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Natural Resources and Conservation

2021

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Articles 211 - 233 of 233

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Influenza A Virus Surveillance, Infection And Antibody Persistence In Snow Geese (Anser Caerulescens), Susan A. Shriner, J. Jeffrey Root, Jeremy W. Ellis, Kevin T. Bentler, Kaci K. Vandalen, Thomas Gidlewski, Sarah N. Bevins Jan 2021

Influenza A Virus Surveillance, Infection And Antibody Persistence In Snow Geese (Anser Caerulescens), Susan A. Shriner, J. Jeffrey Root, Jeremy W. Ellis, Kevin T. Bentler, Kaci K. Vandalen, Thomas Gidlewski, Sarah N. Bevins

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Some snow geese (Anser caerulescens) migrate between Eurasia and North America and exhibit high seroprevalence for influenza A viruses (IAVs). Hence, these birds might be expected to play a role in intercontinental dispersal of IAVs. Our objective in this manuscript was to characterize basic incidence and infection characteristics for snow geese to assess whether these birds are likely to significantly contribute to circulation of IAVs. Thus, we 1) estimated snow goose infection prevalence by summarizing > 5,000 snow goose surveillance records, 2) experimentally infected snow geese with a low pathogenic IAV (H4N6) to assess susceptibility and infection dynamics and …

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Using Object-Based Image Analysis To Detect Laughing Gull Nests, Benjamin F. Martini, Douglas A. Miller Jan 2021

Using Object-Based Image Analysis To Detect Laughing Gull Nests, Benjamin F. Martini, Douglas A. Miller

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Remote sensing has long been used to study wildlife; however, manual methods of detecting wildlife in aerial imagery are often time-consuming and prone to human error, and newer computer vision techniques have not yet been extensively applied to wildlife surveys. We used the object-based image analysis (OBIA) software eCognition to detect laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) nests in Jamaica Bay as part of an ongoing monitoring effort at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Our technique uses a combination of high resolution 4-band aerial imagery captured via manned aircraft with a multispectral UltraCam Falcon M2 camera, LiDAR point cloud data, and …

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Environmental Dna For Conservation, Antoinette J. Piaggio Jan 2021

Environmental Dna For Conservation, Antoinette J. Piaggio

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Biodiversity must be documented before it can be conserved. However, it may be difficult to document species with few individuals (Thompson, 2013; Goldberg et al., 2016), thus it requires a multitude of tools to detect species that occur in low numbers or are elusive (see the various chapters in this volume). One tool that has become useful for conservation efforts utilizes environmental DNA, which is DNA shed into the environment by organisms (eDNA; Taberlet et al., 2018). Typically this involves taking environmental samples such as soil, water, air, or using biological surrogates for sampling biodiversity (e.g. leeches, sponges, carrion flies, …

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Principal Economic Effects Of Cormorant Predation On Catfish Farms, Carole R. Engle, Terrel W. Christie, Brian S. Dorr, Ganesh Kumar, Luke A. Roy, Anita M. Kelly Jan 2021

Principal Economic Effects Of Cormorant Predation On Catfish Farms, Carole R. Engle, Terrel W. Christie, Brian S. Dorr, Ganesh Kumar, Luke A. Roy, Anita M. Kelly

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Substantial economic losses of farmed catfish to fish-eating birds such as the double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, continue to be reported on U.S. catfish farms. An economic analysis was conducted of the on-farm effects of both the increased expenditures to scare fish-eating birds from catfish farms and of the value of the catfish that were consumed by cormorants. A survey was conducted of U.S. catfish farmers in the Delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas, to obtain farm-level data on expenditures to scare birds. Estimations of the lost revenue from catfish consumed by cormorants were developed from a concurrent study on …

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Serological Responses Of Raccoons And Striped Skunks To Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait In West Virginia During 2012–2016, Shylo R. Johnson, Dennis Slate, Kathleen M. Nelson, Amy J. Davis, Samual A. Mills, John T. Forbes, Kurt Vercauteren, Amy T. Gilbert, Richard B. Chipman Jan 2021

Serological Responses Of Raccoons And Striped Skunks To Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait In West Virginia During 2012–2016, Shylo R. Johnson, Dennis Slate, Kathleen M. Nelson, Amy J. Davis, Samual A. Mills, John T. Forbes, Kurt Vercauteren, Amy T. Gilbert, Richard B. Chipman

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Since the 1990s, oral rabies vaccination (ORV) has been used successfully to halt the westward spread of the raccoon rabies virus (RV) variant from the eastern continental USA. Elimination of raccoon RV from the eastern USA has proven challenging across targeted raccoon (Procyon lotor) and striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) populations impacted by raccoon RV. Field trial evaluations of the Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait (ONRAB) were initiated to expand ORV products available to meet the rabies management goal of raccoon RV elimination. This study describes the continuation of a 2011 trial inWest Virginia. Our objective was to evaluate raccoon …

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Diets Of Double-Crested Cormorants In The Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, Ryan P. Koenigs, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Charles D. Lovell, Daniel A. Isermann, Adam D. Nickel Jan 2021

Diets Of Double-Crested Cormorants In The Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, Ryan P. Koenigs, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Charles D. Lovell, Daniel A. Isermann, Adam D. Nickel

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorox auritus Lesson (cormorant) populations have increased throughout the Great Lakes region of North America causing concern related to the impact of cormorant predation on fish communities. A recent decline in yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) abundance within the Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, USA, prompted an assessment of cormorant diets to evaluate potential effects of cormorant predation on the sportfish community. Diets were collected from 883 cormorants (417 from Lake Winnebago and 466 from Lake Butte des Morts) between 2015 and 2017. Cormorant diets on both waterbodies consisted mostly of freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens Rafinesque and gizzard shad …

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Invasive Species In Puerto Rico: The View From El Yunque, Jess Zimmerman, Julissa Rojas-Sandoval, Aaron B. Shiels Jan 2021

Invasive Species In Puerto Rico: The View From El Yunque, Jess Zimmerman, Julissa Rojas-Sandoval, Aaron B. Shiels

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Native flora and fauna of Puerto Rico have a long biogeographic connection to South America. Theory and empirical evidence suggest that islands, particularly those distantly isolated from the mainland, should be more susceptible to naturalizations and invasions of non-native species than continental areas. Anthropogenic disturbances can facilitate accidental and deliberate introductions of non-native species. In this study, we asked: What is the current status of introduced species within El Yunque National Forest (EYNF), the largest and most well-conserved forest area of Puerto Rico? To address this question, we reviewed the literature and surveyed local experts to identify introduced plant and …

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Biodetection Of A Specific Odor Signature In Mallard Feces Associated With Infection By Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Virus, Glen J. Golden, Meredith Jj. Grady, Hailey E. Mclean, Susan A. Shriner, Airn E. Hartwig, Richard A. Bowen, Bruce A. Kimball Jan 2021

Biodetection Of A Specific Odor Signature In Mallard Feces Associated With Infection By Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Virus, Glen J. Golden, Meredith Jj. Grady, Hailey E. Mclean, Susan A. Shriner, Airn E. Hartwig, Richard A. Bowen, Bruce A. Kimball

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Outbreaks of avian influenza virus (AIV) infection included the spread of highly pathogenic AIV in commercial poultry and backyard flocks in the spring of 2015. This resulted in estimated losses of more than $8.5 million from federal government expenditures, $1.6 billion from direct losses to produces arising from destroyed turkey and chicken egg production, and economy-wide indirect costs of $3.3 billion from impacts on retailers and the food service industries. Additionally, these outbreaks resulted in the death or depopulation of nearly 50 million domestic birds. Domesticated male ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) were trained to display a specific conditioned behavior (i.e. …

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An Investigation Of Endangered And Threatened Plants Using Phylogenomics, Phylogenetic Metrics, And Geography To Prevent Species Loss, Phyllis H. Pischl Jan 2021

An Investigation Of Endangered And Threatened Plants Using Phylogenomics, Phylogenetic Metrics, And Geography To Prevent Species Loss, Phyllis H. Pischl

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The conservation of endangered and threatened plant species plays an integral part of preserving biodiversity. Loss of habitat is one of the main reasons that plants become endangered or threatened. In Illinois much of the native habitat has been lost to the conversion of industry, agriculture and urban areas. The goals of this dissertation are to 1) determine where endangered and threatened species are finding habitats in relation to land use, 2) produce a robust phylogeny of endangered and threatened species of grasses and apply phylogenetic diversity analysis to better understand the plight of these species, and 3) use climate …

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Living Shorelines Achieve Functional Equivalence To Natural Fringe Marshes Across Multiple Ecological Metrics, Robert Isdell, Donna M. Bilkovic, Amanda Guthrie, Molly Mitchell, Randolph M. Chambers, Matthias Leu, Carl Hershner Jan 2021

Living Shorelines Achieve Functional Equivalence To Natural Fringe Marshes Across Multiple Ecological Metrics, Robert Isdell, Donna M. Bilkovic, Amanda Guthrie, Molly Mitchell, Randolph M. Chambers, Matthias Leu, Carl Hershner

VIMS Articles

Nature-based shoreline protection provides a welcome class of adaptations to promote ecological resilience in the face of climate change. Along coastlines, living shorelines are among the preferred adaptation strategies to both reduce erosion and provide ecological functions. As an alternative to shoreline armoring, living shorelines are viewed favorably among coastal managers and some private property owners, but they have yet to undergo a thorough examination of how their levels of ecosystem functions compare to their closest natural counterpart: fringing marshes. Here, we provide a synthesis of results from a multi-year, large-spatial-scale study in which we compared numerous ecological metrics (including …

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Evaluating The Use Of Acoustic Warning Signals To Reduce Avian Collision Risk, Robin Grace Thady Jan 2021

Evaluating The Use Of Acoustic Warning Signals To Reduce Avian Collision Risk, Robin Grace Thady

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Collisions with human-made structures are responsible for billions of bird deaths each year, resulting in ecological damage as well as regulatory and financial burdens to many industries. Acoustic warning signals can alert birds to obstacles in their flight paths in order to mitigate collisions, but these signals should be tailored to the sensory ecology of birds in flight. The effectiveness of various acoustic warning signals likely depends on the influence of background noise and the relative ability of various sound types to propagate within a landscape. I evaluated the ability of four sound signals to elicit collision-avoidant flight behaviors from …

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Potential Solar Replacement Of Hydroelectricity To Reopen Rivers: Maine As A Case Example, Shailesh Sharma, John Waldman Jan 2021

Potential Solar Replacement Of Hydroelectricity To Reopen Rivers: Maine As A Case Example, Shailesh Sharma, John Waldman

Publications and Research

Hydroelectricity provides 6% of U.S. electrical power needs, but hydro-dams also cause environmental harm, including the retardation or complete blockage of spawning runs of anadromous fishes. To facilitate fish movements, engineered-fishways have long been used but many have performed poorly. Dam-removal is the most effective way of restoring dwindling migratory fish populations by allowing unrestricted pathways to their spawning areas and for the downstream migrations of post-spawning adults and juveniles. However, removals of hydro-dams result in a loss of electricity production. For the replacement of energy foregone from hydro-dam removals, various alternative energy installations are now feasible. We present one-to-one …

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Effects Of Different Liquid Smoke Treatments On Osmotic Dehydration Of Apple Cubes, Rohit Singh Jan 2021

Effects Of Different Liquid Smoke Treatments On Osmotic Dehydration Of Apple Cubes, Rohit Singh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Refined Liquid Smoke (RLS) (1%) was incorporated during osmotic dehydration of apple cubes (10 mm each side) to observe its effect on solid gain, water loss, yield, water activity, product quality, and consumer preference. Three different treatments, POD (pure osmotic dehydration, no RLS), LSISS (RLS inside sugar solution) and PTLS (pre-treatment with RLS), were compared in this study. Osmotic dehydration was carried out using 42 °Brix sugar solution, and the fruit to solution ratio was kept at 1:4. The osmotically dehydrated apples were evaluated for soluble solid content (SSC), water loss, and solid gained. After osmotic dehydration, apple cubes were …

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Examining West Virginia's Economic Development: Natural Resources, Development Agencies, And Labor Force Development, Gaillynn Marie Bowman Jan 2021

Examining West Virginia's Economic Development: Natural Resources, Development Agencies, And Labor Force Development, Gaillynn Marie Bowman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Examining West Virginia's Economic Development: Natural Resources, Development Agencies, and Labor Force Development Gaillynn Bowman Economic development is well-recognized as being fundamental to facilitating an overall improved quality of life for communities and their residents. Throughout West Virginia’s history, the state has experienced economic hardships caused by boom and bust cycles associated with resource extraction. This dissertation consists of three essays that explore the impacts of economic development activities, including conservation programs, economic development agency initiatives, and workforce development agencies. The first essay explores the relationship nonresident landowners have with the conservation programs within West Virginia, specifically the Natural Resources …

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The Quantitative Assessment Of Pond Scum: An Examination Of The Biogeochemistry Of Phosphorus Cycling In The Belgrade Lakes, Abbey M. Sykes Jan 2021

The Quantitative Assessment Of Pond Scum: An Examination Of The Biogeochemistry Of Phosphorus Cycling In The Belgrade Lakes, Abbey M. Sykes

Honors Theses

The internal recycling phosphorus in freshwater lake bottom sediments represents a significant source of hypolimnetic phosphorus (P) release for many of Maine’s lakes. In summer months, Maine lakes often thermally stratify and the lake hypolimnion develops anoxia, leading to a reduction in redox potential at the sediment-water interface. These reducing conditions facilitate the reductive dissolution of ferric iron, and, since phosphorus is often present in freshwater lake sediments as solid FeOOH-PO4 complexes, results in release of soluble phosphorus into the water column. Our current study presents field and laboratory data from sediment fractionation extractions designed to quantify concentrations of …

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First Record Of Blacknape Large-Eye Bream Gymnocranius Satoi (Perciformes: Lethrinidae) In The Philippines, Nicko Amor Flores, Jade Tifany Rey, Jeffrey T. Williams, Kent Carpenter, Mudjekeewis Santos Jan 2021

First Record Of Blacknape Large-Eye Bream Gymnocranius Satoi (Perciformes: Lethrinidae) In The Philippines, Nicko Amor Flores, Jade Tifany Rey, Jeffrey T. Williams, Kent Carpenter, Mudjekeewis Santos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Philippines has been regarded as the center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity, having the highest number of fish species per square area in the world. The blacknape large-eye bream, Gymnocranius satoi, has been reported to occur from Southern Japan, Taiwan to Northwestern Australia and to the Coral Sea, but has not previously been recorded from the Philippines. From 2011 – 2019, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) collaborated with the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution (NMNH/SI), USA, and the Old Dominion University (ODU), Virgina, USA, to inventory all commercial fish …

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Advancing Applied Research In Conservation Criminology Through The Evaluation Of Corruption Prevention, Enhancing Compliance, And Reducing Recidivism, Jessica S. Kahler, Joseph W. Rivera, Zachary T. Steele, Pilar Morales-Giner, Christian J. Rivera, Carol F. Ahossin, Ashpreet Kaur, Diane J. Episcopio-Sturgeon Jan 2021

Advancing Applied Research In Conservation Criminology Through The Evaluation Of Corruption Prevention, Enhancing Compliance, And Reducing Recidivism, Jessica S. Kahler, Joseph W. Rivera, Zachary T. Steele, Pilar Morales-Giner, Christian J. Rivera, Carol F. Ahossin, Ashpreet Kaur, Diane J. Episcopio-Sturgeon

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Concomitant with an increase in the global illegal wildlife trade has been a substantial increase in research within traditional conservation-based sciences and conservation and green criminology. While the integration of criminological theories and methods into the wildlife conservation context has advanced our understanding of and practical responses to illegal wildlife trade, there remain discrepancies between the number of empirical vs. conceptual studies and a disproportionate focus on a few select theories, geographical contexts, and taxonomic groups. We present three understudied or novel applications of criminology and criminal justice research within the fields of fisheries, forestry, and wildlife conservation. First, we …

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Regional Impacts Of Invasive Species And Climate Change On Black Ash Wetlands, Joseph Shannon Jan 2021

Regional Impacts Of Invasive Species And Climate Change On Black Ash Wetlands, Joseph Shannon

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For more than a decade intensive research on the ecohydrology of black ash wetland ecosystems has been performed to understand these systems before they are drastically altered by the invasive species, emerald ash borer (EAB). In that time there has been little research aimed at the scale and persistence of the alterations. Three distinct but related research articles will be presented to demonstrate a method for moderate resolution mapping of black ash across its entire range, understand the relative impacts of EAB and climate change on probable future wetland conditions, and develop an experimental and modeling approach to quantify and …

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Comparison Of Low-Cost Commercial Unpiloted Digital Aerial Photogrammetry To Airborne Laser Scanning Across Multiple Forest Types In California, James Edward Lamping Jan 2021

Comparison Of Low-Cost Commercial Unpiloted Digital Aerial Photogrammetry To Airborne Laser Scanning Across Multiple Forest Types In California, James Edward Lamping

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Science-based forest management requires quantitative information about forest attributes traditionally collected via sampled field plots in a forest inventory program. Remote sensing tools, such as active three-dimensional (3D) Light Detection and Ranging (lidar), are increasingly utilized to supplement and even replace field-based forest inventories. However, lidar remains cost prohibitive for smaller areas and repeat measurement, often limiting its use to single acquisitions of large contiguous areas. Recent advancements in unpiloted aerial systems (UAS), digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) and high precision global positioning systems (HPGPS) have the potential to provide low-cost time and place flexible 3D data to support forest inventory …

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Effects Of Large Wood Restoration On Coho Salmon In A Northern California Watershed: A Before-After-Control-Impact Experiment, Natalie B. Okun Jan 2021

Effects Of Large Wood Restoration On Coho Salmon In A Northern California Watershed: A Before-After-Control-Impact Experiment, Natalie B. Okun

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Substantial time, money, and effort are invested in river and stream restoration projects to aid in the recovery of imperiled salmonid populations, but there is little evidence that these efforts have had lasting positive impacts on juvenile fish growth and survival. To assess the effectiveness of large woody debris (LWD) restoration, which is one of the most common restoration practices, I evaluated the growth and survival response of endangered Central California Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in a paired watershed before-after impact-control (BACI) study. To determine if LWD supplementation influenced coho salmon growth and survival, two neighboring, similar …

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Endangered Species Act: Quantifying Threats Impacting Listing, Delaney Costante Jan 2021

Endangered Species Act: Quantifying Threats Impacting Listing, Delaney Costante

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

With species increasingly becoming imperiled due to anthropogenic activities, conservation practitioners are tasked with determining conservation priorities in order to make the best use of limited resources. The United States’ Endangered Species Act (ESA) has two listing statuses into which imperiled species are placed to receive protections: Threatened or Endangered. In the first chapter, our objective was to identify differences between Threatened and Endangered species beyond what is outlined in their ESA definitions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare listing status for species protected by the ESA on the basis of types and number of threats …

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An Investigation Into Historical And Contemporary Breeding Occurrence Of The Ferruginous Hawk In Kansas, Erica Clark Jan 2021

An Investigation Into Historical And Contemporary Breeding Occurrence Of The Ferruginous Hawk In Kansas, Erica Clark

Master's Theses

The Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis) is the largest Buteo species occurring in grasslands, nesting along bluffs, buttes and isolated trees. In Kansas, the Ferruginous Hawk is listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need, Tier II. A previous study on Ferruginous Hawks nesting in Kansas during the years of 1979 to 1987, with sporadic visits from the 1990s to 2000, revealed that the most productive nesting territories were inaccessible to predators, placed on rocky ledges and the surrounding landscape was over 50% rangeland. I revisited 82 of the 111 historic nest territories in the summers of 2019 and …

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Conservation, Sharks, And The Tragedy Of The Commons: Achieving Human-Nature Holism, Fiona Melady Jan 2021

Conservation, Sharks, And The Tragedy Of The Commons: Achieving Human-Nature Holism, Fiona Melady

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Environmental ethics originates from the idea that the relationship between humans and non-human nature should be considered morally. How we deal with environmental issues depends on our perception of human-environment relationships. Many view nature as something separate from themselves to own, use, and exploit for human benefit; others view nature as something of which humans are a part and having an intrinsic value aside from practicality or usefulness. This thesis examines human-environment relationships through anthropocentrism and ecocentrism and advocates for balancing the two perspectives. Furthermore, this thesis examines the importance of marine environmental conservation, particularly sharks, and how transitioning towards …

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