Assessing Environmental Issues in Upland Game Birds

Wildlife management is essentially the balance between maintenance of habitat and control of population density. To demonstrate the application of multivariate techniques for habitat assessment, I evaluated 4 contemporary classification schemes for use as experimental units for mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) research in Texas. I conducted a generalized canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) for each classification scheme using 25 habitat variables obtained adjacent to each of the 133 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services call-count survey routes within Texas. Classification results from each CDA were used to generate a confusion matrix for each classification scheme (i.e., overall accuracy, average accuracy, and expected agreement). Because classification schemes differed in the number of categories, the Kappa Coefficient of Agreement was used to account for the proportion of agreement due to chance. The Kappa estimates were higher for the Gould (0.760) and Omernik (0.700) classification schemes, than for the Fenneman (0.618) or George (0.673) classification schemes, indicating the newer classification schemes provide a more accurate partitioning of multidimensional habitat space, and are therefore better suited for use as experimental units for mourning dove research in Texas. To demonstrate the impact of human land use on wildlife habitat, I evaluated the spatial-temporal effects of habitat loss and anthropogenic land use on grassland birds from 1993–2012. I used 8 habitat metrics corresponding to the U.S. Census of Agriculture data for Texas during this period, and northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) abundance estimates from the Breeding Bird Survey and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as the proxy grassland bird species. The redundancy analysis indicated that economic, agricultural, and land use metrics accounted for 74.5% of the total variance in bobwhite relative abundance during the period (Radj ² = 60.8%, P < 0.0016), and most anthropogenic land trend variables (e.g., Population Density, Market Value, Production Value) were inversely proportional to quail relative abundance. The canonical discriminant analysis indicated that economic, agricultural, and land use metrics explained 88.6% of the variability among ecoregions (P < 0.0002) and 99.5% of the variability among years (P < 0.0167). These results indicate that land values (market value and production value per hectare) and human population density may signal the onset of anthropogenic land conversion, and might be used to predict future changes that will impact grassland bird species and other natural resources. Finally, to demonstrate the feasibility of combining scientific and citizen-science data to obtain a regional estimate of grassland bird abundance, I obtained congruent estimates of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) abundance using a double-sampling paradigm. Spring cock call-counts were conducted on 12 ranches within the Rolling Plains of Texas during 2012–2014. This sampling effort collected calls and distances at each point, yielding 1,022 total counts, detected 36,415 calls, 4,647 birds, and obtained 4,627 distances. Data were analyzed using program DISTANCE to generate local and regional estimates of quail density for each year, and to calibrate density estimates with birds heard using a double-sampling paradigm. My results demonstrated that it is economically feasible and logistically pragmatic to calibrate metrics obtained through citizen-science efforts (call-counts; relative abundance) with results obtained by more intensive scientific methods (distance sampling; density estimates). Collectively, these results illustrate that it is within the microcosm of single-species management that we test the limits of our ecological knowledge and understanding

Feeding ecology of broadbill swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the California current

Funding: Support for our study includes salary funding from the NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Science and Technology and contract funds from the Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Systems. The National Observer Program within NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Science and Technology carried out sample collection. While the study fits the scope of work under the coauthors’ performance plans, they received no specific funding for this work. The funders had no role in study design, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments This work would not have been possible without the assistance and samples provided by the NMFS Southwest Region Fishery Observer Program and the participating drift gillnet fishermen. We thank several assistant volunteers who helped process the stomach samples. Alexandra Stohs provided research assistance. Mark Lowry, Eric Hochberg and John Hyde helped identify some prey specimens. John Field, Chugey Sepulveda and Scott Aalbers offered science feedback. Barbara Muhling helped create the map. Kristen Koch, Annie Yau, Brad Erisman, Heidi Dewar, Stephanie Flores, Crystal Dombrow, Elan Portner and Ruben Bergtraun provided useful comments on the draft. Debra Losey assisted with library research. We also thank Hiroshi Ohizumi and two anonymous reviewers for their careful critiques that helped improve the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

From slave to litigant: African Americans in court in the postwar south, 1865–1920

This article draws on more than 600 higher court cases in eight southern states to show that African Americans succeeded in litigating certain kinds of civil cases against white southerners in southern appellate courts between 1865 and 1920. While historians have often concentrated on cases involving issues of race, the much more common, seemingly prosaic civil suits African Americans litigated against whites over transactions, wills, and property also had important implications for race relations. Through these suits, black southerners continued to successfully assert the legal rights they gained during Reconstruction long after Reconstruction had ended. Moreover, I found that black litigants won the majority of civil cases litigated against white southerners in higher state courts – not only during Reconstruction, but, astonishingly, during the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras as well. I examine how the legal system itself, and the varied actions of participants in the legal system, allowed African Americans to litigate, and win, such cases. This article has important implications for our understanding of the judicial system’s relationship with politics and race and for its insights into the role of the courts in African Americans’ centuries-long struggle for rights

Induction of vascular endothelial growth factor expression in synovial fibroblasts by prostaglandin E and interleukin‐1: a potential mechanism for inflammatory angiogenesis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117173/1/feb2001457939500956a.pd

Mutational analysis of the transferrin receptor reveals overlapping HFE and transferrin binding sites

The transferrin receptor (TfR) binds two proteins critical for iron metabolism: transferrin (Tf) and HFE, the protein mutated in hereditary hemochromatosis. Previous results demonstrated that Tf and HFE compete for binding to TfR, suggesting that Tf and HFE bind to the same or an overlapping site on TfR. TfR is a homodimer that binds one Tf per polypeptide chain (2:2, TfR/Tf stoichiometry), whereas both 2:1 and 2:2 TfR/HFE stoichiometries have been observed. In order to more fully characterize the interaction between HFE and TfR, we determined the binding stoichiometry using equilibrium gel-filtration and analytical ultracentrifugation. Both techniques indicate that a 2:2 TfR/HFE complex can form at submicromolar concentrations in solution, consistent with the hypothesis that HFE competes for Tf binding to TfR by blocking the Tf binding site rather than by exerting an allosteric effect. To determine whether the Tf and HFE binding sites on TfR overlap, residues at the HFE binding site on TfR were identified from the 2.8 Å resolution HFE-TfR co-crystal structure, then mutated and tested for their effects on HFE and Tf binding. The binding affinities of soluble TfR mutants for HFE and Tf were determined using a surface plasmon resonance assay. Substitutions of five TfR residues at the HFE binding site (L619A, R629A, Y643A, G647A and F650Q) resulted in significant reductions in Tf binding affinity. The findings that both HFE and Tf form 2:2 complexes with TfR and that mutations at the HFE binding site affect Tf binding support a model in which HFE and Tf compete for overlapping binding sites on TfR

Association of Accelerometry-Measured Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Events in Mobility-Limited Older Adults: The LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) Study.

BACKGROUND:Data are sparse regarding the value of physical activity (PA) surveillance among older adults-particularly among those with mobility limitations. The objective of this study was to examine longitudinal associations between objectively measured daily PA and the incidence of cardiovascular events among older adults in the LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) study. METHODS AND RESULTS:Cardiovascular events were adjudicated based on medical records review, and cardiovascular risk factors were controlled for in the analysis. Home-based activity data were collected by hip-worn accelerometers at baseline and at 6, 12, and 24&nbsp;months postrandomization to either a physical activity or health education intervention. LIFE study participants (n=1590; age 78.9±5.2 [SD] years; 67.2% women) at baseline had an 11% lower incidence of experiencing a subsequent cardiovascular event per 500&nbsp;steps taken per day based on activity data (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-0.96; P=0.001). At baseline, every 30&nbsp;minutes spent performing activities ≥500&nbsp;counts per minute (hazard ratio, 0.75; confidence interval, 0.65-0.89 [P=0.001]) were also associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular events. Throughout follow-up (6, 12, and 24&nbsp;months), both the number of steps per day (per 500&nbsp;steps; hazard ratio, 0.90, confidence interval, 0.85-0.96 [P=0.001]) and duration of activity ≥500&nbsp;counts per minute (per 30&nbsp;minutes; hazard ratio, 0.76; confidence interval, 0.63-0.90 [P=0.002]) were significantly associated with lower cardiovascular event rates. CONCLUSIONS:Objective measurements of physical activity via accelerometry were associated with cardiovascular events among older adults with limited mobility (summary score &gt;10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery) both using baseline and longitudinal data. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01072500

Spiral valve parasites of blue and common thresher sharks as indicators of shark feeding behaviour and ecology

Open Access via the Jisc Wiley agreement Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the assistance and samples provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southwest Region Fishery Observer Program and the participating drift gillnet fishermen. A. Arevalo, E. Reed, H. Colley, J. Williams, J. Tamez and K. Tran assisted with spiral valve dissections and parasite sorting in the lab. D. Losey helped with library research. D. Sweetnam, A. Yau, A. Thompson, M. Craig, S. Stohs, G. DiNardo provided constructive critiques that helped improve the manuscript. This research was supported by the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).Peer reviewedPublisher PD