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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Sex, Body Size, And Winter Weather Explain Migration Strategies In A Partial Migrant Population Of American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), Sadie Claire Ranck
Sex, Body Size, And Winter Weather Explain Migration Strategies In A Partial Migrant Population Of American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), Sadie Claire Ranck
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Partially migratory systems describe populations that consist of both individuals that migrate away from the breeding grounds for the winter, and others that remain resident near their nesting sites year-round. Partial migration is the most common type of migration across all animal taxa, but the evolution, maintenance, and consequences associated with different movement strategies are still poorly understood. Studying the factors that drive migratory strategies and the associated consequences of those decisions is important to understand how migratory animals may adapt to climate change. Partial migrant populations offer a great opportunity for which to study these questions because individuals with …
Phenotypic Responses Of Sagebrush To The Southwestern North America Megadrought: A Genotype-By-Environment (Gxe) Approach, Kara A. Navock
Phenotypic Responses Of Sagebrush To The Southwestern North America Megadrought: A Genotype-By-Environment (Gxe) Approach, Kara A. Navock
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
The Southwestern North America megadrought is an extreme climate event. Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) is the dominant, keystone species of sagebrush-steppe ecosystems in arid and semi-arid habitats of western North America. I conducted a genotype-by-environment (GxE) experiment on two putative genotypes (drought-tolerant, G1 and drought-sensitive, G2) and two cytotypes, diploid (2x) and tetraploid (4x), to determine the phenotypic responses of big sagebrush seedlings to drought. For three chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, my results indicate a complex set of factors influence sagebrush responses to drought, including canalization, adaptive phenotypic plasticity, cryptic genetic diversity, and GxE interactions. Variation in leaf temperature profiles of …
Gyrfalcon Diet During The Brood Rearing Period On The Seward Peninsula, Alaska, In The Context Of A Changing World, Bryce W. Robinson
Gyrfalcon Diet During The Brood Rearing Period On The Seward Peninsula, Alaska, In The Context Of A Changing World, Bryce W. Robinson
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
As climate change impacts increase so does our need to understand their effects on ecosystem dynamics. I studied Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) diet during the brood rearing period to improve our knowledge on dietary habits during nesting, and provide necessary information for understanding climate change impacts to Arctic ecosystems. I studied diet over two breeding seasons on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, using two methods: motion-activated cameras and the collection of prey remains. I observed three important dietary shifts: the proportion of ptarmigan in the diet declined significantly throughout the season, the proportion of large prey items declined significantly throughout …
Population Response To Climate Change: Wintering Strategy Has Carryover Effects On The Timing Of Nest Initiation And Mate Choice In A Partial Migrant, The American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius), Alexandra Marie Anderson
Population Response To Climate Change: Wintering Strategy Has Carryover Effects On The Timing Of Nest Initiation And Mate Choice In A Partial Migrant, The American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius), Alexandra Marie Anderson
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
The ability of a population to respond to climate change will depend on phenotypic plasticity, adaptation, or both. Bird populations have already responded to warming temperatures by shifting their distributions, adjusting migration distance and timing, and breeding earlier. A population of American kestrels (Falco sparverius) in southwestern Idaho has advanced its nesting by approximately 30 days, on average, in the last 30 years and this has been correlated with changes in winter climate. The mechanisms allowing for this shift, however, are not clearly understood. I investigated if assortative mating of wintering kestrels and non-wintering kestrels is accompanying to …
Warming Winters And Changing Habitats: Interactive Effects On Raptor Populations And Implications For Conservation, Neil A. Paprocki
Warming Winters And Changing Habitats: Interactive Effects On Raptor Populations And Implications For Conservation, Neil A. Paprocki
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Studies across multiple spatial and temporal scales will improve understanding of the drivers of global change including habitat degradation, invasive species, and climate change. How global drivers affect the ecology of wintering raptors in western North America and the Great Basin may have important implications for changes in distribution and abundance, and consequently population persistence. I examined the winter distributions of six western North America raptor species using Christmas Bird Count data from 1975-2011 to assess range shifts over time and in relation to temperature. Also, I considered whether population patterns within Bird Conservation Regions (BCR) were best explained by …