Human-predator conflicts are an important current issue, but resolution of these conflicts through lethal management is increasingly problematic, leading to an interest in nonlethal alternatives. Hazing, which involves harassing wildlife, has been increasingly advocated as a non-lethal solution to human-predator conflicts. However, the efficacy of hazing is not well documented, especially in mountain lions. We used data on 76 mountain lions equipped with radio collars, 34 that were hazed with hounds and 42 that were not hazed (control), to determine if hazing lions with dogs has potential for reducing human-mountain lion conflicts by deterring lions from returning to sites of conflict. We used daily GPS locations following release to compare the rates of return and distances over time from the capture sites for the control group and the hazed group. Distance from the capture site was similar for hazed and control lions through 45 days following release, with the exception of a slightly greater distance for hazed lines shortly after release. Almost all lions (97.6% of control group; 94.1% of hazed group) returned to within 6 km of the capture site at some point during the 45 days following release, and most (88.1% of control group; 76.5% of hazed group) returned to within 1 km, with no significant difference between hazed and control lions An analysis using best-fitting general linear models showed that 2 factors, sex being male and increasing distance from urbanization, had negative effects on the number of times mountain lions returned to the vicinity of the capture site at either the 6-km or 1-km distance. Therefore, aside from the possibility of a modest short-term effect, we did not find evidence that hazing with dogs is association with a capture event is an effective method for displacing mountain lions from a conflict location.

Mammals that cope with harsh environmental conditions by hibernating show seasonal variation in body mass, as fat reserves are accumulated during summer and depleted during winter. Hence, pre-hibernation mass is often considered a key phenotypic trait in hibernating species that can be an indicator of future survival and reproductive success. We used 30 years of demographic data from a high-elevation population of golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis) to identify life-history and environmental variables that influence pre-hibernation mass in females, and to determine if pre-hibernation mass influences overwinter survival or subsequent reproduction. Growth curves revealed female-biased size dimorphism, with adult mass not attained until age 2 years, so we considered three age classes of females, juveniles, yearlings, and adults (≥2 years). We found that earlier snow melt during spring is associated with higher pre-hibernation masses of yearlings and adults, and that juveniles emerging earlier from their natal burrows had higher pre-hibernation masses than later-emerging juveniles. Measures of food quantity or quality did not affect pre-hibernation mass for any age class, nor was there an effect of reproductive status. Juvenile females with greater per-hibernation mass were more likely to survive overwinter and reproduce as yearlings, but we found no such effect for yearlings or adult females. We did not find an effect of snow depth or winter duration on either survival or reproduction. Our results indicate that time appears to be the key variable for golden-mantled ground squirrels to acquire sufficient body mass to survive and reproduce, but the effects vary by age class.

Dispersal, the permanent movement of an animal away from its location of birth, is common in mammals and can have an important role in shaping demography, genetics, distribution, and social structure. Dispersal entails potential costs but also potential benefits, and the dispersal decision is thought to be conditional; the potential disperser assesses prospects for success at its current location and disperses to improve its fitness. However, the costs and benefits of dispersal, as well as factors influencing the dispersal decision, are not well known. We used trapping and observation to study dispersal in the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis), a species for which dispersal is largely unknown. We characterized the dispersal process by evaluating dispersal timing and distance, assessed factors that might influence the dispersal decision, and analyzed the fitness cost of dispersal after settlement. We found that most dispersal occurred during the summer of birth, as is expected for a small-bodied sciurid. However, some squirrels delayed dispersal until early in their yearling summer. Dispersal was male-biased in dispersal tendency, and it was also male-biased in dispersal distance, but only over shorter dispersal distances. The dispersal decision for juvenile females appeared to originate as soon as 10 days after they emerged from the natal burrow, and the decision was not associated with body mass or several measures of competition. Instead, dispersal of juvenile females was associated with the number of littermate sisters, with each sister present increasing the likelihood of dispersal by 26%. Littermate sisters might be a cue foretelling the effects of kin competition the following year. We did not find a significant difference in lifetime reproductive success between philopatric and dispersing females after settlement, suggesting that for Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, any cost of dispersal is experienced primarily during the transience phase.

In light emitting diodes (LED) consisting of GaN/InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs), the exact indium distribution inside the wells of the active region affects the performance of devices. Indium segregation can take place forming small InGaN clusters of locally varying composition. In the past, we used a local strain analysis from single HRTEM lattice images to determine the In composition inside the InGaN QWs with a resolution of 0.5 nm x 0.3 nm. Truly atomic resolution can be pursued by exploitation of intensity dependencies on the atomic number (Z) of the electron exit-wave (EW). In microscopes with sufficient sensitivity, local variations of amplitude and phase are found to be discrete with sample thickness, which allows for counting the number of atoms in each individual column of ~;0.08 nm diameter. In QW s of ~;17 percent of average indium concentration it is possible to discriminate between pure Ga columns and columns containing 1, 2, 3, or more In atoms because phase changes are discrete and element specific. The preparation of samples with atomically flat surfaces is a limiting factor for the application of the procedure.