Life Sciences Commons^™

A Statewide Evaluation Of Fuel Treatment Effectiveness In Altering Wildfire Outcomes On Public Lands In Utah, Jamela Charmaine Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fuel treatments are land management activities that reduce living and dead flammable materials on the landscape to mitigate undesirable wildfire behavior and effects. Common treatments in the western United States include mechanical methods such as thinning and mastication, prescribed burns, and chemical methods, such as herbicide application. Treatments usually have multiple objectives, including reducing fire intensity, protecting natural and cultural resources, slowing or disrupting a potential future fire’s path, supporting ecosystem health, and reestablishing low to mid severity fire cycles in ecosystems. Although treatments can potentially modify fire behavior and ecological health, they generally cannot prevent fires from igniting, eliminate …

Modeling Habitat Use Of A Fringe Greater Sage-Grouse Population At Multiple Spatial Scales, Anya Cheyenne Burnett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage-grouse) are a prominent bird species of sagebrush-dominated landscapes across the western United States. Over the past 15 years, sage-grouse have gained international attention due to decreasing population trends despite management efforts. In 2010 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated this species as warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act, but the listing was precluded by other species at higher conservation risk. Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation have been implicated as primary sources of declines in sage-grouse distribution and abundance. The Bald Hills population in southwestern Utah occupies an area with …

The Transfer Of Agricultural Water To Municipal And Industrial Usages, Dallin Paul Stephens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The water that is available for beneficial use in Utah is quickly approaching full appropriation; water that has been claimed is nearing the amount that is available for use. The Division of Water Resources of the State of Utah has organized a three-part plan to "Plan, Conserve, Develop and Protect Utah's Water Resources." One of these three elements has a focus to "provide comprehensive water planning." Such planning is best achieved when current and accurate data on the uses of the state's water are available.

The primary purpose of this thesis was to provide an evaluation, from data collected on …

An Ecological History Of Tintic Valley, Juab County, Utah, Jeffrey A. Creque

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This work was a case study of historical ecological change in Tintic Valley, Juab County, Utah, an area historically impacted by mining and ranching activities common to much of the American West. The temporal framework for the study was approximately 120 years, the period of direct Euroamerican influence. In recognition of the ecological implications of cultural change, however, the impacts of prehistoric and protohistoric human activity on study area landscape patterns and processes were also explicitly addressed.

The study included a narrative description of historic land uses and ecological change in Tintic Valley, and examined the changes in landscape patterns …

The Energy Expenditure Of Heifers Grazing Crested Wheatgrass Rangeland In West-Central Utah, Kris M. Havstad

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The free-roaming ruminant requires energy for the demands of vii grazing, traveling and thermoregulation that are not required by its confined counterpart. Literature estimates of these additional costs range from 10 to 170 percent above maintenance. The uncertain magnitude of this increased demand and the factors that contribute to it impede the ability of the rangeland ruminant nutritionist to establish guidelines for the energy requirements of the free-roaming herbivore. This study was designed to estimate the energy expenditure of yearling Angus heifers while grazing a declining supply of available crested wheatgrass forage (Agropyron cristatum) on rangeland in west-central …

Factors Affecting The California Quail Populations In Uintah County, Utah, R. Lynn Nielson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The California Quail is native to the coastal and semi-arid regions of California extending north into Oregon. Two subspecies are commonly recognized. the California Quail (Lophortyx californica brunnescens Ridgway), and the Valley Quail (Lophortyx californica californica Shaw). The two forms are very similar in coloration and habits and, for the purpose of this study, no effort is made to distinguish the two.

Life History Of The Utah Sculpin Cottus Bairdi Semiscaber (Cope) In Logan River, Utah, William M. Zarbook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study of the Utah sculpin in Logan River was based on 801 specimens collected during 1949 to March 1951. Numbers of fish examined for various catagories of the study wares length-frequency, 495; aging by vertebrae, 407; length-weight relationship, 601; and food habits, 275.

Fish were collected by use of an electric shocking machine generating 600 watts and 220 volts. Numbers of fish occurred as high as 150 per tenth mile of stream. Preferred habitats occurred in areas of coarse gravel and small rocks.

Vertebrae dissected from the fish were used in age determination. Length-frequency proved to be a general …