No description available.

A study of the Merriam's wild turkey was conducted March 1972 to August 1973 in southwestern Utah to determine the life history and habitat utilization. Using transects, bio-telemetry, and observational techniques, information on flocking, hen:poult and sex ratios, and approximate dates for spring dispersal, nesting, and hatching was obtained. Turkey observations in relation to habitat variables were used to determine habitat utilization. Except during the spring mating season, male flocks remained apart from other turkeys. Hen flocks in fall and winter consisted of adult hens and juveniles of both sexes. Males dispersed from winter flocks in March, and those that became harem gobblers attracted not more than 3 hens. Egg-laying probably took place from mid-April to mid-May and hatching from mid-May to mid-June. A drop in hen:poult ratios from 1:2.2 in 1972 to 1:0.7 in 1973 was attributed to harsh spring weather. Hens comprised an estimated 60 percent of the population during the study period. Turkeys utilized a faU-winter-early spring habitat of mountain brush and scattered ponderosa pine. Late spring use was associated with a ponderosa pine or aspen-mixed-conifer habitat type. Broods highly used glades dominated by an aspen overstory with intermingling mixed-conifer, while a male flock used mixedconifer clearings at 10,000 feet elevation. The upper and lower limits of turkey range on the study area were 10,000 and 6,000 feet, respectively. Turkeys began spring migration in April and fall migration in late September or early October.

No description available.

Orientador: Eleonore Zulnara Freire Setz / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T08:26:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fialho_MarcosdeSouza_D.pdf: 3708643 bytes, checksum: 5f6a467e85eaa0c79b42689c63fb7939 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A fragmentação e a perda de hábitats são as principais ameaças à conservação da diversidade biológica, especialmente em países megadiversos, para onde as previsões apontam um grande número de extinções. A fauna de médio e grande porte, dada as suas inerentes necessidades de área e de recursos, torna-se particularmente vulnerável a estes eventos de extinção. No entanto, o grupo preenche uma importante parcela na dinâmica dos ecossistemas. Animais realizam importantes papéis, como por exemplo, a dispersão, a escarificação e a predação de sementes; a polinização, a herbivoria, a regulação de populações, dentre outros. Logo, o empobrecimento da fauna, em termos de sua riqueza e abundância, em uma floresta, desencadeia mudanças em sua estrutura e composição florística, podendo inclusive levar espécies vegetais ao desaparecimento. Inúmeros trabalhos no campo da Biologia da Conservação vêm sendo desenvolvidos com o objetivo de compreender como a fragmentação age sobre as espécies e os ecossistemas e como estes efeitos poderiam ser minimizados. No presente estudo, três situações em diferentes contextos envolvidos na conservação da fauna de médio e grande porte são abordadas: (1) a conservação desta parcela da comunidade em uma Área Protegida sob intenso uso humano, no caso, uma Terra Indígena; (2) as respostas desta comunidade frente a uma paisagem parcialmente construída em uma Floresta Nacional; e por fim, (3) a efetividade de diferentes modelos de Áreas Protegidas na conservação de mamíferos de médio e grande porte, tendo sempre como parâmetros, a riqueza e a abundância da comunidade. Como resultados, a Terra Indígena apresentou a riqueza e a abundância da fauna de médio e grande porte inferior à esperada. Na Floresta Nacional, possivelmente devido às características particulares da paisagem que proporcionam certo grau de heterogeneidade e existência de corredores, não foi possível detectar um uso diferencial da fauna entre os ecossistemas naturais e construídos. E todas as Áreas Protegidas, ainda que de diferentes modelos, apresentaram pelo menos um evento de extinção. As unidades sujeitas ao uso humano direto, a Terra Indígena e a Floresta Nacional, apresentaram 4/5 e 3/4 da riqueza de espécies esperada / Abstract: Fragmentation and loss of habitats are the main threats to biological diversity conservation, especially in the "megadiverse¿ countries, where forecasts signal a great number of extinctions. Medium and large fauna, given their inherent needs in terms of area and resources, become particularly vulnerable to extinction events. However, the group is vital in the ecosystems¿ functionality. Animals play important roles in forests, for example, in dispersion, scarification and predation of seeds; pollination, herbivory, and population regulation, among others. Therefore the impoverishment of forest fauna, in terms of richness and abundance, triggers changes in its structure and flora composition, possibly even leading to the disappearance of plant species. Countless works in the field of conservation biology have been developed with the objective of understanding how fragmentation acts on the species and the ecosystems and how these effects could be minimized. The present study approaches three situations in different contexts, yet directly involved in the conservation of medium and large fauna, namely: (1) the conservation of this community in a Protected Area, but under intense use by humans, i.e. indigenous territory or land; (2) this community's in a landscape partially built in a National Forest; and, finally, (3) the effectiveness of different models of Protected Areas in the conservation of medium and large mammals, always maintaining as parameters the richness and abundance of the community. In the indigenous land, richness and abundance of the medium and large fauna were lower than expected. In the National Forest, due to the peculiar characteristics of the landscape, which provides a certain degree of heterogeneity and the existence of corridors, it was not possible to detect a diferential fauna use between the natural and constructed ecosystems. Furthermore, all the Protected Areas, although different models, presented at least one extinction event. The other two units, subject to direct human use, Indigenous Land and National Forest, presented 4/5 and 3/4 of the expected species richness / Doutorado / Ecologia / Doutor em Ecologia

Distance sampling is one of the most commonly used methods for estimating density and abundance. Conventional methods are based on the distances of detected animals from the center of point transects or the center line of line transects. These distances are used to model a detection function: the probability of detecting an animal, given its distance from the line or point. The probability of detecting an animal in the covered area is given by the mean value of the detection function with respect to the available distances to be detected. Given this probability, a Horvitz-Thompson- like estimator of abundance for the covered area follows, hence using a model-based framework. Inferences for the wider survey region are justified using the survey design. Conventional distance sampling methods are based on a set of assumptions. In this thesis I present results that extend distance sampling on two fronts. Firstly, estimators are derived for situations in which there is measurement error in the distances. These estimators use information about the measurement error in two ways: (1) a biased estimator based on the contaminated distances is multiplied by an appropriate correction factor, which is a function of the errors (PDF approach), and (2) cast into a likelihood framework that allows parameter estimation in the presence of measurement error (likelihood approach). Secondly, methods are developed that relax the conventional assumption that the distribution of animals is independent of distance from the lines or points (usually guaranteed by appropriate survey design). In particular, the new methods deal with the case where animal density gradients are caused by the use of non-random sampler allocation, for example transects placed along linear features such as roads or streams. This is dealt with separately for line and point transects, and at a later stage an approach for combining the two is presented. A considerable number of simulations and example analysis illustrate the performance of the proposed methods.

This work was carried out in the micro basin of the headwaters of the Ibicuí Mirim river, until the Saturnino de Brito dam, and aimed to establish relationships between avifauna with different habitats in the area, using as tool the System of Geographic Information (SIG), with the purpose of evaluating the similarity of bird species in an environment with the same phytogeographic characteristics, its abundance and wealth. In this way thematic maps of land use were created and analysis performed on the physiognomy of micro basin giving support to make it possible to characterize it as the kind of environments, showing therefore that the area of 8695.20 hectares, is divided into four different habitats : area of fields (20.61% of the area), swamp area (3.72% of the area), forest area (18.25% of the area), and area of agriculture (57.42% of the area), characterizing an intense human action on the environment. The linear transects of them showed similar physiognomic characteristics in birds and found results after the total effort of 672 hours of collections, recording 4828 individuals belonging to 163 species (51 families). Of these, ten are migratory species and one is errant (Egretta caerulea), for the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The most representative order was Passeriformes with 19 families and 80 species. Among the families that represented a greater number of species was the Tyrannidae with nineteen species followed the families Emberizidae, with 12 species and Icteridae, with 8 species, all of the order Passeriformes. The largest number of individuals occurred in the following species: Zenaida auriculata, Patagioenas picazuro, Zonotrichia capensis and Vanellus chilensis. Ahead of the problems caused to the species of birds, the production model employed in the of microbasin, which provides a reduction in diversity and loss of natural potentialities, more deepened studies on issues related to the use and occupancy of land and conflict areas, like the monitoring of social, economic and environmental impacts of agricultural forestry and grazing activities should be made in order to assist the planning and organization of activities on farms, indicating the areas that should be preserved and not used for production purposes, making the operation the land economically viable, socially fair and environmentally correct. / Este trabalho foi realizado na microbacia hidrográfica das nascentes do rio Ibicuí Mirim, até a barragem Saturnino de Brito, e objetivou estabelecer relações entre a avifauna com os diferentes habitats presentes na área, usando como ferramenta o Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG), com a finalidade de avaliar a similaridade das espécies de aves em ambiente com mesmas características fitogeográficas, sua abundância e riqueza. Dessa maneira criaram-se mapas temáticos de uso da terra e a analise realizada sobre a fisionomia da microbacia deu sustentação para que fosse possível caracterizá-la conforme os tipo de ambientes, mostrando portanto, que a área de 8.695,20 hectares, está dividida em quatro diferentes habitats : área de Campo (20,61% da área), área Palustre(3,72% da área), área de Mata (18,25% da área), e área de agricultura (57,42% da área), caracterizando uma intensa ação antrópica sobre o meio.Os transectos lineares de mesmas características fisionômicas mostraram-se similares quanto a avifauna encontrada e como resultados do esforço total de 672 horas de coletas, foram registrados 4.828 indivíduos pertencentes a 163 espécies (51 famílias). Desse total, dez são migratórias e uma espécie é vagante (Egretta caerulea), para o estado do Rio Grande do Sul, sendo que a ordem mais representativa foi a Passeriformes com 19 famílias e 80 espécies. Dentre as famílias a que ocorreu um maior número de espécies foi a Tyrannidae com dezenove espécies seguida das famílias Emberizidae, com12 espécies e Icteridae, com 8 espécies, todos da ordem Passeriformes. Os maiores números de indivíduos ocorreram nas seguintes espécies: Zenaida auriculata, Patagioenas picazuro, Zonotrichia capensis e o Vanellus chilensis. Diante dos problemas causados às espécies de aves, pelas modelo produtivo empregado na região da microbacia, as quais proporcionam a redução da diversidade e perda de potencialidades naturais, estudos mais aprofundados sobre os temas relacionados ao uso e ocupação da terra e áreas de conflitos, bem como o monitoramento dos impactos sociais, econômicos e ambientais das atividades agrosilvipastoris, deverão ser realizados, a fim de auxiliarem no planejamento e na organização das atividades nas propriedades rurais, indicando as áreas que devem ser preservadas e não utilizadas para fins produtivos , tornando a exploração da terra economicamente viável, socialmente justa e ambientalmente correta.

La Province Volcanique du Rungwe (PVR) en Afrique de l’Est abrite diverses archives continentales (séquence de loess-paléosols, tourbières, lacs) permettant d’étudier les changements environnementaux passés des zones tropicales continentales. Ce travail s’est intéressé à l’applicabilité des alkyl tetraéthers de glycérol (tetraéthers) et des n-alcanes comme biomarqueurs de ces changements passés. Leur analyse le long de transects altitudinaux a permis de rendre compte de la capacité des tetraéthers à enregistrer de faibles changements de température de l’air dans la région. En conséquence, une calibration régionale a été établie afin d’améliorer les reconstructions de température de l’air en Afrique de l’Est. Au contraire, il est apparu que la composition isotopique de l’hydrogène des n-alcanes (δ²Hwax) était impactée par des paramètres physiques et biologiques supplémentaires ce qui complique son utilisation pour suivre les changements de température à l’échelle régionale. L’étude des variations de ces deux biomarqueurs le long d’une carotte de tourbe et d’une carotte de sédiment lacustre prélevées dans la PVR a révélé l’existence synchrone d’une période climatique plus chaude au cours de l’Holocène tardif. Par ailleurs, il a été observé dans la carotte de tourbe une transition d’un lac à une tourbière il y a ca. 2000 ans BP. Le présent travail démontre donc que les tetraéthers et les n-alcanes sont des biomarqueurs prometteurs, notamment parce qu’ils sont sensibles à de faibles variation climatiques ; cependant, afin de les interpréter correctement, il est nécessaire d’adopter une approche multi-marqueurs. / The Rungwe Volcanic Province (RVP) in East Africa offers a wide diversity of continental archives (loess-paleosols sequences, peatlands, lakes), allowing the investigation of past environmental changes in tropical continents. This work focused on the validation of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether- (GDGT) and n-alkane-derived proxies. Analyses of these two biomarkers along altitudinal transects allowed assessing their ability to record temperature changes in the region. GDGTs were found to be robust temperature proxies in East Africa, and a regional calibration was established to improve temperature reconstructions from soil archives. In contrast, investigation of n-alkane hydrogen isotopic composition (δ²Hwax) in surface soils revealed that its variations seemed to be impacted by additional biological and physical parameters than temperature, preventing its generalization at a regional scale. Application of GDGT and n-alkane proxies to continental archives revealed past environmental changes over the Late Holocene in the RVP. A late Holocene synchronous temperature maximum was especially observed in a peat core and sediment core from two sites of the RVP. A multi-proxy approach was applied to the peat core, revealing that an ecosystem change from a lake to a peatland occurred ca. 2000 yrs BP ago. The present work showed that GDGTs and n-alkanes are promising biomarkers because of their sensitivity to slight climate variations, but that they need to be combined with other proxies to accurately reconstruct environmental changes.

Soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are predominantly in organic form. Proteins/ peptides, as an important organic form of N, constitute a substantial part of soil organic matter. On one hand, proteins/peptides are an important N source for plants and microorganisms, particularly in soils where inorganic N is limited. On the other hand, their stabilization in soils by forming organo-mineral associates or macromolecule complex reduces the C loss as CO2 into the atmosphere. Therefore, studies on the turnover, abundance, composition, and stability of proteins/peptides are of crucial importance to agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. In the first part of this study, the bioavailability and distribution of amino acids, (building block of proteins/peptides), were investigated, in soils across the North-South and West-East transects of continental United States. The second part of this study aimed to understand the variations of organic C speciation in soils of continental United States. Previous investigations of the interactions between soil minerals and proteins/peptides were mostly limited to batch sorption experiments in labs, seldom of which gave the details at the molecular scales. Therefore, in the third part of this study, the molecular orientation of self-assembled oligopeptides on mineral surfaces was investigated by employing synchrotron based polarization-dependent Near Edge X-ray Adsorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (NEXAFS) techniques. Specific aims of this study were: 1) to assess potentially bioavailable pool of proteinaceous compounds and the immediately bioavailable pool of free amino acids in surface and subsurface soils of various ecosystems; 2) to evaluate the relationship between environmental factors and levels/composition of the two pools; 3) to investigate the organic C speciation in soils of various land use; and 4) to understand molecular level surface organization of small peptides on mineral surfaces. The levels of free amino acids and hydrolysable amino acids which represent the potentially bioavailable pool of proteinaceous compounds in A-horizon soils were significantly high than in C-horizon soils due to the accumulation of organic matter in surface. On average, free amino acids accounted for less than 4 % of hydrolysable amino acids which represent the total proteinaceous compounds in soils. The composition of free amino acids was significantly different between surface soil and subsurface soil and was significantly influenced by mean annual temperature and precipitation. A relatively uniform composition of hydrolysable amino acids was observed irrespective of a wide range of land use. Significant variations were observed for the levels of free and hydrolysable amino acids along mean annual temperature and precipitation gradients, as well as among vegetation types of continental USA, suggesting levels of free and hydrolysable amino acids were associated with the above-ground biomass and root distribution. Organic C speciation investigation revealed the presence of carboxylic-C (38%), aliphatic-C (~ 22%), aromatic-C (~ 18%), O/N-alkyl-C (~ 16%), and phenolic-C (< 6%). Factors such as temperature and vegetation cover were revealed in this study to account for the fluctuations of the proportions of aromatic-C and phenolic-C, in particular. Phenolic-C may serve as a good indicator for the effect of temperature or vegetation on the composition of SOC. The average composition of soil organic C, over the continental scale, was relatively uniform over various soil ecosystems and between two soil horizons irrespective of surface organic C content. Polarization dependent NEXAFS analysis showed the oligopeptides tend to orient on mineral surface with an average tilt angle of 40 ° between the molecular chain and the mineral surface. / Ph. D.

Estimates of animal abundance or density are fundamental quantities in ecology and conservation, but for many species such as rare, small mammals, obtaining robust estimates is problematic. In this thesis, I combine elements of two standard abundance estimation methods, capture-recapture and distance sampling, to develop a method called trapping point transects (TPT). In TPT, a "detection function", g(r) (i.e. the probability of capturing an animal, given it is r m from a trap when the trap is set) is estimated using a subset of animals whose locations are known prior to traps being set. Generalised linear models are used to estimate the detection function, and the model can be extended to include random effects to allow for heterogeneity in capture probabilities. Standard point transect methods are modified to estimate abundance. Two abundance estimators are available. The first estimator is based on the reciprocal of the expected probability of detecting an animal, ^P, where the expectation is over r; whereas the second estimator is the expectation of the reciprocal of ^P. Performance of the TPT method under various sampling efforts and underlying true detection probabilities of individuals in the population was investigated in a simulation study. When underlying probability of detection was high (g(0) = 0:88) and between-individual variation was small, survey effort could be surprisingly low (c. 510 trap nights) to yield low bias (c. 4%) in the two estimators; but under certain situations, the second estimator can be extremely biased. Uncertainty and relative bias in population estimates increased with decreasing detectability and increasing between-individual variation. Abundance of the Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli), an endangered rodent with a restricted geographic range, was estimated using TPT. The TPT method compared well to other viable methods (capture-recapture and spatially-explicit capture-recapture), in terms of both field practicality and cost. The TPT method may generally be useful in estimating animal abundance in trapping studies and variants of the TPT method are presented.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Urbanization and the changes imposed by man disturb the complex natural system, modifying the elements and characteristics of climate on a local scale. Considering the influence of urbanization as derived from the fact that the local climate and responsible for the generation of an urban environment specifically, this work was to analyze the field thermo-hygrometric and the formation of heat islands and urban cool in Santa Maria RS (Rio Grande do Sul, State of Southern of Brazil), relating these variables geourbans and geoecologycs in the study area. To accomplish this work was used the methodology of the transects, consisting of mobile collections in points pre-established. It was established two transects for data collection of temperature and relative humidity of the atmospheric air: one has the direction more or less in a north/northwest-south/southeast (NNW-SSE), linking Street Sete de Setembro , in Neighborhood Perpétuo Socorro , the end Fernando Ferrari Avenue in Neighborhood Nossa Senhora de Lourdes and the other in the east/northeastwest/southwest (WSW-ENE), linking the Street Major Duarte to get Street Venâncio Aires near the Arroio Cadena at Central portion of the Santa Maria City. The data were collected on days August 14, 2008 and January 06, 2009, the area was under the weather for the South Atlantic Polar Mass in winter time and the Old Polar Mass or modified in the summer, respectively. Were made cotte measures at five different times (9, 12, 15h, 18h and 21h), in order to verify the responses of thermal and humidity from the points pre-established and distributed along the transects, totaling 13 points of measures along the transect 1 (NNWSSE) and 15 in the transect 2 (ENE-WSW). Armed with the data of temperature and humidity, were made cartograms of the field thermo-hygrometric. For this application was used the Software Surfer for Windows 8.0. In the preparation of cartograms of the thermal field were established color scales to represent the values of temperature, so the cool colors were associated with lower temperatures and the warm colors at higher temperatures. Cartograms of hygrometric field values were represented in the cartogram using a variation of blue scale, so the lighter blue was used to represent the values of lower humidity and dark blue for higher values. The results highlight that the hygrometric and thermal fields of the coverage area of the transects, both on the day of collection in the field of Mass Polar Atlantic in winter time and in the field of Old Polar Mass or modified in the summer, need to move apparent daily sun exposure of the slopes and to solar radiation. By analyzing the thermal field of January 06, 2009 in five hours of collection, it became clear the migratory movements of the heat islands of the eastern slope, during the morning, to the slopes facing the north and west quadrant, during periods of midday and afternoon. The weather conditions that occurred on January 06, 2009 (summer), with clear skies, calm winds and a light with high incidence of solar radiation on the surface, favored the formation of heat islands and freshness of magnitude rating, strong and very strong. Was verified the thermal contrast between the center and periphery of the study area. / A urbanização e as transformações impostas pela ação do homem desequilibram o complexo sistema natural, modificando os elementos e as características do clima na escala local. Considerando a influência da urbanização como fato derivador do clima local e responsável pela geração de um clima especificamente urbano, este trabalho, teve por objetivo analisar o campo termohigrométrico, bem como a formação de ilhas de calor e de frescor urbanas em Santa Maria/RS, relacionando-as as variáveis geourbanas e geoecológicas existentes na área de estudo. Para isso utilizou-se a metodologia dos transectos, que consiste em coletas móveis em pontos pré-estabelecidos. Foi estabelecido dois transectos para a coleta dos dados de temperatura e umidade relativa do ar: um no sentido norte/noroeste-sul/sudeste (NNW-SSE), ligando a rua Sete de Setembro, no bairro Perpétuo Socorro, ao final da avenida Fernando Ferrari no bairro Nossa Senhora de Lourdes e o outro no sentido leste/nordeste-oeste/sudoeste (ENE-WSW), ligando a rua Major Duarte ao começo da rua Venâncio Aires próximo, ao Arroio Cadena. Os dados foram coletados nos dias 14 de agosto de 2008 e 06 de janeiro de 2009, sob domínio das condições atmosféricas pela Massa Polar Atlântica no inverno e pela Massa Polar Velha ou modificada no verão, respectivamente. As coletas foram realizadas em cinco horários diferentes (9h, 12h, 15h, 18h e 21h), com o intuito de verificar as respostas térmicas e de umidade dos pontos pré-estabelecidos e distribuídos ao longo dos transectos, num total de 13 pontos ao longo do transecto 1 (NNW-SSE) e de 15 no transecto 2 (ENE-WSW). De posse dos dados de temperatura e umidade do ar, foram confeccionados os cartogramas do campo termo-higrométrico. Para tal foi utilizado o aplicativo Surfer for Windows 8.0. Na elaboração dos cartogramas do campo térmico foram estabelecidas escalas de cores para os valores de temperatura, onde as cores frias foram associadas a temperaturas mais baixas e as cores quentes a temperaturas mais altas. Nos cartogramas do campo higrométrico os valores de umidade foram representados utilizando uma variação da cor azul. Assim, o azul mais claro foi utilizado para representar os valores de umidade mais baixos e, a cor azul escura, para os valores mais altos. Como resultados destaca-se que os campos térmico e higrométrico da área de abrangência dos transectos, tanto no dia de coleta sob domínio da Massa Polar Atlântica, no inverno, quanto no domínio da Massa Polar Velha ou modificada, no verão, estão condicionados ao movimento aparente diário do sol e a exposição das vertentes à radiação solar. Ao analisar o campo térmico do dia 06 de janeiro de 2009, nos cinco horários de coleta, percebe-se o movimento migratório das ilhas de calor da vertente leste, para as vertentes voltadas para o quadrante norte e oeste. As condições de tempo ocorridas no dia 06 de janeiro de 2009 (verão), com céu limpo, ventos calmos a leve e com forte incidência de radiação solar na superfície, favoreceram a formação de ilhas de calor e de frescor de magnitude media, forte e muito forte, bem como o contraste térmico entre o centro e a periferia da área de estudo.