Florida's Global Warming Solutions: A Study for: World Wildlife Fund

This report assesses how the set of national actions presented in America’s Global Warming Solutions would affect Florida’s energy systems, carbon emissions and economy. This study finds that by 2010, the set of national actions to reduce global warming would decrease Florida’s primary energy use by 26 percent and its carbon emissions by 36 percent. They would also provide increasing annual savings reaching about $300 per-capita in 2010 and averaging about$110 per-capita per year between now and 2010. Thus, the State would cumulatively save about $17 billion over that period. The set of national actions would also create approximately 39,000 net additional jobs in Florida by 2010. They would reduce emissions of other pollutants and begin to shift the basis of the State’s economy towards more advanced, energy-efficient technologies and cleaner resources. The table below summarizes these results

#35 - Enamel isotopes reveal late Pleistocene ecosystem dynamics in southeastern North America

The end of the late Pleistocene (~10,000 years ago) witnessed the extinction of over seventy percent of North America’s megafaunal genera. Although this pattern has been extensively investigated, its causal mechanisms remain elusive. Much of this difficulty is related to the spatial and temporal discontinuity of sites dating to the period leading up to the extinctions. Due to its removal from glacial conditions, southeastern North America provides a unique window into ecosystem dynamics just prior to human arrival in the region. In this study, we present new stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from Mammuthus columbiand Bison latifronsteeth collected from a well-dated Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 rcybp) locality called Clark Quarry in coastal Georgia, USA. We compare these data to those from similarly aged (middle and late Rancholabrean) localities from Florida and demonstrate the presence of a vegetation gradient with elevated levels of C3vegetation at higher latitudes. We hypothesize that this pattern may have contributed to previously described migratory patterns of mastodon (Mammut) populations in southeastern North America. Serially-sampled δ13C and δ18O values suggest that Clark Quarry Mammuthus and Bison changed their diet seasonally with the incorporation of elevated quantities of C4vegetation during warmer periods. Our data indicate more exaggerated seasonal dietary variability in these taxa at Clark Quarry relative to those collected from the interglacial locality of Waccasassa River in Florida, providing additional evidence for the significant influence of glacial dynamics in structuring North American ecosystems

Digital Signal Processing

Contains summary of research and reports on sixteen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0852)National Science Foundation FellowshipNATO FellowshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0951)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS79-15226)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0257)Bell LaboratoriesNational Science Foundation (Grant ECS80-07102)Schlumberger-Doll Research Center FellowshipHertz Foundation FellowshipGovernment of Pakistan ScholarshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0196)U.S. Air Force (Contract F19628-81-C-0002)Hughes Aircraft Company Fellowshi

Digital Signal Processing Group

Contains an introduction and reports on nineteen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0266)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-81-K-0742)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS80-07102)Bell Laboratories FellowshipAmoco Foundation FellowshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0196)Schlumberger-Doll Research Center FellowshipToshiba Company FellowshipVinton Hayes FellowshipHertz Foundation Fellowshi

Digital Signal Processing

Contains an introduction and reports on seventeen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0266)Amoco Foundation FellowshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-81-K-0742)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS80-07102)U.S. Army Research Office (Contract DAAG29-81-K-0073)Hughes Aircraft Company FellowshipAmerican Edwards Labs. GrantWhitaker Health Sciences FundPfeiffer Foundation GrantSchlumberger-Doll Research Center FellowshipGovernment of Pakistan ScholarshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0196)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS79-15226)Hertz Foundation Fellowshi

41. Saving the snakes: the occurrence of Snake Fungal Disease (SFD) in northeast Georgia

An emerging threat to local snake species in northeast Georgia is becoming increasingly more severe and fatal to wildlife populations. Snake Fungal Disease (SFD) is caused by a naturally-occurring fungal pathogen, Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, that acts as an opportunistic invader and causes a high mortality rate after exposure. Very little is known about SFD, particularly in the northeast Georgia region, and more research needs to be conducted in the area for conservation efforts. In this study, we survey local snake populations in northeast Georgia to monitor the occurrence of SFD while exploring abiotic factors that may contribute to the spread of the pathogen. Specific sites have been determined for surveying snake populations and data will be collected at each site, such as location (e.g., GPS coordinates, habitat type), a morphological assessment (e.g., species, sex, mass, age) and a health examination (e.g., the presence of lesions, behavior) after the snake is swabbed according to specific protocol. The data will be compared with the southeast Georgia region where SFD has prevailed in order to assess variables that could be used to prevent the future spread of SFD. This investigation will help to gain a deeper understanding of how SFD threatens snake populations in Georgia, and conservation and management plans can be developed accordingly in collaboration with organizations such as the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, U.S Fish and Wildlife Services, and the Orianne Society

5. The influence of localized ecological variables on southern Appalachian salamander populations

Amphibians are an essential group of organisms for understanding ecological dynamics due to their acute sensitivity to temperature, precipitation, and other environmental variables, as well as their vital role in forest floor communities. Northeast Georgia is an important region in the study of amphibians, particularly salamanders, due to the elevated diversity of plethodontid salamanders in the southern Appalachian Mountains. In this study, we utilized drift fences paired with pitfall traps to survey local salamander populations in two forest sites adjacent to Hurricane Creek in Lumpkin County, Georgia to investigate the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on diversity and ecology. Prior to constructing our drift fences, we implemented a point quarter tree survey method to quantitatively assess differences in vegetation cover in two areas of our locality. A portion of forest dominated by planted loblolly pine was compared to one with heterogeneous hardwood diversity. We monitored our traps daily over a 90-day period and collected ambient temperature, soil temperature, air humidity, light intensity and soil pH data. Our findings indicate that our two localities differ in salamander community composition, but are similar in terms of most of the abiotic variables that we measured. These findings indicate that extremely localized biotic and abiotic variables influence salamander distribution in northern Georgia

9. Preliminary investigation of aquatic vertebrate diversity and anthropogenic impacts at Hurricane Creek, Lumpkin County, Georgia.

The aquatic ecosystems of North Georgia are constantly under pressures related to human activity. Understanding the effects, both positive and negative, of certain structures and activities on the diversity of aquatic fauna and stream health can provide useful insights for future conservation and maintenance practices. In this study, we focused on a segment of Hurricane Creek running along a loblolly pine forest in Lumpkin County, Georgia, scheduled for clearing in the fall of 2018. Following Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) protocols and regulations, 250 fish representing 19 species were captured and identified using backpack electro fishers and nets within a 260-meter stretch. The assemblage is dominated by insectivorous cyprinid fish, indicative of a healthy aquatic habitat. Utilizing an aquatic vertebrate index of biotic integrity (IBI) on the sample gathered in correlation with parameters such as pH and a riffle/run habitat assessment, we determined that Hurricane Creek can be classified as in good health based on the IBI in the section we assessed. Given the projected future developmental activity along the stream segment investigated here, our preliminary assessment provides important quantitative, baseline data that can be used to measure the impact tree clearing, as well as other anthropogenic activities, has on the overall health and diversity of this aquatic ecosystem in the future

10. Unlocking Ancient Carnivore Ecology with Contemporary Feeding Experiments

A longstanding question in the natural sciences focuses on the paleoecological role of carnivorans in ancient ecosystems. Despite the relative lack of fossilized carnivores, numerous fossil assemblages display evidence of their predation and behavior (e.g., tooth marks, broken bones, carcass deposits). Identifying the carnivores responsible for accumulating these assemblages is a challenging, but essential first step to understanding ancient carnivore-prey interactions. First, we investigate the relative number of fossils attributed to the families Felidae and Bovidae at East Turkana in northern Kenya to determine the proportional representation of these families in a well-documented and researched ancient mammal assemblage (n = 6,688). Second, although previous studies have focused on carnivorans in the wild, we used captive lions (Panthera leo) and wolves (Canis lupis) at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Dahlonega, Ga to investigate feeding dynamics. The captive carnivorans were allowed to feed on cow (Bos taurus) tibia for a period of 24 hours before the bones were analyzed for distinct patterns of bone consumption between taxa. We specifically focused on morphological characteristics analogous to those present in fossil assemblages (e.g., percent consumed, portion consumed, tooth mark length and spatial distribution). We find that although some overlap exists between taxa in these measures, our results indicate that further studies like this one can help to tease apart similarities and differences in the manner by which felids and canids process animal carcasses as well as their ecological role in ancient environments