Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Rehydrating The Landscape At Yanget, Geraldton, Western Australia, Jamie Bowyer, Rod O'Bree

Natural resources published reports

Rod and Bridie O’Bree’s farm is 25 km east of Geraldton in the Northern Agricultural Region of Western Australia. The long-term rainfall average is 486 mm although that has dropped to 354 mm over the last 30 years. They run a 150 head beef cattle herd, fatten 500-700 lambs annually and have a 40-60 head horse stud on the farm. They purchased the farm early in 2008 after one of the worst droughts in the area. There was little to no vegetation, brown or green, across the farm and all of the water from a 25 mm rain event ran …

Deterring Non-Target Birds From Toxic Bait Sites For Wild Pigs, Nathan P. Snow, Joseph M. Halseth, Justin A. Foster, Michael J. Lavelle, Justin W. Fischer, Michael P. Glow, Ingrid A. Messer, Seth M. Cook, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Toxic baiting of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) is a potential new tool for population control and damage reduction in the US. Field trials testing a prototype toxic bait (HOGGONE 2 containing 5% sodium nitrite [SN]), though, revealed that wild pigs spilled small particles of toxic bait outside of bait stations which subsequently created hazards for non-target species that consumed those particles, primarily passerine birds. To deter non-target birds from consuming particles of spilled bait, we tested four deterrents at mock bait sites (i.e., baited with bird seed) in north-central Colorado, USA during April–May 2020. We found a programable, inflatable deterrent …

Responses Of Turkey Vultures To Unmanned Aircraft Systems Vary By Platform, Morgan B. Pfeiffer, Bradley F. Blackwell, Thomas W. Seamans, Bruce N. Buckingham, Joshua L. Hoblet, Patrice E. Baumhardt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A challenge that conservation practitioners face is manipulating behavior of nuisance species. The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) can cause substantial damage to aircraft if struck. The goal of this study was to assess vulture responses to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for use as a possible dispersal tool. Our treatments included three platforms (fixed-wing, multirotor, and a predator-like ornithopter [powered by flapping flight]) and two approach types (30 m overhead or targeted towards a vulture) in an operational context. We evaluated perceived risk as probability of reaction, reaction time, flight-initiation distance (FID), vulture remaining index, and latency to return. …

Body Mass And Body Condition Variation Of Mallards (Anas Platyrhynchos) Within And Among Winters Within The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, John Thompson Veon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most North American waterfowl overwinter in southern North America before migrating back to breeding grounds in the northern US and Canada. These species face the challenge of needing to maintain or increase their body mass during an environmentally difficult winter period. Successful body mass maintenance during the winter period has major ramifications not only for their winter survival but for their fitness across the entire year. Recent research in Europe and the western United States suggests that the body mass of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) has increased from the late 1960s to early 2000s. However, the factors responsible for increases in …

Landscape Transformations Produce Favorable Roosting Conditions For Turkey Vultures And Black Vultures, Jacob E. Hill, Kenneth F. Kellner, Bryan M. Kluever, Michael L. Avery, John S. Humphrey, Eric A. Tillman, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Recent increases in turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and black vulture (Coragyps atratus) populations in North America have been attributed in part to their success adapting to human-modified landscapes. However, the capacity for such landscapes to generate favorable roosting conditions for these species has not been thoroughly investigated. We assessed the role of anthropogenic and natural landscape elements on roosting habitat selection of 11 black and 7 turkey vultures in coastal South Carolina, USA using a GPS satellite transmitter dataset derived from previous research. Our dataset spanned 2006–2012 and contained data from 7916 nights of roosting. Landscape …

Sex And Nest Type Influence Avian Blood Parasite Prevalence In A High-Elevation Bird Community, Marina D. Rodriguez, Paul F. Doherty, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Kathryn P. Huyvaert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background: The prevalence of avian haemosporidian parasites and the factors influencing infection in the Colorado Rocky Mountains are largely unknown. With climate change expected to promote the expansion of vector and avian blood parasite distributions, baseline knowledge and continued monitoring of the prevalence and diversity of these parasites is needed.

Methods: Using an occupancy modeling framework, we conducted a survey of haemosporidian parasite species infecting an avian community in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in order to estimate the prevalence and diversity of blood parasites and to investigate species-level and individual-level characteristics that may influence infection.

Results: We estimated the prevalence …

Potential Use For Serosurveillance Of Feral Swine To Map Risk For Anthrax Exposure, Texas, Usa, Rachel M. Maison, Courtney F. Pierce, Izabela K. Ragan, Vienna R. Brown, Michael J. Bodenchuk, Richard A. Bowen, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anthrax is a disease of concern in many mammals, including humans. Management primarily consists of prevention through vaccination and tracking clinical-level observations because environmental isolation is laborious and bacterial distribution across large geographic areas diffi cult to confi rm. Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species with an extensive range in the southern United States that rarely succumbs to anthrax. We present evidence that feral swine might serve as biosentinels based on comparative seroprevalence in swine from historically defi ned anthrax-endemic and non–anthraxendemic regions of Texas. Overall seropositivity was 43.7% (n = 478), and logistic regression revealed county endemicity …

A Remote Sensing Perspective: Mapping The Human Footprint In The Zambezi Region Of Namibia., Ariel E Weaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The “human footprint” can be used as a general proxy to estimate human activities across the landscape. The human footprint in the Zambezi Region of Namibia is critically important for regional management of conservation efforts and land use planning. The land covers in the Zambezi Region are characteristically difficult to separate spectrally, due to a highly heterogeneous savanna landscape. Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and Random Forest (RF) methods are notable for their ability to improve classification accuracies of remotely sensed imagery. In this study, I investigate the extent of the human footprint in the Zambezi Region of Namibia, using …

Longleaf Pine Restoration In The South Carolina Sandhills Wiregrass Gap, Jacob W. Murray

All Theses

Longleaf pine restoration has been a topic of great concern and intrigue in the southeast and has taken on new fervor in recent decades as restoration methods continue to develop. Many landowners and forest managers are now pursuing ecological forestry and restoration ecology in great numbers as a new form of land management. However, niche regions can often be overlooked, as is the case with the Carolina Sandhills Wiregrass Gap, an area devoid of wiregrass and one that is on the outskirt regions of the historical longleaf pine range. Field studies were conducted pre- and post-harvest during two growing seasons …

A 60- Year Record Of The Demotechnic Index Of States, 1960-2019, Gavin James Kellough

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A country’s dependency on energy resources can be interpreted through the calculation of energy indices. The Demotechnic Index (DI) was used to determine the trajectory of energy efficiency of each state in the United States over the period 1960-2019. The DI serves as a measure of the energy intensity of states and a proxy for energy sustainability of each state.The DI is the ratio of total energy use to total metabolic energy demand of a population. Mathematically, DI = (E_T-E_M)/E_M E_T represents the total energy used (metabolic energy + technological energy in kilojoules annually, kJ/y), while EM represents the basic …

The Effects Of Commercial Harvest On The Density And Demography Of Aquatic Turtles In Arkansas, Andrhea Darleen Massey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States is home to the second highest concentration of turtle species in the world, after Asia. As of 2018, there are 57 turtle species recognized within the US, 40% of which are listed as threatened or endangered, with the primary threats to population persistence identified as over-consumption and/or habitat loss. Within the US, the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) region represents the second highest turtle species richness, after the Mobile River Basin. The MAV region of Arkansas is one of the least regulated in terms of commercial aquatic turtle harvest and has undergone large-scale habitat conversion from bottomland hardwood …

How Are Agricultural Research Projects Conceiving Innovation? An Assessment Of The European Union Multi-Actor Projects, Samuel Brea Martinez-Collado

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Horizon research programs are the European Union’s lighthouse for innovation and research concerning the agri-food chain, the management of natural resources, and the bioeconomy. Their innovation strategy approach is one that pursues the practical application of the research via the collaboration of all actors involved. Such strategy is the reflection of a Multi-Actor Approach as their procedure to enhance innovation. This paper presents the main trends and directions 101 Multi-Actor Projects (MAPs) are following on said approach towards innovation. The analysis is based on the use of well-defined “pathways” and “measures” proposed in the Guidelines for Evaluation of Innovation in …

Forced And Unforced Permafrost Changes In The Northern Hemisphere During 1901-2100, Hong Guo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Permafrost regions are very sensitive to rapid changes in climate and environment. In recent decades, there has been growing interest to better understand the permafrost degradation over the Northern Hemisphere in the context of human-induced climate change. Understanding permafrost dynamics is not only important for infrastructure but also for environmental protection in cold regions. In-situ permafrost measurements are important for assessing permafrost conditions. However, direct permafrost observations are sparse and asymmetrical in both spatial and temporal coverage. Active layer thickness (ALT) modeling is another approach that can overcome many of these limitations, but the models have large uncertainty in predicting …

How Do Genetic Relatedness And Spatial Proximity Shape African Swine Fever Infections In Wild Boar?, Tomasz Podgórski, Kim M. Pepin, Anna Radko, Angelika Podbielska, Magdalena Łyjak, Grzegorz Woźniakowski, Tomasz Borowik

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The importance of social and spatial structuring of wildlife populations for disease spread, though widely recognized, is still poorly understood in many host-pathogen systems. In particular, system-specific kin relationships among hosts can create contact heterogeneities and differential disease transmission rates. Here, we investigate how distance-dependent infection risk is influenced by genetic relatedness in a novel host-pathogen system: wild boar (Sus scrofa) and African swine fever (ASF).We hypothesized that infection risk would correlate positively with proximity and relatedness to ASF-infected individuals but expected those relationships to weaken with the distance between individuals due to decay in contact rates and …

Feasibility Discussion Of Potential Carbon Offsetting Options For Nebraska, Andrew Mwape

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Conclusion

Highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of carbon offsetting options in the context of the state of Nebraska, this discussion shows that the choice and decisions about which option is better than the other depends on the interests at play and expected outcomes of the participation in carbon markets. However, irrespective of the motive to engage in emission reduction projects for carbon marketing, factors such as cost, and project efficiency can never be overlooked. Given the options discussed in this report, Nebraska has a lot of potential for carbon offsetting or emission reduction projects that would not only reduce and …

Low Impact Sampling Of Speleothems – Reconciling Scientific Study With Cave Conservation, Claire L.V. Macgregor, John C. Hellstrom, Jon D. Woodhead, Russell N. Drysdale, Rolan S. Eberhard

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothems are increasingly valued as important paleoclimate archives and yet the removal of samples from caves can come at a cost to natural heritage, impacting delicate environments with limited mechanisms for repair. Conservation of cave environments is a key responsibility for scientists and, with this in mind, we are working to develop and implement techniques that allow us to extract valuable scientific data, with minimal impact. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of low-impact reconnaissance dating surveys on caves in southern Tasmania and southwest Western Australia as a precursor to the removal of stalagmites for paleoclimate reconstruction. Small flakes …

The Danov Archive, Victor Fet, Alexander Kogan

Books Published by MU Libraries in MDS

This memorial volume compiles materials about Rostislav Dаnov (1941—1993) of St. Petersburg (Russia), a naturalist, artist, and snake-hunter, who worked for many years in Turkmenistan (West Kopetgagh Mts). The book celebrates Dаnov’s 80th birthday. It includes previously unpublished artwork and scientific illustrations by Dаnov as well as his texts, research papers, various memoirs, biographic information, and unique photographs. The book is intended for everyone who is interested in history of science and conservation in Central Asia and the USSR.

Фет В, Коган А, составители. Дановcкий архив. Библиотека Университета Маршалла, Хантингтон, Западная Виргиния, 2021. 494 с. Этот том содержит материалы о …

Shifts In The Acute Stress Response In Red-Eared Sliders (Trachemys Scripta) During The Activity Season, Jennifer Lauren Terry

Student Theses and Dissertations

Tradeoffs may occur among biological processes if individuals are energetically challenged. Glucocorticoids (GC) promote essential daily processes and energy reprioritization during stressful or energy-demanding periods and provide insight to an individual’s energetic state. I captured 123 wild adult red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta) outside of Cherry Valley, Arkansas in the Arkansas Delta between May and October 2019 to assess energy tradeoffs between innate immunity and GC secretion. I collected blood samples at 0–3, 30, and 60 min and used plasma in bacterial killing assays and radioimmunoassays to assess innate immunity and corticosterone concentrations, respectively. Tradeoffs were not evident in this population …

Incorporating Chlorophyll-A Levels Into An Integral Projection Model Of Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma Cepedianum) In The Upper Mississippi River, Raquel Castromonte, Gregory J. Sandland, James Peirce

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Correlated Evolution Of Distinct Signals Associated With Increased Social Selection In Female White-Shouldered Fairywrens, John Anthony Jones, Karan J. Odom, Ian R. Hoppe, Doka Nason, Serena Ketaloya, Jordan Karubian

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Conspicuous female signals have recently received substantial scientific attention, but it remains unclear if their evolution is the result of selection acting on females independently of males or if mutual selection facilitates female change. Species that express female, but not male, phenotypic variation among populations represents a useful opportunity to address this knowledge gap. White-shouldered fairywrens (Malurus alboscapulatus) are tropical songbirds with a well-resolved phylogeny where female, but not male, coloration varies allopatrically across subspecies. We explored how four distinct signaling modalities, each putatively associated with increased social selection, are expressed in two populations that vary in competitive pressure on …