Demographic estimation methods for plants with unobservable life-states
Marc Kery, Katharine B. Gregg, Michael Schaub
2005, Oikos (108) 307-320
Demographic estimation of vital parameters in plants with an unobservable dormant state is complicated, because time of death is not known. Conventional methods assume that death occurs at a particular time after a plant has last been seen aboveground but the consequences of assuming a particular duration of dormancy have...
Improving inferences in population studies of rare species that are detected imperfectly
Darry I. MacKenzie, James D. Nichols, N. Sutton, K. Kawanishi, Larissa Bailey
2005, Ecology (86) 1101-1113
For the vast majority of cases, it is highly unlikely that all the individuals of a population will be encountered during a study. Furthermore, it is unlikely that a constant fraction of the population is encountered over times, locations, or species to be compared. Hence, simple counts usually will not...
Research for the development of best management practices for minimizing horse trail impacts on the Hoosier National Forest
M.W. Aust, J. L. Marion, K. Kyle
2005, Report
This research investigates horse trail impacts to gain an improved understanding of the relationship between various levels of horse use, horse trail management alternatives, and subsequent horse trail degradation. A survey of existing horse trails on the Hoosier National Forest was used to collect data on use-related, environmental and...
Urbanization effects on fishes and habitat quality in a southern Piedmont river basin
D.M. Walters, Mary C. Freeman, D.S. Leigh, B. J. Freeman, C.P. Pringle
Larry R. Brown, Robert H. Gray, Robert H. Hughes, Michael Meador, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems
We quantified the relationships among urban land cover, fishes, and habitat quality to determine how fish assemblages respond to urbanization and if a habitat index can be used as an indirect measure of urban effects on stream ecosystems. We sampled 30 wadeable streams along an urban gradient (5?37% urban...
Size evolution in Goodwin’s small-eared shrew, Cryptotis goodwini
N. Woodman
J.F. Merritt, S. Churchfield, R. Hutterer, B.A. Sheftel, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Advances in the biology of shrews II
Fossils of Cryptotis goodwini from Honduras indicate that body sizes of modern individuals average at least 18% larger than among members of the late Pleistocene population of this species. Palynological and other paleoenvironmental studies provide evidence that the Neotropical montane environments that these shrews inhabit were cooler and drier...
Estimating population abundance and mapping distribution of wintering sea ducks in coastal waters of the mid-Atlantic
M.D. Koneff, J. Andrew Royle, D.J. Forsell, J.S. Wortham, G.S. Boomer, Matthew C. Perry
2005, Book chapter, Second North American Sea Duck Conference, November 7-11, 2005, Annapolis, Maryland. Program and Abstracts
Survey design for wintering scoters (Melanitta sp.) and other sea ducks that occur in offshore waters is challenging because these species have large ranges, are subject to distributional shifts among years and within a season, and can occur in aggregations. Interest in winter sea duck population abundance surveys has...
Characterizing stopover sites of migrating passerine birds in the lower Chesapeake Bay region for conservation: an integrated radar-habitat study
S. Mabey, B. Watts, B. Paxton, F. Smith, B. Truitt, D. Dawson
2005, Book chapter, One Hundred and Twenty-Third Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union: abstract book
Many conservation organizations and initiatives including Partners-in-Flight and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regional Joint Ventures have identified migratory songbird stopover habitat as a priority conservation target. However, the spatial and temporal variability inherent in migration presents a number of challenges to both identifying and characterizing stopover habitat....
Population trends of North American sea ducks based on Christmas Bird Count and Breeding Bird Survey data
D.K. Niven, J.R. Sauer, G.S. Butcher
2005, Book chapter, Second North American Sea Duck Conference, November 7-11, 2005, Annapolis, Maryland. Program and Abstracts
Due to the difficulty of conducting range-wide surveys of either breeding or wintering populations, few data are available to assess the population trends of sea ducks with confidence. We analyze sea duck data from the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) using hierarchical modeling methods that control for varying effort...
Testing a West Nile virus vaccine in sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis)
Glenn H. Olsen, K. Miller, D. Docherty, L. Sileo
Felipe Chavez-Ramirez, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Proceedings of the Ninth North American Crane Workshop: 17-20 January 2003, Sacramento, California
Eight sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were vaccinated with a commercial equine West Nile virus vaccine (Fort Dodge Animal Health, Fort Dodge, Iowa, USA) at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA. Three doses of the vaccine were given, the first dose (day 0) was followed by a...
Head stabilization in whooping cranes
M.R. Kinloch, T.W. Cronin, Glenn H. Olsen
Felipe Chavez-Ramirez, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Proceedings of the Ninth North American Crane Workshop: 17-20 January 2003, Sacramento, California
The whooping crane (Grus americana) is the tallest bird in North America, yet not much is known about its visual ecology. How these birds overcome their unusual height to identify, locate, track, and capture prey items is not well understood. There have been many studies on head and...
Predicting bird response to alternative management scenarios on a ranch in Campeche, Mexico
P.A. Wood, D.K. Dawson, J.R. Sauer, M.H. Wilson
C. John Ralph, Terrell D. Rich, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference 2002
We developed models to predict the potential response of wintering Neotropical migrant and resident bird species to alternative management scenarios, using data from point counts of birds along with habitat variables measured or estimated from remotely sensed data in a Geographic Information System. Expected numbers of occurrences at points...
The effect of varying protein levels on blood chemistry, food consumption, and behavior of captive seaducks
A. M. Wells-Berlin, Matthew C. Perry, Glenn H. Olsen
2005, Book chapter, Second North American Sea Duck Conference, November 7-11, 2005, Annapolis, Maryland. Program and Abstracts
The Chesapeake Bay is a primary wintering area for scoters and the long-tailed ducks (Clangia hyemalis) that migrate along the Atlantic Flyway. Recently, the Chesapeake Bay had undergone an ecosystem shift and little is known about how this is affecting the seaduck populations. We are determining what are the...
Food selection among Atlantic Coast seaducks in relation to historic food habits
Matthew C. Perry, P.C. Osenton, A. M. Wells-Berlin, D.M. Kidwell
2005, Book chapter, Second North American Sea Duck Conference, November 7-11, 2005, Annapolis, Maryland. Program and Abstracts
Food selection among Atlantic Coast seaducks during 1999-2005 was determined from hunter-killed ducks and compared to data from historic food habits file (1885-1985) for major migrational and wintering areas in the Atlantic Flyway. Food selection was determined by analyses of the gullet (esophagus and proventriculus) and gizzard of 860...
Population trends of North American sea ducks as revealed by the Christmas Bird Count
D.K. Niven, J.R. Sauer, G.S. Butcher
2005, Book chapter, One Hundred and Twenty-Third Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union: abstract book
Relative to other waterfowl, sea ducks are not well understood, yet evidence from a variety of analyses suggests that as many as 10 of the 15 species of North American sea ducks may be declining in population. However, because of the difficulty of conducting surveys of breeding populations and...
Landscape level reforestation priorities for forest breeding landbirds in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley
D.J. Twedt, W.B. Uihlein III
L.H. Fredrickson, S.L. King, R.M. Kaminski, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Ecology and Management of Bottomland Hardwood Systems: the state of our understanding: a symposium, March 11-13, 1999, Memphis, TN
Thousands of ha of cleared wetlands are being reforested annually in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). Despite the expansive and long-term impacts of reforestation on the biological communities of the MAV, there is generally a lack of landscape level planning in its implementation. To address this deficiency we...
Hierarchical models and Bayesian analysis of bird survey information
J.R. Sauer, W.A. Link, J. Andrew Royle
C. John Ralph, Terrell D. Rich, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference 2002
Summary of bird survey information is a critical component of conservation activities, but often our summaries rely on statistical methods that do not accommodate the limitations of the information. Prioritization of species requires ranking and analysis of species by magnitude of population trend, but often magnitude of trend is...
Forest management under uncertainty for multiple bird population objectives
C. T. Moore, W.T. Plummer, M.J. Conroy
C. John Ralph, Terrell D. Rich, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference 2002
We advocate adaptive programs of decision making and monitoring for the management of forest birds when responses by populations to management, and particularly management trade-offs among populations, are uncertain. Models are necessary components of adaptive management. Under this approach, uncertainty about the behavior of a managed system...
Coastal foredune displacement and recovery, Barrett Beach-Talisman, Fire Island, New York, USA
N.P. Psuty, J.P. Pace, J.R. Allen
Norbert P. Psuty, Douglas J. Sherman, Klaus Meyer-Arendt, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Coasts under Stress II
Coastal foredune mobility has been tracked at Fire Island National Seashore since 1976 with annual field surveys and analysis of frequent aerial photography. Sequential mapping of the foredune crestline depicts nearly islandwide displacement during major storm events, such as in 1992, and localized displacement during alongshore passage of inshore...
Estimating the number of animals in wildlife populations
R.A. Lancia, W. L. Kendall, K. H. Pollock, J.D. Nichols
Clait E. Braun, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Techniques for Wildlife Investigations and Management
INTRODUCTION In 1938, Howard M. Wight devoted 9 pages, which was an entire chapter in the first wildlife management techniques manual, to what he termed 'census' methods. As books and chapters such as this attest, the volume of literature on this subject has grown tremendously. Abundance...
Approaches for the direct estimation of rate of increase in population size using capture-recapture data
J.D. Nichols, T. Scott Sillett, J.E. Hines, Richard T. Holmes
C. John Ralph, Terrell D. Rich, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference 2002
Recent developments in the modeling of capture-recapture data permit the direct estimation and modeling of population growth rate Pradel (1996). Resulting estimates reflect changes in numbers of birds on study areas, and such changes result from movement as well as survival and reproductive recruitment. One measure of the...
Modeling seasonal interactions in the population dynamics of migratory birds
M.C. Runge, P.P. Marra
Russell Greenberg, Peter P. Marra, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Birds of two worlds: the ecology and evolution of migration
Understanding the population dynamics of migratory birds requires understanding the relevant biological events that occur during breeding, migratory, and overwintering periods. The few available population models for passerine birds focus on breeding-season events, disregard or oversimplify events during nonbreeding periods, and ignore interactions that occur between periods of the...
Modern open-population capture-recapture models
J.D. Nichols
Steven C. Amstrup, Trent L. McDonald, Bryan F.J. Manly, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Handbook of capture-recapture analysis
Statistical approaches to the analysis of point count data: A little extra information can go a long way
G.L. Farnsworth, J.D. Nichols, J.R. Sauer, S.G. Fancy, K. H. Pollock, S.A. Shriner, T.R. Simons
C. John Ralph, Terrell D. Rich, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference 2002
Point counts are a standard sampling procedure for many bird species, but lingering concerns still exist about the quality of information produced from the method. It is well known that variation in observer ability and environmental conditions can influence the detection probability of birds in point counts, but many...
Wildlife and habitat damage assessment from Hurricane Charley: recommendations for recovery of the J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge Complex. [Final report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]
J.M. Meyers, C.A. Langtimm, T. J. Smith III, K. Pednault-Willett
2005, Book
On 13 August 2004, the first of four hurricanes to strike Florida in <6 weeks came ashore near J. N. ?Ding? Darling National Wildlife Refuge (JNDDNWR) Complex, Sanibel Island, FL. Hurricane Charley passed just north of Sanibel Island with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (123 knots) and a...
Management and protection protocols for the threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus) on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina
J.B. Cohen
2005, Book
Executive Summary 1. The breeding population of the piping plover (Charadrius melodus), a federally-threatened shorebird, at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA) declined from 15 pairs/yr to 3 pairs/yr from 1989-2004. A population of this size may face immediate risk of extirpation from several sources. At several former breeding...
