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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Cost Of Roaming Free: Assessing The Effects Of Plant Secondary Metabolites On Diet Selection And Nutritional Condition In A Free-Ranging Generalist Herbivore, Daniel Patrick Melody
The Cost Of Roaming Free: Assessing The Effects Of Plant Secondary Metabolites On Diet Selection And Nutritional Condition In A Free-Ranging Generalist Herbivore, Daniel Patrick Melody
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Large vertebrate herbivores have a wide variety of browsing options available. However, most plants contain a suite of plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) that can have toxic effects when ingested. Herbivores must therefore make dietary choices that minimize the potentially harmful effects of PSM ingestion and maximize the use of available nutrients and protein. During winter months, in northern latitudes, climatological factors restrict browsing options and many populations of herbivores must subsist primarily on forage that is relatively poor in nutritional quality and high in PSMs. Many species of herbivores have developed a suite of behavioral and physiological adaptations to cope …
The Relative Importance Of Fire History, Management Treatments, Biotic, And Abiotic Factors On The Abundance Of Key Vegetative Components In An Endangered Sagebrush-Steppe Ecosystem, Ann Marie Raymondi
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Dryland ecosystems are globally distributed and occupy nearly half of Earth’s terrestrial surface. Drylands are particularly vulnerable to degradation and their restoration has become a global concern. Sagebrush-steppe ecosystems in the intermountain western United States have been subject to decades of active management efforts to address invasive species and restore plant communities, and can serve as a relevant case study to investigate dynamics between fire, invasive species, and management treatments in a representative dryland system. My objective was to determine the relative importance of fire history, management treatment history, abiotic, and biotic factors in relation to the abundance of key …
The Role Of Disease And Ectoparasites In The Ecology Of Nestling Golden Eagles, Benjamin Michael Dudek
The Role Of Disease And Ectoparasites In The Ecology Of Nestling Golden Eagles, Benjamin Michael Dudek
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Climate and anthropogenic land use changes can alter biological communities and affect disease infection rates and parasite species distribution and abundance. Management to mitigate the threats of emerging infectious diseases and parasite species requires identifying and understanding factors that influence individual susceptibility within populations. Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in southwestern Idaho face several current and emerging threats, including a landscape-mediated diet shift that has increased the potential for disease infection, and warming temperatures that may increase the distribution and abundance of hematophagous ectoparasites. We examined prevalence of Trichomonas gallinae infection in golden eagle nestlings across western North America …