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Full-Text Articles in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Characterizing And Predicting Beaver Pond Habitat In Kittitas County, Washington, Kylie Vroman Jan 2022

Characterizing And Predicting Beaver Pond Habitat In Kittitas County, Washington, Kylie Vroman

All Master's Theses

North American Beavers (Castor canadensis) are important ecosystem engineers in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), as they provide ecosystem services and create habitats that benefit aquatic species, watersheds, and riparian vegetation. Even though the species has been coined a “nuisance” in some settings, it is common for environmental agencies to capture beavers and relocate them to areas where it is less likely for them to cause damage. This study geospatially modeled the Kittitas County landscape to identify areas of suitable habitat. Nine existing beaver ponds in Kittitas County were investigated; three of which were prior relocation sites that had failed, three …


Spatio-Temporal Movement Patterns Of Sub-Adult Adfluvial Bull Trout, Aimee Taylor Jan 2022

Spatio-Temporal Movement Patterns Of Sub-Adult Adfluvial Bull Trout, Aimee Taylor

All Master's Theses

Bull Trout in the Yakima River basin of Washington are primarily adfluvial, often using managed lakes as habitat. Kachess Lake, composed of Big and Little Kachess Lakes, is managed by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) for water storage. BOR plans to build a structure that can withdraw an additional 200,000 acre-feet of water in drought years, which would disconnect the two basins for multiple years. This study examined the spatio-temporal movement of sub-adult Bull Trout in Kachess Lake to understand distribution patterns and the effects of environmental variables. We sought to answer 1) does time (week of the year), diel …


Early Life History And Stock Discrimination Of Kokanee Salmon (Oncorhynchus Nerka) In An Alpine Lake Environment, Alexandra Mccarrel Jan 2020

Early Life History And Stock Discrimination Of Kokanee Salmon (Oncorhynchus Nerka) In An Alpine Lake Environment, Alexandra Mccarrel

All Master's Theses

This study examines an ecologically and recreationally important population of kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) residing in Keechelus Lake and its tributary Gold Creek in the central Cascades of Washington State. This population of kokanee salmon is a vital food base for a population of ESA-listed resident bull trout. However, little is known about the early life history of this population and how it interacts with unique features in its rearing environment. With my research I described the early life history of kokanee salmon that spawn in the lake’s main tributary, Gold Creek, and proposed a framework to determine …


Sampling The Local Fare: Fishes At The Sam Israel House Pit (45gr76), Soap Lake, Washington, Adam Fruge Jan 2020

Sampling The Local Fare: Fishes At The Sam Israel House Pit (45gr76), Soap Lake, Washington, Adam Fruge

All Master's Theses

The Sam Israel site is a precontact archaeological complex with numerous fish bones at the north end of Soap Lake, Washington. Excavated in 1976, the fish remains recovered from there were never fully analyzed prior to this research. Since this inland Columbia Plateau site had thousands of fish bones, it contained untapped potential for our understanding of ancient local fish procurement. As such, I conducted a detailed analysis of 2,862 fish bone specimens from the Sam Israel House Pit locus to: study a larger sample of fish bones in greater detail than was done before; compare the distribution of fishes …


Enrichment Use & Social Interactions In A Mixed-Species Enclosure Of Sumatran (Pongo Abelij) & Bornean Orangutans (P. Pygmaeus) & Northern White-Cheeked Gibbons (Nomascus Leucogenys), Emily Veitia Jan 2017

Enrichment Use & Social Interactions In A Mixed-Species Enclosure Of Sumatran (Pongo Abelij) & Bornean Orangutans (P. Pygmaeus) & Northern White-Cheeked Gibbons (Nomascus Leucogenys), Emily Veitia

All Master's Theses

Enrichment is an aspect of captive husbandry that has been shown to positively impact animals’ well-being and can be designed to encourage species-typical behaviors, such as foraging and arboreality. Enrichment can include housing together multiple compatible species. Orangutans are sympatric with siamangs and agile and Bornean gibbons, so several zoos house these four Asian ape species in the same enclosure, in part, as social enrichment. In my study, I observed enrichment use and social interactions in a mixed-species enclosure at the Oregon Zoo, which housed two Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and two Bornean (P. pygmaeus) orangutans with …


Testing The Forage Preference Of The American Pika (Ochotona Princeps) For Use In Connectivity Corridors In The Washington Cascades, Carly Wickhem, Kristina Ernest Jan 2016

Testing The Forage Preference Of The American Pika (Ochotona Princeps) For Use In Connectivity Corridors In The Washington Cascades, Carly Wickhem, Kristina Ernest

All Master's Theses

One of the aims of the Snoqualmie Pass East Project (SPEP) in the Cascades of central Washington is to construct nearly 30 wildlife crossing structures along a 15-mile stretch of Interstate-90. American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are being monitored for the SPEP because they have specific habitat requirements and are poor dispersers. Making the crossing structures “pika-friendly” will encourage these low-mobility animals to use the structures. Recent research suggests that the presence of quality vegetation may help pika populations avoid declines and extirpations, so planting suitable forage within and adjacent to the crossings will be essential. During the summer …


Behavioral Response Of Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus Tridentatus) To Predator Odors, Laurie L. Porter Jan 2015

Behavioral Response Of Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus Tridentatus) To Predator Odors, Laurie L. Porter

All Master's Theses

Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus), a species facing serious threats to their existence, experience a number of challenges in reaching their desired spawning grounds during the adult migratory phase, and predators are suspected to be one of these challenges. Understanding if Pacific lamprey respond to predator odorants may provide a management tool for use in conjunction with attractants in guiding lamprey to suitable spawning habitat and deterring them from poor habitat. Previous research has failed to explore Pacific lamprey response to predator odorants, although much research exists on attractant odorants. In our study, we tested Pacific lamprey response to …


Evaluating The Utility Of Beaver Reintroduction Programs For Enhancing Habitat For Rainbow Trout And Steelhead, Jonathan Rodger Hegna Jan 2013

Evaluating The Utility Of Beaver Reintroduction Programs For Enhancing Habitat For Rainbow Trout And Steelhead, Jonathan Rodger Hegna

All Master's Theses

Beaver reintroduction programs are increasingly being viewed as a way to enhance salmonid habitat and production. However, the actual effectiveness of using beavers as a habitat enhancement tool for ESA listed steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss populations is unknown. We examined the type of habitat, at both the microhabitat and mesohabitat levels, preferred by steelhead in three small streams in the upper Yakima Basin, WA through standard snorkel surveys and habitat measurements. Our results suggest that steelhead in small streams strongly prefer (relative to availability) microhabitats that have deeper water(> 30 cm), slow stream velocities(< 0 .05 mis), and complex cover types. Habitat partitioning among the size-classes (small< 50 mm, medium 50-90 mm, large> 90 mm total length, TL) principally operated …


Terrestrial Habitat Requirements Of Nesting Freshwater Turtles, D. A. Steen, J. P. Gibbs, K. A. Buhlman, J. L. Carr, B. W. Compton, J. D. Congdon, J. S. Doody, J. C. Godwin, Kerry L. Holcomb, D. R. Jackson, F. J. Janzen, G. Johnson, M. T. Jones, J. T. Lamer, T. A. Langen, M. V. Plummer, J. W. Rowe, R. A. Saumure, J. K. Tucker, D. S. Wilson May 2012

Terrestrial Habitat Requirements Of Nesting Freshwater Turtles, D. A. Steen, J. P. Gibbs, K. A. Buhlman, J. L. Carr, B. W. Compton, J. D. Congdon, J. S. Doody, J. C. Godwin, Kerry L. Holcomb, D. R. Jackson, F. J. Janzen, G. Johnson, M. T. Jones, J. T. Lamer, T. A. Langen, M. V. Plummer, J. W. Rowe, R. A. Saumure, J. K. Tucker, D. S. Wilson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Because particular life history traits affect species vulnerability to development pressures, cross-species summaries of life history traits are useful for generating management guidelines. Conservation of aquatic turtles, many members of which are regionally or globally imperiled, requires knowing the extent of upland habitat used for nesting. Therefore, we compiled distances that nests and gravid females had been observed from wetlands. Based on records of > 8000 nests and gravid female records compiled for 31 species in the United States and Canada, the distances that encompass 95% of nests vary dramatically among genera and populations, from just 8 m for Malaclemys to …


A Lighter Shade Of Green: Reproducing Nature In Central Florida, Kevin Archer Jan 1996

A Lighter Shade Of Green: Reproducing Nature In Central Florida, Kevin Archer

All Faculty Scholarship for the School of Graduate Studies and Research

No abstract provided.


The Microclimate, Ion And Water Balance Of Larval And Adult Ascaphus Truei Stejneger, Terry L. Mullen May 1971

The Microclimate, Ion And Water Balance Of Larval And Adult Ascaphus Truei Stejneger, Terry L. Mullen

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is first to describe the microclimate occupied by larval and adult Ascaphus. This microclimate presents certain osmo- and iono- regulatory problems. The second purpose of this paper is to show how Ascaphus meets these osmo- and iono- regulatory problems.