Whooping Crane (Grus americana) family consumes a diversity of aquatic vertebrates during fall migration stopover at the Platte River, Nebraska

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo population of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) migrates approximately 4000 km through the central Great Plains biannually, between their breeding and wintering grounds. Whooping Cranes depend on stopover sites to provide secure resting locations and the caloric resources necessary to complete their migration, such as the USFWS-designated critical habitat area in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) of Nebraska. This area includes braided river habitat characterized by low-elevation and submerged sandbars, which provide important roosting and foraging opportunities for migrating Whooping Cranes. We used long-range photography, videography, and behavioral scan sampling to document forage items consumed by Whooping Cranes during an 11-day stopover in this area during the fall of 2019. We identified 3 adult-plumage Whooping Cranes and 1 colt consuming 16 individual vertebrates of at least 6 different species during the stopover. In total, we documented Whooping Cranes consuming 7 Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), 5 ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii), 1 sunfish (Centrarchidae), 1 carp/minnow relative (Cypriniformes), 1 perch relative (Percidae), and 1 Leopard Frog relative (Lithobates sp.). We estimated prey item lengths using the average exposed culmen measurements for adult Whooping Cranes and approximated their nutritional value using log-transformed length–weight regression equations with taxon-specific intercepts and slopes from secondary data sources. We estimated that aquatic vertebrate forage made up a significant portion of Whooping Crane daily energy requirements and provided substantial amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and protein not present at high levels in waste grains also consumed during migration. Additionally, we documented territorial behavior by adult Whooping Cranes during migration and evidence of adults teaching their colt to forage. Our study demonstrates the utility of photography and videography to natural history research and indicates that aquatic vertebrates may be a relatively regular part of Whooping Crane diet in the CPRV. RESUMEN.—La población de grullas trompeteras (Grus americana) de Aransas-Wood Buffalo migra aproximadamente 4000 km dos veces al año a través de las Grandes Llanuras (Great Plains) centrales, entre sus sitios de reproducción y sus sitios de invernada. Las grullas trompeteras dependen de los sitios donde hacen escalas para obtener lugares de descanso y adquirir los recursos calóricos necesarios para completar su migración, tales como, el área de hábitat crítico designada por USFWS en Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) de Nebraska. Esta área cuenta con un hábitat fluvial trenzado caracterizado por bancos de arena sumergidos de baja elevación que constituyen importantes zonas de descanso y alimentación para las grullas trompeteras migratorias. En el otoño de 2019, durante una escala de 11 días, registramos los alimentos consumidos en el área por las grullas trompeteras, utilizando fotografías y videos de largo alcance y análisis conductuales. Identificamos tres grullas trompeteras adultas y una joven consumiendo 16 vertebrados de al menos seis especies diferentes. En total, registramos grullas trompeteras consumiendo siete peces gato americanos (Ictalurus punctatus), cinco peces con aletas radiadas (Actinopterygii), un pez luna (Centrarchidae), un pariente del pez carpa/piscardo (Cypriniformes), un pariente de la perca (Percidae) y un pariente de la rana leopardo (Lithobates sp.). Calculamos la longitud de las presas usando el promedio del tamaño de culmen de las grullas trompeteras adultas, y estimamos el valor nutricional con ecuaciones de regresión de talla-peso transformadas logarítmicamente con intersecciones y pendientes de taxones específicos provenientes de una fuente de datos secundarios. Estimamos que el consumo de vertebrados acuáticos proporciona una parte significativa de las necesidades energéticas diarias de la grulla trompetera, y grandes cantidades de calcio, fósforo y proteínas que no están presentes en altos niveles, en los granos de desecho, que también se consumen durante la migración. Además, documentamos el comportamiento territorial de las grullas trompeteras adultas durante la migración, así como la evidencia de adultos enseñando a sus crías a alimentarse. Nuestro estudio demuestra la utilidad de la fotografía y videografía en la investigación de la historia natural e indica que los vertebrados acuáticos pueden ser parte de la dieta regular de la grulla trompetera en el CPRV

Tributes to Rick Edwards upon His Retirement

I understand that you will be retiring from UNL in August. I wanted to express my sadness that you will be leaving the Center for Great Plains Studies, but am glad that you will now be able to perhaps enjoy life even more without having to do the administrative tasks that go with being the director of any organization. (RFD

A global picture of the S-1/S-0 conical intersection seam of benzene

A global picture of the S1/S0intersection seam of benzene is presented. Eleven new conical intersection critical points were located at the CASSCF level, the connectivity was mapped and the energies refined with CASPT 2. There are two seam branches related with pairs of degenerate A1g/B2uand Egstates at D6hsymmetry, respectively, and the two branches are connected by a seam segment of Cssymmetry. The global energy minimum of the seam is the half-boat shaped intersection that leads to a pre-fulvenic intermediate [I.J. Palmer, I.N. Ragazos, F. Bernardi, M. Olivucci, M.A. Robb, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 115 (1993) 673]. Several other intersections that can lead to the same intermediate or vibrationally hot benzene lie in a range of 3.7 eV above the global seam minimum. There is a recurrent connectivity pattern where permutationally isomeric seam segments are connected by intersections of a higher symmetry point groupThis work has been supported by Grant CTQ2008-06696 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN

Challenges and opportunities for improving the landscape for Lewy body dementia clinical trials.

Lewy body dementia (LBD), including dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson\u27s disease dementia, affects over a million people in the USA and has a substantial impact on patients, caregivers, and society. Symptomatic treatments for LBD, which can include cognitive, neuropsychiatric, autonomic, sleep, and motor features, are limited with only two drugs (cholinesterase inhibitors) currently approved by regulatory agencies for dementia in LBD. Clinical trials represent a top research priority, but there are many challenges in the development and implementation of trials in LBD. To address these issues and advance the field of clinical trials in the LBDs, the Lewy Body Dementia Association formed an Industry Advisory Council (LBDA IAC), in addition to its Research Center of Excellence program. The LBDA IAC comprises a diverse and collaborative group of experts from academic medical centers, pharmaceutical industries, and the patient advocacy foundation. The inaugural LBDA IAC meeting, held in June 2019, aimed to bring together this group, along with representatives from regulatory agencies, to address the topic of optimizing the landscape of LBD clinical trials. This review highlights the formation of the LBDA IAC, current state of LBD clinical trials, and challenges and opportunities in the field regarding trial design, study populations, diagnostic criteria, and biomarker utilization. Current gaps include a lack of standardized clinical assessment tools and evidence-based management strategies for LBD as well as difficulty and controversy in diagnosing LBD. Challenges in LBD clinical trials include the heterogeneity of LBD pathology and symptomatology, limited understanding of the trajectory of LBD cognitive and core features, absence of LBD-specific outcome measures, and lack of established standardized biologic, imaging, or genetic biomarkers that may inform study design. Demands of study participation (e.g., travel, duration, and frequency of study visits) may also pose challenges and impact trial enrollment, retention, and outcomes. There are opportunities to improve the landscape of LBD clinical trials by harmonizing clinical assessments and biomarkers across cohorts and research studies, developing and validating outcome measures in LBD, engaging the patient community to assess research needs and priorities, and incorporating biomarker and genotype profiling in study design

New standards for reducing gravity data: The North American gravity database

The North American gravity database as well as databases from Canada, Mexico, and the United States are being revised to improve their coverage, versatility, and accuracy. An important part of this effort is revising procedures for calculating gravity anomalies, taking into account our enhanced computational power, improved terrain databases and datums, and increased interest in more accurately defining long-wavelength anomaly components. Users of the databases may note minor differences between previous and revised database values as a result of these procedures. Generally, the differences do not impact the interpretation of local anomalies but do improve regional anomaly studies. The most striking revision is the use of the internationally accepted terrestrial ellipsoid for the height datum of gravity stations rather than the conventionally used geoid or sea level. Principal facts of gravity observations and anomalies based on both revised and previous procedures together with germane metadata will be available on an interactive Web-based data system as well as from national agencies and data centers. The use of the revised procedures is encouraged for gravity data reduction because of the widespread use of the global positioning system in gravity fieldwork and the need for increased accuracy and precision of anomalies and consistency with North American and national databases. Anomalies based on the revised standards should be preceded by the adjective “ellipsoidal” to differentiate anomalies calculated using heights with respect to the ellipsoid from those based on conventional elevations referenced to the geoid

Comparison of sequencing-based methods to profile DNA methylation and identification of monoallelic epigenetic modifications.

Analysis of DNA methylation patterns relies increasingly on sequencing-based profiling methods. The four most frequently used sequencing-based technologies are the bisulfite-based methods MethylC-seq and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS), and the enrichment-based techniques methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-seq) and methylated DNA binding domain sequencing (MBD-seq). We applied all four methods to biological replicates of human embryonic stem cells to assess their genome-wide CpG coverage, resolution, cost, concordance and the influence of CpG density and genomic context. The methylation levels assessed by the two bisulfite methods were concordant (their difference did not exceed a given threshold) for 82% for CpGs and 99% of the non-CpG cytosines. Using binary methylation calls, the two enrichment methods were 99% concordant and regions assessed by all four methods were 97% concordant. We combined MeDIP-seq with methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme (MRE-seq) sequencing for comprehensive methylome coverage at lower cost. This, along with RNA-seq and ChIP-seq of the ES cells enabled us to detect regions with allele-specific epigenetic states, identifying most known imprinted regions and new loci with monoallelic epigenetic marks and monoallelic expression

Progress report no. 1

Statement of responsibility on title-page reads: Editors: I.A. Forbes, M.J. Driscoll, D.D. Lanning, I. Kaplan, N.C. Rasmussen; Contributors: S.A. Ali, S.T. Brewer, D.K. Choi, F.M. Clikeman, W.R. Corcoran, M.J. Driscoll, I.A. Forbes, C.W. Forsberg, S.L. Ho, C.S. Kang, I. Kaplan, J.L. Klucar, D.D. Lanning, T.C. Leung, E.L. McFarland P.G. Mertens, N.R. Ortiz, A. Pant, N.A. Passman, N.C. Rasmussen, M.K. Sheaffer, D.A. Shupe, G.E. Sullivan, A.T. Supple, J.W. Synan, C.P. Tzanos, W.J. Westlake"MIT-4105-3."Includes bibliographical referencesProgress report; June 30, 1970U.S. Atomic Energy Commission contracts: AT(30-1)410

Big Data: Managing the Future\u27s Agriculture and Natural Resource Systems

Big Data: Managing the Future\u27s Agriculture and Natural Resource Systems Big data is the incredible flow of information that surrounds each of us, every day. Big data tools identify patterns and habits, not only in research, but in manufacturing, logistics–even ordering items online

Oceans Melting Greenland: Early Results from NASA's Ocean-Ice Mission in Greenland

Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet represents a major uncertainty in projecting future rates of global sea level rise. Much of this uncertainty is related to a lack of knowledge about subsurface ocean hydrographic properties, particularly heat content, how these properties are modified across the continental shelf, and about the extent to which the ocean interacts with glaciers. Early results from NASA’s five-year Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission, based on extensive hydrographic and bathymetric surveys, suggest that many glaciers terminate in deep water and are hence vulnerable to increased melting due to ocean-ice interaction. OMG will track ocean conditions and ice loss at glaciers around Greenland through the year 2020, providing critical information about ocean-driven Greenland ice mass loss in a warming climate