In this paper we review the history and development of bowfishing, provide a case study of a high-profile bowfishing tournament in Oklahoma, survey and summarize management of the sport in all 50 states, and provide scientifically-based approaches for its management. Bowfishing has a distinct niche in the evolution of the bow and arrow and in fishing, as one of several methods practiced by many and scattered indigenous cultures worldwide. In the past century, advances in technology, including the development of the compound bow, custom boat and lighting systems for night bowfishing, and improved information transfer have opened the sport to many people previously unable to participate in the sport at a satisfying level. Bowfishing poses some distinct challenges for fisheries managers compared to angling, including the impracticality of catch-and-release, non-catch (wounding) mortality, and by-catch mortality of non-targeted native species. In 2019, we conducted a survey of 50 state fish and wildlife agencies that indicated only nine states had bowfishing education programs and none had articulated management goals or plans specific to the sport. Evidence indicates that bowfishing may provide plentiful opportunities for harvesting nuisance invasive species such as Asian carps (Cyprinidae) and the Common Carp Cyprinus carpio, but must be practiced much more judiciously, and in some instances, not at all, depending on locality, for higher valued native species such as buffalofishes (Catostomidae: Ictiobus spp.), Paddlefish Polyodon spathula, gars (Lepisosteidae), and rays (Batoidea). Whereas in the terrestrial and avian species that bowhunters most commonly target, males reach a larger size than females, in fish species targeted by bowfishers, the opposite is the case. The result is selective depletion of large, older, mature females and evolutionarily disruptive truncation of life histories. We suggest ten of many potential topics for consideration in agency management planning for bowfisheries. We seek to provide agencies information for developing historical, ecological, and socioeconomic perspectives for managing bowfisheries, as other fisheries, as instruments of species conservation, public benefit, and sound long-term public policy.

The Flint Hills region of Kansas represents one of the largest tracts of tallgrass prairie remaining in North America. Among others, a persistent threat to tallgrass prairie is invasion by native woody plants. Fire is frequently used to combat this threat, but numerous species remain able to encroach upon prairie. We conducted a survey of three habitat types (prairie, a transitional woodland, and a forest edge) to identify potential prairie invaders, their influence on graminoid cover, and the influence of climatic variability on woody plant growth. A total of 71 trees were cut and sampled for annual woody growth rate and were used as a centroid for collection of understory plant cover data. There was a generally positive correlation between increased precipitation and increased woody growth. However, temperature had very little influence on woody plant growth. There were significant intraspecific differences in woody plant growth among habitat types. Similarly, there were differences among species within each habitat area. Graminoid cover was inversely related to overstory canopy cover.

While the crude death rate has well-known drawbacks, it remains a population health statistic of interest. One of its drawbacks is found exclusively in the context of a small population, where the number of deaths is subject to a high level of stochastic uncertainty. This can lead to dramatic variations in the crude death rate from year to year even though there is neither a corresponding change in the population nor its mortality regime. A simple method is presented for estimating the “underlying” mortality rates of areas with small populations where the number of deaths is subject to a high level of stochastic uncertainty. The idea is that the underlying rates generated by the estimation method should better reflect the mortality regimes of these small populations. The method is described and illustrated in a case study by estimating crude death rates for the 88 “small population” counties, representing approximately the first quartile of the 317 counties found in four Great Plains states, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The method's validity is tested using a synthetic population in the form of a simulated data set generated from a model stable population with a crude death rate of 0.0194, representing Level 23 of the West Family Model Life Table for males. This synthetic population similar to the study population in that it has a slightly negative rate of population growth, with relatively high life expectancy (71.2) and mean age (43.1). The test indicates that the method is capable of producing estimates that represent underlying rates that reflect mortality regimes. Results shown here support the argument that the method can produce reasonable estimates of the underlying crude death rates for small populations subject to high levels of stochastic uncertainty.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is found in areas of abandoned coal mines in southeast Kansas as a result of mine waste and tailings from century old mining events. Soil bacterial population acts as a reliable indicator of ecosystem health in these human-perturbed areas. The goals of the present study were to isolate and characterize soil bacteria from an abandoned coal mine land that included an AMD site in southeast Kansas and to isolate acid-tolerant bacterial species for bioremediation purpose. Soil samples were collected seasonally from five topographically diverse locations at the mine land. Soil texture was evaluated and soil chemistry was analyzed using inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Up to sixty morphologically different colonies were isolated by dilution plating of soil samples on nutrient rich media, characterized using physiological and biochemical tests, checked for their growth on selective acid media, and identified at species-level using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Data showed that soil pH ranged from 2.4-6.8 and contained varied concentrations of arsenic, manganese, and iron. Total bacterial concentration was 10²-10⁶ CFU/g of soil. Biochemical tests revealed a diverse metabolic potential of the bacterial population. A total of 13 acid-tolerant bacterial strains were recovered. Majority of bacterial species belonged to phylum Firmicutes, followed by Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria. Baseline measurements of culturable bacterial diversity as well as soil chemistry at AMD sites in this region are novel and the findings would have potential use in bioremediation of AMD sites.

How plants respond to low quantities of light could help in understanding plant development and ecology in habitats with changing light levels. Most previous studies have investigated shading by other plants, where spectral quality of light is changed. In this study, by contrast, several aspects of growth and reproduction were measured in Ageratina altissima and Rudbeckia laciniata (both grassland forbs in Asteraceae) grown for six weeks in a greenhouse where light was reduced to 10%, 50%, and 100% of ambient levels without changing spectral quality. Ageratina altissima was more responsive to light than was R. laciniata. In response to low light quantity, A. altissima displayed traits that were related to shade avoidance, common in grassland species, such as decreased chlorophyll content and biomass, fewer branches, leaves, and ramets, and decreased reproductive output. However, A. altissima also displayed traits that were consistent with shade tolerance, common in forest species, such as reduced elongation of stems, higher chlorophyll a/b ratio, reduced root and shoot biomass, and fewer and thinner leaves. Rudbeckia laciniata was less responsive to light treatments, only showing effects in leaf thickness and the SPAD chlorophyll index. There was no effect of light on leaf area, petiole length, or several chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in either species. Responses to low light quantity might involve a combination of shade avoidance and shade tolerance strategies in responsive species, potentially helpful as lighting conditions vary.

Wind-generated electricity has grown from a niche enterprise in the late 20th century to become a major energy source globally and nationally, and Kansas has played a significant role. Kansas wind power expanded more than six-fold between 2008 and 2018. Among states, Kansas now ranks fourth for total wind generating capacity (>6 GW) and second for combined wind and solar electricity production as a fraction of electricity consumption (47%). Kansas is virtually tied with Iowa for the highest amount of wind energy as part of the electric grid mix (>41%). From early development in the High Plains, wind farms and energy complexes have expanded into nearly all regions of the state. The drainage divide between the Missouri River and Arkansas River basins is a geographic focus for recent development of wind farms in eastern Kansas.

Generation of electricity in Kansas mirrors overall energy trends in the United States during the past two decades. Coal, petroleum, and nuclear have declined, hydroelectric has been stable, natural gas has grown, and renewable (wind, solar) energy has expanded dramatically. These shifts in energy sources are reflected likewise in significant declines of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen emissions. Kansas reflects the international character of the wind-energy industry. Installed wind turbines are mainly of Danish, German, and/or Spanish origin with some components manufactured in Kansas and other nearby states.

In this paper, a shark-bitten partial tibiotarsus of a hesperornithiform bird is described from the Upper Cretaceous of Grant County, South Dakota, U.S.A. Whether the bite marks represent a predatory attack or scavenging is uncertain, but they are attributed to an anacoracid shark, Squalicorax cf. S. falcatus. The specimen is significant because it further indicates that hesperornithiform birds were common food sources for carnivores in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America, and that Squalicorax was a trophic generalist.

Three teeth of the late Cretaceous shark Ptychodus latissimus (Agassiz) are described from the upper Middle Turonian Codell Sandstone Member of the Carlile Shale. These teeth are significant because they are the first documented occurrence of the species in Kansas, extending the paleobiogeographic range of species and adding a new paleoecological component to the Codell Sandstone fauna. Its association with various ammonite species living in different trophic levels with other ptychodontid sharks may be indicative of niche partitioning.

Plethodus Dixon (Tselfatiiformes: Plethodidae) is an enigmatic Cretaceous bony fish genus characterized by circular or slightly oblong tooth plates and a short blunt rostrum. In this paper, two isolated rostral specimens attributable to Plethodus are described from the Britton Formation (Cenomanian-lower Turonian) of the Eagle Ford Group in Texas, U.S.A. This discovery, along with other recently described tselfatiiform fishes from the Britton Formation as well as isolated teeth and fragmentary bones of plethodids from the mid-late Cenomanian marine deposits, indicates that the radiation of tselfatiiform fishes in North America had already begun by the Cenomanian.

We describe an isolated lower jaw of a fossil bony fish collected from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. The specimen exhibits some characters common to a relatively rare Late Cretaceous aulopiform fish genus Apateodus Woodward. However, because it also exhibits some features not found in Apateodus, along with its fragmentary condition and preservation mode, we conservatively refer it to as ‘cf. Apateodus sp.’ where it may belong to a previously undescribed aulopiform species phylogenetically allied to Apateodus. The recognition of this potential new taxon from the well-studied Niobrara Chalk demonstrates that there is yet to learn much about the biodiversity and paleoecology of the Western Interior Seaway that existed during the Late Cretaceous in North America.

Palaeonotopterus greenwoodi Forey is an enigmatic Cretaceous bony fish (Teleostei: Osteoglossomorpha) currently known only from Albian–Cenomanian deposits of Morocco. Here, we describe nine fossil tooth plate specimens from the Eutaw Formation and Mooreville Chalk Formation from Alabama, U.S.A., tentatively assigned to P. greenwoodi. If they indeed belong to the taxon, these specimens not only represent the geologically youngest material ranging from late Santonian to early Campanian in age, but also constitute the first record of the species outside of Morocco.

Chemical signals reveal information such as sender identity and receptivity to mating that benefit both the sender and the receiver. Although the use of chemical signals seems probable for chelonians, few studies have focused on this form of communication in turtles, and only in a limited number of species. We tested the response of male Painted Turtles Chrysemys picta to chemical signals exuded by conspecifics by examining whether male Painted Turtles spent more time near female or male Painted Turtles or a control (empty) section of a pool, based solely on chemical signals exuded by the stimulus animals. We completed 27 trials and recorded the time male turtles spent in each section of the pool (male, female or control). Male Painted Turtles spent the most time in the section of the pool that housed the female Painted Turtle and spent the least amount of time in the control section. A one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test showed a statistically significant difference between the time test males spent in the female section and control section. The time male Painted Turtles spent in the female and male sections did not differ significantly and no significant difference was found in the amount of time the test male spent in the male section and the control section. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that male Painted Turtles respond to chemical signals exuded by female Painted Turtles, potentially, to find mates. With many turtle populations declining, it is important to study aspects of their reproduction, including communication.