Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Mountain Goat Genetic Diversity And Population Connectivity In Washington And Southern British Columbia, Leslie C. (Leslie Claire) Parks
Mountain Goat Genetic Diversity And Population Connectivity In Washington And Southern British Columbia, Leslie C. (Leslie Claire) Parks
WWU Graduate School Collection
Anthropogenic alterations to natural landscapes and the associated habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation, and climatic shifts threaten biodiversity from the local to the global scale. These perturbations disrupt historical patterns of gene flow causing reduced population connectivity, loss of genetic diversity, and increased risk of extinction. A landscape that is permeable to animal movement counteracts local population fluctuations, increases genetic diversity, increases adaptive potential, and provides corridors for range shifts in response to climate change. Maintaining population connectivity is critical for the conservation of small populations isolated by fragmented landscapes. This strategy requires an accurate understanding of the landscape's effect on …
Summer Phytoplankton Diversity In Small Lakes Of Northwest Washington, Rachael D. (Rachael Dawn) Gravon
Summer Phytoplankton Diversity In Small Lakes Of Northwest Washington, Rachael D. (Rachael Dawn) Gravon
WWU Graduate School Collection
I sampled forty lakes in the Puget Sound region of northwest Washington to investigate the relationship between water quality, site characteristics, and algal composition. Water samples were collected during the summer of 2008 to measure nutrients, alkalinity, chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, and temperature. Watershed characteristics were recorded to assess shoreline composition and dominant land use. Phytoplankton samples were collected, preserved, and concentrated in settling chambers to determine taxonomic composition and algal biovolume. Unpreserved phytoplankton samples were also collected and used to generate a species list for each lake. The data were examined using correlation analysis and hierarchical clustering to …
Regional Risk Assessment Of The Puyallup River Watershed And The Evaluation Of Low Impact Development In Meeting Management Goals, Eleanor Hines
Regional Risk Assessment Of The Puyallup River Watershed And The Evaluation Of Low Impact Development In Meeting Management Goals, Eleanor Hines
WWU Graduate School Collection
The Relative Risk Model (RRM) is a tool used to calculate and assess the likelihood of effects to endpoints when multiple stressors occur in complex ecological systems. In this study a Bayesian network was used to calculate relative risk and uncertainty (BN-RRM) in the Puyallup River Watershed. First, I calculated the risk of prespawn mortality of coho salmon. Second, I evaluated the effect of low impact development (LID) as a means to reduce risk. Prespawner mortality in coho salmon within the Puyallup watershed was the endpoint selected for this study. A conceptual model showing causal pathways between stressors and endpoints …
Cougar Genetic Variation And Gene Flow In A Heterogeneous Landscape, Matthew J. (Matthew James) Warren
Cougar Genetic Variation And Gene Flow In A Heterogeneous Landscape, Matthew J. (Matthew James) Warren
WWU Graduate School Collection
Management of game species requires an understanding not just of population abundance, but also the structure of and connections between populations. Like other large-bodied carnivores, the cougar (Puma concolor) exhibits density -dependent dispersal and is capable of long-distance movement; in the absence of barriers to movement, these traits should lead to high connectivity between individuals and a lack of genetic differentiation across areas of continuous habitat. Previous research has suggested that cougar movement may be influenced by landscape variables such as forest cover, elevation, human population density, and highways. I assessed the population structure of cougars (Puma concolor) in Washington …
Phytoplankton Ecology In Four High-Elevation Lakes Of The North Cascades, Wa, Siana Wong
Phytoplankton Ecology In Four High-Elevation Lakes Of The North Cascades, Wa, Siana Wong
WWU Graduate School Collection
The objective of my project was to describe phytoplankton ecology in high-elevation lakes of the North Cascades, WA. I conducted my field study using a small-scale ecosystem approach encompassing four lakes in the same watershed near Mt. Baker. I used exploratory data analyses to identify spatial and seasonal patterns in phytoplankton and water chemistry. Chlorophyll-a levels were less than 2.5 μg/L, and total nitrogen and phosphorus levels were below 198 and 15.9 μg/L, respectively, indicating the low-production and nutrient-poor nature of these lakes. Chlorophyll-a was weakly correlated with total nitrogen (Kendall's tau = 0.25, p < 0.05) but was not correlated with most other water chemistry variables (p > 0.05). In the phytoplankton dataset, …
Assessment Of Riparian Conditions In The Nooksack River Basin With The Combination Of Lidar, Multi-Spectral Imagery And Gis, Erica M. Capuana
Assessment Of Riparian Conditions In The Nooksack River Basin With The Combination Of Lidar, Multi-Spectral Imagery And Gis, Erica M. Capuana
WWU Graduate School Collection
Riparian areas are a complex component of stream ecosystems and provide critical habitat for Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.). Comprehensive techniques are needed for assessing riparian areas that can be used on small and large regional scales. I examined the application of airborne LiDAR and high resolution multi-spectral imagery from the World View-2 (WV-2) satellite to analyze riparian landcover and riparian forest structure in the Nooksack River Watershed. I employed an object-oriented approach to segment the imagery into meaningful objects consisting of groups of pixels. I examined the advantages of the four additional spectral bands from the 8-Band World View-2 Image …
Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Dispersal Behavior In The Larval Stage Of The Dungeness Crab And The Pacific Green Shore Crab, Anna-Mai F. (Anna-Mai Florentine) Christmas
Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Dispersal Behavior In The Larval Stage Of The Dungeness Crab And The Pacific Green Shore Crab, Anna-Mai F. (Anna-Mai Florentine) Christmas
WWU Graduate School Collection
The influence of acidification of the world's oceans on marine populations and communities is a subject of growing concern. In the case of crustaceans, issues such as calcium dynamics of the molting process and direct effects on survival and development rates of larvae have received, at most, limited attention. My thesis research looked at phenomena that are important in the success of larval crustacean stages, but have received no attention; namely, the effects of ocean acidification on the swimming speeds, feeding rate, and gross growth efficiency of stage one larvae of the Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus (Cancer) magister, and the Pacific …
Relationship Between Lake Whatcom Algae Density, Water Quality And Filtration Rate At The Bellingham Water Treatment Plant, Wa, Bowei He
WWU Graduate School Collection
During the summer of 2009, the Bellingham drinking water treatment plant experienced severe reductions in filtration rates, resulting in mandatory water restrictions. Since then, summer water filtration rates continued to approach critical levels. In 2011, I conducted a study to investigate the phytoplankton and ambient water quality patterns in Lake Whatcom source water to see if any parameters could be used to predict low water filtration rates. In addition, I evaluated water quality and phytoplankton cell densities at different depths at the intake located in Lake Whatcom to see if drawing source water from different depths could help reduce water …
Factors Affecting The Distribution And Abundance Of The Salish Sucker (Catostomus Sp.): An Endemic And Endangered Transboundary Fish Population, Nathaniel S. (Nathaniel Stuart) Lundgren
Factors Affecting The Distribution And Abundance Of The Salish Sucker (Catostomus Sp.): An Endemic And Endangered Transboundary Fish Population, Nathaniel S. (Nathaniel Stuart) Lundgren
WWU Graduate School Collection
The Salish sucker (Catostomus sp.) is a recently described endemic fish species with a patchy distribution and a narrow geographic range in western Washington and southwestern British Columbia. In this study I examined populations within the Nooksack River watershed, attempting to elucidate the environmental factors contributing to observed patterns of distribution and abundance. I hypothesized that hypoxic and hyperthermic conditions during the summer months would restrict Salish sucker distribution. I tested this hypothesis by measuring dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperature, and Salish sucker abundance and movement at eight sites in the Bertrand Creek and Fishtrap Creek sub-basins. The results of this …