Digital Commons Network^™

Influence Of Environmental Features On Spermatophore Placement In Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum), Megan A. Kuechle

Theses and Dissertations

Successful reproduction in salamanders is driven by behavioral, environmental, and temporal interactions among adults. While much of our understanding of salamander mating systems is based upon either courtship behavior of both sexes or aspects of female choice, the decisions made by males regarding where to place spermatophores is much less quantified. In this study, we mapped male spermatophore placement in the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) with respect to ecological and spatial locations within a vernal pool complex in Charles City County, Virginia. The overall goal was to use the spatial and ecological placement of spermatophores to determine if …

Characterizing Water Quality And Hydrologic Properties Of Urban Streams In Central Virginia, Rikki Lucas

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to characterize water quality and hydrologic properties of urban streams in the Richmond metropolitan area. Water quality data were analyzed for six urban sites and two non-urban sites. Geomorphological surveys and conservative tracer studies were performed at four urban sites and one non-urban site to describe intra- and inter- site variability in transient storage, channel geomorphology, and related hydrologic parameters. Urban sites showed elevated concentrations of nitrogen and more variable TSS concentrations relative to reference sites. Urban channels were deeply incised with unstable banks and low sinuosity. Little Westham Creek exhibited the greatest transient …

A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Jaguar (Panthera Onca) And Puma (Puma Concolor) Habitat Selection And Conservation In The Narrowest Section Of Panama., Kimberly A. Craighead

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Over the past two centuries, large terrestrial carnivores have suffered extreme population declines and range contractions resulting from the synergistic anthropogenic threats of land-use change and indirect effects of climate change. In Panama, rapid land use conversion coupled with climate change is predicted to negatively impact jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor). This dissertation examined the environmental variables and scales influencing jaguar and puma habitat selection by season (annual, wet, and dry), using multi-scale optimized habitat suitability models and a machine-learning algorithm (Random Forests), in the narrowest section of Panama. The models derived from the data of an intensive …

Habitat Characteristics And Nesting Ecology Of Golden Eagles In Arizona, Michele J. Losee

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) have a broad range globally and in general are well-studied. However, Arizona’s Golden Eagle population remained essentially unstudied until 2011, when Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) began nest surveys for cliff nesting Golden Eagles throughout the state. As a result of this data collection, the natural history of Arizona’s Golden Eagles is finally revealing itself. This dissertation outlined a reliable description of their nesting phenology that provides a framework for timing surveys and a baseline to monitor the effects of climate change on Golden Eagles. The mean date for egg-laying was February 14 and pairs …

Home Range, Habitat Use And Thermal Ecology Of The Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene Bauri) On An Anthropogenic Island In Southwestern Florida, Christina Demetrio

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Limited information is available on the ecology of Terrapene bauri (Florida Box Turtle) in mangrove ecosystems. Radio-telemetry and iButton data loggers were used to study the home range, habitat use, and thermal ecology of ten Florida Box Turtles on an anthropogenic island in the mangrove-dominated region of southwestern Florida. The effects of weather variables on movement and activity were also examined. Home range analysis using Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimates (KDE) determined an average home range size of 0.81 ha (MCP) and 2.32 ha (95% KDE). Box Turtles moved an average distance of 6.3 m per day …

The Octopus Mind And The Argument Against Farming It, Jennifer Jacquet, Becca Franks, Peter Godfrey-Smith

Animal Sentience

Mather is convincing about octopuses having ‘a controlling mind, motivated to gather information,’ but stops short of asking what having that mind means for octopus moral standing. One consequence of understanding the octopus mind should be a refusal to subject octopuses to mass production. Octopus farming is in an experimental phase and supported by various countries. We argue that it is unethical because of concerns about animal welfare as well as environmental impacts.

Just Preservation, Adrian Treves, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, William S. Lynn

Animal Sentience

We are failing to protect the biosphere. Novel views of conservation, preservation, and sustainability are surfacing in the wake of consensus about our failures to prevent extinction or slow climate change. We argue that the interests and well-being of non-humans, youth, and future generations of both human and non-human beings (futurity) have too long been ignored in consensus-based, anthropocentric conservation. Consensus-based stakeholder-driven processes disadvantage those absent or without a voice and allow current adult humans and narrow, exploitative interests to dominate decisions about the use of nature over its preservation for futurity of all life. We propose that authentically non-anthropocentric …

The Intrinsic Value Of Nature, Joanna E. Lambert

Animal Sentience

Treves et al. explain the need to preserve the rights of nonhuman species, human youth, and future generations. Although conservation biology has claimed to have an intrinsic valuation ethic since its inception in the 1980s, many aspects of the field have taken a decidedly anthropocentric and instrumentalist trajectory. This has important consequences for conservation-related policy and practice at all scales: local, regional, and global.

Mobilizing Heads And Hearts For Wildlife Conservation, Valérie A. M. Schoof, Simon L'Allier

Animal Sentience

Highlighting the shared evolutionary relationships between humans and animals — and recognizing that all species, including humans, are unique in their own way — may facilitate caring for and conserving animals by tapping into a human emotion: empathy.

Microplastics In Full View: Birds As Bioindicators Of Malta's Coastal Ecosystem Health, Dalton Brauer

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Plastic pollution has recently become a widely studied topic, yet research on microplastics has remained lacking for specific geographic regions. Microplastics are small plastics resulting from degradation or the dumping of raw material and can lead to deleterious impacts on the coastal marine environment and its organisms. To assess Malta’s coastal environmental health, water birds (inshore, offshore and pelagic species) were used as bioindicators by assessing the presence and abundance of plastic within their stomach contents. The project hoped to fill some of the current gaps in knowledge on microplastics within Malta by creating a working baseline, as well as …

Patterns Of Genetic Structure In The American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius): Influence Of Distance And Migration And Implications For Monitoring And Management, Michaela Brinkmeyer

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Genetic structure is useful for inferring patterns of selection, gene flow and connectivity, and can define management units that aid in interpretation of spatially-specific trends and species management. American kestrels (Falco sparverius) are a widespread, generalist species with fully migratory, partial migrant, and resident populations. In many parts of their range, kestrels show evidence of declining population trends; however, it has been difficult to identify threats to kestrels because of differences in regional trends. We used a genome-wide sequencing approach to investigate the genetic structure of American kestrels, test hypotheses about the processes that influence genetic structuring of …

No Evidence For Kin Protection In The Expression Of Sickness Behaviors In House Mice, Patricia C. Lopes, Per Block, Alice Pontiggia, Anna K. Lindholm, Barbara König

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

When infected, animals change their behaviors in several ways, including by decreasing their activity, their food and water intake, and their interest in social interactions. These behavioral alterations are collectively called sickness behaviors and, for several decades, the main hypotheses put forward to explain this phenomenon were that engaging in sickness behaviors facilitated the fever response and improved the likelihood of host survival. However, a new hypothesis was recently proposed suggesting that engaging in sickness behaviors may serve to protect kin. We tested this kin protection hypothesis by combining a field and a laboratory experiment in house mice. In both …

Habitat Segregation Between Brown Bears And Gray Wolves In A Human-Dominated Landscape, Cyril Milleret, Andrés Ordiz, Guillaume Chapron, Harry Peter Andreassen, Jonas Kindberg, Johan Månsson, Aimee Tallian, Petter Wabakken, Camilla Wikenros, Barbara Zimmermann, Jon E. Swenson, Håkan Sand

Ecology Center Publications

Identifying how sympatric species belonging to the same guild coexist is a major question of community ecology and conservation. Habitat segregation between two species might help reduce the effects of interspecific competition and apex predators are of special interest in this context, because their interactions can have consequences for lower trophic levels. However, habitat segregation between sympatric large carnivores has seldom been studied. Based on monitoring of 53 brown bears (Ursus arctos) and seven sympatric adult gray wolves (Canis lupus) equipped with GPS collars in Sweden, we analyzed the degree of interspecific segregation in habitat selection …

Examining Patterns In Nest Predation Using Artificial Nests, Victoria L. Simonsen

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

The use of artificial nests to study the predation of avian nests has faced disregard by ecologists due to inconsistencies found between the survival rates of real and artificial nests across studies and reviews. The negative perception of artificial nests providing an inconsistent assessment of survival has thus fostered the perception that artificial nests are a secondary option to be used to overcome logistical hurdles associated with achieving sufficient sample sizes in systems where study species are rare or elusive, or as merely a preliminary method to study predation across gradients. We argue that the greatest mistake ecologists have made …

The Value Of Chemical Defense: The Effects Of Toxin Milking On The Physical, Physiological, And Behavioral Performance Of Cane Toads (Rhinella Marina), Ryann Blennerhassett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Amphibians have cutaneous glands on their skin which produce a number of toxic compounds that serve as protection against predators and microorganisms. Cane toads (Rhinella marina) have large parotoid glands located on their shoulders to store toxins, many of which are derived from lipids and are thus energetically expensive to produce. I used a combination of field and laboratory studies to investigate behavioral and physiological consequences of toxin loss and replenishment in cane toads. In a cross-sectional study, free-ranging toads were euthanized and dissected to identify correlations between toxin content and morphology /physiology. Experimental manipulations (manually expressing toxin from glands) …

Justice Served Fresh: Associations Between Food Insecurity, Community Gardening, And Property Value, Micajah Daniels, Courtney Coughenour Ph.D

McNair Poster Presentations

Numerous stakeholders in Nevada have used a variety of efforts to combat the growth of food insecurity facing Nevadans. The purpose of this research project is to understand the association between food insecurity, community gardens, and property value. Following the wealth of scholarship on these topics and data collected from community garden agencies in Southern Nevada, the research questions for this project include: (1) Where are community gardens located in SNV? (2) What efforts community gardens agencies are doing to address food insecurity (most interested in their efforts using community gardens)? (3) What are the perceptions of supports and barriers …

Multiple Facets Of Biodiversity Drive The Diversity-Stability Relationship, Dylan Craven, Nico Eisenhauer, William D. Pearse, Yann Hautier, Christiane Roscher, Forest Isbell, Michael Bahn, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Gerhard Bönisch, Nina Buchmann, Chaeho Byun, Jane A. Catford, Bruno E.L. Cerabolini, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Joseph M. Craine, Enrica De Luca, Anne Ebeling, John N. Griffin, Andy Hector, Jes Hines, Anke Jentsch, Jens Kattge, Jürgen Kreyling, Vojtech Lanta, Nathan Lemoine, Sebastian T. Meyer, Vanessa Minden, Vladimir Onipchenko, H. Wayne Polley, Peter B. Reich, Jasper Van Ruijven, Brandon Schamp, Melinda D. Smith, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, David Tilman, Alexandra Weigelt, Brian Wilsey, Peter Manning

Biology Faculty Publications

A significant body of evidence has demonstrated that biodiversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning over time in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of different facets of biodiversity underlying the diversity–stability relationship remains unclear. Here we used data from 39 biodiversity experiments and structural equation modeling to investigate the roles of species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and both the diversity and community-weighted mean of functional traits representing the ‘fast–slow’ leaf economics spectrum in driving the diversity–stability relationship. We found that high species richness and phylogenetic diversity stabilize biomass production via enhanced asynchrony. Contrary to our hypothesis, low phylogenetic diversity also enhances ecosystem stability …

Yardwork: A Biography Of An Urban Place By Daniel Coleman, Vivian M. Hansen

The Goose

Review of Daniel Coleman's Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place.

Bubble Stream Production By Belugas (Delphinapterus Leucas), Megan Slack

Theses

Bubble stream production in belugas has been poorly characterized and its function is not well understood. I examined behavioral states when producing bubble streams (“bubbling”), and when bubbling calls, to determine whether bubbling was significantly associated with a particular call category or behavioral state. Using 19 hours of video and audio recordings collected over a two-day period, I quantified bubble streams of a 4-month old calf and an unrelated adult female housed together. Based on the overall activity budgets and pool of vocalizations for both animals, I calculated the expected counts of bubble streams with and without vocalizations, assuming that …

Geographic Variation In Larval Metabolic Rate Between Northern And Southern Populations Of The Invasive Gypsy Moth, Carolyn May, Noah Hillerbrand, Lily M. Thompson, Trevor M. Faske, Eloy Martinez, Dylan Perry, Salvatore J. Agosta, Kristine L. Grayson

Biology Faculty Publications

Thermal regimes can diverge considerably across the geographic range of a species, and accordingly, populations can vary in their response to changing environmental conditions. Both local adaptation and acclimatization are important mechanisms for ectotherms to maintain homeostasis as environments become thermally stressful, which organisms often experience at their geographic range limits. The spatial spread of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) after introduction to North America provides an exemplary system for studying population variation in physiological traits given the gradient of climates encompassed by its current invasive range. This study quantifies differences in resting metabolic rate (RMR) across …

Biotime: A Database Of Biodiversity Time Series For The Anthropocene, Maria Dornelas, Laura H. Antão, Faye Moyes, Amanda E. Bates, Anne E. Magurran, Dušan Adam, Asem A. Akhmetzhanova, Ward Appeltans, José Manuel Arcos, Haley Arnold, Narayanan Ayyappan, Gal Badihi, Andrew H. Baird, Miguel Barbosa, Tiago Egydio Barreto, Claus Bässler, Alecia Bellgrove, Jonathan Belmaker, Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, Brian J. Bett, Anne D. Bjorkman, Magdalena Błażewicz, Shane A. Blowes, Christopher P. Bloch, Timothy C. Bonebrake, Susan Boyd, Matt Bradford, Andrew J. Brooks, James H. Brown, Helge Bruelheide, Phaedra Budy, Fernando Carvalho, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Chaolun Allen Chen, John F. Chamblee, Tory J. Chase, Laura Siegwart Collier, Sharon K. Collinge, Richard Condit, Elisabeth J. Cooper, J Hans C. Cornelissen, Unai Cotano, Shannan Kyle Crow, Gabriella Damasceno, Claire H. Davies, Robert A. Davis, Frank P. Day, Steven Degraer, Tim S. Doherty, Timothy E. Dunn, Giselda Durigan, J. Emmett Duffy, Dor Edelist, Graham J. Edgar, Robin Elahi, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Anders Enemar, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Rubén Escribano, Marc Estiarte, Brian S. Evans, Tung-Yung Fan, Fabiano Turini Farah, Luiz Loureiro Fernandes, Fábio Z. Farneda, Alessandra Fidelis, Robert Fitt, Anna Maria Fosaa, Geraldo Antonio Daher Correa Franco, Grace E. Frank, William R. Fraser, Hernando García, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Or Givan, Elizabeth Gorgone-Barbosa, William A. Gould, Corinna Gries, Gary D. Grossman, Julio R. Gutierréz, Stephen Hale, Mark E. Harmon, John Harte, Gary Haskins, Donald L. Henshaw, Luise Hermanutz, Pamela Hidalgo, Pedro Higuchi, Andrew Hoey, Gert Van Hoey, Annika Hofgaard, Kristen Holeck, Robert D. Hollister, Richard Holmes, Mia Hoogenboom, Chih-Hao Hsieh, Stephen P. Hubbell, Falk Huettmann, Christine L. Huffard, Allen H. Hurlbert, Natália Macedo Ivanauskas, David Janík, Ute Jandt, Anna Jażdżewska, Tore Johannessen, Jill Johnstone, Julia Jones, Faith A. M. Jones, Jungwon Kang, Tasrif Kartawijaya, Erin C. Keeley, Douglas A. Kelt, Rebecca Kinnear, Kari Klanderud, Halvor Knutsen, Christopher C. Koenig, Alessandra R. Kortz, Kamil Král, Linda A. Kuhnz, Chao-Yang Kuo, David J. Kushner, Claire Laguionie-Marchais, Lesley T. Lancaster, Cheol Min Lee, Jonathan S. Lefcheck, Esther Lévesque, David Lightfoot, Francisco Lloret, John D. Lloyd, Adrià López-Baucells, Maite Louzao, Joshua S. Madin, Borgþór Magnússon, Shahar Malamud, Iain Matthews, Kent P. Mcfarland, Brian Mcgill, Diane Mcknight, William O. Mclarney, Jason Meador, Peter L. Meserve, Daniel J. Metcalfe, Christoph F. J. Meyer, Anders Michelsen, Nataliya Milchakova, Tom Moens, Even Moland, Jon Moore, Carolina Mathias Moreira, Jörg Müller, Grace Murphy, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Randall W. Myster, Andrew Naumov, Francis Neat, James A. Nelson, Michael Paul Nelson, Stephen F. Newton, Natalia Norden, Jeffrey C. Oliver, Esben M. Olsen, Vladimir G. Onipchenko, Krzysztof Pabis, Robert J. Pabst, Alain Paquette, Sinta Pardede, David M. Paterson, Raphaël Pélissier, Josep Peñuelas, Alejandro Pérez-Matus, Oscar Pizarro, Francesco Pomati, Eric Post, Herbert H. T. Prins, John C. Priscu, Pieter Provoost, Kathleen L. Prudic, Erkki Pulliainen, B. R. Ramesh, Olivia Mendivil Ramos, Andrew Rassweiler, Jose Eduardo Rebelo, Daniel C. Reed, Peter B. Reich, Suzanne M. Remillard, Anthony J. Richardson, J. Paul Richardson, Itai Van Rijn, Ricardo Rocha, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Christian Rixen, Kevin P. Robinson, Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues, Denise De Cerqueira Rossa-Feres, Lars Rudstam, Henry Ruhl, Catalina S. Ruz, Erica M. Sampaio, Nancy Rybicki, Andrew Rypel, Sofia Sal, Beatriz Salgado, Flavio A. M. Santos, Ana Paula Savassi-Coutinho, Sara Scanga, Jochen Schmidt, Robert Schooley, Fakhrizal Setiawan, Kwang-Tsao Shao, Gaius R. Shaver, Sally Sherman, Thomas W. Sherry, Jacek Siciński, Caya Sievers, Ana Carolina Da Silva, Fernando Rodrigues Da Silva, Fabio L. Silveira, Jasper Slingsby, Tracey Smart, Sara J. Snell, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Gabriel B. G. Souza, Flaviana Maluf Souza, Vinícius Castro Souza, Christopher D. Stallings, Rowan Stanforth, Emily H. Stanley, José Mauro Sterza, Maarten Stevens, Rick Stuart-Smith, Yzel Rondon Suarez, Sarah Supp, Jorge Yoshio Tamashiro, Sukmaraharja Tarigan, Gary P. Thiede, Simon Thorn, Anne Tolvanen, Maria Teresa Zugliani Toniato, Ørjan Totland, Robert R. Twilley, Gediminas Vaitkus, Nelson Valdivia, Martha Isabel Vallejo, Thomas J. Valone, Carl Van Colen, Jan Vanaverbeke, Fabio Venturoli, Hans M. Verheye, Marcelo Vianna, Rui P. Vieira, Tomáš Vrška, Con Quang Vu, Lien Van Vu, Robert B. Waide, Conor Waldock, Dave Watts, Sara Webb, Tomasz Wesołowski, Ethan P. White, Claire E. Widdicombe, Dustin Wilgers, Richard Williams, Stefan B. Williams, Mark Williamson, Michael R. Willig, Trevor J. Willis, Sonja Wipf, Kerry D. Woods, Eric J. Woehler, Kyle Zawada, Michael L. Zettler

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.

Main types of variables included: The database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains …

Political Populations Of Large Carnivores, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, Adrian Treves, Kyle A. Artelle

Wildlife Population Management Collection

No abstract provided.

Functions Of Ecosystems: Stream Metabolism As An Efficient And Effective Means To Gage The Health And Understand The Interworking Of Urban Streams In A Watershed Of Rock Island, Il, Ryan Johnson, Dr. Kevin Geedey

Celebration of Learning

Stream metabolism is a critical functional measure of stream health that integrates physical parameters like slope and discharge, with ecosystem functions like photosynthesis and respiration. Stream metabolism is widely studied; however, urban stream metabolism remains poorly understood. Stream metabolism was measured for five streams ranging from 1^st to 5^th orders from October 11^th to October 18^th 2017 and four streams ranging from 1^st to 4^th order from October 22^nd to 25^th 2017 located within an approximately 9.3 square kilometer watershed of Rock Island, IL that has an urban to suburban type of …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effects Of Urbanization, Mesophication And Prescribed Burns On Oak Woodlands In The Chicago Metropolitan Area, Chad Populorum

Celebration of Learning

Urban expansion has had devastating impacts on forest ecosystems, especially within the past century. Human attempts to dominate nature have diminished natural disturbance regimes, which have maintained the biodiversity and historic composition of these ecosystems. Fires have been a prominent force in maintaining the structure of oak, hickory and other heliophytic (sun loving and fire-adapted) forest systems. Human induced fire suppression has led to mesophication across North America. Mesophication is the transition from drier conditions with open canopies to wetter conditions with closed canopies. These new conditions decrease the survival rates of these important species and begin to favor mesophytic …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Mitigating Bioiversity Loss Of Native Plants, Jamie Ana Grigonis

Student Theses 2015-Present

Growing up harvesting from my own vegetable garden and going from nursery to nursery with my mother, it has been extremely evident that plant biodiversity is more than just privet along driveways and carnations in window boxes. Plant biodiversity is often overlooked but crucial to having a healthy and thriving environment. Without certain plants, our ecosystems will crumble and this needs to be addressed now while it’s still at a level we can grow from. In my internship I am working alongside the director of the Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Gardens in order to get a …

Winter Bat Activity In A Landscape Without Traditional Hibernacula, Amy M. Hammesfahr, Rene E. Ohms

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Prior to 2014, bat research at Devils Tower National Monument (DETO) focused on bats present during the summer months. Biologists at DETO assumed local bats were strictly summer residents due to the presumed lack of typical habitat features associated with bat hibernation, such as caves and mines. This lack of traditional hibernacula features at DETO discouraged staff and research cooperators from studying winter bat populations. Despite the earlier assumption that bats were unlikely to hibernate on the monument, DETO documented significant winter bat activity through passive winter acoustic monitoring. This study is the first study at DETO that documents …

Using Molecular Markers To Trace The Population History Of Volant Organisms At Differing Temporal Scales, Noah A. Burg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using molecular markers to test phylogenetic and phylogeographic hypotheses is critical for tracking the population origin of invasive, introduced species (Chapter 2, Chapter 4) and to identify the systematic relationships of disparate lineages at both shallow and deep evolutionary time scales (Chapters 3, Chapter 4). In this thesis, Sanger Sequencing was used to generate datasets based on fresh and preserved tissue from specimens collected in the field, as well as museum tissue vouchers granted from various institutions in the US and Europe. In combining these source materials, data were generated for three focal studies: 1) In the first research section …

Comparison Of Habitat And Water Quality In The Blue River's South And Salem Forks In Southern Indiana To Support Watershed Management, Erin Crone

Undergraduate Theses

A stream’s habitat and water quality are heavily influenced by land use and geology within its watershed. Pollutants and sediment loading from watershed drainage can make streams less habitable for certain species, reducing biodiversity. Watershed management strategies, such as the promotion of best management practices in agriculture, can help to combat stream degradation from watershed inputs. The upper Blue River in southern Indiana is a biodiversity hotspot but is experiencing degradation and biodiversity loss due to watershed inputs. This is exemplified by the disappearance of the eastern hellbender salamander, an indicator species, from this area. Fine sediment loading is particularly …

Devonian Stromatoporoid Interactions At The Falls Of The Ohio State Park, Clarksville, Indiana, Morgan Sierra Hall

Undergraduate Theses

Stromatoporoids are calcitic sponges that occurred in the fossil record from the Early Ordovician to Late Devonian period. These sponges interacted with other organisms, especially rugose and tabulate corals. Some corals appear to benefit from the rigidity of stromatoporoids in response to turbulent waters. Stromatoporoids and many corals went extinct during the Frasnian-Famennian crisis when paleoenvironmental parameters were shifting. Studying the relationships between these taxa may provide insight to their vulnerability during the extinction.

This research was performed at the Falls of the Ohio in Clarksville, Indiana. Organisms in the Coral Zone were studied using transect sampling. Each fossil along …