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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Influence Of Local- And Landscape-Scale Factors On Avian Assemblage In Fragmented Tallgrass Prairie Landscape, Pooja Panwar
Influence Of Local- And Landscape-Scale Factors On Avian Assemblage In Fragmented Tallgrass Prairie Landscape, Pooja Panwar
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Agricultural expansion and increasing urbanization are driving rapid landscape modification in the Tallgrass prairies ecosystem and are affecting biodiversity at multiple spatial scales. Thus, the conservation of fragmented grassland and steeply declining grassland avifauna is dependent on the relationship between local- and landscape-scale factors and avian assemblage. We also need to understand how these factors, operating at different spatial scales, drive the occupancy of different guilds in the assemblage. We conducted repeated point count surveys during the breeding season of 2019 at 66 grassland sites across Arkansas and Missouri, USA. We developed a multi-species occupancy model to estimate species richness, …
Role Of Reptile-Invertebrate Interactions In Enigmatic Reptile Declines, Meredith Swartwout
Role Of Reptile-Invertebrate Interactions In Enigmatic Reptile Declines, Meredith Swartwout
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Reptile populations are declining world-wide and the mechanisms behind many of these declines remain enigmatic. Food web interactions (i.e., reduced prey availability or increased predation) have been implicated behind some reptile declines. However, relatively little is known about predation on lizard and snake eggs, despite egg survival being important for population dynamics of some species. Ants are important predators of squamate reptile eggs in tropical and temperate systems. In Costa Rica, long-term declines in terrestrial anole lizards were linked with reduced leaf litter depth, a factor that could influence egg vulnerability to ant predation. Fire ants (genus Solenopsis) are aggressive …
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus Collaris) Population Declines In Ozark Landscapes: An Assessment Of Environmental Constraints., Casey L. Brewster
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus Collaris) Population Declines In Ozark Landscapes: An Assessment Of Environmental Constraints., Casey L. Brewster
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) has experienced extensive population declines over the past half century in the Ozark Mountains. Previous research suggests that glade habitat degradation through woody vegetation encroachment is an important factor resulting in population declines. In this dissertation I used information on time-energy budgets to investigate the link between habitat degradation and shifts in life history traits likely resulting in population declines of Eastern Collared Lizards (Crotaphytus collaris) in the Ozarks. In chapter one, I addressed the influence of dense woody vegetation encroachment on age-specific growth, body size, body condition and reproduction of C. collaris in …