Home Is Where the Food Is: Causes and Consequences of Partial Migration in Elk

Migratory and non-migratory ungulates often coexist in partially migratory populations, but the mechanisms that drive and maintain different migratory behaviors within the same herd are poorly understood. In western North America, increasing numbers of elk (Cervus canadensis) reside on low-elevation winter range year-round. These residents can cause issues associated with crop damage, potential for disease transmission to livestock, and reduced effectiveness of harvest management strategies. Because migrants transfer nutrients, alter carnivore distributions, and structure vegetative communities across seasonal ranges, reductions in migratory behavior raise ecological as well as management-related concerns. This work investigated the factors affecting migratory behavior of female elk and assessed the nutritional consequences of different behaviors. In our study of a partially migratory elk population in west-central Montana, we found that migrants had access to lower-quality forage during summer than their non-migratory counterparts. In our broader-scale study of 16 elk herds across western Montana, we found that migratory behavior of individuals was best-explained by a combination of native forage, irrigated agriculture, and conspecific density. Together, these results reveal a strong influence of irrigated agriculture on migratory behavior of elk. Migration is commonly considered a strategy to increase assess to high-quality forage; our results reveal that irrigated agriculture can alter the traditional nutritional benefits of migration by providing high-quality forage at low elevations throughout the year. Although elk were less likely to migrate if they overwintered in irrigated agricultural areas, predictable availability of better forage elsewhere mitigated that effect. Thus, maintaining or improving the quality of forage available on migratory summer ranges should encourage migratory behavior, as should excluding elk from irrigated agricultural areas. Given the importance of nutritional intake during late summer and fall to elk fecundity and calf survival, improving the forage available to migrants could go beyond preserving current behaviors to effectively increase prevalence of migration where irrigated agriculture has subsidized increasing numbers of resident ungulates

The 4-H Computer Refurbishing Program: An Implementation Model

The 4-H Computer Refurbishing Program was implemented as a service learning project for the 2006 National 4-H Technology and Leadership Conference. The specific goals of the program were to decrease the number of computers discarded each year and provide 21st century job skills to youth. The program was introduced as a model 4-H\u27ers could take back to their communities to start their own refurbishing efforts. The model is comprised of the following three steps: 1) program planning, 2) inventory management, and 3) technology training

Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of the Aspergillus fumigatus hypoxia response using an oxygen-controlled fermenter

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Aspergillus fumigatus </it>is a mold responsible for the majority of cases of aspergillosis in humans. To survive in the human body, <it>A. fumigatus </it>must adapt to microenvironments that are often characterized by low nutrient and oxygen availability. Recent research suggests that the ability of <it>A. fumigatus </it>and other pathogenic fungi to adapt to hypoxia contributes to their virulence. However, molecular mechanisms of <it>A. fumigatus </it>hypoxia adaptation are poorly understood. Thus, to better understand how <it>A. fumigatus </it>adapts to hypoxic microenvironments found <it>in vivo </it>during human fungal pathogenesis, the dynamic changes of the fungal transcriptome and proteome in hypoxia were investigated over a period of 24 hours utilizing an oxygen-controlled fermenter system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant increases in transcripts associated with iron and sterol metabolism, the cell wall, the GABA shunt, and transcriptional regulators were observed in response to hypoxia. A concomitant reduction in transcripts was observed with ribosome and terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, TCA cycle, amino acid metabolism and RNA degradation. Analysis of changes in transcription factor mRNA abundance shows that hypoxia induces significant positive and negative changes that may be important for regulating the hypoxia response in this pathogenic mold. Growth in hypoxia resulted in changes in the protein levels of several glycolytic enzymes, but these changes were not always reflected by the corresponding transcriptional profiling data. However, a good correlation overall (R²= 0.2, p < 0.05) existed between the transcriptomic and proteomics datasets for all time points. The lack of correlation between some transcript levels and their subsequent protein levels suggests another regulatory layer of the hypoxia response in <it>A. fumigatus</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Taken together, our data suggest a robust cellular response that is likely regulated both at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level in response to hypoxia by the human pathogenic mold <it>A. fumigatus</it>. As with other pathogenic fungi, the induction of glycolysis and transcriptional down-regulation of the TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation appear to major components of the hypoxia response in this pathogenic mold. In addition, a significant induction of the transcripts involved in ergosterol biosynthesis is consistent with previous observations in the pathogenic yeasts <it>Candida albicans </it>and <it>Cryptococcus neoformans </it>indicating conservation of this response to hypoxia in pathogenic fungi. Because ergosterol biosynthesis enzymes also require iron as a co-factor, the increase in iron uptake transcripts is consistent with an increased need for iron under hypoxia. However, unlike <it>C. albicans </it>and <it>C. neoformans</it>, the GABA shunt appears to play an important role in reducing NADH levels in response to hypoxia in <it>A. fumigatus </it>and it will be intriguing to determine whether this is critical for fungal virulence. Overall, regulatory mechanisms of the <it>A. fumigatus </it>hypoxia response appear to involve both transcriptional and post-transcriptional control of transcript and protein levels and thus provide candidate genes for future analysis of their role in hypoxia adaptation and fungal virulence.</p

Nutritional and Demographic Consequences of Varying Elk Migratory Behaviors

Elk (Cervus elaphus) populations in the American West exhibit wide variation in migratory behavior. The traditional view of elk migration holds that migratory elk move from winter range in order to track growth of highly nutritious fresh vegetation into higher elevation areas. Non-migratory elk forego this seasonal movement, typically foraging in lower elevation winter range areas throughout the summer. Although the effect of summer nutrition on elk body condition and reproductive success is well known, the nutritional and demographic consequences of these differing migratory behaviors remain unclear. We developed a predictive model of summer forage quality to compare the nutrition available to migrants and non-migrants in a partially migratory population of elk in western Montana. Non-migratory elk had access to significantly higher forage quality than their migratory counterparts; the lower forage quality available to migrants is predicted to result in reduced reproductive success based on published studies linking nutrition with elk demographic rates. We therefore expect non-migrants to have higher fecundity rates and to comprise a higher proportion of the population relative to migrants. Harvest management actions that reduce survival rates of non-migrants or increase survival rates of migrants may be an effective tool for maintaining migratory behavior in partially migratory populations

Museum Magazine, Number 68 (2016 Winter)

The issue's feature article, "Afro-Cuban artists: a Renaissance. Manuel Mendive and Eduardo "Choco" Roca Salazar February 23-May 1, 2016," focuses on two of the most celebrated Cuban artists working today. Both men benefited from the educational and cultural initiatives instituted by Fidel Castro following the 1959 Cuban Revolution and receive inspiration from their Afro-Cuban heritage. However, their distinct selections of subject matter and divergent styles underscore the manifold ways revolution and race continue to be interpreted and understood on the island today.From the Director / Alex W. Barker (Director) -- Afro-Cuban artists : a renaissance / Kristin Schwain (Associate Professor, Art History) -- Black American artists : envisioning social change / Alisa Carlson (Curator of European and American Art) -- Recent acquisition : a German Renaissance portrait / Alisa Carlson (Curator of European and American Art) -- Special exhibitions -- Events calendar -- Missouri Folk Arts Program / Lisa Overholser (Guest Author) -- From the Museum Educator / Cathy Callaway (Museum Educator) -- From the Academic Coordinator / Arthur Mehrhoff -- Cleaning an old master / Alex Barker (Director) -- Spotlight : The Moon God Men / Benton Kidd (Curator of Ancient Art) -- Museum Associates / Gary Anger (President, Museum Associates)

Amygdala Hypoactivity to Fearful Faces in Boys With Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

OBJECTIVE: Although early-onset conduct problems predict both psychiatric and health problems in adult life, little research has been done to index neural correlates of conduct problems. Emerging research suggests that a subgroup of children with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits may be genetically vulnerable to manifesting disturbances in neural reactivity to emotional stimuli indexing distress. Using functional MRI, the authors evaluated differences in neural response to emotional stimuli between boys with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits and comparison boys. METHOD: Seventeen boys with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits and 13 comparison boys of equivalent age (mean=11 years) and IQ (mean=100) viewed blocked presentations of fearful and neutral faces. For each face, participants distinguished the sex of the face via manual response. RESULTS: Relative to the comparison group, boys with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits manifested lesser right amygdala activity to fearful faces. CONCLUSIONS: This finding is in line with data from studies of adults with antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional traits (i.e., psychopaths), as well as from a recent study of adolescents with callous-unemotional traits, and suggests that the neural substrates of emotional impairment associated with callous-unemotional antisocial behavior are already present in childhood

Fire and Forage: Variability in Elk Forage on a Landscape of Wildfire and Changing Fire Management

Forest management practices can modify ungulate nutritional resources through landscape-scale processes such as prescribed fire and wildfire. The resulting availability and distribution of nutritional resources can affect ungulate survival, reproduction, and distribution. Our primary goals were to evaluate how landscapes with varying post-fire successional stages influence elk summer nutritional resources and to quantify the variability of nutritional resources associated with varying fire histories and management practices during 1900–2015. Within 3 elk population ranges located in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, we measured elk forage quality across a range of land cover types and fire histories and developed a landscape-scale forage quality model. Based on historical wildfire and prescribed fire data, we reconstructed decadal land cover models and used our forage models to predict fire-related variations in forage quality each decade within the elk summer ranges. Forage quality was predicted to decrease with successional stage. The area burned by wildfire increased 242–1,772% during 1990–2015 as compared to 1900–1990, resulting in firerelated variations of predicted nutritional resources. The area of highest forage quality varied, increasing 31.3–48.5% in 2 ranges and decreasing 2.4% in 1 range, from 1900–1990 to 1990–2015. These results highlight the important effect of wildfire on the distribution of ungulate nutritional resources and demonstrate that ungulate nutritional resources likely vary over time with variation in fire history and management practices

Sea level fall during glaciation stabilized atmospheric CO2 by enhanced volcanic degassing

Paleo-climate records and geodynamic modelling indicate the existence of complex interactions between glacial sea level changes, volcanic degassing and atmospheric CO2, which may have modulated the climate system’s descent into the last ice age. Between ∼85 and 70 kyr ago, during an interval of decreasing axial tilt, the orbital component in global temperature records gradually declined, while atmospheric CO2, instead of continuing its long-term correlation with Antarctic temperature, remained relatively stable. Here, based on novel global geodynamic models and the joint interpretation of paleo-proxy data as well as biogeochemical simulations, we show that a sea level fall in this interval caused enhanced pressure-release melting in the uppermost mantle, which may have induced a surge in magma and CO2 fluxes from mid-ocean ridges and oceanic hotspot volcanoes. Our results reveal a hitherto unrecognized negative feedback between glaciation and atmospheric CO2 predominantly controlled by marine volcanism on multi-millennial timescales of ∼5,000–15,000 years

Adhesion Molecule Expression in Polymorphic Light Eruption

Endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 (ELAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) are cytokine-regulated cell-surface Ieukocyte adhesion molecules. We have investigated the in vivo kinetics and pattern of expression of these adhesion molecules in relation to tissue accumulation of leukocytes in the photodermatosis, polymorphic light eruption (PMLE), which is characterized by dense perivascular leukocytic infiltration. Immunohistology was performed on biopsies taken at varying time points from PMLE lesions induced in 11 subjects by suberythemal solar simulated irradiation. Vascular endothelial ELAM-1 expression was first observed at 5 h, maximal at 24 to 72 h, and remained elevated at 6 d. VCAM-1, minimally expressed in control skin, was induced above background levels on endothelium and some perivascular cells after 24h and maintained at 6 d. Endothelial cell ICAM-1 expression was increased above control levels at 72h and 6 d. Keratinocyte ICAM-1 expression, most marked overlying areas of dermal leukocytic infiltration, began at 5h and was strong at 72h and 6 d. In addition to lymphocytes, significant number of neutrophils of but not eosinophils were detected in the dermal leukocytic infiltrate that appeared at 5h and persisted at 6 d. The pattern of adhesion molecule expression that we have observed is similar to that seen in normal skin during a delayed hypersensitivity reaction: These observations support an immunologic basis for PMLE

Mycobacterial Acid Tolerance Enables Phagolysosomal Survival and Establishment of Tuberculous Infection In Vivo.

The blockade of phagolysosomal fusion is considered a critical mycobacterial strategy to survive in macrophages. However, viable mycobacteria have been observed in phagolysosomes during infection of cultured macrophages, and mycobacteria have the virulence determinant MarP, which confers acid resistance in vitro. Here we show in mice and zebrafish that innate macrophages overcome mycobacterial lysosomal avoidance strategies to rapidly deliver a substantial proportion of infecting bacteria to phagolysosomes. Exploiting the optical transparency of the zebrafish, we tracked the fates of individual mycobacteria delivered to phagosomes versus phagolysosomes and discovered that bacteria survive and grow in phagolysosomes, though growth is slower. MarP is required specifically for phagolysosomal survival, making it an important determinant for the establishment of mycobacterial infection in their hosts. Our work suggests that if pathogenic mycobacteria fail to prevent lysosomal trafficking, they tolerate the resulting acidic environment of the phagolysosome to establish infection.National Institutes of Health (Grant IDs: R37AI054503, R01 AI076327, 5T32HD007233, 5F30HL110455), Wellcome Trust, National Institute of Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research CentreThis is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2016.07.00