Digital Photography Improves Consistency and Accuracy of Bat Counts in Hibernacula

ABSTRACT The size and distribution of measurement errors associated with major techniques for estimating numbers of hibernating bats are unstudied, although this is the principle method of enumerating several endangered bat species. However, decisions concerning the listing status of a species under the Endangered Species Act require consistent and accurate estimation of population size and trends. Recent advances in digital photography have improved the ability to produce a quantitative record of the numbers of bats in hibernacula. We surveyed clusters of Indiana bats in a hibernaculum and compared results from counts of digital photographs of clusters to results from 4 variations of visual estimation. We counted bats in photographs using Geographic Information System digitization over the photograph. Total counts from 2 sets of photographs varied by <1.5%. Nonphotographic estimation techniques varied from 76% to 142% of counts from photographs for clusters for which estimation (rather than counting) was used. Where feasible, photography can improve status and trend information for species of concern, permitting more timely and specific management actions.     

Regulation of Prolactin and Growth Hormone Production by Clonal Strains of Functional Pituitary Cells in Culture

This report describes the use of clonal strains of rat pituitarytumor cells to study the regulation of prolactin and growthhormone production. Emphasis is placed on the effects on prolactinproduction of the hypothalamic tripeptide pGlu-His-ProNH₂, alsocalled thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH). TRH binds to specificcellular receptors and stimulates initially the release of previouslysynthesized prolactin; several hours later it stimulates thesynthesis of prolactin. Several kinds of experimental resultsare consistent with the hypothesis that cyclic AMP mediatesthe TRH-stimuIated release of prolactin. However, all of theeffects of TRH on these cells in culture are not mimicked bycyclic AMP analogs, for TRH decreases growth hormone productionwhile it increases the synthesis of prolactin, and the analogdibutyryl cyclic AMP increases the production of both hormones.     

Geometric constraints and spatial pattern of species richness: critique of range-based null models

Abstract. Does the shape of a biogeographical region influence its spatial patterns of species richness? A complete answer must include careful distinction between the distribution of a species, which is a complex geometric object, and the range of a species, which is relatively simple, especially when reduced to one dimension. We consider range‐based models of species richness, in particular range overlap counts in one dimension, for which we give a unified mathematical treatment via the joint probability P(m,l) of midpoints and lengths of ranges. We discuss a number of difficulties, in practice and in principle, using range‐based models, and show that the so‐called mid‐domain effect, a proposed null model for the effect of geometric constraint, is qualitatively a property of all biologically realistic models based on range overlap counts. As such, range‐based models provide little insight into understanding or explaining biogeographical patterns in species richness. We characterize the quantitative null model for range overlap counts in one dimension, for which we give a simple and direct field test based on P(m,l). We apply this test to a large clade in a complete bioregion (the Proteaceae of the Cape Floristic Region): geometric constraint does not explain the spatial pattern in this case. We show that any geometric constraint on species richness, including range overlap counts, must act via edge effects. Thus, to understand biogeographical patterns, an understanding of the effects and consequences of edges is fundamental.     

Testing a Mahalanobis Distance Model of Black Bear Habitat Use in the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma

Abstract: Regional wildlife-habitat models are commonly developed but rarely tested with truly independent data. We tested a published habitat model for black bears (Ursus americanus) with new data collected in a different site in the same ecological region (i.e., Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma, USA). We used a Mahalanobis distance model developed from relocations of black bears in Arkansas to produce a map layer of Mahalanobis distances on a study area in neighboring Oklahoma. We tested this modeled map layer with relocations of black bears on the Oklahoma area. The distributions of relocations of female black bears were consistent with model predictions. We conclude that this modeling approach can be used to predict regional suitability for a species of interest.     

Effects of throughfall manipulation on soil nutrient status: results of 12 years of sustained wet and dry treatments

To investigate the potential effects of changing precipitation on forest ecosystems, the Throughfall Displacement Experiment (TDE) was established on Walker Branch Watershed, Tennessee, in 1993. Three different throughfall amounts were tested: ?33% (DRY); ambient (no change, AMB); and +33% (WET). Throughfall manipulations had no statistically significant effects on total C, N, exchangeable Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, bicarbonate‐extractable P, or extractable SO₄^2? in soils after 12 years of sustained treatments. Increased K⁺ inputs in the WET treatment resulted in relative increases in exchangeable K⁺compared with the AMB and DRY treatments. Soil C, N, and extractable P declined in all treatments over the 12‐year study, and the declines in N were inexplicably large. Field observations contrasted with earlier simulations from the Nutrient Cycling Model (NuCM), which predicted greater decreases in exchangeable K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, and extractable P in the order WET>AMB>DRY, and no change in C, N, and extractable SO₄^2?. The failure of the NuCM model to accurately predict observed changes is attributed to the lack of mechanisms for deep rooting and the transfer of throughfall K⁺ from one plot to another in the model. Measurements of element availability using resin membranes during the final years showed higher values in wet and lower values in dry treatments compared with ambient conditions for mineral N, K, Mn, Zn, and Al, but the opposite for B, Ca, and Mg. In the cases of Ca and Mg, the patterns in resin values were similar to those at the soil exchange sites (greatest in the dry treatment) and appeared to reflect pretreatment differences. This study showed that while longer term changes in soil nutrients are likely to occur with changes in precipitation, potential changes over this 12‐year interval were buffered by ecosystem processes such as deep rooting.     

A Dynamic Model for Plant Growth: Validation Study Under Changing Temperatures

A dynamic simulation model to describe vegetative growth ofplants, for which some functions and parameter values have beenestimated previously by optimization search techniques and numericalexperimentation based on data from constant temperature experiments,is validated under conditions of changing temperatures. To testthe predictive capacity of the model, dry matter accumulationin the leaves, stems, and roots of tobacco plants (Nicotianatabacum L.) was measured at 2- or 3-day intervals during a 5-weekperiod when temperatures in controlled-environment rooms wereprogrammed for changes at weekly and daily intervals and inascending or descending sequences within a range of 14 to 34°C. Simulations of dry matter accumulation and distributionwere carried out using the programmed changes for experimentaltemperatures and compared with the measured values. The agreementbetween measured and predicted values was close and indicatesthat the temperature-dependent functional forms derived fromconstant-temperature experiments are adequate for modellingplant growth responses to conditions of changing temperatureswith switching intervals as short as 1 day. Nicotiana tabacum, tobacco, translocation, partitioning, root growth, shoot growth     

Unusual growth in a rugose coral

A small, solitary rugose coral, probably belonging to Aulacophyllum hemicrassatum Sloss, from the Middle Devonian of Iowa, U.S.A., grew normally (conically) for three-fourths of its length, then, in an apparent reversal of pattern, decreased in diameter so that the uppermost part of the corallum is an inverted cone. The reversal of normal growth is attributed to polyp injury or disease that gradually, rather than suddenly, decreased the polyp's ability for normal growth and skeleton building.