Virginia Population Research Articles

Yolked Oocyte Dynamics Support Agreement between Determinate- and Indeterminate-Method Estimates of Annual Fecundity for a Northeastern United States Population of American Shad.

Reports of American shad fecundity identify two important themes regarding egg production in fishes. First, geographic variation occurs and is biologically meaningful. Shad annual fecundity decreases with increasing latitude, but predicted lifetime fecundity does not, because of a counter-gradient of survival probability, all of which can explain the adaptive significance of natal homing. Second, the appropriate method of measuring fecundity depends on the pattern of oocyte development. Historically, the relatively simple determinate-fecundity method was used; however, a recent study in a Virginia river indicates that this method may be biased, requiring the more complicated indeterminate method. We address both themes with collections from the 2015 shad spawning run in the Connecticut River, USA. Criteria for using a determinate method were satisfied for this northern population: 1) a size gap evident in the oocyte size frequency distribution, indicating group-synchronous development of yolked oocytes; 2) a decline, early in spawning, in the standing stock of yolked oocytes; and 3) low levels of atresia at the end of spawning. The determinate-method estimate of American shad annual (2015) fecundity (303,000 ± 73,400; mean ± sd) overlapped historic estimates for this and a neighboring river. The indeterminate-method estimate of annual (2015) fecundity (311,500 ± 4,500 sd) was not significantly different from the determinate-method estimate (Student’s t-test, P > 0.05). In contrast, indeterminate-method estimates of annual fecundity for a Virginia population were twice as high as that measured by the determinate method in the past. This can all be explained by fundamentally different patterns of oogenesis (i.e., group synchrony versus asynchrony with respect to yolk development) at different latitudes. American shad, which is distributed within its native range from the Canadian maritimes to Florida, USA (50–30°N), may be particularly well suited to evaluate intra-specific variation in oocyte development, a relatively unexplored life history trait.

Dispersion and Temperature-Associated Orientation of Chinese Mantis (Mantodea: Mantidae) Egg Cases

Abstract The Chinese mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Saussure), is a univoltine tritrophic predator of old fields, now widespread after its introduction into North America more than a century ago. In 3 y of study of a population in eastern Virginia, we observed several unusual features in this oldfield insect: >90% of egg cases deposited in shrubs and trees, many at heights >2 m, not on goldenrods and similar herbaceous plants as previously reported. Egg cases were nonrandomly oriented (to the south) but with no significant association between compass orientation and days to hatching of young. Egg cases were randomly dispersed but least dense in patches without woody plants, the opposite of expectation for an oldfield insect. Finally, smaller egg cases yielded fewer and later-hatching young when oriented towards the south. A parsimonious explanation is that some females produce >1 egg case in eastern Virginia, with later egg cases being smaller and with fewer eggs because of reduced food intake. Fur...

Common Denominators of Swainson's Warbler Breeding Habitat in Bottomland Hardwood Forest in the White River Watershed in Southeastern Arkansas

Abstract The most intensively studied breeding population of Limnothlypis swainsonii (Swainson's Warbler) is in the White River watershed of southeastern Arkansas. However, because vegetation sampling protocols employed at this site have been significantly different from those used elsewhere, it has been difficult for land managers to reconcile datasets across the species' range in order to construct consensus quantitative benchmarks for optimal breeding habitat in bottomland hardwoods. We used a standardized sampling protocol to compare the physiognomic and floristic characteristics of breeding territories at 2 sites in the White River watershed with comparable data from other populations in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia. Breeding territories in the combined dataset for this rare migratory species varied substantially in successional stage, floristic diversity, hydrology, and management history. Visual screening provided by understory thickets of saplings, vine tangles, and shru...

Technology Use Among Patients in a Nonurban Southern U.S. HIV Clinic in 2015.

Behavioral interventions can be delivered over the Internet, but nonurban subpopulations living with HIV may still have inadequate Internet access to make this feasible. We report on a survey conducted in 2015 among 150 patients receiving care at a university-based Infectious Disease Clinic serving a nonurban and rural population in central Virginia. Our aim was to determine the rate of computer, tablet, and smartphone usage, as well as Internet access, to inform the delivery of a novel intervention using Internet and mobile technology. The participants' mean age was 46; 111 patients used computers, 101 used smartphones, and 41 used tablets. The results showed that 87% of patients had Internet access. Of those, 49 reported daily Internet use, while 18% reported weekly Internet use, and 33% reported less frequent Internet use. The survey study data suggest that Internet access among nonurban and rural patients with HIV is adequate to support trials testing Internet-delivered interventions. It is time to develop and deliver Internet interventions tailored for this often isolated subpopulation.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of the Endemic Disjunct Species, Helenium virginicum (Asteraceae)

Abstract Helenium virginicum is a narrowly endemic federally protected species, disjunct between Virginia and Missouri. To study the magnitude and distribution of genetic diversity within this species, we determined ISSR fingerprints and cpDNA haplotypes of plants in nine Virginia and eight Missouri populations. We found high ISSR diversity at the species level, with higher diversity in Virginia than Missouri. Additionally, moderately low diversity at the population level and high population structure suggests low gene flow among populations. Mean divergence between Virginia and Missouri populations was greater than between populations in either region. Missouri populations were more structured than Virginia populations. We found six distinct cpDNA haplotypes distributed among H. virginicum populations, with one found in both regions, two only in Virginia, and three only in Missouri. High genetic divergence among populations and between regions, the demographic asynchrony of populations, and self-incompat...

The Relationship between Soil Chemistry and the Occurrence ofEchinacea laevigatain Northeast Georgia

ABSTRACT Echinacea laevigata, or smooth coneflower, is a federally listed endangered species found in open woods and human maintained clearings, including roadsides and utility rights of way. The species is disjunctly distributed in the eastern United States, with populations in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, where they are associated with calcium and magnesium rich soils. This research was designed to determine if there is a nonrandom relationship between soil chemistry and the occurrence of E. laevigata along roadsides in northeast Georgia. Soil samples were collected from sites along roadsides with known populations and from arbitrarily selected sites without E. laevigata along the same roadsides. Multiple response permutation procedure (MRPP) found a nonrandom relationship between soil chemistry and occurrence. Sites with E. laevigata had a wider range of pH values but had lower iron values than the set of arbitrarily selected sites, suggesting that the species may be excluded ...

Report of First Specimens ofPekania pennanti(Fisher) from Virginia

Abstract Pekania pennanti (Fisher) is believed to have occurred in portions of western Virginia prior to the late 1800s. However, except for fossil remains, no specimen or evidence of this species from Virginia has ever been reported in a museum collection. Here we document recent evidence of Fishers in Virginia from verified photographic records submitted to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and voucher specimens deposited into the Mammal Collection of the Virginia Museum of Natural History. These recently collected and observed Fishers in Virginia are likely dispersers from expanding Fisher populations in western Maryland and eastern West Virginia. This report provides the foundation for future investigations into the distribution and abundance of this species in Virginia.

Abstract A13: Developing easy-to-read cancer education curriculum materials for the Appalachian population: The power of community collaboration

Abstract Appalachian and rural populations historically have been subject to health disparities due to factors of lack of access to care and services, poverty, and low education. The Appalachia Community Cancer Network (ACCN) is one of 23 Community Networks Program Centers funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and addresses the cancer disparity issues of the Appalachian population in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. ACCN is a collaboration of academic and community partners involved in increasing cancer awareness and education, conducting community-based participatory research, and creating mentoring and training opportunities for junior researchers. All ACCN projects and initiatives are informed by regional and program-wide community advisory boards to ensure that the work being done is culturally relevant and sensitive to the needs of rural and medically underserved audiences. Examples of how advisory boards and community partners are utilized include providing review and feedback on cancer educational materials, assistance with recruitment of faith-based partners and participants in research projects, and clinical trials awareness programs. Responding to a request by its community coalitions to develop a tool with easier to read basic cancer information for use with people who are traditionally hard to engage, ACCN developed Undertanding Cancer. This collaborative work is a five-chapter resource that includes not only text, but a glossary of terms, pre- and post-survey assessments, lists of resources, Power Point slides, and a CD-ROM with all of the materials. The modules have been carefully and exclusively adapted from NCI resources and tailored for use in the rural Appalachian culture. All of the materials were pilot tested with the ACCN Community Advisory Committee and regional Advisory Boards in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. This train-the-trainer curriculum was evaluated by rolling it out across five states with the goal of training at least 150 trainers. A pre/post-test model was used to measure a change in knowledge. Additionally changes in attitudes and behaviors were assessed for all participants using participant information forms, evaluations, healthy changes checklist, and trainer activity reports. The usefulness of this community-based project is in being designed to help partners use the modules creatively and effectively in different community settings. This session will focus on the development of the resource, as well as the dissemination and evaluation, and lessons learned. An unexpected outcome of the training curriculum is the community's response to needing additional resources that are similar in design and structure of the orignal resource but focused on specific cancer sites and in other formats besides Power Point slides. The result is the development of a companion piece, Understanding Colon Cancer, which is available as a table-top flip chart or Power Point slides. Dissemination and evaluation of Understanding Colon Cancer is ongoing at this time. This poster session would be beneficial for anyone planning to develop easy-to-read cancer education materials. Acknowledgements: Appalachia Community Cancer Network (ACCN), Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, West Virginia University, ACCN Community Advisory Committee and regional Community Advisory Boards. Inspiration for this publication is credited to Cancer 101: A Cancer Education Training Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Citation Format: David R. Reese, Mary Ellen Conn. Developing easy-to-read cancer education curriculum materials for the Appalachian population: The power of community collaboration. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A13.

Abstract P218: Role of Metabolic Biomarkers in Early Detection of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy in West Virginian Population

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is a significant risk factor for heart failure. With the increasing global prevalence of diabetes, diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) represents a significant public health issue. Elevated levels of Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) is an early-stage biomarker in DCM but studies are lacking on the association between IGFBP7 and DCM. Most patients with DCM remain asymptomatic until late-stage disease, therefore it becomes of utmost importance to identify biomarkers to detect early stage of DCM. The aim of this study is to determine if IGFBP7 and other biomarkers can detect the onset of preclinical DCM relative to echocardiographic irregularities exhibiting diastolic dysfunction. Methods: Eighty patients were grouped equally into four categories based on predetermined clinical diabetic and cardiac parameters: Normal, Diabetes (DM), Diastolic Heart Failure (DHF) , and DM+DHF, the last group being the preclinical DCM group. Results: Echocardiography images indicated severe diastolic dysfunction in patients with DHF + DM as compared to DHF patients alone. In the DM and DM+DHF groups, IL-6, TNF-alpha, isoprostane, and leptin were elevated compared to the control, as were clinical markers HDL, glucose and hemoglobin A1C. More importantly fibrotic markers IGFBP7 and TGF-β followed the same trend . The Normal group showed higher levels of beneficial biomarkers adiponectin and bilirubin, which were reduced in the DM and DM+DHF groups. Conclusion: This novel study demonstrates that West Virginia patients with early onset DCM were more likely to have elevated levels of detrimental biomarkers, including IGFBP7 and TGF- β, indicating potential diastolic dysfunction. The present study provides new and exciting evidence supporting the potential clinical applications of using IGFBP7 and other biomarkers in diagnosing early stage DCM in the West Virginia population.

The Ecology of the Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia

Glyptemys insculpta (Wood Turtle) is listed as imperiled in West Virginia and designated as endangered under the IUCN Red List. We studied a population of Wood Turtles in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia from May 2010 to July 2011. We captured 25 turtles at 2 sites: 12 males, 9 females, 3 juveniles, and 1 hatchling. We fitted 10 adults with radio transmitters, 9 of which also received temperature-data loggers. Our 249 total observations include the 10 initial captures of the equipped turtles with 218 subsequent radio locations, and 15 unequipped turtles that were captured, and then recaptured 6 times. Morphometrics of Wood Turtles at the study location were similar to those reported for another West Virginia population. The home range for both males and females was approximately 6 ha; there were no significant intersexual differences. Turtles entered hibernacula in late October when temperatures were approximately 10 °C and remained inactive until mid-March when temperatures were approximately 5 °C. Our study provides a baseline assessment of the Wood Turtle in an unstudied upper-elevation Eastern Panhandle location.

Phylogeographic structure and northward range expansion in the barnacle Chthamalus fragilis.

The barnacle Chthamalus fragilis is found along the US Atlantic seaboard historically from the Chesapeake Bay southward, and in the Gulf of Mexico. It appeared in New England circa 1900 coincident with warming temperatures, and is now a conspicuous member of rocky intertidal communities extending through the northern shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The origin of northern C. fragilis is debated. It may have spread to New England from the northern end of its historic range through larval transport by ocean currents, possibly mediated by the construction of piers, marinas, and other anthropogenic structures that provided new hard substrate habitat. Alternatively, it may have been introduced by fouling on ships originating farther south in its historic distribution. Here we examine mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I sequence diversity and the distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes of C. fragilis from 11 localities ranging from Cape Cod, to Tampa Bay, Florida. We found significant genetic structure between northern and southern populations. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three well-supported reciprocally monophyletic haplogroups, including one haplogroup that is restricted to New England and Virginia populations. While the distances between clades do not suggest cryptic speciation, selection and dispersal barriers may be driving the observed structure. Our data are consistent with an expansion of C. fragilis from the northern end of its mid-19th century range into Massachusetts.

Designing for Dissemination: Lessons in Message Design From “1-2-3 Pap”

Despite a large number of evidence-based health communication interventions tested in private, public, and community health settings, there is a dearth of research on successful secondary dissemination of these interventions to other audiences. This article presents the case study of “1-2-3 Pap,” a health communication intervention to improve human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination uptake and Pap testing outcomes in Eastern Kentucky, and explores strategies used to disseminate this intervention to other populations in Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Through this dissemination project, we identified several health communication intervention design considerations that facilitated our successful dissemination to these other audiences; these intervention design considerations include (a) developing strategies for reaching other potential audiences, (b) identifying intervention message adaptations that might be needed, and (c) determining the most appropriate means or channels by which to reach these potential future audiences. Using “1-2-3 Pap” as an illustrative case study, we describe how careful planning and partnership development early in the intervention development process can improve the potential success of enhancing the reach and effectiveness of an intervention to other audiences beyond the audience for whom the intervention messages were originally designed.

Persistence of Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) seeds in the sediment seed bank

Two separate field experiments in the Newport River/Back Sound, North Carolina (NC) and the lower Chesapeake Bay (CB), Virginia were conducted in 2007 and 2008 to quantify the effects of time (6, 12, 15months), seed source (mixed-annual, perennial NC; perennial CB), site (local environmental factors), and sediment type (fine, coarse) on the persistence of Zostera marina seeds in the sediment seed bank. It is here, at the southern limit of the species distribution along the western Atlantic, that the probability of population loss may be high and the importance of a seed bank in the resilience and recovery of these populations great. Experimental results indicate that viability of both NC and CB seeds decreased significantly after just 6months in the sediment following the seasonal period of maximum germination and continued to decline over time with no seeds viable remaining in CB cores and <5% of seeds remaining viable after 15months in NC treatments. In these experiments time was the overriding factor affecting the persistence Z. marina seed banks for all treatments in both NC and CB and viability was not significantly affected by seed source, site, or sediment type. Based on the results of the in situ experiments, mixed-annual and perennial Zostera marina populations in North Carolina and perennial populations in Virginia produce transient seed banks (seeds viable <12months). The lack of a persistent seed bank may reduce the resilience of Z. marina at the limits of the species distribution to repeated stress events. As a result these populations may be particularly susceptible to disturbance with only a limited capacity for recovery if sexual reproduction is impaired.

Population genetic structure of the Lyme disease vector Ixodes scapularis at an apparent spatial expansion front

Modeling and empirical evidence suggests that Lyme disease is undergoing geographic expansion from principal foci in the midwestern and northeastern United States. Virginia is at the southern edge of the current expansion zone and has seen dramatic rise in human Lyme disease cases since 2007, potentially owing to a recent increase in vector abundance. Ixodes scapularis is known throughout the eastern US but behavioral or physiological variation between northern and southern lineages might lead northern-variant ticks to more frequently parasitize humans. We hypothesized that recent spatial and numerical increase in Lyme disease cases is associated with demographic and/or spatial expansion of I. scapularis and that signals of these phenomena would be detectable and discernable in population genetic signals. In summer and fall 2011, we collected nymphal I. scapularis by drag sampling and adult I. scapularis from deer carcasses at hunting check stations at nine sites arranged along an east–west transect through central Virginia. We analyzed 16S mtDNA sequences data from up to 24 I. scapularis individuals collected from each site and detected a total of 24 haplotypes containing 29 segregating sites. We found no evidence for population genetic structure among these sites but we did find strong signals of both demographic and spatial expansion throughout our study system. We found two haplotypes (one individual each) representing a lineage of ticks that is only found in the southeastern United States, with the remaining individuals representing a less genetically diverse clade that is typical of the northern United States, but that has also been detected in the American South. Taken together, these results lead us to conclude that I. scapularis populations in Virginia are expanding and that this expansion may account for recent observed increases in Lyme disease.

Opportunities for Programming Suburban Multimodal Transportation Retrofits through the Maintenance Program

Half of Virginia's population lives in a jurisdiction with fewer than 1,000 people per square mile. Low densities, segregated land uses, and a lack of multimodal infrastructure limit opportunities for non automobile transportation options. In those locations, the incorporation of nonautomobile modes into the capital programming process is difficult without dedicated funding sources, advocates who fully understand the programming schedule, and mechanisms with which to compare fairly the benefits of such investments with traditional highway investments. This paper examined an effort to bring one type of nonautomobile investment–-bicycle accommodations–-to a suburban corridor in metropolitan Richmond, Virginia, a location that would not otherwise appear conducive to alternative modes. The catalyst for considering bicycle accommodations was the maintenance process rather than the capital planning process. Five case study characteristics made this consideration feasible within the suburban context: ( a) information exchange between members of a county board of supervisors and the leadership of a state department of transportation; ( b) staff willingness to interpret recent design guidance carefully to adapt available infrastructure for use by other modes; ( c) a realization that the maintenance program yields an opportunity to implement new multimodal infrastructure; ( d) an ability to present multiple multimodal options, because any project development process consists of many decision points and a preferred option may later become infeasible; and ( e) robust consideration of findings from previous work that may influence the relative safety of possible options. Although the case study focused on bicycle accommodations, these characteristics may be of interest to others using the maintenance process to improve accommodations for other modes.

Ticks and spotted fever group rickettsiae of southeastern Virginia

The incidence of tick-borne rickettsial disease in the southeastern United States has been rising steadily through the past decade, and the range expansions of tick species and tick-borne infectious agents, new and old, has resulted in an unprecedented mix of vectors and pathogens. The results of an ongoing 4-year surveillance project describe the relative abundance of questing tick populations in southeastern Virginia. Since 2009, more than 66,000 questing ticks of 7 species have been collected from vegetation in a variety of habitats, with Amblyomma americanum constituting over 95% of ticks collected. Other species represented included Ixodes scapularis, Dermacentor variabilis, Amblyomma maculatum, Ixodes affinis, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, and Ixodes brunneus. We found that 26.9–54.9% of A. americanum ticks tested were positive for Rickettsia amblyommii, a non-pathogenic symbiont of this tick species. We also found no evidence of R. rickettsii in D. variabilis ticks, although they did show low infection rates of R. montanensis (1.5–2.0%). Rickettsia parkeri and Candidatus R. andeanae were found in 41.8–55.7% and 0–1.5% A. maculatum ticks, respectively. The rate of R. parkeri in A. maculatum ticks is among the highest in the literature and has increased in the 2 years since R. parkeri and A. maculatum were first reported in southeastern Virginia. We conclude that tick populations in southeastern Virginia have recently undergone dramatic changes in species and abundance and that these populations support a variety of rickettsial agents with the potential for increased risk to human health.

Serological Evidence for a Hepatitis E Virus-Related Agent in Goats in the United States

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes an important public health disease in many developing countries and is also endemic in some industrialized countries. In addition to humans, strains of HEV have been genetically identified from pig, chicken, rat, mongoose, deer, rabbit and fish. While the genotypes 1 and 2 HEV are restricted to humans, the genotypes 3 and 4 HEV are zoonotic and infect humans and other animal species. As a part of our ongoing efforts to search for potential animal reservoirs for HEV, we tested goats from Virginia for evidence of HEV infection and showed that 16% (13/80) of goat sera from Virginia herds were positive for IgG anti-HEV. Importantly, we demonstrated that neutralizing antibodies to HEV were present in selected IgG anti-HEV positive goat sera. Subsequently, in an attempt to genetically identify the HEV-related agent from goats, we conducted a prospective study in a closed goat herd with known anti-HEV seropositivity and monitored a total of 11 kids from the time of birth until 14 weeks of age for evidence of HEV infection. Seroconversion to IgG anti-HEV was detected in seven of the 11 kids, although repeated attempts to detect HEV RNA by a broad-spectrum nested RT-PCR from the faecal and serum samples of the goats that had seroconverted were unsuccessful. In addition, we also attempted to experimentally infect laboratory goats with three well-characterized mammalian strains of HEV but with no success. The results indicate that a HEV-related agent is circulating and maintained in the goat population in Virginia and that the goat HEV is likely genetically very divergent from the known HEV strains.

Historical specimens reveal past relationships and current conservation status of populations in a declining species: the regal fritillary butterfly

Abstract. 1. The regal fritillary butterfly, Speyeria idalia Drury 1773, was once widespread across eastern North America, but has declined significantly and rapidly over the past half‐century. Although more stable in the western portion of its range, only two populations survive east of the Great Lakes, one in eastern Pennsylvania and the other in Virginia.2. Previous studies have found that the remnant Pennsylvania population is genetically differentiated from populations in the west, and have suggested the designation of separate eastern and western subspecies. However, the historical pattern of genetic variation from which the current distinctness of the Pennsylvania population has arisen was not known, nor was the relationship with the remnant Virginia population.3. We amplified and sequenced two mitochondrial loci (COI/II and ND4) from preserved specimens to infer historical patterns of genetic variation in this species, and we used non‐lethally obtained tissue samples to assess the relationship of the two eastern remnant populations.4. We found very consistent patterns between the two loci. Both had a very shallow haplotype network with few mutations separating most haplotypes. At both loci, we observed distinct groups of haplotypes in the western and far eastern (i.e. New England) portions of the range; a region of transition was centred on Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and the Virginias, where both groups, and intermediate haplotypes, were represented.5. Importantly, the extant Virginia population shared haplotypes with western populations of S. idalia and not with the extant Pennsylvania population. We discuss the implications of this result for the taxonomy and translocations/introductions of the species.

War in Earnest: The Army of Virginia and the Radicalization of the Union War Effort, 1862

War in Earnest:The Army of Virginia and the Radicalization of the Union War Effort, 1862 John H. Matsui (bio) "War is . . . a continuation of political activity by other means," wrote the nineteenth-century Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz in what now amounts to a classic maxim regarding the nature of warfare.1 The American Civil War witnessed its share of politics interfering with and shaping military operations, not least because for the first time in recorded history the mass armies on both sides were composed of citizen-soldiers who were politically enfranchised, literate, and vocal about for what they fought. In other words, politicians and generals did not shape war policy separated from and uninfluenced by the opinions and actions of common fighting men. By the summer of 1862, white Union soldiers and their elected company-and field-grade officers serving in Virginia expressed increased dissatisfaction with the policy of West Point-trained generals to respect the property of civilians who openly aided Confederate forces and scorned the federal government.2 A significant part of this property consisted of the nearly 500,000 [End Page 180] slaves in the Commonwealth, composing almost a third of the Virginia's population. These northern soldiers found slavery appalling even as they remained unwilling to accept African Americans as fellow citizens.3 "War in earnest" was the desire of one New Englander on July 30, 1862. Having "played at war" in 1861, Union soldiers now recognized that the purpose of "war is to destroy, not protect an enemy."4 Rather than rely solely on a top-down or a bottom-up perspective, this article involves analysis of the shifting political ideology of both military elites and enlisted men in the summer of 1862. A word on the article's structure is due. The alliance between Radical Republican politicians and Republican-leaning generals against Democrats (northern and southern) and slavery is the initial focus. The article then turns to the frustrations of Union soldiers at lenient Federal policies toward southern civilians and their growing opposition to slavery via exposure to self-emancipated slaves. Regardless of their antebellum political convictions, by July 1862 volunteer soldiers and their (mostly) elected officers demonstrated increasing willingness to implement harsh policies toward Confederate civilians. The goals of politico-military elites and citizen-soldiers converged in a shared dream of revolution, of remaking the lazy South in the North's image as a year of conciliation was thrown back in the faces of Union occupiers. Internecine politics and slavery both enjoy increasing focus in recent historiography of the American Civil War. In his study of the Confederate army of Northern Virginia, Joseph Glatthaar notes that "politics and generalship went hand in hand in Lee's army" much the same way as in Union armies, and he pays attention to the politics of promotion at the field and company levels. Glatthaar also includes more coverage of slavery as an ideological motivation for Confederate soldiers than previous studies of the main rebel army.5 In Bell Wiley's classic study of the Union's common soldiery, politics [End Page 181] and slaves were only two items on a long laundry list of topics of soldierly conversation and correspondence.6 By contrast, "three in ten Union soldiers" in the study sample assembled by James McPherson for his 1997 analysis of why northern soldiers fought, understood within "the first eighteen months of the war" that the "abolition of slavery was inseparably linked to the goal of preserving the Union."7 Chandra Manning's 2007 book builds on McPherson's text and "rescues slavery from the periphery of soldiers' mental worlds, where subsequent generations have tried to relegate it." This article follows in McPherson's and Manning's scholarly footsteps, particularly with regard to soldiers' increasing awareness of the necessity of destroying slavery as well as Confederate armies to defeat the rebellion in the first year of the war. It also adheres to Manning's view that many Union soldiers were ahead of their president in seeing that the Union "must reform rather than merely preserve itself," a reformation or reconstruction that necessarily involved emancipation.8 Yet Gary Gallagher's recent cautionary comments on...

Similar offspring production by normal and intersex females in two populations of Gammarus minus (Malacostraca, Amphipoda) with high levels of intersexuality

Two Virginia (U.S.A.) populations of the freshwater amphipod Gammarus minus (Say, 1818) exhibit high frequencies of females with male genital papillae (60 to 75% in one population and 100% in the other) that have been observed for over 30 years. This observation is surprising because sex-allocation theory predicts that such intersex individuals should have lower evolutionary fitness than ‘normal’ males or females. Here we tested this theory by comparing a major component of reproductive fitness (offspring production, as estimated by number and total mass of offspring in a brood) between intersex and normal females. Although intersex females tend to brood slightly fewer, but larger embryos than those of normal females, these differences were not significant overall, and moreover they resulted in nearly identical mean production of total offspring mass per brood. Maternal somatic investment (body mass and body condition) during brooding also did not differ significantly between intersex and normal females. These results suggest that intersex females may not have lower reproductive fitness than that of normal females, which may help explain their high frequencies in the Virginia populations. Consistent with this hypothesis, available literature data on four amphipod species show a positive association between intersex frequency and the offspring production of intersex females relative to that of normal females. However, this hypothesis needs to be tested further by examining other reproductive and survival traits related to fitness, and by examining other amphipod populations with varying intersex frequencies. Moreover, the cause(s) of the intersex condition in the Virginia populations (and most other amphipod populations) remains largely unknown.