Spatial Structure and Fragmentation Effects of Grasshopper Sparrows in Mendon Ponds, New York

Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) in Mendon, New York, were studied from 1997 to 1999, as part of a long-term study incorporating data from 1995 to 2000. This population of Grasshopper Sparrows represents a dynamic metapopulation responding to pressures associated with a decrease in the area of suitable breeding habitat patches, and an increase in habitat fragmentation. Ten fields occupied by Grasshopper Sparrows in the Mendon Ponds area ranged from 1.7 ha to 13.2 ha. From 1997 to 1999, Grasshopper Sparrows were mist-netted and banded, nests were monitored and vegetation analysis was conducted using the fixed-quadrat and Robel pole methods. Both fields with and without Grasshopper Sparrows were studied. A significant difference was found in the % bare ground between fields with and without Grasshopper Sparrows, with the lower value being found in fields with Grasshopper Sparrows. Robel pole measurements of fields with and without Grasshopper Sparrows showed the sparrows preferred fields with shorter, less dense vegetation. Large fields (\u3e8 ha) showed a higher proportion of pairing and nesting success than did small (\u3c 8 ha) fields. The overall proportion of successful nests in large fields averaged 66%, while the small fields\u27 proportion of nest success only averaged 44%. Five fields suffered population extinction of Grasshopper Sparrows between 1995 and 1999, and two fields were colonized. Neither large nor small fields could be considered source fields – fields in which births outnumber deaths and which provide individuals to colonize empty fields within the metapopulation; however, large fields were more likely to persist than were smaller fields and produced more young than small fields. Chances of extinction increased with a decrease in the average number of males present, and fields which did not suffer population extinctions were significantly larger than fields which did suffer population extinctions. Changes in land use, as when fields are developed into subdivisions, and the transformation of early successional grasslands into old fields or forests, also affect the persistence of Grasshopper Sparrows. As suitable grassland becomes unsuitable through land-use change and succession, Grasshopper Sparrows abandon the fields. Results of this study suggest that the metapopulation of Grasshopper Sparrows in Mendon Ponds occupies highly fragmented, relatively small habitat patches, and must be replenished by individuals from other populations via long-distance migration

Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission [CRC]: Behind-the-Scenes Insights from Bob Butterworth, Florida’s Former Attorney General and Member of the 1998 CRC

Once every twenty years, the Florida Constitution mandates the convening of a thirty-seven-member body that is charged with reviewing the state constitution and submitting any recommended changes to the general public for approval. This entity is formally known as the Constitution Revision Commission, and between March 2017 and May 2018, it met for the third time in Florida’s history. Eight amendments, some with multiple parts, were proposed, and if any of these proposals are approved by 60% of the voters in the November 2018 general election, they will become “the supreme law of the land” for the State of Florida

Discriminating small wooded elements in rural landscape from aerial photography: a hybrid pixel/object-based analysis approach

While small, fragmented wooded elements do not represent a large surface area in agricultural landscape, their role in the sustainability of ecological processes is recognized widely. Unfortunately, landscape ecology studies suffer from the lack of methods for automatic detection of these elements. We propose a hybrid approach using both aerial photographs and ancillary data of coarser resolution to automatically discriminate small wooded elements. First, a spectral and textural analysis is performed to identify all the planted-tree areas in the digital photograph. Secondly, an object-orientated spatial analysis using the two data sources and including a multi-resolution segmentation is applied to distinguish between large and small woods, copses, hedgerows and scattered trees. The results show the usefulness of the hybrid approach and the prospects for future ecological applications