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118 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Bioaccumulation of selenium by snakes and frogs in the San Joaquin Valley, California

Livers of gopher snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) from Kesterson Reservoir (Merced County, California) contained significantly higher mean selenium concentrations (11.1 .mu.g/g, dry weight) than those from two nearby reference sites (2.05 and 2.14 .mu.g/g). Livers of bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) collected from the San Luis Drain at Kersterson Reservoir also contained significantly higher mean selenium concentrations (45.0 .mu.g/g) than those from nearby reference sites (6.22 .mu.g/g). The high levels of selenium bioaccumulation in these snakes and frogs at Kersterson Reservoir reflected the elevated levels found in their food organisms. We did not examine that snakes or frogs from Kesterson for signs of ill health, but the concentrations we found were sufficiently high to warrant concern about potential adverse effects in these animals and their predators.

Copeia

Habitat suitability and conservation of the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley of California

Resource managers often have little information regarding the habitat requirements and distribution of rare species. Factor analysis-based habitat suitability models describe the ecological niche of a species and identify locations where these conditions occur on the landscape using existing occurrence data.We used factor analyses to assess the suitability of habitats for Thamnophis gigas (Giant Gartersnake), a rare, threatened species endemic to the Central Valley of California, USA, and to map the locations of habitat suitable for T. gigas in the Sacramento Valley. Factor analyses indicated that the niche of T. gigas is composed of sites near rice agriculture with low stream densities. Sites with high canal densities and near wetlands also appeared suitable, but results for these variables were sensitive to potential sampling bias. In the Sacramento Valley, suitable habitats occur primarily in the central portion of the valley floor. Based upon the results of the factor analyses, recovery planning for T. gigas will require an on-the-ground assessment of the current distribution and abundance of T. gigas, maintaining the few remaining natural wetlands and the practice of rice agriculture in the Sacramento Valley, and studying the effects of agricultural practices and land use changes on populations of T. gigas.

California

Furunculosis in wild trout

Furunculosis, or as it has been more appropiately termed, "fish septicemia," is a disease primarily affecting salmon and trout. It is caused by the invasion and growth of Bacterium salmonicida Emmerich and Weibel, a Gram negative, non-spore forming, diplobacterium belonging to the family Bacteriaceae Cohn. After gaining entrance to the host, presumably by way of the digestive tract, the organism is spread by the blood stream and produces focal necrosis and subsequent liquefaction throughout the tissues. The more conspicuous gross lesions are those of the body musculature, characterized by the formation of deep seated "boils" or "bloody blotches"—blisters filled with liquefied muscle tissue and blood. Under favorable conditions, the muscle lesions enlarge rapidly and eventually rupture through the skin producing a characteristic, ragged, deep, undermining type of ulcer. Although the muscle lesions are most conspicuous, essentially the same progressive necrosis and liquefaction are to be found throughout the internal organs, particularly in the spleen and kidneys. The host has no adequate defense mechanism against this disease and no verified recovery from furunculosis has ever been recorded. Cases may be arrested by low water temperatures or other adverse factors, only to break out with renewed vigor when conditions again become favorable. The reader is referred to Plehn, Davis, Williamson, and Duff and Stewart for a more complete description of furunculosis.

Copeia