Effects of Growing Season Fire on Northern Bobwhite Nest Site Selection and Survival

Restoration and management of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) communities necessitates frequent prescribed fire. Prior to human colonization of the southeastern United States thousands of years ago, longleaf pine forests burned primarily during the growing-season as a result of lightning-ignited fires. Growing-season prescribed fire may suppress woody vegetation and promote herbaceous groundcover better than dormant-season fire. Despite the potential ecological benefits of growing-season fire, many land managers use only dormant-season prescribed fire to avoid destruction of ground nests, including those from northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Our objective was to determine bobwhite nest survival and nest-site selection in the presence of early, growing-season prescribed fire on a 3-year return interval. We compared vegetation composition and structure at nest sites and paired random sites to identify important predictors of nest-site selection and to evaluate the effects of habitat covariates on nest survival. We captured bobwhite and attached radio transmitters. Radio-marked individuals were tracked to locate nests and determine nest survival. We documented 2 nests that burned during a growing-season prescribed fire. All 14 nests were located within units that were burned at least 2 years prior, putting these nests at a greater risk for being destroyed by prescribed fire that occurred on a 3-year return interval. We suggest that restricting early, growing-season prescribed burning to April through early June should limit an overlap between prescribed burns and the peak of northern bobwhite nesting season, which occurred mid-July at our study site. Additionally, longer fire return intervals may be needed to allow development of woody understory structure selected by bobwhites for nesting, especially on poor soils like those on our study site in the Sandhills physiographic region

Survey of Canada Goose Feces for Presence of \u3cem\u3eGiardia\u3c/em\u3e

As resident Canada goose (Branta canadensis) populations increase throughout North America, so do the health and environmental risks associated with goose feces. Previous studies suggest that goose feces may be a conduit for transmitting Giardia, a protozoan that is parasitic to humans. We surveyed fecal droppings from free-ranging resident Canada geese for Giardia spp. at 9 sites in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) of North Carolina in 2007 and 2008. Samples (n = 234) were tested using the ProSpect® Giardia EZ Microplate Assay, and there were no positives. Our results indicate that risk of zoonotic giardiasis from Canada goose feces in the Triangle area of North Carolina is low

Do Beneficial Insect Habitats Also Provide Quality Brood Habitat for Northern Bobwhite?

Strips of fallow vegetation along cropland borders are an effective strategy for providing northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) habitat. However, a limitation of fallow borders is the lack of nectar-producing vegetation needed to sustain many beneficial insect populations. Planted borders that contain mixes of prairie flowers and grasses may harbor more diverse arthropod communities, but the relative value of these borders as bobwhite brood habitat compared to fallow borders is unknown. Vegetation composition likely has the largest influence on a field border’s structural characteristics, which consequently may impact bobwhite foraging efficiency. Thus, actively planting field borders may not yield the vegetative composition and structure needed to provide quality brood habitat. We used groups of 6 human-imprinted bobwhite chicks as a bioassay for comparing 4 different field border treatments (planted native warm season grasses (NWSG) and prairie flowers, planted prairie flowers only, fallow vegetation, or mowed vegetation) as brood habitat from June to August 2009 and 2010. All field border treatments (0.33 ha each) were established around 9 organic crop fields. Groups of chicks were led through borders for 30-min foraging trials and immediately euthanized at the end of each trial. Their crops and gizzards were dissected in the laboratory, and eaten arthropods were measured, counted, and identified to taxonomic family. We used allometric equations to estimate the live weight of all arthropods consumed, and to calculate a mean foraging rate (grams of arthropods consumed/ chick/30 min) for each field border treatment. We used a modified leaf blower-vacuum to sample arthropod prey availability and diversity in each field border treatment. Sampled arthropods were counted and identified to taxomomic family. We also calculated a Shannon-Weiner diversity index for each field border treatment. Foraging rate did not differ among border treatments in 2009 or 2010. Similarly, mean arthropod densities and diversity calculated from blower-vac samples did not differ among treatments in 2009 or 2010. Chick foraging rate was relatively high and arthropod prey was abundant even in mowed field borders. We suspect the amount of arthropod prey foods is likely not a limiting factor for bobwhite chicks in uncultivated habitats, rather, vegetative structure that facilitates movement, supports a suitable thermal micro-climate, and provides protection from predators is most important for bobwhite broods. Our results suggest that field borders planted for promoting beneficial insects provide bobwhite brood habitat equivalent to fallow borders. However, beneficial insect habitats are expensive, and require additional time and funding to insure successful establishment. The cost of establishing planted NWSG and prairie flowers and planted prairie flowers only borders in our study was ~ $1,928 and$1,773/ha, respectively. Fallow borders are likely the most cost-effective option for landowners/managers whose primary interest is providing bobwhite habitat

Decadal-Scale Vegetation Change Driven by Salinity at Leading Edge of Rising Sea Level

As sea levels rise, low-lying coastal forests increasingly are subject to stressors such as inundation and saltwater exposure. At long timescales (for example, centuries), the extent of inundation and saltwater exposure will increase; however, on a decadal timescale, the role of these drivers may differ in both magnitude and direction. To investigate the drivers of decadal-scale vegetation change, we measured the changes in five metrics of vegetation composition and structure between 2003/2004 and 2016/ 2017 at 98 plots distributed across a vegetation gradient from coastal forest to brackish marshes (< 0.518 ppt). We used elevation as a proxy of inundation vulnerability and soil sodium concentration as a proxy of saltwater exposure, and we investigated relationships between these two variables and the change in vegetation conditions between the two sampling periods. Soil sodium concentration was a significant predictor of vegetation change for all five vegetation metrics, whereas the effect of elevation was not significant for any of the metrics. The one site that was affected by wildfire twice during the duration of the study shifted almost completely from forest to marsh with limited regeneration ofwoody vegetation observed in 2016/ 2017. Our results show that salinization in our system is a more important driver of vegetation change than inundation potential. Furthermore, the effects of drought-induced salinization could be amplified by the elevated risk of wildfire during droughts. Forecasting the response of coastal wetlands to rising sea levels will require a better understanding of the individual and combined effects of salinity, droughts, and wildfires on vegetation

Quantitative analysis of woodpecker habitat using high-resolution airborne LiDAR estimates of forest structure and composition

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology has the potential to radically alter theway researchers and managers collect data onwildlife–habitat relationships. To date, the technology has fostered several novel approaches to characterizing avian habitat, but has been limited by the lack of detailed LiDAR-habitat attributes relevant to species across a continuum of spatial grain sizes and habitat requirements. We demonstrate a novel three-step approach for using LiDAR data to evaluate habitat based on multiple habitat attributes and accounting for their influence at multiple grain sizes using federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW; Picoides borealis) foraging habitat data fromthe Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, USA. First,we used high density LiDAR data (10 returns/m2) to predict detailed forest attributes at 20-mresolution across the entire SRS using a complementary application of nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression andmultiple linear regressionmodels. Next,we expanded on previous applications of LiDAR by constructing 95% joint prediction confidence intervals to quantify prediction error at various spatial aggregations and habitat thresholds to determine a biologically and statistically meaningful grain size. Finally,we used aggregations of 20-m cells and associated confidence interval boundaries to demonstrate a newapproach to produce maps of RCWforaging habitat conditions based on the guidelines described in the species\u27 recovery plan. Predictive power (R2) of regression models developed to populate raster layers ranged from 0.34 to 0.81, and prediction error decreased as aggregate size increased, but minimal reductions in prediction error were observed beyond 0.64-ha (4 × 4 20-m cells) aggregates. Mapping habitat quality while accounting for prediction error provided a robust method to determine the potential range of habitat conditions and specific attributes that were limiting in terms of the amount of suitable habitat. The sequential steps of our analytical approach provide a useful framework to extract detailed and reliable habitat attributes for a forest-dwelling habitat specialist, broadening the potential to apply LiDAR in conservation and management of wildlife populations. A zipped folder of Google maps is attached below as a related file

Audience responses to representations of family-assisted suicide on British television

Reflecting on different generic conventions, this study highlights the strengths and weaknesses of documentaries and soap operas in addressing the societal and the personal dimensions of family-assisted suicide. Based on an analysis of YouTube user comments, this study compares how audience members respond to representations of family-assisted suicide in British documentaries and soap operas broadcast between 2010 and 2016. The thematic analysis of comments shows key differences between audience engagement with factual and fictional representations. Markers of a political engagement with this sensitive social issue occur more frequently in comments on documentaries than in comments on soap operas. Comments on soap operas are frequently expressions of emotion, or displays of specialist soap opera knowledge

Prescribed fire affects female white-tailed deer habitat use during summer lactation

a b s t r a c t Prescribed fire commonly is used to manage habitat for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Although the effects of fire on forage availability for deer have been studied, how female deer use burned areas is not well known, particularly as it relates to fire season and the years-since-fire. We used GPS tracking data from 16 adult female white-tailed deer to assess the effects of fire season and yearssince-fire on habitat use during summer lactation. Females selected unburned drainages and older (&gt;1 yr-since-fire) burned areas, and avoided recently burned areas. Individuals with a greater percentage of their summer core area burned expanded the size of their summer home range but did not change summer core area size. Furthermore, summer core area site fidelity (i.e., % overlap between 2011 and 2012 core areas) decreased as the percentage of the 2011 summer core area burned in 2012 increased. Female deer increased selection of burned areas as years-since-fire increased, likely because there was a temporary loss of cover immediately following fire with plants slowly regenerating the subsequent growing seasons. Likewise, to avoid areas depleted of cover, females shifted their core areas away from recent burns when possible but increased their core area size when burned areas were unavoidable (i.e., a large portion of their home range was burned). Burning large contiguous areas may initially have a negative effect on female deer during lactation because of the depletion of cover

An Essential Role for the Proximal but Not the Distal Cytoplasmic Tail of Glycoprotein M in Murid Herpesvirus 4 Infection

Murid herpesvirus-4 (MuHV-4) provides a tractable model with which to define common, conserved features of gamma-herpesvirus biology. The multi-membrane spanning glycoprotein M (gM) is one of only 4 glycoproteins that are essential for MuHV-4 lytic replication. gM binds to gN and is thought to function mainly secondary envelopment and virion egress, for which several predicted trafficking motifs in its C-terminal cytoplasmic tail could be important. We tested the contribution of the gM cytoplasmic tail to MuHV-4 lytic replication by making recombinant viruses with varying C-terminal deletions. Removing an acidic cluster and a distal YXXΦ motif altered the capsid distribution somewhat in infected cells but had little effect on virus replication, either in vitro or in vivo. In contrast, removing a proximal YXXΦ motif as well completely prevented productive replication. gM was still expressed, but unlike its longer forms showed only limited colocalization with co-transfected gN, and in the context of whole virus appeared to support gN expression less well. We conclude that some elements of the gM cytoplasmic tail are dispensible for MuHV-4 replication, but the tail as a whole is not

The morphometry of soft tissue insertions on the tibial plateau: Data acquisition and statistical shape analysis

This study characterized the soft tissue insertion morphometrics on the tibial plateau and their inter-relationships as well as variabilities. The outlines of the cruciate ligament and meniscal root insertions along with the medial and lateral cartilage on 20 cadaveric tibias (10 left and 10 right knees) were digitized and co-registered with corresponding CT-based 3D bone models. Generalized Procrustes Analysis was employed in conjunction with Principal Components Analysis to first create a geometric consensus based on tibial cartilage and then determine the means and variations of insertion morphometrics including shape, size, location, and inter-relationship measures. Step-wise regression analysis was conducted in search of parsimonious models relating the morphometric measures to the tibial plateau width and depth, and basic anthropometric and gender factors. The analyses resulted in statistical morphometric representations for Procrustes-superimposed cruciate ligament and meniscus insertions, and identified only a few moderate correlations (R 2: 0.37-0.49). The study provided evidence challenging the isometric scaling based on a single dimension frequently employed in related morphometric studies, and data for evaluating cruciate ligament reconstruction strategies in terms of re-creating the native anatomy and minimizing the risk of iatrogenic injury. It paved the way for future development of computer-aided personalized orthopaedic surgery applications improving the quality of care and patient safety, and biomechanical models with a better population or average representation