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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 …

Factors Affecting Plant Responses To Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi And Soil Fungal Communities, Lauren Priestman Waller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ancient mutualists that associate with the majority of plants. However, the factors that influence how much a plant benefits from AM fungi, or the factors that influence other root-associated fungi are unclear. I examined how plant traits related to nutrient availability can explain variation in AMresponsiveness and whether native species differ from exotics in these relationships. Leaf mass per unit of area (LMA) correlated positively with mycorrhizal growth responsiveness (MGR) and root colonization (RC) among native species. This indicates that native species with more conservative traits more strongly benefit, and benefit from, AM fungi. Furthermore, …

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 …

Predation Risk And Vegetation Effects On Avian Diversity, Species Turnover, Reproduction, And Fitness, Joseph Anthony Lamanna

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Vegetation is the habitat that underlies animal distributions. Yet mechanisms by which dynamic changes in vegetation affect animal fitness, distributions, and communities remain unclear. For example, animal richness and species composition often change with decreased forest structural complexity associated with anthropogenic disturbance, but differences in latitude and vegetation effects on reproductive success may influence species responses to vegetation changes. My global meta-analysis of logging effects on bird communities revealed substantial species loss in tropical but not temperate forests. This suggests tropical birds exhibit greater habitat specialization than their temperate relatives.

My meta-analysis also suggested that changes in reproductive success can …

Legal Tools For Local Control Of Oil And Gas Development: Successes, Challenges, And Opportunities – Focusing On Select Eastern And Western U.S. States With Current And Potential Oil/Gas Development, Gabrielle M. Ostermayer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In response to the rise in unconventional oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, coupled with concerns over local environmental, social, and health impacts, and weak state regulatory oversight, many communities have chosen to assert zoning or regulatory control over oil and gas development. However, the legal framework that enables and constrains local government powers varies by state, based on diverse statutory and constitutional language as well as the preemption of local control by state agency regulations governing industry development. Through a series of case studies, this article identifies successful, legally defensible strategies for local control of oil and gas …

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 …

Indigenous Feminist Approaches To Archaeology: Building A Framework For Indigenous Research In Pre-Colonial Archaeology, Kristen D. Barnett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This PhD focuses on several interrelated archaeological problems in identification of individuals, agency, and understanding the indigenous past as it was lived; through an indigenous and feminist perspective. The dissertation is comprised of three articles that have either been accepted in peer-review publications or are in the process of being reviewed for publication. The articles focus on the following subjects: 1) an indigenous spatial analysis of a Fur Trade era semi-subterranean pithouse within a larger village context; 2) reanalysis of the three small peripheral houses located in the village of Keatley Creek in the Mid-Fraser region of British Columbia; and …

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 …

Satellite Microwave Measurement Of Land Surface Phenology: Clarifying Vegetation Phenology Response To Climatic Drivers And Extreme Events, Matthew Oushana Jones

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The seasonality of terrestrial vegetation controls feedbacks to the climate system including land-atmosphere water, energy and carbon (CO2) exchanges with cascading effects on regional-to-global weather and circulation patterns. Proper characterization of vegetation phenology is necessary to understand and quantify changes in the earthÆs ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles and is a key component in tracking ecological species response to climate change. The response of both functional and structural vegetation phenology to climatic drivers on a global scale is still poorly understood however, which has hindered the development of robust vegetation phenology models. In this dissertation I use satellite microwave vegetation optical …

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 …

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 …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Buddhist Concept Of "Not-Self", Christian Herwitz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

All individuals have notions about how they would likely approach themselves under times of stress, as well as the ways which would be most helpful to them. The present study investigated four broad ways of approaching the self under stressful circumstances: self-esteem, self-control, self-compassion, and not-self. Not-self, a concept based in Buddhist philosophy, is novel to a Western population, and was the primary focus. In order to comprehensively examine the concept, data were collected from 168 undergraduates on responses to stressful circumstances: by bolstering self-esteem, engaging in self-control behaviors, engendering a sense of self-compassion, or accepting/letting go thoughts, feelings, wants, …

Dna Methylation In Humans And Dogs: Evaluating The Impact Of Nutritional And Particulate Exposures, Luke Benjamin Montrose

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases in children, among the leading causes of hospitalization for children, and one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Discovery of preventable factors and the underlying mechanisms that exacerbate asthma among prevalent cases is important for mitigating the health burden of this childhood disease. Environmental factors such as exposure to particulate matter (PM) or nutritional deficiencies can lead to poor respiratory health among susceptible children. Recent animal studies suggest that PM exposures and dietary nutrients may influence asthma pathways through epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic modifications are heritable changes that can regulate gene activity …

It Takes A Village: Placing Middle Rocky Mountain High Altitude Residential Sites Of The Late Prehistoric Firehole Phase Into A Broader Regional Context, Bryon Alan Schroeder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation presents three separate articles in different stages of peer-review all focused on late Late Prehistoric (AD 1300 to contact) residential occupations, in the Wind River Range and Shirley Basin of Wyoming. These articles cover survey results in in the Wind River Range of Wyoming, Shoshone ethnic interpretations associated with Late Prehistoric artifact assemblages, and a lithic analysis from the excavated interior of domestic structure at an alpine and basin location of the Firehole Phase. These articles broaden the research agenda of high-altitude sites to downplay the role of ethnicity and include adjacent sites of the Wyoming Basin. In …

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, …

Taphonomy Of The Chengjiang Biota: Using A Combination Of Sedimentology, Geochemistry And Experimental Taphonomy To Determine Preservation, Lindsay Ann Mackenzie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Chengjiang Biota, found in the Early Cambrian Maotianshan Shale (Yunnan, China), represents the Cambrian ôexplosion of life,ö providing a snapshot of the early evolution and development of complex life. This snapshot is possible because high fidelity processes transfer information from living organisms to preserved fossils. Taphonomy is everything that occurred during this information transfer from death to fossilization and discovery, including chemical and/or sedimentological processes. The Chengjiang fossilsÆ biology is well documented and taphonomical processes have been proposed. Tests of these models are limited because the depositional environment remains poorly understood. To fill this gap and better constrain the …

The Biogeochemistry Of Elemental Sulfur Contaminated Soils: Insights Into Effective Remediation, Michael Ryan Mctee

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Soil contamination that results from elemental sulfur (S⁰) deposition is a new occurrence. Elemental sulfur is stockpiled as a byproduct from the oil and gas industry and is deposited by biodegradable trap and skeet targets at shooting ranges. Chemolithotrophs and mixotrophs can oxidize S⁰ to H₂SO₄. Consequently, in areas where excess S⁰ is deposited or stockpiled, soils can acidify to pH values observed with acid mine drainage.

I studied S⁰ contamination at a former sporting clay range. For seven years, the range used biodegradable trap and skeet targets that contained S …

Wilderness And Epistemic Wildness, John T. Stanfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The traditional concept of wilderness was a product of the time out of which it came. Times have changed. The social context of conservation, how humans affect nature, and scientific understanding of how ecosystems function have all shifted in ways that make the wilderness idea problematic. The values that people found in wilderness are still relevant, however. It is the way that they are tied together in the concept of wilderness that has become a problem.

I propose a revised concept of wilderness that meets the concerns of critics of wilderness, and accounts for the tension between the wild and …

Quantifying The Spatio-Temporal Variability Of Subsurface Flow Across Three Hillslopes In A Semi-Arid, Alpine Forest, Emily N. Clark

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Distinguishing watershed characteristics that influence the spatial and temporal response of shallow subsurface flow within hillslopes is requisite for quantifying streamflow quantity, timing, and quality. I evaluated local and non-local (upslope) topographic influences on shallow water table development, magnitude, and spatial extent across 3 hillslopes (24 shallow groundwater recording wells) of distinct shape and size in the Lubrecht Experimental Forest, MT. I asked the question: at what spatial and temporal scales do characteristics of surface topography (upslope or local) govern shallow groundwater response and runoff contributions to streams? My results corroborate prior findings of the role upslope accumulated area (UAA) …

A 'Paradox Of Expression': Bertolt Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt In Performance, Cohen L. Ambrose Mr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Sacred Zones: Examing Wilderness In Yellowstone, Maine And Russia, Lily S. Vonderheide

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis seeks to examine issues of resource conservation and recreational access in three regions of immense historical and ecological significance: Yellowstone National Park, the North Woods of Maine, and the protected nature reserve system of Siberia. By applying a combination of direct professional experience, current research and ongoing environmental policy action, the thesis attempts to provide an accurate picture of current and future challenges facing the three regions. Part I, “Yellowstone Paradox,” traces the roots of Yellowstone’s restrictions on recreational boating access in a post-WWII discourse of consumer recreation, the development of a sustainability ethic and its deployment as …

Anatolii Lunacharskii And The Soviet Theater, John E. Dunkum

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Impact Of A Flame Resistant Synthetic Material Base Layer On Heat Stress Factors, Matthew C. Dorton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Protective clothing worn by wildland firefighters (WLFF) may increase physiological strain and heat stress factors due to increased insulation and decreased ventilation. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a flame resistant synthetic material base layer on heat stress factors. METHODS: Ten recreationally active males (25 ± 6.1 yrs, 80.9 ± 8.4 kg, 11.1 ± 5.3% fat, 4.4 ± 0.6 L·min-1 VO2 max) completed two trials of intermittent (50 min walking, 10 min sitting) treadmill walking (4km/hr, 4% grade) over 3 hours in a hot, dry environment (35⁰C, 30% rh). Participants wore standard WLFF Nomex green pants, Nomex yellow shirt with …

"Why Wait Until They Commit A Crime?": Moral Imbecility And The Problem Of Knowledge In Progressive America, 1880-1920, Chelsea D. Chamberlain

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Focusing on the forty-year period from 1880 to 1920, this thesis explores moral imbecility--the lack of a moral sense at birth--as a contested medical diagnosis that embodied many of modernizing America's greatest fears. It argues that moral imbecility played a pivotal role in facilitating the emergence of several hallmarks of modern America. The diagnosis legitimated medical experts’ far-reaching cultural authority, encouraged the rise of a surveillance society, and secured the growth of a medicalized bureaucratic state responsible for institutionalizing hundreds of thousands of people. As a potent medico-cultural threat based upon new and disputed knowledge claims, it became an important …

Tennessee Williams' "Plastic Theater" A Formulation Of Dramaturgy For "The American Method" Theater, Peter A. Philips

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Against The Grain: Railroad Ramifications As Oil Crosses Wheat Country, Laura Scheer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the past two years, grain growers along Montana’s Hi-Line have experienced significant shipping delays because of heavy traffic on the railroads in the northern plains. The delays caused declines in wheat prices and many farmers had to build extra storage to house the crops they couldn’t get on the rails. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, the main railroad serving the Hi-Line, blames the congestion on harsh winter weather, a larger than average crop harvest and an increase in shipping demands across all sectors. Farmers say the railroad has favored increasing shipments of crude oil from the Bakken shale formation …

The Sensitivity Of Soil Respiration To Soil Temperature, Moisture, And Carbon Supply At The Global Scale, Andrew Hursh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Soil respiration is one of the most important terms in the global carbon budget, yet we know very little about how important environmental factors control this process at the global scale. Soils contain more carbon than terrestrial biomass and the atmosphere combined and contribute ten times more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year than the burning of fossil fuels. This study provides new insight on the factors driving soil respiration at the global scale by assimilating satellite observations of soil moisture, temperature, and net primary productivity with the Global Soil Respiration Database (SRDB).While temperature, moisture, carbon supply and other …

Alpine Experiments: The National Parks And The Development Of Skiing In The American West, Jeffrey T. Meyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 1886, the U.S. Army mounted cavalry soldiers on skis to patrol the winter landscape of Yellowstone National Park. Prior to Yellowstone's skiing soldiers, the U.S. government had no formal relationship with skiing. In Yellowstone, the Army initiated the U.S. government's intimate and enduring relationship with skiing in the American West. When the National Park Service (NPS) took over the management of Yellowstone, the government's involvement with western skiing transferred over to the NPS. Upon its creation in 1916, the NPS inherited a national park system primarily carved from the high western mountains and embraced the promotion of recreational skiing …

"Horses And Oil In His Blood": Mythopoetics And Western Petromelancholia In Alexandra Fuller's The Legend Of Colton H. Bryant, Lindsay Stephens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Alexandra Fuller’s book The Legend of Colton H. Bryant, often read as merely a sad biography of a young man who meets his demise in the Wyoming energy patch, performs urgent cultural work. Fuller captures Wyoming’s shift from conventional (Easy Oil) extraction to the extreme (Tough Oil) extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at the dawn of the twenty-first century. This shift to Tough Oil involves far more than engineering concerns, as Stephanie LeMenager points out in her cultural critique Living Oil. LeMenager terms our national failure to acknowledge the crises that accompany Tough Oil practices …

Coenzyme Q10, Sean M. Blumhardt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Blumhardt, Sean, M.A., May 2015, Exercise Science

Coenzyme Q10

Committee Chair: Dr. Steven Gaskill

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a strong antioxidant and a key component of energy production in the electron transport chain. CoQ10 levels decrease with both age and cardiac disease in plasma and myocardium. After plasma CoQ10 concentrations decrease, dietary changes are generally unable to reestablish normal levels. CoQ10 supplementation is an inexpensive and safe therapy is able to reduce or prevent damage to cell membranes and vasculature by buffering reactive oxidative species. CoQ10 supplementation can decrease blood pressure in hypertensive patients as well as increase cardiac function …