Life Sciences Commons^™

The Quintessential Companion For North American Birders: Review Of The Birdwatcher's Companion To North American Birdlife By Christopher W. Leahy, Lawrence Igl

The Prairie Naturalist

The Birdwatcher's Companion was revised in 2004 under a new title, The Birdwatcher's Companion to North American Birdlire, and by a new publisher, Princeton University Press. This substantial work builds on Leahy's previous edition published in 1982. Hailed by the publisher as the quintessential, alphabetically arranged guide to North American birdlife, the new edition of The Birdwatcher's Companion is over 100 pages longer than the first edition, but, overall, the style and format have not changed much between the two editions. The Companion begins with a brief chapter in which the author describes how to use the book, how it …

Factors Influencing Persistence Of White-Footed Mice, Brock R. Mcmillan, Glennis A. Kaufman, Donald W. Kaufman

The Prairie Naturalist

We examined factors that potentially influenced persistence of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) during 1981 to 1988 at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas. We predicted that both abiotic (e.g., precipitation and temperature) and biotic (e.g., availability of food and density of conspecifics) factors would influence persisten~e of individuals at the study site. Persistence of individual white-footed mice on the study site differed among years and seasons. White-footed mice that were first captured in summer or in autumn persisted longer than those first captured in spring. Young females (less than 20 g) had greater persistence than young males, whereas …

The Sooner State Bird Atlas: Review Of Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas, Dan L. Reinking, Editor, Timothy J. O'Connell

The Prairie Naturalist

In Oklahoma, forest meets prairie, prairie meets mesa, and throughout, our native ecosystems are shaped by human land use. Across this shifting mosaic of habitats, animals find food, raise young, and disperse to find other members of their species. Management for these species is best informed when it springs from a common baseline of knowledge about distributions across the entire management area. For birds, that baseline can be effectively established with a breeding bird atlas. ... In sum, the Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas presents timely information on a fascinating statewide avifauna in a clear and attractive package. The text is …

Daphnia Lumholtzi, An Exotic Zooplankton, Invading A Nebraska Reservoir, Brian C. Peterson, Nicolas J. Fryda, Keith D. Koupal, Wyatt Hoback

The Prairie Naturalist

A limnological assessment project by the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission collected weekly vertical zooplankton tows during May through September 2002 at Harlan County Reservoir in Nebraska. Beginning on 5 August 2002, the exotic Daphnia lumholtzi (Cladocera: Daphniidae) appeared at a density of 0.04 1.1 in one of fifteen standardized sampling stations. By 6 September 2002, D. lumholtzi was found in all fifteen stations at an average density of 2.17 ± 3.10 1.1 with a site maximum density of 11.43 1.1 • Length measurements of D. lumholtzi ranged from 0.80 mm to 5.66 …

Lack Of Brown-Headed Cowbird Nest Parasitism In A Short Grass Region, Stephen L. Winter, Jack F. Cully Jr.

The Prairie Naturalist

While conducting field work in Morton County, southwestern Kansas and Baca County, southeastern Colorado, during the period 27 May to 2 July 1997, we found 36 nests of seven bird species. Nests were not searched for systematically, but were found coincidentally as data were collected along transects during research investigating the breeding bird and plant communities of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies and noncolonized shortgrass prairie (Winter 1999).

Low densities of the brown-headed cowbird in our study region, which is characterized by a semi-arid climate, might be a consequence of host populations that exhibit extreme temporal and …

Lesser Prairie-Chicken Use Of Harvested Corn Fields During Fall And Winter In Southwestern Kansas, Gregory C. Salter, Robert J. Robel, Kenneth E. Kemp

The Prairie Naturalist

The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has declined in numbers in Kansas primarily due to the conversion of sand sagebrush (Artemisia .filifolia) prairie to cropland. The lesser prairie-chicken in Finney County, Kansas exists primarily in large fragments of sand sagebrush prairie, and it forages during fall and winter on waste grain in harvested com (Zea mays) fields adjacent to prairie fragments. We used radio-telemetry to monitor lesser prairie chicken locations and found no significant relationship between numbers of bird locations and amounts of waste grain on the ground in harvested com fields. Even the harvested …

A Sustainable Future For Recreational Fishing In The Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Proposal For Discussion., Department Of Fisheries.

Fisheries management papers

Fishing activity on the Cocos is essentially unmanaged at present and there has been some condern by the local community that a number of species, such as coral trout, have declined in numbers over the last decade. This draft strategy was developed by the Western Australian Department of Fisheries who now has responsibility for managing recreational fishing on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services.

Cesu Agreements: Beyond Traditional Science Applications, Margaret N. Rees

Presentations (PLI)

Partnering with four federal land-management agencies

• Bureau of Land Management
• National Park Service
• U.S. Forest Service
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Everglades Online Thesaurus: A Standard Vocabulary For The South Florida Ecosystem, Gail P. Clement

Works of the FIU Libraries

The Everglades Online Thesaurus is a structured vocabulary of concepts and terms relating to the south Florida environment. Designed as an information management tool for both researchers and metadata creators, the Thesaurus is intended to improve information retrieval across the many disparate information systems, databases, and web sites that provide Everglades-related information. The vocabulary provided by the Everglades Online Thesaurus expresses each relevant concept using a single ‘preferred term’, whereas in natural language many terms may exist to express that same concept. In this way, the Thesaurus offers the possibility of standardizing the terminology used to describe Everglades-related information — …

Continued Range Expansion By The Cave Myotis, Shauna R. Marquardt, Jerry R. Choate, Stanley D. Roth Jr.

The Prairie Naturalist

The cave myotis (Myotis velifer) is a cavernicolous bat that ranges northward from Honduras to the southern Great Plains and southwestern United States. Its known range in the United States includes the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and small, southern portions of Nevada and California (Fitch et al. 1981, Hayward 1970). The cave myotis inhabits caves, mines, and buildings, depending on time of year and specific roost requirements (Fitch et al. 1981, Hayward 1970, Kunz 1973, Sparks and Choate 2000). Before European settlement of areas within the range of the cave myotis, it likely was restricted to …

Judicious Use Of Multiple Hypothesis Tests, Paul J. Roback, Robert A. Askins

Biology Faculty Publications

When analyzing a table of statistical results, one must first decide whether adjustment of significance levels is appropriate. If the main goal is hypothesis generation or initial screening for potential conservation problems, then it may be appropriate to use the standard comparisonwise significance level to avoid Type 2 errors (not detecting real differences or trends). If, however, the main goal is rigorous testing of a hypothesis, then an adjustment for multiple tests is needed. To control the familywise Type 1 error rate (the probability of rejecting at least one true null hypothesis), sequential modifications of the standard Bonferroni Method, such …

Integrated Fisheries Management Report Western Rock Lobster Resource., Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries management papers

This report is the first in a series of Integrated Fisheries Management (IFM) reports required under the 2004 Government Policy on IFM. Under this policy, the Executive Director of Fisheries is required to approve a sustainability report for each fishery, which includes a clear statement on the harvest level. The sustainable harvest level is that total catch, or catch range, that is to be allocated among the various user groups identified for that particular fishery. These IFM reports will assist in the process of allocating explicit shares in the use of Western Australia’s fish resources. They do not establish the …

The Fine-Grained Spatial Abilities Of Three Seed-Caching Corvids, Brett M. Gibson, Alan Kamil

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

We used a psychophysical method to examine the ability of three corvid species to discern fine-grained spatial information. Nutcrackers, pinyon jays, and scrub-jays were required to discriminate the distance between two landmarks on a computer screen in an operant chamber. All three species were able to discriminate between arrays that differed by 20 mm; the discrimination gradients for scrub-jays and pinyon jays were sharper than those for nutcrackers, however. The results suggest that differences in spatial memory among these species are not related to differences in fine-grained perception.

Phylogenetic Reconstruction Of Exoristinae Using Molecular Data: A Bayesian Re-Analysis, John O. Stireman Iii

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A few years ago I published the results of a phylogenetic analysis of New World Exoristinae based on molecular data from two genes, 28S rDNA and Elongation Factor 1-alpha (Stireman 2002). In that study I employed parsimony, neighbor joining, and maximum likelihood inference methods to generate phylogenetic reconstructions, and explored a variety of weighting schemes and combinations of the sequence data (i.e. each gene separately and both together). The results of these analyses generally supported recent taxonomic hypotheses (e.g., Herting 1984; Wood 1987; O’Hara and Wood 2004). For example, Tachinidae and Exoristinae were reconstructed as monophyletic in most analyses, as …

Stochastic Dietary Restriction Using A Markov-Chain Feeding Protocol Elicits Complex, Life History Response In Medflies, James R. Carey, Pablo Liedo, Hans-Georg Müller, Jane-Ling Wang, Ying Zhang, Lawrence G. Harshman

Lawrence G. Harshman Publications

Lifespan in individually housed medflies (virgins of both sexes) and daily reproduction for females were studied following one of 12 dietary restriction (DR) treatments in which the availability of high-quality food (yeast–sugar mixture) for each fly was based on a Markov chain feeding scheme – a stochastic dietary regime which specifies that the future dietary state depends only on the present dietary state and not on the path by which the present state was achieved. The stochastic treatments consisted of a combination of one of four values of a ‘discovery’ parameter and one of three values of a ‘persistence’ parameter. …

Biogeography Of The Nearshore Rocky-Reef Fishes At The Southern And Baja California Islands, Daniel Pondella, Brooke Gintert, Jana Cobb, Larry Allen

Daniel Pondella

No abstract provided.

Red Rock Desert Learning Center Core Group Meeting: January 18, 2005, Red Rock Desert Learning Center

Reports (RRLC)

1. Introductions (5 min.)
2. Approval of Minutes from November 16, 2004 Meeting (5 minutes)
3. Presentation of Science Curriculum – Paul Buck (30 min.)
4. Line and Space Architects
   Presentation of Schematic Designs– Les Wallach/Henry Tom (1 hour)
   Update on Design Timeline (10 min.)
5. Standing Reports (10 minutes)
   A. UNLV/CESU – Nancy Flagg
   B. BLM – Michael Reiland
6. Committee Reports (5 min.)
7. Committee Meeting Schedule for 2005 (5 min.)
8. Open Discussion / New Business (5 min.)

National Park Service Southwest Alaska National Parks Visitor Impact Monitoring: Phase 1 Report, Christopher Monz, P. D'Luhosch

Christopher Monz

No abstract provided.

First Record Of An Adult Male Evening Bat From Kansas, Clay R. Davis, Justin G. Boyles

The Prairie Naturalist

The evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis) occurs throughout the eastern and southeastern United States and into extreme northeastern Mexico, approximately 42° to 18° N latitude (Watkins and Shump 1981). Although records of females are common, records of adult male evening bats are rare in the northern portion of the species range (Watkins 1969, Watkins 1972). Jones et al. (1967) suggested that adult males might not accompany females to at least some parts of the parturient range. As part of a larger study (Davis 2003) we surveyed bats on Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation (FLMR), Leavenworth County, Kansas in July 2002 …

Is Adventist Theology Compatible With Evolutionary Theory?, Fernando Canale

Perspective Digest

No abstract provided.

Can We Have It Both Ways?, L. James Gibson

Perspective Digest

No abstract provided.

The Status And Impact Of The Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus Haematodus Moluccanus) In South-West Western Australia, Tamara Chapman

Agriculture reports

This report provides a summary of the biology and ecology of the rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus), examines the status and management of the rainbow lorikeet in other regions; assesses the threats posed by the feral population in south-west Western Australia; and formulates the aims and objectives for an integrated pest management program.

Book Review: Buller Does To Evolutionary Psychology What Kitcher Did To Sociobiology, Harmon R. Holcomb Iii

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Alfred Russel Wallace: Past And Future [Guest Editorial], Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) has for many years been standing in the shadow of his more famed co-discoverer of the principle of natural selection, Charles Darwin. Despite outward similarities between the two men’s formulation of the principle, Wallace had fit his appreciation of natural selection into views on evolution that were quite different from Darwin’s. A closer examination of what Wallace had in mind suggests a model of process in which natural selection per se acts as the negative feedback mechanism (actually, a ‘statespace’) in the relation between population and environment, and environmental engagement as made possible by …

Dinámica De La Vegetación Después De Fuegos Recientes En Los Páramos De Buenavista Y Chirripó, Costa Rica (Vegetation Dynamics Following Recent Fires In The Buenavista And Chirripó Páramos Of Costa Rica), Sally P Horn

Geography Publications and Other Works

Field studies following fires in the Buenavista (La Muerte Massif) and Chirripó páramos demonstrate that woody species show varying responses to fire. The bamboo Chusquea subtessellata and the ericaceous shrubs Vaccinium consanguineum and Pernettya prostrata typically resprout vigorously after fire, but rarely if ever recolonize burn sites by seeding. The shrub Hypericum irazuense, in contrast, generally suffers high mortality in páramo fires, but successfully reestablishes by seed following all but the largest fires. Preexisting vegetation, fire characteristics, and site differences both before and after burning likely affect rates of shrub and herb survival, colonization, and growth in páramo burn …

Registros De Sedimentos Lacustres De La Vegetación Del Holoceno Y Historia Del Fuego En El Páramo De Costa Rica. (Lake-Sediment Records Of Holocene Vegetation And Fire History In The Costa Rican Páramos), Sally P Horn, Brandon L. League

Geography Publications and Other Works

We examined pollen, pteridophyte (ferns and fern-allies) spores, and charcoal in a 5.6 m long sediment core from Lago de las Morrenas 1, and charcoal in a 1.1 m long sediment core from Lago Chirripó, to reconstruct postglacial vegetation and fire history in the Chirripó páramo. Lago de las Morrenas 1, the largest lake in the Valle de las Morrenas of Chirripó National Park, is presently surrounded by treeless páramo vegetation and has apparently been so since deglaciation approximately 10,000 radiocarbon years ago. Pollen spectra suggest no pronounced changes in vegetation since ice retreat. Pollen percentages for Gramineae and other …

Bearing The Costs Of Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Challenges Of Compensation Schemes, Philip J. Nyhus, Steve A. Osofsky, Paul Ferraro, H Fischer, Francine Madden

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Access And Allocation Arrangements For The Commercial 'Wetline' Fisheries. Proposals For Discussion., Commercial Access Panel

Fisheries management papers

The Minister for Fisheries established this review of open access (wetline) commercial fishery arrangements to provide a more effective management framework for wetline fishing and to complement the recreational initiatives. This must involve the removal of excess fishing capacity, including latent effort, from the fishery and the establishment of a dedicated commercial fishery with clear entry criteria and an appropriate limit on catch in each bioregion. However it must be made clear that the ‘wetline review’ is not a sectoral resource sharing exercise. Following the implementation of new management arrangements for the ‘wetline’ fisheries, the appropriateness of the existing levels …

Proposed Management Arrangements For The Gascoyne Commercial 'Wetland' Fishery. A Discussion Paper., West Coast And Gascoye Wetline Review Management Planning Panel.

Fisheries management papers

The ‘Wetline Review’ was established to implement an effective management framework for the commercial sector to complement the recreational initiatives. It must be stressed at the outset that this review is focussed on the take of scalefish by the commercial sector. The existing levels of use between the various user groups in the Gascoyne will be examined under the new integrated fisheries initiative following the implementation of new management arrangements for scalefish taken by the commercial sector.

The Essentials On Estuarine Fish Habitat, Its Evaluation And Protection By Federal Fisheries Law, Eric T. Schultz, Michael Ludwig

EEB Articles

No abstract provided.