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Mechanical oscillations or vibrations on spacecraft, also called pointing jitter, cause geometric distortions and/or smear in high-resolution digital images acquired from orbit. Geometric distortion is especially a problem with pushbroom sensors, such as the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on-board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Geometric distortions occur at

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Due to the small population size (∼400 birds) and continuing threats to wild Whooping Cranes (Grus americana), an ex situ (captive) population is maintained to contribute to the recovery of the species. The goals of the captive breeding program are to provide opportunity for research and birds for reintroduction. However, reproduction among captive birds is far from optimal. Specifically, whooping

Because of the small size and restricted range of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population, reintroduction is a prominent element of the recovery effort to ensure persistence of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana). A fundamental objective of all Whooping Crane reintroduction efforts is the establishment of a self-sustaining population. Therefore, success of reintroduction efforts will ultimately be determ

The Whooping Crane (Grus americana), endemic to North America, is the rarest of all crane species. It is believed that in the early 1800s, the Whooping Crane was widespread in North America, though it was never very abundant. Whooping Crane numbers decreased precipitously as westward migration of Euro-American settlers converted prairie to cropland and the birds were hunted. By the early 1940s the

The reintroduction of the Eastern Migratory Population of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) has shown the most promise of any effort to date toward the establishment of a self-sustaining population. However, reproduction – including both nest success and chick survival – has been a major challenge. Here, we review the research and management efforts deployed to identify and address this challenge.

For long-lived species with low fecundity rates, population growth rate can be sensitive to changes in annual survival. Understanding where, when, and why animals die provides useful information for prioritizing conservation practices designed to increase survival. As part of a satellite tracking study, we identified 19 confirmed and suspected deaths of Whooping Cranes of various ages from the Ara

The endangered Whooping Crane (Grus americana) historically had a wide distribution that covered diverse ecoregions across North America while retaining consistent habitat preferences within each ecoregion. We reevaluate the historic information compiled by Robert Porter Allen in 1952 and added 74 other records. Based on the ecological features of historic locations relative to crane life history,

This paper provides an overview by the editors of a collection of 25 papers for the Studies of Western Birds, to be published in a single volume by Western Field Ornithologists. The title of the volume is: "Trends and traditions: Avifaunal change in western North America."

The breeding population of California Gulls (Larus californicus) in the San Francisco Bay estuary increased from 24 individuals in 1980 to a peak of over 53,000 in 2014, then declined to 38,040 in 2016. The expansion of the breeding population may be related to the availability of suitable nesting sites in close proximity to anthropogenic food subsidies at landfills. Telemetry data indicate that C

Mineral formation in the modern oceans can take place over millions of years as a result precipitation from ambient ocean water, or orders of magnitude more rapidly from hydrothermal activity related to magmatic and tectonic processes. Here, we review associations between transform faults and related fracture zones and marine minerals. We define marine transform faults as strike-slip or oblique fa

Local conditions, including lake size, depth, bathymetric profile, watershed characteristics, and timing and extent of ice cover determine the characteristics of diatom floras, and how those assemblages respond to short and long-term changes in climate. The diatom assemblages from fourteen sediment samples collected from marginal and profundal zones of seven lakes in the Ruby Mountains and East Hu