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Author De Stoppelaire, G.H.; Gillespie, T.W.; Brock, J.C.; Tobin, G.A.
Title Use of remote sensing techniques to determine the effects of grazing on vegetation cover and dune elevation at Assateague Island National Seashore: impact of horses Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2004 Publication Environmental Management Abbreviated Journal Environ Manage
Volume 34 Issue 5 Pages 642-649
Keywords Animals; Animals, Wild; Conservation of Natural Resources; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring; *Feeding Behavior; *Horses; Maryland; Plants/*growth & development; Population Dynamics; Silicon Dioxide; *Soil
Abstract The effects of grazing by feral horses on vegetation and dune topography at Assateague Island National Seashore were investigated using color-infrared imagery, lidar surveys, and field measurements. Five pairs of fenced and unfenced plots (300 m2) established in 1993 on sand flats and small dunes with similar elevation, topography, and vegetation cover were used for this study. Color-infrared imagery from 1998 and field measurements from 2001 indicated that there was a significant difference in vegetation cover between the fenced and unfenced plot-pairs over the study period. Fenced plots contained a higher percentage of vegetation cover that was dominated by American beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata). Lidar surveys from 1997, 1999, and 2000 showed that there were significant differences in elevation and topography between fenced and unfenced plot-pairs. Fenced plots were, on average, 0.63 m higher than unfenced plots, whereas unfenced plots had generally decreased in elevation after establishment in 1993. Results demonstrate that feral horse grazing has had a significant impact on dune formation and has contributed to the erosion of dunes at Assateague Island. The findings suggest that unless the size of the feral horse population is reduced, grazing will continue to foster unnaturally high rates of dune erosion into the future. In order to maintain the natural processes that historically occurred on barrier islands, much larger fenced exclosures would be required to prevent horse grazing.
Address US Geological Survey, Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701, USA. georgia.destoppelaire@my.FWC.com
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0364-152X ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15633024 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1896
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Author Dauphin, G.; Zientara, S.; Zeller, H.; Murgue, B.
Title West Nile: worldwide current situation in animals and humans Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2004 Publication Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Abbreviated Journal Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis
Volume 27 Issue 5 Pages 343-355
Keywords Americas/epidemiology; Animals; Birds/virology; Culex/*virology; *Disease Outbreaks; Disease Reservoirs; Europe/epidemiology; Horses/virology; Humans; Insect Vectors/*virology; Middle East/epidemiology; West Nile Fever/*epidemiology/*veterinary/virology; West Nile virus/*growth & development
Abstract West Nile (WN) virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that is native to Africa, Europe, and Western Asia. It mainly circulates among birds, but can infect many species of mammals, as well as amphibians and reptiles. Epidemics can occur in rural as well as urban areas. Transmission of WN virus, sometimes involving significant mortality in humans and horses, has been documented at erratic intervals in many countries, but never in the New World until it appeared in New York City in 1999. During the next four summers it spread with incredible speed to large portions of 46 US states, and to Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. In many respects, WN virus is an outstanding example of a zoonotic pathogen that has leaped geographical barriers and can cause severe disease in human and equine. In Europe, in the past two decades there have been a number of significant outbreaks in several countries. However, very little is known of the ecology and natural history of WN virus transmission in Europe and most WN outbreaks in humans and animals remain unpredictable and difficult to control.
Address AFSSA Alfort, UMR1161 (INRA-AFSSA-ENVA), 22 rue Pierre Curie, BP 63, 94703 Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0147-9571 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15225984 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2635
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Author Gomez, J.-C.
Title Species comparative studies and cognitive development Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages 118-125
Keywords Animals; Attention/physiology; Brain/*growth & development; Child, Preschool; Cognition/*physiology; Concept Formation/physiology; Dogs; Evolution; Fixation, Ocular; Gorilla gorilla; Humans; Infant; Learning/*physiology; Macaca mulatta; Mental Recall/physiology; Personal Construct Theory; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract The comparative study of infant development and animal cognition brings to cognitive science the promise of insights into the nature and origins of cognitive skills. In this article, I review a recent wave of comparative studies conducted with similar methodologies and similar theoretical frameworks on how two core components of human cognition--object permanence and gaze following--develop in different species. These comparative findings call for an integration of current competing accounts of developmental change. They further suggest that evolution has produced developmental devices capable at the same time of preserving core adaptive components, and opening themselves up to further adaptive change, not only in interaction with the external environment, but also in interaction with other co-developing cognitive systems.
Address Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY15 9JU, UK
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15737820 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2851
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Author Stamps, J.A.
Title Growth-mortality tradeoffs and 'personality traits' in animals Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2007 Publication Ecology Letters Abbreviated Journal Ecol Lett
Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 355-363
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Growth; *Mortality; *Personality
Abstract Consistent individual differences in boldness, reactivity, aggressiveness, and other 'personality traits' in animals are stable within individuals but vary across individuals, for reasons which are currently obscure. Here, I suggest that consistent individual differences in growth rates encourage consistent individual differences in behavior patterns that contribute to growth-mortality tradeoffs. This hypothesis predicts that behavior patterns that increase both growth and mortality rates (e.g. foraging under predation risk, aggressive defense of feeding territories) will be positively correlated with one another across individuals, that selection for high growth rates will increase mean levels of potentially risky behavior across populations, and that within populations, faster-growing individuals will take more risks in foraging contexts than slower-growing individuals. Tentative empirical support for these predictions suggests that a growth-mortality perspective may help explain some of the consistent individual differences in behavioral traits that have been reported in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and other animals with indeterminate growth.
Address University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. jastamps@ucdavis.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1461-0248 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17498134 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4100
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