Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Estimation Of Probability Of Habitat Use Of Roosevelt Elk On The Olympic Peninsula, Vincent Michael Gugliotti

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Estimating the probability of habitat use for a particular species is crucial to the direct management and conservation of that species. Without knowledge of habitat preferences, managers cannot effectively focus efforts on vital resources or landscape types. However, modelling probability of habitat use can be done in several ways which leaves room for variation and uncertainty in the estimates produced by each method. This study is an examination of the variation between two estimates of probability of habitat use while focusing on a particular subspecies of elk that inhabits a unique ecosystem relative to other elk subspecies. I modeled elk …

The Genetic Basis Of Two Reproductive Traits In Monkeyflowers: Stigma Closure And Corolla Carotenoids, Rachel Anne Halperin

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Abstract

The interactions between pollinators and flowers have long been a driving force for the evolution of many physical floral traits. Traits such as flower shape, size, color, and smell are just some of these traits that evolve because of these interactions. This evolution does not only occur in the more obvious morphological floral traits, however, but also in more subtle traits like touch sensitive stigma closure. In hundreds of Lamiales species, the bilobed stigma, the organ that receives pollen from pollinators, closes rapidly upon touch. Theory and experiments show that this novel dynamic reproductive trait increases pollen export and …

Quantifying Wastewater Contributions To The Upper Clark Fork River, Claire Utzman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Though algae are at the base of food webs in many rivers, large algal blooms are increasing in frequency and can cause problems with nutrient cycling, depletion of oxygen supplies at night, and release of toxic chemicals. One leading cause of algal blooms is nutrient loading into rivers, and controlling nutrient release in wastewater is one approach that can help limit algal growth. To reduce the intensity of algal blooms in the Clark Fork River in western Montana, numeric nutrient standards were put in place that regulated the release of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus into the river from wastewater. …