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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Clay As A Control Technique For Karenia Brevis: Water Chemistry Dynamics And Physiological Impacts On Benthic Invertebrates, Victoria Devillier
Clay As A Control Technique For Karenia Brevis: Water Chemistry Dynamics And Physiological Impacts On Benthic Invertebrates, Victoria Devillier
Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024
Clay-based compounds are globally the most advanced and widely used method of direct suppression of marine harmful algal blooms, and are currently undergoing investigation as an option to control Karenia brevis blooms in Florida. Before clay may be accepted for widespread use, there are multiple concerns and challenges that must be addressed regarding the environmental safety of this method, such as effects on water quality, the fate of toxins, and potential impacts of clay treatment to non-target organisms. To contribute to ongoing assessments of clay as a potential control method for K. brevis blooms, we conducted experiments with a formulation …
Effects Of Varying Heat Indexes On Habitat Utilization And Behavior On Captive Red-Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Rubra), Jeffrey Gammon
Effects Of Varying Heat Indexes On Habitat Utilization And Behavior On Captive Red-Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Rubra), Jeffrey Gammon
The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal
The two captive red-ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) at the Central Florida Zoo experienced a more temperate climate and utilized a differing habitat than they would in their native range, Madagascar. Proper management of the species in captivity is crucial for its long-term survival as they are critically endangered. Over a four month period, heat index temperature, lemur behavior, and habitat utilization data were collected via an instantaneous scan sample. Variables were analyzed to characterize how variations in heat index alter habitat utilization and behavior of the captive lemurs. As the heat index increased, habitat use became more restricted …
We All Should Strive To Be The Palm In The Storm, Carolyn Massiah
We All Should Strive To Be The Palm In The Storm, Carolyn Massiah
UCF Forum
Hurricane season is beginning to hit its peak activity. Multiple storms have been brewing in the Atlantic the past couple weeks.
Estimated Diets, Diet Overlap, And Winter Habitat Associations Of Four Grassland Sparrows In Florida Dry Prairie, Marianne Korosy
Estimated Diets, Diet Overlap, And Winter Habitat Associations Of Four Grassland Sparrows In Florida Dry Prairie, Marianne Korosy
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
North American grassland birds show long-term population declines that generally exceed the declines of other bird groups. Efforts to conserve grassland birds require knowledge of diet and habitat requirements during both the breeding and nonbreeding periods of annual life cycles. This dissertation investigated sparrow habitat associations within two defined plant communities of the dry prairie ecosystem, the dry-mesic and wet-mesic prairie, for four prescribed fire treatments over two consecutive winters. Grasshopper and Henslow’s sparrows showed higher relative abundance in wet-mesic prairie and Bachman’s Sparrows were more abundant in dry-mesic prairie across all fire treatments. Abundances of Grasshopper and Bachman’s sparrows …
Species And Habitat Interactions Of The Gopher Tortoise: A Keystone Species?, Christopher Catano
Species And Habitat Interactions Of The Gopher Tortoise: A Keystone Species?, Christopher Catano
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Species-species and species-habitat interactions have been demonstrated to be important in influencing diversity across a variety of ecosystems. Despite generalities in the importance of these interactions, appropriate mechanisms to explain them are absent in many systems. In sandhill systems of the southeast U.S., gopher tortoises have been hypothesized to be a crucial species in the maintenance of diversity and function. However, the mechanisms and magnitude in which they influence their communities and habitats have rarely been empirically quantified. I examined how habitat structure influences tortoise abandonment of burrows and how tortoise densities influence nonvolant vertebrate community diversity. Tortoise burrow abandonment …
Native Fire Regime As A Reference For Establishing Management Practices, Brean Duncan
Native Fire Regime As A Reference For Establishing Management Practices, Brean Duncan
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Our understanding of natural fire regimes in human-dominated landscapes is limited. Fire regimes operating in the pyrogenic ecosystems of Florida have been altered by fire suppression and fuel fragmentation. This is especially true of North Merritt Island, Florida, where human impacts have led to an incomplete knowledge of current fire regimes. We know that growing season fires frequently occurred within general return intervals and that many native terrestrial species require fire to remain viable. A 20-year plus period of fire suppression caused structural and compositional changes to vegetation/fuels that led to catastrophic fires and the decline of native species populations …
Testing The Peninsula Effect: Does It Affect Freshwater Crustaceans Inhabiting Ephemeral Wetlands On Florida's Ridges?, Debra Rinne
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The peninsula effect is a pattern of diversity wherein species richness decreases along a peninsula from base to tip and is attributed to three mechanisms: historical processes, habitat gradients, and immigration-extinction equilibrium. Numerous studies have reported conflicting results involving the existence, cause, and validity of the peninsula effect in part because they did not account for effects of history or habitat on species richness patterns and because most previous research focused on organisms that actively disperse, which could confound results with behavioral habitat selection. Florida poses an excellent opportunity to study the peninsula effect because of its geological history and …
Soil Microbial Community Dynamics In Florida Scrub Ecosystem, Maria Albarracin
Soil Microbial Community Dynamics In Florida Scrub Ecosystem, Maria Albarracin
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Pyrogenic ecosystems are maintained by fires which vary in frequency, seasonality, and intensity. Florida oak-saw palmetto scrub ecosystem is characterized by fires occurring at intervals of 10-20 years. Diverse factors as private land acquisition and development has created a patchy distribution of scrub ecosystems and also interrupted the natural fire cycle. The effects of fire over plant regeneration and fauna habitat utilization of the scrub have been well characterized in previous research. In the present paper the objective is to characterize the short- and long-term fire effects on the soil microbial community. Fire effects were studied in a chronosequence, comprising …
Site Preparation Methods For Restoration Of Non-Native Pasturelands To Native Upland Habitat, Krisann Joie Kosel
Site Preparation Methods For Restoration Of Non-Native Pasturelands To Native Upland Habitat, Krisann Joie Kosel
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The flatwoods ecosystem of Florida has been heavily depleted over time but remains one of the most important systems to many threatened and endangered species. Areas that have been converted into non-native pastures may be restored to provide not only this invaluable ecosystem but also restore connectivity of the surrounding ecosystems. The pasture areas on The Disney Wilderness Preserve in central Florida were surveyed, and a conceptual plan for restoration was written in 1996. That same year a pilot study was developed to assess five methods for removing non-native pasture grasses. The treatments studied were single herbicide, single disc, multiple …
Attentiveness And Time Budget Of A Pair Of Nesting Wood Storks, E. Scott Clark
Attentiveness And Time Budget Of A Pair Of Nesting Wood Storks, E. Scott Clark
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
An instantaneous sampling system was used to quantify nest attentiveness and time budget of a pair of Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) nesting at the Moore Creek colony on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1977. The amount of time devoted to various activities during each stage of the 4-month reproductive cycle was examined and differences between stages evaluated. During the incubation period an adult was constantly at the nest site and the birds shared equally in the incubation duties. During the first four weeks of the 8-week pre-flight nestling stage, an adult was with the chicks continuously, although the adults …
Population Dynamics Of Small Mammals In Two Plant Communities Of The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Jeffrey A. Goldberg
Population Dynamics Of Small Mammals In Two Plant Communities Of The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Jeffrey A. Goldberg
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Small Mammal Population Dynamics And Community Structure In Three East Central Florida Communities, Mary Helen Keim
Small Mammal Population Dynamics And Community Structure In Three East Central Florida Communities, Mary Helen Keim
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Small mammal population dynamics and community structure were studied in three East Central Florida communities. The communities were compared as distinct stages of a sand pine scrub sere. The small mammals live-trapped with greatest frequency in this 3852 trap-night study were all cricetine rodents, Peromyscus polionotus niveiventris (beach mouse), Sigmodon hispidus littoralis (cotton rat), and Peromyscus gossypinus palmarius (cotton mouse). Population numbers, survival, body weights, hind foot lengths, age structure, sex ratios, reproductive cycles, and movements were discussed for each of three species mentioned. These data will serve as a baseline information for ecological monitoring studies associated with NASA Space …
The Reproductive Biology Of The Diamondback Terrapin, Malaclemys Terrapin Tequesta, Richard A. Seigel
The Reproductive Biology Of The Diamondback Terrapin, Malaclemys Terrapin Tequesta, Richard A. Seigel
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
The reproductive biology of the Florida east coast terrapin, Malalemys terrapin tequesta was studied during 1977-1978 at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Brevard County, Florida. Mating occurred in small canals and ditches during late march and April. Terrapins exhibited a poorly developed courtship behavior system: this was attributed to the relative isolation of the species due to its brackish water habitat. Nesting occurred on dike roads, rather than on sand dunes as reported for other races of Malaclemys. Air temperature was the most important factor controlling nesting activity. One to three clutches were laid each year. Malaclemys appeared to …
The Population Dynamics And Distribution Of Corbicula Manilensis (Philippi) In A Spring-Fed Central Florida Stream, Peter K. Gottfried
The Population Dynamics And Distribution Of Corbicula Manilensis (Philippi) In A Spring-Fed Central Florida Stream, Peter K. Gottfried
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Asiatic clams (Corbicula manilensis Philippi) were sampled at twelve stations randomly located along a 16-km stretch of the Wekiva River, Florida, every three months fro August 1976 to June 1977. Clams were found at most stations. Their abundance ranged from 4 to 1210 per m2. Mean numbers of Corbicula were highest at stations where the bottom sediments were primarily sand and lowest at stations where the bottom sediments were silt and decomposing organic matter. A linear relationship between water temperature, water depth, current velocity, total alkalinity, and pH, and the abundance and distribution of Corbicula was not evident. Seasonally, the …
Zooplankton Of The St. Johns River Estuary, Frederick C. Tone
Zooplankton Of The St. Johns River Estuary, Frederick C. Tone
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Zooplankton populations in the St. Johns River Estuary ranged from 3,000/m3 to 20,000/m3 during monthly collections from September, 1973 to August, 1974. Acartia tonsa Dana was the dominant organism throughout the year, except for spring blooms of Balanus sp. nauplii in the lower estuary and summer occurrences of Eubosmin tubins in the upper estuary. With these two exceptions, species composition, and community structure were similar throughout the estuary, year round. A patchy distribution of the zooplankton caused high replicate sample variation which made it difficult to detect small population variations. Salinity appeared to have the greatest effect on the distribution …
Arthropod Community Dynamics In Three Ruderal Old Fields With Possible Effects Of Solid Rocket Fuel Exhaust, Russell D. Caldwell
Arthropod Community Dynamics In Three Ruderal Old Fields With Possible Effects Of Solid Rocket Fuel Exhaust, Russell D. Caldwell
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Arthropods were collected at three sites on the Canaveral Peninsula of the east central Florida coast, from May until November, 1975. These sites were old fields dominated by grasses and herbs and one of them (site 1) was located near Launch Complex 41, Kennedy Space Center. A modified drop-trap of 0.5 m2 was used to trap arthropods at approximately 14-day intervals. A vacuum collector removed the arthropods and loose material which was visually inspected for arthropods by the unaided eye and a 7X dissecting scope. A total of 12,296 arthropods was collected during the study. Insects were by far the …
Zooplankton Abundance And Diversity In Central Florida Grass Carp Ponds, Douglas Lee Fry
Zooplankton Abundance And Diversity In Central Florida Grass Carp Ponds, Douglas Lee Fry
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
The effect of the Asian grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella Val.) and aquatic vegetation upon the zooplankton in four adjacent experimental ponds (0.139 ha each) was studied for one year. Zooplankton were collected with a newly designed shallow-water sampler. Pond 1 contained no aquatic vegetation. Ponds 2, 3, and 4 contained nine species of rooted aquatic plants. Grass carp were stocked into Pond 2 (65 per ha) and Pond 3 (611 per ha). Physicochemical parameters were similar among the ponds. Eighty-eight zooplankton species were enumerated. The abundance of zooplankton groups (Rotifera, Cladocera, and Copepoda) was not significantly different among the ponds …
Net Primary Production Of Spartina And Species Diversity Of Associated Macroinvertebrates Of A Semi-Impounded Salt Marsh, Larry Alan Chynoweth
Net Primary Production Of Spartina And Species Diversity Of Associated Macroinvertebrates Of A Semi-Impounded Salt Marsh, Larry Alan Chynoweth
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
No abstract provided.