the exploration of two texts whose female writers negotiate their distinct ethnic and national selves within the cultural dominant of Canada. The essay compares Apolonja Kojder’s Polish-Canadian memoir, Marynia, Don’t Cry, to Rita Joe’s Mi’kmaq-Canadian autobiography, Song of Rita Joe. The analysis of these texts sets the Polish and Aboriginal communities into conversation, and yields a discussion on the nature of cultural, national, linguistic and female identity. It argues that identity is political, relational and always in process. Since much of the personal narrative writers’ identity struggle in an alien land and language often unravels as a translation of the self into another world, the two personal narratives add nuance to our understanding of the contradictions found in institutional policies. The study creates awareness of the literary and discursive strategies by which writers of disadvantaged communities challenge and subvert cultural oppression, identity misconstructions, and the exclusion of ethnic and women’s histories from within mainstream society. However, through the textual hybridization of cultures, languages, histories and life experiences, Kojder’s and Joe’s intention is to facilitate understanding across groups, create respect for diversity, propel social participation and induce socio political transformation. This paper means to shed light on the Canadian experience in its unique variations, and to add to life writing studies on ethnic and national individuals’ personal encounters with and within the Canadian socio- cultural and political milieu.

Despite Canada’s official policy of multiculturalism, until recently, the perspectives of the country’s lesser-known, marginalized writers have not been usually taken into consideration in mainstream discussions on the nature of Canadian identity and its socio cultural mosaic. Specifically, minority life writing narratives had generally received little critical attention in Canada. This paper aims to fill this slowly-decreasing gap through the exploration of two texts whose female writers negotiate their distinct ethnic and national selves within the cultural dominant of Canada. The essay compares Apolonja Kojder’s Polish-Canadian memoir, Marynia, Don’t Cry, to Rita Joe’s Mi’kmaq-Canadian autobiography, Song of Rita Joe. The analysis of these texts sets the Polish and Aboriginal communities into conversation, and yields a discussion on the nature of cultural, national, linguistic and female identity. It argues that identity is political, relational and always in process. Since much of the personal narrative writers’ identity struggle in an alien land and language often unravels as a translation of the self into another world, the two personal narratives add nuance to our understanding of the contradictions found in institutional policies. The study creates awareness of the literary and discursive strategies by which writers of disadvantaged communities challenge and subvert cultural oppression, identity misconstructions, and the exclusion of ethnic and women’s histories from within mainstream society. However, through the textual hybridization of cultures, languages, histories and life experiences, Kojder’s and Joe’s intention is to facilitate understanding across groups, create respect for diversity, propel social participation and induce socio political transformation. This paper means to shed light on the Canadian experience in its unique variations, and to add to life writing studies on ethnic and national individuals’ personal encounters with and within the Canadian socio- cultural and political milieu.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-77). / xii, 77 leaves, bound col. ill. 29 cm

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 12-13). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 12-13). Also available on the Internet.