Research Accomplishment Reports 2011

Pesticide application error maps were generated based on turning rates of a field sprayer and pressure variations across the boom during application. These data show that turning movements and pressure variations may contribute to substantial errors during field application.

We have collaborated with SD#1 in Northern Kentucky and Sustainable Streams in Louisville to provide watershed characterization expertise to link our work to the in-stream conditions that have been monitored. We have collaborated with several agricultural economists at the University of KY to provide watershed characterization expertise for an EPA funded feasibility study on river basin based nutrient pollution trading.

We have created a software suite consisting of several dozen geospatial models for determining over 100 human induced and geomorphic watershed based indicators that is based on commonly found state and federally available public data. A set of over 60 11"x17" maps, indicator definitions, cluster narrative descriptions, tabular data for each indicator by subwatershed has been assembled and distributed to 18 people in state and federal government positions and expert water resource stakeholders.

We tested a non-invasive, genetic survey of the gray fox at two sites in the mixed-mesophytic forest of northeastern Kentucky using two methods: hair snares and scat dogs. We have obtained nearly 100 gray fox hair and scat samples plus about 60 each of coyote and bobcat, two mesopredators that are competitors with the gray fox. We have successfully extracted DNA from these samples and are in the process of amplifying these products at several microsatellite loci for the purposes of identifying individual animals within a species. Afterwards, we will examine genetic diversity within each species, density, and evaluate any spatial distribution patterns among all 3 mesocarnivores.

We have successfully used cell phone technologies and GPS satellite technologies to remotely locate (track) black bears in southeastern Kentucky. These data have been used to provide locations of collared black bears several times per day and have provided a detailed insight into activity and movement patterns that are particularly useful in examining individual bears that frequent human settlement, and where protected areas are being used or lands important to bears that may be considered for protection or management.

The precision of these data have also allowed us to examine potential biases in these types of remote GPS-based location data. Project results have been disseminated through various professional society meetings and extension products.

2011 Impact

Data concerning testing procedures has been provided to the committee in charge of the ISO 12188-1 standard on dynamic testing of satellite based positioning devices used in agriculture, which has been completed. The standard will normalize the way manufacturers report GPS receiver accuracy when intended for use agricultural field practices making it easier for consumers to select equipment based upon accuracy specifications.

The negative effects of off-rate spray application errors have been noticed by producers as well as manufacturers. Interest has been generated from the data in this study regarding the extent to which errors occur from turning rates and machinery, and manufacturers are now attempting to develop technologies to minimize these negative effects.

Economic benefits of the automatic boom section control systems were clearly demonstrated. Communications with producers are in part responsible for higher technology adoption rates in Kentucky over the past two years.

This project has begun to identify watersheds of the river basin that are likely to behave similarly because of the human induced and geomorphic characteristics. For example, we have started looking for watershed that have not been specifically tested that may or may not have water quality issues because of watershed conditions with Kentucky Division of Water leaders. We have used the geospatial modeling capability developed to understand better TN and TP relationship to the watershed indicators from a statewide perspective.

Additional preliminary work has been explored for potentially prioritizing subwatersheds in order to apply Best Management Practices to address excess nitrogen and phosphorus. We learned that best management practices to alleviate soil P losses will likely need to be applied on a field-by-field basis, subsequent to sampling individual fields for their soil P and surface hydrology status.

The successful use of our technique to monitor mesocarnivores was adopted within 6 months by the state wildlife agency after visiting our field project and witnessing our preliminary results. We believe the non-invasive technique will be increasingly employed to conduct long-term regional and statewide monitoring of mesomammals. Detailed bear location data have provided important opportunities for scientists and wildlife managers to monitor and analyze bear movement and activity patterns. In several cases these data have been used to coordinate bear nuisance control efforts or identify problem dumpsters that bears frequent. The results of this study will be used by wildlife and natural resource managers to develop control strategies for nuisance bears and to facilitate a science-driven approach to black bear conservation and management at the landscape level that will be critically important for this small, but growing population.

2011 Publications

Grove, J.H., M.M. Navarro and E.M. Pena-Yewtukhiw. 2011. Detecting abiotic stress in soybean with a proximal canopy sensor. p. 523-532. In J.V. Stafford (ed.) Precision Agriculture 2011, Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. Prague, Czechoslovakia. 11-14 July. Czech Center for Science and Society, Prague, Czech Republic. ISBN: 978-80-904830-2-6.

Augustine, B.H. 2010. GPS Bias in resource selection studies: a case study using black bears in southeastern Kentucky. M.S. Thesis. University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Augustine, B., P.H. Crowley, and J.J. Cox. 2011. A mechanistic model of GPS collar fix acquisition. Ecological Modeling. 222:3615-3625.

Hawley, R.J., M.S. Wooten, B.D. Lee, and C.L. Wilson. 2011. Land-use, stream channel dynamics, and macroinvertebrate community responses: A northern Kentucky case study. Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute. Lexington, Kentucky. March 21, 2011. (Proceedings and Presentation)

Lee, B.D., A. Schorgendorfer, and C.L. Wilson. 2012 Subwatershed clusters for land use assessment and planning. In R. Dodge (Ed.), Meeting Environmental Challenges with Earth Observation Imagery. Alexandria, Virginia:American Geologic Institute - Environmental Awareness Book Series (Accepted Pending Final Review by Editor).

Lee, B.D., A. Schorgendorfer, C.L. Wilson, L. Haight-Maybriar, and J. Webb. 2010. Subwatershed Clustering Based on Geomorphic and Human Induced Landscape Modifications: The Licking River Basin. Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute. Lexington, Kentucky. March 22. (Proceedings and Presentation - http://www.uky.edu/WaterResources/2010%20Proceedings.pdf)

Lee, B.D., and C.L. Wilson. 2010. An Initial Prioritization Approach for Potential Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation Based on Subwatershed Indicators and Expert Knowledge. Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute. Lexington, Kentucky March 22, 2010. (Proceedings and Poster - http://www.uky.edu/WaterResources/2010%20Proceedings.pdf)

Luck, J.D., R.S. Zandonadi, and S.A. Shearer. 2011. A case study to evaluate field shape factors for estimating overlap errors with manual and automatic section control. Trans. ASABE 54(4): 1237-1243.

Luck, J.D., S.K. Pitla, R.S. Zandonadi, M.P. Sama, and S.A. Shearer. 2011. Estimating off-rate pesticide application errors resulting from agricultural sprayer turning movements. Precision Agric. 12(4): 534-545.

Luck, J.D., A. Sharda, S.K. Pitla, J.P. Fulton, and S.A. Shearer. 2011. A case study concerning the effects of controller response and turning movements on application rate uniformity with a self-propelled sprayer. Trans. ASABE 54(2): 423-431.

Luck, J.D., R.S. Zandonadi, B.D. Luck, and S.A. Shearer. 2010. Reducing pesticide over-application with map-based automatic boom section control on agricultural sprayers. Trans. ASABE 53(3): 685-690.

Luck, J.D., S.K. Pitla, S.A. Shearer, T.G. Mueller, C.R. Dillon, J.P. Fulton, and S.F. Higgins. 2010. Potential for pesticide and nutrient savings via map-based automatic boom section control of spray nozzles. Computers Electronics Agric. 70(1): 19-26.

Pena-Yewtukhiw, E.M., J.H. Grove and G.J. Schwab. 2011. Impact of individual sensor performance when array sensor number is reduced p. 480-490. In J.V. Stafford (ed.) Precision Agriculture 2011, Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. Prague, Czechoslovakia. 11-14 July. Czech Center for Science and Society, Prague, Czech Republic. ISBN: 978-80-904830-2-6.

Sama, M.P., T.S. Stombaugh, R.S. Zandonadi, S.A. Shearer. 2009. Dynamic GNSS Testing and Applications. Paper Number 096714, 2009 ASABE Annual Meeting.

Sombaugh, T.S., M.P. Sama, R.S. Zandonadi, S.A. Shearer, 2008. Standardized Evaluation of Dynamic GPS Performance. Paper Number 084728, 2008 ASABE Annual Meeting.

Wendroth, O., E.L. Ritchey, S. Nambuthiri, J.H. Grove and R.C. Pearce. 2011. Spatial variability of soil physical properties. pp. 827-839. In: Gliński, J., J. Horabik and J. Lipiec (eds.), Encyclopedia of Agrophysics. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany.

Wooten, M.S., Hawley, R.J., B.D. Lee, and C.L. Wilson. Biological community response to land use and stream channel dynamics. North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting. Providence, Rhode Island. May 22-26, 2011. (Proceedings and Presentation)