tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31131820787329426962024-03-13T12:15:02.664-07:00Wolves, Wolf Facts, Cougars, Cougar Facts, Coyotes, Coyote Facts - Wolves, Cougars, Coyotes ForeverLearn about Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Polar Bears, gray wolves/eastern wolves/red wolves,timber wolves,
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coyotes/coywolves with pictures, videos, photos, facts, info and news.Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.comBlogger5423125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-15010493407502633342020-03-23T16:09:00.000-07:002020-03-23T16:09:11.902-07:00“Mink aren't typically found up trees, but they're known to climb when they're startled, as was likely the case in the picture below”.............”So what was this mink up to (other than a tree)?”...........“Perhaps it was looking for romance”...........“It's mating season for the animals, and they range widely during this time”..........”Kits will be born in late spring”..........”Minks travel on land and in the water”.........“They walk, run, and bound on land, and may attain speed of 13 km/hr (8 mph) for brief periods”............”This semiaquatic species swims on the surface and underwater, covering as much as 15 m (50 ft) or more when submerged”........”A mink may remain in its den for several days after severe winter storms, but otherwise is active throughout the year”.............“Much activity occurs at twilight and at night, but it is not unusual for a mink to forage during the day in winter and while caring for young”..........”Minks are carnivores, preying on muskrats, chipmunks, mice, rabbits, fish, snakes, frogs and water fowl”........”Leftovers from a kill are often kept in the mink's den for later”<div class="blog-meta" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 255, 158); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: #1a4700; border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(39, 39, 39); color: #272727; font-family: HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
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<a href="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/articles/NW_Dannis_Mink.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[march-mink]" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title=""><img alt="March Mink Image" src="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/made/images/articles/NW_Dannis_Mink_300_300.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px 15px 10px 10px; max-width: 99%; padding: 5px; position: relative; width: auto; z-index: 9;" /></a></div>
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Sandy Dannis shared this photo of a mink that she encountered while walking on her land in Dalton, New Hampshire. Mink aren't typically found up trees, but they're known to climb when they're startled, as was likely the case here.</div>
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So what was this mink up to (other than a tree)? Perhaps it was looking for romance. It's mating season for the animals, and they range widely during this time. Kits will be born in late spring.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-70543797335795977772020-03-21T18:39:00.002-07:002020-03-21T18:42:55.955-07:00“Often, dozens of snakes of different species will share winter dens, called hibernacula”..........”In the den, snakes enter a state of hibernation, with their body temperature dropping to between 35 and 45 degrees”.............“Congregating like this helps snakes retain moisture”.........”Group denning also facilitates springtime mating for some species”..........“As snakes do not eat once their internal temperatures reach 60 degrees, a milk snake Will not kill a garter snake(which happens during the warm weather months)”............“Snakes will appropriate dens created by woodchucks, chipmunks, and other animals”.........”They’ll also use human-made structures like stone walls, cisterns, and building foundations”..............“Some species, like the timber rattlesnake, seek out rocky crevices and talus slopes with a southern exposure”...........”The rocks warm quickly in the sun and retain heat well after dusk, providing a relatively temperate environment, even in winter”<div style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
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During the summer, I often spy common garter snakes sunning themselves in my garden. As the snow piles up through winter, covering the landscape in cold white, I wonder where these warmth-seeking creatures have gone. Without fur or fluffed-up feathers for insulation, how do these ectotherms survive the long months between autumn’s fading warmth and spring’s arrival?</div>
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The short answer is: they seek shelter underground. Often, dozens of snakes will share winter dens. These dens (also called hibernacula) take many forms.</div>
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“Since our snakes are unable to dig their own holes, they are reliant on what they are able to find in the environment to help them successfully overwinter,” said herpetologist Jim Andrews, coordinator for the <a href="https://www.vtherpatlas.org/home/vermont-reptile-amphibian-atlas-online/" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas Project</a>.</div>
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Suitable hibernacula sites are either below the frost line or in locations with enough radiant heat to prevent freezing. Andrews explained that some species have traditional denning areas, places snakes will return year after year to weather the cold. They may follow other snakes’ pheromone trails to locate denning sites, and may travel a mile or more to reach a suitable winter location. Other snakes are more opportunistic, settling for whatever site they find when the time comes to curl up for the winter. </div>
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Snakes will appropriate dens created by woodchucks, chipmunks, and other animals. They’ll also use human-made structures like stone walls, cisterns, and building foundations. Some species, like the timber rattlesnake, seek out rocky crevices and talus slopes with a southern exposure. The rocks warm quickly in the sun and retain heat well after dusk, providing a relatively temperate environment, even in winter.</div>
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In these dens, snakes enter a state of hibernation, meaning their metabolic rate decreases drastically, and their body temperature can drop to between 35 and 45 degrees. A hibernaculum may, surprisingly, contain multiple snake species. While an eastern milk snake may, during other seasons, actually consume a garter snake, reptiles generally do not eat once their internal temperatures drop below about 60 degrees, making this unusual arrangement between predator and prey possible.</div>
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Congregating like this helps snakes retain moisture. Group denning also facilitates springtime mating for some species.</div>
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Andrews said snakes that return to the same winter sites for many years and through multiple generations may have higher winter survival rates. But he noted local snake populations can be nearly wiped out after cold, snowless winters. As an example of this, he pointed to the winter of 1987-88, when many snakes perished and reptiles moved in from the surrounding areas to recolonize.</div>
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Andrews also noted some snake species, including garter snakes, are viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs. Viviparous snakes tend to be more successful than oviparous snakes in climates like ours, where summers are relatively short. The mother snake cannot move her eggs to be sure they are incubated in the warmest possible area – but she can move her body. A female garter snake may also store sperm in her body and delay fertilization until the weather becomes favorable for baby snakes.</div>
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Although we don’t know all the details of how these ectotherms survive winter extremes, the many snakes gracing my yard and garden in the spring provide living proof that they have managed to survive and thrive. And just as the snakes are perhaps anxious to escape their dens into a flood of warm sunshine, come spring I am ready for my first garter snake visitor of the year.</div>
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Sandra Mitchell is an avid amateur naturalist, certified wildlife tracker, registered Maine Guide, and a student in the Maine Master Naturalist Program.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-21687420394736040382020-03-15T18:02:00.002-07:002020-03-15T18:10:19.043-07:00“Recently, the Idaho Fish and Game changed its rules to allow any hunter or trapper to kill up to 30 wolves per year”............“And the state is considering a proposal to open much of the state to year-round wolf killing”.............“In Montana, the MDFWP is discussing increases from 5 to 10 wolf tags for some parts of the state”...........”The one take-home message from these actions is that the prediction that once the states were given management of wolves, we would see a rational, biologically informed management is inaccurate”..........“The old bias against predators is based more on a cultural attitude as any scientific value”<div class="WordSection1">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/">https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Wolf Opposition Is Part Of The Cultural War</h1>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: #086b69; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="sword" style="border: 0px; color: #0a706e; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: lowercase; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="fn" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/author/george-wuerthner/" rel="author" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: rgb(12, 107, 26); border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #086b69; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by George Wuerthner">GEORGE WUERTHNER</a></span></span> <span class="sword" style="border: 0px; color: #0a706e; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: lowercase; vertical-align: baseline;">on</span> <span class="date time published" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2020-02-07T10:13:02-0700">FEBRUARY 7, 2020</span> </span></div>
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Recently, the Idaho Fish and Game changed its rules to allow any hunter or trapper to kill up to 30 wolves per year. And the state is considering a proposal to open much of the state to year-round wolf killing.<br />
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In Montana, the MDFWP is discussing increases from 5 to 10 wolf tags for some parts of the state.</div>
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In both states, we will be eliminating the ecological function of predators. Predators can change how large animals like elk use the landscape and can also preclude excessive browsing of critical areas like riparian zones. Also, wolf kills can provide an essential source of food for scavengers from magpies and eagles up to and including even grizzlies.</div>
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Is this hatred of wolves based on massive livestock losses or huge declines in elk numbers?</div>
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In 2019, Montana had about 2,550,000 cattle<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[i]</a>, and 108 confirmed cattle losses attributed to all predators, including wolves.<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[ii]</a> That is such a small percentage as to be laughable.</div>
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By contrast, in 2018, Montana ranchers lost 37,000 cattle just to winter storms. The federal Livestock Indemnity Program (one of many rancher welfare programs) paid ranchers more $11.1 million of taxpayer funds.<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[iii]</a></div>
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How about predator impacts on hunting? In, 1995 when wolves were first restored to Yellowstone and Central Idaho, the Montana elk population was 109,500.</div>
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In 2019, Montana’s elk population was estimated at (134,557)<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[iv]</a> Twenty-five percent over upper objective) and the 2018 elk harvest was 27,793.<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[v]</a></div>
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A similar situation exists in Idaho. The 1995 Idaho elk population was estimated to be 112,333, and the harvest that year was 22,400. In 2017, the Idaho elk population stood at 116,800 (4,000 more than when wolves arrived. In 2017 elk harvest in Idaho was 22,751—300 more animals that in 1995.</div>
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Ironically there is some scientific evidence that random (non-surgical killing) of wolves increase livestock conflicts and elk losses to predators.</div>
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Wolves are social animals. They work together to hunt their prey. When members of the pack are killed, it can disrupt the pack’s ability to hold its territory as well as hunt efficiently. Also, smaller packs kill more prey per animal than larger packs.</div>
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If a single or small group of wolves kill prey, they often must leave the kill site to bring food back to pups. During their absence, scavengers can consume much of a carcass, forcing the small pack to kill another animal. By contrast, a larger pack can guard its kill and consume it entirely.</div>
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Many of my colleagues, particularly in the larger middle of the road conservation groups, supported delisting of wolves arguing that once ranchers saw that wolves were responsible for almost insignificant losses and hunters found out that elk would continue to thrive over much of the West, opposition to predators would dissipate.</div>
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I disagreed because I did not think the opposition was based on rational ideas. Wolves, I suggested, were symbolic animals. As wild animals, wolves represented the forces that neither ranchers nor hunters could control.</div>
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Wolves also represent to some people the actions of distant people (despised coastal residents) or a federal government which they too hate—except, of course, for all the federal welfare bestowed on them—also coming primarily from the same coastal residents who pay the bulk of all taxes.</div>
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The one take-home message from these actions is that the prediction that once the states were given management of wolves, we would see a rational, biologically informed management is inaccurate. The old bias against predators is based more on a cultural attitude as any scientific value.</div>
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I hope that younger ranchers and hunters will have a more sophisticated view of wolves and other predators. In the meantime, the only option for predator proponents is to continue to educate people on why wolves are an essential part of our wildlife heritage.</div>
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<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[i]</a> https://beef2live.com/story-cattle-inventory-vs-human-population-state-0-114255</div>
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<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[ii]</a> http://liv.mt.gov/Attached-Agency-Boards/Livestock-Loss-Board/Livestock-Loss-Statistics-2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[iii]</a> https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2019-06-16/over-37-000-cattle-lost-during-brutal-2018-winter-in-montana</div>
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<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[iv]</a> http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/elk/</div>
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<a href="https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2020/02/07/wolf-opposition-is-part-of-the-cultural-war/#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="border: 0px; color: #08a325; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[v]</a> https://myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/harvestReports</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-79887657519328122262020-03-13T17:13:00.001-07:002020-03-13T17:13:18.393-07:00"Keeping cats indoors could blunt adverse effects to wildlife"............."Some estimates show that cats in North America kill from 10 to 30 billion wildlife animals per year"..........."They often have a two- to 10-time larger impact on wildlife than wild predators—a striking effect".............."A new North Carolina State and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences study shows that hunting by house cats can have big effects on local animal populations because they kill more prey in a given area than similar-sized wild predators"............."The study showed that house cats killed an average of 14.2 to 38.9 prey per 100 acres, or hectare, per year"............."This effect is mostly concentrated relatively close to a pet cat's home, since most of their movement is in a 100-meter radius of their homes, usually encompassing a few of their neighborhood's yards on either side"<a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-03-cats-indoors-blunt-adverse-effects.html">https://phys.org/news/2020-03-cats-indoors-blunt-adverse-effects.html</a><br />
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MARCH 11, 2020</div>
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Keeping cats indoors could blunt adverse effects to wildlife</h1>
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by Mick Kulikowski, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.ncsu.edu/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">North Carolina State University</a></div>
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<span style="color: #212438;">Birds alighting on driveways and baby bunnies munching on lawn grass should keep something in mind: Beware the house cat.</span></div>
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A new study shows that hunting by house cats can have big effects on local animal populations because they kill more prey, in a given area, than similar-sized wild predators. This effect is mostly concentrated relatively close to a pet cat's home, since most of their movement was a 100-meter radius of their homes, usually encompassing a few of their neighborhood's yards on either side.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k0M2QAETZwk/XmwhPUyRunI/AAAAAAABHCI/4GelhGo2y_8ggdovI3y1Cc1ttyAYC_kGACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/download%2B%252868%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="269" height="279" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k0M2QAETZwk/XmwhPUyRunI/AAAAAAABHCI/4GelhGo2y_8ggdovI3y1Cc1ttyAYC_kGACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/download%2B%252868%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Researchers from NC State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences collaborated with scientists and citizen scientists from six countries to collect GPS cat-tracking data and prey-capture reports from 925 pet cats, with most coming from the U.S., U.K, Australia and New Zealand.</div>
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"Since they are fed cat food, pets kill fewer prey per day then wild predators, but their home ranges were so small that this effect on local prey ends up getting really concentrated," said Roland Kays, the paper's lead author. "Add to this the unnaturally high density of pet cats in some areas, and the risk to bird and small mammal population gets even worse.<br />
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"We found that house cats have a two- to 10-time larger impact on wildlife than wild predators—a striking effect," he said.The researchers focused on the ecological impact of house cats—as opposed to <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/feral+cats/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">feral cats</a>—and enlisted hundreds of pet owners to track their cats to see where they went and report on the number of dead critters they brought home. Inexpensive GPS tracking devices measured distances traveled by these house cats, which spent their days both indoors and outdoors.</div>
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"We knew cats were killing lots of animals—some estimates show that cats in North America kill from 10 to 30 billion wildlife animals per year—but we didn't know the area in which that was happening, or how this compared with what we see in nature," Kays said.</div>
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The researchers calculated the amount of prey killed per year by house cats and divided the number by the area in which the cats hunted. Some adjustments were made to the prey count as cats don't necessarily bring all their kills home.<br />
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The study showed that <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/house/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">house</a> cats killed an average of 14.2 to 38.9 prey per 100 acres, or hectare, per year.</div>
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The study also showed that cats do much of their damage to wildlife in disturbed habitats, like housing developments.</div>
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"Because the negative impact of cats is so local, we create a situation in which the positive aspects of <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/wildlife/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a>, be they the songs of birds or the beneficial effects of lizards on pests, are least common where we would appreciate them most," said study co-author Rob Dunn, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Applied Ecology at NC State. "Humans find joy in biodiversity, but we have, by letting cats go outdoors, unwittingly engineered a world in which such joys are ever harder to experience."<br />
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NC State's Arielle W. Parsons and Brandon Mcdonald co-authored the paper. Other co-authors include Troi Perkins from Dartmouth College; Shelby Powers from East Carolina University; Leonora Shell from SciStarter; Jenni L. McDonald and Holly Cole from University of Exeter; Heidy Kikillus and Lisa Woods from Victoria University of Wellington; and Hayley Tindle and Philip Roetman from the University of South Australia.</div>
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A video presenting the findings of this study, for embedding in articles, is here: <a href="https://youtu.be/SYJATBgQlY0" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; outline: 0px !important;">https://youtu.be/SYJATBgQlY0</a></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span><span style="background-color: #dce2e6; font-size: 16px;"> Roland Kays et al. The small home ranges and large local ecological impacts of pet cats.</span><br />
<i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">Animal Conservation</i><span style="background-color: #dce2e6; font-size: 16px;"> March 11, 2020. </span><a data-doi="1" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4680ee; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1111/acv.12563</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-63597295213627184502020-03-06T14:52:00.002-08:002020-03-06T14:52:30.151-08:00"As ectotherms, frogs’ core body temperature rises and falls with that of their surroundings"............... "So when outside temps drop below 32 degrees, they need to either avoid the cold or learn to live with it".............. "Most amphibians opt for freeze-avoidance, either by burrowing below the frost line (woodland salamanders) or by overwintering on the ice-free bottoms of lakes and streams (stream salamanders and aquatic frogs)"............"While freeze-avoidant frogs eke out an existence beneath the ice, freeze-tolerant species wait out winter as living ice cubes"............."In the eastern woodlands, gray tree frogs, spring peepers and wood frogs all possess this superpower"........."When the cold descends, the frogs mobilize glycogen from their livers".............."The glycogen converts to glucose, which serves as a natural antifreeze, lowering the temperature at which internal ice crystals can form".................."Eventually, the frogs’ hearts stop beating, their lungs stop breathing, and up to 65 percent of the water in their bodies freezes solid"..............."During this time, the frogs have no detectable brain activity".............."When spring arrives, they thaw in as few as four hours, though it takes about a day for them to fully rouse"<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001Bt7_jnb0zwyuQ2wwVMKA8F2Og6-Vo8spNBCHRbPmVck5xtvFEYY1WC__xGio_8Pgt4505tkVpFVZlXYy42PktoyoFYnD78v3vlWU14w0vNomNhf2mdjliY8AUby92LaSmmSzHJiECGzR-4a5mua9yyDvy3tav7mDqU8FaaqJLcS7xmXJ9-vpORLc7Gqw4SWxBNRnnVlsjzxue0iHAPiJqa7xryAsOMNW&c=vTIgOx3mNj54NNNqc4FaJUetRtKwZhTg4iguVYrFeCkzD6Ak7s3-Pw==&ch=xvGVSkquiA1JLMHLbyk3wCUgIeBoJsHb8lClFy0Y_nZZlAbQIaVHQA==">http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001Bt7_jnb0zwyuQ2wwVMKA8F2Og6-Vo8spNBCHRbPmVck5xtvFEYY1WC__xGio_8Pgt4505tkVpFVZlXYy42PktoyoFYnD78v3vlWU14w0vNomNhf2mdjliY8AUby92LaSmmSzHJiECGzR-4a5mua9yyDvy3tav7mDqU8FaaqJLcS7xmXJ9-vpORLc7Gqw4SWxBNRnnVlsjzxue0iHAPiJqa7xryAsOMNW&c=vTIgOx3mNj54NNNqc4FaJUetRtKwZhTg4iguVYrFeCkzD6Ak7s3-Pw==&ch=xvGVSkquiA1JLMHLbyk3wCUgIeBoJsHb8lClFy0Y_nZZlAbQIaVHQA==</a><br />
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Frozen Frogs Underfoot</h1>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">by Brett Amy Thelen</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">February 24, 2020</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-comment" href="https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/frozen-frogs-underfoot?enews#comments" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2 Comments</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/articles/TOS_Frogs_Winter_web.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[frozen-frogs-underfoot]" style="border: 0px; clear: left; color: #865600; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Illustration by Adelaide Tyrol"><img alt="Frozen Frogs Underfoot Image" src="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/made/images/articles/TOS_Frogs_Winter_web_300_337.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px 15px 10px 10px; max-width: 99%; padding: 5px; position: relative; width: auto; z-index: 9;" /></a><br />
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Illustration by <a href="http://adelaidetyrol.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Adelaide Tyrol</a></center>
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Every once in a while, as I’m tramping through the winter woods on my snowshoes, it occurs to me that I am walking on top of frogs.</div>
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In winter, our thoughts naturally turn to the species who remain within our sight – the chickadees at our feeders or the foxes who leave records of their travels in the snow – but any creature whose life spans more than one season, and who cannot fly away to warmer climes, must find a way to endure the cold. In February, our amphibians are all still here. They’ve just tucked themselves away for safekeeping.</div>
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As ectotherms, frogs’ core body temperature rises and falls with that of their surroundings, so when outside temps drop below 32 degrees, they need to either avoid the cold or learn to live with it. Most amphibians opt for freeze-avoidance, either by burrowing below the frost line (woodland salamanders) or by overwintering on the ice-free bottoms of lakes and streams (stream salamanders and aquatic frogs).<br />
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In the 1970s, Canadian biologists who lowered themselves through a hole in the ice on an Ontario pond in full SCUBA gear to search for rainbow trout (no, I am not making this up) were surprised to discover 15 northern leopard frogs (<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lithobates pipiens</em>) resting in small pits on the pond bottom. A decade later, another fish biologist conducting winter snorkeling surveys in an unfrozen Ontario river found leopard frogs resting dormant under rocks in the stream bed, their eyes covered by the nictitating membranes, or translucent “third eyelids,” that provide protection from floating debris. In both cases, the frogs were motionless – their metabolism slowed to a crawl, with oxygen exchange taking place entirely through their skin – but they were still capable of swimming away slowly when disturbed.</div>
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A study of bullfrogs (<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lithobates catesbeianus</em>) overwintering in two Ohio ponds – conducted by less masochistic biologists, who relied on radio transmitters instead of submersion in frigid water – found that the frogs moved about during even the coldest months, preferring shallow areas near inlet streams. The researchers hypothesized that the bullfrogs selected these sites because they were warmer and better-oxygenated than areas of slower-moving water.<br />
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While freeze-avoidant frogs eke out an existence beneath the ice, freeze-tolerant species wait out winter as living ice cubes. In our neck of the woods, gray tree frogs (<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hyla versicolor</em>), spring peepers (<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pseudacris crucifer</em>), and wood frogs (<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lithobates sylvaticus</em>) all possess this superpower, with wood frogs being the most well-studied.</div>
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Each autumn, as frost creeps ever closer, wood frogs ready for winter by fasting. Even in captivity, wood frogs kept under temperature and daylight regimes similar to those experienced in the wild refuse food once nighttime temperatures dip into the 30s. They then burrow under the leaf litter, where they create small cavities by rotating themselves to compress the surrounding soil. There, they crouch, drawing their legs in close and tucking their heads down in order to minimize surface area exposure.</div>
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When the cold descends, the frogs mobilize glycogen from their livers. The glycogen converts to glucose, which serves as a natural antifreeze, lowering the temperature at which internal ice crystals can form. Eventually, the frogs’ hearts stop beating, their lungs stop breathing, and up to 65 percent of the water in their bodies freezes solid. During this time, the frogs have no detectable brain activity. When spring arrives, they thaw in as few as four hours, though it takes about a day for them to fully rouse.<br />
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Remarkably, wood frogs spend the entire winter a mere one to five inches below the forest floor. Although above the frost line, these shallow burrows provide important protection from the elements. A recent study found that wood frog hibernacula in north-central Maine never dropped below 20 degrees, even when aboveground temperatures sunk to negative 13. The snowpack insulates; the deeper and fluffier the snow, the warmer it is inside a wood frog’s hibernacula. In an ironic twist, warmer winters associated with climate change could result in colder, more challenging conditions for overwintering frogs.</div>
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The next time you find yourself standing atop a blanket of deep snow, pause for a moment. Let your mind travel down through the snow to the leaf litter, and a few inches further still, into the darkness of the soil and to the wood frog curled up, frozen but not lifeless, beneath your feet. Give thanks for the snow, which swaddles the frog, and for the frog, which is proof – if ever you needed it – of the miracles that take place unseen, every day, in the woods.</div>
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Brett Amy Thelen is Science Director at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, New Hampshire.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-47752486042901029812020-02-28T16:49:00.000-08:002020-02-28T16:50:50.221-08:00"The Great Dying of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas resulted in a human-driven global impact on the Earth System in the two centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution"............."The arrival of Europeans in the Americas in 1492 CE marks the onset of disease epidemics resulting in the loss of up to 90% of indigenous people living in the Americas over the subsequent century"............"There is wide agreement about the effects of diseases and epidemics associated with European contact".............."The first well-documented, widespread epidemic in what was to become New Mexico was smallpox in 1636"..............."Shortly thereafter, measles entered the area, and many Pueblos lost as many as a quarter of their inhabitants"................."After the founding of Spanish settlements and missions, there was substantially more contact, and throughout the 17th century, epidemic disease was repeatedly imported"................"It should be noted that Osteologic data demonstrate that native groups were most definitely not living in a pristine, disease-free environment before contact".........."Diseases such as treponemiasis and tuberculosis were already present in the New World, along with diseases such as tularemia, giardia, rabies, amebic dysentery, hepatitis, herpes, pertussis, and poliomyelitis, although the prevalence of almost all of these was probably low in any given group"............."Old World diseases that were not present in the Americas until contact include bubonic plague, measles, smallpox, mumps, chickenpox, influenza, cholera, diphtheria, typhus, malaria, leprosy, and yellow fever"............. "Indians in the Americas had no acquired immunity to these infectious diseases"..............."Europeans began to colonize North America (defined here as the United States of America and Canada) after Central and South America, thus regional and continent wide estimates are largely based on archaeological evidence, tribe-by-tribe counts and environmental carrying capacities"............ "The lower range of population estimates for North America lies between 900,000 and 2.4 million, based on tribe-by-tribe counts for the period 1600 CE to mid-1800 CE"..............."The highest estimate of 18 million, established from analyzing environmental carrying capacities, has been criticized for its assumptions on food acquisition strategies".............."More recent estimates derived from geospatial interpolation of archaeological sites range between 2.8 million and 5.7 million"................."These intermediate figures are supported by a recent comprehensive regional-scale archaeological study"<div class="WordSection1">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261</a></span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span class="title-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492</span></h1>
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<span class="title-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">12/4/2018</span></div>
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<h2 class="u-h3 u-margin-l-top u-margin-xs-bottom" id="sectitle0030" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #505050; font-size: 1.2rem !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.333 !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 32px !important; padding: 0px;">
The population of the Americas in 1492</h2>
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T<span style="font-size: xx-small;">he first population groups to arrive in North America between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago were of east Asian- and north Eurasian ancestry (e.g. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib5" name="bbib5" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Amick, 2017</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib165" name="bbib165" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Moreno-Mayar et al., 2018</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib189" name="bbib189" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Pedersen et al., 2016</a>). The adoption of a sedentary, agricultural way of life in the Americas began 10,000–8000 BP (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib190" name="bbib190" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Piperno and Dillehay, 2008</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib191" name="bbib191" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Piperno et al., 2009</a>). Large, complex civilizations emerged in North, Central and South America, further increasing population density, with abundant evidence for a large population living in the Americas prior to European arrival (e.g. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib22" name="bbib22" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Bolt and van Zanden, 2014</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib34" name="bbib34" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Canuto et al., 2018</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib49" name="bbib49" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Clement et al., 2015</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib55" name="bbib55" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Cook, 1998</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib67" name="bbib67" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Denevan, 1992a</a>). However, as the epidemics spread, often ahead of the European explorers, pre-European population estimates were never formally documented in colonial censuses (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib73" name="bbib73" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Diamond, 1997</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib77" name="bbib77" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Dobyns, 1993</a>). Hence, Native American populations were only documented in the decades after European contact, necessitating the use of indirect methods to estimate the pre-1492 population of the Americas. Here, we summarize all existing methodologies applied to reconstruct pre-contract indigenous population, and extract published regional estimates to calculate a revised hemispheric population estimate with uncertainty ranges.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3wlL-Q66GGs/Xlm0Lk-I_7I/AAAAAAABHAA/XQmPrahiI7UKHGf5ONbmPDUcInZDkEP7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/download%2B-%2B2020-02-28T164008.770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3wlL-Q66GGs/Xlm0Lk-I_7I/AAAAAAABHAA/XQmPrahiI7UKHGf5ONbmPDUcInZDkEP7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/download%2B-%2B2020-02-28T164008.770.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #505050; font-size: xx-small;">2.1. Approaches to estimating the indigenous population at European arrival</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Historical anthropologists and archaeologists estimate indigenous population numbers at contact by utilizing a range of documentary evidence, including sizes of armies, number of adult males, census data, tribute records, numbers of buildings, depopulation ratios, and historic clerical chronicles such as the number of baptisms and number of deaths in a community (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib23" name="bbib23" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Borah and Cook, 1960</a>, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib25" name="bbib25" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">1969</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib75" name="bbib75" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Dobyns, 1966</a>, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib76" name="bbib76" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">1983</a>). The conversion from such evidence into population estimates has several limitations. Records of the sizes of armies and the sizes of settlements from just after Spanish arrival may be prone to miscounting and exaggeration (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib67" name="bbib67" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Denevan, 1992a</a>) while the conversion from tributes to population numbers requires contentious assumptions to be made (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib108" name="bbib108" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Henige, 1998</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib269" name="bbib269" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Zambardino, 1980</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">). These include the proportion of a population excluded from tributes, average tribute paid per house, number of people per house, conversion from goods into monetary value, spatial <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/homogeneity" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;" title="Learn more about Homogeneity from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">homogeneity</a> of population structure and analogies to present day population structures (</span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib23" name="bbib23" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Borah and Cook, 1960</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib218" name="bbib218" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Sanders, 1976</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib219" name="bbib219" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Sanders et al., 1979</a>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FXisZsBRLYs/Xlm0VsKa3dI/AAAAAAABHAE/lhJuP1FOZzA49fUxhTekHkAAoo5t1DbdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/images%2B-%2B2020-02-28T164048.380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="182" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FXisZsBRLYs/Xlm0VsKa3dI/AAAAAAABHAE/lhJuP1FOZzA49fUxhTekHkAAoo5t1DbdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/images%2B-%2B2020-02-28T164048.380.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Colonial census estimates are generally considered more reliable (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib67" name="bbib67" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Denevan, 1992a</a>), but do not capture population levels before European contact (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib23" name="bbib23" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Borah and Cook, 1960</a>). Accepting such censuses as representative of pre-contact populations led to studies from the early and mid-20th century giving very low 1492 CE population estimates (e.g. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib125" name="bbib125" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Kroeber, 1939</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib207" name="bbib207" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Rosenblat, 1954</a>). Some estimate of the population loss on contact is necessary to provide more robust population numbers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Archaeological data can also be used to estimate pre-contact population size, but again involves several assumptions, such as the number of houses in a settlement that are occupied at one time (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib223" name="bbib223" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Schacht, 1984</a>). But in contrast to historical documents, new archaeological sites are regularly discovered and new and innovative multidisciplinary approaches are being applied to the data, adding new constraints on regional pre-contact population sizes (e.g. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib34" name="bbib34" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Canuto et al., 2018</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib97" name="bbib97" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Goldberg et al., 2016</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib133" name="bbib133" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Liebmann et al., 2016</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib240" name="bbib240" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Storey, 2012</a>). Population densities can be inferred from the number of archaeological sites (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib105" name="bbib105" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Heckenberger et al., 2003</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">), the number of archaeological features such as pottery, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/charcoal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;" title="Learn more about Charcoal from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">charcoal</a> and fertile anthropogenic soils known as Amazonian Dark Earth (ADEs </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib104" name="bbib104" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Heckenberger et al., 1999</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib161" name="bbib161" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Meggers, 2001</a>). Expanding on this, the “habitat density method” projects well-studied local population densities to other regions with similar environmental characteristics to calculate the total population under the assumption that population densities in different locations with the same habitat are similar (e.g. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib66" name="bbib66" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Denevan, 1970</a>, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib70" name="bbib70" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">2003</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib178" name="bbib178" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Newson, 1996</a>). Thus, all 1492 CE population estimates require data to be combined with assumptions to arrive at estimates.</span><br />
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<b><span class="label" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fig. 2</span><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;">. </span><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;">Regions known to have been affected by disease outbreaks by 1600 CE and pre-Columbian land use. Disease outbreak data derives from </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib77" name="bbib77" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; font-family: nexusserif, georgia, "times new roman", times, stixgeneral, "cambria math", "lucida sans unicode", "microsoft sans serif", "segoe ui symbol", "arial unicode ms", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dobyns (1993)</a><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;"> and </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib55" name="bbib55" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; font-family: nexusserif, georgia, "times new roman", times, stixgeneral, "cambria math", "lucida sans unicode", "microsoft sans serif", "segoe ui symbol", "arial unicode ms", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Cook (1998)</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. Land use extent is based on high densities of archaeological sites, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/earthwork" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;" title="Learn more about Earthwork from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">earthworks</a> and Amazonian Dark Earths occurrence (</span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib49" name="bbib49" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e9711c; font-family: nexusserif, georgia, "times new roman", times, stixgeneral, "cambria math", "lucida sans unicode", "microsoft sans serif", "segoe ui symbol", "arial unicode ms", serif; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px;">Clement et al., 2015</a><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;">; </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib64" name="bbib64" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; font-family: nexusserif, georgia, "times new roman", times, stixgeneral, "cambria math", "lucida sans unicode", "microsoft sans serif", "segoe ui symbol", "arial unicode ms", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">De Souza et al., 2018</a><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;">; </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib157" name="bbib157" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; font-family: nexusserif, georgia, "times new roman", times, stixgeneral, "cambria math", "lucida sans unicode", "microsoft sans serif", "segoe ui symbol", "arial unicode ms", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">McMichael et al., 2014</a><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;">; </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib259" name="bbib259" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; font-family: nexusserif, georgia, "times new roman", times, stixgeneral, "cambria math", "lucida sans unicode", "microsoft sans serif", "segoe ui symbol", "arial unicode ms", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Whitmore and Turner, 1992</a><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "nexusserif" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , "stixgeneral" , "cambria math" , "lucida sans unicode" , "microsoft sans serif" , "segoe ui symbol" , "arial unicode ms" , serif;">). The locations of sites and records referred to in the text and later figures are also shown. </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">2.2. New pre-Columbian population estimates</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We summarize the existing evidence for pre-Columbian populations using seven <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/geographical-region" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;" title="Learn more about Geographical Region from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">geographical regions</a>: the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, the Inca Territory, Amazonia and contiguous forested area, North America and the Rest of the Americas. The Inca Territory at contact encompassed Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and parts of north-western Argentina; the Rest of Americas is composed of Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay and the rest of Argentina. We complied 129 estimates from 82 studies (Caribbean, n = 18; Mexico, n = 17; Central America, n = 23; Inca Territory, n = 26; Amazonia, n = 20; North America, n = 9; Rest of Americas, n = 6; total hemisphere, n = 10; </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#tbl1" name="btbl1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Table 1</a>). Below we discuss the range of estimates for each region and use them to calculate a total population estimate of the Americas in 1492 CE based on all existing data available at the time of this review.</span><br />
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Caribbean.</em> The first contact between Europeans and Amerindians occurred when Columbus arrived in 1492 CE on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). The primary source for most modern estimates of the contact population is a contemporary eyewitness report by the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas who reported a Hispaniola population of 4 million at the time of contact (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib67" name="bbib67" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Denevan, 1992a</a>). However, studies based on this same report range from 60,000 that neglects contemporaneous reports of post-contact deaths (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib250" name="bbib250" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Verlinden, 1973</a>, in <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib107" name="bbib107" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Henige, 1978</a>), to acknowledging some degree of depopulation with initial populations estimated at between 100,000 (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib4" name="bbib4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Amiama, 1959</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib208" name="bbib208" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rosenblat, 1976</a>) and 8 million (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib57" name="bbib57" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Cook and Borah, 1971</a>, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#appsec1" name="bappsec1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Table S1</a>).<br />
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The 8 million estimate has drawn criticism for the worker-to-population ratio used, the assumption of a logarithmic population decline during 1492–1496 CE, and the inclusion of a controversial tribute count from 1496 CE (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib107" name="bbib107" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Henige, 1978</a>). Most estimates are between 300,000 and 500,000 people in the Caribbean before European contact (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib59" name="bbib59" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Córdova, 1968</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib75" name="bbib75" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dobyns, 1966</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib167" name="bbib167" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Morison, 1948</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib169" name="bbib169" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Moya Pons, 1979</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib262" name="bbib262" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Williams, 1970</a>).</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mexico.</em> Europeans arrived in what is now Mexico in 1519 CE. Yet, the first comprehensive census only took place in 1568 CE, and tribute records are only available as documentary evidence from the late 1540s (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib56" name="bbib56" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Cook and Borah, 1960</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib258" name="bbib258" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Whitmore, 1991</a>). For central Mexico (the most populous region in Mexico) a population of 25.3 million in 1519 CE has been estimated from tribute records (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib25" name="bbib25" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Borah and Cook, 1969</a>), which would make it one of the most populous regions in the world at the time. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib269" name="bbib269" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Zambardino (1980)</a> highlights the uncertainties in Borah and Cook's approach and arrived at a population between 2.2 and 28 million. <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib75" name="bbib75" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Dobyns (1966</a>, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib76" name="bbib76" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">1983)</a> suggests the highest numbers, up to 52 million for central Mexico, based on an extrapolation of depopulation ratios from the Valley of Mexico. These values are higher than some estimates for all of Mexico. For the other region with a substantial pre-Columbian population, the Yucatan peninsula, estimates range between 2.3 million (historic documents, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib127" name="bbib127" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Lange, 1971</a>) and 13 million (extrapolation from number of houses, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib168" name="bbib168" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Morley, 1968</a>). Considering all of Mexico, the lowest estimates, which either outright reject (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib207" name="bbib207" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Rosenblat, 1954</a>) or question the accuracy (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib217" name="bbib217" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Sanders, 1972</a>) of the early tribute records, are between 4.5 and 6 million. Intermediate estimates are ∼16 million, based on a linear extrapolation from results of a modelling study incorporating a combination of population, agricultural and epidemiological models for the Valley of Mexico (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#fig2" name="bfig2" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Fig. 2</a>, near Valle de Mezquital, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib258" name="bbib258" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Whitmore, 1991</a>) and 17.2 million as a best-estimate based on a synthesis of previous estimates by (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib67" name="bbib67" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Denevan, 1992a</a>). Pre-contact population estimates for central Mexico and Yucatan combined, which is considered representative for all of Mexico, range from less than 3 million to over 52 million with many at around 20 million (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#appsec1" name="bappsec1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Table S1</a>).</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">North America.</em><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Europeans began to colonize North America (defined here as the United States of America and Canada) after Central and South America, thus regional and continent wide estimates are largely based on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/archaeological-evidence" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;" title="Learn more about Archaeological Evidence from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">archaeological evidence</a>, tribe-by-tribe counts and environmental carrying capacities (</span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib163" name="bbib163" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Milner and Chaplin, 2010</a>, see <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#appsec1" name="bappsec1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Table S1</a>). The lower range of population estimates for North America lies between 900,000 and 2.4 million, based on tribe-by-tribe counts for the period 1600 CE to mid-1800 CE (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib125" name="bbib125" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Kroeber, 1939</a>; <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib247" name="bbib247" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Ubelaker, 1976</a>, <a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib248" name="bbib248" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">2006</a>). The highest estimate of 18 million, established from analysing environmental carrying capacities (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib76" name="bbib76" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Dobyns, 1983</a>), has been criticized for its assumptions on food acquisition strategies (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib163" name="bbib163" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Milner and Chaplin, 2010</a>). More recent estimates derived from geospatial interpolation of archaeological sites range between 2.8 million and 5.7 million (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib163" name="bbib163" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Milner and Chaplin, 2010</a>). These intermediate figures are supported by a recent comprehensive regional-scale archaeological study (<a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib133" name="bbib133" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Liebmann et al., 2016</a>).</div>
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<b><span class="label" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #323232; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Table 1</span><span style="color: #323232;">. </span><span style="color: #323232;">Population and land use at 1500 CE and 1600 CE in P08 (</span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib194" name="bbib194" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pongratz et al., 2008a</a><span style="color: #323232;">), HYDE 3.1 (</span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib122" name="bbib122" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Klein Goldewijk et al., 2010</a><span style="color: #323232;">), KK10 (</span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib118" name="bbib118" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kaplan et al., 2011</a><span style="color: #323232;">), and this study. Also shown are their implied net global carbon uptakes as published in </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib196" name="bbib196" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pongratz et al. (2011)</a><span style="color: #323232;"> (for P08) and </span><a class="workspace-trigger" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261#bib118" name="bbib118" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c7dbb; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kaplan et al. (2011)</a><span style="color: #323232;"> (for KK10 and HYDE 3.1) and the calculated net global carbon uptake from this study.</span></b></div>
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<table style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); box-sizing: border-box; color: #2e2e2e; font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, STIXGeneral, "Cambria Math", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Arial Unicode MS", serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 656px;"><thead style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;">
<tr class="rowsep-1 valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th scope="col" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative;"></th><th scope="col" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative;">P08</th><th scope="col" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative;">HYDE 3.1</th><th scope="col" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative;">KK10</th><th scope="col" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative;">This study (IQR)</th></tr>
</thead><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Population at 1500 CE (million)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">41.1</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">41.2</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">60</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">60.5 (44.8–78.2)</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Land use per capita (ha per capita)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">0.18</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">0.67</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">6.25</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">1.04 (0.98–1.11)</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Land use area at 1500 CE (million ha)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">7.5</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">27.7</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">372</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">61.9 (43.3–87.1)</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Depopulation (%)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">65%</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">76%</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">90%</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">90%</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Population at 1600 CE (million)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">14.2</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">9.7</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">6</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">6.1 (4.5–7.8)</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Land use area at 1600 CE (million ha)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">4.9</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">8.7</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">123</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">6.1 (4.8–7.4)</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Land use change 1500–1600 CE</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">4</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">−6.9</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">−249.9</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">−55.8 (−38.5–79.7)</td></tr>
<tr class="valign-top" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><th class="align-left" scope="row" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: left;">Net global carbon uptake (Pg C)</th><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">0.009</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;"><0 .1="" td=""></0></td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">40</td><td class="align-left" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">7.4 (4.9–10.8)</td></tr>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-4252185550651855142020-02-26T13:01:00.000-08:002020-02-26T15:57:57.401-08:00While there was a sizeable Indian population in eastern North America prior to European contact(circa AD1500), their impact on the land was minimal..............As Harvard Forest Director David Foster and Harvard Forest Paleoecologist W. Wyatt Oswald sum up in their recent article: “LAND MANAGERS SEEKING TO EMULATE PRE-CONTACT CONDITIONS SHOULD DE-EMPHASIZE HUMAN DISTURBANCE AND FOCUS ON DEVELOPING MATURE FORESTS".........."IN AREAS WHERE GRASSLANDS AND PASTURE ARE DESIRED (FOR EXAMPLE, TO RETAIN MODERN PATTERNS OF SPECIES DIVERSITY), COLONIAL-ERA TECHNOLOGIES FOR KEEPING LAND OPEN—SUCH AS PLOWING, GRAZING, MOWING FOR HAY, AND TREE-CUTTING—SHOULD BE USED INSTEAD OF BURNING, BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE AGRICULTURAL APPROACHES THAT CREATED THEM FOUR CENTURIES AGO" ..............Bottom line is that lake bottom sediment cores of some 12,000 years ago up to the present suggest that there were not widespread human impacts on New England landscapes before the arrival of Europeans".........."Further, It is known that while Indians at times set fires to the woods, prairie and chaparral environs they occupied, Hugh Raup a plant ecologist and Director of the Harvard Forest for 21 years, writing in 1937, "noted that Indian caused fires in the northeast were uncommon and the idea that they burned the entire New England area every year. or even every 10 to 20 years “is inconceivable" ............. As pointed out by esteemed Ecological Historian Emily Russell in her 1983 study of Indian caused fires in the northeastern United States: "There is no strong evidence that Indian purposely burned large areas of the forested northeastern United States frequently"..............."The presence of Indians did, however, undoubtedly increase the frequency of fires above the low numbers caused by lightning"................ "The increase from the 'natural' situation was greatest in local areas near Indian habitations"<div class="WordSection1">
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<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200122123700.htm" style="font-size: 18.6667px;">https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200122123700.htm</a></div>
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New England’s Forest Primeval</h1>
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by <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/profile/Jonathan-Shaw" style="color: #403e3c; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase;">JONATHAN SHAW</a></div>
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1.20.2020</div>
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<span class="firstwords" style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 13px;">HAT DID THE NEW ENGLAND </span><span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">landscape look like before European colonizers arrived? The prevailing view among modern historians is that Native Americans engaged in widespread horticulture and used fire to keep grasslands and pasturelands open. Now a study by Harvard Forest director David Foster and colleagues, published today in </span><em style="font-family: "Crimson Text", serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Nature Sustainability,</em><span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"> argues instead that Native Americans had very little impact on the regional landscape in that period, even when their populations were large. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><b>Eastern Woodland Old-Growth Forest</b></span><br />
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<b>Written accounts of Native Americans cultivating the land in New England overstate the importance of agriculture in the pre-contact period, according to a new study. Here, an engraving by Theodor De Bry, after a drawing by Jacques Le Moyne, depicts Timucua Indians at Fort Caroline, a French settlement established in what is now Florida, hoeing and sowing seeds, including beans and maize. The image may be the only contemporaneous visual depiction by Europeans showing the importance of agriculture to Native Americans in the New World.</b></div>
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<b>Courtesy of the Lewis Ansbacher Map Collection, permanently housed in the Morris Ansbacher Map Room, Jacksonville (Florida) Public Library.</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;">The study reconstructs climate and vegetation in New England during the past 10,000 years, and draws as well on extensive archaeological evidence. It’s significant, Foster explained in an interview, because the relatively new belief that humans have always interfered in natural ecologies has been used to guide conservation practices in North America and elsewhere. The paper argues that this is a mistake, and that in the specific case of New England, “land managers seeking to emulate pre-contact conditions should deemphasize human disturbance and focus on developing mature forests.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;"> In areas where grasslands and pasture are desired (for example, to retain modern patterns of species diversity), </span><em style="font-family: "Crimson Text", serif; font-size: 17px;">colonial-era</em><span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;">technologies for keeping land open—such as plowing, grazing, mowing for hay, and tree-cutting—should be used instead of burning, because those are the agricultural approaches that created them four centuries ago. The larger implication is that the history of human involvement in ecologies elsewhere in North America and around the world may need to be re-evaluated. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif;"><span class="caption" style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; max-width: 700px; text-align: center; text-transform: none;">The study authors analyzed pollen and charcoal residues in sediment cores (above) from lake bottoms to learn about changes in vegetation and the severity of forest fires in New England since the end of the last glaciation.</span><span class="credit" style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-transform: none;">Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Forest</span></span><br />
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Paleoecologist W. Wyatt Oswald, first author on the paper and an associate of Harvard Forest, used cores extracted from lake-bottom sediments to reconstruct prevailing patterns of vegetation from about 11,700 years ago, when the last glaciation ended. By analyzing pollen trapped in the sediment, he discovered which plants dominated the landscape; charcoal residues indicated the extent of burning. “When you actually look at various lines of evidence,” Oswald explained in an interview, “there is <em>nothing</em> to suggest that there were widespread human impacts on New England landscapes before the arrival of Europeans.”</div>
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;">The research team collected sediment cores from 21 lakes across southern New England. Analysis revealed that pines dominated the landscape until 10,000 years ago. Then, as temperatures increased during the subsequent 2,000 years, oak forests began to appear, and elevated levels of pollen from ragweed and grasses indicate the presence of open land or an open forest structure maintained by fire, a change that was driven by the dry climate. Human populations at this point remained small. When moisture and temperature began increasing some 8,000 years ago, beech and hickory species joined the oaks, while signs of ragweed and grasses declined to almost nothing—indications that a closed-canopy hardwood forest had taken over the landscape, and that there was little fire, despite a burgeoning human population.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;">Archaeological evidence tells a similar story of minimal human impacts on the ecosystem, one that accords with Native American cultural beliefs about living in harmony with the land. A spike in the Native American population that occurred from 1,500 to 500 years ago “has often been attributed to the emergence of horticulture,” the authors note, “especially the planting of maize.” But the archaeological evidence cited in the paper reveals very little sign of farming. There is, on the other hand, abundant evidence for subsistence practices such as hunting, fishing, shell-fishing, and plant-gathering. Elizabeth Chilton, an archaeologist and former assistant professor at Harvard who is one of the co-authors of the paper, quickly established during her time in Cambridge that cultivated corn, squash, and beans were present in New England before contact, but </span><em style="font-family: "Crimson Text", serif; font-size: 17px;">weren’t</em><span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px;"> widely used until Europeans arrived.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">The study suggests that open land in New England should be maintained using the same colonial-era practices that created it, such as grazing and mowing, rather than burning.</span><br style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; text-align: center;" /><span class="credit" style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Forest</span></b></span><br />
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“People were still very much living off of the land,” said Foster, “which is why they congregated on the coast and in river bottoms” where there are so many resources. “That’s a shock for most people, because it’s so ingrained in us that the native people were planting corn.” It may be part of the national mythology, but “In fact, there’s no archaeological support for widespread use of agriculture at all.”</div>
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The Historical Fallacy</h3>
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<span class="firstwords" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE IDEA THAT</span> Native Americans engaged in widespread management of the landscape before European contact appears to have gained credence among scholars with a 1953 paper, “The Indian as an ecological factor in northeastern forests,” by anthropologist Gordon Day. Historian William Cronon’s <em>Changes in the Land </em>popularized the ideas that Native Americans were engaged in widespread horticulture, and used prescribed burns to keep grasslands and pasturelands open. Cronon relied on the accounts of early European explorers such as Thomas Morton, who described Native Americans setting such fires twice yearly, to conclude that:</div>
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Here was the reason that southern [New England] forests were so open and parklike; not because the trees naturally grew thus, but because the Indians preferred them so. As William Wood [in another early account] observed, the fire “consumes all the underwood and rubbish which otherwise would overgrow the country, making it unpassable, and spoil their much affected hunting.” The result was a forest of large, widely spaced trees, few shrubs, and much grass and herbage. </div>
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Foster himself recalled embracing these ideas about native burning to manage the land during his undergraduate studies, and noted that “Bill Cronon is such a marvelously accomplished writer that this idea has been taken up and applied widely. Books such as <em>1491 </em>and various others on the ‘ecological Indian’ have really made this into something, such that modern-day land managers and the forest service and state agencies and conservation organizations—all have embraced this entirely—without any compelling prehistorical data.” As the study’s authors write:</div>
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Humans are now inferred to have driven ecosystem dynamics for millennia across much of the globe, including many areas formerly interpreted as pristine or dominated by mature forests. This new perspective has led to the conclusion that many valued characteristics of historical and modern landscapes, such as high levels of plant and animal diversity—including the occurrence of many rare and endangered species—may represent legacies of earlier cultural activities. In many forested or potentially forested landscapes, a wide array of openland habitats, including grasslands, shrublands, heathlands, and early successional forests have been attributed to purposeful landscape management by ancient people.</div>
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<b><span class="caption" style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; max-width: 700px; text-align: center;">David R. Foster (left) and W. Wyatt Oswald prepare to take a core sample of sediment from a lake in southern New England.</span><span class="credit" style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Forest</span></b><br />
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“This human-centered interpretation” has led to conservation management practices that include “the prescription of disturbances, especially fire,” as well as clear-cutting and other mechanical treatments to mimic the inferred activities of ancient peoples. In New England, where woodlands are often referred to as “the asbestos forest,” there <em>are</em> no fire-dependent species. “There are some species that will survive fire better than others,” Foster said, “but there are none that require fire in order to be maintained,” as there are in other parts of the country.</div>
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The present study, with its assembled empirical evidence from archaeologists, ecologists, and paleoclimatologists, is the culmination of a series of National Science Foundation grants on which Foster has been the principal investigator, combined with work done at the Harvard Forest as part of a long-term ecological research program. “We have been gradually building the number of sites,” said Foster, “and building a stronger and stronger case. Eventually, we were able to pull together the work that’s represented here.”</div>
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Their inescapable conclusion is that climate, not people, largely controlled fire severity in New England during the period since the end of the last glaciation. The paper’s conservation message is that “land managers seeking to emulate pre-contact conditions should deemphasize human disturbance and focus on developing mature forests: those seeking to maintain openlands should apply the agricultural approaches”—such as grazing, plowing, and mowing for hay—“that initiated them four centuries ago.” </div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-12488439960949969942020-02-22T16:08:00.002-08:002020-02-22T16:10:46.619-08:00We have know for some time that both Gray and Eastern Wolves will dine on berries and kill fish during certain times of the year to augment their hoofed browser(deer, elk, moose, bison, caribou) and beaver diet........Newly discovered is that the Wolves of Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota readily also feed their newborn pups of the year regurgitated blueberries.........Interesting to know that Wolves may be more adaptable than previously thought in enjoying meat, fish and fruit—Similar to their Coyote cousins!<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/VoyageursWolfProject/videos/185068582590599/">https</a><a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/12/new-research-from-northern-minn-shows-wolves-feed-berries-to-their-young">https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/12/new-research-from-northern-minn-shows-wolves-feed-berries-to-their-young</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/VoyageursWolfProject/videos/185068582590599/">://</a><br />
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New research from northern Minn. shows wolves feed berries to their young</h1>
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<time class="content_pubdate" datetime="[object Object]" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #7c8183; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold;"><time datetime="2020-02-12T15:56:00-06:00" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">February 12, 2020 1:56 p.m.</time></time></div>
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<a class="shareSocialButtons_facebook facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/12/new-research-from-northern-minn-shows-wolves-feed-berries-to-their-young&text=New%20research%20from%20northern%20Minn.%20shows%20wolves%20feed%20berries%20to%20their%20youngsharer" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-right: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 32px;" target="_blank">A new study shows that blueberries may be a more valuable food source for wolves in the boreal forests of far northern Minnesota than previously appreciated.</a></div>
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Courtesy of the University of Minnesota</div>
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<a class="shareSocialButtons_facebook facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/12/new-research-from-northern-minn-shows-wolves-feed-berries-to-their-young&text=New%20research%20from%20northern%20Minn.%20shows%20wolves%20feed%20berries%20to%20their%20youngsharer" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-right: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 32px;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: yellow;">View video of Voyageurs Wolf eating blue berries</span></a></div>
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New research into the <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/12/17/the-secret-lives-of-wolves-at-voyageurs-national-park-they-fish-and-eat-berries" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #00334e; fill: rgb(0, 51, 78); transition: color 0.175s, fill 0.175s;">surprising summer eating habits of northern Minnesota wolves</a> known to be fond of beaver, fish and blueberries has now also documented wolves feeding those berries to their pups.</div>
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The finding, published this week in the journal <a href="https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1065" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #00334e; fill: rgb(0, 51, 78); transition: color 0.175s, fill 0.175s;">Wildlife Society Bulletin</a>, suggests that wild blueberries may be a more valuable food source for wolves in the boreal forests of far northern Minnesota than previously appreciated.</div>
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In the summer of 2017, Austin Homkes, a field biologist with the Voyageurs Wolf Project — a collaboration between Voyageurs National Park and the University of Minnesota — trekked to a beaver meadow just south of the park where researchers believed wolves had recently killed prey.</div>
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As he drew near, he saw five pups gathered around an adult wolf in the center of the meadow, about 100 meters away. He saw the pups lick at the adult’s mouth for about 30 seconds, and then watched as the wolf regurgitated food for the pups three times on to the ground.</div>
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A half hour after the wolves left, he approached and found several small piles of chewed and whole wild blueberries. While wolves are known to regurgitate deer and other meat to feed their young, this is the first documentation of a wolf feeding pups berries or fruit of any kind.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #191a1a; font-family: "noto serif" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 19.200000762939453px;">The finding is significant because “that means that wolves are getting some energetic value out of consuming blueberries like this,” explained Tom Gable, a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota who leads the Voyageurs Wolf Project.</span><br />
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Researchers have known for some time that wolves eat wild blueberries and other fruit to supplement their largely meat-based diet. In fact, Gable and his colleagues have found that blueberries can make up to 83 percent of the July diet of the eight wolf packs they study in and around Voyageurs National Park.</div>
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It could mean that wolves are simply taking advantage of the blueberries growing abundantly and close together.</div>
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“And so for an animal like a wolf, they’re expending very little energy eating those berries,” Gable said. “And so it's possible that just sitting in a berry patch, not really moving a whole lot, is a better strategy than running around your territory looking for a fawn or a beaver in the middle of the summer.”</div>
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The findings could suggest that wolves are using berries to meet their pups’ minimum food needs, Gable said. Or, he said, maybe berries could help pups survive the lulls when adults are unable to kill beaver or deer.</div>
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Gable said as researchers learn more about wolves’ summer predation behavior, including how much time they spend foraging berries, they hope to better understand the significance berries play in wolves’ diets, and whether those berries reduce the number of prey — mainly deer fawns and beavers — that wolves kill in July and August.</div>
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In conjunction with the newly-published research, the Voyageurs Wolf Project also released what they believe is a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VoyageursWolfProject/videos/185068582590599/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #00334e; fill: rgb(0, 51, 78); transition: color 0.175s, fill 0.175s;">first-ever video showing wolves eating berries</a>.</div>
<span style="color: #191a1a; font-family: "noto serif" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 19.200000762939453px;">Using 25 cameras, researchers recorded wolves stripping blueberry bushes. Gable said the video provides irrefutable evidence that wolves do indeed consume berries. “There’s been some skepticism about whether or not wolves really do this,” he said.</span><br />
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For the past five years, researchers have placed GPS collars on wolves from in and around the park. They collect location data from the animals every 20 minutes. That allows them to see where wolves stop long enough to eat. The location information helps researchers place cameras.</div>
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The technology has led to the surprising discovery that wolves hunt fish in shallow streams. They also stalk beaver which can make up as much as 42 percent of a wolf’s diet around the park</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-26857893692690513002020-02-21T16:12:00.003-08:002020-02-21T16:12:43.835-08:00"Apart from the snowshoe hare, Short and Long-tailed weasels are the only animals whose coats turn white in preparation for winter".........."Both the Long-tailed and Short-tailed(short-tailed also known as Ermine) species ranges overlap with the larger Long-tailed Weasel able to out-compete the smaller Short-tailed"............"As a result, the Short-tailed life-paradigm has a range farther to the north where the the Long-tailed ranges farther to the south(see maps below)"..................."Both Weasel species are generalists, able to swim, climb trees and dig under snow in pursuit of voles, mice, rabbits, rats, lemmings, muskrats, pocket gophers, shrews, moles, squirrels,chipmunks, bats, bird eggs, snowshoe hare, snakes, frogs, and insects"..............."Deer, beaver, and woodchuck carrion is also on their menu with berries of any kind also sought out"............... "Long-haired Weasels will also prey on Short-tails should they cross paths"........."The main source of mortality for both weasel species are foxes, coyotes, owls, large snakes"<div class="WordSection1">
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">by Susan Shea</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">February 17, 2020</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-comment" href="https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/winter-weasels?enews#comments" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4 Comments</span></a></div>
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Illustration by <a href="http://adelaidetyrol.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Adelaide Tyrol</a></center>
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<a href="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/articles/TOS_Winter_Ermine_w.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[winter-weasels]" style="border: 0px; clear: left; color: #865600; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Illustration by Adelaide Tyrol"><img alt="Winter Weasels – White on White Image" src="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/made/images/articles/TOS_Winter_Ermine_w_300_215.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px 15px 10px 10px; max-width: 99%; padding: 5px; position: relative; width: auto; z-index: 9;" /></a><br />
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On a walk one winter afternoon, I spotted two white objects darting across a snow-covered field. White on white, they were difficult to identify at first. It was a short-tailed weasel chasing a snowshoe hare!</div>
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Apart from the snowshoe hare, short- and long-tailed weasels are the only animals in the Northeast whose coats turn white in preparation for winter. The smaller short-tailed weasel, also known as an ermine, is more common than the long-tailed weasel. It lives in a variety of habitats, is an adept hunter, and has a reputation for being curious and bold.<br />
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<b>The Short-tailed Weasel in Winter White and Summer Brown(range map)</b><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zo2VtlS7NGI/XlBjNwxlL3I/AAAAAAABG90/hWXBY4q2YkYxb9xB9hI05kz5Z7KHHIC3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/download%2B-%2B2020-02-21T145133.424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="274" height="268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zo2VtlS7NGI/XlBjNwxlL3I/AAAAAAABG90/hWXBY4q2YkYxb9xB9hI05kz5Z7KHHIC3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/download%2B-%2B2020-02-21T145133.424.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In summer, the short-tailed weasel is brown with a cream-colored chest and belly, and a black tail tip. In the fall, in northern latitudes, the ermine sheds its summer fur and grows a white winter coat. This amazing adaptation camouflages the weasel as it hunts, and hides it from predators such as hawks, owls, foxes and coyotes. The black tail tip, which remains in winter, diverts predators. A raptor attracted to a weasel’s movement will dive at the black tip, missing the weasel’s body.</div>
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In the spring, the ermine loses its white coat and turns brown again. Both molts are triggered by photoperiod, or length of daylight. Vermont naturalist Susan Morse once raised an orphaned weasel for release back into the wild. She enjoyed watching the ermine’s coat turn white, which began on lower parts of the body first and took seventeen days. However this adaptation may become a problem for weasels as the climate warms, and snow cover becomes inconsistent in our region. White weasels will be much easier to spot against a brown background and will be more vulnerable to predators.<br />
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<b>The Long-tailed Weasel in Winter white and Summer brown(range map)</b><br />
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Researchers in Poland found that populations of the white subspecies of the least weasel (cousin to our short-tailed weasel) dropped with a decrease in number of days of snow cover. Experiments showed predators detected weasels with contrasting colors at a significantly higher rate than those that blended in with the landscape. If our northern weasels can adapt through natural selection, where snow is brief or erratic, they may develop patchy coats. Alternatively, populations may include both white and winter brown animals, as is already the case in mid-Atlantic weasel populations.</div>
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Short-tailed weasels feed primarily on voles and mice, and occasionally on larger prey such as chipmunks, squirrels, or even hares – which explains the snowy chase I observed. In summer they prey on nesting birds and their eggs, frogs, and insects; they also eat berries. Some ermines will kill chickens, though a weasel will often visit a chicken coop only to prey on the rats and mice attracted to the chicken feed.<br />
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<b>Short-tailed(top picture) and Long-tailed weasel(bottom picture with </b><br />
<b>mouse kill</b><br />
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Their long, thin shape enables weasels to travel through rodent tunnels and kill their prey in their underground burrows – or, sometimes, within a human dwelling. My sister once lived in an old farmhouse that became infested with mice. She and her roommates had a contest going to see who could devise the most ingenious mousetrap, and they kept a tally of how many mice were killed. Then an ermine moved in with them for a month. “We didn’t have much of a mouse problem after that,” she recalled. “The ermine would come up from the cellar under the door and slither along the kitchen countertops.”</div>
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Sometimes a weasel will live in a mouse den until all the occupants are consumed. Weasels often kill more than they can eat and cache dead prey for later use. “They strive to always have something in the pantry,” said Morse. “People routinely find stored mice in the crevices of their wood piles.”</div>
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While the weasel’s shape contributes to its hunting prowess, it also causes the animal to lose heat more quickly than a more rotund creature. To compensate, the ermine has a high metabolic rate and must eat one-third to one-half of its body weight a day, making it perpetually hungry. For this reason, ermines are active even in the coldest weather, especially at night. Weasels hunt primarily by scent, zig-zagging back and forth, investigating every hole and cranny. </div>
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This winter, look for weasel tracks in the snow – small, paired tracks with five claws on each foot. Since weasels travel by bounding, their hind tracks fall directly on top of their front tracks. Also, keep an eye out for the weasel’s long, spiral-shaped, blackish-brown scat on rocks in the center of the trail, scent posts to communicate with other weasels.</div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A version of this article was originally published in the Long Trail News. Susan Shea is a naturalist, conservationist, and freelance writer who lives in Brookfield, Vermont</span>.</span></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-154934198706698152020-02-19T18:04:00.001-08:002020-02-19T18:04:17.311-08:00"Similar to a human family where kids tend to thrive when Mom and Dad stay together and avoid divorce, a new University of Idaho Study reveals that for each year a wolf pair stays together, the odds of their pups surviving into adulthood increased 20%"..............."Unlike Coyotes, where male and females bond for life and remain monogamous, wolf pair bonds are super short" ............"They only last a couple years”.............."On average, wolf pairs stayed together for 2.2 years, although there was wide variance"..............."For instance, one wolf couple in the Idaho Study stayed together for at least nine years, basically an eternity for an animal that is considered ancient at 13"................"The average of 2.2 years found in Idaho aligned with rates measured in a recolonizing wolf population in Sweden".............."The longer wolf pairs remain monogamous, the more stability in the overall wolf pack"..........."Monogamy reduces the occurrence of 'sneaker males', those who come in and mate with females and take off, leaving pup rearing solely to the female and other cohorts".............."Another interesting observation and perhaps also similar to human couples is that when an older wolf mated with a younger wolf, the older appeared to teach the younger how to parent"................. "Pups born to those pairings were more likely to survive than pups born to two first-time parents"<br />
<a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/sep/15/study-suggests-monogamous-wolves-make-better-paren/">https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/sep/15/study-suggests-monogamous-wolves-make-better-paren/</a><br />
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Study suggests monogamous wolves make better parents</h1>
<div class="mt0 mb3 f6 tu gray sans-serif " content="2019-09-15T06:00:00" itemprop="datePublished" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #777777; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "avenir next", avenir, helvetica, "helvetica neue", ubuntu, roboto, noto, "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-variant-ligatures: none; margin-bottom: 1rem;">
Sun., Sept. 15, 2019</div>
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In the rugged, sometimes violent world of the wolf, it pays to have mom and dad around.</div>
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<span style="font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "avenir next" , "avenir" , "helvetica" , "helvetica neue" , "ubuntu" , "roboto" , "noto" , "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 800;">A male and female wolf, along with their pups, are photographed near Salmon, Idaho in 2017. (Idaho Department of Fish and Game) </span></div>
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The longer wolf couples are together, the more likely their offspring are to survive into adulthood, according to new research from the University of Idaho.</div>
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According to the study, which will be published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, for each year a wolf pair stays together, the odds of their pups surviving into adulthood increased 20%.</div>
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Put another way, “they get 20% better at what they do every year,” study author David Ausband said. The study used nine years of scat data collected by Ausband and others from wolves throughout Idaho.</div>
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Ausband started collecting the data as a graduate student at the University of Montana. He then worked for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game before taking a job at the University of Idaho last year. His research examines a relatively understudied area: the impact of monogamy in mammals.</div>
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“Remarkably, I could not find a study that measured pair bond duration and its effects on reproduction in a mammalian cooperative breeder,” Ausband writes in the study. In particular, he wanted to see how legal hunting impacted monogamy in wolves, how monogamy impacted pup rearing and how monogamous relationships changed the overall social structure of a pack.</div>
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He expected to find that hunting reduced monogamy, possibly fraying pack dynamics.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700;">A male and female wolf play near Kelly Creek on the Idaho/Montana border in 2017. (Idaho Department of Fish and Game)</span></div>
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“I thought … harvest would reduce pair bonds. And that’s not what I found,” he said. “And it’s because pair bonds are super short. They only last a couple years.”</div>
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On average, wolf pairs stayed together for 2.2 years, although there was wide variance. For instance, one wolf couple documented by Ausband stayed together for at least nine years, basically an eternity for an animal that is considered ancient at 13. The average of 2.2 years found in Idaho aligned with rates “measured in a recolonizing wolf population in Sweden that experienced relatively high rates of human-caused mortality.”</div>
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“Wolf packs are dynamic,” he said. “There is more drama in a wolf pack than in a middle school dance. There is always stuff going.”</div>
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Overall, wolves were monogamous about 72% of the time, he found.</div>
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In addition to increasing pup survival, monogamy also stabilized pack dynamics. Monogamous pairs reduced the occurrence of “sneaker males” and decreased polygamy in the group.</div>
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Sneaker males are males who mate and then leave the hard work of rearing offspring to others.<br />
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Monogamous wolf pairs were, overall, better at maintaining control of their packs, although pack size played a big role. Possibly, smaller wolf packs (partially caused by hunting) are easier for an alpha male and female to maintain control over, he said.</div>
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“If a pair is together, and their group size is large, it’s harder to police sneaker males. If you have 20 wolves to keep track of, it’s really hard to keep sneaker males out,” he said. “It’s a lot like human families. Or a big classroom at an elementary school. If you have a lot of kids, it’s harder to police.”</div>
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The study builds on, and adds to, research done in Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park suggesting that wolves learn, rather than relying solely on instinct.</div>
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There, scientists observed wolves lying in wait along known beaver paths, often picking their ambush site far from the water. In fact, according to National Geographic, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/06/wolves-beavers-voyageurs-national-park/#close" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00449e; text-decoration-line: none;">some wolves appeared to specialize in killing beavers</a>.<br />
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In Idaho, Ausband found that when an older wolf mated with a younger wolf, the older appeared to teach the younger how to parent. Pups born to those pairings were more likely to survive than pups born to two first-time parents.</div>
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Understanding how wolves live and breed is important information for scientists and managers.</div>
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“If we don’t understand the truth about how an animal breeds, we’re not going to be very good at managing and conserving them,” Ausband said.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-77610870034070931172020-02-16T17:26:00.003-08:002020-02-16T22:51:18.657-08:00Scientists are working on Fusion and Beaming Solar Power from the Sun to existing Power Stations on Earth—Both sources would power us up without burning carbon and therefore truly be clean and renewable energy sources......Conversely, there are currently 57,000 Giant 500-foot Windmills defacing what once was truly green forest, farm and Desert environs......Yes, when the wind is blowing, they can power up 32 million American homes........With 350 million Americans living here currently, we would need to have 635,000 Windmills up and running without a glitch to power our homes and industry.........Is that what certain Politicians, Academics and Enviros are trying to sell us?,,,,,...More purposely fake news trying to brainwash and delude us about what this so-called “green energy would actually be doing—- Destroying our last remaining open spaces............And let us not forget the extensive digging up the ground to run pipelines to get the energy to us.......And the fact that a ton of oil and precious minerals are required to manufacture the “Mills”.......Is this truly green?.......As my Dad once told me, “you do not get rid of something because it is old”........”You do not start to use something simply because it is new”......”You start doing something new only if is good”——WINDMILLS AND LARGE SCALE SOLAR FARMS—-NOT GOOD!!!!!!<br />
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-next-for-the-energy-grid-11581645094">https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-next-for-the-energy-grid-11581645094</a><br />
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Friday, February 14, 2020-Wall Street Journal<br />
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "retina narrow" , "retina" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-transform: uppercase;">WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE ENERGY GRID</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "retina narrow" , "retina" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 56px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span></b><br />
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Living solar power cells, household microgrids and more projects in the works for the decentralized grid of the future.</h2>
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In the tokamak version of reactors, injectors fire particle beams to heat plasma. Magnets keep plasma contained and squeeze it to achieve fusion. Water is heated by the plasma and converted to steam that turns a generator<span style="font-weight: 300;">.</span></h4>
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<span style="color: #888888; font-family: "retina narrow", retina, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In a solar satellite, mirrors reflect light onto a central reflector. The light is turned into power with solar cells.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-40210936649873793882020-02-13T16:37:00.000-08:002020-02-13T16:39:45.499-08:00THE GOTHAM URBAN COYOTE PROJECT has been evaluating and studying the Eastern Coyotes that now call New York City and surrounding environs home........They have been following one of the first NYC Eastern Coyotes to make a permanent home in Queens, New York City--- view on video(below)................"As determined by scat analysis, he(male) is at least 10 years old now, old for a wild coyote" <div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the first NYC Eastern Coyotes coyote to make a permanent home in Queens is pictured on the video below:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;">He is at least 10 years old now, old for a wild coyote.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><b><br />Queens Coyote video</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gothamcoyote/videos/374819833398507/?t=5">https://www.facebook.com/gothamcoyote/videos/374819833398507/?t=5</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">THE GOTHAM URBAN COYOTE PROJECT in the NYC Metropolitan area has been able to get DNA from his scat, which identifies him as a male, </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">related to the coyotes living in the Pelham Bay Park in the northeast Bronx.</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />As far as we know, no other coyotes have penetrated the urban jungle into Queens as far as he has and made a permanent home there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">He's lived quietly in a small wooded area for a long time now, alone. Nearly every spring we find a den that he has dug, but no females have shown up yet to join him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coyotes in NYC urban woodlands-video<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gothamcoyote/videos/1336534546512431/?t=9">https://www.facebook.com/gothamcoyote/videos/1336534546512431/?t=9</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Connectivity between patches of habitat are very important for wildlife populations in suburban and urban environments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">This guy managed to travel, we believe, along railroad tracks through NYC to find his current home.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was a long shot for him to make it, and for a second coyote to survive the same journey (and happen to be the opposite sex) is even more unlikely.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is why things like habitat corridors, wildlife crossings over or under highways, and undeveloped green spaces are so important for urban wildlife.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #606770; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Eastern Coyotes under the George Washington Bridge in Washington Heights, Manhattan, NYC</b></span></span><b><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: inherit; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-91524355229577262020-02-06T16:49:00.000-08:002020-02-06T17:36:12.005-08:00Ranging from the eastern half of the United States across southern portions of Canada and into the Pacific Northwest, the large, Crow-sized 18 inch long Pileated Woodpecker is a year-round resident, braving Winter cold and snow...............“They tend to use deciduous trees more than conifers"...........“Most of their foraging is on dead, dying, or downed trees, but they will utilize trees that aren’t compromised if there’s food there"..........."Omnivorous, they are a key predator of Carpenter Ants".........."Fall and Winter have these woodpeckers dining on nuts, fruits,larvae of beetles and other bugs that excavate into the bark of trees".............."Typically monogamous, both male and female remain within their home territory throughout the year, even when not breeding"<span style="color: #403f42; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #4e7f24; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__r20.rs6.net_tn.jsp-3Ff-3D001E7N3kzNDinjxrWAwj85IRImc4oXgHLNjCP6EIyxocMIi08bFj2MjKJkTtDM5pqzwRnEbG3dRphx-2D2VFC95wyPN534hgkFc3d8vfgJX9a11IrleEAMdZzsI-2DjzpJoCWCXu95KHkTLpg-5F-2D5gHzc1kzHsePEcbmcdMzcIHBW9lNZxCfxso-2DD9xOtiYbKbPbm-5Fy3v26xpx5fKXlrlY466h-5F7UHmwzSkwRNUqP1Y-5F0Z5Y5UM-3D-26c-3DueU2n1nP3w8ENkBd3m7vzN3DShplC3f7FkWdXXwmS9HI-5F8oN43xUiA-3D-3D-26ch-3DJHSKvXPW0zJz-2DAfD1EES6T-2DM2mAHyvcuISPspGbrQETpzXCZurKAow-3D-3D&d=DwMFaQ&c=tq9bLrSQ8zIr87VusnUS9yAL0Jw_xnDiPuZjNR4EDIQ&r=Svq1hike96WXyRveVVNFYtu9GteqVDd5IyvDx4c3TSc&m=oJLJRSrcCbUWUhA9FsOwq9vG3Ctd91-rTiq_1Er61IA&s=6BS2B9Ybi_bPVMuyc2FkBnIlMPYenyqmeE4otwisKnI&e=" target="_blank">Pileated Woodpeckers: Winter Excavators</a></span></b></span><br />
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Pileated Woodpeckers: Winter Excavators</h1>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">February 3, 2020</a></div>
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<a href="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/articles/TOS_PileatedWoodpecker_web.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[pileated-woodpeckers-winter]" style="border: 0px; clear: left; color: #865600; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Illustration by Adelaide Tyrol"><img alt="Pileated Woodpeckers: Winter Excavators Image" src="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/made/images/articles/TOS_PileatedWoodpecker_web_300_322.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px 15px 10px 10px; max-width: 99%; padding: 5px; position: relative; width: auto; z-index: 9;" /><span style="color: #272727; font-size: 13px;">Illustration by</span><span style="color: #272727; font-size: 13px;"> </span></a><a href="http://adelaidetyrol.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Adelaide Tyrol</a><br />
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Whenever I spy a pileated woodpecker traversing the sky, I pause to watch its weird undulating flight. The jerky rise-and-drop movement of this large woodpecker is endearingly gawky – like a mini pterodactyl visiting from the Cretaceous period. This time of year, the bird’s bold crimson crest flashes in stark contrast to the mostly-muted colors of winter.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xY_WJG7QyMs/XjyvUtn1Z8I/AAAAAAABG7A/CZ2tDf7ORmICss6tsiHpL1V2IyUORXG5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/pileated_woodpecker_41933_john-pizniur_ab2017_behavior_kk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="630" height="253" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xY_WJG7QyMs/XjyvUtn1Z8I/AAAAAAABG7A/CZ2tDf7ORmICss6tsiHpL1V2IyUORXG5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/pileated_woodpecker_41933_john-pizniur_ab2017_behavior_kk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Pileated woodpeckers – <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dryocopus pileatus</em> – take their common and scientific names from the Latin word for “capped.” Both male and female sport the namesake red crest, as well as black streaks across the eyes. Measuring about 18 inches long, they have wingspans that can stretch past two feet.</div>
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These crow-sized woodpeckers live throughout the eastern half of the United States, across southern portions of Canada, and in the Pacific Northwest. They prefer mature forests with large trees, but also live in places from young forests containing snags and decaying wood to suburban areas with patches of forested land.</div>
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Wherever they call home, pileated woodpeckers stick around through the winter. On a walk through the woods, you may hear their distinctive high-pitched calls – some liken it to more of a jungle noise than something that belongs in a New England forest. More likely, though, you’ll hear the deep thudding of woodpecker beak on wood. Woodpeckers drum on trees as a means of communication, to excavate nesting and roosting sites, and – of course – to find food.</div>
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Their heavy, chisel-like bills are roughly the same length as their heads, which adds to the pterodactyl appearance, and are designed for pounding through the bark and outer layers of a tree to reach its core. Pileated woodpeckers dig out insects crawling around – or, this time of year, overwintering in larval stage. Excavations can be more than a foot long and leave piles of woodchips heaped around the tree’s trunk.</div>
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“They tend to use deciduous trees more than conifers,” said Pamela Hunt, avian conservation biologist at New Hampshire Audubon. “Most of their foraging is on dead, dying, or downed trees, but they’ll still used trees that aren’t compromised if there’s food there.”</div>
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Pileated woodpeckers’ meal of choice is carpenter ants (another common sign of their feeding: black poop at the base of trees comprised mostly of indigestible ant bits), but the birds are omnivorous, noshing on fruits and nuts when they’re in season and on an array of insects year-round. While we humans may think of insects as being primarily warm-weather creatures, these woodpeckers seek out the larvae of ants, beetles, and other bugs hidden within trees for the winter.</div>
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After excavating a hole, a pileated woodpecker will use its long, barbed tongue to reach and scrape out the buggy delicacy within. Hunt noted these woodpeckers, like all birds that weather the winter cold, spend much of their time during this season refueling on whatever food they can find. They’ll often make multiple large holes in a single snag during a feeding frenzy.</div>
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“If a tree is full of yummy larvae, the woodpecker can literally excavate the tree until there’s almost nothing left,” said Hunt.</div>
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While some of the bird species we see in winter have migrated short distances, pileated woodpeckers stick close to their nesting sites throughout the year. They are typically monogamous, and while Hunt said the woodpeckers are not necessarily “socially cohesive” during the winter, both male and female remain within their home territory.</div>
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During breeding and chick-raising season, pileated woodpeckers, like many other birds, defend their territories from interlopers. In winter, however, they often tolerate other pileated woodpeckers within their own range. The trespassers are generally young birds searching for their own territories to claim.</div>
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I will probably never be able to identify any specific chickadee from the myriad who frequent the bird feeder, or pick out one slate-colored junco from the flock hopping around the yard. But I can have some confidence that the big bird with the red-capped head and the undulating flight passing through the winter sky is the same one – or at least one of the same two – I sometimes spy in warmer months, flitting into the woods or perched on the side of a tree, pounding away.</div>
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<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">
Meghan McCarthy McPhaul is the assistant editor of <i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Northern Woodlands</i> magazine.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-75537548214932365932020-02-04T16:56:00.001-08:002020-02-05T12:44:02.012-08:00"Coyotes and badgers are known to hunt together and can even be more successful hunting prairie dogs and ground-squirrels when they work in tandem"............"Studies have shown that this unusual relationship is beneficial for both species"..............."The coyote can chase down prey if it runs and the badger can dig after prey if it heads underground into its burrow systems"<br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif;">🎥</span>Peninsula Open Space Trust <a href="https://t.co/oS9BL5JOoK">pic.twitter.com/oS9BL5JOoK</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Recent sightings of a coyote and badger on the prairie
surrounding the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FerretCenter/photos/pcb.1264397740278286/1264394573611936/?type=3" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;">National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center</span></a> brought
attention to a fascinating example of partnership.<br />
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Coyotes and badgers are known to hunt together and can <a href="http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/4/814.abstract" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;">even be more successful hunting</span></a> prairie dogs and
ground-squirrels when they <a href="http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/animal-planet-presents/videos/top-10-odd-animal-couples-badger-coyote/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;">work in tandem</span></a>. <br />
<br /><i>Coyote
and badger at Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center. Kimberly Fraser,
USFWS </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Studies have shown that this unusual relationship is beneficial
for both species. The coyote can chase down prey if it runs and the badger can
dig after prey if it heads underground into its burrow systems. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Coyote
and badger at Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each partner in this unlikely duo brings a skill the other one
lacks. Together they are both faster and better diggers than the burrowing
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These partnerships tend to emerge during the warmer months. In
the winter, the badger can dig up hibernating prey as it sleeps in its burrow.
It has no need for the fleet-footed coyote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Coyote
and badger at Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center. Kimberly Fraser, USFWS</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nmtwIHWDehc/XjoR8fKetOI/AAAAAAABG6U/6FQeYMuFaTASbk8Z_vw73jGSBnAWJTHEACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/3-coyote-and-badger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="968" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nmtwIHWDehc/XjoR8fKetOI/AAAAAAABG6U/6FQeYMuFaTASbk8Z_vw73jGSBnAWJTHEACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/3-coyote-and-badger.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Coyotes and badgers have a sort of open relationship. They will sometimes hunt
together; but they also often hunt on their own.<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Coyote
and badger at Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center. Kimberly Fraser, USFWS</i></span></div>
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Each species is a <a href="http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/animal-planet-presents/videos/top-10-odd-animal-couples-badger-coyote/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;">treat to see,</span></a> but together is even more fascinating and
special!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Just a few of the studies on this pairing:<br />
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Minta, Steven C., Kathryn A. Minta, and Dale F. Lott. "Hunting
associations between badgers (Taxidea taxus) and coyotes (Canis latrans)."
Journal of Mammalogy 73.4 (1992): 814-820.<br />
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Macdonald, David W. "The ecology of carnivore social behaviour."
Nature 301.5899 (1983): 379-384.<br />
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Cahalane, Victor H. "Badger-coyote “partnerships”." Journal of
Mammalogy 31.3 (1950): 354-355.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2016/11/2/Spotted-A-Coyote-and-Badger#c3E67668F-F76C-ADE5-DF0F180CAB43A1AA"><span style="color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;">#</span></a> Posted
By | 11/6/16 6:40 AM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Review article here <a href="http://www.ecology.info/badger-coyote.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;">http://www.ecology.info/badger-coyote.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/peccarynotpig/status/1224515892282740737?s=11">2/3/20,
8:11 PM</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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A coyote and a badger use a culvert as a wildlife crossing
to pass under a busy California highway together. Coyotes and badgers are
known to hunt together. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">🎥</span>Peninsula Open Space Trust <a href="https://t.co/oS9BL5JOoK">pic.twitter.com/oS9BL5JOoK</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-69681867363965341712020-02-02T22:46:00.000-08:002020-02-02T23:07:52.131-08:00Coyote Sightings Bring Cameras To Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan and also in Central Park-36 sightings over the past 30 years<div>
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Coyote Sightings </h1>
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Bring Cameras </h1>
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To Inwood Hill </h1>
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Park </h1>
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Parks officials set up cameras and sent out tips </h2>
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after rare sightings of coyotes, and reportedly </h2>
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coyote pups, at the Uptown park. </h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">By <a class="gray-dark-link" href="https://patch.com/users/anna-quinn" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Anna Quinn, Patch Staff</a></span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="fa-stack fa-xxs badge_icon v-align-top" data-content="Patch has verified this neighbor as a member of your community. <a href="https://patch.com/us/across-america/how-get-verified-patch" target="_blank">Learn how</a> you can verify your Patch account." data-html="true" data-original-title="Verified Neighbor" data-placement="bottom" data-toggle="popover" data-trigger="focus" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #009e13; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.575em; height: 2em; line-height: 2em; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 2em;" tabindex="0" title=""><span class="fas fa fa-check-circle text-cta-green fa-stack-2x" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #06c42a; display: inline-block; font-family: "patch"; font-size: 2em; left: 0px; line-height: 1; position: absolute; text-align: center; width: 13.796875px;"></span></a></span></h6>
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<time datetime="2020-01-28 09:13:18" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jan 28, 2020 9:13 am ET</time> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">| <time datetime="2020-01-28 11:43:34" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Updated Jan 28, 2020 11:43 am ET</time></span></h6>
<a href="https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/coyote-sightings-bring-cameras-inwood-hill-park-city-says">https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/coyote-sightings-bring-cameras-inwood-hill-park-city-says</a><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This past week, NYC Parks officials set up cameras </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-size: small; font-weight: 300;">and sent out tips after rare sightings of coyotes, </span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-size: small; font-weight: 300;">and reportedly coyote pups, at the Inwood Hill Park(picture below),</span></h1>
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<a class="ImageGrid-image ImageGrid-image-0 CroppedImage CroppedImage--fillHeight" href="https://twitter.com/kemrichardson7/status/1222261819999498242/photo/1" style="border: 0px solid rgb(225, 232, 237); display: inline-block; left: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 240px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: 0px; transform: rotate(0deg); width: 240px;"><img alt="View image on Twitter" class="CroppedImage-image js-cspForcedStyle" data-image-format="jpg" data-image="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPZYpSnXUAEHvVz" data-style="left:-16%;" height="900" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPZYpSnXUAEHvVz?format=jpg&name=small" style="border: 0px; height: 240px; left: -16%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: auto;" title="View image on Twitter" width="1200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Coyotes live mostly in the Bronx </span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and have more recently been s</span><a href="https://patch.com/new-york/central-park/coyote-spotted-roaming-central-park-city-says" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: 26px; margin: 20px 0px; text-decoration: none;">potted </a><br />
<a href="https://patch.com/new-york/central-park/coyote-spotted-roaming-central-park-city-says" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: 26px; margin: 20px 0px; text-decoration: none;">in the north end of Central Park</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Pelham Bay and Van Cortlandt Parks</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> in the Bronx, among other places.....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">breeding in the Bronx and now, on the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">verge of doing so in Manhattan</span><br />
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INWOOD, NY — Coyotes more<br />
typically found in Queens or The<br />
Bronx might have made their way<br />
to Inwood Hill Park, and prompted<br />
a new set-up of cameras to track the<br />
wild animals, parks officials said this week. </div>
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The city's Parks Department sent out<br />
a notice Saturday warning residents to<br />
not get too close and to protect their<br />
pets from coyotes that residents sahave<br />
been spotted in the 196-acre park,<br />
which borders the Bronx, where the<br />
animals are more typically known to live.</div>
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The Parks Department didn't say how<br />
many sightings there have been, but<br />
at least five residents had discussed<br />
spotting the coyotes on a Facebook<br />
group set up for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/inwoof/" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #009e13; cursor: pointer; line-height: 26px; margin: 20px 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Inwood dog owners.</a></div>
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"...At first I saw only one and thought, '<br />
Oh my god that's a stray dog, should<br />
we go after it?'" Samantha Arbuiso<br />
wrote on the group on Jan. 19. "We<br />
started walking up the hill towards<br />
the baseball field and then right there<br />
at the top to the right were 2 more!!"</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-51896080649085585442020-02-01T22:24:00.000-08:002020-02-01T22:35:11.813-08:00The adaptable Eastern Coyote may again be on the verge of colonizing the last locale in the USA where it has not established a breeding population-Long Island, NY........"New York State has 20,000 to 30,000 coyotes — almost all upstate, according to the DEC"............"While possibly a first for Robert Moses, the DEC said it confirmed there was one coyote in eastern Long Island, around Watermill and Bridgehampton, in 2013"...........“We have received a handful of confirmed sightings of this single coyote each year, a Dept. of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman said by email"................."It could not confirm sightings of another coyote in Middle Island — about 65 miles east of Manhattan — in January 2017".............."In the summer of 2018, a coyote sighting in Roslyn/Searingtown area — around 25 miles east of Manhattan — was confirmed through multiple recorded videos"<a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/coyote-robert-moses-park-1.41309317">https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/coyote-robert-moses-park-1.41309317</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; box-sizing: inherit; color: #717171; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">LONG ISLAND</a><a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0076be; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">SUFFOLK</a><br />
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Something wily — a coyote? — seen at Robert Moses park</h1>
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<picture class="lazy done loaded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source data-srcset="https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.41309318.1580594021!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_768/image.jpg" media="(min-width: 455px)" srcset="https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.41309318.1580594021!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_768/image.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><source data-srcset="https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.41309318.1580594021!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_456/image.jpg" media="(min-width: 167px)" srcset="https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.41309318.1580594021!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_456/image.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="The animal, possibly a coyote, as seen by" class="loaded" data-src="https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.41309318.1580594021!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_768/image.jpg" src="https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.41309318.1580594021!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_768/image.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;" /></picture><br />
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The animal, possibly a coyote, as seen by a trail camera in Robert Moses State Park. Credit: NY State Parks Dept. </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black; display: block; font-weight: 900;">By Joan Gralla</span><a href="mailto:joan.gralla@newsday.com?subject=Something%20wily%20%E2%80%94%C2%A0a%20coyote?%C2%A0%E2%80%94%C2%A0seen%C2%A0at%20Robert%20Moses%20park&body=There%20may%20be%20a%20new%20predator%20in%20town:%20A%20coyote%20seems%20to%20have%20found%20its%20way%20to%20Robert%20Moses%20State%20Park%20on%20Long%20Island%E2%80%99s%20South%20Shore.%20While%20the%20first%20pictures%20from%20surveillance%20cameras%20were%20not%20definitiv%0D%0Ahttps://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/coyote-robert-moses-park-1.41309317" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0076be; display: inline-block; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;">joan.gralla@newsday.com</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JoanGralla" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0076be; display: inline-block; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" target="blank"><span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-twitter" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-family: "fontawesome"; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1; position: static; top: inherit;"></span> @JoanGralla </a><time datetime="2020-02-01T16:53:41-05:00" itemprop="datePublished" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.4em;">Updated February 1, 2020 4:53 PM</time><br />
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There may be a new predator in town: A coyote seems to have found its way to Robert Moses State Park on Long Island’s South Shore.</div>
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While the first pictures from surveillance cameras were not definitive, the state parks department hopes to capture clearer video.</div>
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Dan Keefe, spokesman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said by email, “We have captured images of what appears to be a coyote at Robert Moses.”</div>
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The possible sighting follows reports earlier this week that another coyote now calls New York City’s Central Park home.</div>
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For decades, coyotes have been migrating east, scientists say, replacing gray wolves who were slaughtered en masse. Bounties were paid on wolves until the early 1800s, according to New York State Conservationist magazine. </div>
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The other explanation, scientists say, is that coyotes are returning to their former homes after clear-cutting drove them out, possibly centuries ago.</div>
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<a class="btn disable" href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/coyote-robert-moses-park-1.41309317#" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; background-color: #0076be; border-bottom-left-radius: 6px; border-bottom-right-radius: 6px; border-top-left-radius: 6px; border-top-right-radius: 6px; border: 1px solid transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: table-cell; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 12px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;"> up<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-size: 18px;">The species, once found mainly on Midwest prairies, first was seen in Ontario in the early 1900s, experts said. They reached New York by the 1920s, and then established populations in New England, according to the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-size: 18px;"> York State has 20,000 to 30,000 coyotes — almost all upstate, according</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-size: 18px;">While possibly a first for Robert Moses, the DEC said it confirmed there was one coyote in eastern Long Island, around Watermill and Bridgehampton, in 2013.</span></a></form>
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“We have received a handful of confirmed sightings of this single coyote each year,” a DEC spokeswoman said by email.</div>
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It could not confirm sightings of another coyote in Middle Island — about 65 miles east of Manhattan — in January 2017.</div>
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However, “In the summer of 2018, a coyote sighting in Roslyn/Searingtown area — around 25 miles east of Manhattan — was confirmed through multiple recorded videos,” the DEC said.</div>
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Coyotes mate for life, and February happens to be when they breed; their pups mature in about 9 months and can travel as far as 100 miles or so looking for their own mates, experts say.</div>
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Their menu would please any nutritionist recommending a varied diet — they eat everything from berries to small mammals. Like any other wildlife, they might find garbage attractive, so experts advise keeping it tightly enclosed.</div>
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On Long Island, cars could be the coyotes’ worst enemy — limiting how many Long Islanders ever hear their distinctive howls, known as serenades to their admirers. Said the DEC: “Abundant food resources exist on Long island to support coyotes but the difficulty of navigating Long Island’s busy roadways might limit their spread onto Long Island.”</div>
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As with any wildlife, the standard cautions apply: Do not feed coyotes because their natural fear of humans keeps them, and us, safe.</div>
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For more information, see <a href="https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9359.html" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0076be; outline: 0px; position: relative;">dec.ny.gov/animals/9359.html</a>and <a href="https://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/coyote/coyote.htm" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: objects; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0076be; outline: 0px; position: relative;">esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/coyote/coyote.htm</a>.</div>
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-15198164903777345772020-01-25T19:02:00.000-08:002020-01-25T19:05:15.049-08:00Whether it be Mountain Ash berries in New England or Toyon berries in Southern California, these fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, as well as many others found across North America, are critical food sources for all forms of wildlife, especially for birds during the Winter months when insects are overwintering and not available for consumption <a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_1551389430"><br /></a>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Winter Fruit Provides Bounty for Wildlife</span></h1>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">by Susan Shea</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">January 20, 2020</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-comment" href="https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/winter-fruit-wildlife?enews#comments" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4 Comments</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/articles/TOS_Winter_Robin_w.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[winter-fruit-wildlife]" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Illustration by Adelaide Tyrol"><img alt="Winter Fruit Provides Bounty for Wildlife Image" src="https://northernwoodlands.org/images/made/images/articles/TOS_Winter_Robin_w_300_381.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 0px 5px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px 15px 10px 10px; max-width: 99%; padding: 5px; position: relative; width: auto; z-index: 9;" /></a><br />
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Illustration by <a href="http://adelaidetyrol.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #865600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Adelaide Tyrol</a></center>
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Late one January afternoon, my husband and I stood on the shore of a frozen pond below the summit of Camel’s Hump, admiring the view. Suddenly we heard familiar calls, and a flock of robins flew over. Robins? In winter? In the mountains? I was perplexed.</div>
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Later, I talked with a birder friend, who informed me that robins from Labrador and other northern regions migrate south to the Green and White Mountains in winter, where they feed on mountain ash berries. Indeed, during our snowshoe trek to the pond, we had noticed clumps of bright red fruit in the small mountain ash trees, topped with powdery snow.</div>
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Although the Northeast is not known for winter fruit, according to UVM biology professor emeritus Bernd Heinrich in his book <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Winter World</em>, there are twenty-nine species of berries which ripen in fall and persist on the branch through the winter. Trees and shrubs laden with refrigerated fruit are an important food source for wildlife, especially birds, and can produce someunusual sightings. The only time I’ve ever seen pine grosbeaks was on a cold winter day; the big, olive-green females and rose-colored males were feeding on crabapples in a small tree next to a health clinic. These birds live in Canada’s coniferous forests, but visit our region in years when seeds and wild fruit are scarce there.</div>
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Another time I witnessed a chattering flock of Bohemian waxwings descend on the staghorn sumac trees lining a parking lot in Montpelier to feed on the fuzzy, reddish fruits. Bohemian waxwings, named for their nomadic behavior, are larger than their more familiar cousins, the ce-dar waxwings, and more colorful, with white and yellow wing marks. Like pine grosbeaks, they reside in boreal forests, but flocks periodically invade the U.S., where they roam about in search of wild fruit.</div>
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Bohemian and cedar waxwings are the most frugivorous (fruit-eating) birds in North America. Their stomachs have less musculature and their intestines are shorter than those of birds with a more varied diet. Food passes through the gut quickly, so they can feed rapidly when fruit is available. Flocks of waxwings can make short work of fruit on a tree. You might almost feel sorry for the plant. But plants and birds evolved together, and plants have designed fruit — delicious little packages of pulp — to attract birds and other wildlife, in order to disperse their seeds. Many seeds can survive passage through an animal’s digestive tract and are transported to new places that way.</div>
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Fruit pulp is typically rich in carbohydrates and vitamins and the seeds inside are concentrated sources of fat and proteins. However, specific nutritional content depends on the season of dispersal, writes Heinrich. Fruits with a long branch life such as staghorn sumac are more acidic and lower in fat, sugar, and water to prevent spoilage.</div>
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Apples, both wild and cultivated, are another fruit popular with wildlife in winter. Check beneath an apple tree and you’re likely to find deer tracks, droppings, and pawings in the snow where the deer have dug up frozen fruit. Coyotes, foxes, fishers, snowshoe hares, red and gray squirrels, grouse, and turkeys will all eat apples in winter. Squirrels will store apples in the crooks of tree branches for future consumption. </div>
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This past fall, there was an abundant crop of apples and other fruit and as a consequence, some bears continued feeding and delayed hibernation. While cross-country skiing in early December, I saw bear tracks coming out of the woods and leading to a group of wild apple trees in the back corner of a pasture. The small trees were not strong enough to support the bear, so it had pulled down several branches to reach the apples. The following day, I skied by a porcupine feeding in one of the apple trees.</div>
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Planting native fruit-bearing trees and shrubs is a great way to provide food for birds and other wildlife in winter. Some good choices are mountain ash and the three viburnums: nannyberry, high-bush “cranberry,” and maple-leaved arrowood. Staghorn sumac often sprouts naturally, and is considered a “weed tree” by many. But it is valuable for birds as its fruits last up to eight months and provide food in late winter and early spring when few other berries are available. Sumac fruits are consumed by returning migrants such as flickers and catbirds. </div>
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Flocks of birds feeding on winter fruit in your yard are sure to brighten up a cold, gray day.</div>
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Susan Shea is a naturalist, writer, and conservation consultant who lives in Brookfield, Vermont.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-3051192887190330722020-01-12T17:20:00.000-08:002020-01-12T17:20:22.830-08:00"The eastern chipmunk is a central place forager"........"This means that similar to the beaver and the honeybee, the chipmunk carries food back to a central location"............"In autumn, that location is the chipmunk’s winter burrow"..........."It’s an impressive feat of earthworks that includes a bedroom, bathroom, several tunnels to the surface, and multiple larders".........."Chipmunk territories average about 5,000 square meters (a little more than an acre) and they overlap"..........."This means that rivals lurk nearby, poised to snarf up food at a forage site, or even steal from undefended burrows"<div class="WordSection1">
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Chipmunk Game Theory 101</h1>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">by Elise Tillinghast</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-date" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">January 6, 2020</a></div>
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<a class="hover-post-meta-comment" href="https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/chipmunk?enews#comments" style="border: 0px; color: white; float: left; height: 18px; margin: 1px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1 Comments</span></a></div>
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Two chipmunks vie for seeds on our front lawn. One lives directly underneath the bird feeder. Another hails from the far side of the house, address unknown.</div>
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The chipmunks appear identical to me: same size, same stripes. Same interests, namely seed hoarding, aggressive chittering, jumping into the bushes and back out again, and brazen stiff-tailed standoffs with the dog.</div>
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However, some aspects of these chipmunks’ behavior are probably distinctive. Experiments have demonstrated that a chipmunk’s choosiness about what food they collect, how fully they stuff their cheek pouches, and even how quickly they stuff food in there all relate to the distance between a foraging site and a home burrow.</div>
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The eastern chipmunk,<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Tamias striatus</em>, is a central place forager. This means that, similar to </div>
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the beaver and the honeybee, the chipmunk carries food back to a central location. In autumn, that location is the chipmunk’s winter burrow. It’s an impressive feat of earthworks that includes a bedroom, bathroom, several tunnels to the surface, and multiple larders.</div>
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As the winter cold sets in, the chipmunk retreats to its bedroom, tucks its tail over its nose, and sinks into a deep sleep. However, unlike many other hibernating mammals, it doesn’t sleep the winter away. Because it lacks fat reserves, it has to wake up frequently to feed.</div>
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In other words, chipmunks have good cause for their hoarding obsession. But their intense foraging activity has a cost. The time and energy that a chipmunk spends obtaining and hauling food from a particular site, be it a birdfeeder or a patch of forest floor, represent precious calories invested and other opportunities sacrificed. As established food sites are depleted, chipmunks have to go out and look for new ones, and this is an energy gamble. Long distance foraging may offer access to more desirable food sites, but it requires more travel time and increases the risk of predation.</div>
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Then there is the “loading curve” consideration. In general, the more food a chipmunk stuffs in its cheek pouches, the slower its subsequent stuffing, and therefore the greater its overall risk of predation. Nor is every food item created equal. In addition to issues of durability and nutritive value, some food is simply easier to harvest and stuff than other food.</div>
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As if all these factors weren’t enough to worry about, chipmunks have another problem to manage: other chipmunks. Chipmunk territories average about 5,000 square meters (a little more than an acre) and they overlap. This means that rivals lurk nearby, poised to snarf up food at a forage site, or even steal from undefended burrows.</div>
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So how does all this play out underneath the bird feeder?</div>
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Fortunately for the inquisitive, there has been extensive research in central place foraging over the past few decades, and the chipmunk has been the protagonist of numerous scholarly papers. Some of these veer to the unintentionally funny. My favorite example, a paper out of the Université du Québec, describes an experiment assessing chipmunk reactions to sunflower seeds that had toothpicks stuck to their shells with Advanced Formula Instant Krazy Glue®.</div>
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Out of all this research emerges what might be called the guiding rule of chipmunk game theory. Chipmunks have evolved to be energy maximizers. They seek to strike the optimal balance between the energy gain per cheek pouch load and the highest possible number of trips back to the burrow. In the absence of other variables, a chipmunk that is near its burrow will have smaller pouch loads and make more frequent trips than a chipmunk from a distant burrow, which will stuff its cheeks full before heading back home.</div>
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Of course, chipmunks’ lives teem with other variables, and studies show that chipmunk behavior adapts to take many of them into account. Here are some basics from what might be called Chipmunk Game Theory 101.</div>
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If another chipmunk is making a lot of noise, it might be fussing at you, but it also may have spotted a hawk or a weasel. Slow down pouch stuffing and look out for predators. If food is low quality and far from home, seek another foraging site. If a site has a dwindling supply of food, or if the food requires extensive handling time (for example, some jerk covered the seeds with toothpicks and Krazy Glue), take time during your return trip to explore alternative sites. If a dominant chipmunk temporarily vacates a food site, spend more time there and stuff all you can. If another chipmunk is at the food site, slow down stuffing and keep an eye on him. If a subordinate chipmunk is intruding on your territory, chase him. Sure, it will cost you energy, but it will cost him energy too, and maybe he won’t come back.</div>
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Of course, it’s easy to imagine more factors: weather, steepness of terrain between burrow and foraging site…how about pouch fatigue? My small primate brain boggles at the complexities. It’s enough to make me want to chitter aggressively, jump into the bushes, and jump back out again.</div>
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Elise Tillinghast is the publisher of <i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Northern Woodlands</i> magazine.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-22944720044520345962020-01-01T18:38:00.001-08:002020-01-01T18:40:59.555-08:00Once gain, to reiterate to all who have been seduced to feel there is something clean about Windmills and Solar Farms, not only do they require significant amounts of oil to manufacture these machines, they require digging up even more open space to get the energy to us folks..........A wake up call to all as we begin 2020-------NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN WIND AND SOLAR!!!<br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 21px;">Utilities are trying to build lines to transport clean energy across states but face local resistance</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 17px;">Idaho Power has proposed a transmission line in Oregon to connect a hub in eastern Washington to the fast-growing Idaho market. Some residents say the line would mar the natural environment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: x-small;">JIM CARLTON</span></div>
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<time class="timestamp article__timestamp flexbox__flex--1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 24px;">Dec. 30, 2019 8:30 am ET</time></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LA GRANDE, Ore.—In this small town in eastern Oregon, renewable energy is widely popular. But the power lines needed to transmit it aren’t.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">La Grande is one of many communities nationwide fighting against transmission lines being built to keep up with a surge in clean-power generation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We need to develop more renewable energy, of course, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of damage to our last remaining wild places,” Brian Kelly, who helps lead a green group in the area, said of a proposed transmission line that would run through the nearby forest.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Utilities are under pressure to put up more power lines because many clean-energy plants are being built far from major cities. Renewable energy is generated from sources like the sun or wind that don’t get depleted, unlike finite amounts of oil and coal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There were about 2,500 planned or newly completed transmission projects in the U.S. last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. While the federal agency didn’t have historical data on such projects, it estimates industry costs for transmission-related operations increased to $11.4 billion last year from $6.7 billion in 2009.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">About 900 new plants, most of which produce renewable energy, were proposed last year, compared with 300 in 2004, said Glenn McGrath, an analyst with the federal agency.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Regardless of where you go, there’s always some issues—whether it’s bats, whether it’s birds, whether it’s wealthy landowners who don’t want their view interrupted,” said Dan Shreve, wind-energy research director at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. “As a consequence, you see these initiatives drag on forever.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Wisconsin residents have banded against the proposed 125-mile Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line led by American Transmission Co., which would provide the region with more clean power. An opposition group plans to appeal the state’s approval of the project west of Milwaukee issued earlier this year.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In New Mexico, locals including filmmaker Robert Redford fought Hunt Power’s proposal to build a 30-mile transmission line that would add capacity for more renewable power. In the face of the opposition, the Dallas-based energy company withdrew its federal application for the Verde Transmission Project north of Santa Fe in August.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘We need to develop more renewable energy, of course, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of damage to our last remaining wild places’</span></div>
<small><span class="inset-author article__inset__pullquote__author" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); display: block; font-size: 21px; padding-left: 10px; position: relative;">—Brian Kelly</span></small></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho Power’s proposed line in Oregon would connect a hub in eastern Washington that gathers largely hydropower and solar energy to the fast-growing Idaho market. The company said the project would cost up to $1.2 billion.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr. Kelly, restoration director of the Greater Hells Canyon Council, is one of many local residents fighting the 300-mile line. They say it would disrupt elk and deer herds, add to the wildfire threat and spoil views of the Oregon Trail, where remnants of pioneers’ wagon tracks are still visible.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho Power officials say that their equipment would have a minimal influence on wildlife, would be built with fire safety in mind and that its shorter towers would lessen the visual impacts on the Oregon Trail.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The opponents in November filed suit in federal court to block the line, pending more environmental analysis. The Oregon Energy Department, which issued a draft order in support of the line, is analyzing public input. It will then make a final recommendation that the governor’s energy council is expected to act on over the next several months. Idaho Power said it hopes to begin construction by 2023.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Initially, the Idaho Power line was going to cross about 5 miles east of La Grande through the middle of a 7,400-acre ranch known for its large elk herds. Brad Allen, a potato farmer who bought it as a hunting and recreation preserve, said he threatened to sue to block the route.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It would have devastated my ranch,” said the 55-year-old Mr. Allen.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho Power then selected two alternative routes—one hugging a ridge overlooking La Grande and the other bypassing the city-owned Morgan Lake nearby</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our interest all along has been to support what the community wants,” said Mitch Colburn, director of resource planning and operations for Idaho Power.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ridge route would cross below the home of Fuji Kreider and her husband, Jim Kreider, who have helped organize a group to stop it. They advocate generating more renewable power locally. Among their worries is the kind of <a class="icon none" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pg-e-knew-for-years-its-lines-could-spark-wildfires-and-didnt-fix-them-11562768885?mod=article_inline" style="text-decoration: none; transition: 0.3s;" target="_top">wildfire sparked</a> by<a class="" href="https://quotes.wsj.com/PCG" style="text-decoration: none; transition: 0.3s;" target="_top">PG&E</a><span class="company-name-type"> Corp.</span> equipment that destroyed Paradise, Calif., in 2018.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We want to learn from California and not repeat the same mistake,” said Mr. Kreider, 65, a retired administrator and educator.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho Power officials say that their equipment and operations are designed to be fire-safe, and that they are now focusing more on the Morgan Lake route based on the concerns. Local landowners object to that, too.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-63284088657917793442019-12-28T18:29:00.002-08:002020-01-15T17:29:29.898-08:00"In the 1970s, researchers started using the term “old growth” to describe complex, biodiverse forests at least 150 years old".........."Environmentalists prefer using the term to describe forests with large, old trees undisturbed by human impact"............. "Under the environmentalist’s characterization, much more forest would qualify as old growth"........ "The tension between these two definitions remains unresolved"<div dir="ltr">
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What is an 'old-growth' forest?</span></h2>
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What’s so good about ‘old growth’ anyway?</h4>
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Old growth forests are like a giant bank account of carbon – they store an enormous amount of carbon in their trunks, and allow even more to be stored in forest soil. Although scientists long had thought old trees can no longer absorb carbon, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/old-growth-forests-help-combat-climate-change/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #06b3a5; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_window">recent studies</a> suggest they continue to capture large amounts into old age.</div>
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Carbon in the atmosphere is one of the main causes of climate change, so preventing carbon emissions is more important than ever. Despite that, old growth forests continue to disappear globally – victims of land clearing for industrial agriculture and logging.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-29252817302194021222019-12-27T17:48:00.000-08:002019-12-27T17:51:31.128-08:00In Regions with Winters that regularly feature both ice and snow events, which trees are best adapted to not only surviving, but thriving/<div dir="ltr">
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<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__r20.rs6.net_tn.jsp-3Ff-3D0012KMILY7KwND6jA8xnJVDfLca8B0f6zQN0Hvw-2DcGIgFPPxHFt1FegZcPD6bk2OYR3e64VXvBypsNiQ1NINqji99rzaCk5vFkvOoSX7g3JIEy4zZbxnWG9P4kRd8wpMvMsVNYqyjTi2cgesn0cWv4DD5hIb7W1RyP72mrl0LqyFuaC2Ql-2DT08BcFjneIbXQry0wR2DDEYMtgMlraugvjz9WVU3Idc025-5FXk4dcHMncGbcsx7LhmYX2i5EVinERARNyAVuHnEi0hbrWyrh130DFdfZhtTxy5Vv-2Da-5FAWOuROEXgJKVjAp2JKv9t6nU9gwrtYbt71kvqvAvD7AFHbnU9r0g-3D-3D-26c-3D0T-5FS89SiHPq6DOWoEMBgWFUzUPJ0a8B4TBuCmcXUGCAq7aX27F-2DptA-3D-3D-26ch-3Dm8lxYZXE1HexNsNajMlep6OcOlolhOCkrjYOkRdAhrE6rbFkBqxZjQ-3D-3D&d=DwMFaQ&c=-SicqtCl7ffNuxX6bdsSog&r=-DxtnAHbuRRkyWQnoegVz79cCKJiYDnPm_QtmQKN7-I&m=FlKB_D1DCxSHwgLZOmu_HMWTy1fGYHAS5fpA7CPQrYg&s=2iAZo0_3sC4Yth6r3bBteHzKfGcu-RoE6g1ZegT2HMI&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__r20.rs6.net_tn.jsp-3Ff-3D0012KMILY7KwND6jA8xnJVDfLca8B0f6zQN0Hvw-2DcGIgFPPxHFt1FegZcPD6bk2OYR3e64VXvBypsNiQ1NINqji99rzaCk5vFkvOoSX7g3JIEy4zZbxnWG9P4kRd8wpMvMsVNYqyjTi2cgesn0cWv4DD5hIb7W1RyP72mrl0LqyFuaC2Ql-2DT08BcFjneIbXQry0wR2DDEYMtgMlraugvjz9WVU3Idc025-5FXk4dcHMncGbcsx7LhmYX2i5EVinERARNyAVuHnEi0hbrWyrh130DFdfZhtTxy5Vv-2Da-5FAWOuROEXgJKVjAp2JKv9t6nU9gwrtYbt71kvqvAvD7AFHbnU9r0g-3D-3D-26c-3D0T-5FS89SiHPq6DOWoEMBgWFUzUPJ0a8B4TBuCmcXUGCAq7aX27F-2DptA-3D-3D-26ch-3Dm8lxYZXE1HexNsNajMlep6OcOlolhOCkrjYOkRdAhrE6rbFkBqxZjQ-3D-3D&d=DwMFaQ&c=-SicqtCl7ffNuxX6bdsSog&r=-DxtnAHbuRRkyWQnoegVz79cCKJiYDnPm_QtmQKN7-I&m=FlKB_D1DCxSHwgLZOmu_HMWTy1fGYHAS5fpA7CPQrYg&s=2iAZo0_3sC4Yth6r3bBteHzKfGcu-RoE6g1ZegT2HMI&e=</a><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Forest Journal: When winter returns, which trees cope best?</span></h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">By Dave Anderson
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<li class="hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><time class="tnt-date asset-date text-muted" datetime="2019-12-07T20:31:00-05:00" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #777777;">Dec 7, 2019</time></span></li>
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<li class="hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><time class="tnt-date asset-date text-muted" datetime="2019-12-07T20:31:00-05:00" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #777777;"><br /></time></span></li>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">Winter precipitation can include heavy, wet snow or freezing rain and trees must endure it. Despite what sci-fi or fantasy authors might imagine, trees can’t lumber away to a more hospitable climate.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">Some trees are simply better adapted than others. The same can be said of New Hampshire’s human residents.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">So just how do trees survive harsh northern winters?</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like any living thing, trees have adapted over time to deal with the wide range of environmental conditions thrown their way, including freezing rain, ice or heavy, wet snow. Trees that are not adapted to survive periodic ice loading simply don’t live here. Southern trees struggle to survive in northern climates. Trees that lose their leaves entirely or feature thick waxy coatings over thin fine needles compete more successfully than broadleaved evergreens like laurels or rhododendrons.</span></div>
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Some cone-bearing trees like pine, spruce and hemlocks fold their branches to shrug off snow. Conifers’ limbs tend to flex to release snow loads and spring back upward. Other trees, like red and white oaks or sugar maples, stand rigid and inflexible.</div>
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Broad-beamed mature oaks and maples exhibit a lower scaffold of heavy stout branches, an architecture less prone to breaking. On the other hand, supple upper branches with narrow “v-shaped” crotches of beech and red maples tend to break apart under heavy ice loads, dumping wreckage onto roads and lawns and powerlines.</div>
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Bend, but don’t break</h3>
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Trunks of white birch — aka “paper birch” — famously bend under the weight of ice and may remain bent forever. White birch is our official state tree — what does that say about our state? I like to think we endure adversity, persevere and continue to grow, even if afterward we exhibit a kind of bent look ourselves from decades of northern winters.</div>
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Our northern deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter as a means of survival. Broad, flat leaves with tiny pores leak moisture. During spring, summer and early fall, this drives the upward movement of water from soil into the atmosphere via transpiration. In winter, when water is frozen in the soil, plants losing water through their leaves would quickly dry out in the cold. Shedding leaves is primarily an adaptation to cold temperatures to avoid drying out, but the reduction in surface area of bare branches also limits the potential to carry the excess weight of accumulating ice and snow, which would lead to more broken branches.</div>
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We see more tree damage during early snowstorms in the late autumn when trees still have some leaves. A heavy, wet snowfall at higher elevations during the “Halloween Surprise” storm hit deciduous trees harder than any comparable heavy snowfall in January.</div>
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Some New Hampshire tree species tend to retain their leaves into early winter, particularly when they are young. Botanists call these trees “marcescent.”</div>
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The more marcescent trees in New Hampshire are oaks, beech and occasionally young sugar maples. Typically, these younger saplings hold their leaves longer than more mature stems. These tree species first appeared relatively more recently — approximately 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.</div>
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The ancient relatives of oaks and beech trees originated in the tropics. Some scientists speculate they haven’t lived in the north long enough to respond as quickly to the autumnal fading light and colder temperatures, cues that it is time to shed their leaves. Northern trees that have been here for relatively longer time periods — birches, poplars, red maple and ash — have adapted and lose leaves quickly. Later arrivals — oaks and beech — have not. They exhibit their tropical families’ affinities in their propensity to hang onto their leaves into the winter. Other botanists speculate that retained leaves may afford some modest protection to the lower branches from browsing by herbivores like deer and moose.</div>
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Conifers – like an umbrella</h3>
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The more common evergreens in NH include varieties of pine, hemlock, spruce and firs. Conifers retain approximately 80% of their needles each winter. A thick waxy coating helps the needles retain moisture. Yet heavy, wet snow can naturally become an issue.</div>
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Evergreen conifers are named for their reproductive “cone-bearing” trait (rather than flowers). It is also true that having a cone-shaped silhouette helps conifer branches to fold down like the ribs of a closing umbrella against the trunk to shed the weight of snow.</div>
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Sticky freezing rain is not as easy to shed as snow, so ice builds up even on downward folded limbs that then tear off the trunk or snap. The evergreen advantage in snow does not apply during more-frequent ice storms we now seem to experience. You’ve likely witnessed lawns and roads littered with pine limbs or experienced power outages when ice-crusted limbs contact utility lines.</div>
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When it comes to heavy wet winter precipitation, Muppet front-man, “Kermit The Frog” had it right: “It’s not easy being (ever-)green.”</div>
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Naturalist Dave Anderson is senior director of education for The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Contact him at <a href="mailto:danderson@forestsociety.org" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3f88c7; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none;">danderson@forestsociety.org</a>or through the Forest Society’s website: <a href="http://forestsociety.org/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3f88c7; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none;">forestsociety.org</a>.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-21910230711570433542019-12-19T17:25:00.000-08:002019-12-19T17:25:20.554-08:00"Masting is what biologists call the pattern of trees for miles around synchronizing to all produce lots of seeds and nuts – or very few"..............."Trees make their food through photosynthesis: using energy from the sun to turn carbon dioxide into sugars and starch".............."There’s only so many resources to go around, though".............. "Once trees make a big batch of seeds, they may need to switch back to making new leaves and wood for a while, or take a year or two to replenish stored starches, before another mast event".................."Weather conditions appear to be important, especially spring weather".............. "f there’s a cold snap that freezes the flowers of the tree – and yes, oaks do have flowers, they’re just extremely small – then the tree can’t produce many seeds the following fall"............. "A drought during the summer could also kill developing seeds"..............."Trees will often shut the pores in their leaves to save water, which also reduces their ability to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis"..............."Because all the trees within a local area are experiencing essentially the same weather, these environmental cues can help coordinate their seed production, acting like a reset button they’ve all pushed at the same time"<div class="WordSection1">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://earthsky.org/earth/mast-year-synchorized-seeds-trees">https://earthsky.org/earth/mast-year-synchorized-seeds-trees</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tons of acorns in your yard? It must be a mast year</h2>
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<span class="publisher" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Posted by Earth Sky;<a class="author url fn" href="https://earthsky.org/team/earthskyblog" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 1.23rem; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Posts by EarthSky Voices"> </a></span> <span class="divider" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; padding: 0px 0.4rem;">|</span> <span class="publish-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d93d3d; font-size: 1.12rem; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit;">November 21, 2019</span></div>
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<span class="publish-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d93d3d; font-size: 1.12rem; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="publish-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d93d3d; font-size: 1.12rem; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 20.332px;">Masting is what biologists call the pattern of trees for miles around synchronizing to all produce lots of seeds – or very few. Why and how do they get on schedule?</span></span></div>
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<span class="publish-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d93d3d; font-size: 1.12rem; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 20.332px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="publish-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d93d3d; font-size: 1.12rem; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 20.332px;">If you have oak trees in your neighborhood, perhaps you’ve noticed that </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.12722.x" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; font-size: 20.332px; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">some years the ground is carpeted</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 20.332px;"> with their acorns, and some years there are hardly any. Biologists call this pattern, in which all the oak trees for miles around make either lots of acorns or almost none, “masting.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="publish-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d93d3d; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px;">Sometimes the ground seems paved in acorns. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;">Image via </span>kurutanx/Shutterstock.com</span></b><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 0.9775rem; font-style: normal;">In New England, naturalists have </span><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/10/04/yes-there-are-lot-acorns-ground-this-season-here-why/RxvCFvTh2AVA3XYfNHG14K/story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; font-size: 0.9775rem; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">declared this fall a mast year for oaks</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 0.9775rem; font-style: normal;">: All the trees are making tons of acorns all at the same time.</span></div>
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Many other types of trees, from familiar North American species such as pines and hickories to the massive <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipterocarpaceae" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">dipterocarps</a> of Southeast Asian rainforests, show similar synchronization in s<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px;">Harm to the tree’s flowers in spring doesn’t bode well for the acorn crop come fall. Image via </span><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/detail-flowering-oak-spring-close-165059594" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; font-size: 16.64px; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">almgren/Shutterstock.com</a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px;">.</span><span style="font-size: 0.9775rem;">eed production. But why and how do trees do it?</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Benefits of synchronized seeds</strong></div>
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Every seed contains a packet of energy-rich starch to feed the baby tree that lies dormant inside. This makes them a tasty prize for all sorts of animals, from beetles to squirrels to wild boar.</div>
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If trees coordinate their seed production, these seed-eating animals are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(03)00157-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">likely to get full</a> long before they eat all the seeds produced in a mast year, leaving the rest to sprout.</div>
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For trees like oaks that depend on having their seeds carried away from the parent tree and buried by animals like squirrels, a mast year has an extra benefit. When there are lots of nuts, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02857850" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">squirrels bury more of them</a> instead of eating them immediately, spreading oaks across the landscape.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Getting in sync</strong></div>
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It’s still something of a mystery how trees synchronize their seed production to get these benefits, but several elements seem to be important.</div>
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First, producing a big crop of seeds <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14114" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">takes a lot of energy</a>. Trees make their food through <a href="https://www.livescience.com/51720-photosynthesis.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">photosynthesis</a>: using energy from the sun to turn carbon dioxide into sugars and starch. There’s only so many resources to go around, though. Once trees make a big batch of seeds, they may need to switch back to making new leaves and wood for a while, or take a year or two to replenish stored starches, before another mast.</div>
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But how do individual trees decide when that mast year should be? <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0819.1" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Weather conditions appear to be important</a>, especially spring weather. If there’s a cold snap that freezes the flowers of the tree – and yes, oaks do have flowers, they’re just extremely small – then the tree can’t produce many seeds the following fall.</div>
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A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/07-0217.1" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">drought during the summer</a> could also kill developing seeds. Trees will often shut the pores in their leaves to save water, which also reduces their ability to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px;">Harm to the tree’s flowers in spring doesn’t bode well for the acorn crop come fall. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;">Image via </span>almgren/Shutterstock.com<span style="color: #333333;">.</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 0.9775rem;">Because all the trees within a local area are experiencing essentially the same weather, these environmental cues can help coordinate their seed production, acting like a reset button they’ve all pushed at the same time.</span></div>
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A third intriguing possibility that researchers are still investigating is that trees are “talking” to each other via chemical signals. Scientists know that when a plant is damaged by insects, it often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0310123" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">releases chemicals into the air that signal</a> to its other branches and to neighboring plants that they should turn on their defenses. Similar signals could potentially help trees coordinate seed production.</div>
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Investigation of tree-to-tree communication is still in its infancy, however. For instance, ecologists recently found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.4161/psb.28258" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">chemicals released from the roots</a> of the leafy vegetable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuna" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">mizuna</a> can affect the flowering time of neighboring plants. While this sort of communication is unlikely to account for the rough synchronization of seed production over dozens or even hundreds of miles, it could be important for syncing up a local area</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Masting’s effects ripple through the food web</strong></div>
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Whatever the causes, masting has consequences that flow up and down the food chain.</div>
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For instance, rodent populations often boom in response to high seed production. This in turn results in more food for rodent-eating predators like hawks and foxes; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0859-z" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">lower nesting success for songbirds</a>, if rodents eat their eggs; and potentially higher risk of transmission of diseases <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-8-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">like hantavirus (tick borne diseases like Lyme)to people</a>.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px;">Lots of nuts is good news for the animals that eat them, and the animals who eat </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px; line-height: inherit;">them</em><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16.64px;">. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;">Image via </span>TessarTheTegu/Shutterstock.com<span style="color: #333333;">.</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 0.9775rem;">If the low seed year that follows causes the rodent population to collapse, the effects are reversed.</span></div>
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The seeds of masting trees have also historically been important for feeding human populations, either directly or as food for livestock. Acorns were a staple in the diet of Native Americans in California, with families carefully <a href="https://heydaybooks.com/book/the-way-we-lived/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">tending particular oaks and storing the nuts</a> for winter. In Spain, the most prized form of ham still comes from <a href="http://www.mast-producing-trees.org/2009/11/acorn-finished-pork-an-ancient-tradition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">pigs that roam through the oak forests</a>, eating up to 20 pounds of acorns each day.</div>
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<b>A mast year can be a squirrel’s dream come true. Image via Editor77/Shutterstock.com</b>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 0.9775rem;">So the next time you take an autumn walk, check out the ground under your local oak tree – you might just see the evidence of this amazing process.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emily-moran-880563" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Emily Moran</a>, Assistant Professor of Life and Environmental Sciences, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-california-merced-2056" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of California, Merced</a></span></div>
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This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The Conversation</em></a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tons-of-acorns-it-must-be-a-mast-year-126711" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008cba; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">original article</a>.</div>
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Bottom line: Explanation of masting: the pattern of trees for miles around synchronizing to all produce lots of seeds – or very few.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-59615591489348218292019-12-16T16:51:00.001-08:002019-12-16T16:51:08.690-08:00"Mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animal and cause immense suffering"............."Ideally, we should maintain their ecosystem functions while reducing their vector causing disease burden"<a href="https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/how-it-works/the-bizarre-and-ecologically-important-hidden-lives-of-mosquitoes">https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/how-it-works/the-bizarre-and-ecologically-important-hidden-lives-of-mosquitoes</a><br />
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The bizarre and ecologically important hidden lives of mosquitoes</h1>
<span itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: gotham_bookregular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: 0px; left: -5000px; position: absolute; width: 0px;">The bizarre and ecologically important hidden lives of mosquitoes</span><br />
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<span class="name" style="color: #969696; display: block; font-family: gotham_mediumregular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px;">BY <a href="https://www.earthtouchnews.com/contributors/contributor?mId=2532" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">EARTH TOUCH NEWS</a> DECEMBER 05 2019</span></div>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/daniel-a-h-peach-880740" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">Daniel A.H. Peach</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-british-columbia-946" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">University of British Columbia</a></em></div>
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Mosquitoes. Hordes of them, buzzing in your ears and biting incessantly, a maddening nuisance without equal. And not to mention the devastating health impacts caused by malaria, Zika virus and other pathogens they spread.</div>
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But mosquitoes have a whole other life that doesn’t involve biting us; it revolves around their ecological interactions with plants.</div>
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We often view mosquitoes as bloodsuckers that do nothing but make our lives miserable. However, mosquitoes do have ecological functions. From pollination to ant puke, the secret life of mosquitoes is both bizarre and ecologically important.</div>
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Mosquitoes have many functions in the ecosystem that are overlooked. Indiscriminate mass elimination of mosquitoes would impact everything from pollination to biomass transfer to food webs.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #efefef; color: #333333;"><b>A common house mosquito, Culex pipiens, covered in tansy pollen. Image © Mike Hrabar, Author provided</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r5xB4WX7b5c/XfglVnbb1BI/AAAAAAABEfE/NY-ePu0yJyAtU0aKMvdkO-bFHu_oD_dFACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/mosquito-tansy-pollen_2019-12-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="710" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r5xB4WX7b5c/XfglVnbb1BI/AAAAAAABEfE/NY-ePu0yJyAtU0aKMvdkO-bFHu_oD_dFACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/mosquito-tansy-pollen_2019-12-05.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Mosquitoes that pollinate</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There are about <a href="http://mosquito-taxonomic-inventory.info/family-culicidae-meigen-1818" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">3,500 mosquito species</a>, many of which want nothing to do with biting humans or any other animal. Even in species that bite, it is only the females that do so and just to develop their eggs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The fundamental food of all adult mosquitoes is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.en.40.010195.002303" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">plant sugar and its associated nutrients, most often in the form of floral nectar</a>. In the process of looking for nectar, mosquitoes pollinate many of the flowers they visit — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12852" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">this is one of the most commonly overlooked ecological functions of mosquitoes</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mosquito pollination is likely far more common than we realize. There is evidence that mosquitoes function as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-016-9445-9" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">generalist pollinators</a> in some plant families, and there are many <a href="https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.63xsj3tz5" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">known instances of mosquito pollination that are simply overlooked</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mosquito pollination was observed as far back as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.50246" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">19th century</a>. Mosquito pollination is hard to see, as most mosquitoes visit flowers near or after dusk and human presence disturbs mosquitoes from nearby flowers. In the Arctic, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/09/150915-Arctic-mosquito-warming-caribou-Greenland-climate-CO2/" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">plants make use of vast hordes of nectar-hungry mosquitoes for pollination during the short growing season</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #efefef; color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mosquitoes play an important role as pollinators. Image © Shutterstock</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mosquito evolution</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The connection between mosquitoes and flowers is ancient and has likely had a strong influence on mosquito evolution. Genetic evidence supports a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-9-298" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">rapid increase in mosquito diversity corresponding with the appearance of flowering plants</a>. Mosquito scales have been found in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0696" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">flower fossils from the mid-Cretaceous era</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mosquitoes locate flowers by a variety of cues including odour and vision, and recent research has discovered that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39748-4" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">some of the odour constituents of certain flowers that mosquitoes feed on (and pollinate) are shared with humans</a>. One interpretation of this is that to mosquitoes, some flowers may smell <em>like</em> humans, possibly indicating the evolutionary origins of why some mosquitoes take blood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sourcing honeydew</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">While less ecologically important than pollination, mosquitoes also consume plant sugar that has been processed by other insects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Plant-sucking insects such as aphids excrete a sugary waste product known as honeydew, which is exploited as a food source by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0269-283X.2004.00483.x" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">many insects, including mosquitoes</a>. But honeydew is hard to find in the environment. Mosquitoes have solved this problem by using the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10020043" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">smells emitted by microbes that live in the honeydew to locate it</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Additionally, honeydew is famously consumed by many ants, which farm aphids to collect honeydew. An ant can, through strokes of its antennae, induce a compatriot that has recently eaten honeydew to regurgitate and share some of its meal. Some mosquito species have learned to exploit this for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12852" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">their own benefit</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">When a mosquito inserts its mouthparts into an ant’s mouth and strokes the ant’s head with its antennae, it tricks the ant into regurgitating and sharing its honeydew.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Biomass transfers</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mosquito larvae grow by consuming microorganisms such as algae and microbes that decompose decaying plant material. Larval mosquitoes contribute to aquatic food chains by serving as food sources for many predators, including fish and birds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If a mosquito survives to adulthood, it flies away from its aquatic habitat. This transfers the mosquito’s biomass (its material weight) to the terrestrial ecosystem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Adult mosquitoes are eaten by many creatures including birds, bats, frogs and other insects. Adult mosquitoes that die (or are eaten and excreted) then decompose, turning the microbes they consumed as larvae into nutrients for plants, completing another important ecological function.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mosquito biomass has been calculated at <a href="http://www.newsminer.com/features/sundays/alaska_science_forum/how-many-mosquitoes-are-in-alaska-trillion-biologist-estimates/article_dd5903d2-fc15-11e4-ba74-834fc2525d20.html" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">96 million pounds in Alaska alone</a>. While the contribution of nutrient-cycling by mosquitoes to plant growth and other ecosystem functions remains unstudied, the amount of biomass involved implies that it may be important.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Unique homes</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mosquito larvae can be found in most types of freshwater, from temporary snow-melt pools to lakes. They can even be found in a few types of saltwater habitats such <a href="http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/aquatic/crabhole_mosquito.htm" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">as crab burrows</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">One of the more interesting habitats that mosquito larvae can be found in are the pitchers the carnivorous plant <em>Sarracenia purpurea</em>. These pitchers are filled with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1997.tb02432.x" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">water and decomposing insects that provide food to both the plant and the mosquito</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The digestive enzymes in this plant are <a href="https://theindependent.ca/2013/04/24/a-pitcher-worth-a-thousand-words/" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">too weak to dissolve the mosquito larvae</a>. Several mosquito species place their eggs in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/sav040" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">the water that collects between the leaves of tropical plants in the Brazilian Atlantic forest</a>, and the larvae of some <a href="http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/aquatic/Coquillettidia_perturbans.htm" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">other mosquitoes</a> attach themselves to the roots of aquatic plants to breathe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Disease reduction, ecosystem balance</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #efefef; color: #333333;"><b>An Aedes mosquito feeding on the author. Mosquito blood-feeding may have evolved from feeding on floral nectar due to odour constituents shared between vertebrates and flowers. Image © Dan Peach, Author provided</b></span></div>
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Mosquitoes are also the <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">world’s deadliest animal</a> and cause immense suffering. Ideally, we should maintain the ecosystem functions of mosquitoes while also reducing disease burden.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Not all mosquito species are responsible for spreading pathogens. Targeting specific species or <a href="https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2012.105" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">making the mosquitoes themselves immune to pathogens and thus unable to spread them</a> would protect humans while keeping the ecosystem function of mosquitoes intact.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In a world of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12348" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">collapsing ecosystems</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.01.007" style="color: #52351d; font-family: gotham_mediumregular; text-decoration-line: none;">declining pollinator populations</a> we need all of the help we can get. This includes acknowledging the secret lives of mosquitoes and more sophisticated mosquito control strategies that protects their ecosystem functions.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-62348908448381196062019-12-05T16:24:00.002-08:002019-12-05T16:27:05.818-08:00" Across the Americas, we kill more than 400,000 Coyotes a year"............"Despite this full-frontal assault, this adaptable predator is thriving beyond all expectations"............"Now, it's poised to enter South America!"............."Coyotes have dramatically expanded their range since 1900, carving out habitat in suburban and urban regions across the United States—including the greater Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C, Montreal and Toronto. metro areas".............."Coyotes have colonized most of Central America in the past century".............."The Darién Gap, on the Panama-Colombia border is the final obstacle to their South American expansion"<br />
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We kill more than 400,000 a year, but this adaptable predator is thriving beyond all expectations. Now, it's poised to enter South America.</h2>
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We kill more than 400,000 a year, but this adaptable predator is thriving beyond all expectations. Now, it's poised to enter South America.</h2>
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<b>Most Biologists prefer Eastern Coyote to the term Coywolf</b></div>
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The Eastern Coyote can range a good 15 pounds heavier than</div>
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the Western Coyote due to some 15% Eastern Wolf lineage</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com</div>Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-53161931881204249452019-12-03T18:01:00.002-08:002019-12-03T18:01:21.305-08:00"Seismic lines, snowmobile trails, oil, gas and timber extraction and other human land altering activities fragment caribou habitat and facilitate their predator (wolf and black bear) movements(and killing success), simultaneously enhancing competition from white-tailed deer and moose".............."Restoring this altered habitat to optimum Caribou population carrying capacity is a long and drawn out affair that even when done in optimum fashion does not quickly mitigate predator impact on Caribou"............."Therefore, mitigation strategies that resist, or redirect Wolf, Bear, Deer and Moose movement where human land alteration has occurred can reduce the effects of those predators(and competing browsers) preying on Caribou".............."Therefore, by moving recreational snowmobiling trails, power lines et al. away from caribou habitat, may help draw wolves and bears away from caribou—thus, reducing those predators opportunistic killings of caribou-without the need to cull the Wolf and bear populations"<br />
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<a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-03-disrupting-wolf-movement-effective-caribou.html">https://phys.org/news/2019-03-disrupting-wolf-movement-effective-caribou.html</a>
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<a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-11-habitat-threatened-caribou.html">https://phys.org/news/2019-11-habitat-threatened-caribou.html</a>
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MARCH 6, 2019</div>
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Disrupting wolf movement may be more effective at protecting caribou</h1>
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by Jonah Keim, British Ecological Society</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.45); font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Photograph of an adult, female woodland caribou and a calf captured by a motion-triggered camera . Credit: Jonah Keim et al 2019</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #212438; font-size: 20px;">Woodland caribou populations have been dwindling towards local extinction across much of their range and scientists believe that predators, and specifically wolves, are a leading cause of the decline. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #212438; font-size: 20px;">Wolf populations are thought to have increased and expanded into caribou range due to the expansion of linear features, such as pipelines and roads, resulting from oil, gas and forestry development.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">Controversial practices such as wolf culling and building fenced enclosures have been implemented to reduce the encounters between wolves and at-risk woodland caribou in the Canadian Oil Sands.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">New research suggests there may be more effective and less invasive strategies to reduce the ability of wolves to encounter caribou. Researchers used motion-triggered cameras to capture photographs of wolves, caribou, and other wildlife species in the Canadian Oil Sands. The study captured more than 500,000 photographs that were used to study the habitat use patterns of the animals and test management strategies aimed at reducing the impacts of the linear developments on caribou.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">The results showed that disrupting the ability of wolves to travel on the linear developments can reduce the ability of wolves to access caribou habitat, without building fences or culling wolves.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kQJ9RUAYhfI/XecSavf6emI/AAAAAAABEG0/pq9BHpK2-0oiFv9GTpGLfOp8-e7bli_aACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/19370018._SX540_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="540" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kQJ9RUAYhfI/XecSavf6emI/AAAAAAABEG0/pq9BHpK2-0oiFv9GTpGLfOp8-e7bli_aACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/19370018._SX540_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">A paper describing the research is published in the March issue of the </span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem;">Journal of Animal Ecology</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">, a British Ecological Society journal. The paper reveals new methods for using motion-triggered cameras to study animals. In doing so, researchers found that spreading logs, felling trees, or roughing the soil surface of the linear developments can be used as a habitat recovery strategy to disrupt the ability of humans and predators to access the critical habitats of at-risk caribou.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">Disrupting the ability of animals to travel on linear developments is different than recovering the habitat. It takes decades for the habitat to recover in these northern caribou ranges and the cost of reclamation is considered prohibitive. However, disrupting travel on these same features can be more easily implemented, scaled-up across ranges, and reduce the predator's ability to encounter caribou immediately.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k0mCm6tWh2g/XecSU0suLzI/AAAAAAABEGs/budxfIW4txIU7HuQQpfGzd5SjJPv2xGpACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/depositphotos_185407496-stock-photo-a-wolf-pack-takes-down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1600" height="272" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k0mCm6tWh2g/XecSU0suLzI/AAAAAAABEGs/budxfIW4txIU7HuQQpfGzd5SjJPv2xGpACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/depositphotos_185407496-stock-photo-a-wolf-pack-takes-down.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">Jonah Keim, the lead author of the study, and his collaborators, Subhash Lele of the University of Alberta, Philip DeWitt of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry, Jeremy Fitzpatrick (Edmonton, Alberta), and Noemie Jenni of Matrix Solutions Inc. have been conducting studies in ecology and data science for more than two decades. In 2011, members of the team co-authored a study revealing the abundances, diets and habitat use patterns of caribou, wolves and moose.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">The study suggested that removing wolves may have unintended consequences. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">This January, the team released the results of a second camera study that shows how to reduce the use of caribou </span><a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/habitat/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 1.25rem;">habitat</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;"> by wolves. Surprisingly, they found that moving recreational snowmobiling trails away from caribou habitats may help draw wolves away from caribou—reducing the opportunistic killings of caribou by wolves.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lKT0iELwrV8/XecSdPs0tiI/AAAAAAABEG4/Bw1RhyfeLoY-gMbqR9fLUcBd456wX6EbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Science_Poster_Boreal_Caribou_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1578" data-original-width="753" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lKT0iELwrV8/XecSdPs0tiI/AAAAAAABEG4/Bw1RhyfeLoY-gMbqR9fLUcBd456wX6EbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Science_Poster_Boreal_Caribou_medium.jpg" width="190" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;">Encounters between wolves and caribou can be managed by reducing </span><a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/wolf+populations/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 1.25rem;">wolf populations</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;"> or by reducing the ability of wolves to access caribou. The research shows that the expansion of linear features has enabled </span><a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/wolves/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 1.25rem;">wolves</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;"> to more readily travel into caribou range and encounter caribou. Disrupting the ease-of-travel on linear features can reverse the impact on wolf-</span><a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/caribou/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 1.25rem;">caribou</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.25rem;"> encounters without wolf culling.</span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212438; font-family: Quicksand, sans-serif; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span><span style="color: #212438; font-family: Quicksand, sans-serif;"> Jonah L. Keim et al, Estimating the intensity of use by interacting predators and prey using camera traps, </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212438; font-family: Quicksand, sans-serif;">Journal of Animal Ecology</i><span style="color: #212438; font-family: Quicksand, sans-serif;"> (2019). </span><a data-doi="1" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12960" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4680ee; font-family: Quicksand, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12960</a></div>
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