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Presents an abstract of papers presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Cincinnati, Ohio. "The Marine Terraces," by Charles S. Alexander; "Conflicting Claims to Sovereignty Over Sea Areas," by Lewis M. Alexander; "Some Regional Aspects of Agricultural Land Use and Development in the U.S.," by James R. Anderson.

In connection with planning for the future of an urban area, it is necessary to determine both the amount of land that should be set aside for the various major land uses and the logical pattern of distribution for these use requirements. This paper deals with the manufacturing phases of this general land problem in the Cincinnati metropolitan area (defined for this purpose as including the northern parts of Kenton and Campbell Counties, Kentucky, and all but the extreme western part of Hamilton County, Ohio). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Base Map as a device for community study. Base Map is a cross section of a given region, giving a snapshot of some particular set of facts within that area. It is intended to show graphically the geographical distribution and relationship of these facts. In laying out a plan of study for any community it becomes apparent that there is certain basic information which will be called for time and again in connection with various studies. Some method of getting this foundation data into graphic and easily available form is needed. In Cincinnati the base map was called into action to provide a way of doing this. The procedure in the making of these maps is so simple that no especial technical skill is required. Chief points upon which care is required are in obtaining accurate information from authoritative source, and the exercise of patience and exactness in the plotting of the data. Ordinarily a bound index accompanies each map to give further information supplementary to the map itself.

The possibility of increased invasiveness in cultivated varieties of native perennial species is a question of interest in biofuel risk assessment. Competitive success is a key factor in the fitness and invasive potential of perennial plants, and thus the large-scale release of high-yielding biomass cultivars warrants empirical comparisons with local conspecifics in the presence of competitors. We evaluated the performance of non-local cultivars and local wild biotypes of the tallgrass species Panicum virgatum L. (switchgrass) in competition experiments during two growing seasons in Ohio and Iowa. At each location, we measured growth and reproductive traits (plant height, tiller number, flowering time, aboveground biomass, and seed production) of four non-locally sourced cultivars and two locally collected wild biotypes. Plants were grown in common garden experiments under three types of competition, referred to as none, moderate (with Schizachyrium scoparium), and high (with Bromus inermis). In both states, the two “lowland” cultivars grew taller, flowered later, and produced between 2x and 7.5x more biomass and between 3x and 34x more seeds per plant than local wild biotypes, while the other two cultivars were comparable to wild biotypes in these traits. Competition did not affect relative differences among biotypes, with the exception of shoot number, which was more similar among biotypes under high competition. Insights into functional differences between cultivars and wild biotypes are crucial for developing biomass crops while mitigating the potential for invasiveness. Here, two of the four cultivars generally performed better than wild biotypes, indicating that these biotypes may pose more of a risk in terms of their ability to establish vigorous feral populations in new regions outside of their area of origin. Our results support an ongoing assessment of switchgrass cultivars developed for large-scale planting for biofuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a historical geography study of Black Swamp in Northwestern Ohio. Evaluation of the transformation of the landscape; Degress of wetness; Rise of occasional discontinous sand ridges and rock outcrops.