Changes in fish populations in the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande

The Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande suffer from environmental degradation that has negatively impacted native fish populations and their distributions. Macrhybopsis aestivalis (speckled chub), Notropis jemezanus (Rio Grande shiner), Rhinichthys cataractae (longnose dace) and Cycleptus elongatus (blue sucker) populations appear to have suffered recent declines. Although diminished water quantity is likely an important factor in these declines, related changes in channel morphology precipitated by massive stands of Arundo donax (giant reed) and Tamarix sp. (salt cedar) may also be responsible. These invasive exotics have essentially channelized the river, disrupted normal sediment distribution and reduced shallow, low-velocity habitats. Much of the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande are devoid of sandy sediment and most riffles are now composed of gravel and cobble.Integrative Biolog

State government finances: World War II to the current crisis

This article will explore the extent, causes, and proposed solutions of the current fiscal crisis from a historical perspective of state finance. Although the current fiscal crisis is severe, it becomes more difficult to assess unless one has a more complete understanding of the historical changes that have occurred in state revenue streams. This article will address the role of major revenue sources in the context of the current slowdown and also investigate how reliance on various revenue sources has changed over the past 50 years. The role of non-traditional revenue sources, such as state lotteries and casino gambling, will also be discussed. The article further addresses various fiscal institutions, such as tax and expenditure limitation laws, rainy day funds, and balanced budget rules, and explores the role each play in state budgeting and finance.Taxation ; Budget ; Finance, Public

Red ink in the rearview mirror: local fiscal conditions and the issuance of traffic tickets

Municipalities have revenue motives for enforcing traffic laws in addition to public safety motives because many traffic offenses are punished via fines and the issuing municipality often retains the revenue. Anecdotal evidence supports this revenue motive. We empirically test this revenue motive using panel data on North Carolina counties. We find that significantly more tickets are issued in the year following a decline in revenue, but the issuance of traffic tickets does not decline in years following revenue increases. Our results suggest that tickets are used as a revenue generation tool rather than solely a means to increase public safety. ; Formerly titled: Are traffic tickets countercyclical?Local government

State government finances: World War II to the current crises

This article examines the current state budget crises from a historical perspective. The role of major expenditures and revenue sources in the context of the current slowdown and how reliance on various revenue sources has changed since World War II are addressed. Tax revenue variability over the business cycle and the use of nontraditional revenue sources, such as state lotteries and casino gaming, are also discussed. The article further comments on the role of fiscal institutions, such as tax and expenditure limitation laws, rainy day funds, and balanced budget rules, in state budgeting and finance.Taxation ; Budget ; Finance, Public

An Annotated Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of Texas, with Keys to Identification of Species

Forty-five families and 247 species of fishes are known to inhabit the freshwaters of Texas. We report on the distribution and status of these fishes and provide a key to their identification. Of the native fishes originally found in Texas, five taxa, Notropis orca (phantom shiner), Notropis simus simus (Rio Grande bluntnose shiner), Cyprinella lutrensis blairi (Maravillas red shiner), Gambusia amistadensis (Amistad gambusia) and Gambusia georgei (San Marcos gambusia) are apparently extinct, and three, Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis (Rio Grande cutthroat trout), Hybognathus amarus (Rio Grande silvery minnow) and Gambusia senilis (blotched gambusia) appear to be extirpated from the state. More than 20 percent of the remaining primary freshwater species appear to be in some need of protection.Integrative Biolog

A spatial analysis of state banking regulation

We use a spatial model to investigate a state’s choice of branch banking and interstate banking regimes as a function of the regime choices made by other states and other variables suggested in the literature. We extend the basic spatial econometric model by allowing spatial dependence to vary by geographic region. Our findings reveal that spatial effects have a large, statistically significant impact on state regulatory regime decisions. The importance of spatial correlation in the setting of state banking policies suggests the need to consider spatial effects in empirical models of state policies in general.Banks and banking ; Bank supervision

Regional disparities in the spatial correlation of state income growth

This paper presents new evidence of spatial correlation in U.S. state income growth. We extend the basic spatial econometric model used in the growth literature by allowing spatial correlation in state income growth to vary across geographic regions. We find positive spatial correlation in income growth rates across neighboring states, but that the strength of this spatial correlation varies considerably by region. Spatial correlation in income growth is highest for states located in the Northeast and the South. Our findings have policy implications both at the state and national level, and also suggest that growth models may benefit from incorporating more complex forms of spatial correlation.Regional economics ; Income distribution

Improved Parameters and New Lensed Features for Q0957+561 from WFPC2 Imaging

New HST WFPC2 observations of the lensed double QSO 0957+561 will allow improved constraints on the lens mass distribution and hence will improve the derived value of H$_0$. We first present improved optical positions and photometry for the known components of this lens. The optical separation between the A and B quasar images agrees with VLBI data at the 10 mas level, and the optical center of the primary lensing galaxy G1 coincides with the VLBI source G' to within 10 mas. The best previous model for this lens (Grogin and Narayan 1996) is excluded by these data and must be reevaluated. Several new resolved features are found within 10\arcsec of G1, including an apparent fold arc with two bright knots. Several other small galaxies are detected, including two which may be multiple images of each other. We present positions and crude photometry of these objects.Comment: 7 pages including 2 postscript figures, LaTeX, emulateapj style. Also available at http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu:80/users/philf/www/papers/list.htm

Proceedings of the Desert Fishes Council Special Publication 2021

Integrative Biolog

Year 1 report for ‘Conserving Texas Biodiversity: Status, Trends, and Conservation Planning for Fishes of Greatest Conservation Need’

State Wildlife Grant Program, grant TX T-106-1 (CFDA# 15.634), Contract No. 459125 UTA14-001402Substantive progress was made on all major Project Activities in this first year: Activity 1. Coordinate and Facilitate Science and Conservation Actions for Conserving Texas Biodiversity - We expanded and strengthened UT-TPWD coordination, transitioning the relationship between these partners into a much more collaborative one than was previously realized. The flow of data between TPWD and the Fishes of Texas Project (supported in part by this project) has become much more bi-directional. Many newly collected TPWD specimens, agency databases, legacy data products and reports, and feedback from resource managers are now beginning to contribute substantively to growth and diversity (now including non-specimen-vouchered records) of data served through the FoTX Project’s websites. Work on cleaning and normalizing of FoTX’s online specimen-vouchered database continued, and the updated FoTX occurrence and distribution data are being actively used. Most recently they were used by this project, together with expert (TPWD, UT and others’) opinions, to develop recommendations on conservation status of native fishes of Texas’ Species of Greatest Conservation Need for TPWD’s consideration in anticipated updates to the Texas Conservation Action Plan. Within two months of this report, a new and substantially larger and improved version of the FoTX website/database and related collection of images, field notes, and ancillary datasets, will be formally announced. Activity 2. Identify Priority Geographic Management Units for Conserving Fishes of Greatest Conservation Need - We used FoTX data in a systematic conservation area prioritization analysis to identify Native Fish Conservation Areas (NFCAs) for large portions of Texas where such comprehensive planning had not been previously carried out. Updated and new FoTX data for all Texas fish Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) were used in production of newly improved Species Distribution Models for input into this planning process, and the results of the planning exercise have already been integrated by TPWD into management prioritizations of both those species and the resultant NFCAs. Activity 3. Develop Monitoring and Conservation Plans for Native Fish Conservation Areas - Monitoring and conservation plans were delivered to TPWD for all NFCAs identified in Activity 2. Activity 4. Conduct Field-Based Surveys Detailed Biodiversity Assessments (i.e. Bioblitzing), and Citizen-Based Monitoring - Field surveys with detailed biodiversity assessments (“bioblitzes”) and citizen-based monitoring were conducted in three areas selected collaboratively by TPWD and FoTX Project staff from within the identified NFCAs: Nueces River headwaters, Big Cypress Bayou basin, and Village Creek basin. Along with this field effort, FoTX Project staff developed and circulated guidelines and best practices, and provided training for citizen-based monitoring that leverages iNaturalist for capture and reporting of photo-vouchered occurrence records in ways that will help assure scientifically useful data are obtained. All specimens acquired during these field efforts, and from many other routine specimen acquisitions from across the state (1845 total records/jars of specimens), were cataloged in the UT Fish Collection database. From there, these new records will soon be fed into GBIF, VertNet, FishNet2 and other major online data aggregators, including the online Fishes of Texas database.Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceIntegrative Biolog