Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating New Protein Sources For Development Of A Deer Repellent Product, Bruce A. Kimball, Kelly R. Perry

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Several protein sources were tested as deer repellents with captive deer. Black-tailed deer were offered Western redcedar seedlings treated with corn gluten meal, feather meal, poultry blood, hydrolyzed casein, or a control (latex sticker used for treatment proteins). After 37 days, feather meal and hydrolyzed casein provided equivalent protection against browse damage (only 23% of seedlings significantly browsed). Poultry blood provided less browse protection (44% browsed), while browse damage to seedlings treated with corn gluten meal (73% browsed) was not statistically different than the control (100% browsed). Based on the efficacy of feather meal and its low material cost, this …

Sunflower Treated With Avipel (Anthraquinone) Bird Repellent, Hans Kandel, Burton Johnson, Chad Deplazes, George M. Linz, Michele Santer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Maturing sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is susceptible to damage by birds, especially blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus and Quiscalus quiscula). The National Sunflower Association (NSA) identified Blackbird damage as a major issue in the production of sunflower throughout the US. In 2007 bird damage was identified as the number one yield limiting factor in 9% of surveyed fields in North Dakota (Graph 1).

Evaluation Of Attractants To Improve Trapping Success Of Nutria On Louisiana Coastal Marsh, Susan Jojola, Gary W. Witmer, Patrick Burke

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Nutria (Myocastor coypus) are an important part of the Louisiana (USA) fur industry, but high densities of nutria cause extensive damage to coastal marsh ecosystems. Hence, there is a need to develop improved methods for targeted management of nutria. We screened 14 olfactory cues as potential lures for nutria, first in controlled settings and then in the field, to see if nutria capture rates using foothold traps would increase. In Y-maze trials, nutria most frequently selected olfactory cues of a synthetic formulation of nutria anal-gland secretion and nutria fur extract. We examined the 3 most selected attractants in …

Experimental Inoculation Of Coyotes With Mycobacterium Bovis Susceptibility And Shedding, Shylo R. Johnson, Mike R. Dunbar, Lorene Martinez, Robert L. Jones, Richard Bowen, Paul Gordy

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Several wildlife species have tested positive for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan and may potentially transmit the disease to other animals. Coyotes have the highest known prevalence in the endemic area and thus, our objective was to investigate the shedding of Mycobacterium bovis by coyotes. Four coyotes were orally inoculated with 1 ml of 1 x 10⁵ CFU/ml of M. bovis. Oral and nasal swabs, and feces were collected regularly and tested by culture. Fecal samples were also tested by exposing guinea pigs to the coyotes' feces. All animals were necropsied to determine if infection occurred. All swabs, feces …

Bird Damage To Corn And Sunflower In North Dakota, George M. Linz, Anthony A. Slowik, Linda B. Penry, H. Jeffrey Homan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The last comprehensive field surveys of bird damage to sunflower in North Dakota were conducted in 1979 and 1980. Average economic damage across years was slightly over US $5.0 million. Sunflower prices have appreciably increased since these monetary losses were calculated.

As corn acreages in North Dakota have increased, so have complaints from growers about blackbird damage to corn. Quantitative surveys of blackbird damage to corn, however, have never been conducted in North Dakota.

The goal of our multi-year study is to quantify blackbird damage to sunflower and corn crops in the Prairie Pothole Region, the principal corn and sunflower …

Predator And Heterospecific Stimuli Alter Behavior In Cattle, Bryan M. Kluever, Larry D. Howery, Stewart W. Breck, David L. Bergman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild and domestic ungulates modify their behavior in the presence of olfactory and visual cues of predators but investigations have not exposed a domestic species to a series of cues representing various predators and other ungulate herbivores.We used wolf (Canis lupus), mountain lion (Puma concolor), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) stimuli (olfactory and visual), and a control (no stimuli) to experimentally test for differences in behavior of cattle (Bos taurus) raised in Arizona. We measured (1) vigilance, (2) foraging rates, (3) giving up density (GUD) of high quality foods and (4) time …

Sperm Design And Variation In The New World Blackbirds (Icteridae), Stefan Lüpold, George M. Linz, Tim R. Birkhead

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Post-copulatory sexual selection (PCSS) is thought to be one of the evolutionary forces responsible for the rapid and divergent evolution of sperm design. However, whereas in some taxa particular sperm traits are positively associated with PCSS, in other taxa, these relationships are negative, and the causes of these different patterns across taxa are poorly understood. In a comparative study using New World blackbirds (Icteridae), we tested whether sperm design was influenced by the level of PCSS and found significant positive associations with the level of PCSS for all sperm components but head length. Additionally, whereas the absolute length of sperm …

White-Tailed Deer Herbivory And Timber Harvesting Rates: Implications For Regeneration Success, Brad F. Miller, Tyler A. Campbell, Benjamin R. Laseter, W. Mark Ford, Karl V. Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can affect forest regeneration. Typical measures to ensure forest regeneration have included physical barriers or direct manipulation of deer densities. However, altering silvicultural practices to provide abundant deer forage has not been tested thoroughly. We examined browse species preferences and changes in herbivory rates in 1–6 year old regeneration areas from 2001 to 2004 in the central Appalachians on the MeadWestvaco Wildlife and Ecosystem Research Forest in West Virginia. Woody vegetation reached the maximum plot coverage by the 4th growing season. However, the establishment of less abundant woody species, such as northern …

Landscape Genetics Of Raccoons (Procyon Lotor) Associated With Ridges And Valleys Of Pennsylvania: Implications For Oral Rabies Vaccination Programs, J. Jeffrey Root, Robert B. Puskas, Justin W. Fischer, Craig B. Swope, Melissa A. Neubaum, Serena A. Reeder, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raccoons are the reservoir for the raccoon rabies virus variant in the United States. To combat this threat, oral rabies vaccination (ORV) programs are conducted in many eastern states. To aid in these efforts, the genetic structure of raccoons (Procyon lotor) was assessed in southwestern Pennsylvania to determine if select geographic features (i.e., ridges and valleys) serve as corridors or hindrances to raccoon gene flow (e.g., movement) and, therefore, rabies virus trafficking in this physiographic region. Raccoon DNA samples (n = 185) were collected from one ridge site and two adjacent valleys in southwestern Pennsylvania (Westmoreland, Cambria, Fayette, …

Declining Mortality In American Crow (Corvus Brachyrhynchos) Following Natural West Nile Virus Infection, Lisa M. Reed, Michael A. Johansson, Nicholas Panella, Robert Mclean, Terry Creekmore, Rose Puelle, Nicholas Komar

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is known to suffer 100% mortality from infection with the New York 1999 strain of West Nile virus (WNV). Following the initial detection of WNV in North America in 1999, we measured prevalence of WNV-reactive antibodies (‘‘seroprevalence”) in free-ranging American and fish crows (Corvus ossifragus) of central New Jersey after each transmission season through 2005. In 2002, seroprevalence in American crow juveniles increased to 14% from the 5% of the previous year, potentially indicating increased survival in this species. Using the annual seroprevalence measurements and the number of human West Nile …

Invasive Litter, Not An Invasive Insectivore, Determines Invertebrate Communities In Hawaiian Forests, Nathania C. Tuttle, Karen H. Beard, William C. Pitt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In Hawaii, invasive plants have the ability to alter litter-based food chains because they often have litter traits that differ from native species. Additionally, abundant invasive predators, especially those representing new trophic levels, can reduce prey. The relative importance of these two processes on the litter invertebrate community in Hawaii is important, because they could affect the large number of endemic and endangered invertebrates. We determined the relative importance of litter resources, represented by leaf litter of two trees, an invasive nitrogen-fixer, Falcataria moluccana, and a native tree, Metrosideros polymorpha, and predation of an invasive terrestrial frog, Eleutherodactylus …

Eight Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci Developed And Characterized From Townsend’S Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Townsendii, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Katie Erin G. Miller, Marjorie D. Matocq, Susan L. Perkins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Two of the five subspecies of the western big-eared bat, Corynorhinus townsendii, are listed as federally endangered with the remaining three being of conservation concern. Knowing the degree of connectivity among populations would aid in the establishment of sound conservation and management plans for this taxon. For this purpose, we have developed and characterized eight polymorphic microsatellite markers.

Development And Characterization Of 15 Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci Isolated From Rafinesque’S Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Rafinesquii, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Julia A. Figueroa, Susan L. Perkins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We developed and characterized 15 microsatellite markers for Rafinesque’s big-eared bat, Corynorhinus rafinesquii. In a population from Tennessee, the number of alleles per locus ranged from three to 13 and observed heterozygosities were 0.35 to 0.97 per locus. These loci will provide appropriate variability for estimation of population connectivity, demographic parameters, and genetic diversity for this species of concern.

Experimental Infection Of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon Pyrrhonota) With Varying Doses Of West Nile Virus, Paul T. Oesterle, Nicole M. Nemeth, Kaci K. Vandalen, Heather Sullivan, Kevin T. Bentler, Ginger R. Young, Robert G. Mclean, Larry Clark, Cynthia Smeraski, Jeffrey S. Hall

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) were inoculated with differing doses of West Nile virus (WNV) to evaluate their potential role as reservoir hosts in nature. Swallows often nest in large colonies in habitats and months associated with high mosquito abundance and early WNV transmission in North America. Additionally, cliff swallow diet consists of insects, including mosquitoes, leading to an additional potential route of WNV infection. The average peak viremia titer among infected cliff swallows was 10^6.3 plaque-forming units (PFU)/mL serum and the reservoir competence index was 0.34. There was no correlation between dose and probability of becoming infected …

Alkaline Hydrolysis Of Mouse-Adapted Scrapie For Inactivation And Disposal Of Prion-Positive Material, R. G. L. Murphy, J. A. Scanga, B. E. Powers, J. L. Pilon, K. C. Vercauteren, P. B. Nash, G. C. Smith, K. E. Belk

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease, and scrapie pose serious risks to human and animal health due to a host of disease-specific factors, including the resistance of infectious prions (PrP^Sc) to natural degradation and to most commercial inactivation procedures. In an attempt to address this concern, a mouse model was used to compare the efficacy of an alkaline hydrolysis process with a simulated continuous-flow rendering treatment for disposal of PrP^Sc-infected biological material. Female C57/BL6 mice (N = 120) were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups (n = 30), and each mouse was …

Physiological Stress Response Of Captive White-Tailed Deer To Video Collars, Remington Moll, Joshua J. Millspaugh, Jeff Beringer, Joel Sartwell, Rami Woods, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Animal-borne video and environmental data collection systems (AVEDs) are an advanced form of biotelemetry that combines video with other sensors. As a proxy for physiological stress, we assessed fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) excretion in 7 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fitted with AVED dummy collars; 9 additional deer served as controls. We collected fecal samples over 3 2-week periods: pretreatment, treatment, and post-treatment periods. There were no differences in FGMs across time periods (F_2,218 = 1.94, P = 0.147) and no difference between FGMs of control and treatment individuals (F_1,14 = 0.72, P = 0.411). Fecal glucocorticoid …

Benefit Cost Scenarios Of Potential Oral Rabies Vaccination For Skunks In California, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Ray T. Sterner, Robert Hale, Michele T. Jay, Ben Sun, Dennis Slate

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Scenario-based analyses were computed for benefits and costs linked with hypothetical oral rabies vaccination (ORV) campaigns to contain or eliminate skunk-variant rabies in skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in California, USA. Scenario 1 assumed baiting eight zones (43,388 km² total) that comprised 73% of known skunk rabies locations in the state. Scenario 2 also assumed baiting these eight zones, but further assumed that added benefits would result from preventing the spread of skunk-variant rabies into Los Angeles County, USA. Scenarios assumed a fixed bait cost ($1.24 each) but varied campaigns (one, two and three annual ORV applications), densities of …

Impact Of Age And Sex Of Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus Elaphus Nelson) On Follicle Counts From Rectal Mucosal Biopsies For Preclinical Detection Of Chronic Wasting Disease, Terry R. Spraker, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Tom L. Gidlewski, Randy D. Munger, W. David Walter, Aru Balachandran Walter

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

To determine if the number of rectal lymphoid follicles decreases with respect to age and sex relative to diagnosis of chronic wasting disease (CWD), rectal biopsies (n = 1,361) were taken from captive Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) at 4 ranches in the western United States between 2005 and 2008. Rectal tissues were stained with a monoclonal antibody (F99/97.6.1), which selectively stains the abnormal isoform of the prion protein associated with CWD of elk. The number of lymphoid follicles obtained from typical biopsy tissues decreased with the age of the animal. The acceptable number of lymphoid follicles …

Evaluation Of An Epitope-Blocking Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay For The Detection Of Antibodies To Influenza A Virus In Domestic And Wild Avian And Mammalian Species, Heather J. Sullivan, Bradley J. Blitvich, Kaci K. Vandalen, Kevin T. Bentler, Alan B. Franklin, J. Jeffrey Root

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

An epitope-blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA) was developed for the detection of antibodies to influenza A virus in taxonomically diverse domestic and wild vertebrate species. In contrast to the bELISAs published previously that require reagent production, manipulation by the end-user, or have not been evaluated for use with both mammalian and avian species, this assay is performed using commercially available recombinant nucleoprotein antigen and corresponding nucleoprotein-specific monoclonal antibody and has been shown to work with multiple avian and mammalian species. The efficacy of the bELISA as a serum screening assay was compared to the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) assay using …

Threshold Concentrations Of An Anthraquinone-Based Repellent For Canada Geese, Red-Winged Blackbirds, And Ring-Necked Pheasants, Scott J. Werner, James C. Carlson, Shelagh K. Tupper, Michele M. Santer, George M. Linz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife repellents provide a non-lethal alternative for managing the monetary impacts of agricultural depredation. For the purpose of developing of an effective avian repellent, we established repellency thresholds of an anthraquinone-based repellent for Canada geese (Branta canadensis), red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), and ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in captivity. We conducted a concentration–response experiment with Canada geese offered cornseeds treated with six concentrations of Avipel repellent (a.i. 50% 9,10-anthraquinone). Based upon our laboratory efficacy data, we used non-linear regression to predict a threshold concentration of 1450 ppm anthraquinone for geese offered treated corn seeds (i.e., …

Options For The Control Of Disease 3: Targeting The Environment, Alastair Ward, Kurt C. Vercauteren, W. David Walter, Emmanuellle Gilot-Fromont, Sophie Rossi, Gareth Edwards- Jones, Mark S. Lambert, Michael R. Hutchings, Richard J. Delahay

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Management of wildlife disease can be targeted at pathogens, hosts or vector populations, but may also focus on the environment. As constituent elements of any given environment, resident wildlife populations, and their pathogens, may be profoundly influenced by environmental change, in terms of their abundance, distribution and behavior. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that incorporation of environmental manipulation into a program to control wildlife diseases may potentially result in outcomes as effective as direct intervention aimed at hosts, pathogens and vectors.

Crop, Native Vegetation, And Biofuels: Response Of White- Tailed Deer To Changing Management Priorities, W. David Walter, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Jason Gilsdorf, Scott E. Hygnstrom

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The expansion of the cellulosic biofuels industry throughout the United States has broad-scale implications for wildlife management on public and private lands. Knowledge is limited on the effects of reverting agriculture to native grass, and vice versa, on size of home range and habitat use of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We followed 68 radio-collared female deer from 1991 through 2004 that were residents of DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR) in eastern Nebraska, USA. The refuge was undergoing conversion of vegetation out of row-crop agriculture and into native grass, forest, and emergent aquatic vegetation. Habitat in DNWR consisted of …

Improving Follow-Up Of Abnormal Cancer Screens Using Electronic Health Records: Trust But Verify Test Result Communication, Hardeep Singh, Lindsey Wilson, Laura A Petersen, Mona K Sawhney, Brian Reis, Donna Espadas, Dean F Sittig

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Early detection of colorectal cancer through timely follow-up of positive Fecal Occult Blood Tests (FOBTs) remains a challenge. In our previous work, we found 40% of positive FOBT results eligible for colonoscopy had no documented response by a treating clinician at two weeks despite procedures for electronic result notification. We determined if technical and/or workflow-related aspects of automated communication in the electronic health record could lead to the lack of response.

METHODS: Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, we evaluated positive FOBT communication in the electronic health record of a large, urban facility between May 2008 and March 2009. …

Taxonomy Development And Knowledge Representation Of Nurses' Personal Cognitive Artifacts, Sharon Mclane, James P Turley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nurses prepare knowledge representations, or summaries of patient clinical data, each shift. These knowledge representations serve multiple purposes, including support of working memory, workload organization and prioritization, critical thinking, and reflection. This summary is integral to internal knowledge representations, working memory, and decision-making. Study of this nurse knowledge representation resulted in development of a taxonomy of knowledge representations necessary to nursing practice.This paper describes the methods used to elicit the knowledge representations and structures necessary for the work of clinical nurses, described the development of a taxonomy of this knowledge representation, and discusses translation of this methodology to the cognitive …

Ontology Driven Integration Platform For Clinical And Translational Research, Parsa Mirhaji, Min Zhu, Mattew Vagnoni, Elmer V. Bernstam, Jiajie Zhang, Jack W. Smith

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Semantic Web technologies offer a promising framework for integration of disparate biomedical data. In this paper we present the semantic information integration platform under development at the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-H) as part of our Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program. We utilize the Semantic Web technologies not only for integrating, repurposing and classification of multi-source clinical data, but also to construct a distributed environment for information sharing, and collaboration online. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is used to modularize and distribute reusable services in a …

The Germination Ecology And Composition Of The Indigenous Seeds Of Cyprus Conglomeratus: A Sand Dune Binder, Sheikha Saeed Amer Al Neyadi

Theses

Cyperus conglomeratus is among few species that tolerate the instability of sand dunes and its low nutrients. This species tolerates grazing animals and sand burial. It is considered as a good fodder for both domestic and wildlife animals. It has the potential to fix sand dunes. In addition, a preliminary observation indicated the presence of high contents of oil in the seeds. Despite the ecological importance of C. conglomeratus, little information is available about germination behaviour and seed composition. The present study assessed the dormancy, germination requirement, tolerance to salinity and drought during germination stage, the impact of dormancy regulation …

Malignant Melanoma Metastatic To The Thyroid Gland: A Case Report And Review Of The Literature., Brian Kung, Md, Saba Aftab, Bs, Moira D. Wood, Md, David Rosen, Md

Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Papers

The thyroid gland is a relatively uncommon site for a secondary malignancy; even less common is a case of malignant melanoma metastatic to the thyroid. We describe the case of a 68-year-old man who presented with a neck mass in the posterior triangle. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) identified the mass as a malignant melanoma. The patient had had no known primary skin melanoma. He underwent a left modified radical neck dissection, and the mass was discovered to be a positive lymph node. Postoperatively, he declined to undergo radio- and chemotherapy. Eighteen months later, he returned with a diffusely enlarged thyroid. …

Developing Sustainable Spacecraft Water Management Systems, Evan A. Thomas, David M. Klaus

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is well recognized that water handling systems used in a spacecraft are prone to failure caused by biofouling and mineral scaling, which can clog mechanical systems and degrade the performance of capillary-based technologies. Long duration spaceflight applications, such as extended stays at a Lunar Outpost or during a Mars transit mission, will increasingly benefit from hardware that is generally more robust and operationally sustainable overtime. This paper presents potential design and testing considerations for improving the reliability of water handling technologies for exploration spacecraft. Our application of interest is to devise a spacecraft wastewater management system wherein fouling can …

2009-2010 Graduate Catalog, Morehead State University

Morehead State Catalog Archive

2009-2010 graduate catalog for Morehead State University.

2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog, Morehead State University

Morehead State Catalog Archive

2009-2010 graduate catalog for Morehead State University.