"Spontaneous" late recovery from stuttering: Dimensions of reported techniques and causal attributions

Purpose: (1) To survey the employed techniques and the reasons/occasions which adults who had recovered from stuttering after age 11 without previous treatment reported as causal to overcome stuttering, (2) to investigate whether the techniques and causal attributions can be reduced to coherent (inherently consistent) dimensions, and (3) whether these dimensions reflect common therapy components.Methods: 124 recovered persons from 8 countries responded by SurveyMonkey or paper-and-pencil to rating scale questions about 49 possible techniques and 15 causal attributions.Results: A Principal Component Analysis of 110 questionnaires identified 6 components (dimensions) for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Relaxed/Monitored Speech; Elocution; Stage Performance; Sought Speech Demands; Reassurance; 63.7% variance explained), and 3 components of perceived causal attributions of recovery (Life Change, Attitude Change, Social Support; 58.0% variance explained).Discussion: Two components for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Elocution) reflect treatment methods. Another component (Relaxed/Monitored Speech) consists mainly of items that reflect a common, non-professional understanding of effective management of stuttering. The components of the various perceived reasons for recovery reflect differing implicit theories of causes for recovery from stuttering. These theories are considered susceptible to various biases. This identification of components of reported techniques and of causal attributions is novel compared to previous studies who just list techniques and attributions.Conclusion: The identified dimensions of self-assisted techniques and causal attributions to reduce stuttering as extracted from self-reports of a large, international sample of recovered formerly stuttering adults may guide the application of behavioral stuttering therapies.</p

“Spontaneous” late recovery from stuttering: Dimensions of reported techniques and causal attributions

Purpose: (1) To survey the employed techniques and the reasons/occasions which adults who had recovered from stuttering after age 11 without previous treatment reported as causal to overcome stuttering, (2) to investigate whether the techniques and causal attributions can be reduced to coherent (inherently consistent) dimensions, and (3) whether these dimensions reflect common therapy components. Methods: 124 recovered persons from 8 countries responded by SurveyMonkey or paper-and-pencil to rating scale questions about 49 possible techniques and 15 causal attributions. Results: A Principal Component Analysis of 110 questionnaires identified 6 components (dimensions) for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Relaxed/Monitored Speech; Elocution; Stage Performance; Sought Speech Demands; Reassurance; 63.7% variance explained), and 3 components of perceived causal attributions of recovery (Life Change, Attitude Change, Social Support; 58.0% variance explained). Discussion: Two components for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Elocution) reflect treatment methods. Another component (Relaxed/Monitored Speech) consists mainly of items that reflect a common, non-professional understanding of effective management of stuttering. The components of the various perceived reasons for recovery reflect differing implicit theories of causes for recovery from stuttering. These theories are considered susceptible to various biases. This identification of components of reported techniques and of causal attributions is novel compared to previous studies who just list techniques and attributions. Conclusion: The identified dimensions of self-assisted techniques and causal attributions to reduce stuttering as extracted from self-reports of a large, international sample of recovered formerly stuttering adults may guide the application of behavioral stuttering therapies

Spatio-temporal variation in prevalence and intensity of trematodes responsible for waterfowl die-offs in faucet snail-infested waterbodies of Minnesota, USA

Several non-native trematodes hosted by the invasive Eurasian faucet snail, Bithynia tentaculata, have been causing die-offs of waterfowl in the Midwestern United States and Canada for several decades. Because of the potential implications of these die-offs on waterfowl in non-native settings, it is necessary to better understand the trematodes that cause the die-offs. Here, we studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of two trematodes, Cyathocotyle bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema spp., known to infect waterfowl in northern Minnesota, USA, via their intermediate host, the faucet snail (Bithynia tentaculata). We studied prevalence (% of snails infected within a sample) and intensity (mean number of parasites per infected snail within a sample) of faucet snail infection with these two trematodes in small lakes, large lakes, ponds, and rivers in northern Minnesota in the spring, summer, and fall of 2011–2013. We tested whether parasite prevalence and infection intensity could be explained spatially (as a function of the abundance of faucet snails, average snail size, water depth, and proximity to known waterfowl groups) and temporally (across years and seasons) using generalized estimating equation models. The spatial and temporal patterns we observed varied within and among waterbodies. For both parasite species, parasite prevalence and intensity of infection were consistently higher in samples with larger snails and in deeper portions of the waterbodies. In Lake Winnibigoshish, prevalence was lower farther from the large waterfowl groups we observed, but the abundance of snails in a sample had no effect on prevalence or intensity of infection. Our findings help improve understanding of this multi-species system, but also illustrate the complexity of modeling the spatial and temporal dynamics of infections in waterbodies that are so variable in size, shape, waterfowl use, and function. Keywords: Bithynia tentaculata, Cyathocotyle bushiensis, Faucet snail, Sphaeridiotrema spp., Trematodiasis, Waterfowl die-off

Population reduction by hunting helps control human-wildlife conflicts for a species that is a conservation success story.

Among the world's large Carnivores, American black bears (Ursus americanus) are the foremost conservation success story. Populations have been expanding across North America because the species is adaptable and tolerant of living near people, and because management agencies in the U.S. and Canada controlled hunting and other human-sources of mortality. As a result, human-black bear conflicts (damage to property, general nuisance, threat to human safety) have dramatically increased in some areas, making it urgently important to develop and deploy a variety of mitigation tools. Previous studies claimed that legal hunting did not directly reduce conflicts, but they did not evaluate whether hunting controlled conflicts via management of population size. Here, we compared temporal patterns of phoned-in complaints about black bears (total ~63,500) in Minnesota, USA, over 4 decades to corresponding bear population estimates: both doubled during the first decade. We also quantified natural bear foods, and found that large year-to-year fluctuations affected numbers of complaints; however, since this variation is due largely to weather, this factor cannot be managed. Complaints fell sharply when the management agency (1) shifted more responsibility for preventing and mitigating conflicts to the public; and (2) increased hunting pressure to reduce the bear population. This population reduction was more extreme than intended, however, and after hunting pressure was curtailed, population regrowth was slower than anticipated; consequently both population size and complaints remained at relatively low levels statewide for 2 decades (although with local hotspots). These long-term data indicated that conflicts can be kept in tolerable bounds by managing population size through hunting; but due to the bluntness of this instrument and deficiencies and uncertainties in monitoring and manipulating populations, it is wiser to maintain a population at a level where conflicts are socially-acceptable than try to reduce it once it is well beyond that point

Modeling broad-scale patterns of avian species richness across the Midwestern United States with measures of satellite image texture

Avian biodiversity is threatened, and in order to prioritize limited conservation resources and conduct effective conservation planning a better understanding of avian species richness patterns is needed. The use of image texture measures, as a proxy for the spatial structure of land cover and vegetation, has proven useful in explaining patterns of avian abundance and species richness. However, prior studies that modeled habitat with texture measures were conducted over small geographical extents and typically focused on a single habitat type. Our goal was to evaluate the performance of texture measures over broad spatial extents and across multiple habitat types with varying levels of vertical habitat structure. We calculated a suite of texture measures from 114 Landsat images over a study area of 1,498,000 km2 in the Midwestern United States, which included habitats ranging from grassland to forest. Avian species richness was modeled for several functional guilds as a function of image texture. We subsequently compared the explanatory power of texture-only models with models fitted using landscape composition metrics derived from the National Land Cover Dataset, as well as models fitted using both texture and composition metrics. Measures of image texture were effective in modeling spatial patterns of avian species richness in multiple habitat types, explaining up to 51% of the variability in species richness of permanent resident birds. In comparison, landscape composition metrics explained up to 56% of the variability in permanent resident species richness. In the most heavily forested ecoregion, texture-measures outperformed landscape metrics, and the two types of measurements were complementary in multivariate models. However, in two out of three ecoregions examined, landscape composition metrics consistently performed slightly better than texture measures, and the variance explained by the two types of measures overlapped considerably. These results show that image texture measures derived from satellite imagery can be an important tool for modeling patterns of avian species richness at broad spatial extents, and thus assist in conservation planning. However, texture measures were slightly inferior to landscape composition metrics in about three-fourths of our models. Therefore texture measures are best considered in conjunction with landscape metrics (if available) and are best used when they show explanatory ability that is complementarity to landscape metrics

Habitat selection and nest survival in two Great Plains shorebirds

As breeding populations of many grassland bird species decline, assessments of breeding habitat selection and reproductive success can provide useful insight into breeding ecology to support conservation delivery. Here, we demonstrate the use of nest location and survival data collated from 20 data contributors across the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States and Canada over a half century to examine habitat selection and nest survival of Western Willets (Tringa semipalmata inornata) and Marbled Godwits (Limosa fedoa), hereafter "willets" and "godwits." Both willets and godwits selected territories with less variation in vegetation height and topography relative to available locations. Willets selected nest sites that were flatter, closer to wetlands, and had shorter vegetation than Marbled Godwits, while godwits selected territories with greater wetland cover and shorter vegetation. Despite differences in fine-scale habitat selection, willets and godwits experienced similar daily nest survival rates and ecological drivers of nest survival. Nest success for the entire nest exposure period was estimated to be 0.521 (95% credible interval: 0.39-0.65) for willets and 0.562 (95% credible interval: 0.42-0.70) for godwits. Nest survival for both species increased with nest age and distance from the nest to the nearest wetland edge, while nest survival of godwits declined with conspecific breeding density. These relationships, as well as a weaker positive effect of microtine rodent abundance on nest survival, resembled drivers of upland nesting waterfowl reproductive success in the same region, which we attribute to their shared nest predators. Nest survival analyses of our collaborative dataset required substantial consideration of biases emerging from different data collection methods, ultimately reaffirming the importance of nest aging techniques in proper nest fate assignment. Analysis of compiled datasets using emerging analysis methods will continue to grow our understanding of the ecology of data sparse species