American marten distributions over a 28 year period : relationships with landscape change in Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest, California, USA

The distribution of American martens (Martes americana) within Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest (SCEF), Tahoe National Forest, California has been periodically documented from 1980–1993. This area has been the location of nine marten surveys, each involving a systematic detection/nondetection survey on the same grid. These data are an unprecedented time series of information on the distribution of martens that can be related to habitat change in the study area. My four objectives were to (1) resurvey SCEF using similar methodology as in previous studies to assess the current marten distribution, (2) evaluate marten distribution over the last 28 years, (3) create maps to depict potential high reproductive habitat at the beginning (1978) and end (2007) of the series, and lastly, (4) examine marten occurence relative to changes in habitat and landscape metrics. Marten surveys were conducted in summer 2007, in winter 2007–2008, and in summer 2008. Habitat was characterized both in 1978 and 2007 by interpreting remotely sensed vegetation information from the California Wildlife Habitat Relationship (CWHR) system. I used FRAGSTATs to quantify landscape change. There was a dramatic decline in marten occurrence since they were first studied in this area. No martens were detected in either the summer of 2007 or summer 2008, but there were 10 detections in winter 2007–2008 limited to the southwestern portion of SCEF. Predicted habitat patch size, core area, and total amount of predicted habitat in the study area decreased. Distance between these patches increased. There was a relationship between these changes in landscape configuration and the reduction of marten detections; no martens were detected in the lower elevations where most previous management activity occurred. I have five recommendations to managers to make the landscape more amenable for martens: (1) strive to retain the remaining contiguous large patches of predicted marten reproductive habitat, (2) maintain corridors of dense, multilayered vegetation between the contiguous habitat patches, (3) retain varied amounts of canopy and shrub cover for visual camouflage between habitat patches, (4) reduce the number of cleared forest gaps >80 m across, and (5) strive for a silvicultural paradigm that retains large snags, diverse tree structure, and patches of decadent trees

Ketamine and Midazolam Anesthesia in Pacific Martens (Martes caurina)

The use of midazolam as a tranquilizer for anesthesia in mustelids in conjunction with the cyclohexamine ketamine is not well documented. Because midazolam is fast acting, inexpensive, and quickly metabolized, it may serve as a good alternative to other more commonly used tranquilizers. We trapped and anesthetized 27 Pacific martens (Martes caurina) in Lassen National Forest (northern California, US) August 2010–April 2013. We assessed anesthesia with ketamine at 18 and 25 mg/kg combined with 0.2 mg/kg of midazolam by comparing mean times of induction, return to consciousness, and recovery, plus physiologic parameters. No reversal was used for the midazolam portion of the anesthetic. Mean (±SD) induction for both ketamine dosages was 1.7±0.5 and 1.8±1.0 min, respectively. Return to consciousness mean times were 8.0 min longer (P<0.001) for martens receiving a 25 mg/kg ketamine dosage. Mean recoveries were 15.1 min longer (P<0.003) for the 25 mg/ kg ketamine dosage. Physiologic parameter means were similar for both ketamine dosages with no statistically significant differences. Body temperatures and heart and respiratory rates were generally stable, but percentage of oxygen saturation and end tidal carbon dioxide values were below those seen in previous mustelid studies. The combination of ketamine, at both dosages, and midazolam provided reliable field anesthesia for Pacific martens, and supplemental oxygen is recommended as needed.Keywords: Pacific marten, Ketamine, Anesthesia, Martes caurina, Midazolam, American marten, Martes american

Forest thinning changes movement patterns and habitat use by Pacific marten

Simplifying stand structure to reduce fuel density is a high priority for forest managers; however, affects to Pacific marten (Martes caurina) movement and connectivity are unknown. We evaluated whether thinning forests to reduce fuels influenced movements of Pacific marten. We collected movement paths from 22 martens using global positioning system telemetry to evaluate habitat selection and describe movement patterns. We quantified motion variance, speed, and path sinuosity in 3 stand types that differed in structural complexity (i.e., complex [dense], simple [thinned], and open). We hypothesized marten movement would differ between stand types and predicted that 1) martens would select stand types with increased structural complexity (complex > simple > open); 2) movements would increase in complexity (sinuosity, motion variance) and decrease in speed when martens traveled through stands with increased structural complexity; 3) speeds would increase during summer, indicating increased movement during the breeding season; and 4) males would move more rapidly because of their larger home ranges. Martens traveled 0.5–27.2 km/day and an average (SD) of 1.4 (0.4) km/hour. Martens selected home ranges with fewer openings compared to the study area overall. Within home ranges, martens strongly selected complex stands over simple stands and openings. Speed and movement complexity were most consistent over time and movements were more sinuous and slower in complex stand types compared with openings and simple stands. Movement was erratic and more linear in openings than in both complex and simple stands. In simple stands, movement patterns were intermediate between complex stands and openings. Females generally moved more slowly, sinuously, and less variably compared to males. Martens moved more quickly, less sinuously, and more variably during winter compared to summer. However, martens avoided stands with simplified structure, and the altered patterns of movement we observed in those stands suggested that such treatments may negatively affect the ability of martens to forage without increased risk of predation. Fuel treatments that simplify stand structure negatively affected marten movements and habitat connectivity. Given these risks, and because treating fuels is less justified in high elevation forests, the risks can be minimized by applying treatments below the elevations where martens typically occur.Keywords: predation, marten, thinning, risk, movement, vigilance, Martes caurina, California, travel speed, animal movemen

Effects of season on occupancy and implications for habitat modeling: the Pacific marten Martes caurina

Season affects many characteristics of populations and, as a result, the interpretations of surveys conducted at different seasons. We explored seasonal variation in occupancy using data from four studies on the Pacific marten Martes caurina. Detection surveys were conducted during winter and summer using either cameras or track stations. We conducted a ‘multiple location, paired season’ analysis using data from all four study areas and a ‘multiple season’ analysis using seasonally replicated occupancy data collected at one of the areas. In the former analysis, summer occupancy estimates were significantly lower than winter and per visit probabilities of detection were indistinguishable between seasons. The probabilities of detection for the complete survey protocol were high (0.83 summer, 0.95 winter). Where summer and winter surveys were replicated, probability of occupancy was > 5 times higher in winter (0.52) than summer (0.09). We considered the effect of seasonal variation in occupancy on the habitat models developed using summer and winter survey data. Using the same habitat suitability threshold (0.5), the weighted average of winter models predicted significantly more suitable habitat than summer models. The habitat predicted by the summer model was at higher elevation, and was distributed among more, and smaller, patches of habitat than the model developed using winter data. We expect a similar magnitude of differences if summer or winter data were used to monitor occupancy. The higher occupancy in winter is probably due to the abundance of young animals detected during dispersal. Summer survey results reflect the distribution of territory-holding adults, thus these surveys may reliably detect breeding individuals and represent reproductive habitat. The implications of season on the interpretation of survey results, and corresponding habitat models and monitoring programs, provide a challenge to managers that make decisions about habitat management for martens, and other species with disparate occupancy among seasons

Hybridization and adaptive evolution of diverse Saccharomyces species for cellulosic biofuel production

Additional file 15. Summary of whole genome sequencing statistics

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase&nbsp;1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation&nbsp;disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age&nbsp; 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score&nbsp; 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc&nbsp;= 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N&nbsp;= 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in&nbsp;Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) Conference and Expo

Meeting Abstracts: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) Conference and Expo Clearwater Beach, FL, USA. 9-11 June 201

Effective sampling area is a major driver of power to detect long‐term trends in multispecies occupancy monitoring

Abstract Occupancy‐based monitoring has become an important tool in wildlife conservation and management. Nonetheless, meeting occupancy modeling assumptions and providing biologically accurate information are difficult tasks over long time periods, large areas, or when monitoring multiple species. In occupancy modeling frameworks, derived grids are commonly used to divide landscapes into discrete units. Grid sizes that match the home range size of the species of interest are considered optimal, but this practice is complicated as home range size may vary by sex, habitat quality, or among species. Additionally, studies often assume their survey methods sample an entire grid cell when the actual effective sampling area may be much smaller. The effect of reduced effective sampling area on occupancy estimation has received little attention to date, despite being flagged as a critical issue. In this study, we assessed (1) how the relationship between effective area, home range size, and grid size affects power to detect trends in occupancy; (2) how varying the sampling design factors of effective area, duration, detection probability, and resurvey interval influence monitoring efficiency; and (3) determine whether a single sampling design can simultaneously detect declines in two species with different home range sizes. We used a spatially explicit simulation framework to create biologically realistic declining populations over 10 yr and assessed statistical power to detect known declines using occupancy modeling. We found that effective area and detection probability had the greatest influence on statistical power. We could not reliably detect declines when detection probability was low or when effective sampling area was 25% of the landscape, ≥25% effective area, and fixed sampling locations. Further, increasing resampling interval greatly increased monitoring efficiency. Our results show monitoring planning requires explicit consideration of effective sampling area and methods with sufficient detectability to detect population declines

Biotic factors influencing the unexpected distribution of a Humboldt marten (Martes caurina humboldtensis) population in a young coastal forest.

Pacific martens (Martes caurina) are often associated with mature forests with complex structure for denning, resting, and efficient hunting. Nonetheless, a small isolated population of the Humboldt subspecies of Pacific martens (Martes caurina humboldtensis) occupies a narrow strip of young, coastal forest (< 70 years old) but not inland mature forest in the central Oregon Coast Range. We examined factors contributing to this unexpected distribution of martens by 1) analyzing marten diets using DNA metabarcoding to assess 90 scats, 2) using camera traps to assess differences in the relative abundances of prey, competitors, and predators across a coastal to inland gradient of vegetation types, and 3) quantifying differences in extent of fruit-producing shrubs and vegetation structure within vegetation types. Diets of martens were diverse (12, 10, and 3 species of birds, mammals, and amphibians respectively), and most fall and winter scats contained fruit. Voles, mice, and varied thrushes (Ixoreus naevius) were dominant prey items. Voles, mice, and most birds, but not varied thrushes, were more commonly observed in the coastal shrub-dominated forest than in inland forest. The coastal shrub-dominated forest had the highest diversity of vertebrates and potential prey overall. Bobcats (Lynx rufus), a key potential predator, were more commonly detected in inland forest. Of potential competitors, western spotted skunks (Spilogale gracilis) were more commonly detected in inland forest, with gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and raccoons (Procyon lotor) detected almost exclusively in coastal forests. Vegetation in coastal forests appears to provide, at least seasonally, more prey and fruit, and more overhead shrub cover compared with inland forest. Remaining plausible hypotheses for the restricted distribution of marten to coastal forests include increased prey, fruit, and overhead cover, and reduced predation risk from bobcats

MoriartyKatieFishWildlifeExperimentalEvidenceSimplifiedSupplement.pdf

Context: Functional connectivity—the facilitation of individual movements among habitat patches—is essential for species’ persistence in fragmented landscapes. Evaluating functional connectivity is critical for predicting range shifts, developing conservation plans, and anticipating effects of disturbance, especially for species affected by climate change. Objectives: We examined whether simplifying forest structure influenced animal movements and whether an experimental approach to quantifying functional connectivity reflects normal behavior, which is often assumed but remains untested. Methods: We evaluated functional connectivity for Pacific marten (Martes caurina) across a gradient in forest structural complexity using two novel methods for this species: incentivized food-titration experiments and non-incentivized locations collected via GPS telemetry (24 individuals). Results: Food titration experiments revealed martens selected complex stands, and martens entered and crossed areas with reduced forest cover when motivated by bait, particularly in the winter. However, our telemetry data showed that without such incentive, martens avoided openings and simple stands and selected complex forest stands equally during summer and winter. Conclusions: Detections at baited stations may not represent typical habitat preferences during winter, and incentivized experiments reflect the capacity of martens to enter non-preferred stand types under high motivation (e.g., hunger, curiosity, dispersal). We hypothesize snow cover facilitates connectivity across openings when such motivation is present; thus, snow cover may benefit dispersing animals and increase population connectivity. Landscapes with joined networks of complex stands are crucial for maintaining functional connectivity for marten, particularly during summer.Keywords: Forest management, Functional connectivity, Movement, Fuel reduction, Landscape fragmentation, Marten, Martes caurina, Connectivity, Martes americana, Titration experimen