Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2019

Theses/Dissertations

Ecology

Discipline
Institution
Publication

Articles 1 - 30 of 30

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Effect Of Invasive Plants On Soil Microbial Activity In A Ny Temperate Forest, Victoria Dawn Hull Dec 2019

The Effect Of Invasive Plants On Soil Microbial Activity In A Ny Temperate Forest, Victoria Dawn Hull

Theses - ALL

Invasive woody plants are often strong competitors that can have large effects on ecosystem function. While there is evidence that Northeastern invasive species can increase nitrogen cycling in monocultures, little is known about how invasive plants alter biogeochemistry in the field. I hypothesized that the high-quality leaf and root litter of invaders would enhance the quality of soil organic matter, leading to greater belowground microbial activity and faster rates of nitrogen mineralization. In the summer of 2017, I conducted a field survey of invasive and native understory shrubs to see how invasive woody plants influence microbial activity in central New …

Go to article

Ecology And Conservation Of Shrubland Bird Communities In The Eastern Ghats Of Indi, Anant Deshwal Dec 2019

Ecology And Conservation Of Shrubland Bird Communities In The Eastern Ghats Of Indi, Anant Deshwal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic disturbance, in its multiple facets represents a major threat to biodiversity and habitat quality. Consequently, extensive research is guided towards understanding anthropogenic disturbance and their effects on wildlife for development of wildlife management plans. However, for development of effective wildlife management plans it is imperative that we understand the habitat use and preference by local fauna along with effects of anthropogenic presence. In this dissertation, I studied the habitat usage and preferences of Shrubland birds in the Eastern Ghats of India during the pre-monsoon and post monsoon seasons. Eastern Ghats show a marked difference from pre-monsoon season to post-monsoon …

Go to article

Effects Of Water Table Depth And Edaphic Characteristics On Plant Diversity In A Southern Mississippi Pitcher Plant Bog, Patrick Kirby Dec 2019

Effects Of Water Table Depth And Edaphic Characteristics On Plant Diversity In A Southern Mississippi Pitcher Plant Bog, Patrick Kirby

Master's Theses

This study examined the effects that water table depth and soil characteristics have on plant species richness and species composition within pitcher plant bogs across seasons. Eight piezometers were installed at random distances to monitor long-term water table depth and pressure fluctuations along a ~710-meter line transect traversing upland and bog habitats. Vegetation sampling quadrats (n=128) were set up near each piezometer. Cover data and water table depths were collected in spring and late summer. Soil samples collected from each treatment group were used to obtain soil texture and nutrient data. The summer collection period yielded a total gdiversity of …

Go to article

Mammal Species Inventory Using Various Trapping Methods In Zone 4 Of Billy Barquedier National Park, Belize During Rainy Season, Mersady Redding Dec 2019

Mammal Species Inventory Using Various Trapping Methods In Zone 4 Of Billy Barquedier National Park, Belize During Rainy Season, Mersady Redding

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Belize is a small country, but it is extremely ecologically diverse. Based on the few studies conducted in Belize, the abundance of mammals is low but diversity is high. Particular findings note the number and identity of species differed between four sites in the Maya Mountains of Belize, indicating that a data set from a single site is not representative of the Neotropical region. Insufficient data is available to estimate current species richness of many areas in Belize, including Billy Barquedier National Park (BBNP). The objective of this study was to explore trapping and documentation methods of terrestrial mammals in …

Go to article

Ecology And Conservation Of Immature Sea Turtles Across Multiple Scales, Lucas Griffin Oct 2019

Ecology And Conservation Of Immature Sea Turtles Across Multiple Scales, Lucas Griffin

Doctoral Dissertations

Considering many sea turtle populations are a fraction of their historic size and anthropogenic threats within the marine environment are increasing, additional data are imperative to help mitigate anthropogenic disturbances and to build resilience into sea turtle populations. In this dissertation, I present three data chapters focused on immature sea turtle ecology and conservation. These chapters evaluate sea turtle ecology and conservation at varying scales, ranging from mitigating human-wildlife interactions at the individual level, to coastal movements and space use at the ecosystem level, and to large scale climate change impacts at the population level. Ultimately, these chapters provide a …

Go to article

Patterns Of Morphological Plasticity In Metriaclima Zebra And Danio Rerio Suggest Differently Canalized Phenotypes Due To Form-Function Relationships, Dylan Jockel Oct 2019

Patterns Of Morphological Plasticity In Metriaclima Zebra And Danio Rerio Suggest Differently Canalized Phenotypes Due To Form-Function Relationships, Dylan Jockel

Masters Theses

In order to ascertain the degree of compatibility in developmental restructuring and behavioral plasticity between two fish species frequently made subject of laboratory research (Metriaclima zebra & Danio rerio), alternative trophic niche exposure experiments utilizing novel three-prong feeding treatments were conducted to obtain morphometric data, which demonstrated both species do bear some degree of plasticity. The results are somewhat complicated by differences in locality of detectable restructuring, which may be due to disparity in the form-function relationship for each species’ lineage. Each is notable in the manner of respective species’ jaw protrusion, as it is driven by anterior …

Go to article

The Distribution And Demography Of The Invasive Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea Gigas, And Native Olympia Oyster, Ostrea Lurida, In The San Diego River, Jason Langevin Oct 2019

The Distribution And Demography Of The Invasive Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea Gigas, And Native Olympia Oyster, Ostrea Lurida, In The San Diego River, Jason Langevin

Theses

Even though the introduction of the Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea gigas, to the west coast of North America, happened roughly a century ago, it has only been in the past 15 to 20 years that C. gigas has started to become an established and conspicuous species along Southern California’s coast. The establishment of C. gigas in Southern California has the potential to heavily influence many native species, as it has done globally. In Southern California, this invasion is particularly relevant for the native Olympia Oyster, Ostrea lurida. The Olympia oyster has both historical and present-day threats to its population, …

Go to article

Comparative Brain Anatomy Of Lamniform Sharks (Elasmobranchii: Lamniformes) And Its Implications To Function, Behavioral Ecology, And Evolution, Francesco Guzzo Aug 2019

Comparative Brain Anatomy Of Lamniform Sharks (Elasmobranchii: Lamniformes) And Its Implications To Function, Behavioral Ecology, And Evolution, Francesco Guzzo

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the diversity of brain morphology is important to understand the evolution of cognitive ability and how ecology and phylogeny have influenced the variation in brain complexity. I examined the morphological variation of the brain in the shark order Lamniformes based on museum specimens and literature. Where I illustrate a wide range of morphological diversity in lamniform brains, my study shows that there is a strong positive correlation between brain size and body size that sharks with a larger brain tend to have a more foliated cerebellum, but that the body weight over brain weight did not correlate with cerebellar …

Go to article

Microbial Mercury Methylation At Caddo Lake: A Molecular Ecology Approach, Nevada King Aug 2019

Microbial Mercury Methylation At Caddo Lake: A Molecular Ecology Approach, Nevada King

Biology Theses

Caddo Lake in northeastern Texas is a cypress-Spanish moss dominated lake ecosystem. Contamination of mercury (Hg), especially methylmercury (MeHg), was reported in this lake a decade ago. MeHg is a neurotoxicant accumulated in major fish species and reptiles. Due to the biomagnification feature of MeHg transfer, Hg contamination in the fishes of Caddo Lake has caused health concerns for the wildlife and local people. However, the source and synthesis of MeHg in this lake, primarily the microbial Hg methylation mechanisms, have not been investigated. We investigated the lake for the past three years (2016-2018), by taking sediment and plant samples …

Go to article

Body Forms In Sharks (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii), And Their Functional, Ecological, And Evolutionary Implications, Phillip C. Sternes Jun 2019

Body Forms In Sharks (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii), And Their Functional, Ecological, And Evolutionary Implications, Phillip C. Sternes

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Sharks are among the oldest vertebrate lineages in which their success has been attributed to their diversity in body shape and locomotor design. In this study, I investigated the diversity of body forms in extant sharks using landmark-based geometric morphometric analyses on lateral view illustrations of nearly all the known (ca. 470) extant sharks in a published guidebook. I ran three different analyses: the ‘full body,' ‘precaudal body,’ and ‘caudal fin' analyses. My study suggests that there are two basic body forms in sharks. The two major body forms are characterized as a ‘shallow-bodied’ form (Group A) and ‘deep-bodied’ form …

Go to article

Enclosures And Dichotomies: Coexistence Vs. Distance In The Poems Of John Clare, Jordan P. Finn May 2019

Enclosures And Dichotomies: Coexistence Vs. Distance In The Poems Of John Clare, Jordan P. Finn

Theses and Dissertations

John Clare’s poetry emphasizes an affinity with environment by suspending the distinction between the inside (subject) and the outside (object). Clare’s identification with objects and perception rather than subjects and aesthetics renders his work as a prescient and radical example of ecological poetry in the Romantic period. Raymond Williams’ “green language” and Timothy Morton’s ambient poetics both cite Clare as an ideal figure for their above theories and evoke Clare as a writer who positions the environment as governing thought rather than thought governing the environment. This thesis especially relates Clare to Morton’s Ecology without Nature, a study of …

Go to article

Examining Genetic And Ecological Differentiation Of An Endemic Plant Species Found Across The Hawaiian Archipelago, Psychotria Mariniana, Tiffany L. Kho May 2019

Examining Genetic And Ecological Differentiation Of An Endemic Plant Species Found Across The Hawaiian Archipelago, Psychotria Mariniana, Tiffany L. Kho

Master's Theses

Speciation is a fundamental evolutionary process that remains poorly understood. Speciation ultimately begins with population divergence, so we can elucidate the complexities of speciation by first understanding the process and drivers of population divergence. To conduct population-level analyses, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have turned to island systems, primarily for their geographic orientation and high endemism. The Hawaiian archipelago is home to over 8,700 endemic species making it a great natural laboratory to study species diversification at the population level. The Hawaiian Psychotria (kōpiko, or wild coffee) make up 11 of these species and have been used to understand colonization and …

Go to article

Assessing Populations Of Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Above And Below Waterfalls In Mountain Streams Of Virginia, Hannah Eisemann Macmillan May 2019

Assessing Populations Of Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Above And Below Waterfalls In Mountain Streams Of Virginia, Hannah Eisemann Macmillan

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Anthropogenically driven factors, such as increasing temperature and sediment in valley streams, acidification of mountain streams, and the introduction of non-native trout, are restricting habitat suitable for healthy populations of eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) throughout their native Appalachian range. Brook trout are important as predators of insects in mountain streams and as a favorite of anglers. It is crucial that remaining populations in sustainable habitats be identified and preserved. Waterfalls are geologic knickpoints preventing base-level lowering that create unique, stable landscapes above them, which may alleviate the temperature-productivity/acidity “habitat squeeze” for populations of brook trout and could …

Go to article

Insect Populations Across An Urban-To-Suburban Land Use Gradient., Jacob T. Lawson May 2019

Insect Populations Across An Urban-To-Suburban Land Use Gradient., Jacob T. Lawson

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Insect populations, especially those of pollinators, have been steadily declining across the globe in recent decades, a trend that is intensified in cities. Since the conservation of pollinators is crucial for maintaining ecosystems and ecological processes, new approaches are being promoted beyond those of conserving large natural areas. Urban native plant gardens could potentially offset some of these losses locally. This research attempts to set a local baseline for the insect diversity in urban gardens in Louisville and determine whether differences exist in garden insects in cities versus suburbs in Jefferson County, Kentucky. To address the land-use question we established …

Go to article

Management Recommendations For Ecological Restoration On The Little River Parcel, Maya Sady Partain, Garitt Mathews Jan 2019

Management Recommendations For Ecological Restoration On The Little River Parcel, Maya Sady Partain, Garitt Mathews

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Ecological restoration is an important aspect of land management. Data collection and ongoing monitoring help inform restoration decisions and determine their effectiveness. In this project, we followed a monitoring protocol provided by the Trinidad Coastal Land Trust to assess the 2019 status of their Little River parcel, a fifteen-acre area near the mouth of Little River in Trinidad, California. We performed a site analysis of invasive plant species and recorded their extent and location, as well as noting other observations of the ecology, topography, and biology of the site. After making our observations, we recommended land management methods woven together …

Go to article

Functional Diversity And Restoration Of Meadows In Northeast Ohio, Keri Plevniak Jan 2019

Functional Diversity And Restoration Of Meadows In Northeast Ohio, Keri Plevniak

ETD Archive

Restoration outcomes can be variable and there is a need to understand the short- and long-term responses of the vegetation community. It is important to see if management goals are being met by evaluating restoration outcomes. Restoration goals often include establishing native species, increasing conservation value, and providing pollinator resources throughout the year. Assessing communities is commonly done though a taxonomic approach by using species presence and abundance. Another method of evaluation is through functional traits or species traits and their abundance. Both give different perspectives on how the community is achieving management goals. While taxonomic assessments can give insight …

Go to article

Bacterioplankton Biogeography Of The Mississippi River Basin, Jason Taylor Payne Jan 2019

Bacterioplankton Biogeography Of The Mississippi River Basin, Jason Taylor Payne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bacterioplankton are important structural and functional components of river networks yet their biogeographical patterns in these systems are largely unknown. Using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene we characterized variation in bacterioplankton community alpha diversity (within-sample richness of operational taxonomic units OTUs) and beta diversity (between-sample differences in composition) (1) along a 1 300-km downstream reach of the Mississippi River (2) over a range of temporal scales in the Lower Mississippi River (LMR) and (3) along cross-sectional transects repeated monthly for six months across the LMR floodplain. Particle-associated assemblages were richer in bacterial OTUs and more productive than free-living …

Go to article

Ecology, Monogamy, And The Evolution Of Animal Families, Jacqueline Rae Dillard Jan 2019

Ecology, Monogamy, And The Evolution Of Animal Families, Jacqueline Rae Dillard

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Family-living has been recognized as a necessary prerequisite for the evolution of advanced cooperative societies, yet the evolutionary and ecological processes that drive the coupling of different forms of cooperation in family-based societies are still poorly understood. In my dissertation, I investigate the correlated evolution of parental care, monogamy, and cooperative breeding in a variety of family-based taxa. I explore the mating and social behavior of family-living beetles with incipient cooperation to better understand the factors driving these social traits. Specifically, I evaluate different causes of extra-pair mating in socially monogamous beetles, the potential benefits that young adult offspring may …

Go to article

Where Birds Chill: An Assessment Of The Habitat Preferences Of Birds Overwintering In Hudson Valley Forests, Elizabeth Claire Axley Jan 2019

Where Birds Chill: An Assessment Of The Habitat Preferences Of Birds Overwintering In Hudson Valley Forests, Elizabeth Claire Axley

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Many avian species overwinter in eastern North America; however, studies on bird populations are rarely undertaken during this critical survival time, and little is known as to their habitat preferences and foraging behavior. In this observational study, we performed a survey of birds overwintering in the Hudson Valley’s temperate, primarily-deciduous forests, assessing avian populations’ habitat preferences through the vegetative structural variables surrounding overwintering birds as they forage. Our results suggest that high canopy cover is critically important to predicting overwintering bird occupancy on a microhabitat scale. Moreover, overwintering birds preferentially occupy forest plots not dominated by sugar maples, in spite …

Go to article

Identification Of Antibiotic Ge37468a From Pseudonocardia Symbionts Of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Ants, Krithika Rao Jan 2019

Identification Of Antibiotic Ge37468a From Pseudonocardia Symbionts Of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Ants, Krithika Rao

Scripps Senior Theses

In response to the growing rates of antibiotic resistance in human bacterial pathogens, this study explores the natural products involved in the defensive symbiosis between actinobacteria and fungus-growing ants to uncover new potential antibiotics. This study also seeks to understand the function of natural antibiotics in their ecological contexts, especially those involved in defensive symbioses. Defensive symbiosis can be a beneficial platform for discovering useful antibiotics, because antibiotics in these relationships must be able to selectively inhibit enemies without harming hosts, and are therefore likely more specific and less toxic. Pseudonocardia sp. associated with Trachymyrmex septentrionalis ants demonstrated antibiotic activity …

Go to article

City Limits: Heat Tolerance Is Influenced By Body Size And Hydration State In An Urban Ant Community, Dustin Jerald Johnson Jan 2019

City Limits: Heat Tolerance Is Influenced By Body Size And Hydration State In An Urban Ant Community, Dustin Jerald Johnson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Cities are rapidly expanding, and global warming is intensified in urban environments due to the urban heat island effect. Therefore, urban animals may be particularly susceptible to warming associated with ongoing climate change. Thus, I used a comparative and manipulative approach to test three related hypotheses about the determinants of heat tolerance or critical thermal maximum (CTmax) in urban ants—specifically, that (1) body size, (2) hydration status, and (3) preferred micro-environments influence CTmax. I further tested a fourth hypothesis that native species are particularly physiologically vulnerable in urban environments. I manipulated water access and determined CTmax for 11 species common …

Go to article

Plant Community Response To Novel Silvicultural Treatments In Great Lakes Northern Hardwoods, Stefan F. Hupperts Jan 2019

Plant Community Response To Novel Silvicultural Treatments In Great Lakes Northern Hardwoods, Stefan F. Hupperts

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The objective of this dissertation is to assess plant community response across a range of silvicultural disturbances and test ecological hypotheses to better inform ecologists and forest managers. To provide context for the utility of revising silvicultural systems, I review natural disturbance regimes and historical practices that have shaped contemporary Great Lakes northern hardwood forests (Chapter 2). Further, I identify important ways to expand the silvicultural toolbox and better emulate natural disturbance regimes. Building on this theoretical underpinning, I investigate the initial regeneration and plant community response to two novel silvicultural experiments: the Northern Hardwood Experiment for Enhancing Diversity (NHSEED) …

Go to article

Competition Or Facilitation: Examination Of Interactions Between Endangered Sida Hermaphrodita And Invasive Phragmites Australis, Samantha N. Mulholland Jan 2019

Competition Or Facilitation: Examination Of Interactions Between Endangered Sida Hermaphrodita And Invasive Phragmites Australis, Samantha N. Mulholland

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Virginia Mallow (Sida hermaphrodita) is a perennial herb of the Malvaceae family that is native to riparian habitats in northeastern North America. Throughout most of its geographical distribution however, it is considered threatened and only two populations are known from Canada. The biology and ecology of S. hermaphrodita are still poorly understood and although few studies have been performed to determine the factors that contribute to the species rarity, it is considered threatened potentially due to the loss of habitat caused by exotic European Common reed (Phragmites australis subsp. australis) invasion. Allelopathic and phytotoxic conditioning of …

Go to article

Role Of Managed Marine Areas On The Diversity And Individual Responses Of Rocky Intertidal Shore Grazers In Central Chile, Kathy Liu Jan 2019

Role Of Managed Marine Areas On The Diversity And Individual Responses Of Rocky Intertidal Shore Grazers In Central Chile, Kathy Liu

Scripps Senior Theses

Many different types of marine benthic herbivores or “grazers” inhabit coastal intertidal zones and play a crucial role in inter- and shallow subtidal ecosystems. Chile has one of the most diverse intertidal zones, but many intertidal grazers are exploited for human consumption. Marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine management and exploitation areas (MEAs) are promising tools for Chile to combat over exploitation of these grazer and other marine resources. This study surveyed the impact of sites with contrasting management on the diversity and abundance of all intertidal grazers and their impact on the size frequency and shell length-body weight allometry …

Go to article

Examination Of Behavioral Lateralizations In Juvenile Tarantulas In The Presence Of Prey Odors, Matthew Angelosanto Jan 2019

Examination Of Behavioral Lateralizations In Juvenile Tarantulas In The Presence Of Prey Odors, Matthew Angelosanto

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The functional and/or structural specialization of the left or right side of the brain (behavioral lateralization) has substantial impacts on the interactions an animal makes with other organisms and its surroundings. While this has been extensively shown throughout vertebrates, it has recently been demonstrated in various taxa of invertebrates. Despite this, its presence in arachnids, and specifically tarantulas, remains poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether behavioral lateralization is present in the juvenile tarantulas Pterinochilus murinus and Brachypelma albopilosum in response to prey odors. If behavioral lateralization was found, I aimed to detennine how it differed …

Go to article

Adult Atlantic Sturgeon Population Dynamics In The York River, Virginia, Jason E. Kahn Jan 2019

Adult Atlantic Sturgeon Population Dynamics In The York River, Virginia, Jason E. Kahn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Sturgeon first appear in the fossil record in the Triassic Period just over 200 million years ago and are among the most primitive of the bony fishes. Despite their large size and historic presence along the East Coast, Atlantic sturgeon were not targeted for their meat and caviar as a commercial fishery until 1880. By 1905 they had declined to less than one percent of their pre-fishing abundance but the fishery continued. Prior to 1980, there had been very little research on Atlantic sturgeon, primarily limited to documenting landing location and poundage, maximum longevity, or weight of eggs per fish. …

Go to article

Defense Trade-Offs In The Evolution Of The Fruits And Flowers Of Genus Cornus, Danielle R. De La Pascua Jan 2019

Defense Trade-Offs In The Evolution Of The Fruits And Flowers Of Genus Cornus, Danielle R. De La Pascua

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The optimal defense hypothesis predicts that the allocation of plant defenses across plant organs is proportional to the importance of a given organ to plant fitness. Despite this, much less work has been devoted to the study of reproductive defenses in plants relative to vegetative structures like leaves. This study examines the apparancy hypothesis and the resource availability hypothesis using a phylogenetic comparative approach within the genus Cornus . During the 2016 growing season, plants of 25 species of Cornus were tracked for flower and fruit phenology as well as sampled for floral and fruit tissue in a common garden …

Go to article

Effects Of Coral Reef Habitat Complexity On The Community Composition And Trophic Structure Of Marine Fish Assemblages In Indonesia’S Wakatobi Marine National Park, Kuyer Josiah Fazekas Jr. Jan 2019

Effects Of Coral Reef Habitat Complexity On The Community Composition And Trophic Structure Of Marine Fish Assemblages In Indonesia’S Wakatobi Marine National Park, Kuyer Josiah Fazekas Jr.

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The coral reefs within Indonesia’s Wakatobi Marine National Park support a high diversity of reef-building hard corals and associated marine fish. Climate change threatens to dramatically affect coral reef ecosystems by altering the interactions between reef fish and the specific microhabitats they depend on for survival. To examine the spatially varied effects of habitat complexity on the community composition and trophic structure of marine fish assemblages, I analyzed fish community and habitat complexity data across reef zones. Habitat complexity metrics were: structural complexity, the percentage of hard coral (HC) cover, HC genera richness, HC genera diversity (Shannon index), and HC …

Go to article

Bat Species Diversity And Habitat Use Assessment With Focus On Endangered Indiana Bats In The Wright State University Woods, Megan R. Rude Jan 2019

Bat Species Diversity And Habitat Use Assessment With Focus On Endangered Indiana Bats In The Wright State University Woods, Megan R. Rude

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The goals of my thesis are to: 1) identify species of bats in Wright State University’s (WSU) campus woods via acoustic surveys to compare to detections from previous years (Chapter 1) (2) analyze occupancy and detection probabilities of Indiana bats in different areas throughout the woods (Chapter 1), and 3) create an acoustical approach to analyze habitat use through bat social calls (Chapter 2). In Chapter 1, I conducted stationary acoustic surveys in the Wright State University woods in hydric (riparian), edge, and old growth habitats to record bat vocalizations. The WSU woods have a diverse bat community as ten …

Go to article

Nutrient Flux From Aquatic To Terrestrial Invertebrate Communities Across A Lakeside Ecotone, Hosanna B. Loreaux Jan 2019

Nutrient Flux From Aquatic To Terrestrial Invertebrate Communities Across A Lakeside Ecotone, Hosanna B. Loreaux

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined how the spatiotemporal distribution of spider webs and diet changed in a lake riparian zone with increasing distance from an aquatic resource. I surveyed twenty, one-hundred meter transects along the perimeters of Sanford and Escanaba lakes (Wisconsin). Overall, spider web abundance was highest near the lakes and decreased moving into the adjacent forest. Horizontal orb webs, vertical orb webs, and mesh webs showed strong negative relationships with distance from the lakes. Aquatic insects composed an average 36-64% of spider diet for all spider families throughout the riparian zone, suggesting that some spider families are selecting …

Go to article