Digital Commons Network^™

Isotope Ratio Studies Of Marine Mammals In Prince William Sound, Donald M. Schell, Amy Hirons

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

This project consists of two components: (1) provision of analytical services for the stable isotope ratio investigations associated with Exxon Valdez oil spill projects, and (2) an investigation of food web relationships and trophic interactions of harbor seals and other top consumers of Prince William Sound (PWS). Through the use of harbor seal tissues collected from native harvested animals and tagging programs, seasonal and migrational information has been obtained with regard to prey utilization and trophic status at differing locations within the sound and the adjacent Gulf of Alaska. Preliminary results indicate that within PWS, harbor seals fall at the …

Use Of Crafts, Games, And Children's Literature To Enhance Environmental Education, Amy Helene Shamansky

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Long Term Stability Of A Terrestrial Cave Community, Claudio Di Russo, Gianmaria Carchini, Mauro Rampini, Marco Lucarelli, Valerio Sbordoni

International Journal of Speleology

We report data on the spatial structure and seasonal variation of the community of Valmarino cave, a medium sized sandstone cave, located a few kilometres from the coast line, in Central Italy. Due to both its habitat features and its relatively recent geological history, Valmarino cave is only inhabited by terrestrial, troglophilic elements, i.e facultative cave dwellers. By means of monthly censuses and density plot estimates we have investigated species abundance, diversity and their spatial organization, by considering separately samples from different cave sectors. Homogeneous sampling design allowed to compare series of samplings performed in 1974 and 1994. On the …

Overview Of Tunisia's Marine Environment In Support Of Administrative Policies And Programmes, Fredj Derouiche

World Maritime University Dissertations

The dissertation is a real investigation in the marine environment field, which few people are familiar with, although it concerns everybody. The investigation being carried out in three steps; each step covering one aspect of the marine environment, and the result is given in the conclusion. As a first step, the main problems affecting the marine environment in Tunisia, are identified and analysed. An attempt is made to identify the impact of such problems on the marine environment, human health and the national economy. In the second part, the institutional framework, dealing with the marine environment, is presented and analysed. …

Directory Of Water Related Courses Offered At Colleges And Universites In Arkansas, Kenneth F. Steele

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

This publication lists the water and water-related courses at several universities and colleges in Arkansas as reported during the Fall of 1996. It Is anticipated that users of this directory will extend beyond college students, and will include professionals seeking continuing education, and professors desiring to exchange information on courses. This directory is not an "absolute" source of water and water-related courses because all of the higher learning institutions in Arkansas are not listed, and, secondly, because the definition of "water and water-related" varies from institution to institution. None-the-less this directory provides a very valuable and impressive reference on water …

The Influence Of Forest Fragmentation And Landscape Pattern On American Martens And Their Prey, Christina D. Hargis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Habitat fragmentation occurs when large tracts of an orginal habitat are replaced by smaller patches of two or more habitat types, largely through human activities. I studied the behavior of six measures of landscape pattern that seemed appropriate for quantifying fragmentation, and used these measures to investigate the effects of forest fragmentation on American martens (Martes americana) and their prey. The measures I selected were edge density, contagion, mean nearest neighbor distance between patches, mean proximity index, perimeter-area fractal dimension, and mass fractal dimension. To test the behavior of these measures with a variety of landscape patterns, I …

Thermal Tolerances Of Platte River Fishes: Field And Laboratory Studies, Brett P. Fessell

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

No abstract provided.

Century-Scale Paleoclimatic Reconstruction From Moon Lake, A Closed-Basin Lake In The Northern Great Plains, Kathleen R. Laird, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Eric C. Grimm, Pietra G. Mueller

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Estimates of past lake-water salinity from fossil diatom assemblages were used to infer past climatic conditions at Moon Lake, a climatically sensitive site in the northern Great Plains. A good correspondence between diatom-inferred salinity and historical records of mean annual precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P - ET) strongly suggests that the sedimentary record from Moon Lake can be used to reconstruct past climatic conditions. Century-scale analysis of the Holocene diatom record indicates four major hydrological periods: an early Holocene transition from an open freshwater system to a closed saline system by 7300 B.P., which corresponds with a transition from spruce forest …

Desert Plants Of Utah, Berniece A. Andersen

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Residential Radon-222 Exposure And Lung Cancer: Exposure Assessment Methodology, R. William Field, Daniel J. Steck, Charles F. Lynch, Christine P. Brus, John S. Neuberger, Burton C. Kross

Physics Faculty Publications

Although occupational epidemiological studies and animal experimentation provide strong evidence that radon-222 (²²²Rn) progeny exposure causes lung cancer, residential epidemiological studies have not confirmed this association. Past residential epidemiological studies have yielded contradictory findings. Exposure misclassification has seriously compromised the ability of these studies to detect whether an association exists between ²²²Rn exposure and lung cancer. Misclassification of ²²²Rn exposure has arisen primarily from: 1) detector measurement error; 2) failure to consider temporal and spatial ²²²Rn variations within a home; 3) missing data from previously occupied homes that currently are inaccessible; 4) failure to link …

Final Report To The Department Of Energy For Water Use, Productivity And Interactions Among Desert Plants, James R. Ehleringer

Elusive Documents

No abstract provided.

Diet And Seasonal Feeding Habits Of The Yellow Stingray, Urolophus Jamaicensis, T. Patrick Quinn

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Urolophus jamaicensis, the yellow stingray, is a common elasmobranch found on and around the coral reefs off Florida's southeastern coast. Its diet consists of polychaetes, crustaceans, nemerteans, sipunculids, nematodes, and chaetognaths with polychaetes and crustaceans comprising almost 67% of the stomach contents by volume. There does not appear to be any diet preference between the male and females stingrays. The seasonal changes in diet preference are limited to an increase in the proportion of polychaetes found in the stomach during spring when compared to fall.

A Guide For Extending Nature Lessons At The Yakima Arboretum, Marilou Cori Kinder

All Graduate Projects

The importance of providing a hands on natural environment curriculum was examined. Sources from 1938-1996 were found supporting the importance of such a curriculum. A search was conducted on the availability of a natural habitat curriculum that used a local resource. The search discovered the Yakima Arboretum had seven areas of interest along with a packet of brief lesson suggestions. These lessons were extended to include classroom activities that would provide students with background knowledge prior to a field trip to the Arboretum.

1996 Platte River Basin Ecosystem Symposium Proceedings

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Recent Colonization Of Dolichopoda Cave Crickets In The Poscola Cave (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae), Camilla Bernardini, Claudio Di Russo, Mauro Rampini, Donatella Cersaroni, Valerio Sbordoni

International Journal of Speleology

We report a series of investigations carried out on a Dolichopoda population recently discovered in the Poscola cave and in some small caves nearby (Lessini Mountains, Vicenza). This population is located north of Po river, outside the present known geographic range of this genus in Italy. Morphology of the epiphallus corroborated by chromosome and allozyme analysis indicated that this population belongs to D. laetitiae. Study of the genetic structure of population in the Poscola area revealed high gene flow levels between Poscola and the other minor caves, suggesting the occurrence of a single expanding population. This finding as well …

A Functional Group Approach To Detecting Shifts In Macroalgal Communities Along A Disturbance Gradient, J. C. Phillips

Theses : Honours

A recently proposed hypothesis argued that morphologically and functionally similar macroalgae could be grouped to study the structure of macroalgal communities. It was argued that these functional groups can be used to predict changes to community composition that result from disturbance. This study examined whether the functional group model held in detecting changes in macroalgal community structure within one bioregion, by applying it to a habitat exposed to different levels of physical disturbance associated with wave exposure. Results obtained using a functional group approach were compared to those obtained using a species level approach. Three parallel reef lines in Marmion …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 27, No.4 December 1995

The Prairie Naturalist

NEW DISTRIBUTIONAL RECORDS FOR MAMMALS IN KANSAS · D. W Sparks and J. R. Choate

CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS IN NORTH DAKOTA PARASITIZED BY BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS ▪ G. P. Romig and R. D. Crawford

A NOTEWORTHY RECORD AND THE BREEDING DISTRIBUTION OF THE BLUE GROSBEAK IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ L. D. Igl

NEAR LONGEVITY RECORD FOR THE SNOW GOOSE ▪ M T. Koenen and D. M. Leslie, Jr.

COMPARISON OF WATER CONSUMPTION BETWEEN TWO GRASSLAND EMBERIZIDS ▪ J. L. Zimmerman

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH DECLINING PROPORTION OF CITIZENS HUNTING IN SOUTH DAKOTA ▪ N. J. Dietz, K. F. Higgins, and R. D. Mendelsohn …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 27, No.2. June 1995

The Prairie Naturalist

WILDLIFE MORTALITY ASSOCIATED WITH OIL PITS IN WYOMING ▪ B.J. Esmoil and S.H. Anderson

DRAMATIC INCREASE OF LE CONTE'S SPARROW IN CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM FIELDS IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS ▪ LD. Igl and D.H. Johnson

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS FOR NORTH DAKOTA - 1994 ▪ R.N. Randall

DESCRIPTIONS OF WALLEYE STOCKS IN HIGH-ELEVATION RESERVOIRS, WYOMING ▪ T.D. Marwitz and W A. Hubert

NEW VASCULAR PLANT RECORDS FOR THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA AND WYOMING • G.E. Larson and J.R. Johnson

NOTES

A New Population of Small White Lady's-Slipper (Cypripedium candidum) in South Dakota ▪ S.E. Boettcher

Sandhill …

Geomorphic And Pedogenic Evolution In Coastal Sediments, Central California, Lynn E. Moody, R. C. Graham

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Studies of soil chronosequences on marine terraces facilitate the use of terraces for tectonic and paleoclimatic interpretation. However, many areas on the California coast have received substantial eolian deposits after pedogenesis began, so do not qualify as chronosequences. These areas are worthy of study because they are widespread coastal landscape features, and they enable us to interpret pedogenic and geomorphic processes in sandy regolith. The objective of this study was to use soil and deep regolith morphology and chemistry to interpret pedogenic and geomorphic evolution on a sequence of four marine terraces, San Luis Obispo County, California. The terraces are …

Biological Processes: Relationships Between Earthworms And Soil Temperature, Edwin C. Berry, Jerry K. Radke

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Soil fauna play important roles in many soil processes and conditions which relate to agricultural systems. Earthworms are credited with enhancing soil fertility and soil physical properties by their feeding and burrowing activities. Most research on earthworms has focused on the warmer seasons of the year and relatively little is known about earthworm activity and survival during the portion of the year with frozen soils. Earthworms may survive winter by acclimatization, aestivation, or by burrowing to deeper depths where the soil is not frozen. More research is needed on the fate of earthworms in frozen soils. Suggested research areas include: …

Environmental Action Projects Involving Middle School Students, Mark Toney

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

1995 Platte River Basin Ecosystem Symposium Proceedings

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Palmer Lter: A Long-Term Ecological Research Program At Palmer Station, Antarctica, Raymond C. Smith, Karen S. Baker, William R. Fraser, Eileen E. Hofmann, David M. Karl, John M. Klinck, Langdon B. Quetin, Barbara B. Prezelin, Robin M. Ross, Wayne Z. Trivelpiece, Maria Vernet

CCPO Publications

THE ANTARCTIC marine ecosystem-the assemblage of plants, animals, ocean, sea ice, and island components south of the Antarctic Convergence is among the largest readily defined ecosystems on Earth (36 X 106 km2 ) (Hedgpeth, 1977; Petit et al., 1991). This ecosystem is composed of an interconnected system of functionally distinct hydrographic and biogeochemical subdivisions (Treguer and Jacques, 1992) and includes open ocean, frontal regions, shelf-slope waters, sea ice, and marginal ice zones. Oceanic, atmospheric, and biogeochemical processes within this system are thought to be globally significant, have been infrequently studied, and are poorly understood relative to more accessible marine ecosystems …

The Paleoecologic Significance Of Paleocene Palynomorph Assemblages From The Ludow, Slope, And Cannonball Formations, Southwestern North Dakota, Timothy J. Kroeger

Theses and Dissertations

Paleoenvironment exerted control on the distribution of 133 palynomorph taxa from the Ludlow and Slope Formations and Boyce and Three V Tongues of the Cannonball Formation (Fort Union Group, I Paleocene) of southwestern North Dakota. The strata represent fluvial deltaic systems that prograded eastward into the Cannonball Sea. Depositional environments include distributary channels, crevasse splays, crevasse-splay feeder channels, lignite-producing swamps and/or marshes, lakes, brackish to slightly brackish bays, lake and bay fills, and marshes

Paleoenvironmentally sensitive palynomorph taxa were identified by subjective examination of pollen diagrams and objective analysis using detrended correspondence analysis. Two paleoenvironmentally restricted palynomorph associations were recognized. …

A Preliminary Mass Balance Model Of Primary Productivity And Dissolved Oxygen In The Mississippi River Plume/Inner Gulf Shelf Region, Victor J. Bierman Jr., Scott C. Hinz, William J. Wiseman Jr., Nancy N. Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner

Faculty Publications

A deterministic, mass balance model for phytoplankton, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen was applied to the Mississippi River Plume/Inner Gulf Shelf (MRP/IGS) region. The model was calibrated to a comprehensive set of field data collected during July 1990 at over 200 sampling stations in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The spatial domain of the model is represented by a three-dimensional, 21-segment water-column .grid extending from the Mississippi River Delta west to the Louisiana-Texas border, and from the shoreline seaward to the 30-60 m bathymetric contours. Diagnostic analyses and numerical experiments were conducted with the calibrated model to better understand the environmental …

Surveys Of The Distribution Of Seabirds Found In The Vicinity Of Proposed Geothermal Project Subzones In The District Of Puna, Hawaii, Michelle Reynolds, George Ritchotte, Anthony Viggiano, Jill Dwyer, Bonnie Nielson, James D. Jacobi

Other Publications in Wildlife Management

In 1993, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) entered into an interagency agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct specific biological surveys to identify potential impacts of the proposed geothermal development on the natural resources of the East Rift Zone (Figure 1). This report presents information from published literature information and new field data on seabird populations on the island of Hawaii. These data are analyzed with regard to potential impacts of geothermal development on seabird populations in this area. Fifteen species of seabirds, waterbirds, and shorebirds are documented or suspected of being found using habitats within …

The Prospects And Associated Challenges For The Biological Control Of Rodents, Grant R. Singleton

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 16th (1994)

Biological control using macro- or micro-parasites is a promising research area for control of rodents. The largest impediment to progress is a dearth of high quality research, under field conditions, on wild rodents and their diseases. A major challenge is to identify a candidate control agent which is sufficiently pathogenic, has a high transmission rate and is target specific. Once this has been done, ecological studies of both the host and the disease agent, and of the epidemiology of transmission, are required. Whether the desired pathogenicity is via increased mortality and/or reduced fertility will depend on the agent and on …

Using Geographic Information Systems For Tracking An Urban Rodent Control Program, Matt Von Wahlde, Bruce A. Colvin

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 16th (1994)

Geographic information system technology is being used to help coordinate an urban rodent control program initiated as part of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project in Boston. Databases with neighborhood survey data, surface and subsurface baiting data, sanitation code violations, and public complaints are linked to base mapping, land parcel, and utility graphics. This integrated approach helps Project biologists plan control strategies and evaluate the relatedness of rodent activity to environmental conditions. Spatial querying techniques and the ability to graphically display and map variables, such as bait stations and sanitation deficiencies, help ensure that control resources are effectively targeted and tracked. This …

Biological Management (Control) Of Vertebrate Pests-Advances In The Last Quarter Century, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Thomas R. Schmaderer

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 16th (1994)

In 1967, Howard provided a review of biological control of vertebrate pests. The term "biological control" was borrowed from the field of entomology, where it has been traditionally defined as "the reduction in number or density of pests through biological processes such as predation, pathogens, habitat modification, and fertility control." Current philosophy in wildlife damage management advocates "the reduction of damage to a tolerable level" rather than "the reduction of the number or density of vertebrate pests." Therefore we abdicate the term "biological control" and encourage the use of a new term, "biological management" of wildlife damage. Advances in science …

California Ground Squirrels At Concord Naval Weapons Station: Alternatives For Control And The Ecological Consequences, Ivette Loredo-Prendeville, Dirk Van Vuren, Amy J. Kuenzi, Michael L. Morrison

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 16th (1994)

This paper presents a methodological approach that was recently developed to determine alternatives for control of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) and the resulting ecological consequences at the Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS). The U.S. Navy initiated this study upon determining a need to control ground squirrels for safety reasons. The squirrel's ecological role at CNWS was examined by estimating squirrel abundance and distribution throughout CNWS, analyzing predator diets, and determining the squirrel's relationship to the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense). In addition, the efficacy of live capture and translocation of squirrels as a possible control …