Survey Shows Why Claws Come Out Over Feral Cat Management

Posted on September 7, 2012 by

The contentious phenomenon of identity politics isn’t limited to Democrats and Republicans. A national survey shows that “cat people” and “bird people” have heated differences of opinion, complicating the challenge of managing more than 50 million free-roaming feral cats while protecting threatened wildlife.

A North Carolina State University study published Sept. 6 in PLOS One identifies why the claws come out over feral cat management and which approaches might be useful in finding common ground among those with polarized opinions.

The research started as a hands-on class project for undergraduate and graduate students in Dr. Nils Peterson‘s Human Dimensions of Wildlife course last year. Team members surveyed 577 people across the U.S. who identified themselves as cat colony caretakers or bird conservation professionals affiliated with groups such as the Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy.

Cats in a feral colony sun themselves on a wall. Photo courtesy of Alisa Davis, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

“Members of both these groups feel they have concerns that have been ignored,” says Peterson, an associate professor of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology in the College of Natural Resources. “This feeling of injustice is part of what leads them to identify with their groups.”

Bird conservation professionals, whose focus is on protecting species from extinction in the wild, see feral cats as threats to the survival of wild birds. Cat colony caretakers, on the other hand, dedicate themselves to caring for neighborhood animals they see as abandoned and neglected by others.

The polarized points of view led to wide differences in responses to factual statements about feral cat management and disagreement about the impact of feral cats on wildlife.

Only 9 percent of cat colony caretakers believed cats harmed bird populations, and only 6 percent believed feral cats carried diseases. Colony caretakers supported treating feral cats as protected wildlife and using trap, neuter and release programs to manage feral cat populations.

Many bird conservation professionals, meanwhile, saw feral cats as pests and supported removing and euthanizing them. Within both groups, women and older respondents were less likely to support euthanasia.

“The most surprising result was that cat colony caretakers were more amenable to seeking collaborative solutions to feral cat management than bird conservation professionals,” Peterson says. “Eighty percent of the cat caretakers thought it was possible, while 50 percent of the bird conservationists felt that it was.”

How could the groups take steps to work together in the face of differing opinions about the scientific evidence?

Peterson says part of the solution is getting buy-in. Cat colony caretakers would have to be involved in deciding which data should be collected and how and where it should be done. When possible, participants should be able to see results for themselves rather than relying on reports from another group. One example: observing firsthand that feral cats kill wildlife rather than reading studies that show feral cats contribute to global declines among songbird populations. Another possibility is training cat colony caretakers to recognize parasites or signs of disease in the animals they see regularly, improving the cats’ health and caretakers’ knowledge.

Finally, the groups should recognize they share the common ground of caring about animals. In fact, half of the bird conservation professionals owned and cared for cats. Peterson also hopes his students have gained ideas they can use in dealing with conservation and environmental issues, no matter how contentious.

For more information:
D’Lyn Ford | NC State News Services | 919.513.4798
Nils Peterson | 919/515-7588

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Note: An abstract of the paper follows.

“Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict”

Authors: M. Nils Peterson, Brett Hartis, Shari Rodriguez, Matthew Green, Christopher Lepczyk Peterson, Hartis, Rodriguez and Green are with North Carolina State University. Lepczyk is with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Published: Sept. 6, 2012, in PLOS One

Abstract: Outdoor cats represent a global threat to terrestrial vertebrate conservation, but management has been rife with conflict due to differences in views of the problem and appropriate responses to it. To evaluate these differences we conducted a survey of opinions about outdoor cats and their management with two contrasting stakeholder groups, cat colony caretakers (CCCs) and bird conservation professionals (BCPs) across the United States. Group opinions were polarized, for both normative statements (CCCs supported treating feral cats as protected wildlife and using trap neuter and release [TNR] and BCPs supported treating feral cats as pests and using euthanasia) and empirical statements. Opinions also were related to gender, age, and education, with females and older respondents being less likely than their counterparts to support treating feral cats as pests, and females being less likely than males to support euthanasia. Most CCCs held false beliefs about the impacts of feral cats on wildlife and the impacts of TNR (e.g., 9 percent believed feral cats harmed bird populations, 70 percent believed TNR eliminates cat colonies, and 18 percent disagreed with the statement that feral cats filled the role of native predators. Only 6 percent of CCCs believed feral cats carried diseases. To the extent the beliefs held by CCCs are rooted in lack of knowledge and mistrust, rather than denial of directly observable phenomena, the conservation community can manage these conflicts more productively by bringing CCCs into the process of defining data collection methods, defining study/management locations, and identifying common goals related to caring for animals.

See also: “NCSU study: Partisan claws come out, but compromise possible” News & Observer 9/7/2012

Alumnus Named to NC Recreation and Park Authority

Posted on August 23, 2012 by

Paul Herbert, a recent graduate of the Park, Recreation & Tourism Management (PRTM) Professional Masters program at NC State University, was recently appointed as a member of the North Carolina Recreation and Parks Authority by recommendation of the Speaker of the House. The 15-member Authority makes decisions on how money from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund is allocated.

As one of 15 appointed members serving a three year term of office, his powers and duties will include: Receiving public and private donations and funds for deposit into the fund; Allocating funds for land acquisition; Allocating funds for capital projects; Soliciting financial and material support; Developing effective support for parks and recreation; and Advising the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on any matter he may refer to the General Assembly.

“I am thrilled to have been appointed to this important public body.” says Herbert.
“It is important that professionals in the field serve with other volunteer citizens to ensure great parks and recreation experiences for all North Carolinians. My recent PRTM Professional Masters degree experience at NCSU has been helpful in understanding current research and trends in the field and will serve me well in being a better-informed and knowledgeable Parks and Recreation Authority member.”

Herbert is a principal at Recreation Consulting Solutions and a past director and supervisor of several cultural arts programs in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County, North Carolina area.

More about Paul Herbert @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/2011paulherbert

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WVa Workshop Will Address Firewood Processing

Posted on August 23, 2012 by

Image Courtesy of NC Cooperative Extension

Extension agents and firewood-related businesses are invited to attend the Profitable Firewood Processing Workshop, Sept. 27, at the Wood Education and Resource Center, Princeton, W.Va. The day-long workshop (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.) is hosted by the Wood Products Extension Department at North Carolina State University, Wood Education and Resource Center and Independent Sawmill and Woodlot Magazine.

This workshop will address business issues of the firewood processing industry, including sales and marketing of firewood, selecting equipment for processing and packaging firewood, dry kiln drying methods and equipment, heating systems for dry kilns, insect problems and firewood quarantines, financing options for firewood businesses, sourcing logs for firewood operations, what brokers and firewood buyers want in specifications from firewood producers and market research methods for finding firewood buyers.

The workshop is open to the firewood industry, including firewood processing equipment vendors, dry kiln and wood boiler manufacturers, firewood brokers and chain store buyers, Cooperative Extension wood products specialists and professors, county Extension agents, landowners, foresters, state forestry departments, forestry non-profit organizations and others who want to learn the latest information about firewood processing.

Cost to attend is $35. For more information, contact: Harry Watt, N.C. State University, harry_watt@ncsu.edu or 704-880-5034. WERC project website: www.cnr.ncsu.edu/woodworkshops.

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Research on Wood Formation Sheds Light on Plant Biology

Posted on August 23, 2012 by

Scientists at North Carolina State University have discovered a phenomenon never seen before in plants while studying molecular changes inside tree cells as wood is formed.

In research published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Aug. 20, the team found that one member of a family of proteins called transcription factors took control of a cascade of genes involved in forming wood, which includes a substance called lignin that binds fibers together and gives wood its strength.

The controller protein regulated gene expression on multiple levels, preventing abnormal or stunted plant growth. And it did so in a novel way.

The controller, a spliced variant of the SND1 family, was found in the cytoplasm outside the cell nucleus. This is abnormal, because transcription factor proteins are always in the nucleus. But when one of the four other proteins in its family group was present, the spliced variant was carried into the nucleus, where it bound to the family member, creating a new type of molecule that suppressed the expression of a cascade of genes.

“This is nothing that’s been observed before in plants,” says Dr. Vincent Chiang, co-director of NC State’s Forest Biotechnology Group with Dr. Ron Sederoff. Chiang’s research team was the first to produce a transgenic tree with reduced lignin. High lignin levels are desirable for lumber, but lignin is removed during the process of making paper or manufacturing biofuels.

Chiang, a professor in the College of Natural Resources, described the team’s finding as the long-sought path to understanding the hierarchy of gene regulation for wood formation.

Lead authors are Dr. Quanzi Li, senior research associate, who discovered the controller protein, and doctoral student Ying-Chung Lin, who carried out extensive experimental work, demonstrating with Li that the controller protein was carried into the nucleus.

The research was funded with a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research.

Note to editors: An abstract of the study follows.

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“Splice variant of the SND1 transcription factor is a dominant negative of SND1 members and their regulation in Populus trichocarpa”

Published: Online the week of Aug. 20 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Authors: Quanzi Li, Ying-Chung Lin, Ying-Hsuan Sun, Jian Song, Hao Chen, Xing-Hai Zhang, Ronald R. Sederoff, and Vincent L. Chiang. All are members of the Forest Biotechnology Group in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, except for Xing-Hai Zhang, who is with the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University.

Abstract: Secondary Wall-Associated NAC Domain 1s (SND1s) are transcription factors (TFs) known to activate a cascade of TF and pathway genes affecting secondary cell wall biosynthesis (xylogenesis) in Arabidopsis and poplars. Elevated SND1 transcriptional activation leads to ectopic xylogenesis and stunted growth. Nothing is known about the upstream regulators of SND1. Here we report the discovery of a stem-differentiating xylem (SDX)-specific alternative SND1 splice variant, PtrSND1-A2IR, that acts as a dominant negative of SND1 transcriptional network genes in Populus trichocarpa. PtrSND1-A2IR derives from PtrSND1-A2, one of the four fully spliced PtrSND1 gene family members (PtrSND1-A1, -A2, -B1, and -B2). Each full-size PtrSND1 activates its own gene, and all four full-size members activate a common MYB gene (PtrMYB021). PtrSND1-A2IR represses the expression of its PtrSND1 member genes and PtrMYB021. Repression of the autoregulation of a TF family member by its only splice variant has not previously been reported in plants. PtrSND1-A2IR lacks DNA binding and transactivation abilities but retains dimerization capability. PtrSND1-A2IR is localized exclusively in cytoplasmic foci. In the presence of any full-size PtrSND1 member, PtrSND1-A2IR is translocated into the nucleus exclusively as a heterodimeric partner with full-size PtrSND1s. Our findings are consistent with a model in which the translocated PtrSND1-A2IR lacking DNA-binding and transactivating abilities can disrupt the function of full-size PtrSND1s, making them nonproductive through heterodimerization, and thereby modulating the SND1 transcriptional network. PtrSND1-A2IR may contribute to transcriptional homeostasis to avoid deleterious effects on xylogenesis and plant growth.

For more information, contact:
Dr. Vincent Chiang, Forest Biomaterials Group, 919/513-0098 or vincent_chiang@ncsu.edu
D’Lyn Ford, NC State News Services | 919.513.4798 or dlyn_ford@ncsu.edu

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Seminar Addressed Global Concerns and Formed New Bonds

Posted on August 20, 2012 by rwgonzal

participants of Interdisciplinary Doctoral Seminar during fieldtrip to Outer Banks

Hiking up the beach on the Outer Banks as part of a visit to Oregon Inlet, where participants heard form engineers and geologists about the future of bridges and roads with sea-level rise and higher storm surges.

What do doctoral students studying psychology, meteorology, law, wildlife, engineering, economics, forestry and public health have in common? A lot, it seems, based on the recent experience of 15 doctoral students—5 each from NC State, the University of Surrey in England and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil—who spent nine days together studying the topic of climate change. They participated in the inaugural Interdisciplinary Doctoral Seminar sponsored by the University Global Partnership Network, of which NC State is a founding member.

The seminar was organized and led by Larry Nielsen and Sarah Slover of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources on behalf of the NC State’s Office of International Affairs. “I have continued to work on these partnerships since returning to the faculty,” said Nielsen, former dean and provost, “and this has been the most rewarding experience so far.”

The goal of the interdisciplinary seminars is to bring breadth to the understanding of an important global topic that is being studied in depth by the doctoral students. NC State was the ideal host for the first seminar on climate change. Students and faculty from the

Seminar participants with Chancellor Woodson at The Point

Seminar participants enjoyed dinner with Chancellor Woodson at The Point.

three schools spent their first two days on our campus, studying the global context of climate change relating to food security, water resources and public health and the science of climate modeling—and enjoying a dinner with Chancellor Woodson at The Point.

They then traveled east for three days immersed in one of the nation’s regions most vulnerable to climate change—the Outer Banks. Students met with faculty of the UNC Coastal Studies Institute, scientists from the US Army Corps of Engineers and Nags Head town officials and residents to understand the meaning of climate change to local communities. The seminar concluded in Washington, DC, where students held discussions with climate change experts from the U.S., U.K. and Brazilian governments, advocacy organizations, think-tanks and leading universities. The final morning was an extended comprehensive discussion with Victoria Arroyo, Executive Director of the Georgetown University Center for Climate Resources. “It was a unique opportunity for us to see how other regions and countries are working diligently to solve a world challenge,” commented Laurie Gharis, doctoral student in Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State.

University of Surrey student Laura Cowen explains her dissertation research.

“It was unlike any seminar I’ve ever participated in,” said Sarah Fritts, doctoral student in the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology program at NC State. “Honestly, I did not feel like a student. I was, of course, learning every step of the way, but I was treated as a professional.” Students also appreciated the opportunity to learn about the topic in a much broader context than their disciplinary research allows. One student participant stated, “My research is more oriented to policy and regulatory analysis for climate change, so I enjoyed having more technical discussions to broaden my understanding about the problem.” Students in technical fields expressed the same view about learning more policy, sociology and economics regarding climate change. Participants also especially liked the chance to get to the coast to see climate change impacts personally.

Ms. Rascoe hosts participants at her historic beach home

Seminar participants were guests at the historic beach home of Ms. Nancy Rascoe, long-time resident of Nags Head.

“This was an outstanding opportunity to meet and interact with a terrific collection of experts and informed officials from the local, state, national and international level,” reflected Brian Bulla, participant and Forestry and Environmental Resources doctoral student. But the students’ favorite part of the seminar seemed to be meeting colleagues from other universities, disciplines and nations. “The benefits I gained by participating will extend for some time through the professional and personal contacts I made during the program,” said Bulla.

“We may have been lucky this time,” said Nielsen, “but this great group of students formed an immediate bond—a bond I’m sure will continue through time. They’ve already started Facebook pages and other means to stay in touch.”

Enjoying a traditional pork barbeque at the Outer Banks.

Seminar participants at Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria

Wildlife doctoral student Sarah Fritts plays a historical lute for her colleagues at the historic Gadsby’s Tavern in Alexandria.