Biology Commons^™

Potential Effects Of Road Proximity On Zooplankton Communities And Water Quality In Lakes In The Northwest Territories, Marie N. Hannan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Studies conducted along Canada’s Dempster Highway in the Northwest Territories have shown that road dust can affect water quality in roadside lakes, leading to higher calcium, conductivity, and pH levels. These water quality changes have the potential to affect important members of the lower aquatic food web, such as zooplankton.

For my thesis research, I had two main objectives: 1) To determine if changes in water chemistry caused by deposition of road dust affects zooplankton communities; and 2) To examine if the type of roadside vegetation influences the effects of road dust on aquatic habitats. To achieve these objectives, I …

Differences In Drifting Invertebrate Communities Across Arctic Ecozones And The Influence On Potential Growth Of Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus), Charles Chanyi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Invertebrate drift is a key process that potentially affects multiple levels of food web organization within stream environments. However, our understanding of the mechanistic drivers of drift in high latitude streams and subsequent bottom-up control that drift may have on fish predators in these environments remains understudied. This project aimed to gain the baseline knowledge of how drift functions across two major high latitude ecozones, the boreal forest and tundra, and how those possible differences in drifting community characteristics may impact drift-feeding Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus). These objectives were accomplished by characterizing stream environments across both ecozones, sampling …

Arctic Stream Characteristics And Diet Analysis Choice Impact Condition And Diet Estimates Of Ninespine Stickleback (Pungitius Pungitius), Adam Kuhrt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) are ubiquitous in circumpolar freshwaters, but their ecological role is not well understood. Little research has been conducted on the influence of environmental variables on ninespine stickleback in stream environments, and while they are understood to be generalist feeders, their diet in stream environments is equally understudied. Determining diet is difficult due to biases inherent in all standard diet analysis methods. Morphological gut-content analysis (M-GCA), DNA metabarcoding of gut contents (D-GCA), and stable isotope analysis (SIA) are currently three of the most frequently conducted diet analyses; and while combinations of these methods are commonly …