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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Effects Of Mass Death On Community Structure And Ecosystem Function, Abby Kimpton Jones Aug 2022

Effects Of Mass Death On Community Structure And Ecosystem Function, Abby Kimpton Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Death and decomposition are natural processes that are generally well-understood. However, large events of death, such as mass mortality events (MMEs) are increasing in frequency and their impacts on the ecosystem are largely unknown. These events may have both bottom-up effects from increased nutrient input as well as top-down effects from loss of an ecological functional group by the affected population. Different functional MMEs may result in different top-down effects, creating cascading effects. In Chapter 1, I test the hypothesis that scavenger and herbivore simulated MMEs generate novel bottom-up and top-down effects. Results indicate that MMEs have a significant effect …


Parameter Estimation Using Nudging On The Logistic Growth Equation, Susan Rogowski May 2022

Parameter Estimation Using Nudging On The Logistic Growth Equation, Susan Rogowski

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.


Significance Of Autumn And Winter Food Consumption For Reproduction By Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bears, Ursus Maritimus, Blaine D. Griffen, John P. Whiteman, Sariah Pullan Jan 2022

Significance Of Autumn And Winter Food Consumption For Reproduction By Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bears, Ursus Maritimus, Blaine D. Griffen, John P. Whiteman, Sariah Pullan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the southern Beaufort Sea experience long annual periods when preferred seal prey are scarce or are unavailable. Consumption of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) carcasses from native Alaskan subsistence hunting is increasingly common for onshore polar bears, yet the energetic consequences of this consumption remain unclear. We use data on bears captured repeatedly over periods that encompassed autumn and winter, combined with calculations, to show that adult female bears likely consume an average of at least 4 seal equivalents during both autumn and winter periods and that considerable variation in energy intake …