Spatial and Temporal Relationships Between Forest Bird Declines and Prevalence of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in the Northeastern United States

The eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a vital foundation tree species throughout the eastern United States, providing essential structural diversity and habitat for more than 120 different animal species. Within the past few decades, T. canadensis has undergone significant declines that are largely associated with the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae), an exotic, aphid-like insect native to East Asia. From the 1970s to present day, the HWA has spread throughout southern New England, large portions of the Mid-Atlantic region, and parts of Tennessee and the Carolinas. Research has shown that loss of the eastern hemlock is drastically altering forest community structures, potentially impacting a wide variety of forest fauna, including avian populations strongly associated with hemlock forests. Here we present research investigating the correlation between HWA prevalence and recent declines of hemlock-associated forest birds in the Eastern US. We analyzed bird population trends data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), US Forest Service HWA data, and land cover data to analyze the population trends of hemlock-associated and forest generalist species in association with the arrival of HWA, taking hemlock density into account. We found a significant correlation between the timing of HWA arrival and declines of conifer forest specialist birds. The Black-throated Green Warbler and the Blue-headed Vireo exhibited significant decline along survey routes after HWA arrival. Populations of some forest generalists (Tufted Titmouse, White-Breasted Nuthatch) were unaffected and continued to increase linearly, while others (Red-Eyed Vireo, Ovenbird) showed minor decrease in population

Saturn S-IB Stage assembly and test report, S-IB-1

Manufacture, assembly, and static tests of Saturn S-IB-1 stag

Evidence linking coronal mass ejections with interplanetary magnetic clouds

Using proxy data for the occurrence of those mass ejections from the solar corona which are directed earthward, we investigate the association between the post-1970 interplanetary magnetic clouds of Klein and Burlaga and coronal mass ejections. The evidence linking magnetic clouds following shocks with coronal mass ejections is striking; six of nine clouds observed at Earth were preceded an appropriate time earlier by meter-wave type II radio bursts indicative of coronal shock waves and coronal mass ejections occurring near central meridian. During the selected periods when no clouds were detected near Earth, the only type II bursts reported were associated with solar activity near the limbs. Where the proxy solar data to be sought are not so clearly suggested, that is, for clouds preceding interaction regions and clouds within cold magnetic enhancements, the evidence linking the clouds and coronal mass ejections is not as clear; proxy data usually suggest many candidate mass-ejection events for each cloud. Overall, the data are consistent with and support the hypothesis suggested by Klein and Burlaga that magnetic clouds observed with spacecraft at 1 AU are manifestations of solar coronal mass ejection transients

The Feasibility of Counting Songbirds Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Obtaining unbiased survey data for vocal bird species is inherently challenging due to observer biases, habitat coverage biases, and logistical constraints. We propose that combining bioacoustic monitoring with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology could reduce some of these biases and allow bird surveys to be conducted in less accessible areas. We tested the feasibility of the UAV approach to songbird surveys using a low-cost quadcopter with a simple, lightweight recorder suspended 8 m below the vehicle. In a field experiment using playback of bird recordings, we found that small variations in UAV altitude (it hovered at 28, 48, and 68 m) didn\u27t have a significant effect on detections by the recorder attached to the UAV, and we found that the detection radius of our equipment was comparable with detection radii of standard point counts. We then field tested our equipment, comparing songbird detections from our UAV-mounted recorder with standard point-count data from 51 count stations. We found that the number of birds per point on UAV counts was comparable with standard counts for most species, but there were significant underestimates for some—specifically, issues of song masking for a species with a low-frequency song, the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura); and underestimation of the abundance of a species that was found in very high densities, the Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). Species richness was lower on UAV counts (mean = 5.6 species point−1) than on standard counts (8.3 species point−1), but only slightly lower than on standard counts if nonaudible detections are omitted (6.5 species point−1). Excessive UAV noise is a major hurdle to using UAVs for bioacoustic monitoring, but we are optimistic that technological innovations to reduce motor and rotor noise will significantly reduce this issue. We conclude that UAV-based bioacoustic monitoring holds great promise, and we urge other researchers to consider further experimentation to refine techniques

Magnetospheric influence on the Moon\u27s exosphere

[1] Atoms in the thin lunar exosphere are liberated from the Moon\u27s regolith by some combination of sunlight, plasma, and meteorite impact. We have observed exospheric sodium, a useful tracer species, on five nights of full Moon in order to test the effect of shielding the lunar surface from the solar wind plasma by the Earth\u27s magnetosphere. These observations, conducted under the dark sky conditions of lunar eclipses, have turned out to be tests of the differential effects of energetic particle populations that strike the Moon\u27s surface when it is in the magnetotail. We find that the brightness of the lunar sodium exosphere at full Moon is correlated with the Moon\u27s passage through the Earth\u27s magnetotail plasma sheet. This suggests that omnipresent exospheric sources (sunlight or micrometeors) are augmented by variable plasma impact sources in the solar wind and Earth\u27s magnetotail

The wall of the cave

In this article old and new relations between gauge fields and strings are discussed. We add new arguments that the Yang Mills theories must be described by the non-critical strings in the five dimensional curved space. The physical meaning of the fifth dimension is that of the renormalization scale represented by the Liouville field. We analyze the meaning of the zigzag symmetry and show that it is likely to be present if there is a minimal supersymmetry on the world sheet. We also present the new string backgrounds which may be relevant for the description of the ordinary bosonic Yang-Mills theories. The article is written on the occasion of the 40-th anniversary of the IHES.Comment: 18 pages, Late

Online Mapping Tools for Geolocating Amish Settlements

This technical note demonstrates the value of using online mapping tools as a method of geolocating Amish settlements. Primarily using freely available Bing and Google maps and published lists of the addresses of Amish ministers, we geolocated 1,362 Amish households in Ohio and 1,203 in Pennsylvania, representing about 10% of Amish households in those states. From these data we were able to derive a population density map of the Amish across Ohio and Pennsylvania. We caution that our map is merely a model and based on several assumptions, but the product is a finer resolution map of Amish distribution than has previously been published. We add that the locations of Amish schools provide another promising avenue for geolocation of Amish settlements, but we were not able to locate sufficiently comprehensive lists to include them in our analysis

Wide-angle flat field telescope

Described is an unobscured three mirror wide angle telescopic imaging system comprised of an input baffle which provides a 20 deg (Y axis) x 30 deg (X axis) field of view, a primary mirror having a convex spherical surface, a secondary mirror having a concave ellipsoidal reflecting surface, a tertiary mirror having a concave spherical reflecting surface. The mirrors comprise mirror elements which are offset segments of parent mirrors whose axes and vertices commonly lie on the system's optical axis. An iris diaphragm forming an aperture stop is located between the secondary and tertiary mirror with its center also being coincident with the optical axis and being further located at the beam waist of input light beams reflected from the primary and secondary mirror surfaces. At the system focus following the tertiary mirror is located a flat detector which may be, for example, a TV imaging tube or a photographic film. When desirable, a spectral transmission filter is placed in front of the detector in close proximity thereto

Estimating sunspot number

An empirical method is developed to predict certain parameters of future solar activity cycles. Sunspot cycle statistics are examined, and curve fitting and linear regression analysis techniques are utilized