Digital Commons Network^™

A Longitudinal Analysis Of Socioeconomic Differences In Obesity And Weight Change During The Early Adult Years, Young-Taek Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in American society. However, not enough attention has been given to weight change by temporal and dynamic detailed social characteristics, controlled for unobserved heterogeneities nested in county and state. Using the National Longitudinal Survey Youth (NLSY79), this study examined weight change and its development into unhealthy conditions like being overweight or obese, in relation to change in social characteristics including life course events. This study also examined the social characteristics of remaining at a normal weight through all time intervals over a 19-year period. Using hierarchical linear multilevel analysis, this study found that changes in …

Species Pairwise Associations Over Nine Years Of Secondary Succession: Assessing Alternative Explanations And Successional Mechanisms, Lara R. Rozzell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The importance and mechanisms of species interactions are undetermined in most successional systems. I used correlations and null modeling to detect pairwise species associations between 33 plant species in the first nine years of secondary succession after logging and burning in a western Oregon Cascade forest. I tested for correlations between each species and soil nutrients, nonvegetative ground cover, and surrounding vegetation. More positive than negative associations were found at all sampling times. The proportion of positive associations decreased and negative associations increased through time. Up to 42% of associations at a sampling time were explicable by shared positive correlations …

The Ecology Of New World Rodent Borne Hemorrhagic Fevers, Darin S. Carroll, Emily Jentes, James N. Mills

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Few, if any, human settlements are free of peridomestic rodent populations. The threat of rodent borne zoonotic diseases has been widely recognized since the bubonic plague outbreaks of the Middle Ages. In the last decades, outbreaks of human disease caused by the rodent borne hemorrhagic fever viruses, the arenaviruses (family Arenaviridae), and the hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) have again generated interest in the general public and scientific community regarding the biology of these types of diseases. Recent studies have identified more than 30 new members of these two groups of viruses. Most are associated with rodents in the family …

Quantitative Assessment Of Habitat Preferences For The Puerto Rican Terrestrial Frog, Eleutherdoctylus Coqui, Karen H. Beard, S. Mccullough, A. K. Eschtruth

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

We conducted a quantitative analysis of adult and juvenile Eleutherodactylus coqui (coquí) habitat preferences in Puerto Rico. The analysis consisted of two surveys: one to quantify potential habitat and another to quantify habitat use. Coquís were found to use most habitats available to them; however, adults and juveniles preferred different plant species, habitat structural components, and heights from the forest floor. Adult and juvenile coquís had opposite associations with many important plant species in the forest (e.g., Prestoea montana and Heliconia carabea) and habitat structural components. Adults had a negative association with leaves and a positive association with leaf litter. …

Insights, Spring, 2002, Utah State University

Discovery Magazine

Bi-annual alumni newsletter for the College of Science of Utah State University in Logan.

Coyote Foraging Ecology, Vigilance, And Behavioral Cascades In Response To Gray Wolf Reintroduction In Yellowstone National Park, T. Adam Switalski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Vigilance behavior can aid in the detection of predators and may also play a role in observation of conspecifics, in food acquisition, and in the prevention of kleptoparasitism. However, in most occasions, vigilance is most important as an antipredator function. Generally, factors that increase the risk of predation also increase the amount of vigilance. We examined whether the reintroduction of the large predator, the wolf, in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) would influence coyote vigilance and foraging ecology. From December 1997 to July 2000, we collected 1743 h of coyote activity budgets. Coyote home ranges occurred within wolf territories (termed high-use …

Statmod: A Tool For Interfacing Arcview® Gis With Statistical Software To Facilitate Predictive Ecological Modeling, Christine M. Garrard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As geographical information systems and spatial data become more accessible, predictive spatial modeling in ecology is becoming more common. Unfortunately, not all ecologists possess the necessary skills to successfully combine statistical models and geographical information systems. In response to this problem, I wrote an extension for ArcView^® GIS called StatMod. This extension interfaces ArcView GIS with SAS^® and S-PLUS^® statistical software and walks the user through creating and mapping logistic regression and classification and regression tree models.

StatMod was then used to run a series of analyses that would have been difficult without such a tool. A …

Phylogenetic Relationships, Taxonomy, And Evolution Of Host Choice In Diadasia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), Sedonia D. Sipes

Biology

I examined the phylogenetic relationships, taxonomy, and evolution of host choice in Diadasia, a genus of New World bees. Diadasia species are particularly interesting because they are considered pollen specialists. Females of each species are believed to provision their nests with pollen from only a few closely related plant taxa. At the same time, the choice of floral hosts within the genus is diverse, and includes five distantly related plant families: Malvaceae, Onagraceae, Convolvulaceae, Asteraceae, and Cactaceae. To estimate phylogenetic relationships within this group, I sequenced ~ 2 kb of the mitochondrial genes CO I and II and tRNA …

Morphometric Evaluation Of The Whitefish Complex In Bear Lake, Utah/Idaho, Alan Ward

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Whitefish populations around the world have long been difficult to categorize taxonomically. The whitefish of Bear Lake, Utah/Idaho are no exception. There are three recognized species of Prosopium that are endemic to the lake. Two of these species, Prosopium spilonotus and Prosopium abyssicota, have previously been indistinguishable outside of spawning times. Previous studies have proposed additional taxa within P. spi/onotus to further complicate the identification among these taxa.

Morphological characteristics were quantified on wild whitefish from Bear Lake, as well as from progeny reared in the laboratory from the wild adult fish. The purported taxa were separated in the field …

A Dynamic Analysis Of The Global Timber Market Under Global Warming: An Integrated Modeling Approach, Dug Man Lee, Kenneth S. Lyon

Economic Research Institute Study Papers

We developed a dynamic integrated modeling approach to identify the effect of global warming on the global timber market. The Timber Supply Model 2000, BlOME 3, and Hamburg were used as a suitable economic and ecological model. The TSM 2000 was adopted to model dynamic economic behavior in the global timber market. BlOME 3 was utilized as our steady state ecological model, and Hamburg as our general circulation model. The TSM 200 was developed to consider more important up-to-date components in the global timber market. We estimated dynamic ecological change based on the simulation results of BlOME 3 using Hamburg …

Chapter 08: Conclusions And Recommendations, David Layne Coppock, Corinne Valdivia, Jim Yazman, Christian Jetté, João S. De Queiroz, Lisa Markowitz, Isaac M. Ortega

Sustaining Agropastoralism on the Bolivian Altiplano: The Case of San José Llanga

Here we review brief summaries by chapter and then derive some integrated conclusions across chapters. Recommendations are presented with respect to further research, outreach and policy consideration. Because several years have passed between the end of our field work and publication of this synthesis volume, we end with an epilogue that highlights changes and key events that happened at San José Llanga (SJL) and with collaborating institutions in Bolivia between 1996-9.

Fungi Associated With Biological Soil Crusts In Desert Grasslands Of Utah And Wyoming, Jack S. States, Martha Christensen

Canyonlands Research Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Persistence Of Aspen Regeneration Near The National Elk Refuge And Gros Ventre Valley Elk Feedgrounds Of Wyoming, D.T. Barnett, T.J. Stohlgren

Aspen Bibliography

We investigated aspen (Populus tremuloides) regeneration in the Gros Ventre River Valley, the National Elk Refuge, and a small part of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, to see if elk (Cervus elaphus) browsing was as damaging as previously thought. We conducted a landscape-scale survey to assess aspen regeneration across gradients of wintering elk concentrations using 68 randomly selected aspen stands in the 1,090 km2 study area. Forty-four percent of the stands sampled supported regeneration of saplings (stems greater than 2 m in height but less than 10 cm in diameter). There were no significant differences of regeneration across elk winter …

Long-Term Aspen Exclosures In The Yellowstone Ecosystem, Charles E. Kay

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen has been declining in the Yellowstone Ecosystem for more than 80 years. Some authors have suggested that aspen is a marginal plant community in Yellowstone and that recent climatic variation has adversely affected aspen, while others contend that excessive browsing by native ungulates is primarily responsible for aspen’s widespread decline. To test these hypotheses, I measured all the long-term aspen exclosures (n = 14) in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. Aspen stands inside all exclosures successfully produced new stems greater than 2 m tall without fire or other disturbance, while few outside stands successfully regenerated due to repeated browsing. Understory species …

Effects Of Recording Media On Echolocation Data From Broadband Bat Detectors, Ethan P. White, S. D. Gehrt

Biology Faculty Publications

Bat detectors are an important tool for ecological studies of bats. However, the quality and quantity of data may be affected by the recording devices used to record the output from the detector. We compared recordings of bat activity from audiocassette recorders and computers. Numbers of calls/hour, passes/hour, identifiable passes/hour, and feeding buzzes/hour were similar (all P’s > 0.1) between recording devices. All call characteristics, except for the minimum frequency and characteristic frequency, differed (P < 0.05) between tapes and computers. Species identification with discriminate function analysis was less reliable with tape data than with computer data, particularly when the model built with computer-recorded reference calls was tested with tape-recorded calls. Therefore, we suggest when tape recorders are used for field recording that they also are used to record reference calls.

A Critical Evaluation Of Research Techniques In Animal Ecology, Michelle A. Baker

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wildlife Damage In The Suburbs: Conflicts In A Human-Wildlife Landscape, Rebecca Field

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

The sprawling communities surrounding cities pose a paradox for wildlife. Suburban habitat, with parks, greenways, and planned open spaces, provide attractive habitat with abundant resources for some wildlife species. Yet the landscape is dominated by human activities and disturbances. Species with little tolerance for human disturbance and habitat changes have difficulty maintaining their populations in suburban environments. Yet more adaptable species flourish in suburban areas where there are less predators, increased food resources, and abundant habitat for cover and raising young. The resulting overabundant wildlife populations pose increasing problems for biologists, wildlife damage practitioners, and the public. Management of urban …

The Use Of Border Collies In Avian And Wildlife Control Programs, Nicholas B. Carter

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Airports attract large numbers of wildlife primarily because they offer immense tracts of foraging and nesting habitats free from the threat of predation. Border collies can serve as an effective means of wildlife control in these environments by introducing a predator into the ecosystem. Many wildlife dispersal methods seek to imitate predators or the effect of predators and become increasingly ineffective as wildlife habituate to the stimuli. However, border collies are true predators, representing an actual, not perceived, threat to wildlife thereby eliminating the problems of habituation. Six airports and military bases have initiated use of border collies at their …

Management Guidelines For Sage Grouse And Sagebrush Ecosystems In Nevada, Bureau Of Land Management

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

These management guidelines and supportive background information promote the conservation of sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and their sagebrush (Artemisia spp) habitats on Nevada public lands administered by Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The guidelines are intended to provide interim guidance to field managers, without restricting options currently being explored for regional, state, and local sage grouse/sagebrush conservation planning. The guidelines are a Nevada BLM, habitat-specific, adaptation of the recently updated, and soon to be finalized, Western Association of Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) Draft Guidelines. The Nevada BLM guidelines apply the most current sage grouse science to BLM activities, within the context …

Hydrogeomorphic Factors Influencing Clonal Recruitment Of Cottonwoods In Mountain Valleys, Michael D. Roberts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Riparian cottonwoods (populus spp.) are keystone pioneer species that contribute to critical streamside and in-stream habitats, water quality, and aesthetic and recreational value. Land use and river regulation have caused a widespread reduction in the extent and regeneration of this genus. The majority of research on Populus species' reproduction has examined seedling recruitment that dominates in wide alluvial valleys. In contrast, I evaluated reproductive strategies of Populus angustifoliain mountain valleys. Research was conducted in northern Utah on the Little Bear River, a gravel-bedded stream that flows north out of the Bear River Range onto deposits of Ancient Lake …

Modeling Habitat Attributes Of Cavity-Nesting Birds In The Uinta Mountains, Utah: A Hierarchical Approach, Joshua J. Lawler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Birds may have the ability to view their environments at a wide range of spatial scales; accordingly, they may make habitat-selection decisions at multiple spatial scales. I investigated the implications of hierarchy theory and a landscape perspective on nest-site selection in cavity-nesting birds in the Uinta Mountains in northeastern Utah. I used three different approaches to address the concept of a multi-scaled nest-site selection process. First, I conducted an exploratory study in which I investigated nest-site selection at three spatial scales for Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis), Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), and …

Ontogenetic Habitat Shifts Of Juvenile Bear Lake Sculpin, J. Ruzycki, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Bear lake sculpin Cottus extensus exhibit ontogenetic habitat shifts during their initial year of life. Distribution and habitat switching was measured with bimonthly bottom-trawl surveys repeated throughout the summer. Patterns of daily growth increments on otoliths were used to measure the history of habitat residence, individual size at the time of the habitat switch, and habitat-specific growth rates. Laboratory experiments and known-age fish confirmed daily increment formation of otoliths. After dispersing during an initial pelagic larval stage, postlarval juveniles settled in both the warm, food-rich littoral zone and the cold, unproductive profundal zone. During summer, initial profundal-zone inhabitants underwent a …

Methods In Historical Ecology: A Case Study Of Tintic Valley, Utah, Jeffrey A. Creque, Neil E. West, James P. Dobrowolski

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Through use of repeat photography, archival research, and field observation to reconstruct landscape vegetation patterns and changes across a 120 year period in the upper Tintic Valley of central Utah, researchers found significant changes in landscape vegetation pattern over time, including change in pinyon-juniper woodland area. Previously reported massive woodland harvest associated with early mining, domestic and agricultural activities elsewhere in the Intermountain West also took place in Utah. The impact on woodland area of the agricultural "bull" fence alone was significant. More recent study area woodland expansion also occurred. Because intensive industrial activity associated with development of the Tintic …

The Reproductive Ecology, Demography, And Population Genetic Structure Of Arctomecon Californica Torrey & Fremont (Papaveraceae) In Fragmented And Unfragmented Habitat, Laura L. Hickerson

Biology

Arctomecon californica (the Las Vegas bearpoppy) is endemic to gypsum outcrops of the northern Mojave Desert. Native habitat of this plant in the Las Vegas Valley has been severely fragmented, while relatively undisturbed, unfragmented habitat still exists in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. I studied the reproductive ecology and population genetic structure of this rare plant. Comparisons were then drawn between fragmented and unfragmented habitat. Arctomecon californica flowers are mostly self-incompatible, and require a pollen vector for successful seed production. Evidence of pollinator limitation was found in both habitat types, but plants in fragmented habitat were much less successful …

Development And Validation Of Forest Habitat Models In The Uinta Mountains, Utah, Tracey S. Frescino

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A significant question currently facing environmental managers is how to accurately and efficiently quantify forest diversity and resources. Numerous studies have demonstrated the use of modern spatial analytical tools, such as geographical information systems (GIS), remote sensing devices, and statistical models for predicting the distribution of dominant vegetation cover types. This study examines the ability of generalized additive models (GAMs) to delineate structural diversity in forested ecosystems (specifically the Uinta Mountain Range in Utah) using GIS tools and satellite spectral data, and analyzes the effect of including different forms of satellite data in model construction (i.e., Landsat thematic mapper (TM), …

Epa Superfund Record Of Decision: Murray Smelter Murray City, Ut, Epa

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The Murray Smelter Site ("the Site") is located in the city of Murray, Utah, in Salt Lake County as illustrated on Figure 1. The Site includes the former operational areas of the Murray Smelter and adjacent Germania Smelter which are referred to as the "on-facility" area., as well as surrounding residential and commercial areas where airborne emissions from the smelters impacted the environment or where contamination in shallow ground water may be transported in the future. These surrounding areas are referred to as the "off-facility" area. The on-facility area is approximately 142 acres. Its boundaries are 5300 South Street to …

Education's Role In Sustainable Development: Uganda's Kibale National Park, R. J. Lilieholm, K. B. Paul, T. L. Sharik, R. Loether

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Kibale National Park (KNP), located in western Uganda, offers a rich diversity of tropical flora and fauna. The Park’s mid-altitude, moist tropical forest supports 11 of Uganda’s 20 non-human primate species, some of which occur in very high densities. The region around KNP is home to seven national parks and numerous protected areas. Located within KNP is the Makerere University Biological Field Station (MUBFS), with an extensive 25-year research history and a mandate to assist KNP in protecting the ecosystems of the region through management-relevant research. While KNP and MUBFS have received much visibility within Uganda, East Africa and the …

Adding Nutrients To Enhance The Growth Of Endangered Sockeye Salmon: Trophic Transfer In An Oligotrophic Lake, Phaedra E. Budy, Chris Luecke, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Snake River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka, listed under U.S. law as endangered in 1991 in response to a decline in anadromous adult numbers, spend their first 1–2 years in Redfish Lake, Idaho, before migrating to the sea. To determine how nutrient enhancement might influence phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish production, we performed fertilization experiments in large enclosures in this oligotrophic lake using juvenile kokanee (lacustrine O. nerka) as analogues for endangered sockeye salmon. Fertilization of the metalimnion substantially increased chlorophyll a (150%), phytoplankton biovolume (75%), primary productivity (250%), and zooplankton biomass (200%), and moderately increased fish growth (12%) over our control …

A Framework For Understanding Social Science Contributions To Ecosystem Management, Joanna Endter-Wada, Dale Blahna, Richard Krannich, Mark W. Brunson

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

We propose a framework for understanding the role that the social sciences should play in ecosystem management. Most of the ecosystem management literature assumes that scientific understanding of ecosystems is solely the purview of natural scientists. While the evolving principles of ecosystem management recognize that people play an important role, social considerations are usually limited to political and decision-making processes and to development of environmental education. This view is incomplete. The social science aspect of ecosystem management has two distinct components: one that concerns greater public involvement in the ecosystem management decision-making process, and one that concerns integrating social considerations …

Attempted Relocation Of A Ring-Billed Gull Roost At Washington National Airport, Jessica Dewey, Martin Lowney

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Gulls, particularly ring-billed gulls [Larus delawarensis], have been identified as a threat to aircraft operations at Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan National Airport) in northern Virginia. Through bird surveys conducted in 1992, 1993, and 1997, an estimated 7,000 gulls were observed roosting during winter on the Potomac River near the airport. A harassment program was run on 5 consecutive evenings, 24-28 February 1997, to relocate the roosting gulls. Six to 8 people shot pyrotechnics from shore and 2 boats for 2 hours prior to dusk each evening. Each evening the gulls arrived consistently later than the prior …