Life Sciences Commons^™

Automatic Identification Of Animals In The Wild: A Comparative Study Between C-Capsule Networks And Deep Convolutional Neural Networks., Joel Kamdem Teto, Ying Xie

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

The evolution of machine learning and computer vision in technology has driven a lot of

improvements and innovation into several domains. We see it being applied for credit decisions, insurance quotes, malware detection, fraud detection, email composition, and any other area having enough information to allow the machine to learn patterns. Over the years the number of sensors, cameras, and cognitive pieces of equipment placed in the wilderness has been growing exponentially. However, the resources (human) to leverage these data into something meaningful are not improving at the same rate. For instance, a team of scientist volunteers took 8.4 years, …

Temporal Dynamics Of Lipid And Fatty Acid Characteristics Of Gulf Menhaden, Brevoortia Patronus In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Robert R. Leaf, Jesse Trushenski, Nancy Brown-Peterson, Michael J. Andres

Faculty Publications

Gulf Menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, in the northern Gulf of Mexico support a large commercial fishery and are thought to play an important trophic role in the coastal ecosystem. The temporal dynamics of both fatty acid and oil content have a direct impact on the value of Gulf Menhaden to predators and to the fishery. In this work, we describe how oil content of Gulf Menhaden varies with season, sex, age, condition, and tissue and investigate how fatty acid composition of mature (137.5 mm FL) female tissues varies with season, month, and tissue type. We found pronounced temporal (January to …

Riparian Research And Management: Past, Present, Future: Volume 1, Steven W. Carothers, Hisham El Waer, Helen C. Fairley, Deborah M. Finch, Suzanne C. Fouty, Jonathan M. Friedman, Jennifer K. Frey, Stanley V. Gregory, Robert H. Hamre, Annie Henry, Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta, Elaine E. Johnson, R. Roy Johnson, Kenneth J. Kingsley, Mary Anne Mcleod, Eric Mellink, Katie Merewether, Duncan T. Patten, John S. Richardson, Anne Sands, Michael L. Scott, Bo Shelby, Anna A. Sher, D. Max Smith, John T. Stanley, Frederick J. Swanson, Raymond M. Turner, Robert H. Webb, William E. Werner

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Fifty years ago, riparian habitats were not recognized for their extensive and critical contributions to wildlife and the ecosystem function of watersheds. This changed as riparian values were identified and documented, and the science of riparian ecology developed steadily. Papers in this volume range from the more mesic northwestern United States to the arid Southwest and Mexico. More than two dozen authors—most with decades of experience—review the origins of riparian science in the western United States, document what is currently known about riparian ecosystems, and project future needs. Topics are widespread and include: interactions with fire, climate change, and declining …

Species-Specific Means And Within-Species Variance In Glucocorticoid Hormones And Speciation Rates In Birds, L. Z. Garamszegi, Jeremy W. Donald, C. D. Francis, M. J. Fuxjager, W. Goymann, M. Hau, Jerry F. Husak, Michele A. Johnson, Bonnie K. Kircher, R. Knapp, L. B. Martin, E. T. Miller, L. A. Schoenle, Maren N. Vitousek, T. D. Williams

Biology Faculty Research

At macroevolutionary scales, stress physiology may have consequences for species diversification and subspecies richness. Populations that exploit new resources or undergo range expansion should cope with new environmental challenges, which could favor higher mean stress responses. Within-species variation in the stress response may also play a role in mediating the speciation process: in species with broad variation, there will always be some individuals that can tolerate an unpredictable environment, whereas in species with narrow variation there will be fewer individuals that are able to thrive in a new ecological niche. We tested for the evolutionary relationship between stress response, speciation …

Impacts Of Natural And Anthropogenic Colonized Habitats On The Range Shifting Mangrove Tree Crab (Aratus Pisonii), Zachary John Cannizzo

Theses and Dissertations

Mis-matches in climate-mediated shifting rates cause the ranges of some species to become decoupled from their historic ecosystem, leading to the colonization of ecosystems they have not previously inhabited. When this occurs, the shifting species may experience suboptimal conditions which challenge its ability to persist and expand into the novel ecosystem. However, within the colonized ecosystem, shifting species may encounter artificial habitat analogues: artificial habitats that more closely resemble the species’ historic ecosystem than the surrounding habitat and which mitigate some of the negative impacts experienced elsewhere in the novel ecosystem. Despite their importance to the ecology, life history, and …

Quantifying Climate Sensitivity And Climate-Driven Change In North American Amphibian Communities, David A. W. Miller, Evan H Campbell Grant, Erin Muths, Staci M. Amburgey, Michael J. Adams, Maxwell B. Joseph, J. Hardin Waddle, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Maureen E. Ryan, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Daniel L. Calhoun, Courtney L. Davis, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Sam S. Cruickshank, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Carola A. Haas, Ward Hughson, David S. Pilliod, Steve J. Price, Andrew M. Ray, Walt Sadinski, Daniel Saenz, William J. Barichivich, Adrianne Brand

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Changing climate will impact species’ ranges only when environmental variability directly impacts the demography of local populations. However, measurement of demographic responses to climate change has largely been limited to single species and locations. Here we show that amphibian communities are responsive to climatic variability, using > 500,000 time-series observations for 81 species across 86 North American study areas. The effect of climate on local colonization and persistence probabilities varies among eco-regions and depends on local climate, species life-histories, and taxonomic classification. We found that local species richness is most sensitive to changes in water availability during breeding and changes in …

Multiple Facets Of Biodiversity Drive The Diversity-Stability Relationship, Dylan Craven, Nico Eisenhauer, William D. Pearse, Yann Hautier, Christiane Roscher, Forest Isbell, Michael Bahn, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Gerhard Bönisch, Nina Buchmann, Chaeho Byun, Jane A. Catford, Bruno E.L. Cerabolini, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Joseph M. Craine, Enrica De Luca, Anne Ebeling, John N. Griffin, Andy Hector, Jes Hines, Anke Jentsch, Jens Kattge, Jürgen Kreyling, Vojtech Lanta, Nathan Lemoine, Sebastian T. Meyer, Vanessa Minden, Vladimir Onipchenko, H. Wayne Polley, Peter B. Reich, Jasper Van Ruijven, Brandon Schamp, Melinda D. Smith, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, David Tilman, Alexandra Weigelt, Brian Wilsey, Peter Manning

Biology Faculty Publications

A significant body of evidence has demonstrated that biodiversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning over time in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of different facets of biodiversity underlying the diversity–stability relationship remains unclear. Here we used data from 39 biodiversity experiments and structural equation modeling to investigate the roles of species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and both the diversity and community-weighted mean of functional traits representing the ‘fast–slow’ leaf economics spectrum in driving the diversity–stability relationship. We found that high species richness and phylogenetic diversity stabilize biomass production via enhanced asynchrony. Contrary to our hypothesis, low phylogenetic diversity also enhances ecosystem stability …

Crop Pests And Predators Exhibit Inconsistent Responses To Surrounding Landscape Composition, Daniel S. Karp, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Timothy D. Meehan, Emily A. Martin, Fabrice Declerck, Heather Grab, Claudio Gratton, Lauren Hunt, Ashley E. Larsen, Alejandra Martínez-Salinas, Megan E. O’Rourke, Adrien Rusch, Katja Poveda, Mattias Jonsson, Jay A. Rosenheim, Nancy A. Schellhorn, Teja Tscharntke, Stephen D. Wratten, Wei Zhang, Aaron L. Iverson, Lynn S. Adler, Matthias Albrecht, Audrey Alignier, Gina M. Angelella, Muhammad Zubair Anjum, Jacques Avelino, Péter Batáry, Johannes M. Baveco, Felix J. J. A. Bianchi, Klaus Birkhofer, David J. Gonthier

Entomology Faculty Publications

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop …

The Effects Of Enhanced Flows On Community Structure And Ecosystem Functioning In A Montane Utah River System, Joshua A. Epperly

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to growing human demands for freshwater within the last century, manmade flow alterations are now a common characteristic of rivers worldwide. Alterations to the volume and timing of flows in rivers are known to negatively impact aquatic biodiversity, biological productivity and ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling. While previous research has focused on the effects of flow reductions and spates, there is a lack of knowledge on how high flows across longer timespans (i.e. ‘enhanced flows’) impact the structure of river communities and the integrity of ecosystem functions.

The Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission has expressed interest in …

Input, Output And Complete Run Files For The Atlantis Ecosystem Model Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Simulations, Cameron Ainsworth

C-IMAGE data

Data are complete input, output, and executable model run files for Atlantis simulations of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The model outputs in these folders describe simulations from 2010 to 2035; the spatial domain is the entire Gulf of Mexico. Simulations are published as Ainsworth, C.H., Paris, C.B., Perlin, N., Dornberger, L.N., Patterson, W., Chancellor, E., Murawski, S., Hollander, D., Daly, K., Romero, I.C., Coleman, F. and Perryman, H. 2018. Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill evaluated using an end-to-end ecosystem model. PLoS One, 13(1): e0190840 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190840

Population, Community And Food Web Impacts Of Hypoxia : A Synthesis Of Findings From Hood Canal, Timothy Essington

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Hypoxia is a regular, yet increasingly prevalent feature of southern regions of Hood Canal, WA. While occasional fish kill events garner much public attention, these events are rare and may therefore may not be as important as effects from non-lethal levels of dissolved oxygen. Low levels (near 2 mg / l ) are common and species have a range of responses Here I use results from multiple investigations to illustrate the nature and magnitude of effects. On a population level, long lived sessile species like geoduck clams show clear evidence of substantial impacts from hypoxia. In addition, several sessile invertebrate …

Community Members Of All Ages Work Together To Reveal The Dynamic Nature Of Liberty Bay, Lauren Kemper, Markie Rodgers, Catherine Somerville, Melissa O'Brien, Charles Kleinwort, Sylvia Yang

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

At the SEA Discovery Center, we have begun a community citizen science project to monitor Liberty Bay, to gain a deeper sense of understanding and inspire stewardship of the local marine environment. As a public aquarium and marine science center serving the communities of the Kitsap Peninsula region, the SEA Discovery Center has the opportunity to engage the community in environmental science that no one person could do alone. Elementary students, college interns, volunteers, and visitors from the community are mentored by SEA Discovery Center staff to measure abiotic (seawater temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen) and biotic (phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance …

Southern Resident Killer Whales: From Captivity To Conservation, Colleen Weiler, Rob Lott, Erich Hoyt, Deborah Giles, Howard Garrett, Susan Berta, Rein Attemann, Giulia Good-Stefani, Francine Kershaw

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The endangered Southern Resident killer whale (Orcinus orca) (SRKW) population remains the only killer whale population listed under the United States Endangered Species Act in U.S. waters since it was listed in 2005. In the 1960s and 70s, the population was reduced by approximately 40% following intensive efforts to capture individuals for a growing marine park captivity industry. The first Northwest killer whale census (1974) found just 70 remaining individuals in the SRKW community. This population has struggled to return to pre-capture numbers, and in the face of new threats including prey depletion, toxic contamination, and vessel effects, fewer than …

The Ecosystem Approach: Recovering Rivers To Help Save The Southern Resident Killer Whales, Colleen Weiler, Deborah Giles, Regina Asmutis-Silvia

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The “ecosystem approach” to managing habitats is of growing interest in the world of conservation biology, with the realization that recovery of protected species ultimately relies on the health of their environment. In the case of the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population, prey depletion is a major threat to their survival. Research has shown that the SRKWs are highly dependent on Chinook salmon; thus the restoration of Chinook throughout the U.S. and Canada Pacific region is crucial for SRKW recovery. The significant decline of salmon abundance can be attributed to habitat loss and degradation throughout their range. …

Genuine Faculty-Mentored Research Experiences For In-Service Science Teachers: Increases In Science Knowledge, Perception, And Confidence Levels, Christine E. Cutucache, Heather D. Leas, Neal F. Grandgenett, Kari L. Nelson, Steven N. Rodie, Robert Duncan Shuster, Chris Schaben, William E. Tapprich

Biology Faculty Publications

The overall purpose of this multifocused study was to explore how participation in genuine mentored scientific research experiences impacts in-service science teachers and the knowledge and skills needed for their own science teaching. The research experiences resulted from a partnership between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha Public School District. This Teacher- Researcher Partnership Program facilitated opportunities in inquiry, science content, interaction with laboratory instrumentation and technologies, critical discussion of literature, and dissemination of findings for participating in-service science teacher professional development utilizing an inquiry-based theoretical framework wherein we examined science teacher preparation via inquiry-based methods in …

Subcontinental Heat Wave Triggers Terrestrial And Marine, Multi-Taxa Responses, Katinka X. Ruthrof, David D. Breshears, Joseph B. Fontaine, Ray H. Froend, George Matusick, Jatin Kala, Ben P. Miller, Patrick J. Mitchell, Shaun K. Wilson, Mike Van Keulen, Neal J. Enright, Darin J. Law, Thomas Wernberg, Giles E. St. J. Hardy

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Heat waves have profoundly impacted biota globally over the past decade, especially where their ecological impacts are rapid, diverse, and broad-scale. Although usually considered in isolation for either terrestrial or marine ecosystems, heat waves can straddle ecosystems of both types at subcontinental scales, potentially impacting larger areas and taxonomic breadth than previously envisioned. Using climatic and multi-species demographic data collected in Western Australia, we show that a massive heat wave event straddling terrestrial and maritime ecosystems triggered abrupt, synchronous, and multi-trophic ecological disruptions, including mortality, demographic shifts and altered species distributions. Tree die-off and coral bleaching occurred concurrently in response …

Vegetation Demographics In Earth System Models: A Review Of Progress And Priorities, Rosie A. Fisher, Charles D. Koven, William R. L. Anderegg, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Michael C. Dietze, Caroline E. Farrior, Jennifer A. Holm, George C. Hurtt, Ryan G. Knox, Peter J. Lawrence

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Numerous current efforts seek to improve the representation of ecosystem ecology and vegetation demographic processes within Earth System Models (ESMs). These developments are widely viewed as an important step in developing greater realism in predictions of future ecosystem states and fluxes. Increased realism, however, leads to increased model complexity, with new features raising a suite of ecological questions that require empirical constraints. Here, we review the developments that permit the representation of plant demographics in ESMs, and identify issues raised by these developments that highlight important gaps in ecological understanding. These issues inevitably translate into uncertainty in model projections but …