TECHNIQUES FOR REARING AND RELEASING NONMIGRATORY CRANES: LESSONS FROM THE MISSISSIPPI SANDHILL CRANE PROGRAM

Captive-reared Mississippi sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pulla) reared at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (patuxent) have been released at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MSCNWR) since 1981. Of 131 birds released through December 1990, 103 were reared by foster parents. The remaining 28 were experimentally hand-reared in 1989 and 1990. After refining release procedures, parent-reared birds have integrated into the wild flock, many have survived, and some have bred. Releases of hand-reared cranes elsewhere in the 1970\u27s were largely unsuccessful. at least in part due to the lack of a lengthy acclimation period. A new hand-rearing protocol holds promise in producing release-worthy birds. The technique employs some features first used in the 1960\u27s (e.g., a costume for the human caretaker and model crane heads used to train chicks to feed). In the mid-1980\u27s, the following features were added: (1) the costumed caretaker was given a visor and feathers, (2) a taxidermic crane head or a hand puppet was held or suspended from the ceiling for use in stimulating chicks to feed, (3) a taxidermic mount of a brooding crane supplied warmth, (4) a full-sized live crane was maintained in an adjacent pen and in visual contact with neonatal young to provide an imprinting model, and (5) a small group of adult (or subadult) cranes was penned adjacent to the outdoor chick pens to provide socialization models. Recent releases of Mississippi sandhill cranes hand-reared according to this protocol and released in Mississippi have had high first-year survival rates. The now-operational technique holds promise for producing large numbers of release-worthy birds

TECHNIQUES FOR REARING AND RELEASING NONMIGRATORY CRANES: LESSONS FROM THE MISSISSIPPI SANDHILL CRANE PROGRAM

Captive-reared Mississippi sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pulla) reared at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (patuxent) have been released at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MSCNWR) since 1981. Of 131 birds released through December 1990, 103 were reared by foster parents. The remaining 28 were experimentally hand-reared in 1989 and 1990. After refining release procedures, parent-reared birds have integrated into the wild flock, many have survived, and some have bred. Releases of hand-reared cranes elsewhere in the 1970\u27s were largely unsuccessful. at least in part due to the lack of a lengthy acclimation period. A new hand-rearing protocol holds promise in producing release-worthy birds. The technique employs some features first used in the 1960\u27s (e.g., a costume for the human caretaker and model crane heads used to train chicks to feed). In the mid-1980\u27s, the following features were added: (1) the costumed caretaker was given a visor and feathers, (2) a taxidermic crane head or a hand puppet was held or suspended from the ceiling for use in stimulating chicks to feed, (3) a taxidermic mount of a brooding crane supplied warmth, (4) a full-sized live crane was maintained in an adjacent pen and in visual contact with neonatal young to provide an imprinting model, and (5) a small group of adult (or subadult) cranes was penned adjacent to the outdoor chick pens to provide socialization models. Recent releases of Mississippi sandhill cranes hand-reared according to this protocol and released in Mississippi have had high first-year survival rates. The now-operational technique holds promise for producing large numbers of release-worthy birds

Deconstructing dams and disease: predictions for salmon disease risk following Klamath River dam removals

The health of fish populations and the river systems they inhabit have broad ecological, cultural, recreational, and economic relevance. This is exemplified by the iconic anadromous salmonid fishes native to the West Coast of North America. Salmon populations have been constrained since the mid nineteenth century by dam construction and water reallocation. In the Klamath River (Oregon and California, USA), a series of dams built in the early-mid 20th century cut the basin in two and blocked anadromous fish access to more than 600 river kilometers. This dramatic loss of habitat, coupled with infectious diseases and resulting epizootics, have impacted the wellbeing of these salmonid populations. In 2023-2024, the Klamath River will undergo the largest river restoration project in US history. Removal of the four lowermost dams will cause profound physical changes to the river, including flow, water temperature, and channel geomorphology. The dam removals will reconnect the lower and upper portions of the basin, and provide fish passage after a century of segregation. Reestablishment of upstream and downstream fish movements will also alter the occupancy and abundance of the salmonid hosts and their pathogens. The increased habitat availability and longer migration routes will increase duration of pathogen exposure and potential impacts on juvenile survival and adult pre-spawn mortality. However, restoration of more natural flow and sediment regimes will decrease overall fish disease risk by disrupting complex parasite life cycles. To better understand these multifarious, competing factors, we review the salmonid species in the Klamath River, and provide an overview of their historical pathogen challenges and associated diseases and use this as a framework to predict the effects of dam removals on disease dynamics. Our review and predictions are a synthesis of expertise from tribal biologists, fish health specialists and fish biologists, many of whom have lived and worked on the Klamath River for decades. We conclude with recommendations for expansion of current pathogen monitoring and research efforts to measure changes in host-pathogen dynamics basin-wide

ANTIPREDATOR TRAINING FOR CAPTIVE-REARED MISSISSIPPI SANDHILL CRANE CHICKS

Captive-bred Mississippi sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pulla) suffer from low recruitment in nature, and poor nest defense ability may significantly contribute to the problem. We hypothesized that a lack of opportunities for social learning by young birds prior to release inhibits the development of appropriate nest defense in later life. Here we report the results of preliminary experiments on conditioning of antipredator behavior in young birds prior to release using predator models. Observing agonistic displays by either costumed technicians or parent birds toward a model raccoon (Procyon lotor) promoted aggressive displays to a wild raccoon, but additional exposure to wild raccoons outside of training sessions instead promoted habituation. Pre-release conditioning of crane chicks can induce antipredator behavior useful in nest defense, but optimal procedures remain to be determined

When fools rush in /

Blue cloth stamped in gilt and blind.Frontispiece and plates facing pages 56, 94, 142 and 278.Verso of t.p.: Press of Braunworth & Co.Mode of access: Internet

Supplement 1. Site and specimen data collected during biodiversity inventories of the Hengduan Mountains region.

<h2>File List</h2><p> <a href="Supplement_1.txt">Supplement_1.txt</a> (md5: 7ce57a45aa2ade2476002a6ab018a005) </p><h2>Description</h2><div> <p>Supplement_1.txt is a tab-separated file. It contains specimen locality data, information on the mean trait and site-specific trait measurements of samples, and site descriptions.</p> <p>1.expedition_name<br> 2.latitude<br> 3.longitude<br> 4.lower_elevation<br> 5.upper_elevation<br> 6.locality_id<br> 7.collector_number<br> 8.species_epithet<br> 9.habitat type<br> 10.flower_color<br> 11.phyllotaxy<br> 12.spp. specific corolla tube range low<br> 13.spp. specific corolla tube range high<br> 14.spp. specific mean corolla tube<br> 15.spp. specific galea beak range low<br> 16.spp. specific galea beak range high<br> 17.spp. specific galea beak mean<br> 18.nectar presence or absence<br> 19.bee orientation<br> 20.position of stigma contact on bumble bees<br> 21.habitat type 2<br> 22.microhabitat<br> 23.plant_description<br> 24.locality_habitat </p> </div

Supplement 3. Mean values for six floral traits measured on 117 species of Pedicularis.

<h2>File List</h2><p> <a href="Supplement_3.txt">Supplement_3.txt</a> (md5: 58fcc20cb35347b6d564a5007cfeda9e) </p><h2>Description</h2><div> <p>Supplement_3.txt is a tab-separated file. It contains trait values used for species level analyses.</p> <p> 1.species name<br> 2.phyllotaxy<br> 3.corolla tube range low<br> 4.corolla tube range high<br> 5.corolla tube mean<br> 6.galea beak range low<br> 7.galea beak range high<br> 8.galea beak mean<br> 9.presence/absence of nectar<br> 10.position of stigma contact on bumble bee<br> 11.orientation of bumble bee<br> 12.most common corolla color<br> 13.alternate coding of stigma contact position<br> 14.pollination observed vs. inferred </p> </div

Appendix B. Representation of six floral traits distributed across samples within the two-dimensional morphospace created by the first two PC axes.

Representation of six floral traits distributed across samples within the two-dimensional morphospace created by the first two PC axes