Life Sciences Commons^™

Accounting For False Positive Detection Error Induced By Transient Individuals, Chris Sutherland, D Elston, X. Lambin

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Context. In metapopulations, colonisation is the result of dispersal from neighbouring occupied patches, typically juveniles dispersing from natal to breeding sites. When occupancy dynamics are dispersal driven, occupancy should refer to the presence of established, breeding populations. The detection of transient individuals at sites that are, by definition, unoccupied (i.e. false positive detections), may result in misleading conclusions about metapopulation dynamics. Until recently, the issue of false positives has been considered negligible and current efforts to account for such error have beenrestricted to the context of species misidentification. However, the detection of transient individuals visiting multiple siteswhile dispersing is a …

High Variance In Reproductive Success Generates A False Signature Of A Genetic Bottleneck In Populations Of Constant Size: A Simulation Study, Sean M. Hoban, Massimo Mezzavilla, Oscar E. Gaggiotti, Andrea Benazzo, Cock Van Oosterhout, Giorgio Bertorelle

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- General Biology

Background

Demographic bottlenecks can severely reduce the genetic variation of a population or a species. Establishing whether low genetic variation is caused by a bottleneck or a constantly low effective number of individuals is important to understand a species’ ecology and evolution, and it has implications for conservation management. Recent studies have evaluated the power of several statistical methods developed to identify bottlenecks. However, the false positive rate, i.e. the rate with which a bottleneck signal is misidentified in demographically stable populations, has received little attention. We analyse this type of error (type I) in forward computer simulations of stable …

The Influence Of Different Cover Types On American Robin Nest Success In Organic Agroecosystems, John E. Quinn, Amy Oden, James R. Brandle

Biology Publications

There are many opportunities for biodiversity conservation in organic farm systems. Successful and sustainable conservation efforts in organic systems, however, need to measure appropriate outcomes. In particular, data are needed on the breeding success of associated wildlife species. We measured nesting success of the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) in woodlands embedded within eight organic farms in eastern Nebraska. We modeled daily nest survival rate to identify land use and land cover patterns that optimize conservation of birds in organic farm systems. The percentage of a crop in the fields adjacent to linear woodlands best predicted daily survival rate. …

Avifauna Of The Mache Chindul Ecological Reserve, Northwest Ecuador, Luis Carrasco, Karl S. Berg, Jennifer Litz, Andrew Cook, Jordan Karubian

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report on the avifauna of the 120,000 ha Mache Chindul Ecological Reserve (REMACH), northwest Ecuador. The study area is located in a poorly studied transition zone between three major Neotropical biogeographic regions-the Chocó, Tumbesian, and Tropical Andes-each of which contains exceptional diversity and endemism in birds and other organisms. We collected data from 1998–99 and 2004–11 from the Bilsa Biological Station (a 3500 ha private reserve) and several farms, forest fragments, and communities distributed across the central portion of REMACH using observations (aural and visual), audio recordings, mist netting, point counts and photographs. We recorded 360 species of bird …

“Culling The Herd”: Eugenics And The Conservation Movement In The United States, 1900–1940, Garland E. Allen

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

While from a late twentieth- and early twenty-first century perspective, the ideologies of eugenics (controlled reproduction to eliminate the genetically unfit and promote the reproduction of the genetically fit) and environmental conservation and preservation, may seem incompatible, they were promoted simultaneously by a number of figures in the progressive era in the decades between 1900 and 1950. Common to the two movements were the desire to preserve the ‘‘best’’ in both the germ plasm of the human population and natural environments (including not only natural resources, but also undisturbed nature preserves such as state and national parks and forests). In …