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Moose Abundance And Calf:Cow Ratios On The Blackfeet Indian Reservation And Glacier National Park, Landon Joel Magee

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Many moose (Alces alces; Sikihtsisoo) populations across North America, especially along their southern range, are declining due to factors such as climate change, parasites and disease, predation, habitat loss and degradation, and overharvest. These declines highlight broader ecological concerns, as moose play a critical role as prey within their ecosystems. Despite their importance, data on crucial demographic parameters like abundance and age ratios are sparse for moose, complicating management efforts. Conventional monitoring methods, including radio-collaring, harvest data, public surveys, and aerial surveys, face significant logistical and financial challenges, and often fail to provide a comprehensive understanding of …

Ecological Adaptation And Speciation In Chipmunks, Nathanael David Filer Herrera

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding how evolutionary and ecological mechanisms promote speciation and adaptation is one of the central challenges of evolutionary biology. Recent advancements in theoretical, methodological, and computational approaches now allow biologists to test long-standing questions regarding the evolutionary history of species. This includes the genomic underpinnings of reproductive barriers and adaptive phenotypes, and the contribution of ecology, geography, and demography in the generation and maintenance of biodiversity. While great strides have been made in understanding the genetic and ecological factors that underlie speciation and local adaptation, many open questions remain. My dissertation first seeks to address questions about how we define …

Wildlife-Friendly Fence Policy On Federal Public Lands Managed By The U.S. Forest Service And Bureau Of Land Management, Joshua D. Elliott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Many wildlife species are negatively impacted by the presence of fences on the landscape. Climate change is only exacerbating the problem as home ranges shift and species face heightened levels of stress. In recent decades, wildlife biologists have studied these impacts and devised ways of constructing fences to increase habitat connectivity and significantly reduce fence-related injury and mortality rates. Conservationists attempting to address this issue on a landscape level face significant challenges resulting from complex land ownership patterns, specifically across the western United States.

The two largest landowners in the U.S. are the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the …

Three-Dimensional Geometric Morphometric Sex Determination And Modeled Fragmentary Analysis Of The Human Pubic Bone, Katherine Scot Baca

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Geometric morphometrics has become a more popular method in anthropology as three-dimensional data and research become more widely recognized and accessible. This research provides a refined method utilizing 3-D geometric morphometric analysis to determine sex from the human pubic bone. The study used a sample of N=378 individual pubic bones from the University of New Mexico Maxwell Documented Collection. Eight landmarks were digitized on each individual bone using a Microscribe Digitizer. Results from the Principal Components Analysis provide promising clustering between male and female groups, as well as indications that the method may be ancestry-specific, and that parity may have …

Multinucleated Giant Cell Formation And Phenotype, Kevin Lewis Trout

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Multinucleated giant cells (MGC) are homotypic macrophage syncytia associated with granulomas. Despite their correlation with pathology, MGC functional contributions to inflammation are relatively unknown. The objective of this work was to gain an understanding of MGC phenotype. First, techniques were developed to better enable the study of these cells in vitro. Second, inorganic particles known to cause inflammation were observed to cause MGC formation in the lungs. Finally, the particle that resulted in the highest macrophage fusion was used together with the in vitro system to compare MGC and macrophage phenotype in response to stimulation. The results contribute to fundamental …

Causes Of Annual Reproductive Variation And Anthropogenic Disturbance In Harlequin Ducks Breeding In Glacier National Park, Montana, Warren Kevin Hansen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Annual reproductive variation is the central focus of many ecological studies. Variation in reproductive success is an important vital rate to study because it can lead to inferences about population health, extinction risk, human disturbance and habitat quality. The identification of the causes of reproductive variability can help guide conservation and management efforts of a species. In Glacier National Park, Montana I studied causes of annual reproductive variation and behavioral responses to human disturbance in a breeding population of harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). Harlequins are rare sea ducks with a Holarctic distribution and winter along rocky coast lines of North …

Novel G-Quadruplex Binders With Potential For A Dual Dna Cross-Linking Mechanism Of Action, Nathan S. Duncan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Genomic DNA is organized around the double-stranded of B-form DNA, which is both durable and flexible enough to store and pass on genetic information. Once freed from the associations of an extended complimentary sequence, single stranded DNA and RNA can adopt a vast array of stable secondary structure motifs, such as stem-loop, pseudo-knots, and tetra-loops, ideal for its involvement in biological settings other than as a store of genetic information. Originally, alkylating agents were used as "mustard gas" and related chemical weapons in World War I. Alkylating agents, in general, can react with one or two different 7-N-guanine residues and …

Agricultural Certifications And Beekeeping: Lessons From An Apicultural Cooperative In Northeastern El Salvador, Central America, Jason Andrew Seagle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Beekeeping, and especially the production and sale of honey, is an on-farm diversification strategy that has significance to rural livelihoods in some of the most economically and environmentally marginalized regions of the world. Beekeeping also supports sustainable agriculture since it requires that vegetation and forest cover remain intact. However, the limited resources of beekeepers, including marketing constraints, make it difficult for them to realize the full value of their beekeeping enterprises. This professional paper focuses on the Eco-Morazán Cooperative in El Salvador as a case study to examine the costs, benefits and market potential of three types of certification schemes: …

Nad(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase (Nqo1)-Directed Lavendamycin Antitumor Agents: Structure-Based Design, Molecular Modeling And Structure-Activity Studies, Mary Hassani

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is a two-electron reductase that catalyzes an NAD(P)H-dependent activation of many quinone-based antitumor agents. NQO1, expressed at high levels in many human solid tumors, can be used as a target for enzyme-directed bioreductive antitumor drug development. We hypothesized that lavendamycins, quinolinedione antitumor antibiotics, can be activated by NQO1 in cancer cells that overexpress NQO1 to exhibit selective toxicity toward those cells. The effects of functional group changes on the metabolism of lavendamycins by recombinant human NQO1 were studied using a spectrophotometric assay. These structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies determined key structural features that were required for lavendamycin …

Analysis Of Hutterite Breastfeeding Patterns, Christine Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Cross -Boundary Conservation: Meaning Property And Livelihood On The Rocky Mountain Front In Montana, Laurie Yung

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Evolutionary Change As A Theme For A High School Biology Course: A Literature Review And Thematic Unit, Arlan L. Langmaid

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Management Directions For Matazarno, Piscidia Carthagenensis In The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Carla L. Abrams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Applying Diploidy And Dominance To Artificial Genetic Search, Garrett L. Bidwell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Environmental Education In Kenya : The Need For A Community-Based Biology Curriculum In The Secondary Schools, Suanne Unger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Evolving Western Water Policy, Mary Beth Bishop

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

An Ecological Study Of The Regional Endemic Penstemon Lemhiensis (Keck) Keck & Cronq. (Scrophulariaceae), Jennifer Ramstetter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Impact On The Aquatic Ecosystem By Mining In The Mike Horse Area, Heddleston Mining District, Lewis And Clark County, Montana, Janet Decker-Hess

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of An Antigen Of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, Eric Charles Milner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Factors Affecting The Production Of Tally Lake, Chris Christopher Hunter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Biological Studies Of Bdellovibrio Bacteriovorus, Gail Margaret Tiedeman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Pregnancy Birth Behavioral Development Of The Fawn And Territoriality In The Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana Ord) On The National Bison Range Moiese Montana, Peter T. Bromley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Movements And Concentrations Of Marked Elk On The Winter Range (Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd), Richard Ivan Ellis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Study Of The Contribution Of The Waldorf-Hoerner Pulp And Paper Plant To The Missoula County Economy, Richard David Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Status Of And Suggestions For The Animal Collections Used In Teaching Biology In Idaho's High Schools, Walter John Them

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Major Changes In The Teaching Of Biology 1930-1955, Philip Charles Foley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Equipment Needs For A Biology Course In The Small Montana High School, Layton Francis Jones

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.