Life Sciences Commons^™

Reducing Reliance On Supplemental Winter Feeding In Elk (Cervus Canadensis): An Applied Management Experiment At Deseret Land And Livestock Ranch, Utah, Dax L. Mangus

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wildlife managers have fed elk in North America for nearly 100 years. Giving winter feed to elk can compensate for a shortage of natural winter range and may boost elk populations while also helping prevent commingling with livestock and depredation of winter feed intended for livestock. In contrast to these benefits of supplemental feeding, there are economic and environmental costs associated with feeding, and elk herds that winter on feeding grounds have a higher risk of contracting and transmitting disease. Brucellosis is of primary concern now, and Chronic Wasting Disease may be in the future. Many see the discontinuation of …

Mercury In The Pelagic And Benthic Food Webs Of The Great Salt Lake, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Erin Fleming, Caleb Izdepski, Jodi Gardberg

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Do Fee-Access Hunting Programs Conserve Wildlife Habitat? A Case Study Of Utah's Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit Program, Adam L. Perschon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Landscapes in the American West are undergoing dramatic changes as land-use patterns shift to accommodate the region’s explosive population growth. Trends toward low-density settlement patterns, or exurban development, compound the problem by consuming a disproportionately large amount of land compared to the population they support. The result is the rapid conversion of the West’s most highly productive agricultural and range lands, many of which provide benefits to biodiversity that surpass those found in permanently protected areas. Ruralists, ranchers, and conservationists alike are seeking ways to protect these ecologically important private lands from future development. One method purported to mitigate rural …

Great Salt Lake Watershed: Its Role In Maintaining The Wetlands Of The Great Salt Lake, Danny C. White Jr.

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The following bioregional planning study is a direct result of the 2009- 2010 studio project initiated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The FWS contacted the study team and asked them to determine how the future growth and development of the Bear River Watershed would impact the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (BRMBR). The study looked at all of the physical and biophysical systems within the Bear River Watershed to identify the issues that had an effect on the BRMBR.

It became apparent from the original project that the future of the BRMBR and other Great Salt …

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 …

Invertebrate Community Changes Along Coqui Invasion Fronts In Hawaii, Ryan T. Choi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Puerto Rican coqui frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, was introduced to Hawaii in the late 1980s via the commercial horticulture trade. Previous research has shown that coquis can change invertebrate communities, but these studies were conducted at small scales using controlled, manipulative experiments. The objective of this research was to determine whether coqui invasions change invertebrate communities at the landscape scale across the island of Hawaii. At each invasion front, we measured environmental variability on either side of the front and removed sites that were too variable across the front to ensure that the impacts we measured were the result …

Spatiotemporal Modeling Of Threats To Big Sagebrush Ecological Sites In Northern Utah, Alexander J. Hernandez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study tested the performance of classification, regression, and ordination techniques to evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamics of threats to big sagebrush ecological sites. The research was focused on invasion by annual exotic grasses and encroachment by woodlands.

We sought to identify those areas that have had a persistent coverage of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in big sagebrush ecological sites. We took advantage of the contrast in greenness between multi-temporal (within one year) remotely sensed vegetation indices captured in the spring and summer to find a distinct phenological signature that allowed mapping cheatgrass. We utilized support vector machines (SVM) to classify three …

Process-Based Management Of Downy Brome In Salt Desert Shrublands: Assessing Pre- And Post- Rehabilitation Soil And Vegetation Attributes, Merilynn Carol Hirsch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As an ecosystem driver, downy brome (Bromus tectorum L.) presents obstacles to land rehabilitation efforts, including restoring desirable species cover. Because damaged ecosystems may have crossed both abiotic and biotic thresholds, ecologically-based control strategies may assist with altering successional trajectories and restoring desirable plant species. My thesis research had three objectives: 1) assess soil and vegetation relationships in degraded salt desert ecosystems prior to implementing downy brome control treatments, 2) determine the effects of control treatments on soil properties and resident plant species, and 3) evaluate the relative importance of shrubland soil type, herbicide type, and herbicide rate on seedling …

Factors Affecting Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus Urophasianus) Survival And Movement In South-Central Utah, Danny Caudill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Greater sage-grouse are the largest North American grouse species and are dependent on sagebrush for survival. Sage-grouse populations have declined throughout the west. Habitat fragmentation and degradation are likely the main causes of declining populations, and concern has lead to the petitioning for the sage-grouse to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Survival of adult and juvenile sage-grouse is thought to be limiting population growth. However, survival of juvenile sage-grouse is poorly understood. I aimed to improve the knowledge gap regarding juvenile sage-grouse survival. With improved knowledge of juvenile survival, management actions can be employed to benefit sage-grouse populations. …

Application Of Habitat And Occupancy Modeling To A Wood Duck Next Box Program, Jason D. Carlisle

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Programs to augment wood duck (Aix sponsa) nesting habitat by providing artificial nest boxes are commonly implemented. In northern Utah, where such programs are relatively new, I proposed a method to identify sites suitable for deployment of next boxes through a combination of habitat and occupancy modeling using site-specific, biotic, and abiotic, data collected from 105 next boxes over one nesting season in Cache County, Utah. An inductive habitat model was first developed which identified possibly suitable habitat (8.74% of county) based on proximity to hydrologic features. Next, based on comparing competing single-species, single-season, occupancy models using a modified Akaike's …

Achieving Real Development Impact Among Pastoralists: Lessons From Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mercury And Selenium Bioaccumulation In The Stromatolite Community Of The Great Salt Lake, Utah, Usa, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Temperature Increase Effects On Sagebrush Ecosystem Forbs: Exprimental Evidence And Range Manager Perspectives, Hilary Louise Whitcomb

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

No abstract provided.

Lakes As Buffers Of Stream Dissolved Organic Matter (Dom) Variability: Temporal Patterns Of Dom Characteristics In Mountain Stream-Lake Systems, K. J. Goodman, Michelle A. Baker, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Lakes within fluvial networks may affect dissolved organic matter (DOM) dynamics in streams by dampening spring DOM snowmelt flushing responses and/or by increasing summer DOM production. We assessed the temporal variability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and DOM characteristics (specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA254); DOC:dissolved organic nitrogen (DOC:DON)), as well as DOC export in seven paired lake inflows and outflows in the Sawtooth Mountain lake district, Idaho. We hypothesized that lakes would decrease stream DOM temporal variability and increase DOM export as a result of autotrophic production. We correlated DOM variability with landscape factors to evaluate potential drivers of DOM …