Biodiversity Commons^™

Genetic And Environmental Contributions To Wolbachia-Induced Cytoplasmic Incompatibility, Kelley Van Vaerenberghe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Maternally-transmitted Wolbachia infect the cells of most insect species, but their frequencies in host populations vary. While much of their success can be attributed to their ability to manipulate host reproduction, these manipulations are context-dependent, varying due to several biotic and abiotic factors. Wolbachia’s most common manipulation, cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), is a conditional sterility phenotype where male-female host compatibility depends on their infection status. Specifically, CI occurs when infected males produce modified sperm that cause increased embryonic lethality unless the female carries a similar infection. Rescuing their eggs from CI increases the relative fitness of infected females, promoting Wolbachia spread …

Predators In Paradise: Ecotourism And Predator-Prey Dynamics In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Andrew Cremeans

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The use of camera trap surveys is increasingly common to investigate recurring diel activity of mammals. Investigation into the temporal overlap of mammals can provide unique insights into predator-prey dynamics. Understanding this relationship is essential to effectively manage and conserve both species. Extensive research across the tropics has found that daily activities of mammals were shaped by thermoregulation and trophic location in food webs. Although broad scale studies of daily patterns of mammals have enhanced our understanding of these constraints, many study sites included were remote protected areas under strict conservation measures. Such protected areas often had full complements of …

Looking To The Future Of Wildlife Conservation: Durable Wildlife Policy For The 21st Century, Charlie R. Booher

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildlife conservation in the United States was built by the dollars of consumptive users. Monies from the sale of hunting licenses, as well as excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, and archery tackle through the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (PR), currently fuel a complex system of wildlife conservation via multiple levels of government. However, the number of hunters in this country is rapidly declining, the sale of firearms and ammunition is increasingly unrelated to hunting, and contemporary consumers tend to express different values than traditional hunters. These changes pose significant challenges of relevancy and funding to state and …

Understanding Caribou Population Cycles, Jack R. St. John

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The complex population dynamics of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) were studied to determine the patterns of their population cycles and the processes driving them. It is well established, via previous archaeological research and Indigenous knowledge, that large migrating caribou herds found in and around the tundra at northern latitudes experience population boom and busts roughly every several decades. However, the processes driving the dynamics of these cycles are relatively unknown, which makes managing caribou herds for recreational and subsistence harvests difficult. It has been hypothesized that a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors shape these cycles, with density-dependence, predation, …

Conservation In Ecuador's Sangay-Podocarpus Connectivity Corridor: A Study Of Coproductive Capacities, Gabriel Isaac Oppler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Connectivity conservation, a growing topic across science, policy, and management, is considered an important supplement to protected areas. A diversity of ecological corridors is emerging to restore fragmented landscapes, preserve intact habitats, protect biodiversity, and improve resilience to climate change. Despite increasing expertise and resources for planning corridors, many initiatives face challenges mobilizing science and governance to implement corridors on the ground. In many cases, biophysical science is supplemented with social science to better understand the human elements of connectivity. Similarly, collaboration and partnership are heralded as essential for effective governance of corridors. However, less is known about how these …

Where Should Conservation Draw The Line And When Should It Push Forward, Jessica L. Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

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, …

Species Conservation & Recovery Through Adequate Regulatory Mechanisms, Sandra B. Zellmer, Sam J. Panarella, Oliver Finn Wood

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

The world is experiencing its sixth episode of mass extinction of life. In rhetoric typically used by bloggers rather than scientists, the National Academy of Sciences reports that this "biological annihilation" is more dire than previously believed,' and that the decimation of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services resulting from it is nothing less than a "frightening assault on the foundations of human civilization."2

Unlike previous episodes of mass extinction, this one is caused by human overpopulation, overconsumption, and anthropogenic climate change. The United States has been a world conservation leader for over a century, but its commitment to supporting …

Protecting Biodiversity On National Forests: The Evolution And Implementation Of Forest Planning Regulations, Anna Wearn

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2012, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) promulgated new forest planning regulations that significantly altered national forest management. One of the most controversial and important advancements was the inclusion of what were meant to be stronger biodiversity protections. An analysis of USFS’s rationale in revising the biodiversity regulations provides insights into how to interpret the substantively and procedurally new ecosystem and species protections. Examining this regulatory history reveals three key changes to the manner in which national forests are required to manage and monitor biodiversity: 1) a greater reliance on science to inform planning, 2) a new emphasis on ecological …

Conservation Education: Using Birds To Connect Communities To Their Natural Environment, Kathryn A. Olson

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The theme of my portfolio is conservation education, using birds as an example of how to connect people of all ages to their natural environment. Birds were chosen as an example because of a personal curiosity for the animal, and because they are an accessible and tangible element of nature for all people, urban and rural. The first component is a Curriculum Development Guide created for the Wings Over Water program of the Montana Natural History Center. It synthesizes scientific research on Ospreys, relates central themes of the literature to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and provides inventive activity ideas …

Response Of Amphibian And Invertebrate Communities To Wetland Mitigation In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Leah K. Swartz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wetlands play a critical role in supporting freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services, but human activities have resulted in large-scale loss and degradation of these habitats across the globe. To offset the decline of wetland area, mitigation wetlands are now frequently constructed, but their ability to replace the functions of natural habitats, including providing habitat for native fauna, remains uncertain. A recent highway reconstruction project in northwestern Wyoming caused impacts to and the destruction of multiple natural wetlands. To mitigate this loss, new wetlands were constructed along the highway corridor. To evaluate the performance of these created wetlands relative to reference …

¬Multilocus Phylogeny Of The Lichen Family Megasporaceae, Tim B. Wheeler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The lichen symbiosis is one of the oldest studied mutualisms; in fact, Frank and De Bary coined the term "symbiosis" while studying lichens (Frank, 1877; De Bary 1879). The widespread, stable association between the mycobiont and photobiont in lichens offers an ideal system for the study of co-evolution. The recent application of molecular data to lichens has begun to unveil the complexities involved in these associations (Upreti et al. 2015, Spribille et al. 2016). Lichenized fungi make up a huge fraction of fungal diversity (Nash 2008), yet very little is known of their genetic diversity. Fungal taxonomy is notoriously difficult …

Assessing Potential Habitat And Carrying Capacity For Reintroduction Of Plains Bison (Bison Bison Bison) In Banff National Park, Robin Steenweg, Mark Hebblewhite, David Gummer, Bill Hunt

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Interest in bison (Bison bison, B. bonasus) conservation and restoration continues to grow globally. In Canada, plains bison (B. b. bison) are threatened, occupying less than 0.5% of their former range. The largest threat to their recovery is the lack of habitat in which they are considered compatible with current land uses. Fences and direct management make range expansion by most bison impossible. Reintroduction of bison into previously occupied areas that remain suitable, therefore, is critical for bison recovery in North America. Banff National Park is recognized as historical range of plains bison and has been …

Seasonal Dimorphism In Gastropod Hatchling Size: What Can We Learn From Egg Mass Morphology And Deposition Site Conditions?, Lily A. Harrison

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Egg size is one of the most important features of marine invertebrate reproduction because it provides insight into developmental patterns, offspring size, and adult investment per offspring. Intraspecific variation in egg size and the resulting hatchling size may depend on many factors including environmental and maternal conditions and geographic location. Therefore, both the season in which eggs are laid and the spatial heterogeneity of deposition sites may influence egg size and hatchling size. Natica chemnitzii deposits egg masses on sandy beaches along the coast of the Bay of Panama. During the wet (non-upwelling) season hatchling size is unimodal. However, monthly …

Positive Interactions In Temperate And Tropical Alpine Plant Communities: The Role Of Facilitation In Species-Specific Interactions, Invasion, And Landscape-Scale Distribution, Nicole Hupp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Conservation Genetics On The Frontline, Kenneth W. Rand

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Conservation genetics stands out as an effective tool for discovering and monitoring rare, endangered or invasive populations of plants and animals. Particularly when compared to traditional search and capture methods, it provides more holistic studies to preserve the disappearing biodiversity of the American West and the world.

Three stories highlight the work done to preserve biodiversity through the use of conservation genetics:

1. Trout Rescue: A new hope for westslope cutthroat in Montana How to save a disappearing westslope cutthroat trout through genetic rescue by adding genetic diversity to ensuring future survival in increasingly warming waters more harm than good. …

Determining The Barriers To And Opportunities For Community Involvement In The Management Of The Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Uttarakhand, India, Trisha Singh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Today’s global political environment places a high value on social equality and economic well- being. In this climate, emphasizing biodiversity conservation over socio-economic development through exclusionary methods of habitat protection has become ethically questioned and politically dangerous. The goal of this research was to understand the barriers and opportunities for local involvement in the management of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand, India. We attempted to understand the feasibility of local community involvement in the management of the NDBR from the perspective of policy-making organizations and that of the local communities.

Key findings highlight barriers to community participation at …

Reproductive Performance Of Kittlitz's Murrelet In A Glaciated Landscape, Icy Bay, Alaska, Usa, Michelle L. Kissling, Scott M. Gende, Stephen B. Lewis, Paul Lukacs

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a dispersed-nesting seabird endemic to Alaska and eastern Russia that may have experienced considerable population declines in some parts of its range in the past few decades. Poor reproduction has been suggested as the demographic bottleneck, yet there are no direct estimates of reproduction in a glaciated area where this species reaches its highest densities at sea during the breeding season. The lack of demographic information in glacial habitats has limited our ability to interpret population trends and to clarify whether the presence of glaciers affects reproductive performance. Between 2007 and 2012, we …

Assessing Changes In Avian Communities, Jessie D. Golding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Grazing is a potentially powerful tool to address wildlife declines associated with land use conversion in the western United States. Grazing systems can be manipulated to achieve desired vegetation outcomes, preserve native habitat and economically benefit multiple stakeholders. As a result, systems designed to benefit native ecosystems are being widely implemented. However, the benefits of these grazing systems on many wildlife communities remain relatively unexplored. Songbirds provide an ideal study system to test these benefits because they continue to use native habitat that is currently grazed. Given limited time and resources, conservation practitioners often monitor a single focal species or …

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 …

A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chile's state designated protected areas are reported to show representation bias and to be unable to meet conservation goals. Private protected areas are considered an important tool to resolve these issues, which has led to support for increasing the role of private protected areas in Chile and creating an integrated public-private protected area network. But the validity of the capacity of private protected areas to fix Chile's state protected area network bias, and the advantage of creating an integrated protected area network, have not been assessed. This study uses the most recent data on Chile's state, private, and international protected …

Are Local Filters Blind To Provenance? Ant Seed Predation Suppresses Exotic Plants More Than Natives, Dean Pearson, Nadia S. Icasatti, Jose L. Hierro, Benjamin J. Bird

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The question of whether species’ origins influence invasion outcomes has been a point of substantial debate in invasion ecology. Theoretically, colonization outcomes can be predicted based on how species’ traits interact with community filters, a process presumably blind to species’ origins. Yet, exotic plant introductions commonly result in monospecific plant densities not commonly seen in native assemblages, suggesting that exotic species may respond to community filters differently than natives. Here, we tested whether exotic and native species differed in their responses to a local community filter by examining how ant seed predation affected recruitment of eighteen native and exotic plant …

Granivory Of Invasive, Naturalized, And Native Plants In Communities Differentially Susceptible To Invasion, B. M. Connolly, Dean Pearson, R. N. Mack

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Seed predation is an important biotic filter that can influence abundance and spatial distributions of native species through differential effects on recruitment. This filter may also influence the relative abundance of nonnative plants within habitats and the communities’ susceptibility to invasion via differences in granivore identity, abundance, and food preference. We evaluated the effect of postdispersal seed predators on the establishment of invasive, naturalized, and native species within and between adjacent forest and steppe communities of eastern Washington, USA that differ in severity of plant invasion. Seed removal from trays placed within guild-specific exclosures revealed that small mammals were the …

Consequences Of A Refuge For The Predator-Prey Dynamics Of A Wolf-Elk System In Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, Joshua F. Goldberg, Mark Hebblewhite, Jonathan M. Bardsley

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Refugia can affect predator-prey dynamics via movements between refuge and non-refuge areas. We examine the influence of a refuge on population dynamics in a large mammal predator-prey system. Wolves (Canis lupus) have recolonized much of their former range in North America, and as a result, ungulate prey have exploited refugia to reduce predation risk with unknown impacts on wolf-prey dynamics. We examined the influence of a refuge on elk (Cervus elaphus) and wolf population dynamics in Banff National Park. Elk occupy the Banff townsite with little predation, whereas elk in the adjoining Bow Valley experience higher wolf predation. The Banff …

Testing The Utility Of Environmental Cluster Analysis Based Upon Biodiversity Surrogates Within Geographic Information Systems For Conservation Planning: A Case Study Of Inland Temperate Rainforest In The Northern Rocky Mountains, Matthew J. Heimel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Environmental surrogates have been proposed as a method for addressing a lack of taxonomic data in biodiversity conservation planning. These surrogates, used as variables in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, can be used in classification procedures to classify areas that are hypothesized to support or be able to support a targeted species or community. The peripheral range of the inland temperate rainforest’s (ITRF) in northwest Montana and northern Idaho was used as a case study for testing the utility of a method known as Environmental Cluster Analysis (ECA) within a GIS using abiotic environmental variables encompassing broad environmental attributes to …