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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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Articles 11521 - 11550 of 19729

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Contrasting Demographic History And Gene Flow Patterns Of Two Mangrove Species On Either Side Of The Central American Isthmus, Ivania Cerón-Souza, Elena G. Gonzalez, Andrea E. Schwarzbach, Dayana E. Salas-Leiva, Elsie Rivera-Ocasio, Nelson Toro-Perea, Eldredge Bermingham, W Owen Mcmillan Aug 2015

Contrasting Demographic History And Gene Flow Patterns Of Two Mangrove Species On Either Side Of The Central American Isthmus, Ivania Cerón-Souza, Elena G. Gonzalez, Andrea E. Schwarzbach, Dayana E. Salas-Leiva, Elsie Rivera-Ocasio, Nelson Toro-Perea, Eldredge Bermingham, W Owen Mcmillan

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Comparative phylogeography offers a unique opportunity to understand the interplay between past environmental events and life-history traits on diversification of unrelated but co-distributed species. Here, we examined the effects of the quaternary climate fluctuations and palaeomarine currents and present-day marine currents on the extant patterns of genetic diversity in the two most conspicuous mangrove species of the Neotropics. The black (Avicennia germinans, Avicenniaceae) and the red (Rhizophora mangle, Rhizophoraceae) mangroves have similar geographic ranges but are very distantly related and show striking differences on their life-history traits. We sampled 18 Atlantic and 26 Pacific locations for A. germinans (N = …

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Assessment Of Disturbance Effects Of An Existing Wind Energy Facility On Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus) Breeding Season Ecology In The Sandhills Of Nebraska, Jocelyn O. Harrison Jul 2015

Assessment Of Disturbance Effects Of An Existing Wind Energy Facility On Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus) Breeding Season Ecology In The Sandhills Of Nebraska, Jocelyn O. Harrison

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

Recent wind energy development in the Great Plains of North America has given rise to concerns of potential impacts on the greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus). Recent studies in fragmented landscapes have suggested greater prairie-chickens may avoid wind facilities, which may lead to habitat loss and negative impacts on reproduction and survival. But, it is unknown if there is a similar effect in contiguous grass landscapes. Thus, we investigated the effect of a pre-existing, 36-turbine wind energy facility on greater prairie-chicken nesting, brood-rearing, and spatial ecology in the Nebraska Sandhills. We captured and marked 78 female greater prairie-chickens …

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Discovery And Delimitation: Criconematid Nematodes Of North American Grasslands, Magdalena Jean Olson Jul 2015

Discovery And Delimitation: Criconematid Nematodes Of North American Grasslands, Magdalena Jean Olson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Approximately 200 years ago, North American landscapes were dominated by vast expanses of grassland. The Great Plains, an ecologically complex and diverse ecoregion, extended from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Rocky Mountains to the border of the eastern hardwood forest in Indiana. Now the original tallgrass prairie exists in small widely dispersed remnant patches surrounded by agroecosystems. This study is an effort to characterize soil nematode diversity and population structure within those remnant patches. The plant parasitic nematode family Criconematidae serves as our indicator for nematode diversity, due to its global distribution, high abundance in natural …

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Agave Chewing And Dental Wear: Evidence From Quids, Emily E. Hammerl, Melissa A. Baier, Karl Reinhard Jul 2015

Agave Chewing And Dental Wear: Evidence From Quids, Emily E. Hammerl, Melissa A. Baier, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

Agave quid chewing is examined as a potential contributing behavior to hunter-gatherer dental wear. It has previously been hypothesized that the contribution of Agave quid chewing to dental wear would be observed in communities wherever phytolith-rich desert succulents were part of subsistence. Previous analysis of coprolites from a prehistoric agricultural site, La Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos in Durango, Mexico, showed that Agave was a consistent part of a diverse diet. Therefore, quids recovered at this site ought to be useful materials to test the hypothesis that dental wear was related to desert succulent consumption. The quids recovered from the …

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Exploring Differences Among Illegal Activities In The Ugalla Game Reserve Of Western Tanzania, Paulo Wilfred Jul 2015

Exploring Differences Among Illegal Activities In The Ugalla Game Reserve Of Western Tanzania, Paulo Wilfred

Tanzania Journal of Science

Conservation efforts in Tanzania rarely assess the extent to which different resource user activities are related. This study aimed to explore the differences among various illegal activities occurring in Ugalla Game Reserve, western Tanzania. The study used a combination of ranger–collected data, from 2003 to 2010, and foot surveys of illegal activity signs in the reserve. Illegal activity signs were recorded for five different types of offence: illegal fishing, bushmeat hunting, illegal logging, other activity (any sign that indicated any other type of unauthorised user presence) and honey gathering. The most frequent activity was logging (602 signs; 58% of offenders …

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Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Wetland Change In Port Harcourt Metropolis, Olatunde Sunday Eludoyin, Olalekan Akinola Jul 2015

Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Wetland Change In Port Harcourt Metropolis, Olatunde Sunday Eludoyin, Olalekan Akinola

Tanzania Journal of Science

The study assessed changes of wetland in Port Harcourt Metropolis using geo-information techniques between 1984 and 2015. Landsat images of 1984, 2000 and 2015 of 30m x 30m resolution were used. Supervised classification was used for image classification using Maximum Likelihood Algorithm in Erdas Imagine 9.1 whereby five major landuse classes were identified namely thick vegetation, built up area, farmland/sparse vegetation, wetlands and waterbodies. Areas in squared kilometers of each landuse were calculated in ArcGIS 9.3 and simple arithmetic was used to compute the percentage change. Probability of landuse change in the next 10, 20 and 30 years was determined …

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Traditional Medicinal Uses Of Small Mammal Products: A Case Study Of The African Savannah Hares, Crested Porcupines And Rock Hyraxes In Serengeti District, Tanzania, Flora John Magige Jul 2015

Traditional Medicinal Uses Of Small Mammal Products: A Case Study Of The African Savannah Hares, Crested Porcupines And Rock Hyraxes In Serengeti District, Tanzania, Flora John Magige

Tanzania Journal of Science

Traditional medicines, both plant and animal products, have been used to cure various diseases since time immemorial especially in rural areas worldwide. Many studies have focused on traditional plant products, but little research has been conducted on animal traditional medicines. This study investigated  the use of small mammal  products for medicinal purposes in three villages bordering Serengeti National Park in Serengeti District, Tanzania. A total of 71 respondents were interviewed in Kisangura, Nyamburi and Machochwe villages in November 2010, using questionnaires. Villagers hunted small mammals mainly by dogs for cultural and ornamental reasons. Products of African savannah hare (Lepus microtis), …

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Mammalian Records From Southwestern Kansas And Northwestern Oklahoma, Including The First Record Of Crawford’S Desert Shrew (Notiosorex Crawfordi) From Kansas, Cody A. Dreier, Keith Geluso, Jennifer D. Frisch, Brittney N. Adams, Alyx R. Lingenfelter, Anthony E. Bridger, Patricia Freeman, Cliff Lemen, Jeremy A. White, Brett R. Andersen, Hans W. Otto, Curtis J. Schmidt Jul 2015

Mammalian Records From Southwestern Kansas And Northwestern Oklahoma, Including The First Record Of Crawford’S Desert Shrew (Notiosorex Crawfordi) From Kansas, Cody A. Dreier, Keith Geluso, Jennifer D. Frisch, Brittney N. Adams, Alyx R. Lingenfelter, Anthony E. Bridger, Patricia Freeman, Cliff Lemen, Jeremy A. White, Brett R. Andersen, Hans W. Otto, Curtis J. Schmidt

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Mammalian distributions are constantly changing. Some distributional shifts reflect habitat change, climate change, and human transplantations; thus, such shifts are due to actual expansions or contractions of populations. However, other species ranges that appear to shift as the result of new records being added to known distributional limits actually might reflect populations that previously were undetected due to a lack of past surveys or species that are difficult to detect. In 2013, multiple techniques were employed to document mammalian distributional records in southwestern Kansas and northwestern Oklahoma. We discovered three new county records in Morton County, Kansas (Crawford’s Desert Shrew, …

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Attracting Songbirds With Conspecific Playback: A Community Approach, Leanna N. Dejong, Samuel D. Cowell, Thuy Nhi Nguyen, Darren S. Proppe Jul 2015

Attracting Songbirds With Conspecific Playback: A Community Approach, Leanna N. Dejong, Samuel D. Cowell, Thuy Nhi Nguyen, Darren S. Proppe

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

The presence of conspecifics is an indicator of good habitat for a number of songbird species; a cue positively associated with territory selection. Thus, conspecific playback may be a cost-effective tool for attracting songbirds to particular, preselected sites of high-quality habitat. Previous studies have used conspecific playback to encourage the establishment of a single species; however, few have researched the potential for the simultaneous attraction of multiple species. Furthermore, empirical studies on the effect of song playback for nonfocal species are sparse. We investigated whether 6 migratory songbird species are more likely to establish nesting territories in response to multispecies …

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Reproductive Timing Of Erimystax Insignis (Blotched Chub) In The Flint River Of North Alabama, Bruce Stallsmith, Josh Mann, Candice Allen Jul 2015

Reproductive Timing Of Erimystax Insignis (Blotched Chub) In The Flint River Of North Alabama, Bruce Stallsmith, Josh Mann, Candice Allen

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

Important details of the reproductive ecology of many freshwater fishes of the species-rich southeastern United States are still poorly known. One such species is Erimystax insignis (Blotched Chub), whose range includes the Tennessee River drainage in northern Alabama, USA. To determine timing and patterns of reproductive effort, collections were made monthly of as many as 30 individuals from August 2011 through July 2012 from a 14 km stretch of the Flint River in Madison County, Alabama. Female and male gonadosomatic index (GSI) and ovarian development data indicate that reproductive activity for the species peaks from March through May. Ripe and …

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Biofilm Formation By Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato, Venkata Arun Timmaraju, Priyanka A.S. Theophilus, Kunthavai Balasubramanian, Shafiq Shakih, David F. Luecke, Eva Sapi Jul 2015

Biofilm Formation By Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato, Venkata Arun Timmaraju, Priyanka A.S. Theophilus, Kunthavai Balasubramanian, Shafiq Shakih, David F. Luecke, Eva Sapi

Biology and Environmental Science Faculty Publications

Bacterial biofilms are microbial communities held together by an extracellular polymeric substance matrix predominantly composed of polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acids. We had previously shown that Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the causative organism of Lyme disease in the United States is capable of forming biofilms in vitro. Here, we investigated biofilm formation by B. afzelii and B. garinii, which cause Lyme disease in Europe. Using various histochemistry and microscopy techniques, we show that B. afzelii and B. garinii form biofilms, which resemble biofilms formed by B. burgdorferisensu stricto. High-resolution atomic force microscopy revealed similarities in the …

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Assessing Feeding Preferences And Spatial Patterns Of Lagodon Rhomboides Linnaeus, Alexandria V. Lamle Jul 2015

Assessing Feeding Preferences And Spatial Patterns Of Lagodon Rhomboides Linnaeus, Alexandria V. Lamle

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Mesograzers have the ability to greatly mitigate the effects of eutrophication in seagrass systems. In this study we look at pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides Linnaeus) as a potential epiphytic grazer and assess feeding preferences during a transitional stage in the ontogenetic diet shift exhibited by these fish. Since pinfish are abundant in seagrass meadows in the northern Gulf of Mexico, their dietary preferences have the potential to greatly impact seagrasses in this system. Twenty-four hour feeding trials were conducted to determine pinfish preference between seagrass (Thalassia testudinum) and algal epiphytes. St. Joseph Bay, FL was also surveyed to …

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At Home And At Large In The Great Plains: Essays And Memories, Paul A. Johnsgard Jul 2015

At Home And At Large In The Great Plains: Essays And Memories, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This volume presents fourteen essays (some updated) that originally appeared in Prairie Fire, a monthly free newspaper that for seven years (as of 2015) has carried important messages of social, environmental, and economic issues in a mature and nonpartisan manner to tens of thousands of residents of Nebraska, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, and southern South Dakota, and by mail to subscribers in the rest of the world. These essays discuss the North American east-west ecological boundaries, spring migration events, birds at the bird feeder, feathered survivors of a glacial past, the threatened sharp-tailed grouse of Nebraska and South Dakota, and …

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Increased Harbor Porpoise Mortality In The Pacific Northwest, Usa: Understanding When Higher Levels May Be Normal, Jessica L. Higgins, Stephen A. Raverty, Stephanie A. Norman, John Calambokidis, Joseph K. Gaydos, Deborah A. Duffield, Dyanna M. Lambourn, James M. Rice, Brad Hanson, Kristin Wilkinson, Steven J. Jeffries, Brent Norberg, Lynne Barre Jul 2015

Increased Harbor Porpoise Mortality In The Pacific Northwest, Usa: Understanding When Higher Levels May Be Normal, Jessica L. Higgins, Stephen A. Raverty, Stephanie A. Norman, John Calambokidis, Joseph K. Gaydos, Deborah A. Duffield, Dyanna M. Lambourn, James M. Rice, Brad Hanson, Kristin Wilkinson, Steven J. Jeffries, Brent Norberg, Lynne Barre

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 2006, a marked increase in harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena strandings were reported in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, resulting in the declaration of an unusual mortality event (UME) for Washington and Oregon to facilitate investigation into potential causes. The UME was in place during all of 2006 and 2007, and a total of 114 porpoises stranded during this period. Responders examined 95 porpoises; of these, detailed necropsies were conducted on 75 animals. Here we review the findings related to this event and how these compared to the years immediately before and after the UME. Relatively equal numbers among …

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Population Genetic Structure Of The Dwarf Seahorse (Hippocampus Zosterae) In Florida, Nathan Fedrizzi, Melanie L. J. Stiassny, J. T. Boehm, Eric R. Dougherty, George Amato, Martin Mendez Jul 2015

Population Genetic Structure Of The Dwarf Seahorse (Hippocampus Zosterae) In Florida, Nathan Fedrizzi, Melanie L. J. Stiassny, J. T. Boehm, Eric R. Dougherty, George Amato, Martin Mendez

Publications and Research

The dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is widely distributed throughout near-shore habitats of the Gulf of Mexico and is of commercial significance in Florida, where it is harvested for the aquarium and curio trades. Despite its regional importance, the genetic structure of dwarf seahorse populations remains largely unknown. As an aid to ongoing conservation efforts, we employed three commonly applied mtDNA markers (ND4, DLoop and CO1) to investigate the genetic structuring of H. zosterae in Florida using samples collected throughout its range in the state. A total of 1450 bp provided sufficient resolution to delineate four populations of dwarf seahorses, as …

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Beneficial Effects Of Temperate Forage Legumes That Contain Condensed Tannins, Jennifer W. Macadam, Juan J. Villalba Jul 2015

Beneficial Effects Of Temperate Forage Legumes That Contain Condensed Tannins, Jennifer W. Macadam, Juan J. Villalba

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The two temperate forage legumes containing condensed tannins (CT) that promote ruminant production are birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.; BFT) and sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.; SF). Both are well-adapted to the cool-temperate climate and alkaline soils of the Mountain West USA. Condensed tannins comprise a diverse family of bioactive chemicals with multiple beneficial functions for ruminants, including suppression of internal parasites and enteric methane. Birdsfoot trefoil contains 10 to 40 g·CT·kg−1 dry matter (DM), while SF contains 30 to 80 g·CT·kg−1 DM. Our studies have focused on these two plant species and have demonstrated consistently elevated rates of gain for …

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Urban Stream Burial Increases Watershed-Scale Nitrate Export, Jake J. Beaulieu, Heather E. Golden, Christopher D. Knightes, Paul M. Mayer, Sujay S. Kaushal, Michael J. Pennino, Clay P. Arango, David A. Balz, Colleen M. Elonen, Ken M. Fritz, Brian H. Hill Jul 2015

Urban Stream Burial Increases Watershed-Scale Nitrate Export, Jake J. Beaulieu, Heather E. Golden, Christopher D. Knightes, Paul M. Mayer, Sujay S. Kaushal, Michael J. Pennino, Clay P. Arango, David A. Balz, Colleen M. Elonen, Ken M. Fritz, Brian H. Hill

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Nitrogen (N) uptake in streams is an important ecosystem service that reduces nutrient loading to downstream ecosystems. Here we synthesize studies that investigated the effects of urban stream burial on N-uptake in two metropolitan areas and use simulation modeling to scale our measurements to the broader watershed scale. We report that nitrate travels on average 18 times farther downstream in buried than in open streams before being removed from the water column, indicating that burial substantially reduces N uptake in streams. Simulation modeling suggests that as burial expands throughout a river network, N uptake rates increase in the remaining open …

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Common Cell Shape Evolution Of Two Nasopharyngeal Pathogens, Frédéric J. Veyrier, Nicolas Biais, Pablo Morales, Nouria Belkacem, Cyril Guilhen, Sylvia Ranjeva, Odile Sismeiro, Gérard Péhau-Arnaudet, Eduardo P. Rocha, Catherine Werts, Muhamed-Kheir Taha, Ivo G. Boneca Jul 2015

Common Cell Shape Evolution Of Two Nasopharyngeal Pathogens, Frédéric J. Veyrier, Nicolas Biais, Pablo Morales, Nouria Belkacem, Cyril Guilhen, Sylvia Ranjeva, Odile Sismeiro, Gérard Péhau-Arnaudet, Eduardo P. Rocha, Catherine Werts, Muhamed-Kheir Taha, Ivo G. Boneca

Publications and Research

Respiratory infectious diseases are the third cause of worldwide death. The nasopharynx is the portal of entry and the ecological niche of many microorganisms, of which some are pathogenic to humans, such as Neisseria meningitidis and Moraxella catarrhalis. These microbes possess several surface structures that interact with the actors of the innate immune system. In our attempt to understand the past evolution of these bacteria and their adaption to the nasopharynx, we first studied differences in cell wall structure, one of the strongest immune-modulators. We were able to show that a modification of peptidoglycan (PG) composition (increased proportion of pentapeptides) …

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Development Of A Bi-National Great Lakes Coastal Wetland And Land Use Map Using Three-Season Palsar And Landsat Imagery, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Sarah L. Endres, Michael Battaglia, Mary Ellen Miller, Elizabeth Banda, Zachary Laubach, Phyllis Higman, Pat Chow-Fraser, James Marcaccio Jul 2015

Development Of A Bi-National Great Lakes Coastal Wetland And Land Use Map Using Three-Season Palsar And Landsat Imagery, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Sarah L. Endres, Michael Battaglia, Mary Ellen Miller, Elizabeth Banda, Zachary Laubach, Phyllis Higman, Pat Chow-Fraser, James Marcaccio

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

Methods using extensive field data and three-season Landsat TM and PALSAR imagery were developed to map wetland type and identify potential wetland stressors (i.e., adjacent land use) for the United States and Canadian Laurentian coastal Great Lakes. The mapped area included the coastline to 10 km inland to capture the region hydrologically connected to the Great Lakes. Maps were developed in cooperation with the overarching Great Lakes Consortium plan to provide a comprehensive regional baseline map suitable for coastal wetland assessment and management by agencies at the local, tribal, state, and federal levels. The goal was to provide …

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The Pioneer Of Santa Rosa Island, Andrea Martinez, Michael Perez, Kathryn Mceachern, Sarah Chaney, Ken Niessen Jul 2015

The Pioneer Of Santa Rosa Island, Andrea Martinez, Michael Perez, Kathryn Mceachern, Sarah Chaney, Ken Niessen

STAR Program Research Presentations

Santa Rosa Island which is part of the Channel Islands in California has a ranching history that goes as far back as the year 1843. While rich in history, the island is no longer “rich” in native plant populations due to the sheep, cattle and other livestock that once occupied the island. As a result of these grazers that the ranchers livelihood depended on, a great disturbance in the native plant population took place. It is up to plants such as Baccharis pilularis, commonly known as Coyote brush, to assist these endangered and threatened plants to once again flourish …

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Great Lake Island Biogeography Of Plethodon Cinereus: Effect Of Island Elevation On Color Polymorphism, Cameron N. Eddy Jul 2015

Great Lake Island Biogeography Of Plethodon Cinereus: Effect Of Island Elevation On Color Polymorphism, Cameron N. Eddy

Masters Theses

Islands have long fascinated ecologists and evolutionary biologists because they provide replicated systems with which to test hypotheses regarding evolutionary and ecological theory. Because islands are relatively simple systems, they enable researchers to isolate specific factors responsible for observed phenomena. Many current questions in ecology and evolutionary biology have been addressed in island systems. For example, factors involved in the genetic divergence of populations are easier to discern in island populations because confounding effects of gene flow from adjacent populations are limited. This study focuses on isolated island populations of the color polymorphic Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) …

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Unowned Cat Management In The State Of Ohio: Elements Of Best Practice In Public-Private Collaborative Efforts, Daniel D. Spehar Jul 2015

Unowned Cat Management In The State Of Ohio: Elements Of Best Practice In Public-Private Collaborative Efforts, Daniel D. Spehar

HSU STUDENT THESES AND CAPSTONE PROJECTS

A contentious debate over the management of free-roaming cat populations is ongoing. Nevertheless, disparate groups of stakeholders share a common goal of fewer community cats. Unowned cat management typically necessitates a choice between utilization of lethal or non-lethal measures. Research has indicated strong public support for employment of non-lethal methods, like trap-neuter-return (TNR). Collaborative TNR programs are experiencing success in a growing number of communities. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify new or underutilized public-private collaborative practices, and associated elemental factors, that have the potential to be used as—or incorporated into—templates of best practice for the non-lethal …

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Interdisciplinary Modeling For Water-Related Issues Graduate Course, Laurel Saito, Alexander Fernald, Timothy Link Jul 2015

Interdisciplinary Modeling For Water-Related Issues Graduate Course, Laurel Saito, Alexander Fernald, Timothy Link

All ECSTATIC Materials

The science and management of aquatic ecosystems is inherently interdisciplinary, with issues associated with hydrology, atmospheric science, water quality, geochemistry, sociology, economics, environmental science, and ecology. Addressing water resources issues in any one discipline invariably involves effects that concern other disciplines, and attempts to address one issue often have consequences that exacerbate existing issues or concerns, or create new ones (Jørgensen et al. 1992; Lackey et al. 1975; Straskraba 1994) due to the strongly interactive nature of key processes (Christensen et al. 1996). Thus, research and management of aquatic ecosystems must be interdisciplinary to be most effective, but such truly …

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Photosynthetic Capacity Within The Phantom Gas Field Project, Traci L. Olson, Maria Pacioretty, Keith Reinhardt (Mentor) Jul 2015

Photosynthetic Capacity Within The Phantom Gas Field Project, Traci L. Olson, Maria Pacioretty, Keith Reinhardt (Mentor)

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Anthropogenic noise has proven detrimental to organisms like bats, owls, and certain other species whose hunting or navigation success is affected by unnatural sound. However, few studies have quantified the effects of noise pollution across multiple trophic levels. Our study is quantifying the impacts of human noise on insect abundance and herbivory, and plant physiology, using experimental noise stations compared to quiet control sites in the sagebrush steppe southwest of Boise, Idaho. I am measuring variation in leaf chlorophyll fluorescence and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Both of these measurements are indirect measurements of photosynthetic capacity. We hypothesized that shrubs …

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Haverstraw Bay Benthic Habitat Characterization, Robert M. Cerrato, Alison M. Flanagan, Roger D. Flood Jul 2015

Haverstraw Bay Benthic Habitat Characterization, Robert M. Cerrato, Alison M. Flanagan, Roger D. Flood

School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

High-resolution backscatter and bathymetric maps created by multibeam and sidescan sonar surveys were used to identify five different seafloor bottom types within Haverstraw Bay. Grab samples were collected within these areas to characterize sediment properties and macrofauna. Selected sampling locations were revisited and seafloor images were obtained with an HD underwater camera. Multivariate analysis was used to identify the most important factors explaining variations in community structure. Results indicated that categorical variables defining bottom types, grain size, and water depth can explain about 42% of community structure variation. In addition, shell length data collected for Rangia cuneata, an introduced …

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Alliaria Petiolata (M.Bieb.) Cavara & Grande [Brassicaceae], An Invasive Herb In The Southern Ozark Plateaus: A Comparison Of Species Composition And Richness, Soil Properties, And Earthworm Composition And Biomass In Invaded Versus Non-Invaded Sites, Jennifer D. Ogle Jul 2015

Alliaria Petiolata (M.Bieb.) Cavara & Grande [Brassicaceae], An Invasive Herb In The Southern Ozark Plateaus: A Comparison Of Species Composition And Richness, Soil Properties, And Earthworm Composition And Biomass In Invaded Versus Non-Invaded Sites, Jennifer D. Ogle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Invasive species are widely recognized as organisms that severely alter ecosystem processes in the habitats to which they are introduced. Alliaria petiolata is one of the most important invasive plants in forests of the northern United States. This study examined the geographic distribution of the plant in the southern Ozarks, as well as the effect that it may be having on natural processes within forests of the region by comparing plant species richness, plant cover, and soil properties in invaded and non-invaded plots. It was found that A. petiolata is not significantly altering species richness, cover, or soil properties in …

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The Functional And Distributional Ecology Of Mycetozoans Under Changing Edaphic And Climatic Dynamics, Geoffrey Lloyd Zahn Jul 2015

The Functional And Distributional Ecology Of Mycetozoans Under Changing Edaphic And Climatic Dynamics, Geoffrey Lloyd Zahn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigations into the distribution and ecosystem functions of fruiting amoebae revealed that local-scale environmental conditions can largely explain broad biogeographical patterns in species assemblage, the way in which amoeboid predators shape bacterial communities and how this top-down influence may affect global biogeochemical processes in a changing climate. The distribution and assemblage of protosteloid amoebae on the islands of New Zealand and Hawaii did not yield any expected patterns of island biogeography, and conformed to other global regions studied. The strongest predictor of species richness in a given region was sampling effort and these species do not appear to have any …

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Monochamus Titillator Oviposition And Intraspecific Competition In Shortleaf Pine Bolts, Ryan Patrick Rastok Jul 2015

Monochamus Titillator Oviposition And Intraspecific Competition In Shortleaf Pine Bolts, Ryan Patrick Rastok

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Monochamus titillator (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) feed on trees in the family Pinaceae as adults and larvae. Adults feed on healthy twigs and branches and oviposit on stressed, dead, or dying trees. Prior to oviposition, females construct pits on the bark surface using their mandibles. The number of eggs laid beneath bark, where oviposition pits have been constructed, varies greatly. Developmental time and adult body size also vary greatly. I investigated oviposition and intraspecific competition with the goal of determining the degree to which various insect densities and oviposition times impact the following: 1) oviposition pit construction; 2) egg deposition; 3) emergence, …

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Carbon Storage Potential Of Windbreaks On Agricultural Lands Of The Continental United States, William Ballesteros Possu Jul 2015

Carbon Storage Potential Of Windbreaks On Agricultural Lands Of The Continental United States, William Ballesteros Possu

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

Agricultural production systems face major challenges under climate change scenarios in terms of expected negative impacts on productivity and persistence of the crops. Greenhouse gases from agriculture continue to rise although not as fast as from other fossil fuel-based human activities. Windbreaks perform several ecosystems functions that improve the local and regional capacity of crop systems to increase yields and offer environmental services by minimizing the negative effects of extreme weather events. Windbreaks also represent an important means of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This is predominantly accomplished by the windbreak trees storing carbon (C) in their above and belowground woody …

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Introducing Green Manures In An Organic Soybean–Winter Wheat–Corn Rotation: Effects On Crop Yields, Soil Nitrate, And Weeds, Katja Koehler-Cole Jul 2015

Introducing Green Manures In An Organic Soybean–Winter Wheat–Corn Rotation: Effects On Crop Yields, Soil Nitrate, And Weeds, Katja Koehler-Cole

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

In organic soybean– winter wheat – corn rotations, animal manure is a common choice to maintain high yields, but leguminous crops grown as green manures after wheat harvest and incorporated into the soil before corn planting, can be an alternative when animal manure is not accessible. Forage legumes with high dry matter (DM) production and high biological N fixation have been shown to meet corn N demand. However, in Eastern Nebraska, lack of precipitation can reduce green manure growth and N fixation, leading to an insufficient N supply for corn, but corn growth can also be impacted by green manure …

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