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Climate change

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Articles 271 - 300 of 329

Full-Text Articles in Biology

Range Collapse, Genetic Differentiation, And Climate Change: An Ecological History Of The Diana Fritillary, Speyeria Diana And Projections For Its Future, Carrie Wells May 2014

Range Collapse, Genetic Differentiation, And Climate Change: An Ecological History Of The Diana Fritillary, Speyeria Diana And Projections For Its Future, Carrie Wells

All Dissertations

The geographic ranges of most plant and animal species are tied closely to climatic factors, including temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. For this reason, recent changes in the global climate due to human activities are predicted to have profound effects on natural populations, communities and ecosystems over a relatively short period of time. Combined effects from global warming and other anthropogenic activities such as land-use changes, pollution, and habitat loss/fragmentation, are altering species' distributions faster than they can be documented. Recent climate change has also been shown to alter species' breeding behaviors and alter the synchrony and timing of species' …

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Abiotic Drivers Of Chihuahuan Desert Plant Communities, Laura Marie Ladwig May 2014

Abiotic Drivers Of Chihuahuan Desert Plant Communities, Laura Marie Ladwig

Biology ETDs

Within grasslands, precipitation, fire, nitrogen (N) addition, and extreme temperatures influence community composition and ecosystem function. The differential influences of these abiotic factors on Chihuahuan Desert grassland communities was examined within the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, located in central New Mexico, U.S.A. Although fire is a natural disturbance in many grasslands, fire during drought temporarily increased forb cover and decreased grass cover for several years. The seasonal timing of fire was not important, rather community recovery was more influenced by the persistent drought conditions. N deposition is increasing worldwide due to human activities, and although additional N increases productivity and …

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Implications Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Tick Vector Ixodes Scapularis And Risk For Lyme Disease In The Texas-Mexico Transboundary Region, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Ivan Castro-Arellano, Guadalupe Gordillo Pérez, Ana L. Cavazos, Margarita Vargas-Sandoval, Abha Grover, Javier Torres, Raul F. Medina, Adalberto A. Pérez De León, Maria Dolores Esteve-Gassent Apr 2014

Implications Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Tick Vector Ixodes Scapularis And Risk For Lyme Disease In The Texas-Mexico Transboundary Region, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Ivan Castro-Arellano, Guadalupe Gordillo Pérez, Ana L. Cavazos, Margarita Vargas-Sandoval, Abha Grover, Javier Torres, Raul F. Medina, Adalberto A. Pérez De León, Maria Dolores Esteve-Gassent

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Background: Disease risk maps are important tools that help ascertain the likelihood of exposure to specific infectious agents. Understanding how climate change may affect the suitability of habitats for ticks will improve the accuracy of risk maps of tick-borne pathogen transmission in humans and domestic animal populations. Lyme disease (LD) is the most prevalent arthropod borne disease in the US and Europe. The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi causes LD and it is transmitted to humans and other mammalian hosts through the bite of infected Ixodes ticks. LD risk maps in the transboundary region between the U.S. and Mexico are lacking. Moreover, …

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Sex Ratio Bias And Extinction Risk In An Isolated Population Of Tuatara (Sphenodon Punctatus), Kristine L. Grayson, Nicola J. Mitchell, Joanne M. Monks, Susan N. Keall, Joanna N. Wilson, Nicola J. Nelson Apr 2014

Sex Ratio Bias And Extinction Risk In An Isolated Population Of Tuatara (Sphenodon Punctatus), Kristine L. Grayson, Nicola J. Mitchell, Joanne M. Monks, Susan N. Keall, Joanna N. Wilson, Nicola J. Nelson

Biology Faculty Publications

Understanding the mechanisms underlying population declines is critical for preventing the extinction of endangered populations. Positive feedbacks can hasten the process of collapse and create an ‘extinction vortex,’ particularly in small, isolated populations. We provide a case study of a male-biased sex ratio creating the conditions for extinction in a natural population of tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) on North Brother Island in the Cook Strait of New Zealand. We combine data from long term mark-recapture surveys, updated model estimates of hatchling sex ratio, and population viability modeling to measure the impacts of sex ratio skew. Results from the mark-recapture …

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Climate Change And Forest Herbs Of Temperate Deciduous Forests, Jesse Bellemare, David A. Moeller Apr 2014

Climate Change And Forest Herbs Of Temperate Deciduous Forests, Jesse Bellemare, David A. Moeller

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

This chapter reviews what is known about the long-term, large-scale range dynamics of forest herbs in response to past climate change. It presents a new biogeographic analysis investigating how contemporary distribution and diversity patterns among a subset of rare forest herbs may relate to these past climate dynamics. It also discusses how forest herb species may be affected by contemporary climate change and considers options for species conservation.

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Snowshoe Hares Display Limited Phenotypic Plasticity To Mismatch In Seasonal Camouflage, Marketa Zimova, L. Scott Mills, Paul M. Lukacs, Michael S. Mitchell Mar 2014

Snowshoe Hares Display Limited Phenotypic Plasticity To Mismatch In Seasonal Camouflage, Marketa Zimova, L. Scott Mills, Paul M. Lukacs, Michael S. Mitchell

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

As duration of snow cover decreases owing to climate change, species undergoing seasonal colour moults can become colour mismatched with their background. The immediate adaptive solution to this mismatch is phenotypic plasticity, either in phenology of seasonal colour moults or in behaviours that reduce mismatch or its consequences. We observed nearly 200 snowshoe hares across a wide range of snow conditions and two study sites in Montana, USA, and found minimal plasticity in response to mismatch between coat colour and background. We found that moult phenology varied between study sites, likely due to differences in photoperiod and climate, but was …

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How Important Is Land-Based Foraging To Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) During The Ice-Free Season In Western Hudson Bay? An Examination Of Dietary Shifts, Compositional Patterns, Behavioral Observations And Energetic Contributions, Linda J. Gormezano Feb 2014

How Important Is Land-Based Foraging To Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) During The Ice-Free Season In Western Hudson Bay? An Examination Of Dietary Shifts, Compositional Patterns, Behavioral Observations And Energetic Contributions, Linda J. Gormezano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trophic mismatches between predators and their prey are increasing as climate change causes decoupling of phenological relationships. Predators linked to the life histories of a particular prey will have a more difficult time persisting through environmental change unless they can alter their behavior to maintain the historical match or possess the ability to pursue alternate prey. Arctic predators typically possess flexible foraging strategies to survive in the labile environment, however, quantifying the limits of those strategies can be difficult when life history information is incomplete. In such cases, piecing together different aspects of a predator's foraging behavior, particularly when environmental …

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Warming, Soil Moisture, And Loss Of Snow Increase Bromus Tectorum’S Population Growth Rate, Aldo Compagnoni, Peter B. Adler Jan 2014

Warming, Soil Moisture, And Loss Of Snow Increase Bromus Tectorum’S Population Growth Rate, Aldo Compagnoni, Peter B. Adler

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

Climate change threatens to exacerbate the impacts of invasive species. In temperate ecosystems, direct effects of warming may be compounded by dramatic reductions in winter snow cover. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is arguably the most destructive biological invader in basins of the North American Intermountain West, and warming could increase its performance through direct effects on demographic rates or through indirect effects mediated by loss of snow. We conducted a two-year experimental manipulation of temperature and snow pack to test whether 1) warming increases cheatgrass population growth rate and 2) reduced snow cover contributes to cheatgrass’ positive response to …

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On The Challenges Of Modeling The Net Radiative Forcing Of Wetlands: Reconsidering Mitsch Et Al. 2013, Scott C. Neubauer Jan 2014

On The Challenges Of Modeling The Net Radiative Forcing Of Wetlands: Reconsidering Mitsch Et Al. 2013, Scott C. Neubauer

Biology Publications

Wetlands play a role in regulating global climate by removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and sequestering it as soil carbon, and by emitting methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere. In a recent article in this journal (Mitsch et al. Landscape Ecol 28:583–597, 2013), CO2 sequestration and CH4 emissions were modeled for several freshwater wetlands that vary in vegetation type, climate, and hydrology. The authors of that study made significant errors that caused them to underestimate the importance of wetland CH4 emissions on climate dynamics. Here, I reanalyze the Mitsch et al. dataset and show that …

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Effects Of River Current Inflow On Dissolved Oxygen And Temperature Of Refuge Zones For Cisco In Lake Bemidji, Bryant C. Swenson Jan 2014

Effects Of River Current Inflow On Dissolved Oxygen And Temperature Of Refuge Zones For Cisco In Lake Bemidji, Bryant C. Swenson

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The objectives of this study were to (1) determine if the inflow current from the Mississippi River affects temperature and dissolved oxygen in Lake Bemidji, (2) determine how the amount of suitable cisco Coregonus artedi habitat changes over the summer in Lake Bemidji, and (3) predict how much cisco habitat would be available under a climate warming scenario. Summer fish kill of cisco occurs in most years on Lake Bemidji resulting from low dissolved oxygen in the hypolimnion and high water temperatures in the epilimnion. Dissolved oxygen and temperature profiles provided evidence to suggest the north basin is more suitable …

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Nitrogen Fertilization Has A Stronger Effect On Soil Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterial Communities Than Elevated Atmospheric Co2, Sean T. Berthrong, Chris M. Yeager, Laverne Gallegos-Graves, Blaire Steven, Stephanie A. Eichorst, Robert B. Jackson, Cheryl R. Kuske Jan 2014

Nitrogen Fertilization Has A Stronger Effect On Soil Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterial Communities Than Elevated Atmospheric Co2, Sean T. Berthrong, Chris M. Yeager, Laverne Gallegos-Graves, Blaire Steven, Stephanie A. Eichorst, Robert B. Jackson, Cheryl R. Kuske

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Biological nitrogen fixation is the primary supply of N to most ecosystems, yet there is considerable uncertainty about how N-fixing bacteria will respond to global change factors such as increasing atmospheric CO2 and N deposition. Using the nifH gene as a molecular marker, we studied how the community structure of N-fixing soil bacteria from temperate pine, aspen, and sweet gum stands and a brackish tidal marsh responded to multiyear elevated CO2 conditions. We also examined how N availability, specifically, N fertilization, interacted with elevated CO2 to affect these communities in the temperate pine forest. Based on data …

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Approaches To Restoration: Assessing The Roles Of Structure And Function In Saltmarsh Restoration In Light Of Climate Change, Abby O. Pearson Ms Jan 2014

Approaches To Restoration: Assessing The Roles Of Structure And Function In Saltmarsh Restoration In Light Of Climate Change, Abby O. Pearson Ms

All Student Scholarship

The aim of this thesis is to review the current goals and methods for salt marsh restoration, to question how those goals and methods may change in light of global change, and to present a case study that offers a look at the kinds of information that can be gleaned by studying both structure and functionality in restoration.

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Defining The Physiochemical, Biological And Habitat Requirements For The Upper Extant Of Oncorhynchus Mykiss Distribution, Emily Powers Jan 2014

Defining The Physiochemical, Biological And Habitat Requirements For The Upper Extant Of Oncorhynchus Mykiss Distribution, Emily Powers

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The distribution of rainbow trout is strongly influenced by their habitat. As climatic conditions change, the distribution of rainbow trout populations will change along with them. The objective of this study was to identify the particular habitat parameters that rainbow trout select for in this lotic system and to specifically assess how this relates to the upper extant of their distribution. By assessing the distribution of the upper extant specifically, future research may be conducted to better assess climatic changes on a small and/or large scale basis. A 9,000 m section of the Clearwater River was used as the study …

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Egg Cannibalism In A Gull Colony Increases With Sea Surface Temperature, Lynelle M. Weldon, Shandelle M. Henson, James Hayward, Brianna G. Payne, Libby C. Megna, Andre E. Moncrieff Jan 2014

Egg Cannibalism In A Gull Colony Increases With Sea Surface Temperature, Lynelle M. Weldon, Shandelle M. Henson, James Hayward, Brianna G. Payne, Libby C. Megna, Andre E. Moncrieff

Faculty Publications

Cannibalism occurs regularly across a broad range of taxa with a variety of ecological and evolutionary consequences. Rises in sea surface temperature (SST) have been linked to increased cannibalism in some species, including polar bears (Ursus maritimus), Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens), and Peruvian hake (Merluccius gayi peruanus), and might be expected in birds that depend on marine food webs for sustenance. Increased SSTs are associated with lowered ocean thermoclines and weakened upwellings. These changes, in turn, lead to decreased productivity in surface water and movement of surviving forage fish to deeper water, thereby food-stressing surface feeders such as gulls, diminishing …

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Comparison Of Phenology And Pathogen Prevalence, Including Infection With The Ehrlichia Muris-Like (Eml) Agent, Of Ixodes Scapularis Removed From Soldiers In The Midwestern And Northeastern United States Over A 15 Year Period (1997-2012), Ellen Stromdahl, Sarah Hamer, Sarah Jenkins, Lynne Sloan, Phillip Williamson, Erik Foster, Robyn Nadolny, Chad Elkins, Mary Vince, Bobbi Pritt Jan 2014

Comparison Of Phenology And Pathogen Prevalence, Including Infection With The Ehrlichia Muris-Like (Eml) Agent, Of Ixodes Scapularis Removed From Soldiers In The Midwestern And Northeastern United States Over A 15 Year Period (1997-2012), Ellen Stromdahl, Sarah Hamer, Sarah Jenkins, Lynne Sloan, Phillip Williamson, Erik Foster, Robyn Nadolny, Chad Elkins, Mary Vince, Bobbi Pritt

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Since 1997, human-biting ticks submitted to the Department of Defense Human Tick Test Kit Program (HTTKP) of the US Army Public Health Command have been tested for pathogens by PCR. We noted differences in the phenology and infection prevalence among Ixodes scapularis ticks submitted from military installations in different geographic regions. The aim of this study was to characterize these observed differences, comparing the phenology and pathogen infection rates of I. scapularis submitted from soldiers at two sites in the upper Midwest ( Camp Ripley, MN, and Ft. McCoy, WI) and one site in the northeastern US (Ft. Indiantown …

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Assessing Growth Response To Climate Controls In A Great Basin Artemisia Tridentata Plant Community, Lorenzo F. Apodaca Dec 2013

Assessing Growth Response To Climate Controls In A Great Basin Artemisia Tridentata Plant Community, Lorenzo F. Apodaca

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An assessment of the growth response of key vegetative species to climatic variability is vital to identifying possible local impacts on ecosystems faced with imminent climate change. With current climate projections in Nevada predicting a shift to an even more arid climate with greater year-to-year variability, the imperative exists to identify the effects of specific climatic controls on plant growth and to research methods to assess large-scale vegetative changes, especially in more remote areas where readily available data sets may be lacking. This study utilized annual growth ring indices constructed from big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentatassp.tridentata) stems collected in Spring Valley, …

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Microclimate Moderates Plant Responses To Macroclimate Warming, Pieter De Frenne, Francisco Rodríguez-Sánchez, David Anthony Coomes, Lander Baeten, Gorik Verstraeten, Mark Vellend, Markus Bernhardt-Römermann, Carissa D. Brownd, Jörg Brunet, Johnny Cornelis, Guillaume M. Decocq, Hartmut Dierschke, Ove Eriksson, Frank S. Gilliam, Radim Hédl, Thilo Heinken, Martin Hermy, Patrick Hommel, Michael A. Jenkins, Daniel L. Kelly, Keith J. Kirby, Fraser J. G. Mitchell, Tobias Naaf, Miles Newman, George Peterken, Petr Petrík, Jan Schultz, Grégory Sonnier, Hans Van Calster, Donald M. Waller, Gian-Reto Walther, Peter S. White, Kerry D. Woods, Monika Wulf, Bente Jessen Graae, Kris Verheyen Sep 2013

Microclimate Moderates Plant Responses To Macroclimate Warming, Pieter De Frenne, Francisco Rodríguez-Sánchez, David Anthony Coomes, Lander Baeten, Gorik Verstraeten, Mark Vellend, Markus Bernhardt-Römermann, Carissa D. Brownd, Jörg Brunet, Johnny Cornelis, Guillaume M. Decocq, Hartmut Dierschke, Ove Eriksson, Frank S. Gilliam, Radim Hédl, Thilo Heinken, Martin Hermy, Patrick Hommel, Michael A. Jenkins, Daniel L. Kelly, Keith J. Kirby, Fraser J. G. Mitchell, Tobias Naaf, Miles Newman, George Peterken, Petr Petrík, Jan Schultz, Grégory Sonnier, Hans Van Calster, Donald M. Waller, Gian-Reto Walther, Peter S. White, Kerry D. Woods, Monika Wulf, Bente Jessen Graae, Kris Verheyen

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Recent global warming is acting across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems to favor species adapted to warmer conditions and/or reduce the abundance of cold-adapted organisms (i.e., “thermophilization” of communities). Lack of community responses to increased temperature, however, has also been reported for several taxa and regions, suggesting that “climatic lags” may be frequent. Here we show that microclimatic effects brought about by forest canopy closure can buffer biotic responses to macroclimate warming, thus explaining an apparent climatic lag. Using data from 1,409 vegetation plots in European and North American temperate forests, each surveyed at least twice over an interval of …

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Four Decades Of Andean Timberline Migration And Implications For Biodiversity Loss With Climate Change, David A. Lutz, Rebecca L. Powell, Miles R. Silman Sep 2013

Four Decades Of Andean Timberline Migration And Implications For Biodiversity Loss With Climate Change, David A. Lutz, Rebecca L. Powell, Miles R. Silman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Rapid 21st-century climate change may lead to large population decreases and extinction in tropical montane cloud forest species in the Andes. While prior research has focused on species migrations per se, ecotones may respond to different environmental factors than species. Even if species can migrate in response to climate change, if ecotones do not they can function as hard barriers to species migrations, making ecotone migrations central to understanding species persistence under scenarios of climate change. We examined a 42-year span of aerial photographs and high resolution satellite imagery to calculate migration rates of timberline–the grassland-forest ecotone–inside and outside of …

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Evaluation Of Species Distribution Models By Resampling Of Sites Surveyed A Century Ago By Joseph Grinnell, Adam B. Smith, Maria J. Santos, Michelle S. Koo, Karen M.C. Rowe, Kevin C. Rowe, James L. Patton, John D. Perrine, Steven R. Beissinger, Craig Moritz Sep 2013

Evaluation Of Species Distribution Models By Resampling Of Sites Surveyed A Century Ago By Joseph Grinnell, Adam B. Smith, Maria J. Santos, Michelle S. Koo, Karen M.C. Rowe, Kevin C. Rowe, James L. Patton, John D. Perrine, Steven R. Beissinger, Craig Moritz

Biological Sciences

Species distribution models (SDMs) are commonly applied to predict species’ responses to anticipated global change, but lack of data from future time periods precludes assessment of their reliability. Instead, performance against test data in the same era is assumed to correlate with accuracy in the future. Moreover, high-confidence absence data is required for testing model accuracy but is often unavailable since a species may be present when undetected. Here we evaluate the performance of eight SDMs trained with historic (1900–1939) or modern (1970–2009) climate data and occurrence records for 18 mammalian species. Models were projected to the same or the …

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The Effects Of Climate Change On Stream Invertebrates In Their Role As Biological Indicators And Responders To Disturbance, Anna T. Hamilton Jul 2013

The Effects Of Climate Change On Stream Invertebrates In Their Role As Biological Indicators And Responders To Disturbance, Anna T. Hamilton

Biology ETDs

Global climate models provide estimates of future changes in air temperature and precipitation patterns, drought, flooding, sea-level rise, and increases in the frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme heat and storm events. These climate changes will affect stream invertebrate communities directly, indirectly, and through interactions with other stressors, resulting in a range of biological responses, including species range shifts, losses and replacements, novel community compositions, and altered ecosystem functions and services. Effects will vary regionally and present heretofore unaccounted influences on biomonitoring, which water-quality agencies use to assess the status and health of ecosystems as required by the Clean Water …

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Predicted Effects Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Invasive Grass Dichanthium Annulatum, Cynthia Isabel Garcia May 2013

Predicted Effects Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Invasive Grass Dichanthium Annulatum, Cynthia Isabel Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Kleberg bluestem (Dichanthium annulatum) is an invasive grass species native to Africa but now found in southern United States, Mexico, and other tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world. Using the modeling software MaxEnt, climatic variables from WorldClim, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenario A1B, and two General Circulatory Models: the Canadian model (Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis or CCCMA), and the Australian model (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation or CSIRO), several models were developed to determine the possible implications of climatic change on the suitable habitat for D. annulatum, in the year 2050. Models …

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Bears, Birds, Bugs And Climate: Environews #^, Richard Philp Apr 2013

Bears, Birds, Bugs And Climate: Environews #^, Richard Philp

Data and Test Instruments

There has long been a concern that global warming would cause species movements reflective of the instinctive drive to seek the most favorable environmental conditions. One concern is that agricultural pests and carriers of diseases like malaria would move north and south from tropical and subtropical areas. Some changes may benefit the species but not necessarily humankind. Both predicted and observed changes are discussed with examples from plant and animal species. Some concerns are controversial, kike the effect of climate change on polar bears.

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Synergistic Effects Of The Invasive Chinese Tallow (Triadica Sebifera) And Climate Change On Aquatic Amphibian Survival, Daniel Saenz, Erin M. Fucik, Matthew Kwiatkowski Jan 2013

Synergistic Effects Of The Invasive Chinese Tallow (Triadica Sebifera) And Climate Change On Aquatic Amphibian Survival, Daniel Saenz, Erin M. Fucik, Matthew Kwiatkowski

Faculty Publications

Changes in climate and the introduction of invasive species are two major stressors to amphibians, although little is known about the interaction between these two factors with regard to impacts on amphibians. We focused our study on an invasive tree species, the Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera), that annually sheds its leaves and produces leaf litter that is known to negatively impact aquatic amphibian survival. The purpose of our research was to determine whether the timing of leaf fall from Chinese tallow and the timing of amphibian breeding (determined by weather) influence survival of amphibian larvae. We simulated a …

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Sex Ratios Of Juvenile Green Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Three Developmental Habitats Along The Coast Of Florida, Cheryl Sanchez Jan 2013

Sex Ratios Of Juvenile Green Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Three Developmental Habitats Along The Coast Of Florida, Cheryl Sanchez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of temperature dependent sex determination (TSD) has been somewhat of an evolutionary enigma for many decades and has had increased attention with the growing predictions of a changing climate, particularly in species that are already threatened or endangered. TSD taxa of concern include marine turtles, which go through various life stages covering a range of regions. This, in turn, creates difficulties in addressing basic demographic questions. Secondary sex ratios (from life stages post-hatchling) were investigated by capturing juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas), 22.6-60.9 cm in straight carapace length (SCL), from three developmental areas along the east coast of …

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Modeling The Ecological Niche Of The Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee Under Climate Change, Paul Ryan Sesink Clee Jan 2013

Modeling The Ecological Niche Of The Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee Under Climate Change, Paul Ryan Sesink Clee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Ecological niche theory states that a set of environmental conditions exists that a species relies upon in order to survive and reproduce. Collectively, these variables define a species' niche, which includes a species' dispersal abilities and its range. Ecological niche modeling predicts the distributions of species by using information from environmental variables across geographic space, making it a valuable tool for studying how environment affects population dynamics. With accurate species presence data and geospatial information that describe its known habitat, ENMs can effectively map a species' realized niche across geographical space, and for closely related taxa, be used to understand …

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Investigation Of Media Ingredients And Water Sources For Algae Co2 Capture At Different Scales To Demonstrate The Correlations Between Lab-Scale And Large-Scale Growth, Tabitha Graham Jan 2013

Investigation Of Media Ingredients And Water Sources For Algae Co2 Capture At Different Scales To Demonstrate The Correlations Between Lab-Scale And Large-Scale Growth, Tabitha Graham

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

As energy use increases globally the environmental burdens increase alike. Many accusations have been made that carbon dioxide is a culprit of climate change. The University of Kentucky and Duke Energy Power have partnered to test carbon capture technology in a large scale project. To this end, the objective of this thesis is to investigate potential water media sources and nutrient sources at different volume scales for algae cultivation to help create a more environmentally viable and economically feasible solution. This work will conduct a life cycle assessment of water media sources and the effects of the inputs and outputs …

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Ecological Interactions Influencing Avicennia Germinans Propagule Dispersal And Seedling Establishment At Mangrove-Saltmarsh Boundaries, Jennifer Mcclain Peterson Jan 2013

Ecological Interactions Influencing Avicennia Germinans Propagule Dispersal And Seedling Establishment At Mangrove-Saltmarsh Boundaries, Jennifer Mcclain Peterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mangroves and saltmarshes are ecologically important coastal ecosystems; unfortunately, these low-lying coastal ecosystems are vulnerable to global climate change. As sea-levels rise, mangroves are expected to shift their distribution landward towards higher elevation sites that are occupied by other plants, including saltmarsh taxa. Therefore, mangrove recruits at the leading edge of expansion may interact with diverse assemblages of saltmarsh plants, and these interactions could influence the success of mangrove encroachment into higher tidal-elevation areas. The purpose of the research presented here was to investigate empirically the ecological interactions that may influence the recruitment of the black mangrove, Avicennia germinans, …

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Relating Climate Change To The Nesting Phenology And Nest Environment Of Marine Turtles, Monette Schwoerer Jan 2013

Relating Climate Change To The Nesting Phenology And Nest Environment Of Marine Turtles, Monette Schwoerer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ectotherms (including marine turtles) being especially sensitive to climate, are at risk to the accelerated rate of human-driven climate change. This study addresses two concerns associated with marine turtles and climate change – the relationship between the timing of marine turtle nesting and sea surface temperature; and the concern over the feminization of marine turtle populations due to rising sand temperatures. Previous studies of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) and green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) have documented the relationship between sea surface temperatures and nesting phenology. Earlier nesting behaviors in both species have been associated with warmer sea surface temperatures. …

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Foraging And Digestive Energetics In Montane And Lowland Salamanders, Cody Lund Barnes Jul 2012

Foraging And Digestive Energetics In Montane And Lowland Salamanders, Cody Lund Barnes

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal physiology substantially limits the distributions of organisms across landscapes. Specifically, the thermal sensitivity of foraging and digestive energetics influence the quantity of energy available for allocating to specific life functions. I hypothesized that foraging and Specific Dynamic Action (SDA) performances would differ between montane endemic and lowland salamander species. I found that foraging energetics differed between the montane endemics, Plethodon ouachitae and P. caddoensis, in comparison to the lowland P. albagula. Differences in foraging energetics were particularly pronounced at the warmest temperature and the montane endemics were more thermally sensitive, suggesting that constraints in foraging energetics influence the elevational …

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Shorter Migration Distances Associated With Higher Winter Temperatures Suggest A Mechanism For Advancing Nesting Phenology Of American Kestrels Falco Sparverius, Julie A. Heath, Karen Steenhof, Mark A. Foster Jul 2012

Shorter Migration Distances Associated With Higher Winter Temperatures Suggest A Mechanism For Advancing Nesting Phenology Of American Kestrels Falco Sparverius, Julie A. Heath, Karen Steenhof, Mark A. Foster

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Global climate change has affected avian migration patterns and nesting phenology. Changes in one phase of a bird's cycle will most likely affect other stages, but few studies focus simultaneously on multiple life-history events. We used western North American ringing records and Christmas Bird Counts to examine whether changes in migration patterns were concordant with advancing American kestrel Falco sparverius nesting phenology. Consistent with previous findings, male kestrels migrated shorter distances than female kestrels, and kestrels nesting in southern latitudes migrated shorter distances than kestrels nesting in more northern areas. In addition, kestrel migration distance decreased significantly from 1960 to …

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