Life Sciences Commons^™

Monitoring The Abundance Of American Shad And River Herring In Virginia's Rivers - 2019 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Robert Latour, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

This report describes the results of the twenty-second year of a continuing study to estimate the relative abundance and assess the status of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) stocks in Virginia by monitoring the spawning runs in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in spring 2019, evaluating hatchery programs, and contributing to coast-wide assessments (ASMFC 2007). We also report on two fishery-independent monitoring programs using anchor gillnets in the Rappahannock River (year 2) and the Chickahominy River (year 5; a major tributary of the James River), to determine relative abundance and stock structure for the adult spawning run of river herring …

Monitoring The Abundance Of American Shad And River Herring In Virginia's Rivers - 2018 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Robert Latour, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

This report describes the results of the twenty-first year of a continuing study to estimate the relative abundance and assess the status of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) stocks in Virginia by monitoring the spawning runs in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in spring 2018, evaluating hatchery programs, and contributing to coast-wide assessments (ASMFC 2007). We also report on two fishery-independent monitoring programs using anchor gillnets in the Rappahannock River (year 1) and the Chickahominy River (year 4; a major tributary of the James River), to determine relative abundance and stock structure for the adult spawning run of river herring …

Monitoring The Abundance Of American Shad And River Herring In Virginia's Rivers - 2017 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Rob Latour, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

This report describes the results of the twentieth year of a continuing study to estimate the relative abundance and assess the status of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) stocks in Virginia by monitoring the spawning runs in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in spring 2017, evaluating hatchery programs, and contributing to coast-wide assessments (ASMFC 2007). We also report on two fishery-independent monitoring programs, one using staked gillnets in the Rappahannock River (year 2) and the other using anchor gillnets in the Chickahominy River (year 3; a major tributary of the James River),to determine relative abundance and stock structure for the …

Monitoring The Abundance Of American Shad And River Herring In Virginia's Rivers - 2016 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Robert Latour, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

This report describes the results of the nineteenth year of a continuing study to estimate the relative abundance and assess the status of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) stocks in Virginia by monitoring the spawning runs in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in spring 2016, evaluating hatchery programs, and contributing to coast-wide assessments (ASMFC 2007). We also report on a new fishery-independent monitoring program using staked gillnets to determine relative abundance and stock structure for the adult spawning run of river herring (A. pseudoharengus, and A. aestivalis) in the Rappahannock River. Data are also reported from two separate fishery-independent monitoring …

2016 Aerial Imagery Acquired To Monitor The Distribution And Abundance Of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation In Chesapeake Bay And Coastal Bays, Robert J. Orth, David J. Wilcox, Jennifer R. Whiting, Anna K. Kenne, Erica R. Smith, L. Nagey

Data

Multispectral aerial imagery acquired in 2016 to monitor the distribution and abundance of submerged aquatic vegetation in Chesapeake Bay and coastal bays.

An Analysis Of Particulate Matter In Central Virginia, Elizabeth Garrett, Arif Sikder

Rice Rivers Center Research Symposium

Virginia is consistently rated as a state with high rates of asthma (Asthma and Allergy Foundation 2014). Although this respiratory disease has many causes, certain air pollutants can be a trigger. The EPA currently identifies, monitors, and regulates seven types of air pollutants. One of these pollutants, particulate matter, can occur both naturally and culturally. The primary anthropogenic cause of particulate matter is fly ash, which is formed during fossil fuel combustion. Different technology installed in the power plant can capture some of the fly ash but these methods are not entirely effective.

This study focused on estimating the ratio …

Evaluating Recruitment Of American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, In The Potomac River (Spring 2016), Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

Reports

American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a valuable commercial species along the Atlantic coast of North America from New Brunswick to Florida. Landings from Chesapeake Bay typically represent 60% of the annual United States commercial harvest (ASMFC 2012). American Eel is also important to the recreational fishery as it is often used live as bait for Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) and Cobia (Rachycentron canadum). In 2012, Chesapeake Bay commercial landings of American Eel (771,536 lbs) were 72% of the U.S. landings (personal communication from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division). Since the 1980s, harvest along the U.S. Atlantic Coast …

Internesting Movements Of Loggerhead (Caretta Caretta) Sea Turtles In Virginia, Usa, Katherine L. Mansfield, John A. Musick, Soraya M. Bartol

Reports

Virginia is the northern most nesting region regularly utilized by loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) along the eastern coast of the United States. Along the southern shoreline of Virginia, between two and ten nests have been recorded annually since 1989 within Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park. Since 1992, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has attached eight satellite transmitters to nesting loggerhead sea turtles in order to monitor their interesting movements and falVwinter migrations. VIMS has tracked the same nesting loggerhead three separate times during the 1993, 1995 and 1997 nesting seasons. This turtle …

Results Of The First Ultralight-Led Sandhill Crane Migration In Eastern North America, Joseph W. Duff, William A. Lishman, Dewitt A. Clark, George F. Gee, David H. Ellis

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

In 1997, we led 8 sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) south from Ontario, Canada by ultralight aircraft to a wintering area near Warrenton, Virginia, an area without a wild population. Six others were transported south in a trailer in hopes they would return north with those that flew. The migration was 863 kIn long, included 14 stops, and took 21 days to complete. A1l13 SUIViving birds were wintered together. In March 1998, the surviving 7 "aircraft-led" birds departed the wintering site. The following day, 6 of the 7 were reported on the south shore of Lake Ontario. The flock …

Reform Of The Endangered Species Act: Overview Of Administrative Reforms [Congressional Hearing Material Submitted By Bruce E. Babbitt, Secretary, Department Of Interior], Dinah Bear

Biodiversity Protection: Implementation and Reform of the Endangered Species Act (Summer Conference, June 9-12)

31 pages.

Phytoplankton Relationships To Water Quality In Lake Drummond And Two Drainage Ditches, Christine G. Phillips, Harold G. Marshall

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A twelve-month phytoplankton study was conducted in Lake Drummond and Washington and Jericho Ditches from December 1988 to November 1989. Four dominant phytoplankton groups were identified at these sites. These were the Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Cryptophyceae and an autotrophic picoplankton component. Over the past 20 years there has been a decrease in the mean pH levels of Lake Drummond and the replacement of one its former major components, the Chlorophyceae, by the Cyanophyceae. Based on water quality analysis results and species diversity indices, Lake Drummond is classified as in an early eutrophic stage of development.

Small Mammals In The Great Dismal Swamp Of Virginia And North Carolina, Robert K. Rose, Roger K. Everton, Jean F. Stankavich

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Small" mammals were surveyed in a range of habitats in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina. The survey is based on three chronologically overlapping studies, each lasting 15-18 months and for which the results have been reported separately. A different trapping method was used in each of the three studies: nest boxes, Fitch live traps, or pitfall traps. Only two species of mammals, both arboreal, were taken in nest boxes, compared with 10 and 9 species in Fitch live traps and pitfall traps, respectively. The Fitch live traps had a much higher catch rate per 1,000 trap-nights …

Reproduction In The Hispid Cotton Rat, Sigmodon-Hispidus Say And Ord (Rodentia: Muridae), In Southeastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Michael H. Mitchell

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The hispid cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus Say and Ord, a species of the southwestern United States that has been moving northward and eastward in this century, was first observed in Virginia in 1940. In this study of the cotton rat in southeastern Virginia, most males were reproductively competent from February through November, embryos were recorded from March through October, and litter sizes were comparable to those from other locations except Kansas. Also unlike the cotton rat in Kansas, animals grew at substantial rates during the winter in Virginia. The hispid cotton rat seems to have adjusted its breeding season in …

The Identification Of The Threatened Southeastern Shrew Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques, Thomas M. Padgett, Roger K. Everton, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The threatened subspecies of the southeastern shrew, Sorex longirostris fisheri, is endemic to the Great Dismal Swamp of southeastern Virginia. Previous studies based on discriminant analysis of external measurements determined that intergrades with the upland form, Sorex l. longirostris, exist along the periphery of the Swamp. To better discriminate among these populations, a study of cranial morphology was initiated. Fifteen cranial measurements were taken, using 59 specimens of Sorex collected previously form southeastern Virginia, including the Dismal Swamp. Both Principal Component and Cluster Analyses revealed no significant cranial variation or morphometric patterns within the specimens examined, but a …

Reproductive Strategies Of Meadow Voles, Hispid Cotton Rats, And Eastern Harvest Mice In Virginia, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Patterns of reproduction in small mammals in Virginia were examined by autopsying samples of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) collected for 23 months near Charlottesville, of hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) collected for 14 months in Portsmouth, and by evaluating live-caught eastern harvest mice (Reithrodontomys humulis) trapped for 15 months in Suffolk and for 12 months in Chesapeake. The meadow vole, a microtine rodent with a north temperate and sub-arctic distribution throughout North America, suspended breeding during the winter of peak density but not of declining density. High metabolic rates and other adaptations for winter …

Late Prehistoric And Protohistoric Large Mammal Zoogeography Of Virginia, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Evidence derived from18late prehistoric (middle and late Woodland Period) archeological sites, from several early historical accounts, and from the current understanding of the distribution of Virginia mammals indicates that the large mammal fauna of the Commonwealth has not changed substantially within the past 4,000 yrs. Some species (e.g., bison, elk, timber wolf, and mountain lion) have been extirpated since the settlement of Virginia by Europeans; some previously extirpated species (e.g., porcupine, coyote, and beaver) have been naturally or artificially reintroduced during the historical period, and others (e.g., woodchuck and red fox) probably have expanded their distributions as a result of …

Breeding Birds In Cedar Stands In The Great Dismal Swamp, Karen A. Terwilliger, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Great Dismal Swamp located in the coastal plain on the Virginia- North Carolina border, has long been recognized as a vegetationally distinctive region with many unusual geological and biological features. Formerly at least twice the currently estimated size of 85,000 hectares (Carter 1979), the Great Dismal Swamp is still shrinking because of a dropping water table caused by more than 200 years of logging, ditching, and other human activities. In 1973, the Union Camp Corporation donated a 19,871-hectare tract located near Suffolk, Virginia. to The Nature Conservancy, which transferred the land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This …

An Evaluation Of Small Rodents In Four Dismal Swamp Plant Communities, F. Elizabeth Breidling, Frank P. Day Jr., Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Diversity and density of small rodents in the Dismal Swamp are believed to be low. Reasons for this may be excessive predation, heavy interspecific pressure from large rodents, lack of suitable habitat, low food availability or flooding.

Rodent populations were evaluated using live-traps and pitfall traps in four different Dismal Swamp plant communities. Habitat was compared on the basis of phytomass studies previously reported. Flood levels were recorded during live-trapping sessions. Mast from trees was collected in modified mast collectors, and fed to Peromyscus leucopus in the laboratory.

Only two small rodent species were captured: Ochrotomys nuttalli and Peromyscus leucopus …

Small Mammals In Openings In Virginia's Dismal Swamp, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In a study of small mammals of openings in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia, seven species were obtained using pitfall traps. Samples included several species rarely caught in the Swamp - seven specimens of the Dismal Swamp subspecies of the southern bog lemming, Synaptomys cooperi helaletes, the first collected in this century; two least shrews, Cryptotis parva; and 15 southeastern shrews, Sorex longirostris fisheri . Results are compared to previous studies, conducted primarily in forested habitats, in which the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, and the golden mouse, Ochrotomys nuttalli, were numerically dominant.

Perkinsus Marinus = Dermocystidium Marinum ("Dermo") In Virginia, 1950-1980 : A Record Of Fluid Thioglycollate Tests For Dermo In Oysters From Public And Private Oyster Beds, And From Trays Of Disease-Free Oysters Transplanted To Areas Where Msx And Dermo Are Endemic, Jay D. Andrews

Reports

No abstract provided.