94 research outputs found
Ecological Connectivity Research in Urban Areas
No full textThe successful movement of individuals is fundamental to life. Facilitating these movements by promoting ecological connectivity has become a central theme in ecology and conservation. Urban areas contain more than half of the world's human population, and their potential to support biodiversity and to connect their citizens to nature is increasingly recognized. Promoting ecological connectivity within these areas is essential to reaching this potential. However, our current understanding of ecological connectivity within urban areas appears limited.We reviewed the published scientific literature to assess the state-of-the-art of ecological connectivity research in urban areas, summarized trends in study attributes and highlighted knowledge gaps.We found 174 papers that investigated ecological connectivity within urban areas. These papers addressed either structural (48) or functional connectivity (111), and some addressed both (15), but contained substantial geographic and taxonomic biases. These papers rarely defined the aspect of connectivity they were investigating and objective descriptions of the local urban context were uncommon. Formulated hypotheses or a priori predictions were typically unstated and many papers used suboptimal study designs and methods.We suggest future studies explicitly consider and quantify the landscape within their analyses and make greater use of available and rapidly developing tools and methods for measuring functional connectivity (e.g. biotelemetry or landscape genetics). We also highlight the need for studies to clearly define how the terms ‘urban’ and ‘connectivity’ have been applied.Knowledge gaps in ecological connectivity in urban areas remain, partly because the field is still in its infancy and partly because we must better capitalize on the state-of-the-art technological and analytical techniques that are increasingly available. Well-designed studies that employed high-resolution data and powerful analytical techniques highlight our abilities to quantify ecological connectivity in urban areas. These studies are exemplary, setting the standards for future research to facilitate data-driven and evidence-based biodiversity-friendly infrastructure planning in urban areas
Profound seasonal shrinking and regrowth of the ossified braincase in phylogenetically distant mammals with similar life histories
No full textAbstractOntogenetic changes in skull shape and size are ubiquitous in altricial vertebrates, but typically unidirectional and minimal in full-grown animals. Red-toothed shrews exhibit a rare exception, where the shape, mass and size of the skull, brain, and several major organs, show significant bidirectional seasonal changes. We now show a similar but male-biased shrinking (16%) and regrowth (8%) in the standardized braincase depth of least weasels (Mustela nivalis). Juvenile weasels also exhibit a growth overshoot, followed by a shrinkage period lasting until the end of their first winter. Only male weasels then regrow during their second summer. High-resolution CT scans suggest areas of the skull are affected differently during shrinking and regrowth in both species. This suggests multiple evolutionary drivers: while the shrinking likely facilitates survival during seasonal low resource availability in these high-metabolic mammals with year-round activity, the regrowth may be most strongly influenced by high investment into reproduction and territories, which is male-biased in the weasels. Our data provide evidence for convergent evolution of skull and thus brain shrinkage and regrowth, with important implications for understanding adaptations to changing environments and for applied research on the correlated changes in bone structure, brain size and the many other affected organs.</jats:p
Isabelle Vetor
No full textIsabelle Vetor is pictured her school year at Lapoint Elementary. She is the daughter of Scott W. and Alexzennea Vetor. She married Wallace B. Ryan
Skull metric dataset from LaPoint et al. RSOpenScience 2017 Growth overshoot and seasonal size changes in the skulls of two weasel species
No full textThis .csv contains the individuals used within our analyses and 18 attributes that were recorded or measured by the lead author. These attributes are listed below with definitions: species (2 levels: Mustela erminea, Mustela nivalis), institution (14 levels: BRUS Muséum d‘Histoire Naturelle Brussels, CUMV Cornell University, HELS Finnish Museum of Natural History Helsinki , MFN Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, MNHG Muséum d‘Histoire Naturelle Geneva, MRI Mammal Research Institute Białowieża , MSU Michigan State University Museum, MVZ Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Berkeley, NCMNS North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Raleigh, NCSU North Carolina State University, NYSM New York State Museum Albany, ROM Royal Ontario Museum Toronto, UMMZ University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, USNM National Museum of Natural History Washington), catalog (unique values, for referencing to actual specimens in natural history collections, but not used for analyses), age (3 levels: A, adult, J, juvenile, S, subadult, see methods for definitions), condylobasal length (numeric, measured in mm), height of braincase with auditory bullae (numeric, measured in mm), braincase depth (numeric, measured in mm, excludes auditory bullae), braincase width (numeric, measured in mm), B2CBL (numeric, relative value of braincase depth to condylobasal length), MDY (date, month/day/year), doy (numeric, day of year), sex (2 levels: F, female, M, male), country (24 levels, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States), state (119 levels, state/region/province), location (549 levels, town/village when provided, otherwise see methods), origin (8 levels, broad geographic regions that were created to bin specimens into spatially similar regions, see Methods for details, all origins were included in analyses that present 'global' results), latitude (decimal degrees, WGS84), longitude (decimal degrees, WGS84)
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Varsity Men's Track team, 2004
No full textFront-Gabe Periera, Jeremy Shaw, Hunter Bennett-Daggett, Russell Pead, Dan Rosen, Aaron Meberg, Steve Starowicz, Dan Baggett; Middle- Kevin Menard, Aaron McDevitt, Adam Basilio, Brian Day, Matt Basile, Thomas Jenket, Jeff Sanders, Preston Roberts, Rick Lapoint; Back- Miguel Concepcion, Dan Gilbreath, Mike Swett, Matt lech, Jeremy St. Pierre, Matt Oldmixon, Pete Lohrman, Scott Sideleau, Scott Proulx, Nick Wirth, Maceo Braxton, Mike maceiko (Asst Coach); Missing- Head Coach Dan Gree
Bewegungsökologie der Fischmarder (Pekania pennanti) innerhalb einer semi-urbanen Landschaft
No full textHabitat fragmentation and urbanization are ubiquitous threats to mammals, forcing species to either become locally extinct or to adapt. The challenge for species to adapt however is great, partly because of the wide disparity between the quickness of these anthropogenic forces and the rate at which species can adapt through evolutionary processes. Yet some species are adapting to fragmented, potentially novel, urban landscapes. Until now however, our ability to investigate species responses to these threats remained practically infeasible, due to the technological limitations of monitoring free-ranging animals. However, the field of movement ecology is spurring interest in these questions, driving rapid technological improvements in biotelemetry methods, offering biologists unprecedented opportunities. I capitalized on these opportunities during my dissertation work and investigated a species whose responses to habitat fragmentation apparently varies greatly across its geographic range, hoping to explore hypotheses concerning the ecological and behavioral responses of a carnivore to these anthropogenic forces. This dissertation is an attempt to better understand the behavior and ecology of fishers (Pekania pennanti) that have recently colonized the previously considered inhospitable, semi-urban landscape surrounding Albany, New York, USA. Within this dissertation, I compare the species historic, most-contracted, and current geographic range, and show that fishers have re-colonized much of their historical eastern range, (including suburban landscapes within the Northeastern United States), yet remain in isolated fragments within their historic western range (Chapter 2). Understanding how this species can successfully colonize a suburban landscape, but remain threatened elsewhere, motivated the field-based portion of this dissertation.I hypothesized that fishers in my study area have adapted their behaviors (e.g., the timing of their activity and their movement-habitat patterns) in response to human activities. To test these hypotheses, I captured and fitted 33 free-ranging fishers across a habitat fragmentation continuum during three winter field seasons. I deployed state-of-the-art GPS-tracking collars, equipped with tri-axial accelerometers and remote downloading capabilities and managed these recorded data via movebank.org. It was necessary to develop a novel system for collecting the temporal and spatial high-resolution data that would be required to test this hypothesis. Our accelerometer-informed GPS-fix attempt schedule (described in Chapter 3) achieved great success in both extending the deployment duration of our GPS-tracking collars while simultaneously recording more locations, ultimately yielding more realistic fisher movement tracks.It appears that these fishers are facilitating their survival within this semi-urban landscape through adjustments in the timing of their activity and their movement patterns. Our accelerometers yielded activity data (i.e., overall dynamic body acceleration) that suggests that these fishers are nocturnal and are avoiding automobile traffic volume peaks by ceasing their activity earlier when these peaks occur earlier in the morning. Fishers also appear less selective in their habitat requirements here than reported in the literature, utilizing all forest cover types available to them rather than particular forest characteristics. However, my study animals rarely utilized only one forest patch, due to their small area, and instead crossed roads and other features nightly to move between multiple forest patches. From my model of fisher behavior, it appears that fishers are utilizing movement corridors to move between these patches. Unfortunately however, two popular approaches for identifying potential corridors (i.e., least-cost path analysis and circuit theory) poorly predicted the location of these corridors. Further, an independent set of animal movement data, derived from camera trap detections, validated my model predictions and confirmed that the other two models performed relatively poorly.In summary, the work presented within this dissertation tells an encouraging story of persistence and resourcefulness, offering hope for the conservation of imperiled wildlife. The fisher has been thought to be highly, negatively impacted by human activities and landscape disturbance, yet their recent colonization of suburban areas suggests the contrary. I am confident that the results of future efforts similar to those outlined here will be vital to conservation efforts. Given the rate and ubiquity of threats to wildlife, we must improve our understanding of how some species are coping with these threats so that we can identify the traits that allow them to do so.publishe
Harvey Hullinger
No full textHarvey Hullinger was principal at Lapoint Elementary at the time of this portrait. He is the son of Winfield Scott and Emma Theressa Lybbert Hullinger. he married Auleen Cora Mullins. He served as principal of Uintah School District of thirty years. He was born Novmeber 18, 1895 and died December 16, 1965
Daun Taylor
No full textDaun Taylor is pictured her school year at Lapoint Elementary. She is the daughter of Wilmer Rex and Cynthia Taylor. She married Dick Dejournette. She was a musician and used it to sing at many funerals and other occasions. She and her husband were the author of a book on Diamond Mountain and Brown\u27s Park. She was born October 29, 1929 and did October 28, 2018
A Study to Determine the Incentives of Companies In Their Decisions to Either Sponsor or Not to Sponsor Professional Sports Teams
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine the incentives of companies in either sponsoring or not sponsoring professional sports teams. The review of literature regarding the identification of incentives to sponsor professional sports teams revealed a lack of attention to this aspect. Substantial information was, however available regarding the related area of organizational buyer behavior. A pilot study was conducted consisting of five companies in the Fargo, North Dakota metropolitan area. A decision-maker from each company then responded verbally to each question's clarity and structure. No influential changes were made regarding the format of the questionnaire. Personal interviews were conducted with fifty companies in the vicinity of Fargo, North Dakota. Twenty-five of the companies were current sponsors and twenty-five were non-sponsors during the 2008-09 playing season. The data were evaluated by t-test analysis to determine significant differences between the companies' incentives to either sponsor or not to sponsor professional sports teams. The data collected revealed that there was a significant difference between local-based and national-based companies' incentives to either sponsor or not sponsor professional sports teams. It appears that the incentive of helping the community seemed to hold a considerable amount of influence in certain companies' sponsorship decisions. Perhaps more nationally-based companies are delegating their strategic operational planning to more regional or local franchises. Small and large companies also displayed no apparent differences in their decisions to sponsor. The implications for professional sports teams and for both current and potential sponsors are considerable if administrators and decision-makers are to understand the mechanism of professional sports sponsorship
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