scholarly journals Monitoring Selected Species of Mammals in Grand Teton National Park in 1999

Author(s):  
Brian Miller ◽  
Hank Harlow

Studies that investigate community relationships among mammals typically require large temporal and areal scales (Krebs et al. 1995; Estes 1996; Terborgh et al. 1999). Despite the difficulties presented by larger scales, such studies are valuable to decision-makers (Sinclair 1991; Smith et al. 1999). Understanding abundance, distribution, habitat choice, and ecological interactions of mammalian species can promote management decisions that benefit overall ecosystem health. Monitoring programs that build an ecological model of the landscape, and assess the trends in relation to biotic and abiotic changes, are essential to adaptive management, yet are seldom a standard part of management activities (Sinclair 1991; Noss and Cooperrider 1994; Lancia et al. 1996; Noss et al. 1996). Indeed, a conservation plan requires a long­term obligation to standardized ecological monitoring so that actions can be adjusted according to new information (Noss et al. 1996). Over the long term, this standardized monitoring plan will provide information on small and medium-sized mammals that will (1) assess species use of habitat, (2) monitor changes in species composition as a result of environmental change, (3) produce predictive models of small and medium­sized mammal distribution based on vegetation type, and (4) analyze the impact of wolf (Canis lupus) colonization on the mammal (and plant) community. Such standardized monitoring techniques for mammal communities have not been done in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The abundance and diversity of mammals can be greatly affected by a number of factors. These include plant productivity (Hunter and Price 1994; Krebs et al. 1995; Polis and Strong 1996), climate (Pinter 1996; Hoogland 1995; Post et al. 1999), natural disturbance (Pickett and White 1985), disease (Dobson and May 1986), and expected or unexpected environmental change (Lancia et al. 1996; Thompson et al. 1998).

Author(s):  
Brian Miller ◽  
Hank Harlow

Understanding abundance, distribution, habitat choice, and ecological interactions of mammalian species can promote management decisions that benefit overall ecosystem health. Monitoring programs that build an ecological model of the landscape, and assess the trends in relation to biotic and abiotic changes, are essential to adaptive management, yet are seldom a standard part of management activities (Sinclair 1991; Noss and Cooperrider 1994; Lancia et al. 1996; Noss et al.1996). Monitoring implies a repeated assessment of status. In other words, the single year is placed into a larger context (Thompson et al. 1998). Indeed, a conservation plan requires a long-term obligation to standardized ecological monitoring so that actions can be adjusted according to new information (Noss et al. 1996). Over the long term, this standardized monitoring plan will provide information on small and medium-sized mammals that will (1) assess species use of habitat, (2) monitor changes in species composition as a result of environmental change, and (3) analyze the impact of wolf (Canis lupus) colonization on the mammal (and plant) community. If data become tight enough, we could formulate a predictive model for mammal and habitat relationships. The abundance and diversity of mammals can be greatly affected by a number of factors. These include plant productivity (Hunter and Price 1994; Krebs et al. 1995; Polis and Strong 1996), climate (Pinter 1996; Hoogland 1995; Post et al. 1999), natural disturbance (Pickett and White 1985), disease (Dobson and May 1986), environmental change (Lancia et al. 1996; Thompson et al. 1998), and changes in numbers of large predators (McLaren and Peterson 1994; Terborgh et al. 1999; 2001; Crooks and Soule 1999; Crete 1999; Oksanen and Oksanen 2000; Miller et al. 2001).


2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Everett ◽  
Angie Mejia ◽  
Olivia Quiroz

The Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Coalition is a community-based health promotion program begun in 2006 in North Portland's Portsmouth neighborhood. The program seeks to promote community health and prevent childhood obesity by addressing barriers at local, regional and policy levels, with particular attention to the built environment. This article describes the findings of a program evaluation based on interviews with school staff and Latino parents. Important themes include the impact of the closure of a neighborhood school, access to grocery stores with affordable healthy foods, and concern about school meals. The comprehensive approach of programs like HEAL, which uses the socio-ecological model of health promotion, lends itself well to the participation of applied social scientists.


Author(s):  
Tyler Prochnow ◽  
M. Renée Umstattd Meyer ◽  
Megan S. Patterson ◽  
Megan E. McClendon ◽  
Luis Gómez ◽  
...  

Despite growing health disparities in Latino populations related to lack of physical activity (PA), little is known regarding the impact of social networks on PA and sedentary behavior among a sample of Latino fathers residing in functionally rural colonias. Fathers wore accelerometers and responded to questions regarding their self-efficacy and characteristics of who they were active with most often. Fathers (n = 47) attained a mean of 73.3 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA (SD = 23.8) per day and were sedentary for a mean of 364.0 min (SD = 74.4) per day. In total, fathers reported 205 alters and significantly more family members (M = 3.60, SD = 1.64) than friends (M = 0.77, SD = 1.37). Sedentary time was positively associated with number of peers and inversely related to the number of children reported. Minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA was significantly associated with greater self-efficacy and number of family members reported. This study contributes to the evidence by further examining PA correlates of Latino fathers from functionally rural colonia communities. Additionally, this study supported both family systems theory and the socio–ecological model as it details the interpersonal and familial influences of PA behavior. Thus, supports for family activity promotion and programs which impact familial norms and activity at the family level may be particularly useful.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Cowan ◽  
Maria R. Khan ◽  
Siri Shastry ◽  
E. Jennifer Edelman

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unparalleled societal disruption with wide ranging effects on individual liberties, the economy, and physical and mental health. While no social strata or population has been spared, the pandemic has posed unique and poorly characterized challenges for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). Given the pandemic’s broad effects, it is helpful to organize the risks posed to specific populations using theoretical models. These models can guide scientific inquiry, interventions, and public policy. Models also provide a visual image of the interplay of individual-, network-, community-, structural-, and pandemic-level factors that can lead to increased risks of infection and associated morbidity and mortality for individuals and populations. Such models are not unidirectional, in that actions of individuals, networks, communities and structural changes can also affect overall disease incidence and prevalence. In this commentary, we describe how the social ecological model (SEM) may be applied to describe the theoretical effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). This model can provide a necessary framework to systematically guide time-sensitive research and implementation of individual-, community-, and policy-level interventions to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with OUD.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Guilloteau ◽  
Romuald Zabielski ◽  
Harald M. Hammon ◽  
Cornelia C. Metges

The consequences of early-life nutritional programming in man and other mammalian species have been studied chiefly at the metabolic level. Very few studies, if any, have been performed in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) as the target organ, but extensive GIT studies are needed since the GIT plays a key role in nutrient supply and has an impact on functions of the entire organism. The possible deleterious effects of nutritional programming at the metabolic level were discovered following epidemiological studies in human subjects, and confirmed in animal models. Investigating the impact of programming on GIT structure and function would need appropriate animal models due to ethical restrictions in the use of human subjects. The aim of the present review is to discuss the use of pigs as an animal model as a compromise between ethically acceptable animal studies and the requirement of data which can be interpolated to the human situation. In nutritional programming studies, rodents are the most frequently used model for man, but GIT development and digestive function in rodents are considerably different from those in man. In that aspect, the pig GIT is much closer to the human than that of rodents. The swine species is closely comparable with man in many nutritional and digestive aspects, and thus provides ample opportunity to be used in investigations on the consequences of nutritional programming for the GIT. In particular, the ‘sow–piglets’ dyad could be a useful tool to simulate the ‘human mother–infant’ dyad in studies which examine short-, middle- and long-term effects and is suggested as the reference model.


1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanfa Zhang ◽  
Kurt S Pregitzer ◽  
David D Reed

The General Land Office (GLO) survey notes (1840-1856) were used to examine the interaction among natural disturbance, vegetation type, and topography in the presettlement forests of the Luce District, an ecological unit of approximately 902 000 ha in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S.A. The surveyors recorded 104 fire and 126 windthrow incidences covering 3.1 and 2.8% of the total length of the surveyed lines, respectively. The rotation periods over the entire landscape were 480 years for fire and 541 years for windthrow, but these varied with vegetation type and topographic position. Fire occurred more frequently on southerly aspects and at elevations where pinelands were concentrated. The density of windthrow events increased with elevation and slope, with the highest occurrence on westerly aspects. Based on the estimated rotation periods, we calculated that 7.5, 24.4, and 68.1% of the presettlement forest were in the stand initiation, stem exclusion, and old forest (including both understory reinitiation and old growth) stages, respectively. Pinelands and mixed conifers were the major components in both the stand initiation (34.5 and 31.1%) and the stem exclusion stage (20.9 and 39.8%), while mixed conifers (39.3%) and northern hardwoods (34.7%) were the major old-forest cover types. The diverse mosaic of various successional stages generated by natural disturbance suggests a "shifting-mosaic" landscape in this region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carey James Garland ◽  
Victor D Thompson ◽  
Matthew C Sanger ◽  
Karen Y Smith ◽  
Fred T Andrus ◽  
...  

Circular shell rings along the Atlantic Coast of southeastern North America are the remnants of some of the earliest villages that emerged during the Late Archaic Period (5000 – 3000 BP). Many of these villages, however, were abandoned during the Terminal Late Archaic Period (ca 3800 – 3000 BP). Here, we combine Bayesian chronological modeling with multiple environmental proxies to understand the nature and timing of environmental change associated with the emergence and abandonment of shell ring villages on Sapleo Island, Georgia. Our Bayesian models indicate that Native Americans occupied the three Sapelo shell rings at varying times with some generational overlap. By the end of the complex’s occupation, only Ring III was occupied before abandonment ca. 3845 BP. Ring III also consists of statistically smaller oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) that people harvested from less saline estuaries compared to earlier occupations. These data, when integrated with recent tree ring analyses, show a clear pattern of environmental instability throughout the period in which the rings were occupied. We argue that as the climate became unstable around 4300 BP, aggregation at shell ring villages provided a way to effectively manage fisheries that are highly sensitive to environmental change. However, with the eventual collapse of oyster fisheries and subsequent rebound in environmental conditions ca. 3800 BP, people dispersed from shell rings, and shifted to non-marine subsistence economies and other types of settlements. This study provides the most comprehensive evidence correlations between large-scale environmental change and societal transformations on the Georgia coast during the Late Archaic period.


2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1011-1020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robélio Leandro Marchão ◽  
Patrick Lavelle ◽  
Leonide Celini ◽  
Luiz Carlos Balbino ◽  
Lourival Vilela ◽  
...  

The objective of this work was to assess the effects of integrated crop-livestock systems, associated with two tillage and two fertilization regimes, on the abundance and diversity of the soil macrofauna. Four different management systems were studied: continuous pasture (mixed grass); continuous crop; two crop-livestock rotations (crop/pasture and pasture/crop); and native Cerrado as a control. Macrofauna was sampled using a modified Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility method, and all individuals were counted and identified at the morphospecies level for each plot. A total of 194 morphospecies were found, distributed among 30 groups, and the most representative in decreasing order of density were: Isoptera, Coleoptera larvae, Formicidae, Oligochaeta, Coleoptera adult, Diplopoda, Hemiptera, Diptera larvae, Arachnida, Chilopoda, Lepidoptera, Gasteropoda, Blattodea and Orthoptera. Soil management systems and tillage regimes affected the structure of soil macrofauna, and integrated crop-livestock systems, associated with no-tillage, especially with grass/legume species associations, had more favorable conditions for the development of "soil engineers" compared with continuous pasture or arable crops. Soil macrofauna density and diversity, assessed at morphospecies level, are effective data to measure the impact of land use in Cerrado soils.


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