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Articles 1 - 22 of 22
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
A Comparison Of Community Composition Analyses For The Assessment Of Responses To Wood-Ash Soil Amendment By Free-Living Nematodes, Paul B.L. George
A Comparison Of Community Composition Analyses For The Assessment Of Responses To Wood-Ash Soil Amendment By Free-Living Nematodes, Paul B.L. George
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Land-use changes can have far-reaching consequences for resident communities and ecosystem functioning. Developing appropriate assessment methods to observe and quantify this change is an important application of community ecology. Here I compare four methods of community assessment for free-living soil nematodes under forest harvesting disturbance and wood ash application. Neither morphological assessment (richness, abundance, diversity) nor molecular assessment (morpho-richness using T-RFLP) was responsive to experimental treatments. Trait-based approaches (Maturity Index (MI) and Body Size Spectra (BSS)) were more sensitive to forest harvest and wood-ash amendment treatments. The efficacy of these methods was also qualitatively compared. Of all methods, the BSS …
Plant Functional Traits Mediate Above- And Belowground Species Interactions In Ecological Communities, Courtney E. Gorman
Plant Functional Traits Mediate Above- And Belowground Species Interactions In Ecological Communities, Courtney E. Gorman
Masters Theses
Functional plant traits provide a means whereby species identity can influence above- and belowground community interactions. To examine the role of plant functional traits in shaping ecological communities, Chapter 1 examines how the evolution of functional differences between closely related groups of endemic and non-endemic species influence associated species interactions, and Chapter 2 examines how plant functional traits can influence associated community composition.
Application Of Otolith Increment Analysis To The Study Of Maturation Timing In Female Kokanee Salmon, Yelin Xu
Application Of Otolith Increment Analysis To The Study Of Maturation Timing In Female Kokanee Salmon, Yelin Xu
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
I investigated the influence of growth history on the expression of female reproductive tactics in kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Meadow Creek Spawning Channel, British Columbia, Canada. Female kokanee either arrive at the spawning area with red nuptial coloration, or less commonly, sexually immature with silver coloration. Silver- and red-arriving females may reflect different reproductive strategies in the population. I used otolith increment measurements to determine fish growth. In contrast to earlier studies, silver- and red-arriving females in 2013 did not differ in age at maturity (mostly were age 3+) or size at maturity (length from eye to …
Assessing Wild Canid Distribution Using Camera Traps In The Pioneer Valley Of Western Massachusetts, Eric G. Leflore
Assessing Wild Canid Distribution Using Camera Traps In The Pioneer Valley Of Western Massachusetts, Eric G. Leflore
Masters Theses
With the ever-increasing human population, more people reside in urban areas than ever before; this is having marked effects on the landscape and in turn, wildlife. This study uses automatically triggered wildlife cameras to assess the distribution of three carnivore species (coyotes, Canis latrans; red foxes, Vulpes vulpes; and gray foxes, Urocyon cinereoargenteus) around the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts in relation to a gradient of human development. Cameras were placed at 141 locations within the 320-km2 study area over the course of three field seasons (3,052 trap nights). Relative abundances for fourteen other species and site …
The Effects Of Suburbanization On Nest Ectoparasites And Nest Defense Behavior In The Wood Thrush, Evan N. Dalton
The Effects Of Suburbanization On Nest Ectoparasites And Nest Defense Behavior In The Wood Thrush, Evan N. Dalton
Masters Theses
The Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) is declining throughout its range, yet is capable of persisting in both contiguous forests and small forest patches surrounded by human suburban development. Thus, it is an ideal species for gaining insight into the effects of suburbanization on migrant songbirds. I investigated two aspects of Wood Thrush nesting ecology: nest ectoparasites and nest defense behavior in order to determine if suburbanization influences either aspect. Nests from suburban forests had fewer haematophagous mites, though the abundance of haematophagous blowfly larvae did not differ between suburban and contiguous forests. There was no relationship between the …
Were Neandertal Humeri Adapted For Spear Thrusting Or Throwing? A Finite Element Study, Michael Anthony Berthaume
Were Neandertal Humeri Adapted For Spear Thrusting Or Throwing? A Finite Element Study, Michael Anthony Berthaume
Masters Theses
An ongoing debate concerning Neandertal ecology is whether or not they utilized long range weaponry. The anteroposteriorly expanded cross-section of Neandertal humeri have led some to argue they thrusted their weapons, while the rounder cross-section of Late Upper Paleolithic modern human humeri suggests they threw their weapons. We test the hypothesis that Neandertal humeri were built to resist strains engendered by thrusting rather than throwing using finite element models of one Neandertal, one Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) human and three recent human humeri, representing a range of cross-sectional shapes and sizes. Electromyography and kinematic data and articulated skeletons were used …
Functional And Comparative Morphology Of The Nasal Cavity In Phyllostomid Bats, Thomas P. Eiting
Functional And Comparative Morphology Of The Nasal Cavity In Phyllostomid Bats, Thomas P. Eiting
Doctoral Dissertations
The functional morphology and evolution of the nasal cavity is poorly understood. The New World Leaf-nosed bats of the family Phyllostomidae are an excellent group of mammals in which to study the evolution of the nose and nasal cavity. Phyllostomids span a wide dietary diversity, which is correlated both with the shape of the rostrum as well as with reliance on olfaction, one of the key functions mediated by the nose and the focus of my dissertation. How does dietary diversity relate to differences in the olfactory anatomy of phyllostomids? I examined three neurological features thought to relate to olfactory …
The Economic Costs And Ecological Benefits Of Protected Areas For Biodiversity Conservation, Gwenllian D. Iacona
The Economic Costs And Ecological Benefits Of Protected Areas For Biodiversity Conservation, Gwenllian D. Iacona
Doctoral Dissertations
Conservation science acknowledges that economic cost and ecological benefit information is important for effective biodiversity conservation decision making. Obtaining this information for protected areas has proven difficult, however. This dissertation explores various aspects of obtaining information on the costs and benefits of protected areas in an effort to support applied conservation. Here I present a set of studies that 1) examine the threat and cost of plant invasion on protected areas, both for cumulative invasion and 2) across species that differ in their management priority, 3) provide a method for measuring the benefit of forest conservation, and 4) describe the …
New Remote Sensing Methods For Detecting And Quantifying Forest Disturbance And Regeneration In The Eastern United States, Michael Joseph Hughes
New Remote Sensing Methods For Detecting And Quantifying Forest Disturbance And Regeneration In The Eastern United States, Michael Joseph Hughes
Doctoral Dissertations
Forest disturbances, such as wildfires, the southern pine beetle, and the hemlock woolly adelgid, affect millions of hectares of forest in North America with significant implications for forest health and management. This dissertation presents new methods to quantify and monitor disturbance through time in the forests of the eastern United States using remotely sensed imagery from the Landsat family of satellites, detect clouds and cloud-shadow in imagery, generate composite images from the clear-sky regions of multiple images acquired at different times, delineate the extents of disturbance events, identify the years in which they occur, and label those events with an …
Empirical Evaluation Of Proxies For The Acquisition Costs Of Protected Areas Suggests Care Is Needed To Deliver The Promise Of Cost-Effective Conservation, Nathan James Sutton
Empirical Evaluation Of Proxies For The Acquisition Costs Of Protected Areas Suggests Care Is Needed To Deliver The Promise Of Cost-Effective Conservation, Nathan James Sutton
Masters Theses
Given limited budgets, conservation organizations need to efficiently allocate their resources for biodiversity protection. While many organizations combine socioeconomic and biological data to identify areas with the highest biological return per dollar invested, it is less clear how uncertainty in socioeconomic data affects this planning process. In Chapter 1, we show how uncertainty due to proxy choice and spatial averaging affect conservation planning by comparing average agricultural land values, a common proxy for the acquisition costs of protected areas, to a case study recent protected area investments in the Eastern US. We find this proxy explains little variation and significantly …
Biogeographical Patterns, Ecological Drivers, And Evolutionary Mechanisms Of Plant Invasions, Rafael Dudeque Zenni
Biogeographical Patterns, Ecological Drivers, And Evolutionary Mechanisms Of Plant Invasions, Rafael Dudeque Zenni
Doctoral Dissertations
Understanding and predicting organisms’ responses to novel environments is a key issue for global change biology. In this dissertation, I study biogeographical patterns of plant invasions in Brazil, explore some of their ecological drivers, and disentangle the gene-level mechanisms that cause introduced organisms to become successful or failed invaders. I found that, for the invasive flora of Brazil, species were not introduced to new regions at random and that a species’ reason for introduction and continent of origin were associated. Asian ornamental and African forage plants are overrepresented, and two families (Poaceae and Fabaceae) dominate the invasive flora of Brazil. …
Investigating Meter Scale Topographic Variation As A Factor Of Monterey Pine (Pinus Radiata) Growing Conditions At Kenneth Norris Rancho Marino Reserve, Cambria, Ca, William J. Meyst
Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences
Endemic Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) is limited to three locations in California due to its unique ecological requirements. This project was conducted to investigate spatial growth patterns ofMonterey pine over complex ground surfaces. The coastal hills of Rancho Marino Reserve, Cambria, were surveyed using four 150-m transects to quantify and record ground surface features and growing conditions ofMonterey pine. Changes in elevation of each transect were measured using an Abney level. Linear ground surfaces were found at 86% (344 of 400) of survey nodes. Convex ground surfaces were found at 10.5% of survey nodes (42 of 400). Of …
Arthropod Abundance And Diversity In Restored Longleaf Pine Savannas At Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve, Cara B. Nighohossian
Arthropod Abundance And Diversity In Restored Longleaf Pine Savannas At Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve, Cara B. Nighohossian
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
The objective of this study is to determine whether changes in arthropod community structure in restored longleaf pine savannas corresponds to differences in vegetation structure often associated with burn frequency. Longleaf pine savannas are fire-maintained ecosystems characteristic of the southeastern United States and have experienced severe declines (around 97%) since European settlement. Changes in fire regime have been instrumental in the declines. Restoration of these ecosystems has involved reinstitution of periodic burnings to promote and maintain vegetative characteristics of the savannas. This study investigates trends in arthropod communities from areas heavily invaded by hardwood shrubs against those dominated by longleaf …
Diel Patterns Of Foraging Aggression And Antipredator Behavior In The Trashline Orb-Weaving Spider, Cyclosa Turbinata, James C. Watts
Diel Patterns Of Foraging Aggression And Antipredator Behavior In The Trashline Orb-Weaving Spider, Cyclosa Turbinata, James C. Watts
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Few studies have rigorously assessed the adaptive value of diel rhythms in animals. We laid the groundwork for assessing the adaptive rhythm hypothesis by assaying diel rhythms of foraging and antipredator behavior in the orb-weaving spider Cyclosa turbinata. When confronted with a predator stimulus in experimental arenas, C. turbinata exhibited thanatosis behavior more frequently and for longer durations during the day. However, assays of antipredator response within webs revealed more complex diel patterns of avoidance behaviors and no pattern of avoidance behavior duration. Assays of prey capture behavior found that the likelihood of exhibiting prey capture behavior varied significantly …
Influence Of Wildfire Disturbance And Post-Fire Seeding On Vegetation And Insects In Sagebrush Habitats, Ashley T. Rohde
Influence Of Wildfire Disturbance And Post-Fire Seeding On Vegetation And Insects In Sagebrush Habitats, Ashley T. Rohde
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Disturbance events alter community composition and structure because of differences in resistance and resilience of individual taxa, changes in habitat resulting in colonization by new taxa and alteration of biotic interaction patterns. Recent changes in disturbance types, frequencies and intensities caused by anthropogenic activities may further alter community composition and structure if these disturbances exceed the tolerances or adaptations of some taxa. In sagebrush steppe habitats of the western United States, wildfire is the current dominant disturbance type, burning millions of hectares annually. Further, up to 90% of sagebrush-steppe ecosystems are affected by anthropogenic influences such as invasive species. Post-fire …
Usda Forest Service Perspectives On Forest Management In A Changing Climate, Jamie E. Laatsch
Usda Forest Service Perspectives On Forest Management In A Changing Climate, Jamie E. Laatsch
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
As climate change becomes more problematic for the Forest Service (FS) and other federal land management agencies in the U.S., it has become increasingly important to understand how their employees view climate change and related challenges. This study examined how FS employees in the Intermountain West view forest management in the face of climate change, what barriers and opportunities they see in terms of dealing with climate change, and how different levels of agency management view climate change-related issues differently. This study found that many FS employees believe climate change is an important issue; however, they have not done much …
Evaluating Pollination Ecology Of The Endangered Pityopsis Ruthii (Small) Small (Asteraceae), Philip Anthony Moore
Evaluating Pollination Ecology Of The Endangered Pityopsis Ruthii (Small) Small (Asteraceae), Philip Anthony Moore
Masters Theses
Pityopsis ruthii (Small) Small, also known as Ruth’s golden aster, is a federally endangered herbaceous perennial, endemic to two river systems, the Hiwassee and the Ocoee, within the Cherokee National Forest, Polk County, Tennessee. There are approximately 13,000 individuals that may be at high risk of short-term extirpation (Thompson and Schwartz, 2006). Little is known of the basic reproduction and life history of P. ruthii. Clebesh and Sloan (1993), Cruzan (2001), Park (1998), and Wadl et al. (2014) found evidence that seed production and seed viability are highly variable. Clebesh and Sloan (1993) indicated that pollinator visitation was highly temporal …
Palynological Evidence For The Paleoenvironmental History Of The Miocene Llanos Basin, Eastern Colombia, Ingrid Carolina Romero Valero
Palynological Evidence For The Paleoenvironmental History Of The Miocene Llanos Basin, Eastern Colombia, Ingrid Carolina Romero Valero
Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)
The distal Llanos foreland basin was influenced by subsidence events since the Cretaceous until the Pliocene. Although this area has been extensively explored and is considered a potential oil reservoir, few studies of its stratigraphy and depositional environments have been conducted. This basin exhibits a geological section of Miocene age and the core Saltarin-1A, analyzed in this study, is the first and most complete drilling coreof this section with 680 meters. It represents to Carbonera, Leon and Guayabo Formations. Based on palynological data, this work has as its main aims to review the biostratigraphy, to identify the depositional environments, including …
Environmental Factors Influencing Spring Migration Chronology Of Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis), Taylor A. Finger
Environmental Factors Influencing Spring Migration Chronology Of Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis), Taylor A. Finger
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Weather likely affects the timing and rate of migration by waterfowl to their breeding grounds. I hypothesized that timing of migration by lesser scaup during spring is affected by annual variation in temperature, precipitation and ice cover. I used satellite telemetry data, waterfowl survey data and corresponding weather data to evaluate competing models that explained variation in timing and rate of migration by lesser scaup. Timing of spring migration occurred earlier and faster when lesser scaup encountered warmer temperatures and greater precipitation, both of which are known to influence thermoregulation and habitat availability for waterfowl. Migration chronology of lesser scaup …
Grassland Sustainability In Kentucky: Case Studies Quantifying The Effects Of Climate Change On Slug Herbivory In Pastures And Different Home Lawn Systems On Turf Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Daniel Adam Weber
Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences
Grasslands comprise the greatest biome by land area, are sensitive to environmental factors affected by climate change, and can impact future climate change through their ability to store and release greenhouse gasses (GHGs). I performed two studies: 1) evaluated the effects of increased temperature and precipitation on slug herbivory/abundance and pasture forage production; 2) quantified different homeowner lawn system effects on soil-to-atmosphere GHG emissions. Climate change will likely affect pasture forage production, with implications for slug herbivory and abundance. I found little evidence that slugs have or will have significant effects on pasture production or plant community. Warming altered the …
A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effect Of Cash-4-Grass Programs On Water Consumption, Cynthia Allen
A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effect Of Cash-4-Grass Programs On Water Consumption, Cynthia Allen
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Water supplies in California are stretched to critical levels as a result of population growth, periodic drought, and climate change. The California legislature recognized that the best way to increase supply is to decrease demand so the Water Use Efficiency Senate Bill 7 (SBx7-7) was signed into law in 2009. The law requires water purveyors to reduce per capita water usage by 20% by the year 2020. To comply, water purveyors are searching for innovative ways to increase water conservation. A review of the literature has shown that many factors influence water consumption. However, the majority of household water consumption …
Aspects Of The Trophic Ecology Of An Invertivorous Snake Community, Meagan Amanda Thomas
Aspects Of The Trophic Ecology Of An Invertivorous Snake Community, Meagan Amanda Thomas
Masters Theses
Understanding the significance of trophic links has been of interest to ecologists for decades, likely because food web studies have the potential to reveal a considerable amount of information in the fields of ecosystem and community ecology. Despite the intrinsic benefits that come from elucidating food web structures, doing so is often problematic because of the complex and dynamic nature of ecological communities. The dietary ecology of small-bodied invertivorous snakes remains relatively understudied compared to other snake species. Many of these species are abundant throughout their range, making them ideal organisms for studying community-level questions. I employed a combination of …