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Natural Shorelines Promote The Stability Of Fish Communities In An Urbanized Coastal System, Steven B. Scyphers, Tarik C. Gouhier, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Michael W. Beck, John Mareska, Sean P. Powers Jun 2015

Natural Shorelines Promote The Stability Of Fish Communities In An Urbanized Coastal System, Steven B. Scyphers, Tarik C. Gouhier, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Michael W. Beck, John Mareska, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Habitat loss and fragmentation are leading causes of species extinctions in terrestrial, aquatic and marine systems. Along coastlines, natural habitats support high biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services but are often replaced with engineered structures for coastal protection or erosion control. We coupled high-resolution shoreline condition data with an eleven-year time series of fish community structure to examine how coastal protection structures impact community stability. Our analyses revealed that the most stable fish communities were nearest natural shorelines. Structurally complex engineered shorelines appeared to promote greater stability than simpler alternatives as communities nearest vertical walls, which are among the most prevalent …


Mate Replacement And Alloparental Care In Ferruginous Hawk, Shubham Datta, Will M. Inselman, Jonathan A. Jenks, Kent Jensen, Christopher C. Swanson, Robert W. Klaver, Indrani Sasmal, Troy W. Grovenburg Jun 2015

Mate Replacement And Alloparental Care In Ferruginous Hawk, Shubham Datta, Will M. Inselman, Jonathan A. Jenks, Kent Jensen, Christopher C. Swanson, Robert W. Klaver, Indrani Sasmal, Troy W. Grovenburg

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Alloparental care (i.e., care for unrelated offspring) has been documented in various avian species (Maxson 1978, Smith et al. 1996, Tella et al. 1997, Lislevand et al. 2001, Literak and Mraz 2011). A male replacement mate that encounters existing broods has options, which include alloparental care or infanticide. Infanticide may be beneficial in some species (Rohwer 1986, Kermott et al. 1990), but in long-lived avian species, like the ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) that do not renest within a season, infanticide might be detrimental. Adoption and rearing success likely provide direct evidence of competence of replacement mates as potential parents for …


Phylogeography Of Southeast Asian Flying Foxes (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Pteropus), Susan Man Shu Tsang May 2015

Phylogeography Of Southeast Asian Flying Foxes (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Pteropus), Susan Man Shu Tsang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Flying foxes (Pteropus) are a genus of Old World fruit bats that are important seed dispersers and pollinators for plants native to the 200,000+ islands in Southeast Asia, yet they are some of the most poorly known bats in the world. They comprise some of the largest known bat species, and are morphologically relatively conserved on the genus level. Pteropus is the most species-rich genus within Pteropodidae, though the origin for this diversity remains incompletely understood. In Chapter 1, I discuss the importance of Pteropus to the ecosystem and as reservoir hosts. In Chapter 2, a molecular phylogeny is presented …


Isotopic Incorporation Rates And Discrimination Factors In Mantis Shrimp Crustaceans., Maya Devries, Carlos Del Rio, Tate Tunstall, Todd Dawson Apr 2015

Isotopic Incorporation Rates And Discrimination Factors In Mantis Shrimp Crustaceans., Maya Devries, Carlos Del Rio, Tate Tunstall, Todd Dawson

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Stable isotope analysis has provided insights into the trophic ecology of a wide diversity of animals. Knowledge about isotopic incorporation rates and isotopic discrimination between the consumer and its diet for different tissue types is essential for interpreting stable isotope data, but these parameters remain understudied in many animal taxa and particularly in aquatic invertebrates. We performed a 292-day diet shift experiment on 92 individuals of the predatory mantis shrimp, Neogonodactylus bredini, to quantify carbon and nitrogen incorporation rates and isotope discrimination factors in muscle and hemolymph tissues. Average isotopic discrimination factors between mantis shrimp muscle and the new diet …


Fauna Census Of Intertidal Cliffs, Mangapwani, Zanzibar, Emily Jankowski Apr 2015

Fauna Census Of Intertidal Cliffs, Mangapwani, Zanzibar, Emily Jankowski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Due to their extreme variations in condition over the course of a day, intertidal zones are challenging environments. Organisms that live there must be prepared to cope with both exposure and submersion, not to mention the temperature variations that accompany these conditions. The differing tolerances and adaptations of various organisms to these conditions generally cause patterns of vertical zonation to occur in the intertidal zone, especially when the shore is steep and rocky. Understanding the ecology of shore environments is important to future conservation and management efforts. This study was conducted on a beach in Mangapwani, Zanzibar at at 6˚ …


Harvest Demographics Of Temperate-Breeding Canada Geese In South Dakota, 1967–1995, Jeffrey S. Gleason, Jonathan A. Jenks, David E. Naugle, Paul W. Mammenga, Spencer J. Vaa, Jennifer M. Pritchett Apr 2015

Harvest Demographics Of Temperate-Breeding Canada Geese In South Dakota, 1967–1995, Jeffrey S. Gleason, Jonathan A. Jenks, David E. Naugle, Paul W. Mammenga, Spencer J. Vaa, Jennifer M. Pritchett

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

In South Dakota, breeding giant Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) have increased substantially, and harvest management strategies have been implemented to maximize hunting opportunity (e.g., special early-September seasons) on local, as well as molt-migrant giant Canada geese (B. c. interior) while still protecting lesser abundant Arcticbreeding Canada geese and cackling geese (e.g., B. hutchinsii, B. minima). Information on important parameters, such as survival and recovery rates, are generally lacking for giant Canada geese in the northern Great Plains. Patterns in Canada goose band recoveries can provide insight into the distribution, chronology, and harvest pressures to which a given goose population …


Ecological Studies Of Wolves On Isle Royale, 2014-2015, John A. Vucetich, Rolf O. Peterson Mar 2015

Ecological Studies Of Wolves On Isle Royale, 2014-2015, John A. Vucetich, Rolf O. Peterson

Ecological Studies of Wolves on Isle Royale

Annual Report 2014-2015


The Status Of Fishes In The Missouri River, Nebraska: Blue Sucker Cycleptus Elongatus, Kirk D. Steffensen, Sam Stukel, Dane A. Shuman Mar 2015

The Status Of Fishes In The Missouri River, Nebraska: Blue Sucker Cycleptus Elongatus, Kirk D. Steffensen, Sam Stukel, Dane A. Shuman

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Blue Sucker Cycleptus elongatus are a large-bodied, benthic fish that are considered an indicator species for riverine health. A combination of historic commercial fishing and anthropogenic modifications to riverine habitat led to blue suckers being listed as a candidate species for the federal threatened or endangered species list in 1993. However, they were never designated a federally protected species. Locally, Blue Suckers are currently listed as a Nebraska Natural Legacy Project’s Tier 1 species but population changes and trends have not been quantified. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the current population status of Blue Sucker in …


Recurrent Evolution Of Melanism In South American Felids, Alexsandra Schneider, Corneliu Henegar, Kenneth Day, Devin Absher, Constanza Napolitano, Leandro Silveira, Victor A. David, Stephen J. O'Brien, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, Gregory S. Barsh, Eduardo Eizirik Feb 2015

Recurrent Evolution Of Melanism In South American Felids, Alexsandra Schneider, Corneliu Henegar, Kenneth Day, Devin Absher, Constanza Napolitano, Leandro Silveira, Victor A. David, Stephen J. O'Brien, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, Gregory S. Barsh, Eduardo Eizirik

Biology Faculty Articles

Morphological variation in natural populations is a genomic test bed for studying the interface between molecular evolution and population genetics, but some of the most interesting questions involve non-model organisms that lack well annotated reference genomes. Many felid species exhibit polymorphism for melanism but the relative roles played by genetic drift, natural selection, and interspecies hybridization remain uncertain. We identify mutations of Agouti signaling protein (ASIP) or the Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) as independent causes of melanism in three closely related South American species: the pampas cat (Leopardus colocolo), the kodkod (Leopardus guigna), and Geoffroy’s cat …


Animals As Neighbours: The Past And Present Of Commensal Animals By Terry O'Connor, Derek Woods Feb 2015

Animals As Neighbours: The Past And Present Of Commensal Animals By Terry O'Connor, Derek Woods

The Goose

Review of Terry O'Connor's Animals as Neighbours: The Past and Present of Commensal Animals.


Spider Assemblages And Dynamics On A Seasonal Island In The Pripyat River, Belarus, Izabela Hajdamowicz, Lucyna Pilacka, Wlodzimierz Meissner Jan 2015

Spider Assemblages And Dynamics On A Seasonal Island In The Pripyat River, Belarus, Izabela Hajdamowicz, Lucyna Pilacka, Wlodzimierz Meissner

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Spider assemblages on a seasonal river meadow island were studied in spring 2006 and 2007. Samples were collected with a set of 20-30 pitfall traps once every 5 days. Altogether, 1179 spiders belonging to 30 species were collected. There were 5 constant dominant species: medium-sized wandering Pardosa prativaga, and small-sized air colonizers Oedothorax retusus, Erigone dentipalpis, Oedothorax fuscus, and Pachygnatha degeeri. The relatively low species diversity was higher in 2007 and grew throughout the season with the lowering of the water level. The total turnover of species involved the least abundant species (below 1% of the total), mainly Linyphiidae. Abundance …


Age Structure Of Hemidactylus Turcicus (L., 1758) (Sauria: Gekkonidae) From Southwestern Anatolia (Muğla, Turkey), Betül Kanat, Cemal Varol Tok Jan 2015

Age Structure Of Hemidactylus Turcicus (L., 1758) (Sauria: Gekkonidae) From Southwestern Anatolia (Muğla, Turkey), Betül Kanat, Cemal Varol Tok

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In this study, a total of 36 (12♂♂, 18♀♀, 6 juveniles) Hemidactylus turcicus specimens, caught in the vicinity of Muğla (Turkey) between 2006 and 2011, were evaluated using the skeletochronology method. The mean snout-to-vent length (SVL) was measured as 28.45 ± 1.92 mm for juveniles, 50.53 ± 1.06 mm for males, and 51.1 ± 0.75 mm for females. When the cross-sections were examined, the age range was determined to be 4-8 years in the males and 4-9 years in the females. Individuals reach sexual maturity in 2-3 years. The maximum age was calculated as 9 years for a female. It …


Composition And Seasonal Variation Of Epigeic Arthropods In Field Margins Of Nw Portugal, Fátima Cristina Paulino Simão, Miguel Angel Carretero, Maria José Aires Do Amaral, Amadeu Mortágua Velho Da Maia Soares, Eduardo Mateos Jan 2015

Composition And Seasonal Variation Of Epigeic Arthropods In Field Margins Of Nw Portugal, Fátima Cristina Paulino Simão, Miguel Angel Carretero, Maria José Aires Do Amaral, Amadeu Mortágua Velho Da Maia Soares, Eduardo Mateos

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Field margins act as shelters for different arthropod taxa in agricultural fields. Several factors may promote seasonal changes in arthropod communities, especially in regions with marked seasonality, such as Mediterranean areas. Epigeic arthropods were sampled from the margins of fields located in northwestern Portugal during 2 contrasting seasons, spring and autumn. Organisms were identified to family or order level and seasonal variation in arthropod communities was evaluated. Abundance, group richness, and feeding guild parameters were affected by sampling season, with both abundance and richness being higher in spring. Of the groups captured in both seasons, most evidenced either higher abundance …


First Records Of The Sea Anemones Stichodactyla Tapetum Andstichodactyla Haddoni (Anthozoa: Actiniaria: Stichodactylidae)From The Southeast Of Iran, Chabahar (Sea Of Oman), Gilan Attaran Fariman, Pegah Javid Jan 2015

First Records Of The Sea Anemones Stichodactyla Tapetum Andstichodactyla Haddoni (Anthozoa: Actiniaria: Stichodactylidae)From The Southeast Of Iran, Chabahar (Sea Of Oman), Gilan Attaran Fariman, Pegah Javid

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Sea anemones (order Actiniaria) are among the most widespread invertebrates in the tropical waters. The anthozoans Stichodactyla haddoni (Saville-Kent, 1893) and Stichodactyla tapetum (Hemprich and Ehrenberg in Ehrenberg, 1834) (family Stichodactylidae) were reported for the first time from the southeastern coast of Iran, Chabahar Bay, Tiss zone. The specimens of S. haddoni and S. tapetum were collected by hand from the intertidal zone of sand and rock substrates in April 2012. The samples characteristics were morphologically studied in the field and laboratory. This study presents a new locality record and information about S. haddoni and S. tapetum found in this …


Age Estimation Of Anatololacerta Anatolica (Werner, 1902) In The Vicinity Of Çanakkale By Skeletochronology, Batuhan Yaman Yakin, Cemal Varol Tok Jan 2015

Age Estimation Of Anatololacerta Anatolica (Werner, 1902) In The Vicinity Of Çanakkale By Skeletochronology, Batuhan Yaman Yakin, Cemal Varol Tok

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In this study, age estimation using skeletochronology was done in 43 specimens (6 males, 29 females, 8 juv.) of Anatololacerta anatolica living in the vicinity of Çanakkale. When the cross-sections taken from phalanges were examined, the median age for the Çanakkale population was 4 years. The maximum age was calculated as 10 years for female individuals, and the maximum snout-vent length (SVL) of female individuals was measured as 74.18 mm. The mean SVL was 57.39 (SD = 4.6) mm for males and 63.62 (SD = 8.62) mm for females. The age at sexual maturity was determined as 3 years for …


Population Level Responses To Direct Application Liming In Gyrinophilus Porphyriticus, Shelby Renea Timm Jan 2015

Population Level Responses To Direct Application Liming In Gyrinophilus Porphyriticus, Shelby Renea Timm

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Direct application liming (DAL) has been used to neutralize acidified streams to restore aquatic biota. This mitigation technique has been used globally for decades, yet little data exist on its effects on amphibian populations. My study investigated the effects of liming on amphibians by measuring variability in life histories of larval Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. I collected larvae from six streams in the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia. I examined the effects of DAL on age structure, and I failed to detect a treatment effect. I used ANCOVAs to examine differences in body condition, body size, and gape size. I observed that …


Sampling Considerations For Amphibian Surveys: Evaluating Risks Of Committing Type I And Type Ii Errors, Kelli Marie Herrick Jan 2015

Sampling Considerations For Amphibian Surveys: Evaluating Risks Of Committing Type I And Type Ii Errors, Kelli Marie Herrick

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Global amphibian declines pose a major threat to the world’s biodiversity. We examined the observation bias associated with volunteer based anuran surveys, such as the North American Amphibian Monitoring Protocol (NAAMP). We followed NAAMP protocol to examine if variation in the persons (1-3) in an observer unit affected observer error. We hypothesized that observation units with multiple observers have less observer bias and would better report anuran assemblages compared to single observers. Larger observer units had fewer incidences of false positive observations. Additionally, we attempted to determine which sampling method for the eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis) had the highest …


The Feral Cat Conundrum: Assessing The Science And Ethics Of Trap-Neuter-Return, Emily Vincent 15 Jan 2015

The Feral Cat Conundrum: Assessing The Science And Ethics Of Trap-Neuter-Return, Emily Vincent 15

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.


Masked Expression Of Life- History Traits In A Highly Variable Environment, Jason A. Deboer, Joseph J. Fontaine, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope Jan 2015

Masked Expression Of Life- History Traits In A Highly Variable Environment, Jason A. Deboer, Joseph J. Fontaine, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Differing life-history strategies may act as a constraint on reproductive expression that ultimately limits the ability of individual species to respond to changes in the magnitude or frequency of environmental variation, and potentially underlies the variation oft en inherent in phenotypic and evolved responses to anthropogenic change. Alternatively, if there are environmental cues that predict reproductive potential, differential expression of life-history strategies may represent differences in the adaptive capacity to optimize current reproductive value given variation in environmental conditions. We compared several aspects of walleye Sander vitreus spawning ecology at two reservoirs that diff er in environmental variability (i.e., annual …


The Dry Season Shuffle: Gorges Provide Refugia For Animal Communities In Tropical Savannah Ecosystems, J. Sean Doody, Simon Clulow, Geoff Kay, Domenic D'Amore, David Rhind Jan 2015

The Dry Season Shuffle: Gorges Provide Refugia For Animal Communities In Tropical Savannah Ecosystems, J. Sean Doody, Simon Clulow, Geoff Kay, Domenic D'Amore, David Rhind

USF St. Petersburg Campus Faculty Publications

In the wet-dry tropics, animal species face the major challenges of acquiring food, water or shelter during an extended dry season. Although large and conspicuous animals such as ungulates and waterfowl migrate to wetter areas during this time, little is known of how smaller and more cryptic animal species with less mobility meet these challenges. We fenced off the entire entrance of a gorge in the Australian tropical savanna, offering the unique opportunity to determine the composition and seasonal movement patterns of the small vertebrate community. The 1.7 km-long fence was converted to a trapline that was deployed for 18-21 …


Clues To Aquatic Beetle Research In Southeast Asia: A Multitude Of Ecological Niches, Microhabitats And Deduced Field Sampling Techniques, Hendrik Freitag Jan 2015

Clues To Aquatic Beetle Research In Southeast Asia: A Multitude Of Ecological Niches, Microhabitats And Deduced Field Sampling Techniques, Hendrik Freitag

Biology Faculty Publications

The basic ecological classification of Southeast Asian beetle families that are associated with aquatic habitats is reviewed. The microhabitat preferences of the taxa are examined on family level with generic examples. Suitable collection methods for quantitative and qualitative sampling are suggested which take into account the different ecological adaptation patterns and microhabitat preferences.


Quantifying The Adaptive Cycle, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson Jan 2015

Quantifying The Adaptive Cycle, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The adaptive cycle was proposed as a conceptual model to portray patterns of change in complex systems. Despite the model having potential for elucidating change across systems, it has been used mainly as a metaphor, describing system dynamics qualitatively. We use a quantitative approach for testing premises (reorganisation, conservatism, adaptation) in the adaptive cycle, using Baltic Sea phytoplankton communities as an example of such complex system dynamics. Phytoplankton organizes in recurring spring and summer blooms, a well-established paradigm in planktology and succession theory, with characteristic temporal trajectories during blooms that may be consistent with adaptive cycle phases. We used long-term …


First Record And A New Species Description Of Dudgeodes (Ephemeroptera: Teloganodidae) From South India, Sankarappan Anbalagan, Chellapandian Balachandran, Mani Kannan, Sundaram Dinakaran, Muthukalingan Krishnan Jan 2015

First Record And A New Species Description Of Dudgeodes (Ephemeroptera: Teloganodidae) From South India, Sankarappan Anbalagan, Chellapandian Balachandran, Mani Kannan, Sundaram Dinakaran, Muthukalingan Krishnan

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Dudgeodes bharathidasani sp. nov. is described from the Western Ghats of South India. The nymphs of this species were found in the seepage areas of a stream, and they were associated with the nets constructed by trichopteran larvae (Hydropsychidae: Hydropsyche).


Vertebrate Natural History Notes From Arkansas, 2015, C. Renn Tumlison, M. B. Connior, H. W. Robison, C. T. Mcallister, L. A. Durden, D. Blake Sasse, D. A. Saugey Jan 2015

Vertebrate Natural History Notes From Arkansas, 2015, C. Renn Tumlison, M. B. Connior, H. W. Robison, C. T. Mcallister, L. A. Durden, D. Blake Sasse, D. A. Saugey

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Many important details of vertebrate biology are unknown to the scientific community because the observations are not part of a larger theoretical study. Yet, knowledge of such details not only fills gaps in understanding but also creates a framework for hypothesis building. We have collected observations of importance that can add to the growth of knowledge. Compiled here are important recent observations representing all vertebrate classes in Arkansas.


Harvest Demographics Of Temperate-Breeding Canada Geese In South Dakota, 1967–1995, Jeffrey S. Gleason, Jonathan A. Jenks, David E. Naugle, Paul W. Mammenga, Spencer J. Vaa, Jennifer M. Pritchett Jan 2015

Harvest Demographics Of Temperate-Breeding Canada Geese In South Dakota, 1967–1995, Jeffrey S. Gleason, Jonathan A. Jenks, David E. Naugle, Paul W. Mammenga, Spencer J. Vaa, Jennifer M. Pritchett

Human–Wildlife Interactions

In South Dakota, breeding giant Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) have increased substantially, and harvest management strategies have been implemented to maximize hunting opportunity (e.g., special early-September seasons) on local, as well as molt-migrant giant Canada geese (B. c. interior) while still protecting lesser abundant Arctic breeding Canada geese and cackling geese (e.g., B. hutchinsii, B. minima). Information on important parameters, such as survival and recovery rates, are generally lacking for giant Canada geese in the northern Great Plains. Patterns in Canada goose band recoveries can provide insight into the distribution, chronology, and harvest pressures …


Stable Isotopes In Seabirds, Kimberly Gosciak Jan 2015

Stable Isotopes In Seabirds, Kimberly Gosciak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Seabirds are a highly endangered group of vertebrates; they are more threatened than any other group of bird. However, the Common Murre is one species that is showing an increasing population trend; I found that Common Murres have shown a significant increase in δ15N since 1994, in contrast to the threatened Marbled Murrelet, which has a similar biology but has shown decreasing δ15 N values that typically correlate with declining population size. This is potentially due to sexual dimorphism that allows for the Common Murre to fill a larger niche. While I found no statistical difference between …


Assessing Gull Abundance And Food Availability In Urban Parking Lots, Dan Clark, Jillian J. Whitney, Kenneth G. Mackenzie, Kiana K. G. Koenen, Stephen Destefano Jan 2015

Assessing Gull Abundance And Food Availability In Urban Parking Lots, Dan Clark, Jillian J. Whitney, Kenneth G. Mackenzie, Kiana K. G. Koenen, Stephen Destefano

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Feeding birds is a common activity throughout the world; yet, little is known about the extent of feeding gulls in urban areas. We monitored 8 parking lots in central Massachusetts, USA, during the fall and winter of 2011 to 2013 in 4 monitoring sessions to document the number of gulls present, the frequency of human–gull feeding interactions, and the effectiveness of signage and direct interaction in reducing human-provisioned food. Parking lots were divided between “education” and “no-education” lots. In education lots, we erected signs about problems caused when people feed birds and also asked people to stop feeding birds. We …


A First Overview Of The Fauna Of Chloropidae Of Iran (Diptera, Acalyptratae), Zeinab Bazyar, Abu Fazel Dousti, Michael Von Tschirnhaus, Majid Fallahzadeh Jan 2015

A First Overview Of The Fauna Of Chloropidae Of Iran (Diptera, Acalyptratae), Zeinab Bazyar, Abu Fazel Dousti, Michael Von Tschirnhaus, Majid Fallahzadeh

Turkish Journal of Zoology

We present recent findings of Chloropidae in Iran and a first list of the Iranian species of this family. It includes 20 genera and 50 species (39 identified to species level), recorded up until 2014. Some European distribution records not included in Fauna Europaea are added. The courtship behavior of Polyodaspis sulcicollis is described for the first time.


Scales Of Resilience: Community Stability, Population Dynamics, And Molecular Ecology Of Brook Trout In A Riverscape After A Large Flood, Erin V. Rodgers Jan 2015

Scales Of Resilience: Community Stability, Population Dynamics, And Molecular Ecology Of Brook Trout In A Riverscape After A Large Flood, Erin V. Rodgers

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Climate change in the northeastern United States currently and in future decadal predictions is characterized by warmer average temperatures and more frequent and intense storm events. Many aquatic organisms that thrive below a certain temperature threshold, such as brook trout, are being pushed towards their upper thermal limits, ultimately lowering their probability of survival and resilience to disturbance. In late-August and early-September 2011, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee created an extended flood in the Delaware Water Gap region of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as much of the northeast. This dissertation examines the effects of this flood on …


Avian Diversity Across Three Distinct Agricultural Landscapes In Guadalupe, Chiriquí Highlands, Panama, Jarred Jones Dec 2014

Avian Diversity Across Three Distinct Agricultural Landscapes In Guadalupe, Chiriquí Highlands, Panama, Jarred Jones

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Deforestation of tropical forest for agricultural purposes threatens habitat loss of native species. The value of various agricultural landscapes in conserving avian populations is useful in determining diversity-conscious development plans. However, generalized results from regionalscale studies cannot be implemented to insular avian habitats. This study serves as the only current avian diversity study of the Chiriquí Highlands. To determine the effect of agricultural land use within an insular avian habitat, I compared avian diversity and site population similarity in Guadalupe, Chiriquí Highlands of the Talamanca Range, Panama. I hypothesized that avian diversity is greatest at forest edge followed by forest …