New observations of frog and lizard predation by wandering and orb-weaver spiders in Costa Rica

Estudos sugeriram que a predação por aranhas pode ser uma força importante na regulação da historia de vida de anuros e largartos Neotropicais, mas descrições detalhadas das relações predador-presa são escassas. Decrevemos aqui novas observações em que aranhas contribuem para a mortalidade de anuros e lagartos no nordeste da Costa Rica e corrigimos ou esclarecemos três erros de identificação de aranhas da literatura. Os predadores mais frequentemente observados foram aranhas-andarilhas (Ctenidae), que parecem ser predadoras generalistas de anuros e lagartos. Uma aranha-de-teia-orbicular (Araneidae) também contribuiu para a mortalidade de anuros, provavelmente depois que o animal ficou preso na teia. Estudos mais detalhados são necessários para elucidar o papel que a predação por aranhas exerce sobre a demografía de anuros e lagartos em florestas Neotropicais.Studies have suggested that predation by spiders may be an important force regulating life history in neotropical frogs and lizards, but detailed descriptions of predator-prey relationships are few. Here we describe novel observations where spiders contributed to the mortality of frogs and lizards in northeastern Costa Rica, and we corrected or clarified three identification errors of spiders from the literature. The most frequently observed predators were wandering spiders (Ctenidae), which seem to be generalist predators on frogs and lizards. An orb-weaver spider (Araneidae) also contributed to frog mortality, likely after the frog became entangled in the spider’s web. More detailed studies are needed to elucidate the role that spider predation contributes to frog and lizard demography in neotropical forests

Multi-Objective Modeling as a Decision-Support Tool for Free-Roaming Horse Management

Decisions related to controversial problems in natural resource management receive the greatest support when they account for multiple objectives of stakeholders in a structured and transparent fashion. In the United States, management of free-roaming horses (Equus caballus; horses) is a controversial multiple-objective problem because disparate stakeholder groups have varying objectives and opinions about how to manage fast-growing horse populations in ways that sustain both natural ecosystems and healthy horses. Despite much decision-support research on management alternatives that prevent excessive population size or cost, horse management decisions still receive resistance from a variety of stakeholder groups, potentially because decisions fail to explicitly or transparently account for multiple objectives of diverse stakeholders. Here, we used a predictive model for horse populations to evaluate the degree to which alternative management strategies involving removals and fertility control treatment with the immunocontraceptive vaccine PZP-22 maximize 4 objectives in horse management: maximize ecosystem health, maximize horse health, minimize effects on horse behavior, and minimize management cost. We simulated scenarios varying in management action, frequency, magnitude, and starting population size over a 10-year interval and evaluated scenario performance with a weighted multiple-objective utility reward function. Management involving high-magnitude removals along with PZP-22 treatment generally outperformed other alternatives by achieving higher reward relative to alternatives in 2 scenario analyses. Simulation of 1,372 scenarios at 5 starting population sizes generally found that management with biannual removals and 2 doses of PZP-22 treatment for half of eligible females during years 1 and 5 generated the most rewarding outcomes. However, a removal scenario with more frequent PZP-22 application generated the greatest reward when starting population size was already within target population size range. Our paper demonstrates how values and objectives of diverse stakeholders can be used to support management decisions in ways that might lead to greater acceptance of decisions by a broad array of stakeholder groups

Habitat-Mediated Foraging Limitations Drive Survival Bottlenecks for Juvenile Salmon

Realistic population models and effective conservation strategies require a thorough understanding of mechanisms driving stage-specific mortality. Mortality bottlenecks for many species occur in the juvenile stage and are thought to result from limitation on food or foraging habitat during a critical period for growth and survival. Without a way to account for maternal effects or to measure integrated consumption rates in the field, it has been virtually impossible to test these relationships directly. Hence uncertainties about mechanisms underlying such bottlenecks remain. In this study we randomize maternal effects across sites and apply a new method for measuring consumption integrated over weeks to months to test the hypothesis that food limitation drives early-season juvenile mortality bottlenecks in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Using natural signatures of geologically derived cesium (133Cs), we estimated consumption rates of \u3e400 fry stocked into six streams. Two to four weeks after stocking, consumption was extremely low across sites (0.005 g x g(-1) x d(-1)) and was predicted to be below maintenance rations (i.e., yielding negative energy balances) for the majority of individuals from five of six sites. However, consumption during this time was positively correlated with growth rates and survival (measured at the end of the growing season). In contrast, consumption rates increased in mid- (0.030 g x g(-1) x d(-1)) and late (0.035 g x g(-1) x d(-1)) seasons, but juvenile survival and consumption were not correlated, and correlations between growth and consumption were weak. These findings are consistent with predictions of a habitat-based bioenergetic model constructed using the actual stream positions of the individual fish in the present study, which indicates that habitat-based models capture important environmental determinants of juvenile growth and survival. Hence, by combining approaches, reducing maternal effects and controlling initial conditions, we offer a general framework for linking foraging with juvenile survival and present the first direct consumption-based evidence for the early season bottleneck hypothesis

Association of Rice and Rice-Product Consumption With Arsenic Exposure Early in Life

Rice—a typical first food and major ingredient in various infant foods—contains inorganic arsenic (As), but the extent of As exposure from these foods has not been well characterized in early childhood

Estimated Exposure to Arsenic in Breastfed and Formula-Fed Infants in a United States Cohort

Background: Previous studies indicate that concentrations of arsenic in breast milk are relatively low even in areas with high drinking-water arsenic. However, it is uncertain whether breastfeeding leads to reduced infant exposure to arsenic in regions with lower arsenic concentrations. Objective: We estimated the relative contributions of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during early infancy in a U.S. population. Methods: We measured arsenic in home tap water (n = 874), urine from 6-week-old infants (n = 72), and breast milk from mothers (n = 9) enrolled in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Using data from a 3-day food diary, we compared urinary arsenic across infant feeding types and developed predictive exposure models to estimate daily arsenic intake from breast milk and formula. Results: Urinary arsenic concentrations were generally low (median, 0.17 μg/L; maximum, 2.9 μg/L) but 7.5 times higher for infants fed exclusively with formula than for infants fed exclusively with breast milk (β = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.83; p \u3c 0.0001, adjusted for specific gravity). Similarly, the median estimated daily arsenic intake by NHBCS infants was 5.5 times higher for formula-fed infants (0.22 μg/kg/day) than for breastfed infants (0.04 μg/kg/day). Given median arsenic concentrations measured in NHBCS tap water and previously published for formula powder, formula powder was estimated to account for ~ 70% of median exposure among formula-fed NHBCS infants. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that breastfed infants have lower arsenic exposure than formula-fed infants, and that both formula powder and drinking water can be sources of exposure for U.S. infants

Data from: Spatial patterns of the frog Oophaga pumilio in a plantation system are consistent with conspecific attraction

The conspecific attraction hypothesis predicts that individuals are attracted to conspecifics because conspecifics may be cues to quality habitat and/or colonists may benefit from living in aggregations. Poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) are aposematic, territorial, and visually oriented – three characteristics which make dendrobatids an appropriate model to test for conspecific attraction. In this study, we tested this hypothesis using an extensive mark-recapture dataset of the strawberry poison frog (Oophaga pumilio) from La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Data were collected from replicate populations in a relatively homogenous Theobroma cacao plantation, which provided a unique opportunity to test how conspecifics influence spatial ecology of migrants in a controlled habitat with homogeneous structure. We predicted that (1) individuals entering a population would aggregate with resident adults, (2) migrants would share sites with residents at greater frequency than expected by chance, and (3) migrant home-ranges would have shorter nearest-neighbor distances (NND) to residents than expected by chance. The results were consistent with these three predictions: relative to random simulations, we observed significant aggregation, home-range overlap, and NND distribution functions in four, five, and six, respectively, of the six migrant-resident groups analyzed. Conspecific attraction may benefit migrant O. pumilio by providing cues to suitable home sites and/or increasing potential for social interactions with conspecifics; if true, these benefits should outweigh the negative effects of other factors associated with aggregation. The observed aggregation between migrant and resident O. pumilio is consistent with conspecific attraction in dendrobatid frogs, and our study provides rare support from a field setting that conspecific attraction may be a relevant mechanism for models of anuran spatial ecology

Oophaga-pumilio-in-cacao-data

This file contains data associated with an 18-month demographic study of the Strawberry Poison Frog (Oophaga pumilio) from an abandoned cacao plantation in northeastern Costa Rica. During the study, four replicate plots were repeatedly visited during each month and surveyed for frogs. During surveys, each frog observed was then captured, identified to sex, measured, marked uniquely, and then released. The first tab describes the number of surveys made in plots, how many individuals were observed, and what proportion were new individuals/recaptures from previous surveys. The second tab contains data describing observations of each frogs made during the surveys (individual mark, sex, size, location). The third tab contains information about habitat within plots. The fourth tab contains information about how the grid system was organized in plots

oophaga-pumilio-r-script

This is an annotated R script that we developed to analyze the data. More details for the analysis are included in our manuscript

Hybridization of Two Megacephalic Map Turtles (Testudines: Emydidae: \u3ci\u3eGraptemys\u3c/i\u3e in the Choctawhatchee River Drainage of Alabama and Florida

Map turtles of the genus Graptemys are highly aquatic and rarely undergo terrestrial movements, and limited dispersal among drainages has been hypothesized to drive drainage-specific endemism and high species richness of this group in the southeastern United States. Until recently, two members of the megacephalic “pulchra clade,” Graptemys barbouri and Graptemys ernsti, were presumed to be allopatric with a gap in both species\u27 ranges in the Choctawhatchee River drainage. In this paper, we analyzed variation in morphology (head and shell patterns) and genetics (mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite loci) from G. barbouri, G. ernsti, and Graptemys sp. collected from the Choctawhatchee River drainage, and we document the syntopic occurrence of those species and back-crossed individuals of mixed ancestry in the Choctawhatchee River drainage. Our results provide a first counter-example to the pattern of drainage-specific endemism in megacephalic Graptemys. Geologic events associated with Pliocene and Pleistocene sea level fluctuations and the existence of paleo-river systems appear to have allowed the invasion of the Choctawhatchee system by these species, and the subsequent introgression likely predates any potential human-mediated introduction

Using natural strontium isotopic signatures as fish markers: methodology and application

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155824/1/Kennedy_et_al_2000_Using_natural_strontium.pd