Digital Commons Network^™

Flea News 59 (December 1999), Robert E. Lewis

Flea News

Obituary: Li Kuei Chen (January 6, 1911-October 21, 1999)

Miscellanea

Book reviews: Eustorgio Méndez, Insectos y otros artrópodos de importancia médica y veterinaria; Mammals of the Eastern United States, 3rd edition. John O. Whitaker, Jr. and W. J. Hamilton, Jr., 1998; Walker's Mammals of the World: Volume I, 6th edition. Ronald M. Nowak, 1999

Siphonaptera literature

Black-Tailed Deer Habitat Changes In A Portion Of The Mount St. Helens Blast Zone, Ronald W. Davis

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized Landsat TM imagery to evaluate black-tailed deer habitat changes in a portion of the Mount Saint Helens blast zone in western Washington. The purpose of this study was to compare the post eruption vegetation changes with population trends for black tailed deer. The 55,000-acre study area comprises a Washington Department of Game Management unit (GMU 524) located to the northnorthwest of Mount St. Helens. Approximately 80% ofthe mostly forested study area was affected by lateral blast from the 1980 eruption. The area is predominantly private land managed for timber production but a small portion falls within the …

Survey Of Amphibians And Reptiles In Powhatan County, Virginia With Selected Natural History Notes, Jason Daniel Gibson

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis establishes baseline data on the herpetofauna that exist in Powhatan county. No systematic study of the amphibians and reptiles in Powhatan county has ever been conducted. The methods used in this survey include hand capture, egg mass observations, road kill collections, and frog call surveys. Documentation of each species collected included measurements, photographs, range maps, and tape recordings.

This survey produced 8 species of salamanders, 11 anurans, 6 turtles, 4 lizards, and 14 snakes. Based on records in the Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Virginia (Mitchell & Reay, 1999), 11 new county records were discovered. This brings …

Reciprocal Transplantation Of The Desert Soil Crust: Can It Be Done?, Christina D. Cole

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A 100 meter X 100 meter study site was chosen at White Rock Springs in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada. To examine Syntrichia caninervis, a desert crustal moss, reciprocal transplantations (20 mm and 40 mm diameter cores) were performed between shaded to shaded, exposed to exposed, and shaded to exposed microsites to determine if it was possible to transplant the study organism with reasonable survivorship. Transplants were inspected following rain events for percent hydration, number of dead stems, and change in percent cover. Data indicated that there was a low mortality rate of S. caninervis stems, and few …

Differences In Bird Communities On The Forest Edge And In The Forest Interior: Are There Forest-Interior Specialists In Japan?, Reiko Kurosawa, Robert A. Askins

Biology Faculty Publications

Most North American bird species that are less successful in small forests than in large forests, are forest-interior specialists that winter in the tropics. These species have declined in small forests because of high rates of nest predation and brood parasitism near the forest edge. To determine whether migratory forest-interior specialists are also important components of bird communities in Japan, we surveyed bird populations on plots at the edge and in the interior of deciduous forests in Hokkaido and Kyoto. Surveys were conducted during the breeding season in forest fragments using the point count method. We calculated edge indices for …

Review Of The Western Australian Pilchard Fishery 12 -16 April 1999, K. L. Cochane

Fisheries Management Papers

A workshop was held on Monday 12 April 1999 at which presentations were made by representatives of Fisheries WA, speakers from other state fisheries agencies and the Western Australian (WA) pilchard industry. This workshop identified some of the key concerns in the assessment and management of the fishery. This report presents the conclusions reached by the reviewer at the end of the process, which were also presented to members of the WA pilchard fishing industry in Albany on Friday 16 April.

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 31 No.4 December 1999

The Prairie Naturalist

THE FISHES OF THE UPPER MOREAU RIVER ▪ T. M. Loomis, C. R. Berry, Jr., and J. Erickson

DO INTERNAL FIRE LANES AFFECT NEST DEPREDATION RATES IN PRAIRIES? ▪ K. A. Warren and M. R. Ryan

SPECIES COMPOSITION AND TROPHIC STRUCTURE OF INSECT COMMUNITIES IN TEXAS PRAIRIES. ▪ G. N. Cameron and E. H. Bryant

FIDELITY OF MALLARDS TO ARTIFICIAL NESTING STRl!CTURES ▪ T. Yerkes

OBSERVATIONS ON REPRODUCTION IN THREE SPECIES OF BATS ▪ D. W. Sparks, J. R. Choate, and R. J. Winn

EARLIEST SEASONAL RECORD OF REPRODUCTION IN THE HOARY BAT ON THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS ▪ T. …

Predicting Flock Vigilance From Simple Passerine Interactions: Modelling With Cellular Automata, David B. Bahr, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Vigilance in flocks can be described and modelled as a plausible set of local interactions between neighbouring birds. Each bird in the modelled flock chooses to feed or to scan based solely on whether or not its neighbours are feeding or scanning. This simple model has the ability both to reproduce observations that have not been previously explained and to predict flock behaviours that might be confirmed with future field studies. Examples include simulations showing decreased vigilance with increased flock size (as observed in the field), greater time spent scanning when obstacles such as trees are present (as observed) and …

Fall 1999, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Three-Dimensional Reconstructions Of Tadpole Chondrocrania From Histological Sections, Gary P. Radice, Mary Kate Boggiano, Mark Desantis, Peter M. Larson, Joseph Oppong, Matthew T. Smetanick, Todd M. Stevens, James Tripp, Rebecca A. Weber, Michael Kerckhove, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Reconstructing three dimensional structures (3DR) from histological sections has always been difficult but is becoming more accessible with the assistance of digital imaging. We sought to assemble a low cost system using readily available hardware and software to generate 3DR for a study of tadpole chondrocrania. We found that a combination of RGB camera, stereomicroscope, and Apple Macintosh PowerPC computers running NIH Image, Object Image, Rotater. and SURFdriver software provided acceptable reconstructions. These are limited in quality primarily by the distortions arising from histological protocols rather than hardware or software.

Review Of A Classification Of North American Biotic Communities By David E. Brown, Frank Reichenbacher, Susan E. Franson, Robert B. Kaul

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This is the latest of many efforts over the past century to classify North America's natural, undisturbed biological communities as they existed in pre-agrarian times and in many places continue to exist today. Its authors' stated objective is to integrate existing works into a hierarchical synthesis that can lead to a standardized system for researchers, land managers, conservation groups, and government agencies. To that end, the authors have modified and expanded David Brown's earlier classification for the Southwest to cover the continent, defined here as the area from the Panama Canal to the Arctic, including Greenland and some of the …

Review Of Population Biology Of Grasses, Thomas B. Bragg

Biology Faculty Publications

Population Biology of Grasses provides a wealth of knowledge beyond population biology that ecologists and ecosystem biologists will find relevant to their concerns, particularly those with an interest in grasslands. Though not limited to the Great Plains region, the book would make an excellent addition to the reference shelf of anyone interested in grasses and grassland-related ecosystems, including readers with an interest in land management and preservation. While the papers are written for different levels of readers, all provide information accessible to non-specialists.

Comparative Taphonomy And Paleoecology Of A Glaciomarine Fauna, Carboniferous (Westphalian- Namurian) La Capilla Fm., Argentina, Rex A. Hanger, Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe

Virginia Journal of Science

The Carboniferous La Capilla Fm. of the Calingasta-Uspallata basin of western Argentina contains a low diversity fauna inhabiting a continental shelf under glacial ice fronts advancing from the east. Distal glaciomarine sediments on these ice-influenced shelves of Gondwana are most commonly interpreted as being deposited under quiet, low-energy conditions. Ta­phonomic and paleoecologic analysis of a sample of the fauna reveals the following: low species richness, yet comparable equitability to coeval, tropi­cal faunas; low articulation ratios and high pedicle valve dominance for brachiopods; diverse corrasion modes, about half relatively high categories; one hundred percent fracturing of brachiopod shells, with carinate fracture …

Evolutionary Patterns Of Morphometrics, Allozymes And Mitochondrial Dna In Thrashers (Genus Toxostoma), Robert M. Zink, Donna L. Dittmann, John Klicka, Rachelle C. Blackwell-Rago

Ornithology Program (HRC)

We examined patterns of variation in skeletal morphometrics (29 characters), allozymes (34 loci), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction sites (n = 74) and fragments (n = 395), and mtDNA sequences (1,739 bp from cytochrome b, ND2, ND6, and the control region) among all species of Toxostoma. The phenetic pattern of variation in skeletal morphometrics generally matched traditional taxonomic groupings (based on plumage patterns) with the exceptions of T. redivivum, which because of its large size clusters outside of its proper evolutionary group (lecontei), and T. occelatum, which did not cluster with T. curvirostre. Skull characters contributed highly to species discrimination, suggesting …

The Impact Of Resident And Transient Predators On The Popultation Dynamics Of Juvenile Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) In Florida Bay, Florida, Jason Edward Schratwieser

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

There has been a considerable amount of research devoted to exploring the relationship between predators and prey, but many of these studies fail to address how predation can vary over spatial and temporal scales. The tendency of ecologists to model predation as a static entity often masks its capacity for creating distinctive effects in prey populations and communities. Most predation studies also focus on the effect of a single species of predator on a prey population, an unrealistic situation in nature. In the Florida Keys, juvenile spiny lobsters are subjected to two general classes of predators: i) "resident" predators such …

A Study Of The Seasonal Composition And Abundance Of Phytoplankton And Autotrophic Picoplankton In A Brackish Water Lake In Portsmouth Virginia, Jennifer Leigh Wolny

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The phytoplankton and autotrophic picoplankton populations of Hoffler Lake, a brackish-water lake in Portsmouth, Virginia, were monitored from May 1997 through May 1998, Analyses of the phytoplankton community using the Utennohl method showed a dominance of Chlorophytes (61-88% of the total abundance) throughout the year, including a winter bloom of Chlamydomonas snowii (maximum concentration of 2.5 x 101 cells/L). Subdominants were Cyanobacteria (10-33% of the total abundance) whose composition included several species of Anabaena, Lyngbya, and a fall bloom of Microcoleus sp. Diatoms, dinoflagellates, and cryptophytes played a secondary role in the phytoplankton community of Hoffler Lake. …

History Of Grassland Birds In Eastern North America, Robert A. Askins

Biology Faculty Publications

Until recently the severe decline in the populations of many species of grassland birds in eastern North America has aroused relatively little concern or conservation action. This response appears to be rooted in the perception that grassland birds invaded the East Coast from western grasslands after European settlers cleared the forest. Detailed historical accounts and analysis of pollen deposits, however, show that open grasslands existed on the East Coast of North America at the time of European settlement. Extensive grasslands resulted from burning and agricultural clearing by Native Americans. Natural disturbances, such as wildfire and beaver (Castor canadensis) activity, produced …

Comparing The Tadpoles Of Hyla Geographica And Hyla Semilineata, Anne D'Heursel, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

External morphology, internal oral anatomy, and chondrocranial anatomy were examined for tadpoles of Hyla geographica from the Amazon rainforest, Brazil, and Hyla semilineata from the Atlantic rainforest, Brazil. Here, we provide morphological larval data to help diagnose these closely related species. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of buccal morphology showed the most distinctive features between these species: the distance between the lingual papillae in the buccal floor of H. geographica is three times greater than that distance in H. semilineata, and the relative size of the lingual papillae in H. geographica is less than half their size in H. semilineata. Although …

Host-Driven Population Dynamics In An Herbivorous Insect, Tiina Ylioja, Heikki Roininen, Matthew P. Ayres, Matti Rousi, Peter W. Price

Dartmouth Scholarship

Understanding the nature and relative importance of endogenous (density-dependent) and exogenous (density-independent) effects on population dynamics remains a central problem in ecology. Evaluation of these forces has been constrained by the lack of long time series of population densities and largely limited to populations chosen for their unique dynamics (e.g., outbreak insects). Especially in herbivore populations, the relative contributions of bottom-up and top-down effects (resources and natural enemies, respectively) have been difficult to compare because population data have rarely been combined with resource measurements. The feeding scars of a wood-mining herbivorous insect (Phytobia betulae Kangas; Diptera: Agromyzidae) of birch …

Celastrina Idella (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae): A New Butterfly Species From The Atlantic Coastal Plain, David M. Wright, Harry Pavulaan

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

A new species of Polyommatinae, Celastrina idella, is described from the sandy Atlantic coastal plain of the eastern United States. It is presently known to occur from southern New Jersey through Georgia. Celastrina idella larvae have been recorded from four species of Ilex (holly). Celastrina idella is distinguished from sympatric C. ladon and C. neglecta by differences in larval host, flight period, pupal diapause, and adult size and wing characters. In the New Jersey pine barrens the butterfly is univoltine and flies in the spring between the flights of its sympatric congeners.

Development Of A Novel Method For Phenol Detection Using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography, Danette Young Carlton

Theses & Honors Papers

The purpose of this study was to develop a more efficient method to test for phenol in both wastewater and non-wastewater. Phenol is a caustic and toxic contaminant that may be present in our water supplies. Phenol is used in various resins, pharmaceuticals, plastics and disinfectants. Environmental Protection Agency methods are available to test for phenol using gas chromatography along with mass spectrometry or flame ionization detection. Each of these methods can be a long, involved process consisting of extraction, many sample injections, and interference problems. This method developed an easier and less complicated approach of testing for phenol in …

Asymmetry And Fighting Performance In The Shore Crab Carcinus Maenas, Lynne U. Sneddon, John P. Swaddle

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Fluctuating asymmetries (left–right differences in symmetric traits) can be negatively related to fitness parameters in a number of biological systems. Hence, it has been suggested that symmetric individuals should outcompete asymmetric individuals during intraspecific agonistic encounters. However, there is a lack of experimental evidence for such a relationship. We investigated the relationship between trait asymmetry (both directional and fluctuating asymmetry) and the outcome of agonistic encounters among size-matched male shore crabs. Our findings indicate that cheliped (‘weapon claw’) directional asymmetry is not related to the outcome of fights, whereas fluctuating asymmetry in the fifth pereiopod, but not the second pereiopod, …

Summer 1999, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 31, No.3 September 1999

The Prairie Naturalist

HANTA VIRUS INFECTION IN NORTH DAKOTA SMALL MAMMALS: 1994,1995 ▪ R. W. Seabloom, J. J. Feist, and S L. McDonough

AMERICAN WOODCOCK IN COLORADO ▪ C. E. Braun

AVIFAUNA OF AN EARLY SUCCESSIONAL HABITAT ALONG THE MIDDLE MISSOURI RIVER ▪ D. L. Swanson

REPRODUCTIVE STATUS OF FLEA BEETLES IN NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA ▪ M. A. Brinkman and S. A. Clay

NUTRIENT AND ENERGY CHARACTERISTICS OF INVERTEBRATES FROM TWO LOCATIONS IN KANSAS ▪ S. G. Papon, R. J. Robel, and K. Kemp

BOOK REVIEWS

The Wood Warblers ▪ M. G. Knutson

A Fascination With Birds. ▪ J. A. Dechant …

Avian Communities Of Large Reclaimed Mine Grasslands In Southwestern Indiana, Travis L. Devault

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many bird species native to the tallgrnss prairie region oCthc central U.S. have declined drastically since European settlement due lo the destruction and alteration of grassland habitat. In this study, the breeding bird communities or 21 large reclaimed surface coal mine grasslands in a seven-county area or southwestern Indiana were examined with respect to species and guild composition, density, variation among sites, and grassland size. In addition, the vegetation characteristics of nine large mine grasslands were described and related to the presence and abundance or eight grasslund bird species common to the study areas. The immense size of mine grasslands …

Use Of Extractable Lipofuscin For Age Determination Of Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus, Se-Jong Ju, David H. Secor, H. Rodger Harvey

OES Faculty Publications

The blue crab Callinectes sapidus is an economically and ecologically important species in many temperate estuaries, yet stock assessments have been limited to length-based methods for demographic analyses. We evaluated the potential of age pigments (lipofuscins) sequestered in neural tissue of eye-stalks and brains to estimate the age of blue crabs collected from Chesapeake Bay and Chincoteague Bay. The rate of lipofuscin accumulation was determined using crabs of known age reared in the laboratory. Age pigments were extracted from neural tissues (eye-stalk or brain), quantified, and normalized to protein content to allow comparisons across tissue types and crab sizes. Field-collected …

Deliberate Introductions Of Species: Research Needs, John J. Ewel, Dennis J. O'Dowd, Joy Bergelson, Curtis C. Daehler, Carla M. D'Antonio, Luis Diego Gómez, Doria R. Gordon, Richard J. Hobbs, Alan Holt, Keith R. Hopper, Colin E. Hughes, Marcy Lahart, Roger R. B. Leakey, William G. Lee, Lloyd L. Loope, David H. Lorence, Svata M. Louda, Ariel E. Lugo, Peter B. Mcevoy, David M. Richardson, Peter M. Vitousek

Svata M. Louda Publications

Research questions about introductions

Several research questions need to be answered to help ensure that proposed introductions are done wisely and safely.

Guarding against risks without sacrificing benefits:
How can the potential benefits and costs of introductions best be evaluated in economic, environmental, and social terms?
Should all introductions be regulated?
How different must organisms or recipient ecosystems be from those assessed previously to warrant independent assessment?
When is it appropriate to assess and regulate taxa other than species?
What are appropriate ecological and political boundaries for regulation?

Alternatives to introductions:
How and when can indigenous organisms be domesticated so …

Systematics Of The Eucestoda: Advances Toward A New Phylogenetic Paradigm And Observations On The Early Diversification Of Tapeworms And Vertebrates, Eric P. Hoberg, Scott Lyell Gardner, Ronald A. Campbell

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Evolutionary relationships of the Eucestoda have received intense but sporadic attention over the past century. Since 1996, the landscape has dramatically changed with respect to our knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships among the tapeworms. The 2nd International Workshop for Tapeworm Systematics (IWTS) held in Lincoln, Nebraska in October of that year provided the catalyst for development of novel hypotheses for inter-and intra-ordinal phylogeny. The working-group structure of the 2nd IWTS and results of phylogenetic studies are briefly introduced in the present manuscript. Higher-level phylogenies derived from parsimony analysis of independent data bases representing comparative morphology or molecular sequences were largely …

Evidence Supporting The Recent Origin And Species Status Of The Timberline Sparrow, John Klicka, Robert M. Zink, Jon C. Barlow, W. Bruce Mcgillivray, Terry J. Doyle

Ornithology Program (HRC)

The Timberline Sparrow (Spizella taverneri), although originally described as a species, is currently classified as a subspecies of the more widespread Brewer's Sparrow (S. breweri). We investigated the taxonomic status and recent evolutionary history of these species by comparison of both morphological and molecular characters. Morphometric comparisons using 6 external and 18 skeletal measurements show that S. taverneri specimens from two widely separated populations (Yukon and southwestern Alberta, Canada) are indistinguishable with respect to size yet are significantly larger (by 3%) than representatives of several breweri populations. Analysis of 1,413 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for 10 breweri and …

Hübner’S Helicta, The Forgotten Neonympha: The Recognition And Elevation Of Neonympha Helicta (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) To Specific Status, The Designation Of Neotypes For N. Helicta And N. Areolatus, The Subspecific Transfer Of Septentrionalis To Helicta And The Description Of A Third Helicta Subspecies From South Florida, Ronald R. Gatrelle

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

Hübner (1806) based the name Oreas fimbriata helicta on a John Abbot painting of a southeastern United States satyr without a written description. Subsequent lepidopterists have nearly ignored this taxon. Helicta is herein recognized as a valid species–Neonympha helicta. A neotype is designated for helicta from Aiken County, South Carolina and deposited in the Allyn Museum of Entomology Sarasota, Florida. A neotype is also designated for Papilio areolata J.E. Smith, 1797 from Chatham County, Georia and deposited in the Allyn Museum of Entomology. Septentrionalis Davis, 1924 is recognized as the northern United States subspecies of helicta not areolatus …