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Population Differentiation And Habitat Selection Of A Montane Red Fox Population In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Patrick Cross

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montane red fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations across the western United States are genetically and morphologically distinct from foxes at lower elevations. These montane populations also share a preference for subalpine forest habitats. One hypothesis is that they stem from boreal forest-associated ancestors that expanded during the Pleistocene when boreal forests extended farther south than they do today. Forest habitat selection may therefore aid the persistence of native populations surrounded by non-native conspecifics. Alternatively, this behavior may be an avoidance mechanism in response to competition with larger coyotes (Canis latrans), or a product of the fox's natural adaptability. The red fox …

It's A Small World: Biogeography And Invasion In The Mouse Intestine, Ellen Lark

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Host associated systems are of particular interest to many microbiologists because invasion of these systems can lead to disease. One important host-associated systems is the intestinal microbiome, but in many studies, including those on pathogenesis, this system is represented by samples from one location (generally the feces or cecum). This body of work was initiated in part because I wondered why a large and diverse ecosystem was being was being represented by samples from only one habitat.

The biogeography of living organisms has an impact on landscape ecology studies, including those in the field of invasion ecology. Despite several studies …

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 …

Ecology And Engagement: The Importance Of Direct Experience Of Nature In Culture And Scholarship, Chris Baldwin Humm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Our culture is becoming increasingly detached from nature. We spend more of our time indoors than ever. While the indoors may offer certain benefits, it’s becoming increasingly clear that our alienation from nature has serious downsides. We depend upon nature for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being and without it. The opposite of detachment is engagement. Engagement involves direct experience of nature, whether in national parks, wilderness, backyard woods, or unkempt vacant lots. If we want to reverse the problems associated with detachment, we need to encourage engaged alternatives. Only through a culture of engagement, one that recognizes and values …

Use Of Climatic Water Balance Metrics As Site Productivity Predictors, Matthew Dilsworth Perry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Estimates of long-term forest site productivity are required to inform multiple forest management objectives including growth and yield assessments, silvicultural planning, and biomass/carbon projections. Estimates traditionally have been quantified in the form of site index by measuring the average height-age relationships of dominant and codominant trees or using regional site index equations. Site index implementation requires that trees are free from suppression and that height growth results from the integration of the biological determinants of growth. While useful in even-aged stands, early age height growth suppression is common in uneven-aged forest structures making existing site indices difficult to assess. Additionally, …

Restoration As Caring Practice: A Relational Perspective On Ecological Recovery, Daniel Avery Congdon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ecological restoration is defined by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed” (9). In practice, restoration typically involves the removal of pollution, human-made structures (like dams or roads), invasive species, and other impediments to ecological health. Removing the sources of ecological impairment is coupled with the reintroduction of flora, fauna, and the physical structures that are necessary for healthy ecosystem function. The potential for restoration to dominate nature is a concern of environmental ethicists. In theory, domination might stem from the technology used in …

Care And Companionism: Animal Ethics At The End Of Life, Casie Jean Dunleavy

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this philosophical project, I discuss the different kinds of companion animal and human relations, or in other words, and provide an argument that specifies our ethical obligations to the animals we live with—-our ‘pets.’ In the first chapter, I suggest that there are three types of relationships that humans can have with animals. These are a relation of instrumentalism, paternalism, and companionism, respectively. Such relations rest along a spectrum, but I will argue that companionism is the ideal. After making and defending such conceptual distinctions between human-animal relations, the next chapter will tackle the problem of animal minds. Specifically, …

Evaluation Of A New Method For Large-Scale And Gene-Targeted Next Generation Dna Sequencing In Nonmodel Species, Ted Cosart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The efficient method called exon capture provides for sequencing genes genome-wide, targeting candidate genes, and sampling specific exons within genes. Although developed for model species with available whole genome sequences, the method can capture exons in nonmodel species using the genomic resources of a related model species. How close the relatives must be for effective exon capture is not known. The work herein demonstrates cross-taxa capture in ungulates, using the domestic cow genome as a reference. It also describes a computer program designed for collecting exon sequences for exon capture, allowing users to set per-gene and overall base pair (bp) …

Mapping A Historic Bitterroot Valley, Montana Landscape Using General Land Office Surveyors' Field Notes, Karen M. Shelly

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The late 1800s Bitterroot Valley, Montana, landscape and settlement patterns were summarized and mapped using the General Land Office (GLO) surveyors' field notes. Surveyors' observations of six townships from Hamilton to the Stevensville vicinity were examined in several ways. A total of 3321 points of ecological and geographic information and 422 miles of vegetation were mapped from the field notes. Surveyor information, vegetation composition, tree abundance, vegetation spatial structure and distribution of vegetation types were characterized in a multi-part historic vegetation data assemblage of point, line and polygon feature classes. Aquatic, topographic and cultural aspects of the area contributed to …

Multiscale Effects Of Forest Roads On Black Bears (Ursus Americanus), Benjamin S. Jimenez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As the vast network of roads continues to expand across the continent, so too does the necessity to understand the associated ecological effects. To appropriately assess the impacts of these roads on wildlife it is necessary to evaluate how they affect ecological processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In particular, where hunting is associated with road access, roads may induce heightened behavioral responses. I assessed the effects of forest roads on habitat selection and activity patterns of a population of black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains of northern Idaho, USA. This black bear population is exposed …

Experimental Litterfall Manipulation Effects On Soil Bacterial Community Structure And Soil Carbon Cycling In A Wet Tropical Forest, Jonathan Winston Leff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Global changes such as increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations or climate change are likely to drive shifts in plant-derived carbon (C) inputs to terrestrial ecosystems via changes in litterfall and plant net primary production (NPP). However, the effects of shifting detrital C inputs on belowground microbial community function, C cycling and fluxes remain largely unknown, especially in tropical forest ecosystems. To investigate how shifts in bacterial community composition resulting from differences in C availability affect organic matter decomposition and how soil C pools and fluxes respond to shifts in C inputs, I utilized an in situ litter manipulation experiment …

Fifty Years On The Fringe: Murray Bookchin And The American Revolutionary Tradition, 1921-1971, Aaron David Hyams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Hyams, Aaron, M.A., Spring 2011 History Fifty Years on the Fringe: Murray Bookchin and the American Revolutionary Tradition 1921-1971 Chairperson: Dr. Michael Mayer Murray Bookchin was an American revolutionary and political theorist born in New York City in 1921. His career as both an activist and a theorist through the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties, made him an active participant and influential voice for both the American Old Left, and the New Left. Writing for Contemporary Issues, a left wing journal edited by Josef Weber, Bookchin became an important part of the schismatic Left, a loose conglomeration of Marxist and …

Puma Dispersal Ecology In The Central Rocky Mountains, Jesse R. Newby

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The structuring of populations within a metapopulation, connected through dispersal, is important to basic and applied ecology. However, a considerable gap exists in our knowledge of the influence landscape heterogeneity has on dispersal and its consequences. We examined landscape effects on dispersal and its consequences for puma (Puma concolor) populations using data from three separate populations in the Central Rocky Mountains including the Northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (NGYE), the Southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (SGYE) and the Garnet Mountains of Montana. We found human-induced mortality reduced inter-population vital rates with population consequences. The NGYE population was dependent largely on immigration for …

August Stream Discharge Trends Portend Impacts Of Climate Change In The Northern Rockies, Jason Christopher Leppi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis is composed of two potential professional papers written to be independent of each other. Both papers were written to explore changes in late summer discharge patterns across the Northern Rockies (NR). Water in the interior western United States is a vital resource and the demand for this resource has increased. Watersheds in the NR are mainly snowmelt dominated in that they depend on the seasonal flux of snow-melt during dry periods. During the summer months August is a critical time for aquatic ecosystems due to typical low discharge and warm air temperatures. During this period water temperatures can …

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 …

Monitoring Noxious Weeds Invasions In Riparian Areas Following Livestock Exclusion Of The Upper Big Hole River Valley: Adaptive Management Under The Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances Project, Ana Ingrid Pederson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As a 2008 summer intern working for the Nature Conservancy, I arrived in the Big Hole Valley and was introduced to an innovative federal land management program initiated to benefit government land managers, local ranchers, and the general public while increasing ecological integrity in the valley and recovering the fluvial Arctic grayling species. The government program offered funding assistance to local ranchers for conservation projects that would help recover the species, but the landowner had to agree to a few stipulations; among them are riparian enclosures fenced for 5 years to exclude all domestic grazing. The goal of this project …

Study On Regional Responses Of Pan-Arctic Terrestrial Ecosystems To Recent Climate Variability Using Satellite Remote Sensing, Ke Zhang

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

I applied a satellite remote sensing based production efficiency model (PEM) using an integrated AVHRR and MODIS FPAR/LAI time series with a regionally corrected NCEP/NCAR reanalysis surface meteorology and NASA/GEWEX shortwave solar radiation inputs to assess annual terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) for the pan-Arctic basin and Alaska from 1983 to 2005. I developed a satellite remote sensing based evapotranspiration (ET) algorithm using GIMMS NDVI with the above meteorology inputs to assess spatial patterns and temporal trends in ET over the pan-Arctic region. I then analyzed associated changes in the regional water balance defined as the difference between precipitation (P) …

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics Of Biomes In The Northwestern United States (9000 Ybp To The Present), Christopher Caleb Stump

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The goal of this study was to quantitatively analyze and map the vegetation composition of forest, grassland, and steppe ecosystems in the northwestern United States in the present and through the last 9,000 years. The modern analysis used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) on pollen percentages from recent sediment cores reflecting modern vegetation assemblages and climates to evaluate the amount of influence of selected environmental variables on present species distributions. The fossil analysis used non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) on a merged database containing relative pollen percentages from the last 9000 years. A predefined list of environmental parameters and floristically and ecologically …

Predicting Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea Maculosa) Range Expansion Near Missoula Montana Using Localized Climate And Elevation Data, William Frank Preston Cumming

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Since the 1920s spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) has adapted to a variety of habitats, including pastureland, rangeland, hay land, open forests, road sides, and ditches. In 2003 this plant species dominated more than five million acres in Montana, half of the total infestation of noxious weeds in the state. This project demonstrates the utility of using downscaled Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) data for predicting vegetation movement within a 2°×2° geographical area surrounding Missoula County, Montana. This localized climate change data was correlated against current knapweed range using validation data from the Volunteer for Wilderness Program at the …

Succession Of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: Causes, Consequences, And Considerations, Jeffrey Scott Piotrowski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are soil fungi associations with the majority of terrestrial plants. These fungi may affect a wide range of ecosystem processes from primary productivity to soil stabilization. Understanding the patterns and controls of AMF abundance during succession soil will be critical to predicting and managing ecosystem development. The work presented in chapter 2 is the first to describe changes in the abundance of mycorrhizal types during development of an unregulated floodplain. These findings are important to floodplain regulation and management strategies as they suggest that flow regulation that limits early site formation will limit the ecosystem contributions …

Sedimentary Legacy Of Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus Nerka) And Climate Change In An Ultra-Oligotrophic, Glacially-Turbid British Columbia Nursery Lake, Aaron C. Hill

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) populations are strongly regulated by climatic regimes and human activities across numerous spatial and temporal scales. The carcasses of adults returning to spawn provide important marine derived nutrients (MDN) to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems through multiple trophic pathways. Sockeye salmon (O. nerka) rear extensively in lakes and recent studies of sockeye nursery lake sediments in Alaska have used indicators of spawner density (ä15N) and algal production (fossil pigments and diatoms) to show that lake trophic status is often regulated by climate and harvest via MDN from adult spawners. However, the strength of these controls and …

Community Forestry Education In The Swan Valley, Mt: Contributions Of Northwest Connections' Field Program, Joanna Elizabeth Seibert

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As the community forestry movement matures, a question remains regarding what kind of educational experience nurtures and inspires people in community forestry? This thesis seeks to contribute to a better understanding of community forestry education by examining a field educational program known as “Landscape and Livelihood” (LL) offered by Northwest Connections, a small community-based conservation organization in the upper Swan Valley of western Montana. Based on extensive interviews, observation and the author’s own personal experience as a former LL student, the thesis documents the program’s use of field ecological studies involving both scientific and local knowledge integrated with journaling, homestays, …

Energy Flow In A Floodplain Aquifer Ecosystem, Brian Reid

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

We developed an energy budget to identify energy sources for the invertebrate community of a large 20 km2 floodplain aquifer, based on biomass distributions, organismal respirometry, in situ community respiration, mesocosm and microcosm experiments, stable isotopes and invertebrate gut contents. The invertebrate respiration scaling exponent was 0.474 (+/- 0.068, 95% CI) across six orders in body mass, which is significantly lower than the ¾ power scaling predicted by metabolic theory. Invertebrate production was dominated by copepods (Diacyclops, Acanthocyclops, Bryocamptus), Stygobromus amphipods, and amphibiont stoneflies, and ranged from 26.9 to 4200 mg C/m3 sediment/year. Production and density showed a U-shaped response …

Monitoring Survival Of Young In Ungulates: A Case Study With Rocky Mountain Elk, Nyeema Charmaine Harris

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Harris, Nyeema C., M.S., Spring 2007 Wildlife Biology MONITORING SURVIVAL OF YOUNG IN UNGULATES: A CASE STUDY WITH ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK Chairperson: Daniel H. Pletscher Survival of young is an important determinant of population growth and persistence in ungulate populations. Therefore, monitoring the survival of young is an essential component in many research and management programs. The primary techniques used to monitor survival of young in ungulate populations are age ratios, obtained from herd composition surveys, and telemetry studies of marked individuals. Concerns about survival of young and the impact of predators on recruitment have recently arisen because of reported …

Effectiveness Of Stand-Scale Forest Restoration, Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon, Jay C. Lininger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Lininger, Jay Charles, Fall 2006 Environmental Studies Chair: Dr. Len Broberg This case study documents the effectiveness of stand-scale forest restoration activities undertaken in the “Penny Stew” project on federal land in the central Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon. Its dual purpose is to 1) define reference conditions and build a site-specific case for restoration through multi-scale analysis of historical ecology (Chapter III), and 2) demonstrate streamlined monitoring protocols that practitioners can use to adapt restoration practices over time (Chapter IV). Discussion of methodological efficacy in Chapter IV offers implications for FEAT-FIREMON Integration (FFI), a fire effects monitoring and data …

The Roles Of Food And Predation In Shaping Adaptive And Maladaptive Behaviors In Postfire Bird Species, Bruce Andrew Robertson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Most animals live in rapidly changing environments, and within-individual phenotypic plasticity can allow populations to track sources of selection that often vary dramatically in time and space. However, if conditions change too rapidly, the cues animals use to track environmental changes may become uncoupled from the ultimately important factors with which they have been historically correlated. Animals relying upon proximal cues to guide their behaviors may, in novel environments, consistently make errors. When these errors occur within the context of choosing a habitat, the organism is said to be caught in an ‘ecological trap’. Herein, I develop a conceptual model …

Analysis Of Hutterite Breastfeeding Patterns, Christine Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Temporal And Spatial Patterns Of Populus Angustifolia Along The Upper Yellowstone River And Clonal Recruitment: Extent And Requirements, Mary Louise Polzin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Spatial Population Dynamics Of Microtus In Grazed And Ungrazed Grasslands, Jonathan Peter Runge

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Calf Survival On Elk Population Dynamics In West-Central Montana, Jarod Douglas Raithel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.