Ecology, stable isotopes, and management of grassland songbirds at National Park Service properties on the Great Plains

Grassland ecosystems have been severely reduced and grassland bird populations have experienced consistent declines. National Park Service (NPS) properties on the Great Plains provide breeding habitat for grassland songbirds, though little is known about the quality of this habitat. A short-term study on songbirds at three NPS properties complemented current monitoring, providing an among park comparison addressing grassland bird productivity and fidelity relative to NPS property size. During 2008-2009, I assessed avian species richness, and estimated bird density and grassland songbird nest success. Bird species richness was greatest at small and medium sites, while number of nesting obligate species was greatest at the large site. Species-specific densities varied among sites, with few grassland obligates occurring at all three sites. Nest success estimates for grassland obligates were highest at the small site and lower at the large site. Another method to quantify habitat quality is assessment of breeding site fidelity. Current extrinsic markers used in monitoring site fidelity are inadequate for small birds; stable isotope analyses provide an alternative. I compared two techniques for assigning stable isotope tissue origin and measured grassland songbird site fidelity. My method of assigning origin provided site-specific variances of expected stable isotope values, an improvement over the most commonly used method. Fidelity tended to be higher at the large site, which may indicate a more robust breeding community of grassland birds. The small size of two of my sites precluded large sample sizes and made strong inferences difficult. To quantify how scientists cope with weak inference, I conducted a literature review. Strong inference was rarely observed, and most authors of weak-inference papers provided specific management recommendations. I suggest that adaptive management is an ideal method to resolve uncertainty from weak inference. Managers should consider my results within the context of regional and global management and the extent to which their unit might aide songbird conservation.

A river runs through it - ancient DNA data on the neolithic populations of the Great Hungarian Plain

This thesis was part of a multidisciplinary research project funded by the German Research Foundation (“Bevölkerungsgeschichte des Karpatenbeckens in der Jungsteinzeit und ihr Einfluss auf die Besiedlung Mitteleuropas”, grant no. Al 287/10-1) aimed at elucidating the population history of the Carpathian Basin during the Neolithic. The Carpathian Basin was an important waypoint on the spread of the Neolithic from southeastern to central Europe. On the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld), the first farming communities appeared around 6000 cal BC. They belonged to the Körös culture, which derived from the Starčevo-Körös-Criş complex in the northern Balkans. Around 5600 cal BC the Alföld-Linearbandkeramik (ALBK), so called due to its stylistic similarities with the Transdanubian and central European LBK, emerged in the northwestern Alföld. Following a short “classical phase”, the ALBK split into several regional subgroups during its later stages, but did not expand beyond the Great Hungarian Plain. Marking the beginning of the late Neolithic period, the Tisza culture first appeared in the southern Alföld around 5000 cal BC and subsequently spread into the central and northern Alföld. Together with the Herpály and Csőszhalom groups it was an integral part of the late Neolithic cultural landscape of the Alföld. Up until now, the Neolithic cultural succession on the Alföld has been almost exclusively studied from an archaeological point of view, while very little is known about the population genetic processes during this time period. The aim of this thesis was to perform ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses on human samples from the Alföld Neolithic and analyse the resulting mitochondrial population data to address the following questions: is there population continuity between the Central European Mesolithic hunter-gatherer metapopulation and the first farming communities on the Alföld? Is there genetic continuity from the early to the late Neolithic? Are there genetic as well as cultural differences between the regional groups of the ALBK? Additionally, the relationships between the Alföld and the neighbouring Transdanubian Neolithic as well as other European early farming communities were evaluated to gain insights into the genetic affinities of the Alföld Neolithic in a larger geographic context. 320 individuals were analysed for this study; reproducible mitochondrial haplogroup information (HVS-I and/or SNP data) could be obtained from 242 Neolithic individuals. According to the analyses, population continuity between hunter-gatherers and the Neolithic cultures of the Alföld can be excluded at any stage of the Neolithic. In contrast, there is strong evidence for population continuity from the early to the late Neolithic. All cultural groups on the Alföld were heavily shaped by the genetic substrate introduced into the Carpathian Basin during the early Neolithic by the Körös and Starčevo cultures. Accordingly, genetic differentiation between regional groups of the ALBK is not very pronounced. The Alföld cultures are furthermore genetically highly similar to the Transdanubian Neolithic cultures, probably due to common ancestry. In the wider European context, the Alföld Neolithic cultures also highly similar to the central European LBK, while they differ markedly from contemporaneous populations of the Iberian Peninsula and the Ukraine. Thus, the Körös culture, the ALBK and the Tisza culture can be regarded as part of a “genetic continuum” that links the Neolithic Carpathian Basin to central Europe and likely has its roots in the Starčevo -Körös-Criş complex of the northern Balkans.

Review of The Great Pictorial History of World Crime. By Jay Robert Nash. Wilmette, Ill.: History, Inc., 2004.

Frazier reviews The Great Pictorial History of World Crime by Jay Robert Nash.

Immune Activation Reduces Sperm Quality in the Great Tit

Mounting an immune response against pathogens incurs costs to organisms by its effects on important life-history traits, such as reproductive investment and survival. As shown recently, immune activation produces large amounts of reactive species and is suggested to induce oxidative stress. Sperm are highly susceptible to oxidative stress, which can negatively impact sperm function and ultimately male fertilizing efficiency. Here we address the question as to whether mounting an immune response affects sperm quality through the damaging effects of oxidative stress. It has been demonstrated recently in birds that carotenoid-based ornaments can be reliable signals of a male's ability to protect sperm from oxidative damage. In a full-factorial design, we immune-challenged great tit males while simultaneously increasing their vitamin E availability, and assessed the effect on sperm quality and oxidative damage. We conducted this experiment in a natural population and tested the males' response to the experimental treatment in relation to their carotenoid-based breast coloration, a condition-dependent trait. Immune activation induced a steeper decline in sperm swimming velocity, thus highlighting the potential costs of an induced immune response on sperm competitive ability and fertilizing efficiency. We found sperm oxidative damage to be negatively correlated with sperm swimming velocity. However, blood resistance to a free-radical attack (a measure of somatic antioxidant capacity) as well as plasma and sperm levels of oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation) remained unaffected, thus suggesting that the observed effect did not arise through oxidative stress. Towards the end of their breeding cycle, swimming velocity of sperm of more intensely colored males was higher, which has important implications for the evolution of mate choice and multiple mating in females because females may accrue both direct and indirect benefits by mating with males having better quality sperm.

Outcome in adult patients after arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries

BACKGROUND: The arterial switch operation (ASO) is currently the treatment of choice in neonates with transposition of the great arteries (TGA). The outcome in childhood is encouraging but only limited data for long-term outcome into adulthood exist. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 145 adult patients (age>16, median 25years) with ASO followed at our institution. Three patients died in adulthood (mortality 2.4/1000-patient-years). Most patients were asymptomatic and had normal left ventricular function. Coronary lesions requiring interventions were rare (3 patients) and in most patients related to previous surgery. There were no acute coronary syndromes. Aortic root dilatation was frequent (56% patients) but rarely significant (>45mm in 3 patients, maximal-diameter 49mm) and appeared not to be progressive. There were no acute aortic events and no patient required elective aortic root surgery. Progressive neo-aortic-valve dysfunction was not observed in our cohort and only 1 patient required neo-aortic-valve replacement. Many patients (42.1%), however, had significant residual lesions or required reintervention in adulthood. Right ventricular outflow tract lesions or dysfunction of the neo-pulmonary-valve were frequent and 8 patients (6%) required neo-pulmonary-valve replacement. Cardiac interventions during childhood (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.7-5.4, P<0.0001) were strong predictors of outcome (cardiac intervention/significant residual lesion/death) in adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: Adult patients with previous ASO remain free of acute coronary or aortic complications and have low mortality. However, a large proportion of patients require re-interventions or present with significant right sided lesions. Life-long cardiac follow-up is, therefore, warranted. Periodic noninvasive surveillance for coronary complications appears to be safe in adult ASO patients.

What Ended the Great Depression? Re-Evaluating the Role of Fiscal Policy

Conventional wisdom contends that fiscal policy was of secondary importance for the economic recovery in the 1930s. The recovery is then connected to monetary policy that allowed non-sterilised gold inflows to increase the money supply. Often this is shown by measuring the fiscal multipliers and demonstrating that they were relatively small. This paper shows that problems with the conventional measures of fiscal multipliers in the 1930s may have created an incorrect consensus on the irrelevance of fiscal policy. The rehabilitation of fiscal policy is seen as a necessary step in the reinterpretation of the positive role of New Deal policies for the recovery.

The Great Recession and its Impact on Families

In 2009, Clark University was accepted as the university to represent Massachusetts in the National Policy Institute for Family Impact Seminars at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (http://familyimpactseminars.org). Family Impact Seminars are a series of annual seminars, briefing reports, and discussion sessions that provide up-to-date, solution-oriented research on current issues for state legislators, legislative staff, and executive branch personnel. The seminars provide objective, nonpartisan research on current issues and do not lobby for particular policies. Seminar participants discuss policy options and identify common ground where it exists.

The arterial switch operation in Europe for transposition of the great arteries: a multi-institutional study from the European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzes the results of the arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries in member institutions of the European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association. METHODS: The records of 613 patients who underwent primary arterial switch operations in each of 19 participating institutions in the period from January 1998 through December 2000 were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: A ventricular septal defect was present in 186 (30%) patients. Coronary anatomy was type A in 69% of the patients, and aortic arch pathology was present in 20% of patients with ventricular septal defect. Rashkind septostomy was performed in 75% of the patients, and 69% received prostaglandin. There were 37 hospital deaths (operative mortality, 6%), 13 (3%) for patients with an intact ventricular septum and 24 (13%) for those with a ventricular septal defect (P < .001). In 36% delayed sternal closure was performed, 8% required peritoneal dialysis, and 2% required mechanical circulatory support. Median ventilation time was 58 hours, and intensive care and hospital stay were 6 and 14 days, respectively. Although of various preoperative risk factors the presence of a ventricular septal defect, arch pathology, and coronary anomalies were univariate predictors of operative mortality, only the presence of a ventricular septal defect approached statistical significance (P = .06) on multivariable analysis. Of various operative parameters, aortic crossclamp time and delayed sternal closure were also univariate predictors; however, only the latter was an independent statistically significant predictor of death. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the procedure in European centers are compatible with those in the literature. The presence of a ventricular septal defect is the clinically most important preoperative risk factor for operative death, approaching statistical significance on multivariable analysis.