Browsing by Subject "St. Louis County Minnesota"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Distribution of Lymnaeid Snail Hosts of the Giant Liver Fluke in Northeastern Minnesota
    (University of Minnesota Duluth, 2016) Vannatta, J. Trevor; Moen, Ronald
    Lymnaeid snails are important intermediate hosts for many trematode parasites, such as the giant liver fluke, but little is known about their habitat associations. Lymnaied snail surveys were conducted across St. Louis County and Lake County in 2015. 84 locations were sampled for snails and several habitat variables were measured (calcium carbonate, substrate type, lake area, pH, etc.). ArcGIS data was queried to obtain landscape variables such as cover type near sampling locations. Lymnaea megasoma, L. stagnalis, L. elodes, L. catascopium, and Fossaria spp. were found in the study area. Lymnaea megasoma L. elodes, and Fossaria spp species were associated with higher CaCO3 concentrations compared to locations without these species. L. megasoma was associated with smaller proportions of open water on the landscape scale, suggesting this species favors quiet bays and stagnant channels. Fossaria spp. were not found in close association with open water suggesting this species inhabits small woodland ponds and vernal pools. No giant liver fluke cercariae were found during this survey. However, xiphidiocercariae and strigea cercariae were found in the study area. Xiphidiocercariae cercariae were not associated with higher CaCO3 concentrations (mean with cercariae = 59 ppm; without cercariae = 58 ppm). Strigea cercariae were associated with higher CaCO3 concentrations (mean with cercariae = 91 ppm; without cercariae = 58 ppm). Infection with either one of these cercariae decreased survival time in L. megasoma. L. megasoma warrants futher study as this species is restricted to the Great Lakes basin and may be an important wildlife parasite intermediate host in this area.
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    Parent Survey for Early Childhood Family Education
    (2017-06) Sirjord, DaNeil
    The purpose of this project was to develop an improved program evaluation survey instrument to inform program performance in the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program in the St. Louis County School District in Minnesota. The survey is completed by parents who participated in the ECFE program opportunities (classes, special events or home visits) and who met the participation threshold. The survey measures parents' perceptions about how well the ECFE program meets parents' needs, the reasons parents choose to participate in ECFE, to identify potential program expansion needs, and to identify program improvement areas. The process utilized to develop the survey instrument included gathering input from ECFE teaching staff, an ECFE parent, and regional ECFE administrators along with consulting an expert on evaluation from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The survey tool was administered to a subset of parents to learn how the instrument performed given the desired outcomes.
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    Soil/Forest Productivity Relationships in St. Louis County Results of Analysis of Woods Data: Final Report
    (University of Minnesota Duluth, 1990-01) Berguson, William E; Updegraff, Karen
    The goal of this project is to organize and analyze the Wood5 data set to aid in the formulation of forest management recommendations in St Louis County. Collection of Wood5 data has been ongoing since the start of the soil survey. The purpose of the Wood5 project is to collect detailed soil and forest growth data on a variety of soil and forest cover types to develop relationships between soil characteristics and forest growth.