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Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Biology
The Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Ant-Mediated Seed Dispersal In Missouri, Eva M. Colberg
The Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Ant-Mediated Seed Dispersal In Missouri, Eva M. Colberg
Dissertations
Many aspects of animal-mediated seed dispersal are vulnerable to disturbance, including partner identity and dispersal quantity and quality. This dissertation explores ant-mediated seed dispersal of the herb Sanguinaria canadensis in Missouri Ozark oak forests, where prescribed fire is a common land management tool. In Chapter 1, I test the definition of a keystone seed disperser using absolute and relative contributions of different ant species to the quantity and distance of seed dispersal, based on field observations of S. canadensis seed dispersal. I demonstrate that the ant Aphaenogaster rudis is better described as a numerically dominant rather than keystone seed disperser, …
Marine Fungi Of U.S. Gulf Of Mexico Barrier Island Beaches: Biodiversity And Sampling Strategy, Allison Kathleen Walker
Marine Fungi Of U.S. Gulf Of Mexico Barrier Island Beaches: Biodiversity And Sampling Strategy, Allison Kathleen Walker
Dissertations
Marine fungi are an important but often overlooked component of marine ecosystems. Primarily saprotrophic, they are vital to coastal nutrient cycling processes and food webs. However, basic marine fungal distribution data are lacking in many parts of the world, as is knowledge of the sampling intensity required to characterize the biodiversity of these communities. The roles of substrate, season and latitude in shaping intertidal ascomycete community structure were examined for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and the role of sampling frequency on species richness estimates was also addressed. Best sampling practices were developed and 750 collections of beach detritus, sand …
Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh
Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh
Dissertations
Information use is a key feature of adaptive behavior: the better informed an individual, the better it is able to adjust its behavior to meet the demands of a variable world. Therefore, most animals attempt to reduce environmental uncertainty by gathering information when it is available. However, tracking unpredictable ecological factors may carry costs as individuals invest valuable time and energy in the process of information acquisition. Social learning (i.e., use of social information inadvertently produced by other individuals) enables the individual to gain rapid and more complete assessment of its novel environment. This process may be particularly important for …
Roosting Ecology Of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Rafinesquii, In Southeastern Mississippi, Austin Webb Trousdale Iii
Roosting Ecology Of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Rafinesquii, In Southeastern Mississippi, Austin Webb Trousdale Iii
Dissertations
Rafinesque's big-eared bat, Corynorhinus rafinesquii, is considered rare and/or declining throughout its range. Concrete bridges are potentially important roosts for C. rafinesquii, especially in the Gulf Coastal Plain where the species' natural roosts (caves and large hollow trees) are inherently scarce. Successful efforts to monitor and conserve this species must account for its movements among multiple roosts and determine the duration of its roost use (including bridges) at different temporal scales. Therefore, I investigated roosting ecology of C. rafinesquii from 2000-2005 within a mixed hardwood-pine (Pinus spp.) system in southeastern Mississippi. I conducted surveys of concrete bridges to determine phenological …