South Carolina Department of Transportation and the United States Department of Agriculture, Partnering for Success in Migratory Bird Treaty Act Compliance: A Case Study

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is responsible for maintaining over 8,400 bridges statewide and several species of migratory birds use these structures as nesting locations. These birds, including their nests and eggs, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). During a review of MBTA compliance in 2014, SCDOT concluded that they had no procedures in place to allow take to occur when active migratory bird nests were found within project limits. Project delays were the only management method available when active nests were found. SCDOT entered a Cooperative Service Agreement with USDA Wildlife Services (WS) in 2016 to address MBTA compliance on SCDOT projects. The agreement called for WS to manage migratory birds at bridge projects to prevent project delays. WS would repeatedly visit bridge projects, survey the bridges for nests, and remove the nests before they became active. Since 2016, WS has inspected 233 bridges and migratory birds were present at approximately 66% of those bridges with a total of 9,250 inactive nests being removed using a variety of methods. Since the partnership’s inception, construction delays due to migratory birds have been completely avoided with an average cost per project of $1,525. With the passage of a new motor fuel user fee in South Carolina, SCDOT plans to replace 465 bridges over the next 10 years. This increase in work will require continued development and implementation of the partnership to effectively meet the rapidly growing transportation needs while minimizing impacts to species protected under the MBTA

Demonstration project in low-cost shoreline erosion control : final report to County Administrator, County of Accomack, Virginia

·1ow cost erosion control structures were installed at ten shoreline sites located in the lower Chesapeake Bay and on the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers to further test the applicability of the perched beach concept under diverse littoral environments. The perched beach is achieved via installation of a low sill parallel to the shoreline. The objective of the sill is to provide a partial barrier behind which an elevated (perched) beach is accreted. When successful, ~he perched beach backshore and foreshore acts to reduce the frequency of direct wave attack against the fastland and thereby reducing the erosion rate. In this study, sills were used in conjunction with existing groins as well as alone. Some testing was performed on the use of a spur with existing groins as a device to prevent the formation of a downdrift erosion notch where the groin intersects the fastland. The sills were formed with a series of large PVC-coated nylon bags hydraulically filled with sand or with stone filled gabions. In one case compacted used auto tires were utilized as fill for a gabion. Evaluation of the response to the structures was based upon a series of surveyed beach profiles at each site and sequential photography. At each site the beach profiles were surveyed for several months prior to and following the installation of the various structures. Additional profiles were run adjacent to the treated areas. The structures were emplaced between late March and early June of 1978

Feral swine harming insular sea turtle reproduction: The origin, impacts, behavior and elimination of an invasive species

Feral swine are among the world\u27s most destructive invasive species wherever they are found, with translocations figuring prominently in their range expansions. In contrast, sea turtles are beloved species that are listed as threatened or endangered throughout the world and are the focus of intense conservation efforts. Nest predation by feral swine severely harms sea turtle reproduction in many locations around the world. Here we quantify and economically assess feral swine nest predation at North Island, South Carolina, an important loggerhead sea turtle nesting beach. Feral swine depredation of North Island sea turtle nests was first detected in 2005, with annual nest monitoring initiated in 2010 documenting nearly total losses to feral swine in 2010 and 2011. The cumulative valuation of annual losses for North Island from 2010 to 2016 ranged as high as $1,166,500. To improve nesting success, an integrated approach for eliminating feral swine was implemented in 2010 and greatly intensified in 2013 by adding federal experts. Removal efforts were challenging due to the island\u27s remoteness and impenetrable habitats, weather, hazards in accessing the island, and wariness of the animals, especially as their population diminished. Removal of the final 11 swine required efforts from 2014 to 2016. Nest predation was highly variable and provided another example of the significance of conditioning by feral swine to sea turtle nests on the consequent severity of nest predation. Even the final individual inflicted heavy losses before his removal. Genetic analyses of feral swine removed from North Island and the adjacent mainland revealed that the island\u27s population did not originate from the nearby mainland, meaning they were (illegally) introduced to the island

Feral swine harming insular sea turtle reproduction: The origin, impacts, behavior and elimination of an invasive species

Feral swine are among the world\u27s most destructive invasive species wherever they are found, with translocations figuring prominently in their range expansions. In contrast, sea turtles are beloved species that are listed as threatened or endangered throughout the world and are the focus of intense conservation efforts. Nest predation by feral swine severely harms sea turtle reproduction in many locations around the world. Here we quantify and economically assess feral swine nest predation at North Island, South Carolina, an important loggerhead sea turtle nesting beach. Feral swine depredation of North Island sea turtle nests was first detected in 2005, with annual nest monitoring initiated in 2010 documenting nearly total losses to feral swine in 2010 and 2011. The cumulative valuation of annual losses for North Island from 2010 to 2016 ranged as high as $1,166,500. To improve nesting success, an integrated approach for eliminating feral swine was implemented in 2010 and greatly intensified in 2013 by adding federal experts. Removal efforts were challenging due to the island\u27s remoteness and impenetrable habitats, weather, hazards in accessing the island, and wariness of the animals, especially as their population diminished. Removal of the final 11 swine required efforts from 2014 to 2016. Nest predation was highly variable and provided another example of the significance of conditioning by feral swine to sea turtle nests on the consequent severity of nest predation. Even the final individual inflicted heavy losses before his removal. Genetic analyses of feral swine removed from North Island and the adjacent mainland revealed that the island\u27s population did not originate from the nearby mainland, meaning they were (illegally) introduced to the island

Lighting during grow-out and Salmonella in broiler flocks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lighting is used during conventional broiler grow-out to modify bird behaviour to reach the goals of production and improve bird welfare. The protocols for lighting intensity vary. In a field study, we evaluated if the lighting practices impact the burden of <it>Salmonella </it>in broiler flocks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Conventional grow-out flocks reared in the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, USA in 2003 to 2006 were sampled 1 week before harvest (<it>n </it>= 58) and upon arrival for processing (<it>n </it>= 56) by collecting feathered carcass rinsate, crop and one cecum from each of 30 birds, and during processing by collecting rinsate of 30 carcasses at pre-chilling (<it>n </it>= 56) and post-chilling points (<it>n </it>= 54). Litter samples and drag swabs of litter were collected from the grow-out houses after bird harvest (<it>n </it>= 56). Lighting practices for these flocks were obtained with a questionnaire completed by the growers. Associations between the lighting practices and the burden of <it>Salmonella </it>in the flocks were tested while accounting for variation between the grow-out farms, their production complexes and companies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Longer relative duration of reduced lights during the grow-out period was associated with reduced detection of <it>Salmonella </it>on the exterior of birds 1 week before harvest and on the broiler carcasses at the post-chilling point of processing. In addition, starting reduced lights for ≥18 hours per day later in the grow-out period was associated with decreased detection of <it>Salmonella </it>on the exterior of broilers arriving for processing and in the post-harvest drag swabs of litter from the grow-out house.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this field study show that lighting practices implemented during broiler rearing can impact the burden of <it>Salmonella </it>in the flock. The underlying mechanisms are likely to be interactive.</p

Ultraviolet Signatures of Tidal Interaction in the Giant Spiral Galaxy, M101

We present new evidence for tidal interactions having occurred in the disk of M101 in the last 10^8 - 10^9 years. Recent imaging of the far-ultraviolet emission from M101 by the Shuttle-borne Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) reveals with unprecedented clarity a disk-wide pattern of multiple linear arm segments (``crooked arms''). The deep FUV image also shows a faint outer spiral arm with a (``curly tail'') feature that appears to loop around the supergiant HII region NGC 5471 - linking this outlying starburst with the rest of the galaxy. These FUV-bright features most likely trace hot O & B-type stars along with scattered light from associated nebular dust. Counterparts of the outermost ``crooked arms'' are evident in maps at visible wavelengths and in the 21-cm line of HI. The inner-disk FUV arms are most closely associated with H$\alpha$ knots and the outer (downstream) sides of CO arms. Comparisons of the ``crooked arm'' and ``curly tail'' morphologies with dynamical simulations yield the greatest similitude, when the non- axisymmetric forcing comes from a combination of ``external interactions'' with one or more companion galaxies and ``internal perturbations'' from massive objects orbiting within the disk. We speculate that NGC 5471 represents one of these ``massive disturbers'' within the disk, whose formation followed from a tidal interaction between M101 and a smaller galaxy.Comment: Paper format (latex); length of paper (8); 4 gif figure files; uses aas2pp4.sty AASTeX macro file; to be published in Part I of the Astrophysical Journa

The <i>Castalia</i> mission to Main Belt Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro

We describe Castalia, a proposed mission to rendezvous with a Main Belt Comet (MBC), 133P/Elst-Pizarro. MBCs are a recently discovered population of apparently icy bodies within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which may represent the remnants of the population which supplied the early Earth with water. Castalia will perform the first exploration of this population by characterising 133P in detail, solving the puzzle of the MBC’s activity, and making the first in situ measurements of water in the asteroid belt. In many ways a successor to ESA’s highly successful Rosetta mission, Castalia will allow direct comparison between very different classes of comet, including measuring critical isotope ratios, plasma and dust properties. It will also feature the first radar system to visit a minor body, mapping the ice in the interior. Castalia was proposed, in slightly different versions, to the ESA M4 and M5 calls within the Cosmic Vision programme. We describe the science motivation for the mission, the measurements required to achieve the scientific goals, and the proposed instrument payload and spacecraft to achieve these