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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons™
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Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Understanding Patterns And Drivers Of Alaskan Fire-Regime Variability Across Spatial And Temporal Scales, Tyler J. Hoecker
Understanding Patterns And Drivers Of Alaskan Fire-Regime Variability Across Spatial And Temporal Scales, Tyler J. Hoecker
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Boreal forest and tundra ecosystems are globally important because the mobilization of large carbon stocks, and changes in energy balance could act as positive feedbacks to ongoing climate warming. In Alaska, wildfire is a key driver of ecosystem structure and function, and therefore fire strongly determines the feedbacks between high-latitude ecosystems and the larger Earth system. The paleoecological record from Alaska reveals the sensitivity of fire regimes to climatic and vegetation change over centennial to millennial time scales, highlighting increased burning with warming and/or increased landscape flammability associated with large-scale vegetation changes. This thesis focuses on two studies aimed at …
Nitrogen Pulses And Competition Between Native And Invasive Plant Species, Nicolas Matallana, Mandy L. Slate, Ragan M. Callaway
Nitrogen Pulses And Competition Between Native And Invasive Plant Species, Nicolas Matallana, Mandy L. Slate, Ragan M. Callaway
Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts
Variation in the timing and size of resource fluctuations can influence how plants grow, allocate biomass, and reproduce. Resources are sometimes made available in relatively continuous, reliable pulses while other times they are temporally separated and unpredictable. Native and invasive plant species are thought to respond differently to resource fluctuations, or pulses, which can influence competitive outcomes. The “Fluctuating Resource Hypothesis” predicts that resource fluctuations benefit invasive species more than native species, potentially because many invaders are highly effective at rapidly capturing resources. In a field setting, we examined the effects of varying nitrogen pulses on competition between exotic invasive …
Glucocorticoids And Parental Effort In Tree Swallows (Tachycineta Bicolor), Mackenzie Prichard
Glucocorticoids And Parental Effort In Tree Swallows (Tachycineta Bicolor), Mackenzie Prichard
Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts
All vertebrates respond to stressful situations through the release of hormones called glucocorticoids (CORT). These hormones alter processes within the body to prioritize long term survival over immediate reproduction. It is hypothesized that this is helps individuals survive until conditions become more favorable for successful reproduction. Historically, stress was hypothesized to primarily to pull organisms out of reproductive life history stages when unfavorable conditions made offspring survival slim (otherwise known as the “CORT-tradeoff hypothesis”). However, recent evidence suggests that birds actively feeding nestlings show elevated CORT levels, possibly due to the increased metabolic demands of parenthood. This relationship has been …
How Do Stream Confluences Influence Aquatic Invertebrate Taxonomic And Functional Diversity?, Jeremy Brooks
How Do Stream Confluences Influence Aquatic Invertebrate Taxonomic And Functional Diversity?, Jeremy Brooks
Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts
Aquatic communities, species that live and interact with each other, each have a unique composition and function (i.e collection of decomposers, predators, and grazers). Broad ecological theory provides a variety of models that can predict communities and their functions across riverscapes. For example, the River Continuum Concept (RCC) explains general shifts in stream communities and their function along longitudinal (upstream to downstream) gradients, but it fails to consider the more narrow effects of tributaries and confluences. Conversely, dendritic stream networks theory helps explain the potential role of river confluences and how they connect communities, but fails to explain general longitudinal …
Examining Drivers Of Phenotypic Variation In The Perennial Herb Showy Milkweed (Asclepias Speciosa)., Kira I. Sussman
Examining Drivers Of Phenotypic Variation In The Perennial Herb Showy Milkweed (Asclepias Speciosa)., Kira I. Sussman
Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts
Many plant species show variation in phenotypic traits, such as traits related to growth and defense against herbivores, across environmental gradients. Differences in phenotypic traits can be due to selection, leading to local adaptation, or due to the random process of genetic drift. To examine the driver of phenotypic variation, I conducted a Qst (a measure of phenotypic variation among populations) vs. Fst (a measure of genetic variation among populations) analysis for 13 populations of A. speciosa grown in a common garden, using five growth and defense traits and seven microsatellite markers. I found relatively low differentiation at the neutral …
Evolution Of Molt Phenology In Dwarf Hamsters, Zachary Clare-Salzler
Evolution Of Molt Phenology In Dwarf Hamsters, Zachary Clare-Salzler
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Environmental seasonality presents many challenges for survival. In response, organisms from across the tree of life exhibit adaptive phenology, which can facilitate survival from season to season. In particular, many species are white in the winter and brown in the summer where winter snow cover alters the visual environment. There is an extensive body of literature describing the physiological and cellular regulation of this trait in the Siberian dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus), but there are major shortcomings in our understanding concerning the evolution and molecular regulation of mammalian skin phenology. Notably, little is known about the genetic basis …
Harvest And Persistence Of Wolf Populations: Variable Effects Of Harvest On Wolf Packs In The Rocky Mountains, Sarah B. Bassing
Harvest And Persistence Of Wolf Populations: Variable Effects Of Harvest On Wolf Packs In The Rocky Mountains, Sarah B. Bassing
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Pubic harvest is a common method used to manage populations of wolves (Canis lupus) in North America. Although wolves appear resilient to the effects of harvest management the influences on demography and pack stability are uncertain. Packs generally drive population dynamics for wolves; thus, we were interested in how harvested populations were maintained and how harvest influenced the abundance and distribution of packs. We used noninvasive genetic data collected in Idaho, USA (2008–2014) and Alberta, Canada (2012–2014) to test whether immigration compensated for harvest mortality and helped maintain population densities. We further fit occupancy models to detection data …
Coupling Biophysical Complexity And Forest Metabolism In A Floodplain Landscape, Peter Davis
Coupling Biophysical Complexity And Forest Metabolism In A Floodplain Landscape, Peter Davis
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Floodplains are biophysically complex systems that are considered among the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. Until recently, quantitative assessment of the relationship between complexity and terrestrial production has been constrained by technological limitation. To address how floodplain biophysical complexity and ecosystem function are related, I employed remote sensing, GIS, and spatial analyses to quantify and couple metrics of complexity and terrestrial production, as well as explore the relationship among complexity, vegetation structural diversity, and terrestrial primary productivity. The study site is a 6.75-km by 1.75-km portion of the Bitterroot River floodplain near Carlton, MT upon which 551 sample …
Limited Evidence For Co2-Related Growth Enhancement In Northern Rocky Mountain Pinus Contorta Populations: Trends In Growth And Intrinsic Water-Use Efficiency Across Climate Gradients, Charlotte C. Reed
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Forests sequester large amounts of carbon annually; however, the degree to which enhanced forest productivity is due to more conducive climate or CO2 fertilization remains uncertain. Increasing atmospheric CO2 may enhance photosynthesis and/or decrease stomatal conductance thereby enhancing intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE). While increasing iWUE has been observed in most trees globally, this increase does not necessarily translate into greater growth. This study aims to evaluate whether responses of radial growth and iWUE to increasing CO2 vary across climatic gradients. To investigate interactions between climate and CO2 and their impacts on tree physiology and growth, …
Contributions Of Gene Copy Number Variation To Genome Evolution And Local Adaptation Of The Cyanobacterium Acaryochloris, Amy L. Gallagher
Contributions Of Gene Copy Number Variation To Genome Evolution And Local Adaptation Of The Cyanobacterium Acaryochloris, Amy L. Gallagher
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Acaryochloris is a recently discovered genus of cyanobacteria, unique in its use of an uncommon chlorophyll as its major photosynthetic pigment, and in its peculiar genome dynamics. Members of this genus exhibit increased genic copy number variation (CNV), which is thought to be primarily derived from gene duplications and horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Acaryochloris provides an ideal system to explore mechanisms behind maintenance of gene duplicates and the influence of CNV in local adaptation. Here, I propose a mechanism for retention of gene duplicates of the bacterial recombinase, RecA, in Acaryochloris genomes and provide preliminary evidence that these paralogs are …
K-Mer Analysis Pipeline For Classification Of Dna Sequences From Metagenomic Samples, Russell Kaehler
K-Mer Analysis Pipeline For Classification Of Dna Sequences From Metagenomic Samples, Russell Kaehler
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Biological sequence datasets are increasing at a prodigious rate. The volume of data in these datasets surpasses what is observed in many other fields of science. New developments wherein metagenomic DNA from complex bacterial communities is recovered and sequenced are producing a new kind of data known as metagenomic data, which is comprised of DNA fragments from many genomes. Developing a utility to analyze such metagenomic data and predict the sample class from which it originated has many possible implications for ecological and medical applications. Within this document is a description of a series of analytical techniques used to process …
Drivers And Feedbacks Of The Fire-Grazing Interaction In The Northern Great Plains, Jacob E. Powell
Drivers And Feedbacks Of The Fire-Grazing Interaction In The Northern Great Plains, Jacob E. Powell
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
The fire-grazing interaction is well studied in mesic grasslands worldwide, but research is lacking in semiarid systems. In addition, the fire-grazing interaction reduces the invasion of exotic forage species in mesic grasslands by increasing the scale of grazing selection and may be a tool to control invasive plants in other grasslands. We examined the principal drivers and feedbacks of the fire-grazing interaction on the strength of cattle grazing selection, forage quantity and quality, and vegetation structure and composition in two pastures in northeast Montana at The Nature Conservancy’s Matador Ranch. We also determined the influence of time since fire, within …
High-Resolution Mapping Of Hierarchical Greater Sage-Grouse Nesting Habitat: A Grain-Spectrum Approach In Northwestern Wyoming, Robert T. Haynam Iii
High-Resolution Mapping Of Hierarchical Greater Sage-Grouse Nesting Habitat: A Grain-Spectrum Approach In Northwestern Wyoming, Robert T. Haynam Iii
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Our overall objective was to create a probabilistic nesting-habitat map for the Jackson Hole sage-grouse population that would have utility as a tool for future research, conservation, and management. The models that we developed for this purpose were specified to evaluate whether sage-grouse may be selecting nesting-habitat characteristics simultaneously at various spatial scales. Our spatially-explicit landscape-scale research was implemented primarily with readily available National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) data. All nesting data was collected from 2007-2010. We tested how a broad range of grain sizes (spatial resolution) of covariate values affected the fit to logistic regression models used to estimate …
Assessing Stream Channel Restoration: The Phased Recovery Framework, Jacob M. Dyste
Assessing Stream Channel Restoration: The Phased Recovery Framework, Jacob M. Dyste
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Channel reconfiguration projects command a large portion of stream restoration resources, while long-term monitoring and research is severely underfunded and rarely implemented. This has led to a limited knowledge base about ecological response and efficacy. Although channel reconfiguration projects are being implemented to restore biological function to lotic systems, the document responses are highly variable and little evidence has shown these projects are reaching their target goals. I predicted the inconsistent response to these projects is the result of disturbance-induced successional processes and catchment-scale water quality impairment. To address how these endogenous and exogenous factors influence stream response to channel …
¬Multilocus Phylogeny Of The Lichen Family Megasporaceae, Tim B. Wheeler
¬Multilocus Phylogeny Of The Lichen Family Megasporaceae, Tim B. Wheeler
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
The lichen symbiosis is one of the oldest studied mutualisms; in fact, Frank and De Bary coined the term "symbiosis" while studying lichens (Frank, 1877; De Bary 1879). The widespread, stable association between the mycobiont and photobiont in lichens offers an ideal system for the study of co-evolution. The recent application of molecular data to lichens has begun to unveil the complexities involved in these associations (Upreti et al. 2015, Spribille et al. 2016). Lichenized fungi make up a huge fraction of fungal diversity (Nash 2008), yet very little is known of their genetic diversity. Fungal taxonomy is notoriously difficult …
Response Of Amphibian And Invertebrate Communities To Wetland Mitigation In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Leah K. Swartz
Response Of Amphibian And Invertebrate Communities To Wetland Mitigation In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Leah K. Swartz
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Wetlands play a critical role in supporting freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services, but human activities have resulted in large-scale loss and degradation of these habitats across the globe. To offset the decline of wetland area, mitigation wetlands are now frequently constructed, but their ability to replace the functions of natural habitats, including providing habitat for native fauna, remains uncertain. A recent highway reconstruction project in northwestern Wyoming caused impacts to and the destruction of multiple natural wetlands. To mitigate this loss, new wetlands were constructed along the highway corridor. To evaluate the performance of these created wetlands relative to reference …