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Non-Significant Effect Of El Niño On The Nest Occupancy And Breeding Success Of Markham’S Storm Petrel Hydrobates Markhami, Fernando Medrano, Benjamín Gallardo, Pablo Gutiérrez, Ronny Peredo, Giannira Álvarez, Nelson Contardo, Rodrigo Silva, Ivo Tejeda

Marine Ornithology

The impact of the El Niño varies across seabirds, usually altering the distribution and causing population declines. Understanding El Niño’s effects is thus critical for conservation. We monitored 296 nests of the little-known Hydrobates markhami during three seasons (2021–2023). We tested annual differences in individual breeding success and nest occupancy against the Southern Oscillation Index and found no effect. Our findings can be explained by the storm petrels’ diet, which is more closely related to primary production than is the prey of other seabirds. Alternatively, individuals may compensate for the effects of El Niño by changing foraging strategies.

No Evidence For High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza In Waved Albatross Phoebastria Irrorata, Gustavo Jiménez-Uzcátegui, Alberto Vélez, Patricio Vega, Verónica Buendia, Verónica Montenegro-Benalcázar, Christian Sevilla, Marilyn Cruz

Marine Ornithology

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is caused by the Alphainfluenzavirus influenzae species (type A, subtype H5N1), which has been detected in mammals (including humans) and marine birds in the Americas, including the Galápagos Islands. The Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata is a marine endemic species of Ecuador. Most of its breeding population nests on Española Island in the Galápagos Archipelago, and it forages at sea in the eastern South Pacific. This marine bird shares its feeding areas with the Peruvian Pelican Pelecanus thagus, Peruvian Booby Sula variegata, Guanay Cormorant Leucocarbo bougainvillii, Humboldt Penguin Spheniscus humboldti, Sanderling Calidris alba, Belcher’s Gull Larus …

Assessing The Short- And Long-Term Response Of Gulls To Non-Lethal Hazing On An Offshore Island, Pete Warzybok, Nadav Nur, Russell W. Bradley, Dan Grout, Gerard J. Mcchesney

Marine Ornithology

Non-lethal bird hazing techniques are commonly used to protect public health and safety, defend crops, and safeguard the birds themselves. Examples of their use include warding them away from airports, landfills, oil spills, and other avian toxic exposure situations. Herein we examine the efficacy of non-lethal hazing tools for minimizing impacts to Gulls Larus spp. prior to a proposed eradication of introduced House Mice Mus musculus at the South Farallon Islands, 30 km offshore of the Central California coast. Methods considered for removing mice include the aerial application of rodenticide, which poses an adverse risk to non-target wildlife, including Western …

Variation In The Heartbeat Of The White Tern Gygis Alba During Incubation, Antony W. Diamond, Adelheid Studer-Thiersch

Marine Ornithology

Rapid global heating is a particular danger to tropical birds already near their thermal maximum. White Terns Gygis alba are important to tourism in the Seychelles Islands, where, in 1974, we took an unexpected opportunity to measure the heart rate of two incubating adults. We found that the birds had higher heart rates at night compared to during the day, and their heart rates increased rapidly when approached by people. Local temperatures have risen considerably since these data were collected nearly 50 years ago and are predicted to rise even further by 2100. Given the importance of White Terns as …

Updated Distribution And Population Dynamics Of Magellanic Penguin Spheniscus Magellanicus Colonies In The Strait Of Magellan, Chile, Manuel Ochoa-Sánchez, Jorge Acevedo, Claudio Moraga, Katherine Gaete, Pedro Valenzuela, Valeria Souza, Eliana Paola Acuña Gomez

Marine Ornithology

The Magellanic Penguin Spheniscus magellanicus exhibits a broad latitudinal distribution in southern South America. However, the locations of many breeding colonies remain poorly known on the Pacific side, particularly in the southernmost region. Here, we provide information for six Magellanic Penguin colonies in the Strait of Magellan and adjacent waters that have been known by the local community for years but were unknown in the scientific literature until now: Rupert Islet, Tuckers Islet 1, Tuckers Islet 2, James Island 1, James Island 2, and Monmouth Island. These locations differ in population size and in vegetation coverage: most colonies are characterized …

Characterizing Diet Of The Least Tern Sternula Antillarum Using Dna Metabarcoding, Viktoria E. Bogantes, Abigail J. Darrah, Molly Folkerts Caldwell, Amy K. Fellgren, Justine M. Whitaker, Alexis M. Janosik

Marine Ornithology

A complete picture of diet composition is an essential element to understanding the ecological role of organisms. Moreover, diet studies can serve as an important tool for monitoring species and changes to the food web. One method to provide resolution when studying the diet of avian species is DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples. As such, we used DNA analysis to determine the diet of the Least Tern Sternula antillarum and compare results with diet analysis based on composition of fish dropped within breeding colonies. Comparisons between adult and chick fecal samples were also made across three years and within three …

Black Oystercatcher Haematopus Bachmani Productivity In California And Oregon And The Effects Of Nest Site And Environmental Covariates, Anna Weinstein, Joseph Liebezeit, Daniel Orr, Ryan D. Carle, Timothy D. Meehan

Marine Ornithology

Black Oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani is a species of conservation concern due to its small global population, reliance on somewhat restricted intertidal habitat, and vulnerability to climate change impacts. Concern for this species, along with a lack of demographic information from the southern portion of its range, gave rise to a community science project to monitor pair productivity, nest characteristics, and nest disturbance from 2012 through 2022 across three study regions in Oregon and California. A clear spatial gradient existed in productivity, with relatively low values in the southern region (0.37 fledged young per pair per year, 95% confidence interval [CI] …

Assessment Of Tufted Puffin Fratercula Cirrhata Diet Using Dna Metabarcoding, Thomas P. Good, Andrew O. Shelton, Abigail H. Wells, Ana Ramón-Laca, Ramon Gallego, Peter J. Hodum, Scott F. Pearson

Marine Ornithology

Investigating trophic relationships can be critical for understanding relationships between marine predators and their prey. DNA analysis of feces is used increasingly as a non-invasive method to uncover seabird dietary patterns across space and time. Tufted Puffins Fratercula cirrhata are listed as Endangered in the state of Washington (WA), USA, and reduced prey availability is thought to be a key factor in the species’ decline. Recent information on Tufted Puffin diet is lacking, and present opportunities for direct diet observation are limited. We conducted a pilot study to characterize Tufted Puffin diet on Destruction Island, WA, in 2019 using DNA …

Oviposition Lag In Nazca Boobies Sula Granti, Leslie D. Clifford, David J. Anderson

Marine Ornithology

Egg formation in well-studied poultry includes rapid yolk deposition (RYD), which completes the formation of the ovum, then ovulation and uptake of the ovum by the oviduct to complete egg formation. Roughly a day passes between the end of RYD and oviposition in these species. In other species, notably seabirds, egg formation is paused at the end of RYD for days or even more than a week. The phylogenetic coverage of data on this “oviposition lag” is patchy. We present the first estimate of oviposition lag for the Sulidae (4 d) and only the second estimate for the Suliformes.

The Distribution, Abundance, And Habitat Use Of Wintering Iceland Gulls Larus Glaucoides Thayeri In Northern California And Comparisons With Other Larus Gulls., Scott S. Moorhouse

Marine Ornithology

Recent studies have provided significant insights, but relatively limited information is available on many aspects of the ecology and behavior of the Arctic-breeding Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides. In this study, the distribution, abundance, and habitat use of wintering Iceland Gulls Larus glaucoides thayeri in Northern California, USA, were analyzed in 30 habitat types over three winters. A total of 6012 individuals was recorded, contributing 2.3% of the total Larus gulls recorded. The mean number of Iceland Gulls recorded per count was highest in sanitary landfills located in the Inner Coast Range, Central Valley, Inner Coast, and San Francisco Bay Plain …

Notes On The Birds Of Schirmacher Oasis, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica., Peter G. Ryan

Marine Ornithology

The Schirmacher Oasis in central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, has a long history of ornithological observations and is one of the few areas in East Antarctica experiencing a warming climate. Snow Petrels Pagodroma nivea and Wilson’s Storm Petrels Oceanites oceanicus were reported to breed at Schirmacher Oasis in the past, but currently the only confirmed regular breeding species is the South Polar Skua Stercorarius maccormicki. This note summarises observations at the Oasis in November and December 2023. Wilson’s Storm Petrels were the most abundant bird, breeding at several sites along the northern scarp in December. Pairs of Adelie Penguins …

He’S The Kid That No One Wanted: An Autoethnographic Examination Of Preschool Suspensions And Expulsions From A Mother’S Lens, Lisa M. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This autoethnographic research examines the personal and professional journey of advocating against preschool suspensions and expulsions through the lens of a Black mother. Titled He’s The Kid That No One Wanted: An Autoethnographic Examination of Preschool Suspensions and Expulsions from a Mother’s Lens, " it dives into the complicated challenges faced while confronting exclusionary disciplinary practices in early childhood education. This research aims to illuminate the societal and institutional roadblocks encountered when navigating systems of power and to explore the impact of these challenges on both personal identity and professional advocacy. Using a blend of social media artifacts and memory …

Concentration And Composition Of Organic Contaminants In Blackfin Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, And The Common Clubhook Squid In The Western Gulf Of Mexico, Lisa Rose-Mann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cephalopods are an important component of pelagic food webs. They play ecological roles not only as predators but also as prey. However, their role as prey in the trophic transfer of organic contaminants to apex predators such as tunas in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is not well known. To investigate the importance of cephalopods in tuna diets, stomach samples were collected in February 2020 from tunas caught by rod and reel aboard the F/V Gulf Eagle near two large offshore floating oil/gas platforms in the northwestern GoM. Cephalopod samples were obtained from gut content analysis of 41 tunas caught …

Edge-Streamer: A Lightweight, Self-Supervised Event Segmentation Model, Lucas Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Event segmentation is the practice of autonomously detecting the boundaries of semantically connected sequences of actions within a video. It is connected to many areas of computer vision, including action recognition and event understanding. Nearly all current work requires the entire video to be stored in memory to be processed in multiple passes. This takes up valuable resources, increases processing time, prevents the use of low-power, low-memory devices, and precludes long-form content and live videos from undergoing event segmentation.

This thesis introduces EDGE-STREAMER, a real-time, lightweight, self-supervised, transformer architecture capable of performing event segmentation in a single pass. EDGE-STREAMER uses …

Conflicting Social Information And Its Impact On Sentence Comprehension In Young Adults With Dld: An Eye Tracking Study, Ansley Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals must recognize linguistic and non-linguistic social cues to resolve contextual ambiguities in their conversations. When the linguistic and social cues match, sentence processing is facilitated. However, conflicts between linguistic and social stimuli (i.e., incongruency) can lead to prediction errors which slow sentence processing. Limited research has explored the social cognition conflict resolution skills in individuals with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) despite their documented emotion processing deficits. This study considers the role of social prediction processing in adults with DLD as they engage in a social cognition conflict resolution task.

Young adults with DLD (n=29) and typically developing (TD) peers …

Forum, Volume 49, No. 2, Summer 2025, Florida Humanities, Pam Daniel

FORUM: The Magazine of Florida Humanities

Contents: Letter from the Executive Director -- Letter from the Secretary of State -- From the Editor -- Humanities Live -- Treasure -- Oral History -- Florida Seen -- Florida Reads -- The Saltwater Road -- The Hero with a Thousand Purses -- Indigenous Florida -- A Taste of Florida -- Environmental Humanities -- The Quiz

Taliban 1.0 And 2.0 In Afghanistan: Same Policies, Persistent Vision, Sharif Hozoori

Journal of Strategic Security

The Taliban emerged as a movement in 1994, toppled the government of the Mujahideen, and ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. They finally recaptured power in 2021 after the US withdrawal from the region. This paper refers to the first Taliban rule as Taliban 1.0 and their second as Taliban 2.0. Taliban 1.0 imposed draconian laws and regulations on women and minorities while harboring regional and international terrorist organizations. Later, the Taliban 2.0 followed its predecessor in policies regarding women, minorities, and sheltering terrorist organizations. Considering this background, this paper addresses whether Taliban 1.0 and 2.0 maintain the same policies …

The Synthesis Of A Photo-Affinity Probe Library For The Fatty Acid Amide Proteome And The Endocannabinoid System Within, Robert E. Feeney Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fatty acid amides are a large family of endogenous metabolites with significant biological activity, including that of the endocannabinoid system. Currently little is known about how this system of tightly regulated compounds works within humans. This work lays the foundation to explore the structure-activity relationship driving the selectivity of ligand-protein interactions involved with fatty acid amides. A library of activity-based proteomic profiling probes for fatty acid amides has been synthesized to this end. Additionally, progress towards phytocannabinoid probes has been made as well.

Digital Resistance And The Political Economy Of Authoritarian Decline And Economic Liberalization In Ethiopia, Anaol Dalle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to examine the impact increased consumption of digital technologies, like social media and the internet, has on the stability and autonomy of low-capacity authoritarian countries. By using Ethiopia (2015-2021) as a case study, the dissertation argues that the sudden adoption and proliferation of digital platforms serves as an exogenous shock that pushes the state into a critical juncture that unravels institutional equilibria and transforms domestic incentive structures and institutions. This creates a power vacuum, which triggers a period of intense, and often violent, competition between elite groups, significantly destabilizing the state. In the absence of a cohesive …

Teaching Word Combinations Using Matrix Training Via Serious Gaming In Minimally Verbal Children, Nataly Innamorato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the communication challenges faced by minimally verbal children who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), often limited to one-word expressions. The approach used involves gamifying matrix training, an empirically supported method for teaching word combinations and promoting the generalization of language skills. Across three studies, the development of an instructional game is described and evaluated with two populations, typically developing children and children who are minimally verbal. First, it introduces a gamified application of matrix training that provides training in an interactive digital environment. Second, a proof-of-concept was obtained via a multiple baseline across participants with typically …

Network And Multipath Traceroute Visualization, Cameron Makowski

Military Cyber Affairs

TraceCam introduces a new paradigm in network path analysis, leveraging GPU-accelerated WebGL visualization, advanced traceroute integrations, and AI-driven insights to transform complex routing data into actionable intelligence. Early prototypes have demonstrated significant improvements in performance, clarity, and multi-path discovery, overcoming traditional limitations in traceroute analysis. By incorporating retrieval-augmented language models and enriched metadata sources like IPinfo.io, TraceCam enables automated anomaly detection, contextual explanations, and rapid root-cause analysis, enhancing operational efficiency. The platform’s architecture ensures scalability and adaptability, supporting deeper investigations and real-time situational awareness. Future development will focus on clustering-based anomaly detection, expanded geographic visualizations, and enhanced AI-generated analysis to …

Algorithms Of Eversion: Contemporary States And Digital Sovereigns, James Libengood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and digitization have pushed digital sovereignty to the top of the governance agenda in the 21st century. This notion is expanded upon in this work through seven chapters encompassing theoretical underpinnings, methodological frameworks, and real-world case studies. It shows how multinational corporations dominate digital coloniality, and how the merge of physical and digital reality or eversion poses challenges. The study compares contrasting governance approaches, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), geared to ethical AI and data protection, versus BRICS nations’ stance on data localization …

Cinematic Abuse: A Critical Analysis Of Disney’S “Happily Ever After” In The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, And The Princess And The Frog, Erin Michelle Gough

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the manner in which three animated Disney princess films cultivate stereotypes and gendered behaviors consistent with domestic violence and thereby encourages viewers to accept and tolerate abuse against women. I argue that due to the dangerous, constricting, and sexist gender roles encouraged by the Walt Disney Corporation, films prime young girls and boys to react to social situations and encounters in a way that mirror the characters’ reactions. Because of the films’ entertainment value, most of the characters’ inappropriate, stereotypical, and often violent behaviors either go unnoticed or are passively accepted. The violence does not have to …

Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (Hrl) In Multi-Goal Spatial Navigation With Autonomous Mobile Robots, Brendon Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) is hypothesized to be able to take advantage of the inherent hierarchy in robot learning tasks with sparse reward schemes, in contrast to more traditional reinforcement learning algorithms. In this research, hierarchical reinforcement learning is evaluated and contrasted with standard reinforcement learning in complex navigation tasks. We evaluate unique characteristics of HRL, including their ability to create sub-goals and the termination function. We constructed experiments to test the differences between PPO and HRL, different ways of creating sub-goals, manual vs automatic sub-goal creation, and the effects of the frequency of termination on performance. These experiments highlight …

Sea Turtle Nesting On Nourished Beaches With Different Construction Designs: A Case Study In Southeast Florida, Usa., Lara Novalvos Hernandez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the influences of different beach nourishment designs and subsequent post-nourishment profile adjustments on loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles nest survival and reproductive success. Data on time-series post-nourishment beach-profile changes, positions and elevations of turtle tracks and nest/false-crawl apices, and sea turtle nest hatch/emergence success were collected on five high density nesting beaches along the east coast of Florida: Melbourne Beach, Jensen Beach, Jupiter Island Beach, Juno Beach, and South Hutchinson Island Beach. The field data collection was conducted in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 with the main goal of documenting and comparing turtle …

Behavior And Land Use Of Eastern Gray Squirrels In Urban And Suburban Environments, Laura F. Engel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization has significantly altered natural habitats, impacting wildlife behavior and distribution. This study examines the behavior and land use of eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in urban and suburban environments at the University of South Florida. Using a combination of point count surveys and time-activity budgets, squirrel presence was assessed in relation to tree genera, nest locations, human activity, and infrastructure. Results indicate a significant association between squirrel presence and tree genera, with a preference for Quercus species, as well as a strong positive correlation between human infrastructure and squirrel presence. However, no significant relationship was found between human presence …

Using Stomach Content Analysis To Determine The Trophic Ecology Of Omosudis Lowii, A Deep-Sea Predator In The Gulf Of Mexico, Claire De Noyo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the feeding dynamics of deep-sea communities, despite their significant ecological importance. Deep-pelagic communities contribute to marine biodiversity and ecosystem stability while directly offsetting climate change via carbon sequestration. Omosudis lowii is an understudied, deep-sea fish found in temperate and tropical waters worldwide, including the Gulf of Mexico. Omosudis lowii have large jaws and distensible stomachs, allowing them to capture prey items larger than their body size. The present seminal study used stomach content analysis to quantitatively describe the O. lowii trophic ecology, providing baseline data regarding diet composition, feeding selectivity, and factors that impact prey selection. …

Branching Corals Modulate Their Hydrodynamic Environment, Enhancing Capture Rates Of Evasive Prey, Kelsey Daniels

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reef-building corals obtain nutrients through two primary means: autotrophy (via mutualism with photosynthetic zooxanthellae) and heterotrophy (via feeding). The latter form of resource acquisition is understudied and many aspects of predator-prey interactions between coral and naturally occurring prey species remain unexplored. In this thesis, I elucidate the role of branching coral morphology in shaping the colony’s local hydrodynamic environment and describe how this environment impacts prey capture, particularly among evasive and hydrodynamically sensitive, but highly abundant prey such as copepods. I used acrylic cylinders of three sizes in aquaria to model the structure of coral branches across the range of …

Effects Of Antecedent Choice On Academic Engagement And Disruptive Behavior In The Classroom, Ivy Grace E. Morgan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of students enrolled in public school systems receiving special education services continues to increase. Students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those classified with emotional disturbance (ED) often engage in challenging behaviors such as inappropriate outbursts, disruptive behaviors, and off-task behavior that distract other students from learning. These behaviors can negatively impact educational outcomes for both the student and their classmates. Unfortunately, teachers often lack adequate training in addressing disruptive behavior in the classroom and have limited access to feasible interventions. Across-activity choice is a feasible antecedent intervention teachers can use in the classroom. It allows students …

Reparative Cuteness: Summer Camp Island’S Obfuscated Streaming Distribution Reveals Our Dependence On Monetary Care, James R. Hanjian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Summer Camp Island exhibits the culmination of the animation styles and ethics of dependent care produced within contemporary Cartoon Network animations. As part of the production cycle of Warner Bros. animated television programs following Adventure Time, Julia Pott’s animated program depicts networks of collaborative care informed by the lived realities of the creator-animators. By employing a reparative reading of the narratives and cute aesthetics which appear in the program, I maintain that the care networks presented within the diegesis of Summer Camp Island depict alternatives to the precarious economic and industrial realities that actively shaped the show’s production and distribution. …