Digital Commons Network^™

The Angel No Longer In The Household, Jason Williams

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

The Tiger Career Fair Fall 2007, Clemson University

Tiger Newspapers

No abstract provided.

2007-2008 Unm Catalog, Unm Office Of The Registrar

Course Catalogs

Course catalog for the years 2007-2008.

Wmi Outdoor News Bulletin * January 2007, Volume 61, No. 1

Wildlife Management Institute Outdoor News Bulletin

Contents:

• Aquatic Nuisance Species and Predator-Prey workshops at North American Conference

• Ruffed grouse have a plan

• Cellulose may soon take the starch out of ethanol

• Proposal for year-round drilling on critical big game range gains momentum and contention

• Reports of National Bison Range agreement demise prove to be greatly exaggerated

• 76th (2011) North American Conference slated

• Moguls may preempt habitat for threatened lynx

• WMI launches new Website

• Worth reading: The Golden Spruce

Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus)

Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery: Annual Reports

Second only to humans in adapting to climate extremes, gray wolves once ranged from coast to coast and from Alaska to Mexico in North America. They were absent from the East and the Southeast, which were occupied by red wolves (Canis rufus), and from the large deserts in the southwestern States. By the early 20th century, government-sponsored predator control programs and declines in prey brought gray wolves to near extinction in the lower 48 States.

Wolf groups, or packs, typically include a breeding pair (the alpha pair), their offspring, and other non-breeding adults. Wolves are capable of mating …

Montana Gray Wolf Conservation And Management 2006 Annual Report, Carolyn A. Sime, V. Asher, L. Bradley, K. Laudon, M. Ross, J. Trapp, M. Atkinson, L. Handegard, J. Steuber

Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery: Annual Reports

MONTANA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Wolf recovery in Montana began in the early 1980’s. Gray wolves increased in number and expanded their distribution in Montana because of natural emigration from Canada and a successful federal effort that reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and the wilderness areas of central Idaho. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved the Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan in early 2004, but delisting in the northern Rockies (NRM) was delayed. When federal funding became available later in 2004, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) began managing wolves in northwestern Montana under a cooperative …

Efficiency Of Gene Silencing In Arabidopsis: Direct Inverted Repeats Vs. Transitive Rnai Vectors, Sergei A. Filichkin, Stephen P. Difazio, Amy M. Brunner, John M. Davis, Zamin K. Yang, Udaya C. Kalluri, Renee S. Arias, Elizabeth Etherington, Gerald A. Tuskan, Steven H. Strauss

United States Department of Energy: Publications

We investigated the efficiency of RNA interference (RNAi) in Arabidopsis using transitive and homologous inverted repeat (hIR) vectors. hIR constructs carry self-complementary intron-spliced fragments of the target gene whereas transitive vectors have the target sequence fragment adjacent to an intron-spliced, inverted repeat of heterologous origin. Both transitive and hIR constructs facilitated specific and heritable silencing in the three genes studied (AP1 , ETTIN and TTG1 ). Both types of vectors produced a phenotypic series that phenocopied reduction of function mutants for the respective target gene. The hIR yielded up to fourfold higher proportions of events with strongly manifested reduction …

Phosphate Imposed Limitations On Biological Reduction And Alteration Of Ferrihydrite, Thomas Borch, Yoko Masue, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, Scott Fendorf

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Biogeochemical transformation (inclusive of dissolution) of iron (hydr)oxides resulting from dissimilatory reduction has a pronounced impact on the fate and transport of nutrients and contaminants in subsurface environments. Despite the reactivity noted for pristine (unreacted) minerals, iron (hydr)oxides within native environments will likely have a different reactivity owing in part to changes in surface composition. Accordingly, here we explore the impact of surface modifications induced by phosphate adsorption on ferrihydrite reduction by Shewanella putrefaciens under static and advective flow conditions. Alterations in surface reactivity induced by phosphate changes the extent, decreasing Fe(III) reduction nearly linearly with increasing P surface coverage, …

Reduction Of Pertechnetate [Tc(Vii)] By Aqueous Fe(Ii) And The Nature Of Solid Phase Redox Products, John M. Zachara, Steve M. Heald, Byong-Hun Jeon, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, Chongxuan Liu, James P. Mckinley, Alice C. Dohnalkova, Dean A. Moore

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The subsurface behaviour of ⁹⁹Tc, a contaminant resulting from nuclear fuels reprocessing, is dependent on its valence (e.g., IV or VII). Abiotic reduction of soluble Tc(VII) by Fe(II)_(aq) in pH 6–8 solutions was investigated under strictly anoxic conditions using an oxygen trap (<7.5 · 10^-9 atm O₂). The reduction kinetics were strongly pH dependent. Complete and rapid reduction of Tc(VII) to a precipitated Fe/Tc(IV) form was observed when 11 µmol/L of Tc(VII) was reacted with 0.4 mmol/L Fe(II) at pH 7.0 and 8.0, while no significant reduction was observed over 1 month at pH 6.0. Experiments conducted …

Biostimulation Of Iron Reduction And Subsequent Oxidation Of Sediment Containing Fe-Silicates And Fe-Oxides: Effect Of Redox Cycling On Fe(Iii) Bioreduction, John Komlos, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, John M. Zachara, Peter R. Jaffe

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Sediment containing a mixture of iron (Fe)-phases, including Fe-oxides (mostly Al-goethite) and Fe-silicates (illites and vermiculite) was bioreduced in a long-term flow through column experiment followed by re-oxidation with dissolved oxygen. The objective of this study was (a) to determine the nature of the re-oxidized Fe(III), and (b) to determine how redox cycling of Fe would affect subsequent Fe(III)-bioavailability. In addition, the effect of Mn on Fe(III) reduction was explored.⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements showed that biostimulation resulted in partial reduction (20%) of silicate Fe(III) to silicate Fe(II) while the reduction of goethite was negligible. Furthermore, the reduction of Fe …

Influence Of Calcium On Microbial Reduction Of Solid Phase Uranium(Vi), Chongxuan Liu, Byong-Hun Jeon, John M. Zachara, Zheming Wang

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The effect of calcium on the dissolution and microbial reduction of a representative solid phase uranyl [U(VI)], sodium boltwoodite (NaUO₂SiO₃OH •1.5H₂O), was investigated to evaluate the rate-limiting step of microbial reduction of the solid phase U(VI). Microbial reduction experiments were performed in a culture of a dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium (DMRB), Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1, in a bicarbonate medium with lactate as electron donor at pH 6.8 buffered with PIPES. Calcium increased the rate of Na-boltwoodite dissolution and U(VI) bioavailability by increasing its solubility through the formation of a ternary aqueous calcium-uranyl-carbonate species. The ternary …

Evolutionary Responses By Native Species To Major Anthropogenic Changes To Their Ecosystems: Pacific Salmon In The Columbia River Hydropower System, Robin Waples, Richard W. Zabel, Mark D. Scheuerell, Beth L. Sanderson

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The human footprint is now large in all the Earth’s ecosystems, and construction of large dams in major river basins is among the anthropogenic changes that have had the most profound ecological consequences, particularly for migratory fishes. In the Columbia River basin of the western USA, considerable effort has been directed toward evaluating demographic effects of dams, yet little attention has been paid to evolutionary responses of migratory salmon to altered selective regimes. Here we make a first attempt to address this information gap. Transformation of the free-flowing Columbia River into a series of slackwater reservoirs has relaxed selection for …

Temporal Estimates Of Effective Population Size In Species With Overlapping Generations, Robin Waples, Masashi Yokota

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The standard temporal method for estimating effective population size (N_e) assumes that generations are discrete, but it is routinely applied to species with overlapping generations. We evaluated bias in the estimates ˆN_e caused by violation of this assumption, using simulated data for three model species: humans (type I survival), sparrow (type II), and barnacle (type III). We verify a previous proposal by Felsenstein that weighting individuals by reproductive value is the correct way to calculate parametric population allele frequencies, in which case the rate of change in age-structured populations conforms to that predicted by discrete-generation models. …

Empirical Results Of Salmon Supplementation In The Northeast Pacific: A Preliminary Assessment, Robin Waples, Michael Ford, Dietrich Schmitt

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

For over a century, aquaculture of Pacific salmon has been used to provide increased harvest opportunities and to mitigate reductions in natural populations due to factors such as habitat destruction, overharvest, and blockage of migratory routes. More recently, attention has focused on the potential of hatchery propagation to reduce risks to and speed recovery of depleted natural populations. A large number of these ‘‘supplementation’’ programs have already been initiated and many more are planned, in spite of the fact that there is almost no empirical information on their long-term effects. Here we present preliminary results of a survey of 22 …

Effective Population Size Of Steelhead Trout: Influence Of Variance In Reproductive Success, Hatchery Programs, And Genetic Compensation Between Life-History Forms, Hitoshi Araki, Robin Waples, William Ardren, Becky Cooper, Michael S. Blouin

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The effective population size is influenced by many biological factors in natural populations. To evaluate their relative importance, we estimated the effective number of breeders per year (N_b) and effective population size per generation (N_e) in anadromous steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Hood River, Oregon (USA). Using demographic data and genetic parentage analysis on an almost complete sample of all adults that returned to the river over 15 years (> 15,000 individuals), we estimated N_b for 13 run years and N_e for three entire generations. The results are as …

Salmonnb: A Program For Computing Cohort-Specific Effective Population Sizes (Nb) In Pacific Salmon And Other Semelparous Species Using The Temporal Method, Robin Waples, Michele Masuda, Jerome Pella

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We describe a new method and a computer program _SALMONNb to calculate the effective number of breeders (N_b) per year in semelparous species with variable age at maturity. The existing temporal method for the ‘salmon’ life history produces an estimate of the harmonic mean N_b in the two sampled years. _SALMONNb reads genotypic data in standard formats and computes yearly N_b values by combining information from pairwise comparisons of samples taken in 3 or more years. Simulations show that the new method produces unbiased estimates of yearly N_b, and precision is …

First Human-Caused Extinction Of A Cetacean Species?, Samuel T. Turvey, Robert L. Pitman, Barbara L. Taylor, Jay Barlow, Tomonari Akamatsu, Leigh A. Barrett, Xiujiang Zhao, Randall R. Reeves, Brent S. Stewart, Kexiong Wang, Zhuo Wei, Xianfeng Zhang, L. T. Pusser, Michael Richlen, John R. Brandon, Ding Wang

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The Yangtze River dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), an obligate freshwater odontocete known only from the middle-lower Yangtze River system and neighbouring Qiantang River in eastern China, has long been recognized as one of the world’s rarest and most threatened mammal species. The status of the baiji has not been investigated since the late 1990s, when the surviving population was estimated to be as low as 13 individuals. An intensive six-week multivessel visual and acoustic survey carried out in November–December 2006, covering the entire historical range of the baiji in the main Yangtze channel, failed to find any evidence that …

Valuing Water Quality Improvements In The United States Using Meta-Analysis: Is The Glass Half-Full Or Half-Empty For National Policy Analysis?, George Van Houtven, John Powers, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The literature estimating the economic value for water quality changes has grown considerably over the last 30 years, resulting in an expanded pool of information potentially available to support national and regional policy analysis. Using 131 willingness to pay estimates from 18 studies that use a similar definition of water quality, we performed a meta-regression analysis and found mixed results. We find that WTP varies in systematic and expected ways with respect to factors such as the size of the water quality changes, average household income, and use/nonuse characteristics of respondents. As a whole, we conclude that our metaregression results …

Science, Scientists, And Policy Advocacy, Robert T. Lackey

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

I am concerned that we scientists in conservation biology, ecology, natural resources, environmental science, and similar disciplines are collectively slipping into a morass that risks marginalizing the contribution of science to public policy. Advocating personal positions on ecological policy issues has become widely tolerated as acceptable professional behavior and is even encouraged by a substantial fraction of the scientific community (Marris 2006; Scott et al. 2007). Scientists are uniquely qualified to participate in public policy deliberations and they should, but advocating for their policy preferences is not appropriate.

Despite an extensive debate in the literature on the proper role of …

Sound Survey Designs Can Facilitate Integrating Stream Monitoring Data Across Multiple Programs, David P. Larsen, Anthony R. Olsen, Steven H. Lanigan, Chris Moyer, Kim K. Jones, Thomas M. Kincaid

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Multiple agencies in the Pacific Northwest monitor the condition of stream networks or their watersheds. Some agencies use a stream ‘‘network’’ perspective to report on the fraction or length of the network that either meets or violates particular criteria. Other agencies use a ‘‘watershed’’ perspective to report on the health or condition of watersheds. The agencies often use the same indicators and measurement protocols for data collection and often conduct monitoring in overlapping geographic regions. In these situations, agencies would like to combine data across different monitoring studies in a statistically sound manner to make regional estimates of condition. Three …

Assessment Of Sediment Toxicity During Anaerobic Biodegradation Of Vegetable Oil Using Microtox® And Hyalella Azteca Bioassays, Zhengkai Li, Kenneth Lee, Susan E. Cobanli, Thomas King, Brian A. Wrenn, Kenneth G. Doe, Paula M. Jackman, Albert D. Venosa

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The potential ecological impacts of anaerobic degradation of vegetable oil on freshwater sediments were investigated. Sediment toxicity was evaluated using two regulatory biotests: the Microtox^® Solid Phase Test and an amphipod (Hyalella azteca) bioassay. The results of the Microtox test showed that the toxicity of the vegetable-oil-contaminated sediments (about 17–33 g oil/kg dry sediments) increased after 2 weeks incubation and then decreased to near background levels after incubation for 8 weeks under anaerobic conditions. The amphipod toxicity bioassay showed that the toxicity of fresh contaminated sediments decreased over time and returned to background levels within 8 weeks. …

Pbpk Models In Risk Assessment—A Focus On Chloroprene, Robert S. Dewoskin

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Mathematical models are increasingly being used to simulate events in the exposure-response continuum, and to support quantitative predictions of risks to human health. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models address that portion of the continuum from an external chemical exposure to an internal dose at a target site. Essential data needed to develop a PBPK model include values of key physiological parameters (e.g., tissue volumes, blood flow rates) and chemical specific parameters (rate of chemical absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination) for the species of interest. PBPK models are commonly used to: (1) predict concentrations of an internal dose over time at …

Past And Present Distribution, Densities And Movements Of Blue Whales Balaenoptera Musculus In The Southern Hemisphere And Northern Indian Ocean, T. A. Branch, K. M. Stafford, D. M. Palacios, C. Allison, J. L. Bannister, C. L. K. Burton, E. Cabrera, C. A. Carlson, B. Galletti Vernazzani, P. C. Gill, R. Hucke-Gaete, K. C. S. Jenner, M.-N. M. Jenner, K. Matsuoka, Y. A. Mikhalev, T. Miyashita, M. G. Morrice, S. Nishiwaki, V. J. Sturrock, D. Tormosov, R. C. Anderson, A. N. Baker, P. B. Best, P. Borsa, R. L. Brownell Jr., S. Childerhouse, K. P. Findlay, T. Gerrodette, A. D. Ilangakoon, M. Joergensen, B. Kahn, D. K. Ljungblad, B. Maughan, R. D. Mccauley, S. Mckay, T. F. Norris, Oman Whale, Dolphin Research Group, R. M. Warneke, S. Rankin, F. Samaran, D. Thiele, K. Van Waerebeek

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

1. Blue whale locations in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean were obtained from catches (303 239), sightings (4383 records of ≥ 8058 whales), strandings (103), Discovery marks (2191) and recoveries (95), and acoustic recordings.

2. Sighting surveys included 7 480 450 km of effort plus 14 676 days with unmeasured effort. Groups usually consisted of solitary whales (65.2%) or pairs (24.6%); larger feeding aggregations of unassociated individuals were only rarely observed. Sighting rates (groups per 1000 km from many platform types) varied by four orders of magnitude and were lowest in the waters of Brazil, South Africa, the …

Estimating Abundance Of Killer Whales In The Nearshore Waters Of The Gulf Of Alaska And Aleutian Islands Using Line-Transect Sampling, Alexandre N. Zerbini, Janice M. Waite, John W. Durban, Rick Leduc, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Paul R. Wade

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Killer whale (Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758) abundance in the North Pacific is known only for a few populations for which extensive longitudinal data are available, with little quantitative data from more remote regions. Line-transect ship surveys were conducted in July and August of 2001–2003 in coastal waters of the western Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Conventional and Multiple Covariate Distance Sampling methods were used to estimate the abundance of different killer whale ecotypes, which were distinguished based upon morphological and genetic data. Abundance was calculated separately for two data sets that differed in the method by which …

Killer Whales And Marine Mammal Trends In The North Pacific—A Re-Examination Of Evidence For Sequential Megafauna Collapse And The Prey-Switching Hypothesis, Paul R. Wade, Vladimir N. Burkanov, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Nancy A. Friday, Lowell W. Fritz, Thomas R. Loughlin, Sally A. Mizroch, Marcia M. Muto, Dale W. Rice, Lance G. Barrett-Leonard, Nancy Black, Alexander Burdin, John Calambokidis, Sal Cerchio, John K. B. Ford, Jeff Jacobsen, Craig Matkin, Dena Matkin, Amee Mehta, Robert Small, Janice Straley, Shannon Mccluskey, Glenn Vanblaricomm, P J. Clapham

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Springer et al. (2003) contend that sequential declines occurred in North Pacific populations of harbor and fur seals, Steller sea lions, and sea otters. They hypothesize that these were due to increased predation by killer whales, when industrial whaling’s removal of large whales as a supposed primary food source precipitated a prey switch. Using a regional approach, we reexamined whale catch data, killer whale predation observations, and the current biomass and trends of potential prey, and found little support for the prey-switching hypothesis. Large whale biomass in the Bering Sea did not decline as much as suggested by Springer et …

Use Of Chemical Tracers In Assessing The Diet And Foraging Regions Of Eastern North Pacific Killer Whales, Margaret M. Krahn, David P. Herman, Craig O. Matkin, John W. Durban, Lance Barrett-Lennard, Douglas G. Burrows, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Nancy Black, Richard G. Leduc, Paul R. Wade

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Top predators in the marine environment integrate chemical signals acquired from their prey that reflect both the species consumed and the regions from which the prey were taken. These chemical tracers—stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen; persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations, patterns and ratios; and fatty acid profiles—were measured in blubber biopsy samples from North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca) (n = 84) and were used to provide further insight into their diet, particularly for the offshore group, about which little dietary information is available. The offshore killer whales were shown to consume prey species that were …

Antler Size Of Alaskan Moose Alces Alces Gigas: Effects Of Population Density, Hunter Harvest And Use Of Guides, Jennifer I. Schmidt, Jay M. Ver Hoef, R. Terry Bowyer

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Moose Alces alces gigas in Alaska, USA, exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism, with adult males possessing large, elaborate antlers. Antler size and conformation are influenced by age, nutrition and genetics, and these bony structures serve to establish social rank and affect mating success. Population density, combined with anthropogenic effects such as harvest, is thought to influence antler size. Antler size increased as densities of moose decreased, ostensibly a density-dependent response related to enhanced nutrition at low densities. The vegetation type where moose were harvested also affected antler size, with the largest-antlered males occupying more open habitats. Hunts with guides occurred in …

Blue Whale Visual And Acoustic Encounter Rates In The Southern California Bight, Erin M. Oleson, John Calambokidis, Jay Barlow, John A. Hildebrand

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The relationship between blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) visual and acoustic encounter rates was quantitatively evaluated using hourly counts of detected whales during shipboard surveys off southern California. Encounter rates were estimated using temporal, geographic, and weather variables within a generalized additive model framework. Visual encounters (2.06 animals/h, CV = 0.10) varied with subregion, Julian day, time of day, and year. Acoustic encounters of whales producing pulsed A and tonal B call sequences (song; 0.65 animals/h, CV = 0.06) varied by Julian day, survey mode (transit or stationary), and subregion, and encounters of whales producing downswept (D) calls (0.41 …

Normativity Redux, Robin Waples, Peter B. Adams, James Bohnsack, Barbara L. Taylor

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Nelson et al. (2007) make three major arguments in their comment on our proposed biological framework (Waples et al. 2007) for considering the significant portion of its range (SPOIR) language in the U.S. Endangered Species Act. First, they find our proposed SPOIR definition “awkward and obfuscating.” This might be at least in part due to the necessity of relating the definition to existing language in the ESA, which has not won awards for syntax or clarity. In any case our proposed SPOIR framework is conceptually straightforward and can be implemented by evaluating three simple questions: (1) Is the species at …

Pacific Salmon Extinctions: Quantifying Lost And Remaining Diversity, Richard G. Gustafson, Robin Waples, James M. Myers, Laurie A. Weitkamp, Gregory J. Bryant, Orlay W. Johnson, Jeffrey J. Hard

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Widespread population extirpations and the consequent loss of ecological, genetic, and life-history diversity can lead to extinction of evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) and species. We attempted to systematically enumerate extinct Pacific salmon populations and characterize lost ecological, life history, and genetic diversity types among six species of Pacific salmon (Chinook [Oncorhynchus tshawytscha], sockeye [O. nerka], coho [O. kisutch], chum [O. keta], and pink salmon [O. gorbuscha] and steelhead trout [O. mykiss]) from the western contiguous United States. We estimated that, collectively, 29% of nearly 1400 historical populations of …