Assessing Habitat Quality of American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) and Validating a Handheld Meter Using Plasma Metabolites

American woodcock (Scolopax minor; hereafter woodcock) is a small migratory upland bird found throughout eastern North America. The North American population has been declining at approximately 1% annually since the late 1960s. Declines in demand for forest products and changes in forest management practices have been major drivers in the decline of early successional forests, an ecosystem vital for woodcock. Reversing the decline in woodcock populations will require a better understanding of optimal habitat and methods for assessing habitat quality. Improved methods for assessing habitat quality can aid in identifying areas best suited for management efforts while directing limited funding resources for the most beneficial conservation efforts. Current methods for assessing habitat quality to woodcock include singing-ground surveys, recruitment, and nesting success. Though these methods remain important, body condition of individuals has been demonstrated to be effective as well. Understanding the relationship between habitat characteristics and body condition is possible using blood plasma metabolites. Triglyceride (TRIG) and ß-hydroxybutyrate (BUTY) are two blood plasma metabolites effective in assessing habitat quality. These metabolites can be indicative of an individual’s change in body mass. I researched the relationship between these metabolites and habitat characteristics surrounding the singing-grounds of male woodcock. I found a negative relationship with TRIG concentrations with coniferous forests and developed land cover at the 50-meter buffer. The body condition of woodcock declined as the area of these landcover types increased. I expected additional habitat variables surrounding singing-grounds to relate to plasma metabolite indicators of body condition. Future research using plasma metabolites for assessing habitat quality would benefit from the use of telemetry to better estimate habitat use and a secondary method for measuring body condition. I also evaluated a small handheld meter, CardioChek PA analyzer, for measuring TRIG concentrations in a field setting. The handheld meter’s results were precise but did not produce accurate results in comparison with results produced in a laboratory setting. Future research utilizing this and other handheld meters for measuring plasma metabolite concentrations needs to consider the effects of environmental conditions (light, temperature, and humidity) on functionality. I recommend future testing of this meter in a laboratory setting where environmental conditions are controlled and to identify the maximum time between blood collection and analysis needed to produce accurate and precise plasma metabolite concentration measurements.Master of ScienceBiologyUniversity of Michigan-Flinthttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156020/1/Roelandt2020.pdfDescription of Roelandt2020.pdf : thesi

From Treading Water to Swimming Uphill: A Comprehensive and Innovative Assessment Program for Teaching Swimming in Belgian Primary Schools.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every child should learn to swim as a recognised life skill. Which swimming skill or stroke to learn first is not the most important question. What is important is to teach children to learn tasks or techniques which allow them to they feel safe. Emphasizing foundational principles of motor development and focusing on safety in and around the water are paramount. Beginning in 2016 school swimming lessons in Flanders (Belgium) were given a new focus in all educational institutions. Foundational competence tasks replaced the focus on acquiring competitive swimming strokes as the primary objective. As part of this process, our instructional methods began to include the use of practicing in deep water. This paper identified didactic and pedagogic screening practices of the revised water safety program and highlighted the importance of simplifying the teaching and learning methods as much as possible. One important didactic innovation used by the authors was to categorize swimming exercises using a color-coding scheme

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Rede, uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van gewoon hoogleraar in de klinische echocardiografie aan de faculteit der geneeskunde van de Erasmus Universiteit te Rotterdam, op woensdag 24 oktober 198

A GUIDE FOR THE CO-ORDINATION IN THE FRONT CRAWL VARIANTS

In this presentation an interactive cd-rom, describing and discussing the front crawl of high level swimmers, is introduced; more specifically several variants (e.g. 6-beat, 2-beat, 2 beat crossover) and different technique aspects. The intention is that the coach corrects the own competition swimmers and triathletes, based on a careful video observation. Therefore, only practical knowledge is collected, confirmed by expertise and applied research at the K.U.Leuven Evaluation Centre. Different variants and technique aspects are clarified by video images of recent swimmers at national level in different speeds, obtained with 5 rotating cameras from 5 points of view. To be able to start with an Evaluation Centre, in the movement analysis of high level swimmers special attention was given to the co-ordination of the arm, leg and head movements (relative to the body) and of the body movements (relative to the water surface). Since the Olympic Games in Munich (1972), for each segment clearly delimited phases were studied in the stroke cycle of each variant. An interesting criterion for propulsion is the speed variation of the body from phase to phase. Each swimmer can feel propulsion per phase, estimated by the coach on video, from bubbles displaced backward; each swimmer can also feel the coordination, observable by the coach on video. Although the optimal variant per distance of a swimmer could be determined from his physical profile (e.g.; body structure, buoyancy, flexibility, strength,,,), each individual is advised to experiment with the different variants and technique aspects. Speed and/or economy remain the essential criterions. The body control of swimmers must thus be very adaptable