Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
-
- University of Nebraska - Lincoln (4398)
- Utah State University (1587)
- WellBeing International (820)
- Old Dominion University (755)
- Marshall University (677)
-
- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (632)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (501)
- Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School (476)
- Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia (388)
- City University of New York (CUNY) (327)
- Louisiana State University (236)
- University of South Florida (235)
- Eastern Illinois University (217)
- South Dakota State University (196)
- University of Kentucky (194)
- University of Montana (194)
- Claremont Colleges (186)
- The University of Southern Mississippi (186)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (180)
- Cal Poly Humboldt (175)
- Portland State University (168)
- University of Richmond (160)
- Western Kentucky University (156)
- Edith Cowan University (155)
- Illinois State University (155)
- Michigan Technological University (154)
- University of New Mexico (152)
- University of Louisville (148)
- California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (147)
- SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad (132)
- Keyword
-
- Ecology (542)
- Climate change (373)
- Conservation (338)
- Evolution (327)
- Taxonomy (290)
-
- Biodiversity (270)
- Invasive species (267)
- Behavior (196)
- Western Australia (171)
- Distribution (154)
- Restoration (151)
- Fish (149)
- Biology (143)
- Habitat (142)
- Limnology (128)
- Predation (125)
- Grus americana (124)
- Phylogeny (123)
- Morphology (119)
- Water quality (119)
- Wetlands (117)
- Management (115)
- Aquatic ecology (112)
- Migration (111)
- Biogeography (109)
- Reproduction (109)
- Nebraska (108)
- Birds (104)
- Buthidae (102)
- Experiments (102)
- Publication Year
- Publication
-
- Insecta Mundi (686)
- United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications (591)
- Animal Sentience (520)
- The Prairie Naturalist (490)
- All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023 (451)
-
- Euscorpius (446)
- Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science (403)
- Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop (399)
- Electronic Theses and Dissertations (340)
- Aspen Bibliography (338)
- Biology Faculty Publications (326)
- Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations (266)
- Human–Wildlife Interactions (259)
- Theses and Dissertations (234)
- Masters Theses (231)
- Biological Sciences Faculty Publications (228)
- Master's Theses (196)
- Theses, Dissertations and Capstones (195)
- Wildlife Damage Management Conference (180)
- Nebraska Bird Review (175)
- Fisheries Management Papers (167)
- Publications and Research (166)
- USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations (159)
- Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects (139)
- Graduate Theses and Dissertations (135)
- Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection (125)
- United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications (122)
- UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones (120)
- Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum (1924–2023) (115)
- Honors Theses (112)
- Publication Type
- File Type
Articles 5851 - 5880 of 19716
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Follow Us On Social Media
Human–Wildlife Interactions
How to follow HWI on social media.
A Global Ecological Classification Of Coastal Segment Units To Complement Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Assessments, Roger Sayre, Kevin Butler, Keith Van Graafeiland, Sean Breyer, Dawn Wright, Charlie Frye, Deniz Karagulle, Madeline Martin, Jill Cress, Tom Allen, Rebecca J. Allee, Rost Parsons, Bjorn Nyberg, Mark J. Costello, Peter Harris, Frank E. Muller-Karger
A Global Ecological Classification Of Coastal Segment Units To Complement Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Assessments, Roger Sayre, Kevin Butler, Keith Van Graafeiland, Sean Breyer, Dawn Wright, Charlie Frye, Deniz Karagulle, Madeline Martin, Jill Cress, Tom Allen, Rebecca J. Allee, Rost Parsons, Bjorn Nyberg, Mark J. Costello, Peter Harris, Frank E. Muller-Karger
Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications
A new data layer provides Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) labels for global coastal segments at 1 km or shorter resolution. These characteristics are summarized for six US Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) sites and one MBON Pole to Pole of the Americas site in Argentina. The global coastlines CMECS classifications were produced from a partitioning of a 30 m Landsat-derived shoreline vector that was segmented into 4 million 1 km or shorter segments. Each segment was attributed with values from 10 variables that represent the ecological settings in which the coastline occurs, including properties of the adjacent …
An Investigation Of Endangered And Threatened Plants Using Phylogenomics, Phylogenetic Metrics, And Geography To Prevent Species Loss, Phyllis H. Pischl
An Investigation Of Endangered And Threatened Plants Using Phylogenomics, Phylogenetic Metrics, And Geography To Prevent Species Loss, Phyllis H. Pischl
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
The conservation of endangered and threatened plant species plays an integral part of preserving biodiversity. Loss of habitat is one of the main reasons that plants become endangered or threatened. In Illinois much of the native habitat has been lost to the conversion of industry, agriculture and urban areas. The goals of this dissertation are to 1) determine where endangered and threatened species are finding habitats in relation to land use, 2) produce a robust phylogeny of endangered and threatened species of grasses and apply phylogenetic diversity analysis to better understand the plight of these species, and 3) use climate …
Larval Anatomy Of Monotypic Painted Ant Nest Frogs Lithodytes Lineatus Reveals Putative Homoplasies With The Leptodactylus Pentadactylus Group (Anura: Leptodactylidae), Filipe A.C Do Nascimento, Rafael O. De Sá, Paulo C. De A. Garcia
Larval Anatomy Of Monotypic Painted Ant Nest Frogs Lithodytes Lineatus Reveals Putative Homoplasies With The Leptodactylus Pentadactylus Group (Anura: Leptodactylidae), Filipe A.C Do Nascimento, Rafael O. De Sá, Paulo C. De A. Garcia
Biology Faculty Publications
The morphological diversity of anuran larvae made them an important source of information for evolutionary and systematic studies. For the monotypic frog genus Lithodytes, which has an interesting taxonomic history, including its past synonymizing with Adenomera and its placement as a subgenus of Leptodactylus, the information provided from its larvae can help to understand its systematics interrelationships and also provide insights about its evolutionary trajectories. Herein, we provide a detailed description of the larval morphology of Lithodytes lineatus, including novel data of internal morphology (buccopharyngeal cavity and skeleton), and discuss some morphological and evolutionary aspects in relation …
The Relationships Between Spawning Horseshoe Crabs And Egg Densities: Recommendations For The Assessment Of Populations And Habitat Suitability, Mark L. Botton Phd, Christina P. Colon Phd, Matthew Sclafani Phd, Robert E. Loveland Phd, Susan Elbin Phd, Kaitlyn Parkins
The Relationships Between Spawning Horseshoe Crabs And Egg Densities: Recommendations For The Assessment Of Populations And Habitat Suitability, Mark L. Botton Phd, Christina P. Colon Phd, Matthew Sclafani Phd, Robert E. Loveland Phd, Susan Elbin Phd, Kaitlyn Parkins
Publications and Research
1. Horseshoe crab population sizes and trends have been previously studied using surveys of spawning adults and counts of eggs from surface (top 5 cm) and deep (20 cm) sediment samples. The correlations between surface and deep eggs were studied at two locations, Delaware Bay and Jamaica Bay, USA, and the correlations between egg densities and spawning counts were examined in Jamaica Bay. 2. There were significantly higher densities of eggs in deep sediments than in surface sediments. Only about 10% of the variability in surface egg density was explained by deep egg density. The numerical patterns between surface and …
Searching For Gold: Using A Novel Land Cover Classification To Identify Multiscale Drivers Of Site Occupancy By A Flagship Species For Early-Successional Habitat Conservation, Baron Lin
Theses and Dissertations
Understanding habitat selection at multiple scales is an important step in guiding conservation programs and reversing species declines. This, however, is difficult for species that occupy early-successional habitats (ESH) due to a lack of accurate representation of shrub cover in publicly available land cover data. The Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera; GWWA) is a threatened species of conservation concern and a flagship for ESH conservation. We used a novel, LIDAR-derived land cover classification that accurately identifies shrubs at a fine resolution (1m) to investigate how habitat composition and configuration influence GWWA site occupancy. We aggregated this same land cover …
Plant Communities In Dynamic Systems: How Disturbance Influences Coastal Plant Community Structure And Function, Joseph K. Brown
Plant Communities In Dynamic Systems: How Disturbance Influences Coastal Plant Community Structure And Function, Joseph K. Brown
Theses and Dissertations
As the climate continues to change it is difficult to predict how barrier island function will respond to global change drivers accompanying predicted climate change. Disturbance frequency and nutrient enrichment in coastal regions are drivers of plant community change that increase with climate change. Plant communities on barrier islands are not only tightly connected to barrier island function but are also some of the first communities affected by environmental change, making them a critical piece in understanding how current drivers of global change will impact the future of barrier islands. The objective of my dissertation was to observe and manipulate …
Fly On The Wall: Comparing Arthropod Communities Between Islands With And Without House Mice (Mus Musculus), Wieteke A. Holthuijzen
Fly On The Wall: Comparing Arthropod Communities Between Islands With And Without House Mice (Mus Musculus), Wieteke A. Holthuijzen
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
Invertebrates are key to island ecosystems but impacts from invasive mammalian predators are not well documented or understood. Given this knowledge gap, we studied terrestrial arthropod communities in the presence of a common invasive rodent (house mice, Mus musculus) on a subtropical atoll—Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (MANWR). Here, invasive mice recently began to attack and depredate nesting seabirds, prompting a mouse eradication. Although eradication planning efforts are underway, uncertainty remains regarding the ecosystem’s response to mouse removal. As part of a pre-eradication investigation, we conducted a baseline survey of MANWR’s arthropod community structure and diversity, comparing islands with and …
Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 8: Wallace's Earliest Exposures To The Writings Of Alexander Von Humboldt, Charles H. Smith
Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 8: Wallace's Earliest Exposures To The Writings Of Alexander Von Humboldt, Charles H. Smith
Faculty/Staff Personal Papers
For many years it has been known that the German geographer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) exercised a considerable influence on Alfred Russel Wallace’s (1823-1913) decision to become a travelling naturalist. Almost no attention, however, has been given to the real possibility that von Humboldt exerted an even greater influence on Wallace’s general worldview. In this note, Wallace’s probable earliest contacts with von Humboldt’s writings are described.
A Reintroduction Retrospective: Comparative Fisher (Pekania Pennanti) Survival And Prey Habitat Use In The Cascade Mountains Of Washington State, Tanner S.T. Humphries
A Reintroduction Retrospective: Comparative Fisher (Pekania Pennanti) Survival And Prey Habitat Use In The Cascade Mountains Of Washington State, Tanner S.T. Humphries
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Increasing human impacts on biodiversity highlight the global need for ecological restoration. For many wildlife species, reintroduction is necessary to re-establish populations in parts of their historic range where they have been extirpated. Reintroduction efforts are commonly used to help restore ecosystem integrity, but are often expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful at generating self-sustaining populations. Thus, a more complete understanding of the factors affecting restoration success is important for ensuring successful outcomes and responsible stewardship. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are one of the most commonly reintroduced carnivores in North America, but the success of such efforts is highly variable, …
Management And Conservation Of Westslope Cutthroat Trout In An Impacted, Connected River System, Troy Weant Smith
Management And Conservation Of Westslope Cutthroat Trout In An Impacted, Connected River System, Troy Weant Smith
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi (WCT) is a native species of high conservation value that historically exhibited partially migratory behavior throughout its range. Long-term persistence of WCT is threatened by human habitat modification, fragmentation, introduction of non-native species, and hybridization. As a result of these changes, remnant populations in Montana have shifted toward resident populations in headwater systems and away from migratory populations in larger connected river networks. This is compounded by the historic introduction of rainbow trout O. mykiss (RBT) that hybridize with WCT, especially in larger river habitats. Rock Creek in western Montana, USA was historically managed …
Monitoring The Wetland Landscape: White-Faced Ibis (Plegadis Chihi) Breeding Habitat As A Model Assemblage, Shea P. Coons
Monitoring The Wetland Landscape: White-Faced Ibis (Plegadis Chihi) Breeding Habitat As A Model Assemblage, Shea P. Coons
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Wetlands structure landscape biodiversity by providing critical habitat to numerous fish and wildlife species. However, climate change, growing human populations, and shifting land use practices strain limited water supplies that sustain wetlands in the semi-arid western US. Conserving a wetland network with prominent value to wildlife is paramount to ensure future security of habitat and ecosystem processes. Here, I use white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi; hereafter ‘ibis’) breeding colonies as a model system to identify and monitor a landscape-scale wetland network across the semi-arid western US. Ibis serve an important role in marking ecologically important wetland networks because they require a …
Do Beaver Dam Analogues Act As Passage Barriers To Juvenile Coho Salmon And Juvenile Steelhead Trout?, Christopher G. O'Keefe
Do Beaver Dam Analogues Act As Passage Barriers To Juvenile Coho Salmon And Juvenile Steelhead Trout?, Christopher G. O'Keefe
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
In the Pacific Northwest, the human-caused reduction of quality and quantity of freshwater rearing habitat is a limiting factor for Pacific Salmon populations. Beaver dam analogues (BDAs) increase suitable rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids and promote the restoration of critical stream processes. Installing BDAs is an increasingly popular alternative to more intensive restoration techniques, due to the relatively low cost and effort required to install BDA structures. However, widespread installation of BDAs has been slowed by regulatory agencies’ concerns that BDAs may impede fish passage. Few studies have empirically assessed the extent to which BDAs impede fish passage, and no …
Exploring Zosterophyll Relationships Within A More Broadly Sampled Character Space: A Focus On Anatomy, Megan Nibbelink
Exploring Zosterophyll Relationships Within A More Broadly Sampled Character Space: A Focus On Anatomy, Megan Nibbelink
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Important constituents of Siluro-Devonian floras, zosterophylls gave rise to the lycophytes. I explore the relationships of 18 zosterophyll species from 16 genera, maximizing sampling of anatomy. Using phylogenetic and phenetic methods, I (1) assess the influence of tree rooting, taxon sampling, and morphological vs anatomical characters on the stability of relationships; and (2) compare phylogenetic and phenetic methods in terms of relationships recovered. Phenetic analyses show sensitivity to taxon sampling and support placement of Renalia among zosterophylls, but do not provide results that are strongly congruent with those of phylogenetic analyses. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that taxon and character sampling significantly …
Sociodemographic Influence On Pregnancy Among Adolescent Girls In Nigeria, Christian Otado Mbulu
Sociodemographic Influence On Pregnancy Among Adolescent Girls In Nigeria, Christian Otado Mbulu
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Adolescent pregnancy is a phenomenon that affects the entire world. The effect can be apparent at the individual, family, and societal levels. In 2013, the rate of adolescent pregnancy in Nigeria was 149 per 1,000 aged 10 to 19 years. In this cross-sectional quantitative study, the association between adolescent pregnancies, type of place of residence, household head age, and household head gender was examined for Nigerian adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years who participated in the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The framework for this study was the Socioecological Model (SEM). Three research questions were analyzed using univariate, …
Clarifying Patterns In Host Plant Use By Adelpha Butterflies (Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae), Karina Torres
Clarifying Patterns In Host Plant Use By Adelpha Butterflies (Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae), Karina Torres
University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations
The remarkable diversity of plant-feeding insects could be explained by the dynamics of their plant associations, where host plant shifts and specialization onto a small fraction of available plants may promote diversification. Neotropical Adelpha butterflies contain a large number of species, and previous work indicated the colonization of a novel host plant family (Rubiaceae) fueled its rapid diversification. However, accumulating host records indicate wide taxonomic host breadth at family level and below. Here, we categorize Adelpha diet breadth based on known host plant relationships across the Neotropics and from Costa Rica, Ecuador and Brazil. We also use a diet breadth …
Spatial Modeling Of Common Raven Density And Occurrence Helps Guide Landscape Management Within Great Basin Sagebrush Ecosystems, Sarah C. Webster, Shawn T. O'Neil, Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Pat J. Jackson, John C. Tull, David J. Delehanty
Spatial Modeling Of Common Raven Density And Occurrence Helps Guide Landscape Management Within Great Basin Sagebrush Ecosystems, Sarah C. Webster, Shawn T. O'Neil, Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Pat J. Jackson, John C. Tull, David J. Delehanty
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) are a behaviorally flexible nest predator of several avian species, including species of conservation concern. Movement patterns based on life history phases, particularly territoriality of breeding birds and transiency of nonbreeding birds, are thought to influence the frequency and efficacy of nest predation. As such, predicting where on the landscape territorial resident and non-territorial transient birds may be found in relation to the distribution of sensitive prey is of increasing importance to managers and conservationists. From 2007 to 2019, we conducted raven point count surveys between mid-March and mid-September across 43 different field …
Oldest Indo-Pacific Lionfish (Pterois Volitans/P. Miles) Recorded From The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Raven D. Blakeway, Alexander Q. Fogg, Glenn A. Jones
Oldest Indo-Pacific Lionfish (Pterois Volitans/P. Miles) Recorded From The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Raven D. Blakeway, Alexander Q. Fogg, Glenn A. Jones
Gulf and Caribbean Research
Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) were first detected off the coast of Florida in the 1980s, with aquaria release being the most likely mechanism for introduction. Since then, lionfish have proliferated through the Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Here, we report the oldest lionfish aged on record in the Western Atlantic, removed from Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) in the GOM. In August 2018, a research expedition removed 745 lionfish from FGBNMS, of which a subset were retained for age and growth estimation. The oldest lionfish was a 10 y old male, …
Understanding Metrics Of Stress In The Context Of Invasion History: The Case Of The Brown Treesnake (Boiga Irregularis), Natalie Claunch, Ignacio Moore, Heather L. Waye, Laura Schoenle, Samantha J. Oakey, Robert N. Reed, Christina Romagosa
Understanding Metrics Of Stress In The Context Of Invasion History: The Case Of The Brown Treesnake (Boiga Irregularis), Natalie Claunch, Ignacio Moore, Heather L. Waye, Laura Schoenle, Samantha J. Oakey, Robert N. Reed, Christina Romagosa
Biology Publications
Invasive species can exert rapid depletion of resources after introduction and, in turn, affect their own population density. Additionally, management actions can have direct and indirect effects on demography. Physiological variables can predict demographic change but are often restricted to snapshots-in-time and delayed confirmation of changes in population density reduces their utility. To evaluate the relationships between physiology and demography, we assessed metrics of individual and demographic stress (baseline and 1-h corticosterone (CORT), body condition and bacterial killing ability) in the invasive snake Boiga irregularis on Guam collected in intervals of 10–15 years. We also assessed potential discrepancies between different …
Fire In Semi-Arid Shrublands And Woodlands: Spatial And Temporal Patterns In An Australian Landscape, Eddie Van Etten, Robert A. Davis, Tim S. Doherty
Fire In Semi-Arid Shrublands And Woodlands: Spatial And Temporal Patterns In An Australian Landscape, Eddie Van Etten, Robert A. Davis, Tim S. Doherty
Research outputs 2014 to 2021
Semi-arid landscapes are of interest to fire ecologists because they are generally located in the climatic transition zone between arid lands (where fires tend to be rare due to lack of fuel, but are enhanced following large rainfall episodes) and more mesic regions (where fire activity tends to be enhanced following severe rainfall deficits). Here we report on the characteristics of the contemporary fire regimes operating in a semi-arid region of inland south-western Australia with rainfall averaging around 300 mm per annum. To characterize fire regimes, we analyzed a geodatabase of fire scars (1960–2018) to derive fire preferences for each …
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Acoustic Analysis For Noninvasive Marine Mammal Response: An Exploratory Field Study, David Thirtyacre, Gennifer Brookshire, Sarah Callan, Brittany Arvizu, Patrick Sherman
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Acoustic Analysis For Noninvasive Marine Mammal Response: An Exploratory Field Study, David Thirtyacre, Gennifer Brookshire, Sarah Callan, Brittany Arvizu, Patrick Sherman
International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace
As in countless other fields of human endeavor, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have the potential to benefit pinniped (Pinnipedia; e.g., Phocidae [seals], Otariidae [sea lions], and Odobenidae [walruses]) response efforts. The employment of sUAS could give responders a close-up look at animals in distress in order to determine their condition as well as develop a response strategy. However, unlike other subjects that are regularly inspected by sUAS (e.g., croplands and civil infrastructure) pinnipeds may respond to the distinctive sound generated by small, multirotor sUAS. This reaction may include retreating into the water en masse, which could put …
Anthropogenic Particle (Including Microplastic And Microfiber) Transport And Retention In Streams Under Varied Environmental Conditions, Elizabeth Marjorie Berg
Anthropogenic Particle (Including Microplastic And Microfiber) Transport And Retention In Streams Under Varied Environmental Conditions, Elizabeth Marjorie Berg
Master's Theses
Microplastics (plastic particles <5 mm) and other anthropogenic particles (i.e., synthetic, semi-synthetic and anthropogenically modified cellulose particles < 5mm) are pollutants of concern in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Anthropogenic particles enter food chains, adsorb harmful chemical pollutants, and are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems. Streams are key sites of anthropogenic particle input, retention, and transport, and empirical measurements of particle movement in lotic ecosystems are needed to inform global budgets of anthropogenic particles and microplastics. However, factors that influence anthropogenic particle retention in lotic ecosystems are poorly understood. We demonstrate how environmental characteristics affect plastic transport and retention in streams in experimental and observational studies. In our experimental study, we used particle spiraling metrics to directly measure microplastic retention in outdoor, experimental streams at Notre Dame's Linked Experimental Ecosystem Facility (ND-LEEF). We tested the impact of stream discharge (i.e., high, low), benthic biofilms (i.e., well-established biofilms, reduced biofilms post-scouring), and benthic substrate type (i.e., cobble, pea gravel, sand, mixed substrate) on retention of microplastic fibers using pulsed releases and synchronized water sample collection at 3 sites downstream. We also collected benthic surface samples for biomass and microplastic density. Samples were filtered directly (water samples) or after peroxide digestion (benthic samples), and experimental microplastic fibers were enumerated visually using a dissecting microscope. Microplastic deposition rates were significantly higher with (1) higher discharge, (2) well established benthic biofilm (as opposed to bare substrate), and (3) larger and more homogeneous substrates. The observational study examined anthropogenic particles (including microplastics and microfibers) in the Milwaukee River during storm events. Lotic ecosystems are highly variable (e.g., seasonal changes, storm events), and most research assessing anthropogenic particle pollution extrapolates stream particle loads based on measurements during only one point in time. This limits the accuracy of anthropogenic particle and microplastic dynamics models in rivers, where frequent changes in discharge drives retention and transport of fine particles. In this study, we used automated samplers to collect water from the Milwaukee River during four distinct storm events in the spring and summer of 2018. We quantified anthropogenic particle abundance using standard methods and used nearby USGS gauges to determine discharge. Anthropogenic particle concentrations varied significantly among the four sampling periods, highlighting the temporal variability of anthropogenic particle transport across dates. When data from the sampling periods were pooled, there was a decrease in anthropogenic particle concentration in the water column after storm events, indicating that floods may "flush" microplastics from the river. Unexpectedly, anthropogenic particle concentrations were not correlated with other water quality metrics, including concentrations of total suspended solids, fecal coliform, chloride, nitrate, and sulfate, indicating that these metrics cannot be used to estimate microplastic concentrations and likely have distinct driving factors. These results provide novel insights into the environmental factors controlling anthropogenic particle and microplastic fate and are critical to understanding the role of lotic retention and transport in global plastic budgets.
Anthropogenic Litter In Illinois Streams: Monitoring, Distribution, And Relationship To Biological Indicators Of Stream Health, Lauren Wisbrock
Anthropogenic Litter In Illinois Streams: Monitoring, Distribution, And Relationship To Biological Indicators Of Stream Health, Lauren Wisbrock
Master's Theses
Anthropogenic litter (i.e., trash; AL) is increasing in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. AL shows a patchy, uneven distribution in lotic ecosystems due to heterogeneity in its sources, how it moves, and mechanisms of retention. In addition, the diversity of material types, size, and mobility makes developing techniques to measure AL assemblage in rivers a challenge. In rivers, watershed land-use and riparian features likely impact AL abundance and composition, but this impact is not fully understood. Measuring AL can be time consuming and labor intensive, so rapid assessments are needed for ecosystem managers to quantify the level of AL impairment in a …
Salad With Clams: Prey Choice Of An Intentionally Carnivorous Turtle, Kayleigh R. Erazmus, Luca Luiselli, Russell L. Burke
Salad With Clams: Prey Choice Of An Intentionally Carnivorous Turtle, Kayleigh R. Erazmus, Luca Luiselli, Russell L. Burke
Biology Faculty Publications
Prey choice is the non-random foraging and consumption of prey species by their predators, and is therefore the basis for studies of topics as diverse as quantifying food webs, predator–prey relationships, and optimal-foraging models. Malaclemys terrapin (Diamond-back Terrapin) is a diet generalist with a large geographic distribution: the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas. Individual terrapins have relatively small home ranges and feed primarily on local mollusc species. In feeding trials with 1 prey species and 2 prey species, wild-caught terrapins from New York readily consumed Mya arenaria (Soft-shelled Clam) and Geukensia demissa (Atlantic Ribbed Mussel), preferring …
A Complex Interplay Between Balancing Selection And Introgression Maintains A Genus-Wide Alternative Life History Strategy, Kalle Tunstrom, Alyssa Woronik, Joseph J. Hanly, Pasi Rastas, Anton Chichvarkhin, Andrew D. Warren, Akito Kawahara, Sean D. Schoville, Vincent Ficarrotta, Adam H. Porter, Ward B. Watt, Arnaud Martin, Christopher W. Wheat
A Complex Interplay Between Balancing Selection And Introgression Maintains A Genus-Wide Alternative Life History Strategy, Kalle Tunstrom, Alyssa Woronik, Joseph J. Hanly, Pasi Rastas, Anton Chichvarkhin, Andrew D. Warren, Akito Kawahara, Sean D. Schoville, Vincent Ficarrotta, Adam H. Porter, Ward B. Watt, Arnaud Martin, Christopher W. Wheat
Biology Faculty Publications
Alternative life-history strategies (ALHS) are genetic polymorphisms generating phenotypes differing in life histories that generally arise due to metabolic resource allocation tradeoffs. Although ALHS are often be limited to a single sex or populations of a species, they can, in rare cases, be found among several species across a genus. In the butterfly genus Colias, at least a third of the species have a female limited ALHS called Alba. While many females develop brightly pigmented wings, Alba females reallocate nitrogen resources used in pigment synthesis to reproductive development, producing white-winged, more fecund females. Whether this ALHS evolved once or …
Movement, Home Ranges, And Population Estimates Of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys Guttata) During A Rainy Breeding Season In Virginia, Lauren J. Jurczak
Movement, Home Ranges, And Population Estimates Of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys Guttata) During A Rainy Breeding Season In Virginia, Lauren J. Jurczak
Theses and Dissertations
Spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) use a complex of wetland and terrestrial habitats for survival and reproduction. Precipitation expands and creates larger and more numerous ephemeral pools available to spotted turtles on the landscape. In this study, I investigated the effects of precipitation on movement patterns and ephemeral pool usage by spotted turtles in southeastern Virginia. I conducted a 4-month capture-mark-recapture study alongside a telemetry study to estimate population size and to quantify movement of spotted turtles across the landscape during the breading season. A change point analysis was used to detect discrete changes in turtle behavior and whether …
Successional Changes In Carbon Storage Are Sustained In A Temperate Forest Across Different Initiating Disturbances, Cameron Clay
Successional Changes In Carbon Storage Are Sustained In A Temperate Forest Across Different Initiating Disturbances, Cameron Clay
Theses and Dissertations
Managing forests for carbon (C) sequestration requires an understanding of how disturbance history shapes C pools and fluxes over successional time. At the University of Michigan Biological Station, we examined how two stand establishing disturbances influenced C pools and fluxes over 100+ years of succession, comparing these secondary forests with “legacy” late-successional stands encompassing ages and compositions that would be present in the absence of region-wide stand-replacing disturbance. Our work utilized measurements taken between 2014 and 2020 from separate experimental forest chronosequences initiated following clear-cut harvesting only or clear-cut harvesting and fire, along with three >130-yr-old late successional stands comprising …
The Mechanisms And Consequences Of Shrub Encroachment On The Virginia Barrier Islands, Lauren K. Wood
The Mechanisms And Consequences Of Shrub Encroachment On The Virginia Barrier Islands, Lauren K. Wood
Theses and Dissertations
Shrub encroachment is a global phenomenon driven by direct and indirect anthropogenic influence which alters plant communities and ecosystem function. Many studies have investigated drivers and consequences of woody plant establishment, but mesic landscapes are underrepresented in the literature. My objective was to assess the mechanisms of Morella cerifera encroachment into coastal mesic grassland, the potential for self-reinforcement, and consequences on community composition, nutrients, and landscape productivity. I studied temperature and water microclimate modification by Morella cerifera presence and removal to understand ecosystem engineering and community composition changes. Additionally, I examined the influence of shrubs on surrounding grassland species traits …
A Spatiotemporal Assessment Of Fish Assemblage Response To Land-Use Change And The Evaluation Of Edna Metabarcoding For Describing Diverse Fish Communities, Timothy M. Owen
Theses and Dissertations
Fish assemblages are often assessed as a biological proxy for environmental health. While humans value healthy environments for the ecosystem services and recreational opportunities they provide, it is increasingly evident that such resources can be paradoxically degraded by anthropogenic activities. In this investigation, we studied the relationship between different intensities of anthropogenic land-use change and habitat-driven fish assemblage response across multiple spatiotemporal scales. Secondarily, we explored the efficacy of eDNA metabarcoding against conventional electrofishing techniques for the purpose of describing complete fish communities. This study was conducted in the Tuckahoe Creek basin near Richmond, Virginia. This James River tributary serves …
Use Of Redwood Basal Hollows By Bats: A Focus On The Townsend's Big-Eared Bat On The North Coast Of California, Amon Jotesh Armstrong
Use Of Redwood Basal Hollows By Bats: A Focus On The Townsend's Big-Eared Bat On The North Coast Of California, Amon Jotesh Armstrong
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Loss of roosting resources, either through disturbance or removal, negatively affects bats. For sensitive species, such as the Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii), determining roost requirements is a critical component in conserving their habitat. Such cavity roosting bats on the North Coast of California may use hollows in large redwood trees. In this study, I examined the factors determining the use of basal tree hollows by different bat species at eight redwood forest sites in Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties, California. Bat guano was collected from 179 basal hollow roosts from 2017 to 2018, and guano mass …