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Copyright of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND: Recruiting and retaining community-based pediatricians for teaching medical students has been explored through the lens of preceptors and educational leaders. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspective of pediatric department chairs, a key stakeholder group charged with maintaining teaching capacity among a faculty. METHODS: In 2015, members of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs and Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics joint task force disseminated a 20-item survey to pediatric department chairs in the United States and Canada. Topics included demographics, incentives offered to community pediatricians, and the perceived value and feasibility of such incentives. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and χ² to compare categorical variables. RESULTS: Pediatric department chairs from 92 of 145 (63% response rate) medical schools returned the survey. Sixty-seven percent reported difficulty recruiting or retaining preceptors, and 51% reported high-reliance on preceptors for the ambulatory portion of the pediatrics clerkship. Almost all (92%) cited competition from other programs for the services of community preceptors. The provision of incentives was correlated with perceived feasibility (R² = 0.65) but not their perceived value (R² = 0.12). Few (21%) chairs reported providing financial compensation to preceptors. The provision of compensation was not related to reliance but did vary significantly by geographical region (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric departments rely heavily on community-based pediatricians but face competition from internal and external training programs. The perspective of department chairs is valuable in weighing interventions to facilitate continued recruitment and retention of community preceptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Two new leptoceratopsid neoceratopsians are described based on partial dentaries collected from the Dinosaur Park (Campanian) and Milk River (Santonian) formations of Alberta. The new Campanian taxon has a unique dentary tooth shape not shared by other leptoceratopsid taxa, which has implications for the evolution of the Leptoceratopsidae. The Santonian specimen represents the oldest known leptoceratopsid (∼83 Ma), and probably represents the smallest adult-sized ceratopsian known from North America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Canadian Bar Review is the property of Canadian Bar Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Canada, Prairie Lupine, Lupinus lepidus var. lepidus, is restricted to southeastern Vancouver Island. Of the nine sites where it has been collected, five are extirpated and the status of two of the populations is uncertain. There are two extant populations; some of the other sites may contain the species in the seed bank. Some of the sites are protected to a certain extent from direct habitat destruction by their remote location, although introduced herbaceous species may pose a serious threat by preventing the establishment of the species at other sites. Fire suppression or the lack of other types of disturbance also likely plays a role in discouraging emergence of Lupinus lepidus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chasmosaurus irvinensis (sp. nov.) is distinguished from other species of this genus by the possession of a broad snout, absence of a brow horn (the position of which is occupied by a pit or rugosities suggestive of bone resorption), broadly rounded and open jugal notch, subrectangular squamosal, straight posterior parietal bar bearing 10 epoccipitals, eight of which are flattened, strongly curved anterodorsally, and nearly indistinguishably coossified to their neighbours, and small, transversely oriented parietal fenestrae restricted to the posterior portion of the frill. This species, restricted to the upper part of the Dinosaur Park Formation, is significantly younger than the other recognized Canadian Chasmosaurus species, C. belli and C. russelli. Phylogenetic analysis shows that C. irvinensis is most closely related to the other Canadian Chasmosaurus species and more distantly related to Chasmosaurus mariscalensis from Texas.Chasmosaurus irvinensis (sp. nov.) se distingue des autres espèces de ce genre par son large boutoir, l'absence d'une corne sur le front (cette position est occupée par une fossette ou des rugosités qui suggèrent une résorption osseuse), une encoche jugale généralement arrondie et ouverte, un temporal presque rectangulaire, une barre pariétale postérieure droite comportant 10 époccipitaux, dont huit sont aplatis et fortement recourbés, dirigées en position antéro-dorsale et co-ossifiés à leurs voisins de façon presque indistincte, ainsi que de petites fenêtres pariétales à orientation transversale restreintes à la partie arrière de la collerette. Cette espèce, limitée à la portion supérieure de la Formation de Dinosaur Park, est beaucoup plus jeune que les autres espèces canadiennes de Chasmosaurus, C. belli et C. russelli. Une analyse phylogénique montre que C. irvinensis est plus étroitement lié aux autres espèces canadiennes de Chasmosaurus et moins étroitement lié au Chasmosaurus mariscalensis du Texas.[Traduit par la Rédaction] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study that focused on the status of the Deltoid Balsamroot, Balsamorhiza deltoidea or Asteraceae in Canada. Threats to the existing populations; Description of Balsamorhiza deltoidea; Restriction to the populations of the specie.

Interdisciplinary field experiments for global change research are large, intensive efforts that study the controls on fluxes of carbon, water, trace gases, and energy between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere at a range of spatial scales. Forest ecophysiology can make significant contributions to such efforts by measuring, interpreting, and modeling these fluxes for the individual components of forest ecosystems and then integrating the results into holistic ecosystem process models. The Boreal Ecosystem–Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) was undertaken because of the importance of the boreal forest biome to various global change issues. The study was conducted from 1993 to 1996 at sites in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. Results have shown that physiological processes of plants in the boreal forest can have large-scale consequences. For example, the composition of tree species strongly influences flux rates, with deciduous species having much higher carbon and water fluxes than coniferous species. Additionally, physiological limitations to transpiration in boreal conifers, even when soil water is abundant, reduces latent heat flux and increases sensible heat flux over large regions. This physiological control of transpiration can increase the depth of the atmospheric boundary layer on warm spring days to a level similar to that found in desert biomes. This special issue features 10 articles that address various aspects of the physiological basis of biosphere–atmosphere interactions in the boreal forest. The articles emphasize the environmental controls on water flux, carbon flux, and ecosystem productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, Viola praemorsa ssp. praemorsa is restricted to Quercus garryana stands and grass-dominated meadows on southeastern Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island. Eight sites have been confirmed in recent years but the status of plants at five other sites remains uncertain. It is likely that the violet has been extirpated in at least one of these sites. These Canadian sites represent the northern range limits of Viola praemorsa ssp. praemorsa at the species and subspecies levels. Threats to existing populations vary in intensity. Although most populations are protected to a certain extent from direct habitat destruction, introduced species pose a serious potential threat to the continued existence of most populations. Unfortunately, managing sites for V. praemorsa ssp. praemorsa is difficult because so little information is available regarding the general biology of this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tyrannosaurid cranial bones - including a maxilla, dentary, and pterygoid - were collected from a monodominant Edmontosaurus bonebed in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation exposed near the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The maxilla can be identified as Albertosaurus sarcophagus based on the narrow interfenestral strut and relatively deep dental pits along the length of the palatal shelf. Cranial bones are interpreted to have come from a single large individual that was incorporated into the site during, or temporally close to, the formation of the final taphocoenosis. This discovery constitutes the northernmost record of A. sarcophagus, and helps to narrow the geographic gap of latest Cretaceous tyrannosaurs between Alberta and Alaska. The geographic distribution of A. sarcophagus - eclipsed only in areal extent by Tyrannosaurus rex in North America - attests to the adaptability of this species, which endured regional changes in climate that forced extirpation of many ornithischian taxa during deposition of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fossil record of ceratopsid dinosaurs between the occurrence of their proximate sister taxa in the Turonian and the beginning of their well-documented radiation from the late Campanian of North America onwards (approximately 90 and 77 Ma) is poor, with only seven taxa described from this early period in their evolution. We describe a new taxon of a highly adorned basal centrosaurine, Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., from the lower part of the Oldman Formation (middle Campanian, approximately 78-79 Ma), Alberta, Canada. Over 200 bones derived from virtually all parts of the skeleton, including multiple well-preserved specimens of the diagnostic parietosquamosal frill, were collected from a medium-density monodominant bonebed, making the new taxon one of the best-represented early ceratopsids. The new taxon is apomorphic in having epiparietals at loci 2 and 3 developed as broad-based, pachyostotic processes that are strongly procurved anterodorsally to overhang the posterior and lateral parietal rami, and an ischium with a broad, rectangular distal terminus. Although the morphology of the nasal is incompletely known, Wendiceratops is inferred to have a large, upright nasal horn located close to the orbits, which represents the oldest occurrence of this feature in Ceratopsia. Given the phylogenetic position of the new taxon within Centrosaurinae, a enlarged nasal horn is hypothesized to have arisen independently at least twice in ceratopsid evolution.

Background: Herbivore coexistence on the Late Cretaceous island continent of Laramidia has been a topic of great interest, stemming from the paradoxically high diversity and biomass of these animals in relation to the relatively small landmass available to them. Various hypotheses have been advanced to account for these facts, of which niche partitioning is among the most frequently invoked. However, despite its wide acceptance, this hypothesis has not been rigorously tested. This study uses the fossil assemblage from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta as a model to investigate whether niche partitioning facilitated herbivorous dinosaur coexistence on Laramidia. Specifically, the question of feeding height stratification is examined in light of the role it plays in facilitating modern ungulate coexistence., Results: Most herbivorous dinosaur species from the Dinosaur Park Formation were restricted to feeding no higher than approximately 1 m above the ground. There is minimal evidence for feeding height partitioning at this level, with ceratopsids capable of feeding slightly higher than ankylosaurs, but the ecological significance of this is ambiguous. Hadrosaurids were uniquely capable of feeding up to 2 m quadrupedally, or up to 5 m bipedally. There is no evidence for either feeding height stratification within any of these clades, or for change in these ecological relationships through the approximately 1.5 Ma record of the Dinosaur Park Formation., Conclusions: Although we cannot reject the possibility, we find no good evidence that feeding height stratification, as revealed by reconstructed maximum feeding heights, played an important role in facilitating niche partitioning among the herbivorous dinosaurs of Laramidia. Most browsing pressure was concentrated in the herb layer, although hadrosaurids were capable of reaching shrubs and low-growing trees that were out of reach from ceratopsids, ankylosaurs, and other small herbivores, effectively dividing the herbivores in terms of relative abundance. Sympatric hadrosaurids may have avoided competing with one another by feeding differentially using bipedal and quadrupedal postures. These ecological relationships evidently proved to be evolutionarily stable because they characterize the herbivore assemblage of the Dinosaur Park Formation through time. If niche partitioning served to facilitate the rich diversity of these animals, it may have been achieved by other means in addition to feeding height stratification. Consideration of other feeding height proxies, including dental microwear and skull morphology, may help to alleviate problems of underdetermination identified here.