855 research outputs found
Granite Rocks and the State\u27s Influence Over Federal Land Use
22 p. ; 28 cmhttps://scholar.law.colorado.edu/books_reports_studies/1115/thumbnail.jp
From Basin to Hydrocommons : Integrated Water Management Without Regional Governance
22 p. ; 28 cmhttps://scholar.law.colorado.edu/books_reports_studies/1096/thumbnail.jp
Producersâ perceptions of large carnivores and nonlethal methods to protect livestock from depredation: findings from a multistate federal initiative
We examined livestock producersâ perceptions of wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, and mountain lions, as well as their experiences with using nonlethal methods to protect livestock from depredation. All producers in the study received nonlethal predator management assistance in 2020 from USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services (âWSâ) pursuant to a federally funded initiative focused on the use of nonlethal methods to protect livestock. Such methods included assistance from range riders (i.e., individuals who monitor livestock and carnivores), fladry (i.e., flags hung from rope that serve as a repellent), and other audio/visual deterrents (e.g., Foxlights). The producers did not specifically seek nonlethal assistance from WS; rather, they sought assistance from WS with controlling depredation of livestock, and WS personnel determined that nonlethal methods were an appropriate fit for the circumstances. In some cases, lethal methods may have been used prior to, following, or in combination with, nonlethal methods on a producerâs operation. In addition, producers may have employed other nonlethal methods themselves, including fencing and livestock guardian animals. Our objectives were to understand the producersâ (1) experiences with, and attitudes toward, the four carnivores of interest; (2) perceptions of the effectiveness of all management methods (lethal and nonlethal) used their operations in 2020; and (3) levels of interest in using nonlethal methods, both before and after receiving assistance from WS in 2020. Data were collected using a self-administered, mail-back questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to all producers in 10 US states1 who received nonlethal predator management assistance from WS in 2020 (n = 89). We received 40 responses (45% response rate), nearly three-quarters of which were from Montana (n = 13), Minnesota (n = 10), and Wisconsin (n = 6). A majority of respondents produced cattle (n = 28), followed by horses/mules (n = 11), sheep/goats (n = 6), honeybees (n = 3), and chickens (n = 2). Ten respondents produced multiple livestock types
A Sweet Home No More?: The Future for Habitat Protection Under the Endangered Species Act
20 pages.
Includes bibliographical references and biographical information for Federico Cheever and Murray D. Feldman.
Contents:
Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Greater Oregon / Federico Cheever -- The Sweet Home decision and private property issues / Murray D. Feldman -- Memorandum of Agreement between the State of Colorado and the Department of the Interior concerning programs to manage Colorado\u27s declining native species
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon,115 S.Ct. 2407 (1995), held that the Department of the Interior reasonably construed Congress\u27 intent when it included habitat modification that injures protected wildlife within the definition of harm prohibited by the Endangered Species Act. Speakers include Professor Federico Cheever, University of Denver College of Law; Paul Seby, attorney with the Mountain States Legal Foundation; and Paul Gertler, Assistant Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Center Director Betsy Rieke will moderate
âBoundaryâ: Mapping and Visualizing Climatically Changed Landscapes at Kaskawulsh Glacier and Kluane Lake, Yukon
This paper describes a collaboration between a visual artist and geoscientists, who together viewed the same rugged, high mountain landscape through different, yet complementary, lenses. We pair scientific mapping and historic comparative photography with a series of site-specific sculptural installations to interpret the dramatic geological changes that occurred at Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon, in the spring of 2016. In the summer of that year, artist K.A. Colorado accompanied geoscientists D.H. Shugar, J.J. Clague, and J.L. Best to the terminus of Kaskawulsh Glacier, as well as Kluane Lake downstream of the glacier, to document the landscape changes that occurred earlier in the year. The Boundary images were created as on-site, three-dimensional, artistic interpretations of the markedly changed boundaries that occurred as a result of climate-induced glacier retreat and the sudden subcontinental-scale reorganization of drainage. Both the scientific study conducted by the geomorphologists and the art installations created by the artist were performed simultaneously. The Boundary installation art project, together with satellite imagery and historical photographs, conveys the death of Slims River as a result of climate change
Values of the Federal Public Lands
v, 158 p. ; 28 cmhttps://scholar.law.colorado.edu/books_reports_studies/1038/thumbnail.jp
Astroclimatic Characterization of Vallecitos: A candidate site for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at San Pedro Martir
We conducted an 18 month long study of the weather conditions of the
Vallecitos, a proposed site in Mexico to harbor the northern array of the
Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). It is located in Sierra de San Pedro Martir
(SPM) a few kilometers away from Observatorio Astron\'omico Nacional. The study
is based on data collected by the ATMOSCOPE, a multi-sensor instrument
measuring the weather and sky conditions, which was commissioned and built by
the CTA Consortium. Additionally, we compare the weather conditions of the
optical observatory at SPM to the Vallecitos regarding temperature, humidity,
and wind distributions. It appears that the excellent conditions at the optical
observatory benefit from the presence of microclimate established in the
Vallecitos.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, Publication of the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific, accepte
A Multi-Code Analysis Toolkit for Astrophysical Simulation Data
The analysis of complex multiphysics astrophysical simulations presents a
unique and rapidly growing set of challenges: reproducibility, parallelization,
and vast increases in data size and complexity chief among them. In order to
meet these challenges, and in order to open up new avenues for collaboration
between users of multiple simulation platforms, we present yt (available at
http://yt.enzotools.org/), an open source, community-developed astrophysical
analysis and visualization toolkit. Analysis and visualization with yt are
oriented around physically relevant quantities rather than quantities native to
astrophysical simulation codes. While originally designed for handling Enzo's
structure adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) data, yt has been extended to work
with several different simulation methods and simulation codes including Orion,
RAMSES, and FLASH. We report on its methods for reading, handling, and
visualizing data, including projections, multivariate volume rendering,
multi-dimensional histograms, halo finding, light cone generation and
topologically-connected isocontour identification. Furthermore, we discuss the
underlying algorithms yt uses for processing and visualizing data, and its
mechanisms for parallelization of analysis tasks.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, emulateapj format. Resubmitted to Astrophysical
Journal Supplement Series with revisions from referee. yt can be found at
http://yt.enzotools.org
The locomotor kinematics of Asian and African elephants: changes with speed and size
For centuries, elephant locomotion has been a contentious and confusing challenge for locomotion scientists to understand, not only because of technical difficulties but also because elephant locomotion is in some ways atypical of more familiar quadrupedal gaits. We analyzed the locomotor kinematics of over 2400 strides from 14 African and 48 Asian elephant individuals (body mass 116-4632 kg) freely moving over ground at a 17-fold range of speeds, from slow walking at 0.40 m s-1 to the fastest reliably recorded speed for elephants, 6.8 m s-1. These data reveal that African and Asian elephants have some subtle differences in how size-independent kinematic parameters change with speed. Although elephants use a lateral sequence footfall pattern, like many other quadrupeds, they maintain this footfall pattern at all speeds, shifting toward a 25% phase offset between limbs (singlefoot) as they increase speed. The duty factors of elephants are greater for the forelimbs than for the hindlimbs, so an aerial phase for the hindquarters is reached at slower speeds than for the forequarters. This aerial phase occurs at a Froude number of around 1, matching theoretical predictions. At faster speeds, stance and swing phase durations approach asymptotes, with the duty factor beginning to level off, concurrent with an increase in limb compliance that likely keeps peak forces relatively low. This increase of limb compliance is reflected by increased compression of the hindlimbs. Like other tetrapods, smaller elephants are relatively more athletic than larger ones, but still move very similarly to adults even at <500 kg. At any particular speed they adopt greater relative stride frequencies and relative stride lengths compared to larger elephants. This extends to near-maximal locomotor performance as well - smaller elephants reach greater Froude numbers and smaller duty factors, hence likely reach relatively greater peak loads on their limbs and produce this force more rapidly. A variety of lines of kinematic evidence support the inference that elephants change their mechanics near a Froude number of 1 (if not at slower speeds), at least to using more compliant limbs, if not spring-like whole-body kinetics. In some ways, elephants move similarly to many other quadrupeds, such as increasing speed mainly by increasing stride frequency (except at fast speeds), and they match scaling predictions for many stride parameters. The main difference from most other animals is that elephants never change their footfall pattern to a gait that uses a whole-body aerial phase. Our large dataset establishes what the normal kinematics of elephant locomotion are, and can also be applied to identify gait abnormalities that may signal musculoskeletal pathologies, a matter of great importance to keepers of captive elephants
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