Digital Commons Network^™

Lifestyle Of Shellmound Builders In Brazil (Galley Proofs), Sabine Eggers, C. C. Petronilho, K. Brandt, J. Filippini, Karl J. Reinhard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The contact of inland and coastal prehistoric groups in Brazil is believed to have been restricted to regions with no geographical barrier, as is the case in the Ribeira de Iguape valley. The inland osteological collection from the riverine shellmound Moraes (5800–4500 BP) represents a unique opportunity to test this assumption for this region. Despite cultural similarities between riverine and coastal shellmounds, important ecological and site distribution differences are expected to impact on lifestyle. The purpose of this study is thus to document and interpret health and lifestyle indicators in Moraes in comparison to coastal shellmound groups. Specifically we test …

Grades 9-10 Energy Sources, Roxana Estrada

Science

This is a science lesson for students in ninth and tenth grade on Energy Sources that can be used in an ecology class. Through this lesson students will be able to make decisions and acknowledge that that their activities had a profound impact on the physical and living environment and students will be able to explain the most common energy sources. Students will be tiered by ability and within their groups they will choose between two topics based on interest.

Spots Of Adult Male Red-Spotted Newts Are Redder And Brighter Than In Females: Evidence For A Role In Mate Selection?, Andrew K. Davis, Kristine L. Grayson

Biology Faculty Publications

As aquatic adults, eastern red-spotted newts (Notophthalmus v. viridescens) are generally green with two rows of dorsal spots, which vary in number between individuals and range in colour from orange to red. The function of these spots is unknown, but it is possible that they serve as sexual ornamentations and we examined this hypothesis by testing for sexual dimorphism in spot characteristics. We used an image analysis approach that has been used previously with this and other amphibian species to compare the number, size and colour – redness (hue score) and brightness – of spots in 100 male …

Adaptive Management Report For The Clark County, Nevada Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, Desert Conservation Program

Publications (C)

The Desert Conservation Program administers an incidental take permit for desert tortoise and 77 other species. The permit was issued in 2001 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in accordance with the Endangered Species Act. Compliance with the permit requires implementation of the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. This plan requires an adaptive management program and a biennial report by an independent science advisor to assess the status of the plan and make recommendations for future funding. The 2008 Adaptive Management Report reviews current data on land use trends, habitat loss, species status, plan implementation, programmatic …

Review Of The "Online Dictionary Of Invertebrate Zoology" From Parasites And Vectors, Les Chappell

Armand R. Maggenti Online Dictionary of Invertebrate Zoology

This is a very useful dictionary, one which I wish I had had access to when, as an undergraduate student of zoology, I was required to consult Hyman’s intensely erudite prose and needed serious assistance in the explication of countless seemingly obscure terms. ... I therefore recommend that all invertebrate zoologists, old or young, mark the URL for this dictionary in their favourites section and use it whenever an unfamiliar (or even supposedly familiar) term is encountered or used.

Familiarity With Breeding Habitat Improves Daily Survival In Colonial Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Kathleen R. Brazeal

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

One probable cost of dispersing to a new breeding habitat is unfamiliarity with local conditions such as the whereabouts of food or the habits of local predators, and consequently immigrants may have lower probabilities of survival than more experienced residents. Within a breeding season, estimated daily survival probabilities of cliff swallows, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, at colonies in southwestern Nebraska, USA, were highest for birds that had always nested at the same site, followed by those for birds that had nested there in some (but not all) past years. Daily survival probabilities were lowest for birds that were naive immigrants to …

When To Be A Dear Enemy: Flexible Acoustic Relationships Of Neighbouring Skylarks, Alauda Arvensis, Elodie Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin

Ethology Collection

Numerous territorial species are less aggressive towards neighbours than strangers. This tolerance towards neighbouring conspecifics, termed the ‘dear enemy’ effect, seems to be a flexible feature of the relationship between neighbours, and has been shown to disappear in some species after experimental or natural modifications of the context. However, the maintenance over time of this singular relationship has been poorly studied. In this study, we followed the change of dear enemy relationships during the breeding season in a territorial songbird with a complex song, the skylark. We examined in the field the response of territory owners to playbacks of neighbour …

Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers And Hurricanes, Zoe Hoyle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fall 2008, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Induction Of Winter Breeding In Small Mammals By 6-Mboa, Robert K. Rose, Roger K. Everton, Gregory E. Glass

Virginia Journal of Science

A plant-derived cyclic carbamate, 6-methoxybenzoxazolinone (6-MBOA), is

known to initiate reproductive activity in Microtus montanus. We studied

overwintering populations of four other rodent species, and observed increased

reproduction in experimental populations of two herbivorous species, Microtus

pennsylvanicus and Sigmodon hispidus, but not in two omnivorous species,

Oryzomys palustris and Mus musculus. These results suggest that low

concentrations of 6-MBOA may trigger seasonal breeding primarily in

herbivorous small mammals.

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1: Technical input has been provided at eight advisory team meetings attended this quarter. Broad, overarching “Issues of Concern” developed for the Boulder Basin Adaptive Management Plan are currently under review by Drs. David Wong and Shawn Gerstenberger. A Selenium Management Plan is also under review.

Project 2: Data collected by the Southern Nevada Water Authority has been synthesized to summarize bacteria counts in high-use areas of Lakes Mead and Mohave. This information will be documented and interpreted for management use in a formal report in the upcoming quarter.

Project 3: A draft document titled “Suggested Standard Methods for …

Spawning Salmon Disrupt Trophic Coupling Between Wolves And Ungulate Prey In Coastal British Columbia, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, Thomas E. Reimchen

Nonindigenous Pests and Biological Invasions Collection

Background: As a cross-boundary resource subsidy, spawning salmon can strongly affect consumer and ecosystem ecology. Here we examine whether this marine resource can influence a terrestrial wolf-deer (Canis lupus-Odocoileus hemionus) predator-prey system in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Data on resource availability and resource use among eight wolf groups for three seasons over four years allow us to evaluate competing hypotheses that describe salmon as either an alternate resource, consumed in areas where deer are scarce, or as a targeted resource, consumed as a positive function of its availability. Faecal (n = 2203 wolf scats) and isotopic analyses (n = 60 …

Phylogeographical Structure And Evolutionary History Of Two Buggy Creek Virus Lineages In The Western Great Plains Of North America, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Kathryn P. Gaines, Valerie A. O'Brien, Stephanie A. Strickler, Allison E. Johnson, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Buggy Creek virus (BCRV) is an unusual arbovirus within the western equine encephalitis complex of alphaviruses. Associated with cimicid swallow bugs (Oeciacus vicarius) as its vector and the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus) as its amplifying hosts, this virus is found primarily in the western Great Plains of North America at spatially discrete swallow nesting colonies. For 342 isolates collected in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, and North Dakota, from 1974 to 2007, we sequenced a 2076 bp region of the 26S subgenomic RNA structural glycoprotein coding region, and analyzed phylogenetic relationships, …

Sex- And Gonad-Affecting Scent Compounds And 3 Male Pheromones In The Rat, Jian-Xu Zhang, Lixing Sun, Jin-Hua Zhang, Zhi-Yong Feng

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study was aimed at identifying sex pheromones of the rat (Rattus norvegicus). We characterized the volatiles and semivolatiles of rat preputial gland and voided urine by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and quantified them by their GC areas (abundances) and percentage of GC areas (relative abundances). Although all the compounds other than 4-heptanone and phenol detected were shared by males and females, the quantities for some of these sex-common compounds exhibited sexual dimorphism and decreased with gonadectomy. Thus, these compounds might be sex pheromones. Among them, squalene from preputial glands and 2-heptanone and 4-ethyl phenol from urine …

The Prairie Naturalist. Volume 40, No. 3/4 September/December 2008, The Great Plains Natural Science Society

The Prairie Naturalist

WINTERKILL AND BIOMASS OF THE PAINTED TURTLE IN A SOUTH DAKOTA WETLAND. S. G. Platt, Z. Fast Horse, W. Cross, S. Mannel, and T. R. Rainwater

NON-BLACKBIRD AVIAN OCCURRENCE AND ABUNDANCE IN NORTH DAKOTA SUNFLOWER FIELDS. O. A. Schaaf, G. M. Linz, C. Ooetkott, M. W. Lutman, and W. J. Bleier

USING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND REMOTE SENSING TO MAP KNOWN AND POTENTIAL PRAIRIE-CHICKEN DISTRIBUTION IN KANSAS. M. E. Houts, R. O. Rodgers, R. D. Applegate, and W. H. Busby

A CASE STUDY OF A SUCCESSFUL LAKE REHABILITATION PROJECT IN SOUTH-CENTRAL NEBRASKA. P. J. Spirk, B. A. Newcomb, and K. O. …

Non-Blackbird Avian Occurrence And Abundance In North Dakota Sunflower Fields, Dionn A. Schaaf, George M. Linz, Curt Doetkott, Mark W. Lutman, William J. Bleier

The Prairie Naturalist

Sunflower fields are well-documented as foraging habitat for fallmigrating blackbirds (Family Icteridae). There is, however, a paucity of information on the use of sunflower fields by non-blackbirds. We assessed non-blackbird use of 12 ripening sunflower fields in the Prairie Pothole Region of central North Dakota. From mid-August to mid-October 2000, we counted 4,129 individual birds, consisting of 22 families and 61 species, in the sample fields and within 5 m of the field edges. We saw the largest number of birds from 18 September to 27 September. The Family Emberizidae (sparrows) accounted for 26% of the species and 20% of …

Winterkill And Biomass Of The Painted Turtle In A South Dakota Wetland, Steven G. Platt, Zannita Fast Horse, Warren Cross, Sylvio Mannel, Thomas R. Rainwater

The Prairie Naturalist

Winterkill occurs when drought conditions expose hibernating turtles to desiccation and lethaly cold temperatures. Winterkill is thought to represent a major source of mortality in northern populations of the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta), but few field observations are available. We herein reported on catastrophic winterkill among western painted turtle (C. pieta bellii) at Limestone Butte Lake (LBL) in western South Dakota during the winter of 2003-2004. Additionally, we used the carcasses of winterkilled turtles (n = 86) to estimate the standing crop biomass of the painted turtle at LBL (0.6 kg/ha). This was the only estimate …

Semi-Melanistic White-Tailed Deer In Northern Wisconsin, Christopher N. Jacques, Keith R. Mccaffery, Jonathan Jenks, John T. Baccus

The Prairie Naturalist

Melanistic color morphs of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are differentiated from other recognized color morphs by having uniform black hairs on the dorsal surface with subdued black hairs on the ventral surface, dark face and ears, a distinctive mid-dorsal stripe extending from the head to the apex of the tail, and a tail with black dorsally and white ventrally (Baccus and Posey 1999). Melanism results from the overproduction of the skin pigment melanin and is considered rare in white-tailed deer populations (Severinghaus and Cheatum 1956, Sauer 1984, Smith et al. 1984). Semi-melanistic deer have the same dark pelage …

Habitat-Mediated Foraging Limitations Drive Survival Bottlenecks For Juvenile Salmon, Brian P. Kennedy, Keith H. Nislow, Carol L. Folt

Dartmouth Scholarship

Realistic population models and effective conservation strategies require a thorough understanding of mechanisms driving stage-specific mortality. Mortality bottlenecks for many species occur in the juvenile stage and are thought to result from limitation on food or foraging habitat during a "critical period" for growth and survival. Without a way to account for maternal effects or to measure integrated consumption rates in the field, it has been virtually impossible to test these relationships directly. Hence uncertainties about mechanisms underlying such bottlenecks remain. In this study we randomize maternal effects across sites and apply a new method for measuring consumption integrated over …

Drift By Drift: Effective Population Size Is Limited By Advection, John P. Wares, James M. Pringle

Earth Sciences

Background: Genetic estimates of effective population size often generate surprising results, including dramatically low ratios of effective population size to census size. This is particularly true for many marine species, and this effect has been associated with hypotheses of "sweepstakes" reproduction and selective hitchhiking. Results: Here we show that in advective environments such as oceans and rivers, the mean asymmetric transport of passively dispersed reproductive propagules will act to limit the effective population size in species with a drifting developmental stage. As advection increases, effective population size becomes decoupled from census size as the persistence of novel genetic lineages is …

Foraging Ecology Of American Oystercatchers In The Cape Romain Region, South Carolina, Christine Hand

All Theses

During the nonbreeding season, the Cape Romain Region of South Carolina supports ca. one-sixth of the total population of the eastern race (palliatus) of the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), which consists of only ca. 11,000 individuals and appears to be declining. I compared the density, size, and orientation of the primary prey, Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and the foraging behaviors of adult American Oystercatchers among the three largest bays in the Cape Romain Region that American Oystercatchers used as foraging areas. Results indicated that prey size, prey orientation, and the foraging behaviors of American …

A Note On The Effectiveness Of Behavioural Rehabilitation For Reducing Inter-Dog Aggression In Shelter Dogs, Jane S. Orihel, David Fraser

Interactive Behavior Collection

The effectiveness of a rehabilitation program for reducing inter-dog aggression was evaluated at the municipal animal shelter. Sixteen dogs (of 60 examined) met the study criteria of medium inter-dog aggression as determined by an inter-dog aggression test. These dogs received a 10-day treatment of daily rehabilitation for 30 min (rehabilitation group, n = 9) or daily release into an outdoor enclosure for 30 min (control group, n = 7). Rehabilitation consisted of desensitising and counter-conditioning dogs to the approach of other ‘‘stimulus’’ dogs. Most dogs in the rehabilitation group showed a decline in aggression scores when re-tested after the last …

Summer 2008, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Diet Influences Mate Choice Selectivity In Adult Female Wolf Spiders, Eileen Hebets, Jennifer Wesson, Paul S. Shamble

Eileen Hebets Publications

Most studies of female choice have assumed that mating preferences are shared within a population or species. However, variation both within and among females exists in natural populations, and foraging history is among the many ways in which females may vary. Here, we used diet manipulations in an effort to understand how foraging history influences female mate choice. Immature Schizocosa wolf spiders collected from a mixed population of brush-legged and non-ornamented males were reared in the laboratory on two diets that varied in both quality and quantity (low/high diet). For low- and high-diet individuals, we recorded data on rates of …

Fish Distributions And Nutrient Cycling In Streams: Can Fish Create Biogeochemical Hotspots, Peter B. Mcintyre, Alexander S. Flecker, Michael J. Vanni, James M. Hood, Brad W. Taylor, Steven A. Thomas

Dartmouth Scholarship

Rates of biogeochemical processes often vary widely in space and time, and characterizing this variation is critical for understanding ecosystem functioning. In streams, spatial hotspots of nutrient transformations are generally attributed to physical and microbial processes. Here we examine the potential for heterogeneous distributions of fish to generate hotspots of nutrient recycling. We measured nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) excretion rates of 47 species of fish in an N-limited Neotropical stream, and we combined these data with population densities in each of 49 stream channel units to estimate unit- and reach-scale nutrient recycling. Species varied widely in rates of N …

Response Properties Of The Auditory Telencephalon In Songbirds Change With Recent Experience And Season, Thomas A. Terleph, Kai Lu, David S. Vicario

Biology Faculty Publications

The caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) is a telencephalic auditory area that is selectively activated by conspecific vocalizations in zebra finches and canaries. We recently demonstrated that temporal and spectral dynamics of auditory tuning in NCM differ between these species [1]. In order to determine whether these differences reflect recent experience, we exposed separate groups of each species and sex to different housing conditions. Adult birds were housed either in an aviary with conspecifics (NORM), with heterospecifics (canary subjects in a zebra finch aviary, and vice versa: (CROSS)), or in isolation (ISO) for 9 days prior to testing. We then recorded extracellular …

Breeding And Foraging Ecology Of American Oystercatchers In The Cape Romain Region, South Carolina, Janet Thibault

All Theses

The majority of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) in South Carolina make their nests on narrow, elevated mounds of oyster shells deposited naturally along the edges of bays by storms or formed artificially by boat wakes along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW). I compared reproductive success of American Oystercatchers nesting along the AICW with those nesting on naturally formed shell mounds in Bulls Bay within the Cape Romain Region of South Carolina during the breeding seasons of 2006 and 2007. I identified timing and causes of nest failure and attributes of re-nesting. Hatching success (15%) and productivity estimates (0.25 chicks per …

Legislative Committee On Public Lands, Margaret N. Rees

Presentations (PLI)

The Public Lands Institute is dedicated to strengthening the national fabric that is essential for the protection, conservation, multiple use, and management of public lands.

A Phylogeny Of The Snappers (Lutjanidae; Percoidei) Inferred From Cytochrome B Sequence Data, Matthew R. Semcheski

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The Lutjanidae are economically and ecologically important fishes commonly known as snappers. A morphological study of Lutjanidae concluded that it contained four subfamilies and that together with the family Caesionidae, form the superfamily Lutjanoidea. Although this view was supported elsewhere in the literature, it was later contradicted, treating the caesionids as members of the Lutjanidae. In order to infer a phylogeny of genera within Lutjanidae, the complete cytochrome b gene (1140bp) of 21 lutjanid taxa was sequenced and analyzed along with 19 lutjanid, caesionid, and outgroup sequences obtained from GenBank. Data were analyzed for base composition stationarity and saturation. Phylogenetic …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending June 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• Translocation program completed this quarter at current active translocation sites.
• Egg mass surveys at Blue Point Spring conducted approximately weekly; two additional egg massed collected from site for head-starting.
• Frogs released at Blue Point and Rogers from egg masses collected at Blue Point in March and April, further augmentations planned.
• Spring nocturnal surveys completed.
• Coordination for potential translocation sites on BLM lands ongoing.
• Habitat improvements coordinated and conducted at one new translocation site on BLM lands in the Gold Butte; site received frogs in April.
• All milestones and deliverables associated with …