JANUARY 2005 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY | ountain snowpack in western North America is a key component of the hydrologic cycle, storing water from the winter (when most precipitation falls) and releasing it in spring and early summer, when economic, environmental, and recreational demands for water throughout the West are frequently greatest. In most river basins of the West, especially in...

Intolerance to lactose owing to deficiency of lactase is particularly prevalent among non-Caucasian peoples. Special caution is therefore needed in offering them milk supplements. Lactose tolerance has been investigated among the !Kung in the north-western Kalahari. The opportunity was taken also to examine their acetylator status, as this affects their ability to detoxicate drugs given for the...

Based on morphology, fungal species have been considered widespread and as a result names of species from Europe or eastern North America were applied to species in western North America. However, DNA sequences have shown that many western taxa are different from their European counterparts; one such case is presented here. Comparisons of ITS and LSU rDNA sequences from ectomycorrhizal root tip...

Fungi in the basidiomycete species complex Heterobasidion annosum are significant root-rot pathogens of conifers throughout the northern hemisphere. We utilize a multilocus phylogenetic approach to examine hypotheses regarding the evolution and divergence of two Heterobasidion taxa associated with pines: the Eurasian H. annosum sensu stricto and the North American H. annosum P intersterility gr...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the morphometric and reproductive traits of indigenous dairy goat types. It was conducted in three districts (Ebnat, Gonji-kolela and Farta) based on the agro-ecological differences, goat population potentials and experience of the farmers using goat milk. Semi-structured questionnaires, field observations, morphological and reproductive trait measure...

Monarch butterflies are best known for their spectacular annual migration from eastern North America to Mexico. Monarchs also occur in the North American states west of the Rocky Mountains, from where they fly shorter distances to the California Coast. Whether eastern and western North American monarchs form one genetic population or are genetically differentiated remains hotly debated, and res...

Background Fire is known to affect forest biodiversity, carbon storage, and public health today; however, comparable fire histories from across regions in Amazonia are lacking. Consequently, the degree which past fires could have preconditioned modern resilience remains unknown.Aim We characterised long-term (multi-millennial) history of forests determine spatial temporal differences regimes.Me...