Digital Commons Network^™

High Thermal Quality Rookeries Facilitate High Thermoregulatory Accuracy In Pregnant Female Rattlesnakes, Haley A. Moniz, Jack Henry Buck, Hayley L. Crowell, Scott M. Goetz, Trevor D. Ruiz, Emily N. Taylor, Scott M. Bobacks

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Temperature is a primary factor influencing organismal development, and the fluctuating daily and seasonal thermal regimes of temperate climates may challenge the ability of viviparous reptiles to optimize body temperatures during gestation. Testing how viviparous reptiles navigate highly variable thermal conditions (e.g., relatively cold nights and/or highly fluctuating temperatures) is a powerful way to understand how they use microhabitats for thermoregulatory benefits. We assessed the thermal ecology of pregnant and non-pregnant female prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) inhabiting a high-elevation, montane shrubland in northwest Colorado throughout their short summer active season, addressing the thermal consequences of microhabitat selection with …

Living Datasets: Towards Data-Centric Ai Explainability And Bias Mitigation, Akib Zaman

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Benchmark datasets are critical to the evolution of AI efforts yet often embed unintended biases that influence the models that drive human-AI interactions. A deeper inspection and awareness of data is needed to understand the biases datasets may contain. In this dissertation, I introduce the Tag-and-Release method, inspired from wildlife research, that treats data as an organism and examines how different environments (i.e., CNNs) select for unique traits or characteristics that ultimately impact data's survival. Using the canonical MNIST handwritten digit dataset as a case study, I describe how the Tag-and-Release method can be used to analyze how dataset imbalance …

Governance Policy Evaluation In The United States During The Pandemic: Nonpharmaceutical Interventions Or Else?, Danlin Yu, Shenyang Guo, Yuanyuan Yang, Linyun Fu, Timothy Mcbride, Ruopeng An

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Scientific evidence suggests that nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) effectively curb the spread of COVID-19 before a pharmaceutical solution. Implementing these interventions also significantly affects regular socioeconomic activities and practices of social, racial, and political justice. Local governments often face conflicting goals during policymaking. Striking a balance among competing goals during a global pandemic is a fine science of governance. How well state governments consume the scientific evidence and maintain such a balance remains less understood. This study employs a set of Bayesian hierarchical models to evaluate how state governments in the United States use scientific evidence to balance the fighting against …

Assessment Of The Extraction And Quantification Of Pfbs From Sprague Dawley Rat Adipose Tissues, Joshua O. Osaghae

Honors College Theses

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of complex synthetic chemicals that have applications ranging from automotives to consumer products. PFAS have been found to bioaccumulate in the ecosystem as their carbon-fluorine bonds are among the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) compounds are used as surfactants in water- and stain-repellent coatings for fabrics and carpets, cleaning agents, and paints. The persistence of PFAS has led to their accumulation in sources of groundwater, making them ubiquitous drinking water contaminants of concern with evidence linking PFAS exposure to adverse health effects, including reduced kidney function, thyroid disruption, and …

Identifying Nutrient Dynamics And Relative Groundwater Contribution In Wetlands At Fish Lake Environmental Center, Lapeer Mi, Rose Allen

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Wetlands are complex ecosystems that are dependent on hydrologic processes and water chemistry. Understanding the role that water chemistry and nutrients play in wetland ecosystems is crucial to wetland management and restoration. The Fish Lake Environmental Education Center near Lapeer Michigan, is glacially influenced, and contains a large bog. Between the bog and lake there are multiple kettles that contain ephemeral wetlands in the spring. Bogs are primarily precipitation sourced, whereas the kettle wetlands may be a combination of precipitation and groundwater sourced. Previous studies indicated that groundwater flow direction is towards Fish Lake, but it was unclear to what …

Comparison Of Ketamine-Xylazine, Butorphanol-Azaperone-Medetomidine, And Nalbuphine-Medetomidine-Azaperone For Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) Immobilization, Shylo R. Johnson, Christine K. Ellis, Chad Wickham, Molly R. Selleck, Amy T. Gilbert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are frequently handled using chemical immobilization in North America for management and research. In a controlled environment, we compared three drug combinations: ketamine-xylazine (KX), butorphanol-azaperone-medetomidine (BAM), and nalbuphinemedetomidine- azaperone (NalMed-A) for raccoon immobilization. In crossover comparisons, raccoons received a mean of the following: 8.66 mg/kg ketamine and 1.74 mg/kg xylazine (0.104 mL/kg KX); 0.464 mg/kg butorphanol, 0.155 mg/kg azaperone, and 0.185 mg/kg medetomidine (0.017 mL/kg BAM); and 0.800 mg/kg nalbuphine, 0.200 mg/kg azaperone, and 0.200 mg/kg medetomidine (0.020 mL/kg NalMed-A). Induction time was shortest with KX (mean6SE, 10.060.7 min) and longest with NalMed-A (13.061.3 min). …

Effects Of Timber Harvest On Understory Vegetation Succession: A Time Series Study, Reese A. Poindexter, Trevor Weeks, Chad Bishop, Akasha Faist

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Timber harvest, as a necessary and common global practice, can significantly affect the ecosystems being harvested through opening the canopy, disturbing the understory, and resetting successional trajectories. This study examined how timber harvest influenced understory plant functional group dominance, understory species richness, and understory species dominance along a 40-year, or older, harvest timeline across two forest types (mesic and xeric) in Northwestern Montana, U.S.A. In our two forest types, vegetation sampling was completed at 208 sites with 1,040 quadrats across six timber-harvest timelines. Harvest timelines varied from the most recent at 1-5 years post-harvest to over 40 years as the …

Novel Analytical Approaches For The Study Of Energy And Nutrient Flow In Streams, Michelle Catherine Kelly

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation applied novel modeling, experimental and statistical approaches to overcome the challenges of measuring and analyzing energy and nutrient cycling in streams through 3 studies: (1) determining the predictors of respiration and denitrification in streams across the United States, (2) simultaneous estimation of denitrification and nitrogen (N) fixation rates, and (3) the impact of C lability metrics on the interpretation of C degradation in DOM incubation experiments. In the first study, I used predictive modeling approaches to show that respiration and denitrification were positively correlated across the landscape but were predicted by factors at different spatial scales. Denitrification rates …

Coyotes In The Great Basin Desert Do Not Exhibit A Spatial Response Following The Removal Of Anthropogenic Water Sources, Nadine A. Pershyn, Eric M. Gese, Erica F. Stuber, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Coyote (Canis latrans) range expansion into desert ecosystems has highlighted the role of anthropogenic water sources in arid ecosystems. Despite hypotheses that additional water facilitated this expansion, previous studies reported that coyotes did not exhibit a spatial or dietary response to removal of anthropogenic water. We used GPS data to examine if coyotes responded to water removal at a finer spatial scale than previously investigated. Our integrated step selection analysis did not find evidence that coyotes adjusted their distance to water following water removal. Vegetation was an important factor in habitat selection of coyotes, with riparian and agricultural …

Kit Foxes Demonstrate Adaptive Compromise Characteristics Under Intraguild Predation Pressure By Coyotes In The Great Basin Desert, Nadine A. Pershyn, Eric M. Gese, Erica F. Stuber, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are believed to contribute to declining kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) numbers in the Great Basin desert through intraguild predation. Intraguild prey have been shown to exhibit adaptive compromise, whereby an animal increases selection for risky, but food-rich areas during times of food stress (i.e. winter). We evaluated the habitat selection of kit foxes in the Great Basin desert to elucidate if they demonstrated adaptive compromise as a method of coexisting with coyotes. We created 2nd order resource selection functions to analyze kit fox habitat selection associated with coyote relative probability of use (RPU), …

State Of Coastal And Marine Resources: Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, Ma Celina J. Añonuevo, Jemelyn Grace P. Baldisimo, Denmark B. Racamara, Mary Joyce P. Velos, Joseph Benedict T. Garcia, Frederico B. Sabban, Joey P. Cabasan, Rhea Mae Luciano, Darryl Anthony Valiño, Lovely Joy Heyres, Hazel O. Arceo

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Sablayan, situated on the western side of Mindoro Island facing the WPS (12.8564° N, 120.9101° E), is a first-class municipality in the province of Occidental Mindoro with a total land area of 2,188.8km² that is divided into 22 barangays, nine of which are along the coast. The coastline stretches for 115 km, with municipal waters covering approximately 750,000 km² (LGU-Sablayan 2008).

The Apo Reef Natural Park, one of its most prominent features, is located approximately 33 km off the coast (Figure 2.9-1) The Apo Reef Natural Park is a protected coral reef system under presidential proclamation 868 (1996) encompassing …

State Of Coastal And Marine Resources: Lian, Batangas, Joseph Benedict T. Garcia, Mary Joyce P. Velos, Jemelyn Grace P. Baldisimo, Joey P. Cabasan, Ma Celina J. Añonuevo, Denmark B. Recamara, Hazel O. Arceo

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Lian (13.9852° N, 120.6545° E) is a third-class municipality in the northwestern part of the province of Batangas. It is bounded on the north by the municipality of Nasugbu, on the east by the municipalities of Tuy and Balayan, on the west by the WPS, and on the south by the municipality of Catatagan (Figure 2.7-1). It has a total land area of 76.80km² that is divided into 19 barangays, six of which are coastal and two are integrated coastal barangays (LGU-Lian 2013). Its total population is 56,280 individuals in 15,991 households as of 2020 (PSA 2020).

The main …

On The Ground And From Above: A Multi-Factor Analysis Of The Direct And Indirect Drivers Of Tallgrass Prairie Small Mammal Communities, Erin Rowland-Schaefer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Tallgrass prairies are among the most globally threatened ecosystems, with only one percent of the historical extent remaining in Illinois. Prairie restoration is an essential strategy to preserve biodiversity and reestablish threatened species. Practitioners use management tools to shift the landscape context of prairie restoration sites, such as prescribed fire and land cover change. Managers can also impact the landscape connectivity and edge proximity of certain areas through the use of mowed driving lanes. The effects of these factors on small mammals, which are central in tallgrass prairie food webs and relevant to human health and restoration success, are not …

Evaluating Computational Reproducibility Of Jupyter Notebooks Using Machine Learning And Natural Language Processing, A S M Shahadat Hossain

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, computational reproducibility, which refers to achieving consistent results upon rerunning an experiment, has become one of the major concerns of various research communities. Jupyter Notebook, as a web-based computational notebook application, offers useful features for running and publishing computational experiments through interactive environments. However, rerunning notebooks does not always reproduce the experimental results. This thesis aims to develop novel methods to evaluate reproducibility by comparing different types of outputs between original and rerun notebooks. It also explores the idea of using machine learning models to predict reproducibility of notebooks automatically without the need of rerunning them. Through …

Assessment Of Total Petroleum Carbon And Heavy Metals Of Some Selected Plants Grown In Crude Oil Polluted Soils Using Gc-Fid, Pius O. Adah, Ndem E. Edu, Reagan B. Agbor, Henry B. Kogbara

Applied Environmental Research

This study was focused on assessing the phytoremediation potentials of some selected plant species on crude oil contaminated soils. Five plant species were cultivated in soils polluted with crude oil at 10, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg kg-1. The results revealed that there were significant reduction in THC contents of soil ameliorated with the various plants species compared to the control group increases with increasing concentration of crude oil pollutant in soil. THC was 62.24 mg kg-1, 1,120 mg kg-1, 208.67 mg kg-1, 257.87 mg kg-1 and 2,762.79 mg kg-1 for R. simplex, P. balfouriana, K. pinnata …

Examining The Role Of Microbial Communities In Soil Carbon Cycling Across Levels Of Complexity, Chansotheary Dang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Microorganisms provide the foundation for many ecosystem processes and are important drivers of carbon and nutrient cycling. The advancement of next generation sequencing has allowed researchers to lift open the lid on the ‘black box’ in microbial ecology. While previously unculturable microbes can now be characterized with the 16S rRNA gene, answering ‘who’s there?’ is only part of the challenge. Hidden inside the ‘black box’ remains the question, ‘who’s doing what?’. Recent development in trait-based methods like quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) equipped microbial ecologists with the tool to connect taxon-specific traits to ecosystem processes. Despite the growing body of …

Ivermectin, Colleen Aldous, Eleftherios Gkioulekas, Philip Oldfield

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dryland Vegetation Mapping Using High Spatial-Temporal Resolution Satellite Imagery In New Mexico: A Comparison Of Phenological Time-Series Transformation Methods, Pratistha Sharma

Geography ETDs

New Mexico's drylands are undergoing notable vegetation changes due to rising aridity, higher temperatures, and shifts in precipitation with changing climate. Mapping drylands through remote sensing is challenging compared to mesic systems due to the irregular patterns of rainfall-driven phenology and weaker vegetation absorption signals. This study aims to enhance vegetation mapping in New Mexico, utilizing a high-resolution, frequently revisited PlanetScope dataset with multispectral capabilities, specifically chosen for its suitability for time-series analysis. The challenge with high spatial and temporal data lies in the overwhelming volume, leading to issues like the curse of dimensionality, overfitting, data redundancy, collinearity, and visualization …

Tiny Drifters Amidst Global Change: Examining Environmental Drivers, Trophic Impacts, And Management Strategies Of Estuarine Plankton Communities In The Anthropocene, Taylor Nicole Dodrill

Dissertations and Theses

Plankton productivity supports estuarine food webs, and has been tied to the success of fisheries, macroinvertebrates, and cultured shellfish yields. Climate change and alterations to nutrient loads are thought to be influencing plankton assemblages, with toxin-producing harmful algal blooms (HABs) on the rise and nutritional quality of plankton declining globally. These shifts in plankton communities may contribute to low biomass yields and toxin-based closures of important fisheries. The objectives of this dissertation are to identify environmental drivers, trophic impacts, and management strategies to understand and respond to changing estuarine plankton communities. To address these objectives, I used a combination of …

Human Dimensions Of Woody Encroachment Management In Nebraska, Emily Rowen

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

Woody plant encroachment (WPE) is a social-ecological problem that will challenge conservation professionals and agricultural producers to adapt their management strategies. This research first examined WPE from the perspective of individual conservation professionals through an online survey. Conservation professionals’ attitudes about adaptation to vegetation transitions, such as WPE, were of interest because these attitudes are one measure of how prepared this group is to respond to WPE. Hypothesized predictors of adaptation attitude were tested through linear regression modeling. These predictors included ecological change, observation of WPE, or risk perception. It was found that risk perception was the strongest predictor of …

In Situ Water Sensing Systems: Research On Advancements In Environmental Monitoring, Abigail Seibel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In this work, two sensing systems were researched in order to improve in situ environmental monitoring. The first is a pH and Total Alkalinity sensor used to determine these characteristics of sea water. I explored the facets of this sensor over a 7-week internship with Dr. Ellen Briggs in her lab in summer of 2023. The second is a more holistic sensing system that reads temperature, turbidity, and pressure used for studying environmental characteristics of Alaskan bever ponds. Both systems were developed in close collaboration with scientists who are collecting data to better understand the impacts of climate change. Better …

Characterization Of The Long-Distance Dispersal Kernel Of White-Tailed Deer And Evaluating Its Impact On Chronic Wasting Disease Spread In Wisconsin, Mennatallah Gouda

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a fatal, untreatable neurodegenerative disease that infects deer and related species. It is highly contagious and caused by abnormal malfunction and assembly of normal cellular proteins into aggregation-prone proteins. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention report that the prevalence of CWD in free-ranging deer in the US is still relatively low. However, in several states the infection rates exceed 1 deer in 10. Deer may uptake CWD from direct interaction with infected individuals or from the environment. Infected individuals shed CWD into the environment through feces, urine, saliva or carcasses, and long-distance dispersal of …

Inundated Vegetation Response To Ongoing Restoration And Its Impacts On Fish Community Structure, Emmanuel J. May

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Shallow lake ecosystems and their associated wetland habitats globally are subject to non-native species introductions, nutrient loading, and water level fluctuations, each of which can decrease vegetated habitat availability, exposing vulnerable native aquatic species to predation. Managers are frequently tasked with mitigating native species declines by restoring vegetation considered crucial for their survival. However, restoring vegetation can be challenging in the presence of multiple stressors, requiring managers to assess the relative importance of the different stressors limiting vegetation recovery.

Utah Lake is a large shallow lake subject to multiple stressors and has shifted from a mesotrophic lake with abundant aquatic …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Chatgpt In Navigating The Spanish Medical Residency Entrance Examination (Mir): Promising Horizons For Ai In Clinical Medicine., Francisco Guillen-Grima, Sara Guillen-Aguinaga, Laura Guillen-Aguinaga, Rosa Alas-Brun, Luc Onambele, Wilfrido Ortega, Rocio Montejo, Enrique Aguinaga-Ontoso, Paul Barach, Ines Aguinaga-Ontoso

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

UNLABELLED: The rapid progress in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing has led to increasingly sophisticated large language models (LLMs) for use in healthcare. This study assesses the performance of two LLMs, the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models, in passing the MIR medical examination for access to medical specialist training in Spain. Our objectives included gauging the model's overall performance, analyzing discrepancies across different medical specialties, discerning between theoretical and practical questions, estimating error proportions, and assessing the hypothetical severity of errors committed by a physician.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied the 2022 Spanish MIR examination results after excluding …

Evaluating Functional Diversity As Potential Early-Warning Indicator Of Rangeland Degradation, L.-M. Schwarz, C. P. Carmona, M. C. Bilton, F. Munyebvu-Chambara, K. Behn, A. Linstädter

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Droughts and overgrazing play a crucial role in the degradation of semi-arid rangelands. This is evident in the loss of palatable long-lived grass species and bush encroachment. Early warning indicators are needed to mitigate long-term degradation and decline in essential forage provision. Functional diversity provides valuable information on ecosystem health. However, functional diversity indices have not yet been tested regarding their applicability as early warning indicators, revealing non-linear threshold behaviour. We therefore examined the following questions: (1) How do functional diversity indices respond to grazing pressure? (2) Does land tenure affect the relationship between functional diversity and grazing pressure? (3) …

The Effects Of The Big-Headed Turtle (Platysternon Megacephalum) On Community And Ecosystem In Hong Kong Hill Streams, Wing Lam Fok

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Freshwater turtles and tortoises are ecologically important organisms; however, they are underappreciated, and conservation attention often focuses on the more charismatic animals such as birds and mammals. Although turtles are the most traded group of animals and many species are at the brink of extinction, little research has been done to understand their ecology in Asia because of the rarity of wild populations. Hong Kong is a biodiversity hotspot for freshwater turtle species. The Big-headed Turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) is a critically endangered species that still maintains small populations in Hong Kong, providing a rare opportunity to study the …

Modeling The Long-Distance Effects Of Predation, Henry Ogu

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

First Approximation Of Population Distributions On The International Space Station, Justin St. P. Walsh, Rao Hamza Ali, Alice C. Gorman, Amir Kanan Kashefi

Art Faculty Articles and Research

This paper presents an analysis of data derived from thousands of publicly available photographs showing life on the International Space Station (ISS) between 2000 and 2020. Our analysis uses crew and locational information from the photographs’ metadata to identify the distribution of different population groups—by gender, nationality, and space agency affiliation—across modules of the ISS, for the first time. Given the significance of the ISS as the most intensively inhabited space habitat to date, an international cooperative initiative involving 26 countries and five space agencies, and one of the most expensive building projects ever undertaken by humans, developing an understanding …

A Not-So-Stable Environment: An Assessment Of Stable Isotopic Niches Of The Non-Native European Flounder And Native Salmonids In The Westfjords, Iceland, Annamarie Cross

Iceland: Climate Change and The Arctic

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Human - Nonhuman Primate Conflict Mitigation Techniques In Mto Wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania, Lily Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human – non-human primate conflict is particularly crucial due to primates’ high capacity to live among human populations. The study to analyze Human - Nonhuman Primate Conflict Mitigation Techniques, was carried in November 2023 at Mto wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania. To analyze techniques currently being used to mitigate human – non-human primate conflict, this study collected data through semi-structured interviews. Over 87% (n=35) of respondents used multiple mitigation techniques simultaneously. 80% of respondents (n=32) reported using projectiles to ward off foraging primates, 75% of respondents (n=30) reported using loud noises (made either by the voice/body or by manipulating noisemakers), 67.5% …