Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons^™

Potential Role Of Wildlife In The Usa In The Event Of A Foot-And-Mouth Disease Virus Incursion, Vienna R. Brown, Sarah N. Bevins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) which affects domestic and wild cloven-hoofed species. The FMD-free status of the USA and the tremendous economic impact of a virus incursion motivated the development of this evaluation of the potential role of wildlife in the event of a virus introduction. Additionally, this manuscript contains a summary of US vulnerabilities for viral incursion and persistence which focuses specifically on the possible role of wildlife. The legal movement of susceptible live animals, animal products, by-products and animal feed containing animal products pose a risk of virus introduction and spread. Additionally, the …

Trail Cameras Are A Key Monitoring Tool For Determining Target And Non-Target Bait-Take During Rodent Removal Operations: Evidence From Desecheo Island Rat Eradication, Aaron B. Shiels, D. Will, C. Figuerola-Hernández, K.J. Swinnerton, S. Silander, C. Samra, G.W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Efforts to remove invasive rodents (e.g. Rattus spp. and Mus musculus) from islands often use toxicant-laced baits containing the anticoagulants brodifacoum or diphacinone. Rodenticide baits are generally delivered through aerialor hand-broadcast, or in bait stations. These baits are not rodent-specific and are subject to non-target consumption or secondary exposure (e.g. an individual preying upon another individual that has consumed bait). During rodenticide applications, it is generally unknown which animals are visiting and consuming bait; and to quantify this, we recommend using trail cameras (e.g. Reconyx^tm motion-activated infra-red) positioned to monitor individual bait pellets. To demonstrate the importance and effectiveness …

Black Bear Use Of Forest Roads In Western Washington, Gary W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Radiolocations (108) of 20 black bears were used to assess use or avoidance of 3 forest road types in western Washington. Distances of bears to each type of road were compared to distances of 108 random points using t-tests. Females and males avoided 2-lane roads, while only males avoided 1-lane roads, the most common road type in the area. Females, but not males, were located closer to overgrown, spur roads than expected. This road type has substantial cover of grasses, forbs, and berry-producing shrubs along with protective tree cover. This situation may provide easy travel for females along with security …

Home Range And Habitat Use Of West Virginia Canis Latrans (Coyote), Lauren M. Mastro, Dana J. Morin, Eric M. Gese

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Canis latrans (Coyote) has undergone a range expansion in the United States over the last century. As a highly opportunistic species, its home range and habitat use changes with ecological context. Coyotes were first reported in West Virginia in 1950 but were not commonly observed until the 1990s, and there is scant information on Coyotes in the region. We used telemetry data from 8 radiocollared Coyotes in West Virginia to estimate home-range size and third-order habitat selection. Home-range areas (95% utilization distributions; UDs) varied from 5.22 to 27.79 km2 (mean = 12.48 ± 2.61 km2), with highly concentrated use of …

The Role Of Scavenging In Disease Dynamics, Joaquín Vicente, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Contents

Introduction................ 161

The Use of Animal Remains and the Exposure of Scavengers to Disease........ 163

The Relevance of Scavenging for Pathogens to Spread and Persist.......... 166

Human Related Factors Resulting in Increased Risk for Disease Transmission Through Scavenging.............. 170

Management of Scavenging to Reduce Disease Risks.............. 173

Restoration of Large Predators.................. 174

Elimination of Hunting of Scavengers............ 174

Destruction of Big Game and Domestic Animal Carcasses........... 174

Restoration of the Effects of Overabundance............. 175

Excluding Mammalian and Avian Scavengers from Natural Carrions.......... 176

Excluding Mammalian and Avian Scavengers from Vulture Restaurants........... 176

Conclusions and Future Perspectives........... 178

References............... 178

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles For Bird Harassment On Fish Ponds, Ciera A. Rhoades, Peter J. Allen, D. Tommy King

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The effects of aquaculture decline on piscivorous birds in the Mississippi Delta concern catfish farmers, with possible increases in fish loss and disease transmission. Piscivorous birds quickly habituate to most current methods of harassment (loud noises and visual disturbances) leading to increased depredation and disease. Our study was designed to test the efficacy of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to effectively control piscivorous birds at fish farms. We hypothesized that a UAV would be more efficient at reducing the number of fish-eating birds on fish ponds than current forms of harassment. We conducted pre-treatment bird surveys, harassment observations, and post-treatment …

Locally Fixed Alleles: A Method To Localize Gene Drive To Island Populations, Jaye Sudweeks, Brandon Hollingsworth, Dimitri V. Blondel, Karl J. Campbell, Sumit Dhole, John D. Eisemann, Owain Edwards, John Godwin, Gregg R. Howald, Kevin P. Oh, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Thomas A.A. Prowse, Joshua V. Ross, J. Royden Saah, Aaron B. Shiels, Paul Q. Thomas, David W. Threadgill, Michael R. Vella, Fred Gould, Alun L. Lloyd

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity on islands. While successes have been achieved using traditional removal methods, such as toxicants aimed at rodents, these approaches have limitations and various off-target effects on island ecosystems. Gene drive technologies designed to eliminate a population provide an alternative approach, but the potential for drive-bearing individuals to escape from the target release area and impact populations elsewhere is a major concern. Here we propose the “Locally Fixed Alleles” approach as a novel means for localizing elimination by a drive to an island population that exhibits significant genetic isolation from neighboring populations. Our …

Adult Walleye Abundance And Subsequent Fry Production In The Tamarac River, Mn, Phillip Oswald

Biology Graduate Theses

Walleye reproductive success is of critical interest for the Red Lakes as this system is maintained entirely by natural reproduction and supports robust commercial and recreational fisheries. The Tamarac River, a major tributary to the Red Lakes, hosts a substantial Walleye spawning migration annually. The river drains the largest peat bog in the lower 48 states and thus experiences low dissolved oxygen at times. It is largely unknown how the potential anoxic bog water affects Walleye reproductive success each year and subsequent year class strength. Fyke nets were set from 2014-2018 to assess the relative abundance of adult Walleye spawning …

Growth Of Pelagic Age-0 Yellow Perch In Relation To Hatch Dates And Water Temperature In North-Central Minnesota Lakes, Ethan Karppinen

Biology Graduate Theses

Exposure to consistent water warming rates and access to abundant populations of edible sized zooplankton affects growth and increases the probability of survival for newly hatched Yellow Perch Perca flavescens. Seven lakes with varying physical characteristics were selected in north-central Minnesota to study abiotic (water temperature) and biotic (zooplankton community and fish growth) progressions during the spring and early summer (April-June). Mean water temperatures from ice-out to 28 June (11.98-14.62 °C) had significant relationships with mean depth (P < 0.01, R? = 0.85), max depth (P < 0.01, R? = 0.73), and total volume (P < 0.01, R2 = 0.54). Hatch periods ranged from 13 to 19 days in 2015 and 13 to 25 days in 2016. Cumulative degree-days (CDD) were used to predict Yellow Perch hatch periods and explain growth. CDD predicted 21-81% of hatch periods in 2015 and 11-50% in 2016. Mean predicted total lengths at 28 June were 19.65-30.41 mm in 2015 and 20.88-28.54 mm in 2016. There was a significant relationship between CDD and predicted total length (R? = 0.62, P < 0.01) to explain differences in Yellow Perch total length while inhabiting the pelagic zone. Observed gape measurements were highly correlated with predicted gapes from the Schael formula (R? = 0.89, P < 0.01) that was used to assess the availability of edible sized zooplankton for age-0 Yellow Perch in each lake. No predator-prey mismatches were found and earlier hatch dates produced age-0 Yellow Perch with greater predicted total lengths in late June on the majority of lakes. This suggests that earlier hatched Yellow perch have an advantage over later hatched Yellow Perch in attaining greater lengths by late June. Our study provides information on a variety of physical and biological progressions in lakes, which may be used for fisheries management practices in the future.

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Population Characteristics Of A Closed Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) Catch-And-Release Population In Minnesota, John Kempe

Biology Graduate Theses

Literature regarding catch-and-release populations of Northern Pike are rare and provide a unique perspective on their population dynamics. Shingobee Lake is a 64- ha mesotrophic lake with a maximum depth of 12.2 m located in northern Minnesota. Northern Pike fishing has been catch-and-release only since 2005, and there are no public accesses on the lake. Annual ice-out trap-netting occurred from 2009-2017, and a sizable amount of the Northern Pike recaptured via trapnet or angling had been previously tagged (37-59%). The lack of exploitation and high tagging percentage provided a unique opportunity to study the population dynamics of Northern Pike. Shinogbee’s …

A Naturalist’S Guide To The Great Plains, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This book documents nearly 500 US and Canadian locations where wildlife refuges, nature preserves, and similar properties protect natural sites that lie within the North American Great Plains, from Canada’s Prairie Provinces to the Texas-Mexico border. Information on site location, size, biological diversity, and the presence of especially rare or interesting flora and fauna are mentioned, as well as driving directions, mailing addresses, and phone numbers or internet addresses, as available. US federal sites include 11 national grasslands, 13 national parks, 16 national monuments, and more than 70 national wildlife refuges. State properties include nearly 100 state parks and wildlife …

Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project: 2017 Update, Margaret Pepper, Kevin Sullivan, Robert Colona, Jonathan Mcknight

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Nutria, a semi-aquatic, South American rodent, was introduced to Maryland during the early 1940s. Originally brought to the area for fur farms, the market never established and animals were released or escaped. Nutria thrived, destroying coastal wetlands which resulted in negative environmental and economic impacts to the Chesapeake Bay region. To preserve and protect valuable wetland resources, the Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project (CBNEP) was established in 2002 through a partnership between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and many state agencies and non-governmental organizations. Since …

Gateways-Nd: Advancing Learner-Focused Instruction To Catalyze Stem Student Success, J.M.D. Motschenbacher, R. Reichenbach, M. Hanson, E. A. Berg, J. Ladbury, P. Kelter, L. Montplaisir, J. Nachwaya

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Persistence Of Stream Restoration With Large Wood, Redwood National And State Parks, California, Diedra L. Rodriguez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The conservation and recovery of anadromous salmonids (Oncorhynchus sp.) depend on stream restoration and protection of freshwater habitats. In-stream large wood dictates channel morphology, increases retention of terrestrial inputs such as organic matter, nutrients and sediment, and enhances the quality of fish habitat. Historic land use/land cover changes have resulted in aquatic systems devoid of large wood. Restoration by placement of large wood jams is intended to restore physical and biological processes. An important question for scientists and restoration managers, in addition to the initial effectiveness of restoration, is the persistence and fate of large wood installations. In this …

Anticoagulant Rodenticide Residues In Game Animals In California, Stella C. Mcmillin, Robert H. Poppenga, Shannon C. Chandler, Deana L. Clifford

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are used to control rodents around homes, buildings, and in agriculture. They have been found widely in predatory and scavenging wildlife as a result of secondary exposure and less commonly in herbivores and omnivores from primary exposure. While predators and scavengers have been monitored for AR exposure, very little information is available about AR residues in edible muscle tissue of game animals. Game animals may be exposed to ARs through direct consumption of bait, ingestion of contaminated food or vegetation, or consumption of contaminated prey items. Carcasses of three species of game animals (black bear, wild pigs, …

The National Wildlife Strike Database: A Scientific Foundation To Enhance Aviation Safety, Richard A. Dolbeer, Michael J. Begier, John R. Weller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database (NWSD) documents reports of civil aircraft collisions with wildlife in USA. The NWSD has been managed by the Wildlife Services Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture through an interagency agreement since its inception. Although the NWSD includes about 170,000 reports of civil aircraft collisions with wildlife (97% birds) from 1990-2015 (14,000 in 2015), the overriding focus has been the quality control of data entered for over 90 variables ranging from species and numbers of wildlife struck, location and time of day, phase and height of flight, aircraft type, components …

To Live And Fly In La: Using Bird Strike And Management Program Information To Improve Safety At Airports In The Los Angeles Basin, Todd J. Pitlik, Elizabeth Hermann, Eric Peralta, Brian E. Washburn

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife-aircraft collisions (wildlife strikes) pose a serious safety risk to aircraft. Wildlife strikes can be evaluated at different levels, include efforts to examine these problems at the national, regional, or state level, or for an individual airport. Similarly, wildlife strikes involving individual wildlife species or guilds can be examined at varying scales. Although wildlife strike analyses at the national, regional, or species/guild level are valuable, airport-specific analyses are essential for the effective implementation and evaluation of integrated wildlife damage management programs as these actions are conducted at the airport level. The species that present hazards to safe aircraft operations varies …

No Evidence For Trace Metal Limitation On Anaerobic Carbon Mineralization In Three Peatland Soils, Jason K. Keller, Jillian Wade

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Peatlands store roughly one-third of the terrestrial soil carbon and release the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH₄) to the atmosphere, making these wetlands among the most important ecosystems in the global carbon cycle. Despite their importance, the controls of anaerobic decomposition of organic matter to carbon dioxide (CO₂) and CH₄ within peatlands are not well understood. It is known, however, that the enzymes responsible for CH₄ production require cobalt, iron and nickel, and there is a growing appreciation for the potential role of trace metal limitation in anaerobic decomposition. To explore the possibility of …

What Controls Variation In Carbon Use Efficiency Among Amazonian Tropical Forests?, Christopher E. Doughty, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Nicolas Raab, Cecile A. J. Girardin, Filio Farfan-Amezquita, Walter Huaraca-Huasco, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Antonio C. L. Da Costa, Wanderley Rocha, David Galbraith, Patrick Meir, Dan B. Metcalfe, Yadvinder Malhi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Why do some forests produce biomass more efficiently than others? Variations in Carbon Use Efficiency (CUE: total Net Primary Production (NPP)/ Gross Primary Production (GPP)) may be due to changes in wood residence time (Biomass/NPP_wood), temperature, or soil nutrient status. We tested these hypotheses in 14, one ha plots across Amazonian and Andean forests where we measured most key components of net primary production (NPP: wood, fine roots, and leaves) and autotrophic respiration (R_a; wood, rhizosphere, and leaf respiration). We found that lower fertility sites were less efficient at producing biomass and had higher rhizosphere respiration, …

Strategies For Environmental Education For Youths And Adults, Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar, Samantha Pfeffer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Chumbe Island Coral Park (CHICOP) is a privately-owned business that strives to follow the best principles of ecotourism, conservation, and environmental education. Their environmental education initiative is award-winning and has affected thousands of students and community members in Zanzibar. This study looked at the environmental education techniques that CHICOP already has in place by observing two pre-visits, three island-visits and one-post visit, and determined where there was a need for enhanced and new techniques for teaching about the environment. Evidence of climate change on Chumbe Island was also recorded to aid in the educational tools and to create a database …

Managing For Wildlife Habitat On Rangelands In The Great Plains, Maggi Sliwinski, Mark E. Burbach, Larkin Powell, Walter H. Schacht

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of A Channel Catfish Population In A Large Open River System, A. J. Blank, M. J. Hamel, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Mark A. Pegg

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Estimates of dynamic rate functions for riverine channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), populations are limited. The open nature and inherent difficulty in sampling riverine environments and the propensity for dispersal of channel catfish impede estimation of population variables. However, contemporary population models (i.e. robust design models) can incorporate the open nature of these systems. The purpose of this study was to determine channel catfish population abundance, survival and size structure and to characterize growth in the lower Platte River, Nebraska, USA. Annual survival estimates of adult channel catfish were 13%–49%, and channel catfish abundance estimates ranged from 8,281 to 24,261 …

Assessment Of American White Pelican Predation And Reproductive Success Of Walleye In The Tamarac River, Mn, Jake Graham

Biology Graduate Theses

The Tamarac River is a major tributary of the Red Lakes MN, which provides an economically important multispecies fishery. The river experiences spring spawning migrations of northern pike, walleye, and white suckers. However, limited data exists related to reproductive success of fishes in the river. Furthermore, in the previous decade large congregations of American white pelicans (AWPE) have been observed using the Tamarac River as a foraging ground each spring. Assessing reproductive success of fishes in the Tamarac River provides a more holistic understanding of fish ecology in the river and the importance of the Tamarac River to the Red …

Radiocarbon Isotopic Classification Of Deep Tropical Forest Soils, Brooke Butler, Karis J. Mcfarlane, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Katherine A. Heckman

STAR Program Research Presentations

Tropical forest soils have an important role in global carbon (C) stocks. Small changes in the cycling of C could drastically affect atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and active cycling of carbon in a forest community. Currently, little is understood of how tropical forest soils will respond to the increasing global temperatures. To examine the effects of warming/ drought on losses of older versus younger soil C pools, we implemented radiocarbon (14C) isotopic characterization of various soil plot samples and depths from the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. 14C was measured using Accelerated Mass Spectrometry (AMS) from catalytically condensed carbon …

An Analysis Of Juvenile Chinook Salmon Outmigration Speed And Survival In Response To Habitat Features: Sacramento River From Knights Landing To Sacramento, California, Natalie N. Mcnair

Master's Theses

Outmigration is an important life stage for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) survival in the Sacramento River, and yet our understanding of their behavior and needs during this time is limited. To gain a better understanding of their survival and movement rates during outmigration, late fall run Chinook salmon smolts were tracked using acoustic telemetry techniques. Habitat features were measured and quantified throughout the study area to evaluate how Chinook salmon respond to key levee features including shade, instream woody material, and aquatic vegetation. The overall average movement speed through the entire study area was 0.77 m/s with an …

2015 Academic Program Review School Of Natural Resources University Of Nebraska–Lincoln

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Developing Transmissible Vaccines For Animal Infections: Intrinsically Safe Designs And A Staged Transparent Development Process Will Be Essential, Daniel G. Streiker, Megan E. Griffiths, Rustom Antia, Laura Bergner, Peter Bowman, Maria Vitoria Dos Santos De Moraes, Kevin Esvelt, Mike Famulare, Amy T. Gilbert, Biao He, Michael A. Jarvis, David A. Kennedy, Jennifer Kuzma, Carolyne Nasi,Iyu Wanyonyi, Christopher Remien, Tonie Rocke, Kyle Rosenke, Courtney Schreiner, Justin Sheen, David Simons, Ivet A. Yordanova, James J. Bull, Scott L. Nuismer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Developing Transmissible Vaccines for Animal Infections: Intrinsically Safe Designs and a Staged Transparent Development Process Will Be Essential

Intrinsically safe, biologically compelling vaccine designs

Pahsed development must incorporate checkpoints and engagement

Staged development with established checkpoints

Wquitable partnerships with international governance

Toward deployment

Workshop organization

Seven proposed commitm ents for the responsible development of transmissible vaccines for infectious disease control in animals

Evolutionary outcomes of vaccine transmission depend on the viral vector and the genetic modifications introduced

Zooplankton Trophic Ecology In The San Francisco Estuary During Summer As Determined By Stable Isotope Analysis, Kyla Bradylong, Steven Westbrook, Julien Moderan, Wim Kimmerer

STAR Program Research Presentations

Declines in the abundance of several pelagic fish species in the upper San Francisco Estuary have prompted investigation into food web interactions within the estuary and delta (the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers). This area is characterized by low primary production and pelagic food webs much longer and reticulated than previously thought, implying low efficiency in the energy transfers from primary producers to planktivorous fish. We determined the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope (SI) composition of zooplankton samples collected monthly between June 2012 and February 2013 at eight stations along the salinity gradient. As consumers SI composition reflects that …

Overwinter Mortality Of Sympatric Juvenile Bluegill And Yellow Perch In Mid-Temperate Prairie Lakes, Jeffrey C. Jolley, Mark A. Kaemingk, David W. Willis, Richard S. Holland

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Substantial mortality can occur in age-0 fish populations during their first year of life, especially in winter; this can potentially influence overall recruitment into the adult population. As such, we compared relative abundances between fall and spring catches of sympatric juvenile bluegill Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque and yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) to evaluate the magnitude of overwinter mortality across locations (five lakes for two years) and through time (one lake for six years). In addition, we compared both quantile-quantile and increment plots, based on length-frequency histograms from fall- and spring-caught cohorts from 2004 to 2010, to determine if mortality was …