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These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

Filter Total Items: 16731

Fifty-eighth Christmas Bird Count. 166. Ocean City, Md Fifty-eighth Christmas Bird Count. 166. Ocean City, Md

Gauging the impact of manipulative activities, such as rehabilitation or management, on wetlands requires having a notion of the unmanipulated condition as a reference. An understanding of the reference condition requires knowledge of dominant factors influencing ecosystem processes and biological communities. In this paper, we focus on natural physical factors (conditions and processes)...
Authors
C.S. Robbins

Factors influencing estimation of pesticide-related wildlife mortality Factors influencing estimation of pesticide-related wildlife mortality

Free-ranging wildlife is regularly exposed to pesticides and can serve as a sentinel for human and environmental health. Therefore a comprehensive pesticide hazard assessment must incorporate the effects of actual applications on free-ranging wildlife. Mortality is the most readily reported wildlife effect, and the significance of these data can be realized only when placed in context...
Authors
N.B. Vyas

Assessing trail conditions in protected areas: Application of a problem-assessment method in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA Assessing trail conditions in protected areas: Application of a problem-assessment method in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA

The degradation of trail resources associated with expanding recreation and tourism visitation is a growing management problem in protected areas worldwide. In order to make judicious trail and visitor management decisions, protected area managers need objective and timely information on trail resource conditions. This paper introduces a trail survey method that efficiently characterizes...
Authors
Yu-Fai Leung, Jeffrey L. Marion

Characterizing backcountry camping impacts in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Characterizing backcountry camping impacts in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This investigates resource impacts on backcounty campsites in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Study objectives were to enhance our understanding of camping impacts and to improve campsite impact assessment procedures by means of multivariate techniques. Three-hundred and eight campsites at designated backcountry campgrounds, and 69 additional unofficial campsites were...
Authors
Y.-F. Leung, J. L. Marion

Forest area and distribution in the Mississippi alluvial valley: Implications for breeding bird conservation Forest area and distribution in the Mississippi alluvial valley: Implications for breeding bird conservation

Knowing the current forest distribution and patch size characteristics is integral to the development of geographically defined, habitat-based conservation objectives for breeding birds. Towards this end, we classified 2.6 million ha of forest cover within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley using 1992 thematic mapper satellite imagery. Although historically this area, from southern Illinois...
Authors
D.J. Twedt, C.R. Loesch

Waterfowl density on agricultural fields managed to retain water in winter Waterfowl density on agricultural fields managed to retain water in winter

Managed water on private and public land provides habitat for wintering waterfowl in the Mississippi Valley, where flood control projects have reduced the area of natural flooding. We compared waterfowl densities on rice, soybean, and moist-soil fields under cooperative agreements to retain water from 1 November through 28 February in Arkansas and Mississippi and assessed temporal...
Authors
D.J. Twedt, C.O. Nelms

Husbandry and care of quail Husbandry and care of quail

Both the Japanese and Bobwhite quail are important species for biomedical, toxicological and basic biological research. In view of their rapid maturation, high reproductive rate in captivity, and other physiological characteristics, these species have been and will continue to be used successfully as model avian species. This short reviews describes caging, environmental, and feed...
Authors
M. A. Ottinger, Barnett A. Rattner

Organochlorine contaminants and reproductive success of double-crested cormorants from Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA Organochlorine contaminants and reproductive success of double-crested cormorants from Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

In 1994 and 1995, nesting success of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) was measured at Cat Island, in southern Green Bay, Lake Michigan, Wisconsin, USA. Sample eggs at pipping and unhatched eggs were collected and analyzed for organochlorines (including total polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs] and DDE), hepatic microsomal ethoxyresorufin-O-dealkylase (EROD) activity in...
Authors
T. W. Custer, Christine M. Custer, R. K. Hines, S. Gutreuter, K. L. Stromborg, P. David Allen, M. J. Melancon

Program RDSURVIV: An estimation tool for capture-recapture data collected under Pollock's robust design Program RDSURVIV: An estimation tool for capture-recapture data collected under Pollock's robust design

Several papers have demonstrated the advantages of collecting capture- recapture data using subsamples (i.e. Pollock's robust design). Compared with a standard design (i.e. one sample per period), this approach (1) permits the estimation of more demographic parameters and (2) in many cases produces more efficient estimators. Program SURVIV is a powerful tool for computing parameter...
Authors
W. L. Kendall, J.E. Hines

A nonbreeding concentration of Roseate and Common Terns in Bahia, Brazil A nonbreeding concentration of Roseate and Common Terns in Bahia, Brazil

We report recoveries of banded Roseate (Sterna dougallii) and Common (S. hirundo) Terns netted at Mangue Seco, Bahia, Brazil (11? 27'S, 37? 21'W). Mangue Seco is the first reported South American location where large numbers of Roseate Terns concentrate December-March, and where members of both the North American and Caribbean populations occur together during these months. A Roseate...
Authors
H. Hays, P. Lima, L. Monteiro, J. DiConstanzo, G. Cormons, I.C.T. Nisbet, Jorge E. Saliva, J. A. Spendelow, J. Burger, J. Pierce, M. Gochfeld

Low abundance of microsatellite repeats in the genome of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) Low abundance of microsatellite repeats in the genome of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater)

A cosmid library made from brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) DNA was examined for representation of 17 distinct microsatellite motifs including all possible mono-, di-, and trinucleotide microsatellites, and the tetranucleotide repeat (GATA)n. The overall density of microsatellites within cowbird DNA was found to be one repeat per 89 kb and the frequency of the most abundant motif,...
Authors
Jonathan L. Longmire, D.C. Hahn, J.L. Roach
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