Life Sciences Commons^™

Bee (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) Richness In Eastern Ohio Pipeline Right Of Ways, Malisa Spring, Gabriel R. Karns

The Great Lakes Entomologist

It is relatively unknown which species of bees utilize pipeline Right of Ways. Most recent Right of Way research focuses on bees found on electrical transmission Right of Ways instead. Ohio is also relatively understudied in terms of bee richness. This project sought to document bees that are found in these pipeline Right of Ways in 4 heavily forested counties in eastern Ohio. A total of 3950 specimens were collected, accounting for 140 species across two years of sampling (2016 and 2018). Overall bee abundance peaked mid-season, with the highest abundance observed in July. The majority of bees collected were …

European Starling Use Of Nest Boxes Relative To Human Disturbance, Bradley Blackwell, Bruce N. Buckingham, Morgan B. Pfeiffer

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

gars and to engine and flight surfaces of moored aircraft. We questioned whether consistent removal of nest material would negatively affect use of a nest site, measured by a reduction in material accumulation. We conducted our study on a 2,200-ha site in Erie County, Ohio, USA (41° 22’ N, 82° 41’ W), from April 15 through June 2, 2020. We used 120 wooden nest boxes on utility poles, protected by an aluminum predator guard below the box. Our treatments included (1) twice weekly, repeated nest material removal (RMR; n = 40 nest boxes); (2) complete nest removal, but only after …

European Starling Use Of Nest Boxes Relative To Human Disturbance, Bradley F. Blackwell, Bruce N. Buckingham, Morgan B. Pfeiffer

Human–Wildlife Interactions

European starling (Sturnus vulgaris; starling) nesting poses debris hazards within airport hangars and to engine and flight surfaces of moored aircraft. We questioned whether consistent removal of nest material would negatively affect use of a nest site, measured by a reduction in material accumulation. We conducted our study on a 2,200-ha site in Erie County, Ohio, USA (41° 22’ N, 82° 41’ W), from April 15 through June 2, 2020. We used 120 wooden nest boxes on utility poles, protected by an aluminum predator guard below the box. Our treatments included (1) twice weekly, repeated nest material removal …

Nature And The Environment In Amish Life—David Mcconnell And Marilyn Loveless, Steven Reschly, Scot Long, Caroline Brock

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

In this symposium review, three agricultural and environmental researchers discuss the book Nature and the Environment in Amish Life by David McConnell and Marilyn Loveless, both of the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. McConnell is an anthropology professor and co-author of Amish Paradox (2010, Johns Hopkins University Press) and has published his research in Human Organization, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, and the Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies (JAPAS) (Moledina, et al. 2014). Loveless is a biology emeritus professor; this is her first academic publication about the Amish.

Our reviewers offer a variety of …

Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) With A Thermal Sensor To Map And Count Deer Population, Maxwell C. Ott

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The number of deer in an area is an important statistic for land managers to know, as overabundance has many negative effects. There are many methods that have been used to count deer in the past, such as using manned helicopters and airplanes, walking on foot, and conducting controlled hunts. UAS (unmanned aerial systems) is a growing field that provides many benefits over traditional methods of counting deer, such as lower cost and missions being less time consuming. Using a thermal sensor attached to a UAS makes it simple to spot any deer during a flight. Two main methods of …

Effects Of Forest Age And Composition On Coleoptera Associated With Fungal Fruiting Bodies In Southwest Ohio, Jeffrey M. Brown

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Mature forests often harbor greater biodiversity than younger woods. As this relationship of forest age to biodiversity has not been examined for all taxa, this study sought to document the diversity of mycophilous beetle communities in deciduous forests of southwest Ohio and understand how they vary in relation to forest age. I surveyed fungus associated beetles using baited traps at eight forested sites in the Dayton, Ohio region. Traps were surveyed three times during 2018 to account for seasonal variation, something that has not been done for this geographic region. Forest age had no significant effect on beetle abundance or …

Monitoring Ohio Bat Communities And Populations Using Mobile Acoustics, Molly C. Simonis

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The goal of my thesis is to: 1) provide baseline information of where Ohio bats are foraging in Wright State University's (WSU) campus woods in relation to forest age and habitat (Chapter 1), 2) determine potential roost availability for local bats (Chapter 1), and 3) examine changes in state-wide species composition following the introduction of White-nose Syndrome (WNS; Chapter 2). In Chapter 1, I created walking bat acoustic routes and used generalized linear models to determine what forest ages and habitats had the greatest bat activity in the WSU campus woods. I conducted habitat transects throughout all forest ages to …

Anthropogenic Noise Alters Avian Community Composition In Temperate Forests, Chelsea Jill Wright

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Noise is an under-appreciated source of pollution that can influence the spatial distribution of birds. In this study, I examined how noise frequency and intensity (both background noise (kHz) and decibel levels (dB)) affected avian richness, density, and number of birds that sing with the same frequency as anthropogenic noise (low note frequency). I also examined the responses of two species in detail, the Eastern Wood Pewee and the Acadian Flycatcher, because they lack song plasticity. I examined whether they responded to noise by avoiding "noisy" areas or shifting their song frequency. I examined the response of bird communities to …

Investigating A Modern Midwestern Crisis: The Economy And Opioid Overdose Death In Ohio, Anna M. Gagliardo

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper examines the effect of local economic factors on the amount of opioid overdose deaths across counties in Ohio. Ohio leads the nation in opioid overdose deaths. The data examined spans all 88 counties of Ohio and compares 2009 and 2013 data, relying predominantly on Ohio Department of Health and US Census American Community Survey data. Using two linear regression models, I demonstrate that there is a significant correlation between insured rates and opioid overdose deaths in 2009 as well as a significant correlation between poverty rates and opioid overdose death rates in Ohio in 2013. Additionally, I show …

The Effect Of Site Characteristics On The Reproductive Output Of Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria), Justin P. Kermack

ETD Archive

Ranunculus ficaria L., an ephemeral perennial invasive plant brought over from Europe, is becoming widespread throughout the Northeastern United States. This herbaceous buttercup is able to create extensive dense mats that limit native species growth. Taking advantage of an early growing season and rapid reproduction rates, this species can create dense monocultures, which threatens native communities and ecosystems. Elimination of native spring ephemerals results in decreased biodiversity. A better understanding of how R. ficaria responds to site characteristics is needed to prioritize management efforts toward high-risk sites.

Ranunculus ficaria abundance and reproductive output (seed, bulbil and tuber production rates) were …

Bird Use Of Grain Fields And Implications For Habitat Management At Airports, Raymond B. Iglay, Bruce N. Buckingham, Thomas W. Seamans, James A. Martin, Bradley F. Blackwell, Jerrold L. Belant, Travis L. Devault

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Airport properties often include agricultural land cover that can attract wildlife species hazardous to aircraft, despite recommendations against row crops near air operations areas. However, few studies have directly quantified bird use of corn, wheat, and soybean fields relative to bird-aircraft collision (strike) hazard levels to support land cover recommendations. Therefore, we compared bird use among corn, wheat and soybean fields and predicted that corn and wheat would attract bird species recognized as hazardous to aviation. We also anticipated that soybeans would pose minimal attraction to such birds. Here, hazard ranking (low to extremely high) reflects the percentage of strikes …

Perguson, Dee Carl, 1921-2010 (Sc 2861), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2861. Letters of Ohio County, Kentucky native Dee Carl Perguson, written to Marjorie Clagett, his French teacher at Western Kentucky State Teachers College, during his World War II military service and afterward. He writes observantly of military life while training in Ohio, Georgia and Pennsylvania, of his experiences while serving in North Africa and Italy, and of his reassignment to Florida after suffering an arm wound. He also describes local plant life to Clagett, an accomplished amateur botanist. After the war, he writes from England during his postgraduate study. Settled in Seattle, Washington, …

New Records Of Vaucheria Species (Xanthophyceae) With Associated Proales Werneckii (Rotifera) From North America, Donald Ott, Robert Wallace, Morgan Vis, Robert Verb

Donald W. Ott

The presence of galls on species of Vaucheria was investigated both seasonally and in a number of locations in North America. These galls are induced by the rotifer, Proales werneckii. In an Ohio stream, Vaucheria bursata and V. geminata were found to have galls throughout their growing season; September to January. Galls were most abundant in October and ranged in size from 90–260 μm in width and 140–790 μm in length. New records of Vaucheria with galls from locations in Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee are reported. Three of the five taxa collected were not previously …

Spatial Ecology Of Urban Raccoons In Northeastern Ohio: Implications For Oral Rabies Vaccination, Are R. Berentsen, Mike R. Dunbar, Chadd E. Fitzpatrick, W. David Walter

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In 1977, rabies was detected in a raccoon (Procyon lotor) in West Virginia, and since the mid-1980s raccoon variant rabies has spread throughout the eastern United States and moved west as far as the eastern edge of Cleveland, Ohio. The primary tool to combat this spread is the distribution of oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits. A thorough knowledge of raccoon space use is critical in determining bait placement, particularly in urban areas. We monitored nine raccoons in urban areas of Cleveland, Ohio, calculated home range sizes, monitored raccoon movement with respect to potential movement barriers, and used resource …

Spatial Ecology Of Urban Raccoons In Northeastern Ohio: Implications For Oral Rabies Vaccination, Are R. Berentsen, Mike R. Dunbar, Chadd E. Fitzpatrick, W. David Walter

The Prairie Naturalist

In 1977, rabies was detected in a raccoon (Procyon lotor) in West Virginia, and since the mid-1980s raccoon variant rabies has spread throughout the eastern United States and moved west as far as the eastern edge of Cleveland, Ohio. The primary tool to combat this spread is the distribution of oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits. A thorough knowledge of raccoon space use is critical in determining bait placement, particularly in urban areas. We monitored nine raccoons in urban areas of Cleveland, Ohio, calculated home range sizes, monitored raccoon movement with respect to potential movement barriers, and used resource selection functions …

Soil Moisture, Fire, And Tree Community Structure, William Patrick White

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

My study was conducted to understand tree community structure and how soil moisture and fire frequency influence them. Eighteen plots were placed in the Edge of Appalachia Nature Preserve of unglaciated southern Ohio: nine within a prescribed burn site and nine control sites outside the burn. Sites were stratified in triplicate across GIS-derived integrated soil moisture index (IMI) classes. Burning was done in 1996. Overstory species dbh and sapling species were sampled 1997, 2001, and 2008. Overstory stems were located in 2009 using range finders. Stem locations were loaded into GIS using novel techniques to quantify individual stem IMI values. …

Using Geographic Information Systems To Select Sites For Wetland Restoration In West Central Ohio's Agricultural Areas, Janice M. Hartkorn

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The Mississippi River Basin, includes a major part of Ohio has encountered increasing phosphorus and nitrogen loads from agricultural fields since the 1800's when intensive agriculture moved into the Midwest. Agriculture has drained ninety percent of Ohio's native wetlands. A portion of those drained wetlands can be restored to functional wetlands to intercept excess nutrients from non-productive or low yield agricultural fields to improve overall water quality. Little is known about finding potential restoration sites, partly because of the difficulty in locating sites capable of supporting successful restoration.

This study investigated the utility of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a …

A Study Of The Mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) Of Symmes Creek And Tributaries In Jackson, Gallia And Lawrence Counties, Ohio, Michael A. Hoggarth, David A. Kimberly, Benjamin G. Van Allen

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Freshwater mussels (family Unionidae) are among the most threatened of Ohio's aquatic fauna. Interest in their biogeography has increased as their distribution and abundance has declined. This study was performed to assess the status of the mussels of Symmes Creek and it major tributaries in southern Ohio. Of the 24 species of mussels known to have inhabited this watershed, 16 were found alive in the system in 2004 and 2005 and two others were found as freshly dead shells. These species are thought to represent the extant mussel fauna in the system today. Of the remaining six species collected prior …

Fifteen Years Of Plant Community Dynamics During A Northwest Ohio Oak Savanna Restoration, Scott R. Abella, John F. Jaeger, Lawrence G. Brewer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

Midwest oak savanna communities are noted for their unusual plant assemblages, but these communities have been reduced by more than 98% because of changing land uses and conversion to closed-canopy forests. We initiated an ongoing 15-year experiment in 1988 to restore a 40-ha black oak (Quercus velutina) savanna by applying burn treatments that historically maintained this vegetation type. Groundlayer composition changed significantly for both the burn treatment and the control, with the burn treatment exhibiting slight increases in herbs such as wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) and hairy puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense), both of which are species requiring greater insolation. Burn treatments …

Ecology Of Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia Humifusa) In Oak Openings Preserve, Northwestern Ohio, Scott R. Abella, John F. Jaeger

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

Opuntia humifusa (eastern prickly pear cactus) is listed as potentially threatened in Ohio, and we examined the characteristics of O. humifusa sites in Oak Openings Preserve in northwestern Ohio’s Oak Openings region in an attempt to provide data that may help protect this species. Opuntia humifusa occurrences were associated with loose sands of the xeric Udipsamment Ottokee and Oakville soil series on sites that had been cleared before the 1940s during failed agricultural attempts. Shading by encroaching canopy trees is a threat to several O. humifusa populations in Oak Openings Preserve, and treatments that reduce canopy cover at these sites …

A Taxonomic Review Of Chlosyne Ismeria With Description Of A New Subspecies From The Southern Appalachian Mountains, Ronald R. Gatrelle

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The taxon Boisduval and Le Conte described in 1833 as Melitaea ismeria is examined as a historical entity and confirmed as a sister subspecies of the taxon Chlosyne ismeria nycteis. The ismeria populations in the southern Appalachian mountains (United States) are described as a new subspecies: Chlosyne ismeria obsoleta. In facies, this new subspecies is most similar to the western subspecies Chlosyne ismeria drusius in that it is dark and contrasting in its dorsal markings. It is known to range from the mountain region of extreme northern Georgia north in the Appalachians to near southwestern Virginia, United States. …

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Eastern White Pine Regeneration In The Northwestern Ohio Oak Stand, Scott R. Abella, Neil W. Macdonald

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) was often associated with oaks (Quercus spp.) on upland sites in presettlement forests of the upper Great Lakes region, but widespread logging and subsequent fires in the late 1800s converted these upland sites to fire-tolerant oak forests. Although white pine regeneration is occurring in these second-growth oak forests, white pine regeneration patterns in oak forests of the Great Lakes region are not well documented. We examined white pine regeneration in the southern Great Lakes region in an oak stand within the Oak Openings region of northwestern Ohio, where white pine plantations established in the …

Discovery Of The Federally Endangered Freshwater Mussel, Epioblasma Obliquata Obliquata (Rafinesque, 1820) (Unionidae), In Ohio, Michael A. Hoggarth, Daniel L. Rice, Diana M. Lee

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Discovery of the purple catspaw, Epioblasma obliquata obliquata, in Killbuck Creek, Coshocton County, OH, is reported. This subspecies of unionid mollusc was thought to have been extirpated from the state in the mid to late 1800s and was known only from two nonreproductive populations in Kentucky and Tennessee. The mussel was thought to be on the verge of extinction. Fifteen living and 23 dead specimens of this subspecies were collected in September 1994 from Killbuck Creek. This is the largest known population of this rare subspecies and it is the only known population to currently support breeding individuals. It is …

Migration Patterns Of High School Vocational Agricultural Graduates Of Utah In 1949 And A Comparison With Ohio Graduates, Keith L. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the study was to determine the migration patterns of vocational agricultural graduates in Utah during the first 5 years following their high school graduation in 1969, and compare these patterns with Ohio graduates of 1963. Former graduates of 23 of the qualifying 28 departments were included in this study. A random sample of students were surveyed.

Forty percent of the 1969 graduates were engaged in agricultural occupations or agricultural study in college. A total of 30.6 percent of the graduates had moved from their home communities since graduating from high school. More than 88 percent of the …

European Corn Borer, Ostrinia Nubilalis (Hbn.) Populations In Field Corn, Zea Mays (L.) In The North Central United States, R. E. Hill, A. N. Sparks, C. C. Burkhardt, H. C. Chiang, M. L. Fairchild, W. D. Guthrie

Historical Research Bulletins of the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station

A long-range study of the annual changes in corn borer populations in the North Central States was started in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska in 1955 and in Missouri and Ohio in 1956. This investigation was a phase of a broader Regional Project, NC-20, entitled "Factors Influencing Corn Borer Populations" and was undertaken to measure by standardized procedures the seasonal changes in abundance of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hbn.), under cropping procedures in different locations within, the North Central States. Much valuable information has been accumulated on the abundance and effects of various physical and biotic factors on …

Pullorum Disease In The Coot, Robert L. Rausch

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Among specimens collected on March 8, 1945, at Buckeye Lake, Ohio, were a number of coots (Fulica americana). When the latter were examined for parasitic infection, it was noticed that the ovary of one specimen was deformed, and much enlarged when compared with those of other birds of this species collected on the same day. No other lesions were detected macroscopically, and the bird appeared to be in normal physical condition. The ovaries resembled those found in chickens affected with pullorum disease, and a pure culture of Salmonella pullorum was recovered.