Temporal and Spatial Assessment of Usable Space and Cover Type Interspersion for Northern Bobwhites on Private Farmlands in Southwestern Ohio

Contemporary landscape change driven by socio-economic forces and advances in agricultural technology do not favor northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) in the Midwestern United States. The challenge of bobwhite conservation is to provide sufficient quantities of habitat with optimal configurations in proportions that satisfy needs throughout the year on private-owned working lands. We radio-tracked 58 coveys and 98 individual birds throughout the year in 2009-10 and 2010-11 on privately owned farmland in southwestern Ohio. We investigated temporal changes in usable space from use-availability data. Estimated proportions of usable space based on analyses of habitat selection across four study sites were 0.06-0.12 during the non-breeding season compared to 0.10-10.30 during the breeding season. We also modeled probabilities that radio-marked coveys or individual birds used points within individual cover types as a function of distance to other cover types. Locations of radio-marked coveys and individual birds within focal cover types were closer to other cover types compared to random points during breeding (mean = 44 m) and non-breeding (mean = 58 m) seasons. Probability of use within focal cover types declined with distance to other cover types, typically falling below 50% when distances exceeded 9-242 m. Locations of radio-marked coveys were concentrated near edges within used cover types, while locations of individual birds were more dispersed during the breeding season. Estimated proportions of usable space based on distances between locations of radio-marked bobwhites and nearest cover types were higher (0.30-0.53) than estimates based on habitat selection ratios, and were similar between non-breeding and breeding seasons. Potentially usable sites were not fully occupied in either season, but there was no relationship between crude covey densities and proportions of usable space estimated from habitat selection analyses during the breeding and non-breeding seasons across study sites and years (r2 \u3c 0.166, P \u3e 0.316). With distance to cover type estimates of usable space (years combined), two study sites with the highest proportions of usable space (0.43-0.53) also had the largest crude covey densities (0.0065-0.153 coveys/ha) compared to the other two sites with lower proportions of usable space (0.30-0.32) and smaller covey densities (0.004 – 0.006 coveys/ha). Habitat enhancement should focus on providing protective cover near food for coveys during the non-breeding season and protective cover near nesting and brood-rearing habitat during the breeding season. Conserving Midwestern bobwhite populations requires innovative practices that can be implemented on private lands as economic incentives change for farm operators. Improving protective cover along habitat edges can increase usable space by improving cover type juxtaposition (e.g. food near cover) while minimizing impact on farming practices

Temporal Variability in Survival of Non-Breeding Northern Bobwhites in Ohio

Non-breeding season survival is an important determinant of population growth rates of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and is primarily influenced by hunter harvest, predation, and weather. The collective influence of these factors varies within and among years and across the bobwhite range. Understanding factors that influence variation in survival is important to inform regionally-specific management strategies for declining bobwhite populations. We radiomarked 311 bobwhites from 73 coveys to investigate temporal variation in non-breeding season (Oct-Mar) survival of a declining bobwhite population on private land in southwestern Ohio during 2008–2011. We used the data bootstrapping feature in Program MARK to adjust for overdispersion caused by dependency of survival among members of the same covey. Temporal variation in survival was best modeled (wi 1⁄4 0.935) with weekly differences in survival rates that varied within and between years. There was only slight dependency in survival due to covey affiliation between the 2 seasons (median cˆ 1⁄4 1.51). Non-breeding season survival was low (Sˆ 2009–2010 1⁄4 0.05, 95% CI 1⁄4 0.03-0.11, Sˆ 2010–2011 1⁄4 0.12, 95% CI 1⁄4 0.07- 0.20) in 2 years with data for the entire season. Survival during 10 December-31 March varied among the 3 years (Sˆ2008–2009 1⁄4 0.45, 95% CI 1⁄4 0.29-0.61, Sˆ2009–2010 1⁄4 0.11, 95% CI 1⁄4 0.05-0.21, Sˆ2010–2011 1⁄4 0.25, 95% CI 1⁄4 0.17-0.34). There were 2 periods of low survival; a short period in early fall that coincided with senescence of herbaceous vegetation and the hunting season, and during periods with prolonged snow cover during winter. Late winter survival during periods of snow cover was most variable and winter severity appeared to have the greatest influence on seasonal survival during our study. Management strategies to improve non-breeding season survival in northern populations should focus on managing winter habitat to improve survival during periods of prolonged snow cover

Nursing and euthanasia : a narrative review of the nursing ethics literature

Background: Medical Assistance in Dying, also known as euthanasia or assisted suicide, is expanding internationally. Canada is the first country to permit Nurse Practitioners to provide euthanasia. These developments highlight the need for nurses to reflect upon the moral and ethical issues that euthanasia presents for nursing practice. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide a narrative review of the ethical arguments surrounding euthanasia in relationship to nursing practice. Methods: Systematic search and narrative review. Nine electronic databases were searched using vocabulary developed from a stage 1 search of Medline and CINAHL. Articles that analysed a focused ethical question related to euthanasia in the context of nursing practice were included. Articles were synthesized to provide an overview of the literature of nursing ethics and euthanasia. Ethical Considerations: This review was conducted as per established scientific guidelines. We have tried to be fair and respectful to the authors discussed. Findings: Forty-three articles were identified and arranged inductively into four themes: arguments from the nature of nursing; arguments from ethical principles, concepts and theories; arguments for moral consistency; and arguments from the nature of the social good. Key considerations included nursing's moral ontology, the nurse-patient relationship, potential impact on the profession, ethical principles and theories, moral culpability for acts versus omissions, the role of intention and the nature of the society in which euthanasia would be enacted. In many cases, the same assumptions, values, principles and theories were used to argue both for and against euthanasia. Discussion: The review identified a relative paucity of literature in light of the expansion of euthanasia internationally. However, the literature provided a fulsome range of positions for nurses to consider as they reflect on their own participation in euthanasia. Many of the arguments reviewed were not nursing-specific, but rather are relevant across healthcare disciplines. Arguments explicitly grounded within the nature of nursing and nurse-patient relationships warrant further exploration

Efficacy of Targeted Mist-Netting to Capture Northern Bobwhites During the Non-Breeding Season in Ohio

Baited funnel traps and nightlighting are well established northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) capture techniques, but their use is not always appropriate, particularly on private land where cooperating landowners may place constraints on research activities. Alternative capture techniques may be more effective under conditions considered to be unfavorable for established techniques (e.g., periods with abundant natural food). Targeted mist-netting, where mist nets are erected near the known location of specific individuals, has been used to capture gallinaceous species and may be an effective alternative to established bobwhite capture techniques. We evaluated the effectiveness of using targeted mist-netting to capture bobwhites during the non-breeding season in Ohio. We tested for differences in survival and age and sex ratios of individuals captured with targeted netting and baited funnel traps. We captured 257 individuals with targeted netting during 1 October-28 February 2009–2011 and concurrently captured 253 individuals with baited funnel traps. There was a short-term influence of capture and handling, but there was no significant difference in post-capture survival of bobwhites captured with targeted netting or trapping. Capture rates of age and sex classes were similar (P 1⁄4 0.488 and P 1⁄4 0.973, respectively) between targeted netting and trapping. Body mass of bobwhites captured by targeted netting was less than that of bobwhites captured by trapping (P 1⁄4 0.009) suggesting that netting may provide more accurate estimates of body mass. We used targeted netting to capture bobwhites in a variety of situations where use of funnel traps was ineffective or problematic. Targeted netting was effective and often more compatible with constraints of working on private land than established capture techniques

Particulate Matter Dispersion Modeling in Agricultural Applications: Investigation of a Transient Open Source Solver

Agriculture is a major emitter of particulate matter (PM), which causes health problems and can act as a carrier of the pathogen material that spreads diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate an open-source solver that simulates the transport and dispersion of PM for typical agricultural applications. We investigated a coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian solver within the open source software package OpenFOAM. The continuous phase was solved using transient large eddy simulations, where four different subgrid-scale turbulence models and an inflow turbulence generator were tested. The discrete phase was simulated using two different Lagrangian solvers. For the validation case of a turbulent flow of a street canyon, the flowfield could be recaptured very well, with errors of around 5% for the non-equilibrium turbulence models (WALE and dynamicKeq) in the main regions. The inflow turbulence generator could create a stable and accurate boundary layer for the mean vertical velocity and vertical profile of the turbulent Reynolds stresses R11. The validation of the Lagrangian solver showed mixed results, with partly good agreements (simulation results within the measurement uncertainty), and partly high deviations of up to 80% for the concentration of particles. The higher deviations were attributed to an insufficient turbulence regime of the used validation case, which was an experimental chamber. For the simulation case of PM dispersion from manure application on a field, the solver could capture the influence of features such as size and density on the dispersion. The investigated solver is especially useful for further investigations into time-dependent processes in the near-source area of PM sources

Demographic Analysis of a Declining Northern Bobwhite Population in Southwestern Ohio

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations continue to decline throughout much of their range, especially in the Midwestern United States. Land use and habitat changes are understood to be the primary cause of decline, and it is unclear how vital rates affect growth of regional populations. We estimated relative abundance and population vital rates of bobwhites on 8 private land sites in southwestern Ohio during 2008–2011. Life stage simulation analyses were used to model the influence of 9 demographic parameters on population growth rates (k). All but one vital rate, chick survival, were modeled with empirical data randomly selected from normal distributions estimated (mean 6 SD) from our study population. The median value of k after 1,000 simulations was 0.248 (inter- quartile range 1⁄4 0.113-0.428). Non-breeding season survival was the dominant vital rate, explaining 50.4% of variation in k, followed by nest success (r2 1⁄4 0.163), and breeding season survival of adults (r2 1⁄4 0.083). Chick survival, egg success, and clutch size individually explained in order 1.4 to 4.6% of variation in k when modeled with survival estimates. Renesting, double-brooding, and male incubation individually explained , 1% of the variation in k. Total fecundity modeled as the sum across individual vital rate components explained 36.9% of variation in k. Non-breeding season survival was the most limiting population vital rate, but age ratios of fall-captured birds and simulated fecundity values indicated partial limitation by recruitment. Population stability (k 1⁄4 1) could be achieved by increasing non-breeding survival from 10.9 to 36.9%. Higher rates of nest success, the second most limiting vital rate, would not stabilize population growth unless survival rates also increased. Bobwhite conservation strategies should emphasize habitat enhancements designed to increase survival rates and useable space during the non-breeding season in Ohio and possibly other Midwestern states

Temporal and Spatial Assessment of Usable Space and Cover Type Interspersion for Northern Bobwhites on Private Farmlands in Southwestern Ohio

Contemporary landscape change driven by socio-economic forces and advances in agricultural technology do not favor northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) in the Midwestern United States. The challenge of bobwhite conservation is to provide sufficient quantities of habitat with optimal configurations in proportions that satisfy needs throughout the year on private-owned working lands. We radio-tracked 58 coveys and 98 individual birds throughout the year in 2009-10 and 2010-11 on privately owned farmland in southwestern Ohio. We investigated temporal changes in usable space from use-availability data. Estimated proportions of usable space based on analyses of habitat selection across four study sites were 0.06-0.12 during the non-breeding season compared to 0.10-10.30 during the breeding season. We also modeled probabilities that radio-marked coveys or individual birds used points within individual cover types as a function of distance to other cover types. Locations of radio-marked coveys and individual birds within focal cover types were closer to other cover types compared to random points during breeding (mean = 44 m) and non-breeding (mean = 58 m) seasons. Probability of use within focal cover types declined with distance to other cover types, typically falling below 50% when distances exceeded 9-242 m. Locations of radio-marked coveys were concentrated near edges within used cover types, while locations of individual birds were more dispersed during the breeding season. Estimated proportions of usable space based on distances between locations of radio-marked bobwhites and nearest cover types were higher (0.30-0.53) than estimates based on habitat selection ratios, and were similar between non-breeding and breeding seasons. Potentially usable sites were not fully occupied in either season, but there was no relationship between crude covey densities and proportions of usable space estimated from habitat selection analyses during the breeding and non-breeding seasons across study sites and years (r2 \u3c 0.166, P \u3e 0.316). With distance to cover type estimates of usable space (years combined), two study sites with the highest proportions of usable space (0.43-0.53) also had the largest crude covey densities (0.0065-0.153 coveys/ha) compared to the other two sites with lower proportions of usable space (0.30-0.32) and smaller covey densities (0.004 – 0.006 coveys/ha). Habitat enhancement should focus on providing protective cover near food for coveys during the non-breeding season and protective cover near nesting and brood-rearing habitat during the breeding season. Conserving Midwestern bobwhite populations requires innovative practices that can be implemented on private lands as economic incentives change for farm operators. Improving protective cover along habitat edges can increase usable space by improving cover type juxtaposition (e.g. food near cover) while minimizing impact on farming practices

Needs assessment of nurse researchers through a research lifecycle framework

Objective: Health sciences librarian roles are evolving to better meet the needs of faculty. This study explores nursing faculty needs at the University of British Columbia through the research lifecycle framework of planning, conducting, disseminating, and assessing the impact of their research. Methods: A mixed methods survey study with Likert scale, multiple-choice, or ordinal ranking-scale questions and six open-response questions was conducted. The format was a web-based Qualtrics survey; participants had approximately three weeks to respond. Results: Nursing faculty identified the dissemination phase as benefiting most from library support prioritizing reference management and archiving research data as the top needs in that phase. Assessing impact skills such as citation analysis and Altmetrics training was ranked second. The Planning phase was ranked third with systematic review and literature review support most needed. The Conducting phase was identified as the phase where they needed the least support. Conclusion: Understanding the needs of researchers and enhancing scholar productivity is vital to offering responsive library research services. Across the research lifecycle, nursing faculty identified reference management, data management, metrics evaluation, systematic reviews, and literature reviews as the key areas for which they need support