Digital Commons Network^™

Desiccation Sensitivity And Heat Tolerance Of Prunus Ilicifolia Seeds Dispersed By American Black Bears (Ursus Americanus), Mark Borchert, Claudia M. Tyler

Western North American Naturalist

Carnivore consumption of fruit is a principle means by which many fleshy-fruited plant species achieve long-distance seed dispersal. We examined carnivore dispersal of hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) seeds, specifically assessing the survival, desiccation sensitivity, and germination of seeds found in bear scats. Studies were conducted both in the laboratory and in 2 burn areas in Los Padres National Forest, California. Bear scats containing P. ilicifolia seeds were collected in burned and unburned chaparral. We counted seeds in each scat and noted whether endocarps had tooth punctures or rattled audibly when shaken. For comparative germination trials, we also collected …

Rabbit Abundance Relative To Rainfall And Plant Production In Northern Chihuahuan Desert Grassland And Shrubland Habitats, David C. Lightfoot, Ana D. Davidson, Christopher M. Mcglone, Dara G. Parker

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Mean Cancer Mortality Rates In Low Versus High Elevation Counties In Texas, John Hart

Dose-Response: An International Journal

There is controversy as to whether low levels of radiation (i.e., < 5 rem) pose a health risk. This brief inquiry compares archived cancer mortality data in counties having relatively low (0-250 feet above sea level), medium (500-1000 feet above sea level), and high (3000+ feet above sea level) elevations also having corresponding greater natural back- ground levels of radiation respectively. Cancer mortality was found to be lowest in the high elevation counties (mean = 58.2) followed by low elevation counties (67.5) and then medium elevation counties (70.4). Statistically significant differences were found between low –high elevations (p = 0.003), and medium – high elevations (p = 0.010), but not between low and medium elevations (p = 0.5). More rigorous research, with an accounting of con- founding variables, is indicated.

Phylogenetic Analysis Of The Nearctic Blepharicera Macquart (Diptera: Blephariceridae) With An Emphasis On The Eastern Blepharicera Tenuipes Group Hogue, Amanda Jane Jacobson

Doctoral Dissertations

The eastern Nearctic fauna of Blepharicera Macquart (Diptera: Blephariceridae) is revised to include twenty-three species, six of which are new to science. Descriptions of the larvae, pupae, and adults of B. amnicula n. sp., B. conifera n. sp., B. crista n. sp., B. enoristera n. sp., B. hillabee n. sp., and B. opistera n. sp. are presented. Keys to instar IV larvae, pupae, and adults of all eastern Blepharicera (except B. caudata Courtney) are provided. Phylogenetic studies were conducted to determine the relationships between eastern and western Nearctic Blepharicera and among species within these groups. Larvae, pupae, and adults were …

Recreational Boats As Potential Vectors Of Marine Organisms At An Invasion Hotspot, Ian C. Davidson, Chela J. Zabin, Andrew L. Chang, Christopher W. Brown, Mark Sytsma, Gregory M. Ruiz

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

With more than 200 aquatic nonindigenous species (NIS), San Francisco Bay (California, USA) is among the world’s most invaded harbors. Hard-substratum benthic (biofouling) organisms, which dominate NIS richness, have arrived primarily as a result of shipping and aquaculture activity over past centuries. To date there has been no assessment of the leisure craft vector in the Bay. We aimed to characterize (1) biofouling on boats’ submerged surfaces and (2) boater behavior likely to affect the risk of NIS transfers. We used an underwater pole-cam, specimen collections, and a boater questionnaire to quantify the extent and composition of biofouling on recreational …

Ecological Boundary Detection Using Bayesian Areal Wombling, Joseph Elkinton, M. C. Fitzpatrick, E. L. Preisser, A. H. Porter, L. A. Wallwe, B. P. Carlin, A. M. Ellison

Joseph Elkinton

The study of ecological boundaries and their dynamics is of fundamental importance to much of ecology, biogeography, and evolution. Over the past two decades, boundary analysis (of which wombling is a subfield) has received considerable research attention, resulting in multiple approaches for the quantification of ecological boundaries. Nonetheless, few methods have been developed that can simultaneously (1) analyze spatially homogenized data sets (i.e., areal data in the form of polygons rather than point-reference data); (2) account for spatial structure in these data and uncertainty associated with them; and (3) objectively assign probabilities to boundaries once detected. Here we describe the …

Ecology And Transmission Of Buruli Ulcer Disease: A Systematic Review, Richard W. Merritt, Edward D. Walker, Pamela L. C. Small, John R. Wallace, Paul D. R. Johnson, Mark Eric Benbow, Daniel A. Boakye

Biology Faculty Publications

Buruli ulcer is a neglected emerging disease that has recently been reported in some countries as the second most frequent mycobacterial disease in humans after tuberculosis. Cases have been reported from at least 32 countries in Africa (mainly west), Australia, Southeast Asia, China, Central and South America, and the Western Pacific. Large lesions often result in scarring, contractual deformities, amputations, and disabilities, and in Africa, most cases of the disease occur in children between the ages of 4–15 years. This environmental mycobacterium, Mycobacterium ulcerans, is found in communities associated with rivers, swamps, wetlands, and human-linked changes in the aquatic environment, …

Number 52 (December 2010), Southern Fishes Council

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

(December 2010) - Comparative Conservation Genetics of Two Endangered Darters, Percina rex and Percina jenkinsi By Anna L. George, David Neely, and Richard Mayden

Invasion of Gulf Menhaden in the Alabama River By T. Heath Haley, R. Kyle Bolton, and Carol E. Johnston

Southeastern Fishes Council State Reports

Minutes, Business Meeting, 35th Annual Meeting, Southeastern Fishes Council

2009 Treasurer's Report for the Southeastern Fishes Council

Recreation Resource Impacts In The Bear Lake Road Corridor Of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Usa: An Assessment Of Resource Conditions And Visitor Perceptions, Ashley L. D'Antonio

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Visitor use in parks and protected areas inevitably leads to resource impacts. In order to effectively manage for resource impacts, it is important for managers to not only understand ecological aspects of their system but sociological aspects as well. The two papers presented in this thesis used integrated approaches to better understand the current level of resource impacts within the Bear Lake Road Corridor of Rocky Mountain National Park and to explore visitor perceptions of these impacts. The first paper used traditional monitoring and assessment techniques, as well as recently developed methodologies, to determine the current level of resource impacts …

The Scavenging Behaviour Of The Australian Raven (Corvus Coronoides): Patterns And Influencing Factors, R. Christopher O'Brien, Alexande Larcombe, Jan Meyer, Shari L. Forbes, Ian Dadour

Forensic Science Publications

The Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) is a widespread, abundant corvid which is often considered a pest species, due to the thought that it predates on livestock, ruin crops, and is often seen feeding on refuse, in both urban and rural areas. The species is known to feed on a range of material from seeds in ploughed fields to human refuse and decomposing organic material. A large proportion of its diet consists of carrion, and as such, the Australian Raven is an effective detrivorous species capable of removing and consuming dead and decomposing carcasses. This research examined the scavenging …

Distributions Of Sharks Across A Continental Shelf In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, J. Marcus Drymon, Sean P. Powers, John Dindo, Brian Dzwonkowski, Terry A. Henwood

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Declines in shark populations have sparked researchers and fishery managers to investigate more prudent approaches to the conservation of these fish. As managers strive to improve data collection for stock assessment, fisheries-independent surveys have expanded to include data-deficient areas such as coastal regions. To that end, a catch series from a nearshore survey off Alabama was combined with data from a concurrent offshore survey with identical methodology to examine the depth use of sharks across the continental shelf (2–366 m). The combined data set contained 22 species of sharks collected from 1995 to 2008: 21 species in the offshore data …

Evaluating The Effects Of The Blennerhassett Island Bridge Crossing (Ohio River) On Soil, Vegetation, And Wildlife, Joshua Allen Vance

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Corridor D was one of the original 23 highway corridors selected by the Appalachian Highway Development System in 1965 and stretches from Bridgeport, West Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio. The last piece of Corridor D to be completed was the Blennerhassett Island Bridge which crosses over the Ohio River and Blennerhassett Island near Parkersburg, West Virginia and Belpre, Ohio. The Blennerhassett Island Bridge is a tied-arch style bridge about 1,220 m in length and 24 m above the ground and water surface. Construction of the bridge began in March 2005 and the bridge was opened to the public in June 2008. …

Twenty-Eight Years Of The Us-Lter Program: Experience, Results, And Research Questions, James R. Gosz, Robert B. Waide, John J. Magnuson

Long Term Ecological Research Network

The U.S. Long Term Ecological Research program (hereafter US-LTER) concentrates on ecological processes that play out at the time scales spanning decades to centuries. This focuses US-LTER research between the most common time scales for ecological studies (1-3 years; Tilman 1989; Figure 1) and the much longer temporal fact of disciplines such as paleoecology. The importance of the decade-to-century time scale is particularly evident in light of the rapid changes in ecological forcing functions that are occurring at a broad range of spatial scales (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007). Long-term data sets from programs such …

Comparative Conservation Genetics Of Two Endangered Darters, Percina Rex And Percina Jenkinsi, Anna L. George, David A. Neely, Richard L. Mayden

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Criminal Offending Among Respondents To Protective Orders: Crime Types And Patterns That Predict Victim Risk, Carol E. Jordan, Adam J. Pritchard, Danielle Duckett, Richard Charnigo

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

Research has shown that respondents to protective orders have robust criminal histories and that criminal offending behavior often follows issuance of a protective order. Nonetheless, the specific nature of the association between protective orders and criminal offending remains unclear. This study uses two classes of statistical models to more clearly delineate that relationship. The models reveal factors and characteristics that appear to be associated with offending and protective order issuance and provide indications about when a victim is most at risk and when the justice system should be most ready to provide immediate protection.

Life History And Habitat Use Of The Juvenile Alabama Shad (Alosa Alabamae) In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Rivers, Paul Fraser Mickle

Dissertations

The Alabama shad, Alosa alabamae, is an anadromous species that is in decline and has seen extirpations from impoundments as well as decreased water quality. Alabama shad live in the Gulf of Mexico and ascend Northern Gulf of Mexico Drainages to reproduce early in the year (January-May). The juveniles spend the majority of the year in these freshwater systems before emigrating out to the Gulf of Mexico as late as December.

This dissertation focuses on the juvenile life stages that occur within the Northern Gulf of Mexico drainages. Spawning conditions of the river, as well as the habitat and diet, …

Gesture As An Act Of Meaning-Making: An Eco-Social Perspective Of A Sheltered-English Second Grade Classroom, Alessandro A. Rosborough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sociocultural study was to investigate gesture as a mediational tool for meaning-making in learning and teaching a second language. Gesture was observed between a teacher and her immigrant students in a second grade elementary classroom designed specifically for second language learners of English. This study provides an innovative investigation in the role gesture plays as a meditational tool for meaning-making by using a SCT framework at an elementary context level.

Using sociocultural theory, particularly the Vygotskian tradition, this study views gesture as a part of image in thinking. This SCT framework views second language learning in …

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Uncertainty And The Protection Of Biodiversity From Invasive Alien Species, Sophie Riley

Sophie Riley

Scientists anticipate that the problem of invasive alien species will be exacerbated by co-stressors of biodiversity, such as land clearing and climate change. One of the most effective means of regulating invasive alien species is to prevent their entry by implementing rigorous quarantine measures with strong border controls. Yet, regulators face constant uncertainty with regard to the impact of invasive alien species on biodiversity, and the need to navigate a range of opinions on how best to deal with uncertainty. These difficulties are illustrated by the differing approaches to uncertainty embodied by the World Trade Organization on the one hand …

An Examination Of Known Tuberculosis Risk Factors And Their Correlation Across The United States, David Young

Public Health Theses

Background: Globally tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of mortality. There is scientific evidence of sociodemographic, behavioral and health risk factors associated with TB infection and TB disease. In the United States (US), there is a low endemicity of TB and a goal of TB elimination. Objective: The primary objective of the study was to examine the correlation of TB risk factors at the state level in the US to obtain insights specific to the state of TB in the US. The risk factors examined were diabetes rates, smoking rates, alcohol abuse rates, AIDS rates, foreign-born vs. US-born, …

The Landscape Similarity Toolbox: New Tools For Optimizing The Location Of Control Sites In Experimental Studies, Thomas E. Dilts, Jian Yang, Peter J. Weisberg

Articles

Large‐scale manipulative experiments are critically important for linking ecological theory with land management at a relevant spatial scale. Statistically powerful inferential approaches such as the before‐after‐control‐impact design involve pairing a small number of treatment sites with control sites of analogous ecological structure and landscape context. Pairing treatment and control sites that are as analogous as possible is an important step to ensuring that differences are due to a treatment effect. The Landscape Similarity Toolbox provides tools for optimizing the location of potential control sites based upon the spatial characteristics of the treatment site.

Simple Ecological Trade-Offs Give Rise To Emergent Cross-Ecosystem Distributions Of A Coral Reef Fish, Monique G. G. Grol, Ivan Nagelkerken, Andrew L. Rypel, Craig A. Layman

All Faculty

Ecosystems are intricately linked by the flow of organisms across their boundaries, and such connectivity can be essential to the structure and function of the linked ecosystems. For example, many coral reef fish populations are maintained by the movement of individuals from spatially segregated juvenile habitats (i.e., nurseries, such as mangroves and seagrass beds) to areas preferred by adults. It is presumed that nursery habitats provide for faster growth (higher food availability) and/or low predation risk for juveniles, but empirical data supporting this hypothesis is surprisingly lacking for coral reef fishes. Here, we investigate potential mechanisms (growth, predation risk, and …

Robert Knight, Robert Knight, Margaret Devore

Voices from the Stream: An Environmental History of the St. Johns River

Robert Knight, leading expert and scientist working on protection of Florida springs and executive director of the Florida Springs Institute, interviewed by Margaret Devore on November 10, 2010.

Methods As A Process: The Accidental Tourist Researcher, Luz Martin Del Campo-Hermosillo

Journal of Contemporary Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Resurrecting The In-Stream Side Of Riparian Forests, Bernard W. Sweeney, James G. Blaine

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Null Model Analysis Of Species Associations Using Abundance Data, Werner Ulrich, Nicholas J. Gotelli

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

The influence of negative species interactions has dominated much of the literature on community assembly rules. Patterns of negative covariation among species are typically documented through null model analyses of binary presence/absence matrices in which rows designate species, columns designate sites, and the matrix entries indicate the presence (1) or absence (0) of a particular species in a particular site. However, the outcome of species interactions ultimately depends on population-level processes. Therefore, patterns of species segregation and aggregation might be more clearly expressed in abundance matrices, in which the matrix entries indicate the abundance or density of a species in …

Buttresses As Microhabitats For Leaf-Litter Macroinvertebrates, November 2010, Samuel C. Somerville

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

The functional properties of buttresses are still debated, but hypotheses include they may be a response to mechanical strain and a method to increase the surface area of the tree base; the increased surface area may provide increased structural support and a larger area of surface soil which may give a competitive advantage for nutrient uptake. The effects of the latter “nutrient hypothesis” and whether it supports a rich community of leaf-litter fauna has not been well-studied. A more abundant and species rich macroinvertebrate community in buttresses could be indicative of a more nutrient rich microhabitat. In this study I …

Distribution And Genetic Structure Of Pocket Gophers (Genus Geomys) In Kansas, Zachary J. Schwenke

Master's Theses

The development of informed management practices and insightful research depends not only on an understanding of species natural history and ecology, but information regarding the distributions of these species and how they interact with adjacent taxa. The study of a species distribution can become complicated if the geographic variation within the species is not understood. Pocket gophers, including those in the genus Geomys, display morphological and chromosomal variation across their range, even within the same species. Genetic techniques, including Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), have clarified population relationships and characterized zones of contact. Previous studies have suggested 2 species and …

A Contingent Valuation Of Tampa’S Urban Forest Resource, Alec Foster

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urban forests provide environmental, social, and economic benefits to urban residents. These benefits are often overlooked when making spatial and financial distributive decisions in urban areas. The City of Tampa has demonstrated interest in its urban forest resource and estimated its extent and some of the benefits provided. Estimating economic values for benefits that have not been quantified can help to ensure that resources are distributed more efficiently. Five methods to estimate urban forest benefits in the City of Tampa are reviewed, with contingent valuation being the method chosen out of this review process. A mailed, dichotomous choice contingent valuation …

Development Of Interential Sensors For Real-Time Quality Control Of Water-Level Data For The Everglades Depth Estimation Network, Ruby C. Daamen, Edwin Roehl Jr, Paul A. Conrads

S.C. Water Resources Conference

2010 S.C. Water Resources Conferences - Science and Policy Challenges for a Sustainable Future

A Late-Pleistocene/Holocene Biotic Community From Marmot End Alcove, Escalante River Basin, Colorado Plateau, Usa, Manny Kropf

Western North American Naturalist

Skeletal remains of the extinct mountain goat Oreamnos harringtoni and Marmota (marmot), an extralimital species, were recovered from Marmot End Alcove along with remains of montane plants that included Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir), Picea (spruce), Pinus flexilis (limber pine), and Juniperus communis (common juniper). The alcove is located in Harris Wash, a semiarid tributary in an unstudied portion of the Escalante River Basin on the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah. A Marmota incisor tooth and montane plant needles returned late Pleistocene AMS dates ranging from 12,300 yr BP to 15,600 yr BP.