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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Population Health Of Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum) In Created Vernal Pools: An Integrative Approach, Alice R. Millikin Jan 2019

Population Health Of Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum) In Created Vernal Pools: An Integrative Approach, Alice R. Millikin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Habitat creation is an important tool for conservation to counteract habitat loss and degradation. Vernal pools are susceptible to destruction due to limited detection, protection, and regulation. These wetlands provide fishless breeding habitat for many amphibian species including spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) in eastern North America. Determining whether created vernal pool habitat is successful is often determined by demographic data of colonizing populations. I suggest that hormone levels, population genetics, and disease prevalence can improve our understanding of population health in created habitat. The goal of this dissertation was to assess the health of spotted salamander larvae in …


Response Of Amphibian And Invertebrate Communities To Wetland Mitigation In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Leah K. Swartz Jan 2017

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 …


Wetland Condition Matters: Amphibian Richness And Abundance Change Across Wetland Condition Gradient, Kari Dupler Jan 2016

Wetland Condition Matters: Amphibian Richness And Abundance Change Across Wetland Condition Gradient, Kari Dupler

Online Theses and Dissertations

In the past century, Kentucky has lost more than 80% of its wetlands, and because state-wide monitoring was historically minimal, this number is likely underestimated. The Kentucky Division of Water, with Eastern Kentucky University and a technical working group, developed a rapid wetland assessment method (i.e. KY-WRAM) to assess wetland quality and aid in establishing mitigation levels and long-term monitoring. Validation of the KY-WRAM’s ability to reflect wetland condition requires comparison to intensive biotic assessments of amphibian, plant, and bird communities. Wetland and amphibian surveys for the 2014 and 2015 seasons were conducted at 42 riverine wetlands in the Kentucky …


Examining The Impacts Of Valley Fills In Stream Ecosystems On Amphibian And Aquatic Insect Communities In Southeastern Kentucky, John Clayton Bourne Jan 2015

Examining The Impacts Of Valley Fills In Stream Ecosystems On Amphibian And Aquatic Insect Communities In Southeastern Kentucky, John Clayton Bourne

Online Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1. Abstract: Biodiversity is not evenly distributed, and understanding factors that determine spatial patterns of species diversity remains a key question in ecology. Because of their relatively high abundance and complex life cycles, stream salamanders and aquatic insects are important trophic links and serve a critical role in transferring energy. Despite this importance little research has examined their community structure simultaneously in aquatic ecosystems. The primary objective of this research was to determine the structure of these communities across natural areas of southeastern Kentucky and understand what factors impact their abundances and distributions. To address this, we sampled eight …


Hydroperiod Of Wetlands And Reproduction In Wood Frogs (Rana Sylvatica) And Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum), Mary Beth Kolozsvary Aug 2003

Hydroperiod Of Wetlands And Reproduction In Wood Frogs (Rana Sylvatica) And Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum), Mary Beth Kolozsvary

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many amphibians rely on wetlands for reproduction and the differential distribution of amphibian species along a gradient of wetland permanence is striking, yet not absolute. Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) are thought to rely on seasonal wetlands for greatest breeding success, but there is little documentation of their reliance on these or other habitats. In my first chapter, I studied these species in wetlands across a hydrologic gradient from seasonal wetlands of short flood duration to permanently flooded sites. My results indicate that wood frogs have greatest reproductive effort and success in …