Population Biology Commons^™

Testing A Bite-Shortened Hook To Minimize Fish Handling In A Recreational Fishery, Holden E. Harris, Brian K. Whalen, Andrew G. Gude, Michael S. Allen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Discard mortality can make fishing unsustainable, even in catch-and-release or highly regulated fisheries. However, fishing practices and gears that minimize hook injury, handling, and air exposure can considerably improve fitness and survival in released fish. This study tested whether modified hooks could allow anglers to successfully land and then release fish in the water and without handling. Standard, barbless, and bite-shortened hooks were used to catch Spotted Seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus (n > 75 per hook type), and logistic models were used to assess the differences in landing success and hook self-release success by hook type and categorical fish size. Average landing …

Grizzly Bears Mortalities And The Survival Of The Species, Courtney Swanson

Senior Seminars and Capstones

In this paper we aim to understand what is happening in the grizzly bear population mortalities from the year 2010 to 2020. We are performing Classical and Regression Tree (CART) methods and Correspondence Analysis on data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). We found certain variables in the data set to be important through CART methods. Correspondence Analysis then allowed us to compare these variables to determine their relationships and association to one another. Most of the grizzly bear deaths are human caused and mainly over land and resources such as food and habitat. This aligns with some of …

Our Peer The Pigeon: Impacts Of The Covid-19 "Anthropause" On Psu Campus Urban Foragers, Audrey Douglass

University Honors Theses

The 2020 COVID Pandemic presented a paradigm shift dubbed, by some scholars, the 'Anthropause', an ecological epoch in which humans faded from the public sphere. As was the case for many urban species that depend on the foraging of food waste, this meant a fundamental disruption to their food systems and to the entire urban eco-web. The PSU Campus Park Blocks presents a unique opportunity to observe animal behavior, while also a succinct microcosm to study food waste flow changes, and compare species layout to other urban parks in the METRO area. Decreased food waste output from proximal …

Contemporary Challenges And Opportunities For The Management Of Bird Damage At Field Crop Establishment, Christophe Sausse, Alice Baux, Michel Bertrand, Elsa Bonnaud, Sonia Canavelli, Alexandra Destrez, Page E. Klug, Lourdes Olivera, Ethel Rodriguez, Guilllermo Tellechea, Sebastian Zuil

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bird damage, from sowing to crop establishment, is an important issue for farmers in many parts of the world. However, reliable and cost-effective solutions remain elusive because management tools and research on the subject are limited. The spatial variability of damage across landscapes and the adaptative behaviour of birds create further challenges. Additionally, the issue must be tackled at the landscape scale and involve a variety of stakeholders with conflicting interests and objectives. We summarize some of the challenges and opportunities identified to face these difficulties and address four major research directions for operational solutions including 1) crop damage assessment, …

Review Of Montana Euphilotes Mattoni, [1978], With Descriptions Of New Taxa (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae), Steve Kohler, Andrew D. Warren

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The genus Euphilotes at the northern end of its distribution is reviewed, with special emphasis on populations in Montana. Also discussed are some Euphilotes populations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and southwestern Canada that have affinities with Montana. This region has until recently been essentially neglected in studies of the genus. We characterize and discuss six species (two newly described) and twenty-five subspecies (six newly described) of Euphilotes, including a number of yet undescribed populations. New species include E. heracleoides Kohler & A. Warren (type locality in Sanders County, Montana) and E. oakleyi Kohler (type locality in Missoula County, Montana). …

Remembering Elaine Bachel 1946-2021, Ruthie Stearns

Nebraska Bird Review

Elaine Bachel was born June 6, 1946, in Itasca County, Minnesota, and passed away May 22, 2021, in Lincoln. She lived in Minnesota until she was ten, and it was there that she developed her love of the outdoors, especially birds. When her father passed away, Elaine, her sister and her mother moved to Omaha to live with her grandmother. She graduated from Omaha South High School and then attended college in Omaha, graduating as a registered nurse in 1968. She worked for many years for Lincoln ENT physician Dr. Charles Barton. It was in working for him and traveling …

Paul A. Johnsgard 1931-2021, Paul Johnsgard

Nebraska Bird Review

Dr Johnsgard's self-penned obituary & a photo

Spring Field Report, March - May 2021, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

A total of 163 observers contributed to this report. This spring several observers were quite active statewide, resulting in interesting discoveries among waterfowl hybrids, subspecies distributions, breeding and spatial range expansions, and more than usual early and late dates and high counts, not to mention a couple of extreme rarities. Speaking of BONO, readers will note a new section under “Species Accounts” that deals with hybrids reported in Nebraska. A surprising 47 are listed, 26 of these waterfowl. If you like waterfowl hybrids, read on! This report deals with 14 such hybrids, four newly documented for the state. Several non-waterfowl …

Assessing Cryptic Dispersal And Movement In The Lompoc Kangaroo Rat, Katherine A. Belnick

Biological Sciences

Lompoc kangaroo rats (LKR, Dipodomys heermanni arenae) are small rodents that reside in sand dunes from Pismo to Orcutt, including the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA), in Oceano, CA. In the SVRA, some of these individuals live in habitat islands, which are habitat fragments of dense vegetation disrupted by empty, bare sand in between them. Recreational vehicle activity is permitted in the Oceano Dunes, which has caused persistence habitat fragmentation. Kangaroo rats are known to disperse between habitat islands and are suspected to do so via a special type of dispersal: cryptic dispersal. This dispersal mode, if it …

Genomic And Ecological Dimensions Of Malagasy Reptile And Amphibian Biodiversity, Arianna L. Kuhn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A long history of isolation coupled with complex topographic and ecological landscapes makes Madagascar ideal for exploring the historical factors that have shaped patterns of population diversity and endemism. Many species-level studies have suggested Late Quaternary climate change may have influenced population dynamics in the tropics, but Madagascar’s ecologically unique biomes or individual species properties may have driven idiosyncratic responses to these shifts. Using community-scale population genetic data I implement a hierarchical approximate Bayesian computation (hABC) approach to evaluate the degree of synchronous population expansion during glacial cycles across herpetofaunal assemblages both within and across discrete biomes and taxonomic groups. …

Selection Of Overwintering Microclimate By Migratory Western Monarch Butterflies, Kiana Saniee

Master's Theses

Migratory species are expected to demonstrate habitat selection that occurs at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Western monarch butterflies migrate seasonally to overwinter in groves at geographically predictable locations along the California coast. To date, overwintering habitat selection by western monarch butterflies has been studied assuming that habitat selection occurs where overwintering aggregations form, meaning at the spatial scale where monarchs form dense overwintering aggregations within overwintering groves. We argue that since western monarch butterflies are migratory, studies of habitat selection could have commingled selection at different scales into a single spatial scale. This likely leads to ignoring some levels …

Dynamic Observers For Unknown Populations, Chris Guiver, Nathan Poppelreiter, Richard Rebarber, Brigitte Tenhumberg, Stuart Townley

Brigitte Tenhumberg Papers

Dynamic observers are considered in the context of structuredpopulation modeling and management. Roughly, observers combine a known measured variable of some process with a model of that process to asymptotically reconstruct the unknown state variable of the model. We investigate the potential use of observers for reconstructing population distributions described by density-independent (linear) models and a class of density-dependent (nonlinear) models. In both the density-dependent and -independent cases, we show, in several ecologically reasonable circumstances, that there is a natural, optimal construction of these observers. Further, we describe the robustness these observers exhibit with respect to disturbances and uncertainty in …

An Evaluation Of Body-Grip Trap Trigger Configurations For Reducing River Otter Take Incidental To Beaver Trapping, Alec J. Sundelius, Nicholas Forman, Nathan M. Roberts, Shawn T. Rossler, David B. Ruid, Robert C. Willging

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

River otter (Lontra canadensis) populations in North America have been the focus of significant restoration efforts. Wildlife management agencies, concerned about the unintentional take of river otters incidental to beaver (Castor canadensis) trapping, may recommend techniques to avoid capturing river otters. River otter avoidance techniques that are ineffective or diminish trap performance for beavers are undesirable. We conducted a field evaluation in 2015 and 2016 in Wisconsin to assess how two trigger configurations (offset and center) on body-grip traps would affect the incidental capture rate of river otters during beaver trapping. We also evaluated effects of …

Habitat Heterogeneity Affects The Thermal Ecology Of The Federally Endangered Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard, Nicole Gaudenti

Master's Theses

Global climate change is already contributing to the extirpation of numerous species worldwide, and sensitive species will continue to face challenges associated with rising temperatures throughout this century and beyond. It is especially important to evaluate the thermal ecology of endangered ectotherm species now so that mitigation measures can be taken as early as possible. A recent study of the thermal ecology of the federally endangered Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia sila) suggested that they face major activity restrictions due to thermal constraints in their desert habitat, but that large shade-providing shrubs act as thermal buffers to allow them …

Paul Austin Johnsgard: Memories Of An Exceptional Naturalist, Allison E. Johnson, Charles R. Brown

Nebraska Bird Review

On May 28, 2021 the world lost one of its most dogged advocates, and we lost an amazing teacher, naturalist, and friend. Paul has told you in his own words in the previous pages where he was from, where he was educated, about the immense number of scholarly articles and books he published, and about his beautiful art that brought the wild to all of us (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/30/), but we wanted to share the person we knew Paul to be, and to relive some of our memories of him. While Paul’s body of work will continue to impact the ornithological and …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 89 June 2021 Number 2

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, March - May 2021, by W. Ross Silcock … 50

Incorrectly Aged, Identified and Classified: Revisiting Nebraska’s 1968 ‘Barnacle Goose’ Record, by Joel G. Jorgensen, Stephen J. Brenner, and W. Ross Silcock …80

Paul A. Johnsgard by Paul A. Johnsgard … 92

Paul Austin Johnsgard: Memories of an Exceptional Naturalist by Allison E. Johnson and Charles R. Brown …94

Breeding Status of Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) in the Niobrara River Valley, North-central Nebraska by W. Ross Silcock … 97

Remembering Elaine Bachel 1946-2021, by Ruthie Stearns …101

Subscription and Organization Information …103

Incorrectly Aged, Identified And Classified: Revisiting Nebraska’S 1968 ‘Barnacle Goose’ Record, Joel G. Jorgensen, Stephen J. Brenner, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

On 2 November 1968 in northeastern Otoe County, Nebraska, Milton Muncie harvested a bird (herein referred to as the 1968 specimen), subsequently identified as an immature Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis), from a flock of about 40 Cackling Geese (Branta hutchinsii; Cortelyou 1969). The occurrence was reported not only as the first record of a Barnacle Goose for Nebraska, but also the first record for the North American Interior and West (Cortelyou 1969). Cortelyou’s (1969) brief article also included a photograph of the mounted specimen. At the time and when subsequently reviewed by various authors, the identity of the 1968 specimen …

Alfaxalone Successfully Immobilizes Small Indian Mongooses (Urva Auropunctata): A Field Report, Caroline C. Sauvé, Yves Rondenay, Are R. Berentsen, Mel J. Rivera-Rodriguez, Patrick A. Leighton

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We investigated intramuscular administration of alfaxalone (5.3–10.0 mg/kg) as an immobilizing agent in free-ranging small Indian mongooses (Urva auropunctata) on the island of St. Kitts, West Indies. From 5–11 January 2020, we successfully immobilized 10 of 11 mongooses. Alfaxalone provided rapid onset (median = 3 min) of immobilization. Mean duration of immobilization was 16.8 ± 3 min. Mean recovery time was 5.6 ± 1 min. There was no effect of dose administered on induction, anesthesia, or recovery times at the dose range used. We concluded that alfaxalone represents an effective alternative to dissociative agents for the immobilization of free-ranging mongooses. …

Comparing Management Programs To Reduce Red–Tailed Hawk Collisions With Aircraft, Brian Washburn, Craig K. Pullins, Travis L. Guerrant, Gregory J. Martinelli, Scott F. Beckerman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife-aircraft collisions (wildlife strikes) pose a serious safety risk to aircraft. Raptors (i.e., hawks and owls) are one of the most frequently struck guilds of birds within North America. Although raptors (most notably red-tailed hawks [Buteo jamaicensis]) are commonly managed at most airports and military bases, there is no scientific information available regarding comparisons of the efficacy of raptor management programs for reducing raptor-aircraft collisions. Therefore, we conducted a study to examine the efficacy of 2 raptor hazard management programs implemented at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD). The first raptor management program (Phase I) occurred during January 2010–June 2013 and …

Strategic Testing Approaches For Targeted Disease Monitoring Can Be Used To Inform Pandemic Decision-Making, James D. Nichols, Tiffany L. Bogich, Emily Howerton, Ottar N. Bjørnstad, Rebecca K. Borchering, Matthew Ferrari, Murali Haran, Christopher Jewell, Kim M. Pepin, William J.M. Probert, Juliet R.C. Pulliam, Michael C. Runge, Michael Tildesley, Cecile Viboud, Katriona Shea

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

More than 1.6 million Servere Acute Respiratory Syndrome Cronovirus 2(SARS-COV-2)tests were administered daily in the United States at the peak of the epidemic, with a significant focus on individual treatment. Here, we show that objective-driven, strategic sampling designs and analyses can maximize information gain at the population level, which is necessary to increase situational awareness and predict, prepare for, and respond to a pandemic, while also continuing to inform individual treatment. By focusing on specific objectives such as individual treatment or disease prediction and control (e.g., via the collection of population- level statistics to inform lockdown measures or vaccine rollout) …