Life Sciences Commons^™

Understanding The Impacts Of Current And Future Environmental Variation On Central African Amphibian Biodiversity, Courtney A. Miller

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Global climate change is projected to impact multiple levels of biodiversity by imposing strong selection pressures on existing populations, triggering shifts in species distributions, and reorganizing entire communities. The Lower Guineo-Congolian region in central Africa, a reservoir for amphibian diversity, is predicted to be severely affected by future climate change through rising temperatures and greater variability in rainfall. Geospatial modelling can be used to assess how environmental variation shapes patterns of biological variation – from the genomic to the community level – and use these associations to predict patterns of biological change across space and time. The overall goal of …

Dependence Of Aspen Stands On A Subsurface Water Subsidy: Implications For Climate Change Impacts, D. M. Love, M. D. Venturas, J. S. Sperry, P. D. Brooks, J. L. Pettit, Y. Wang, W. R. L. Anderegg, X. Tai, D. S. Mackay

Aspen Bibliography

The reliance of 10 Utah (USA) aspen forests on direct infiltration of growing season rain versus an additional subsurface water subsidy was determined from a trait- and process-based model of stomatal control. The model simulated the relationship between water supply to the root zone versus canopy transpiration and assimilation over a growing season. Canopy flux thresholds were identified that distinguished nonstressed, stressed, and dying stands. We found growing season rain and local soil moisture were insufficient for the survival of 5 of 10 stands. Six stands required a substantial subsidy (31–80% of potential seasonal transpiration) to avoid water stress and …

Predicting Combined Effects Of Land Use And Climate Change On River And Stream Salinity, John Olson

John Olson

Impacts Of Ammonia And Temperature On Freshwater Snail Behavior And Physiology., Megan Christine Dewhatley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gastropods are one of the most imperiled groups of animals in North America, yet there are major gaps in the literature pertaining to pollutants and climate change, and especially sublethal impacts. This dissertation assesses the effects of climate warming and unionized ammonia (NH₃), one of the most abundant water pollutants, on the behavior and physiology of two caenogastropod snails: fine-ridged elimia (Elimia semicarinata) and Shawnee rocksnails (Lithasia obovata) (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Pleuroceridae). Righting behavior, or the movement used by snails to turn themselves right-side-up, was used as the main endpoint; delays in this behavior compromise …

Landscape Planning For Climate Change Resilience In The Southern Rockies, Jeffrey D. Haight

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The unique species, ecosystems and landscapes of the Western United States are experiencing unprecedented pressures from climate change, creating new challenges for conservation. As temperatures rise and patterns of precipitation shift, plant and wildlife species have been shifting their ranges to new areas in search of more suitable climates, building groupings of species that are historically unfamiliar. These climate -driven migrations place an additional burden on species that are already threatened from habitat loss and other human-related activities. The impacts of climate change are of particular concern in landscapes that have long been conserved and managed based on the ecological …

Plant Evolutionary Response To Climate Change: Detecting Adaptation Across Experimental And Natural Precipitation Gradients, Jacqueline J. Peña

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Global climate change is a real-time problem that presents threats to many species. Climate change can alter ecosystems and may lead to species extinction. Species can respond to climate change by moving to a better environment or adapting. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on several approaches and perspectives to anticipate ecological impacts of climate change. A common strategy uses models to understand how populations respond to different climate scenarios. Ecological models have helped us understand population persistence, but they often ignore how populations adapt to environmental stress. Adaptive evolution has been ignored because it was assumed that evolution was …

Modeling The Abundance And Distribution Of Terrestrial Plants Through Space And Time, Caroline Curtis

Doctoral Dissertations

Anthropogenically-driven changes threaten ecosystems and species over regional to global scales. I addressed several questions related to how species ranges will respond to these changes over large spatial and temporal extents to better understand what determines where a species occurs. First, I modeled presence and abundance of two widespread invasive plants in the southwest U.S. under current and projected future climatic conditions, from which I inferred impact risk. These results provide more insight than presence modeling alone and highlight the possibility of increased invasion pressure in the future. Second, I tested the assumption that expert-based climatic tolerance data will better …

Survival At The Summits: Amphibian Responses To Thermal Extremes, Disease, And Rapid Climate Change In The High Tropical Andes, Kelsey E. Reider

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding biological responses to climate change is a primary concern in conservation biology. Of the ecosystems being rapidly impacted by climate change, those in the high-elevation tropics are among the most poorly studied. The tropical Andean biosphere includes record elevations above 5000 meters, where extreme environmental conditions challenge many organisms. In the Cordillera Vilcanota of southern Peru, frogs including Pleurodema marmoratum and Telmatobius marmoratus have expanded their ranges to 5244 – 5400 m into habitats created by glacial recession, making them among the highest recorded amphibians on Earth. To understand how hydrologic alterations from loss of glacial meltwater and climatic …

Does Environment Filtering Or Seed Limitation Determine Post-Fire Forest Recovery Patterns In Boreal Larch Forests?, Wen H. Cai, Zhihua Liu, Yuan Z. Yang, Jian Yang

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Wildfire is a primary natural disturbance in boreal forests, and post-fire vegetation recovery rate influences carbon, water, and energy exchange between the land and atmosphere in the region. Seed availability and environmental filtering are two important determinants in regulating post-fire vegetation recovery in boreal forests. Quantifying how these determinants change over time is helpful for understanding post-fire forest successional trajectory. Time series of remote sensing data offer considerable potential in monitoring the trajectory of post-fire vegetation recovery dynamics beyond current field surveys about structural attributes, which generally lack a temporal perspective across large burned areas. We used a time series …

Dermal Mycobacteriosis And Warming Sea Surface Temperatures Are Associated With Elevated Mortality Of Striped Bass In Chesapeake Bay, Maya L. Groner, John M. Hoenig, Roger Pradel, Rémi Choquet, Wolfgang K. Vogelbein, David T. Gauthier, Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Temperature is hypothesized to alter disease dynamics, particularly when species are living at or near their thermal limits. When disease occurs in marine systems, this can go undetected, particularly if the disease is chronic and progresses slowly. As a result, population-level impacts of diseases can be grossly underestimated. Complex migratory patterns, stochasticity in recruitment, and data and knowledge gaps can hinder collection and analysis of data on marine diseases. New tools enabling quantification of disease impacts in marine environments include coupled biogeochemical hydrodynamic models (to hindcast key environmental data), and multievent, multistate mark-recapture (MMSMR) (to quantify the effects of environmental …

Atmospheric Change Promotes Increasing Cyanobacteria Dominance In Swedish Lakes, Erika Christiane Freeman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The frequency and intensity of cyanobacteria blooms are increasing globally. The interacting effects of environmental drivers, including increased temperature, altered precipitation, reduced acidification-with associated shifts in nutrient limitation- and increased dissolved organic matter loads to lakes are predicted to create favourable environmental conditions for cyanobacteria in northern lakes. This prediction was tested in 28 nutrient-poor Swedish lakes over 16 years (1998-2013). Increases in cyanobacteria abundance were identified in 21% of the study sites, composed mostly of increases in three specific genera: Merismopedia, Chroococcus, and Dolichospermum. Increases in temperature favoured Merismopedia dominance in lakes with low pH and high nitrogen to …

Coastal Wetland Dynamics Under Sea-Level Rise And Wetland Restoration In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Using Bayesian Multilevel Models And A Web Tool, Tyler Hardy

Master's Theses

There is currently a lack of modeling framework to predict how relative sea-level rise (SLR), combined with restoration activities, affects landscapes of coastal wetlands with uncertainties accounted for at the entire northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM). I developed such a modeling framework – Bayesian multi-level models to study the spatial pattern of wetland loss in the NGOM, driven by relative RSLR, vegetation productivity, tidal range, coastal slope, and wave height – all interacting with river-borne sediment availability, indicated by hydrological regimes. These interactions have not been comprehensively investigated before. I further modified this model to assess the efficacy of restoration …

Climate Driven Range Shifts Of North American Small Mammals: Species’ Traits And Phylogenetic Influences, Katie Nehiba

All NMU Master's Theses

Current anthropogenically-driven climate change is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. In response, species’ ranges may shift, tracking optimal climatic conditions. Species-specific differences may produce predictable differences in the extent of range shifts. I evaluated if patterns of predicted responses to climate change were strongly related to species’ taxonomic identities and/or ecological characteristics of species’ niches, elevation and precipitation. I evaluated differences in predicted range shifts in well-sampled small mammals that are restricted to North America: kangaroo rats, voles, chipmunks, and ground squirrels. I used species distribution modeling to develop predictions for the distributions of species under current and future climate …

Development Of On-Shore Behavior Among Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) In The Southern Beaufort Sea: Inherited Or Learned?, Kate M. Lillie, Eric M. Gese, Todd C. Atwood, Sarah A. Sonsthagen

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing rapid and substantial changes to their environment due to global climate change. Polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) have historically spent most of the year on the sea ice. However, recent reports from Alaska indicate that the proportion of the SB subpopulation observed on-shore during late summer and early fall has increased. Our objective was to investigate whether this on-shore behavior has developed through genetic inheritance, asocial learning, or through social learning. From 2010 to 2013, genetic data were collected from SB polar bears in the fall via hair snags …

The Role Of Small Ruminants On Global Climate Change, Alda Lúcia Gomes Monteiro, Amanda Moser Coelho Da Fonseca Faro, Mylena Taborda Piquera Peres, Rafael Batista, Cesar Henrique Espirito Candal Poli, Juan J. Villalba

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Global warming, as a consequence of excessive CO2 production mainly due to anthropogenic actions, is one of the main concerns of society due to the effects it can cause in the survival of humans, plants and animals. Several climatic consequences have already been reported, such as warming the oceans and changing biodiversity in various regions of the planet. One of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, which causes a lot of concern, is methane gas from digestion of food by ruminants. Besides that, emissions of greenhouse gases are represented also by waste management, rice cultivation, burning of residues from …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effects Of Urbanization, Mesophication And Prescribed Burns On Oak Woodlands In The Chicago Metropolitan Area, Chad Populorum

Celebration of Learning

Urban expansion has had devastating impacts on forest ecosystems, especially within the past century. Human attempts to dominate nature have diminished natural disturbance regimes, which have maintained the biodiversity and historic composition of these ecosystems. Fires have been a prominent force in maintaining the structure of oak, hickory and other heliophytic (sun loving and fire-adapted) forest systems. Human induced fire suppression has led to mesophication across North America. Mesophication is the transition from drier conditions with open canopies to wetter conditions with closed canopies. These new conditions decrease the survival rates of these important species and begin to favor mesophytic …

High Interspecific Variation In Nutrient Excretion Within A Guild Of Closely Related Caddisfly Species, Jared A. Balik, Brad W. Taylor, Susan E. Washko, Scott A. Wissinger

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the amount of variation in functional traits between closely related species within guilds is critical for understanding links between community composition and ecosystem processes. Nutrient excretion is an important link between animals and their environments, and aquatic invertebrate communities can supply a considerable proportion of ecosystem nutrient demand via excretion. We quantified nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) excretion rates of 10 species of larval caddisflies that inhabit high‐elevation ponds and wetlands to determine the magnitude of variation in nutrient excretion within this guild. We found considerable interspecific variation in biomass‐specific excretion of nitrogen (eightfold differences), phosphorus (sevenfold differences), and …

Geospatial Analysis Of Eastern Oyster Habitat And Disease In The Chesapeake Bay, Hannah Bradley

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Crassostrea virginica, common name eastern oyster, in the Chesapeake Bay is currently at 1% of its peak annual landings in 1884 (600,000 metric tons). This decline is in spite of being considered a resilient species. Causes of the decline include overharvesting, disease, and habitat loss. While efforts have been made to combat each cause, the key element to recovering the population is coordinated habitat restoration. This study aims to develop a GIS-based habitat model for the eastern oyster in the Chesapeake Bay. The first goal of this study was to determine the water quality parameters necessary for successful oyster …

How Does Body Size Affect Zooplankton Feeding In A Low Oxygen Environment?, Jacob Mikullitz

Honors Scholar Theses

Zooplankton grazers are essential to reducing the impact of algal blooms, especially as they become more frequent in a warming world. The size of these grazers is important as it determines how much algae they are able to consume. This study aims to investigate how low water oxygen content, another likely outcome of climate change, will impact competition between zooplankton of different size. When zooplankton of different sizes were tested against each other at different dissolved oxygen levels, it was found the larger species could feed more effectively at low oxygen. This suggests even in a future with reduced dissolved …

Providing Modeling Tools On Extreme Events Of Climate Change To Puget Sound Managers, Andrea Copping, Zhaoqing Yang, Ian Miller, Jude K. Apple, Guillaume Mauger, Nathalie Voisin, Aimee Fullerton, Ning Sun, Mikaela Freeman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As climate change becomes a reality for the management of Puget Sound, water resource and fisheries managers should consider incorporating predictions and outcomes of future climate drivers into their long-range plans and daily operations. Modeling tools that focus on climate impacts and predictions show that extreme events are more often responsible for large impacts than the long-term press of climate change. Working with water resource and fisheries managers in the Dungeness and Skagit watersheds, this project uses outputs of existing climate and estuarine models to define thresholds and metrics associated with extreme climate-driven events that are of importance to the …

The Response Of Big Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata) To Interannual Climate Variation Changes Across Its Range, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, Peter B. Adler

Ecology Center Publications

Understanding how annual climate variation affects population growth rates across a species' range may help us anticipate the effects of climate change on species distribution and abundance. We predict that populations in warmer or wetter parts of a species' range should respond negatively to periods of above average temperature or precipitation, respectively, whereas populations in colder or drier areas should respond positively to periods of above average temperature or precipitation. To test this, we estimated the population sensitivity of a common shrub species, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), to annual climate variation across its range. Our analysis includes 8,175 …

Recent Conditions Highlight Regional Differences In Temperature, Salinity And Dissolved Oxygen Between Strait Of Juan De Fuca And Puget Sound Sites Under Anomalous 2014-2017 Climate Patterns, Julia Bos, Christopher Krembs, S. L. Albertson, Mya Keyzers, Allison Brownlee, Carol Maloy

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Understanding impacts of climate change on Salish Sea water quality is critical yet challenging due to the complexity, strength and diversity of influences on circulation and mixing. Different extreme climate conditions in recent years (2014-2017) include record warm temperatures with reduced snow pack in 2014-2015 followed by a few years of alternating summer droughts with record rainy seasons. These conditions influenced marine water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen (DO) throughout the Salish Sea. Analyses reveal distinct differences in these key physical and chemical characteristics between Strait of Juan de Fuca sites and sites within Puget Sound basins. Extremely low DO …

Space Matters: Incorporating Mechanistically Determined Spatial Patterns Into Projected Impacts Of Climate Change On Stream Temperature, Se-Yeun Lee, Aimee H. Fullerton, Ashley Steel, Christian Torgersen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

River temperatures are increasing as a results of climate change, and combined with decreased summertime flows, coldwater species are becoming increasingly stressed. In order to conserve sensitive species, managers need an estimate of how the availability of summertime thermal refuges in rivers will change in the future. Here, we applied the DHSVM-RBM, an existing process-based water temperature model that has been shown to accurately represent temporal variance in water temperature over hours to years. We calibrated this model to empirical data for two case study watersheds (Siletz River, Oregon and Snoqualmie River, Washington) to also ensure representation of observed spatial …

Zooplankton Ecology Of The Fraser River Estuary, Joanne Breckenridge, Evgeny Pakhomov

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Zooplankton are critical components of the pelagic food web. This presentation will discuss zooplankton ecology in the Fraser River Estuary, drawing on the preliminary results of a monitoring study, which ran from August 2013 to May 2016, as well as specific investigations into the life history and behaviour of one of the dominant species, the copepod Eurytemora affinis. Data analysis is ongoing, but, for most of the year, estuarine zooplankton appear limited by the estuary’s short residence time. Due to the advective nature of their environment, estuarine zooplankton have evolved mechanisms to retain populations within the estuary. Our results suggest …

Climate Change Adaptation Planning For Port Of Seattle Waterfront Properties, Joseph Gellings

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As Seattle’s economy continues to evolve, its significance as a port city is undiminished. The container ports of Seattle and Tacoma recently entered into a joint management agreement and, together, they are the fourth largest container gateway in North America. At the same time, competition is fierce between the remaining rival ports and capital spending on the land-side cargo terminals is a key variable in this competition. This makes it critical that the Port understands what role climate change adaptation will play in the broader challenge of setting the level of public fund expenditures on terminal upgrade projects. The types …

Lessons Learned: Tidal Marsh Restoration In A Dynamic Context Of Stress And Climate Change, Roger Nathan Fuller

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In the Stillaguamish estuary, tidal wetlands have been receding for decades as a result of both natural and anthropogenic changes. Despite current restoration efforts, monitoring suggests that rising stress from climate change impacts on summer flows, legacy stresses from the levee system, and increased plant mortality from avian and insect herbivores may interact to accelerate the rate of marsh loss. Lessons learned from a 2012 restoration project should inform adaptive management and future restoration projects. Post-restoration monitoring has revealed a pattern of interacting stresses at both the site and system scales that affects marsh productivity and resilience to climate change. …

Guiding Chinook Salmon Recovery Projects Towards A More Resilient Future, Stacy Vynne Mckinstry, Amber Moore

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Changing climate conditions, along with land-use and other ecological changes, are affecting the health, vitality, and resilience of Chinook salmon populations in watersheds throughout Puget Sound. Restoration and protection projects are designed to address the most critical factors affecting salmon populations. However, with climate change, these factors may change: the medium- and long-term success of the projects and expected benefits to salmon may be compromised and/or current investments may not achieve expected results. The Puget Sound Partnership recently released guidance to help project sponsors and local salmon recovery lead entities identify key climate-related risks for Chinook salmon, guide project sponsors …

Fir Island Farm: Estuary Restoration Project: Designing For Climate Change And Uncertainty In Shoreline Flood Risk Reduction And Ecosystem Restoration Projects, David Cline

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The recently designed and constructed Fir Island Farm – Estuary Restoration Project involves construction of a 1-mile long shoreline levee (dike) setback for restoration of 130 acres of farm land for tidal marsh estuary ecosystem restoration. The key uncertainty, and resiliency, design elements of concern include 1) selection of dike level of protection and design elevations considering climate change sea level rise projections, 2) inclusion of erosion protection measures, 3) farm drainage tailwater conditions and 4) ecosystem marsh vegetated plain future elevations and large woody debris loading conditions. This presentation discusses how site characterization, instrumentation, numerical modeling and monitoring were …

Ecosystem Functional Response Across Precipitation Extremes In A Sagebrush Steppe, Andrew T. Tredennick, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, J. Bret Taylor, Peter B. Adler

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Background

Precipitation is predicted to become more variable in the western United States, meaning years of above and below average precipitation will become more common. Periods of extreme precipitation are major drivers of interannual variability in ecosystem functioning in water limited communities, but how ecosystems respond to these extremes over the long-term may shift with precipitation means and variances. Long-term changes in ecosystem functional response could reflect compensatory changes in species composition or species reaching physiological thresholds at extreme precipitation levels.

Methods

We conducted a five year precipitation manipulation experiment in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Idaho, United States. We …

Changes In Feeding Selectivity Of Freshwater Invertebrates Across A Natural Thermal Gradient, Timothy A C Gordon, Joana Neto-Cerejeira, Paula C. Furey, Eoin J. O’Gorman

Paula Furey

No abstract provided.