Nitrogen fertilizer is commonly applied to winter wheat in the High Plains to achieve moderate to high yields. Typically, anhydrous N is applied in the summer or early fall with a tillage operation. Some growers apply liquid N in the spring if winter and spring moisture are high to take advantage of higher yielding condition. Phosphate fertilizer is less frequently used on winter wheat than N f...

We explored the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ (WI DNR) fish contaminant database to determine the availability and utility of historical (1970 2002) Hg records for different species and to identify lakes with historical Hg data. Walleye skin-on fillets were selected for further examination. This project supported processing and characterization of 310 additional walleyes from 36 la...

Preservation of walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma, capelin Mallotus villosus and eulachon Thaleichthys pacificus by freezing decreased fork length (LF) up to 1 8, 5 6 and 2 7% and reduced mass by up to 8 4, 3 5 and 1 1%, respectively. Shrinkage of walleye pollock standard length (LS) was greater for fish in 95% ethanol v. 5% formalin and for fish in 10% formalin v. frozen. Equations describ...

We study self-selection into contests among a large population of heterogeneous agents. We show that entry into the “richer” contest (in terms of show-up fees, number or value of prizes) is non-monotone in ability. Entry into the more meritocratic (i.e., discriminatory) contest exhibits two interior extrema. Other testable predictions of our model are: 1) All else equal, the more meritocratic c...

Disentangling ecological, behavioural and evolutionary factors responsible for the presence of stable population structure within wild populations has long been challenging to population geneticists. This study primarily aimed at decoding population structure of wild walleye (Sander vitreus) populations of Mistassini Lake (Québec, Canada) in order to define source populations to be used for the...

We designed and tested a novel otolith viewing apparatus termed the otolith illumination device (OID) to ascertain if its use would result in a reduction of interpretation error as determined by increased precision of age estimates obtained from otoliths of walleye Sander vitreus and smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu. Clarity of annuli on otolith sections viewed with the OID was generally gr...

Measurements were made of the surface areas (As) of the skin and gills of larval and juvenile walleye Stizostedion vitreum with a body mass (M) of between 2mg (1 day post hatch) and 2.3g (98 days post hatch). The skin, with a relative surface area (As/M) of approximately 8500mm2g-1, accounted for more than 99.9% of the total surface area (skin + gills) at 1 day post hatch. The relative area of ...