Publications

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Algorithms are described for determining optimal policies for finite state, finite action, infinite discrete time horizon Markov decision processes. Both value-improvement and policy-improvement techniques are used in the algorithms. Computing procedures are also described. The algorithms are appropriate for processes that are either finite or infinite, deterministic or stochastic...

Fragmentation of forest land, whether by suburban development, highways, transmission lines, or poorly planned cutting regimes, seriously affects reproduction by the large numbers of obligate forest interior birds. Many of our warblers, vireos, thrushes, tanagers, and flycatchers are highly migratory insectivorous birds that spend more than half the year in the neotropics, but migrate...

No abstract available.

To test the hypothesis that exposure to organophosphorus (OP) insecticides reduces postfledging survival of altricial birds, 16—d—old European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were weighed and orally dosed with corn oil containing 6.0 mg of dicrotophos per kilogram of body mass or an equivalent exposure of pure corn oil (controls). Two days later, each survivor was weighed again and...

Livers of gopher snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) from Kesterson Reservoir (Merced County, California) contained significantly higher mean selenium concentrations (11.1 .mu.g/g, dry weight) than those from two nearby reference sites (2.05 and 2.14 .mu.g/g). Livers of bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) collected from the San Luis Drain at Kersterson Reservoir also contained significantly higher...

No abstract available.

Dicofol in avian eggs was completely oxidized to dichlorobenzophenone (DCBP) when a hexane Soxhlet extraction procedure was used. This degradation did not occur with other avian tissues (muscle and liver). For this reason, a combined extraction-cleanup column chromatographic procedure, without added heat, was developed for the determination of dicofol in avian eggs. Homogenized...

One hundred fifteen wolf (Canis lupus) feces were collected between 1980 and 1984 from northeastern Minnesota and were examined for canine parvovirus by negative contrast electron microscopy. Of these, seven (6%) samples revealed the presence of parvovirus. Some of these viruses were able to grow in cell cultures forming intranuclear inclusion bodies and giant cells.

Mate desertion during the breeding cycle was documented at 28 of 36 (78%) snail kite, Rostrhamus sociabilis nests in Florida between 1979 and 1983. Offspring mortality occurred at only one deserted nest, however. Parents that were deserted by their mates continued to care for their young until independence (3?5 additional weeks) and provided snails at a rate similar to that of both...