Healthy Western Lands: a proposal for healthy rangelands, wildlife, and free-roaming horses and burros

The Coalition for Healthy Nevada Lands, Wildlife and Free-roaming Horses (CHNL) is dedicated to proper management of free-roaming horses (Equus caballus) and burros (E. asinus) so rangelands are healthy, which benefits wildlife and the horses and burros themselves. The CHNL proposes the rapid reduction of horses and burros on designated public lands to achieve appropriate management levels (AML). After these reductions, the use of fertility control, supplemented with some gathers and adoption of gathered horses, should allow the Bureau of Land Management to economically maintain horse and burro populations at AML. The CHNL believes this approach will be the most expeditious to restoring rangeland to health and cost-effective as it reduces handling of horses and burros. Herein, we describe CHNL’s rationale for this approach and our effort to have the Nevada Legislature pass a resolution supporting the proposal

Change in Abundance of Pacific Brant Wintering in Alaska: Evidence of a Climate Warming Effect?

Winter distribution of Pacific Flyway brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) has shifted northward from low-temperate areas to sub-Arctic areas over the last 42 years. We assessed the winter abundance and distribution of brant in Alaska to evaluate whether climate warming may be contributing to positive trends in the most northern of the wintering populations. Mean surface air temperatures during winter at the end of the Alaska Peninsula increased about 1°C between 1963 and 2004, resulting in a 23% reduction in freezing degree days and a 34% decline in the number of days when ice cover prevents birds from accessing food resources. Trends in the wintering population fluctuated with states of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, increasing during positive (warm) phases and decreasing during negative (cold) phases, and this correlation provides support for the hypothesis that growth in the wintering population of brant in Alaska is linked to climate warming. The size of the wintering population was negatively correlated with the number of days of strong northwesterly winds in November, which suggests that the occurrence of tailwinds favorable for migration before the onset of winter was a key factor in whether brant migrated from Alaska or remained there during winter. Winter distribution of brant on the Alaska Peninsula was highly variable and influenced by ice cover, particularly at the heavily used Izembek Lagoon. Observations of previously marked brant indicated that the Alaska wintering population was composed primarily of birds originating from Arctic breeding colonies that appear to be growing. Numbers of brant in Alaska during winter will likely increase as temperatures rise and ice cover decreases at high latitudes in response to climate warming.Au cours des 42 dernières années, la répartition de la bernache cravant du Pacifique (Branta bernicla nigricans) s’est déplacée vers le nord en hiver, passant ainsi de régions faiblement tempérées à des régions subarctiques. Nous avons évalué l’abondance et la répartition de la bernache en Alaska l’hiver afin de tenter de déterminer si le réchauffement climatique contribue aux tendances positives au sein des populations d’hivernage les plus au nord. Les températures moyennes de l’air à la surface en hiver se sont accrues d’environ 1°C entre 1963 et 2004, ce qui s’est traduit par une réduction de 23 % du nombre de jours atteignant le point de congélation et d’une diminution de 34 % du nombre de jours pendant lesquels la couverture de glace empêche les oiseaux d’avoir accès aux ressources alimentaires. Les tendances caractérisant la population d’hivernage fluctuaient en fonction des états de l’oscillation pacifique décennale en ce sens qu’elles augmentaient pendant les phases positives (tièdes) et qu’elles baissaient pendant les phases négatives (froides). Cette corrélation vient appuyer l’hypothèse selon laquelle la croissance de la population d’hivernage de la bernache en Alaska est liée au réchauffement climatique. L’effectif de la population d’hivernage a été négativement corrélé au nombre de jours de vents forts en provenance du nord-ouest en novembre, ce qui laisse croire que l’occurrence de vents arrières favorables à la migration avant le début de l’hiver constituait un facteur-clé déterminant si une bernache migrait de l’Alaska ou y restait pendant l’hiver. Dans la péninsule de l’Alaska, la répartition de la bernache en hiver variait énormément et dépendait de la couverture de glace, surtout à la lagune Izembek particulièrement achalandée. Les observations de bernaches déjà marquées ont permis de constater que la population d’hivernage de l’Alaska était principalement composée d’oiseaux provenant des colonies de reproduction de l’Arctique qui semblent prendre de l’ampleur. Le nombre de bernaches en Alaska pendant l’hiver augmentera vraisemblablement au fur et à mesure que les températures augmenteront et que les couvertures de glace diminueront en haute latitude en raison du réchauffement climatique

Energy limitations for spring migration and breeding: the case of brent geese Branta bernicla tracked by satellite telemetry to Svalbard and Greenland

Brent geese were tracked by satellite telemetry from spring staging areas in Denmark to Arctic breeding areas in Svalbard and Greenland in 1997 and 2001. From estimated departure masses and carcass analysis we used flight mechnical theory to estimate maximum flight ranges of both sexes, and remaining stores of fat and protein upon arrival in females. Model predictions suggested that all birds but one exceptionally thin male could easily reach Svalbard, but that approximately one third of the males and half of the females would have problems with flying to Greenland. Nevertheless, some birds even flew longer than the models predicted. In addition, females predicted to be capable of making the flight to Greenland, were predicted to arrive almost lean of fat. This contradicts our expectation that these birds are capital breeders - that they depend on endogenous stores of fat and protein when initiating and incubating their eggs. We discuss how the Greenland breeding sub-population during 1985-1998 has been able to grow at the same rate as the sub-population breeding in Svalbard, despite the added flight distance of 700-1000 km, and despite the birds predicted shortage of fat stores on arrival. We suggest four hypotheses that alone or in combination could explain the discrepancy between model predictions and observations. These are that most birds: (1) refuel on stop-overs in Spitsbergen en route to Greenland; (2) pick favourable tail-winds enabling them to reduce flight costs; (3) fly in formation and thereby save energy; and/or (4) undergo gut atrophy immediately prior to departure, and use the nutrients mobilised by catabolism of the digestive system to build larger pectoral muscles. The latter option would both reduce their airframe fraction, and increase their fat and flight-muscle fractions, enabling them to fly longer. We conclude that the latter option seems less likely to operate in brent geese

The changing environment of conservation conflict: geese and farming in Scotland

Conflict between conservation objectives and human livelihoods is ubiquitous and can be highly damaging, but the processes generating it are poorly understood. Ecological elements are central to conservation conflict, and changes in their dynamics — for instance due to anthropogenic environmental change — are likely to influence the emergence of serious human–wildlife impacts and, consequently, social conflict.  We used mixed-effects models to examine the drivers of historic spatio-temporal dynamics in numbers of Greenland barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) on the Scottish island of Islay to identify the ecological processes that have shaped the environment in which conflict between goose conservation and agriculture has been triggered.  Barnacle goose numbers on Islay increased from 20,000 to 43,000 between 1987 and 2016. Over the same period, the area of improved grassland increased, the number of sheep decreased and the climate warmed.  Goose population growth was strongly linked to the increasing area of improved grassland, which provided geese with more high quality forage. Changing climatic conditions, particularly warming temperatures on Islay and breeding grounds in Greenland, have also boosted goose numbers.  As the goose population has grown, farms have supported geese more frequently and in larger numbers, with subsequent damaging effects on grassland. The creation of high-quality grassland appears to have largely driven the problem of serious economic damage by geese. Our analysis also reveals the drivers of spatial variation in goose impacts: geese were more likely to occur on farms closer to roosts and those with more improved grassland. However, as geese numbers have increased they have spread to previously less favoured farms.  Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates the primary role of habitat modification in the emergence of conflict between goose conservation and agriculture, alongside a secondary role of climate change. Our research illustrates the value of exploring socio-ecological history to understand the processes leading to conservation conflict. In doing so, we identify those elements that are more controllable, such as local habitat management, and less controllable, such as climate change, but which both need to be taken into account when managing conservation conflict

Food availability and predation risk, rather than intrinsic attributes are the main factors shaping the reproductive decisions of a long-lived predator

Acknowledgements We thank B. Sheldon and two anonymous reviewers for all their helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript. Our thanks also go to M. Davison, B. Little, P. Hotchin, D. Anderson and all other field assistants for their help with data collection and Forest Enterprise, particularly Tom Dearnley and Neville Geddes for facilitating work in Kielder Forest. We are also grateful to C. Sutherland for his help and advice on statistical analyses. This work was partly funded by Natural Research Limited and a Natural Environment Research Council studentship NE/J500148/1 to SH and grant NE/F021402/1 to XL. Forest Research funded all the fieldwork on goshawks, tawny owls and field voles during 1973-1996. In addition, we are grateful to English Nature and the BTO for issuing licences to visit goshawk nest sites.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Hampered Foraging and Migratory Performance in Swans Infected with Low-Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Virus

It is increasingly acknowledged that migratory birds, notably waterfowl, play a critical role in the maintenance and spread of influenza A viruses. In order to elucidate the epidemiology of influenza A viruses in their natural hosts, a better understanding of the pathological effects in these hosts is required. Here we report on the feeding and migratory performance of wild migratory Bewick's swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii Yarrell) naturally infected with low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) A viruses of subtypes H6N2 and H6N8. Using information on geolocation data collected from Global Positioning Systems fitted to neck-collars, we show that infected swans experienced delayed migration, leaving their wintering site more than a month after uninfected animals. This was correlated with infected birds travelling shorter distances and fuelling and feeding at reduced rates. The data suggest that LPAI virus infections in wild migratory birds may have higher clinical and ecological impacts than previously recognised

Shakespeare and the Senses

his article examines recent critical approaches to Shakespeare and the senses. Historicizing the senses has posed certain methodological challenges: what is the relationship between subjective sensory perceptions and broader cultural understandings of sensation? Does the sensate have a history? Recent work on each of the five senses demonstrates that the answer is yes. And, surprisingly, Shakespeare and his literary works are at the center of the field. As an important figure of the English literary canon, yet one about whom we know so very little, Shakespeare's sensory archive is both omnipresent and illusive. Shakespearean sensations thus provide a way of grappling with the larger methodological stakes of this field. This article examines a wide range of critical approaches to Shakespeare's sensory archive and ends by considering possible paths for further research. Publication cover image Volume6, Issue3 May 2009 Pages 726-740 Figures References Related Information Metrics Details © 2009 The Author. Journal Compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Lt