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Hydroperiod Of Intermittent Headwater Streams In The Northern Glaciated Plains, Ross Vander Vorste, Nels H. Troelstrup Jr., Eric Rasmussen

Oak Lake Field Station Research Publications

Intermittent streams comprise 90% of stream and river miles in South Dakota. Hydroperiod (duration of flow) was examined in 60 intermittent headwater streams in the Northern Glaciated Plains ecoregion of eastern South Dakota. HOBO (Onset Inc.) temperature loggers were used to track daily temperature amplitudes and allowed detection of drying dates. Streams began to flow in April following spring snowmelt and 83% of streams were either pooled or dry by early September. The majority of drying occurred in June and July. Streams commonly fluctuated between hydrologic phases and several study sites were re-wetted after initial drying. Level IV ecoregions within …

Profiles In Science For Science Librarians: "What Lives Where, And Why": Alfred Russel Wallace, And The Field Of Biogeography, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

Biogeography, the study of animal and plant distribution, has a history extending back to at least the eighteenth century. But it was not until the work of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-nineteenth century that it really came into its own as a science. Darwin’s importance notwithstanding, it was really Wallace who put the field on the map, and many of today’s research threads can be traced back to his influence. This article provides a summary review of Wallace’s life and work and biogeography as a field of study, including Wallace’s role in its development.

Physiological And Genetic Correlates Of Boldness: Characterising The Mechanisms Of Behavioural Variation In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, Tom G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

Bold, risk-taking animals have previously been putatively linked with a proactive stress coping style whereas it is suggested shyer, risk-averse animals exhibit a reactive coping style. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the expression of bold-type behaviour were evident within and between two lines of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, selectively bred for a low (LR) or high (HR) endocrine response to stress, and to link boldness and stress responsiveness with the expression of related candidate genes. Boldness was determined in individual fish over two trials by measuring the latency to approach a novel object. Differences …

Physiological And Genetic Correlates Of Boldness: Characterising The Mechanisms Of Behavioural Variation In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, T. G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon

Ethology Collection

Bold, risk-taking animals have previously been putatively linked with a proactive stress coping style whereas it is suggested shyer, risk-averse animals exhibit a reactive coping style. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the expression of bold-type behaviour were evident within and between two lines of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, selectively bred for a low (LR) or high (HR) endocrine response to stress, and to link boldness and stress responsiveness with the expression of related candidate genes. Boldness was determined in individual fish over two trials by measuring the latency to approach a novel object. Differences …

Human Health Implications Of Intensive Poultry Production And Avian Influenza

Agribusiness Reports

The high stocking density, stress, unhygienic conditions, lack of sunlight, and breeding practices typical of industrial poultry and egg production systems may facilitate the emergence and spread of diseases, including highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses with public health implications such as H5N1.

On The Brink Of Change: Plant Responses To Climate On The Colorado Plateau, Seth M. Munson, Jayne Belnap, M. Schelz, Mary Moran, T. W. Caolin

Canyonlands Research Bibliography

The intensification of aridity due to anthropogenic climate change in the southwestern U.S. is likely to have a large impact on the growth and survival of plant species that may already be vulnerable to water stress. To make accurate predictions of plant responses to climate change, it is essential to determine the long-term dynamics of plant species associated with past climate conditions. Here we show how the plant species and functional types across a wide range of environmental conditions in Colorado Plateau national parks have changed with climate variability over the last twenty years. During this time, regional mean annual …

An Ecological Analysis Of Social And Economic Influences On Black And White Infant Mortality Risk In Orange County, Fl, Littleton, Vanessa Lopez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black health disparities are a salient public health issue with blacks in every socioeconomic level at a greater health disadvantage than their white counterparts. In particular, disparity in infant mortality rates between blacks and whites have widened in recent decades to differentials never before experienced in the United States. Social ecologists investigating the myriad of individual and environmental risk factors have failed to fully account for the persistent differential. This study examines the relationships between individual and environmental influences on the health risk experienced by blacks, whites, as well as the differential between the two populations. This multi-level analysis was …

Adaptive Responses Of Branchial Morphology To Hypoxia In The Neotropical Electric Fish Genus Brachyhypopomus, Leilani B. Pathak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many tropical aquatic environments worldwide are characterized by intermittent or prolonged hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen). Nevertheless, many tropical freshwater fishes are able to inhabit these challenging environments via a range of morphological, physiological and behavioral adaptations. Brachyhypopomus is a diverse genus of weakly electric fishes represented by 28 known species distributed from Panama to Argentina. 17 species are restricted to permanently normoxic habitats (blackwater rivers and terra firme streams), eight species are restricted to seasonally or perennially hypoxic habitats (whitewater floodplains of large tropical rivers or permanent swampy habitats), and three species are eurytopic (occur in both seasonally hypoxic and …

The Response Of Fish Larvae To Decadal Changes In Environmental Forcing Factors Off The Oregon Coast, Toby D. Auth, Richard D. Brodeur, Heather L. Soulen, Lorenzo Ciannelli, William T. Peterson

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We conducted a statistical analysis to characterize the influence of large-scale and local environmental factors on presence-absence, concentration, and assemblage structure of larval fish within the northern California Current (NCC) ecosystem, based on samples collected at two nearshore stations along the Newport Hydrographic line off the central Oregon coast. Data from 1996 to 2005 were compared with historical data from the 1970s and 1980s to evaluate pseudo-decadal, annual, and seasonal variability. Our results indicate that the most abundant taxa from 1996 to 2005 differ from those of earlier decades. Concentrations of the dominant taxa and total larvae were generally greater …

Migration And Behavior Of Juvenile North Pacific Albacore (Thunnus Alalunga), John Childers, Stephanie Snyder, Suzanne Kohin

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Archival tags were used to study the seasonal movements, migration patterns and vertical distribution of juvenile North Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga). Between 2001 and 2006, archival tags were deployed in North Pacific albacore in two regions of the Northeast Pacific: (i) off Northern Baja California, Mexico and Southern California, and (ii) off Washington and Oregon. Twenty archival tagged fish were recovered with times at liberty ranging from 63 to 697 days. Tagged albacore exhibited five distinct, seasonal migratory patterns. Depth and temperature data also showed a broad range of vertical behaviors. In certain regions such as off Baja …

Life History Of The Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin In The Pearl River Estuary, Southern China, Thomas A. Jefferson, Samuel K. Hung, Kelly M. Robertson, Frederick I. Archer

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We studied life history characteristics of the Hong Kong/Pearl River Estuary population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis), based on data from 120 specimens stranded between 1995 and 2009, 40 individuals biopsied at sea, and a long-term (14+ yr) photo-identification study. Ages were determined for 112 specimens by thin-sectioning teeth and counting growth layer groups. Estimated length at birth was 101 cm. Longevity was at least 38 yr, and there was little difference in growth patterns of males and females. Growth was described by a Bayesian two-phase Gompertz model; asymptotic length was reached at 249 cm. The tooth …

Ontogenetic Dietary Information Of The California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Assessed Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Anthony J. Orr, Seth D. Newsome, Jeffrey L. Laake, Glenn R. Vanblaricom, Robert L. Delong

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We used stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes to examine ontogenetic dietary changes in 289 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) at San Miguel Island, California during 2004–2007. Tissues analyzed included fur, red blood cells, plasma, and serum. For all tissues, pups had higher δ¹⁵N values and lower δ¹³C values compared to adults, which indicated that pups were feeding higher trophically than older conspecifics and on a lipid-rich milk diet prior to weaning. Yearling δ¹⁵N values were slightly lower than pup or nearly indistinguishable from adult values depending …

Invasive Species In Europe: Ecology, Status And Policy, Reuben P. Keller, Juergen Geist, Johnathan M. Jeschke, Ingolf Kuhn

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We tested the accuracy of an invasive aquatic plant risk assessment system in the United States that we modified from a system originally developed by New Zealand’s Biosecurity Program. The US system is comprised of 38 questions that address biological, historical, and environmental tolerance traits. Values associated with each response are summed to produce a total score for each species that indicates its risk of invasion. To calibrate and test this risk assessment, we identified 39 aquatic plant species that are major invaders in the continental US, 31 species that have naturalized but have no documented impacts (minor invaders), and …

Fire Ecology And Management Of Non-Forested Ecosystems In Western North America. Final Report: Description Of Organizational Meetings And Development Of A Publication Plan, Matt Brooks

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

It has been almost 30 years since the last major book on the ecology and management of fire was published that contained extensive information from non-forested ecosystems across western North America (Wright and Bailey 1982). During subsequent years there have been notable books that have focused largely on forested ecosystems (e.g. Agee 1993), and there was one very recent book that addressed many important grassland, shrubland, woodland, and forest areas, but its geographic extent was confined to California (Sugihara et al. 2006). No single book has since matched the geographic scope associated with non-forested ecosystems in western North America as …

Fire Regimes Of Montane Grasslands Of The Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico, Donald A. Falk, Craig D. Allen, Robert Parmenter, Thomas Swetnam, Clifford Dils

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Montane grasslands are an important ecosystem type in Southwestern landscapes, occurring from the forest borders of piñon-juniper woodland to high elevation subalpine and alpine ecosystems. Thus, they often represent a mosaic element embedded in the forest landscape matrix, playing key roles in processing water and nutrients, and providing habitat for unique suites of species, often at higher levels of diversity than those found in surrounding uplands. Soils, local temperature and moisture gradients, and disturbance all play roles in determining the distribution and extent of montane grasslands. Of these factors, fire plays the most dynamic role in regulating the location and …

Developmental Assets And Sexual Resiliency Among Female Adolescents, Heidi Swailes Bohall

Graduate Research Papers

Risky sexual behavior among adolescents has become a serious and widespread problem in the United States. Risky sexual behavior among adolescents occurs at alarmingly high rates and the related physical, emotional, and financial consequences are staggering. Before looking at modes of possible prevention, it is important to understand the problem and why it has continued to grow in recent years.

Multimodel Inference And Adaptive Management, Sarah E. Rehme, Larkin A. Powell, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Ecology is an inherently complex science coping with correlated variables, nonlinear interactions and multiple scales of pattern and process, making it difficult for experiments to result in clear, strong inference. Natural resource managers, policy makers, and stakeholders rely on science to provide timely and accurate management recommendations. However, the time necessary to untangle the complexities of interactions within ecosystems is often far greater than the time available to make management decisions. One method of coping with this problem is multimodel inference. Multimodel inference assesses uncertainty by calculating likelihoods among multiple competing hypotheses, but multimodel inference results are often equivocal. Despite …

Feeding Behavior Of Wild Vervet Monkeys In Loskop Dam Nature Preserve, Katherine Dean

Theses & ETDs

Studying the feeding behavior of nonhuman primates in the wild leads to a greater understanding of their behavioral ecology and has important implications for conservation. In this thesis, I documented the feeding behavior of three groups of wild vervet monkeys in Loskop Dam Nature Reserve, Mmpumalanga, South Africa from October 2009 to January 2010. I compared the diet of 51 individuals to their age, sex, rank, and endoparasitic richness. I found no significant correlations between diet and age, sex, and rank. There were significant positive correlations between feeding and endoparasites, suggesting that specific plant species are vehicles for parasites. I …

Severe 2010 Cold-Water Event Caused Unprecedented Mortality To Corals Of The Florida Reef Tract And Reversed Previous Survivorship Patterns, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Brian B. Barnes, Digna Rueda

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Background: Coral reefs are facing increasing pressure from natural and anthropogenic stressors that have already caused significant worldwide declines. In January 2010, coral reefs of Florida, United States, were impacted by an extreme cold-water anomaly that exposed corals to temperatures well below their reported thresholds (16°C), causing rapid coral mortality unprecedented in spatial extent and severity. Methodology/Principal Findings: Reef surveys were conducted from Martin County to the Lower Florida Keys within weeks of the anomaly. The impacts recorded were catastrophic and exceeded those of any previous disturbances in the region. Coral mortality patterns were directly correlated to in-situ and satellite-derived …

John Clare And The Art Of Politics, Jason N. Goldsmith

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Jason Goldsmith's contribution to Volume 30 of the John Clare Society Journal. Article focuses on Clares poem, 'Don Juan' and its place in the University classroom.

Predicting The Impact Of Climate Change On Cheat Grass (Bromus Tectorum) Invasibility For Northern Utah: A Gis And Remote Sensing Approach, Samuel Rivera, Neil E. West, Alexander J. Hernandez, R. Doug Ramsey

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Cheat grass (Bromus tectorum) invasibility represents a serious threat to natural ecosystems dominated by sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Ecosystem susceptibility to annual grass invasion seems to be driven by specific biophysical conditions. The study was conducted in Rich County, Utah, where cheat grass invasion is not yet an apparent problem, but an imminent invasion might be just a matter of time (temporal scale) to meet spatial variations in environmental conditions (spatial scale). Literature review and expert knowledge were used to define biophysical variables and their respective suitability ranges of where cheat grass takeover might occur. GIS, remote sensing and logistic regression-statistical …

Assisted Migration: A Viable Conservation Strategy To Preserve The Biodiversity Of Threatened Island Nations?, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Anthropogenic climate change poses a substantial threat to biodiversity. The IPCC estimates that 20-30% of species will face an increased risk of extinction if the average global temperature rises more than 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius. Additional scientific studies indicate that 15-37% of species may become extinct by 2050 due to global warming, based on current emissions trajectories. Domestic and international strategies to manage this threat have traditionally focused on conservation and mitigation. In the last few years, however, policy makers have recognized that near-term climate impacts are inevitable and thus adaptation strategies are required to protect both humans and …

Distributed Graduate Seminars: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Studying Land Conservation, Jessica Owley, Adena R. Rissman

Articles

No abstract provided.

Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function In The Gulf Of Maine: Pattern And Role Of Zooplankton And Pelagic Nekton, Catherine L. Johnson, Jeffrey A. Runge, K. Alexandra Curtis, Edward G. Durbin, Jonathan A. Hare, Lewis S. Incze, Jason S. Link, Gary D. Melvin, Todd D. O'Brien, Lou Van Guelpen

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

This paper forms part of a broader overview of biodiversity of marine life in the Gulf of Maine area (GoMA), facilitated by the GoMA Census of Marine Life program. It synthesizes current data on species diversity of zooplankton and pelagic nekton, including compilation of observed species and descriptions of seasonal, regional and cross-shelf diversity patterns. Zooplankton diversity in the GoMA is characterized by spatial differences in community composition among the neritic environment, the coastal shelf, and deep offshore waters. Copepod diversity increased with depth on the Scotian Shelf. On the coastal shelf of the western Gulf of Maine, the number …

Anthropogenic Changes Over The Last 100 Years In Dove Sound, Upper Florida Keys, Usa, Thomas S. Harmon

USF St. Petersburg campus Master's Theses (Graduate)

Dove Sound located near Key Largo, Florida (USA) was investigated to determine potential anthropogenic influences from land use alteration such as highway and residential developments. The sediment load and nutrient flux was investigated using 210Pb dating of a sediment core, combined with stable isotope values δ15N, δ13C and pigment analysis. A 210Pb CRS model 130 year horizon was determined for the upper 12cm of the core. Mass sedimentation rates over this time period increased approximately 10 fold from 5.0 ±0.97 mg cm-2 yr-1 (10-12cm depth interval) to 48.58±3.61 mg cm-2 yr-1 (0-1cm depth interval). Reduction in the atomic C/N values …

Grouse News 41-50 (2011-2015), Iucn Ssc-Wpa Specialist Group

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

Issue 41 (May 2011)

From the Editor

From the Chair

Conservation News Urgent measures for conservation of the Cantabrian capercaillie Tetrao urogallus cantabricus in its habitat in the Cantabrian mountain range

Research Reports

Effects of large-scale human land use on capercaillie Tetrao urogallus (L.) populations in Finland: A short summary of the PhD thesis

Why the capercaillie population Tetrao urogallus (L.) in the West Carpathians decline?

Hazel grouse in open landscapes

Investigating the importance of thermal refugia for white-tailed ptarmigan at the southern extent of their range

Is GPS and satellite telemetry an option for grouse research?

GPS satellite telemetry …

Wireless Telesurveillance System For Detecting Dementia, William D. Kearns, James L. Fozard, Vilis O. Nams, Jeffrey D. Craighead

Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Faculty Publications

Objective We hypothesized path tortuosity (an index of casual locomotor variability) measured by a movement telesurveillance system would be suitable for assisted living facility residents clinically diagnosed with dementia. Background We examined the relationship of dementia to path tortuosity and to movement speed and path length variability, both of which increase in dementia. Methods Daytime movements of 25 elders (19 female; 14 with dementia; average age 80.6) were monitored for 30 days using radio transponders measuring location with a maximum accuracy of 20 cm. After 30 days, the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and Revised Algase Wandering Scale-Community Version (RAWS-CV) …

Occurrence Of Blarina Brevicauda In Arkansas And Notes On The Distribution Of Blarina Carolinensis And Cryptotis Parva, R. S. Pfau, D. Blake Sasse, M. B. Connior, I. F. Guenther

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

We provide an update on the species and distribution of shrews occurring in Arkansas. Shrews were collected within Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Wildlife Management Areas and along the Buffalo National River. We also searched mammal collections at several institutional museums to provide additional locality records for Cryptotis parva. Specimens of Blarina were identified to species by DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Previously, Blarina hylophaga was believed to occur in the northwest corner of Arkansas and B. carolinensis throughout the rest of the state. However, our genetic analysis revealed that it is B. brevicauda that occupies the …

Seasonal Activity, Population Characteristics, And Age Estimation In The Aquatic Salamander, Siren Intermedia Nettingi (Goin), J. A. Sawyer, S. E. Trauth

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

We conducted a study of the Western Lesser Siren (Siren intermedia nettinigi), at a locality termed the Airport Road site in Jonesboro (Craighead County, AR) from November 2004 until March 2007. This site consisted of a network of roadside ditches in cultivated lawns in an industrial park. Even though sirens are known to occur frequently in ditches, most studies of the genus Siren have taken place in natural wetlands. We compiled mark-recapture data at the Airport Road site for each season to determine if the seasonal activity pattern for sirens in northeast Arkansas varied from activity data previously published from …

The Proteomic Response Of Sea Squirts (Genus Ciona Congeners) To Heat Stress: Evidence For Differential Thermal Sensitivities, Loredana Serafini

Master's Theses

The sea squirts Ciona intestinalis and C. savignyi have disparate distribution patterns, which may result from differences in their thermal tolerance limits. Because C. intestinalis, an almost cosmopolitan species, has a more widespread distribution, it is thought that it is better adapted to endure a wide range of temperatures. In order to compare the heat stress response between these two congeners, we studied global changes in protein expression, using a proteomics approach. To characterize the response to extreme heat stress, animals of both species were exposed to temperatures of 22°C, 25°C, and 28°C for 6 h, and then were …