Allometric Regression Of Snake Body Length From Head Image Measurements,
2021
USDA, APHIS, WS, National Wildlife Research Center
Allometric Regression Of Snake Body Length From Head Image Measurements, Shane R. Siers
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
As in many fields of wildlife research and management, camera devices and photogrammetry have become an integral part of the toolkit for exploring otherwise‐unseen aspects of the biology, behavior, and control of the invasive brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) on Guam. Because brown treesnakes are cryptic and nocturnal, and nearly all aspects of their ecology are influenced by snake size, methods are needed to estimate snake size from images captured by infrared wildlife cameras. Unfortunately, it is difficult to capture images of an entire snake’s length at a controlled distance from a simple camera setup. Here, I describe the …
Conflict, Coexistence, Or Both? Cougar Habitat Selection, Prey Composition, And Mortality In A Multiple-Use Landscape,
2021
Utah State University
Conflict, Coexistence, Or Both? Cougar Habitat Selection, Prey Composition, And Mortality In A Multiple-Use Landscape, David C. Stoner, Mark A. Ditmer, Dustin L. Mitchell, Julie K. Young, Michael L. Wolfe
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Western North America is experiencing remarkable human population growth and land-use change. Irrigation and associated cultivation have led to colonization of urban-wildland interface (UWI) environments by mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and consequently, cougars (Puma concolor). In the wake of these changes, human-wildlife conflicts have increased in tandem with questions about long-term species conservation. To address these concerns, we fit 79 cougars with radio-telemetry collars in the Oquirrh Mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah (2002–2010). Our goal was to evaluate variation in cougar habitat selection, diet, and cause-specific mortality in a landscape dominated by urban, military, and industrial activities. We used …
Influenza A Virus Surveillance, Infection And Antibody Persistence In Snow Geese (Anser Caerulescens),
2021
USDA APHIS National Wildlife Research Center
Influenza A Virus Surveillance, Infection And Antibody Persistence In Snow Geese (Anser Caerulescens), Susan A. Shriner, J. Jeffrey Root, Jeremy W. Ellis, Kevin T. Bentler, Kaci K. Vandalen, Thomas Gidlewski, Sarah N. Bevins
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Some snow geese (Anser caerulescens) migrate between Eurasia and North America and exhibit high seroprevalence for influenza A viruses (IAVs). Hence, these birds might be expected to play a role in intercontinental dispersal of IAVs. Our objective in this manuscript was to characterize basic incidence and infection characteristics for snow geese to assess whether these birds are likely to significantly contribute to circulation of IAVs. Thus, we 1) estimated snow goose infection prevalence by summarizing > 5,000 snow goose surveillance records, 2) experimentally infected snow geese with a low pathogenic IAV (H4N6) to assess susceptibility and infection dynamics and …
Using Object-Based Image Analysis To Detect Laughing Gull Nests,
2021
USDA Wildlife Services, NYC
Using Object-Based Image Analysis To Detect Laughing Gull Nests, Benjamin F. Martini, Douglas A. Miller
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Remote sensing has long been used to study wildlife; however, manual methods of detecting wildlife in aerial imagery are often time-consuming and prone to human error, and newer computer vision techniques have not yet been extensively applied to wildlife surveys. We used the object-based image analysis (OBIA) software eCognition to detect laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) nests in Jamaica Bay as part of an ongoing monitoring effort at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Our technique uses a combination of high resolution 4-band aerial imagery captured via manned aircraft with a multispectral UltraCam Falcon M2 camera, LiDAR point cloud data, and …
Environmental Dna For Conservation,
2021
USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
Environmental Dna For Conservation, Antoinette J. Piaggio
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Biodiversity must be documented before it can be conserved. However, it may be difficult to document species with few individuals (Thompson, 2013; Goldberg et al., 2016), thus it requires a multitude of tools to detect species that occur in low numbers or are elusive (see the various chapters in this volume). One tool that has become useful for conservation efforts utilizes environmental DNA, which is DNA shed into the environment by organisms (eDNA; Taberlet et al., 2018). Typically this involves taking environmental samples such as soil, water, air, or using biological surrogates for sampling biodiversity (e.g. leeches, sponges, carrion flies, …
Principal Economic Effects Of Cormorant Predation
On Catfish Farms,
2021
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Principal Economic Effects Of Cormorant Predation On Catfish Farms, Carole R. Engle, Terrel W. Christie, Brian S. Dorr, Ganesh Kumar, Luke A. Roy, Anita M. Kelly
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Substantial economic losses of farmed catfish to fish-eating birds such as the double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, continue to be reported on U.S. catfish farms. An economic analysis was conducted of the on-farm effects of both the increased expenditures to scare fish-eating birds from catfish farms and of the value of the catfish that were consumed by cormorants. A survey was conducted of U.S. catfish farmers in the Delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas, to obtain farm-level data on expenditures to scare birds. Estimations of the lost revenue from catfish consumed by cormorants were developed from a concurrent study on …
Serological Responses Of Raccoons And Striped Skunks To
Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait In West Virginia During 2012–2016,
2021
USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
Serological Responses Of Raccoons And Striped Skunks To Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait In West Virginia During 2012–2016, Shylo R. Johnson, Dennis Slate, Kathleen M. Nelson, Amy J. Davis, Samual A. Mills, John T. Forbes, Kurt Vercauteren, Amy T. Gilbert, Richard B. Chipman
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Since the 1990s, oral rabies vaccination (ORV) has been used successfully to halt the westward spread of the raccoon rabies virus (RV) variant from the eastern continental USA. Elimination of raccoon RV from the eastern USA has proven challenging across targeted raccoon (Procyon lotor) and striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) populations impacted by raccoon RV. Field trial evaluations of the Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait (ONRAB) were initiated to expand ORV products available to meet the rabies management goal of raccoon RV elimination. This study describes the continuation of a 2011 trial inWest Virginia. Our objective was to evaluate raccoon …
Diets Of Double-Crested Cormorants In The Lake Winnebago
System, Wisconsin,
2021
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Diets Of Double-Crested Cormorants In The Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, Ryan P. Koenigs, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Charles D. Lovell, Daniel A. Isermann, Adam D. Nickel
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorox auritus Lesson (cormorant) populations have increased throughout the Great Lakes region of North America causing concern related to the impact of cormorant predation on fish communities. A recent decline in yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) abundance within the Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, USA, prompted an assessment of cormorant diets to evaluate potential effects of cormorant predation on the sportfish community. Diets were collected from 883 cormorants (417 from Lake Winnebago and 466 from Lake Butte des Morts) between 2015 and 2017. Cormorant diets on both waterbodies consisted mostly of freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens Rafinesque and gizzard shad …
Invasive Species In Puerto Rico: The View From El Yunque,
2021
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Invasive Species In Puerto Rico: The View From El Yunque, Jess Zimmerman, Julissa Rojas-Sandoval, Aaron B. Shiels
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Native flora and fauna of Puerto Rico have a long biogeographic connection to South America. Theory and empirical evidence suggest that islands, particularly those distantly isolated from the mainland, should be more susceptible to naturalizations and invasions of non-native species than continental areas. Anthropogenic disturbances can facilitate accidental and deliberate introductions of non-native species. In this study, we asked: What is the current status of introduced species within El Yunque National Forest (EYNF), the largest and most well-conserved forest area of Puerto Rico? To address this question, we reviewed the literature and surveyed local experts to identify introduced plant and …
Biodetection Of A Specific Odor Signature In Mallard Feces Associated With Infection By Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Virus,
2021
Colorado State University
Biodetection Of A Specific Odor Signature In Mallard Feces Associated With Infection By Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Virus, Glen J. Golden, Meredith Jj. Grady, Hailey E. Mclean, Susan A. Shriner, Airn E. Hartwig, Richard A. Bowen, Bruce A. Kimball
USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
Outbreaks of avian influenza virus (AIV) infection included the spread of highly pathogenic AIV in commercial poultry and backyard flocks in the spring of 2015. This resulted in estimated losses of more than $8.5 million from federal government expenditures, $1.6 billion from direct losses to produces arising from destroyed turkey and chicken egg production, and economy-wide indirect costs of $3.3 billion from impacts on retailers and the food service industries. Additionally, these outbreaks resulted in the death or depopulation of nearly 50 million domestic birds. Domesticated male ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) were trained to display a specific conditioned behavior (i.e. …
A Subtropical Nudibranch, Polycera Hummi (Abbott 1952), Described For The First Time From Virginia,
2021
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
A Subtropical Nudibranch, Polycera Hummi (Abbott 1952), Described For The First Time From Virginia, Wissan A. Jawad, Stacy A. Kruger-Hadfield, Paige G. Ross
VIMS Articles
We collected an individual Polycera hummi, a subtropical nudibranch, in association with a green macroalga Ulva sp. from an intertidal oyster reef in Burtons Bay, Wachapreague, VA. The established range of P. hummi is based solely on a handful of records from Mississippi and Florida in the Gulf of Mexico and the Carolinas in the Atlantic Ocean. This finding marks the highest latitude that this species has been found, 350 km north of its previously established range from Mississippi to Beaufort, NC. We observed the individual actively navigate the Ulva thallus which had encrusting bryozoans (unidentified genus) and arborescent …
A Taxonomic Review Of The Family Trachipteridae (Lampridiformes), With An Emphasis On Taxa Distributed In The Western Pacific Ocean,
2021
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
A Taxonomic Review Of The Family Trachipteridae (Lampridiformes), With An Emphasis On Taxa Distributed In The Western Pacific Ocean, Jennifer Martin, Eric J. Hilton
VIMS Articles
The family Trachipteridae—the Ribbonfishes, Dealfishes, and their relatives—has a circumglobal distribution, with at least 10 species in three genera (Zu Walters & Fitch 1960, Desmodema Walters & Fitch 1960, and Trachipterus Goüan 1770) that are characterized by elongate, extremely laterally compressed bodies, large eyes, absence of ribs, spines on lateral-line scales, greatly protrusible mouths, and a lack of pelvic fins in adults. They are also known for the drastic morphological changes that occur during ontogeny. Trachipterids are poorly represented in collections due to the fragile nature of their bodies. Most studies of the Trachipteridae have been limited by the …
A Common Love Of Science: The One-Hundredth Meeting Of The American Society Of Ichthyologists And Herpetologists,
2021
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
A Common Love Of Science: The One-Hundredth Meeting Of The American Society Of Ichthyologists And Herpetologists, Eric J. Hilton, Aaron M. Bauer, Katherine E. Bemis, Et Al
VIMS Articles
One of the most important functions of an academic society such as the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is to host conferences for colleagues to directly share and debate ideas and data. Academic society meetings have a long history that grew from social meetings of the privileged in the 16th and 17th centuries during which scientific topics were discussed. Scientific meetings of any nature can provide a stimulating environment to discuss and argue points (Unglow, 2002), as alluded to by Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) in the epigraph, which was written with fond memory of the Lunar Society …
Scaling The Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Coral Growth And Coral-Coral Competition On Coral Community Recovery,
2021
Old Dominion University
Scaling The Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Coral Growth And Coral-Coral Competition On Coral Community Recovery, Nicolas R. Evensen, Yves-Marie Bozec, Peter J. Edmunds, Peter J. Mumby
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
Ocean acidification (OA) is negatively affecting calcification in a wide variety of marine organisms. These effects are acute for many tropical scleractinian corals under short-term experimental conditions, but it is unclear how these effects interact with ecological processes, such as competition for space, to impact coral communities over multiple years. This study sought to test the use of individual-based models (IBMs) as a tool to scale up the effects of OA recorded in short-term studies to community-scale impacts, combining data from field surveys and mesocosm experiments to parameterize an IBM of coral community recovery on the fore reef of Moorea, …
The Impact Of Chilling On Selected Attributes Of The Blowfly, Calliphora Vicina(Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Under Laboratory Conditions, Meltem Kökdener, Nevran Eylem Akman Gündüz, Ünal Zeybekoğlu
Turkish Journal of Zoology
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of four different chilling periods, varying from 24 to 120 h, on the mean survival rate, larval and pupal development durations and the pupal and adult weight of Calliphora vicina (Robineau-Desvoidy) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) under laboratory conditions at 4 ºC in 2018 at Ondokuz Mayıs University. Chilling reduced the survival rate of the pupae of all developmental stages. The adult eclosion rate of first instar larvae and pupae was lower, especially after 72 and 120 h chilling periods, but it increased for the second instar, third instar and postfeeding larvae with …
The Determination Some Biological Parameters Of Phenacoccus Madeirensis Green (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)) On Vegetable Plants,
2021
TÜBİTAK
The Determination Some Biological Parameters Of Phenacoccus Madeirensis Green (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)) On Vegetable Plants, Mustafa Gökhan Bi̇lgi̇n, Asi̇me Fi̇li̇z Çalişkan Keçe, Mehmet Ri̇fat Ulusoy
Turkish Journal of Zoology
This study has been conducted to determine some biological parameters of the Phenacoccus madeirensis Green (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) on four vegetable plants (7 different varieties); tomato (Hazera and Torry) ( Solanum lycopersicum L.), eggplant (Adana Topağı and Anamur) ( Solanum melongena L.), pepper (Safran and Zafer) ( Capsicum annuum L.), and Pepino (Minski) ( Solanum muricatum L.). Experiments were carried out in climate cabinets at 25 ± 2 °C, 60 ± 10% R.H., and 16L: 8D) in Plant Protection Department Nedim UYGUN Biological Control Laboratory of Agriculture Faculty, Çukurova University between 2017 and 2018. Life table data were analyzed by using …
Kinorhynchs From Sandy Coastal Habitats In Turkey, With The Description Of A New Pan-Mediterranean Species Of Echinoderes (Cyclorhagida: Echinoderidae), Martin Vinther Sørensen, Maria Herranz, Fernando Pardos, Furkan Durucan
Turkish Journal of Zoology
Kinorhynchs from eight sandy, shallow water localities along the west and south coasts of Turkey were examined. The study resulted in the finding of six different species: Two species, Echinoderes gerardi and Cephalorhyncha flosculosa were known from Turkey, two species, Echinoderes riedli and Campyloderes vanhoeffeni were known from the Mediterranean, but are new to Turkey, and two species, Echinoderes sp. and E. shahmaranae sp. nov. are new to science. Echinoderes sp. resembles E. charlotteae from the Gulf of Mexico, but differs at some minor points. However, since only a single specimen was available, only diagnostic details, but no formal description, …
Distal Excurrent Ducts And Penile Morphology Of The Urogenital System In The Mississippi Mud Turtle, Kinosternon Subrubrum Hippocrepis (Chelonia:Kinosternidae),
2021
Arkansas State University
Distal Excurrent Ducts And Penile Morphology Of The Urogenital System In The Mississippi Mud Turtle, Kinosternon Subrubrum Hippocrepis (Chelonia:Kinosternidae), Stanley E. Trauth, Michael V. Plummer
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science
We examined the distal excurrent ductal morphology and penile anatomy of the urogenital system in the Mississippi Mud Turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis, from a small sample of individuals collected in Arkansas in order to provide additional information regarding turtle urogenital anatomy. Specifically, we focused on the basic anatomy and histology of distal excurrent ducts (ductus deferens and ureter), associated structures (urogenital papillae), and penile histology in this kinosternid turtle. In addition, we provide an overview of the gross urogenital anatomy in this turtle, given that little detailed information exists on this topic in the chelonian literature.
Energy Content Of Seeds Of Palmer’S Pigweed (Amaranthus Palmeri) In The Diet Of Scaled Quail (Callipepla Squamata) In Southeastern New Mexico,
2021
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Energy Content Of Seeds Of Palmer’S Pigweed (Amaranthus Palmeri) In The Diet Of Scaled Quail (Callipepla Squamata) In Southeastern New Mexico, John L. Hunt, Matthew E. Grilliot, Troy L. Best, Isaac C. Castillo, Paige E. Eddington, Faith A. Johnson, Tyneshia L. Kilgore, Jacob H. Courson
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science
Palmer’s pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri) is a common grassland plant that occurs across much of North America. It is often considered a weed but is an important source of food for many game birds. We analyzed the energy content of seeds of Palmer’s pigweed obtained from the crops of scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) collected from plains-mesa sand-scrub habitat in Eddy and Lea counties, New Mexico. Seeds were dried for 48 hours at 60°C to remove moisture and then analyzed for gross caloric value (i.e., energy content) in an oxygen bomb calorimeter. Energy content of seeds of Palmer’s …
Morphology Of Rathke’S Glands In The Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys Temminckii (Chelonia: Chelydridae),
2021
Arkansas State University
Morphology Of Rathke’S Glands In The Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys Temminckii (Chelonia: Chelydridae), Stanley E. Trauth
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science
I examined the morphology of Rathke’s glands (RG) in the Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys temminckii, using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. This species possesses 4 pairs of RG (i.e., an axillary and three inframarginals) that are embedded beneath marginal bones and are named primarily according to the anatomical location of their orifices. These holocrine-type, exocrine, integumentary glands are anatomically and ultrastructurally similar to one another. Each gland contains a single and highly vascularized secretory lobule, which is bounded by a thick tunic of asymmetrically-arranged striated muscle bundles. Two types of secretory vacuoles were identified within the holocrine cells …
