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The Effects Of Common Methods Of Soft Tissue Removal On Skeletal Remains: A Comparative Analysis, Emily Silverman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The removal of soft tissue from skeletal remains is a process familiar to a wide array of scientific fields and the methods used to perform it are likewise numerous yet inconsistent. In forensic investigations and crime labs across the country, there lacks a standardization for this process. This lack of standardization pairs with a distinct lack of literature on the potential benefits and risks associated with each method as well as basic information on the proper amount of additives, temperatures, or time estimations. In a forensic context, human remains may be the only evidence available, which makes any damage or …

Global Change And Whitebark Pine: Restoration, Refugia, And Alpine Treelines, Colin Taylor Maher

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Whitebark pine is a major component of subalpine forests in western North America. The species occupies harsh high-mountain sites up to treeline, where it is often the dominant species. The species is ecologically important but is also a valuable species for studying the dynamics of alpine treelines. However, whitebark pine has experienced significant mortality in recent decades from mountain pine beetle outbreaks and white pine blister rust. This kind of rapid environmental change presents significant challenges to our understanding and management of the dynamics of ecological communities. On one hand, the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems could provide …

Exploring The Ligand-Dependent Conformational Ensemble Of Pparγ: More Than A Mousetrap, Ian Michael Chrisman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The nuclear receptor PPARγ is a lipid-dependent transcription factor which regulates many pathways in lipid metabolism. Due to functions in adipogenesis, glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity it has been a target of type II diabetes mellitus therapeutics since the 1990s. Due to a poorly understood anti-inflammatory pathway it is also an emerging target in neurodegenerative disease. Despite extensive research the majority of the structural mechanism underlying the regulation of this proteins’ function is poorly understood. It is often thought that nuclear receptors function in a simple two-state model with defined on and off states. This model only considers one region …

The Effects Of Common Methods Of Soft Tissue Removal On Skeletal Remains: A Comparative Analysis, Emily Silverman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The removal of soft tissue from skeletal remains is a process familiar to a wide array of scientific fields and the methods used to perform it are likewise numerous yet inconsistent. In forensic investigations and crime labs across the country, there lacks a standardization for this process. This lack of standardization pairs with a distinct lack of literature on the potential benefits and risks associated with each method as well as basic information on the proper amount of additives, temperatures, or time estimations. In a forensic context, human remains may be the only evidence available, which makes any damage or …

Survival, Movements, And Resource Selection Of Female White-Tailed Deer In Missouri, Chloe A. Wright

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Missouri are a socially and economically important game species generating annual revenue in excess of $1 billion. The last comprehensive deer study in Missouri was conducted in the 1980s – 1990s when deer populations were rapidly expanding. Since this time there has been a reduction in deer population size, declining growth rates, changes in harvest strategies, and the emergence and spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). These changes have rendered prior survival estimates outdated, and the presence of CWD requires a deeper understanding of movement patterns and space use. We were interested in …

Colonization Of And Adaptation To Tidal Marshes In The Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus Sandwichensis), Phred M. Benham

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Intraspecific patterns of geographic variation reflect a dynamic history of colonization and divergence in response to spatially varying selective pressures. Analysis of this phenotypic variation has long stimulated biological thought, yet many outstanding questions remain regarding the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving patterns of geographic variation. In my dissertation, I collected data on demographic history, physiological traits contributing to salinity tolerance, and acclimation responses to different salinities to elucidate the mechanisms shaping colonization and adaptive divergence in tidal marsh populations of Savannah Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis). Specifically, I addressed two main questions related to adaptive divergence in this species: (1) how …

Home Is Where The Food Is: Causes And Consequences Of Partial Migration In Elk, Kristin Jennifer Barker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Migratory and non-migratory ungulates often coexist in partially migratory populations, but the mechanisms that drive and maintain different migratory behaviors within the same herd are poorly understood. In western North America, increasing numbers of elk (Cervus canadensis) reside on low-elevation winter range year-round. These residents can cause issues associated with crop damage, potential for disease transmission to livestock, and reduced effectiveness of harvest management strategies. Because migrants transfer nutrients, alter carnivore distributions, and structure vegetative communities across seasonal ranges, reductions in migratory behavior raise ecological as well as management-related concerns. This work investigated the factors affecting migratory behavior …

A Comparison Of Three Agricultural Startups, John Dindia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

A Cartographic Workflow Manual For Endangered Species Conservation, Martin P. Viereckl

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In response to global consumer demand for rare and exotic wildlife products, poaching of endangered species has become pervasive around the world (Eliason 1999). Despite the enactment of CITES, and other international efforts to protect vulnerable species from overexploitation, the global market for illegal wildlife products is estimated as high as $20-billion a year industry (Wyler 2008). Within important wildlife habitat sites, law enforcement struggle to curb rampant poaching that threatens the ultimate survival of many endangered species (Jachmann 2008; Rowcliffe 2004). Law-enforcement agencies responsible for protecting wildlife from poachers often lack geospatial tools that could greatly improve the effectiveness …

Why Does Drought Kill Trees? Interactions Between Water, Carbon, And Fungal Symbionts, Gerard Sapes De Moreta

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

One of the global causes of forest die-off is climate-change induced drought. Drought kills trees by reducing water supply and non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) availability and by increasing susceptibility to negative biotic interactions. However, we lack an understanding of how water, NSC, and biotic agents interact. As a result, we still cannot accurately predict drought-induced mortality. The overarching goal of my dissertation is to increase our understanding of the interacting mechanisms leading to drought-induced mortality (DIM) and to identify physiological variables that accurately predict risk of DIM. Via greenhouse experiments with Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) seedlings, I addressed three overarching research …

A Decade Of Governing The Blackfoot Community Conservation Area (Bcca): Community Involvement And Landscape Connectivity Through Public Private Partnerships, Alexander A. Barton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In recent decades, non-governmental organizations have acquired and established community forests and conservation areas in the U.S. However, there have been few empirical studies on their governance. This study focuses on the Blackfoot Community Conservation Area (BCCA) in the Blackfoot watershed of Montana, created in 2005. The BCCA is a 41,000 acre mosaic of private, state, and federal lands, including 5,600 acres known as the “Core” located near Ovando mountain and owned by the Blackfoot Challenge, a local watershed organization and leader in grassroots conservation. This research examined the definitions, activities and lessons learned over the past decade with regard …

Differential Decomposition Rates Of Non-Human Remains With The Facilitation Of Sodium Hydroxide In Dissimilar Deposition Environments, Hayley Savage

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dissolving bodies is a contemporary method of disposing human remains and has been practiced throughout the years. In popular media, criminals attempt to dispose of their victims by using various chemicals to dissolve the corpses. There is an immense gap in the literature pertaining to this research, so this present study aims to combat the lack of information on the topic. This research investigates the effects of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), generally known as lye or caustic soda, a common household chemical, on human tissues and bone by using an animal analogue (domestic pig, Sus scrofa domesticus). Four dissimilar deposition environments …

The Enduring Importance Of Wildness: Shepherding Wilderness Through The Anthropocene, Patrick Ram Kelly

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wilderness and wildness have long been essential values at the heart of American conservation. Both have played critical roles in the formation of environmental ethics, providing a conceptual foundation for the belief that the non-human natural world is valuable for its own sake (Nash, 2001). After grounding and inspiring much of 20th century environmentalism, their influence in the current century has grown increasingly tentative. The arrival of what some have called the “Anthropocene epoch” – a term meant to capture the planetary scale impacts of human activity – now threatens the continued viability and relevance of wilderness and wildness to …

Into The Wilds: Influences From Video Games On Our Perception Of 'Nature', Toryn W P Rogers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this paper I examine how representations of human-sparse natural environments, e.g. wilderness, influence what expectations we have when we actually engage with comparable physical places. I use Don Ihde's phenomenology of technology to describe my own experiences playing three games that take place among large photorealistic human-sparse natural environments: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Horizon Zero Dawn, and theHunter: Call of the Wild. I also conduct a brief literature review on the effects of video games as interactive media on players. I argue that players are capable of applying their expectations of what constitutes realism from digital to physical environments, …

#Iownit, Margaret M. Hamilton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the United States and particularly the West, public lands make up a large portion of land areaand are a vital, reusable, renewable resource that anyone can use. This body of work provides a visual representation of public land users. I’m looking at different user groups representing different activities, ages, genders, and geographic locations. My goal for this work is to make a visual impact on the public’s perspective of how these lands are use, and the people who use them.

All of these public land users have one thing in common: a sense of responsibility for the land, for …

Demographics And Growth History Of Whitebark Pine On Undisturbed Sites Across The Northern Us Rocky Mountains, Sarah Flanary

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Along with fluctuating precipitation and temperatures in the form of climate change, whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) has seen a territory wide increase in mortality leading to a decline in population. While the most direct influences on whitebark pine health and mortality are mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks, fire exclusion policies, and the spread of white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), climate change can impact the intervals and severity of such beetle, rust, and fire disturbances, and may affect the growth and health of whitebark pine directly. The objectives of this study were to identify whitebark pine stands within the …

Life On The Edge: Risk Of Predation Drives Selection Of Habitat And Survival Of Neonates In Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, Shannon Forshee

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Long-term viability of endangered populations requires development of effective management strategies that target the population vital rate with the highest potential to influence population trajectories. When adult survival is high and stable, juvenile recruitment is the vital rate with the greatest potential to improve population trajectories. For my thesis I examined how lactating Sierra Nevada Bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis sierra) balance forage and predation risk during the neonatal period. I first identified resource selection strategies employed by lactating females to promote survival of neonates and then determined the primary factors affecting survival of neonates. I found lactating females selected for …

Polar Gigantism And Sea Spiders: A Study Of Respiratory Scaling, Steven Joseph Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

All animals must breathe to survive. The types of primary respiratory structures vary across the metazoa, and the overall size and components of these structures scale with body size. The scaling of respiratory structures has been well studied in vertebrate lungs and gills, but very few, if any studies, have looked at it in terms of cutaneous gas exchange, the process where oxygen moves across the outer integument via diffusion. My dissertation has sought to fill this gap in knowledge by studying animals that use cutaneous respiration, and my work has determined both how the components of their respiratory surfaces …

On The Evolution Of "Extreme" Morphology: Patterns Of Cost And Benefit In Sexually Selected Weapons, Devin Mackenzie O'Brien

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sexually selected weapons represent some of the most spectacular morphologies in the animal world. They grow out of proportion with body size or other, more typically proportioned structures, and are some of the largest traits in both absolute and relative size. It is therefore unsurprising that animal weapons are some of the most intensely studied structures in biology. Yet, despite this interest, surprisingly little is known about the expression and evolution of these traits. In particular, four questions remain unanswered: How does selection act on weapons in the wild? Do the costs of large weapons ever outweigh the benefits? How …

Agency Panic: A Reckoning Of Place, Brock M. Mickelsen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Agency Panic: A Reckoning of Place may be best described as a type of documentation of a conversation between the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness and myself, one where a mutual language is not spoken but one where some understanding can be reached none-the-less. By moving through the landscape without goals or intentions a physical exchange ensues, a push and pull, a call and response, intimacy is gained through tactile experience. Through the use of wet-plate collodion photography I am able to create imagery that engages directly with the place. Its vulnerability records a conversation between two acting powers, artist …

An Inter-Watershed Comparison Study Of Bedrock Controls On Shallow Subsurface Flow And Streamflow Response, Robert Livesay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bedrock controls on watershed response have been actively studied in recent years, however, most conclusions are based on surface water analysis leaving unresolved questions about the nature of bedrock flow paths and ultimately their control on watershed response. In this study, we investigated bedrock controls on watershed response by simultaneously monitoring the hydrology of two adjacent watersheds underlain by dissimilar geologic formations (monzonite vs. meta-sandstone) and by characterizing subsurface conditions through bedrock drilling and fracture mapping. We hypothesized, when soils saturate, the underlying bedrock geology may influence the partitioning of shallow subsurface flow (SSF) between soil and bedrock flow paths, …

What's For Dinner?: A Faunal Analysis Of The Bison, Elk, And Bighorn Sheep Bones From The Windy Bison Site (48ye697), Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Collin R. Price

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of prehistoric sites around the shores of Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming indicating that Native Americans lived, hunted, and gathered in the region for 11,000 years. This thesis attempts to identify the Native American subsistence strategies that were conducted around the shores of Yellowstone Lake, specifically along the northeast shore. The objective is to define how Native Americans exploited the bison, elk, and bighorn sheep that were observed at the Windy Bison Site (48YE697). This objective is approached through analyzing the faunal remains that were documented at 48YE697. The analysis will be conducted using zooarchaeological methods to determine …

In Case Of Emergency: Local Medical Services And Emergency Air Transportation In Southeast Alaska, Kourtney B. Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Alaska, often referred to as “The Last Frontier”, is a vast, geographically diverse and sparsely settled landscape. Although many popular reality shows tend to exaggerate and dramatize life in Alaska, they do point to an important fact: when an emergency occurs, or someone experiences serious health complications, immediate access to sufficient medical services may not be available. Much of the state’s population faces barriers to accessing needed medical care due to large distances between communities and limited road networks due to coastal locations or challenging terrain.

Using Penchansky and Thomas’s five components of Access Theory (1981), this thesis explores factors …

Consequences Of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activation: Thymic Atrophy And Therapeutic Liposomal Nanoparticles, Joanna Michelle Kreitinger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor best known for its role in xenobiotic metabolism of environmental pollutants. Activation of the AhR by its prototypical ligand 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-pdioxin (TCDD) leads to pronounced thymic atrophy and severe immunosuppression. Studies of AhR activation can have dual applications: to better understand AhR-mediated immunotoxicity and to harness its immunomodulatory effects for therapeutic use. Here, we first aimed to determine whether AhR-mediated thymic atrophy was ligand-dependent through the use of dietary and endogenously sourced ligands, indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and 2-(19 H-indole-39 -carbonyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester (ITE) respectively. We also aimed to identify key mediators …

Experiences Of Wildness And Value, Hannah G. Mclean

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Lewis’S Woodpecker Nest Success And Habitat Selection In Cottonwood Floodplain Versus Burned Conifer Forests, William M. Blake

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Breeding habitat selection influences reproductive outcomes. Habitat selection may be adaptive and benefit populations, but it can also be maladaptive with negative consequences for populations. Understanding habitat selection and its influence on reproductive success, especially in species of concern, is critical for effective management. Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) is a Species of Concern that has experienced national population declines. We studied its abundance and reproductive success in two commonly selected breeding forest types (i.e., cottonwood floodplain and mixed-conifer burned), and nest-site characteristics (nest availability, food availability, and vegetation attributes) that have the potential to yield strong differences in …

California Creek Quarry: Regional Persepctives And Uas Mapping, David A. Schwab

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Western Montana hosts an abundance of lithic deposits useful for precontact stone tool manufacturing. Lithic sources likely factored prominently into patterns of settlement, trade, subsistence and mobility for past populations in the region. The mining of these lithic resources results in a unique land use area, a prehistoric quarry. Prehistoric quarries in Western Montana have received very little research or spatial documentation. This may be due in part to their abundance and often overwhelming size and extent. Providing even basic spatial documentation for large quarries can be prohibitively time consuming and expensive. One such understudied quarry site is the California …

Respecting Public Investment: The Problems With Democratic Endorsement As A Criterion For Legitimate Value Influence In Science, Rebecca Korf

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Criticism of the value-free ideal has motivated attempts to formulate a criterion for the legitimacy of non-epistemic value influence in science. I argue that this search aims to protect two main components of legitimacy, scientific integrity and justice. While integrity is primary, justice remains important, especially in setting scientific goals. One of the main proposals for setting legitimate goals is to rely on democratic endorsement (Intemann 2015). I critically assess four interpretations of this criterion, finding that all are problematic. I then propose and evaluate three alternative models that seek to better balance respect for the public with scientific expertise.

Variation Of Tool Mark Characteristics In Frozen Bone As It Relates To Dismemberment, Elena Hughes

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The act of dismembering a body leaves identifiable marks on the bone. These marks, whether they be from knives, saws, axes, or any other tool, can help provide law enforcement with information about the type of tool they should be looking for. While there has been considerable research done on the marks left by different types of weapons, a factor that has not been examined is the differences in tool marks based on the condition of the body at the time of dismemberment. This study will initiate this new avenue of research by analyzing the differences seen in tool mark …

The Effect Of Female Priming On Male Betta Splendens, Susan Greene

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Male betta fish are naturally aggressive to attract a mate and defend a territory. This makes them a good model for studying aggression and choice behavior. This study looked at male Betta splendens aggressive nature when impacted by priming with a female and exposure to the SSRI drug fluoxetine. Males in the study received a prime before each choice trial, and the latency for each choice was measured and analyzed. We found no significant differences for preference for a mirror versus a non-mirror trail, or latency for choice for the mirror. However, a significant effect was found for fighting data, …