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Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Elk Calf Survival And Mortality Following Wolf Restoration To Yellowstone National Park, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech, P. J. White
Elk Calf Survival And Mortality Following Wolf Restoration To Yellowstone National Park, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech, P. J. White
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
We conducted a 3-year study (May 2003–Apr 2006) of mortality of northern Yellowstone elk (Cervus elaphus) calves to determine the cause for the recruitment decline (i.e., 33 calves to 13 calves/100 adult F) following the restoration of wolves (Canis lupus). We captured, fit with radiotransmitters, and evaluated blood characteristics and disease antibody seroprevalence in 151 calves ≤6 days old (68M:83F). Concentrations (x, SE) of potential condition indicators were as follows: thyroxine (T4; 13.8 μg/dL, 0.43), serum urea nitrogen (SUN; 17.4 mg/dL, 0.57), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT; 66.4 IU/L, 4.36), gamma globulins (GG; 1.5 g/dL, 0.07), and insulin-like growth …
Amphiod Densities And Indices Of Wetland Quality Across The Upper-Midwest, Usa, Michael J. Anteau, Alan D. Afton
Amphiod Densities And Indices Of Wetland Quality Across The Upper-Midwest, Usa, Michael J. Anteau, Alan D. Afton
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Nutritional, behavioral, and diet data for lesser scaup (Aythya affinis [Eyton, 1838]) indicates that there has been a decrease in amphipod (Gammarus lacustris [G. O. Sars, 1863] and Hyalella azteca [Saussure, 1858]) density and wetland quality throughout the upper-Midwest, USA. Accordingly, we estimated densities of Gammarus and Hyalella in six eco-physiographic regions of Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota; 356 randomly selected semi-permanent and permanent wetlands were sampled during springs 2004 and 2005. We also examined indices of wetland quality (e.g., turbidity, fish communities, aquatic vegetation) among regions in a random subset of these wetlands (n = 267). Gammarus …
Soil Modification By Invasive Plants: Effects On Native And Invasive Species Of Mixed-Grass Prairies, Nicholas R. Jordan, Diane L. Larson, Sheri C. Huerd
Soil Modification By Invasive Plants: Effects On Native And Invasive Species Of Mixed-Grass Prairies, Nicholas R. Jordan, Diane L. Larson, Sheri C. Huerd
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Invasive plants are capable of modifying attributes of soil to facilitate further invasion by conspecifics and other invasive species. We assessed this capability in three important plant invaders of grasslands in the Great Plains region of North America: leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), smooth brome (Bromus inermis) and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum). In a glasshouse, these three invasives or a group of native species were grown separately through three cycles of growth and soil conditioning in both steam-pasteurized and non-pasteurized soils, after which we assessed seedling growth in these soils. Two of the three invasive …
Using Plasma-Lipid Metabolites To Index Changes In Lipid Reserves Of Free-Living Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis), Michael Anteau, Alan Afton
Using Plasma-Lipid Metabolites To Index Changes In Lipid Reserves Of Free-Living Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis), Michael Anteau, Alan Afton
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Understanding daily lipid-reserve changes in migrating wild birds is important for habitat assessment and species conservation. Plasma-lipid metabolites have been used to estimate rates of lipid accumulation or catabolism in small-bodied wild birds(<75 g), but this has not been validated for larger-bodied wild birds such as waterfowl. We developed an index for detecting whether individual birds accumulate or catabolize lipid reserves by regressing plasma-lipid metabolite levels(triglyceride and β-hydroxybutyrate) and known one-day mass changes(daily mass change) of 22 free-living Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis; a larger-bodied species with typical mass range 600–1,000 g). Triglyceride and β-hydroxybutyrate predicted 75% of the variation in daily mass change (F = 28.85, df = 2 and 19, P < 0.001). Triglyceride was positively correlated (P = 0.029) with mass change, and β-hydroxybutyrate was negatively cor¬related (P < 0.001) with mass change (daily mass change = –54.49+ 11.82 [triglyceride] – 28.65 [β-hydroxybutyrate log]). Our results in¬dicate that triglyceride and β-hydroxybutyrate can estimate one-day changes in mass of free-living wild Lesser Scaup, which provides an index to daily changes in lipid reserves and should be useful for assessing quality of migration habitat.
Comparing Local Vs. Global Visible And Near-Infrared (Visnir) Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Drs) Calibrations For The Prediction Of Soil Clay, Organic C And Inorganic C, Joel B. Sankey, David J. Brown, Melisa L. Bernard, Rick L. Lawrence
Comparing Local Vs. Global Visible And Near-Infrared (Visnir) Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Drs) Calibrations For The Prediction Of Soil Clay, Organic C And Inorganic C, Joel B. Sankey, David J. Brown, Melisa L. Bernard, Rick L. Lawrence
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Local, field-scale, VisNIR-DRS soil calibrations generally yield the most accurate predictions but require a substantial number of local calibration samples at every application site. Global to regional calibrations are more economically efficient, but don't provide sufficient accuracy for many applications. In this study, we quantified the value of augmenting a large global spectral library with relatively few local calibration samples for VisNIR-DRS predictions of soil clay content (clay), organic carbon content (SOC), and inorganic carbon content (IC). VisNIR models were constructed with boosted regression trees employing global, local+global, and local spectral data, using local samples from two low-relief, sedimentary bedrock …
Restoration Of Mangrove Plantations And Colonisation By Native Species In Leizhou Bay, South China, Hai Ren, Shuguang Jian, Hongfang Lu, Qianmei Zhang, Weijun Shen, Weidong Han, Zuoyun Yin, Qinfeng Guo
Restoration Of Mangrove Plantations And Colonisation By Native Species In Leizhou Bay, South China, Hai Ren, Shuguang Jian, Hongfang Lu, Qianmei Zhang, Weijun Shen, Weidong Han, Zuoyun Yin, Qinfeng Guo
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
To examine the natural colonization of native mangrove species into remediated exotic mangrove stands in Leizhou Bay, South China, we compared soil physical–chemical properties, community structure and recruitments of barren mangrove areas, native mangrove species plantations, and exotic mangrove species—Sonneratia apetala Buch.Ham—between plantations and natural forest. We found that severely degraded mangrove stands could not regenerate naturally without human intervention due to severely altered local environments, whereas some native species had been recruited into the 4–10 year S. apetala plantations. In the first 10 years, the exotic species S. apetala grew better than native species such as Rhizophora stylosa …
Crying Wolf: Concluding That Wolves Were Not Restored, L. David Mech
Crying Wolf: Concluding That Wolves Were Not Restored, L. David Mech
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
In 2007, the USA removed (delisted) the grey wolf (Canis lupus) in the upper Midwest from the Endangered Species List. After 35 years of being considered endangered, these wolves had increased from 750 in 38 400 km2 of Minnesota (Fuller et al. 1992) to over 4100 inhabiting 110 000 km2 of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Conservationists celebrated this event as a most significant success. Suddenly, however, this milestone was challenged by Leonard & Wayne (2007) based on preliminary genetic findings that wolves of the upper Midwest 100 years ago were different from 69 per cent of the …
Effectiveness Of Lethal, Directed Wolf-Depredation Control In Minnesota, Elizabeth Harper, William J. Paul, L. David Mech, Sanford Weisberg
Effectiveness Of Lethal, Directed Wolf-Depredation Control In Minnesota, Elizabeth Harper, William J. Paul, L. David Mech, Sanford Weisberg
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Wolf (Canis lupus) depredations on livestock in Minnesota, USA, are an economic problem for many livestock producers, and depredating wolves are lethally controlled. We sought to determine the effectiveness of lethal control through the analysis of data from 923 government-verified wolf depredations from 1979 to 1998. We analyzed the data by 1) assessing the correlations between the number of wolves killed in response to depredations with number of depredations the following year at state and local levels, and 2) the time to the next depredation. No analysis indicated that trapping wolves substantially reduced the following year’s depredations at …
Impact Of West Nile Virus And Other Mortality Factors On American White Pelicans At Breeding Colonies In The Northern Plains Of North America, Marsha A. Sovada, Pamela J. Pietz, Kathryn A. Converse, D. Tommy King, Erik K. Hofmeister, Paulette Scherr, Hon S. Ip
Impact Of West Nile Virus And Other Mortality Factors On American White Pelicans At Breeding Colonies In The Northern Plains Of North America, Marsha A. Sovada, Pamela J. Pietz, Kathryn A. Converse, D. Tommy King, Erik K. Hofmeister, Paulette Scherr, Hon S. Ip
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) are colonial-nesting birds and their breeding sites are concentrated in a few small areas, making this species especially vulnerable to factors that can influence productivity, such as disease, disturbance, predation, weather events and loss of nesting habitat. Nearly half of the American white pelican population breeds at four colonies in the northern plains: Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in North Dakota, Bitter Lake (Waubay NWR) in South Dakota, Medicine Lake NWR in Montana, and Marsh Lake in Minnesota. Thus, sustained productivity at these colonies is crucial to the health of the entire …
Prairie Pothole Regional Studies, Robert A. Gleason
Prairie Pothole Regional Studies, Robert A. Gleason
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a comprehensive, stratified survey of 204 wetland catchments in 1997 and 270 catchments in 2004, a subset of more than 2 million hectares of wetland and grassland systems established on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) lands. The purpose of the survey was to gather data for estimating a variety of ecosystem services provided by prairie pothole wetland catchments. In early 2008, USGS published a preliminary findings report as a result of these studies.
Diets Of Lesser Scaup During Spring Migration Throughout The Upper-Midwest Are Consistent With The Spring Condition Hypothesis, Michael J. Anteau, Alan Afton
Diets Of Lesser Scaup During Spring Migration Throughout The Upper-Midwest Are Consistent With The Spring Condition Hypothesis, Michael J. Anteau, Alan Afton
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The spring condition hypothesis (SCH) states that the current decline of the North American scaup population (Lesser [Aythya affinis] and Greater Scaup [A. marila] combined) is due to a decline in quality or availability of scaup foods on wintering, spring migration, or breeding areas that has caused a reduction in female body condition and subsequent reproductive success. Our previous research indicated that forage quality in diets of Lesser Scaup (hereafter scaup) at two sites in Northwestern Minnesota was lower in springs 2000-2001 than that reported for springs 1986-1988, consistent with the SCH. Accordingly, we further tested …
A Two-Part Measure Of Degree Of Invasion For Cross-Community Comparisons, Qinfeng Guo, Amy Symstad
A Two-Part Measure Of Degree Of Invasion For Cross-Community Comparisons, Qinfeng Guo, Amy Symstad
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Invasibility is a critical feature of ecological communities, especially for management decisions. To date, invasibility has been measured in numerous ways. Although most researchers have used the richness (or number) of exotic species as a direct or indirect measure of community invasibility, others have used alternative measures such as the survival, density, or biomass of either a single or all exotic species. These different measures, even when obtained from the same communities, have produced inconsistent results and have made comparisons among communities difficult. Here, we propose a measure of the degree of invasion (DI) of a community as a surrogate …
Long-Term Dynamics Of Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia Esula) And Its Biocontrol Agent, Flea Beetles In The Genus Aphthona, Diane L. Larson, James B. Grace, Jennifer L. Larson
Long-Term Dynamics Of Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia Esula) And Its Biocontrol Agent, Flea Beetles In The Genus Aphthona, Diane L. Larson, James B. Grace, Jennifer L. Larson
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Three flea beetle species (Aphthona spp.), first introduced into North America in 1988, have come to be regarded as effective biological control organisms for leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula). The black flea beetles (Aphthona lacertosa and A. czwalinae) in particular have been shown to cause reductions in leafy spurge stem counts in the northern Great Plains, while the brown flea beetle (A. nigriscutis) has persisted and spread, but has not been found to be as effective at controlling leafy spurge. The ability of black flea beetles to control leafy spurge in any given year, …
Ecosystem Services Derived From Wetland Conservation Practices In The United States Prairie Pothole Region With An Emphasis On The U.S. Department Of Agriculture Conservation Reserve And Wetlands Reserve Programs, Robert A. Gleason, Murray K. Laubhan, Brian A. Tangen, Kevin E. Kermes
Ecosystem Services Derived From Wetland Conservation Practices In The United States Prairie Pothole Region With An Emphasis On The U.S. Department Of Agriculture Conservation Reserve And Wetlands Reserve Programs, Robert A. Gleason, Murray K. Laubhan, Brian A. Tangen, Kevin E. Kermes
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Contents:
Chapter A Background and Approach to Quantification of Ecosystem Services By Robert A. Gleason and Murray K. Laubhan
Chapter B Plant Community Quality and Richness By Murray K. Laubhan and Robert A. Gleason
Chapter C Carbon Sequestration By Robert A. Gleason, Brian A. Tangen, and Murray K. Laubhan
Chapter D Floodwater Storage By Robert A. Gleason and Brian A. Tangen
Chapter E Reduction of Sedimentation and Nutrient Loading By Brian A. Tangen and Robert A. Gleason
Chapter F Proposed Approach to Assess Potential Wildlife Habitat Suitability on Program Lands By Murray K. Laubhan, Kevin E. Kermes, and Robert A. …