Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Lethal And Nonlethal Management Options For Urban Coyotes, Stewart W. Breck, Sharon A. Poessel, Mary Ann Bonnell

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Human-coyote conflict in urban environments is a growing issue in cities throughout the United States with the primary problem being the development of problem individuals that are overly bold and aggressive with people and pets. Little research has focused on management options to deal with this conflict. We better define lethal and nonlethal management strategies associated with proactive and reactive management of coyotes with an emphasis on management of problem individuals. We then provide data from research in the Denver Metropolitan Area (DMA) that focused on reactive lethal removal of problem coyotes and reactive nonlethal hazing (i.e., community-level hazing, a …

Coyote Attacks On Humans, 1970-2015: Implications For Reducing The Risks, Rex O. Baker, Robert M. Timm

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Beginning with the emerging pattern of urban and suburban coyotes (Canis latrans) attacking humans in southern California in the late 1970s, we analyzed information from reported attacks to better understand the factors contributing to changes in coyote behavior. We subsequently used updated data collected largely in urban and suburban environments in the United States and Canada during the past 30 years to develop strategies to reduce the risk of attacks. In the 1990s, increased incidents of coyote attacks were reported in states beyond California and in Canadian provinces. We documented 367 attacks on humans by coyotes from 1977 …

Substrate-Borne Communication In Chameleons: Do Vibrations Induce Behavioral Changes?, Emily J. Hamilton

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Understanding the modes of communication used by a species is essential to understanding their ecology, behavior, and evolution. Substrate-borne vibrations have been reported to be produced by the veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus), possibly implemented by use of a gular pouch. We found that veiled chameleons produced vibrations under dominance and mating behavioral contexts. We tested the sensitivity of veiled chameleons to vibrations by placing chameleons, one at a time, on a wooden dowel attached to a permanent magnetic shaker and recording each chameleon’s behavior before, during, and after a three-pulse vibrational stimulus of 25, 50, 150, 300, or 600 Hz. …

Spatial And Temporal Variation In Brackish Wetland Seedbanks: Implications For Wetland Restoration Following Phragmites Control, Eric L. G. Hazelton, Rebekah Downard, Karin M. Kettenring, Melissa K. Mccormick, Dennis F. Whigham

Ecology Center Publications

Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands are experiencing a broad-scale, aggressive invasion by the non-native, clonal grass Phragmites australis. The grass is often managed with herbicides in efforts to restore native plant communities and wildlife habitat. Management efforts, however, can act as a disturbance, resulting in increased light availability, potentially fostering reinvasion from soil seedbanks. If native vegetation establishes quickly from seedbanks, the site should have greater resiliency against invasion, while disturbed sites where native plants do not rapidly establish may be rapidly colonized by P. australis. We surveyed the soil seedbank of three vegetation cover types in five Chesapeake …

Big Brains Stabilize Populations And Facilitate Colonization Of Variable Habitats In Birds, Trevor S. Fristoe, Andrew N. Iwaniuk, Carlos A. Botero

Biology Faculty Research

The cognitive buffer hypothesis posits that environmental variability can be a major driver of the evolution of cognition because an enhanced ability to produce flexible behavioural responses facilitates coping with the unexpected. Although comparative evidence supports different aspects of this hypothesis, a direct connection between cognition and the ability to survive a variable and unpredictable environment has yet to be demonstrated. Here, we use complementary demographic and evolutionary analyses to show that among birds, the mechanistic premise of this hypothesis is well supported but the implied direction of causality is not. Specifically, we show that although population dynamics are more …

Physiological Ecology Of Four Endemic Alabama Species And The Exotic Asiatic Weatherfish, Misgurnus Anguillicaudatus (Cantor, 1842), Lindsay M. White, Mark E. Meade, Benjamin A. Staton

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The occurrence of Asiatic Weatherfish, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, in Alabama, a state known for its rich biodiversity, has generated concern among conservation managers. The current study used respirometry techniques to investigate the effects of increasing temperature on four native southeastern fishes (one cyprinid, two percids, and one elassomid) and the non-native M. anguillicaudatus. A minimum of five individuals of each species were used, and three experimental temperatures were chosen to represent spring and summer averages of northeast Alabama streams (15, 20, and 25°C). Overall, mean standard metabolic rates (SMRs) for M. anguillicaudatus were low (97.01, 127.75, and 158.50 mg …

The Inconvenient Truth About Thinking Chickens, Lori Marino

Animal Sentience

Original Abstract: Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. Some birds are now known to be on a par with many mammals in their intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Yet views of chickens have largely remained unrevised in light of this new evidence. In this paper, I examine the data on cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such areas as self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control, and comparing their abilities with other birds and other vertebrates, particularly …

First Report Of A Population Of Western Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys Obtusus) In The Brushy Creek System Of The Black Warrior River Drainage, Alabama, Eric Bauer, Malorie M. Hayes

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

Alabama is home to the southernmost populations of Rhinichthys obtusus, the Western Blacknose Dace. Within Alabama, R. obtusus is found in the Tennessee, Coosa, and Black Warrior River basins, but its presence in the Black Warrior River drainage has been limited. Until now, R. obtusus in the Black Warrior drainage has only been reported as collections of 1 to 4 specimens at a time in the Sipsey Fork drainage. Herein, we report two novel occurrences of R. obtusus in the headwaters of the Brushy Creek system in the Black Warrior River drainage including a singleton and a large population. …

Autumn Migration Of Myotis Septentrionalis In Nebraska: Documentation Of Fall Activity, Migratory Timing, And Distance Using Radio-Telemetry, Jeremy A. White, Patricia W. Freeman, Hans W. Otto, Brett R. Andersen, Jonathan Hootman, Cliff A. Lemen

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Abstract.—Few studies have investigated autumn migration of the northern long-eared myotis (Myotis septentrionalis). We conducted a two-year radio-tracking study of M. septentrionalis in southeastern Nebraska to document migration dates, activity in autumn, and movements to wintering sites. We found evidence that M. septentrionalis are migrating as late as October and early November. Prior to migration, cold nights curtail flying times of M. septentrionalis. Two bats in this study did not emerge from their roost trees for seven consecutive nights during a period of colder weather. We monitored one bat leaving our research area on the night of …

Rehabilitation Of An Injured Golden Eagle (Aquila Chrysaetos): A Case Study, Fida Muhammad Khan, Fakhar-I- Abbas, Abu Ul Hassan Faiz

Journal of Bioresource Management

Habitat destruction and anthropogenic activities cause wild birds to migrate towards urban areas in search of food and sometimes nesting in high-roof buildings, where they are caught by local people using different techniques and are further used for hunting or recreational purposes. An injured Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) was found entangled in bushes near the vicinity of Balkasar Research Complex, Chakwal, Pakistan. After complete physical examination, a wound on the right wing and closed leg fracture was diagnosed. The successful treatment was done by anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial drugs with careful monitoring. Splint was adjusted after aligning the fractured …

Review Of Seagrassnet Monitoring Photographs In Great Bay, New Hampshire, Usa 2007 - 2014, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

SeagrassNet is a global monitoring program begun in 2001 and designed to scientifically detect and document seagrass habitat change (Short et al. 2006a, 2014). Monitoring of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in the Great Bay Estuary using SeagrassNet was conducted in Portsmouth Harbor between 2001 and 2009 (Short et al 2006b, Rivers and Short 2007), and is ongoing in Great Bay itself, from 2007 (Short 2009) to the present. In this report, July quadrat photos taken along the three Great Bay SeagrassNet transects from 2007 – 2014 are presented and discussed. They provide useful documentation of field percent cover measurements of …

Thresholds Of Sea-Level Rise Rate And Sea-Level Rise Acceleration Rate In A Vulnerable Coastal Wetland, Wei Wu, Patrick D. Biber, Matthew Bethel

Understanding the Trajectory of Mississippi Coastal Salt Marsh Structure Function, and Processes in the face of Sea Level Rise: Data and Information Repository

Feedbacks among inundation, sediment trapping, and vegetation productivity help maintain coastal wetlands facing sea-level rise (SLR). However, when the SLR rate exceeds a threshold, coastal wetlands can collapse. Understanding the threshold helps address key challenges in ecology—nonlinear response of ecosystems to environmental change, promotes communication between ecologists and resource managers, and facilitates decision-making in climate change policies. We studied the threshold of SLR rate and developed a new threshold of SLR acceleration rate on sustainability of coastal wetlands as SLR is likely to accelerate due to enhanced anthropogenic forces. Deriving these two thresholds depends on the temporal scale, the interaction …

Mitochondrial Phylogenomics Of Hemiptera Reveals Adaptive Innovations Driving The Diversification Of True Bugs, Hu Li, John Moeller Leavengood Jr., Eric G. Chapman, Daniel Burkhardt, Fan Song, Pei Jiang, Jinpeng Liu, Xuguo Zhou, Wanzhi Cai

Entomology Faculty Publications

Hemiptera, the largest non-holometabolous order of insects, represents approximately 7% of metazoan diversity. With extraordinary life histories and highly specialized morphological adaptations, hemipterans have exploited diverse habitats and food sources through approximately 300 Myr of evolution. To elucidate the phylogeny and evolutionary history of Hemiptera, we carried out the most comprehensive mitogenomics analysis on the richest taxon sampling to date covering all the suborders and infraorders, including 34 newly sequenced and 94 published mitogenomes. With optimized branch length and sequence heterogeneity, Bayesian analyses using a site-heterogeneous mixture model resolved the higher-level hemipteran phylogeny as (Sternorrhyncha, (Auchenorrhyncha, (Coleorrhyncha, Heteroptera))). Ancestral character …

Desert Pool {If Every Desert Was Once A Sea}, Karen Miranda Abel

The Goose

Desert Pool {If every desert was once a sea} is a site-specific art project by Canadian artist Karen Miranda Abel completed in 2016 while artist-in-residence at Joya: arte + ecología, an arts-led research centre situated in an alpine desert within a national park in southern Spain. The elemental installation represents an envisioning of the ancient sea that occupied the Sierra de María-Los Vélez Natural Park millions of years before the current desert ecology, a time when its highest mountain peaks may have been islands.

Urbanization Alters Communities Of Flying Arthropods In Parks And Gardens Of A Medium-Sized City, Edward Lagucki, Justin D. Burdine, Kevin E. Mccluney

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Urbanization transforms undeveloped landscapes into built environments, causing changes in communities and ecological processes. Flying arthropods play important roles in these processes as pollinators, decomposers, and predators, and can be important in structuring food webs. The goal of this study was to identify associations between urbanization and the composition of communities of flying (and floating) arthropods within gardens and parks in a medium-sized mesic city. We predicted that flying arthropod abundance and diversity would respond strongly to percent impervious surface and distance to city center, measurements of urbanization. Flying arthropods were sampled from 30 gardens and parks along an urbanization …

Effects Of A Prescribed Burn On The Adult Butterfly Assemblage Of A Coastal Grassland, J. Nicole Desha, Joseph Colbert, Kimberly M. Andrews, Scott Coleman, C. Tate Holbrook

Georgia Journal of Science

Coastal grasslands are globally threatened by development and natural succession. In the southeastern United States, these increasingly rare ecosystems are being managed using prescribed fire, but ecological responses to fire management are largely unknown, particularly among nontargeted species. We tested for short-term effects of controlled burning on the abundance and species richness of adult butterflies, which utilize coastal grasslands for nectaring resources and as migratory stopover sites. In February 2015, four plots of coastal grassland on Little St. Simons Island, GA were burned and paired with unburned (control) plots of equal size. Throughout the following summer-fall flight season, we conducted …

Spatial And Temporal Heterogeneity Of Microbial Life In Artificial Landscapes, Roopkamal Kaur, Aditi Sengupta, Peter A. Troch

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) project at Biosphere 2 consists of three replicated artificial landscapes which are sealed within a climate-controlled glass house. LEO is composed of basaltic soil material with low organic matter, nutrients, and microbes. The landscapes are built to resemble zero-order basins and enables researchers to observe hydrological, biological, and geochemical evolution of landscapes in a controlled environment. This study is focused on capturing microbial community dynamics in LEO soil, pre- and post-controlled rainfall episodes. Soil samples were collected from six different positions and at five depths in each of the three slopes followed by DNA extraction …

Does Detection Range Matter For Inferring Social Networks In A Benthic Shark Using Acoustic Telemetry?, Johann Mourier, Nathan Charles Bass, Tristan L. Guttridge, Joanna Day, Culum Brown

Social Behavior Collection

Accurately estimating contacts between animals can be critical in ecological studies such as examining social structure, predator–prey interactions or transmission of information and disease. While biotelemetry has been used successfully for such studies in terrestrial systems, it is still under development in the aquatic environment. Acoustic telemetry represents an attractive tool to investigate spatio-temporal behaviour of marine fish and has recently been suggested for monitoring underwater animal interactions. To evaluate the effectiveness of acoustic telemetry in recording interindividual contacts, we compared co-occurrence matrices deduced from three types of acoustic receivers varying in detection range in a benthic shark species. Our …

Bacterial Diversity Impacts As A Result Of Combined Sewer Overflow In A Polluted Waterway, Olga Calderón, Holly Porter-Morgan, Joby Jacob, Willis Elkins

Publications and Research

Newtown Creek is an industrial waterway and former tidal wetland in New York City. It is one of the most polluted water bodies in the United States and was designated as a superfund site in 2010. For over a century, organic compounds, heavy metals, and other forms of industrial pollution have disrupted the creek’s environment. The creek is also impacted by discharges from twenty combined sewer overflow pipes, which may deposit raw sewage or partially treated wastewater directly into the creek during heavy or sustained rain events. Combined sewer overflow events and associated nutrient over-enrichment at the creek drive eutrophication …

Diet And Habitat Analysis Of Barn Owls (Tyto Alba) Nesting At Ponca State Park, Ann Spilker, Joseph A. Gubanyi

Nebraska Bird Review

In 2015 Barn Owls (Tyto alba) nested on the floor of a grain bin in Ponca State Park, Dixon County. Seven nestlings were observed (Figure 1). It is believed that 6 fledged (one carcass was found on the floor of the bin September 26). Barn Owls were not observed the following spring (Jan Johnson, personal communication). Because there are few records of Barn Owls in the region, we collected data to better understand the Barn Owl nesting in Ponca State Park. Barn Owl prey and their importance to reproductive success has been well documented (Marti et al. 2005; Gubanyi et …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 85 September 2017 Number 3

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June - July 2017, by W. Ross Silcock …94

Diet and Habitat Analysis of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) Nesting at Ponca State Park, by Ann Spilker and Joseph Gubanyi … 121

2016 (28th) Report of the NOU Records Committee, by Mark A. Brogie …128

Subscription and Organization Information … 143

Summer Field Report, June - July 2017, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Changes in breeding ranges and numbers of Nebraska breeding birds are the primary focus of a Summer Seasonal Report. Every year there are changes to be noted; this year is no exception. Although most of the phenomena listed below are examples of dispersing individuals without breeding evidence, these often indicate breeding range expansion. White-winged Doves are becoming numerous in southern and western Nebraska, although breeding in far eastern Nebraska was only the 5th report for the state. Chuckwill’s- widow continues to creep westward in the south; the westernmost report to date was of one that crossed the 100-mile gap from …

2016 (28th) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The functions and methods of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (NOURC) are described in its bylaws (NOURC 2010). The committee’s purpose is to provide a procedure for documenting unusual bird sightings and to establish a list of all documented birds for Nebraska. Accidental and casual species for which the NOURC seeks documentation (NOURC Review List) can be found at the NOU website: www.NOUbirds.org. All records mentioned here are available to interested persons at the NOU archives at the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM), Lincoln, NE. Interested parties should contact the current NOU Librarian, whose address can be found …

Comparative Phylogeographic, Population Genomic, And Selection Inference With Development Of Hierarchical Co-Demographic Models, Alexander Xue

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Comparing demographic histories across assemblages of populations, species, and sister pairs has been a focus in phylogeography since its inception. Initial approaches utilized organelle genetic data and involved qualitative comparisons of genetic patterns for evaluating hypotheses of shared evolutionary responses to past environmental changes. This endeavor has progressed with coalescent model-based statistical techniques and advances in next-generation sequencing, yet there remains a need for methods that can analyze aggregated genomic-scale data from non-model organisms within a unified framework that considers individual taxon uncertainty and variance. To this end, the aggregate site frequency spectrum (aSFS), an expansion of the site frequency …

Climate-Driven Habitat Shifts In South America: Biogeography, Historical Demography, And Population Genomics Of Anole Lizards, Ivan Prates

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Shifts in the geographic distribution of habitats over time can promote dispersal and vicariance, thereby influencing large-scale biogeographic patterns and ecological processes. The establishment of corridors of suitable habitat across previously disjunct yet ecologically similar regions has been widely linked to climate change over time. Such climate-mediated habitat changes may have played a key role in the assembly of tropical biotas, including those of Amazonia and the coastal Atlantic Forest in South America, two of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. The history of biogeographic associations between tropical rainforest habitats in response to former climatic shifts, as well as their …

A Synergistic Approach For Evaluating Climate Model Output For Ecological Applications, Rachel D. Cavanagh, Eugene J. Murphy, Thomas J. Bracegirdle, John Turner, Cheryl A. Knowland, Stuart P. Corney, Walker O. Smith Jr., Claire M. Waluda, Nadine M. Johnston, Richard G. J. Bellerby, Eileen E. Hofmann

CCPO Publications

Increasing concern about the impacts of climate change on ecosystems is prompting ecologists and ecosystem managers to seek reliable projections of physical drivers of change. The use of global climate models in ecology is growing, although drawing ecologically meaningful conclusions can be problematic. The expertise required to access and interpret output from climate and earth system models is hampering progress in utilizing them most effectively to determine the wider implications of climate change. To address this issue, we present a joint approach between climate scientists and ecologists that explores key challenges and opportunities for progress. As an exemplar, our focus …

European Starlings, H. Jeffrey Homan, Ron J. Johnson, James R. Thiele, George M. Linz

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, Figure 1) are an invasive species in the United States. The first recorded release of the birds was in 1890 in New York City’s Central Park. Because starlings easily adapt to a variety of habitats, nest sites and food sources, the birds spread quickly across the country. Today, there are about 150 million starlings in North America. Conflicts between people and starlings occur mostly in agricultural settings. Conflicts can occur during winter in urban and suburban environments, especially in business districts.

Starlings damage apples, blueberries, cherries, figs, grapes, peaches, and strawberries. Besides causing direct losses from …

Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

With walking as ontological shifter I pursue an alternative to the dominant modernist episteme that offers either/or onto-epistemologies of opposition and their reifying engagements. I propose this type of walking is an intentional turning towards a set of radical positions that, as integrative aesthetic and therapeutic practice, brings multiplicity and synchronicity to experience and being in an expanded sociality. This practice facilitates the conditions of possibility for recurring points of contact between the interiority perceived as ‘body’ and the exteriority perceived as ‘world.’ While making evident the self’s at once incoherence with it-self, it opens to a space beyond the …

Aquaculture Of Coral, Live Rock And Live Sand In Western Australia, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Occasional Publications

Principles and Guidelines Relating to the Assessment of Licences for the Aquaculture of Coral, Live Rock and Live Sand in Western Australia

Modelling The Future Spread Of Native And Alien Congeneric Species In Subterranean Habitats — The Case Of Meta Cave-Dwelling Spiders In Great Britain, Stefano Mammola

International Journal of Speleology

The threshold zones between the epigean and hypogean environments are generally characterized by less harsh ecological conditions than deep subterranean habitats, and usually support a greater abundance of organisms. Transitional habitats such as these should be more easily colonised by alien species, especially by those possessing exaptations suitable for subterranean life. In spite of this, few studies have been conducted to unravel the ecological dynamics between native and alien species in the habitats situated at the epigean/hypogean interface. A unique test case is offered by cave-dwelling Meta orb-weaver spiders in Great Britain (Araneae: Tetragnathidae). One species, M. menardi, is …