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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga Angustirostris) Colony Establishment And Growth In The King Range National Conservation Area, California, Emma Hatton Levy
Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga Angustirostris) Colony Establishment And Growth In The King Range National Conservation Area, California, Emma Hatton Levy
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
The King Range colony is the northernmost successful and expanding breeding site for northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). To evaluate the composition and growth of this colony, I conducted systematic surveys recording counts, age classes, births, and resighting seals with individually identifiable flipper tags. The timing of life-history events (breeding, molting, and resting) of all elephant seal sex and age groups at the King Range was consistent with observations at other colonies. Colony counts during breeding and molting have increased steadily over the 4-year study period (2018-2021), and pup production has increased by 87% since the first year …
Evaluating The Use Of Barn Owl Nest Boxes For Rodent Pest Control In Winegrape Vineyards In Napa Valley, Ashley N. Hansen
Evaluating The Use Of Barn Owl Nest Boxes For Rodent Pest Control In Winegrape Vineyards In Napa Valley, Ashley N. Hansen
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Attracting natural enemies to farms to reduce pests has long been a part of integrated pest management for insects, but knowledge of the impact of raptors on rodents and other vertebrate pests is comparatively sparse. In this study, I compared rodent prey on winegrape vineyards in Napa California with and without occupied barn owl nest boxes. We collected data before the breeding season, when hunting pressure should be light, and again when adult owls were hunting actively to feed their chicks. I used the open-hole method to quantify an index of gopher activity, and Sherman live traps to estimate the …
Phylogenetic And Geographic Relationships Of Cheilostome Bryozoans In The Eastern Pacific, Hannah E. Lee
Phylogenetic And Geographic Relationships Of Cheilostome Bryozoans In The Eastern Pacific, Hannah E. Lee
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
The phylum Bryozoa is an incredibly diverse group of marine invertebrates with a widespread global distribution that is well suited for evolutionary studies but whose phylogenetic relationships are still poorly understood. Although recent studies on bryozoan taxonomies and phylogenies have increased, there is still a lack of assessment of species found at shallow water (<1 m) to intertidal depths. In this study, I aimed to expand the taxonomic sampling and assessment of the phylogenetic diversity of cheilostome bryozoans along the California coastline by utilizing mitochondrial DNA as well as inferring potential correlations between species presence and dispersal range both within and between rocky outer coast and sheltered harbor habitats. Illumina high-throughput sequencing was used to produce mitogenomes for cheilostome bryozoan samples collected off rocks from two rocky intertidal sites and off settlement panels from two harbor sites. Phylogenetic analyses generated evolutionary hypotheses of species relationships alongside geographic mapping of their distribution. This study identified 15 distinct species that represent 10 different families to form the first comprehensive phylogeny for multiple bryozoan families in California across a total range of approximately 973 km of coastline. Three genetically distinct species were found at multiple sites that are separated by a combination of rocky shores and sandy beaches, which indicates that the dispersal range of these species are not limited by geographic barriers along the coast of California. These results provide a future opportunity for further integration of this data with the phylogenies generated in this study to examine more robust evolutionary hypotheses for the phylogenetic and geographic relationships of Californian bryozoan species.
Demographic Modeling Of Conservation Strategies For The Yosemite Toad (Anaxyrus Canorus), Corrina Rebecca Kamoroff
Demographic Modeling Of Conservation Strategies For The Yosemite Toad (Anaxyrus Canorus), Corrina Rebecca Kamoroff
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
The Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) is an anuran species endemic to the Sierra Nevada in California that, like many amphibians globally, has suffered population declines. The documented decline in A. canorus populations across their historic range highlights the need for an effective management strategy to protect the species from future extirpation. For this study, I estimated survival rates of A. canorus using a Cormack-Jolly-Seber model populated with data from a demographic study. I then used a female-only post-birth pulse stochastic Lefkovitch matrix model using vital rates I estimated and from the literature to simulate the effect of different …
Activity Patterns Of The Del Norte Salamander (Plethodon Elongatus): Monitoring Plethodontid Behavior Using Pit Tag Surveys, Sabrina Horrack
Activity Patterns Of The Del Norte Salamander (Plethodon Elongatus): Monitoring Plethodontid Behavior Using Pit Tag Surveys, Sabrina Horrack
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Semi-fossorial plethodontid salamanders exhibit behavioral plasticity to avoid desiccation, retreating underground to shelter from adverse conditions such as low precipitation and high temperatures. In this study, I used passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag surveys to monitor this behavior in the Del Norte salamander (Plethodon elongatus), a small plethodontid native to northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Within its range, a climatic gradient exists in which coastal areas experience milder temperatures and high precipitation, while inland areas tend to have colder winters, hotter summers, and lower precipitation. By monitoring the activity patterns of this species in inland and coastal areas, …
Forecasting The Outcomes Of Managing A Rare Endemic Plant At Its Elevational Limit Under Climate Change Scenarios, Ethan Reibsome
Forecasting The Outcomes Of Managing A Rare Endemic Plant At Its Elevational Limit Under Climate Change Scenarios, Ethan Reibsome
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Lupinus constancei (Lassics lupine) is an exceptionally rare forb with a population that in 2020 consisted of 1,300 individuals located on two adjacent mountaintops in northwestern California, USA. Past work has demonstrated the species is threatened by high levels of seed predation by small mammals, which is likely the result of fire exclusion and the subsequent vegetation encroachment that both increases small mammal habitat and directly reduces suitable habitat for the species. Because of this, active management through caging of reproductive individuals to reduce seed consumption has been conducted every year since 2003. In addition, growing season temperatures have increased …
Evaluating Relative Abundance, Fish Length, And Marine Protected Area Effectiveness For Four Key Rocky Reef Species Along The Northern Californian Coast, Leon Davis
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Marine protected areas (MPAs) were created with the purpose of helping conserve and restore diminished populations of marine organisms. Measuring the effectiveness of MPAs requires long-term monitoring, investigating the abundance and size distributions of the species that utilize the conservation areas, and comparing the results to neighboring reference sites that are not currently protected. In this study, observations from long-term MPA monitoring in northern California (2010-2019) were modeled with substrate, oceanographic, spatial, temporal, and body size variables to describe the variability in abundance and size of three fish groups: Black rockfish (Sebastes melanops), the Blue rockfish group (comprised …
Degradation And Nitrogen Cycling In The Context Of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Relationships In The Inquiline Bacterial Community Of Darlingtonia Californica, Megan Teigen
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) research aims to explain how species and their environments interact with each other. Microbial communities engage in vital biogeochemical pathways in a variety of natural ecosystems, and yet there are large knowledge gaps about the specific metabolic pathways in which they are involved. Degradation specifically contributes to nitrogen cycling globally through the breakdown of large organic nitrogen compounds into small inorganic nitrogen that is necessary for the survival of many other organisms. In this study, I focused on the degradative function of the inquiline microbial communities found within the carnivorous pitcher plant, Darlingtonia californica. Darlingtonia grows in …
Investigating The Genetic Diversity Of Immune Genes In Non-Native Populations Of American Bullfrogs (Rana Catesbeiana), Luisa Nereyda Segovia
Investigating The Genetic Diversity Of Immune Genes In Non-Native Populations Of American Bullfrogs (Rana Catesbeiana), Luisa Nereyda Segovia
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
The American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is a highly invasive species that has successfully colonized habitats around the world. The genetic variability of immune genes within invasive populations, like that of bullfrogs, may contribute to how resistant a population is to pathogens. The objective of this project was to characterize the genetic diversity of an immune gene in invasive bullfrog populations in California to better understand how persistent these populations might be over time. To characterize immune gene variability, I isolated exon 2 of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Class II Beta chain gene and a neutral mitochondrial marker, …