scholarly journals The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) genoscape: implications for monitoring, management, and subspecies boundaries

The Auk ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen C Ruegg ◽  
Michaela Brinkmeyer ◽  
Christen M Bossu ◽  
Rachael A Bay ◽  
Eric C Anderson ◽  
...  

AbstractIdentifying population genetic structure is useful for inferring evolutionary process and comparing the resulting structure with subspecies boundaries can aid in species management. The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is a widespread and highly diverse species with 17 total subspecies, only 2 of which are found north of U.S./Mexico border (F. s. paulus is restricted to southeastern United States, while F. s. sparverius breeds across the remainder of the U.S. and Canadian distribution). In many parts of their U.S. and Canadian range, American Kestrels have been declining, but it has been difficult to interpret demographic trends without a clearer understanding of gene flow among populations. Here we sequence the first American Kestrel genome and scan the genome of 197 individuals from 12 sampling locations across the United States and Canada in order to identify population structure. To validate signatures of population structure and fill in sampling gaps across the U.S. and Canadian range, we screened 192 outlier loci in an additional 376 samples from 34 sampling locations. Overall, our analyses support the existence of 5 genetically distinct populations of American Kestrels—eastern, western, Texas, Florida, and Alaska. Interestingly, we found that while our genome-wide genetic data support the existence of previously described subspecies boundaries in the United States and Canada, genetic differences across the sampled range correlate more with putative migratory phenotypes (resident, long-distance, and short-distance migrants) rather than a priori described subspecies boundaries per se. Based on our results, we suggest the resulting 5 genetically distinct populations serve as the foundation for American Kestrel conservation and management in the face of future threats.

1997 ◽  
Vol 1576 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vukan R. Vuchic ◽  
Yong Eun Shin ◽  
Eric C. Bruun ◽  
Nikola Krstanoski

All developed countries experience similar trends and problems in urban transportation: growth of cities and affluence result in an increase in car dependency. Increased volumes of car travel lead to congestion and many negative effects, often termed as the “collision of cities and cars.” A review of urban transportation policies and their implementation in the United States and its peer countries—Australia, Canada, and countries in Western Europe and East Asia—indicates that all peer countries except Great Britain place major emphasis on maintaining the human orientation of cities. They pursue policies aimed at achieving multimodal transportation systems and preventing automobile dominance. The United States, after significant strides in that direction up to 1980, has returned to policies favoring car travel and reducing support for alternative modes—transit, bicycles, and walking. This trend largely ignores the spirit and mandates of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. The gap between the United States and its peer countries is increasing. Present U.S. policies are likely to aggravate this situation. An example is presented: New York is compared with its peer cities in accessibility for long-distance travel. Its competitiveness in this respect is lagging. This trend cannot be ignored. As its peers learned from the U.S. experiences in highway and traffic engineering in the past, the U.S. should now learn from its peers how to avoid total car dependence and implement multimodal transportation systems to improve the livability of its metropolitan areas.


2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A Jamison ◽  
James Sichter

Structural and functional separation of telecommunications operators is being considered in many parts of the world following the U.K. functional separation of BT into retail and network operations. The attractiveness of separation is understandable due to the problems regulators often experience when regulating a monopoly that is vertically integrated into competitive markets, but separation in practice rarely if ever lives up to its promises. We examine experiences with business separation in the United States to draw lessons about its effects. We consider the separation of local and long distance, separation between telecommunications and information services, and separation between wholesale networks and retail services. These experiences show that business separation lowers efficiency and delays innovation, that adapting separation rules to an ever changing industry is costly and creates controversies, that rivals try to gain strategic advantage through the regulatory process, and that behavioral rules can be more effective in facilitating competition and innovation than structural rules.


2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 400-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimon Pivonia ◽  
X. B. Yang

Soybean rust, Phakopsora pachyrhizi, has been considered a threat to the production of the U.S. soybean, Glycine max. During the past decade, this disease gradually spread to Africa, South America, and recently to the United States. Previous soybean rust risk assessments with an assumption of availability of spores early in a season showed that weather conditions (dew and temperature) during a growing season, in general, are suitable for disease development in U.S. soybean-growing regions. Predicting the time of rust appearance in a field is critical to determining the destructive potential of rusts, including soybean rust. In this study, comparative epidemiology was used to assess likely rust incipient time in four locations within the U.S. Soybean Belt from south to north: Baton Rouge, LA; Charlotte, NC; Indianapolis, IN; and Minneapolis, MN. Temperature effects on the infection cycle of five rusts occurring in the Midwest were evaluated using a general disease model. The likely incipient times were examined with the modeling results. Among the rusts studied, early-appearing rusts had suitable conditions for development earlier in a season. However, a lag period of several weeks to more than 3 months was found from the time when conditions are suitable for a rust to develop or when hosts are available to the time when the rust was detected in fields. Length of the lag period differed among the rust species examined. If nature of long-distance dispersal is not significantly different among the rusts, implications of our study to the expected seasonal soybean rust incipience in fields lead to two possible scenarios: (i) average appearance time of soybean rust across the Soybean Belt should be somewhere between appearance times of common corn rust and southern corn rust, and (ii) with late appearance of the disease, late-planted soybean in the south has greater risk.


1991 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzo Murayama

This article examines the determinants of interprefectural patterns of Japanese emigration to the U.S. Pacific Northwest, using a multiple regression analysis. In estimating the regression equations, new proxies are introduced for the “family- and-friends” effect that are free of the statistical problems common in previous studies on long-distance migration. The result shows that the information networks that developed between pioneer immigrants and their home districts played a central role in shaping emigration patterns. The lack of an alternative means of obtaining reliable information about conditions in the United States appears to be responsible.


2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Eric Jessup

In response to the Klondike gold rush, the U.S. Army established isolated forts throughout Alaska. Between 1900 and 1905, the Signal Corps connected those posts with each other and with the contiguous United States by means of the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS). A significant logistical and technological achievement, the system of thousands of miles of suspended landlines and underwater cable included the first successful long-distance radio operation in the world. The first physical link between the United States and Alaska, the telegraph was also the first major contribution to Alaskan infrastructure provided by the federal government, marking the beginning of the government's central role in the development of Alaska.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Creutzinger ◽  
Jessica Pempek ◽  
Gregory Habing ◽  
Kathryn Proudfoot ◽  
Samantha Locke ◽  
...  

The care of surplus dairy calves is a significant issue for the United States and Canadian dairy industries. Surplus dairy calves commonly experience poor welfare as evidenced by high levels of mortality and morbidity, and negative affective states resulting from limited opportunities to express natural behaviors. Many of these challenges are a result of a disaggregated production system, beginning with calf management at the dairy farm of origin and ending at a calf-raising facility, with some calves experiencing long-distance transportation and commingling at auction markets or assembly yards in the interim. Thus, the objectives of this narrative review are to highlight specific challenges associated with raising surplus dairy calves in the U.S. and Canada, how these challenges originate and could be addressed, and discuss future directions that may start with refinements of the current system, but ultimately require a system change. The first critical area to address is the management of surplus dairy calves on the dairy farm of origin. Good neonatal calf care reduces the risk of disease and mortality, however, many dairy farms in Canada and the U.S. do not provide sufficient colostrum or nutrition to surplus calves. Transportation and marketing are also major issues. Calves can be transported more than 24 consecutive hours, and most calves are sold through auction markets or assembly yards which increases disease exposure. Management of calves at calf-raisers is another area of concern. Calves are generally housed individually and fed at low planes of nutrition, resulting in poor affective states and high rates of morbidity and mortality. Strategies to manage high-risk calves identified at arrival could be implemented to reduce disease burden, however, increasing the plane of nutrition and improving housing systems will likely have a more significant impact on health and welfare. However, we argue the current system is not sustainable and new solutions for surplus calves should be considered. A coordinated and holistic approach including substantial change on source dairy farms and multiple areas within the system used to market and raise surplus dairy calves, can lead to more sustainable veal and beef production with improved calf outcomes.


Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-134

This section, updated regularly on the blog Palestine Square, covers popular conversations related to the Palestinians and the Arab-Israeli conflict during the quarter 16 November 2017 to 15 February 2018: #JerusalemIstheCapitalofPalestine went viral after U.S. president Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced his intention to move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. The arrest of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi for slapping an Israeli soldier also prompted a viral campaign under the hashtag #FreeAhed. A smaller campaign protested the exclusion of Palestinian human rights from the agenda of the annual Creating Change conference organized by the US-based National LGBTQ Task Force in Washington. And, UNRWA publicized its emergency funding appeal, following the decision of the United States to slash funding to the organization, with the hashtag #DignityIsPriceless.


Author(s):  
Richard F. Kuisel

There are over 1,000 McDonald's on French soil. Two Disney theme parks have opened near Paris in the last two decades. And American-inspired vocabulary such as “le weekend” has been absorbed into the French language. But as former French president Jacques Chirac put it: “The U.S. finds France unbearably pretentious. And we find the U.S. unbearably hegemonic.” Are the French fascinated or threatened by America? They Americanize yet are notorious for expressions of anti-Americanism. From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to free markets and foreign policy, this book looks closely at the conflicts and contradictions of France's relationship to American politics and culture. The book shows how the French have used America as both yardstick and foil to measure their own distinct national identity. France has charted its own path: it has welcomed America's products but rejected American policies; assailed Americ's “jungle capitalism” while liberalizing its own economy; attacked “Reaganomics” while defending French social security; and protected French cinema, television, food, and language even while ingesting American pop culture. The book examines France's role as an independent ally of the United States, but he also considers the country's failures in influencing the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. Whether investigating France's successful information technology sector or its spurning of American expertise during the AIDS epidemic, the book asks if this insistence on a French way represents a growing distance between Europe and the United States or a reaction to American globalization. Exploring cultural trends, values, public opinion, and political reality, this book delves into the complex relationship between two modern nations.


Author(s):  
Timothy Matovina

Most histories of Catholicism in the United States focus on the experience of Euro-American Catholics, whose views on social issues have dominated public debates. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Latino Catholic experience in America from the sixteenth century to today, and offers the most in-depth examination to date of the important ways the U.S. Catholic Church, its evolving Latino majority, and American culture are mutually transforming one another. This book highlights the vital contributions of Latinos to American religious and social life, demonstrating in particular how their engagement with the U.S. cultural milieu is the most significant factor behind their ecclesial and societal impact.


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