Tree Presence And Species Identity Affect American Beaver Activity Along The Missouri River, 2019 University of South Dakota
Tree Presence And Species Identity Affect American Beaver Activity Along The Missouri River, Ashley M. Williams
Sustainable RIVER
No abstract provided.
Effects Of Insecticides On Amphibians, 2019 University of South Dakota
Effects Of Insecticides On Amphibians, Lilian M. Heinzel
Sustainable RIVER
No abstract provided.
Relative Competitive Abilities, Intersexual Overyielding, And Population Sex Ratio Changes In A Bryophyte, 2019 University of Kentucky
Relative Competitive Abilities, Intersexual Overyielding, And Population Sex Ratio Changes In A Bryophyte, Zachary Stanley
Theses and Dissertations--Biology
Unequal sex ratios are widespread in dioecious plants and understanding their cause is important to understanding fundamental aspects of their population dynamics, and yet what causes biased sex ratios in plants is still poorly understood. Competition experiments have been used in plants to predict the outcome of species interactions, but they have rarely been used to help explain sex ratio bias. This study used a response surface competition design to measure the relative competitive abilities of the sexes of the bryophyte Marchantia inflexa (a thallus liverwort of Marchantiaceae) to predict the outcome of competition before the onset of sexual reproductive …
Management Recommendations For Ecological Restoration On The Little River Parcel, 2019 Cal Poly Humboldt
Management Recommendations For Ecological Restoration On The Little River Parcel, Maya Sady Partain, Garitt Mathews
Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones
Ecological restoration is an important aspect of land management. Data collection and ongoing monitoring help inform restoration decisions and determine their effectiveness. In this project, we followed a monitoring protocol provided by the Trinidad Coastal Land Trust to assess the 2019 status of their Little River parcel, a fifteen-acre area near the mouth of Little River in Trinidad, California. We performed a site analysis of invasive plant species and recorded their extent and location, as well as noting other observations of the ecology, topography, and biology of the site. After making our observations, we recommended land management methods woven together …
Revisiting The Historic Distribution And Habitats Of The Whooping Crane, 2019 Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Revisiting The Historic Distribution And Habitats Of The Whooping Crane, Jane E. Austin, Matthew A. Hayes, Jeb A. Barzen
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Understanding the historic range and habitats of an endangered species can assist in conservation and reintroduction efforts for that species. Individuals reintroduced into a species’ historic core range have a higher survival rate compared to individuals introduced near the periphery or outside the historic range (Falk and Olwell, 1992; Griffith et al., 1989). Individuals on the periphery of a species’ range tend to occupy less favorable habitats and have lower and more variable densities than those near the core of their range (Brown, 1984; Brown et al., 1995, 1996). Such conclusions, however, presume that historic habitats have not changed since …
U.S. Geological Survey- Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center 2017 Research Activity Report, 2019 University of Nebraska - Lincoln
U.S. Geological Survey- Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center 2017 Research Activity Report, Mark H. Sherfy
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Contents
Acknowledgments...............................................................................iii
Center Mission and Science Strategy...............................................................1
Lines of Work..................................................................................2
Study Narratives.................................................................................16
Oak Lake Wetland Restoration: Difference In Hydrology Between Newly Restored And Reference Wetlands, 2019 South Dakota State University
Oak Lake Wetland Restoration: Difference In Hydrology Between Newly Restored And Reference Wetlands, Jennifer A. Dailey, Nels H. Troelstrup Jr.
Oak Lake Field Station 30th Anniversary Retreat Presentations
No abstract provided.
South Dakota Aquatic Invertebrate Collection And Database, 2019 South Dakota State University
South Dakota Aquatic Invertebrate Collection And Database, Ashlee Nilson, Nels H. Troelstrup Jr.
Oak Lake Field Station 30th Anniversary Retreat Presentations
No abstract provided.
Pollinator-Mediated Yield Across A Heterogeneous Landscape In Eastern South Dakota, 2019 South Dakota State University
Pollinator-Mediated Yield Across A Heterogeneous Landscape In Eastern South Dakota, Shane Stiles
Oak Lake Field Station 30th Anniversary Retreat Presentations
No abstract provided.
Multiple Connections Between Amazonia And Atlantic Forest Shaped The T Phylogenetic And Morphological Diversity Of Chiasmocleis Mehely, 1904 (Anura: Microhylidae: Gastrophryninae), 2019 University of Richmond
Multiple Connections Between Amazonia And Atlantic Forest Shaped The T Phylogenetic And Morphological Diversity Of Chiasmocleis Mehely, 1904 (Anura: Microhylidae: Gastrophryninae), Rafael O. De Sá, João Filipe Riva Tonini, Hannah Van Huss, Alex Long, Travis Cuddy, Mauricio C. Forlani, Pedro L.V. Peloso, Hussam Zaher, Célio F.B. Haddad
Biology Faculty Publications
Chiasmocleis is the most species-rich genus of Neotropical microhylids. Herein, we provide the first comprehensive multilocus phylogeny for the genus, including all but 3 of the 34 recognized species and multiple individuals per species. We discuss cryptic speciation, species discovery, patterns of morphological evolution, and provide a historical biogeographic analysis to account for the current distribution of the genus. Diversification of Chiasmocleis from other New World microhylids began during the Eocene, app. 40 mya, in forested areas, and current diversity seems to be a product of recurrent connections between the Atlantic Forest and Amazonia. Small-sized species evolved independently three times …
Biodiversity And Conservation Study Of The St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisconsin - 2018 Annual Report, 2019 St. Norbert College
Biodiversity And Conservation Study Of The St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisconsin - 2018 Annual Report, Nick Moran, Mya Mcdaniel, Adam L. Brandt
Student Creative and Scholarly Works
Long term biological studies are rare but incredibly valuable for examining natural phenomena. Data collected over many years or decades allows for analyses of trends that would never be apparent in a single season. The research presented here is the completion of the second annual field season of a long term study to analyze biodiversity trends at the St. Norbert Abbey. Using visual searches, live trapping, and trail cameras, the biodiversity and abundance of species were examined. Special emphasis was placed on small mammals, though other groups were observed and documented. The goals of this project are to (1) collect …
Public Land Management On The Upper Mississippi: Exploring Relationships Between Management Imperatives And Ecosystem Biodiversity, 2019 Augustana College, Rock Island Illinois
Public Land Management On The Upper Mississippi: Exploring Relationships Between Management Imperatives And Ecosystem Biodiversity, Hunter Colleen Ridley
Geography: Student Scholarship & Creative Works
Presently, public land management structure tends to disregard the interconnected nature of the social and ecological systems within managed landscapes. Since these social and ecological systems so heavily influence the identity of landscapes, it is critical that land managers understand the interactions and effects land management has with ecological structure and function. This knowledge helps land managers create more effective, sustainable, and efficient management plans and decisions. This research uses a portion of Upper Mississippi River as a case study for analyzing and discussing public land management on the Mississippi and how its structure may be influencing the ecological identity …
Shade Trees Preserve Avian Insectivore Biodiversity On Coffee Farms In A Warming Climate, 2019 Cal Poly Humboldt
Shade Trees Preserve Avian Insectivore Biodiversity On Coffee Farms In A Warming Climate, Sarah L. Schooler
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Coffee is an important export in many developing countries, with a global annual trade value of $100 billion. Climate change is projected to drastically reduce the area where coffee is able to be grown. Shade trees may mitigate the effects of climate change through temperature regulation for coffee growth, temperature regulation for pest control, and increase in pest-eating bird diversity. The impact of shade on bird diversity and microclimate on coffee farms has been studied extensively in the Neotropics, but there is a dearth of research in the Paleotropics. I examined the local effects of shade on bird presence and …
Drought And Coyotes Mediate The Relationship Between Mesopredators And Human Disturbance In California, 2019 Cal Poly Humboldt
Drought And Coyotes Mediate The Relationship Between Mesopredators And Human Disturbance In California, Molly K. Parren
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Mesopredators in California are facing two major changes to their ecosystem: drought and the expansion of human disturbance. As a result, mesopredators are likely shifting their habitat use as well as their interspecies interactions to balance resource needs and risk-taking on the landscape. In response to severe drought, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife deployed 585 camera traps throughout the Mojave Desert and Central Valley documenting mammalian mesopredator presence in a drought year (2016) and a post-drought year (2017). The objectives of this study were to examine spatial patterns of mesopredator occurrence and co-occurrence with a dominant predator, the …
Elucidating Patterns Of Bat Species Occupancy Across A Disturbed Landscape In California's Central Valley, 2019 Humboldt State University
Elucidating Patterns Of Bat Species Occupancy Across A Disturbed Landscape In California's Central Valley, Trinity N. Smith
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
California’s Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, is home to 14 species of resident and migratory bats. The Central Valley has been identified as a crisis ecoregion, and a high number of species are at risk due to anthropogenic land use. In addition, the Central Valley has faced severe drought, effects of which are intensified on the natural landscape by agricultural irrigation practices. In response to the historical drought of 2012-2015, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) implemented the Terrestrial Species Stressor Monitoring (TSSM) project, which in part aimed to collect information on …
Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, 2019 University of Texas at El Paso
Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, Kathryn Rose Wedemeyer-Strombel
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Identifying developmental habitat is essential for understanding population structure and species resiliency, especially for critically endangered species. In long-lived, oceanic, migratory animals such as sea turtles, elucidating developmental grounds is particularly difficult. When data are deficient or challenging to acquire, scientists often lean towards traditional quantitative methods when a social-ecological systems approach could better provide crucial baseline data and guiding information. Fishers ecological knowledge (FEK), the combination of experiential and culturally transmitted knowledge, is expert knowledge and should be treated as such. In 2008, FEK led to the rediscovery of the critically endangered eastern Pacific (EP) population of hawksbill sea …
Where Birds Chill: An Assessment Of The Habitat Preferences Of Birds Overwintering In Hudson Valley Forests, 2019 Bard College
Where Birds Chill: An Assessment Of The Habitat Preferences Of Birds Overwintering In Hudson Valley Forests, Elizabeth Claire Axley
Senior Projects Spring 2019
Many avian species overwinter in eastern North America; however, studies on bird populations are rarely undertaken during this critical survival time, and little is known as to their habitat preferences and foraging behavior. In this observational study, we performed a survey of birds overwintering in the Hudson Valley’s temperate, primarily-deciduous forests, assessing avian populations’ habitat preferences through the vegetative structural variables surrounding overwintering birds as they forage. Our results suggest that high canopy cover is critically important to predicting overwintering bird occupancy on a microhabitat scale. Moreover, overwintering birds preferentially occupy forest plots not dominated by sugar maples, in spite …
Sea Star Wasting Disease In Pisaster Ochraceus On The Washington Coast And In Puget Sound, 2019 Central Washington University
Sea Star Wasting Disease In Pisaster Ochraceus On The Washington Coast And In Puget Sound, Caitlin Wilkes
All Master's Theses
Pisaster ochraceus is a common west coast sea star whose predation of Mytilus californianus (the California mussel) increases the biodiversity of its intertidal community. Sea star wasting disease is an illness that causes sea star tissues to become necrotic until the creature wastes away and dies. In 2013, a coast wide outbreak of sea star wasting disease caused a mass mortality event in P. ochraceus. The goals of this study were to try to identify some of the possible causes for the outbreak, as well as analyze the impact that sea star wasting disease prevalence has on biodiversity. In this …
Resurrection Of An East African House Bat Species, Scotophilus Altilis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), 2019 Bucknell University
Resurrection Of An East African House Bat Species, Scotophilus Altilis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), Peter Vallo, Deeann Reeder, Megan E. Vodzak, Petr Benda
Faculty Journal Articles
Several house bat specimens superficially resembling the white-bellied house bat Scotophilus leucogaster (Cretzschmar, 1830), were recently captured in southwestern Ethiopia and southern South Sudan. These S. cf. leucogaster differed from typical S. leucogaster by their slightly smaller size and ventral coloration, conforming instead with the original description of S. altilis Allen, 1914. Scotophilus altilis is an overlooked taxon known from the Blue Nile region in Sudan that is currently considered a junior synonym of S. leucogaster. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (cytb) sequences revealed S. cf. leucogaster as a sister clade …
Carnivore-Livestock Conflicts In Chile: Evidence And Methods For Mitigation, 2019 Virginia Tech
Carnivore-Livestock Conflicts In Chile: Evidence And Methods For Mitigation, Valeska Rodriguez, Daniela A. Poo-Muñoz, Luis E. Escobar, Francisca Astorga, Gonzalo Medina-Vogel
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Human population growth and habitat loss have exacerbated human–wildlife conflicts worldwide. We explored trends in human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs) in Chile using scientific and official reports to identify areas and species with higher risk of conflicts and tools available for their prevention and mitigation. The puma (Puma concolor) was considered the most frequent predator; however, fox (Lycalopex spp.) and free-ranging or feral dog (Canis lupus familiaris) attacks were also common. Our results suggest that the magnitude of puma conflicts may be overestimated. Domestic sheep (Ovis spp.) and poultry (Galliformes) were the most common species predated. …