•We created a statewide metapopulation model for mountain lions in Montana.•We used our model to predict change in population growth given proposed harvest rates.•The effect of uncertainty in initial ...parameter estimations and dispersal rate lessen with scale.•Tools such as this are useful in harvest planning at regional and statewide levels.
To be most effective, the scale of wildlife management practices should match the range of a particular species’ movements. For this reason, combined with our inability to rigorously or regularly census mountain lion populations, several authors have suggested that mountain lions be managed in a source-sink or metapopulation framework. We used a combination of resource selection functions, mortality estimation, and dispersal modeling to estimate cougar population levels in Montana statewide and potential population level effects of planned harvest levels. Between 1980 and 2012, 236 independent mountain lions were collared and monitored for research in Montana. From these data we used 18,695 GPS locations collected during winter from 85 animals to develop a resource selection function (RSF), and 11,726 VHF and GPS locations from 142 animals along with the locations of 6343 mountain lions harvested from 1988–2011 to validate the RSF model. Our RSF model validated well in all portions of the State, although it appeared to perform better in Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) Regions 1, 2, 4 and 6, than in Regions 3, 5, and 7. Our mean RSF based population estimate for the total population (kittens, juveniles, and adults) of mountain lions in Montana in 2005 was 3926, with almost 25% of the entire population in MFWP Region 1. Estimates based on a high and low reference population estimates produce a possible range of 2784 to 5156 mountain lions statewide. Based on a range of possible survival rates we estimated the mountain lion population in Montana to be stable to slightly increasing between 2005 and 2010 with lambda ranging from 0.999 (SD=0.05) to 1.02 (SD=0.03). We believe these population growth rates to be a conservative estimate of true population growth. Our model suggests that proposed changes to female harvest quotas for 2013–2015 will result in an annual statewide population decline of 3% and shows that, due to reduced dispersal, changes to harvest in one management unit may affect population growth in neighboring units where smaller or even no changes were made. Uncertainty regarding dispersal levels and initial population density may have a significant effect on predictions at a management unit scale (i.e. 2000km2), while at a regional scale (i.e. 50,000km2) large differences in initial population density result in relatively small changes in population growth rate, and uncertainty about dispersal may not be as influential. Doubling the presumed initial density from a low estimation of 2.19 total animals per 100km2 resulted in a difference in annual population growth rate of only 2.6% statewide when compared to high density of 4.04 total animals per 100km2 (low initial population estimate λ=0.99, while high initial population estimate λ=1.03). We suggest modeling tools such as this may be useful in harvest planning at a regional and statewide level.
► We quantified the contribution of two local populations to their metapopulations. ► Sources and sinks were operationally defined with interpopulation vital rates. ► Source populations may still ...depend on interpopulation movements for growth. ► Anthropogenic mortality shape source–sink dynamics via interpopulation vital rates. ► Anthropogenic mortality reduced the amount, extent, and effectiveness of dispersal.
An understanding of how stressors affect dispersal attributes and the contribution of local populations to multi-population dynamics are of immediate value to basic and applied ecology. Puma (Puma concolor) populations are expected to be influenced by inter-population movements and susceptible to human-induced source–sink dynamics. Using long-term datasets we quantified the contribution of two puma populations to operationally define them as sources or sinks. The puma population in the Northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (NGYE) was largely insulated from human-induced mortality by Yellowstone National Park. Pumas in the western Montana Garnet Mountain system were exposed to greater human-induced mortality, which changed over the study due to the closure of a 915km2 area to hunting. The NGYE’s population growth depended on inter-population movements, as did its ability to act as a source to the larger region. The heavily hunted Garnet area was a sink with a declining population until the hunting closure, after which it became a source with positive intrinsic growth and a 16× increase in emigration. We also examined the spatial and temporal characteristics of individual dispersal attributes (emigration, dispersal distance, establishment success) of subadult pumas (N=126). Human-caused mortality was found to negatively impact all three dispersal components. Our results demonstrate the influence of human-induced mortality on not only within population vital rates, but also inter-population vital rates, affecting the magnitude and mechanisms of local population’s contribution to the larger metapopulation.
Understanding the social dynamics of large carnivores is critical to effective conservation and management planning. We made the first attempt to delineate both paternity and relatedness for a ...population of cougar (Puma concolor) using microsatellite data. We analyzed a long-term genetic dataset collected from a hunted population in the Garnet Mountains of western Montana. We assigned paternity for 62.5% of litters sampled using both exclusion and likelihood analyses. Attempts at reconstructing unsampled paternal genotypes resulted in delineating possible sires for 8 more litters. Sires were on average younger than reported for males involved in pairings assessed via field data in other cougar populations. Although most mating pairs were unrelated, 5 of 17 pairings involved cougars with levels of relatedness corresponding to half-sibling and full-sibling or parent offspring relationship (r = 0.215–0.575). Relatedness among adult and subadult males was higher than relatedness levels among adult and subadult females. Relatedness among males in the Garnet population differed from patterns hypothesized to occur under male-biased dispersal theories for cougars. The long-term impact of the turnover of resident cougars in hunted populations is still unclear and warrants additional research. Our results highlight the utility of monitoring cougar demographic parameters using a combination of genetic and field data that in turn may assist managers with determining cougar harvest quotas or strategies, harvest seasons, sustainable harvest, and the appropriate management level of cougar populations.
As the marine transportation industry struggles to find enough capable employees to fill current vacancies, insurance carriers cannot ignore the growing concern about the future maritime workforce ...supply. There are several factors that are contributing to the labor shortage. One is the transition to new technology. On the deck, the huge wooden wheel has disappeared, only to be replaced by sophisticated navigational tools. Today, all of these so-called blue-collar industries face the same problem -- there are not enough high school graduates to go around. The maritime industry needs to find ways to raise the visibility of the variety of opportunities they have to offer.
Technology has made moving cargo from Point A to Point B so much faster and easier that few people are nostalgic for the bygone era when shipping freight meant manhandling boxes and checking lading ...lists with a clipboard. Today, cargo is often containerized, microchipped and seamlessly tracked from one shipper to its destination, across oceans and land masses. Sometimes overlooked, however, is that the same technology that streamlines the process for shippers also has provided thieves with unprecedented opportunities to use technology for their ulterior motives. Containerization has made it easier for criminals to steal millions of dollars' worth of goods at once. To stay ahead of the thieves who target cargo, those who own the goods and those who take custody of them in transit need to be aware of crime trends and security innovations. Whether the need is for inland marine or ocean marine coverage, the information about trends and industry alliances presented in this article can help agents become knowledgeable risk managers for their customers.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify factors associated with the presence and use of internal audit functions (IAFs) at US colleges and universities, as well as their relationship with ...financial reporting quality and federal grant outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a combination of publicly available and manually collected data, this paper uses a two-stage model to examine both the factors associated with the use of IAFs within US institutions of higher education and the consequences therein.
Findings
Results indicate that institutions with larger enrollments and endowments, those that receive public funding and those that have an audit committee are more likely to maintain an IAF. Findings also suggest that the presence of an IAF is negatively associated with reported material weaknesses for major programs at significant levels. Finally, the presence of an IAF is found to have a positive and significant association with federal grants received by the institution, with an even stronger association for IAFs that perform grant-specific procedures.
Originality/value
The study’s findings provide the first large-sample quantitative insights on IAF work within US colleges and universities. Results should be of interest to college/university leadership as they attempt to improve financial reporting quality and grant outcomes, as well as external stakeholders looking to evaluate whether institutions are acting as good stewards over resources. Additionally, the Institute of Internal Auditors may find the results helpful when promoting the profession.
Concern is growing about the ability of categorical medicine residency programs, structured within academic health centers, to provide balanced, progressive, postgraduate internal medicine education. ...Detrimental factors, including over-representation of critically ill patients, shortened length of hospitalization, stress, discontinuity between undergraduate and graduate training, rotational assignments driven by hospital service imperatives, and total costs, may all negatively affect internal medicine residency education. Therefore, an experimental accelerated internal medicine (AIM) curriculum combining 3 years of undergraduate with 3 years of graduate internal medicine education has been initiated by the Department of Medicine and the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky. After completion of the third year and during the first 13 months of the AIM curriculum, selected students are rotated through an integrated series of educational experiences that incorporate all of the requirements for graduation from medical school and progressively advance the students' skills, knowledge, and responsibilities to that of a second-year resident. Thereafter, the curriculum is similar to that of the categorical residents, except that more ambulatory care and off-site rotations are interspersed to better provide the educational experiences representative of the practice of internal medicine. Evaluations of the first groups of AIM residents indicate that their performance has equaled that of the control residents who graduated after 4 years from the College of Medicine. Furthermore, the AIM residents report general acceptance by their fellow residents and attending physicians and report no undue stress in making the transition.
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