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Effects Of Weather, Parental Behavioral Plasticity, And Life History Traits On Offspring Growth, Development, And Energy Expenditure In Songbirds, Adam Elliot Mitchell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Weather creates energetic and survival challenges for organisms that can influence demography. Harsh weather often causes increased energy expenditure in adults, but how weather affects other life stages is less well understood. Juveniles are especially vulnerable because they must use energy to survive weather effects and maintain growth and development while having poorly developed thermoregulatory capabilities. Juveniles that spend energy overcoming harsh weather can have delayed growth and maturation, which can negatively affect competitive abilities, survival, and lifetime fitness. Understanding weather effects on offspring is particularly challenging in altricial species because parents have evolved strategies to ameliorate such effects. However, …

Modeling Stromatolite Formation With Diffusion-Limited Aggregation, Laura E. Stevens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Stromatolites, microbialites, and other microbially induced sedimentary structures exist in the rock record as far back as 3.6 billion years ago and continue to form in the present day. Better characterizing these structures and better understanding how they form is crucial in distinguishing these biosignatures from similar, abiotic structures, which can help us to understand the conditions of early Earth and early Mars. To that end, I have modified DLA 3D EXT, an open-source stromatolite modeling program, to more closely reflect the process of microbial trapping-and-binding by filamentous microbes in a calcite-precipitating hot spring system. This modified program includes a …

Investigating Surface Temperature From First Principles: Seedling Survival, Microclimate Buffering, And Implications For Forest Regeneration, Robin Rank

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Forests are extremely important ecosystems with large impacts on global water, energy, and biogeochemical cycling, and they provide numerous ecosystems services to human populations. Even though these systems consist of long-lived vegetation, forests are constantly experiencing changes to their extent and composition through the interacting forces of disturbance dynamics and climate change. In semi-arid landscapes like the western United States, patterns of recurring wildfire and subsequent seedling recruitment and forest regeneration are important in establishing the distribution of forests on the landscape. In this context, climate, hydrology, and existing vegetation all act together to limit the current and potential range …

A Large Flock Of Small Birds: Essays, Rebecca Hanna Jacobson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Identifying And Measuring Resilience Factors Among Children With Prenatal Substance Exposure In A Tribal Nation And In Association With Covid-19 Mortality, Helen Cecelia Russette

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Historical and contemporary trauma among Native Americans is linked to disparate health outcomes across the lifespan including the very recent coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Early and prolonged exposure to positive family-child engagement activities and the natural environment (greenspace) act as protective factors against a range of maladaptive development across the lifespan. Yet, little is known regarding specific activities relevant among high-risk families in Tribal Nations and no evidence exists in terms of measuring that impact of greenspace against risk of COVID-19 mortality.

Purpose: 1) Partner with a Tribal Nation to develop a study to identify resilience promoting factors in …

Community-Based Deer Management: A Case Study In Missoula, Mt, Taylor Ingle Mudford

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Human development and expansion have led to urban sprawl and fewer, less developed areas suitable for wildlife habitat. Populations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have adapted to urban communities; however, their prevalence can lead to myriad of ecological and social issues, necessitating communities to pursue comprehensive urban deer management strategies. These strategies have increasingly been pursued via community-based deer management (CBDM) and are an example of collaborative natural resource management (CBNRM). Despite the growth in urban white-tail deer populations and the interactions with humans, there are few studies that explore the CBDM and the acceptability of diverse deer …

Calcium Signaling And Alg-2 In The Regulation Of Constitutive Secretion, John Robert Sargeant

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The constitutive secretory pathway influences almost every aspect of cellular function: generation and maintenance of subcellular compartments; cell growth and differentiation; and production and deposition of the extracellular matrix. Classically, constitutive trafficking was thought to be continuous and unregulated—in contrast to regulated secretion, wherein vesicles are stored intracellularly until a Ca2+ signal causes synchronous membrane fusion. However, early studies demonstrated a Ca2+ requirement for endosome fusion, ER to Golgi, and intra- Golgi trafficking, demonstrating that Ca2+ is a regulator of constitutive trafficking steps as well. In Chapter 1, I review recent evidence for Ca2+ involvement and the specific Ca2+-related machinery …

A Comprehensive Forensic Case Report For The Bonner County Coroner Case #20-100, Megan Copeland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This report consists of an inventory of the skeletal remains of case #20-100, assessment of the minimum number of individuals (MNI), a biological profile if possible, and a literature review of ­­­the use of DNA in ancestry estimations. The skeletal remains are consistent with an MNI of one. The remains are likely from a male individual, and skeletal features display a mixture of European and Asian characteristics. The individual is estimated to be between of 25-35 years old with an estimated stature of between 5’1” and 5’6”.

School Mental Health Professionals' Perceived Efficacy Of Violence Prevention Programs And School Climate In Rural Schools, Jennifer Rotzal

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the United States, incidents of school violence increased 113 percent during the 2017-2018 school year from the 2016-2017 school year (Klinger, 2019). This increase in violence in schools makes the current movement for safer schools all the more critical. Although high-profile school shootings often obtain media attention, school violence remains a significant problem in the United States. Further, aside from the tragic but statistically rare school shootings, school violence encompasses several forms of physical violence, such as assaults; sexual violence, such as rape and sexual harassment; varying forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, and bringing weapons to school. The increase …

Estimating Wolf Predation Metrics, Patterns, And Dynamics Across Time And Space In The Multi-Prey System Of Yellowstone National Park, Matthew Caldwell Metz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Predation is a fundamental driver in ecology, structuring ecosystems across the globe. However, understanding the effects of large carnivore predation is limited by both the observation process and the shorter duration of many studies. I used data from 23 years in Yellowstone National Park to disentangle both the importance of wolf predation on prey, and the imperfect observation process of studying predation. I first used field observations to test whether a sexually-selected trait, antlers in male elk, deterred wolf predation. I found that antlers reduced predation risk, emphasizing the selective nature of predation. Next, I used GPS data and ground-based …

Biobehavioral Predictors Of Executive Function Decline In Mid- And Late Life Adults, Cali Anne Caughie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Longitudinal Study of Health and Well-Being, this study examined high frequency heart rate variability as a longitudinal predictor of cognitive change in key executive function domains: inhibition, shifting, and updating. This study further explored the interactions between HF HRV and important health factors (inflammation, stress, sleep, and mood and anxiety) in predicting executive function decline.

The results of this investigation demonstrated that while high frequency heart rate variability and inhibition decline were correlated, HF HRV was not a significant predictor of decline in any executive function. However, results did show …

Toward A Child-Friendly Worldview Measure, Shailee Rose Woodard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Worldview is an individual difference construct that is linked to various social, behavioral, and mental health outcomes, such as prejudice (Greenberg & Arndt, 2011), adaptive versus maladaptive behaviors following a natural disaster (Call, 2012), and PTSD symptoms (Jinkerson, 2016). However, very little is known about how worldviews develop. Research on child and adolescent worldviews is greatly impeded by the lack of a child-friendly worldview measure. This dissertation project aims to fill this gap by developing and validating such a measure. This 20-item measure, the Unified Worldview Measure – Child Form (UWM-CF), was adapted from a previously-validated adult measure of worldviews, …

Fxr Agonists Induce Distinct H-12 Structural States, Vikash Kumar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The nuclear receptor ligand-binding domain (LBD) is a highly dynamic entity. The FXR LBD shows multiple low-energy conformational states of the activation function-2 (AF-2) coregulator binding surface upon ligand binding, indicating the complexity of FXR activation. However, it is unknown how ligand binding leads to different conformational states within the AF-2 region centered on helix 12 (H-12) of the LBD. Here we observe the conformation of the coregulator binding surface (H-12 specifically) of FXR upon ligand binding in solution using fluorine-19 (19F) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and simulations of this surface using molecular dynamics. Fluorescence anisotropy of fluorescein-labeled coregulator peptides …

Investigations On Novel Cyp26a1/B1 Inhibitor, Dx308: Using Atra Response As A Theraputic Target For Traumatic Brain Injury And Parkinson’S Disease, Jacob Morgan Leatherwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) take a wide spectrum of pathologies and have a tendency to present themselves later in life. Neurodegenerative diseases affect 6 million Americans annually with ~1 million currently living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). One of the greatest contributors to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases is the occurrence of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) during life.

All-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) is the active metabolite of Vitamin A. The retinoic acid pathway is known to be activated following TBI and is reduced in PD patients. Previous studies found a decrease in inflammation and behavioral deficits following administration of Vitamin …

Species Selection And Plantation Management In Enrichment Planting With Native Timber Species In The Panama Canal Watershed, Abigail A. Marshall

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Large areas of the Panama Canal Watershed have been converted to monocultures of teak (Tectonia grandis), a non-native timber species that is generally not providing hoped-for economic and ecological benefits of Forest Landscape Restoration. Enrichment planting offers a potential strategy for revitalizing these underperforming plantations through the addition of high-value, native species to the understory, but more information is needed to guide implementation and management in this region and other tropical areas. I assessed the performance of six promising native species (B. crassifolia, D. retusa, D. oleifera, H. alchorneoides, P. pinnatum, T. amazonia) as an enrichment …

Towards Evidence-Based And Data-Driven Recommendations Promoting Independence In Later Life: Gait Speed, Falls, And Activities Of Daily Living In Older Adults, Claire Elaine Adam

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Falls in older adults are a significant public health challenge. Fall prevention as well as intervention after a fall both are critical to reduce the negative consequences and improve quality of life in older age.

Purpose: 1) Quantify the association between gait speed and fall risk in a cross-sectional analysis for older adults with and without cognitive impairment. 2) Determine if there is an association between change in gait speed and fall risk in a longitudinal analysis including older adults with and without cognitive impairment. 3) Quantify the association between falls and difficulty with activities of daily …

A Reintroduction Retrospective: Comparative Fisher (Pekania Pennanti) Survival And Prey Habitat Use In The Cascade Mountains Of Washington State, Tanner S.T. Humphries

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Increasing human impacts on biodiversity highlight the global need for ecological restoration. For many wildlife species, reintroduction is necessary to re-establish populations in parts of their historic range where they have been extirpated. Reintroduction efforts are commonly used to help restore ecosystem integrity, but are often expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful at generating self-sustaining populations. Thus, a more complete understanding of the factors affecting restoration success is important for ensuring successful outcomes and responsible stewardship. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are one of the most commonly reintroduced carnivores in North America, but the success of such efforts is highly variable, …

A Moral Influenza: An Historical Archaeological Investigation Of The Prohibition Era In The United States 1920-1933, Kelli Michele Casias

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The following exploration of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States employs an interdisciplinary approach to understand the impetus of the large-scale defiance of liquor laws and to identify the physical manifestations of the social process of mass resistance in the archaeological record. Historical documentation, newspaper publications, oral histories, landscape analysis of road development in Montana, and an archaeological survey of a mountain homestead site where manufacturer of illicit alcohol took place are used to contextualize the Prohibition Era from the perspective of the offender. The research goals of this work are varied and include documentation of the archaeological footprint …

Benthic Invertebrate Paleontology Of The Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian) Bear Gulch Limestone, Central Montana, Amy Elizabeth Singer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Bear Gulch Limestone of the late Mississippian central Montana is a significant Konservat Lagerstätte known and a part of one of the most complete mid-Carboniferous stratigraphic sections in the world. Despite containing a well-described fish fauna, the most diverse and abundant Carboniferous fish fauna known, nothing was known of the invertebrate assemblages, and many aspects of the geology remained enigmatic. With few rocks of this age available for study worldwide, the Bear Gulch Limestone contains an important record of life and Earth history near the Pennsylvanian boundary, a time of climatic change.

Using new outcrop data combined with subsurface …

Adult Perspectives Of Kaleidoscope Connect: A Social Emotional Program Aimed At Promoting Resilience Among Youth, Samantha Cody Russell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Purpose. The current study explored the perspectives of adults who participate in Kaleidoscope Connect, and specifically, to understand how effective adults perceive the program in its attempt to promote resilience, school safety, and the psychological well-being of youth.

Background. Youth who encounter stressful life circumstances or experience trauma often experience negative life outcomes, such as lower academic achievement, mental illness, and perpetrating violence (Liu, Reed & Girard, 2016). Research, however, has demonstrated that some youth who have these experiences have more positive outcomes, including psychological health, strong academic achievement, and financial stability (Zolkoski & Bullock, 2012). Resilience is a dynamic …

Transboundary Marine Management In The Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape, Lindsey G. Ellett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Transboundary conservation aims to facilitate environmental conservation and management at the ecosystem level by operating across political boundaries, through the cooperation of two or more countries. Though there is increased interest and advocation for transboundary conservation initiatives around the world, there remains a limited understanding of how they function on-the-ground. Within this study, I address these gaps in knowledge through two phases of research, both focusing on the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape as a case study site. Phase I involved a policy analysis of Indonesian, Malaysia, and Philippine policies related to fisheries, coastal zones and protected areas, and environmental quality. Through this …

Conservation And Conversation In The Anthropocene, Brittany Alyse Garner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The driving questions of this dissertation consider both the scientific and communicative understanding of conservation and extinction in the Anthropocene. Overall, this dissertation portfolio explores this topic via genetic and genomic data, international policy, big data analytics, human values, and the performing arts. Chapter 1 analyzes the use of genetics and genomics in conservation, finding multiple case studies within and outside of peer-reviewed journals. Chapters 2 and 3 quantify and describe the use of genetic principles and tools in a global species extinction risk assessment, the IUCN Red List, and finds low overall use but high potential for genetics to …

Fun Ctional Implications Of Dual Transmitting Neurons On Aggression, Lewis Michael Sherer Ii

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Test Difficulty On Perceived Memory Performance, Phoebe S. Bean

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Neuropsychological testing is a critical element of the assessment and treatment of a host of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Certain non-neurological variables may also affect an individual’s test performance. Such secondary factors may include current psychiatric issues, chronic pain, sleep, and the effort put forth during testing. Little is known, however, about the effect the testing process itself has on people’s actual and perceived cognitive abilities. For example, the process of undergoing memory testing may, through a variety of mechanisms, influence memory performance and impact the person such that their view of their …

Characterization Of Nucleocapsid-Rna Interactions In Rift Valley Fever Virus Infection, Miyuki Hayashi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a mosquito-borne virus that infects humans and livestock and exhibits potential for global spread. No vaccine or treatment is currently available for human use. The nucleocapsid protein (N) in RVFV is a multifunctional RNA-binding protein that is necessary for viral replication and dissemination. Because of its essential roles, N is a promising candidate to be targeted for anti-RVFV therapy. The goal of this dissertation is to characterize N-RNA interactions in RVFV infected cells. To achieve this goal, two methods, strand-specific reverse transcription and quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) as well as multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry …

Generation, Characterization, And C-H Bond Activation Reactivity By Mononuclear High-Valent Cobalt(Iv) And Nickel(Iv) Non-Oxo Complexes, Yubin Maria Kwon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The study of terminal high-valent transition metal-oxo complexes has increased significantly over the years as it is believed that they are key reactive intermediates for a wide range of biological and industrial catalytic processes. These complexes are powerful oxidants for the activation of strong C-H bonds. The chemical and physical properties of these complexes remain elusive. It is therefore desirable to study the properties and function of these complexes through synthetic models. There have been many efforts and reports of synthetic high-valent metal-oxo complexes of early and middle transition metals (up to group 8 on the Periodic Table of Elements), …

Management And Conservation Of Westslope Cutthroat Trout In An Impacted, Connected River System, Troy Weant Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi (WCT) is a native species of high conservation value that historically exhibited partially migratory behavior throughout its range. Long-term persistence of WCT is threatened by human habitat modification, fragmentation, introduction of non-native species, and hybridization. As a result of these changes, remnant populations in Montana have shifted toward resident populations in headwater systems and away from migratory populations in larger connected river networks. This is compounded by the historic introduction of rainbow trout O. mykiss (RBT) that hybridize with WCT, especially in larger river habitats. Rock Creek in western Montana, USA was historically managed …

Policy And Collaborative Governance: Case Studies Of Three Wildlife Crossings, Nicholas Maya

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the last several decades, the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions in North America has significantly increased, driving substantial loss of human life and wildlife and economic costs. The most effective wildlife-vehicle collision mitigation is wildlife crossing structures (undercrossings and overcrossings), with some studies suggesting they can reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by 97% when paired with wildlife exclusion fencing. However, cost, funding, jurisdiction, land ownership, and local support are limiting factors in constructing these crossing structures. This paper presents case studies of three crossing projects in Snoqualmie, Washington, Teton County, Wyoming, and Summit County, Colorado, to illustrate the similarities and differences in …

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 …

All In Due Time: Multi-Trait Assessment Of Elk Acclimation To Translocation, Ellen Marie Pero

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildlife translocation – the intentional movement of animals – is a crucial conservation tool for restoring species and halting global biodiversity decline. However, this practice is challenging for wildlife, and animals must adjust to their release landscapes for restoration to be successful. The period following release is a vulnerable time for translocated wildlife and determining when and how animals eventually acclimate following releases allows researchers to efficiently tailor post-release management to each species’ needs, thus maximizing the success of translocations while minimizing costs of an already expensive conservation practice. In this dissertation, I investigate changes in the physiological, behavioral, and …