Of bugs and birds: Markov Chain Monte Carlo for hierarchical modeling in wildlife research
William A. Link, Emmanuelle Cam, James D. Nichols, Evan G. Cooch
2002, Journal of Wildlife Management (66) 277-291
Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a statistical innovation that allows researchers to fit far more complex models to data than is feasible using conventional methods. Despite its widespread use in a variety of scientific fields, MCMC appears to be underutilized in wildlife applications. This may be due to a...
Species occurrence of marsh birds at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts
R.M. Erwin, C.J. Conway, S.W. Hadden
2002, Northeastern Naturalist (9) 1-12
We initiated an inventory and a field test of a protocol that could be used for monitoring marsh birds at the Cape Cod National Seashore in eastern Massachusetts during 1999 and 2000, as part of a more comprehensive national effort. Using cassette tapes during call broadcast surveys, we visited...
Wood Thrush movements and habitat use: Effects of forest management for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers
J. D. Lang, L.A. Powell, D.G. Krementz, M.J. Conroy
2002, The Auk (119) 109-124
We monitored adult and juvenile breeding-season movements and habitat use of radio-tagged Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) at the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, central Georgia, USA. We investigated the effects that management for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis), thinning and burning >30 year old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) habitat, had on Wood...
Disentangling sampling and ecological explanations underlying species-area relationships
E. Cam, J.D. Nichols, J.E. Hines, J.R. Sauer, R. Alpizar-Jara, C.H. Flather
2002, Ecology (83) 1118-1130
We used a probabilistic approach to address the influence of sampling artifacts on the form of species-area relationships (SARs). We developed a model in which the increase in observed species richness is a function of sampling effort exclusively. We assumed that effort depends on area sampled, and we...
Sublethal effects in avocet and stilt hatchlings from selenium-contaminated sites
D. J. Hoffman, C. M. Marn, Katherine C. Marois, E. Sproul, M. Dunne, J. P. Skorupa
2002, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (21) 561-566
Excess selenium (Se) in the aquatic food chain is embryotoxic and teratogenic to avocets, stilts, and other waterbirds. American avocet (Recurvirostra americana) and black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) eggs were collected from three sites in the Tulare Lake Basin of California, USA, and hatched in the laboratory. These sites included the...
The importance of functional form in optimal control solutions of problems in population dynamics
M.C. Runge, Fred A. Johnson
2002, Ecology (83) 1357-1371
Optimal control theory is finding increased application in both theoretical and applied ecology, and it is a central element of adaptive resource management. One of the steps in an adaptive management process is to develop alternative models of system dynamics, models that are all reasonable in light of available...
Conditions and limitations on learning in the adaptive management of mallard harvests
Fred A. Johnson, W. L. Kendall, J.A. Dubovsky
2002, Wildlife Society Bulletin (30) 176-185
In 1995, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service adopted a protocol for the adaptive management of waterfowl hunting regulations (AHM) to help reduce uncertainty about the magnitude of sustainable harvests. To date, the AHM process has focused principally on the midcontinent population of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), whose dynamics...
Morphometric changes in Yellow-headed Blackbirds during summer in central North Dakota
D.J. Twedt, G.M. Linz
2002, Western North American Naturalist (62) 39-43
Temporal stability of morphometric measurements is desirable when using avian morphology as a predictor of geographic origin. Therefore, to assess their temporal stability, we examined changes in morphology of Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) from central North Dakota during summer. Measurements differed among age classes and between sexes. As expected, due...
Variation in survivorship of a migratory songbird throughout its annual cycle
T. Scott Sillett, Richard T. Holmes
2002, Journal of Animal Ecology (71) 296-308
1. Demographic data from both breeding and non-breeding periods are needed to manage populations of migratory birds, many of which are declining in abundance and are of conservation concern. Although habitat associations, and to a lesser extent, reproductive biology, are known for many migratory species, few studies have measured survival...
Role of selenium toxicity and oxidative stress in aquatic birds
D. J. Hoffman
2002, Aquatic Toxicology (57) 11-26
Adverse effects of selenium (Se) in wild aquatic birds have been documented as a consequence of pollution of the aquatic environment by subsurface agricultural drainwater and other sources. These effects include mortality, impaired reproduction with teratogenesis, reduced growth, histopathological lesions and alterations in hepatic glutathione metabolism. A review...
The estimation of size and change in composition of avian song repertoires
L. Zs Garamszegi, T. Boulinier, A.P. Mrller, J. Torok, G. Michl, J.D. Nichols
2002, Animal Behaviour (63) 623-630
Individual covariation in life-history traits: Seeing the trees despite the forest
E. Cam, W.A. Link, E.G. Cooch, J. #NAME? Monnat, E. Danchin
2002, American Naturalist (159) 96-105
We investigated the influence of age on survival and breeding rates in a long-lived species Rissa tridactyla using models with individual random effects permitting variation and covariation in fitness components among individuals. Differences in survival or breeding probabilities among individuals are substantial, and there was positive covariation between survival and...
Selenium toxicity: cause and effects in aquatic birds
J.E. Spallholz, D. J. Hoffman
2002, Aquatic Toxicology (57) 27-37
There are several manners in which selenium may express its toxicity: (1) an important mechanism appears to involve the formation of CH3Se- which either enters a redox cycle and generates superoxide and oxidative stress, or forms free radicals that bind to and inhibit important enzymes and proteins. (2) Excess...
Data central: putting information where it counts for conservation
M. Wimer
2002, Bird Conservation (No. 17) 4
Large scale wildlife monitoring studies: Statistical methods for design and analysis
K. H. Pollock, J.D. Nichols, T.R. Simons, G.L. Farnsworth, L.L. Bailey, J.R. Sauer
2002, Environmetrics (13) 105-119
Techniques for estimation of absolute abundance of wildlife populations have received a lot of attention in recent years. The statistical research has been focused on intensive small-scale studies. Recently, however, wildlife biologists have desired to study populations of animals at very large scales for monitoring purposes. Population indices are widely...
A removal model for estimating detection probabilities from point-count surveys
G.L. Farnsworth, K. H. Pollock, J.D. Nichols, T.R. Simons, J.E. Hines, J.R. Sauer
2002, The Auk (119) 414-425
Use of point-count surveys is a popular method for collecting data on abundance and distribution of birds. However, analyses of such data often ignore potential differences in detection probability. We adapted a removal model to directly estimate detection probability during point-count surveys. The model assumes that singing frequency is a...
Leaf litter bags as an index to populations of northern two-lined salamanders (Eurycea bislineata)
R.J. Chalmers, Sam Droege
2002, Wildlife Society Bulletin (30) 71-74
Concern about recent amphibian declines has led to research on amphibian populations, but few statistically tested, standardized methods of counting amphibians exist. We tested whether counts of northern two-lined salamander larvae (Eurycea bislineata) sheltered in leaf litter bags--a relatively new, easily replicable survey technique--had a linear correlation to total...
Nineteenth century mercury hazard to wading birds and cormorants of the Carson River, Nevada
Charles J. Henny, E. F. Hill, D. J. Hoffman, M. G. Spalding, R. A. Grove
2002, Ecotoxicology (11) 213-231
Contemporary mercury interest relates to atmospheric deposition, contaminated fish stocks and exposed fish-eating wildlife. The focus is on methylmercury (MeHg) even though most contamination is of inorganic (IoHg) origin. However, IoHg is readily methylated in aquatic systems to become more hazardous to vertebrates. In response to a classic episode of...
Indicators of wetland condition for the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States
Glenn R. Guntenspergen, S.A. Peterson, S.G. Leibowitz, L.M. Cowardin
2002, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (78) 229-252
We describe a study designed to evaluate the performance ofwetland condition indicators of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR)of the north central United States. Basin and landscape scaleindicators were tested in 1992 and 1993 to determine theirability to discriminate between the influences of grasslanddominated and cropland dominated landscapes in the PPR....
Re-evaluating Bay-breasted Warbler breeding range: Nine-years presence in Lower Michigan
Kevin Ellison, Paul W. Sykes, Carol I. Bocetti
2002, The Wilson Bulletin (114) 415-416
he breeding range of the Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) is thought to include only the northernmost portions of six northeastern and northcentral states in the United States. During a 10-year banding study of Kirtland's Warblers (Dendroica kirtlandii) in northern Lower Michigan, we caught 44 Bay-breasted Warblers outside of...
Atlantic Flyway review: Piedmont-Coastal Plain, Region IV, Fall 2001
Chandler S. Robbins
2002, North American Bird Bander (27) 97-100
The Hollywood, Butler Island, and Wekiva Basin stations did not operate this year, but we welcome back Jekyll Island, GA, with its flagship species, Western Palm Warbler (835); and we are glad to have a report from Rock Springs Run State Reserve in Florida to replace the Wekiva Station. Except...
Demography of a population collapse: The Northern Idaho ground squirrel (Spermophilus brunneus brunneus)
P. W. Sherman, M.C. Runge
2002, Ecology (83) 2816-2831
We studied the demography of a population of Northern Idaho ground squirrels (Spermophilus brunneus brunneus) in Adams Co., Idaho. The population was completely censused yearly from 1987 to 1999, during which time it declined from 272 to 10 animals. The finite population growth rate, based on a Leslie matrix model...
Spatio-temporal dynamics of species richness in coastal fish communities
K. Lekve, T. Boulinier, N. C. Stenseth, J. Gjosaeter, J-M. Fromentin, J.E. Hines, J.D. Nichols
2002, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (269) 1781-1789
Determining patterns of change in species richness and the processes underlying the dynamics of biodiversity are of key interest within the field of ecology, but few studies have investigated the dynamics of vertebrate communities at a decadal temporal scale. Here, we report findings on the spado-temporal variability in the...
Slaty-backed Gull in Sullivan Co., NY
V. Freer, J. Haas, P. A. Buckley
2002, Kingbird (51) 114-118
An adult Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus) was found and photographed at Neversink Reservoir, Sullivan Co., NY on 20 February 2002. A native of northeastern Eurasia and northern Japan, this species is rare along the Bering coast of Alaska, and there are only a handful of scattered records in the...
A new southern distributional limit for the Central American rodent Peromyscus stirtoni
N. Woodman, E. Schneider, P. Grant, D. Same, K.E. Schmall, J.T. Curtis
2002, Caribbean Journal of Science (38) 281-284
