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Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
How Aquatic Insects Mitigate Temperature-Oxygen Challenges Via Behavioral, Morphological, And Physiological Plasticity, Jackson H. Birrell
How Aquatic Insects Mitigate Temperature-Oxygen Challenges Via Behavioral, Morphological, And Physiological Plasticity, Jackson H. Birrell
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
How do organisms respond to environmental challenges and to environmental change? These questions occupy a central place in ecology and answering them will help us to understand why species live where they do, how organisms are affected by human activities, and, ultimately, how to choose among alternative conservation strategies. These questions are difficult, however, for two reasons. First, environmental challenges often involve multiple, interacting stressors. Second, individual responses can be modified by behavioral, morphological, and physiological plasticity. My dissertation investigates how interactions between temperature and oxygen influence the performance and survival of aquatic insects and how plasticity allows individuals to …
Decoupled Diel Solutes: Linking Primary Production And Nitrate Uptake In A Montane Stream, Kimberly Bray
Decoupled Diel Solutes: Linking Primary Production And Nitrate Uptake In A Montane Stream, Kimberly Bray
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Tight coupling of surface water diel dissolved oxygen (DO) and nitrate-N (NO3-N) signals reflects stoichiometric demand of carbon and nitrogen in stream ecosystems. However, DO and NO3-N can become decoupled due to alternative drivers of diel solutes, resulting in conflicting estimates of stoichiometric and modeled NO3-N uptake. In this study, I measured benthic biomass, hydrology, and dissolved solutes in a montane stream located in western MT over a growing season (June-October 2019). Daily stream metabolism and NO3-N uptake were modeled using a single-station open-channel approach. Timing and amplitude of key diel signals …
Polar Gigantism And Sea Spiders: A Study Of Respiratory Scaling, Steven Joseph Lane
Polar Gigantism And Sea Spiders: A Study Of Respiratory Scaling, Steven Joseph Lane
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
All animals must breathe to survive. The types of primary respiratory structures vary across the metazoa, and the overall size and components of these structures scale with body size. The scaling of respiratory structures has been well studied in vertebrate lungs and gills, but very few, if any studies, have looked at it in terms of cutaneous gas exchange, the process where oxygen moves across the outer integument via diffusion. My dissertation has sought to fill this gap in knowledge by studying animals that use cutaneous respiration, and my work has determined both how the components of their respiratory surfaces …