Digital Commons Network^™

Notes: Oriental Bittersweet In Grasslands Near Eastern Bluebird Nest Boxes, Neal D. Mundahl

The Prairie Naturalist

Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.; hereafter OB) is an invasive, woody vine that has been expanding its range westward in North America since its introduction from East Asia in the mid-1700s for horticultural purposes (Albright et al. 2009, United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] 2012). Although typically a woodland problem in the United States (McNab and Meeker 1987), OB can invade grassland habitats (Fike and Niering 1999), likely sprouting from seeds dropped by birds and mammals (McNab and Meeker 1987, Greenberg et al. 2001, Sarver et al. 2008) and often developing into large, shrub-like tangles of intertwining stems (Fike …

Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve: Providing Habitat For Protected And Provincially Rare Species, Christie L. Borkowsky

The Prairie Naturalist

The establishment of the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in 1989 secured some of the largest and highest quality parcels of tall grass prairie remaining in the province. Shortly after securement by either Nature Manitoba (formerly Manitoba Naturalists Society) or Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, seasonal staff from the Critical Wildlife Habitat Program (CWHP) began inventory efforts to document the various floral and faunal species occurring on these acquisitions. With the addition of the Nature Conservancy of Canada to the Preserve partnership, the Preserve has grown in size to nearly 5,000 ha. The list of species identified on the Preserve has …

Potential Impacts Of Bison Wallows On A Restored Tallgrass Prairie Community, Kimran Miller, Johanna Foster, Kristen Nielsen, Mary O'Loughlin

The Prairie Naturalist

When bison (Bos bison) repeatedly roll on the ground, they denude vegetation and create wallows (semi-permanent bare areas) that alter the native prairie plant community. Responses to these wallow-related disturbances are not as well documented in restored prairies. From 1 June to 1 September 2010 and from 3 June to 6 August 2011, we examined potential responses at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, a restored prairie with resident bison. We hypothesized that plants and beetles would vary along a disturbance gradient. Our predictions were: (1) near wallows, plants with weedy lifestyles would have highest cover and biomass compared …

A Floristic Survey Of Selected Sites In The Loup River Valley, Nance County, Nebraska, Diane M. Flynn, Steven J. Rothenberger

The Prairie Naturalist

The Loup River Valley of Nebraska contains natural, undisturbed wet meadows with significant plant diversity. Even though these sites are infrequent and are often intermixed with heavily grazed pastures or cultivated fields, they support numerous plant and animal species that do not occur elsewhere. We surveyed three study sites (an ungrazed wet meadow; a grazed wet meadow; and a riparian area) that totaled approximately 68.8 ha during the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons. We compiled an annotated vascular plants checklist for the study area that included 244 plant species of which about 49% (119) were new county records. The mean …

An Agent-Based Model Of Ant Colony Energy And Population Dynamics: Effects Of Temperature And Food Fluctuation, Guo Xiaohui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ant colony, known as a self-organized system, can adapt to the environment by a series of negative and positive feedbacks. There is still a lack of mechanistic understanding of how the factors, such as temperature and food, coordinate the labor of ants. According to the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE), the metabolic rate could control ecological process at all levels. To analyze self-organized process of ant colony, we constructed an agent-based model to simulate the energy and population dynamics of ant colony. After parameterizing the model, we ran 20 parallel simulations for each experiment and parameter sweeps to find …

Behavioral And Hormonal Flexibility Across Light Environments In Guppies (Poecilia Reticulata), Julia C. Walz

Master's Theses

Behavior may be dramatically influenced by changing environments, and differences in light intensity environments may have important behavioral consequences. One approach to understanding changes in behavior is by studying behavioral syndromes, suites of correlated behaviors reflecting between individual consistencies in behavior expressed within a behavioral situation (e.g., correlations between antipredator behaviors in different habitats), or across behavioral contexts (e.g., correlations among feeding, antipredator, or mating behavior) (Sih et al. 2004a). Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) provide a great model system to study behavior. Guppies are small, freshwater tropical fish that inhabit still pools in swift-flowing streams, and the backwaters of small rivers …

Effects Of Water Parameters On Container Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Oviposition And Performance, Stephanie Sue Schelble

Master's Theses

Water body parameters have a considerable effect on the communities that develop within them. In small container habitats like tires, the depth, surface area, and volume effect the development and success of the mosquito communities. This study investigated the choices of the adult female mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus, between different depths and surface areas. In addition, larval performance was determined under differing depth and larvae densities. Oviposition studies showed that Ae. albopictus had a preference for deeper habitats (χ²= 14.2902, p= 0.0139) but did not prefer any surface areas (χ²= 7.2321, p= 0.0649) though …

Facing The Wreck: Death, Optimism, And The Fragmented Form, Rachael Marie Schaffner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Walter Benjamin described history as a winged angel who faces backwards, staring perpetually into the past as the violent winds of destiny carry him into the future (Illuminations). Despite a western, post-enlightenment myth of eternal progress, the wreckage of human contributions to history is clearly evident in our 21st-century understanding of anthropogenic impact on global ecology. In the context of these ecological crises (and the resulting political and economic questions), postmodern novels reveal a powerful ability to imagine different ways of living and interacting with the world. This thesis traces the relationship between fragmentation, death, and liminal experiences …

Water Use And Water Tolerance In The Riparian Species American Sycamore (Plantanus Occidentalis L.) And How Its Physiology Compares To The Coexisting Black Willow (Salix Nigra Marshall), Eric Duncan

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This study set out to compare aspects of water use and tolerance to inundation and drought of two riparian tree species, Platanus occidentalis L. and Salix nigra Marshall. The main goal of the study was to better understand the two species and assess the suitability of P. occidentalis for use in riparian restoration. To accomplish this, potted individuals were subjected to treatments of drought, inundation, or control, under greenhouse conditions, and separately, in order to estimate water use in trees, season-long diurnal measurements of sap flux (using Granier type thermal dissipation probes) were determined in situ for trees growing in …

Indigenous Knowledge And Science Unite To Reveal Spatial And Temporal Dimensions Of Distributional Shift In Wildlife Of Conservation Concern, Christina N. Service, Megan S. Adams, Kyle A. Artelle, Paul C. Paquet, Laura V. Grant, Chris T. Darimont

Population Distribution and Habitat Collection

Range shifts among wildlife can occur rapidly and impose cascading ecological, economic, and cultural consequences. However, occurrence data used to define distributional limits derived from scientific approaches are often outdated for wide ranging and elusive species, especially in remote environments. Accordingly, our aim was to amalgamate indigenous and western scientific evidence of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) records and detail a potential range shift on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. In addition, we test the hypothesis that data from each method yield similar results, as well as illustrate the complementary nature of this coupled approach. Combining information from …

Nutrient Addition Dramatically Accelerates Microbial Community Succession, Joseph E. Knelman, Steven K. Schmidt, Ryan C. Lynch, John L. Darcy, Sarah C. Castle, Cory C. Cleveland, Diana R. Nemergut

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

The ecological mechanisms driving community succession are widely debated, particularly for microorganisms. While successional soil microbial communities are known to undergo predictable changes in structure concomitant with shifts in a variety of edaphic properties, the causal mechanisms underlying these patterns are poorly understood. Thus, to specifically isolate how nutrients – important drivers of plant succession – affect soil microbial succession, we established a full factorial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization plot experiment in recently deglaciated (~3 years since exposure), unvegetated soils of the Puca Glacier forefield in Southeastern Peru. We evaluated soil properties and examined bacterial community composition in …

Ontogenetic Diet Shifts And Prey Preference Of A Generalist Predatory Fish, Brittany Jalene Scharf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine ecosystems are highly dynamic and contain a diverse faunal assemblage that are subject to various natural and anthropogenic variability. Globally, seagrass ecosystems are located adjacent to coastal areas that are heavily impacted by human development and urbanization potentially altering the community structure within these ecosystem. Complex food webs connect many components of these systems, often in unexpected ways, and are ultimately based on one of two pathways: benthic (i.e., seagrass, epiphytes, microalgae, detritus) and planktonic (i.e., phytoplankton). Understanding the pathway which the food web is based gives further insight regarding the biological balance of the ecosystem; thus it is …

Population And Demographic Structure Of Ixodes Scapularis Say In The Eastern United States., Joyce M. Sakamoto, Jerome Goddard, Jason L. Rasgon

CALS Publications

INTRODUCTION: The most significant vector of tick-borne pathogens in the United States is Ixodes scapularis Say (the blacklegged tick). Previous studies have identified significant genetic, behavioral and morphological differences between northern vs. southern populations of this tick. Because tick-borne pathogens are dependent on their vectors for transmission, a baseline understanding of the vector population structure is crucial to determining the risks and epidemiology of pathogen transmission. METHODS: We investigated population genetic variation of I. scapularis populations in the eastern United States using a multilocus approach. We sequenced and analyzed the mitochondrial COI and 16S genes and three nuclear genes (serpin2, …

Informing Flood Plain Wetland Restoration Using Amphibian Monitoring, Ashley Vanderham

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

Wetlands are among the most important and complex ecosystems in the world. They contribute to nutrient cycling, the hydrologic cycle, and provide critical habitat for many plants, fish, and wildlife. Channelization of Missouri River resulted in the loss of many floodplain wetlands. Despite ongoing restoration efforts, there are few ecologically-based performance guidelines, and managers need methods to quantify and assess the success of restored riverine wetland systems.

In 2008 a multi-institutional herpetofauna monitoring project, funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was initiated in four states (Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska). The main goal of the project is to …

A Tragedy Exposed? Clear Growth Medium Reveals Competing Roots, Christopher H. Karounos, Deric Miller, Philip Crowley, Nicholas Mcletchie

Kaleidoscope

Abstract

Tragedy of the Commons (ToC) is the exploitation of an open-access resource that is exploited by selfish individuals to the detriment of all. Examples include open sea fisheries, cattle grazing, pollution, deforestation and plants competing over shared soil nutrients and space. Tragically, these resources become depleted and plants become severely resource limited. Our study seeks to determine if a ToC causes two plants sharing resources to reproduce less successfully than two plants owning the equivalent amount of personal resources. We predict that plant root competition creates a ToC by increasing root mass while reducing reproductive mass. Our study uses …

Getting In Deep, Earl Smith

Colby Magazine

Cleaning up Johnson Pond required wading through a quagmire of regulations- and produced some surprising revelations.

A Multi-Scale Approach To Study Predator-Prey Interactions And Habitat Use Of Pinfish, Lagodon Rhomboids, Dinorah Helena Chacin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biological processes like species interactions and patterns such as abundance and distribution observed in nature can vary depending on the scale at which the subject of interest is evaluated. Knowing that there is no single natural scale at which systems should be studied, in this thesis, I conducted a series of basic and applied ecological approaches in order to examine the phenomena that can occur at different scales of space, time, and ecological organization.

Species abundances can vary over large spatial and temporal scales. By studying the habitat use of an abundant species, which uses a wide range of habitats, …

Male Brush-Turkeys Attempt Sexual Coercion In Unusual Circumstances, David A. Wells, Darryl N. Jones, David Bulger, Culum Brown

Reproductive Behavior Collection

Sexual coercion by males is generally understood to have three forms: forced copulation, harassment and intimidation. We studied Australian brush-turkeys, Alectura lathami, to determine whether some male behaviours towards females at incubation mounds could be classified as aggressive, whether males were attempting sexual coercion and, if so, whether the coercion was successful. We found that some male behaviours towards females were significantly more likely to be followed by the cessation of female mound activity, and hence could be classified as aggressive, while others were significantly more likely to be followed by the commencement of female mound activity, and hence could …

Mass And Nutrient Loss In Decaying Hardwood Boles At Hubbard Brook, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Granivory Of Invasive, Naturalized, And Native Plants In Communities Differentially Susceptible To Invasion, B. M. Connolly, Dean Pearson, R. N. Mack

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Seed predation is an important biotic filter that can influence abundance and spatial distributions of native species through differential effects on recruitment. This filter may also influence the relative abundance of nonnative plants within habitats and the communities’ susceptibility to invasion via differences in granivore identity, abundance, and food preference. We evaluated the effect of postdispersal seed predators on the establishment of invasive, naturalized, and native species within and between adjacent forest and steppe communities of eastern Washington, USA that differ in severity of plant invasion. Seed removal from trays placed within guild-specific exclosures revealed that small mammals were the …

Morphological Variability In Tree Root Architecture Indirectly Affects Coexistence Among Competitors In The Understory, Erik T. Aschehoug, Ragan M. Callaway

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Interactions between plants can have strong effects on community structure and function. Variability in the morphological, developmental, physiological, and biochemical traits of plants can influence the outcome of plant interactions and thus have important ecological consequences. However, the ecological ramifications of trait variability in plants are poorly understood and have rarely been tested in the field. We experimentally tested the effects of morphological variation in root architecture of Quercus douglasii trees in the field on interactions between understory plants and community composition. Our results indicate that variability among Q. douglasii tree root systems initiates a striking reversal in the competitive …

A New Species Of Chiasmocleis (Microhylidae, Gastrophryninae) From The Atlantic Forest Of Espírito Santo State, Brazil, João Filipe Tonini, Maruicio Forlani, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Among Neotropical microhylids, the genus Chiasmocleis is exceptionally diverse. Most species ofChiasmocleis were described in recent years based on external morphology, but recent studies using molecular data did not support the monophyly of the species groups clustered based on feet webbing. Furthermore, a phylogeographic study of C. lacrimae estimated high genetic divergence and low gene flow among populations across small geographic ranges. Increasing the molecular and geographic sampling, and incorporating morphological data, we identified new cryptic species. Herein, we used novel genetic and morphological data to describe a new species of Chiasmocleis.

Management Of Root Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne Incognita ) In Indiana Soybeans, David Edgardo Perla Martinez

Open Access Theses

The aim of this project was to evaluate different strategies for management of Root Knot Nematode (RKN) on soybean and tomato in Indiana. Seed treatments were evaluated under field and greenhouse conditions, but no effect on RKN populations was observed. Soybean lines evaluated for resistance to RKN under greenhouse conditions showed that six lines may be resistant to RKN. Four different commercial mustard cover crops were evaluated for their bio-fumigant impact on RKN populations in the production of tomato. Euruca sativa, Cv. Nemat was a poor host of RKN. A positive impact on the vigor of the tomato plants followed …

Refining Phylogenetic Hypotheses Using Chloroplast Genomics And Incomplete Data Sets In Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), Joseph Frederic Walker

Open Access Theses

The genus Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), consists of predominantly annual plant species that are largely endemic to the California Floristic Province of western North America and occupy a large range of habitat types. With high levels of morphological and ecological diversity, Lasthenia is a robust tool, capable of providing a natural non-model organism for answering a diverse array of ecological and evolutionary questions. Future studies would benefit greatly from a strong phylogenetic hypothesis and more molecular resources, such as the whole plastome sequence for a representative species in the genus. Over a decade ago there was a study that laid a …

Diet Alters Delayed Selfing, Inbreeding Depression, And Reproductive Senescence In A Freshwater Snail, Josh R. Auld, John F. Henkel

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gelatinous Zooplankton Biomass In The Global Oceans: Geographic Variation And Environmental Drivers, Cathy H. Lucas, Daniel O.B. Jones, Catherine J. Hollyhead, Robert H. Condon, Carlos M. Duarte, William M. Graham, Kelly L. Robinson, Kylie A. Pitt, Mark Schildhauer, Jim Regetz

Faculty Publications

Aim

Scientific debate regarding the future trends, and subsequent ecological, biogeochemical and societal impacts, of gelatinous zooplankton (GZ) in a changing ocean is hampered by lack of a global baseline and an understanding of the causes of biogeographic patterns. We address this by using a new global database of GZ records to test hypotheses relating to environmental drivers of biogeographic variation in the multidecadal baseline of epipelagic GZ biomass in the world's oceans.

Location

Global oceans.

Methods

Over 476,000 global GZ data and metadata items were assembled from a variety of published and unpublished sources. From this, a total of …

Habitat Effects On Chick-A-Dee Call Complexity, Jacqueline Renee Lynch

Open Access Theses

Past studies on the communication systems of species in urban environments (such as Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos Brehm), brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater), Southern brown tree frogs (Litoria ewingii )) have shown multiple ways that species change vocal signaling behavior to adjust to urban habitats (e.g. alarm calls and singing). This study further investigates the changes in signaling in relation to the chick-a-dee call of the Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). A secondary goal of this study was to compare both the amount of information and rate of calling across …

Across-Year Social Stability Shapes Network Structure In Wintering Migrant Sparrows, Daizaburo Shizuka, Alexis S. Chaine, Jennifer Anderson, Oscar Johnson, Inger Marie Laursen, Bruce E. Lyon

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Migratory birds often form flocks on their wintering grounds, but important details of social structure such as the patterns of association between individuals are virtually unknown. We analysed networks of co-membership in short-term flocks for wintering golden-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia atricapilla) across three years and discovered social complexity unsuspected for migratory songbirds. The population was consistently clustered into distinct social communities within a relatively small area (~ 7 ha). Birds returned to the same community across years, with mortality and recruitment leading to some degree of turnover in membership. These spatiotemporal patterns were explained by the combination of space …

Use Of Macroinvertebrates In Bioassessment Of Land Use And Water Quality In Northern Mongolia, Oyunchuluun Yadamsuren

All Dissertations

Land-use practices in Mongolia lead to habitat degradation and consequently affect the structure and function of biological communities. There is no accepted bioassessment technique for determining the ecological consequences of habitat degradation on biological communities and water quality in Mongolia, such that a monitoring and management program suitable for Mongolia is sorely needed. Both a trait-based approach and the North American Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (RBP) metrics were tested with macroinvertebrates to determine the performance and applicability of these approaches for predicting general ecological responses of freshwater and terrestrial communities to habitat variation due to overgrazing and mining in northern Mongolian …

Phylogeny And Biogeography Of The Family Haemulidae Based On A Multigene Approach, Millicent D. Sanciangco

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Haemulids are one of the most ecologically and commercially important groups of near-shore fishes. They are very diverse, with 145 putative species belonging to 18 genera. The phylogenetic relationships of the genera within the haemulids, however, are uncertain and the limits and relationships with other percomorphs are undefined.

Here, I present the first comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for the family based on a combined dataset of five genes (4731 bp; 16 genera, 56 species). Results show strong support for a monophyletic Haemulidae with the inclusion of the former inermiids. However, results of the analyses call into question the monophyly of a …