The Role Of Dislodgement In The Territorial Ecology Of The Owl Limpet, Lottia Gigantea, Ryan T. Kabala, Natalie Swinford, Maria J. Mason, William G. Wright

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Ascertaining the risks and benefits of different behaviors is a central goal of research on territoriality. Although most territorial behavior is ritualized, with concomitant reduced risks for both residents and intruders, this ritualization is generally found to be underpinned by rare, highly consequential, interactions. The agonistic behavior of the intertidal owl limpet, Lottia gigantea, involves defense of a feeding territory, and includes a relatively explosive thrusting response by territory holders against intruding conspecifics. We here ask whether this thrusting behavior is capable of entirely dislodging intruders from their rocky wave-swept substratum, thereby ridding the resident of future challenges by …

Range Extension For Dekay’S Brownsnake (Storeria Dekayi) In South-Central Nebraska, Macy K. Cool, Keith Geluso

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Dekay’s Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi) generally occurs in southeastern parts of the state, where the species was known from 16 counties. Herein, we update the distribution of S. dekayi in the state and briefly comment on habitat and abundance from observations in September and October 2018. We documented 7 new county records that extend its distribution in south-central Nebraska. We observed that S. dekayi does not only reside in mesic wooded habitats in Nebraska but also occupies open environments, including areas with upland grasslands and row-crop agriculture. Dekay’s Brownsnake currently is listed as a species of concern …

Designation Of Neotype Of Hemileuca Maia (Drury, 1773) And Refinement Of Its Type Locality (Bombycoidea, Saturniidae, Hemileucinae), Harry Pavulaan

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The present paper defines the original type locality of Hemileuca maia (Drury, 1773) as Edgewood, New York, in the Long Island Pine Barrens. It has been locally known as the “Coastal Pine Barrens Buckmoth” and its range may be confined entirely to Long Island, though populations throughout southeastern coastal New England and offshore islands may be considered the same nominotypical taxon. In analyzing historical events, there are questions regarding the geographic location, and source and eventual disposition of the specimen illustrated by artist Moses Harris in Drury (1773). While there is ample evidence that Drury’s specimen of maia came from …

Individual And Population Fitness Consequences Associated With Large Carnivore Use Of Residential Development, Heather Johnson, David L. Lewis, Stewart W. Breck

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Large carnivores are negotiating increasingly developed landscapes, but little is known about how such behavioral plasticity influences their demographic rates and population trends. Some investigators have suggested that the ability of carnivores to behaviorally adapt to human development will enable their persistence, and yet, others have suggested that such landscapes are likely to serve as population sinks or ecological traps. To understand how plasticity in black bear (Ursus americanus) use of residential development influences their population dynamics, we conducted a 6-yr study near Durango, Colorado, USA. Using space-use data on individual bears, we examined the influence of use of residential …

Sea Wrack Delivery And Accumulation On Islands: Factors That Mediate Marine Nutrient Permeability, Sara B. Wickham, Nancy Shackelford, Chris T. Darimont, Wiebe Nijland, Luba Y. Reshitnyk, John D. Reynolds, Brian M. Starzomski

Biogeography and Ecological Opportunity Collection

Sea wrack provides an important vector of marine-derived nutrients to many terrestrial environments. However, little is known about the processes that facilitate wrack transport, deposition, and accumulation on islands. Three broad factors can affect the stock of wrack along shorelines: the amount of potential donor habitat nearby, climatic events that dislodge seaweeds and transfer them ashore, and physical characteristics of shorelines that retain wrack at a site. To determine when, where, and how wrack accumulates on island shorelines, we surveyed 455 sites across 101 islands in coastal British Columbia, Canada. At each site, we recorded wrack biomass, species composition, and …

Common Ravens, Luke W. Peebles, Jack O. Spencer Jr.

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Damage Management Methods for Common Ravens

Type of Control -- Available Management Options

Exclusion -- Often ineffective or impractical

Fertility Control -- None available

Frightening Devices -- Effigies • Pyrotechnics and propane cannons • Lasers and flashing lights

Habitat Modification -- Bale and bury garbage • Install dumpsters with secure lids • Remove or bury dead livestock • Remove abandoned houses, sheds, and barns to eliminate nesting structures

Nest Treatment -- Allowed with proper Federal and State permits; Egg oiling or addling and nest destruction

Repellents -- Methiocarb (EPA Reg. No. 56228-33) • Methyl anthranilate (food-grade grape flavoring agent)

Shooting …

Migratory Flyways May Affect Population Structure In Double‐Crested Cormorants, Steven J.A. Kimble, Brian S. Dorr, Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Travis L. Devault

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Double‐crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) recovered from a demographic bottleneck so well that they are now considered a nuisance species at breeding and wintering grounds across the United States and Canada. Management of this species could be improved by refining genetic population boundaries and assigning individuals to their natal population. Further, recent radio‐telemetry data suggest the existence of Interior and Atlantic migratory flyways, which could reduce gene flow and result in substantial genetic isolation. In this study, we used 1,784 individuals collected across the eastern United States, a large panel of microsatellite markers developed for this species, and individuals banded as …

Effects Of Deepwater Horizon Oil On Feather Structure And Thermoregulation In Gulls: Does Rehabilitation Work?, Katherine Horak, Nicole L. Barrett, Jeremy W. Ellis, Emma M. Campbell, Nicholas G. Dannemiller, Susan A. Shriner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Impacts of large-scale oil spills on avian species are far-reaching.While media attention often focuses on lethal impacts, sub-lethal effects and the impacts of rehabilitation receive less attention. The objective of our study was to characterize effects of moderate external oiling and subsequent rehabilitation on feather structure and thermoregulation in gulls. We captured 30 wild ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) and randomly assigned each individual to an experimental group: 1) controls, 2) rehabilitated birds (externally oiled, rehabilitated by washing), or 3) oiled birds (externally oiled, not rehabilitated). We externally oiled birds with weathered MC252 Deepwater Horizon oil (water for controls) …

Optimal Bait Density For Delivery Of Acute Toxicants To Vertebrate Pests, Kim M. Pepin, Nathan P. Snow, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Oral baiting is a fundamental method for delivering toxicants to pest species. Planning baiting strategies is challenging because bait-consumption rates depend on dynamic processes including space use and demographics of the target species. To determine cost-effective strategies for optimizing baiting, we developed a spatially explicit model of population dynamics using field-based measures of wild-pig (Sus scrofa) space use, bait consumption, and mortality probabilities. The most cost-effective baiting strategy depended strongly on the population reduction objective and initial density. A wide range of baiting strategies were cost-effective when the objective was 80% population reduction. In contrast, only a narrow range of …

Brodifacoum Residues In Fish Three Years After An Island-Wide Rat Eradication Attempt In The Tropical Pacific, Shane R. Siers, Aaron B. Shiels, Steven F. Volker, Kristen Rex, William C. Pitt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive rats are known to threaten natural resources and human health and safety. Island-wide rat eradication attempts have been increasing in number and scale during the past several decades, as has the frequency of eradication success. The most common method to remove all rats from an island is to broadcast anticoagulant rodenticide bait into every rat’s home range on the island. Broadcast of toxicants can put humans and other nontarget species in marine and terrestrial environments at risk of exposure. The persistence of anticoagulant residues is somewhat unknown, particularly in marine environments. Three years after ~ 18,000 kg of 25 …

Evaluation Of Space Use And Movement By Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo) During Extreme Climatic Disturbances And Annual Phenological States, David J. Moscicki

LSU Master's Theses

Space use is driven by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors across space and time. Meaning a species demography and habitat requirements may vary across landscapes. Recent studies on wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo spp., hereafter turkey) have shown both direct and indirect demographic impacts of climatically driven events on turkey populations. Similarly, there is an abundance of information documenting turkey demographic parameters and space use, but few studies have addressed breeding phenology in great detail. We evaluated the impact on space use and movement patterns of Eastern wild turkeys (M. g. silvestris; n = 20) and Rio Grande wild …

Proceedings Of The Fifteenth North American Crane Workshop, Jane E. Austin, Richard P. Urbanek, Megan E. Brown

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Proceedings of the Fifteenth North American Crane Workshop (2020) edited by Jane E. Austin, Richard P. Urbanek, and Megan E. Brown.

Local Adaptation Constrains Drought Tolerance In A Tropical Foundation Tree, Kasey E. Barton, Casey Jones, Kyle F. Edwards, Aaron B. Shiels, Tiffany Knight

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Plant species with broad climatic ranges might be more vulnerable to climate change than previously appreciated due to intraspecific variation in climatic stress tolerance. In tropical forests, drought is increasingly frequent and severe, causing widespread declines and altering community dynamics. Yet, little is known about whether foundation tropical trees vary in drought tolerance throughout their distributions, and how intraspecific variation in drought tolerance might contribute to their vulnerability to climate changE.
2. We tested for local adaptation in seedling emergence and establishment with a full-factorial reciprocal transplant experiment including 27 populations and 109,350 seeds along a 3,500 mm precipitation gradient for …

The Effectiveness Of Long-Distance Translocation Of Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Adamanteus), Allison Grace Kelley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Translocations have the potential to aim conservation efforts as well as to reduce mortality caused by human activities. Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus, EDB) have a limited ability to adapt to habitat loss and fragmentation due to the species’ slow life history and minimal dispersal ability. Because they are a venomous species, they are viewed as nuisance animals and are often killed on sight. We translocated a cohort of EDBs to investigate the potential of using translocations as a conservation and mitigation tool for this species. In July 2018, we translocated twelve adult eastern diamondback rattlesnakes from Parris …

Impact Of Nacl Tolerance On The Stress Physiology And Fitness Of Larval Wood Frogs (Rana Sylvatica), Grascen Shidemantle, Nicholas Buss, Jessica Hua

Biological Sciences Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Landscape Genetics Of Salamander Populations At Mammoth Cave National Park, Jackson Resser

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Habitat connectivity affects the distribution of genetic diversity among populations by influencing the movements of individuals and the resulting pattern of gene flow across landscapes. It has become evident that amphibians are experiencing a period of worldwide population declines brought about by environmental change. An understanding of the effects of habitat structure on landscape connectivity is important for developing effective amphibian conservation strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of landscape characteristics on gene flow and population structure of the marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum) in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA. Salamander larvae were …

Bio-Economic Outcomes Under Alternative Management Strategies With Human Choice And Behavior: Modeling Tautog And Anglers' Preferences, Eric T. Schultz, Zhenshan Chen, Pengfei Liu, Stephen Swallow, Jacob M. Kasper

EEB Articles

Key findings

• There was relatively strong support for slot limits, and roughly comparable support for status quo management, among anglers fishing for Tautog in Long Island Sound.
• Respondents were not in favor of a total moratorium on fishing for Tautog.
• Providing survey respondents information on how different management scenarios will affect fishing in the future had little detectable impact on fishing preferences.
• Respondents expected to fish less in the future if a wide slot limit is imposed or if status quo management is maintained, but expected no change in effort if a narrow slot limit is imposed.
• Changes in regulations …

Using Northern Pike And Yellow Perch To Attempt A Trophic Cascade, Bryan Sea

Journal of Earth and Life Science

In the midwestern USA, water clarity has decreased in shallow lakes as a result of large populations of Fathead Minnow Pimephales promelas and agriculture that impact the life that depend on shallow habitats, such as waterfowl, fish, and aquatic plants. Northern Pike Esox lucius and Yellow Perch Perca flavescens were stocked in a few lakes in attempt to create a tropic cascade and reduce populations of nuisance Fathead Minnows. Northern Pike were stocked as fry and Yellow Perch were stocked as adults either pre-spawn or post-spawn. Lake managers hypothesized adult Yellow Perch would spawn and the age-0 Perch would feed …

Spring Field Report, March-May 2020, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Although there were numerous early arrival dates, most were in the range of historically earliest expected dates; notable, however, was a lone record-early Whiterumped Sandpiper, nicely photographed. Record late by a month was a juvenile Redtailed (Harlan’s) Hawk, also confirmed by photo. Perhaps most prominent this spring were the large numbers of several species. Most eye-popping were record spring totals of 22 Glossy Ibises, 11 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, 14 Veeries, including five in the Panhandle, 48 Gray-cheeked Thrushes, 20 Bay-breasted Warblers, not long ago a rare bird in spring, 45 Golden-winged Warblers and 27 Canada Warblers, both of which were about …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 88 March 2020 Number 1

Nebraska Bird Review

Winter Field Report, Dec. 2019 - Feb. 2020, by W. Ross Silcock …2

2019-2020 Christmas Bird Counts …18, 27-41

Annual Color Photo Section …19-26

Annual Treasurer's Report for 2019, by Jan Johnson …42

Subscription and Organization Information …43