Habitat use and movements of postfledging American black ducks (Anas rubripes) in the St. Lawrence estuary, Quebec

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 2100-2104 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Clugston ◽  
Jerry R. Longcore ◽  
Daniel G. McAuley ◽  
Pierre Dupuis

We used radiotelemetry to determine habitat use and movements of 38 female juvenile American black ducks (Anas rubripes) on the north shore of the St. Lawrence estuary, Quebec, from 28 August to 15 November 1991. Ducks separated into three groups based on habitat use: inland, estuarine, and those using a mixture of habitats. Ducks using mixed habitats used the greatest variety of habitat types, flew the greatest distances and most often between night roosts and day foraging areas, and were unlikely to be shot. The mean distance flown between night-use and day-use areas for all ducks increased nearly 50% after the hunting season began (overall mean = 6104 m, range 1500 – 26 384 m). Mean home range size was 27.6 ± 6.5 (SE) km2. Ducks exhibited stronger fidelity to wetlands used at night than to those used during the day. Ducks that were shot spent a high percentage of their time on the estuary (90.1 ± 7.4%) and exhibited high fidelity to a day-use area before the hunting season (73 ± 7.3%).

2010 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Jean-François Ouellet ◽  
Pierre Fradette ◽  
Isabel Blouin

We report the first observations of Barrow's Goldeneyes south of the St. Lawrence estuary in typical breeding habitat during the breeding season. Until recently, the confirmed breeding locations for the species in Eastern North America were all located on the north shore of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (7) ◽  
pp. 1465-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
François-Xavier Garneau ◽  
Jean-Luc Simard ◽  
Odette Harvey ◽  
John W. Apsimon ◽  
Michel Girard

The isolation of the major triterpene glycoside from the sea cucumber Psolusfabricii obtained from the north shore of the St. Lawrence estuary is described. Versatile extraction and purification procedures were used and physico-chemical data is presented in support of structure 1 for psoluthurin A.


2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Dionne

The Goldthwait Sea is defined as the late- and post-Glacial marine invasion in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf east of Québec City. In Québec, this sea has submerged an area of about 25 000 km2. The largest areas submerged are the north shore of the St. Lawrence between Les Escoumins and Blanc-Sablon, the south shore between Levis and Tourelles, and the Anticosti Island. The upper limit of the Goldthwait Sea varies from place to place. The Goldthwait Sea began 14 000 years ago and land emergence is still in progress, since the pre-Wisconsin marine level has not been recovered yet. For a better chronology, this long interval needs to be subdivided. Three main periods have been recognized: Goldthwaitian I, II and III. However, a geographical subdivision is also needed. Numerous shorelines were observed at various elevations throughout the area formely submerged by the Goldthwait Sea. However, only a few shorelines are well developed and extensive, and correlations between former shorelines are difficult to establish. Only three levels are widespead and common to the Estuary and parts of the Gulf. The isostatic recovery has been rapid during the first three thousand years after déglaciation of the area: about 75%.


2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Gagnon ◽  
Jacques Ibarzabal ◽  
Jean-Pierre L. Savard ◽  
Marc Bélisle ◽  
Pierre Vaillancourt

We documented the pattern of nocturnal passerine migration on each side of the St. Lawrence estuary (Côte-Nord north and Gaspésie south), using the Doppler Canadian weather surveillance radar of Val d’Irène (XAM). We examined whether autumnal migrants flew across the St. Lawrence, resulting in a uniform broad-front migration, or avoided crossing it, resulting in a bird concentration along the north coast. We found that a proportion of migrants crossed the estuary but that most followed the north coast. Ranges at which birds were detected were, on average, greater on Côte-Nord, thereby rejecting the uniform broad-front migration hypothesis, inasmuch as reflectivity measurements suggested that bird concentrated along Côte-Nord. The mean flight direction on Côte-Nord was southwest but shifted westward as the night progressed, avoiding crossing the estuary by late night. In Gaspésie, the mean flight direction over land was south and no directional shift was observed throughout the night. Flight altitude reach up to 1000 m above sea level (a.s.l.), but migratory activity was highest in the first 500 m a.s.l. It appears that the St. Lawrence estuary acts as a leading line and a barrier for nocturnal passerine migrants, and likely shapes migration farther south in Canada and in the United States.


1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 1363-1376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy L. Edds ◽  
J. Andrew F. Macfarlane

Baleen whale movements were monitored from a hillside on the north shore of the St. Lawrence Estuary from 28 June to 27 September 1979. No diurnal or tidal relationships were apparent for the two most abundant species, the minke and finback. Single minke whales were seen almost daily. Adult pairs were only seen on four dates, and no adult-calf pairs were observed. Twenty-two small minkes were observed; three were possibly 1st-year calves. Finbacks occurred singly and in groups, particularly later in the field season. Resightings of distinctive finbacks indicate that adult pairings are temporary. One finback had been seen in the area in 1973–1975. Adult–calf pairs and seven single juveniles were also seen. Observations of finbacks pursued by whale watchers provide evidence that some regulation of the rapidly growing whale-watching industry may be warranted. Blue whales and humpback whales were seen far less frequently than minkes and finbacks. The relative abundances of minke, finback, and humpback were similar to 1973–1974 in the same area: however, blue whales were seen far more frequently in the past.


1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 635-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Rail ◽  
Gilles Chapdelaine

Between 1994 and 1996, a total of 613 Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) regurgitations were collected at four colonies located in the St. Lawrence Estuary and one colony on the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The diet comprised a great variety of prey, with fishes well represented. Capelin (Mallotus villosus) and sand lance (Ammodytes sp.) together constituted most of the diet, (i.e., frequency of occurrence 66%, numerical frequency 68%, and volume 50%). Sand lance, which were nearly absent in regurgitations from the Estuary, were important in the diet of cormorants from the North Shore of the Gulf. At the North Shore colony, capelin were much more abundant in the diet in 1996 than in 1995, which correlates with independent fisheries data. In contrast to the results of previous studies of this cormorant's diet, our results show a preponderance of schooling fishes over benthic species. We suggest that this reflects a recent trend towards an increase in the abundance of schooling fishes in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf. Overfishing of predatory fishes and oceanographic factors could be involved.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 1239-1255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Dionne

At Rivière-Blanche, a locality on the south shore of the lower St. Lawrence estuary, the clayey and rocky shore zone is largely covered by stones of various sizes and lithologies, from local and far-distant sources. A survey exceeding 31 000 boulders indicates that 31% are Precambrian clasts (granite, gneiss, anorthosite, etc.) from the Canadian Shield located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, 40 km from Rivière-Blanche, and 69% are Appalachian lithologies, mainly (45%) sandstone and graywacke. There are also 1.5% of dolostone erratics, a lithology not widespread in the Canadian Shield nor in the Appalachians. Of the 1242 clasts of the various varieties of dolostone erratics observed, the grey coral (Cladopora) dolostone erratics are restricted to the Rivière-Blanche area, whereas many other varieties are common to both shores of the St. Lawrence estuary. The most likely far-distance source is the Proterozoic Mistassini sedimentary basin, while a few varieties such as the coral dolostone erratics are from the Appalachian Siluro-Devonian formations, of which the nearest outcrops are located in the northwestern area of Lake Matapedia, 25–30 km south of Rivière-Blanche. Whatever their source, the dolostone erratics were first transported by a late Wisconsinian regional ice stream before being released by icebergs in the Goldthwait Sea. The coral dolostone (Clapodora) erratics provide additional evidence for a northward ice flow between Lake Matapedia and Rivière-Blanche during an early phase of deglaciation of the St. Lawrence Valley after the formation of an Appalachian ice divide located approximately at the latitude of Lac-au-Saumon.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Caley

Movements, activity patterns and habitat use of feral pigs were studied in a tropical woodland habitat by radio-telemetry, live-trapping and hunter returns. The mean aggregate home-range size was 33.5 km2 for boars and 24.1 km2 for sows. Feral pigs were rather sedentary, with no tendency to disperse great distances from their initial home ranges. Pigs were most active at night, with peaks of activity in the late afternoon and early morning. Pigs preferentially used the riparian vegetation strip bordering major rivers, and grain crops, when available. The implications for the management of pigs are discussed.


1839 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 151-161 ◽  

In former communications to the Society, the laws of high water at Plymouth and other places have been the subject of my researches. These being obtained, the laws of low water are a subject of importance and interest on many accounts. The first ground of my pursuing this subject was the desire to ascertain how far the mean water , that is, the height midway between high and low water, is permanent during the changes which high and low water undergo. That it is approximately so at Ply­mouth, had been ascertained both by Mr. Walker and myself, by means of a com­parison of a short series of observations. But it was desirable to know with more exactness what was the real amount of this permanency, when, by using a long series of observations of high and low water, the irregularities arising from accident, and from taking imperfect cycles of inequalities, were eliminated. There was another reason which made this inquiry important at the present time. An operation has been recently carried on by the direction and at the expense of the British Association, with a view of ascertaining what surface ought to be taken as the permanent level of the sea. A Level Line has been carried with great care and accuracy from the north shore of Somerset to the south shore of Devon ; and the po­sition of this line has been fixed, so as to be recognised at any future time, by means of marks at Axmouth, at East Quantockshead, at Stolford, and at Portishead. This line has also been referred to the sea at its extremities ; and the observations show that the height of mean water coincides, at least very nearly, at different places, as well as at the same place at different times. While the difference of levels of low water at Axmouth on the English Channel, and Wick Rocks on the Bristol Channel, is not less than twelve feet; the mean water at those two places coincides in level within a few inches. In order to determine further what accuracy may be attained in this result, we are led to inquire what is the degree of permanency at one place. I may further add, that it cannot but be instructive to know how far the corrections of the height and time of low water, for lunar parallax and declination, agree in form and amount with the same corrections already obtained for high water.


2020 ◽  
Vol 237 ◽  
pp. 106696
Author(s):  
L. Vanalderweireldt ◽  
G. Winkler ◽  
E.L. Forget-Lacoursière ◽  
M. Mingelbier ◽  
P. Sirois

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