Genetic Measures Confirm Familial Relationships and Strengthen Study Design

Social structure and behavioral interactions between individuals shape basic biological processes, such as breeding; foraging and predator avoidance; movement and dispersal; and disease transmission. We used a targeted trapping strategy to capture kin groups of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) during 2007 and 2008 in Sandhill Wildlife Research Area, Wisconsin, USA, in order to observe social behaviors. Because inferring family relationships from observation of behavior is subjective, we usedmeasures of genetic relatedness and parentage assignment tests to determine that our capture strategy was efficient for capturing related pairs (78% of groups contained 1 dyad of related animals). The results of our genetic tests verified that study animals were related; therefore, our capture strategy was successful and the assumptions of the research design were met. This demonstrates both the utility of a targeted sampling approach, and the importance of genetic techniques to verify relationships among animals, especially when kin association forms a basis for further biological study or management action

Network governance for large‐scale natural resource conservation and the challenge of capture

Large‐scale natural resource conservation initiatives are increasingly adopting a network governance framework to respond to the ecological, social, and political challenges of contemporary environmental governance. A network approach offers new modes of management that allow resource managers and others to transcend a single institution, organization, resource, or landscape and engage in conservation that is multi‐species and multi‐jurisdictional. However, there are challenges to network governance in large‐scale conservation efforts, which we address by focusing on how special interests can capture networks and shape the goals, objectives, and outcomes of initiatives. The term “network capture” is used here to describe an array of strategies that direct the processes and outcomes of large‐scale initiatives in ways that advance a group\u27s positions, concerns, or economic interests. We outline how new stakeholders emerge from these management processes, and how the ease of information sharing can blur stakeholder positions and lead to competing knowledge claims. We conclude by reasserting the benefits of network governance while acknowledging the unique challenges that networks present

Localized Removal Affects White-Tailed Deer Space Use and Contacts

Transmission and impact of infectious diseases can be altered if host social structure is disrupted by disease outbreaks or lethal management. Specifically, if remnants of depopulated groups join or increase contact with neighboring groups, between-group transmission may increase even as population density decreases. We tested whether this phenomenon could apply to diseases of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) by using a before-after-control-impact design. We monitored space use and contacts among adult female and juvenile deer in southern Illinois during 2011–2014; midway through each study season, we removed all members except 1 collared deer from centrally located groups and left control groups intact. After group removal, remnant adult females shortened duration of contacts with neighboring groups, whereas remnant juveniles responded with greater shifts in space use and appeared to join neighboring groups. Together, our study points to potential age-specific responses of deer to social disruption, with evidence that juveniles respond in ways that could shift disease transmission dynamics toward frequency dependence. These findings highlight the need for focused research into the importance of social disruption in disease dynamics, and lend support for complete group removal (if possible) when culling for disease management

Broad and fine-scale genetic analysis of white-tailed deer populations: estimating the relative risk of chronic wasting disease spread

Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of cervids, similar to sheep scrapie that has only recently been detected in wild populations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus) in western Canada. Relatively little is known about local transmission dynamics of the disease or the potential for long-distance spread. We analysed the population genetic structure of over 2000 white-tailed deer sampled from Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan using microsatellite profiles and mtDNA sequencing to assess the relative risk of disease spread. There was very little differentiation among subpopulations and a weak trend of increasing differentiation with geographic distance. This suggests that the potential for long-distance disease spread through the dispersal of infected individuals is possible, yet the risk of spread should gradually diminish with distance from infection foci. Within subpopulations, females were more related than expected by chance (R > 0) within a radius of approximately 500 m. Sex-biased philopatry and social interactions among related females may facilitate local disease transmission within social groups. Local herd reduction may therefore be an effective tool for reducing the disease prevalence when implemented at the appropriate spatial scale

Identification of Large Grassland Ecosystems in Illinois

Final Report: Phase II July 1, 1997 to June 30 1998, issued July 15, 1998Report issued on: 15 July 1998INHS Technical Report submitted to James Herkert, Illinois Department of Natural Resource

Can the Subaltern Speak? Re-presenting the Lost Voice of the Vedic Version

The exegesis, Can the Subaltern Speak? Re-presenting the Lost Voice of the Vedic Version, posits that Gramsci's term subaltern applies in three ways: to myself, my work and its themes. I discuss how my 'otherness' underlies my motivations for writing Ocean of Milk to re-present the Vedic version of precolonial India, whose original meaning and thus value, has all but been lost through British subjugation. There follows a discussion of the thesis in the light of three areas of literary criticism: 1. Magical realism: in which I look at my thesis as cross-cultural and postcolonial, with an intention to subvert prevailing paradigms. 2. Feminism or magical feminism: which explores feminism in magical realist works and further extends the concept of feminism to 'subalternism'. 3. The unreliable narrator: in which I discuss whether an unreliable narrator might undermine the magic in a magical realist work. I address how Ocean of Milk might be received in the world today in light of the reception of other magical realist works. The exegesis ends with Spivak's call to arms, 'the empire writes back' and a note of encouragement from the Vedic version regarding the importance of somehow communicating the message, however unqualified the subaltern speaker may be. In the thesis, Ocean of Milk, I sought to create a protagonist who had no preconceived ideas; she would be able to see things afresh, like the people of Macondo, free from conditioning by prevailing paradigms. I wanted her to be exposed to representatives of traditional and alternative, metaphysical and rationalist viewpoints, to be an impartial observer and thus commentator of both. As it turns out, she spends most of her time in search of herself and being pressured to conform by the different worldviews she encounters. Not knowing herself, she becomes subjected to all the establishment institutions: medical, legal and educational, and lurches from one disaster to another. When she finally discovers herself and her powers, she attempts to heal ancient conflicts between opposing parties and bring the opponents to a deeper awareness of unity in diversity. However, this requires the ultimate sacrifice, a sacrifice only she can make. The thesis also addresses current challenges of parenting and grand-parenting

Rangeland Ecology & Management Highlights, Volume 73, Issue 1

The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Rangeland Ecology & Management Highlights, Volume 73, Issue 6

The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information