PERCEPTIONS OF MOOSE-HUMAN CONFLICTS IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Urban expansion produces obvious and deleterious ecological effects on wildlife habitat. Land development plans continue to be approved in Prince George, British Columbia, both within and on proximate land that is occupied by moose (Alces alces). We surveyed 100 residents of Prince George to determine how they perceive potential conflicts with moose and compared those perceptions with available local data. The majority (~75%) indicated that there were <50 moose-human encounterswithin Prince George in any given year; however, 222 moose-related reports occurred from April 2007-March 2008. This discrepancy indicates that the public probably underestimates both the presence of moose and moose-human conflicts in Prince George. We did not find that outdoor enthusiasts were more knowledgeable than others about managing moose-human conflicts, suggesting that broad public education and awareness programs are warranted. Understanding how to respond to moose and developing a “Moose Aware” program were two suggested strategies to reduce conflict. The vast majority of residents (92%) enjoy moose and want moose to remain part of the Prince George environment; only 9% were in favour of euthanasia or sharp-shooting to resolve conflicts. Because 40% indicated that the best option was leaving moose alone, managers will need to develop more effective strategies to minimize and manage moose-human conflicts

PERCEPTIONS OF MOOSE-HUMAN CONFLICTS IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Urban expansion produces obvious and deleterious ecological effects on wildlife habitat. Land development plans continue to be approved in Prince George, British Columbia, both within and on proximate land that is occupied by moose (Alces alces). We surveyed 100 residents of Prince George to determine how they perceive potential conflicts with moose and compared those perceptions with available local data. The majority (~75%) indicated that there were <50 moose-human encounterswithin Prince George in any given year; however, 222 moose-related reports occurred from April 2007-March 2008. This discrepancy indicates that the public probably underestimates both the presence of moose and moose-human conflicts in Prince George. We did not find that outdoor enthusiasts were more knowledgeable than others about managing moose-human conflicts, suggesting that broad public education and awareness programs are warranted. Understanding how to respond to moose and developing a “Moose Aware” program were two suggested strategies to reduce conflict. The vast majority of residents (92%) enjoy moose and want moose to remain part of the Prince George environment; only 9% were in favour of euthanasia or sharp-shooting to resolve conflicts. Because 40% indicated that the best option was leaving moose alone, managers will need to develop more effective strategies to minimize and manage moose-human conflicts

\u3ci\u3eDrosophila\u3c/i\u3e Muller F Elements Maintain a Distinct Set of Genomic Properties Over 40 Million Years of Evolution

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D. erecta, D. mojavensis, and D. grimshawi F elements and euchromatic domains from the Muller D element. We find that F elements have greater transposon density (25–50%) than euchromatic reference regions (3–11%). Among the F elements, D. grimshawi has the lowest transposon density (particularly DINE-1: 2% vs. 11–27%). F element genes have larger coding spans, more coding exons, larger introns, and lower codon bias. Comparison of the Effective Number of Codons with the Codon Adaptation Index shows that, in contrast to the other species, codon bias in D. grimshawi F element genes can be attributed primarily to selection instead of mutational biases, suggesting that density and types of transposons affect the degree of local heterochromatin formation. F element genes have lower estimated DNA melting temperatures than D element genes, potentially facilitating transcription through heterochromatin. Most F element genes (~90%) have remained on that element, but the F element has smaller syntenic blocks than genome averages (3.4–3.6 vs. 8.4–8.8 genes per block), indicating greater rates of inversion despite lower rates of recombination. Overall, the F element has maintained characteristics that are distinct from other autosomes in the Drosophila lineage, illuminating the constraints imposed by a heterochromatic milieu