CHORUSING PATTERNS OF A DIVERSE ANURAN COMMUNITY, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SOUTHERN CRAWFISH FROGS (LITHOBATES AREOLATUS AREOLATUS)

Wildlife surveys have a critical role in conservation efforts and the collection of life history data. For anuran amphibians these surveys often focus on calling males. In order to further our understanding of anuran ecology, we used automated recording systems to monitor the calling activities of the anuran communities at two beaver-formed lakes and one cattle pond in southeastern Oklahoma. We documented 14 anuran species between 5 February and 28 April 2012. Temperature had a significant effect on the calling patterns of Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toads (Gastrophryne carolinensis), Green Treefrogs (Hyla cinerea), Gray Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor), Southern Crawfish Frogs (Lithobates areolatus areolatus), and Cajun Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris fouquettei). Temperature did not have a significant effect on the calling patterns of Dwarf American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus charlesmithi), American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), or Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans). There was not a significant relationship between rainfall and calling for L. a. areolatus. The presence of several of these species, including L. a. areolatus and Hurter’s Spadefoots (Scaphiopus hurterii) was unusual because these anurans typically breed in ephemeral, fishless pools, but the beaver lakes are permanent and sustain populations of carnivorous fishes

Topological entropy of realistic quantum Hall wave functions

The entanglement entropy of the incompressible states of a realistic quantum Hall system are studied by direct diagonalization. The subdominant term to the area law, the topological entanglement entropy, which is believed to carry information about topologic order in the ground state, was extracted for filling factors 1/3, 1/5 and 5/2. The results for 1/3 and 1/5 are consistent with the topological entanglement entropy for the Laughlin wave function. The 5/2 state exhibits a topological entanglement entropy consistent with the Moore-Read wave function.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures; improved computations and graphics; added reference

CHORUSING PATTERNS OF A DIVERSE ANURAN COMMUNITY, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SOUTHERN CRAWFISH FROGS (LITHOBATES AREOLATUS AREOLATUS)

Wildlife surveys have a critical role in conservation efforts and the collection of life history data. For anuran amphibians these surveys often focus on calling males. In order to further our understanding of anuran ecology, we used automated recording systems to monitor the calling activities of the anuran communities at two beaver-formed lakes and one cattle pond in southeastern Oklahoma. We documented 14 anuran species between 5 February and 28 April 2012. Temperature had a significant effect on the calling patterns of Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toads (Gastrophryne carolinensis), Green Treefrogs (Hyla cinerea), Gray Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor), Southern Crawfish Frogs (Lithobates areolatus areolatus), and Cajun Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris fouquettei). Temperature did not have a significant effect on the calling patterns of Dwarf American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus charlesmithi), American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), or Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans). There was not a significant relationship between rainfall and calling for L. a. areolatus. The presence of several of these species, including L. a. areolatus and Hurter’s Spadefoots (Scaphiopus hurterii) was unusual because these anurans typically breed in ephemeral, fishless pools, but the beaver lakes are permanent and sustain populations of carnivorous fishes

Where are the turtles? Looking for Western Chicken Turtles, Deirochelys reticularia miaria, in Mississippi

Turtles are among the world’s most threatened vertebrates, with roughly two-thirds of species listed as threatened or endangered (Buhlmann et al., 2009). Factors such as habitat loss, overharvesting, poaching, disease, and climate change are driving these declines (Stanford et al., 2020), and it is imperative that we carefully monitor turtle populations to determine the extent of declines and prioritize conservation actions for threatened species. Western Chicken Turtles (Deirochelys reticularia miaria Schwartz, 1956) are among the turtles that appear to be experiencing rapid declines. This subspecies is distinct from the other subspecies in morphology (Schwartz, 1956), diet (McKnight et al., 2015c), nesting season (McKnight et al., 2015a, 2018; Carr and Tolson, 2018), and activity season (McKnight et al., 2015a; Bowers 2020). Genetic comparisons are currently limited, but available data also suggest a deep phylogenetic split between the Eastern Chicken Turtle, D. r. reticularia, (Latreille, 1801) and D. r. miaria Schwart, 1956 (Walker and Avise 1998; Hilzinger 2009). Historically, D. r. miaria occurs in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and a small portion of western Mississippi, and the ranges of D. r. miaria and D. r. reticularia are primarily divided by the Mississippi River, which likely acts as a strong barrier to interbreeding

Learned avoidance of trap locations in freshwater turtles

Context. Understanding the effects that learned responses to being captured have on subsequent recapture rates and associated abundance estimates is important for developing accurate descriptions of populations and communities. Although variation in the willingness of individual turtles to be trapped is commonly mentioned in the literature, few studies have experimentally tested learned trap avoidance (or fondness) in turtles. Aims. To determine whether turtles learn to avoid traps, whether repositioning traps will lead to increased capture rates, whether this effect varies among species, and whether such relocations yield more accurate depictions of community structure. Methods. We studied a community of turtles in a small lake in southeastern Kansas that included populations of red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) and common musk turtles (Sternotherus odoratus). We trapped the lake for 35 consecutive days by using two concurrently deployed groups of traps. One group remained stationary for the duration of the study, whereas traps comprising the other group were moved to new locations on Day 14 and returned to their original locations on Day 28, thus dividing the trapping season into three periods. Key results. For both species, capture rates declined over time. However, traps in the moved group captured more T. s. elegans than did those in the stationary group during the second period and more S. odoratus during the third period. Traps in the moved group also had higher recapture rates in the second period. Population abundance estimates based on captures from the moved group, the stationary group, and the pool of all captures were similar for T. s. elegans, but for S. odoratus the stationary group of traps produced an abundance estimate much lower than those generated from the moved group and the pool of all captures. Conclusions. Both species exhibited learned avoidance of trap locations, but relocating traps had distinct effects on different species, and the accuracy of the observed community structure was improved by relocating traps. Implications. The movement patterns and catchability of individuals of different species within a community must be taken into consideration when developing trapping protocols. Even high-intensity trapping over a long period may not generate an accurate sample of the community if different species use the spatial environment in substantially different ways and learn to avoid trap locations

Inclusive versus Exclusive EM Processes in Relativistic Nuclear Systems

Connections are explored between exclusive and inclusive electron scattering within the framework of the relativistic plane-wave impulse approximation, beginning with an analysis of the model-independent kinematical constraints to be found in the missing energy--missing momentum plane. From the interplay between these constraints and the spectral function basic features of the exclusive and inclusive nuclear responses are seen to arise. In particular, the responses of the relativistic Fermi gas and of a specific hybrid model with confined nucleons in the initial state are compared in this work. As expected, the exclusive responses are significantly different in the two models, whereas the inclusive ones are rather similar. By extending previous work on the relativistic Fermi gas, a reduced response is introduced for the hybrid model such that it fulfills the Coulomb and the higher-power energy-weighted sum rules. While incorporating specific classes of off-shellness for the struck nucleons, it is found that the reducing factor required is largely model-independent and, as such, yields a reduced response that is useful for extracting the Coulomb sum rule from experimental data. Finally, guided by the difference between the energy-weighted sum rules of the two models, a version of the relativistic Fermi gas is devised which has the 0$^{\rm th}$, 1$^{\rm st}$ and 2$^{\rm nd}$ moments of the charge response which agree rather well with those of the hybrid model: this version thus incorporates {\em a priori} the binding and confinement effects of the stuck nucleons while retaining the simplicity of the original Fermi gas.Comment: LaTex file with 15 .ps figure

Inelastic nucleon contributions in (e,e′)(e,e^\prime) nuclear response functions

We estimate the contribution of inelastic nucleon excitations to the $(e,e^\prime)$ inclusive cross section in the CEBAF kinematic range. Calculations are based upon parameterizations of the nucleon structure functions measured at SLAC. Nuclear binding effects are included in a vector-scalar field theory, and are assumed have a minimal effect on the nucleon excitation spectrum. We find that for q\lsim 1 GeV the elastic and inelastic nucleon contributions to the nuclear response functions are comparable, and can be separated, but with roughly a factor of two uncertainty in the latter from the extrapolation from data. In contrast, for q\rsim 2 GeV this uncertainty is greatly reduced but the elastic nucleon contribution is heavily dominated by the inelastic nucleon background.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures available from the authors at Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester NY 1462

Universality of residence-time distributions in non-adiabatic stochastic resonance

We present mathematically rigorous expressions for the residence-time and first-passage-time distributions of a periodically forced Brownian particle in a bistable potential. For a broad range of forcing frequencies and amplitudes, the distributions are close to periodically modulated exponential ones. Remarkably, the periodic modulations are governed by universal functions, depending on a single parameter related to the forcing period. The behaviour of the distributions and their moments is analysed, in particular in the low- and high-frequency limits.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure New version includes distinction between first-passage-time and residence-time distribution