Biodiversity Commons^™

Trends In A Greater Prairie Chicken Population Established By Translocation In North Dakota, Gary Huschle, John E. Toepfer

The Prairie Naturalist

In 1992, an effort was undertaken by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and North Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society to reestablish a viable population of greater prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus; hereafter prairie chickens) in northeast North Dakota. The release area was centered on the Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area located 22.5 km northwest of Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the northern part of Grand Forks County. Topography consists of poorly drained, saline flats and swells separated by poorly drained swales and sloughs in the Red River Valley (Beringer 1995). Permanent …

Short-Term Estimate Of Finfish Bycatch Discards In The Inshore Artisanal Shrimp Fishery Of Guyana, Leanna Kalicharan, Hazel A. Oxenford

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The artisanal shrimp fishery in Guyana is important for livelihood and food security, involving around 300 vessels owned and crewed exclusively by Guyanese nationals. This fishery uses Chinese seines and operates in major river estuaries. It targets penaeid shrimp, but also retains some finfish and is known to discard a significant but undocumented quantity of smaller finfish bycatch. The lack of knowledge regarding the bycatch is a concern for fishery management and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we quantify for the first time the finfish bycatch discards through onboard observations (July—August 2016) of a single typical vessel operating in the …

Systematics Of Amanita (Amanitaceae, Agaricales, Basidiomycota) From The Guiana Shield And Central Africa, Kennan S. Mighell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study is a systematic assessment of ten species of ectomycorrhizal fungi of the genus Amanita (Amanitaceae, Agaricales, Basidiomycota) from the lowland tropical rainforests of the Guiana Shield and Central Africa. Fungi were collected in each of the above regions, analyzed morphologically, and compared to the literature on Amanita diversity worldwide. All species addressed herein are given full formal taxonomic descriptions including complete macro- and microscopic character profiles, habit, habitat, and distribution. Phylogenetic assessments using ribosomal DNA and protein coding genes are provided for Guiana Shield taxa, and sequence data for two non-protein coding regions, the …

Spatial And Temporal Genetic Structure Of Winter-Run Steelhead (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Returning To The Mad River, California, Steven R. Fong

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Distinct populations of steelhead in the wild are in decline. The propagation of steelhead in hatcheries has been used to boost population numbers for recreational fisheries and for use in conservation. However, hatchery breeding practices of steelhead can result in changes in genetic structure. I investigated the genetic structure of winter-run steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) returning to the Mad River, California, where a hatchery has been used enhance production for recreational fisheries since 1971. Genetic variability in Mad River steelhead was evaluated using 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among 4203 individuals, including the Mad River and nearby locations, and …

The Effects Of Woody Vegetation Encroachment And Removal Within A Coastal Fen, Joseph Saler

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Early successional wetland habitat is being lost in temperate regions worldwide as a result of changes in disturbance regimes that allow for the establishment and dominance of woody species. In particular, this phenomenon is pronounced in fens, which harbor high numbers of rare herbaceous species that require early successional habitat. I investigated the relationship between woody vegetation encroachment and herbaceous species diversity within a Northern California coastal fen that has been undergoing encroachment by woody vegetation for ca. 80 years by recording species richness and cover data from 338 permanent plots throughout the fen. I also investigated the effect of …

Current Dog Breeding Practices Impacts On Health And Preservation Of Purebred Dogs, Bridget E. Baker

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Host Relationships And Geographic Distribution Of Species Of Blanchard, 1848 (Onchoproteocephalidea, Onchobothriidae) In Elasmobranchs: A Metadata Analysis, Francisco Zaragoza-Tapia, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott L. Gardner, Scott Monks

Scott L. Gardner Publications

Species of Acanthobothrium have been documented as parasites of the spiral intestine of elasmobranchs. Results of a metadata analysis indicate that 114 species of elasmobranchs have been reported as hosts of 200 species of Acanthobothrium. The metadata analysis revealed that 3.7% of species of sharks and 14.9% of species of rays that have been reported as hosts to date; some species are parasitized by more than one species of Acanthobothrium. This work provides a Category designation, as proposed by Ghoshroy and Caira (2001), for each species of Acanthobothrium. These Category designations are a tool to facilitate comparisons …

Obituary: Sydney Anderson (1927–2018), Scott Lyell Gardner, Robert M. Timm, Nancy Olds, Hugh H. Genoways

Scott L. Gardner Publications

On August 12, 2018, the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) lost one of its giants of the latter half of the 20th century when Sydney Anderson quietly passed away at his home in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of 91. “Syd,” to his many friends and colleagues, was born on January 11, 1927 in Topeka, Kansas, to Robert Grant and Evelyn Fern (Hunt) Anderson.

Anderson began his professional career at the University of Kansas, where for four years (1955–1959) he served as Assistant Curator in charge of mammals in the Museum of Natural History, and Instructor in the Department of …

Factors Associated With Larval Freshwater Drum Annual Peak Density In A Nebraska Irrigation Reservoir, Brett T. Miller, Brian C. Peterson, Keith D. Koupal, Casey W. Schoenebeck

The Prairie Naturalist

Freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) represent one of the most widely distributed fish species in North America. Identifying biotic and abiotic factors that influence larval freshwater drum densities can improve understanding of early life history. Our objective was to investigate correlations between annual peak density of larval freshwater drum and combinations of five variables (chlorophyll a, growing degree days [GDD], reservoir discharge, turbidity, and cladoceran density) from a longterm (2003–2017) monitoring program in a Nebraska irrigation reservoir. Twenty-eight a priori candidate models were assessed to determine the relative support of explanatory variables associated with annual peak density of larval freshwater drum …

Small Mammal Communities In Grasslands At The Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, Usa, Lynda R. Lafond, Elizabeth H. Rave, Kathryn A. Yurkonis

The Prairie Naturalist

Small mammals are important in grasslands but are often overlooked in management and reconstruction efforts. We sampled small mammals in three sites on the Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) located in central Grand Forks County, North Dakota, USA. The study sites varied in their management history and represented the three major types of grasslands (reconstructed prairie, old field, and hay field) within Grand Forks County. We captured 463 individuals of six species with Sherman live traps in summer (June, July, August) 2014 and 2015. We captured the most individuals and species (295 individuals of 5 species), including all shrews …

Patterns And Potential Causes Of Changing Winter Bird Distributions In South Dakota, David L. Swanson, Reza Goljani Amirkhiz, Mark D. Dixon

The Prairie Naturalist

Average winter temperatures in the north-central United States have been increasing since the 1970s, and this warming might influence winter distributions of birds in the region. Species potentially influenced by such winter warming include short-distance migrants for which the northern boundary of the winter range is influenced by temperature, such as hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus), yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata), and fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca). We examined winter records during 1974–2017 from a citizen-science bird observation database for South Dakota to determine recent trends in winter records for these three species. We compared their occurrence patterns with those for three benchmark …

Temporospatial Shifts In Sandhill Crane Staging In The Central Platte River Valley In Response To Climatic Variation And Habitat Change, Andrew J. Caven, Emma M. Brinley Buckley, Kelsey C. King, Joshua Wiese, David M. Baasch, Greg D. Wright, Mary Harner, Aaron T. Pearse, Matt Raabe, Dana Varner, Brice Krohn, Nicole Arcilla, Kirk D. Schroeder, Kenneth F. Dinan

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Over 80% of the Mid-Continent Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) Population (MCP), estimated at over 660,000 individuals, stops in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) during spring migration from mid-February through mid-April. Research suggests that the MCP may be shifting its distribution spatially and temporally within the CPRV. From 2002 to 2017, we conducted weekly aerial surveys of Sandhill Cranes staging in the CPRV to examine temporal and spatial trends in their abundance and distribution. Then, we used winter temperature and drought severity measures from key wintering and early migratory stopover locations to assess the impacts of weather patterns …

Population And Harvest Dynamics Of Midcontinent Sandhill Cranes, Aaron T. Pearse, Glen A. Sargeant, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) inhabiting the midcontinent of North America have been hunted since the 1960s under management goals of maintaining abundance, retaining geographic distribution, and maximizing sustainable harvest. Some biologists have raised concerns regarding harvest sustainability because sandhill cranes have lower reproductive rates than other game birds. We summarized demographic information in an age‐structured matrix model to better understand population dynamics and harvest. Population indices and recovered harvest since the early 1980s suggest midcontinent sandhill cranes have experienced an average long‐term annual growth of 0.9%; meanwhile, harvest has increased 1.8% annually. Adult survival and recruitment rates estimated from field …

Repositories For Taxonomic Data: Where We Are And What Is Missing, Aurélian Miralles, Teddy Bruy, Katherine Wolcott, Mark D. Scherz, Dominik Begerow, Bank Beszteri, Michael Bonkowski, Janine Felden, Birgit Gemeinholzer, Frank Glaw, Frank Oliver Glöckner, Oliver Hawlitschek, Ivaylo Kostadinov, Tim W. Nattkemper, Christian Printzen, Jasmin Renz, Nataliya Rybalka, Marc Stadler, Tanja Weibulat, Thomas Wilke, Susanne S. Renner, Miguel Vences

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Natural history collections are leading successful large-scale projects of specimen digitization (images, metadata, DNA barcodes), thereby transforming taxonomy into a big data science. Yet, little effort has been directed towards safeguarding and subsequently mobilizing the considerable amount of original data generated during the process of naming 15,000–20,000 species every year. From the perspective of alpha-taxonomists, we provide a review of the properties and diversity of taxonomic data, assess their volume and use, and establish criteria for optimizing data repositories. We surveyed 4,113 alpha-taxonomic studies in representative journals for 2002, 2010, and 2018, and found an increasing yet comparatively limited use …

Livestock-Wildlife Dynamics And Subsequent Human Responses In Marginalized Communities Within Mexico’S Nationally Protected Areas, Deanna Seil

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Entering the planet’s sixth mass-extinction, monitoring biodiversity and the factors which affect it is of the utmost importance. This study on the interaction of humans and their livestock with wildlife, and the impact of this interaction on wildlife conservation, took place in Santiago Coatepec, located within the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. Wildlife interactions with livestock may depend upon species, season, ecological characteristics of the area, and livestock management practices. Using camera traps, field data, and interview data, I quantified livestock impact on wildlife behavior and community beliefs. Over two years, camera traps at 18 stations recorded 709 wildlife videos …

Challenging Our Conception Of Wildness, Elodie Massiot

Animal Sentience

Baker & Winkler (2020) point out the entanglement among free-living elephants, captive elephants, and humans in the elephant tourism industry. Where all living beings – captive and free-living – are more or less affected by human presence or activity, the binary notion of wild and captive, and in situ and ex situ conservation, becomes inadequate. B&W challenge our concept of wildness – and hence of rewilding – and our level of intervention in this wildness of which we are a component.

Game Theory And Artificial Intelligence In Just Preservation, David L. Dowe, Nader Chmait

Animal Sentience

We humans can show presumption, arrogance and many dubious traits. By virtue of being land-dwelling, dexterous, relatively intelligent, and having good communication hardware and (good) fortune, we have for recent millennia largely had dominion of our planet. Yet humans often do not treat themselves (let alone other species) particularly well. Treves et al.’s idea of a multispecies justice system — not “prioritizing humans” but “finding practical ways to work within human systems” — invites consideration.

Just Preservation, Trusteeship And Multispecies Justice, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, Adrian Treves, William Lynn

Animal Sentience

We are grateful to all the commentators who engaged with our target article. Some commentators have offered important insights into our proposed design and methods for legally intervening on behalf of futurity. Others have focused on theoretical considerations central to our proposal for multispecies justice and trusteeship. All have inspired modifications and further elaboration of our initial proposal. In this Response, we engage with the commentaries, integrating their suggestions, striving for convergence and complementarity, but also discussing points of divergence with our proposed framework where necessary. There is substantial overlap in the points of view of the three co-authors, but …

Protecting Biodiversity On National Forests: The Evolution And Implementation Of Forest Planning Regulations, Anna Wearn

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2012, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) promulgated new forest planning regulations that significantly altered national forest management. One of the most controversial and important advancements was the inclusion of what were meant to be stronger biodiversity protections. An analysis of USFS’s rationale in revising the biodiversity regulations provides insights into how to interpret the substantively and procedurally new ecosystem and species protections. Examining this regulatory history reveals three key changes to the manner in which national forests are required to manage and monitor biodiversity: 1) a greater reliance on science to inform planning, 2) a new emphasis on ecological …

Temperate Eurasian Origins Of Hawaiian Chenopodium (Amaranthaceae) Plus Description Of A New Species Endemic To Moloka‘I, Jason T. Cantley, Angela J. Mcdonnell, J Branson, S R. Long, W Garnett, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

Chenopodium taxa of Hawai‘i are tetraploids distinguished from other members of the circumglobally distributed genus by minute morphological characters. Because of these reasons, the geographic origin of Hawaiian Chenopodium has remained unclear. Across the Hawaiian Archipelago, Chenopodium taxa are morphologically variable and grow in highly disparate xeric habitats, especially in terms of precipitation, temperature, wind, salt spray, and solar irradiation. Habitats include dry subalpine shrublands, sandy beach strand of atolls in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, dry forests, and precipitously tall sea cliffs of northwestern Moloka‘i. From the Moloka‘i sea cliffs, which are battered by high energy winds, salt spray, and …