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Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, October 1, 2008 To December 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

Executive Summary

• The Weed Sentry program surveyed over 62 miles of federal land by vehicle and foot in Clark County for incipient populations of exotic plants.
• New weed monitoring botanists and botany assistant joined the staff during this period.
• Vegetation staff presented four presentations at the Natural Areas Association annual conference in Nashville, TN and eight poster presentations at the “wildfires and invasive plants in American deserts” meeting in Reno, NV.
• Several new Brassica tournefortii experiments were initiated.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

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

• All milestones and deliverables associated with the MSHCP project are on schedule
• Completion of 2008 monitoring survey efforts
• Coordination is ongoing to identify potential translocation sites, including assisting efforts to identify a potential site in the western Grand Canyon
• RLFCT meeting hosted and minutes of meeting drafted
• Annual report provided to RLFCT, final draft in review
• Sampling for the amphibian chytrid fungus conducted at many sites

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• All MSHCP milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• Planning and coordination of the 2009 Eagle Count conducted …

Optimal Temperatures For Growth And Upper Thermal Tolerance Of Juvenile Northern Leatherside Chub, Eric J. Billman, Eric J. Wagner, Ronney E. Arndt, Erin Vandyke

Western North American Naturalist

We examined optimal temperatures for growth and the upper thermal tolerance of juvenile northern leatherside chub (Lepidomeda copei). We conducted 2 experiments using the acclimated chronic-exposure method to estimate optimal temperature for growth of age-0 northern leatherside chub (range 12.8–28.3 °C). Upper thermal tolerance was estimated using the critical thermal maximum (CTM) and upper incipient lethal temperature (UILT) methods for fish acclimated at 15, 18, 23, and 28 °C. We also measured stream temperatures in Yellow Creek, Summit County, Utah, during July–August 2006 to compare our results to actual summer stream temperatures. Survival in growth tests was not …

Sex Ratios Of The White-Tailed Antelope Ground Squirrel (Ammospermophilus Leucurus), Indian Wells Valley, San Bernardino County, California, Charles J. Randel Iii, Howard O. Clark Jr.

Western North American Naturalist

We studied the white-tailed antelope ground squirrel during spring and summer 2006 to determine young-of-the-year and adult sex ratios in the Indian Wells Valley, San Bernardino County, California. We calculated a young-of-the-year sex ratio of 1.45:1 (female to male), whereas the adult sex ratio was approximately 1:1. Our young-of-the-year sex ratio was greater than the 1.1:1 (female to male) natal sex ratio previously reported. Differences between young-of-the-year and adult sex ratios may represent low female young-of-the-year survivorship in the Indian Wells Valley.

End Matter, Vol. 68 No. 4

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Field Identification Of Myotis Yumanensis And Myotis Lucifugus: A Morphological Evaluation, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Shonene A. Scott, Patricia C. Ormsbee, Jan M. Zinck

Western North American Naturalist

Myotis lucifugus and Myotis yumanensis are 2 species of bats subject to potentially high rates of misidentification because they are often difficult to differentiate in the hand under field conditions. We tested the utility of a suite of external morphological characteristics frequently cited in regional keys to differentiate the 2 species in the field. Forearm length, dorsal pelage sheen, ear color, and forehead slope were examined from 101 bats captured in central Oregon during 2002–2003. Post hoc genetic analysis was performed on tissue samples collected from the 101 bats to confirm identification. Forearm lengths overlapped considerably between species. Only 18% …

Effects Of Rotational Grazing On Rodents And Raptors In A Coastal Grassland, Matthew D. Johnson, Christa M. Horn

Western North American Naturalist

We conducted a 4-year experiment to assess the impacts of rotational cattle grazing on rodents and raptors in a mesic coastal grassland in northwestern California. Live-trapping indicated that rodent abundance declined by 69% on the grazed area and increased by 14% on the ungrazed area. Raptor use of the grazed area declined by 15% and increased on the ungrazed area by 63%. Measures of giving-up density indicated that rodents perceived a 25% higher predation risk on grazed area than on ungrazed area, but raptor hunting surveys indicated that risk of depredation from raptors was 2.5 times lower in the grazed …

Short-Term Effects Of Wildfire On Montane Stream Ecosystems In The Southern Rocky Mountains: One And Two Years Post-Burn, Sharon J. Hall, Danica Lombardozzi

Western North American Naturalist

The frequency and intensity of wildfire in the western United States has increased over the last century, creating a heterogeneous mosaic of landscapes in various stages of recovery. The 2002 Hayman Fire was one of the largest wildfires in Colorado history and was unprecedented for its speed and intensity, with over 50%–70% of the burn area classified as moderate to high severity where much of the canopy crown was consumed. We evaluated the short-term impact of the Hayman Fire on ecological properties in montane stream ecosystems in the summers of 2003 and 2004, one and two years post-fire. Fire significantly …

Water Stress And Hybridization Between Quercus Gambelii And Quercus Grisea, Nathan G. Swenson, Jeanne M. Fair, Jeff Heikoop

Western North American Naturalist

The historical and environmental forces involved in determining the geographic location of plant hybrid zones have long been of interest. Often hybrid zones appear to be intimately tied to the environment, yet because many abiotic factors covary it is often difficult to understand which are truly the most important in maintaining the position and structure of a hybrid zone. This study uses empirical data and modeling analyses to examine whether abiotic factors are responsible for the location and structure of an oak (Quercus) hybrid zone and, if so, which factors are the most important. Specifically, leaf trait measurements …

Unnatural Landscapes: Tracking Invasive Species By Ceiridwen Terrill, Howard O. Clark Jr.

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Vol. 68 No. 4

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Diet And Sexual Dimorphism Of The Desert Iguana, Dipsosaurus Dorsalis, From Sonora, Mexico, Christopher J. Dibble, Geoffrey R. Smith, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal

Western North American Naturalist

We examined the diet and sexual dimorphism of the desert iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, from Sonora, Mexico. The diet consisted primarily of vegetation, with insect material contributing little to the overall volume of the diet. Plant matter was restricted to leaves and seeds. Animal prey consisted mostly of ants, termites, and beetles. Males and females did not differ significantly in snout–vent length, head length, or head width. These results confirm that in general D. dorsalis is herbivorous and not sexually dimorphic through much of its range.


Examinamos la dieta y dimorfismo sexual de la Iguana del Desierto, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, en Sonora, …

Reproduction By June Sucker In A Refuge Population: Successful Spawning In A Lake Habitat, Eric J. Billman

Western North American Naturalist

The June sucker (Chasmistes liorus) is an endangered lake sucker endemic to Utah Lake, Utah. As part of recovery actions, June suckers were introduced into Red Butte Reservoir, Utah, as a wild grow-out site. Since their introduction, June suckers have successfully reproduced in Red Butte Reservoir, producing a large population in this refuge. I used passive egg collectors (egg traps and nets) and observational surveys to determine the location of spawning sites within the reservoir, and larval light trapping to determine successful recruitment (i.e., egg survival through larval swim-up) at these sites. Eggs were collected between 18 June …

"Pando" Lives: Molecular Genetic Evidence Of A Giant Aspen Clone In Central Utah, Jennifer Dewoody, Carol A. Rowe, Valerie D. Hipkins, Karen E. Mock

Western North American Naturalist

While clones of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides, Michx.) in the Intermountain West of North America are expected to be large, one putative genet in central Utah, identified from morphological evidence, has garnered particular attention for its size, even gaining the nickname "Pando" (Latin for "I spread"). In order to determine if a single genetic individual coincides with the morphological boundary of "Pando," we sampled 209 stems on a 50-m grid throughout the putative clone for analysis at 7 microsatellite loci. We have identified a single genetic entity concurrent with that described from morphological characteristics. Spatial analyses indicate that the …

The Multivariate Statistical Analysis Of Abiotic Parameters Of The Lake Tanganyika Sub Catchment, Hudson Nkotagu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Results from multivariate statistical analysis of abiotic parameters conducted during the dry season at 20 accessible sites on 8 rivers, 2 lakes and a dam covering the Lake Tanganyika sub catchment are discussed. Standard methods were used to determine the levels of abiotic parameters from water samples. Physical parameters including DO, EC, Eh, turbidity, temperature, pH and secchi transparency were measured in situ while chlorophyll a was determined in the laboratory. Nutrients such as NO3-, SiO2, PO4 3- and Fe2+ were determined along with HCO3-. Factor analysis resulted in four factors including increased primary productivity, redox conditions, dissolution, and reduction …

Distribution And Status Of The Yellow-Faced Pocket Gopher In Kansas, Justin D. Hoffman, Jerry R. Choate

Western North American Naturalist

Previous research suggests that the yellow-faced pocket gopher (Cratogeomys castanops) occupies a restricted range in western Kansas that is surrounded by the range of the plains pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius), which is regarded as a superior competitor. To determine whether the plains pocket gopher has encroached on the range of the yellow-faced pocket gopher in the past 35 years and to better understand the geographic relationships of these species, we trapped pocket gophers in western Kansas and collected soil texture and land cover data. We used ArcView 3.2 to map the distributions of these species in …

Polar Diversity Of The Tardigrada: A Combined Morphological / Molecular Approach., Cj Sands, Sj Mcinnes, Nj Marley, Wp Goodall-Copestake, Et Al

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

POLAR DIVERSITY OF THE TARDIGRADA: A COMBINED MORPHOLOGICAL / MOLECULAR APPROACH C.J. Sands1 , S.J. McInnes1 , N.J. Marley2 , W.P. Goodall-Copestake1 , P. Convey1 , L. Linse1 1 - Natural Environment Research Council, British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom 2 - Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom [email protected] Examining the spatial distributions of organisms can provide information regarding their evolutionary history. We are investigating the origins and the processes that influence the contemporary distribution and diversity of Antarctic terrestrial biota. Tardigrades were chosen …

Kajian Keamanan Pemakaian Obat Anti-Hipertensi Di Poliklinik Usia Lanjut Instalasi Rawat Jalan Rs Dr Sardjito, Zullies Ikawati

Majalah Ilmu Kefarmasian

Increasing age is generally followed by increasing chronic diseases so that the elderly needs much therapy using drugs for therapy of numerous diseases they have. Hyper-tension is one of diseases of which its prevalence increases along with increasing age. Most of the elderly diagnosed as having hypertension finally take therapy using anti-hypertension drugs. Physiological changes that happen to the elderly lead to use of drugs for side effect diseases of which their consumption should be considered while having anti-hypertension drugs. Changes in biological system to the elderly will af-fect the process of drug molecular interaction, which finally affects clinical efficacy …

Bioanalisis Metabolit Gliklazida Dalam Mikrosom Hati Manusia Dengan Metode Hplc, Suharjono Suharjono

Majalah Ilmu Kefarmasian

Gliclazide (GZ) is oral sulphonylurea-2 generation used for treatment of diabetes mellitus type-2. Gliclazide is metabolized in the smooth endoplasmic reticulum of liver, which can be made in preparation of human liver microsomes. These microsomes rich in cytochrome P450 (CYP450). Major metabolite of GZ in the microsomes are, 7β-OH-GZ, 6α-OHGz, 6β-OH-GZ, and Me-OH-GZ. HPLC method for GZ me-tabolites was done without extraction by organic solvents, but with direct precipita-tion GZ incubation results in the human liver microsomes using perchloric acid. The aim of the study is to determine the level of four GZ metabolites in human liver microsomes by HPLC …

Late Neandertals In Southeastern Iberia: Sima De Las Palomas Del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, Spain, Michael J. Walker, Josep Gibert, Mariano V. López

KIP Articles

Middle Paleolithic fossil human remains from the Sima de las Palomas in southeastern Iberia (dated to ≤43,000–40,000 calendar years before present) present a suite of derived Neandertal and/or retained ancestral morphological features in the mandibular symphysis, mandibular ramus, dental occlusal morphology, and distal hand phalanx. These traits are combined with variation in the mandibular corpus, discrete dental morphology, tooth root lengths, and anterior dental size that indicate a frequency difference with earlier Iberian and more northern European Neandertals. The Palomas Neandertals therefore confirm the late presence of Neandertals associated with the Iberian persistence of the Middle Paleolithic, but suggest microevolutionary …

Topological Structures In The Equities Market Network, Gregory Leibon, Scott Pauls, Daniel Rockmore, Robert Savell

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present a new method for articulating scale-dependent topological descriptions of the network structure inherent in many complex systems. The technique is based on “partition decoupled null models,” a new class of null models that incorporate the interaction of clustered partitions into a random model and generalize the Gaussian ensemble. As an application, we analyze a correlation matrix derived from 4 years of close prices of equities in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ). In this example, we expose (i) a natural structure composed of 2 interacting partitions of …

Topographic Effects On The Path And Evolution Of Loop Current Eddies, Kyung Hoon Hyun, Patrick J. Hogan

Faculty Publications

Eddy-topography (ET) interactions are important in determining the path and evolution of oceanic eddies, including Loop Current Eddies (LCE) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). We use the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model and satellite altimetry data to investigate the ET interactions and the impact on LCE pathway evolution in the GOM. Satellite altimetry reveals that LCEs translate dominantly westward in the central GOM and strongly collide and reflect against topography near the continental slope in the northern and western GOM. The result is the frequent generation of an anticyclone-cyclone (AC) pair in conjunction with the LCEs. In the absence of …

Mirsky Holiday Lectures On Science 2008, The Rockefeller University

Posters

49th Annual Alfred E. Mirsky Holiday Lecture on Science for high school students Five Life, through a Lens: What You Can Learn about Biology Simply by Looking delivered by Sanford Simon

Laser-Induced Photon-Branched Chain Reaction In A Chemically-Active Gas-Dispersed Medium, Thomas George, Renat Letfullin, Galen Duree

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

A promising avenue in the development of high-energy pulsed chemical HF/DF lasers and amplifiers is the utilization of a photon-branched chain reaction initiated in a two-phase active medium, that is, a medium containing a laser working gas and ultradispersed passivated metal particles. These particles are evaporated under the action of IR laser radiation which results in the appearance of free atoms, their diffusion into the gas, and the development of a photon-branching chain process, which involves photons as both reactants and products. The key obstacle here is the formation of a relatively large volume (in excess of 10^3 cm^3) of …

Chromosomal Inversions Between Human And Chimpanzee Lineages Caused By Retrotransposons, Jungnam Lee, Kyudong Han, Thomas J. Meyer, Heui Soo Kim, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

The long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) and Alu elements are the most abundant mobile elements comprising 21% and 11% of the human genome, respectively. Since the divergence of human and chimpanzee lineages, these elements have vigorously created chromosomal rearrangements causing genomic difference between humans and chimpanzees by either increasing or decreasing the size of genome. Here, we report an exotic mechanism, retrotransposon recombination-mediated inversion (RRMI), that usually does not alter the amount of genomic material present. Through the comparison of the human and chimpanzee draft genome sequences, we identified 252 inversions whose respective inversion junctions can clearly be characterized. …

Structure Of Polc Reveals Unique Dna Binding And Fidelity Determinants, Ronald J. Evans, Douglas R. Davies, James M. Bullard, Jeffrey Christensen, Louis S. Green, Joseph W. Guiles, Janice D. Pata, Wendy K. Ribble, Nebojsa Janjic, Thale C. Jarvis

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

PolC is the polymerase responsible for genome duplication in many Gram-positive bacteria and represents an attractive target for antibacterial development. We have determined the 2.4-Å resolution crystal structure of Geobacillus kaustophilus PolC in a ternary complex with DNA and dGTP. The structure reveals nascent base pair interactions that lead to highly accurate nucleotide incorporation. A unique β-strand motif in the PolC thumb domain contacts the minor groove, allowing replication errors to be sensed up to 8 nt upstream of the active site. PolC exhibits the potential for large-scale conformational flexibility, which could encompass the catalytic residues. The structure suggests a …

Analysis Of Adverse Events In Drug Safety: A Multivariate Approach Using Stratified Quasi-Least Squares, Hanjoo Kim, Justine Shults, Scott Patterson, Robert Goldberg-Alberts

UPenn Biostatistics Working Papers

Safety assessment in drug development involves numerous statistical challenges, and yet statistical methodologies and their applications to safety data have not been fully developed, despite a recent increase of interest in this area. In practice, a conventional univariate approach for analysis of safety data involves application of the Fisher's exact test to compare the proportion of subjects who experience adverse events (AEs) between treatment groups; This approach ignores several common features of safety data, including the presence of multiple endpoints, longitudinal follow-up, and a possible relationship between the AEs within body systems. In this article, we propose various regression modeling …

Deafdigest: Deaf Sports News December 28, 2008, Barry Strassler

DeafDigest Sports 2008

No abstract provided.

Burden Of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis Among Under Five Years Children At Al-Alwaiya Paediatric Hospital, Sinan Ghazi Mehdi

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Rotavirus is the main cause of diarrhea in 6-12) months which was (31.4%). CONCLUSION: Rotavirus cause 47.4% of acute gastroenteritis cases of the studied sample with no significant statistical difference between rotavirus and other causes of gastroenteritis regarding demographic features (except for gender, more in males), clinical features, and type of treatment and course of disease (except time of onset).Concordance rate between ELISA and Latex was found to be high confirming their validity.

Screening Of Hepatitis B- And C- Viral Markers In Iraqi Patients With Proteinuria, Abdul Hadi K . Hussain

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis may lead to nephropathy as one of its multiple extra hepatic manifestations. Symptomatic proteinuria as detected by dipstick, and qualitative urine collection are simple tests in practice as well as useful cardinal test of underlying renal abnormalities. The aim of this study was to elucidate the impact of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections on the occurrence of symptomatic proteinuria amongst adults and pediatrics. PATIENTS & METHODS : A prospective study included (143) adult and pediatric Iraqi patients presented with symptomatic proteinuria, and 108 (age- and sex-matched) apparently healthy individuals (as control …