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Camera Trap Survey Suggests Forestry And Prescribed Burns Attract Wildlife, But May Not Enhance Diversity, Melissa S. Vilgats, Ryan Ott, Stephanie S. Coster Oct 2021

Camera Trap Survey Suggests Forestry And Prescribed Burns Attract Wildlife, But May Not Enhance Diversity, Melissa S. Vilgats, Ryan Ott, Stephanie S. Coster

Virginia Journal of Science

This study explored whether habitat management techniques such as forest thinning and burning promoted biodiversity. Fifteen camera trap stations were established at Fort A.P. Hill in Bowling Green, VA across forest stands with low, medium, and high basal area. Camera traps were deployed for a total of 532 trap nights, and trap success and species diversity were calculated using Shannon’s index. At each site, the distance to trafficable roadways and water sources, vegetation composition, and the percent groundcover, canopy cover, and understory were measured. The cameras captured nine species and recorded a total of 398 trap events. Linear regression was …


Forest Diversity And Disturbance: Changing Influences And The Future Of Virginia’S Forests, Christine J. Small, James L. Chamberlain Oct 2015

Forest Diversity And Disturbance: Changing Influences And The Future Of Virginia’S Forests, Christine J. Small, James L. Chamberlain

Virginia Journal of Science

The Virginia landscape supports a remarkable diversity of forests, from maritime dune woodlands, swamp forests, and pine savannas of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, to post-agricultural pine-hardwood forests of the Piedmont, to mixed oak, mesophytic, northern hardwood, and high elevation spruce-fir forests across three mountain provinces in western parts of the state. Virginia’s forests also have been profoundly shaped by disturbance. Chestnut blight, hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, and other pests have caused declines or functional extirpation of foundation species. Invasive plants like multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, and Japanese stiltgrass threaten both disturbed and intact forests. Oaks and other fire-dependent …


Systematic Ichthyofaunal Surveys In Urban And Non-Urban Watersheds, Eugene G. Maurakis, David V. Grimes, Amanda Schutt, Suzy Short Jan 2013

Systematic Ichthyofaunal Surveys In Urban And Non-Urban Watersheds, Eugene G. Maurakis, David V. Grimes, Amanda Schutt, Suzy Short

Virginia Journal of Science

Objectives were to model fish species richness relative to natural and anthropogenic variables in Quantico Creek, a forested undisturbed stream environment, and Cameron Run, a highly disturbed urban stream environment in the lower Piedmont-Fall Line region of the Potomac River watershed. Species richness in all stream orders (e.g. avg. range=2.5-9.65 in 1st-3rd orders) of Quantico Creek were significantly higher than those (e.g. avg. range=2.1- 7.6 in 1st -4th orders) of Cameron Run. Fish species richness in Quantico Creek watershed can be modeled by eight factors: season, stream order, elevation, river km, stream width and depth, watershed size, and percent of …


Phytoplankton In Virginia Lakes And Reservoirs, Harold G. Marshall Jan 2013

Phytoplankton In Virginia Lakes And Reservoirs, Harold G. Marshall

Virginia Journal of Science

This study involves a phytoplankton summer/autumn survey in 46 Virginia lakes and reservoirs during 2010-2012. A total of 307 taxa were identified which included several filamentous and colonial cyanabacteria in bloom concentrations. With the exception of one natural lake, the other sites sampled represent impoundments created decades ago, with the majority presently classified as meso- or eutrophic. Among the cyanobacteria were 6 known toxin producers (Anabaena circinalis, Anabaena spiroides, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, Limnothrix redekei, and Microcystis aeruginosa). The study characterizes phytoplankton populations in these aging freshwater habitats taken from a large number …


First Records Of Hypleurochilus Geminatus And Centropristis Philadelphica From Chesapeake Bay, Aimee D. Halvorson Oct 2009

First Records Of Hypleurochilus Geminatus And Centropristis Philadelphica From Chesapeake Bay, Aimee D. Halvorson

Virginia Journal of Science

During the fall of 2007, Centropris philadelphica (rock seabass) and Hypleurochilus geminatus (Crested blenny) were collected from Chesapeake Bay. These captures are significant as they represent the first substantiated record of C. philadelphica from Chesapeake Bay and only the second and third validated records of H. geminatus. Additionally, the first record of H. geminatus from Chesapeake Bay was only recently recognized since the specimen had been previously misidentified as Parablennius marmoreus (seaweed blenny). The collection of seven individuals of H. geminatus in 2007, from two locations, indicates that the species may be resident within the Chesapeake Bay estuary.


Low-Density Rodent Communities In Eastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Jean F. Stankavich Jan 2008

Low-Density Rodent Communities In Eastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Jean F. Stankavich

Virginia Journal of Science

Two communities of small mammals were live trapped every other week for 15 months in linear oilfield habitat bordered by forested swampland in eastern Virginia. All nine species of the rodent community were present, mostly in low numbers and often intermittently. All species were characterized by high transiency, with a minority of marked animals becoming resident. Despite high trappability, all but two species in these communities had extremely low densities, suggesting that most species could not sustain populations via in situ reproduction.


Bats Of Skydusky Hollow, Bland County, Virginia, Virgil Brack Jr., Richard J. Reynolds, Wil Orndorff, Joe Zokaites, Carol Zokaites Jul 2005

Bats Of Skydusky Hollow, Bland County, Virginia, Virgil Brack Jr., Richard J. Reynolds, Wil Orndorff, Joe Zokaites, Carol Zokaites

Virginia Journal of Science

During the period 22 November 1999 – 11 October 2001, winter hibernacula surveys, spring staging/autumn swarming surveys, and summer surveys for bats were completed in caves of Skydusky Hollow, Bland County, Virginia. During winter, 12 caves were entered and 16,185 bats counted: 235 Myotis sodalis (Indiana bat), 14,475 Myotis lucifugus (little brown myotis), 12 Myotis septentrionalis (northern myotis), 7 Myotis leibii (eastern small-footed myotis), 1,441 Pipistrellus subflavus (eastern pipistrelle), and 15 Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bat). Myotis sodalis hibernated in thermally stable areas of 7 -9 ̊C. The largest concentration of M. lucifugus (n = 4,280) hibernated in an area …


Predicting Fish Species Diversity In Lotic Freshwaters Of Greece, Eugene G. Maurakis, David V. Grimes Oct 2003

Predicting Fish Species Diversity In Lotic Freshwaters Of Greece, Eugene G. Maurakis, David V. Grimes

Virginia Journal of Science

Objectives were to test the hypothesis that stream order and stream width alone account for species diversity in drainages of Greece, and to create a mathematical model that predicts fish diversity in small and medium sized freshwater streams in the southern Balkan Peninsula in accord with the stream classification system proposed by the European Environmental Agency (EEA). Thirty-seven species of fishes in 12 families (Petromyzontidae, Anguillidae, Cyprinidae, Moronidae, Centrarchidae, and Blenniidae) were collected in five stream orders (1-5) from 19 river drainages in Greece in 1993 and from 2000-2002. Numbers of species were significantly correlated with stream order (+), width …


Identification Key To Fishes In Fresh Waters Of Greece, Eugene G. Maurakis, Panos S. Economidis Oct 2003

Identification Key To Fishes In Fresh Waters Of Greece, Eugene G. Maurakis, Panos S. Economidis

Virginia Journal of Science

The European Environmental Agency formulated a biodiversity initiative in 1996 specifying a freshwater stream-monitoring program to inventory, identify and describe aquatic and terrestrial species in European Union countries. With one of the richest freshwater ichthyofaunas in Europe (126 fish taxa: 97 species and 29 subspecies of primary or secondary freshwater fishes), Greece has two extinct fish species, five listed as critically endangered, and 29 considered endangered and/or vulnerable. There are, however, no published identification guides that are available for identifying fish specimens from fresh waters in Greece. We present an English translation of the only available identification key (in Greek) …


Abstracts Of Papers, 79th Annual Meeting Of The Virginia Academy Of Science, May 22-25, 2001, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia Jul 2001

Abstracts Of Papers, 79th Annual Meeting Of The Virginia Academy Of Science, May 22-25, 2001, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of papers that were presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 22-25, 2001, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.


Feeding Habits Of Young-Of-Year Striped Bass, Morone Saxatilis, And White Perch, Morone Americana, In Lower James River, Va, Paul J. Rudershausen, Joseph G. Loesch Apr 2000

Feeding Habits Of Young-Of-Year Striped Bass, Morone Saxatilis, And White Perch, Morone Americana, In Lower James River, Va, Paul J. Rudershausen, Joseph G. Loesch

Virginia Journal of Science

A total of 188 young-of-year (YOY) striped bass, Morone saxatilis, and 199 YOY white perch, Morone americana, were collected by pushnet, seine and trawl during 24-hour periods from June through August, 1992 in lower James River, Virginia. The purpose was to identify prey and temporal and spatial feeding habits. Copepods were the most numerous prey of both species. Fishes and mysids comprised the largest volumetric percentage of diets of striped bass and white perch, respectively. Using an index of relative importance, leptodorids and copepods were the most important prey of striped bass and white perch, respectively. Both species …


Comparative Taphonomy And Paleoecology Of A Glaciomarine Fauna, Carboniferous (Westphalian- Namurian) La Capilla Fm., Argentina, Rex A. Hanger, Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe Oct 1999

Comparative Taphonomy And Paleoecology Of A Glaciomarine Fauna, Carboniferous (Westphalian- Namurian) La Capilla Fm., Argentina, Rex A. Hanger, Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe

Virginia Journal of Science

The Carboniferous La Capilla Fm. of the Calingasta-Uspallata basin of western Argentina contains a low diversity fauna inhabiting a continental shelf under glacial ice fronts advancing from the east. Distal glaciomarine sediments on these ice-influenced shelves of Gondwana are most commonly interpreted as being deposited under quiet, low-energy conditions. Ta­phonomic and paleoecologic analysis of a sample of the fauna reveals the following: low species richness, yet comparable equitability to coeval, tropi­cal faunas; low articulation ratios and high pedicle valve dominance for brachiopods; diverse corrasion modes, about half relatively high categories; one hundred percent fracturing of brachiopod shells, with carinate fracture …


Possible Predation Scars On Rectithyris Subdepressa (Stoliczka, 1872), Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Kallankurichi Fm., India, Rex Alan Hanger, Rama Krishnaswamy Apr 1999

Possible Predation Scars On Rectithyris Subdepressa (Stoliczka, 1872), Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Kallankurichi Fm., India, Rex Alan Hanger, Rama Krishnaswamy

Virginia Journal of Science

A single specimen of the terebratulid brachiopod, Rectithyris subdepressa (Stoliczka, 1872) from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Kallankurichi Fonnation of southern India was found with durophagous predation traces. This occurrence is significant as it is possibly the first documentation of elasmobranch shark predation on brachiopods from the Mesozoic.