Miscellaneous
| Project: | Mineralogy and weathering processes in basic metavolcanic "greenstone" in the Sierra Foothill region of Northern California |
| Project Leader: | Allardice, W.R., R.A. Dahlgren, and M.J. Singer |
| Summary: | 1990. Amer. Soc. Agron. Annual Meet., San Antonio, TX (Abstr.). p. 459. Weathering processes were examined in Typic Haploxeralfs formed in upper Jurassic basic metavolcanic greenstone. The objective of our study was to examine the role of weathering processes and soil mineralogy as it pertains to nutrient cycling. Results indicate a weathering sequence of primary chlorite --> vermiculite-chlorite intergrade --> vermiculite and smectite. In the upper soil horizons, the vermiculite appears to be transformed to mica by K enrichment associated with biocycling. In contrast, in the lower portion of the profile where K levels are low, vermiculite weathers to smectite. Ref.139\63.58. |
| Project: | Exotic dung beetles in pasture and rangeland ecosystems |
| Project Leader: | Anderson, J.R., and E.C. Loomis |
| Summary: | 1978 California Agriculture 32(2): pp. 31-32. Because exotic dung beetles rapidly bury cattle dung pads and thereby reduce pest fly breeding sites, they are expected to represent a permanent, self-perpetuating type of pest management. Field releases have shown that three species have successfully overwintered in different parts of the state. Systemic insecticides provided in cattle rations render cattle dung toxic to both native and exotic dung beetles. |
| Project: | The insect-free cattle dropping and its relationship to increased dung fouling of rangeland pastures |
| Project Leader: | Anderson, J.R., R.W. Merritt, and E.C. Loomis |
| Summary: | 1984. J. Econ. Entomol. 77: pp. 133-141. Natural and experimentally formed dung pads dropped on range in May and early June totally smothered covered forage during the first year. However, the invasion and feeding activity of hundreds of Aphodium fimetarious (L.) adults in many such pads, plus annual fall rains, resulted in 70 to 80% decomposition of the pads during the next growing season. Other factors assessed, evaluated, and reviewed were different types of bioassays for assessing dung pad degradation, factors affecting the process and rate of degradation, and the adverse economic impact associated with dung pad fouling, plus the rejection of associated rank growth of forage. |
| Project: | Basic inventory of vegetation and soils in the Sierra Foothill Range Station Scott 13 - Scott 14 Complex |
| Project Leader: | Bonner, K., and G. Brackley |
| Summary: | 1974. Term Report for RM 199 Winter Quarter: p. 29. This study was conducted during the winter quarter of 1974. Soil depth sampling was accomplished between February 28, and March 12, 1974. Sierra Foothill Range Field Station rainfall records show an accumulative total of 31.48 inches to March 1, with 2.65 inches falling during the month of February, for fiscal year 1974-1975. |
| Project: | The nematode Heterotylenchus autumnalis and face fly Musca autumnalis: a field study in northern California |
| Project Leader: | Kaya, H.K., and R.D. Moon |
| Summary: | 1978. J. Nematol. 10: pp. 331-341. Hetertoylenchus autumnalis was found in six northern California counties surveyed, and the incidence of nematode infection of face flies ranged from 4.7 to 43.8%. Intensive studies at a cattle ranch in Yuba County showed that population densities of the host and nematode infections were highest in flies from cow pats receiving full sun. Average host population density was 105.7 puparia per pat, and nematode infection averaged 38.6%. Pats in partial sun averaged 13.5 puparia and 13.1% nematode infection. No face fly was recovered from shaded pats. Ref.95\61.62. |
| Project: | Influence of the nematode Heterotylenchus autumnalis on the behavior of face fly Musca autumnalis |
| Project Leader: | Kaya, H.K., and R.D. Moon |
| Summary: | 1979. Environ. Entomol. 8: pp. 537-540. Face flies of both sexes infected with the nematode, visited the faces of cattle and fresh cattle dung. However, female flies greatly outnumbered males at both sources. Generally, infected male flies found on cattle and dung contained young nematodes. In contrast, infected females on cattle contained nematodes of all ages, and most infected females from dung contained older nematodes. The propensity of healthy female flies to visit faces of cattle and dung depended on their gonadotrophic age. The majority of flies with immature eggs were found on cattle while the majority with mature eggs were found on dung. Ref.96\61.63. |
| Project: | Fate of urushiol (poison oak toxicant) when consumed by dairy goats |
| Project Leader: | Kouakou, B. |
| Summary: | 1991 Thesis, Univ. of Calif., Davis: p. 42. The specific goal of this study was to determine if urushiol and/or its metabolites would be found in the milk, urine, and feces of dairy goats eating poison oak. From the data collected and the procedures used in our initial studies, no urushiol was identified in the urine and the milk. Urushiols were found only in the feces. Based on the finding of this initial research, it is not possible to conclude that urushiol metabolites are not found in the milk or the urine, because the procedures used here were specific for catechol analysis. More specific methodology must be developed to trace the fate of urushiol metabolites in meat and milk, and their elimination products, of dairy goats browsing poison oak. |
| Project: | Dairy goats used to clear poison oak do not transfer toxicant to milk |
| Project Leader: | Kouakou, B., D. Rampersad, E. Rodriguez, and D.L. Brown |
| Summary: | 1992 California Agriculture 46(3): pp. 4-6. Dairy goats that eat poison oak do not transfer detectible amounts of the toxic principle, urushiol, to the milk or to the urine. Furthermore, this oily, toxic irritant is found in goat manure at less than 9% of its concentration in poison oak leaves. What does all this portend? That farmers using dairy goats to clear poison oak need not worry about contaminating the goats' milk with urushiol. More studies are underway. |
| Project: | Lyme borreliosis in California |
| Project Leader: | Lane, R.S., and P.E. LaVoie |
| Summary: | 1988 Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci. 539: pp. 192-203. In the western United States, Lyme borreliosis (LB) was first reported as a distinct clinical entity in 1978 in a hiker bitten by an Ixodes tick in Sonoma County, California. Details of four additional cases among northern California residents with onsets between 1977 and 1980 were described in 1983, and since then the number of cases diagnosed from this region has risen steadily. Elsewhere in the Far West, sporadic cases of LB have been reported from Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. |
| Project: | LYME BORRELIOSIS: Relation of its causative agent to its vectors and hosts in North American and Europe |
| Project Leader: | Lane, R.S., J. Piesman, and W. Burgdorfer |
| Summary: | 1991 Annual Rev. Entomol. 36: pp. 587-609. Changing human land-use patterns during the second half of the twentieth century appear to have provided an environmental mosaic suitable for wildlife and I. dammini to thrive in parts of the northeastern and midwestern United States. Critical hosts for the enzootic cycle of I. dammini-transmitted B. burgdorgeri include the white-footed mouse as a host for immature ticks and as a reservoir of the spirochete and white-tailed deer as a host for adult I. dammini. The nymphal stage of I. dammini seems to be primarily responsible for transmission of the Lyme disease spirochete. |
| Project: | The species diversity and abundance of insects inhabiting cattle droppings and their role in the degradation of dung in four different pasture and rangeland ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California |
| Project Leader: | Merritt, R.W. |
| Summary: | 1974 Ph.D. Thesis, UCDavis: p. 273. A two-year study at the Sierra Foothill REC consisted of: 1) a quantitative analysis of the differences in diversity and abundance of the insect fauna colonizing and inhabiting diurnally and nocturnally excreted cattle droppings in four different pasture and rangeland ecosystems (cultivated irrigated pasture, natural woodland range, partially cleared woodland range, totally cleared woodland range), and 2) a study of the relationship between the diversity and abundance of insect inhabitants per cowpat and the rate of pat degradation. |
| Project: | What can we say about social structure? |
| Project Leader: | Rowell, T.E. |
| Summary: | There seems to be general agreement on some hierarchical, nesting system of sociality, although whether the hierarchy is of organization or simply of description is still under discussion. On the whole we can say increasingly little about animal social systems as we move up the hierarchy, to the point of being increasingly doubtful about whether the higher levels exist or not. We have become fairly sophisticated about the lower levels of the hierarchy, largely thanks to Hinde's leadership, and we now accept a degree of complexity and continuity in relationships which would have been unthinkable 30 years ago. |
| Project: | Till death us do part: long-lasting bonds between ewes and their daughters |
| Project Leader: | Rowell, T.E. |
| Summary: | 1991 Anim. Behav. 42: pp. 1-2. Data from 11 ewe-lamb pairs of feral Texan barbado sheep that were followed for more than a year showed that some mothers and daughters maintained strong associations for up to 2 years. The possibility on an extended matrilineal system is suggested by the fact that the ewe flocks were usually led by the oldest ewe present (82% of 139 records). It seems that bonds between mothers and daughters may persist but do not always do so even when both survive. Socio-demographic factors may play a part. Since such different findings lead to fundamentally different predictions about the social organization of sheep, it is important to try to understand how they might arise. |
| Project: | The Social Organization of Feral Ovis aries Ram Groups in the Pre-rut Period |
| Project Leader: | Rowell, T.E., and C.A. Rowell |
| Summary: | 1993 Ethology 95: pp. 213-232. Primates are described as having peculiarly complex social behaviour when compared with other mammals, but the methods and expectations of primatologists also differ from those of other mammalogists, confounding the comparison. A very simple social organization has been described for sheep. Correlation between the effects of age and rank varied with current demography. Comparison is drawn between monkey and sheep social behaviour, and it is concluded that perceived differences are partly due to differences in the expectations and methods of their respective students. |
| Project: | Effects of in vitro rumen fluid incubation and pepsin HCL treatment on poison oak urushiol |
| Project Leader: | Tzeng, C.C., and D.L. Brown |
| Summary: | 1994 Joint An. Meet. ADSA/ASAS, Minneapolis, MN (Abstr.) July 11-15, 1994: p. 1. To determine if urushiol is destroyed or altered by in vitro rumen fluid and/or pepsin HCL incubation. Poison oak leaf samples of 0.5g were incubated for 24, 48, or 72h with 40 ml phosphate buffer and 10 ml rumen fluid in a CO2 atmosphere. Neither rumen action alone, nor rumen action plus pepsin HCL could account for the 91% disappearance of urushiol from the GI tract observed in previous investigations. |