Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Diets Of Double-Crested Cormorants In The Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, Ryan P. Koenigs, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Charles D. Lovell, Daniel A. Isermann, Adam D. Nickel

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorox auritus Lesson (cormorant) populations have increased throughout the Great Lakes region of North America causing concern related to the impact of cormorant predation on fish communities. A recent decline in yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) abundance within the Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, USA, prompted an assessment of cormorant diets to evaluate potential effects of cormorant predation on the sportfish community. Diets were collected from 883 cormorants (417 from Lake Winnebago and 466 from Lake Butte des Morts) between 2015 and 2017. Cormorant diets on both waterbodies consisted mostly of freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens Rafinesque and gizzard shad …

Evaluation Of A Warfarin Bait For Controlling Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa), James C. Beasley, Lindsay M. Clontz, Allison Rakowski, Nathan P. Snow, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) cause widespread environmental and economic damage, and as a result are subjected to extensive control. Current management strategies have proven insufficient, and there is growing interest in use of toxicants to control invasive populations of this species. In 2017 a low-dose warfarin bait was federally approved for use in controlling wild pigs in the United States. However, no states have allowed use of this bait due to unanswered questions regarding welfare concerns, field efficacy, and non-target impacts.

RESULTS: All captive wild pigs fed 0.005% warfarin baits in no choice feeding trials succumbed in an average …

Droughtscape, Winter 2021, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Winter 2021

Reconstruction Of Ancient Microbial Genomes From The Human Gut, M. C. Wibowo, Z. Yang, M. Borry, A. Hubner, K. D. Huang, B. T. Tierney, S. Zimmerman, F. Barajas-Olmos, C. Contreras-Cubas, H. Garcia-Ortiz, A. Martinez-Hernandez, J. M. Luber, K. Reinhard Et Al.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Merging Art And Science: Lessons Learned From An 'Otterly' Different Case Study, Jess Barger

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Environmental art projects use artistic interpretation to tell stories about the natural world, often with the hope that they will inspire awareness or behavioral change. In 2019, an art project to raise awareness about North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) was launched in Northern California, using over 100 river otter sculptures painted and decorated by local artists. Through a mixed-methods approach, I quantified the initial outcomes of the project, North Coast Otters, as well as the response to the project by the public on social media as a case study in environmental art and outreach. Participating artists’ interviews and …

Embracing Dynamic Models For Gene Drive Management, Andrew J. Golnar, Emily W. Ruell, Alun L. Lloyd, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Robust methods of predicting how gene drive systems will interact with ecosystems is essential for safe deployment of gene drive technology. We describe how quantitative tools can reduce risk uncertainty, streamline empirical research, guide risk management, and promote cross-sector collaboration throughout the process of gene drive technology development and implementation.

Gene drive technologies, although diverse in design and mode of action, are molecular architectures that promote the transmission of genetic information between generations. In theory, the release of one gene-drive-modified organism (GDMO) has the potential to irreversibly alter species, ecosystems, and environmental processes at a global scale (although in practice …

Economic Effects Of Predation By Scaup On Baitfish And Sportfish Farms, Carole R. Engle, Stephen Clements, Brian S. Dorr, J. Brian Davis, Luke A. Roy, Anita M. Kelly

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Fish-eating birds have been found to consume baitfish and sportfish raised on farms in the United States. Understanding the on-farm economic effects of such wildlife conflicts is essential for wildlife management agencies to make informed decisions. Lesser scaup, while not widely considered a fisheating bird, will consume farmed fish. Baitfish and sportfish farms in Arkansas (the major baitfish and sportfish producingstate in the U.S.) were surveyed to gather data on the cost of protecting farm crops from scaup. The values of lost sales revenue from the various species of baitfish and sportfish consumed by scaup were estimated based on a …

Evidence On The Effectiveness Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Suas) As A Survey Tool For North American Terrestrial, Vertebrate Animals: A Systematic Map Protocol, Jared A. Elmore, Michael F. Curran, Kristine O. Evans, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Meilun Zhou, Morgan B. Pfeiffer, Bradley F. Blackwell, Raymond B. Iglay

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background: Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) are replacing or supplementing manned aircraft and groundbased surveys in many animal monitoring situations due to better coverage at finer spatial and temporal resolutions, access, cost, bias, impacts, safety, efficiency, and logistical benefits. Various sUAS models and sensors are available with varying features and usefulness depending on survey goals. However, justification for selection of sUAS and sensors are not typically offered in published literature and existing reviews do not adequately cover past and current sUAS applications for animal monitoring nor their associated sUAS model and sensor technologies, taxonomic and geographic scope, flight conditions and …

Rabies Post-Exposure Healthcare-Seeking Behaviors And Perceptions: Results From A Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices Survey, Uganda, 2013, Sarah C. Bonaparte, Laura Adams, Barnabas Bakamutumaho, Galileu Barbosa Costa, Julie M. Cleaton, Amy Gilbert, Modupe Osinubi, Emily G. Pieracci, Sergio Recuenco, Victor Tugumizemu, Joseph Wamala, Ryan M. Wallace

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background Rabies is a viral disease of animals and people causing fatal encephalomyelitis if left untreated. Although effective pre- and post-exposure vaccines exist, they are not widely available in many endemic countries within Africa. Since many individuals in these countries remain at risk of infection, post-exposure healthcare-seeking behaviors are crucial in preventing infection and warrant examination.

Methodology A rabies knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey was conducted at 24 geographically diverse sites in Uganda during 2013 to capture information on knowledge concerning the disease, response to potential exposure events, and vaccination practices. Characteristics of the surveyed population and of the canine-bite …

Differing Alterations Of Odor Volatiles Among Pathogenic Stimuli, Patrick Millet, Talia Martin, Maryanne Opiekun, Gary K. Beauchamp, Bruce A. Kimball

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Alterations of the volatile metabolome (the collection of volatiles present in secretions and other emanations) that occur in response to inflammation can be detected by conspecifics and chemometric analyses. Using a model system where mouse urinary metabolites are altered by treatment with lipopolysaccharide (found in the outer cell membrane of gram-negative bacteria), we hypothesized that alteration of body odor volatiles will vary according to the pathogen responsible for inducing the inflammation. We tested this hypothesis by treating mice with different immunogens that engage different immune signaling pathways. Results suggest that alterations of body odor volatiles resulting from inflammation do contain …

Using Object-Based Image Analysis To Detect Laughing Gull Nests, Benjamin F. Martini, Douglas A. Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Remote sensing has long been used to study wildlife; however, manual methods of detecting wildlife in aerial imagery are often time-consuming and prone to human error, and newer computer vision techniques have not yet been extensively applied to wildlife surveys. We used the object-based image analysis (OBIA) software eCognition to detect laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) nests in Jamaica Bay as part of an ongoing monitoring effort at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Our technique uses a combination of high resolution 4-band aerial imagery captured via manned aircraft with a multispectral UltraCam Falcon M2 camera, LiDAR point cloud data, and …

An Investigation Into Historical And Contemporary Breeding Occurrence Of The Ferruginous Hawk In Kansas, Erica Clark

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis) is the largest Buteo species occurring in grasslands, nesting along bluffs, buttes and isolated trees. In Kansas, the Ferruginous Hawk is listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need, Tier II. A previous study on Ferruginous Hawks nesting in Kansas during the years of 1979 to 1987, with sporadic visits from the 1990s to 2000, revealed that the most productive nesting territories were inaccessible to predators, placed on rocky ledges and the surrounding landscape was over 50% rangeland. I revisited 82 of the 111 historic nest territories in the summers of 2019 and …

How A Simple Question About Freshwater Inflow To Estuaries Shaped A Career, Paul A. Montagna

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Chance and good luck led to a career studying how freshwater inflow drives estuary processes. In 1986, someone asked me: How much fresh water has to flow to a bay for it to be healthy? The question shaped my career. There is probably no better place on Earth to compare effects caused by inflow differences than the Texas coast, because the major estuarine systems lie in a climatic gradient where runoff decreases 56—fold from the Louisiana border in the northeast to the Mexico border in the southwest. This estuary—comparison experiment was used to study inflow effects. The science evolved from …

Multi-Level Movement Response Of Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa) To Removal, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, Peter E. Schlichting, David A. Keiter, Joshua B. Smith, John C. Kilgo, George Wittemyer, Kurt C. Vercauteren, James C. Beasley, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Lethal removal of invasive species, such as wild pigs (Sus scrofa), is often the most efficient approach for reducing their negative impacts. Wild pigs are one of the most widespread and destructive invasive mammals in the USA. Lethal management techniques are a key approach for wild pigs and can alter wild pig spatial behavior, but it is unclear how wild pigs respond to the most common removal technique, trapping.We investigated the spatial behavior of wild pigs following intensive removal of conspecifics via trapping at three sites within the Savannah River Site, SC, USA. We evaluated changes in …

Evaluating The Effects Of Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia Rufa) Management On Conifer Stocking In Western Oregon, Jimmy D. Taylor, Vanessa M. Petro

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa) is the most primitive rodent species in North America and is endemic to the Pacific Northwest, USA. Within their range, mountain beaver cause more conflict with conifer forest regeneration than any other vertebrate species. Most damage occurs as a result of clipping and browsing new seedlings, which reduces stocking density and delays stand development. An integrated approach using trapping and a registered toxicant (baiting) has been suggested as the most efficacious means to reduce seedling loss during stand initiation. We evaluated this management strategy in intensively managed conifer stands across two mountain ranges in …

Principal Economic Effects Of Cormorant Predation On Catfish Farms, Carole R. Engle, Terrel W. Christie, Brian S. Dorr, Ganesh Kumar, Luke A. Roy, Anita M. Kelly

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Substantial economic losses of farmed catfish to fish-eating birds such as the double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, continue to be reported on U.S. catfish farms. An economic analysis was conducted of the on-farm effects of both the increased expenditures to scare fish-eating birds from catfish farms and of the value of the catfish that were consumed by cormorants. A survey was conducted of U.S. catfish farmers in the Delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas, to obtain farm-level data on expenditures to scare birds. Estimations of the lost revenue from catfish consumed by cormorants were developed from a concurrent study on …

Variation In Angiostrongylus Cantonensis Infection In Definitive And Intermediate Hosts In Hawaii, A Global Hotspot Of Rat Lungworm Disease, Chris Niebuhr, Shane R. Siers, Israel Leinbach, Lisa M. Kaluna, Susan I. Jarvi

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Angiostrongylus cantonensis (rat lungworm) is a tropical and subtropical parasitic nematode, with infections in humans causing angiostrongyliasis (rat lungworm disease), characterized by eosinophilic meningitis. Hawaii has been identified as a global hotspot of infection, with recent reports of high infection rates in humans, as well as rat definitive and snail intermediate hosts. This study investigated variation in A. cantonensis infection, both prevalence and intensity, in wild populations of two species of rats (Rattus exulans and R. rattus) and one species of snail (Parmarion martensi). An overall infection prevalence of 86.2% was observed in P. martensi and …

Peptide Elisa And Fret-Qpcr Identified A Significantly Higher Prevalence Of Chlamydia Suis In Domestic Pigs Than In Feral Swine From The State Of Alabama, Usa, Md Monirul Hoque, Folasade Adekanmbi, Subarna Barua, Kh. Shamsur Rahman, Virginia Aida, Brian Anderson, Anil Poudel, Anwar Kalalah, Sara Bolds, Steven Madere, Steven Kitchens, Stuart Price, Vienna Brown, B. Graeme Lockaby, Constantinos S. Kyriakis, Bernhard Kaltenboeck, Chengming Wang

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Chlamydia suis is an important, highly prevalent, and diverse obligate intracellular pathogen infecting pigs. In order to investigate the prevalence and diversity of C. suis in the U.S., 276 whole blood samples from feral swine were collected as well as 109 fecal swabs and 60 whole blood samples from domestic pigs. C. suis-specific peptide ELISA identified anti-C. suis antibodies in 13.0% of the blood of feral swine (26/276) and 80.0% of the domestic pigs (48/60). FRET-qPCR and DNA sequencing found C. suis DNA in 99.1% of the fecal swabs (108/109) and 21.7% of the whole blood (13/60) of …

Behavioral State Resource Selection In Invasive Wild Pigs In The Southeastern United States, Lindsay M. Clontz, Kim M. Pepin, Kurt C. Vercauteren, James C. Beasley

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Elucidating correlations between wild pig (Sus scrofa) behavior and landscape attributes can aid in the advancement of management strategies for controlling populations. Using GPS data from 49 wild pigs in the southeastern U.S., we used hidden Markov models to define movement path characteristics and assign behaviors (e.g., resting, foraging, travelling). We then explored the connection between these behaviors and resource selection for both sexes between two distinct seasons based on forage availability (i.e., low forage, high forage). Females demonstrated a crepuscular activity pattern in the high-forage season and a variable pattern in the low-forage season, while males exhibited nocturnal activity …

Efficacy And Risks From A Modified Sodium Nitrite Toxic Bait For Wild Pigs, Nathan P. Snow, Jason Wishart, Justin A. Foster, Linton D. Staples, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a destructive invasive species throughout many regions of the world. In 2018, a field evaluation of an early prototype of a sodium nitrite (SN) toxic bait in the United States revealed wild pigs dropped large amounts of the toxic bait outside the pig-specific bait stations while feeding, and thus subsequent hazards for non-target animals. We modified the SN-toxic bait formulation, the design of the bait station, and the baiting strategy to reduce dropped bait. We tested the modifications in Queensland, Australia (December 2018), Alabama, USA (August 2019), and Texas, USA (March 2020) …