Digital Commons Network^™

Temporal Foraging Patterns Of Nonnative Frogs (Eleutherodactylus Coqui) In Hawaii, Arthur C. Wallis, Robyn L. Smith, Karen H. Beard

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The Puerto Rican Coqui Frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) is a nocturnal, invasive species that was introduced into Hawaii in the 1980s. Because they reach extremely high densities (up to 90,000 frogs/ha), they have the potential to affect invertebrate prey communities. Previously, researchers used frogs collected only at night to characterize their prey. Because Coquis use retreat sites near the forest floor during the day and understory perch sites at night, frogs collected at night might show different amounts and types of prey than would frogs collected in the morning. We analyzed stomach contents of 435 frogs collected in the morning (0300–0600 …

Complex Vegetation Dynamics At The Fire-Grazing-Drought Nexus, Christine H. Bielski

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The discipline of ecology long ago moved away from viewing systems as static entities where disturbance processes, environmental stochasticity, and spatiotemporal variability play minor roles in determining ecosystem structure and function. Ecological theory continue to develop frameworks and statistical techniques capable of describing the inherent complexity in natural systems. However, in dealing with the complexity in nature, many applied disciplines have yet to adopt such frameworks or statistical techniques. The objective of this study was bridge the gap between ecological theory and application by using complex systems theory to describe grassland vegetation dynamics at the fire-grazing-drought nexus. Chapters 2 and …

The Eco-Epidemiology Of Pacific Coast Tick Fever In California, Kerry A. Padgett, Denise L. Bonilla, Marina E. Eremeeva, Carol A. Glaser, Robert S. Lane, Charsey Cole Porse, Martin B. Castro, Sharon L. Messenger, Alex Espinosa, Jill Hacker, Anne Kjemtrup, Bonnie Ryan, Jamesina J. Scott, Renjie Hu, Melissa Hardstone Yoshimizu, Gregory A. Dasch, Vicki Kramer

Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Rickettsia philipii (type strain “Rickettsia 364D”), the etiologic agent of Pacific Coast tick fever (PCTF), is transmitted to people by the Pacific Coast tick, Dermacentor occidentalis. Following the first confirmed human case of PCTF in 2008, 13 additional human cases have been reported in California, more than half of which were pediatric cases. The most common features of PCTF are the presence of at least one necrotic lesion known as an eschar (100%), fever (85%), and headache (79%); four case-patients required hospitalization and four had multiple eschars. Findings presented here implicate the nymphal or larval stages of D …

Lessons From The Past: Unfolding The Dynamics Among Climate, Balkan Landscapes, And Humans Over The Past Millennium, Charuta J. Kulkarni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The primary objective of this doctoral dissertation is to reconstruct the environmental history of the Central Balkans (Serbia) over the past millennium utilizing biological proxies (pollen, spores, and charcoal), geochemical signals through X-ray fluorescence (XRF), statistical analyses, and atomic mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C chronology. This dissertation establishes the first chronological framework for vegetation-landscape changes in Serbia and discusses the role of humans and climate as underlying processes.

Chapter 1 discusses the background and the nature of the research problem followed by the extensive literature review on the topic of the Holocene climate and paleoecology. The state of Holocene paleoecology …

The Economic Value Of Forest Park Ecosystem Services: Results Of Five Focus Groups Conducted In Spring 2016, Randall A. Bluffstone, Pablo Barreyro, Jenny Dempsey Stein, Cody Kent, Antonia Machado

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: This initial phase of research lays the foundation for a survey using contingent valuation (CV) and choice experiment (CE) methods. We asked select Portland residents what they care about most in Forest Park, their willingness to pay (WTP) for improving ecosystem services and how they generally think about the value of those goods and services. These results will help us narrow the experimental design of the forthcoming CV/CE study.

Approach: We conducted a focus group in each of Portland’s 5 “quadrants.” We chose each location - Skyline, St. John’s, Cully, Foster-Powell and Hillsdale - based on either its proximity …

Using Ecological Production Functions To Link Ecological Processes To Ecosystem Services, Randall Jf Bruins, Timothy J. Canfield, Clifford Duke, Larry Kapustka, Amanda M. Nahlik, Ralf B. Schäfer

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Staff Publications

Ecological production functions (EPFs) link ecosystems, stressors, and management actions to ecosystem services (ES) production. Although EPFs are acknowledged as being essential to improve environmental management, their use in ecological risk assessment has received relatively little attention. Ecological production functions may be defined as usable expressions (i.e., models) of the processes by which ecosystems produce ES, often including external influences on those processes. We identify key attributes of EPFs and discuss both actual and idealized examples of their use to inform decision making. Whenever possible, EPFs should estimate final, rather than intermediate, ES. Although various types of EPFs have been …

Applications Of Time-Lapse Imagery For Monitoring And Illustrating Ecological Dynamics In A Water-Stressed System, Emma Brinley Buckley

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding and perceiving the natural world is a key part of management, policy, conservation, and inevitably for our future. Increased demand on natural resources has heightened the importance of documenting ecosystem changes, and knowledge-sharing to foster awareness. The advancement of digital technologies has improved the efficiency of passive monitoring, connectivity among systems, and expanded the potential for innovative and communicative approaches. From technological progression, time-lapse imagery has emerged a valuable tool to capture and depict natural systems. I sought to enhance our understanding of a water-stressed system by analyzing imagery, in addition to integrating images with data visualization to illustrate …

Stream Microbial Communities As Potential Indicators Of River And Landscape Disturbance In North-Central Arkansas, Wilson Howard Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, 29 shale basins have been actively developed across 20 states for extraction of natural gas (NG) via horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing (=fracking). This includes ~5000 wells within the Fayetteville shale of north-central Arkansas. Development often impacts both river- and landscapes, and management requires catchment-level evaluations over time, with organismal presence/absence as indicators. For this study next-generation sequencing was used to identify/characterize microbial communities within biofilm of eight Arkansas River tributaries, so as to gauge potential catchment influences. Streams spanned a gradient of landscape features and hydrological flows, with four serving as ‘potentially impacted catchment zones’ (PICZ) and …

Connecting To Nature, Community, And Self: A Conservation Corps Approach To Re-Engaging At-Risk Youth In Science Education, Sara Jo Linden

Dissertations and Theses

The social and environmental challenges of the coming decades will require that individuals possess environmental literacy: the understanding of natural systems combined with a sense of care for the earth, and the confidence and competency to act on its behalf. At the same time, disengaged youth need education environments that foster belonging and promote affective outcomes. The youth conservation corps model provides a natural context for engaging academically at-risk youth in environmental science education, while fostering connection to nature and student self-efficacy in ways that are experiential, relevant, and relationship-based. The focus of this study was a conservation corps program …

Plants' Native Distributions Do Not Reflect Climatic Tolerance, Tierney Bocsi, Jenica M. Allen, Jesse Bellemare, John Kartesz, Misako Nishino, Bethany A. Bradley

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Aim: Biogeographers have long known that plant species do not fully encompass their fundamental niche. Nonetheless, in practice, species distribution modelling assumes that plant distributions represent a reasonable approximation of their environmental tolerance. For ecological forecasting, projections of habitat loss due to climate change assume that many species will be unable to tolerate climate conditions outside of those found within their current distributional ranges. We aim to test how well occurrences in the native range approximate the climatic conditions in which plant species can survive.

Location: Continental USA. Methods: We compared the climatic conditions between occurrences in the US native …

Gaur (Bos Gaurus) Abundance, Distribution, And Habitat Use Patterns In Kuiburi National Park, Southwestern Thailand, Supatcharee Tanasarnpaiboon

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Population status of gaur (Bos gaurus), a wild cattle, in most habitats where they are present, is still unknown. As the use of camera traps in wildlife studies are widespread, I developed photographic individual identification procedures and utilized encounter histories of gaur individuals from camera trap data to estimate gaur abundance and density using the spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis. The study was conducted at Kuiburi National Park, southwestern Thailand, comprised of dry evergreen forest, moist evergreen forest, and man-modified secondary forest during November 2013- January 2015. I conducted 71 direct observations in a savannah-like habitat area to observe …

Spatial Distribution And Geomorphic Factors Of Lead Contamination On Floodplains Affected By Historical Mining, Big Rover, S.E. Missouri, David Bower Huggins

MSU Graduate Theses

Historical mining in the Old Lead Belt resulted in lead (Pb) contamination of floodplain soils for over 170 km along the Big River in southeastern Missouri. The overall pattern of contamination are understood. However, Pb distribution across floodplain surfaces has not been investigated at the scale needed for site-level remediation planning. The goal of this project is to examine spatial distribution of Pb with more detail and identify the role of geomorphic processes. Predictive models are needed to evaluate factors affecting Pb distribution such as elevation, distance from the channel, and geochemistry. This study evaluates Pb distribution at three ~1km …

Determining Methods Of Propagation For The Investigation Of Intraspecific Variability Of Climate Change Responses Of Appalachian Plant Species, Gayle L. Tyree

Honors Theses

Species range migrations are a well-documented response to climate change (Loarie et al. 2009), with range shifts mainly occurring poleward or to higher elevations (Walther et al. 2002). As range shifts occur, variation in phenotypic traits within plant species across climate gradients could affect their abilities to acclimate or adapt to a changing climate (Hooper et al. 2005, Souza et al. 2011). In 2014 Dr. Jennifer Boyd (BGES) initiated a research project to examine potential intraspecific phenotypic variation within wide-ranging Appalachian plant species of responses to projected future atmospheric CO2 and temperature regimes. As an undergraduate research assistant, I focused …

Investigating Gastropod Habitat Associations In Saltmarsh, Joanne Green, Amanda J. Reichelt-Brushett, S Wl Jacobs

Associate Professor Amanda Reichelt-Brushett

Recent studies have provided new information on the taxonomy of gastropods snails in Australian saltmarsh but little is known of their ecology. For fauna colonisation to be used as a measure of the success of restoration or rehabilitation of degraded saltmarsh, a detailed understanding of the microhabitat associations of the target species in ‘reference’ locations across a range of latitudes is necessary. This study measured the densities of saltmarsh gastropods in two locations in northern New South Wales to determine microhabitat associations that could influence the results of rehabilitation assessment using fauna colonisation in Australian saltmarsh. In this study, Ophicardelus …

Eastern Wild Turkey Nest Site Selection In Two Frequently Burned Pine Savannas, Andrew R. Little, Nathan P. Nibbelink, Michael J. Chamberlain, L. Mike Conner, Robert J. Warren

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Reproductive success is a critical factor affecting avian demographics and can be influenced by many factors including nesting chronology, predation risk, and fine-scale nest site selection.

Methods: We modeled the relative influences of habitat-related covariates at six spatial scales (nest site: 15-, 40-, 80-, 120-, 160-, and 200-m radii) on Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) nest site selection in two pine savannas managed by frequent prescribed fire (≤3 years) in southwestern Georgia during 2011–2013.

Results: Nest site (15-m scale) habitat metrics (mean visual obstruction [cm] and canopy closure [%]) had the greatest influence on nest site …

Export Of Insect Ecosystem Services From Hayed Native Prairie, Wayne J. Ohnesorg

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Natural areas, such as prairie, have the potential to provide the benefits of pest suppression and pollination for agricultural production. In Nebraska, prairie is often used for hay production. The impact of prairie hay production management practices on beneficial arthropods is not well understood. Four prairie hay meadows adjacent to row crop fields were selected in northeast Nebraska. The goal was to assess the impact of haying them on beneficial arthropods and the movement of natural enemies into adjacent crop fields. Three management practices were evaluated for hay harvested from prairie meadows one cut per growing season, two cuts per …

Evolutionary Responses Of Invasive Grass Species To Variation In Precipitation And Soil Nitrogen, Monica A. Nguyen, Amy E. Ortega, Quoc L. Nguyen, Sarah Kimball, Michael L. Goulden, Jennifer L. Funk

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

1.Global climate models suggest that many ecosystems will experience reduced precipitation over the next century and the consequences for invasive plant performance are largely unknown. Annual invasive species may be able to quickly evolve traits associated with drought escape or tolerance through rapid genetic changes.

2.We investigated the influence of five years of water and nitrogen manipulations on trait values in a southern California grassland system. Seeds from two annual grass species (Avena barbata, Bromus madritensis) were collected from experimental plots and grown in a common environment over two generations. We measured 14 physiological, morphological, phenological, and …

The Planet, 2016, Spring, Jesse Nichols, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Wildlife Underpasses: Frequency Of Use By Neotropic Mammals In Parque Natural Metropolitano, Panamá City, Panamá, Kelly Russo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In a world of ever increasing globalization and urbanization, roads present wildlife with a number of challenges. They fragment habitats, disrupt animal movements, impact reproductive success and the fitness of individuals and populations, alter population dynamics, and cause unnatural levels of mortality. Fortunately, the numerous detrimental effects of roads can be alleviated by the proper implementation of mitigation structures, such as underpasses, sky bridges and vegetated overpasses. These mitigation structures are an important source of genetic connectivity, especially in a peri-urban reserve setting. This study seeks to understand what species of mammal utilize the wildlife underpasses below Via La Amistad, …

Drone Technology For Low-Cost Precision Mapping On Campus And In The Community, Suresh Muthukrishnan, Mike Winiski

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

Proliferation of consumer grade small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAV) or drones brings many opportunities in the area of mapping and spatial analysis. Although misuse of drone technology is well-chronicled in the media, the important and positive role played by drones at the community level is often overlooked. At Furman University, we have integrated the use of drones into teaching, research, and various sustainability and safety initiatives on campus and with community partners. Using a combination of tools, including drones and GIS, we mapped the sprinkler irrigation network and streetlight locations on campus and in a local community. The general workflow …

Pharmaceutical Contaminants As Stressors On Rocky Intertidal And Estuarine Organisms: A Case Study Of Fluoxetine, Joseph Richard Peters

Dissertations and Theses

Contaminants such as pharmaceuticals are of increasing concern due to their ubiquitous use and persistence in surface waters worldwide. Limited attention has been paid to the effects of pharmaceuticals on marine life, despite widespread detection of these contaminants in the marine environment. Of the existing studies, the majority assess the negative effects of pharmaceuticals over an exposure period of 30 days or less and focus on cellular and subcellular biomarkers. Longer studies are required to determine if chronic contaminant exposure poses risks to marine life at environmentally relevant concentrations. Also scarce in the literature is examination of whole organism effects …

Accounting For Uncertainty In Ecological Analysis: The Strengths And Limitations Of Hierarchical Statistical Modeling, Noel Cressie, Catherine A. Calder, James S. Clark, Jay M. Ver Hoef, Christopher K. Wikle

Professor Noel Cressie

Analyses of ecological data should account for the uncertainty in the process(es) that generated the data. However, accounting for these uncertainties is a difficult task, since ecology is known for its complexity. Measurement and/or process errors are often the only sources of uncertainty modeled when addressing complex ecological problems, yet analyses should also account for uncertainty in sampling design, in model specification, in parameters governing the specified model, and in initial and boundary conditions. Only then can we be confident in the scientific inferences and forecasts made from an analysis. Probability and statistics provide a framework that accounts for multiple …

Bibliographia Phytosociologica Et Floristica Mongolia: Pars Iv, Werner Hilbig

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In Ergänzung zu den bisherigen drei Teilen der Bibliographie vegetationskundlicher, vegetationsökologischer, floristischer und pflanzengeographischer Arbeiten über die Mongolei wird in dieser Arbeit Teil IV der Bibliographie vorgelegt. Er umfasst im Wesentlichen den Zeitraum 2007 bis 2014. Auch Publikationen zur Vegetationsgeschichte und zum botanischen Naturschutz werden berücksichtigt.

English summary:

In addition to the hitherto existing three parts of the bibliography of geobotanical, ecological, floristic and plant-geographical papers on Mongolia the part IV of the bibliography is given. It comprises in the main point the period from 2007 until 2014. In addition, publications on vegetation history and botanical nature protection are considered.

Hydrothermal Monitoring In Yellowstone National Park Using Airborne Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing, C. M. U. Neale, C. Jaworowski, H. Heasler, S. Sivarajan, A. Masih

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the image acquisition and processing methodology, including surface emissivity and atmospheric corrections, for generating surface temperatures of two active hydrothermal systems in Yellowstone National Park. Airborne thermal infrared (8–12 μm) images were obtained annually from 2007 to 2012 using a FLIR SC640 thermal infrared camera system. Thermal infrared image acquisitions occurred under clear-sky conditions after sunset to meet the objective of providing high-spatial resolution, georectified imagery for hydrothermal monitoring. Comparisons of corrected radiative temperature maps with measured ground and water kinetic temperatures at flight times provided an assessment of temperature accuracy. A repeatable, time-sequence of images for …

Trade-Offs Between Three Forest Ecosystem Services Across The State Of New Hampshire, Usa: Timber, Carbon, And Albedo, David A. Lutz, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Mackenzie B. Murphy, Mark E. Borsuk

Dartmouth Scholarship

Forests are more frequently being managed to store and sequester carbon for the purposes of climate change mitigation. Generally, this practice involves long-term conservation of intact mature forests and/or reductions in the frequency and intensity of timber harvests. However, incorporating the influence of forest surface albedo often suggests that long rotation lengths may not always be optimal in mitigating climate change in forests characterized by frequent snowfall. To address this, we investigated trade-offs between three ecosystem services: carbon storage, albedo-related radiative forcing, and timber provisioning. We calculated optimal rotation length at 498 diverse Forest Inventory and Analysis forest sites in …

Current Status Of Falcon Populations In Saudi Arabia, Albara M. Binothman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Falcons (Falco spp.) are widely used for falconry in the countries of the Middle East. During the 2015 breeding season, we surveyed historic and active nest sites of Barbary (Falco pelegrinoides pelegrinoides) and Lanner (F. biarmicus) Falcons in Saudi Arabia. Field and questionnaire surveys were conducted and personal contact with falconers was made to document the current distribution and price changes for Lanner Falcons, Barbary Falcons, Saker Falcons (F. cherrug), Peregrine Falcons (F. peregrinus), Gyrfalcons (F. rusticolus), and Hybrid Falcons in Saudi Arabia. We categorized our survey into three geographic groups; southwest (A), northwest (B), and central (C) regions of …

Endangered Species Research In Hawaii: The Early Years (1965–87), Michael J. Scott, Cameron B. Kepler

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Hawaii is an ecologically isolated archipelago 2,500 miles from the nearest continent. Its isolation resulted in a taxonomically unbalanced flora and fauna with remarkable examples of adaptive radiation among those groups of organisms that won the dispersal sweepstakes. It was one of the last oceanic island groups to be populated by humans, about 900 A.D. by Polynesian travelers and in 1778 by Europeans. Relatively recent colonization by humans did not save it, however, from the biodiversity losses suffered by other isolated archipelagos—it only delayed them (Scott and others, 1988; Pratt and others, 2009a).

Impacts Of Environmental Changes To The Middle Rio Grande Landscape On Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo's Cultural And Cermonial Sustainability, Andrea L. Everett

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Given future climate scenarios, this Thesis investigates how plausible climate changes will further impact the Native American community of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo's (Tiguas) cultural continuity and access to riparian ecosystem services along the Rio Grande River (specific to Tigua tradition; riparian vegetation used in ceremony, i.e. Gooding's and Coyote willow). The project aims to (1) describe and understand the relationship between regional climatic changes, anthropogenic changes, and major events in Tigua history, (2) identify rates and patterns of riparian vegetation changes, (3) evaluate impacts on cultural and provisioning ecosystem services relevant to Tigua culture, and relate these to climate …

Drinking Water And Autism: Using Spatial Cluster Detection To Explore Patterns Of Autism Cases In Lane County, Oregon, Sherry Sandreth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a complex array of neurological disorders with a diverse presentation, multiple etiologies, and long-term ramifications. Prevalence of ASD in the United States is about 1 in 50 children as of 2013, making it a significant public health problem. The etiology is not understood, and it is widely accepted that it is multicausal, with genetic and environmental influences. Prior research suggests an association between water source and ASD. Contaminants such as lead, arsenic, mercury, pharmaceuticals and pesticides found in water are associated with developmental disorders suggesting that a systematic review focused on water source was warranted. …

Geospatial Approaches To Support Pelagic Conservation Planning And Adaptive Management, L. M. Wedding, Sara M. Maxwell, D. Hyrenbach, D. C. Dunn, J. J. Roberts, D. Briscoe, E. Hines, P. N. Halpin

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Place-based management in the open ocean faces unique challenges in delineating boundaries around temporally and spatially dynamic systems that span broad geographic scales and multiple management jurisdictions, especially in the 'high seas'. Geospatial technologies are critical for the successful design of pelagic conservation areas, because they provide information on the spatially and temporally dynamic oceanographic features responsible for driving species distribution and abundance in the open ocean, the movements of protected species, and the spatial patterns of distribution of potential threats. Nevertheless, there are major challenges to implementing these geospatial approaches in the open ocean. This Theme Section seeks to …