Symposium Wrap-Up: What is Missing?

The program committee requested that I provide a symposium wrap-up. Generally such presentations provide 1 individual the opportunity to summarize and integrate the information presented during the meeting. That overview is often helpful, if there are several concurrent sessions or if most of the attendees spend their time interacting in the hallways and, thus, miss some of the presentations. Also, the wrap-up speaker can congratulate the organizers of the meeting for a job well done. I intend to neither summarize the information presented nor thank the organizers for doing a good job. Neither of these is necessary, because you all attended the majority of presentations and can summarize and integrate the data in your own head; the fact that the sessions were so well attended attests to an extremely good job done by the organizing committee. So, rather than doing what is not necessary, I intend to discuss what was missing in this symposium, the problems that were not addressed in the papers, and the data gaps that must be filled if we are to successfully manage quail populations in North America. From my perspective, these fall into 6 categories

Body Fat Content of Bobwhites in Relation to Food Plantings in Kansas

A wildlife habitat improvement program was initiated on the Fort Riley Military Reservation in 1961 to increase winter food supplies for bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). As part of an ongoing evaluation of this program, 164 bobwhite quail were collected during the fall and winter of 1968-72 for fat analysis. Fat content in carcasses of birds collected \u3c600 m from a food plot was compared with fat content of birds collected \u3e900 m from a food plot. During winter months, birds collected near a food plot were significantly (P\u3c0.10 to P\u3c0.05) heavier than birds not having access to a food plot. Fat content of birds close to a food plot was likewise greater (P\u3c0.10 to P\u3c0.01) than fat content in birds not using food plots. Calculations indicate that birds close to food plots have sufficient energy reserves to provide a 79% greater protection against brief periods of food deprivation than birds far from a food plot. Fat energy reserves alone in a quail close to a food plot could provide sufficient energy for 2.0 days of survival whereas quail far from food plots contained fat energy reserves sufficient for only 1.1 days of survival. Reserve energy for animals is stored in the body mainly in the form of fatty acids. The quantity of stored reserve energy (fat) may be critical to the animal\u27s survival during periods of food scarcity or extremely cold weather. Much work has been done on fat content, composition, and regulation in songbirds (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 23, 24). Only recently has any attention been given to body fat reserves of wild gallinaceous birds under natural conditions. West and Meng (25) reported on the relationship of total fat and fatty acid composition to diet of willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) in Alaska while Moss and Lough (14) presented similar data for 3 species of grouse in Scotland. Almost no attention has been given to fat reserves of bobwhite quail even though it is known that fat reserves may be essential for bird survival during periods of dietary stress (15, 23 and others). The most recent book on bobwhite quail (22) does not even discuss the importance of maintaining adequate fat reserves in quail for winter survival and spring breeding. In fact, not until only very recently has any attention been focused on basic energetics of bobwhite quail (3). Earlier I included a small amount of body-fat data in an evaluation of food plantings for bobwhite quail in Kansas (18). The purpose of the study described herein was to gather more extensive data on body fat content in bobwhite quail, especially as related to seasonal changes and food plantings in Kansas

Seasonal Changes and Habitat Influencing Helminthiasis in Bobwhite Quail

Two hundred forty-four bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) were collected in Kansas and examined for helminths during 1963-1966. Total incidence of helminthic infection was 23%; 24% in juveniles and 22% in adults. Total incidence of nematode infection was 13%, cestodes, 10% and no trematodes were recovered. Six species of nematodes, 1 species of cestode, and 1 species of acanthocephalan were found in the quail examined. Peak incidence of infection occurred from September to November during the 3- yr study .. Incidence of infection was greater during February-April 1965, than during similar periods of 1964 and 1966. Bobwhites collected within 0.5 mile of farms with poultry had a helminthic incidence of 38%, whereas, those collected 1.5 miles or more removed from farms with poultry had an incidence of only 8%, suggesting that poultry may be serving as a reservoir of helminthic infection for wild bobwhites

Characterization of Nuclear Fuel using Multivariate Statistical Analysis

Various combinations of reactor type and fuel composition have been characterized using principle components analysis (PCA) of the concentrations of 9 U and Pu isotopes in the 10 fuel as a function of burnup. The use of PCA allows the reduction of the 9-dimensional data (isotopic concentrations) into a 3-dimensional approximation, giving a visual representation of the changes in nuclear fuel composition with burnup. Real-world variation in the concentrations of {sup 234}U and {sup 236}U in the fresh (unirradiated) fuel was accounted for. The effects of reprocessing were also simulated. The results suggest that, 15 even after reprocessing, Pu isotopes can be used to determine both the type of reactor and the initial fuel composition with good discrimination. Finally, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PSLDA) was investigated as a substitute for PCA. Our results suggest that PLSDA is a better tool for this application where separation between known classes is most important

Influence of Food Plots on Nothern Bobwhite Movements, Habitat Use, and Home Range

Natural resource managers at the Fort Riley Military Reservation in Kansas have established plantings to provide winter food for northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) since 1959. These food plots have the potential for reducing movements and home range sizes of bobwhites during winter because birds should apparently need to forage over less area to obtain sufficient food. To determine if this was occurring, we conducted a 3-year radio telemetry study of bobwhites on Fort Riley. We equipped 511 bobwhites with radio transmitters and followed their movements and habitat use from October through March, beginning in 1994. Daily movements of bobwhites near food plots varied by field season and study site, but generally did not differ significantly between food plot and non-food plot areas. Home ranges of bobwhites did not differ significantly between food plot and non-food plot areas, study site, or field season. Prairie habitat always was used significantly less than its proportional availability by bobwhites. Food plots were used significantly more than their proportional availability during 2 of 3 field seasons. Habitat use by bobwhites on the 2 study sites differed between food plot and non-food plot areas

Lesser Prairie-chicken Use of Harvested Corn Fields during Fall and Winter in Southwestern Kansas

The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has declined in numbers in Kansas primarily due to the conversion of sand sagebrush (Artemisia .filifolia) prairie to cropland. The lesser prairie-chicken in Finney County, Kansas exists primarily in large fragments of sand sagebrush prairie, and it forages during fall and winter on waste grain in harvested com (Zea mays) fields adjacent to prairie fragments. We used radio-telemetry to monitor lesser prairie chicken locations and found no significant relationship between numbers of bird locations and amounts of waste grain on the ground in harvested com fields. Even the harvested fields with the least amount of waste grain seemed to have sufficient amounts of food available for foraging lesser prairie-chicken. There appeared to be no need to develop supplemental food sources for wintering lesser prairie-chicken populations that have access to harvested fields of irrigated com in Finney County

A Thin Film Viscoplastic Theory for Calving Glaciers: Toward a Bound on the Calving Rate of Glaciers

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151877/1/jgrf21080.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151877/2/jgrf21080_am.pd