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A Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum Model To Simulate Seedling Response To Water Stress, Michael Kurt Kendree Jr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Most current ecohydrologic models simplify the hydraulics that are at play in plant-water relationships by assuming that the water content within the plant is static. In reality, plants have a relative water content that varies with time in response to environmental stresses. To some extent, variations in plant relative water content are regulated by changes in the osmotic potential of water within plant cells, which contributes to the resilience of plants during periods of water shortage. We present a model that simulates plant water transport and storage within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. The model incorporates the role of osmotic regulation in …

Better Understanding The Barred Owl, Adam Lee Potts

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis research presents an analysis of barred owl nest site selection in an understudied region of their expanded range. The barred owl has dramatically expanded its range westwards over the last 150 years, prompting multiple conflicting reinterpretations of their species account. Hypotheses of range expansion are reviewed to provide context for this study’s research. This study gathers empirical data on nest site selection in the mixed conifer forests of Montana’s Seeley-Swan and Mission Valleys. Eight barred owl nests were located following extensive territory surveys. Field measurements of tree height and diameter using USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot …

Bearing Witness: Ancient Dna Analysis And The Dynamics Of Food Procurement In A Historic Missoula Chinese Community, Sarah Elizabeth Grenfell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2019, construction of a brewery called Cranky Sam Public House in downtown Missoula, Montana provided an unexpected opportunity to recover and preserve late nineteenth and early twentieth century archaeological evidence of a Missoula neighborhood that included a Chinese temple, a Chinese store, and dwellings with Chinese residents. The area, like many urban landscapes in the American West, also included a restricted, or red-light district. Teams of volunteer University of Montana graduate and undergraduate students conducted on-the-spot salvage archaeology monitoring and were able to recover a sample of artifacts and ecofacts from this once-bustling part of Missoula. The objectives of …

Genomic And Phenotypic Insights Into The Mechanisms Of Adaptation In High-Elevation Deer Mice, Keely R. Corder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The study of adaptation to extreme environments offers a lens to explore the fundamental processes of evolution. Organisms living in challenging conditions, such as high elevation, must evolve a suite of physiological and genetic adaptations to survive and thrive. However, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying such adaptations and the processes driving their evolution remains incomplete. This dissertation aims to expand our knowledge of adaptive evolution in extreme environments by integrating genomic, phenotypic, and demographic data in the North American deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), a model system for high-altitude adaptation. The dissertation addresses three main gaps in knowledge: (1) the …

Drivers And Fates Of Primary Production In A Dammed, Eutrophic River, Laurel Genzoli

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Algae, cyanobacteria, and aquatic plants are essential components of river ecosystems, providing the basis for aquatic food webs, determining water quality, and controlling carbon and nutrient cycling in rivers. Despite their importance to river ecosystems, growth and accumulation of river photoautotrophs beyond historic levels cause ecological and social harm. The drivers of riverine primary production are poorly understood relative to algae blooms in lakes due to a paucity of studies in rivers, challenges with quantifying periphyton, and interacting and co-varying controls associated with river flows. In my dissertation, I quantified photoautotrophs and aquatic primary productivity in a dammed, eutrophic river …

Brat Olympics, Caroline Ganci Patterson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

brat olympics is an exploration of feminine disgust, apprehension, and disorientation contextualized through interpersonal relationships and societal shapeshifting. It pays particular attention to gender performance, surburban queerness, and strangerness. The manuscript plays on the history of the bildungsroman, but instead of one consistent singular timeline, it provides three separate attempts at a characterization of a life. These disparate approaches to a singular life’s characterization stress the mundanity of documentation.

This multinarrative approach satirizes the ideal of the singular confessional, and presents a discursive approach to the way we choose to build our worlds. Building off the works of the New …

Repatriation And A Biological Profile Of Indigenous Remains Of West Texas, Haley P. Rebardi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was created in response to the injustice, mishandling, looting, and trafficking of Native American remains and cultural artifacts. However, even with the latest amendment in December of 2023, there are still gray areas in the context and language. Notably, an issue with NAGPRA is the act only includes institutions and organizations that receive and are supported by Federal funding. Consequently, the act does not cover private collections. The main concern in these contexts is the lack of communication, awareness, and/or permission with and from descendant tribes or potential descendants when it …

Complexities Of Companionship: Exploring The Human-Dog Relationship Through Mtdna Analysis Of Bridge River Canine Remains, Seth Warnick

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) hold an unquantifiable level of cultural influence and companionship across swathes of societies all over the globe. While dogs are genetically very distinct from Homo sapiens, throughout human history the two organisms have spread across the world together and have biologically gone through similar selective, social, and environmental constraints. Today the biological makeup of dog breeds is incredibly diverse, however, the archaeological record and genetic research has provided insight into the humble beginnings of a relationship between humans and dogs that has transcended the fabric of emerging civilization itself. Located on the Northwest interior plateau, Bridge …

Siksikaitsitapi Returning The Gaze On Human & Wildlife Interactions, Celina C. Gray

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Niitawahsii–our home territory, the ecoregion of the Siksikaitsitapi–Blackfoot Confederacy, a Traditional Ecological Knowledge Application (TEKA) for socio-ecological research was developed. Aawaaahsskataiks–elders and extant literature identified a need to develop shared understanding regarding strong connections to wildlife niksokowaiks–relatives, through Siksikaitsitapi Traditional Ecological Knowledge (S-TEK). Multistage chain referral sampling, semi-structured interviews and grounded theory coding & analysis from Western science, i.e. Napikowaiks–non-natives’ research methods, were adjusted like to align with kipaitapiwahsinnooni–the Blackfoot paradigm of traditional knowledge; and more generally, Indigenous Research Methods. The result was a rigorous qualitative human-dimension of wildlife research TEKA; for use by Siksikaitsitapi and others interested in …

Integrating Western Science And Indigenous Knowledge For Just Practices In Conservation, Cierra Lea Keith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Shaping Outdoor Recreation In Protected Areas: Insights From Factors Influencing Brazilian Protected Area Professionals, Renata Burlamaqui Bradford

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The growing demand for outdoor recreation (OR) in protected areas has led to positive and negative impacts on natural and social environments. As stewards of these areas, protected area professionals (PAPs) are responsible for planning and managing this complexity, and yet we know little about the factors influencing their decisions and actions. This study fills this gap by examining how psychological and organizational aspects influence PAPs’ decisions and behavioral intentions toward OR in protected areas. Insights come from the PAPs working at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Brazilian federal agency. ICMBio’s evolving approach toward OR provides …

Genetic And Environmental Factors Shaping Precision Medicine With Rural And Tribal Populations In Montana, Jack William Staples

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Precision medicine aims to optimize healthcare based on individual genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, offering the potential to reduce health disparities. However, rural and Tribal communities remain underrepresented in precision medicine research, which threatens to exacerbate existing health inequities. My dissertation research aims to reduce health disparities in rural and Tribal communities in Montana through community-based participatory research (CBPR) and genetic studies. We partnered with research participants of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) on the Flathead Reservation and Shodair Children’s Hospital (Shodair) to conduct two primary studies.

In the first study, we investigated genetic and seasonal determinants of …

Local Visions For Patagonia: Drivers And Dynamics Of Collaborative Environmental Governance In Aysén, Chile, Zachary J. Hummel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Collaborative governance (CG) has emerged as a tool for addressing increasingly complex societal problems by engaging a diverse of set of cross-sector actors in a deliberative process with the aim of realizing consensus-driven outcomes. Emerson et al.’s (2011) Integrated Framework for Collaborative Governance (IFCG) attempts to improve understanding of these arrangements by articulating causal connections between collaborative drivers and dynamics across different contexts. Answering researchers’ call for more empirical support for the IFCG in non-US/European contexts, I used the framework to guide 10 interviews with collaborative governance practitioners in the comanaged marine protected area, AMCP-MU Pitipalena Añihue, located in Aysén, …

Effectiveness Of An Evolution-Based Serious Game On Motivation And Achievement Of Secondary-Level Science Students, Bradford John Fruechte

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Getting students to engage with schoolwork is not always an easy task. Lessons that have elements of games (gamified lessons) and serious games (those created for education) have the potential to increase motivation, which may also improve learning outcomes. But research has found mixed results on the achievement effects of educational games, and not enough research has shown the effectiveness of educational games on evolution-related topics specifically (Bjoerner & Hansen, 2010). This study aimed to implement a game that revolves around the mechanisms of evolution and evaluated that game’s effects on secondary-level students’ motivation and learning. Four middle school life …

A Study On The Relationship Between College Teachers’ Perception Of Professional Learning Communities And Self-Efficacy, Hongli Jia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to investigate the relationship between college teachers’ perceptions of the professional learning community and teacher self-efficacy. Drawing on quantitative data from a sample of 367 college teachers in Inner Mongolia in China during the 2023-2024 school year, the research investigated the impact of PLC participation on self-efficacy across different career stages and majors.

The findings revealed a medium positive correlation between college teachers’ perception in PLCs and teacher self-efficacy. The regression model indicated that collective learning and application and shared personal practice significantly influenced the overall teacher self-efficacy, but shared and supportive …

Under The Influence: Pf Bacteriophage Modulate Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Virulence & Pathogenesis, Amelia Kass Schmidt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram-negative opportunistic bacterial pathogen which is as ubiquitous in the natural environment as it is within hospital settings, where it is a readily acquired nosocomial pathogen. Bacteriophages, viruses which infect bacteria, are a central component of the arsenal P. aeruginosa leverages to combat the stresses of infecting mammalian hosts. Over 60% of P. aeruginosa clinical isolates are chronically infected with temperate phages within the family of Inoviridae. These phages, referred to as Pf, have a filamentous virion structure which accommodates genome sizes between 10-20kbp. Pf is capable of integration into the bacterial chromosome where they can …

Where And When The Antelope Play: Drivers Of Pronghorn Distribution And Demography Across Space And Through Time, Molly Cutler Mcdevitt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this dissertation, I aim to (i) advance the understanding of pronghorn ecology and population responses to environmental variability, and (ii) test analytical tools linking environmental habitat factors to demographic processes. In doing so, I answer the following questions: How should we expect pronghorn demographic rates to vary from year to year? How do environmental conditions influence pronghorn survival? How do long-term impacts from environmental conditions directly affect pronghorn demographic trends like survival or abundance? Do environmental conditions influence pronghorn density and distribution in the same way? If not, how do they differ? Finally, in an increasingly changing landscape, what …

Rangeland Soil Seed Bank Dynamics: Soil Property Relationships, Patterns Across A Degradation Gradient, And Responses To Shrub Management, Ryan Willis Richard Schroeder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rangeland ecosystems are globally important for their ecosystem service delivery, however, they are experiencing several threats pushing systems across ecological states. Thus, creative science-based management is imperative to maintain ecosystem sustainability and improve ecosystem service delivery. Soil seed banks – the living seeds in the soil profile and on the soil surface – and their soil-seed-plant interactions are one area of inquiry that could help guide science-based management efforts when it comes to rangeland community assembly and ecological restoration.

In this dissertation, I investigated rangeland soil-seed-plant interactions in New Mexico, USA. In Chapter 1, I worked with an expert group …

Culture & Contamination On The Fort Hall Indian Reservation, Sidney Upsis Fellows

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The land-based culture of our Shoshone-Bannock Tribes reflects our ability to live a healthy and good life by connecting to the land physically and spiritually in ways of respect, accountability, and other traditions that uphold land-human relations. In consideration of the settler colonialism that has spread across Turtle Island (a.k.a., North America) over the past 500 years, appropriation and contamination of land puts land-based cultures at stake. For the Shoshone-Bannock, two Superfund sites, a result and ongoing issue of settler colonialism, present an issue of environmental justice for the Tribes. This thesis seeks to provide a holistic understanding of our …

Exploring Spatial Climate Analogs For Climate Impact Projection, Adaptation, And Communication, Svetlana Valeryevna Yegorova

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change requires that we adapt to the many impacts that are already unavoidable. To adapt, institutions and managers need to be able to anticipate how ecosystems are likely to respond to the observed and projected changes in climate. This dissertation explores spatial climate analogs for projecting climate change exposure and impacts to ecological systems, and for communicating climate impacts to diverse audiences. Chapter 1 summarizes the current state of knowledge about spatial climate analogs, and identifies areas for further research. Chapter 2 compares the skill and impact projections of analog impact models, to that of two commonly used empirical …

Analysis Of The Transformations Of Laguna Melincué Wetland, Argentina, Bianca Giunti

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Argentina, freshwater wetlands are threatened by land use changes, unsustainable irrigation practices, and climate change. Twenty-three wetlands cover 5,176,578 ha of the Argentinian territory and have been designated as wetlands of international importance by the Convention of Wetlands (Kandus et al., 2008; Ramsar Sites Information Service, 2022). These figures are significant given Argentina’s unique geographic location on a central migratory bird flyway and the profound biological diversity found in these wetlands (Jahn et al., 2013; Red Aves Internacionales, 2015). The Government of Argentina has recently moved to implement wetland protection and conservation policies. Nevertheless, policy and governance efforts to …

A Better Way To Make Protein, James Gillette Bosco

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Producing recombinant proteins stands as a cornerstone in both biotechnology and pharmaceutical research, supporting the creation of therapeutics, vaccines, and enzymes used in various industries. Bacterial systems for expression, especially Escherichia coli, are preferred due to their rapid growth rates, ease of genetic manipulation, and scalability. However, generating proteins under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards introduces substantial challenges, such as issues with scalability, toxicity, protein misfolding, and strict regulatory demands. This section delivers an in-depth review of these obstacles and current methods developed to address them. An extensive exploration is conducted into induction techniques, including auto-induction and isopropyl-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) …

An Examination Of The Relation Between Memory Self-Efficacy And Working Memory Within The Cognitive Reserve Framework, Genna Marie Mashinchi Ma

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dementia has been found to negatively affect multiple aspects of cognitive functioning. Despite an increasing prevalence of cognitive decline, many aging adults do not experience reduced cognitive functioning. The reason as to why some experience cognitive decline and others do not is still unclear. One leading theory thought to explain this phenomenon is the cognitive reserve theory (CR), which proposes that certain lifestyle factors (e.g., educational attainment, occupational attainment, and leisure activity participation) prolong one’s cognitive functioning and reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Memory self-efficacy (MSE), defined as one’s beliefs in their memory ability, was found to be positively …

Green Poems, Lillian I. Emerick Valentine

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

With broad lyric range, the ecopoems in Green center around the ideology and ethics of the American West. The speaker’s position within that as a descendent of settler laborers is interrogated, as well as language itself. Grammar is used as a tool to perform deconstructive work, examining how labor intersects with colonialism and climate change. Melding intellectual analyses of etymology with the physical act of agricultural labor, these poems range from the conversational and playful to lyric explorations of loss.

Interwoven with this is the speaker’s self-examination of femininity and matrilinear inheritance. How do we use the language we’ve been …

Andrew Tate, Matt Walsh, And The Discursive Production And Policing Of Gender, Alan J. Bandyk, Alan J. Bandyk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis utilizes the works of Judith Butler, Simone de Beauvoir, Frederic Jameson, and Edward Said in a discourse analysis of influencers and writers in the right wing "manosphere." The figures analyzed herein are Andrew Tate and Matt Walsh. Their rhetoric aims to create a discursive woman who embodies traditional notions of gender and sex that de Beauvoir critiqued in 1949. The constant adherence and reference to a mythical past exhibits ways of thinking that coincide perfectly with Jameson's own theoretical work with the term and its inherent false nostalgia. Tate's and Walsh's efforts also fall into discursive attempts at …

Coalescence: A Carnivore Coexistence Curriculum That Braids Indigenous & Western Ecological Knowledge Into A Relevant And Experiential Learning Opportunity For Youth, Stephanie Anne Barron

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horriblis) begin to reoccupy more of their historic range, and as humans and large carnivore populations continue to increase, incidences of human carnivore conflict are on the rise. A decolonial curriculum designed in collaboration with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe’s wildlife biologists stands to increase awareness of Indigenous ecological knowledge and teach youth about the importance of coexistence with carnivores. Additionally, this project could greatly influence youth perceptions of grizzly bears and other large carnivores. This research project examines the development and implementation of a carnivore coexistence curriculum for youth that is guided by …

Bloom: A Microbial Self-Portrait, Emily Lauren Mulvaney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Mortality Risk And Ecological Conditions On Songbird Movement, Foraging, Parental Care, And Body Mass Management, Timothy Robert Forrester

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Examining why species vary in behavior and life history strategies is a fundamental part of ecology and evolution. Yet, due to the difficulties of quantifying behavior in the field, we know surprisingly little about how species spend their time and energy daily, why interspecific differences occur, and what are the physiological and demographic consequences of these differences. In this dissertation, I use songbirds to examine the influence of ultimate selection pressures (e.g., mortality risk) and proximate ecological conditions (e.g., temperature) on foraging and reproductive behavior. I also examine the influence of reproductive behaviors on fitness correlates (e.g., body mass, reproductive …

Drought Conditioning Conifer Seedlings For Post-Fire Management And Climate Change Adaptation, Anna C. Ross

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Increased frequency, severity, and duration of drought and increased wildfire severity are together impacting forests of the western U.S. To encourage forest ecosystem resilience to these changing disturbance regimes, there is a need for novel silvicultural techniques that develop seedlings capable of establishing in hotter and drier climates. We evaluated the morphological and physiological effects of a drought conditioning treatment applied in a greenhouse on second- year ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), western white pine (Pinus monticola), and western larch (Larix occidentalis) seedlings. Treatments included a well-watered control (75% of container capacity) and a water-limited …

Dynamics Of Rural Water Quality And Wastewater Infrastructure: A Case Study Of Seeley Lake, Montana, Marie Watson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wastewater infrastructure is a necessary component for societies to manage human waste and to maintain public health. At the same time, wastewater infrastructure is intricately tied to land use and development. Two primary types of wastewater infrastructure – septic systems and sewer systems – reflect and influence land use and development through density, mirroring the spectrum of rural and urban land use. In Seeley Lake, Montana, groundwater pollution in the form of nitrates is stemming from aging septic systems in the heart of the town. Stakeholders involved in water management aimed to address the issue by constructing a centralized wastewater …