Microplastics In Full View: Birds As Bioindicators Of Malta's Coastal Ecosystem Health,
2018
James Madison University
Microplastics In Full View: Birds As Bioindicators Of Malta's Coastal Ecosystem Health, Dalton Brauer
Masters Theses, 2010-2019
Plastic pollution has recently become a widely studied topic, yet research on microplastics has remained lacking for specific geographic regions. Microplastics are small plastics resulting from degradation or the dumping of raw material and can lead to deleterious impacts on the coastal marine environment and its organisms. To assess Malta’s coastal environmental health, water birds (inshore, offshore and pelagic species) were used as bioindicators by assessing the presence and abundance of plastic within their stomach contents. The project hoped to fill some of the current gaps in knowledge on microplastics within Malta by creating a working baseline, as well as …
Changing Land-Use From Pinus Elliottii To Eucalyptus Bentamii In Southwest Louisiana Affects Understory Vegetation Richness, Diversity, And Functional Diversity Patterns,
2018
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
Changing Land-Use From Pinus Elliottii To Eucalyptus Bentamii In Southwest Louisiana Affects Understory Vegetation Richness, Diversity, And Functional Diversity Patterns, Andrea De Stefano
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
In the Western Gulf region of the United States cold-tolerant eucalyptus have been explored as pulpwood feedstock. However, non-native plantations may alter understory species diversity, modifying environmental conditions and soil characteristics. Few studies have compared eucalyptus plantations with other ecosystems to understand the impacts of converting these land uses on understory vegetation in the United States. Three plantations were selected: (1) slash pine (Pinus elliottii) established in 2008, (2) slash pine established in 2013, and (3) and Camden white gum (Eucalyptus benthamii) established in 2013. The objectives of this study were to: (1) investigate potential changes …
Checklist Of Zooplanktons In Different Rivers Of Bajwat Area,
2018
Center for Bioresource Management (CBR), Pakistan
Checklist Of Zooplanktons In Different Rivers Of Bajwat Area, Zahid Bhatti, Muhammad Asif Gondal, Asad Ghufran, Andleeb Batool
Journal of Bioresource Management
Zooplanktons are important fish and waterfowl food. Limnological studies of Marala Wetlands, a complex created by three rivers, i.e., Jammu Tawi, Chenab and Manawar Tawi, entering Bajwat area located 25 km from North of Sialkot city from state of Jammu and Kashmir, were carried out between October, 2000 to September 2001. This survey was carried out to create a checklist of zooplanktons existing in the study site which would help in future studies relating to aquatic biodiversity and ecological studies of wetlands. A minimum of 25 species of zooplanktons were present in the wetland area, which can be included into …
Population Trend Of Herons And Egrets (Family: Ardeidae) In Marala Head From Oct 2000- Sep 2001,
2018
Center for Bioresource Research (CBR), Pakistan
Population Trend Of Herons And Egrets (Family: Ardeidae) In Marala Head From Oct 2000- Sep 2001, Zahid Bhatti, Fakhra Nazir, Safdar Ali Shah
Journal of Bioresource Management
The species cited from Pakistan included Ardea goliath, Ardea cinerea cinerea, Ardea cinerea rectirostris, Ardea purpurea manilensis and Butorides striatus javanicus, Ardeola grrayii grayii and Bubulcus ibis coromandus, Ardea alba alba, Ardea alba modesta, Egretta intermedia intermedia, Egretta garzetta garzetta and Egretta gularis schistacea, Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax, Ixobrychus minutus minutus, Ixobrychus sinensis and Ixobrychus flavicollis flavicollis. The study was carried out from October 2000 to September 2001, spanning the area from Kikar Post to Head Marala. Point count method was used to record the number of birds observed (Ralph et al., 1995). The birds were further identified using literature. Cattle …
Status And Food Preferences Of Bears In Sub Alpine Scrub Forests, Ajk,
2018
Bioresource Research Centre, Islamabad
Status And Food Preferences Of Bears In Sub Alpine Scrub Forests, Ajk, Madeeha Manzoor, Safdar Ali Shah, Jibran Haider
Journal of Bioresource Management
Bears belong to the family Ursidae, under the order Carnivora with eight extant species (Grzimek, 2003). Roberts (1997) cite the presence of Himalayan brown bear, Himalayan black bear and Balochistan black bear in Pakistan. Dhirkot National Park (2008), Banjosa Nature Reserve (2009), Tolipir National Park (2008), Pir Chanasi National Park (2010) and Pir Lasura National Park (2009) were surveyed. A broad-spectrum investigation was conducted where the number of bears observed directly; pictures from surveillance cameras (Arc View GIS 3.3, 1992-2002) and at the same time indirect indicators such as bear scats, walking trails, paw prints and fur samples were noted …
Census Study Of Ducks, Swans And Geese From High-Altitude Wetlands Of Pakistan,
2018
Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Census Study Of Ducks, Swans And Geese From High-Altitude Wetlands Of Pakistan, Fakhra Nazir, Inayatullah Malik, Safdar Ali Shah
Journal of Bioresource Management
The family Anatidae consists of aquatic birds such as ducks, geese and swans of varied sizes that belong to the order Anseriformes (Carboneras, 1992). The Anatidae comprise of approximately 148 species (Johnsgard, 2010). This family is commonly found across the globe except for in Antarctica. Data on ecology and population of these water birds was taken from protected areas of Pir Lasura National Park (June-July 2009), Banjosa Game Reserve (May-June 2009), Dhirkot National Park (February 2008), Pir Chanasi National park (April-May 2010) and Tolipir National Park (April-May 2008). Only four species from the family Anatidae were found in the study …
Reducing Protected Lands In A Hotspot Of Bee Biodiversity: Bees Of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,
2018
Utah State University
Reducing Protected Lands In A Hotspot Of Bee Biodiversity: Bees Of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Joseph S. Wilson, Matt Kelly, Olivia Messinger Carril
Biology Faculty Publications
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a federally protected area found in central southern Utah. Designated in 1996 by President William J. Clinton, it was recently reduced in size by President Donald J. Trump in a proclamation that turned the one large monument into three smaller ones. A long-term, standardized study of the bees had been conducted from 2000–2003, revealing 660 species. The bee communities of the area are characterized by being spatially heterogeneous; most of the bees occur in isolated areas, with only a few being both abundant and widespread. Here we examine what affect the recent resizing of the …
Implications Of Spatially Variable Costs And Habitat Conversion Risk In Landscape-Scale Conservation Planning,
2018
U.S. Geological Survey
Implications Of Spatially Variable Costs And Habitat Conversion Risk In Landscape-Scale Conservation Planning, Max Post Van Der Burg, Neil Chartier, Ryan Drum
United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications
‘‘Strategic habitat conservation’’ refers to a process used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop cost-efficient strategies for conserving wildlife populations and their habitats. Strategic habitat conservation focuses on resolving uncertainties surrounding habitat conservation to meet specific wildlife population objectives (i.e., targets) and developing tools to guide where conservation actions should be focused on the landscape. Although there are examples of using optimization models to highlight where conservation should be delivered, such methods often do not explicitly account for spatial variation in the costs of conservation actions. Furthermore, many planning approaches assume that habitat protection is a preferred …
Review: Canids Of The World: Wolves, Wild Dogs, Foxes, Jackals, Coyotes, And Their Relatives.
José R. Castelló.,
2018
Founder of Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research
Review: Canids Of The World: Wolves, Wild Dogs, Foxes, Jackals, Coyotes, And Their Relatives. José R. Castelló., Jonathan (Jon) Way
The Prairie Naturalist
Canids of the World is one of those reads where just when you think that something cannot be beat, this book comes out. What I mean by that is that I have read many works on wolves and other canids, most recently Nate Blakeslee’s American Wolf (Way 2017), and I have enjoyed and been enthralled with many of them. But Canids of the World may take the cake for being the most impressive book available on canids. For a modest price of just under $30.00, you can own a book that has over 600 amazing high-resolution glossy photographs of every …
New Breeding Record And Location For Wilson’S Phalarope (Phalaropus Tricolor) In The Nebraska Great Plains, Usa,
2018
Crane Trust
New Breeding Record And Location For Wilson’S Phalarope (Phalaropus Tricolor) In The Nebraska Great Plains, Usa, Madison O. Sutton, Nico Arcilla
The Prairie Naturalist
Wilson’s phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor; Scolopacidae) is a migratory shorebird that relies on interior wetlands for foraging and breeding (Colwell and Jehl 1994, van Gils et al. 2018). Its global population status is unclear (Colwell and Jehl 1994, Lesterhuis and Clay 2010), and is variously listed as declining (Morrison et al. 2006, van Gils et al. 2018), increasing (Andres 2009, BirdLife International 2018), and exhibiting a long-term decline but recent stability (Sauer et al. 2011, Andres et al. 2012). Its global population estimate of 1.5 million birds has not been updated for 30 years, since 1988 (Colwell and Jehl 1994, Lesterhuis …
Review: Behavior Of The Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. David H. Ellis (Illustrated By N. John Schmitt).,
2018
United Tribes Technical College
Review: Behavior Of The Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. David H. Ellis (Illustrated By N. John Schmitt)., Jeremy E. Guinn
The Prairie Naturalist
Author David H. Ellis and illustrator N. John Schmitt deliver precisely what is promised in Behavior of the Golden Eagle: An Illustrated Ethogram. This “little volume,” as the author coins it, represents a single source for defining, identifying, and describing behaviors of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). With the inclusion of Schmitt’s exceptional drawings, the book is a piece of art, as well as the most useful manual describing Golden Eagle behaviors. Nearly four decades earlier, Ellis (1979) authored the very first Golden Eagle ethogram—the set of repeated standard behaviors for a species called action patterns—and in his new book, …
Review: Edges And Rushes Of Minnesota: The Complete Guide To Species Identification, Welby R. Smith; Photography By Richard Haug,
2018
North Dakota State University--Fargo
Review: Edges And Rushes Of Minnesota: The Complete Guide To Species Identification, Welby R. Smith; Photography By Richard Haug, Edward S. Dekeyser
The Prairie Naturalist
Even the most seasoned individual with a plant identification background can relate to the difficulty of identifying sedges and rushes to the species level. Historically, one has had to rely on dichotomous keys to identify a sedge or rush species in the field. After hours of frustration, a person ends up collecting the plant and, if lucky, bringing the collection back to a herbarium where it can be compared to known specimens. I have been collecting and identifying sedge and rush species for over 25 years, and author Welby Smith along with photographer Richard Haug have published what I believe …
Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria Occipitomaculata) Copulation In South Dakota,
2018
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley & Smithsonian Institution, Washington
Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria Occipitomaculata) Copulation In South Dakota, Drew R. Davis
The Prairie Naturalist
Storeria occipitomaculata is a small, terrestrial species of snake that occurs across much of eastern North America (Ernst and Barbour 1989, Ernst 2002, Ernst and Ernst 2003). Due to this widespread distribution, S. occipitomaculata faces varied climates that likely result in regional differences in reproductive phenology. Much of what is known about the reproductive ecology of S. occipitomaculata has been documented from the southeastern portion of its range in North America (South Carolina: Semlitsch and Moran 1984, North Carolina: Willson and Dorcas 2004), though Blanchard (1937) studied a population from northern Michigan. The exact reproductive timing in this …
Relationships Among Biodiversity Dimensions Of Birds In Nebraska,
2018
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Relationships Among Biodiversity Dimensions Of Birds In Nebraska, Nadejda Mirochnitchenko
School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is a multi-dimensional concept that can be decomposed to measure information about taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional variation within communities. Although the dimensions of biodiversity are interrelated, the assumption that measuring one dimension of diversity can inform about patterns in another dimension does not necessarily follow from theory or empirical study. The relationships among biodiversity dimensions is not well understood, nor how differences among dimensions could influence conservation decision making. Using the avian community as a study system, we explored the relationships of breadth metrics from the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions among each other and across …
Safety,
2018
Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC Lewistown, Montana
Safety, Stephen M. Vantassel, Brenda K. Osthus
Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series
Wildlife damage management (WDM) is an exciting field with many opportunities to provide solutions to the complex issues involved in human-wildlife interactions. In addition, WDM wildlife control operators (WCO) face a variety of threats to their physical well-being. Injuries can result from misused (Figure 1), faulty, or poorly maintained equipment, inexperience, mishandled wildlife, harsh weather, and dangerous situations, such as electrical lines. The goals of this publication are to: * Develop an awareness of safety issues and adopt a mindset of “Safety First”, * Review the major safety threats that WCOs face, * Provide basic information for WCOs to protect …
Prairie Reconstruction Unpredictability And Complexity: What Is The Rate Of Reconstruction Failures?,
2018
North Dakota State University--Fargo
Prairie Reconstruction Unpredictability And Complexity: What Is The Rate Of Reconstruction Failures?, Jack E. Norland, Cami Dixon, Diane Larson, Kristine Askerooth, Benjamin A. Geaumont
United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications
The outcomes of prairie reconstructions are subject to both unpredictability and complexity. Prairie, tallgrass, and mixed grass reconstruction is defined as the planting of a native herbaceous seed mixture composed of multiple prairie species (10 or more) in an area where the land has been heavily cultivated or anthropogenically disturbed. Because of the unpredictability and complexity inherent in reconstructions, some outcomes end up being failures dominated by exotic species. We propose that these failures follow a fat-tailed distribution as found in other complex systems. Fat-tailed distributions follow the Pareto principle, where 80% of the time reconstructions work as expected but …
Trash Talk: The Effects Of Plastic Pollution On Seabirds In Narragansett Bay,
2018
Salve Regina University
Trash Talk: The Effects Of Plastic Pollution On Seabirds In Narragansett Bay, Erin A. O'Neill
Pell Scholars and Senior Theses
Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern with more than 8 million tons of plastic dumped into our oceans every year. This policy paper assesses plastic pollution in Narragansett Bay and the negative implications it holds on local seabird populations. Also, essential background information on plastic production and throwaway culture is provided. Moreover, the biological significance of seabirds is described, highlighting the vital role such populations play in local ecosystems such as Narragansett Bay. This paper contributes research to the global issue of plastic pollution by observing declining native wildlife life populations, such as seabirds, on a local …
Review: North American Ducks, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide. Frank S. Todd.,
2018
Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge
Review: North American Ducks, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide. Frank S. Todd., Kevin M. Ringelman
The Prairie Naturalist
The North American Duck, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide, released in 2018, is the culmination of a lifetime of waterfowl photography by the late Frank Todd. Indeed, this book stands apart from other identification guides as being entirely photo-driven, with minimal introductory material, notations of field marks, or descriptions of the various waterfowl species. It is small enough to be carried in the field (6.5” × 9” × 0.5”), but most readers will find it less useful than a standard bird identification book (Sibley 2014), even for waterfowl. As the title suggests, the Todd guide focuses on North American species, …
Preparing An Effective Poster Presentation,
2018
Western Illinois University
Preparing An Effective Poster Presentation, Christopher N. Jacques
The Prairie Naturalist
Greetings GPNSS members! By the time you read this editorial, many of have been experiencing the fury unleashed by ‘Old Man Winter’ and may find yourself counting the days until warmer spring temperatures return once again to the Great Plains. Until then, just a couple more months of bitter cold temperatures, strong winds, and blowing and drifting snow. But not to worry, winter also provides the cold weather enthusiasts among us a chance to enjoy a range of outdoor recreational opportunities, a chance to reflect on the previous year in review, exciting professional and personal opportunities ushered in by the …
Comparison Of Northern Flying And Red Squirrel Phylogenies With Focus On The Insular United States,
2018
University of South Dakota
Comparison Of Northern Flying And Red Squirrel Phylogenies With Focus On The Insular United States, Alyssa M. Kiesow, Hugh B. Britten
The Prairie Naturalist
Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) and red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) populations are endemic to northern North America, including the Black Hills. The Black Hills populations are considered disjunct from other populations within their range. We examined insular populations to determine whether arboreal squirrels in the Black Hills each represent a unique population. We trapped and collected ear samples from northern flying and red squirrels in the Black Hills and in areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to infer population phylogenies with special consideration of the Black Hills population. Microsatellite loci and two mtDNA sequences were used for …
