Publications

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 their reported migration dates during 9 of the 10...

Historical data have increasingly become appreciated for insight into the past conditions of ecosystems. Uses of such data include assessing the extent of ecosystem change; deriving ecological baselines for management, restoration, and modeling; and assessing the importance of past conditions on the composition and function of current systems. One historical data set of this type is the...

This study assessed campsite conditions and the effectiveness of campsite impact management strategies at Isle Royale National Park, USA. Protocols for assessing indicators of vegetation and soil conditions were developed and applied to 156 campsites and 88 shelters within 36 backcountry campgrounds. The average site was 68 m2 and 83% of sites lost vegetation over areas less than 47 m2...

Herein, we report the first record of schizochromism in the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). Our example is a nestling from southern Arizona. The lack of dark brown pigment in this bird made it closely resemble the blue-gray plumage of an adult. Near fledging time, the bird was eaten by its nestmates, so this article also documents cannibalism.

We describe the kleptoparasitic behavior of ten adult Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) breeding at a colony at Falkner Island, Connecticut, USA between 1995 and 1998. These birds were considered habitual kleptoparasites because they stole fish repeatedly from other terns in every year they were observed at the site. No other breeding individuals were observed attempting to steal fish...

Estimation of population change from count surveys is complicated by variation in quality of information among sample units, by the need for covariates to accommodate factors that influence detectability of animals, and by multiple geographic scales of interest. We present a hierarchical model for estimation of population change from the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Hierarchical...

Population matrix models allow sets of demographic parameters to be summarized by a single value λ, the finite rate of population increase. The consequences of change in individual demographic parameters are naturally measured by the corresponding changes in λ; sensitivity analyses compare demographic parameters on the basis of these changes. These comparisons are complicated by issues...

Bottomland hardwood forests were planted on agricultural fields in Mississippi and Louisiana predominantly using either Quercus species (oaks) or Populus deltoides (eastern cottonwood). We assessed avian colonization of these reforested sites between 2 and 10 years after planting. Rapid vertical growth of cottonwoods (circa 2–3 m/year) resulted in sites with forest structure that...

Organisms often rely on environmental cues to make behavioral and life-history decisions. However, in environments that have been altered suddenly by humans, formerly reliable cues might no longer be associated with adaptive outcomes. In such cases, organisms can become 'trapped' by their evolutionary responses to the cues and experience reduced survival or reproduction. Ecological traps...

Contents: -- The natural advantage -- References

Managers of protected areas are increasingly concerned with recreation impacts to the resource and how they should be managed. Impact management programs must be based on information about the severity and extent of impacts and how they are changing over time. This information need has generated considerable interest in the development of visitor impact assessment and monitoring (VIAM)...

Contents: -- Introduction -- Photo trapping tigers -- Capture-recapture models -- Survey design considerations -- Conclusion -- References