It is probable that the rounded flint has partly originated from these [Flint] hills. G.C. Broadhead (1880).

High-level (upland) chert [flint] gravels occur in almost all of the counties in the Osage Cuesta country of eastern Kansas. The locations of the high-level chert gravel deposits now are well known as a result of recent remapping of the state on a scale of 1:24:000, but the origin and age of the chert gravels remain as debatable today as they were 125 years ago. The gravels are composed of brownish, smooth, angular to subangular chert pebbles and cobbles ranging up to 6 inches (15 cm) in size.

The chert clasts have been derived from Lower Permian limestones that contain abundant chert [flint] and crop out in the topographically high Flint Hills in east-central Kansas. The chert weathers from the limestones to create lag gravels, which in turn are reworked and transported eastward and southeastward by streams.

In the glaciated region in northeastern Kansas, remnants of high-level chert gravel deposits occur in association with glacial tills, outwash, and erratics. In places the chert gravels occur beneath glacial deposits. South of the glaciated region, however, the remnants of the high-level gravels occur on bedrock surfaces whose elevations range from 20 to 200 feet (6 to 60 m) above the floodplains of major streams.

The chert itself that forms the gravels is known to be Early Permian in age, based on fossils preserved in the pebbles and cobbles. Deposition of the high-level gravels, however, cannot be dated directly, but information bearing on their relative ages is provided by the degree of soil development over them and their elevations with respect to modern floodplains. Deposits at higher elevations may be Pliocene, whereas deposits at lower elevations may be early to middle Pleistocene. Chert gravels that occur on low-lying floodplains and in modern alluvium and are judged to be late Pleistocene to Recent in age.

We sampled fishes monthly from November 2000 to October 2001 at four gravel bar sites along a 34-km stretch of the upper Neosho River in Lyon County, Kansas. We assessed the potential for interspecific competition among stream fishes, with focus on the federally threatened Neosho madtom, Noturus placidus, by using Pearson's correlation analysis with sequential Bonferroni correction of alpha to examine relationships among fish densities. Of the 19 fish species analyzed, there were six significant positive and no significant negative correlations. Abundance of N. placidus did not vary significantly with total abundance of fishes or with abundance of any of these potential competitors. The lack of significant negative correlations at these sites at this time might reflect an assemblage in equilibrium or one controlled abiotically rather than by ongoing active competition.

Moose (Alces alces) are known to suffer from a wide range of diseases including osteoarthropathies. An Alces specimen collected in 1989 from Summit County, Utah shows four separate occurrences of osteoarthropathy: 1) extensive remodeling of the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae and lesser changes in the other cervical vertebrae; 2) massive bony overgrowth on the right calcaneus, whereas the left calcaneus appears free of disease; 3) osteoarthritis in the weight-bearing joints of the pelvis; and 4) a fracture in the right femur. The osteoarthritis in the weight-bearing joints is not atypical for an individual of its age, estimated at 6.0 to 7.5 years. However, infection is a more likely cause for the changes to the bones in the neck and hock. Trauma in the hind limb would be necessary to have caused the fracture in the femur. This individual lived with its ailments long enough for the architecture of its bones to be dramatically affected. Present-day northern Utah is an ecosystem with a paucity of large carnivores, and this individual lived for some time in a weakened and diseased state. In an ecosystem with a balance of carnivores and herbivores it is unlikely that this individual would have lived and suffered as long as it apparently did.

A suite of software programs is described which has been trained to operate a laboratory experiment or an industrial process, especially those which are highly complex and for which no accurate model exists. The “autonomous software agent” (Asa) is capable of operating in unknown and highly general environments while requiring no human assistance or manual tuning. Numerous design options, heuristics, and some test results are reported.

Lighter-than-air, unmanned, tethered platforms for small-format aerial photography include balloons and blimps. Hot-air and helium blimps have been developed and tested successfully in the field. Both provide stable platforms for lifting camera equipment in calm or low-wind conditions. The operating range for blimps overlaps that of kites, so a combination of a blimp and kites spans wind conditions from calm to 40 km/h. A helium blimp is smaller, substantially lower in cost, and easier to operate compared to a hot-air blimp with equivalent lifting capability. However, helium is not readily available in many regions, and in such places a hot-air blimp would be the only practical lighter-than-air platform for small-format aerial photography under low-wind conditions.

Various grassland management regimes have been and are being utilized in northeastern Kansas, all of which could impact soil properties. Differences in one such property, soil bulk density, could indicate differences in soil quality. Five regimes of privately managed grasslands (cool-season: hay or grazed, warm season: hay, grazed or Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)) in Douglas, Jefferson and Leavenworth counties, Kansas, were sampled for soil bulk density in 2001 and 2002. Cool-season fields have been cultivated historically (late 1800s) and recently (1950s to present) seeded into Bromus inermis, while warm-season fields are either native prairie remnants or CRP. CRP fields have had warm-season native grasses seeded into them after extensive cultivation and soil erosion. Bulk density (dry soil weight/soil volume) cores were taken to a depth of 15 cm (volume = 76 cm³) and dried to constant weight (90°C). CRP had the highest bulk density (0.90 and 0.74 Mg/m³, 2001 and 2002, respectively, p < 0.001), cool-season fields had high to intermediate bulk density (0.80 and 0.72 Mg/m³, 2001 and 2002, respectively) and warm-season native fields had the lowest bulk density (0.70 and 0.67 Mg/m³, 2001 and 2002, respectively). Hay fields were not different from grazed in 2001, but were significantly lower than grazed in 2002. From soil surveys and field observations, CRP and cool-season fields corresponded to areas of higher erosion, in addition to being areas of historical cultivation. Thus, results reflect current management (hay vs. grazing) and the effects of a previous plowing history.

Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition collected plant specimens, identified plants using common names, or described in sufficient detail 108 plant species along the lower Missouri River to which modern scientific names can be assigned with different degrees of certainty. This project expands an earlier list made by Cutright of 12 plant species seen on the lower Missouri River. William Clark, the principal journalist on the lower Missouri River, described the plants in his journal entries. Meriwether Lewis collected the herbarium specimens along the lower Missouri River and made extensive, retrospective journal entries at Fort Mandan, North Dakota in the winter of 1804. The list of 108 lower Missouri River plant species is compiled from three major publications of the Lewis and Clark journals that included natural history and were edited by Elliott Coues, Reuben Thwaites, and Gary Moulton. This list is compared to a compilation by Elijah Criswell of almost 500 species of animals and plants seen over the entire exploration. The Lewis and Clark plant species list is intended to provide one of several historical lists from the 19th century to compare progress of the mitigation and restoration of lost floodplain habitat on the lower Missouri River. The plant list with the addition of modern scientific names will be an aid to the general public in interpreting the natural history of the expedition during the Lewis and Clark bicentennial commemoration from 2003–2006.

This study was conducted to investigate differences in the anti-predator behavior of larval walleyes (Sander vitreus) and saugeyes (walleye × sauger [Sander canadensis]). Larval fish (5–7 and 12–14 days old) were exposed to a simulated predator to determine the number of attacks required to elicit a response and to determine differences in movement rates and orientation (e.g. time spent in the upper water column) between species related to predator attack. Five to seven day old saugeyes exhibited a response to the model predator on the first or second approach, while walleyes required one to seven approaches. In addition, 5–7 day old saugeyes responded to a simulated attack by rapidly swimming; whereas, walleyes showed little response in swimming action. When larvae were 12–14 days old, both walleyes and saugeyes responded to the simulated predator attack on the first or second approach by rapidly swimming. Regardless of age, neither walleyes nor saugeyes showed a response in orientation to predator attack. This study suggests that anti-predator behavior is one possible mechanism for high survival and recruitment of saugeyes relative to walleyes and that older walleyes (i.e. > 12 days old) should be stocked during years when predator densities are high.

Our long-term study of winter Canada goose (Branta canadensis) populations began in January 1983, when 1600 individuals were counted within the Wichita city limits. By 1997, we reported in this Transactions that the winter Canada goose population had increased to an estimated 13,000 birds. Since then, the number of geese has increased almost steadily, and in 2003 we estimated >18,000 birds. Goose flocks tend to be small to medium-sized, and birds are associated with three major habitats: grass, water, and agricultural fields.

The winter Canada goose population in Wichita has followed a strong pattern of linear increase. Our winter estimates of Canada goose populations in Wichita closely parallel those for the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for both the city of Wichita and the state of Kansas. We discuss possible causes for the >10-fold increase in the size of winter goose populations, and discuss some implications of the continued growth of Canada goose populations for cities like Wichita.

Three unassociated tooth fragments of the hybodont shark, Polyacrodus sp., were recovered from a quarry in the Kiowa Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Albian), McPherson County, Kansas, in June of 2003. The teeth of this shark represent a new record for the poorly known vertebrate marine paleofauna of the Kiowa. The fragments were discovered in association with the teeth of another hybodont, two lamniform sharks, a ray, and a pycnodont fish; a turtle vertebra; a plesiosaur tooth fragment; and bone, osteoscute, and tooth fragments of crocodilians. The teeth are the first recognized occurrence of “Polyacrodus” in Kansas, and further document the diversity of this near-shore paleofauna in the Western Interior Sea during the Early Cretaceous.

We studied syntopic populations of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and deer mice (P. maniculatus) in mid-successional vegetation to determine microhabitat selections on experimental plots in northeastern Kansas. Microhabitat selections, based on woody stem densities (WSD), differed between species and differed from expected for both species. Peromyscus leucopus used habitats with medium and high WDS more than expected, whereas P. maniculatus used habitats with low WSD more than expected. Our results indicate that as plant succession proceeds on experimental plots, habitats preferred by P. leucopus should increase, whereas habitats preferred by P. maniculatus should decrease.

We examined the local distribution of the eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) along the Kings Creek drainage on the Konza Prairie Biological Station (located south of Manhattan, Kansas). Our 46-ha study site included primarily intermixed riparian woodland and native and planted grassland. Within this site, we surveyed burrow ridges and soil mounds of eastern moles in 116 circular sampling plots. Each sampling plot had a 10-m radius; total surface area of plots was 3.6 ha. Plots were placed at 40-m intervals along 13 transects, which paralleled each other and were 100 m apart. Eastern moles were associated with wooded vegetation (i.e. plots under tree canopy). Eastern moles also were associated positively with bare soil (plots with >2 m² as contrasted to those with <2 m² of bare soil). This positive association with plots that had >2 m² of bare soil held even for the 74 local sites that were under tree canopy along Kings Creek. The association with wooded areas along Kings Creek was consistent with past studies that found eastern moles selectively choose relatively loose, moist soils.

Among the few published fossil records of cleptoparasitic bees, one has been assigned as an unnamed species of Coelioxys (Megachilinae: Megachilini). The putative Coelioxys was recovered from the Latah Formation (Miocene) near Juliaetta in northernwestern Idaho. Herein I provide a detailed description and figures for this specimen. While the specimen is quite likely a megachiline bee, it is not possible from the wing alone to consider this fossil as a member of the genus Coelioxys, nor of the tribe Megachilini. The fossil is considered herein as “Megachilinae species indeterminate.”

There are three purse-web spider species in Kansas, all in the genus Sphodros. Two of these species, S. niger (Hentz) and S. rufipes (Latreille), are known only from the eastern edge of the state, while the range of S. fitchi Gertsch and Platnick extends into western Kansas which is the westernmost distribution record for the family in the New World.