Restoration of Bison (\u3ci\u3eBison bison\u3c/i\u3e) to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, A Feasibility Study

Executive Summary Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a 3,057-acre park located in western Nebraska. The unit is comprised of northern mixed-grass prairie vegetation, typical of the Northern Great Plains. Weather, fire, and grazing are generally considered to be the ecological drivers of prairie ecosystems and critical for prairie health. However, grazing has essentially been absent since the 1960s. In 2014, a Department of the Interior report explicitly listed the park as a high priority for bison restoration. This report evaluates the feasibility, management options, benefits, and challenges of restoring bison to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. A potential bison pasture encompasses about 2,676 acres within the park, essentially the area east of Highway 29. Assuming 2,676 acres are available to bison, a forage intake rate of 2.667%, a natural sex and age structure for the herd, an average bison weight of 1,000 pounds, and an allocation of 33% of annual plant productivity to bison consumption, the park could support 166 bison in the fall in a normal-precipitation year including calves, or about 136 yearlings and adults. Using the same assumptions the dry year carrying capacity is 129 animals and the wet year carrying capacity is 219 animals (including calves). Changes in other assumptions and objectives result in different modeled carrying capacities ranging from 52 to 443 animals, demonstrating the latitude available to management. Using the assumptions listed above, if the portion of the park that encompasses the visitor center, park housing, and a private in-holding is excluded from the bison pasture (an area of about 300 acres) then the carrying capacity is reduced to about 147 bison in the fall. If bison were restored to the park they would occur in a closed system absent of natural predation to affect population growth. Assuming a starting population of 40 yearlings (at a 50:50 sex ratio), the herd would reach carrying capacity about 9-11 years later. Numerous anthropogenic options are available to manage the herd size; however, the most conventional and feasible consists of the park periodically rounding up and transferring live animals to other entities such as Native American tribes. This approach is used by many NPS units with bison. Tradeoffs exist between the frequency of the removal operations and the quantity and age-sex classes of the animals removed in a cull. For example, assuming a goal of a long-term average population of 166 bison in the fall, an annual cull of 70% of the yearlings (about 23 animals) would maintain the herd at that level as would a cull conducted every third year that removed 40% of all age and sex classes (removing about 81 animals total). The greater the duration between culls the greater the variability in herd size, e.g., a cull every fifth year that removes 60% of the herd results in a population that fluctuates between 99 and 202 animals. Other considerations in selecting a culling strategy include ecological objectives, bison genetic goals, available funding and infrastructure, drought, and availability and desires of the recipients of the bison. The conservation of bison genetics is a high priority within the NPS. Frequent smaller culls better conserve bison genetics as the population does not experience the deep nadirs caused by the removal of large numbers of animals necessitated by less frequent culls. The larger the herd the better genetic diversity is conserved, all else being equal. Genetic diversity could be better conserved if an Agate Fossil Beds herd was managed as a metapopulation with other NPS herds. The park could also choose to manage bison in partnership neighbors, one of whom owns about 5,000 acres. Such a partnership would greatly increase the size of the herd, ecological function, and genetic conservation. The potential benefits of restoring bison to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument include: 1) restoring a native species to the park, 2) restoring an ecological process to the park that enhances the conservation of biodiversity, 3) improving visitor experience and understanding, 4) benefitting local communities via increased tourism, 5) restoring a Native American ethnographic and cultural resource, 6) contributing to meeting DOI and NPS bison goals, 7) establishing a metapopulation that contributes to agency and global conservation of bison genetic diversity, 8) establishing a genetically pure bison herd (assuming the needed technology is completed), 9) establishing a satellite herd that provides redundancy in case of a catastrophe to another NPS herd(s), 10) being a repository for Yellowstone National Park or other park bison, if needed. The challenges to bison restoration at the park include the cost and potential impacts of bison-associated infrastructure and maintenance, the need to hire staff with natural resource expertise, and the need to foster support within the agency and with stakeholders. Depending on the location of the bison pastures the park may also need to address private inholdings within the park administrative boundary, impacts on paleontological resources, issues associated with a county road, and impacts to the park administrative areas and structures. The small size of the park makes a well-designed prescribed fire program and an active vegetation monitoring program especially important to assure park goals are being met. This feasibility study primarily provides a scientific evaluation of restoring bison to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. Ultimately a full evaluation that considers other concerns and impacts (e.g. cultural resources) would need to be conducted as part of an environmental assessment and management plan. This report tries to facilitate that process wherever possible by analyzing and presenting a range of values. An environmental assessment would also need to consider action alternatives that were not fully vetted here, such as introducing cattle in lieu of bison for purposes of restoring the grazing process. From an ecological and conservation perspective there would be many benefits to restoring bison to the park, and it would be very feasible

BOOK REVIEWS: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains. Dan Flores.

Before describing what Flores’ book is, I must state what it is not. It is not a technical book designed for scholarly readers. Sources are not fully cited, and the bibliography is of limited scope. Nor is it a comprehensive book of all the megafauna of the Great Plains. Although chapters are devoted to extant species such as American bison (Bison bison), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), and coyote (Canis latrans), there are only passing references to mule and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus and O. virginianus, respectively), elk (Cervus canadensis), and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Rather, Flores devotes chapters to grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and wolves (Canus lupus), two species that are essentially absent from the current Great Plains. Interestingly, the modern horse (Equus caballus), recently returned to the region by Europeans, is afforded a chapter. The somewhat arbitrary list of species could have been selected by the author because he viewed them as the epitome of Great Plains wildlife, or because they best told the story of the relationship that humans have had with large Great Plains animals, or because the author simply had a personal interest in those species. Flores mentions, but doesn’t weigh in on the sensitive topic of what caused the extinction of most of the region’s megafauna about 10,000 years ago (e.g., aboriginal people), when the Great Plains truly rivaled the Serengeti in terms of large animal diversity. I think it fair to say that this isn’t really a book about the large animals of the Great Plains, but rather, is about the people and cultures that essentially destroyed one Great Plains ecosystem and replaced it with another. Ultimately, this is a book about societies, cultural attitudes toward nature, and the psyche of the people who pulled the triggers. For that goal, it succeeds

Observations of Bobcats, Lynx rufus, Hunting Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus, in Western South Dakota

There is a paucity of scientific literature describing Bobcat (Lynx rufus) hunting strategies. I document 13 observations of Bobcats hunting Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) in western South Dakota. In all cases the Bobcats stationed themselves next to a prairie dog mound in an attempt to ambush prairie dogs emerging from their burrows. In eight cases the Bobcats successfully captured a prairie dog emerging from the burrow, in one case the Bobcat turned and captured a prairie dog that had walked up behind it, and in the other cases the Bobcats lunged at the burrow openings, but did not capture a prairie dog. There were two variations of the tactic: in some cases Bobcats entered a colony prior to prairie dog emergence and stationed themselves next to a mound, whereas in other cases Bobcats stationed themselves next to a burrow that a prairie dog had just escaped to. One Bobcat appeared to have waited next to the same mound for at least 7.5 hr. Prairie dogs may comprise a large portion of a Bobcat's winter diet in landscapes where prairie dog colonies exist in close proximity to badlands or woody cover

Sprouty1 regulates reversible quiescence of a self-renewing adult muscle stem cell pool during regeneration.

Satellite cells are skeletal muscle stem cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation after transplantation, but whether they contribute to endogenous muscle fiber repair has been unclear. The transcription factor Pax7 marks satellite cells and is critical for establishing the adult satellite cell pool. By using a lineage tracing approach, we show that after injury, quiescent adult Pax7(+) cells enter the cell cycle; a subpopulation returns to quiescence to replenish the satellite cell compartment, while others contribute to muscle fiber formation. We demonstrate that Sprouty1 (Spry1), a receptor tyrosine kinase signaling inhibitor, is expressed in quiescent Pax7(+) satellite cells in uninjured muscle, downregulated in proliferating myogenic cells after injury, and reinduced as Pax7(+) cells re-enter quiescence. We show that Spry1 is required for the return to quiescence and homeostasis of the satellite cell pool during repair. Our results therefore define a role for Spry1 in adult muscle stem cell biology and tissue repair

Towards amphibious robots: Asymmetric flapping foil motion underwater produces large thrust efficiently

The development of amphibious robots requires actuation that enables them to crawl as well as swim; sea turtles are excellent examples of amphibious functionality, that can serve as the biomimetic model for the development of amphibious robots. In this paper we have implemented the observed swimming kinematics of Myrtle, a green sea turtle Chelonia Mydas residing in the Giant Ocean Tank of the New England Aquarium, on the 1.5-meter long biomimetic vehicle Finnegan the RoboTurtle. It is shown that these kinematics result in outstanding performance in (a) rapid pitching, and (b) rapid level turning. The turning radius for the rigid hull vehicle is 0.8 body lengths, a remarkable improvement in turning ability for a rigid hull vehicle. Still Finnegan’s performance lags the live turtle’s performance by about 20%. Careful observations have shown that turtles employ a fin motion in-line with the direction of locomotion; this degree of freedom was not available to the Finnegan fins, as presently designed. Experimental tests on a flapping fin equipped with this third degree of freedom have shown that the in-line motion enhances the fin’s performance. This hydrodynamic result is doubly beneficial to an amphibious robot, because it allows for further enhancements in the hydrodynamic function of fins, while the in-line motion allows the same fins to be used for crawling on land.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sea Grant College Program; United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Science

Factor H autoantibodies in atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome correlate with CFHR1/CFHR3 deficiency

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a severe renal disease that is associated with defective complement regulation caused by multiple factors. We previously described the deficiency of factor H-related proteins CFHR1 and CFHR3 as predisposing factor for aHUS. Here we identify in an extended cohort of 147 aHUS patients that 16 juvenile individuals (ie, 11%) who either lacked the CFHR1/CFHR3 completely (n = 14) or showed extremely low CFHR1/CFHR3 plasma levels (n = 2) are positive for factor H (CFH) autoantibodies. The binding epitopes of all 16 analyzed autoantibodies were localized to the C-terminal recognition region of factor H, which represents a hot spot for aHUS mutations. Thus we define a novel subgroup of aHUS, termed DEAP HUS (deficiency of CFHR proteins and CFH autoantibody positive) that is characterized by a combination of genetic and acquired factors. Screening for both factors is obviously relevant for HUS patients as reduction of CFH autoantibody levels represents a therapeutic option

The invisible fish: hydrodynamic constraints for predator-prey interaction in fossil fish Saurichthys compared to recent actinopterygians

Recent pike-like predatory fishes attack prey animals by a quick strike out of rest or slow movement. This fast-start behaviour includes a preparatory, a propulsive and a final phase, and the latter is crucial for the success of the attack. To prevent prey from escape, predators tend to minimise the duration of the interaction and the disturbance caused to surrounding water in order to not be detected by the prey's lateral line sensory system. We compared the hydrodynamic properties of the earliest fossil representative of the pike-like morphotype, the Triassic actinopterygian Saurichthys, with several recent pike-like predators by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Rainbow trout has been used as a control example of a fish with a generalist body shape. Our results show that flow disturbance produced by Saurichthys was low and similar to that of the recent forms Belone and Lepisosteus, thus indicative of an effective ambush predator. Drag coefficients are low for all these fishes, but also for trout, which is a good swimmer over longer distances but generates considerable disturbance of flow. Second-highest flow disturbance values are calculated for Esox, which compensates the large disturbance with its extremely high acceleration performance (i.e. attacks at high speeds) and the derived teleostean protrusible mouth that allows prey catching from longer distances compared to the other fishes. We show CFD modelling to be a useful tool for palaeobiological reconstruction of fossil fishes, as it allows quantification of impacts of body morphology on a hypothesised lifestyle

The WHO-5 well-being scale and its correlation to depressive and manic symptoms among outpatients with bipolar disorder or unipolar depression

INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of longitudinal studies of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) or unipolar depression (UD) in terms of psychological well-being as measured by the WHO-5 and the correlation to symptom scores. It is of interest to investigate whether the WHO-5 is useful in monitoring patients with mood disorders over time, as a tool in measurement-based care, and as a supplement to other psychometric measures. OBJECTIVES: In this study we investigate the correlation at baseline between the depressive symptom scores according to the 6-item Hamilton Depression Score (HDS-6) and the WHO-5 scores in outpatients treated for BD or UD. Furthermore, in patients with BD we investigate correlations between manic symptom scores according to the modified Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale (MAS-M) and the WHO-5 scores. Lastly, in patients with BD or UD, we investigate the correlations between endpoint-baseline change in WHO-5 and change in MAS-M and HDS-6. METHODS: A longitudinal study of 200 outpatients diagnosed and treated for either BD or UD. Patients will be measured at baseline and at least four weeks later. Baseline data are presented as frequencies, means and standard deviations or medians with interquartile ranges as appropriate. All correlations are presented as scatter plots and a Spearman correlation analysis RESULTS: The study is ongoing, but the results will be available for presentation at the EPA in 2021. CONCLUSIONS: The WHO-5 may represent a relevant outcome measure in the treatment of BD and UD. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships

Local Finite Element Approximation of Sobolev Differential Forms

We address fundamental aspects in the approximation theory of vector-valued finite element methods, using finite element exterior calculus as a unifying framework. We generalize the Cl\'ement interpolant and the Scott-Zhang interpolant to finite element differential forms, and we derive a broken Bramble-Hilbert Lemma. Our interpolants require only minimal smoothness assumptions and respect partial boundary conditions. This permits us to state local error estimates in terms of the mesh size. Our theoretical results apply to curl-conforming and divergence-conforming finite element methods over simplicial triangulations.Comment: 22 pages. Comments welcom

Planting Date, Hybrid Maturity, and Weather Effects on Maize Yield and Crop Stage

Unfavorable weather conditions frequently cause farmers to plant maize (Zea mays L.) outside the optimum planting timeframe. We analyzed maize yield and phenology from a multilocation, year, hybrid relative maturity, and planting date experiment performed in Iowa, USA. Our objectives were to determine the optimum combination of planting date and relative maturity to maximize maize grain yield per environment and to elucidate the risk associated with the use of “full-season hybrids” when planting occurs beyond the optimum planting date. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) attributed 70% of the variability in grain yield to planting date and only 10% to relative maturity indicating that short and full-season hybrid relative maturities produced similar grain yields regardless of when they were planted as long as the crops reached maturity before harvesting. Our analysis indicated time to silking is a good indication of expected yield potential with a critical time (beyond which yield is reduced) to be 23 July for Iowa. Furthermore, we found that a minimum growing degree accumulation of 648°Cday during the grain-filling period maximized maize yield. Overall, this study brings new results to assist decision making regarding planting date by hybrid relative maturity across Iowa