scholarly journals Historical museum collections and contemporary population studies implicate roads and introduced predatory bullfrogs in the decline of western pond turtles

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9248
Author(s):  
E. Griffin Nicholson ◽  
Stephanie Manzo ◽  
Zachary Devereux ◽  
Thomas Paul Morgan ◽  
Robert N. Fisher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Studies ◽  
Rana Catesbeiana ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Road Mortality ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Road Density ◽  
Personal Communications ◽  
Juvenile Mortality ◽  
Western Pond Turtle

The western pond turtle (WPT), recently separated into two paripatrically distributed species (Emys pallida and Emys marmorata), is experiencing significant reductions in its range and population size. In addition to habitat loss, two potential causes of decline are female-biased road mortality and high juvenile mortality from non-native predatory bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). However, quantitative analyses of these threats have never been conducted for either species of WPT. We used a combination of historical museum samples and published and unpublished field studies shared with us through personal communications with WPT field researchers (B. Shaffer, P. Scott, R. Fisher, C. Brown, R. Dagit, L. Patterson, T. Engstrom, 2019, personal communications) to quantify the effect of roads and bullfrogs on WPT populations along the west coast of the United States. Both species of WPT shift toward increasingly male biased museum collections over the last century, a trend consistent with increasing, female-biased road mortality. Recent WPT population studies revealed that road density and proximity were significantly associated with increasingly male-biased sex ratios, further suggesting female-biased road mortality. The mean body size of museum collections of E. marmorata, but not E. pallida, has increased over the last 100 years, consistent with reduced recruitment and aging populations that could be driven by invasive predators. Contemporary WPT population sites that co-occur with bullfrogs had significantly greater average body sizes than population sites without bullfrogs, suggesting strong bullfrog predation on small WPT hatchlings and juveniles. Overall, our findings indicate that both species of WPT face demographic challenges which would have been difficult to document without the use of both historical data from natural history collections and contemporary demographic field data. Although correlational, our analyses suggest that female-biased road mortality and predation on small turtles by non-native bullfrogs are occurring, and that conservation strategies reducing both may be important for WPT recovery.

Byzantine-period lamps from Antioch-on-the-Orontes and its hinterland

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ani Eblighatian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Art Museum ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The University ◽  
Roman Syria

The paper is an off-shoot of the author's PhD project on lamps from Roman Syria (at the University of Geneva in Switzerland), centered mainly on the collection preserved at the Art Museum of Princeton University in the United States. One of the outcomes of the research is a review of parallels from archaeological sites and museum collections and despite the incomplete documentation i most cases, much new insight could be gleaned, for the author's doctoral research and for other issues related to lychnological studies. The present paper collects the data on oil lamps from byzantine layers excavated in 1932–1939 at Antioch-on-the-Orontes and at sites in its vicinity (published only in part so far) and considers the finds in their archaeological context.

scholarly journals Curatorial Crossover: Building Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Beasley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Black Musicians

I tend to associate the word “crossover” with popular music. I think of crossovers as being those artists whose music has successfully crossed over from a smaller market to a bigger one, like Mexican musicians making it big in the United States, or black musicians making it big with white audiences. And I frankly love the idea that I, as a librarian, might be able to make a curatorial crossover into a bigger market, much as Ricky Martin or Otis Redding made a musical crossover. Of course, I would have to address the two most common criticisms that are made . . .

scholarly journals Delivering on Biden’s 2030 conservation commitment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Alexander Simmons ◽  
Christoph Nolte ◽  
Jennifer McGowan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Executive Order ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Priority Areas ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractOn January 27, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, committing the United States to various goals within his campaign’s major climate policy, the Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice. Included in this executive order is a commitment to “conserving at least 30 percent of [the United States’] lands and oceans by 2030.” This ambitious conservation target signals a promising direction for biodiversity in the United States. However, while the executive order outlines several goals for climate mitigation, the ‘30×30’ target remains vague in its objectives, actions, and implementation strategies for protecting biodiversity. Biodiversity urgently needs effective conservation action, but it remains unclear where and what this 30% target will be applied to. Achieving different climate and biodiversity objectives will require different strategies and, in combination with the associated costs of implementation, will lead to different priority areas for conservation actions. Here, we illustrate what the 30% target could look like across four objectives reflective of the ambitious goals outlined in the executive order. We compile several variations of terrestrial protected area networks guided by these different objectives and examine the trade-offs in costs, ecosystem representation, and climate mitigation potential between each. We find little congruence in priority areas across objectives, emphasizing just how crucial it will be for the Biden administration to develop clear objectives and establish appropriate performance metrics from the outset to maximize both conservation and climate outcomes in support of the 30×30 target. We discuss important considerations that must guide the administration’s conservation strategies in order to ensure meaningful conservation outcomes can be achieved over the next decade.

scholarly journals How Quickly are Road-killed Snakes Scavenged? Implications for Underestimates of Road Mortality

2011 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRETT A. DEGREGORIO ◽  
THOMAS E. HANCOCK ◽  
DAVID J. KURZ ◽  
SAM YUE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Road Mortality ◽  
Correction Factors ◽  
Significant Extent ◽  
Removal Time ◽  
Maritime Forest

Abstract Annually, millions of snakes are killed on roads in the United States. Because of their potential abundance and ease of collection, many researchers have used road-killed snakes to examine community composition, movement patterns, and population dynamics. However, few previous studies have accounted for snake carcasses that are removed from roads by scavengers. Snake carcasses were placed at randomly selected locations along 2 km of road, one traversing maritime forest and the other surrounded by dune habitat. Carcasses in forested habitat were removed more often (100% vs 40%) and more quickly (8 hr vs 11 hr) than those placed in dune habitat. Half of the carcasses (50%) were removed within eight hours of placement and all carcasses were removed at night. Species and size of carcasses did not affect removal time. Removal time and scavenging intensity of snake carcasses most likely varies across regions and habitats. Furthermore, because scavenging appears to occur quickly and to such a significant extent, it may confound results of studies examining patterns of road-mortality. Thus, investigators that use data from road-killed snakes would benefit from a concurrent investigation of scavenging and application of appropriate correction factors to avoid underestimation of snake mortality.

Population studies in the United States

1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Division of Public Information
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Population Studies ◽  
The United States

A revision of species of the genus Haematoloechus Looss, 1899 (Trematoda: Haematoloechidae) from Canada and the United States

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (9) ◽  
pp. 1836-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray J. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Host Range ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Rana Catesbeiana ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Valid Species ◽  
Narrow Host Range ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Degree Of Maturity

Previous experimental and field studies have shown that variations within the genus Haematoloechus may result from differences in age and degree of maturity, extent of crowding, species of host, and other factors.Based on these observations, only 6 of the 15 previously known species from Canada and the United States are considered valid. The valid species and their synonyms are as follows: Haematoloechus longiplexus Stafford, 1902; H. breviplexus Stafford, 1902; H. varioplexus Stafford, 1902 (= H. parviplexus, = H. buttensis, = H. similiplexus, = H. floedae, and H. uniplexus); H. kernensis Ingles, 1932 (= H. tumidus); H. medioplexus Stafford, 1902; and H. complexus (Seely, 1906) (= H. coloradensis, = H. confusus, = H. oxyorchis).The existence of three species groups is hypothesized. Haematoloechus longiplexus and H. breviplexus constitute one group, characterized by little geographical variation and a narrow host range. They are typically parasites of Rana catesbeiana and R. clamitans. Haematoloechus varioplexus and H. kernensis constitute the second group. These species have a wider host range and greater variation in characters purported to be specific differences. The third group includes those lung flukes which do not contain extracaecal loops (H. medioplexus and H. complexus). Of these, only H. medioplexus had little geographical variation and was found to occur in a single frog host.

scholarly journals A Critical Review of Sustainable Energy Policies for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuehong Lu ◽  
Zafar A. Khan ◽  
Manuel S. Alvarez-Alvarado ◽  
Yang Zhang ◽  
Zhijia Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Energy Policies

Meeting the rising energy demand and limiting its environmental impact are the two intertwined issues faced in the 21st century. Governments in different countries have been engaged in developing regulations and related policies to encourage environment friendly renewable energy generation along with conservation strategies and technological innovations. It is important to develop sustainable energy policies and provide relevant and suitable policy recommendations for end-users. This study presents a review on sustainable energy policy for promotion of renewable energy by introducing the development history of energy policy in five countries, i.e., the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and China. A survey of the articles aimed at promoting the development of sustainable energy policies and their modelling is carried out. It is observed that energy-efficiency standard is one of the most popular strategy for building energy saving, which is dynamic and renewed based on the current available technologies. Feed-in-tariff has been widely applied to encourage the application of renewable energy, which is demonstrated successfully in different countries. Building energy performance certification schemes should be enhanced in terms of reliable database system and information transparency to pave the way for future net-zero energy building and smart cities.

scholarly journals Characterizing the cultural niches of North American birds

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (22) ◽  
pp. 10868-10873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin G. Schuetz ◽  
Alison Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Bird Conservation ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Bird Feeders ◽  
Migratory Strategy

Efforts to mitigate the current biodiversity crisis require a better understanding of how and why humans value other species. We use Internet query data and citizen science data to characterize public interest in 621 bird species across the United States. We estimate the relative popularity of different birds by quantifying how frequently people use Google to search for species, relative to the rates at which they are encountered in the environment. In intraspecific analyses, we also quantify the degree to which Google searches are limited to, or extend beyond, the places in which people encounter each species. The resulting metrics of popularity and geographic specificity of interest allow us to define aspects of relationships between people and birds within a cultural niche space. We then estimate the influence of species traits and socially constructed labels on niche positions to assess the importance of observations and ideas in shaping public interest in birds. Our analyses show clear effects of migratory strategy, color, degree of association with bird feeders, and, especially, body size on niche position. They also indicate that cultural labels, including “endangered,” “introduced,” and, especially, “team mascot,” are strongly associated with the magnitude and geographic specificity of public interest in birds. Our results provide a framework for exploring complex relationships between humans and other species and enable more informed decision-making across diverse bird conservation strategies and goals.

scholarly journals Prevalence of infection and 18S rRNA gene sequences of Cytauxzoon species in Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain

Parasitology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 134 (7) ◽  
pp. 995-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. MILLÁN ◽  
V. NARANJO ◽  
A. RODRÍGUEZ ◽  
J. M. PÉREZ DE LA LASTRA ◽  
A. J. MANGOLD ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
18S Rrna ◽  
The United States ◽  
18S Rrna Gene ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Lynx Lynx ◽  
Iberian Lynx ◽  
Lynx Pardinus ◽  
Sierra Morena ◽  
Wild Felids

SUMMARYThe Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is the most endangered felid in the world. Only about 160 individuals remain in 2 separate metapopulations in Southern Spain (Sierra Morena and Doñana). We obtained blood samples of 20 lynxes captured from 2004 to 2006, and determined the prevalence of infection and genetic diversity of Cytauxzoon spp. using 18S rRNA PCR and sequence analysis. Prevalence of infection was 15% (3 of 20). Cytauxzoon sp. was only detected in Sierra Morena. For phylogenetic analysis, we used the sequences reported in the present study and those characterized in different domestic and wild felids and ticks from North and South America, Asia and Europe. Three different Cytauxzoon sp. sequences were obtained. They were closely related to that obtained from a Spanish cat, but diverged in up to 1·0% with respect to the only previously reported sequence from an Iberian lynx. Conversely, the latter sequence clustered together with C. manul sequences obtained from Pallas cats (Otocolobus manul) in Mongolia. Our analysis yields a separate cluster of C. felis sequences from cats, wild felids and ticks in the United States and Brazil. These results suggest that at least 2 different Cytauxzoon spp. may be present in Iberian lynx. The apparent absence in one of the areas, together with the possibility of fatal cytauxzoonosis in lynxes makes necessary disease risks to be taken into account in management conservation strategies, such as translocations and re-introductions.

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