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Tertiary Sediments Of The Big Hole Valley And Pioneer Mountains, Southwestern Montana: Age, Provenance, And Tectonic Implications, Warren Paul Roe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tertiary terrestrial sedimentary rocks of the Big Hole basin and Pioneer Mountains of southwestern Montana provide a record of regional extensional tectonism. Detailed observations of stratigraphy and sedimentology at widely scattered outcrops indicate the presence of paleosols, fine-grained debris flows, small alluvial channels, and rare fluvial deposits. U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons and air-fall tuffs indicates the presence of Oligocene to Middle Miocene sedimentary rocks outcropping at the surface. Though the presence of detrital muscovite in several outcrops indicates derivation from the nearby 2-mica Chief Joseph pluton, a predicted ~75 Ma zircon population is not present: instead, a persistent peak …

Beginner's Mind: Teaching From A Position Of Not Knowing, Tara Lynn Sullivan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Most students believe that their teachers are experts in all aspects of the field they teach in. In April of 2009 my drama students asked me to teach Commedia dell’Arte during the upcoming school year. I did have a strong knowledge of the subject but I decided to approach the project with a beginner’s mind and take a risk teaching a form of theatre I knew little about. Over the course of the school year, my students and I learned together. We researched the history, movement, and production elements of Commedia dell’Arte. The end result was a Commedia inspired performance …

Inbetween, Cathryn Sugg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“I work in the gap between art and life.” So said Robert Rauschenberg, of his own art, decades ago. Little did I know that my experiences in graduate school, and the translation of those experiences into artworks, would be defined by “gaps”: the physical gap of 450 miles, separating me from my husband, the intellectual gap representing the types of conversation I found myself engaging in, the illusive gaps between the different “roles” I have always used to define myself. In the past three years I developed an awareness of my social situation, during which I have found (and continue …

Recollection, Rebecca Gehres Weed

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Recollect is an investigation of personal histories and myths relative to the experience of time and willful manipulation of said time. Depicted in the traditional medium of oil painting an autobiographical account is laid out. Not in chronological order, nor in any sense depicting actual events, these paintings are an attempt to identify and recreate distinguishing factors in my life. Acquiring a personal mythology is the prerogative of any and all people. History on a global scale has been written and rewritten under the influence of many factors. The factors that cause us to manipulate our own personal pasts are …

Resource Debate In Southwest Alaska: The Bristol Bay Fishery And The Pebble Mine, Ethan Jerome Gottschalk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bristol Bay, in Southwest Alaska, is the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. After an almost total collapse of salmon numbers in the mid 1970’s, the salmon have returned and average in the tens of millions every year. The salmon play a vital economic, cultural, and subsistence role in the lives of the people who call Bristol Bay home. At present there is a plan to develop a low-grade, but substantial, mineral deposit that consists primarily of copper, gold, and molybdenum. The estimated value of the minerals present is more than $500 billion. This plan is known as the …

Resource Selection And Abundance Estimation Of Moose: Implications For Caribou Recovery In A Human Altered Landscape, Wibke Peters

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are threatened across Canada due to human disturbance altering predator-prey dynamics. The niche specialization of caribou enables them to survive in nutrient-poor habitats spatially separated from other ungulates and their shared predators. The conversion of old-growth forests to young seral stands is hypothesized to increase the abundance of moose (Alces alces), the dominant prey for wolves (Canis lupus), resulting in apparent competition. We first examined habitat selection of moose in 2 regions with differing intensities of human disturbance in west-central Alberta and east-central British Columbia to assess how human disturbance affects the spatial separation of …

Ruffled Feathers: Shared Narratives In The Sage-Grouse Management Conflict In Sublette County, Wyoming, Maureen A. Essen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The tense conflict over sage grouse management in the West, where livelihoods have been pitted against the possibility of an endangered species listing, has been ongoing for many years and has been described as being as tense as the spotted owl conflict in the Northwest in the 1990s. This research is designed to highlight the different frames or narratives within the sage grouse debate in Sublette County, Wyoming while exploring a resurging research methodology. Q methodology, a method intended to identify distinct viewpoints within a sample was employed to understand the different narratives among these conflict parties. The Q method …

Rooted: A New Generation Of Farmers And Ranchers In Montana, Beth Jeannette Gibson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rooted tells the stories of a new generation of farmers and ranchers in Montana through still photography and written profiles; the project is the result of 13 site visits and interviews. I define “new farmer” as a person operating their own agricultural business for 10 years or fewer, though this definition gets blurred and complicated when referring to people who return to their family’s farm or ranch. Admittedly, this project features only a few of the beginning farmers and ranchers in Montana. My intention is not to provide an exhaustive study of the next generation of farmers and ranchers in …

Influence Of Prion Protein Expression On Function Of Excitatory Amino Acid Transporters In Mouse Primary Astrocytes, Melissa Selvy Pathmajeyan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prion protein (PrP) is expressed on a wide variety of cells and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. However, its normal function remains unclear. Mice that do not express PrP exhibit deficits in spatial memory and abnormalities in excitatory neurotransmission suggestive that PrP may function in the glutamatergic synapse. Here we show that transport of D-aspartate, a non-metabolized L-glutamate analog, through excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) was faster in astrocytes from PrP knockout (PrP KO) mice than in astrocytes from C57BL/10 SnJ wildtype (WT) mice. Experiments using EAAT subtype-specific inhibitors demonstrated that in both WT …

Lead Exposure In Large Carnivores In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Thomas Alan Rogers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Exposure to heavy metals is a potential challenge to the conservation of wildlife. One source of heavy metal exposure known to negatively affect avian wildlife is ingestion of lead rifle bullet fragments found in discarded hunter-harvested ungulate gut piles. Some large mammalian carnivores, such as grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), are also known to target these gut piles as a food source while others, such as cougars (Puma concolor), avoid areas with high levels of human hunting pressure. I investigated whether large carnivores in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were exposed to lead, and if so, if ammunition ingested from hunter-harvested gut …

An Assessment Of Municipal Water Rights And Water Systems In The Clark Fork River Basin, Jacob Daniel Petersen-Perlman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the semi-arid Inland Northwest, water is undoubtedly the most important natural resource. Western Montana’s Clark Fork River basin is no exception. As the population of western Montana continues to grow, the Clark Fork River basin below the Flathead Indian Reservation is largely in de facto closure to the establishment of new water rights. Communities face a great amount of uncertainty with respect to their ability to establish new water rights to accommodate future growth due to the de facto closure, along with the ongoing adjudication process and the inability for communities to grow into their claimed water rights established …

Identifying Wildlife Crossing Zones For The Prioritization Of Highway Mitigation Measures Along U.S. Highway 2: West Glacier, Mt To Milepost 193, Mike J. Roesch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Highways have been shown to fragment wildlife habitats and populations. In order to mitigate the effects that highways have on wildlife, it is important to assess where wildlife appear to be moving in close proximity to the highway. I surveyed for wildlife trails that approached either side of a ~64 km stretch U.S. Highway 2 (US-2) and monitored these trails with remote cameras. Ungulates, especially deer, were the most commonly photographed animals on trails. A limited number of photographs were also taken of coyote, black bear, snowshoe hare, wolf, and cougar. Camera images showed that wildlife tended to use roadside …

Assessing Cumulative Human Impacts On Northern Woodland Caribou With Traditional Ecological Knowledge And Resource Selection Functions, Jean Lieppert Polfus

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are federally listed and declining across Canada because of the cumulative impacts of human infrastructure development. The Atlin northern mountain herd, in the territory of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN), British Columbia, is less affected by development than southern herds. However, recent low productivity in this herd suggests that the impacts of development (i.e., roads, mines, cabins and towns) may be accumulating. To predict the cumulative impact of human development on the Atlin herd, we developed seasonal resource selection functions (RSF) at 2 spatial scales with data from 10 global positioning system collared …

Biological Control: Effects Of Tyria Jacobaeae On The Population Dynamics Of Senecio Jacobaea In Northwest Montana, Kimberly Kay Crider

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Biological control, using introduced, specialist insects is a common strategy for controlling plant invasions. However, the efficacy of biological control agents in controlling their host plants is rarely quantified population level. I quantified the impact of a specialist biological control agent, the cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) on its host plant, tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) in northwest Montana. Cinnabar moth damage and its effects on important plant vital rates were tested with and without specialist herbivores. The presence of moth larvae corresponded to a reduction in population growth rates to less than one, compared to herbivore-free controls, indicating the potential for …

Elemental Stoichiometry Of Freshwater Hyporheic Microorganisms, Alejandra Valenzuela

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The work presented herein is part of the Microbial Observatory Project in the Nyack Floodplain. The Nyack Valley Floodplain is a glacier-carved floodplain in the Middle Fork of the Flathead River on the south west border of Glacier National Park and north of the Great Bear Wilderness in northwest Montana. The study focuses on the bacterial diversity including elemental stoichiometry along a hyporheic flowpath underlying the Nyack floodplain. We isolated and characterized 44 bacterial strains, sampled microbial biofilm communities across the floodplain, characterized the bacterial isolates and determined elemental ratios (C:N:P). We tested the hypothesis that while the elemental stoichiometry …

Escaping The Extinction Vortex: Identifying Factors Affecting Population Performance And Recovery In Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, Heather Elizabeth Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An extinction vortex is one of the greatest threats to endangered species; when demographic, environmental, and genetic stochasticity interact with each other and with deterministic factors, such as habitat quality, to reinforce the demise of a small population. To successfully escape an extinction vortex and enable species recovery, all processes that affect endangered populations should be comprehensively assessed and incorporated into conservation plans. For my dissertation, I worked in conjunction with California Department of Fish and Game to develop a comprehensive research program to guide recovery efforts for federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, the rarest subspecies of mountain sheep …

Expanding The Role Of Criterion A2 In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Daniel Evan Dewey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Posttraumatic stress disorder is a psychiatric construct that refers to symptoms that may follow exposure to a traumatic event. The current definition of a traumatic event differentiates between the objective event, criterion A1, and an individual’s subjective response, criterion A2. This study investigated the importance of criterion A2 and other intense negative emotions in the development of PTSD. Self-report measures were used to determine the presence or absence of the event criteria A1 and A2, PTSD symptoms, and intensity of emotion type at the time of an event. Criterion A2 emotions at the time of the event were associated with …

Money Does Grow On Trees: A. B. Hammond And The Age Of The Lumber Baron, Gregory Llewellyn Gordon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Two highly contrasting views inform our view of America's Industrial Era (1877-1920). The "captains of industry" thesis holds that America's industrial and economic might depended on creative capitalists freely pursuing individual wealth. The opposing "robber baron" perspective holds that the capitalist free-market system engendered a great disparity of wealth and resulted in social and environmental costs while accruing benefits to the few.

In seeking to understand the Industrial Era historians have traditionally looked toward the top echelon of American businessmen: Rockefeller, Gould, Morgan, and the like, largely ignoring the scores of second-tier capitalists. The era of "laissez-faire" capitalism, however, was …

Sustaining A Conservation Legacy? An In Depth Perspective On The Interagency Bison Management Plan And The Potential For Collaboration, Jason Alan Brininstool

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bison management within Yellowstone National Park (YNP), and the later recognized Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), has been a contentious issue since the mid-1900s. At the same time the efforts of Congress and the National Park Service to literally bring the bison back from the brink of extinction qualifies the Yellowstone herd as a symbol of western heritage and culture, the wilderness standard, and one of the greatest victories of the early conservation movement in the United States (Schullery 1986). Currently, there are more than 150,000 bison in the United States, mostly contained in heavily managed reserves or on private ranches. …

Catechin, A Novel Root Exudate Of Centaurea Stoebe, Exhibits Pleiotropic Effects On The Soil Microbial Community And Individual Soil Isolates, And Undergoes Chemical Changes With Numerous Abiotic Factors From Soil, Jarrod Leroy Pollock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Allelopathy has been studied for (±)-catechin, a root exudate of spotted knapweed, as a plausible mechanism that facilitates knapweed invasion in North America. Phytotoxic effects are observed in invaded fields as well as greenhouse experiments when employing catechin or growing spotted knapweed, demonstrating similar effects on native plant species. However, many studies ignore the impact of catechin on microbial populations in soil. Understanding the impact of catechin on microbial processes will greatly aid our understanding of how spotted knapweed invasion can alter soil chemistry and biological processes. Chapter 2 will address the impact of soil and media parameters on catechin …

Do Traditional Sociological Variables Apply The Same In American Indian Communities? A Comparison Of The Effects Of Social Disorganization, Social Bond, And Social Learning Variables On Delinquency And Substance Use Among Merican Indian, White, And Other Race Youth, Wendy Linn Running Crane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The history and current situations of American Indians are unique and important arenas to forward the study of crime and delinquency. There may be no better group available to study the combined effects of concentrated disadvantage, social disorganization, and abrupt societal change than the modern day American Indian community. But do traditional variables constructed to test sociological theories fit the study of this population? Findings from hypotheses testing the differences in overall effects of social control, social disorganization, social bonding, and social learning variables on delinquency and substance use suggest that there are differences in their ability to account for …

Double Sampling For Coarse Woody Debris Estimations Following Line Intersect Sampling, Allissa Corrow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Coarse woody debris (CWD), an essential component of healthy forests, has typically been defined as dead and down, large woody material. Quantification of this resource provides a useful metric for assessing wildlife habitat, fuel loading, and more recently, carbon sequestration. Although many CWD sampling methods exist, accurate estimation is difficult and expensive. Double sampling incorporates auxiliary data that is positively correlated with the attribute of interest as a means of reducing sampling costs and/or increasing estimation precision. The present study investigated double sampling applications to the common CWD sampling technique, line intersect sampling (LIS). We identified aggregate length as a …

Fierce Flames And The Golden Lotus: Case Studies On The Madness And Creativity Connection, Reuben Jay Swindall

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A historical/biographical analysis of the connection between creativity and a variety of psychoses including: syphilis, epilepsy, schizophenia and manic-depression/bi-polar disorder. The figures examined are Gustave Flaubert, Hector Berlioz, Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath.

Geographilia In Children's Urban Spaces: Investigating How Children Explore Outdoor Places And Connect With Natural Objects., Jeanine Sandra Garella

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

ABSTRACT Garella, Jeanine Sandra, M.A., Autumn 2010 Geography Geographilia in Children’s Urban Spaces: Investigating How Children Explore Outdoor Places and Connect With Natural Objects Chairperson: Jeffrey A. Gritzner The benefits children receive from outdoor play time are well documented by scholars across many disciplines. Interacting within an unstructured natural setting can foster physical, social, emotional, and spiritual growth. The lessons learned in such an environment not only help children reach developmental milestones; they also play an important role in the formation of beliefs and attitudes used in decision-making processes later in life. This is a significant point to make when …

Uncertainty Monitoring In Sprague-Dawley Rats (Rattus Norvegicus), Leslie Anne Angel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Comparative psychologists have explored the metacognitive capabilities of rhesus monkeys, a capuchin monkey, an orangutan, a dolphin, pigeons, and rats. Previous research with rats has demonstrated inconsistent results (Foote & Crystal, 2007; Smith & Schull, 1989). In the current study, two Sprague-Dawley rats were tested in a tone-length discrimination task in which they were prompted to press one of two levers indicating "short" or "long" depending on the duration of a tone. They also had the option to opt out of some trials. If the subjects knew when they did not know the answer to the task, they were expected …

Are Black Bears Declining In Montana? Inference From Multiple Data Sources In The Face Of Uncertainty, Julie Ann Beston

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Carnivores are managed both to maintain populations and reduce conflict with humans, but data-based decision-making is difficult due to the expense of data collection. When new fieldwork is impossible, we can benefit from available data in assessing populations. I used demographic and harvest data to assess the population status of black bears (Ursus americanus) in Montana.

I conducted a hierarchical Bayesian meta-analysis of black bear demographic studies to evaluate geographic structuring and estimate vital rates and population growth rate. Adult survival is higher in the west than the east, but the reverse is true for fecundity. The mean …

Causes And Consequences Of Prolonged Dormancy: Why Stay Belowground?, Jennifer R. Gremer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prolonged dormancy is a stage in which mature plants fail to resprout during the growing season and instead remain alive belowground. Though it is relatively common, the causes and consequences of this intriguing stage have remained elusive. In this dissertation, I investigate the causes and consequences of prolonged dormancy in a long lived perennial herb, Astragalus scaphoides.

First, I use a combination of demography and ecophysiology to study the proximate mechanisms associated with prolonged dormancy. Analysis of a long-term demographic dataset indicates that both endogenous factors (e.g. age, condition, and history) and exogenous factors (e.g. climate and spatial variation) are …

Post-Course Environmental Behavior Change Of Wild Rockies Field Institute Participants, Theodore Rosenberger Morrison

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In light of the environmental crisis facing the world, the need for citizens to behave in an environmentally responsible manner is critical to finding lasting solutions. After conducting and analyzing 20 in-depth interviews with alumni of the Wild Rockies Field Institute (WRFI), this study found that despite elevated pre-course levels of environmentally responsible behavior most participants reported an increased level of post course environmental behavior change. Post-course impacts ranged from a change of, or further investment in academic and career goals, lifestyle choices, empowerment, ethical development and political activity. Participants reported these outcomes were influenced by a variety of course …

Stewardship In West African Vodun: A Case Study Of Ouidah, Benin, Hayden Thomas Janssen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Indigenous, animistic religions inherently convey a close relationship and stewardship for the environment. This stewardship is very apparent in the region of southern Benin, Africa. The Fon peoples of this region practice a traditional religion termed Vodun, which manifested from the 17th century slave trade, and subsequently migrated to the Caribbean and Americas where it transmuted into Voodoo, among other religions. The migration of pre-colonial religious canon to the Western Hemisphere has garnered ample study; however, the pioneering religion, Vodun, has received far less scholastic attention, despite Benin’s recognition of Vodun as a national religion. In this thesis, I contend …

The Biogeography Of Ageratina Adenophora: A Mexican Trans-Global Invader, Heather Marie Evans

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Evans, Heather, Master of Science, May 2010 The Biogeography of Ageratina adenophora: A Mexican Trans-Global Invader Co-Chairman: Dr. Jeffrey Gritzner Co-Chairman: Dr. Ragan Callaway Invasive plants are a global problem often resulting in negative impacts upon populations of native plants and the environments in which they grow. Invasive plants inhibit native species and take over areas where they have been introduced. These invasive species create ecological problems for wildlife foraging, as they often transform the vegetation of native habitats resulting in conditions unsuitable for grazing. In addition, invasive plant species pose problems for humans in the areas of health, economics, …