Restoration of wet prairie in the central midwestern United States should include Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), but historic densities of this once dominant species are not easily achieved. Spartina pectinata was transplanted into a former agricultural field in three planting strategies: 20 small plugs, 4 medium-sized plugs, and a single large plug, with each treatment area totaling 0...

Increases in plant size and structural complexity with increasing age have important implications for water flow through trees. Water supply to the crown is influenced by both the cross-sectional area and the permeability of sapwood. It has been hypothesized that hydraulic conductivity within sapwood increases with age. We investigated changes in sapwood permeability (k) and anatomy with tree a...

Much interest lies in the identification of manageable habitat variables that affect key vital rates for species of concern. For ground-nesting birds, vegetation surrounding the nest may play an important role in mediating nest success by providing concealment from predators. Height of grasses surrounding the nest is thought to be a driver of nest survival in greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus u...

BACKGROUND Studies addressing the influence of early sexual maturation on the excess of body weight and height of children and adolescents are scarce. The aim of the study was to analyze the association of sexual maturation with excess body weight and height in children and adolescents. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study performed in Florianópolis city, Brazil, in 2007, with 2339 school...

it has often been stated or implied that grazing is an important factor in the land degradation process, a suggestion supported by various research projects, and this study investigated the effect of livestock grazing on stem height, crowncover, production, basal diameter, stem biomass, litter, leaf-stem index (leaf to stem weight) , root diameter and weight and seed production per individual o...

Development and evaluation of noninvasive methods for monitoring species distribution and abundance is a growing area of ecological research. While noninvasive methods have the advantage of reduced risk of negative factors associated with capture, comparisons to methods using more traditional invasive sampling is lacking. Historically kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) occupied the desert and semi-ari...

introduction: malnutrition remains the most serious children health problem and the most main cause of children mortality in the world health organization (who) eastern mediterranean region. nearly one-third of children in the region are either underweight or stunted, and more than 30% of the population suffers from micro-nutrient deficiencies.the aim of this study is to determine the prevalenc...

The Modular Ocean Data Assimilation System (MODAS) produces oceanographic nowcasts based on a) climatology, b) remotely-sensed sea surface temperature and height, and c) in-situ measurements. Recent analyses have shown that the locations of in-situ measurements can have a profound influence on the accuracy of the MODAS synthetic profiles. Small-scale variability combined with sparse sampling an...