Audience responses to representations of family-assisted suicide on British television

Reflecting on different generic conventions, this study highlights the strengths and weaknesses of documentaries and soap operas in addressing the societal and the personal dimensions of family-assisted suicide. Based on an analysis of YouTube user comments, this study compares how audience members respond to representations of family-assisted suicide in British documentaries and soap operas broadcast between 2010 and 2016. The thematic analysis of comments shows key differences between audience engagement with factual and fictional representations. Markers of a political engagement with this sensitive social issue occur more frequently in comments on documentaries than in comments on soap operas. Comments on soap operas are frequently expressions of emotion, or displays of specialist soap opera knowledge

Prescribed fire affects female white-tailed deer habitat use during summer lactation

a b s t r a c t Prescribed fire commonly is used to manage habitat for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Although the effects of fire on forage availability for deer have been studied, how female deer use burned areas is not well known, particularly as it relates to fire season and the years-since-fire. We used GPS tracking data from 16 adult female white-tailed deer to assess the effects of fire season and yearssince-fire on habitat use during summer lactation. Females selected unburned drainages and older (>1 yr-since-fire) burned areas, and avoided recently burned areas. Individuals with a greater percentage of their summer core area burned expanded the size of their summer home range but did not change summer core area size. Furthermore, summer core area site fidelity (i.e., % overlap between 2011 and 2012 core areas) decreased as the percentage of the 2011 summer core area burned in 2012 increased. Female deer increased selection of burned areas as years-since-fire increased, likely because there was a temporary loss of cover immediately following fire with plants slowly regenerating the subsequent growing seasons. Likewise, to avoid areas depleted of cover, females shifted their core areas away from recent burns when possible but increased their core area size when burned areas were unavoidable (i.e., a large portion of their home range was burned). Burning large contiguous areas may initially have a negative effect on female deer during lactation because of the depletion of cover

Fructosamine: An Alternative to Serum Glucose Measurement in White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

We determined the relationship between fructosamine and serum glucose in free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) harvested during two seasonally stressful periods for deer in coastal North Carolina, US: July 2008 represented the postparturition and lactation period, and March 2009 represented the late winter and pregreen-up period. Serum glucose and fructosamine concentrations were similar between time periods but were uncorrelated within each season. However, when serum glucose was separated into high and low categories based on the median blood glucose score within each time period, we detected statistically significant differences between July and March for serum glucose. Fructosamine was more stable than serum glucose for evaluating the white-tailed deer physiologic condition

Best practices to account for capture probability and viewable area in camera‐based abundance estimation

Abstract A suite of recently developed statistical methods to estimate the abundance and density of unmarked animals from camera traps require accurate estimates of the area sampled by each camera. Although viewshed area is fundamental to achieving accurate abundance estimates, there are no established guidelines for collecting this information in the field. Furthermore, while the complexities of the detection process from motion sensor photography are generally acknowledged, viewable area (the common factor between motion sensor and time lapse photography) on its own has been underemphasized. We establish a common set of terminology to identify the component parts of viewshed area, contrast the photographic capture process and area measurements for time lapse and motion sensor photography, and review methods for estimating viewable area in the field. We use a case study to demonstrate the importance of accurate estimates of viewable area on abundance estimates. Time lapse photography combined with accurate measurements of viewable area allow researchers to assume that capture probability equals 1. Motion sensor photography requires measuring distances to each animal and fitting a distance sampling curve to account for capture probability of <1

Raccoon Vigilance and Activity Patterns When Sympatric with Coyotes

Nonconsumptive effects of predators potentially have negative fitness consequences on prey species through changes in prey behavior. Coyotes (Canis latrans) recently expanded into the eastern United States, and raccoons (Procyon lotor) are a common mesocarnivore that potentially serve as competitors and food for coyotes. We used camera traps at baited sites to quantify vigilance behavior of feeding raccoons and used binomial logistic regression to analyze the effects of social and environmental factors. Additionally, we created raccoon and coyote activity patterns from the camera trap data by fitting density functions based on circular statistics and calculating the coefficient of overlap (Δ). Overall, raccoons were vigilant 46% of the time while foraging at baited sites. Raccoons were more vigilant during full moon and diurnal hours but less vigilant as group size increased and when other species were present. Raccoons and coyotes demonstrated nocturnal activity patterns, with coyotes more likely to be active during daylight hours. Overall, raccoons did not appear to exhibit high levels of vigilance. Activity pattern results provided further evidence that raccoons do not appear to fear coyotes, as both species were active at the same time and showed a high degree of overlap (Δ = 0.75) with little evidence of temporal segregation in activity. Thus, our study indicates that nonconsumptive effects of coyotes on raccoons are unlikely, which calls into question the ability of coyotes to initiate strong trophic cascades through some mesocarnivores

Raccoon Vigilance and Activity Patterns When Sympatric with Coyotes

Nonconsumptive effects of predators potentially have negative fitness consequences on prey species through changes in prey behavior. Coyotes (Canis latrans) recently expanded into the eastern United States, and raccoons (Procyon lotor) are a common mesocarnivore that potentially serve as competitors and food for coyotes. We used camera traps at baited sites to quantify vigilance behavior of feeding raccoons and used binomial logistic regression to analyze the effects of social and environmental factors. Additionally, we created raccoon and coyote activity patterns from the camera trap data by fitting density functions based on circular statistics and calculating the coefficient of overlap (&Delta;). Overall, raccoons were vigilant 46% of the time while foraging at baited sites. Raccoons were more vigilant during full moon and diurnal hours but less vigilant as group size increased and when other species were present. Raccoons and coyotes demonstrated nocturnal activity patterns, with coyotes more likely to be active during daylight hours. Overall, raccoons did not appear to exhibit high levels of vigilance. Activity pattern results provided further evidence that raccoons do not appear to fear coyotes, as both species were active at the same time and showed a high degree of overlap (&Delta; = 0.75) with little evidence of temporal segregation in activity. Thus, our study indicates that nonconsumptive effects of coyotes on raccoons are unlikely, which calls into question the ability of coyotes to initiate strong trophic cascades through some mesocarnivores

Do biological and bedsite characteristics influence survival of neonatal white-tailed deer?

Coyotes recently expanded into the eastern U.S. and potentially have caused localized white-tailed deer population declines. Research has focused on quantifying coyote predation on neonates, but little research has addressed the potential influence of bedsite characteristics on survival. In 2011 and 2012, we radiocollared 65 neonates, monitored them intensively for 16 weeks, and assigned mortality causes. We used Program MARK to estimate survival to 16 weeks and included biological covariates (i.e., sex, sibling status [whether or not it had a sibling], birth weight, and Julian date of birth). Survival to 16 weeks was 0.141 (95% CI = 0.075-0.249) and the top model included only sibling status, which indicated survival was lower for neonates that had a sibling. Predation was the leading cause of mortality (35 of 55; 64%) and coyotes were responsible for the majority of depredations (30 of 35; 86%). Additionally, we relocated neonates for the first 10 days of life and measured distance to firebreak, visual obstruction, and plant diversity at bedsites. Survival of predation to 10 days (0.726; 95% CI = 0.586-0.833) was weakly associated with plant diversity at bedsites but not related to visual obstruction. Our results indicate that neonate survival was low and coyote predation was an important source of mortality, which corroborates several recent studies from the region. Additionally, we detected only weak support for bedsite cover as a covariate to neonate survival, which indicates that mitigating effects of coyote predation on neonates may be more complicated than simply managing for increased hiding cover