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Assessment Of Land Use And Neotropical Herpetofauna Along Steep Gradients Of Elevation In An Ecuadorian Ramsar Wetland Site #1143, Nicholas K. Henke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using a comparative ecological approach, over the course of 18 days at the transition from a particularly wet to dry season in 2010, I assessed herpetofaunal assemblages and related abiotic parameters (i.e., photosynthetically active radiation, specific conductance, temperature and coarse woody debris) between contiguous forest and human impacted areas along three paired transects across the steep elevation gradient at Laguna de Cube, Ramsar site # 1143. Visual encounter surveys were used to capture herpetofauna with species being processed (e.g., weight, digit length, photographed) and identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible. After evaluating transect data for pooling (i.e., no significant …

Freshwater Phytoplankton Populations Detected Using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (Hplc) Of Taxon-Specific Pigments, Lauren Jeanne Simmons

Theses and Dissertations

Phytoplankton are key primary producers in aquatic ecosystems, and the principle food source for primary consumers. Individual phytoplankton species respond to different physical, chemical and biological parameters, so monitoring taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton community is a means to monitor changes in environmental conditions. Phytoplankton community changes have frequently been monitored by estimating biomass (using chlorophyll a, measured fluorometrically), and taxonomic data obtained from cell counts. While such methods are useful, they are time-consuming. I hypothesized that high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods, which have been frequently used in marine systems, would allow separation and identification of key pigments. …

Stream Restoration: Project Evaluation And Site Selection In The Cacapon River Watershed, West Virginia, Jonathan L. Pitchford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Stream restoration is being conducted throughout the world at unprecedented rates to address stream channel degradation and water quality concerns. Natural Channel Design (NCD) is a common method used for restoration and has received governmental endorsement; however, the effects of NCD on channel stability and ecosystem functioning are poorly studied. We examined the effects of a reach-scale NCD project on channel stability, riparian vegetation, and water quality along the Cacapon River, West Virginia using a before-after-control-impact design and determined that restoration increased the abundance and diversity of woody vegetation, but had minimal effects on streambank stability and water quality. Increased …

Growing Home: Sacred Space And Contemporary Ecotopia, Andrew Gingerich

Architecture and Planning ETDs

This thesis investigates the concept of ecocentrism and how an emerging ecocentric worldview might uniquely shape the built environment. This thesis is particularly interested in the role of sacred space in urban development, and how the notion of sacredness, unique to an ecocentric worldview, might affect various aspects of the built environment. These issues are explored in two basic parts. First, three basic worldviews are discussed\u2014the pre-modern worldview, the modern worldview, and the emerging ecocentric worldview--specifically on the topics of nature, space, and the city. Second, a qualitative research study of three ecotopian' communities is presented--Village Homes in Davis, CA; …

Selection Of Benthic Habitat By Yellow-Phase American Eels (Anguilla Rostrata), Melissa A. Braham

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This thesis examines habitat preference of yellow-phase American eels (Anguilla rostrata) and relationships between age and length with that preference. The thesis is comprised of two chapters: (1) an introduction and literature review on American eel life history, their habitat selection, and the study of resource selection, and (2) an experimental study of yellow-phase American eel habitat preference and relationships between preference and age and length. Given widespread habitat alteration of North American rivers, an understanding of the use and selection of habitat is important to conservation and management of the American eel. Yellow-phase American eels are often considered as …

Dna-Based Population Estimation, Harvest Vulnerability, And Home Range Dynamics Of Black Bears In Western Maryland, Michael D. Jones

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

After nearly being extirpated from the state, black bears in Maryland have rebounded to a point where recreational harvest has now become an important management tool. Having a better understanding of bear population parameters, movements, and harvest vulnerability allows managers to implement hunting more effectively and responsibly. To estimate demographics of the Maryland bear population, we implemented noninvasive genetic sampling of bear hair during summer 2011. We used a model-based sampling design that allowed us to collect samples more efficiently. We used presence-only maximum entropy (Maxent) modeling to classify the study area based on predicted probability of bear occurrence, and …

Composing The Cities Of Flow: Unitary Urbanism And The Ontology Of Water Infrastructure, Angus R. Currie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A renewed interest in ontology and the ontological station of erstwhile considered humans and nonhumans has provoked interest in the implications that such station might hold for the built, metabolized, and governed environment. It is the contention of this work that the contemporary manifestation of hydro-social assemblages, water distribution networks, reflects and is produced by a totalizing spectacular ideology that relies on such networks being imbricated in such a manner as to de-emphasize or deny their ontological standing. Perceiving in the Unitary Urbanism articulated by the situationists of the 1960s an anticipation and critique of such spectacular ideology, and its …

Spatial And Demographic Ecology Of Texas Horned Lizards Within A Conservation Framework, Alexander J. Wolf

Theses

Disturbance due to habitat restoration and urbanization can threaten populations of sensitive wildlife species. I examined 2 aspects of the ecology of Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum), a Species of Special Concern in Oklahoma. I studied the effects of native prairie restoration and urban development on a population of P. cornutum on an urban wildlife reserve at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. I also studied population vital rate variation in 2 populations of P. cornutum using deterministic elasticity and life-stage simulation analyses. My research on the effects of habitat disturbance on urban P. cornutum focused on Wildlife Reserve 3 (WR3) …

Eco-Theatre And New Media: Devising Toward Transnational Balance, Marnie Jane Glazier

Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to address the pivotal ecological and technological realities of the twenty-first century, currently giving rise to new patterns of existence and new paradigms of human inquiry. This study will ask how technological innovation and environmental urgency have altered the ways in which human beings think, and thus perceive the world around them, changing human behavior, or non-behavior, and calling forth new imperatives for the arts, and namely for the Theatre. Most significantly, the dissertation attempts to traverse the shadow-lands, between our ecologies and our technologies, exploring those essential points of convergence in the borderlands where Eco-Theatre and …

A Reexamination Of The Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus Collaris Collaris) In Arkansas, Ashley A. Grimsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Loss of suitable habitat is a threat to species worldwide. Habitat destruction, including loss, change, and fragmentation of habitat, is the leading cause of species extinction. Eastern collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris collaris) are habitat specialists on glades. Both C. c. collaris and glade habitats are rare and of special concern in the state of Arkansas. Many glade populations have already been extirpated in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. Increasing knowledge of the distribution, habitat structure, and population dynamics of C. c. collaris is important to ensure the survival of this species in Arkansas.

A literature review of …

Investigating Changes In Productivity Of An Old Growth Juniperus Stand: A Physiological And Isotopic Approach, Scott E. Spal

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Forest ecosystems play a central role in the global carbon cycle and are a major part of the terrestrial carbon sink. For more accurate predictions of terrestrial C sequestration models require a mechanistic understanding of how carbon cycling in trees and forests responds to atmospheric CO 2, temperature, and precipitation. With this comes a need for a greater understanding of the physiological mechanisms involved with changes in forest productivity as trees and forests age. This research used an old growth stand of Juniperus virginiana (Eastern red cedar) in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia to examine how carbon assimilation …

Habitat Selection Of Male Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West Virginia, Jesse L. De La Cruz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) have been the focus of widespread research throughout their range, but research on male wild turkey home range size and habitat resource selection is limited in West Virginia. To address this lack of knowledge, I proposed the quantification of home range within a region (second-order) and core home range within a periphery (third-order) resource selection. Home ranges estimates and regional vector sampling grids were modeled against anthropomorphic land use and landscape cover features, land fragmentation, slope, and aspect raster data within the Geospatial Modeling Environment (GME) to derive proportional resource use and availability data.;West …

Cliff Ecology: Extent, Biota, And Recreation Of Cliff Environments In The New River Gorge, Wv, Peter W. Clark

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The New River Gorge National River (NERI) contains an extensive network of exposed cliff-forming sandstone units, the most extensive in West Virginia and possibly within the entire Appalachian range. These cliff resources are critical to NERI's national significance, and contain specialized and potentially rare plant communities (Vanderhorst 2001; Mahan 2004; Vanderhorst, Jeuck, and Gawler 2007). This project investigates the spatial distribution of cliffs, associated plant (vascular and non-vascular) and lichen communities, and the impacts to cliff environments caused by recreational rock climbing.;Using LiDAR in a GIS, we mapped all cliffs in the northern extent of NERI, from Keeney's Creek to …

Life History Switch Point Plasticy In Response To Pond Drying Alyers Metamorph Allometry And Jumping Performance, Julie Charbonnier

Theses and Dissertations

Animals with complex life cycles can cope with environmental uncertainty by altering life history switch points through developmental plasticity. Pond drying is an important factor which may alter life history switch points in aquatic organisms. Many amphibians can plastically respond to changes in pond drying by emerging earlier, but few studies have examined the post-metamorphic consequences for performance. To investigate the potential carry-over effects of plasticity to pond drying, we studied the túngara frog, Physalaemus pustulosus, a tropical anuran that breeds in highly ephemeral habitats. We conducted a field study with three different water depth treatments in 60 L mesocosms …

Feeding Ecology And Life History Strategies Of White-Faced Capuchin Monkeys, Elizabeth Eadie

Anthropology ETDs

Dietary niches have widespread effects on individuals life histories, behaviors, and morphologies. Capuchin monkeys inhabit a complex dietary niche that often entails hunting of relatively large vertebrate prey, tool-use, and extraction of embedded resources that other closely related and sympatric species do not exploit. In this dissertation I examine, a) how juvenile capuchins overcome the challenges of reliance on a difficult-to-acquire diet, b) at what age juveniles achieve maximum foraging return rates for difficult-to-acquire foods, and c) what nutritional benefits capuchins obtain from exploitation of these foods. In the process of addressing these questions I test two prominent hypotheses regarding …

Pollination Ecology Of Agave Palmeri In New Mexico, And Landscape Use Of Leptonycteris Nivalis In Relation To Agaves, Angela E. England

Biology ETDs

Where animals spend time can provide important clues to their ecological needs, but this information is very difficult to obtain for small volant animals. The research described in Chapter 1 was an attempt to discern how L. nivalis utilize the landscape in relation to the distribution of Agave havardiana in Big Bend National Park, Texas. I found that although the landscape use of Leptonycteris nivalis is centered on habitat with high concentrations of blooming A.havardiana, it is not restricted to those areas, and furthermore adults and juveniles may differ in their behavior. Adult females may remain near food sources in …

Reproductive Phenology Of Fishes Of The Rio Grande, New Mexico : A Genes-To-Community Approach, Trevor James Krabbenhoft

Biology ETDs

Reproductive phenology is a key life history attribute of long lived organisms that can strongly affect reproductive success and, ultimately, drive community composition. Understanding the ecological causes and consequences and genetic mechanisms shaping reproductive timing is key to predicting the outcome of environmental change (e.g., climate change). The three chapters that comprised this dissertation were focused on elucidating the ecological and genetic underpinnings of reproductive timing in the fish community of an arid-land river, the Rio Grande, New Mexico. In Chapter 1, we assessed reproductive phenology in the Rio Grande fish community with four years of young-of-year sampling data and …

Ranging Behavior, Group Cohesiveness, And Patch Use In Northern Bearded Sakis (Chiropotes Sagulatus) In Guyana, Christopher Shaffer

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

I conducted a 15 month study of the activity patterns, diet, ranging behavior, and group cohesiveness of northern bearded sakis: Chiropotes sagulatus) in a continuous lowland rainforest in southern Guyana. My study combined observational data with a novel GIS-based method for assessing food patch quality to assess how bearded sakis adjusted their ranging and grouping patterns in response to changes in resource quality. My study group consisted of at least 65 animals, making it the largest group of Chiropotes yet reported. Bearded sakis were highly active, spending most of their time traveling: 40% of activity) and feeding: 35% of activity). …

Diversity And Activity Of Roseobacters And Roseophage, Charles Ryan Budinoff

Doctoral Dissertations

Bacteria of the Roseobacter lineage are dominant bacterioplankton in coastal systems and contribute significantly to secondary production in oceanic environments. Generalities of Roseobacter ecology, diversity, and distributions are known, but the intraspecific differences between species and their dynamics over short temporal periods is not well understood. Bacteriophage that infect Roseobacters (‘roseophage’) have the potential to shunt secondary production into the dissolved carbon pool and through the process of infection alter Roseobacter physiology. Despite their significance, little effort was made prior to the onset of this study to characterize roseophage. Using culture dependent and independent approaches, I describe the diversity and …

Ecological Literacy: Global Planetary Stewardship Is Everyone’S Responsibility, Eileen Bobeck-Thoresen

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

No longer can nature simply be defined as ‘essences unchanged by man’ as Ralph Waldo Emerson once claimed. Technology, the result of applied science, has produced accomplishments that have made the quality of human life better in terms of health care and transportation. These advancements, however, have come at a great ecological cost as is evident everywhere in nature today. Humans need to acquire Ecological Literacy, the knowledge to lead a sustainable life. This entails meeting current needs without preventing future generations and species from doing the same. Since the days of the Industrial Revolution, the health of our planet …

Comparing The Environmental Attitudes And Behaviors Of Native Americans And Non-Native Americans, Franklin Sage

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Homogenization Of Large-Scale Movement Models In Ecology With Application To The Spread Of Chronic Wasting Disease In Mule Deer, Martha J. Garlick

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that affects deer, elk, and moose. TSEs are prion diseases which include mad cow disease and scrapie in sheep and goats. The disease agent is a misshapen protein called a prion, which causes lesions in the brain, and to date, there is no cure. CWD is a slow-developing, fatal disease, which is rare in the free-ranging mule deer population of Utah. Infected deer shed prions into the environment through saliva, feces, and decaying carcasses. These prions remain infective in soils for many years and healthy deer may contract CWD by …

Investigating Three Decades Of Vegetation Change In A Mojave Desert Mountain Range, Chris Lee Roberts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project is a vegetation change study spanning 29 years in the Newberry Mountains of Southern Nevada. Long term monitoring data are crucial for understanding the effects of climate change on vegetation dynamics. Successful management intervention in vegetation change will require identification of early indicator plant species and their responses to climatic cues. This project is one of the oldest comparisons of resurveyed Mojave vegetation community plots with repeatable methodology and the longest survey interval reported for the southeastern Mojave Desert. 103 plots were relocated and resurveyed based on data methods in Jim Holland's thesis titled "A Vegetative Analysis of …

Ecological Effects Of And Recovery Following Surface Mining And Pasture Reclamation, Michael Levy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Surface mining with concurrent reclamation to pasture is a major driver of land use and cover change in Appalachia and constitutes a massive disturbance. Prior research suggests that some aspects of recovery are either slow or incomplete. We examined ecosystem structure---including soil physical and chemical properties, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) infectivity and community, and plant diversity and community composition---on a chronosequence of pasture-reclaimed surface mines and an unmined pasture in northern West Virginia. We also examined the effect of inoculating red clover, grown with high or low phosphorus, with AMF communities from old and young pasture-reclaimed surface mines and an …

Opening First-World Catholic Theology To Third-World Ecofeminism: Aruna Gnanadason And Johann B. Metz In Dialogue, Gretchen Baumgardt

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation responds to the dearth of scholarship in first-world, Catholic theology, particularly in the United States, that adequately and actively engages theologies of third-world women who highlight the disproportionate effects of environmental degradation on women, humanity's interconnectedness with all creation, and the spiritualities of third-world women that shape their relationship to and care for the earth. I contend that greater intentional dialogue with these theologians, particularly third-world, Christian ecofeminist theologians, could expand first-world, Catholic theology's appropriation of ecofeminism, develop a more comprehensive understanding of the disproportionate effects of environmental degradation on women, especially in the third world, and deepen …

On Being In Relation With All Created Things (An Ecofeminist, Evangelical, Theological Anthropology), Jennifer L. Butler

Seminary Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Ecological Effects Of Ditching And Ditch-Plugging In New England Salt Marshes, Robert E. Vincent

Doctoral Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities in New England salt marshes have altered hydrologic flows in various ways, but unintended consequences from some of these habitat modifications have received little attention. Specifically, ditches have existed on salt marshes for decades, but the effects of these hydrologic alterations are only poorly understood. Ditch-plugging is a more recent methodology used for salt marsh habitat enhancement and mosquito control, but the long-term effects from this management practice are also unclear. I used natural tidal creeks and pools as controls to examine the effects resulting from ditching and plugging, respectively, on hydrology, soil characteristics, marsh surface elevation, plant …

The Role Of Red-Backed Salamanders In Ecosystems, Daniel J. Hocking

Doctoral Dissertations

Ecosystems provide a vast array of services that benefit human societies, which can be divided into provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Amphibians provide provisioning services in the form of food and use in medical advances. As one of the major vertebrate groups, amphibians also play an important part in cultures throughout the world. Finally, amphibians can be extremely abundant and play important roles in ecosystem supporting services, including altering both physical structure and ecosystem functions. In aquatic systems, tadpoles can alter sedimentation, water clarity, and filamentous algae growth. Additionally, amphibians affect ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling, decomposition, and primary …

The Historical Fisheries In The Mediterranean Sea: A Reconstruction Of Trawl Gear, Effort And Trends In Demersal Fish Stocks, Giacomo Chato Osio

Doctoral Dissertations

An extensive search of historical data sources and publications has been carried out in different countries of the Mediterranean. This lead to the construction of the largest compilation of historical fisheries information existing in the Mediterranean region. The goal first here was to quantify historical trawling effort. This shows that Mediterranean demersal communities underwent a much longer and more systematic exploitation than previously thought, very likely the longest known exploitation by means of trawls in Europe and North America. Analysis of the data available for the Catalonian, Italian and French areas showed a clearly emerging pattern: fishing capacity increased in …

The Ecological Role Of Feeding Disturbances Of The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Limulus Polyphemus, Wan-Jean Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the influence of localized disturbances on the heterogeneity of ecological communities at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Foraging disturbances by the epibenthic predator, Atlantic Horseshoe Crab Limulus polyphemus, on the intertidal mudflats of Great Bay estuary, New Hampshire, USA were used as the study system.

This study overcame methodological hurdles in the study of small localized disturbance over extensive areas of soft-sediments. Using a novel, low-cost technique to monitor Limulus foraging disturbances, Great Bay's tidal flats were found to be critical feeding habitats from late spring till fall. Foraging Limulus disturbed the benthos of Great Bay at …