Life Sciences Commons^™

Survival, Movement, And Habitat Use Of Translocated Northern Bobwhite In Texas, Ricardo Cagigal Perez, Nova J. Silvy, Brian L. Pierce, Therese A. Catanach

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

For decades there has been a noticeable decline in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) populations. Few studies have assessed the survival of translocated bobwhite. We evaluated the effectiveness of reintroduction of bobwhite into the Texas (USA) Parks and Wildlife Department’s Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area (GEWMA), where they had been extirpated but now have suitable habitat. Before reintroduction, GEWMA was surveyed (spring call counts) to make sure no bobwhite were present. Forty-six bobwhite were trapped from March–April 2019 in South Texas, banded, bled, radio-tagged, transported to GEWMA, and released. In addition, 17 bobwhite were trapped banded, bled, …

Effect Of Food Distribution On Northern Bobwhite Resource Selection, Rachel R. Gardner, John Maerz, Theron M. Terhune Ii, Ira B. Parnell, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Supplemental feeding is a common management tactic used to increase survival and reproduction of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite). Different supplemental feeding methods alter the distribution of resources across a landscape in unique ways and may influence the space use and resource selection of target species differently. Predators may concentrate their movements near fed sites, and different distributions of supplemental feed may encourage bobwhite to concentrate their movements closer to feed than other areas, thereby altering the potential for predator-prey interactions near feed. We used radio-tracked locations and movements in areas with stationary feeders (“feeder fed”) and …

Impacts To Quail Space Use And Demographics From Oil And Gas Development, Kelsey R. Davis, Eric D. Grahmann, Fidel Hernández, Chase R. Currie, Timothy E. Fulbright, David B. Wester, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Southern Texas contains some of the last relatively unfragmented habitat for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) in the United States. Development of the Eagle Ford Shale hydrocarbon formation in this region could negatively impact quail and their habitat. Our objective was to examine the indirect effects of oil and gas activity (traffic and noise) on bobwhite and scaled quail on 2 private ranches in southern Texas. In 2015 and 2016, we radio-marked bobwhite and scaled quail in 2 areas where oil and gas activity was occurring (disturbed treatment) and 2 …

Cascading Effects Of Hunting Disturbance On Northern Bobwhite Behavior, Physiology, And Survival, Emily Prosser, Theron M. Terhune Ii, Kristen J. Navara, Geoff Beane, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) is an important gamebird across the United States and has been in decline for several decades. As a commonly hunted prey species, the bobwhite provides an ideal study species to investigate the use of proactive and reactive antipredator behaviors in response to hunting pressure. We designed an experiment to understand how late-season hunting affects bobwhite demographics using fecal glucocorticoid (fGCM) concentrations, foraging and movement behaviors, survival, and breeding season metrics. Our results show that bobwhite responded to increased interactions with a shotgun through proactive responses. After one encounter with …

Avian Abundance And Diversity On Knoxville Wildlife Area In California Following The County Fire Of 2018, Katherine S. Miller, Stacy Martinelli, Levi E. Souza

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Wildfires can have negative impacts on wildlife during and immediately after a burn event, yet these fires are also necessary for plant succession and biodiversity. Knoxville Wildlife Area (KWA) in Napa County, California, USA is a diverse environment that contains oak woodlands, chaparral, grasslands, and riparian corridors. In July 2018, the County Fire burned 36,353 ha in the Northern California Interior Coast Ranges, including 2,429 ha on KWA. California Department of Fish and Wildlife employees used this opportunity to monitor avian abundance and diversity as the burned area revegetates. From 10 June through 14 June 2019, we began a pilot …

Northern Bobwhite Survival And Productivity In Relation To Food Supplementation, Shelby R. Simons, Greg Hagan, Theron M. Terhune Ii, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) populations have experienced a 3.4% decline annually nation-wide from 1966 to 2018. Limitations on resources, such as food, can regulate population growth. Supplemental food could alleviate resource limitation by raising carrying capacity, leading to increased survival and breeding productivity. Studies have shown higher survival rates and higher nest production when food is supplemented; however, repeating experiments in different contexts allows for strong inference. Our objectives were to assess how supplemental food influenced survival and breeding productivity of resident and translocated bobwhite during a 2-year study on public lands in Leon County, Florida, …

Behavioral State-Specific Northern Bobwhite Chick Resource Selection, Justin N. Hill, Theron M. Terhune Ii, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Determining resource selection rates for all life stages of a species is critical to enable a holistic management approach that focuses on bolstering populations across all life stages. Moreover, tying these selection rates to specific life history needs (e.g., foraging, roosting, and loafing) can provide valuable information to guide management practices. Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite), a gallinaceous species of North America, has experienced steady population declines throughout much of its range over the last 50 years. Although the species has been well studied, chick ecology is still relatively unknown. We studied bobwhite chick resource selection on …

Measuring Multiple Demographic Rates In Two Populations Of Northern Bobwhite, Alexander L. Jackson, D. Clay Sisson, Justin A. Rectenwald

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Demographic rates of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) may vary spatially and temporally, and understanding the significance of these individual rates to population performance is critically important to bobwhite management. We present descriptive evidence from 2 populations that were simultaneously monitored from 2015–2020 that suggests different demographic rates can be more important to population performance than other demographic rates within the same region. Our objective was to understand the relative importance of various demographic rates to population performance in separate and seemingly stable populations. We monitored bobwhite seasonal survival and reproductive demographics on 2,475 bobwhites via radio-telemetry …

Diurnal Occurrence Of Great-Horned Owls On Northern Bobwhite Hunting Properties In Southwest Georgia, Justin A. Rectenwald, Philip M. Coppola, Theron M. Terhune Ii, D. Clay Sisson, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Understanding interactions between prey species and their predators is essential to discerning the ecology and management fundamentals of a species. Great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus) have long been considered an opportunistic predator of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and recent studies have demonstrated that bobwhite survival is reduced at higher great-horned owl densities (Rectenwald et al. 2021). Managers on quail properties often mechanically remove live oak (Quercus virginiana) hammocks as part of larger predation management plans to reduce the amount of suitable predator habitat. While scattered live oaks are typically left for aesthetic purposes, …

Breeding Season Survival And Reproduction In A High-Density Bobwhite Population: A Case Study, William E. Palmer, Shane D. Wellendorf, D. Clay Sisson

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The demographic behavior of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) populations at high densities could provide important insights into why bobwhite populations fluctuate. Therefore, we documented breeding season demographics of bobwhites to understand how prebreeding density influenced reproductive effort and postbreeding density on an intensively managed property in Leon County, Florida, USA, 2002–2006. We estimated prebreeding bobwhite density each April using multi-observer strip-transects and postbreeding densities each November using covey call grid surveys. We radio-tagged 217 bobwhites in March and located bobwhites at least 5 days/week, 15 April–30 September to determine vital rates. Prebreeding density ranged from 1.5–8.6 …

Home Range And Space Use Of Northern Bobwhite Under Two Different Management Models In Southwestern Missouri, Thomas R. Thompson, Frank L. Loncarich, R. Kyle Hedges

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) management in Missouri, USA has traditionally been focused on providing an interspersion of grass, crop, old field, and woody cover juxtaposed to disked idle areas and food plots to maintain bobwhite populations. This traditional model is implemented with the goal of providing all essential habitat components within 40-acre blocks throughout a larger area used by a population. While this model can produce usable bobwhite space in agriculture-dominated landscapes, it may not be the most effective or efficient approach to producing and maintaining bobwhite in grassland-dominated landscapes. In southwestern Missouri native tallgrass prairie …

Nest Hatch Chronology Of Northern Bobwhite And Implications For Management, Frank L. Loncarich, R. Kyle Hedges

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Managers in Missouri, USA, and in other Midwestern states have long operated under the belief that the peak of nest hatching for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) is 15 June. Though it is widely understood that bobwhite nests hatch throughout the summer, many management decisions are made based on the accepted peak. Fully understanding the dynamics behind bobwhite nest timing is critical, as management activities in nesting cover during summer are common. To better understand nest chronology, we used radio-telemetry to monitor nest incubation initiation, hatch date, and renesting rate on 6 conservation areas in southwestern Missouri …

Results From Kentucky’S 10-Year Bobwhite Recovery Plan, Cody M. Rhoden, John J. Morgan, Ben A. Robinson, Gary Sprandel

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) has experienced a precipitous population decline through almost all its historical range over the last 6 decades. We initiated a 10-year restoration plan in Kentucky, USA in 2008 and reported on it through 3 published “Road to Recovery” reports along with 30 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts, 2 technical documents, 7 theses or dissertations, and 11 popular literature pieces. Seven Quail Focus Areas were selected across the state based on site personnel, geographic position (east to west), and land ownership (e.g., private, public, state, federal) for monitoring and habitat management. The focus …

Lessons Learned From The First 10 Years Of The Oaks And Prairies Joint Venture’S Grassland Restoration Incentive Program (Grip), James J. Giocomo, Robert M. Perez, Kenneth Gee, Steven Riley, Derek Wiley, Anna M. Matthews, Ty Higginbotham, Amanda Haverland, Thomas S. Janke, Amber Brown, Kati Biggs, Mitchell Riggs, Taylor Daily, Charlotte Wilson, Cole Fagen, William Newman, Leah Lowe, Jonathan Hayes

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture (OPJV) was formed in 2008 as a public-private partnership of agencies and organizations working across jurisdictional boundaries in portions of Texas and Oklahoma, USA. The OPJV’s major focus is reversing declines of bird populations by supporting strategic habitat conservation (biological planning, conservation design, conservation delivery, mission-based monitoring, and assumption-driven research) for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), grasslandobligate species, and their respective habitats. Our objective for this paper is to document and share a decade of lessons learned in developing a partnership-based native grassland conservation program to meet grassland bird conservation targets. We share …

Landowner Cooperative Key To Success In The Bee Ridge Quail Focus Area, John A. Pinkowski, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began establishing Quail Focus Areas (QFAs) on private lands in 2004. The goal of QFAs is to increase and expand quail habitat management efforts around a core area. Because most (93%) of the landscape of Missouri, USA is in private ownership, habitat improvement programs on private lands have greater potential to impact quail populations than on public lands alone. A motivated group of landowners led the charge to begin habitat improvement efforts in the Bee Ridge QFA. This group was instrumental in starting earlier monitoring efforts to determine whether habitat improvements were leading to …

Habitat Works: How Partnerships And Habitat Improvement Have Restored Quail Populations In The 2c Quail Focus Area, E. Lee Metcalf, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began establishing Quail Focus Areas (QFAs) on private lands in 2004. The goal of QFAs was to bring groups of landowners together to manage bobwhite habitat on a larger scale in a targeted landscape. Through a variety of state, federal, and other partnership programs, habitat improvement efforts have resulted in large increases in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) numbers in the 2C QFA. In spring 2013, MDC staff and Quail Forever biologists began monitoring bobwhite and songbirds in a portion of the 2C QFA in Carroll County, Missouri, USA and in …

Adaptive Management Facilitates Increase In Northern Bobwhite Populations, James A. Martin, Clay Sisson, Justin Rectenwald, Paige Howell

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Adaptive resource management (ARM) is an approach to managing that allows decision makers to learn about a system and subsequently change management actions based on new information about system processes (i.e., adapt) to better meet fundamental objectives. This is not to be confused with changing management actions when the state of the system changes. For example, changing a harvest regulation when populations decline is not ARM. This dynamic decision making may be fortuitously optimal, but if the effect of harvest is uncertain then changing regulations may be suboptimal—for example, weather may have caused the decline. Adaptive resource management can be …

Northern Bobwhite Demographics And Resource Selection Are Explained By Prescribed Fire With Grazing And Woody Cover In Southwest Missouri, Frank R. Thompson Iii, Mitch D. Weegman, Emily A. Sinnott, Alisha R. Mosloff, Kyle R. Hedges, Frank L. Loncarich, Thomas R. Thompson, Nicholas C. Burrell, Stasia Whitaker, David E. Hoover

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Understanding the effects of landscape management on northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) population growth requires information about seasonal- and stage-specific demographic parameters linked across the annual cycle. We review results to date from 3 years (2016–2018) of an intensive field study evaluating drivers of bobwhite population dynamics and resource selection during the breeding and non-breeding season in southwest Missouri, USA using data from adult and juvenile bobwhite fitted with radio-transmitters. Land cover of our study sites ranged from large blocks of native grasslands maintained with prescribed fire and grazing to more traditional management resulting in small patches …

Adaptive Management And Quail Conservation On Rangelands In The American West, Leonard A. Brennan, Ashley Tanner, Evan P. Tanner

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Adaptive management has been and is being practiced with the goal of sustaining populations of wild quails on large areas of rangelands in the American West. Because the current land use practices throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States largely do not promote early-successional vegetation communities, rangelands contain the largest remaining blocks of contiguous (unfragmented) habitat for the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and the other 5 species of quails found in the western states. Many wildlife professionals on both private and public rangelands are practicing a diverse array of quail habitat and population management actions …

Covers

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Multiple Generations Of Antibiotic Exposure And Isolation Influence Host Fitness And The Microbiome In A Model Zooplankton Species, Reilly O. Cooper, Sarah Tjards, Jessica Rischling, David T. Nguyen, Clayton E. Cressler

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background

Chronic antibiotic exposure impacts host health through changes to the microbiome, increasing disease risk and reducing the functional repertoire of community members. The detrimental effects of antibiotic perturbation on microbiome structure and function after one host generation of exposure have been well-studied. However, much less is understood about the multigenerational effects of antibiotic exposure and how the microbiome may recover across host generations.

Results

In this study, we examined microbiome composition and host fitness across five generations of exposure to a suite of three antibiotics in the model zooplankton host Daphnia magna. By utilizing a split-brood design where …

Application Of The Weibull Model To Describe The Kinetic Behaviors Of Thiol Decolorizers In Chlorogenic Acid-Lysine Solutions, Charles Taylor Drucker, Lilian Were Senger, Criselda Toto Pacioles

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Thiols (cysteine and glutathione) were explored as potential decolorization agents to mitigate green pigment formation in chlorogenic acid quinone-lysine solutions. Reparameterizations of the Weibull cumulative distribution function were applied to describe the time-dependence of greening under varying pH conditions. Repeated fitting of 3-parameter models (RMSE = 0.0111, CVRMSE = 1.55%) indicated the linear dependence of model parameters on thiol concentration. A 6-parameter Weibull model incorporating time and initial thiol concentration (RMSE = 0.0255, CVRMSE = 3.56%) accurately predicted green color development. Calculated model parameters descriptive of greening rate, terminal greening magnitude, and lag time before greening onset facilitated comparison of …

Seqcode: A Nomenclatural Code For Prokaryotes Described From Sequence Data, Brian P. Hedlund, Maria Chuvochina, Philip Hugenholtz, Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis, Alison E. Murray, Marike Palmer, Donovan H. Parks, Alexander J. Probst, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Luis M. Rodriguez-R, Ramon Rossello-Mora, Iain C. Sutcliffe, Stephanus N. Venter, William B. Whitman

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Most prokaryotes are not available as pure cultures and therefore ineligible for naming under the rules and recommendations of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP). Here we summarize the development of the SeqCode, a code of nomenclature under which genome sequences serve as nomenclatural types. This code enables valid publication of names of prokaryotes based upon isolate genome, metagenome-assembled genome or single-amplified genome sequences. Otherwise, it is similar to the ICNP with regard to the formation of names and rules of priority. It operates through the SeqCode Registry (https://seqco.de/), a registration portal through which names and …

Progress In Food Safety Rapid Analysis Based On Deoxyribozyme, Zeng Yu, Chen Wei-Ju, Quan Ke, Lei Yan-Li

Food and Machinery

The article expounds the structure and activity of DNAzyme, and reviews the application progress of DNAzymes in the detection of heavy metal ions, pathogenic bacteria, microbial toxin and other illegal chemical components in food. The challenges faced by DNAzymes in the actual detection of food harmful substances are analyzed and summarized, and future development prospect in rapid and on-site detection are prospected.

Oral Nanomedicines For Sirna Delivery To Treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Ah Hyun Choi, Jung Seo Kim, Su Jin Kim, Hyo Jin Kim, Cherin Lee, Yejin Kim, Joohyeon Kim, Jonghee Choi, Byungchae Jung, Taeho Kim, Hyeontaek Nam, Hyungjun Kim, Yonghyun Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RNA interference (RNAi) therapies have significant potential for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Although administering small interfering RNA (siRNA) via an oral route is desirable, various hurdles including physicochemical, mucus, and cellular uptake barriers of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) impede both the delivery of siRNA to the target site and the action of siRNA drugs at the target site. In this review, we first discuss various physicochemical and biological barriers in the GI tract. Furthermore, we present recent strategies and the progress of oral siRNA delivery strategies to treat IBD. Finally, we consider the challenges faced in the …

Molecular Pathways Of Wrky Genes In Regulating Plant Salinity Tolerance, Lewis Price, Yong Han, Tefera Angessa, Chengdao Li

Grain and Other Field Crops Research Articles

Salinity is a natural and anthropogenic process that plants overcome using various responses. Salinity imposes a two-phase effect, simplified into the initial osmotic challenges and subsequent salinity-specific ion toxicities from continual exposure to sodium and chloride ions. Plant responses to salinity encompass a complex gene network involving osmotic balance, ion transport, antioxidant response, and hormone signalling pathways typically mediated by transcription factors. One particular transcription factor mega family, WRKY, is a principal regulator of salinity responses. Here, we categorize a collection of known salinity-responding WRKYs and summarize their molecular pathways. WRKYs collectively play a part in regulating osmotic balance, ion …

Generation And Validation Of An Anti-Human Pank3 Mouse Monoclonal Antibody, Sunada Khadka, Long Vien, Paul Leonard, Laura Bover, Florian Muller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Coenzyme A (CoA) is an essential co-factor at the intersection of diverse metabolic pathways. Cellular CoA biosynthesis is regulated at the first committed step-phosphorylation of pantothenic acid-catalyzed by pantothenate kinases (PANK1,2,3 in humans, PANK3 being the most highly expressed). Despite the critical importance of CoA in metabolism, the differential roles of PANK isoforms remain poorly understood. Our investigations of PANK proteins as potential precision oncology collateral lethality targets (PANK1 is co-deleted as part of the PTEN locus in some highly aggressive cancers) were severely hindered by a dearth of commercial antibodies that can reliably detect endogenous PANK3 protein. While …

A Study Of Multiple Sclerosis, Christine Chen

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

Targeting Of The Hedgehog Signaling Pathway In Cancer Treatment, Andrew J. Hawes

The Cardinal Edge

The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is a developmental pathway that is highly conserved evolutionarily. While typically only displaying high activity during embryogenesis, overactivation of the Hh pathway in adults has been linked to multiple forms of cancer including acute myeloid leukemia, myelofibrosis, basal-cell carcinoma, pancreatic ductal adrenal carcinoma, and triple negative breast cancer. The prevalence of Hh activation in many different cancers has made it a prime target for inhibition of these cancers through novel therapies. This literature review sought to assess the current state of cancer treatment through inhibition of Hh signaling. Most current clinical trials involving the pathway …

Characterization Of The Function Of Pprgtb2 From Mutant Phenotypes, Briana L. Seibert, Hyun Jin Jung, Mark P Running

The Cardinal Edge

Protein prenylation, a common lipid post-translational modification, is required for growth and development in eukaryotes. One type, , but its biological function is not well known. The moss Physcomitrella patens (P. patens) was used as a model organism due to its simple structure, limited cell types, sequenced genome, and its high gene targeting efficiency. P. patens has one copy of Rab-GGT α subunit (PpRGTA1) and two copies of β subunit (PpRGTB1 and PpRGTB2). It has been found that the knockout of either PpRGTB1 or PpRGTB2 results in no visible phenotype, which indicates that these …