Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Funding Programs In Promotion Of Best Management Practices For Effective Stream Restoration, Tracy R. Wendt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Large amounts of money are spent on stream restoration projects across the United States every year. Restoration researchers and professionals commonly recommend a suite of Best Management Practices (BMPs), including project goals, objectives, monitoring, consideration of future conditions, adaptive management, and public reporting of results, which are widely recognized as contributing to effective projects. Studies over the last two decades demonstrated that these BMPs were not consistently incorporated into restoration projects, which highlighted the need to improve practices and for funding programs to incorporate BMPs into funding requirements. I reviewed 28 programs that fund stream restoration in the Rocky Mountain …

The Science Behind The Selection Of Native Plant Materials: Local Adaptation, Response To Invasion, Cytotypic Variation, And Seed Transfer Zones, Alexis Gibson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The use of locally adapted native plant materials is promoted as a mechanism for improving revegetation and restoration outcomes and increasing the long-term ecological function of a site. Challenges arise in the use local native plant materials, however, when the conditions in which they are used differ from those to which they are adapted, like in heavily disturbed sites undergoing restoration or invaded ecosystems, or when local adaptation is not the only genetic consideration for fitness (polyploidy). In addition, managers need to select among multiple guidelines for how far to move seeds, each of which comes with its own assumptions …

The Regulation Of Mucosal Immunity By Inflammatory Mediators, Bryan Joseph Simons

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite massive efforts to develop effective therapeutic options for the treatment of asthma, disease prevalence continues to increase. Approximately 300 million people worldwide have been estimated to be affected by asthma, and it remains a leading cause of childhood hospitalization. While environmental as well as genetic causative agents have been identified, the heterogeneous nature of the disease has proven difficult to effectively treat. Asthma is characterized as chronic inflammation of the airway characterized by increased airway hyperreactivity, increased goblet cell hyperplasia, and airway remodeling. While these effects are traditionally regarded to be mediated through the actions of CD4+ Th2 cells, …

Coevolution And Cospeciation In A Bark-Beetle Fungal Symbiosis, Ryan Russell Bracewell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bark beetles in the genus Dendroctonus are some of the most important insects in forest ecosystems worldwide and are known to be involved in symbiotic relationships with fungi. However, we have a poor understanding of beetle-fungal coevolution and if the specificity we see in beetle-fungal relationships may translate to cospeciation over longer time frames. In this dissertation, I attempt to answer these questions by investigating the western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis)-fungal symbiosis, a beetle that consists of two putative cryptic species in the early stages of divergence on two susbspecies of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). In the first chapter, I …

Aerodynamics, Kinematics, And Ecology Of Slow Flight In Birds, Kristen Elizabeth Crandell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The overarching goal of my dissertation is to elucidate the force production mechanisms of slow flight in birds. Slow flight is extremely energetically costly per unit time, yet highly important for takeoff and survival in birds. However, at slow speeds it is presently thought that most birds do not produce beneficial aerodynamic forces during the entire wingbeat: instead, they fold or flex their wings during upstroke, prompting the long-standing prediction that the upstroke produces trivial forces. Here, I examined the kinematics, aerodynamics, skeletal drivers, and potential ecological influences of force production in flight. In chapter one, I establish that wings …

Does Migration Matter? Causes And Consequences Of Migratory Behavior In Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, Derek Benjamin Spitz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite their potential conservation importance, the demographic implications of migratory behavior remain poorly understood. Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae; hereafter “Sierra bighorn”) are federally-endangered and partially migratory. In summer, Sierra bighorn share high-elevation summer ranges, but in winter some individuals migrate to lower elevation for winter while others remain resident at high-elevation. Lower elevations have better forage in winter, but these areas also carry an increased risk of predation from Sierra bighorn's primary predator, the cougar (Puma concolor). We should therefore expect differences in winter conditions to result in demographic differences between migrants and residents.

First, I developed …

Groups And Mortality: Their Effects On Cooperative Behavior And Population Growth In A Social Carnivore, David E. Ausband

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Cooperative breeding refers to the cooperative care of related, or even unrelated, young. Helpers can increase the survival or reproduction of the breeders in the group which increases helper fitness indirectly. We have a poor understanding of how mortality, particularly human harvest, affects cooperative breeders. Given their complex social structures, territorial defense that relies on group size, and persistent harvest regimes, gray wolves (Canis lupus) are an ideal species for studying the ecological relationships between mortality, group size and composition, and population growth in a cooperative breeder.

Chapter 1: How does group size affect vital rates of individuals and population …

Economic Efficiency Of Fuel Reduction Treatments In The Home Ignition Zone To Mitigate Wildfire Risk In Montana, Usa, Howard L. Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildland-urban interface growth and factors increasing the probability of wildfire suggest that annual spending on wildfire risk mitigation and suppression will continue to increase. With limited information about the benefits and costs of risk mitigation, land managers and homeowners may under- or over-invest in risk mitigation, where costs are disproportionate to the expected benefits of the strategy. This study accounted for expected increases in wildfire risk (due to growth of the WUI, climate change and vegetation growth) over time in Flathead County, Montana, and estimated the expected avoided loss in structure values associated with three treatment levels that would require …

Consequences Of Biomass Harvesting On Forest Condition And Productivity In The Northern Rocky Mountains, Woongsoon Jang

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Emerging public interests to utilize forest woody biomass as an alternative feedstock accompanies a concern about potential nutrient depletion by increased woody biomass extraction. This study was conducted to investigate the long-term impact of intensive biomass utilization on site productivity and forest condition in the northern Rockies. The 1974 Forest Residues Utilization Research and Development Program site at Coram Experimental Forest of western Montana were revisited, and responses from individual tree to ecosystem level were measured. The experiment was designed to address the effect of biomass utilization intensity (high, medium and low) combined with prescribed broadcast burning treatment following conventional …

Trait Hope As A Moderator Of The Effects Of Hassles And Uplifts On Depressive Symtpoms In College Students, Leslie C. Croot

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Major Depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States and has been studied for decades. Research suggests that daily hassles may increase the likelihood of depressive symptoms while daily uplifts may help protect against depressive symptoms (Mayberry & Graham, 2001). Snyder's hope theory (Snyder et al., 1991) provides an avenue for understanding how hope can protect against symptoms of depression. Hope, hassles, uplifts, and depressive symptoms were assessed at three time points with one-month intervals in a sample of 186 undergraduate students via self-report measures. Results, analyzed using a Generalized Estimating Equation, were threefold: there was (1) …

Cultural And Ecological Relationship Between The Nisqually Indian Tribe And Plants Of Mount Rainier National Park, David Alan Hooper

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the history of the National Park Service, the question of whether Native AmericanÆs still have rights to traditionally used natural resources found within park lands has been debated. This debate is largely held in political, legal, and philosophical arenas, but there are ethnographic and ecological questions that need to be addressed in order for policy makers to make informed decisions. Addressing these questions also provides insight into how cultures develop sustainable harvesting practices. One of the parks that has been addressing traditional plant harvesting is Mount Rainier National Park, which has been working with the Nisqually Indian Tribe to …

The Use Of Three-Dimensional Gps Observations For Tectonics And Hydrology In Northeast Africa, Yelebe Birhanu Amere

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

1. 27 campaign and 17 continuous GPS sites spanning the Ethiopian Highlands, Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), and Somali Platform in Ethiopia and Eritrea were measured for varying durations between 1995 and 2014. Velocities at these sites show that present day finite strain rates in NE Africa can be approximated at the continent scale by opening on a simple tectonic boundary within the Ethiopian Rift. Observations from the Somali Platform require relative velocities within the Somali plate to be less than 1 mm/yr. Observations from the Ethiopian Highlands allow relative velocities no greater than 1-2 mm/yr within the Nubia plate; statistically …

Developing And Pilot-Testing Community Based Strategies For Increasing Physical Activity In Children In The 3rd, 4th, 5th, And 6th Grade On An American Indian Reservation, Vernon Grant

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation used a mixed-methods approach to conduct two inter-related studies focused on increasing physical activity (PA) in children in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades on an American Indian (AI) reservation in the northwestern US. Study 1 assessed enhancers and barriers to increasing PA in elementary school children. Six focus groups were conducted with children and adults. Each focus group was comprised of 7 to 11 participants and lasted approximately one hour. The analysis revealed strategies to increase PA during the school day that included implementing structured activities during recess and painting lines on the playground for games …

The Bioscience-Industrial Complex, Radical Materialist Aesthetics, And Interspecies Political Ecologies: The Unforeseen Posthuman Future In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam Trilogy, Sarah Sydney Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project traces how Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy, science fiction novels from the Romantic and contemporary literary periods respectively, contest the problematic relationships between subjecthood, science, ecological health, and patriarchal, capitalist societies by crafting radical materialist alternatives to such a system and its dualistic and destructive interpersonal/interspecies relations. Through the theoretical framework of ecofeminism that recognizes the conceptual linkages between women and nature in Western systems of thought, as well as psychoanalytical feminist critiques of the masculinization of scientific epistemology, this project examines the developmental and ontological overlaps between literary “masculine” and “scientific” subjects socialized under …

Self-Compassion As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Emotion Dysregulation And Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms, Priya Loess

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is emotion dysregulation (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Such dysregulation leads to emotions spiraling out of control, hindering reason, and leading to out-of-control maladaptive behaviors (Conklin, Bradley, Westen, 2006). Invalidating environments, coupled with biologically based emotional vulnerability, are thought to account for the development of BPD (Linehan, 1993). Self-compassion (SC) is in contrast to some common symptoms related to BPD, such as self-hatred, intense shame, and negative self-schemas. SC was tested as a potential moderating mechanism in the relationship between emotion dysregulation and BPD symptoms among a sample of college students. SC consists …

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 …

Stages Of Change Theory Applied To Self-Critical Thinking And Fear Of Compassion: A Brief Psycho-Educational Intervention, Meghan Theresa Gill

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Self-critical thinking has been identified as a trans-diagnostic feature of several forms of psychopathology, including depression, and anxiety (Gilbert & Proctor 2006). Recent research has found that developing self-compassion skills reduces symptoms of distress and correlates with beneficial outcomes (Barnard & Curry, 2011). Unfortunately, it also appears that some who experience high levels of self-criticism also experience a fear of compassion (i.e., a resistance to soothing and care when directed toward the self or when received from others). Fear of compassion has been identified as a barrier to engagement in, and efficacy of psychological treatment (Gilbert, McEwan, Matos, & Rivis, …

In The Grey Of The Superfund, Krysti Shallenberger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The oil-soaked ground underneath several homes near the Tank Hill Facilities released vapors into the homes. The people in Cut Bank, Montana complained, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality held a meeting in 2010. But that was just the beginning.Residents in Cut Bank, Montana just filed a complaint against four oil companies who used the Tank Hill crude oil storage and transportation facility. But the complaint only culminated after 24 years of suffering oil fumes, contaminated water and decreased property value. The Tank Hill Facilities superfund site had been used to store and transport crude oil since the 1930s. …

Identification Of Mastigocladus Laminosus Genes Associated With Enhanced Nitrogen Fixation Performance, Patrick R. Hutchins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding population variation for fitness-related traits is important for our comprehension of evolutionary adaptation and of how populations respond to environmental change. Here, I investigate variation in nitrogen fixation performance for an ecologically-variable population of the cyanobacterium Mastigocladus laminosus from White Creek, a nitrogen-limited, geothermally-influenced stream in Yellowstone NP. I next take a population genomics approach to identify candidate loci associated with superior performance. Variation among strains and temperature dependence of the nitrogen fixation process were the most important factors in a linear mixed effects model. Absolute and relative measures of genetic differentiation between strains from the upper quartile of …

Disturbed Waters – A Montana Chemist Searches For The Source Of A Persistent Poison, Kindra Mcquillan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In December 2008, when Montana's great Clark Fork River tested its historic banks for the first time in 100 years, a crowd of hundreds gathered to watch the removal of Milltown Dam at the confluence of the river with the Big Blackfoot. After a century of pollution from Butte's copper mines, the river was undergoing the nation's largest­yet restoration project, the Upper Clark Fork River Superfund Complex.

But in a windowless laboratory a mile away, University of Montana chemist Heiko Langner had troubling news. Toxic methylmercury flowed through the river at concentrations of concern, undetected and undermining the project. It …

Effects Of Road-Stream Crossings On Populations Of The Idaho Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon Aterrimus), Richard K. Honeycutt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Habitat disturbances affect wildlife populations through numerous mechanisms, and determining specific components of habitat disturbances affecting those populations is challenging. For example, a single disturbance can both change local habitat conditions and impose limitations on dispersal of animals. Both of these components can negatively affect biological responses, such as body condition, local movement patterns, or survival. Culverts are a habitat disturbance having both of these components. Culverts affect local habitat conditions by increasing sediment levels in downstream reaches, negatively affecting animals downstream of culverts. Culverts also impose limits on dispersal by blocking passage of stream organisms to upstream reaches, negatively …

An Environmental Toxic Model Of Parkinson's Disease: The Fruit Fly, Jennene Lyda

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with no known specific cause; although genetic risk factors and/or environmental exposure are thought to be involved. The etiology of PD is currently unknown, although the combination of non-genetic components such as environmental exposures, the accumulation of exposure, and gene-environment interactions are thought to play a major role. However, despite this knowledge it is important to develop better models that parallel PD pathophysiology to further understand the mechanisms underlying dopaminergic neuron (DaN) damage. The use of mammalian models to study the degenerative processes in PD has been the most common …

Proactive Management Of Pneumonia Epizootics In Bighorn Sheep In Montana, Sarah N. Sells

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pneumonia epizootics are a major challenge for management of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), often causing high mortality and subsequent long-term impacts that may continue for decades. There have been at least 22 epizootics in herds in Montana from 1979‒2013, including 1 that led to a herd’s extirpation, several that appear to be affecting herds up to 3 decades later, and 11 in the last 6 years. The disease is complex and associated risk factors are poorly understood. A lack of tools to help predict and proactively manage risk of pneumonia epizootics in attempt to prevent die-offs has led …

Lowveld Practices In Mahenye, Zimbabwe: A Critical Analysis Of Resilience In A Marginalized Southern African Community, Scott Byington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The concept of resilience has been developed by scholars in the social-ecological systems resilience and community resilience/disaster literature. While initially a descriptive model, the framework of resilience has since integrated both literatures and become a prescriptive tool for sustainable development initiatives. Political ecologists critically argue that the current conceptualization of resilience is problematic given resilience scholars’ lack of engagement with situational social complexities related to power and knowledge. They also argue that mainstream resilience literature is devoid of cultural, historical and political analysis. As such, individuals and communities at the margins of power may vulnerable to the application of resilience …

When The Sap Flows: Affection And Industry In The Maple Woods, Nicholas R. Littman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis arises from my time waiting for, collecting, and boiling sap from maple trees into syrup. I spent four months in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York working for a modern commercial sugaring operation and sugaring in the old-fashioned manner—with buckets and a wood-fired evaporator.

The narrative follows my journey as a lifelong Westerner traveling east to learn an old tradition with my hands. Instead of observing how the warmth of a changing climate was affecting maple sugaring, I was thrust into a landscape defined by cold, during one of the coldest winters on record in the Northeast. …

The Effects Of Intimate Relationship Education On University Students' Attachment Security, Meredith Hood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For several decades, a variety of interventions have been utilized in an effort to improve the likelihood that individuals will attain a stable and satisfying marriage. Historically, these interventions have taken place when individuals are already partnered and challenging relationship dynamics are already established. More recently, however, many relationship experts have established a more proactive approach to prevent marital decline. Adults with secure attachment feel comfortable with closeness and interdependence in relationships. Similarly, they believe they are worthy of love and see others as trustworthy and dependable. In contrast, adults with insecure attachment tend to struggle more in close relationships. …

The Impacts Of Removing Wildfire On Pinus Ponderosa Resistance Against Dendroctonus Ponderosae, Sharon Metzger Hood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Disturbance and disturbance interactions drive multiple ecosystem processes over multiple spatial and temporal scales. I studied the role of frequent, low-severity fire in Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) forests in altering the success of the irruptive insect Dendroctonus ponderosae (mountain pine beetle (MPB)). I had three overarching research questions: (1) What are the best predictors of ponderosa pine resin flow, a trait related to MPB attack success, and how do these predictors relate to tree growth?; (2) Are predictors of resin flow also predictors of MPB attack success and are they affected by changes to wildfire disturbance regimes?; (3) How do …

The Synthesis And Study Of Heterocyclic, Dimeric And Chiral Ligands For The Multidrug-Resistance Transporter, Scott Steiger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The development of multidrug resistance in tumor cells has been recognized as a major obstacle to successful cancer treatment. Tumor cells in vitro and in vivo can develop multidrug resistance (MDR) to the lethal effects of the cytotoxic drugs used to treat them, with about 40% of cancers going on to develop MDR. There are multiple factors that lead to MDR but the factor that we will be exploring in this dissertation is the expression of multiple drug resistance gene 1 and the over expression of multi drug resistance protein 1(MDR1, also known as P-glycoprotein or P-gp). MDR1 has also …

Stigma Perceptions Of Adolescents With Emotional And/Or Behavioral Difficulties, Camille Barraclough

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The current study sought to better understand how adolescents with serious mental health problems participating in inpatient psychiatric treatment experience self- and perceived public stigma, using demographic and clinical factors to help further explain adolescents' experience of self- and perceived public stigma. Participants reported moderate levels of both self- and perceived public stigma, though these adolescents did not report significantly higher levels of self- or perceived public stigma than community/outpatient based samples. Although neither the three demographic nor three clinical factors were able to account for a significant amount of reported self- or perceived public stigma, the current research examined …

Characterization Of Rift Valley Fever Virus Nucleocapsid Protein-Rna Binding Interactions And Development Of A High-Throughput Screening Assay For Identification Of N-Rna Binding Inhibitors, Mary Lee Ellenbecker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an emerging infectious pathogen that causes severe disease in humans and livestock and has the potential for global spread. Currently, there is no treatment for RVFV infection and there is no proven safe and effective vaccine. Inhibition of RNA binding to RVFV nucleocapsid (N) protein represents an innovative antiviral therapeutic strategy because several essential steps in the RVFV replication cycle involve N binding to viral RNA. The overall goals of our research are to better understand how RVFV N protein interacts with RNA, to develop a high-throughput drug screening assay for identification of compounds …