579 research outputs found
Diet, Density, and Distribution of the Introduced Greenhouse Frog, \u3ci\u3eEleutherodactylus planirostris\u3c/i\u3e, on the Island of Hawaii
The greenhouse frog, Eleutherodactylus planirostris, native to Cuba and the Bahamas, was recently introduced to Hawaii. Studies from other invaded habitats suggest that it may impact Hawaiian ecosystems by consuming and potentially reducing endemic invertebrates. However, there have been no studies on the greenhouse frog in Hawaii. The first component of this study was to conduct a diet analysis. We conducted a stomach content analysis of 427 frogs from 10 study sites on the island of Hawaii. At each site, we also collected invertebrates using two different sampling methods: leaf litter collection and sticky traps to characterize available resources. Greenhouse frogs consumed predominantly leaf litter invertebrates. Dominant prey items consisted of Hymenoptera: Formicidae (32.4%), Acari (19.2%), and Collembola (17.4%). Greenhouse frogs consumed more Formicidae than was measured in the environment. At one study site, we estimated there were 12,500 frogs ha-1 using mark-recapture methods and greenhouse frogs consumed 129,000 invertebrates ha-1 night-1 at this site. The second component of this study was to determine the distribution of the greenhouse frog on the island of Hawaii, with a male breeding call presence/absence survey at 446 points along the major road network. The greenhouse frog was detected at 61 sites (14%), and found mostly in lowland areas, in habitats of native shrublands and forests, nonnative forests, agricultural lands, and pastures on the southwestern and eastern sides of the island. We determined detection probabilities of the greenhouse frog and the invasive coqui frog, E. coqui. Detection probability of the greenhouse frog was low on the first two surveys and improved by the third survey. Detection probability of the coqui was higher than the greenhouse frog, but overall site occupancy estimates were similar for both species. Because the greenhouse frog appears to be as widespread as the coqui, we recommend that research be conducted to investigate its impacts ecologically to determine whether control efforts should also be aimed at this species
Farmersâ Awareness and Use of IPM for Soybean Aphid Control: Report of Survey Results for the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Crop Years
In response to the introduction and rapid spread of soybean aphid, farmers in the Upper Midwest were surveyed about their treatment of and knowledge about soybean aphids for crop years 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Overall, the farmers showed a fairly good understanding of soybean aphids and their impact on soybeans. Over 80% said soybean aphids could be treated and repopulate in the same crop year. For 2004-2006, at least 75% of the farmers said aphids damaged their soybeans by sucking sap. However this percentage dropped to 59% for 2007 with a greater percentage pointing at a combination of damage methods. This lower percentage for 2007 may be due to a broader, randomly selected sample of farmers who received the surveys by mail versus farmers who attended meetings in the first three years. However, even though fewer seemed to have a clear understanding of how aphids damage soybeans, other measures indicate a stable or improved understanding of soybean aphid biology and control. Over 70% said the frequency with which aphids should be treated for profitable control depends on aphid counts, weather conditions and plant growth stage. About a third of the farmers believed that aphids inflict the most damage during early flowering through pod set (R1-R3); however, about a third also thought aphids could inflict the most damage at any stage. Over half the farmers considered the lowest aphid density for profitable aphid control to be 250 aphids per plant. Over 80% said scouting reports were very important for making a decision to treat for aphids; over half the farmers said plant growth stage was also very important.Crop Production/Industries,
Farmers' Awareness and Use of IPM for Soybean Aphid Control: Survey Results for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Crop Years
In response to the introduction and rapid spread of soybean aphid as a major new invasive pest of soybean in North America, farmers who attended winter crop meetings in four states in North Central US were surveyed about their treatment of and knowledge about soybean aphids for crop years 2004, 2005, and 2006. Thirteen percent, 84%, and 35% of the farmers indicated they had treated for soybean aphid in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. The average of the soybean acreage treated in each year was 50%, 87%, and 81%, respectively. Overall, the farmers showed a good understanding of soybean aphids and their impact on soybeans. Over 80% knew soybean aphids could repopulate and cause yield damage after an insecticide treatment. Seventy-five percent knew aphids damaged soybeans by sucking sap. Almost 80% said the frequency with which aphids should be treated for profitable control depends on aphid counts, weather conditions, and plant stage. On average, just under 70% considered an average of 250 aphids per plant to be the lowest density for profitable insecticide spraying. Scouting reports were selected by 84 to 94% of the farmers as very important information for the treatment decision; plant growth stage was the second most frequent selection.Crop Production/Industries,
Forging Relationships and Filling Repositories
Poster presentation for 2018 United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) 16th Biennial Conference at Washington State UniversityPoster presentation for 2018 United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) 16th Biennial Conference at Washington State Universit
Message From the Grave: A Text-in-Context Case Study of Bikur Cholim Sephardic Cemetery
This study utilizes Cara A. Finneganâs approach to text-in-context analysis of visual communication and rhetoric and applies the framework to a Sephardic Jewish site. The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways by which visual communication is employed to maintain, affirm, and communicate identity and cultural norms and values through a text-incontext case study of the Sephardic Bikur Cholim Cemetery. The text is analyzed in terms of sacred and profane space, hierarchy creation, as a voice for the historically voiceless, as a storage device for memories, and communication device for transmitting cultural values and norms to future generations. Analysis revealed four significant findings: 1) The cemetery relies on an American, left-to-right orientation, which indicates a conflict or a blending between two competing identities; 2) Mircea Eliadeâs concept of sacred and profane spaces was applied and confirmed in the cemetery; 3) Traditional Jewish roles are communicated and affirmed through imagery on the headstones, and 4) Living visitors are able to participate in their heritage by leaving stones on grave markers.
The study argues that messages, both intentional and unintentional, are created visually with a future audience in mind. Specifically, the existence of Bikur Cholim Cemetery communicates to the larger Seattle community that Sephardic history and the Sephardic people are worthy of commemoration and that the historically powerless group has gained the power necessary to enact their desire to memorialize. It also furthers Eliadeâs work concerning sacred and profane spaces by the application of his framework to an actual space.
Second, the findings indicate how identity is communicated across generations in a time when traditional methods and social structures meant for that type of communication are disintegrating.
Third, identity changes are occurring within a historic and traditional culture; this is demonstrated by the cemeteryâs American orientation, the âMen of Valorâ panel on the memorial wall, etc. What is not yet clear is whether one identity (American or Sephardic) is primary, or if an entirely new identity is being formed that integrates traits from both. If that is the case, it is something new and significant. It may also partially confirm Carole Blairâs assertion that modern memorials will necessarily incorporate multiple voices.
Fourth and finally, the findings of this study indicate that there is a type of memorializing communication that occurs within a group that shares a common religious and ethnic background; this type of communication dictates what is and is not appropriate for the cemetery messages
Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Office FY 2011 Activity Report
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site is home to vast numbers and a wide variety of important cultural resources representing at least a 13,500 year span of human land use in the region. As a federal agency, the Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) has legal responsibility for the management and protection of the resources and has contracted these responsibilities to Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA). The BEA professional staff is committed to maintaining a cultural resource management program that accepts the challenge of preserving INL cultural resources in a manner reflecting their importance in local, regional, and national history. This report is intended as a stand-alone document that summarizes activities performed by the INL Cultural Resource Management Office (CRMO) staff during fiscal year 2011. This work is diverse, far-reaching and though generally confined to INL cultural resource compliance, also includes a myriad of professional and voluntary community activities. This document is intended to be informative to both internal and external stakeholders, serve as a planning tool for future INL cultural resource management work, and meet an agreed upon legal requirement
The Role of β7 Integrins in CD8 T Cell Trafficking During an Antiviral Immune Response
The requirement of β7 integrins for lymphocyte migration was examined during an ongoing immune response in vivo. Transgenic mice (OT-I) expressing an ovalbumin-specific major histocompatibility complex class Iârestricted T cell receptor for antigen were rendered deficient in expression of all β7 integrins or only the ÎąEβ7 integrin. To quantitate the relative use of β7 integrins in migration in vivo, equal numbers of OT-I and OT-I-β7â/â or OT-I-ÎąEâ/â lymph node (LN) cells were adoptively transferred to normal mice. Although OT-I-β7â/â LN cells migrated to mesenteric LN and peripheral LN as well as wild-type cells, β7 integrins were required for naive CD8 T cell and B cell migration to Peyer's patch. After infection with a recombinant virus (vesicular stomatitis virus) encoding ovalbumin, β7 integrins became critical for migration of activated CD8 T cells to the mesenteric LN and Peyer's patch. Naive CD8 T cells did not enter the lamina propria or the intestinal epithelium, and the majority of migration of activated CD8 T cells to the small and large intestinal mucosa, including the epithelium, was β7 integrinâmediated. The ÎąEβ7 integrin appeared to play no role in migration during a primary CD8 T cell immune response in vivo. Furthermore, despite dramatic upregulation of ÎąEβ7 by CD8 T cells after entry into the epithelium, long-term retention of intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes was also ÎąEβ7 independent
Early Verb Learning: How Do Children Learn How to Compare Events?
An important problem verb learners must solve is how to extend verbs. Children could use cross-situational information to guide their extensions, however comparing events is difficult. Two studies test whether children benefit from initially seeing a pair of similar events (âprogressive alignmentâ) while learning new verbs, and whether this influence changes with age. In Study 1, 2 ½- and 3 ½-year-old children participated in an interactive task. Children who saw a pair of similar events and then varied events were able to extend verbs at test, differing from a control group; children who saw two pairs of varied events did not differ from the control group. In Study 2, events were presented on a monitor. Following the initial pair of events that varied by condition, a Tobii x120 eye tracker recorded 2 ½-, 3 ½- and 4 ½-year-oldsâ fixations to specific elements of events (AOIs) during the second pair of events, which were the same across conditions. After seeing the pair of events that were highly similar, 2 ½-year-olds showed significantly longer fixation durations to agents and to affected objects as compared to the all varied condition. At test, 3 ½-year-olds were able to extend the verb, but only in the progressive alignment condition. These results are important because they show children\u27s visual attention to relevant elements in dynamic events is influenced by their prior comparison experience, and they show that young children benefit from seeing similar events as they learn to compare events to each other
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