Insights into Widespread Landsliding in Southern Appalachia from Hurricane Helene

The northern hardwood forest type is an important habitat component for the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel (CNFS;Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus) for den sites and corridor habitats between boreo-montane conifer patches foraging areas. Our study related terrain data to presence of northern hardwood forest type in the recovery areas of CNFS in the southern Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. We recorded overstory species composition and terrain variables at 338 points, to construct a robust, spatially predictive model. Terrain variables analyzed included elevation, aspect, slope gradient, site curvature, and topographic exposure. We used an information-theoretic approach to assess seven models based on associations noted in existing literature as well as an inclusive global model. Our results indicate that, on a regional scale, elevation, aspect, and topographic exposure index (TEI) are significant predictors of the presence of the northern hardwood forest type in the southern Appalachians. Our elevation + TEI model was the best approximating model (the lowest AICc score) for predicting northern hardwood forest type correctly classifying approximately 78% of our sample points. We then used these data to create region-wide predictive maps of the distribution of the northern hardwood forest type within CNFS recovery areas.

I examined the population genetic structure of three known subspecies of Glaucomys sabrinus from Appalachia, Washington State, and two previously unexamined populations from Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (MRNRA) in Southwestern Virginia. Mean FST (0.107) and an AMOVA (P G. sabrinus subspecies populations in the southern Appalachians are genetically differentiated. Glaucomys sabrinus at MRNRA were less inbred than expected. Gene flow, a consensus tree based on Nei's genetic distance, elevated heterozygosity and morphometric data suggest that the MRNRA G. sabrinus population is an intergrade of the two recognized Appalachian subspecies, G. s. fuscus and G. s. coloratus. I compared inbreeding and the level of parasite infestation in the two MRNRA populations of G. sabrinus and found that Whitetop Mountain (150 ha habitat) was more inbred than the population on Mount Rogers (400 ha habitat, P Strongyloides robustus were greater in the more fragmented Whitetop Mountain population, although the difference was not statistically significant (P= 0.278). A Mantel comparison of genetic diversity and parasite infestation among individuals did show a highly significant negative correlation (P G. sabrinus form a unique insular population with high genetic diversity that is nonetheless susceptible to increased inbreeding, and elevated parasitism caused by fragmentation. MRNRA G. sabrinus should retain endangered species status.

American Journal of BotanyVolume 15, Issue 2 p. 141-148 Article MYCORHIZAS FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND EASTERN TENNESSEE W. B. McDougall, W. B. McDougall Department of Botany, University of IllinoisSearch for more papers by this author W. B. McDougall, W. B. McDougall Department of Botany, University of IllinoisSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 February 1928 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1928.tb04888.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume15, Issue2February 1928Pages 141-148 RelatedInformation

Reviewed by: A Mountaineer in Motion: The Memoir of Dr. Abraham Jobe, 1817-1906 Kevin T. Barksdale (bio) A Mountaineer in Motion: The Memoir of Dr. Abraham Jobe, 1817-1906. Edited by David C. Hsiung. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2009. Pp. 224. Cloth, $37.95.) Abraham Jobe describes his memoir as a "hastily written sketch" that "ignores style" and is "reckless . . . with details" (2). Jobe warns that his "biographical sketch" is "not for publication" or "the literati" but is simply for the "perusal of my children and friends" (2). Thankfully, his manuscript found its way into East Tennessee State University's Archives of Appalachia and the hands of historian David C. Hsiung. From Jobe's youth in Tennessee's Cades Cove to his final days residing in the rapidly developing communities of eastern Tennessee, Hsiung teases out the historical and historiographical significance of Jobe's rich and revealing life. This autobiographical account of Abraham Jobe, who was born in the rugged mountains of East Tennessee, offers readers a glimpse into life in the nineteenth-century South. Over eighty-six years, Jobe witnessed the tragedy of Indian removal, the horrors of war, and the rise of the New South. The sprawling memoir allows its author and editor to offer insight into a diffuse range of subjects related to southern Appalachia, the Civil [End Page 571] War period, and Amerindian culture and politics. Jobe's dynamic occupational path reveals the complexity of southern Appalachia's economy, characterized by commercial agriculture, rural industry, and external market connections. As a salesman in Jonesboro, Tennessee, and store owner in Ringgold, Georgia, Jobe "participated in [southern Appalachia's] market revolution" (25). As he traveled the American South speculating in land and collecting debts from customers as distant as New Orleans, he stood on the forefront of Appalachia's economic transformation. Following the Civil War, Jobe found himself at the center of the New South's economic evolution, and his entrepreneurialism and regional boosterism placed him among a growing cadre of southern mountain business leaders. Jobe contributed to the growth of Appalachia's markets and southern trade linkages by constructing a woolen mill in North Carolina; a post office in Elk Park, North Carolina; and a branch of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. He was also active in the development of eastern Tennessee's timber and iron industries. As Hsiung's commentary and Jobe's employment history demonstrate, the economy of southern Appalachia remained closely linked to regional and national markets, experienced economic developments comparable to those in the remainder of the South, contained a diversity of industries, and was driven by ambitious local entrepreneurs and boosters. Jobe's memoir provides a window into the life of a committed Unionist in war-torn eastern Tennessee. His account of the war and its aftermath joins a growing collection of contemporary sources recounting the terror, tumult, and factionalism of Civil War southern Appalachia. Jobe's description of partisan violence between Tennessee Unionists and Confederates, bushwhacking, bridge-burning plots, and political assassinations confirms what historians have written about this period. His arrest by local Confederates and harrowing flight to Ohio reveal his level of involvement in Unionist politics. During Reconstruction, Jobe continued his involvement in regional politics. His relationship with Andrew Johnson led to his appointment as a southern postmaster and to increased political influence within the Republican Party. Jobe's chronicle of the decade including the Civil War reveals the cataclysmic effects of divisive politics and combat on mountain communities. Throughout the course of his life, Jobe interacted a great deal with native peoples. From his youth in Cades Cove among the Cherokee to his postbellum work as a Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent to Minnesota's Chippewa, Jobe's life encompassed the tragic decades surrounding Indian removal and "civilization" efforts. Jobe's connections to the Cherokee are numerous, and his memoir provides insight into the community's removal [End Page 572] struggle. His "far flung" business ventures brought him into contact with the Creek, and despite Jobe's racism, his memoir and his familiarity with the Muscogee and Cherokee languages reveal his grudging respect for the South's indigenous cultures (25). Jobe's...

This report summarizes the second-year accomplishments of a three-year program to investigate the geologic controls of hydrocarbon occurrence in the southern Appalachian basin in eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southern West Virginia. The project: (1) employs the petroleum system approach to understand the geologic controls of hydrocarbons; (2) attempts to characterize the T-P parameters driving petroleum evolution; (3) attempts to obtain more quantitative definitions of reservoir architecture and identify new traps; (4) is working with USGS and industry partners to develop new play concepts and geophysical log standards for subsurface correlation; and (5) is geochemically characterizing the hydrocarbons (cooperatively with USGS). Second-year results include: All current milestones have been met and other components of the project have been functioning in parallel toward satisfaction of year-3 milestones. We also have been effecting the ultimate goal of the project in the dissemination of information through presentations at professional meetings, convening a major workshop in August 2003, and the publication of results. Our work in geophysical log correlation in the Middle Ordovician units is bearing fruit in recognition that the criteria developed locally in Tennessee and southern Kentucky have much greater extensibility than anticipated earlier. We have identified a major 60 mi-long structure in the western part of the Valley and Ridge thrust belt that is generating considerable exploration interest. If this structure is productive, it will be one of the largest structures in the Appalachians. We are completing a more quantitative structural reconstruction of the Valley and Ridge than has been made before. This should yield major dividends in future exploration in the southern Appalachian basin. Our work in mapping, retrodeformation, and modeling of the Sevier basin is a major component of the understanding of the Ordovician petroleum system in this region. Prior to our undertaking this project, this system was the least understood in the Appalachian basin. We have made numerous presentations, convened a workshop, and are beginning to disseminate our results in print. This project, in contrast to many if not most programs undertaken in DOE laboratories, has a major educational component wherein three Ph.D. students have been partially supported by this grant, one M.S. student partially supported, and another M.S. student fully supported by the project. These students will be well prepared for professional careers in the oil and gas industry.

This report summarizes the first-year accomplishments of a three-year program to investigate the geologic controls of hydrocarbon occurrence in the southern Appalachian basin in eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southern West Virginia. The project: (1) employs the petroleum system approach to understand the geologic controls of hydrocarbons; (2) attempts to characterize the T-P parameters driving petroleum evolution; (3) attempts to obtain more quantitative definitions of reservoir architecture and identify new traps; (4) is working with USGS and industry partners to develop new play concepts and geophysical log standards for subsurface correlation; and (5) is geochemically characterizing the hydrocarbons (cooperatively with USGS). First-year results include: (1) meeting specific milestones (determination of thrust movement vectors, fracture analysis, and communicating results at professional meetings and through publication). All milestones were met. Movement vectors for Valley and Ridge thrusts were confirmed to be west-directed and derived from pushing by the Blue Ridge thrust sheet, and fan about the Tennessee salient. Fracture systems developed during Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic to Holocene compressional and extensional tectonic events, and are more intense near faults. Presentations of first-year results were made at the Tennessee Oil and Gas Association meeting (invited) in June, 2003, at a workshop in August 2003 on geophysical logs in Ordovician rocks, and at the Eastern Section AAPG meeting in September 2003. Papers on thrust tectonics and a major prospect discovered during the first year are in press in an AAPG Memoir and published in the July 28, 2003, issue of the Oil and Gas Journal. (2) collaboration with industry and USGS partners. Several Middle Ordovician black shale samples were sent to USGS for organic carbon analysis. Mississippian and Middle Ordovician rock samples were collected by John Repetski (USGS) and RDH for conodont alteration index determination to better define regional P-T conditions. Efforts are being made to calibrate and standardize geophysical log correlation, seismic reflection data, and Ordovician lithologic signatures to better resolve subsurface stratigraphy and structure beneath the poorly explored Plateau in Tennessee and southern Kentucky. We held a successful workshop on Ordovician rocks geophysical log correlation August 7, 2003 that was cosponsored by the Appalachian PTTC, the Kentucky and Tennessee geological surveys, the Tennessee Oil and Gas Association, and small independents. Detailed field structural and stratigraphic mapping of a transect across part of the Ordovician clastic wedge in Tennessee was begun in January 2003 to assist in 3-D reconstruction of part of the southern Appalachian basin and better assess the nature of a major potential source rock assemblage. (3) Laying the groundwork through (1) and (2) to understand reservoir architecture, the petroleum systems, ancient fluid migration, and conduct 3-D analysis of the southern Appalachian basin.

This report summarizes the accomplishments of a three-year program to investigate the geologic controls of hydrocarbon occurrence in the southern Appalachian basin in eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southern West Virginia. The project: (1) employed the petroleum system approach to understand the geologic controls of hydrocarbons; (2) attempted to characterize the P-T parameters driving petroleum evolution; (3) attempted to obtain more quantitative definitions of reservoir architecture and identify new traps; (4) is worked with USGS and industry partners to develop new play concepts and geophysical log standards for subsurface correlation; and (5) geochemically characterized the hydrocarbons (cooperatively with USGS). Third-year results include: All project milestones have been met and addressed. We also have disseminated this research and related information through presentations at professional meetings, convening a major workshop in August 2003, and the publication of results. Our work in geophysical log correlation in the Middle Ordovician units is bearing fruit in recognition that the criteria developed locally in Tennessee and southern Kentucky are more extendible than anticipated earlier. We have identified a major 60 mi-long structure in the western part of the Valley and Ridge thrust belt that has been successfully tested by a local independent and is now producing commercial amounts of hydrocarbons. If this structure is productive along strike, it will be one of the largest producing structures in the Appalachians. We are completing a more quantitative structural reconstruction of the Valley and Ridge and Cumberland Plateau than has been made before. This should yield major dividends in future exploration in the southern Appalachian basin. Our work in mapping, retrodeformation, and modeling of the Sevier basin is a major component of the understanding of the Ordovician petroleum system in this region. Prior to our undertaking this project, this system was the least understood in the Appalachian basin. This project, in contrast to many if not most programs undertaken in DOE laboratories, has a major educational component wherein three Ph.D. students have been partially supported by this grant, one M.S. student partially supported, and another M.S. student fully supported by the project. These students will be well prepared for professional careers in the oil and gas industry.

Following spatially expansive landslide events, rapid remote sensing data acquisition is perhaps the most efficient means of capturing the nature and extent of landsliding. This is particularly true in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, where high annual rainfall, humidity, and vegetation can obscure landslide features within a single growing season. In July 2022, a convective rainfall event with an annual exceedance probability of 0.1–0.2% caused record-breaking flooding and widespread landslides throughout about 1,800 km2 of the Appalachian Plateau in eastern Kentucky. In the immediate weeks following the storm, field and remote-sensing reconnaissance mapping by the Kentucky Geological Survey identified approximately 1,065 landslides triggered during the event. In January 2023, the state of Kentucky acquired a lidar dataset over the impacted region, complimenting previous acquisitions from 2012 and 2017. We used point cloud alignment and surface-normal comparison techniques to compare 2012 and 2017 lidar point clouds to post-storm 2023 point clouds. This resulted in a lidar change detection dataset with a limit of detection of +/- 13 cm over an area of 1,800 km2. By using this dataset as a basis for our inventorying, we are finding more numerous and smaller landslides compared to state-of-practice mapping methods (e.g., aerial photo interpretation, hillshade comparisons, field-based inspections). Additionally, we can compute statistics on volume balance within landslides, thereby providing insight into landslide mechanics at scale that is difficult to impossible to understand without such data. Inventorying is ongoing, however, as of January 2025, we have inventoried over 2,000 landslides that occurred between 2017-2023 in 10% of the impacted area. This presentation will discuss how high-fidelity lidar change detection methods influence landslide inventory mapping, statistical characterizations of the landslide event, and ongoing efforts to advance AI-driven landslide inventory mapping.

Myxobolus cerebralis (Bivalvulida: Myxobolidae), the aetiological agent of salmonid whirling disease, was detected in 2 river basins of North Carolina during 2015, which initiated the largest spatial-temporal monitoring project for the disease ever conducted within the south-eastern United States (focused mainly in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina). A total of 2072 rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, 1,004 brown trout Salmo trutta and 468 brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis were screened from 113 localities within 7 river basins during June 2017 through October 2019. Infections were detected by pepsin-trypsin digest, microscopy and the species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 19 localities across 6 river basins. Myxospore morphology was indistinguishable from the published literature. In 2019, five rainbow trout that symptomatic for whirling disease (sloping neurocranium and lordosis) were captured and processed for histopathology. Myxospores were detected in the calvarial cartilage of two deformed trout with associated erosion of the cartilage consistent with reported whirling disease lesions. This is the first report of M.cerebralis in Tennessee and the first histologically confirmed cases of whirling disease in southern Appalachian (south-eastern United States) rivers and streams and expands the distribution of M.cerebralis throughout western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

British novelist and theologian C.S. Lewis, perhaps best known for The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy novel series, also wrote extensively about his wife's battle with cancer. In his 1961 book A Grief Observed, Lewis reflects on his intense struggle with despair and faith in God following her death. “But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find?” he writes. “A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence.” Within the past few years, researchers have delved more deeply into the complicated and often thorny connections between religion and medicine. Their findings indicate that, just as cancer and other serious illnesses can cause spiritual distress, religious faith and spirituality can enhance a sense of wellbeing and actual physical health in patients and their loved ones. And, amid the intense emotion accompanying a fear of illness or a devastating diagnosis, a growing number of partnerships between medical and religious institutions are showing how to open new doors that may lead to greater mutual trust, as well as better informed decisions and other benefits. One recent meta-analysis suggests that cancer patients who harbor stronger feelings of religion or spirituality, characterized as a sense of transcendence, meaning, purpose, or connection to a source larger than oneself, fared better in their self-reported physical health.1 However, Heather Jim, PhD, the study's lead author and an associate member and clinical psychologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, cautions that researchers currently do not have enough data to tease out how religion and spirituality may impact survival and other objective outcomes. Moreover, she notes how the sentiments expressed by C.S. Lewis exemplify how even devoutly religious individuals can ricochet from peaceful transcendence to emotional anguish depending on their personal circumstances. Overall, though, Dr. Jim's study suggests that attending to religious and spiritual needs as part of a “whole patient” approach to cancer care could deliver significant benefits. Other studies have already suggested that interventions designed to give patients with advanced cancer a greater sense of meaning can improve their perceived health and quality of life. Beyond the hospital, collaborations between medical and religious institutions have yielded effective programs focused on smoking cessation, healthy eating, cancer screening, and other behavioral choices aimed at prevention. “That can be a good way to work with religious leaders and promote health messages to the people that they are ministering to,” Dr. Jim says. In a study of Catholic Latinos, focus group participants emphasize the importance of parishes in providing social support and in promoting positive health behaviors, a key finding given the disproportionate impact of cancer on the U.S. Latino population.2 In the deeply religious U.S. region of Appalachia, a region hard hit by cancer mortality, patient recruitment rates for chemotherapy trials are among the lowest in the country. Here, additional research suggests how researchers and religious leaders can work together to improve congregants' health and cancer care. One effort in Kingsport, Tennessee, partnered two African American churches where the congregants told researchers they were most interested in learning about prostate cancer. Approximately 45 of the men gathered to hear a talk about the cancer delivered by Koyamangalath Krishnan, MD, a professor of medicine at East Tennessee State University's James H. Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City. Bruce A. Behringer, MPH, one of Dr. Krishnan's collaborators at the time, recalls that the men peppered the doctor with questions and the meeting lasted for nearly 3 hours. Ultimately, the men in Kingsport were so interested in how to prevent prostate cancer that they asked whether they and their male friends and relatives could join a randomized trial to test selenium and vitamin E against a placebo in patients at high risk for prostate cancer. Multiple men volunteered for the trial on the spot. Mr. Behringer, now the deputy commissioner for continuous improvement and training at the Tennessee Department of Health in Nashville, attributes the men's response in part to Dr. Krishnan's willingness to engage with the churches, recruit their leaders as partners, and build trust with the congregants. Another project, spawned by prior focus groups with religious leaders in Tennessee, involved 16 pastors, preachers, and other clergy from the Appalachian regions of northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. “Traditionally in hospital cancer care, the religious involvement is not up front. It is at the end-of-life part of the journey,” Dr. Krishnan notes, but in this project the clergy said they wanted to be involved earlier, in essence telling the researchers that a “spiritual prescription should go along with medical prescriptions,” he says. “I found that very instructive.” A National Library of Medicine grant helped address a central obstacle that had kept many leaders from becoming more involved. Many of them felt that they could not comfortably discuss cancer, either with their congregants or their physicians, because they had little to no medical training, Behringer says. The researchers put together an iPad-based training program, taught the clergy how to use National Library of Medicine resources, and asked them to do a community project based on what they had learned. In follow-up conversations, the religious leaders said they wanted more readily available cancer information so they could help their congregants. “But what they also learned was that the preacher plays a huge role as an active member in development or as a team member in doing community cancer prevention activities,” Behringer points out. By opening the doors of their churches to people involved in cancer prevention activities, he says, the leaders realized they were providing a key benefi t to their congregants. Engaging with a religious community and its leaders can help correct misconceptions and explain misgivings. Despite the Orthodox Jewish community's long history of genetic testing and counseling for inherited diseases such as Tay- Sachs, for instance, conventional wisdom has suggested that community members are more reluctant to be tested for other predispositions such as the BRCA breast cancer-linked mutations. Toby Bressler, PhD, RN, director of nursing at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, co-authored a recent study to determine how Orthodox Jewish thought leaders really felt about BRCA testing.3 The leaders indicated that they were “deeply concerned about ensuring the health and wellness of the community while not instilling fear,” she says. They wanted to learn more about the science to help their congregations be more informed about health care decisions and to redirect those struggling with a sense of fatalism. “Since it is such a closed community, many of these thought leaders have been involved in peoples' lives from birth to death,” Dr. Bressler says. As with Muslim and other religious communities, her study concluded, gaining the trust and buy-in of leaders can be crucial to delivering culturally sensitive care and improving health literacy. It should be noted that many Orthodox Jews grew up hearing stories from their parents or grandparents about the horrifi c abuse of medicine during the Holocaust. That shared history understandably adds a layer of concern about medical establishments and the misuse of genetic information, Dr. Bressler says. Winning the trust and buy-in of Orthodox Jewish leaders, her study suggests, may require health providers to reach out to community and spiritual centers to enlist their educational and promotional efforts. “The thought leaders are really the gatekeepers. They have the trust of their communities and we should partner with them,” she says. A respectful and collaborative approach, in other words, may help open new doors that were previously shut and bolted.

The commonly accepted correlation of the Stones River group of central Tennessee with the Chazy of New York and with beds immediately succeeding the Beekmantown or Knox dolomite in the Appalachian region is no longer tenable. Ulrich's recognition of two Chazyan groups in the Appalachian Valley-the Stones River and overlying Blount-was based upon mistaken identification of formations. In southwestern Virginia the fauna of the Murfreesboro limestone (basal Stones River) occurs in the Peery limestone about 475 feet above the Beekmantown. The Peery is directly overlain by the Benbolt limestone, which correlates faunally with the Pierce and Ridley formations of the Central Basin of Tennessee. In Bland County, Virginia, Murfreesboro-Ridley equivalents overlie the Athens formation of Ulrich's Blount group. The Lebanon of central Tennessee is linked faunally with the Witten limestone, which corresponds to the beds identified by Butts as Lowville in the Clinch Mountain belt of the Middle Crdo-vician in Virginia an...

Cultural interaction has been shown to be important in the (re)organization of social relationships in pre-contact North America and an important causal factor in Mississippian origins throughout the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. Indeed, recent research has documented the significance of migration and other forms of far-flung interactions in the spread of Mississippian lifeways. The Mississippian period (CE 1000–1550) in the Southern Appalachian region of the US Southeast was a dynamic period of profound sociopolitical and ideological transformations that are associated with an increase in social complexity. Scholars have argued that interregional interactions during the 11th and 12th centuries established important relationships among Native American groups from Southern Appalachia. These connections have been poorly understood but appear to have been largely centered at the Etowah site in northwestern Georgia where engagements between potential diverse populations were instrumental in the spread of Mississippian practices and beliefs, eventually leading to the development of hierarchical regional polities. The functional and stylistic analysis of Etowah pottery (CE 1000–1100/1200) and a comparative and multivariate statistical analysis of ceramic assemblages from three adjacent regions of the interior Southeast, indicate that the earliest populations at Etowah were pluralistic and composed of disparate groups from northwestern Georgia and eastern Tennessee. However, unlike many communities, the diverse population at Etowah maintained distinct traditions of ceramic production and consumption, while simultaneously engaging in communal ceremonial activities. This unique perspective on Etowah’s origins deviates from typical Mississippian beginnings contexts and offers valuable insights into how cultural interactions occurred in pre-contact North America.

To monitor mosquito-borne diseases, public health departments conduct mosquito and pathogen surveillance. Our objective was to evaluate mosquito monitoring methods for collecting La Crosse virus (LACV) and West Nile virus (WNV) vectors (Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, respectively) in southern Appalachia. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps baited with carbon dioxide (CO(2)), CDC light traps baited with CO(2) and BG lure, BG-Sentinel traps baited with CO(2), gravid traps baited with oak (Quercus)-water infusion, and resting traps were compared in eastern Tennessee in 2013. Traps operated at 8 different urban sites throughout Knox County were randomly assigned to and rotated among 6 plots within each site. Results were specific for each vector; the BG-Sentinel trap was the best method for Aedes triseriatus, the CDC trap baited with CO(2) and BG lure was the best method for Ae. albopictus, and the gravid trap was the best method for Ae. japonicus. Culex erraticus collections varied by week and trapping method, indicating no single method was best, but the questing traps collected more mosquitoes. There was no significant trapping difference for Cx. pipiens complex in this region using the methods tested. The results suggest using a combination of trapping methods when sampling for LACV and/or WNV mosquito vectors in southern Appalachia. Effective trapping methods are necessary to enable accurate surveillance, improve control methods, enhance understanding of dispersal, and use for early detection of vectors and pathogens.

This chapter examines the situation in the Appalachian region, particularly eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, during the secession crisis preceding the American Civil War. It suggests that it is difficult to determine whether the people of eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia were loyal to the causes their states adopted officially, because most of the population of both regions depended on the economic and political peripheries of their respective nations and a miscalculation could result in serious economic problems.

Nutrient deficiencies are commonly reported as a major limiting factor in reclaiming Appalachian surface‐mine spoils. Our objective was to intensively study the P and K relationships of representative mine spoils and contiguous natural soils derived from the Wise Formation in southwestern Virginia. Quantity/intensity (Q/I) relationships for P and K were developed for the major occurring spoils and representative natural soil materials. Sandstones (sublitharenites) and siltstones dominate the Wise Formation and show three phases of cementation—an initial carbonate phase, a second goethite phase, and a third silica overgrowth phase. Total P ranged from 255 to 530 mg/kg in the dominant sandstone and siltstone spoil types, and the majority of P was associated with complex carbonates. Phosphorus in the weathered natural soil materials was dominantly associated with Fe oxides. Phosphorus Q/I analyses coupled with P fractionation data indicate that fixation by Fe oxides is the most likely cause of P deficiencies in rock spoils derived from the Wise Formation and may be a widespread problem limiting revegetation and reclamation success in the Appalachian region. This problem is difficult to rectify by fertilization; hence, Fe oxide‐rich strata, and spoils derived from them, should be avoided during regrading to optimize surface mine reclamation. Micas and traces of feldspars are the dominant sources of K in the mine spoils. Potassium fixation by weathered mica occurs in natural soils derived from the Wise Formation, but not in unweathered spoils. Nonferruginous rock substitutes for topsoil are therefore superior as a plant growth medium in regard to P and K availability.