Late Holocene Relationships Among Fire, Climate, and Vegetation in Rangeland Ecosystems of Southwestern Idaho

Rangelands are characterized by more arid climates than forested regions; therefore, establishing fire histories using traditional methods (e.g. fire-scars from trees or charcoal in lake sediments) is problematic. This study uses radiocarbon dating of charcoal preserved in alluvial fans and stream deposits to reconstruct a record of fire and geomorphic response in rangelands of southwestern Idaho. Samples indicate three primary periods of fire-related activity: 4400 – 4000, 2000 – 1400, and 650-400 cal yr BP. Charcoal macrofossil identification and comparison with other regional climate and fire records indicate this area has likely switched between a fuel-limited system (fires limited by lack of fuels), and a moisture-limited system (fires limited by too much moisture) with changes in Holocene climate. Over the past ~2000 yr, samples from this rangeland site indicate most fires occurred during wetter times than the record average. During overall wetter periods, (e.g. LIA; 600-100 cal yr BP) tree density may have increased, and fires occurred during intervals of relative drought. During times of prolonged drought (e.g. MCA 1025-650 cal yr BP) fire was recorded during a wetter interval. After ~600 cal yr BP, fire activity is similar to the record of low intensity fires in a nearby ponderosa pine-dominated drainage, and sagebrush is common in charcoal samples. Inferred shifts in the forest-rangeland ecotone are consistent with those reported elsewhere in the Great Basin. A comparison of OSL and 14C ages shows good correspondence between charcoal ages and the charcoal containing sediments, indicating fire-related sedimentation occurs soon after fire

Effects of Early Psychosocial Deprivation on the Development of Memory and Executive Function

This study investigated the effects of early institutional care on memory and executive functioning. Subjects were participants in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) and included institutionalized children, children with a history of institutionalization who were assigned to a foster care intervention, and community children in Bucharest, Romania. Memory and executive functioning were assessed at the age of 8 years using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test and Automated Battery (CANTAB). As expected, children with a history of early institutional care performed worse on measures of both visual memory and executive functioning compared to their peers without a history of institutional care. In comparing children randomly assigned to the foster care intervention with their peers who had continued care in the institution, initial comparisons did not show significant differences on any of the memory or executive functioning outcomes. However, for one of the measures of executive functioning, after controlling for birth weight, head circumference, and duration of time spent in early institutional care, the foster care intervention was a significant predictor of scores. These results support and extend previous findings of deficits in memory and executive functioning among school-age children with a history of early deprivation due to institutional care. This study has implications for the millions of children who continue to experience the psychosocial deprivation associated with early institutional care

The Influence of Age, Health Literacy, and Affluence on Adolescents’ Capacity to Consent to Research

While adults are assumed to have the capacity to consent to medical research, and young children to have no capacity, adolescents’ capacity to consent is not well described. Adapting the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research (MacCAT-CR), we describe adolescents’ capacity to consent to medical research and factors influencing that capacity. Our pilot study included a community-based sample of 30 adolescents, 14 to 21 years of age, who completed the MacCAT-CR after undergoing a simulated informed consent process. We found that adolescents’ capacity to consent to research was associated with age, health literacy, and family affluence. These findings suggest that investigators and institutional review boards should be aware that factors other than age may influence capacity to consent, and, for modifiable factors, such as health literacy, consent processes for medical research with adolescents can be modified

Neuronal networks in the developing brain are adversely modulated by early psychosocial neglect

The brain's neural circuitry plays a ubiquitous role across domains in cognitive processing and undergoes extensive re-organization during the course of development in part as a result of experience. In this paper we investigated the effects of profound early psychosocial neglect associated with institutional rearing on the development of task-independent brain networks, estimated from longitudinally acquired electroencephalographic (EEG) data from <30 to 96 months, in three cohorts of children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), including abandoned children reared in institutions who were randomly assigned either to a foster care intervention or to remain in care as usual and never institutionalized children. Two aberrantly connected brain networks were identified in children that had been reared in institutions: 1) a hyper-connected parieto-occipital network, which included cortical hubs and connections that may partially overlap with default-mode network and 2) a hypo-connected network between left temporal and distributed bilateral regions, both of which were aberrantly connected across neural oscillations. This study provides the first evidence of the adverse effects of early psychosocial neglect on the wiring of the developing brain. Given these networks' potentially significant role in various cognitive processes, including memory, learning, social communication and language, these findings suggest that institutionalization in early life may profoundly impact the neural correlates underlying multiple cognitive domains, in ways that may not be fully reversible in the short term

Timing of Intervention Affects Brain Electrical Activity in Children Exposed to Severe Psychosocial Neglect

Background: Early psychosocial deprivation has profound effects on brain activity in the young child. Previous reports have shown increased power in slow frequencies of the electroencephalogram (EEG), primarily in the theta band, and decreased power in higher alpha and beta band frequencies in infants and children who have experienced institutional care. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assessed the consequences of removing infants from institutions and placing them into a foster care intervention on brain electrical activity when children were 8 years of age. We found the intervention was successful for increasing high frequency EEG alpha power, with effects being most pronounced for children placed into foster care before 24 months of age. Conclusions/Significance: The dependence on age of placement for the effects observed on high frequency EEG alpha power suggests a sensitive period after which brain activity in the face of severe psychosocial deprivation is less amenable to recover

The beneficial effects of a positive attention bias amongst children with a history of psychosocial deprivation

Children raised in institutions experience psychosocial deprivation that has detrimental influences on attention and mental health. The current study examined patterns of attention biases in children from institutions who were randomized at approximately 21.6 months to receive either a high-quality foster care intervention or care-as-usual. At age 12, children performed a dot-probe task and indices of attention bias were calculated. Additionally, children completed a social stress paradigm and cortisol reactivity was computed. Children randomized into foster care (N=40) exhibited an attention bias toward positive stimuli but not threat, whereas children who received care-as-usual (N=40) and a never-institutionalized comparison group (N=47) showed no bias. Stability of foster care placement was related to positive bias, while instability of foster care placement was related to threat bias. The magnitude of the positive bias was associated with fewer internalizing problems and better coping mechanisms. Within the foster care group, positive attention bias was related to less blunted cortisol reactivity

Psychosocial Deprivation, Executive Functions, and the Emergence of Socio-Emotional Behavior Problems

Early psychosocial deprivation can negatively impact the development of executive functions (EFs). Here we explore the impact of early psychosocial deprivation on behavioral and physiological measures (i.e., event-related potentials; ERPs) of two facets of EF, inhibitory control and response monitoring, and their associations with internalizing and externalizing outcomes in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP; Zeanah et al., 2003). This project focuses on two groups of children placed in institutions shortly after birth and then randomly assigned in infancy to either a foster care intervention or to remain in their current institutional setting. A group of community controls was recruited for comparison. The current study assesses these children at 8-years of age examining the effects of early adversity, the potential effects of the intervention on EF and the role of EF skills in socio-emotional outcomes. Results reveal exposure to early psychosocial deprivation was associated with impaired inhibitory control on a flanker task. Children in the foster care intervention exhibited better response monitoring compared to children who remained in the institution on the error-related positivity (Pe). Moreover, among children in the foster care intervention those who exhibited larger error-related negativity (ERN) responses had lower levels of socio-emotional behavior problems. Overall, these data identify specific aspects of EF that contribute to adaptive and maladaptive socio-emotional outcomes among children experiencing early psychosocial deprivation

Wolf-Livestock Conflict in Montana: Spatial and Temporal Factors Influencing Livestock Loss

Successful wolf (Canis lupus) recovery in Montana has brought with it some negative impacts on livestock producers in certain areas and time periods.  We assessed the spatial and temporal patterns of wolf depredations on livestock in Montana at a broad, statewide scale during the past decade (2005–2014).  These analyses highlighted areas of concentrated and consistent wolf-livestock conflicts, such that, for example, 50% of the statewide conflicts occur in 5% of the state.  We then used generalized linear mixed-models to test covariates potentially predictive of both conflict presence (zero vs. non-zero depredation events) and conflict severity (number of events given at least 1), including the assessment of lethal controls and hunter harvest as tools to reduce conflicts.  Using administrative hunting districts (HDs) as the unit of analysis, we found that conflict presence increased for HD-years with wolves present (P&lt;0.001), higher wolf pack densities (P=0.006), higher livestock densities (P&lt;0.001), and intermediate proportionate areas of agricultural land (P&lt;0.001).  HDs with depredations the previous year were more likely to continue having them (P&lt;0.001), though lethal removal of wolves significantly reduced this effect (P=0.038).  Direct effects of wolf hunter harvest were shown to marginally (P=0.152) reduce year-to-year conflicts, but indirect effects of harvest would also be expected given its role in determining wolf numbers, a primary driver of conflicts.  Minimizing livestock losses is a top priority for successful wolf management, and these results shed light on the broad-scale patterns behind chronic problems and the tools used to address them

Calibration of the APEX Model to Simulate Management Practice Effects on Runoff, Sediment, and Phosphorus Loss

Process-based computer models have been proposed as a tool to generate data for Phosphorus (P) Index assessment and development. Although models are commonly used to simulate P loss from agriculture using managements that are different from the calibration data, this use of models has not been fully tested. The objective of this study is to determine if the Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model can accurately simulate runoff, sediment, total P, and dissolved P loss from 0.4 to 1.5 ha of agricultural fields with managements that are different from the calibration data. The APEX model was calibrated with field-scale data from eight different managements at two locations (management-specific models). The calibrated models were then validated, either with the same management used for calibration or with different managements. Location models were also developed by calibrating APEX with data from all managements. The management-specific models resulted in satisfactory performance when used to simulate runoff, total P, and dissolved P within their respective systems, with r2 \u3e 0.50, Nash– Sutcliffe efficiency \u3e 0.30, and percent bias within ±35% for runoff and ±70% for total and dissolved P. When applied outside the calibration management, the management-specific models only met the minimum performance criteria in one-third of the tests. The location models had better model performance when applied across all managements compared with management-specific models. Our results suggest that models only be applied within the managements used for calibration and that data be included from multiple management systems for calibration when using models to assess management effects on P loss or evaluate P Indices