Digital Commons Network^™

The Ecology, Assembly, And Evolution Of Gypsophile Floras, Michael J. Moore, Juan F. Mota, Norman A. Douglas, Hilda Flores-Olvera, Helga Ochoterena

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) exposures and gypseous soils occupy over 100 million ha worldwide, primarily in arid and semiarid regions, with particularly large areas of surface gypsum in southwestern Asia, the Mediterranean region, the Horn of Africa and southwestern North America. Each of these areas hosts a diverse assemblage of gypsum endemic plant taxa, known as gypsophiles. Although plant biologists have been interested in the causes of gypsophily for well over a century, it has only been over the past few decades that gypsophile floras have received sustained ecological and evolutionary study. Recent work, principally in Spain, has revealed that both physical …

Temporal Patterns Of Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities And Organic Matter Standing Stock Availability In A Coastal Floodplain (Altamaha River, Georgia), Erica L. Johnson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

River floodplain habitats of the Southeastern United States are sites of high biological productivity that rely on a predictable flooding event as a keystone process. This study took place in a river-floodplain area of the Altamaha River, an unimpounded large-order river in the Coastal Plains region of the US. This study aims to investigate how aquatic macroinvertebrate communities changed over the course of the annual flood pulse. I predicted that the communities would be different and that the differences would be driven by hydrology at the main stem and organic matter standing stock availability. I took quantitative samples of benthic …

Updated Checklist Of Sponges (Porifera) Along The Coasts Of Turkey, Bülent Topaloğlu, Alper Evcen

Turkish Journal of Zoology

This study compiled the data from previous papers emphasizing sponge species on the Turkish coasts. In total, 131 species belonging to 46 families have been reported: 82 species from the Aegean Sea, 63 species from the Sea of Marmara, 51 species from the Levantine Sea, and 13 species from the Black Sea. Among these species, 3 species are new records for the marine fauna of Turkey: Rhizaxinella elongata, Axinyssa digitata, and Terpios gelatinosa. Raspalia viminalis is a new record for the Sea of Marmara. The morphological and distributional features of 3 species are presented. In addition, a checklist of the …

Competition For Food Between The Markhor And Domestic Goat In Chitral, Pakistan, Nasra Ashraf, Maqsood Anwar, Iftikhar Hussain, Muhammad Ali Nawaz

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The markhor (Capra falconeri) is endangered globally as well as in Pakistan. The Chitral district in Pakistan supports one of the largest populations of this species. The rural communities of the district have large holdings of livestock, which make up a significant part of their livelihood system. The domestic goat is the dominant livestock species, and a potential competitor with the markhor due to habitat overlap. The present study was conducted to examine the extent of food competition between the markhor and domestic goat in Chitral. A total of 120 pellets of the 2 species were collected during the spring …

Integrating Societal Perspectives And Values For Improved Stewardship Of A Coastal Ecosystem Engineer, Steven B. Scyphers, J. Steven Picou, Robert D. Brumbaugh, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Oyster reefs provide coastal societies with a vast array of ecosystem services, but are also destructively harvested as an economically and culturally important fishery resource, exemplifying a complex social-ecological system (SES). Historically, societal demand for oysters has led to destructive and unsustainable levels of harvest, which coupled with multiple other stressors has placed oyster reefs among the most globally imperiled coastal habitats. However, more recent studies have demonstrated that large-scale restoration is possible and that healthy oyster populations can be sustained with effective governance and stewardship. However, both of these require significant societal support or financial investment. In our study, …

A Landscape-Based Approach For Delineating Hotspots Of Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions, Nathan P. Snow, David M. Williams, William F. Porter

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Imposing human perceptions about the scales of ecological processes can produce unreliable scientific inferences in wildlife research and possibly misinform mitigation strategies. An example of this disconnect occurs in studies of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs). Subjective procedures are often used to delineate hotspots of WVCs, resulting in hotspots that are not spatially independent. We developed a new approach that identifies independent hotspots using attributes of the landscape to inform delineations instead of subjective measures. First, we generated a candidate set of grouping scenarios using unique combinations of kernel-density estimation parameterization (i.e., bandwidth and isopleth values). Next, we associated the groups of …

Seven-Year Responses Of Trees To Experimental Hurricane Effects In A Tropical Rainforest, Puerto Rico, Jess K. Zimmerman, James Aaron Hogan, Aaron B. Shiels, John E. Bithorn, Samuel Matta Carmona, Nicholas Brokaw

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We experimentally manipulated key components of severe hurricane disturbance, canopy openness and detritus deposition, to determine the independent and interactive effects of these components on tree recruitment, forest structure, and diversity in a wet tropical forest in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Canopy openness was increased by trimming branches, and we manipulated debris by adding or subtracting the trimmed materials to the trimming treatments, in a 2 X 2 factorial design replicated in three blocks. Tree (stems > 1 cm diameter at breast height) responses were measured during the 9-year study, which included at least 1 year of pre-manipulation monitoring. …

Finding Them Before They Find Us: Informatics, Parasites, And Environments In Accelerating Climate Change, Daniel R. Brooks, Eric P. Hoberg, Walter A. Boeger, Scott Lyell Gardner, Kurt E. Galbreath, David Herczeg, Hugo H. Mejía-Madrid, S. Elizabeth Rácz, Altangerel Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Parasites are agents of disease in humans, livestock, crops, and wildlife and are powerful representations of the ecological and historical context of the diseases they cause. Recognizing a nexus of professional opportunities and global public need, we gathered at the Cedar Point Biological Station of the University of Nebraska in September 2012 to formulate a cooperative and broad platform for providing essential information about the evolution, ecology, and epidemiology of parasites across host groups, parasite groups, geographical regions, and ecosystem types. A general protocol, documentation–assessment–monitoring–action (DAMA), suggests an integrated proposal to build a proactive capacity to understand, anticipate, and respond …

Morphologic And Molecular Identifications Of Digenetic Trematodes In Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) From The Mississippi Delta, Usa, Mary O'Hear, Linda Pote, Marlena Yost, Cynthia Doffitt, D. Tommy King, Carla Panuska

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Increasing numbers of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the Mississippi River Delta, USA, have been observed over the past few decades. This piscivorous bird is a definitive host for numerous digenetic trematodes, some of which may cause pathology in a fish host. We conducted a 2-yr survey of intestinal trematodes in 35 Double-crested Cormorants collected in the Mississippi Delta. We counted gastrointestinal trematodes, identified them to species using morphometric and molecular techniques, and sequenced the 18S and cytochrome oxidase I (COI) genes. We collected 4,909 trematodes, representing five digenetic species: Drepanocephalus spathans, Hysteromorpha triloba, Pseudopsilostoma varium, Austrodiplostomum ostrowskiae, and Ascocotyle …

The Cumulative Effects Of Management On The Population Dynamics Of The Double-Crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax Auritus In The Great Lakes, Alban Guillaumet, Brian S. Dorr, Guiming Wang, Terry J. Doyle

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife species have been subject to control efforts throughout human history due to real or alleged human-wildlife conflicts. The Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus in the interior of North America is no exception, with recent population growth leading to increased conflicts and consequetly the development of many control programmes. These control programmes are usually conducted at local scales, often with little or no effort to assess their cumulative effects at the population level. We attempted the first comprehensive assessment of the cumulative effects of control at various spatio temporal scales, focusing on 199 colonies of Double-crested Cormorant monitored during a 29-year …

Bat Rabies In Guatemala, James E. Ellison, Amy T. Gilbert, Sergio Recuenco, David Moran, Danilo A. Alvarez, Natalia Kuzmina, Daniel L. Garcia, Leonard F. Peruski, Mary T. Mendonca, Kim A. Lindblade, Charles E. Rupprecht

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rabies in bats is considered enzootic throughout the New World, but few comparative data are available for most countries in the region. As part of a larger pathogen detection program, enhanced bat rabies surveillance was conducted in Guatemala, between 2009 and 2011. A total of 672 bats of 31 species were sampled and tested for rabies. The prevalence of rabies virus (RABV) detection among all collected bats was low (0.3%). Viral antigens were detected and infectious virus was isolated from the brains of two common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus). RABV was also isolated from oral swabs, lungs and …

The Influence Of Breeding Experience On Nest Success In Red-Winged Blackbird, George M. Linz, Richard S. Sawin, Mark W. Lutman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a polygynous species, and females are typically responsible for the majority of parental care. Despite their limited involvement, males can contribute to reproduction through nest defense and the feeding of nestlings. Some aspects of nest defense may be learned, and older males are more likely to feed young, suggesting that males with previous breeding experience may enjoy higher nest success than their naïve counterparts. We manipulated territory ownership on 10 wetlands in central North Dakota in order to examine the influence of breeding experience on reproductive success. We found no evidence that …

Influence Of Habitat Structure And Food On Patch Choice Ofcaptive Coyotes, Sharon A. Poessel, Eric M. Gese, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Increasing urban development can have significant effects on wildlife species, includingcarnivores. Some carnivore species have been able to adapt to and even thrive in urban envi-ronments, including coyotes (Canis latrans). The presence of carnivores in urban areas cansometimes lead to conflicts with humans and their pets. Although coyotes may frequentlyuse urban areas, they also inhabit natural areas surrounding urban development. Under-standing the various factors affecting patch choice of urban coyotes may assist wildlifeofficials in managing human-coyote conflicts. Both sex and behavioral profile can influ-ence patch choice; bold individuals are more likely to be exploratory than shy animals,which can …

Behavioural Ecology Of The Black-Flanked Rock-Wallaby (Petrogale Lateralis Lateralis): Refuge Importance In A Variable Environment, Craig Pentland

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The black-flanked rock-wallaby (Petrogale lateralis lateralis) has suffered a significant decline in its distribution in Western Australia. This has been attributed to introduced predators (predominantly the red fox) and herbivores, fire, and habitat destruction due to clearing. Although since 2001 the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) had begun to reintroduce this species back into its former range, little was known of the behavioural ecology of this species. Fox control in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in population increases of rock-wallabies on several reserves in the central wheatbelt of WA. However, recently these populations have rapidly declined despite continuing fox …

Effects Of Understory Vegetation And Litter On Plant Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), N∶P Ratio And Their Relationships With Growth Rate Of Indigenous Seedlings In Subtropical Plantations, Jun Wang, Dafeng Hui, Hai Ren, Zhanfeng Liu, Long Yang

Biology Faculty Research

Establishing seedlings in subtropical plantations is very important for forest health, succession and management. Information on seedling nutrient concentrations is essential for both the selection of suitable indigenous tree species to accelerate succession of the established plantation and sustainable forest management. In this study, we investigated the concentrations of nitrogen ([N]), phosphorus ([P]), and N∶P ratio in leaves, stems and roots of seedlings of three indigenous tree species (Castanopsis chinensis, Michelia chapensis and Psychotria rubra) transplanted with removing or retaining understory vegetation and litter at two typical subtropical forest plantations (Eucalyptus plantation and native species plantation). We also measured the …

Effects Of Prescribed Burns On Grassland Breeding Birds At Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, Elizabeth A. Ruffman

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

There has been a critical decline in grassland bird populations due to habitat fragmentation and deterioration, and suppression of natural fires. Alteration of the disturbance cycle may lead to changes in vegetation structure and thus habitat suitability for breeding grassland birds. Management practices at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, including the use of prescribed fire, are in need of evaluation. My study asked what frequency of prescribed burns is necessary to support breeding grassland birds and whether vegetation structure varies among burn units. In this study, bird abundance and species richness did not differ significantly among burn units …

Environmental Regulation Of Tidal Wetland Microbial Communities And Associated Biogeochemistry, Ember Morrissey

Theses and Dissertations

Microbial communities play an essential role in carrying out the biogeochemical cycles that sustain life on Earth, yet we know very little about their ecology. One question of particular interest is how environmental conditions shape microbial community structure (i.e., the types of organisms found in the community and their relative abundance), and whether such changes in structure are related to biogeochemical function. It is the aim of this dissertation to address this question via the examination of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in wetland ecosystems, which due to their diverse hydrology have a profound influence on biogeochemical cycles. With …

Seasonal Dynamics Of Flatfish Assemblage In Coastal Waters Off Northeastern Taiwan: With Implications For Shift In Species Dominance Of The Ecosystem, Shyh-Bin Wang, Wen-Kwen Chen, Shoou-Jeng Joung

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The seasonal dynamics of flatfish assemblage in the coastal waters off northeastern Taiwan was examined based on samples collected between March 2004 and March 2005 taken by bottom trawlers and landed at Da-Shi fishing port, Yilan county. A total of 28 species from 5 families and 18 genera were found. The Bothidae was the most dominant family, accounting for 81% of the total catch, while the most dominant species was the Pseudorhombus pentophthalmus. Species richness and diversity were high between the end of fall and the end of spring, but low in summer. Multivariate analyses based on cluster and nonparametric …

Age And Growth Study Of The Jack Mackerel (Trachurus Japonicus) In The Northeatern Waters Off Taiwan, Hsueh-Jung Lu, Chih-Chun Chen, Jen-Chia Cheng

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Jack mackerel (Trachurus japonicus) is one of the most important fish resources in the northeastern Taiwan. Because of the flourishing of Taiwanese seiner fisheries in recent years, the proportion and catch of jack mackerels have increased. However, the studies on their age and growth are outdated, thus data on the catch-at-age composition are lacking. The present study collected jack mackerel otolith samples from May, 2010, to April, 2011, for age determination and combined those data with length and weight data from 2005 to January, 2012, to investigate the catch-at-age of jack mackerel in the northeastern waters off Taiwan. The regression …

Shifting Environmental Controls On Ch4 Fluxes In A Sub-Boreal Peatland, Thomas G. Pypker, P. A. Moore, John A. Hribljan, Rodney Chimner

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

We monitored CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes using eddy covariance from 19 May to 27 September 2011 in a poor fen located in northern Michigan. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) quantify the flux of CH₄ from a sub-boreal peatland, and (2) determine which abiotic and biotic factors were the most correlated to the flux of CH₄ over the measurement period. Net daily CH₄ fluxes increased from 70 mg CH₄ m⁻² d⁻¹ to 220 mg CH₄ m⁻² d⁻¹ from mid May to mid July. After July, CH_{4 …}

Whooping Cranes Consume Plains Leopard Frogs At Migratory Stopover Sites In Nebraska, Keith Geluso, Brad T. Krohn, Mary J. Harner, Michael J. Assenmacher

The Prairie Naturalist

Whooping cranes (Grus americana) currently consist of a single, wild population that migrates annually from breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada, to wintering grounds on and around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge along the Texas coast, USA (NRC 2005). This population reached a low of less than 20 individuals in 1941 (Allen 1952) but has rebounded to over 250 individuals (Chavez-Ramirez and Wehtje 2012, Gil-Weir et al. 2012). Whooping cranes migrate approximately 4,000 km each spring and autumn, traversing much of the North American Great Plains (Lewis 1995) and periodically landing along rivers, wetlands, and other …

Evidence For Finely-Regulated Asynchronous Growth Of Toxoplasma Gondii Cysts Based On Data-Driven Model Selection, Adam M. Sullivan, Xiaopeng Zhao, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Eri Ochiai, Stephen Crutcher, Michael A. Gilchrist

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii establishes a chronic infection by forming cysts preferentially in the brain. This chronic infection is one of the most common parasitic infections in humans and can be reactivated to develop life-threatening toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised patients. Host-pathogen interactions during the chronic infection include growth of the cysts and their removal by both natural rupture and elimination by the immune system. Analyzing these interactions is important for understanding the pathogenesis of this common infection. We developed a differential equation framework of cyst growth and employed Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) to determine the growth and removal functions that best describe …

National Park Service Cave Ecology Inventory And Monitoring Framework, Gretchen M. Baker, Steven J. Taylor, Shawn Thomas, Rick Olson, Kathy Lavoie, Marie Denn, Steven Thomas, Hazel Barton, Kurt Helf, Rene Ohms, Joel Despain, Jim Kennedy, David Larson

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

A team developed the Cave Ecology Inventory and Monitoring Framework for National Park Service (NPS) units. It contains information for NPS cave managers across the United States to determine how to inventory and monitor cave ecology. Due to the wide geographical scope of NPS caves and their many different types, the document does not prescribe exact protocols. Instead, it provides guidance for what types of inventory and monitoring are possible, a framework for deciding how to prioritize inventory and monitoring activities, and references to specific protocols that are already in place at NPS cave parks.

Keywords: cave ecology, cave microbiology, …

Bailey’S Eastern Woodrat (Neotoma Floridana Baileyi): Species Conservation Assessment, Melissa J. Panella

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: Publications

The primary goal in development of at-risk species conservation assessments is to compile biological and ecological information that may assist conservation practitioners in making decisions regarding the conservation of species of interest. The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project recognizes the Bailey’s eastern woodrat (Neotama floridana baileyi) as a Tier I at-risk species. Provided are some general management recommendations regarding Bailey’s eastern woodrats. Conservation practitioners will need to use professional judgment for specific management decisions based on objectives, location, and site-specific conditions. This resource was designed to provide an overview of our current knowledge of Bailey’s eastern woodrats and may aid in …

Liana Impacts On Carbon Cycling, Storage And Sequestration In Tropical Forests, Geertje M. Van Der Heijden, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Jennifer S. Powers, Oliver L. Phillips

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Mature tropical forests sequester large quantities of atmospheric CO2, which they store as plant biomass. These forests are changing however, including an increase in liana abundance and biomass over recent decades in Neotropical forests. We ask here how this increase in lianas might impact the tropical forest carbon cycle and their capacity for carbon storage and sequestration. Lianas reduce tree growth, survival, and leaf productivity; however, lianas also invest significantly in leaf production, and the increase in lianas could conceivably offset liana‐induced reductions in tree canopy productivity with no adverse effects to the forest‐level canopy productivity. By contrast, lianas decrease …

Sylvatic Species Of Echinococcus From Rodent Intermediate Hosts In Asia And South America, Scott Lyell Gardner, Altangerel T. Dursahinhan, Gábor R. Rácz, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Sumiya Ganzorig, David S. Tinnin, Darmaa Damdinbazar, Charles Wood, A. Townsend Peterson, Erika Alandia, José Luís Mollericona, Jorge Salazar-Bravo

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

During a global survey of the diversity of vertebrates and their parasites including the Gobi and desert/steppe biomes ranging from south central to western Mongolia, we found metacestodes (larvae) of Echinococcus multilocularis (Leuckart 1863) in the liver of an individual vole (Microtus limnophilus Büchner 1889) collected in grassland habitat at Har Us Lake, southeast of Hovd, Mongolia. Positive identification of E. multilocularis from near Hovd was made via comparative cyst morphology, study of hooks from the rostellum derived from protoscolexes, and DNA sequencing of the COX1 mitochondrial gene extracted from tissue of the cysts frozen in the field. This …

Neighborhoods Have Little Effect On Fungal Attack Or Insect Predation Of Developing Seeds In A Grassland Biodiversity Experiment, Noelle G. Beckman, Ray Dybzinski, G. David Tilman

Biology Faculty Publications

Numerous observational studies have documented conspecific negative density-dependence that is consistent with the Janzen–Connell Hypothesis (JCH) of diversity maintenance. However, there have been few experimental tests of a central prediction of the JCH: that removing host-specific enemies should lead to greater increases in per capita recruitment in areas of higher host density or lower relative phylogenetic diversity. Using spatially randomized plots of high and low host biomass in a temperate grassland biodiversity experiment, we treated developing seedheads of six prairie perennials to factorial applications of fungicide and insecticide. We measured predispersal seed production, seed viability, and seedling biomass. Results were …

A Population-Based Case–Control Study Of Urinary Arsenic Species And Squamous Cell Carcinoma In New Hampshire, Usa, Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Zhigang Li, Ann E. Perry, Steven K. Spencer, A Jay Gandolfi, Margaret R. Karagas

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Chronic high arsenic exposure is associated with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin, and inorganic arsenic (iAs) metabolites may play an important role in this association. However, little is known about the carcinogenicity of arsenic at levels commonly observed in the United States.

Objective: We estimated associations between total urinary arsenic and arsenic species and SCC in a U.S. population.

Methods: We conducted a population-based case–control SCC study (470 cases, 447 controls) in a U.S. region with moderate arsenic exposure through private well water and diet. We measured urinary iAs, monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and …

The Effects Of Invasive Plants On Biodiversity Across Spatial Scales, Kristin Irene Powell

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Although introduced plant species are often considered to be one of the most notable anthropogenic threats to biodiversity, their influence on biodiversity remains controversial. Some studies have shown large declines in biodiversity in plant-invaded areas, whereas others have noted that plant invasions are rarely implicated as the cause of species extinctions. This dissertation aims to synthesize this seemingly conflicting literature on the effects of invasive plants on biodiversity. The overarching hypothesis in this research is that the effect of invasive plant species on biodiversity is scale-dependent, and the discrepancy among studies can be explained by a difference in the scales …

Lichen Flora Of Boulder Mountain, Aquarius Plateau, Wayne County, Utah Usa: An Altitudinal Comparison Of Lichen Communities, Steven Leavitt, Dr. Larry St. Clair

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Lichen ecology is a facet of biology that remains relatively unexplored in many parts of the United States. Lichens can play an important role as indicators of local environmental conditions, as lichen species density and community structure are significantly affected by airborne contaminants and other anthropogenic influences. Obtaining baseline ecological data for local lichen communities will make it possible to continually monitor local communities and evaluate future changes in community structure.