Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
-
- Utah State University (13)
- Central Washington University (9)
- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (8)
- University of South Florida (8)
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville (8)
-
- The University of Southern Mississippi (7)
- University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (7)
- Wilfrid Laurier University (6)
- Edith Cowan University (5)
- Louisiana State University (5)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (5)
- University of Texas at El Paso (5)
- Clemson University (4)
- Coastal Carolina University (4)
- East Tennessee State University (4)
- James Madison University (4)
- Marshall University (4)
- Nova Southeastern University (4)
- SUNY Buffalo State University (4)
- University of Denver (4)
- Butler University (3)
- Claremont Colleges (3)
- The University of San Francisco (3)
- University of Louisville (3)
- University of Montana (3)
- University of San Diego (3)
- University of Texas at Tyler (3)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (3)
- West Virginia University (3)
- Bowling Green State University (2)
- Publication Year
- Publication
-
- Electronic Theses and Dissertations (17)
- All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023 (11)
- Master's Theses (10)
- All Master's Theses (9)
- USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations (8)
-
- Biology Theses (7)
- Graduate Theses and Dissertations (7)
- Theses and Dissertations (7)
- Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA (7)
- Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) (6)
- Open Access Theses & Dissertations (5)
- Theses: Doctorates and Masters (5)
- UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones (5)
- Doctoral Dissertations (4)
- Honors Theses (4)
- Theses, Dissertations and Capstones (4)
- All Theses (3)
- Dissertations (3)
- Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (3)
- Honors Projects (3)
- LSU Master's Theses (3)
- Masters Theses (3)
- Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019 (3)
- Theses (3)
- Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection (3)
- All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present (2)
- All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations (2)
- Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects (2)
- Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports (2)
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2)
Articles 1 - 30 of 221
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Unraveling The Behavioral Ecology Of The Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnake (Crotalus Atrox) Through The Lenses Of Personality, Predator-Prey Interactions, And Crypsis, Oceane Da Cunha
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
To thrive in an environment, individuals need to be able to forage efficiently and acquire mates. These resources are limited, and their acquisition depends upon the energy and time an individual chooses to allocate to each activity and the environmental conditions, leading to behavioral trade-offs. Different species, or even different individuals within the same population, respond to these trade-offs by employing contrasting strategies, leading to differential life-history outcomes. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of the trade-offs cryptic ambush mesopredators are facing using the western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) as a model species. Each …
Unraveling Wetland Ecology: The Effect Of Abiotic Heterogeneity And Habitat Size On Wetland Plant Diversity In The Piedmont, Gregory T. Gilmore
Unraveling Wetland Ecology: The Effect Of Abiotic Heterogeneity And Habitat Size On Wetland Plant Diversity In The Piedmont, Gregory T. Gilmore
All Theses
Ecosystems around the world are seeing an unprecedented decline in biodiversity. However, to better prevent this decline we cannot only understand the drivers of biodiversity loss, but also the factors that support diversity. Traditional ecological hypotheses such as the Habitat Heterogeneity Hypothesis (HHH) and the Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) have provided frameworks for understanding biodiversity drivers. However, recent research suggests a more nuanced relationship between heterogeneity, habitat size, and diversity than previously thought. This study looks to bridge existing research gaps by examining the ecologically and conservational important habitat of wetlands. Specifically, the study focuses on the plant diversity …
Antimicrobials Produced By Ants: Chemical Properties And Microbe Specificity, Katy Chon, Clint A. Penick
Antimicrobials Produced By Ants: Chemical Properties And Microbe Specificity, Katy Chon, Clint A. Penick
Master's Theses
Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health concern worldwide, and for over a decade, we have been witnessing the growth of difficult to treat infectious diseases caused by bacteria that are becoming resistant to antibiotics. This resistance can be mostly related to the misusing and improper use of antibiotics in both humans and animals. To restore this problem, humans have turned to new sources for the production of antibiotics. In this study, we focused on using ants. Social insects, including ants and bees, have faced strong disease pressures during their evolution and have developed a range of methods to fight …
From Pixels To Plants: Remote Sensing Of California Invasive Plants, Kenneth Rangel
From Pixels To Plants: Remote Sensing Of California Invasive Plants, Kenneth Rangel
Master's Projects and Capstones
Invasive plants cause significant impacts to ecosystems, the economy, and human health. California has experienced significant plant invasions and is well suited to future invasion because of its Mediterranean climate and human disturbance. Eradication or control of invasive plant species requires a detailed understanding of their spatial distribution, which typically involves on the ground surveys that can be expensive or inconsistent. Remote sensing offers a potential alternative or supplement to in-person invasive plant mapping. This study performed a comparative analysis of 41 remote sensing studies that mapped the distribution of California invasive plants. I found that while high spectral resolution …
Threads Of Connection: An Offering To Re-Tangle Humanity And Nature With The Patterns Of Our World, Emily Shelton
Threads Of Connection: An Offering To Re-Tangle Humanity And Nature With The Patterns Of Our World, Emily Shelton
Graduate Theses
In our world there are patterns of self-similarity that serve as evidence of the interconnectedness between humankind and the rest of the natural world. They are reflected in our bodies, behaviors, and environments, both natural and manmade, and can be found throughout systems at every scale, micro through macro. These organic, linear motifs branch into smaller iterations that seem to shape our existence on this planet as we gravitate towards experiences that echo these patterns. During everyday acts like shopping in a grocery store or a crowd at a concert, we unconsciously participate in self-similar collective movements as we navigate …
Of Hosts And Habitats: The Ecological And Evolutionary Patterns Of The Amphibian Skin Microbiome, Benjamin Houston Holt
Of Hosts And Habitats: The Ecological And Evolutionary Patterns Of The Amphibian Skin Microbiome, Benjamin Houston Holt
Doctoral Dissertations
The skin microbiome of amphibian hosts can inhibit growth of pathogenic fungi, contribute to anti-predator compounds in newts, and is linked with sex-specific scents in frogs. However, despite growing evidence of symbiont importance to amphibians, how symbionts are acquired and maintained on hosts remains poorly resolved. Microbiomes exist on a dynamic spectrum from casual assemblages to intricate systems, and community members vary in fidelity and association to hosts. The establishment of these communities involves complex interactions between symbionts, host traits, and source communities. I seek to enhance our understanding by assessing the spatial-temporal patterns of the salamander skin microbiome relative …
Designing A Serious Game To Simulate Ecological Processes On A Post-Eruption Mount St. Helens Landscape, Parker Maynard
Designing A Serious Game To Simulate Ecological Processes On A Post-Eruption Mount St. Helens Landscape, Parker Maynard
Masters Theses
Developing strategies to successfully manage landscapes to meet ecological, economic, and social goals is an increasing concern in a world experiencing anthropogenic global changes. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state provided a major learning opportunity in managing resource effectively after a major disturbance. This information is explored through Resilience: After The Eruption: a serious game developed as part of this thesis that synthesizes research about ecological recovery and resource management following the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The digital game allows players to take on the role of four different stakeholders performing landscape-based operations while …
Causes And Consequences Of Space-Use Behavior Under Predation Risk In A Free-Living System, Brian J. Smith
Causes And Consequences Of Space-Use Behavior Under Predation Risk In A Free-Living System, Brian J. Smith
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present
Predators can have important ecological effects through killing and eating their prey, the so-called consumptive effect, but predators can also have a nonconsumptive effect (NCE) on their prey – this happens when the risk of predation itself causes prey to alter their behaviors or other traits and these alterations ultimately reduce prey survival, reproduction, or population size. While scientists understand the consumptive effects of predators well, we are still unsure whether NCEs are important in free-living systems. In this dissertation, I sought to better understand the potential NCEs of predators (wolves and cougars) on elk in northern Yellowstone National Park …
The Descent Of Anolis: Assemblages, Convergence, And Ecomorphological Evolution, Christopher Anderson
The Descent Of Anolis: Assemblages, Convergence, And Ecomorphological Evolution, Christopher Anderson
Biology ETDs
The evolutionary outcomes we observe in modern organisms, particularly associations between phenotypes and environments, have been and remain an invaluable tool in interpreting the biological phenomena that shape our world. In the following chapters, I leverage a comprehensive phylogenetic and morphological dataset for 351 species comprising a diverse group of arboreal lizards, the Anolis clade, to explore how communities and morphologies evolve. First, I characterized patterns among coexisting lineages of Anolis to reveal a general pattern of phylogenetic relatedness among lineages comprising assemblages and identify differences attributable to a biogeographic variable. Then I examined the morphological consequences associated with the …
An Analysis On The Capacity Of Visual Art To Promote Conservation Efforts, Devi Bell
An Analysis On The Capacity Of Visual Art To Promote Conservation Efforts, Devi Bell
Honors Projects
In recent decades, we have become more aware of the ways in which anthropogenic actions are harming Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and overall stability. Scientists generally agree on the urgency of our situation, yet the public may find difficulty in comprehending the multitude of information on it. This study aims to educate the public on biodiversity loss and related ecological issues in Ohio by discussing these topics through the medium of visual art. Five pieces involving different scientific subject matter and art mediums were created and displayed for participants to view. Participants completed two surveys, one before viewing the art and …
Literature Review Nature-Based Art Therapy Exploring Connections And Relationships, Janell Lopez-Curtis
Literature Review Nature-Based Art Therapy Exploring Connections And Relationships, Janell Lopez-Curtis
Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses
Art therapy is a modality used in clinical psychotherapy. It is supported through both quantitative and qualitative research. Branching out from art therapy is nature-based art therapy. This branch of expressive therapies holds the potential to be beneficial as art therapy due to the interconnected access to the scientific fields of ecology, ecopsychology, art therapy, expressive therapies, and other nature-based therapeutic activities; this includes intersectionality in ecological theories such as ecofeminism and deep ecology as well. Through an exploration of literature, this paper will provide definitions and theory-based support through reviewing clinical psychotherapy, evidence-based practices, and art therapy theories. The …
Factors Associated With Acoustic Bat Presence During Spring Emergence In The Appalachian Mountains Of Western Virginia, Emily Kirk Pody
Factors Associated With Acoustic Bat Presence During Spring Emergence In The Appalachian Mountains Of Western Virginia, Emily Kirk Pody
Theses, Dissertations and Capstones
Studies of threats that bats face during hibernation have increased in response to white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that has ravaged North American bat populations. However, impacts of WNS on bat ecology during spring emergence, when bats are potentially recovering from infection and allocating resources for reproduction, is relatively understudied. As more bat species become listed at the federal and state level, the need to understand the factors associated with spring emergence is critical for improving conservation guidelines and habitat management practices. Acoustic monitoring is an efficient method for monitoring bat presence for prolonged periods of time, giving biologists …
Environmental Biology Masters Capstone, Antonio Gonzalez-Pita
Environmental Biology Masters Capstone, Antonio Gonzalez-Pita
Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)
Human wildlife interactions (HWI) pose a complex challenge for wildlife managers. Human encroachment into wildlife habitat and the growing number of outdoor recreationists are increasing the frequency of contact and conflict, especially in regions such as the Front Range of Colorado. Geographic information systems (GIS), which use a combination of remote sensing and environmental survey data, allow for predictive spatial analyses of where human wildlife interactions are likely to occur. I used publicly reported observations of moose to create spatial predictive maps in a species distribution model framework. Slope and elevation were shown to be the strongest predictors of HWI, …
Habitat And Demography Of The Ozark Chinquapin (Castanea Ozarkensis) At Roaring River State Park In Barry County, Missouri, Danielle Evilsizor
Habitat And Demography Of The Ozark Chinquapin (Castanea Ozarkensis) At Roaring River State Park In Barry County, Missouri, Danielle Evilsizor
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
The Ozark chinquapin, Castanea ozarkensis Ashe, is a chestnut tree with a range concentrated in the Interior Highlands of North America. Like other North American members of Castanea, it was reduced from an overstory tree to an understory shrub by the invasive chestnut blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica [Murrill] M.E. Barr) during the early 20th century. However, relatively little is known about the habitat of this species or its health and reproductive capability post chestnut blight. Chapter one of this study analyzed the habitat of this species through a random forest species distribution model (SDM) to predict where …
Addressing Water Hyacinth (Pontederia Crassipes) Impacts On Aquatic Biota In Lake Okeechobee, Joseph Salerno
Addressing Water Hyacinth (Pontederia Crassipes) Impacts On Aquatic Biota In Lake Okeechobee, Joseph Salerno
All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations
The incursion of water hyacinth, Pontederia crassipes in Lake Okeechobee has resulted in management systems to be implemented to reduce the coverage of the invasive macrophyte. Its residence in the Lake Okeechobee ecosystem and the effects it has on organisms in the lake, whether it be positive or harmful is unknown. This study attempted to assess the potential effects that water hyacinth has on aquatic biota in Lake Okeechobee. Biotic data were collected on open water, water hyacinth covered, and native vegetation covered habitats via hook-and-line fishing, electrofishing, baited minnow traps, and the sampling of plant roots over a thirteen-month …
Developing Next-Generation Ecoinformatics Tools For Advancing Global Change Science, Ifeanyi H. Nwigboji
Developing Next-Generation Ecoinformatics Tools For Advancing Global Change Science, Ifeanyi H. Nwigboji
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Ecosystems are responding to a variety of human-induced, interlinked stressors that have emerged from changing climate, alteration to the global water cycle, sea-level rise, and land use and land cover change, among others. Quantifying these changes and their associated impacts on ecosystems requires a huge amount of long-term data. Due to advances in data collection techniques, such as remote sensing platforms, environmental sensors, synthesized datasets, and various software technologies, the volume and variety of long-term ecological data being collected has tremendously increased. Although there are several complex models and analyses that are increasingly parametrized with data from such sensors, there …
Restoration Strategies For Wetlands In The Arid West: Seeding And Planting Approaches For Lakeshore Ecosystems, Jes Braun
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present
Wetlands are widely recognized for their valuable benefits such as providing habitat, improving water quality, and reducing the impacts of flooding. However, wetlands face threats from development, drought, and invasive species. This is particularly apparent in the arid west, where upstream water use and drought make water scarcer and contribute to dramatically changing water levels. Here, I investigated revegetation techniques for lakeshore wetlands, using Utah Lake as a case study. Although recent management efforts have minimized invasive Phragmites cover, the desired plant communities are not returning as quickly as needed, highlighting the need to research restoration techniques. Through my research, …
Co-Flowering Community Effects On The Relative Contribution Of Pollen Quantity And Quality Limitation To The Reproductive Success Of Four Clarkia Species, Emma Moore
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
More than 60% of plant populations experience low pollen availability which limits seed production (pollen limitation). Pollen limitation occurs due to low quantity or quality of pollen delivered to stigmas. Despite its ubiquity in nature, to date we still have limited understanding of the drivers of pollen limitation in plant communities. Plants typically occur in diverse communities where pollinator sharing is common and can influence quality and quantity aspects of pollen limitation. Co-flowering species can attract larger numbers of pollinators or they can compete for pollinators affecting pollen loads on stigmas. Pollinator competition may also lead to higher rates of …
An Ecological Survey Of East Texas Salamanders Across The Camp Tyler Outdoor Field School In Smith County, Texas, Justin C. Hunt
An Ecological Survey Of East Texas Salamanders Across The Camp Tyler Outdoor Field School In Smith County, Texas, Justin C. Hunt
Biology Theses
Amphibians are a unique class of organisms with a very long and storied evolutionary history of survival. Many modern amphibian clades occupy several vital ecological roles within their native freshwater environments. One of these roles, typically includes functioning as an ecological indicator species, whereby the presence of stable and diverse populations of many amphibian species, including salamanders, within a freshwater ecosystem have long been considered ecological indicators of good habitat quality and stable ecosystem health. Similarly, salamanders also function as important members of their local food webs and act as valuable mediators of complex trophic hierarchies to facilitate nutrient cycling …
Monitoring The Effects Of Poultry Waste On Fishes And Macroinvertebrates In The Sabine River, Karley R. Parker
Monitoring The Effects Of Poultry Waste On Fishes And Macroinvertebrates In The Sabine River, Karley R. Parker
Biology Theses
Freshwater is a vital resource that provides life and sustainability for almost all organisms on Earth. It is important to maintain its health and protect it from emerging pollutants that pose a threat to the organisms that use it. Pollution continues to threaten the well-being of the environment’s freshwater sources all around the world that could lead to damaging effects in the future. The Sabine River is a major freshwater resource in the east Texas and western Louisiana areas that provides a habitat for thousands of organisms as well as other domestic uses for humans. In 2019, a waste discharge …
Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer
Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer
Art Theses and Dissertations
To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …
Density And Nest Success Of Shrub-Dependent Birds On Formerly Strip-Mined Lands, Luke Headings
Density And Nest Success Of Shrub-Dependent Birds On Formerly Strip-Mined Lands, Luke Headings
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
As bird populations continue to decline across North America, it is important to understand the benefits that disturbed habitats can have for breeding birds. One of the major land disturbances and causes of habitat loss in the United States is surface mining, which often results in altered vegetative communities. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the relationships between bird populations, habitat, previous and current land use, and densities of invasive plant species on formerly strip-mined land. Due to the proliferation of invasive shrub species in post-mined landscapes, we sought to determine the effects of post-mined habitat features …
Are Fungal Endophytes Of Fire Adapted Plants Also Fire Adapted?, Alexander C. Dowd
Are Fungal Endophytes Of Fire Adapted Plants Also Fire Adapted?, Alexander C. Dowd
Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects
No abstract provided.
Drivers Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Behavior, Survival, And Population Growth In The Piedmont Of South Carolina, Michael Muthersbaugh
Drivers Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Behavior, Survival, And Population Growth In The Piedmont Of South Carolina, Michael Muthersbaugh
All Dissertations
Prey species adjust behaviors in response to various stimuli, responding to both top-down and bottom-up pressures. Large herbivores must attempt to avoid predation either through adjusting behaviors or seeking spatial or temporal refugia, which can scale up to influence individual fitness and ultimately population dynamics. Specifically, predation risk has a great potential to influence ungulate populations by impacting behaviors and survival. Our objective was to quantify ungulate behavioral and population response to a regionally important predator through a case study – white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) responses to coyotes (Canis latrans) on private lands in the Piedmont …
The Effects Of Habitat Isolation On Fine-Scale Genetic And Geographic Structure Of Populations Of Two Threatened Endemic Insects In Southern Nevada, Pseudocotalpa Giulianii And Icaricia Shasta Charlestonensis, Kristen Tovar
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Assessing the role geographic isolation and ecological specialization have on phylogeographic patterns contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary history of a species and the processes that erode genetic diversity. I used mitochondrial and nuclear genomic sequences to assess whether habitat isolation has shaped the fine-scale patterns of present-day genetic structure and diversity in two threatened insect species endemic to southern Nevada. Pseudocotalpa giulianii (Coleoptera; Scarabaeidae) is a dune obligate scarab beetle endemic to only two small, isolated sand dunes in Nye County, Nevada, with a usable habitat of less than 4.2 km sq that is impacted by on-going degradation. …
Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt
Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt
All Theses
Bartram’s Bass are an endemic to the Upper Savannah River basin in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Bartram’s Bass are facing many risks, primary among them being hybridization with nonnative Alabama Bass. More recently, nonnative Alabama Bass and their hybrid congeners have been observed moving from reservoirs into tributaries where the remaining Bartram’s Bass populations exist. Thus, for Chapter 1 we sought to better understand the threat of nonnative gene spreading in tributary systems. To do this, we 1) quantified the movement of pure Alabama Bass, Bartram’s Bass, and their hybrids, 2) assessed correlations between movement and abiotic variables, …
The Effect Of Callery Pear (Pyrus Calleryana) On Soil Macrofauna (Diplopoda And Oligochaeta), Joseph M. Mcgee
The Effect Of Callery Pear (Pyrus Calleryana) On Soil Macrofauna (Diplopoda And Oligochaeta), Joseph M. Mcgee
Biology Theses
Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) is a relatively recent invader of North America. Its ecological effects are still being explored, including those affecting soil macrofauna such as millipedes (Diplopoda) and earthworms (Clitellata: Oligochaeta). These animals play important roles in many soil processes so understanding how they respond to invasive species is vital to soil health. A previous study exploring potential herbicide control was completed in 2019, however as of 2022 there are still treatment zones with little to no Callery pear alongside fully invaded plots, providing an optimal habitat mosaic for comparison. This allowed us to pursue two research …
Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology, Space Use, And Ecology Of The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West-Central Louisiana, Chad Argabright
Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology, Space Use, And Ecology Of The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West-Central Louisiana, Chad Argabright
LSU Master's Theses
Nest site selection is a driving demographic force behind eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations. However, previous research was likely not focused on the actual time of nest site selection, considering that nest site selection is likely only able to occur on the day of the first egg being laid. My objective was to determine if selection for any vegetation characteristics was occurring on the first day of laying. I estimated the path taken from the roost to the nest on the first day of egg laying (i.e., laying path) using GPS data collected from 164 unique …
Testing For Relationships Between Animal Personality Traits, Activity Level And Voracity, And The Underlying Influence Of Body Size In The Dragonfly Predator, Epitheca Canis, Flynn Gorman
Senior Theses and Projects
Animal personality, defined as among-individual variation in behavior, is taxonomically widespread, but its ecological implications remain unclear. While associations between animal personality and ecological traits have been examined, methodological shortcomings, such as lack of repeated measurements, limit the insights these studies provide. Here, I measured the repeatability of activity level and feeding rate behaviors in the nymph stage of the dragonfly predator, Epitheca canis, taking 10 repeated measurements of each trait over a 10-week period. Moreover, I tested for a relationship between among-individual variation in activity level and feeding rate while accounting for the underlying influence of nymph body …
Differences In Drifting Invertebrate Communities Across Arctic Ecozones And The Influence On Potential Growth Of Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus), Charles Chanyi
Differences In Drifting Invertebrate Communities Across Arctic Ecozones And The Influence On Potential Growth Of Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus), Charles Chanyi
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Invertebrate drift is a key process that potentially affects multiple levels of food web organization within stream environments. However, our understanding of the mechanistic drivers of drift in high latitude streams and subsequent bottom-up control that drift may have on fish predators in these environments remains understudied. This project aimed to gain the baseline knowledge of how drift functions across two major high latitude ecozones, the boreal forest and tundra, and how those possible differences in drifting community characteristics may impact drift-feeding Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus). These objectives were accomplished by characterizing stream environments across both ecozones, sampling …