University of Maine

About: University of Maine is a education organization based out in Orono, Maine, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Ice sheet. The organization has 8637 authors who have published 16932 publications receiving 590124 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Maine at Orono.

Why Whites Favor Spending More Money to Fight Crime: The Role of Racial Prejudice

Abstract: A “get-tough” approach has guided criminal justice policy in the United States since the 1970s. This approach has involved hiring more police, building more prisons, and handing out longer and more certain prison terms for a variety of offenses. Although scholars dispute the impact of such measures, they generally agree that these steps stem in part from widespread public concern over crime and the desire that the criminal justice system treat suspects and criminals more punitively. Prior research, however, has found that racial prejudice partly underlies punitive sentiments among the public. This article extends this work into another important dimension of public opinion on crime, the view that the criminal justice system needs more money to fight crime. We investigate a link between racial prejudice and this view using data on white Americans in the 2000 General Social Survey. We find that whites who perceive African Americans as more violent are more likely to want more money spent on crime. In specifying this general result, we find further that this relationship is limited to one segment of whites: the most racially prejudiced. Final remarks address the theoretical and pragmatic implications of these findings.

Intra-specific and inter-specific variation in specific leaf area reveal the importance of abiotic and biotic drivers of species diversity across elevation and latitude

Abstract: Questions Are patterns of intra- and inter-specific functional trait variation consistent with greater abiotic filtering on community assembly at high latitudes and elevations, and greater biotic filtering at low latitudes and elevations? Locations Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica; Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona; Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon. Methods We measured woody plant species abundance and a key functional trait associated with competition for resources and environmental tolerance (specific leaf area, SLA) along elevational gradients in low-latitude tropical (Costa Rica), mid-latitude desert (Arizona) and high latitude mediterranean (southern Oregon) biomes. We explored patterns of abiotic and biotic filtering by comparing observed patterns of community-weighted means and variances along elevational and latitudinal gradients to those expected under random assembly. In addition, we related trait variability to niches and explored how total trait space and breadth vary across broad spatial gradients by quantifying the ratio of intra- to inter-specific variation. Results Both the community-wide mean and variance of SLA decreased with increasing latitude, consistent with greater abiotic filtering at higher latitudes. Further, low-elevation communities had higher trait variation than expected by chance, consistent with greater biotic filtering at low elevations. Finally, in the tropics and across latitude the ratio of intra- to inter-specific variation was negatively correlated to species richness, which further suggests that biotic interactions influence plant assembly at low latitudes. Conclusions Intra- and inter-specific patterns of SLA variation appeared broadly consistent with the idea that the relative strength of biotic and abiotic drivers on community assembly changes along elevational and latitudinal gradients; evidence for biotic drivers appeared more prominent at low latitudes and elevations and evidence for abiotic drivers appeared more prominent at high latitudes and elevations.

Albedo estimates for land surface models and support for a new paradigm based on foliage nitrogen concentration

Abstract: Vegetation albedo is a critical component of the Earth's climate system, yet efforts to evaluate and improve albedo parameterizations in climate models have lagged relative to other aspects of model development. Here, we calculated growing season albedos for deciduous and evergreen forests, crops, and grasslands based on over 40 site-years of data from the AmeriFlux network and compared them with estimates presently used in the land surface formulations of a variety of climate models. Generally, the albedo estimates used in land surface models agreed well with this data compilation. However, a variety of models using fixed seasonal estimates of albedo overestimated the growing season albedo of northerly evergreen trees. In contrast, climate models that rely on a common two-stream albedo submodel provided accurate predictions of boreal needle-leaf evergreen albedo but overestimated grassland albedos. Inverse analysis showed that parameters of the two-stream model were highly correlated. Consistent with recent observations based on remotely sensed albedo, the AmeriFlux dataset demonstrated a tight linear relationship between canopy albedo and foliage nitrogen concentration (for forest vegetation: albedo=0.01+0.071%N, r²=0.91; forests, grassland, and maize: albedo=0.02+0.067%N, r²=0.80). However, this relationship saturated at the higher nitrogen concentrations displayed by soybean foliage. We developed similar relationships between a foliar parameter used in the two-stream albedo model and foliage nitrogen concentration. These nitrogen-based relationships can serve as the basis for a new approach to land surface albedo modeling that simplifies albedo estimation while providing a link to other important ecosystem processes.

Relative effects of biological amendments and crop rotations on soil microbial communities and soilborne diseases of potato

Abstract: Various biological amendments, including commercial biocontrol agents, microbial inoculants, mycorrhizae, and an aerobic compost tea (ACT), were evaluated, alone and in conjunction with different crop rotations, for their efficacy in introducing beneficial microorganisms, affecting soil microbial community characteristics (SMCC), and reducing soilborne diseases of potato in greenhouse and field trials in Maine. Most amendments successfully delivered microorganisms into the soil, altering microbial populations and activity in accordance with the particular organisms added, and significantly altering SMCC (as determined by FAME analysis) to various degrees from 2 to 24 weeks. Amendment effects were greatest early on (2 weeks after amendment), but effects associated with crop treatment became more dominant at subsequent assessments (10 and 24 weeks after amendment). In field trials, effects on microbial characteristics, soilborne diseases and tuber yield were variable, with some microbial inoculants and a biostimulant producing no significant effects, whereas arbuscular mycorrhizae, reduced stem canker and black scurf by 17–28%. When used in three different 2 yr crop rotations (barley/ryegrass, barley/clover, and potato, all followed by potato), biological amendments reduced soilborne disease and improved yield in some rotations, but not others. Soil-applied ACT and the combination of ACT with a mixture of beneficial microorganisms (Mix) reduced stem canker, black scurf, and common scab on tubers by 18–33% and increased yield 20–23% in the barley/ryegrass rotation, but not in the other rotations. Mix also reduced disease (20–32%) in the barley/clover rotation only. None of the amendments significantly reduced disease in continuous potato plots. Both crop rotation and amendment treatments significantly affected SMCC, but rotation effects were more dominant. These results indicate that certain rotations were better able to support the added beneficial organisms from amendments and enable more effective biological control, and also that favorable crop rotations may be more effective than amendments in manipulating or altering SMCC. Establishment and persistence of amendment effects may depend on many factors, but an effective and supportive crop rotation is apparently important.