Digital Commons Network^™

Advancing Quantitative Approaches For Estimating Avian Population Responses To Environmental Change Using A Data-Rich Species: The American White Pelican, Aimee Michele Van Tatenhove

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Advancements in wildlife data collection technology and analysis are helping us understand how human-caused environmental change is impacting bird species. Yet data collection for many species remains challenging, and often the data are difficult to analyze. Improved methods for collecting and analyzing avian data are needed to understand how species respond to environmental change. However, before applying new methods to poorly understood species, it is crucial to test methods on well-studied species to ensure their effectiveness. The American White Pelican is a well-studied species that is ideal for testing new analysis methods. Pelicans have been studied extensively due to conservation …

Socially Valued, Ecologically In Decline: Place Attachment Influences Support For Management Actions In A Quaking Aspen Forest Impacted By Recreation, Soil Contamination, And Ungulates, Georgie Corkery

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) spark strong emotional attachments among many people, yet they are ecologically in decline across North America. Aspen landscapes are also popular outdoor recreation destinations. Site-specific strategies are required for both managing for healthy aspen landscapes and enhancing the outdoor recreation experience. Our study investigated a highly-recreated and ecologically declining aspen forest in Summit County, Utah facing population decline. There were two distinct phases of data collection. First, we evaluated the condition of the aspen and identified potential management actions that could improve the condition of the aspen. Second, we surveyed people who visited the site …

Citizen Science Project On Urban Canids Provides Different Results From Camera Traps But Generates Interest And Revenue, Neville F. Taraporevala

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As more people live in cities, wildlife increasingly encounters people. Coyotes (Canis latrans) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are two carnivores that have easily adapted to urban environments causing them to come into conflict with people and their pets. Citizen science, where members of the community aid scientists in the collection of data, has emerged as a low-cost method of studying these species that can provide benefits to management agencies but may provide different results than traditional methods. We analyzed data collected by citizen scientists and data collected via motion-triggered camera traps to see how each …

Unraveling The Behavioral Ecology Of The Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnake (Crotalus Atrox) Through The Lenses Of Personality, Predator-Prey Interactions, And Crypsis, Oceane Da Cunha

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

To thrive in an environment, individuals need to be able to forage efficiently and acquire mates. These resources are limited, and their acquisition depends upon the energy and time an individual chooses to allocate to each activity and the environmental conditions, leading to behavioral trade-offs. Different species, or even different individuals within the same population, respond to these trade-offs by employing contrasting strategies, leading to differential life-history outcomes. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of the trade-offs cryptic ambush mesopredators are facing using the western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) as a model species. Each …

Identifying New Potential Breeding Pond Sites For The Dusky Gopher Frog In Southern Mississippi, Shelbie Kellum

Master's Theses

The main objective of this thesis was to identify potential new pond sites across southern Mississippi for the critically endangered dusky gopher frog (DGF). Ephemeral ponds are the preferred breeding habitat for the species, but they are quite rare in the region due to the diminishment of the longleaf pine ecosystem. This research addresses gaps in the current literature by providing a broad overview of dusky gopher frog breeding habitat identification. LiDAR derived datasets as well as tools within ArcGIS Pro were utilized in order to perform spatial analysis on sites of interest in south Mississippi. By using this methodology …

Revision Of Trachyderines Related To Sphaenothecus From North America With Description Of Three New Genera, And New Species Of Lophalia Casey, 1912, Mannophorus Leconte, 1854, And Ischnocnemis Thomson, 1864 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Trachyderini), Bryan K. Eya

Insecta Mundi

The genera Lophalia Casey, 1912, Mannophorus LeConte, 1854 and Ischnocnemis Thomas, 1864 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Trachyderini) are recharacterized by providing additional morphological features to enhance the delineation of these genera. Two species, Lophalia cribricollis Bates, 1892 and Ischnocnemis luteicollis (Bates, 1885), are transferred to a new genus Lophaliamorpha Eya with Lophaliamorpha luteicollis (Bates) new combination as the type species. Ischnocnemis skillmani Chemsak and Hovore, 2010 is transferred to a new genus Paramannophorus Eya with Paramannophorus skillmani (Chemsak and Hovore) new combination as the type species. A new genus Microteroschema is created to accommodate two additional species from Mexico: Microteroschema parvum …

Antimicrobials Produced By Ants: Chemical Properties And Microbe Specificity, Katy Chon

Master's Theses

Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health concern worldwide, and for over a decade, we have been witnessing the growth of difficult to treat infectious diseases caused by bacteria that are becoming resistant to antibiotics. This resistance can be mostly related to the misusing and improper use of antibiotics in both humans and animals. To restore this problem, humans have turned to new sources for the production of antibiotics. In this study, we focused on using ants. Social insects, including ants and bees, have faced strong disease pressures during their evolution and have developed a range of methods to fight …

Norms And Variance Fail To Predict Butterfly Effects On Social Dynamics By Idiosyncratic Individuals, Stephen F. Stringham, Lynn Rogers, Ann Bryant

Animal Sentience

Adaptations and adjustments to current environmental conditions are manifest in behavioral norms. Knowing norms facilitates population-level prediction, but doesn’t predict individual behavior where idiosyncrasies might trigger “butterfly effects." Knowledge of individual quirks is particularly important for risk assessment and management during close encounters between humans and potentially lethal wildlife, including bears (Ursus spp.). Innovative foraging techniques can alter population vigor and viability. Traits at the tails of a bell curve might hold the greatest potential for adapting to environmental change.

The Effect Of Moon Phase On Predator And Prey Activity Levels On Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Jeff Schell, Charlotte Milling

2024 Symposium

Variation in nighttime illumination linked to moon phase has been demonstrated to affect the activity patterns of both prey and predator species. However, evidence of lunarphobia in ungulates is mixed. Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) in Spokane County spans 23,000 acres; features a diverse landscape of channeled scablands, wetlands, and Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa); and is situated within 20 km of the second largest city in Washington. Our objective was to assess the influence of nighttime illumination on activity levels of common mammals on TNWR by quantifying the relationship between moon phase and visitation rate at trail cameras …

Evaluating Mountain Lion Diet Before And After A Removal Of Feral Horses In A Semiarid Environment, Peter C. Iacono, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Kezia R. Manlove, Pat J. Jackson, David C. Stoner

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Non-native species can affect ecosystems by influencing native predator-prey dynamics. Therefore, management interventions designed to remove non-natives may inadvertently lead to increased predation on native species. Feral horses are widely distributed throughout the arid parts of western North America. A growing body of research indicates that horses can be an important prey species to mountain lions in ecosystems where they overlap. In December 2020, the Bureau of Land Management removed 455 horses from the Delamar Mountains, Nevada, USA. We leveraged this management intervention to implement a before–after–control–impact study to test hypotheses about predation on horses and native ungulates. We predicted …

Populations Of The Stygobiotic Amphipod Palearcticarellus Pusillus (Martynov, 1930) Maintain Genetic Connectivity Between The Mountain Springs And The Deep Bottom Habitats Of Lake Teletskoye (Altai Mountains, Russia), Ivan Marin, Liubov Yanygina, Svetlana Ostroukhova, Dmitry Palatov

International Journal of Speleology

The diversity of underground fauna is often associated with the presence of karst areas, which have extensive underground cavities and connecting channels. Non-karst areas, however, make up a larger portion of the planet’ surface, and our understanding of the distribution and dispersal abilities of underground fauna in these areas currently remains limited. During a recent study of the diversity of stygobiotic crustaceans in the mountain streams of the Kurai Mountain Range (Altai, Russia), a small-sized species of crangonyctid amphipod, Palearcticarellus pusillus (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Crangonyctidae) was found in high-altitude springs. This species has been previously known only from deep-water habitats in …

The Behavioral Specialization Of African Ant-Following Birds On Dorylus Driver Ants, Patricia F. Rodrigues

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ant-following birds, that forage on arthropods flushed by swarm raiding army ants, are an iconic phenomenon in tropical forests around the globe. Despite capturing the attention of naturalists for over a century, research on ant-following birds has largely focused on Neotropical species. Decades of research on Neotropical ant-following birds has revealed fascinating aspects of their specialization, including complex cognitive and behavioral adaptations that allow birds to locate and track nomadic army ants. Despite this breadth of research on Neotropical species, virtually nothing is known of the behavioral ecology of African ant-following birds, and it remains unknown whether they exhibit adaptations …

An Exploration Of The Drivers Of Intraspecific Variation In Arthropod Phenotypes, Jamie Phelps

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Herein we explore the various forces that drive phenotypic variation in arthropods focusing on spatial and temporal differences as well as sexual dimorphism. We use both marine, Tigriopus californicus, and terrestrial, Melitaeini, organisms to investigate these forces.

Tigriopus californicus and Heat Hardening: The study explores how Tigriopus californicus, a copepod, adapts to thermal variation along the North American Pacific Coast. Researchers investigated intraspecific variation in heat hardening, measuring differences in upper lethal limits (ULLs) and potential fecundity costs across five populations. We found a cost of heat hardening: the size of the first brood produced after heat shock …

Records Of The Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria Occipitomaculata) In Central And Northeastern Nebraska, Taylor Lowe, Sarah M. Bailey, Dan D. Fogell, Keith Geluso

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Red-bellied Snakes (Storeria occipitomaculata) are a distinctive, small species that live in moist woodlands throughout much of eastern North America. In the Great Plains, isolated populations exist in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska. In Nebraska, the only known extant population occurs in wooded riparian habitats along the Big Bend Reach of the Platte River in southcentral parts of the state. Herein, we report on new county records of Red-bellied Snakes in Nebraska, with two observations from Merrick County along the Platte River adjacent to known populations and two observations of a new population in the extreme northeastern part …

Patterns Of Stand Structure And Species Composition Through Time And Space In A Piñon- Juniper Woodland In The Southwestern Us, Kyle H. Gonterman

Biology ETDs

Piñon- juniper (PJ) woodlands in the Southwest United States are expected to see mortality and structural change in response to climate change. The extent to which this habitat structures itself as well as its response to these changes over time are not well known yet and have not been examined to this extent for the location of this study within the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. Within a small range, we discovered these woodlands consist of persistent woodland, shrubby woodland, and juniper savanna in which structural, spatial, and regeneration patterns differ. In this study, we discovered the specific differences between these …

Elevational Gradients Shape Bee Network Structure And Community Composition Across Tropical Lowland To Montane Forests In Costa Rica, Jenny Hsu

Online Theses and Dissertations

Mutualistic networks, such as those between plants and pollinators, play a crucial role in ecosystem stability and resilience. Previous theoretical work has posited that mutualistic networks with higher diversity, connectance, nestedness, interaction diversity and more generalist species are more resilient and stable. However, in some ecosystems, specialized interactions and specialists may promote network stability. Drivers of network properties in the neotropics, especially low and mid-elevations, remain relatively unknown, and thus this area should receive special attention. Replicated empirical networks comparing properties along environmental gradients in these regions can help contribute to resolving this debate. A total of 28 networks, replicated …

Microplastic Accumulation In The Marsh Periwinkle (Littoraria Irrorata), Sarah Keaton, Hannah Lukhard, Eli Windy, Manar Hasan

DePaul Discoveries

Contamination of oceans by microplastics (mm) currently poses a major threat to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Recent attention towards this issue has raised questions about the extent to which microplastics have accumulated in the environment, and has led to an increase in studies on the effects of microplastics in various organisms. However, levels of contamination in protected natural areas are still largely unexplored, yet can offer an important empirical perspective on the issue. In addition, little is known about the potential effects of microplastics on behavior in the field. This research was conducted within the protected ACE Basin National …

Postweaning Skull Growth In Living Didelphid Marsupials: The Case Of Gracilinanus Agilis And Cryptonanus Chacoensis, Iveth A. Villalobos Guerrero, Noé U. De La Sancha

DePaul Discoveries

Ontogeny is described as the history of an organism through its lifetime including development, growth, and allometry. The ontogenetic approach in cranial dimensions has proved useful in interpreting evolutionary patterns. Among the largest Didelphidae family of Neotropical marsupials, the species of Gracilinanus agilis and Cryptonanus chacoensis are poorly known. In this study, we address three questions; Is there sexual dimorphism in these species? What is the pattern of allometry? Which allometric patterns best describe the patterns in the skull and mandible? We applied geometric morphometrics to describe and test these differences using MorphoJ. A discriminant function analysis was performed to …

A Decade Of Earth-Centered Scholarship And Activism, Elizabeth Allison

CIIS Faculty Publications

Origin stories reveal the myriad causes that converge to birth a new initiative. On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, this essay looks back to document the context and intellectual lineage out of which the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion graduate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) emerged in 2013, and suggests some possibilities for the future of transdisciplinary education and the fields of religion and ecology (e.g. Tucker and Grim 2001), religion and nature (e.g. B. Taylor 2010), and spiritual ecology (e.g. Sponsel 2012) more broadly.

National Parks Field Journal, Isadora Davis

Art and Design Student Scholarship and Projects

A handwritten, richly illustrated field journal by Binghamton University art major Isadora Davis, recording a trip through national parks in the American West via SUNY Broome's BIO 217: Ecology of National Parks. Davis uses colored pencil drawings and pressed botanical specimens to record landscapes, birds, mammals, and plant life in Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Wind Cave, and Badlands National Parks, as well as Custer State Park. Davis's sketches and diagrams visually explore how to decode past landscapes from current formations, while her written entries explain species diversity, animal behavior, and the mechanisms causing geological formations and geothermal events. Part memoir of …

Wildlife Conservation: The Importance Of Individual Personality Traits And Sentience, Karen A. Owens, Gosia Bryja, Marc Bekoff

Animal Sentience

Individual differences in personality types within the same species have been studied much less than differences between species and populations. Personality differences are related to risk-taking and exploration, which in turn correlate with individuals' daily responses, decisions, and fitness. Bold and shy personality types can have different advantages and disadvantages under different social or environmental pressures. Analyzing personality differences has helped clarify how elk habituate to a well-populated area and how management strategies can be adapted to them. For wolves newly repatriated to Colorado, individual personality factors are likely to prove important for adapting to their new homes as well …

A Versatile, Semi-Automated Image Analysis Workflow For Time-Lapse Camera Trap Image Classification, Gerardo Celis, Peter Ungar, Aleksandr Sokolov, Natalia Sokolova, Hannah Bohner, Desheng Liu, Olivier Gilg, Ivan Fufachev, Olga Pokrovskaya, Rolf Anker Ims, Wenbo Zhou, Dan Morris, Dorothee Ehrich

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Camera traps are a powerful, practical, and non-invasive method used widely to monitor animal communities and evaluate management actions. However, camera trap arrays can generate thousands to millions of images that require significant time and effort to review. Computer vision has emerged as a tool to accelerate this image review process. We propose a multi-step, semi-automated workflow which takes advantage of site-specific and generalizable models to improve detections and consists of (1) automatically identifying and removing low-quality images in parallel with classification into animals, humans, vehicles, and empty, (2) automatically cropping objects from images and classifying them (rock, bait, empty, …

Spatial Ecology Of Mountain Lions Throughout Their Distribution In California, Kyle Duncan Dougherty

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) have been studied extensively throughout their wide geographic distribution in the Western Hemisphere, but most research has been conducted at relatively small spatial scales. We used GPS telemetry data contributed by researchers in 16 study areas throughout California to advance understanding of mountain lion spatial ecology. First, we investigated multi-scale resource selection of mountain lions relative to spatially varying risk of intentional human-caused mortality associated with livestock depredation management. We show that individuals that proactively avoided mortality risk when selecting home ranges were able to relax their avoidance of risk when making resource selection …

Spatial Ecology Of Mountain Lions Throughout Their Distribution In California, Kyle D. Dougherty

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) have been studied extensively throughout their wide geographic distribution in the Western Hemisphere, but most research has been conducted at relatively small spatial scales. We used GPS telemetry data contributed by researchers in 16 study areas throughout California to advance understanding of mountain lion spatial ecology. First, we investigated multi-scale resource selection of mountain lions relative to spatially varying risk of intentional human-caused mortality associated with livestock depredation management. We show that individuals that proactively avoided mortality risk when selecting home ranges were able to relax their avoidance of risk when making resource selection …

Hybridization Between The Rare Gray-Headed Chickadee And The Abundant Boreal Chickadee In The Midst Of Shifting Climate, Matthew R. Armstrong

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As species respond to changing climate, distributions and abundances may shift and alter species interactions. Hybridization, a relatively widespread phenomenon becoming more common with climate change, can have beneficial and detrimental effects on population growth rates and genetic integrity. Beneficial effects due to the introduction of advantageous alleles and increased genetic diversity may result from hybridization. Species may also accrue fitness costs associated with changing climates if mismatches occur between environmental variables and phenotypes. The gray-headed chickadee, Poecile cinctus lathami, is an extremely rare songbird that has experienced marked declines in recent decades within its restricted distribution in Alaska …

The Relationship Between Changing Land Cover And Benthic Macroinvertebrate Diversity In Choccolocco Creek, Northeast Alabama, Kindall Brown

Theses

Land cover changes, driven by urbanization, agriculture, and deforestation, significantly affect the physical and chemical characteristics of water bodies at both the watershed and riparian levels. At the larger spatial scale, a stream’s surrounding watershed facilitates lateral inputs into the stream that are essential for biodiversity support, hydrological stability, and water quality. When a stream becomes disconnected from the lateral inputs due to urban or agricultural development, the morphology of the stream is significantly altered. On a smaller spatial scale, the riparian zone can act as a buffer to pollutants. The vegetation surrounding the stream bank promotes stability to the …

New Insights On Hybridization In Potamogeton Floridanus (The Florida Pondweed), Kaitlyn R. Sampson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most important and highest threatened habitats in the world, and aquatic plants play an important, but often-overlooked, role in maintaining them. Potamogeton is a diverse and ecologically important aquatic plant genus well known for taxonomic difficulty and rampant hybridization. lbis study aimed to 1) test the hypothesis that Potamogeton jloridanus (Florida pondweed) is a hybrid between P. oakesianus and P. pulcher, and 2) to investigate correlations in ecological conditions for the focal species. This study revealed the discovery of a new population of P. jloridanus in Big Coldwater Creek in Santa Rosa Co., FL, …

Spatial And Abiotic Effects Of Urbanization On Small Mammal Communities, Bri Casement

Master's Theses

Urbanization, the phenomenon of increasing human population density and artificial structures, is known to decrease the richness, abundance, and diversity of native wildlife populations, fragment natural areas, and increase human and human-commensal animal interactions with wildlife. Dynamics of species persistence in habitat fragments is often understood in the framework of island biogeography theory (IBT), with habitat fragments being analogous to oceanic islands. Despite the conceptual similarities between oceanic islands in IBT and urbanized habitat fragments (fragment size, fragment age, and distance to immigration sources), there are important differences. In urban fragments, the matrix is not completely impassible, habitats within fragments …

The Ecological Applications Of Δ17O: Validating A Novel Technique For Assessing Animal Metabolism And Water Intake, Zachary Taylor Steele

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Animals obtain water via different processes such as drinking, consuming food, and through metabolic processes like at the end of the electron transport chain when atmospheric oxygen is combined with hydrogen to form ‘cytochrome oxidase water’. Assessing animal water flux and metabolism has mainly been conducted via stable isotope analysis (SIA) of biological samples using hydrogen (²H) and oxygen isotopes (¹⁶O, ¹⁷O, and ¹⁸O; Δ¹⁷O), typically using enriched isotope tracers. However, natural abundance isotope modeling offers an approach for conducting SIA of biological samples that differs because it relies on the unique, …

Behavioural Distributions Of Macrophytes In An Oxbow Lake, Dhir Beel With Reference To Its Water Quality In Assam, India, Arup Nama Das, D. K. Sharma

Journal of Bioresource Management

An Oxbow lake, Dhir Beel, situated in Western Assam, India, stands as a habitat for a plethora of plant and animal species, nurturing a vibrant ecosystem within its freshwater environs. This study sought to address concerns surrounding pollution, encroachment, siltation, and overfishing within Dhir Beel. Over a span of three years (2016-2019), samples were meticulously collected from five distinct sites to analyze both water quality and macrophyte populations. Employing the APHA method, the physico-chemical parameters of the water were evaluated, while a comprehensive identification process was undertaken to categorize the macrophytes. These aquatic plants, spanning dicots, monocots, and pteridophytes, were …