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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Biogeography And Conservation Of Tidal Marsh Bird Communities Across A Changing Landscape, Maureen D. Correll Dec 2015

Biogeography And Conservation Of Tidal Marsh Bird Communities Across A Changing Landscape, Maureen D. Correll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given the current mass extinction crisis and continued fragmentation of resources worldwide, the outlook is dire for global biodiversity. Rising global temperature, sea levels, and storm frequency all create environmental conditions that can drive change in species abundance and distribution across a landscape. Those species reliant upon a single type of habitat and resource for survival, termed “specialists”, are particularly vulnerable to change due to their inability to utilize a variety of resources well. As a result, specialism is now considered one of the dominant factors determining extinction of species. In this dissertation I explore the effects of disturbance on …


Rock Creek Restoration Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report, Daniel Bedell Jul 2015

Rock Creek Restoration Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report, Daniel Bedell

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Stream restoration is widely used to rebuild habitat for native fisheries, but it is not well understood how current habitat reconstruction practices affect biological diversity. Citizen Science programs have potential to provide supplemental macroinvertebrate data for effectiveness monitoring of reach-scale restoration projects but variability in training, experience and collection methods can make interpretation difficult. The Clackamas Water Environment Services Watershed Health Education Program (WHEP) is an example of a Citizen Science-based program actively collecting biological data from restored streams. The purpose of this project was to use WHEP student-collected data to detect benthic macroinvertebrate community responses to stream restoration practices. …


Ecological Drivers And Habitat Associations Of Estuarine Bivalves, C. Seabird Mckeon, Björn G. Tunberg, Cora A. Johnston, Daniel J. Barshis Jan 2015

Ecological Drivers And Habitat Associations Of Estuarine Bivalves, C. Seabird Mckeon, Björn G. Tunberg, Cora A. Johnston, Daniel J. Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Community composition of the infaunal bivalve fauna of the St. Lucie Estuary and southern Indian River Lagoon, eastern Florida was sampled quarterly for 10 years as part of a long-term benthic monitoring program. A total of 38,514 bivalves of 137 taxa were collected and identified. We utilized this data, along with sediment samples and environmental measurements gathered concurrently, to assess the community composition, distribution, and ecological drivers of the infaunal bivalves of this estuary system. Salinity had the strongest influence on bivalve assemblage across the 15 sites, superseding the influences of sediment type, water turbidity, temperature and other environmental parameters. …