Long Distance Movements and Disjunct Spatial Use of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Inland Waters of the Pacific Northwest

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, adult harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) typically limit their movements and activity to <50 km from their primary haul-out site. As a result, the ecological impact of harbor seals is viewed as limited to relatively small spatial scales. Harbor seals in the Pacific Northwest are believed to remain <30 km from their primary haul-out site, one of several contributing factors to the current stock designation. However, movement patterns within the region are not well understood because previous studies have used radio-telemetry, which has range limitations. Our objective was to use satellite-telemetry to determine the regional spatial scale of movements. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Satellite tags were deployed on 20 adult seals (n=16 males and 4 females) from two rocky reefs and a mudflat-bay during April-May 2007. Standard filtering algorithms were used to remove outliers, resulting in an average (± SD) of 693 (± 377) locations per seal over 110 (± 32) days. A particle filter was implemented to interpolate locations temporally and decrease erroneous locations on land. Minimum over-water distances were calculated between filtered locations and each seal's capture site to show movement of seals over time relative to their capture site, and we estimated utilization distributions from kernel density analysis to reflect spatial use. Eight males moved >100 km from their capture site at least once, two of which traveled round trip to and from the Pacific coast, a total distance >400 km. Disjunct spatial use patterns observed provide new insight into general harbor seal behavior. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Long-distance movements and disjunct spatial use of adult harbor seals have not been reported for the study region and are rare worldwide in such a large proportion of tagged individuals. Thus, the ecological influence of individual seals may reach farther than previously assumed

Americans Value Happiness, But Block Required Policies

Abstract. In his book ‘‘The Politics of Happiness’’ Derek Bok argues that happiness should be a goal in public policy. He presents an inventory of social problems in the US with negative effects on happiness, like inadequate education, chronic pain, sleep disorders, depressions, divorce, single-parent families, and financial hardship. He presents interesting options to deal with these problems. He also pays attention to some more general happiness-issues for US-policymakers, like the question of economic growth without happiness and the reputation of the US-government. Bok’s findings are consistent with available data about the high levels of negative feelings in the US: stress, depressions, sadness, anger and worry. His message is quite clear: policy-makers can use the findings of happiness-research to improve their decisions. Keywords Economic growth Education Financial Governmen

Parental Cohabitation Experiences and Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes

Cohabitation, Family structure,

The impact of biological preferences on parental investments in children and step-children

Family structure, Bargaining, Divorce, Remarriage, J12, J13, K10,

Quality of non-resident father-child relationships: between “caring for” and “caring about”

The book series “European Studies of Population” (ESPO), ISSN 1381-3579Using the cross-sectional Fathering after Union Dissolution in Lithuania survey data (2016), this chapter analyzes the quality of non-resident father-child relationships after a parental union dissolution. We assess the relationship quality perceived by fathers and focus on both positive elements such as intimacy and approval and negative ones such as conflict and child’s dominance in relationships. The influence of fathers’ resources such as their personal well-being, socio-economic resources, parenting practices and a family situation on relationship quality is also examined in the chapter. Following Smart (J Law Soc 18(4):485–500, 1991) we use the concepts of “caring for” and “caring about” specifically developed to describe the post-divorce father-child relationship quality. We make the hypotheses that fathers’ higher personal, socio-economic resources and involved parenting practices contribute positively to the “caring for” type of relationship, while limited resources contribute to the “caring about” type of relationships. Our findings demonstrate that the father-child relationship quality is associated with personal and parenting resources, while the effect of men’s socio-economic resources is not relevant if child-related characteristics are controlled. We also find the positive association between fathers’ re-partnering and new children and the quality of the relationships (less conflict and more paternal authority) with non-resident childrenSociologijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta