Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
-
- University of Nebraska - Lincoln (326)
- Chapman University (68)
- Utah State University (68)
- City University of New York (CUNY) (54)
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville (49)
-
- Cal Poly Humboldt (43)
- California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (42)
- University of Louisville (39)
- University of Montana (34)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (28)
- Marshall University (27)
- University of New Mexico (27)
- The University of Southern Mississippi (26)
- Louisiana State University (25)
- University of South Florida (25)
- Georgia Southern University (24)
- Illinois State University (23)
- WellBeing International (22)
- Illinois Math and Science Academy (20)
- East Tennessee State University (19)
- Portland State University (19)
- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (19)
- Central Washington University (18)
- Boise State University (17)
- University of Connecticut (16)
- LSU New Orleans (15)
- Clemson University (14)
- Western Kentucky University (14)
- Claremont Colleges (13)
- Kennesaw State University (13)
- Keyword
-
- Ecology (91)
- Conservation (52)
- Climate change (49)
- Evolution (37)
- Biodiversity (34)
-
- Invasive species (31)
- Colinus virginianus (25)
- Northern bobwhite (24)
- Management (23)
- Behavior (21)
- Restoration (21)
- Predation (20)
- Species extinction (20)
- Ecosystem disruption (19)
- Environmental impact (19)
- UN Sustainable Development Goals (19)
- Community ecology (18)
- Distribution (18)
- Human-wildlife interactions (18)
- Fire (16)
- Fish (16)
- Florida (16)
- Biology (15)
- Birds (14)
- Diversity (14)
- Habitat (13)
- Nebraska (13)
- Occupancy (13)
- Biogeography (12)
- Biological Sciences (12)
- Publication Year
- Publication
-
- Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum (1924–2023) (114)
- Human–Wildlife Interactions (57)
- Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research (49)
- Theses and Dissertations (49)
- Electronic Theses and Dissertations (48)
-
- University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers (48)
- National Quail Symposium Proceedings (44)
- Master's Theses (41)
- Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects (34)
- Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series (31)
- Papers in Herpetology (27)
- Theses, Dissertations and Capstones (25)
- 2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference (24)
- Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers (22)
- Honors Theses (21)
- Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research (19)
- College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (18)
- Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects (18)
- Biology ETDs (16)
- School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research (16)
- LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations (15)
- Boise State University Theses and Dissertations (14)
- Jeffrey Stevens Publications (14)
- LSU Master's Theses (14)
- Publications and Research (14)
- All Master's Theses (13)
- Dissertations (13)
- Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports (13)
- STAR Program Research Presentations (13)
- USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations (13)
- Publication Type
- File Type
Articles 451 - 480 of 1684
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Measuring Multiple Demographic Rates In Two Populations Of Northern Bobwhite, Alexander L. Jackson, D. Clay Sisson, Justin A. Rectenwald
Measuring Multiple Demographic Rates In Two Populations Of Northern Bobwhite, Alexander L. Jackson, D. Clay Sisson, Justin A. Rectenwald
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
Demographic rates of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) may vary spatially and temporally, and understanding the significance of these individual rates to population performance is critically important to bobwhite management. We present descriptive evidence from 2 populations that were simultaneously monitored from 2015–2020 that suggests different demographic rates can be more important to population performance than other demographic rates within the same region. Our objective was to understand the relative importance of various demographic rates to population performance in separate and seemingly stable populations. We monitored bobwhite seasonal survival and reproductive demographics on 2,475 bobwhites via radio-telemetry …
Diurnal Occurrence Of Great-Horned Owls On Northern Bobwhite Hunting Properties In Southwest Georgia, Justin A. Rectenwald, Philip M. Coppola, Theron M. Terhune Ii, D. Clay Sisson, James A. Martin
Diurnal Occurrence Of Great-Horned Owls On Northern Bobwhite Hunting Properties In Southwest Georgia, Justin A. Rectenwald, Philip M. Coppola, Theron M. Terhune Ii, D. Clay Sisson, James A. Martin
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
Understanding interactions between prey species and their predators is essential to discerning the ecology and management fundamentals of a species. Great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus) have long been considered an opportunistic predator of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and recent studies have demonstrated that bobwhite survival is reduced at higher great-horned owl densities (Rectenwald et al. 2021). Managers on quail properties often mechanically remove live oak (Quercus virginiana) hammocks as part of larger predation management plans to reduce the amount of suitable predator habitat. While scattered live oaks are typically left for aesthetic purposes, …
Home Range And Space Use Of Northern Bobwhite Under Two Different Management Models In Southwestern Missouri, Thomas R. Thompson, Frank L. Loncarich, R. Kyle Hedges
Home Range And Space Use Of Northern Bobwhite Under Two Different Management Models In Southwestern Missouri, Thomas R. Thompson, Frank L. Loncarich, R. Kyle Hedges
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) management in Missouri, USA has traditionally been focused on providing an interspersion of grass, crop, old field, and woody cover juxtaposed to disked idle areas and food plots to maintain bobwhite populations. This traditional model is implemented with the goal of providing all essential habitat components within 40-acre blocks throughout a larger area used by a population. While this model can produce usable bobwhite space in agriculture-dominated landscapes, it may not be the most effective or efficient approach to producing and maintaining bobwhite in grassland-dominated landscapes. In southwestern Missouri native tallgrass prairie …
Results From Kentucky’S 10-Year Bobwhite Recovery Plan, Cody M. Rhoden, John J. Morgan, Ben A. Robinson, Gary Sprandel
Results From Kentucky’S 10-Year Bobwhite Recovery Plan, Cody M. Rhoden, John J. Morgan, Ben A. Robinson, Gary Sprandel
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) has experienced a precipitous population decline through almost all its historical range over the last 6 decades. We initiated a 10-year restoration plan in Kentucky, USA in 2008 and reported on it through 3 published “Road to Recovery” reports along with 30 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts, 2 technical documents, 7 theses or dissertations, and 11 popular literature pieces. Seven Quail Focus Areas were selected across the state based on site personnel, geographic position (east to west), and land ownership (e.g., private, public, state, federal) for monitoring and habitat management. The focus …
Landowner Cooperative Key To Success In The Bee Ridge Quail Focus Area, John A. Pinkowski, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White
Landowner Cooperative Key To Success In The Bee Ridge Quail Focus Area, John A. Pinkowski, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began establishing Quail Focus Areas (QFAs) on private lands in 2004. The goal of QFAs is to increase and expand quail habitat management efforts around a core area. Because most (93%) of the landscape of Missouri, USA is in private ownership, habitat improvement programs on private lands have greater potential to impact quail populations than on public lands alone. A motivated group of landowners led the charge to begin habitat improvement efforts in the Bee Ridge QFA. This group was instrumental in starting earlier monitoring efforts to determine whether habitat improvements were leading to …
Habitat Works: How Partnerships And Habitat Improvement Have Restored Quail Populations In The 2c Quail Focus Area, E. Lee Metcalf, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White
Habitat Works: How Partnerships And Habitat Improvement Have Restored Quail Populations In The 2c Quail Focus Area, E. Lee Metcalf, Beth A. Emmerich, William T. White
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began establishing Quail Focus Areas (QFAs) on private lands in 2004. The goal of QFAs was to bring groups of landowners together to manage bobwhite habitat on a larger scale in a targeted landscape. Through a variety of state, federal, and other partnership programs, habitat improvement efforts have resulted in large increases in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) numbers in the 2C QFA. In spring 2013, MDC staff and Quail Forever biologists began monitoring bobwhite and songbirds in a portion of the 2C QFA in Carroll County, Missouri, USA and in …
Adaptive Management Facilitates Increase In Northern Bobwhite Populations, James A. Martin, Clay Sisson, Justin Rectenwald, Paige Howell
Adaptive Management Facilitates Increase In Northern Bobwhite Populations, James A. Martin, Clay Sisson, Justin Rectenwald, Paige Howell
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
Adaptive resource management (ARM) is an approach to managing that allows decision makers to learn about a system and subsequently change management actions based on new information about system processes (i.e., adapt) to better meet fundamental objectives. This is not to be confused with changing management actions when the state of the system changes. For example, changing a harvest regulation when populations decline is not ARM. This dynamic decision making may be fortuitously optimal, but if the effect of harvest is uncertain then changing regulations may be suboptimal—for example, weather may have caused the decline. Adaptive resource management can be …
Adaptive Management And Quail Conservation On Rangelands In The American West, Leonard A. Brennan, Ashley Tanner, Evan P. Tanner
Adaptive Management And Quail Conservation On Rangelands In The American West, Leonard A. Brennan, Ashley Tanner, Evan P. Tanner
National Quail Symposium Proceedings
Adaptive management has been and is being practiced with the goal of sustaining populations of wild quails on large areas of rangelands in the American West. Because the current land use practices throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States largely do not promote early-successional vegetation communities, rangelands contain the largest remaining blocks of contiguous (unfragmented) habitat for the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and the other 5 species of quails found in the western states. Many wildlife professionals on both private and public rangelands are practicing a diverse array of quail habitat and population management actions …
Spatio-Temporal Changes In Vegetation In The Last Two Decades (2001–2020) In The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region, Yuan Zou, Wei Chen, Siliang Li, Tiejun Wang, Le Yu, Min Xu, Ramesh P. Singh, Cong-Qiang Liu
Spatio-Temporal Changes In Vegetation In The Last Two Decades (2001–2020) In The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region, Yuan Zou, Wei Chen, Siliang Li, Tiejun Wang, Le Yu, Min Xu, Ramesh P. Singh, Cong-Qiang Liu
Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research
In terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation is sensitive to climate change and human activities. Its spatial-temporal changes also affect the ecological and social environment. In this paper, we considered the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region to study the spatio-temporal vegetation patterns. The detailed analysis of a moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were carried out through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Our results show a slow and tortuous upward trend in the average leaf area index (LAI) in the study region for the periods 2001–2020. Specifically, Beijing had the highest LAI value, with an average of 1.64 over twenty years, followed by Hebei (1.30) and …
Evaluating Non-Invasive Environmental Methods For Detecting Tropical African Pangolin Species To Inform Conservation Actions, Ichu Godwill Ichu
Evaluating Non-Invasive Environmental Methods For Detecting Tropical African Pangolin Species To Inform Conservation Actions, Ichu Godwill Ichu
Theses and Dissertations
Tropical African pangolin species are threatened throughout their range due to habitat loss and illegal take. Limited knowledge on distribution has rendered conservation efforts challenging. Methods commonly used for other wildlife species need to be tested for each pangolin species as each has variable ecologies requiring specific detection and monitoring techniques. This thesis evaluates the efficacy of two non-invasive environmental methods for detecting tropical African pangolin species, and consists of two complementary studies; a proof of concept study using soil sourced eDNA from a white-bellied pangolin enclosure in the Columbus Zoo, Ohio, to detect the species, and a field study …
Effects Of Mass Death On Community Structure And Ecosystem Function, Abby Kimpton Jones
Effects Of Mass Death On Community Structure And Ecosystem Function, Abby Kimpton Jones
Theses and Dissertations
Death and decomposition are natural processes that are generally well-understood. However, large events of death, such as mass mortality events (MMEs) are increasing in frequency and their impacts on the ecosystem are largely unknown. These events may have both bottom-up effects from increased nutrient input as well as top-down effects from loss of an ecological functional group by the affected population. Different functional MMEs may result in different top-down effects, creating cascading effects. In Chapter 1, I test the hypothesis that scavenger and herbivore simulated MMEs generate novel bottom-up and top-down effects. Results indicate that MMEs have a significant effect …
Spring Gobbling Chronology And Turkey Habitat Use In Upstate South Carolina, Janelle Grehan
Spring Gobbling Chronology And Turkey Habitat Use In Upstate South Carolina, Janelle Grehan
All Theses
Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a highly popular game species harvested primarily during the reproductive season, which has driven substantial efforts to understand patterns of springtime habitat use and gobbling activity. Autonomous recording units (ARUs) have enabled researchers to collect unprecedented amounts of gobbling data, yet post hoc processing of audio data has been time-intensive due to false detection rates. Gobbling activity has been studied in the South Carolina Coastal Plain, but data for the Upstate are lacking. My objectives were to assess seasonal and weekly gobbling activity and turkey habitat use in Upstate South Carolina relative to …
Reproductive Ecology And Microbial Communities From Wood Duck Nest Boxes In Georgia And Florida, Jake Shurba
Reproductive Ecology And Microbial Communities From Wood Duck Nest Boxes In Georgia And Florida, Jake Shurba
All Theses
Wood ducks (Aix sponsa) are an important game species throughout the Atlantic Flyway that was nearly extirpated by the early 20th century due to overhunting and the loss of habitat. Wood ducks are secondary cavity-nesters that utilize artificial nest boxes and natural cavities. It is reported that the use of nest boxes is likely what led to re-establishment of the species in North America. Where boxes are numerous, overuse of boxes by multiple hens throughout a nesting season can occur and result in a buildup of bacteria, parasites and other potentially detrimental pathogens that can impact egg …
Chromosome Number Evolution, Phylogeography, And The Effects Of Climate Change On Species Distributions In Polyploid Plant Systems, Courtney H. Babin
Chromosome Number Evolution, Phylogeography, And The Effects Of Climate Change On Species Distributions In Polyploid Plant Systems, Courtney H. Babin
LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
Polyploidy, a term used to describe organisms with cells having more than two paired sets of chromosomes, is a significant driver of diversification among land plants. Over a century of research has advanced our understanding of polyploidization in some taxa, but polyploid organisms remain understudied. In this dissertation, I investigate chromosome number evolution, phylogeographic structure, genetic differentiation, and the effects of climate change on ploidy level distribution using polyploid plant systems. In the first chapter, I inferred a molecular phylogeny of Allium, an economically important genus that includes cultivated crops and ornamentals, to investigate evolutionary transitions in chromosome number …
The Paleoecology Of High-Elevation Bison In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Implications For Modern Bison Conservation, Darian Bouvier
The Paleoecology Of High-Elevation Bison In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Implications For Modern Bison Conservation, Darian Bouvier
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The national mammal of the United States, the American Bison (Bison bison) was once nearly extinct. Populations have recovered to the degree that thousands roam the Great Plains today. Due to their large numbers and body size, this species has an oversized impact on the ecological communities where it lives and is considered a keystone herbivore in modern North American grasslands. This study explores the detailed, seasonally resolved, paleoecology of seven bison from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem during the Late Holocene through stable isotope analyses and species niche modeling. Isotopic analyses of δ13C, δ15N, …
Regional-Scale Climate-Induced Variation In Ant Physiology And Morphology, Daniel E. Murphy
Regional-Scale Climate-Induced Variation In Ant Physiology And Morphology, Daniel E. Murphy
Biology Theses
The biology of ectotherms such as insects is influenced by ambient thermal conditions. Ants are a ubiquitous and ecologically important group of insects and are well-established as bioindicators of thermal conditions. Ants are sensitive to the thermal extremes that vary with latitude, elevation, and land use, and these thermal gradients influence their spatial and temporal distributions. As a result, ants have evolved physiological and morphological thermal adaptations in response to the thermal environment of their habitats. These adaptations include increased physiological and morphological tolerance for temperature extremes. In Western New York (WNY), temperatures are temporally and spatially heterogeneous, changing with …
The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen
The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen
Theses and Dissertations
The study’s goal was to learn what aspects of the piping plover experience affect reproductive outcomes at Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area. Nest location was found to help predict reproductive success. Nests further from American oystercatcher nests were likely to fledge more chicks. Reproductive success was low in 2021.
Chemical And Biological Stressors Threaten Native Fish Diversity In The Spring River Subbasin Of Kansas, Alexandra King
Chemical And Biological Stressors Threaten Native Fish Diversity In The Spring River Subbasin Of Kansas, Alexandra King
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Chemical pollution and nonnative species are two of the major threats facing freshwater fishes. As such, understanding how freshwater fish communities respond to pollution remediation efforts and nonnative fish introductions are primary goals of native fish conservation. Within the Spring River subbasin (SRS) of southeastern Kansas, this study examined the long-term response of riffle fish communities to decreases in heavy metal concentrations, as well as the effects of introduced Blackspotted Topminnow (Fundulus olivaceus) on native Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus). The objectives of our research in Chapter 01 of this thesis were to quantify changes in riffle …
Using Satellite Imagery To Compare Land Cover And Water Resources In Two Counties Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Gabrielle Baker, Mary Ann Vinton
Using Satellite Imagery To Compare Land Cover And Water Resources In Two Counties Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Gabrielle Baker, Mary Ann Vinton
Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies
The Nebraska Sandhills comprise the most intact grassland habitat in the world and 95% of land use consists of low intensity cattle grazing. Water is a key resource for cattle and for growing hay forage in this semi-arid grassland. Ranchers rely on either naturally occurring wet meadows or center pivot irrigation systems (CPIS) to produce hay. With the possibility of climate change creating more frequent extreme weather events, more flooding events or severe droughts could affect land and water resources in the Sandhills. With potentially more wet/dry extremes in the future, an understanding of the way water resources respond, and …
Bee Brains: Dissecting Pollinator Behavior And The Importance Of Plasticity In The Face Of Changing Environments, Rachel Brant
Bee Brains: Dissecting Pollinator Behavior And The Importance Of Plasticity In The Face Of Changing Environments, Rachel Brant
Dissertations
All organisms face environmental variability, and much of contemporary biological research aims to understand the mechanisms allowing organisms to adapt and survive in the face of change. Animals residing in urban habitats face particularly high levels of unpredictability and environmental fluctuation due to changes based upon human desire. Though urban areas are considered relatively novel habitats, numerous species have adapted to city life, mediated through behavioral and physiological plasticity. Native bee species show particularly high species richness and abundance in urban settings, but the mechanisms driving this pattern are poorly understood. In this dissertation, I explore how bees employ plasticity …
Effects Of Forest Restoration On The Recovery Of Dead Wood, Associated Arthropods, And Insect-Mediated Wood Decomposition, Estefania Fernandez Barrancos
Effects Of Forest Restoration On The Recovery Of Dead Wood, Associated Arthropods, And Insect-Mediated Wood Decomposition, Estefania Fernandez Barrancos
Dissertations
Dead wood represents 8% of terrestrial carbon stocks and is an important source of habitat and food for decomposer and non-decomposer arthropods. However, anthropogenic disturbance reduces the amount of dead wood, putting at risk the presence of a habitat that is essential for many arthropods and other organisms that rely on it for food and shelter. Forest restoration aims to assist the recovery of ecosystems that have been damaged or destroyed and could be a means to recover both dead wood and its associated arthropod communities. This doctoral dissertation lies at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity loss and ecological …
Farming For The Future; Managing Lowland Grassland For Biodiversity, Sally Griffin
Farming For The Future; Managing Lowland Grassland For Biodiversity, Sally Griffin
ORBioM (Open Research BioSciences Meeting)
Grassland is Ireland’s most expansive terrestrial habitat type covering >58% of the land cover but its biodiversity is under serious threat of agricultural intensification or land abandonment. While the decline in Irish grassland biodiversity has been recognised, there is a paucity of research into the restoration of lowland mesotrophic grassland. Most of Ireland’s grasslands are privately farmed mainly for pasture, therefore, appropriate agricultural management techniques for biodiversity restoration are vital. The purpose of this research was to first classify the lowland grassland vegetation in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry in the west of Ireland (Approx. 244ha). Then to investigate selected …
Maternal Responses In The Face Of Infection Risk, Patricia C. Lopes, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Chathuni Liyanage, Ursula K. Beattie, L. Michael Romero
Maternal Responses In The Face Of Infection Risk, Patricia C. Lopes, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Chathuni Liyanage, Ursula K. Beattie, L. Michael Romero
Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research
When animals are sick, their physiology and behavior change in ways that can impact their offspring. Research is emerging showing that infection risk alone can also modify the physiology and behavior of healthy animals. If physiological responses to environments with high infection risk take place during reproduction, it is possible that they lead to maternal effects. Understanding whether and how high infection risk triggers maternal effects is important to elucidate how the impacts of infectious agents extend beyond infected individuals and how, in this way, they are even stronger evolutionary forces than already considered. Here, to evaluate the effects of …
Diet And Nutrition Of Lemurs In The Lean Season, Santiago Cassalett
Diet And Nutrition Of Lemurs In The Lean Season, Santiago Cassalett
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Animals must navigate complex food and nutrient environments that are constantly in flux to obtain the macro and micronutrients necessary for their growth, reproduction, and survival. The nutritional needs of animals also vary over the life course, further complicating the search for adequate foods and the nutrients within them. The hypervariable and unpredictable environment of Madagascar creates a complex nutrient landscape for lemurs in particular because they are subject to large fluctuations in food availability. These fluctuations are thought to create extreme periods of nutritional stress during the dry season (known as the lean season) for lemurs. In response, lemurs …
Survivorship Of Columbian Black-Tailed Deer In A Predator-Free Environment, Grace Hope Barthelmess
Survivorship Of Columbian Black-Tailed Deer In A Predator-Free Environment, Grace Hope Barthelmess
Honors Projects
Future management of Columbian black tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) populations requires an understanding of survivorship and potential drivers of mortality. Little is currently known about the survivorship of O. h. columbianus, specifically in a predator-free environment. Analyzing the survivorship of deer in these contexts may be crucial for wildlife conservation efforts throughout the United States, as it could provide insight into how deer populations may be impacted by lack of population control by predation. Here, I present age analysis of O. h. columbianus based on the cementum annuli of the lower first molar in 489 males …
Analysis Of Water Quality And Fish Communities Of Crooked Creek, Tributary To The Allegheny River In Southwestern Pennsylvania, Katherine Stupar
Analysis Of Water Quality And Fish Communities Of Crooked Creek, Tributary To The Allegheny River In Southwestern Pennsylvania, Katherine Stupar
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Crooked Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River with a drainage area of 292 square miles. It has been historically affected by mine drainage pollution. Extensive cleanup and monitoring efforts by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have taken place over the last four decades. Unconventional oil extraction, or fracking, presents an emerging threat to the water quality of this stream and the health of its fish communities. Here we perform an analysis of the Crooked Creek watershed utilizing backpack electrofishing, eDNA metabarcoding, and various methods of water quality analysis. Seven sites on …
Migration Ecology Of American White Pelicans: Circannual Movement, Geographic Range, And Annual Survival, Ryo Ogawa
Theses and Dissertations
Responses of migratory birds to seasonal climate and long-term environmental changes have been a central theme of avian migration ecology. Atmospheric conditions (e.g., winds and thermals), climate, and land cover and land use (LCLU) are major factors influencing the flights of soaring birds. Soaring American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) (hereafter, AWPEs) migrate between the subtropical Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the temperate Northern Great Plains. American White Pelicans are also economically important piscivorous birds, causing enormous damages to the commercial Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture in the Southeastern US. My studies aimed to evaluate the effects …
Assessing Priority Bird Response To Open Pine Management In Eastern Mississippi, Holly Marie Todaro
Assessing Priority Bird Response To Open Pine Management In Eastern Mississippi, Holly Marie Todaro
Theses and Dissertations
Fire suppression, combined with lack of forest thinning and short-rotation, monodominant management, has drastically altered the landscape in the southeastern U.S., leading to the loss of open pine ecosystems and associated avian species. Management of open pine ecosystems is a common practice; yet, there remains uncertainty regarding how vegetation structure impacts priority species. Using empirical data, I assessed changes in species abundance and associated vegetation characteristics before and after management. I also sought to identify vegetation characteristics that influence home range establishment and microhabitat selection of Bachman’s Sparrows. Priority species were negatively associated with hardwood midstory and abundance per site …
The Effects Of Short-Term Sea Level Rise On Vegetation Communities In Coastal Mississippi, Brianna Michelle Andrews
The Effects Of Short-Term Sea Level Rise On Vegetation Communities In Coastal Mississippi, Brianna Michelle Andrews
Theses and Dissertations
Salt marshes are important habitats that provide many ecosystem services, but they are susceptible to the impacts of sea level rise (SLR), often resulting in emergent vegetation loss. In areas with enough sediment input, marshes can keep pace with SLR by gaining elevation or through upland migration. However, salt marshes in areas with limited sediment input, such as the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, often cannot keep pace with sea level rise. Additionally, the rate of SLR is increasing making it more difficult for marshes to keep pace. To assess the short-term response of marsh vegetation to sea level …