The golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) inhabits lower elevations on reclaimed surface mines in Kentucky, an indication of recent range expansion in this imperiled species. In 2004 and 2005, I compared breeding habitat between the golden-winged warbler and blue-winged warbler (V. pinus) in eastern Kentucky at landscape, territory, and nest site scales. Distance to forest edge averaged 38 m for the golden-winged warbler and 33 m for the blue-winged warbler. Maximum territory size averaged 1.5 ha for the golden-winged warbler and 2.1 ha for the blue-winged warbler. The golden-winged warbler occurred at higher elevations (up to 912 m) than the blue-winged warbler (up to 693 m). Golden-winged warblers occurred on flatter slopes when coexisting with bluewinged warblers. A higher percentage of grass cover occurred in golden-winged warbler territories where blue-winged warblers were absent compared to territories of either species where the two coexisted. Golden-winged warblers coexisting with blue-winged warblers were more often found in shrub cover than when they established territories in absence of blue-winged warblers. Management for the golden-winged warbler should focus on enhancement of transition zones between forest edges and open grasslands, especially at higher elevations.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:03:34Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_do_dr_jabo.pdf: 436428 bytes, checksum: 0d19e37f42c0f40666cb60140257c676 (MD5) / Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia / A Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP, campus de Jaboticabal desenvolve há v ários anos pesquisas na á rea de animais silvestres, contribuindo dessa forma na conservaçã o e produção de esp écies amea çadas de extin ção. Uma dessas espé cies estudadas para fins cientí ficos, a perdiz (Rhynchotus rufescens), apresenta potencialidades para a produ ção comercial em cativeiro. Com o objetivo de determinar polimorfismos gené ticos nessa espé cie e em outras espé cies de tinam ídeos, foram desenvolvidos 16 pares de primers de microssaté lite para a perdiz a partir de biblioteca gen ômica enriquecida com microssat élites. A fim de se verificar a amplificação cruzada em perdiz e em outros tinam ídeos foram utilizados 10 pares de primers desenvolvidos para avestruzes (Struthio camelus) e outros 10 pares desenvolvidos para o inhamb ú-da-cabe ça-vermelha (Tinamus major). Dos 16 locos desenvolvidos para perdiz, 8 apresentaram sucesso na amplificação nessa esp écie e apenas cinco amplificaram em outros tinamídeos. Foi realizada a genotipagem em 26 amostras de perdizes e obtidas estimativas relacionadas ao percentual de locos polimó rficos (50%), nú mero m édio de alelos por loco (5,75), conte údo polim órfico informativo m édio (0,62) e diversidade gené tica esperada (0,69). Quanto ao teste de transferabilidade, dos pares de primers desenvolvidos para T. major, somente um apresentou amplificação especí fica em perdizes, sendo observadas taxas de amplificação cruzada de 100 e 70% para macuco (Tinamus solitarius) e para a azulona (Tinamus tao), respectivamente. As amplificações nos demais tinamí deos ficaram restritas a cinco locos de microssat élites. Com o uso de programas computacionais e de... / The São Paulo State University UNESP, Jaboticabal campus has for several years research with wild animals, contributing for the preservation and production of the species threatened by extinction. One of these species is the red-winged-tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens), that has potential for production in captivity. The aim of the study was to determine genetic microsatellite polymorphisms in this species and other tinamous species. Sixteen microsatellite primer pairs were developed for the red-winged-tinamou from a genomic library enriched with microsatellites. In order to verify the cross amplification for the tinamous species we used 10 pairs of primers designed for ostriches (Struthio camelus) and 10 pairs developed for Tinamus major. From the 16 loci developed for red-winged-tinamou, 8 amplified in this species and only five amplified in other Tinamous. Genotyping was performed on 26 samples and estimates related to the percentage of polymorphic loci (50%), average number of alleles per locus (5.75), polymorphic information content (average 0.62) and expected genetic diversity (0.69). In order to test the transferability of the primer pairs developed for T. major, only one had a specific amplification in partridges, with observed rates of crossamplification of 100 and 70% for macuco (Tinamus solitarius) and the azulona (Tinamus tao), respectively. The amplifications in other tinamous were restricted to five microsatellite loci. With the use of computer programs and statistical analysis, we estimated genetic and phenotypic parameters of morphometric characteristics in red-winged-tinamou, in order to... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

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The relationship between beetles and flowers is often mutually beneficial. Flowers provide not only edible rewards and favourable micro-environments, but may also be sites for mating and egg-laying activities. Even though beetles consume various parts of flowers, including pollen, and can sometimes cause considerable damage, they are in fact important pollinators of many flowers. Pollen was once considered indigestible but is actually a highly nutritious food source for many animals (including insects, birds and mammals) which use a variety of methods to digest it. Six basic methods are discussed in detail: mechanical damage, piercing and sucking, external digestion, enzymatic action, osmotic shock and pseudogermination. In this study I investigated the mechanism and efficiency of pollen digestion of two different kinds of pollen, that of maize Zea mays and sunflower Helianthus annuus, by the spotted maize beetle Astylus atromaculatus (Melyridae) an economically important pest in South Africa Histological observations were made of the gut contents and faeces of spotted maize beetles that fed on maize and sunflower. A high percentage of maize pollen grains (88%) was found to be empty and ruptured in the anterior midgut of these beetles, while sunflower pollen, although the contents were removed from most of the grains (84%), remained intact. Osmotic shock was apparently involved in digestion of maize pollen while another method, such as enzymatic action, may be used for the digestion of sunflower pollen by this beetle. Digestion efficiency of pollen, which corrects for the number of initially empty grains, was determined for the spotted maize beetle (67% for sorghum, 72% for sunflower and 74% for maize) and was found to be high in comparison to values for various mammals, birds and insects consuming pollen of other plant species. Kroon et al. (1974) proposed osmotic shock as a prerequisite for pollen digestion in honeybees and this hypothesis was accepted into the literature without question. I investigated the effect of osmotic shock on maize pollen by looking at behaviour of pollen grains under varying osmotic concentrations. Given that rainwater can sometimes cause irreversible damage to pollen grains, distilled water was used to simulate rain and sucrose solutions the stigmatic exudates of flowers. A small number of studies have focused on differences between cultivars, therefore in vitro studies were carried out subjecting maize pollen of different cultivars to different sucrose and glucose:fructose concentrations, using distilled water as a control. Results of this study indicated that maize pollen might burst in distilled water and sugar solutions of various concentrations did not decrease the amount of rupturing compared to that in water. Few studies have looked at pollen of a single plant species being digested by different animals. I compared the efficiency and mechanism of maize pollen digestion by honeybees (Apis mellifera) and spotted maize beetles. Digestive efficiency was high (80%) in beetles compared to that of bees (21 %). Maize pollen bursts early in the midgut of maize beetles but remained intact in honeybees: this suggests that osmotic shock is not as important for bees as previously suggested. / Dissertation (MSc (Entomology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

The development of high-energy-density batteries, advanced sensor technologies, and advanced control algorithms for multirotor electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has led to interest in using these vehicles for a variety of applications including surveillance, package delivery, and even human transportation. In each of these cases, the ideal vehicle is one that can maneuver in congested spaces, but is efficient for traveling long distances. The combination of wings and vectored thrust make winged eVTOLs the obvious choice. However, these aircraft experience a much wider range of flight conditions that makes them challenging to model and control. This thesis contributes an aerodynamic model and a planning and control method for small, 1-2 m wingspan, winged eVTOLs. We develop the aerodynamic model based on first-principles, lumped-element aerodynamics, extending the lift and drag models to consider high-angle-of-attack flight conditions using models proposed in the literature. We present two methods for generating spline trajectories, one that uses the singular value decomposition to find a minimum-derivative polynomial spline, and one that uses B-splines to produce trajectories in the convex hull of a set of waypoints. We compare the quality of trajectories produced by both methods. Current control methods for winged eVTOL UAVs consider the vehicle primarily as a fixed-wing aircraft with the addition of vertical thrust used only during takeoff and landing. These methods provide good long-range flight handling but fail to consider the full dynamics of the vehicle for tracking complex trajectories. We present a trajectory tracking controller for the full dynamics of a winged eVTOL UAV in hover, fixed-wing, and partially transitioned flight scenarios. We show that in low- to moderate-speed flight, trajectory tracking can be achieved using a variety of pitch angles. In these conditions, the pitch of the vehicle is a free variable that we use to minimize the necessary thrust, and therefore energy consumption, of the vehicle. We use a geometric attitude controller and an airspeed-dependent control allocation scheme to operate the vehicle at a wide range of airspeeds, flight path angles, and angles of attack. We provide theoretical guarantees for the stability of the proposed control scheme assuming a standard aerodynamic model, and we present simulation results showing an average tracking error of 20 cm, an average computation rate of 800 Hz, and an 85% reduction in tracking error versus using a multirotor controller for low-speed flight.

In north Mississippi, I evaluated fuel loads in the late dormant season and after leaf fall in unburned areas and after a dormant season burn. Fuel loads beneath winged elm (Ulmus alata) were assessed to determine if this shade-tolerant species impacts fine fuel loads in the area immediately near its bole. I found leaf litter fuel loads are higher after leaf fall suggesting that burns conducted closer to leaf fall may have increased burn intensity. Burning reduced leaf litter fuels and exposed mineral soil which returned to pre-burn levels following leaf fall. Declines in duff layer fuels were not evident until after leaf fall. Leaf litter fuels underneath winged elms had higher mass and percentage of winged elm litter beneath them compared to areas away from them. These results will help determine appropriate time for restoring prescribed fire and the implications of encroachment by non-oak species into upland oak forests.

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