Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

From Pixels To Plants: Remote Sensing Of California Invasive Plants, Kenneth Rangel

Master's Projects and Capstones

Invasive plants cause significant impacts to ecosystems, the economy, and human health. California has experienced significant plant invasions and is well suited to future invasion because of its Mediterranean climate and human disturbance. Eradication or control of invasive plant species requires a detailed understanding of their spatial distribution, which typically involves on the ground surveys that can be expensive or inconsistent. Remote sensing offers a potential alternative or supplement to in-person invasive plant mapping. This study performed a comparative analysis of 41 remote sensing studies that mapped the distribution of California invasive plants. I found that while high spectral resolution …

Comparison Of Groundwater Chemistry And Associated Biodiversity Of Sulfidic Karst Habitats In Southcentral Kentucky, Kendall Wheeler

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In most ecosystems, primary production is conducted by plants or photosynthetic microbes; however, extremophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria can use hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) as an electron donor to produce metabolic energy in a type of metabolism called chemoautotrophy. These ecosystems are a prominent feature of some karst landscapes, and two have been observed in the Mammoth Cave system, Sulphur River in Parker Cave and Marianne’s Pass in Mammoth Cave National Park respectively.

Sulfidic water is ubiquitous in southcentral Kentucky and is strongly associated with hydrocarbon deposits. This oil boom of the 1880s in this region predates most environmental regulation and records …

Levels Of Autotrophy And Heterotrophy In Mesophotic Corals Near The End Photic Zone, Amy Carmignani, Veronica Z. Radice, Kathryn M. Mcmahon, Alex I. Holman, Karen Miller, Kliti Grice, Zoe Richards

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Mesophotic corals live at ~30-150 m depth and can sustain metabolic processes under light-limited conditions by enhancing autotrophy through specialized photoadaptations or increasing heterotrophic nutrient acquisition. These acclimatory processes are often species-specific, however mesophotic ecosystems are largely unexplored and acclimation limits for most species are unknown. This study examined mesophotic coral ecosystems using a remotely operated vehicle (Ashmore Reef, Western Australia at 40–75m depth) to investigate the trophic ecology of five species of scleractinian coral (from genera Leptoseris, Pachyseris, and Craterastrea) using stable isotope analyses (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of host and symbiont tissues …

Unified Methods In Collecting, Preserving, And Archiving Coral Bleaching And Restoration Specimens To Increase Sample Utility And Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Emily R. Schmeltzer, Andréa G. Grottoli, Robert Van Woesik, Robert J. Toonen, Mark Warner, Kerri L. Dobson, Rowan H. Mclachlan, Katie Barott, Daniel J. Barshis, Justin Baumann, Leila Chapron, David J. Combosch, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Thomas M. Decarlo, Mary Hagedorn, Laetitia Hédouin, Kenneth Hoadley, Thomas Felis, Christine Ferrier-Pagès, Carly Kenkel, Ilsa B. Kuffner, Jennifer Matthews, Mónica Medina, Christopher Meyer, Corinna Oster, James Price, Hollie M. Putnam, Yvonne Sawall

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Coral reefs are declining worldwide primarily because of bleaching and subsequent mortality resulting from thermal stress. Currently, extensive efforts to engage in more holistic research and restoration endeavors have considerably expanded the techniques applied to examine coral samples. Despite such advances, coral bleaching and restoration studies are often conducted within a specific disciplinary focus, where specimens are collected, preserved, and archived in ways that are not always conducive to further downstream analyses by specialists in other disciplines. This approach may prevent the full utilization of unexpended specimens, leading to siloed research, duplicative efforts, unnecessary loss of additional corals to research …

Regenerative Agriculture Effects On Invertebrate And Bird Communities And Insect-Provided Ecosystem Services, Alex Michels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional agricultural practices can have unintended consequences on the environment and wildlife. Insects and birds are declining at rapid rates around the world, and the current conventional agricultural paradigm is a major driver through habitat loss and the intensification of production. Invertebrates in agroecosystems provide services to both farmers and the rest of society. Regenerative systems may promote the functioning of an agroecosystem by influencing invertebrate abundance, diversity, and ecosystem services and mitigate bird and insect declines through conservation practices that increase soil health, reduce disturbances, and increase biological diversity. Here I address knowledge gaps of the effects of regenerative …

Interspersed Denuded Zone (Idz): How Patchy Leaf Litter Dynamics In A Buckthorn-Invaded Urban Woodland Can Affect Microarthropod Species Richness, Angela Stenberg

DePaul Discoveries

Biodiversity loss may serve as a key diagnostic of the Anthropocene. An important driver of this loss is by means of invasive species. In this study of a forest preserve in Chicago, Illinois we examined Interspersed Denuded Zones (IDZs for short), which are areas of patchy leaf litter in invaded forests caused in this case by the rapid decomposition of litter from buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). We characterized the leaf litter mass in IDZs and enumerated litter-inhabiting microarthropod populations. We found that plots of high buckthorn density are associated with IDZs: there was significantly less leaf litter mass in …

Vignette 03: Birds Of The Salish Sea, Rob Butler

Institute Publications

The significance of the Salish Sea comes into focus when we look at the diversity and abundance of its birds and mammals, some of which are globally, continentally, and nationally important. Of particular importance is the diversity and abundance of species on the Fraser River Delta. There are more species of birds on the delta than any comparable area in Canada, and nearly half of all 550 species of birds reported for British Columbia have been seen on the delta. Despite all that has been learned about marine birds and mammals, large areas of the Salish Sea in Canada have …

Vignette 21: How Ecological Time-Series Inform Response To Stressors, Jackson W.F. Chu

Institute Publications

An important part of biodiversity monitoring includes assessing the differences in vulnerability across parts of an ecosystem. Hypoxia is one of the big three climate- related stressors causing biodiversity loss in the oceans. As the ocean warms, its capacity to hold oxygen becomes reduced. At the same time, concurrent shifts in circulation result in changes to how oxygen gets transported from the surface (where oxygen dissolves into the ocean) to the seafloor and from offshore to inshore areas. When a habitat experiences a substantial drop in oxygen, below the point needed to sustain everyday life, animals respond by migrating away, …

Characterizing The Relationship Between Species Richness And The Seasonal Phenomenon Of Tropical Fish Dispersal In New England Waters, Michael E. O'Neill

Graduate Masters Theses

The Gulf Stream exerts tremendous influence over oceanographic conditions in the Northwest Atlantic as it transports tropical water to higher latitudes. As the Gulf Stream’s path traverses the east coast of North America, there are implications for the biogeography of marine ecosystems within this range and beyond. While the meandering eddies and warm core rings generated by the Gulf Stream persist year-round, the seasonal warming of New England’s coastal waters afford many tropical species transported by the current temporary residence through the summer and fall. Many aspects that shape this phenomenon and its impact on coastal ecosystems remain a mystery. …

First Description Of Deep Benthic Habitats And Communities Of Oceanic Islands And Seamounts Of The Nazca Desventuradas Marine Park, Chile, Jan M. Tapia-Guerra, Ariadna Mecho, Erin E. Easton, María De Los Ángeles Gallardo, Matthias Gorny, Javier Sellanes

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seamounts and oceanic islands of the Chilean Exclusive Economic Zone at the intersection of the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridges lie within one of the least explored areas in the world. The sparse information available, mainly for seamounts outside Chilean jurisdiction and shallow-water fauna of the Desventuradas Islands, suggests that the area is a hotspot of endemism. This apparent uniqueness of the fauna motivated the creation of the large Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park (NDMP, ~ 300,000 km2) around the small islands San Felix and San Ambrosio in 2015. We report for the first time a detailed description of benthic microhabitats …

Solutions Human Centered Approach To Conservation, Illustration Department, History, Philosophy, + The Social Sciences Department

Illustration Course Work & Materials

"These essays were were written and illustrated by students at the Rhode Island school of Design in February, 2021. Their perspectives are entirely personal and reflect their efforts within a 5.5-week fused studio/seminar course that was centered on the Sixth Mass Extinction and how biodiversity is changing because of humans. Discovering that science communication is more than delivering just the facts, students were invited to research a topic of personal interest that is relevant to human impacts on biodiversity. Through analysis of data and other scientific information, each sought to synthesize their research and opinions on their topic through a …

Of Biodiversity, Boundaries, And Distribution: The Myxomycetes Of The Philippines And Beyond, Sittie Aisha Bustamante Macabago

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contains a compilation of independently performed studies primarily focusing on the myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) from the Philippines and integrating local and worldwide data to demonstrate regional and global trends. The major themes include the following: (I) a review of the diverse group of spore-producing amoeboid protists, including the myxomycetes; (II-IV) diversity assessments in three different groups of islands in the Philippine archipelago; (V) mapping the myxomycetes found in the Philippines for databasing and analyzing the geocoded data; (VI) a study on regional boundaries, including the Philippines, using myxomycete species composition; and, (VII) creating a global species distribution …

Hunting Contests In New York State, Tyler Caffrey

Honors College Theses

The world is currently in a biodiversity crisis and hunting contests cannot continue. Hunting contests are not legitimate wildlife management tools, but exist for entertainment and killing for a prize. Many of the species targeted can be killed without bag limits. Additionally, many wildlife management practices are retroactive, meaning they are in response to an issue. Within New York State, these contests are not regulated by the NYSDEC beyond adhering to hunting regulations. With these factors together, animals targeted by these contests can be hunted to a detrimental point, and then management agencies would step in. These contests face significant …

Conservation Of Terrestrial Salamanders Through Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Management In Eastern Hemlock Forests Within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Jonathan Lawrence Cox

Masters Theses

Hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae; HWA), an invasive aphid-like arthropod, was first documented on the east coast of the United States in the 1950s. HWA is an herbivore which primarily feeds at the needle base of hemlock tree species (Pinaceae: Tsuga). With no evolutionary defenses and few biotic controls, the eastern and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga canadensis and Tsuga carolinensis) serve as the primary diet of HWA in eastern North America. The invasive pest began to spread rapidly throughout the hemlock’s range causing defoliation and death of the trees within 4 – 10 years. With the …

Anthropogenic Change On The Distribution Of Marine Megafauna And Their Prey, Baylie Fadool

Honors Theses

Anthropogenic change is impacting the distribution and survival of marine megafauna and their prey. Humans are changing every aspect of the marine environment, with effects reaching as large as changing the composition of marine environments to directly overexploiting species through the fishing industry. The role that marine megafauna play in balancing ecosystems, including as top apex predators, leads to detrimental results in the absences and population declines of these species. Migrations and declines due to threats on marine apex predator species will alter their environments by causing mesopredator release and changes in community structure, which is often associated with reduced …

Impact Of Disturbance Regimes On Community And Landscape Biodiversity In Atlantic Coastal Pine Barren Ecoregion Streams, Sean T. Mccanty

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Streams are dynamic systems shaped by geographic location, hydrology, riparian vegetation, and in-stream habitat. Furthermore, ecosystem disturbance plays a major role in structuring stream communities and ecosystem processes. Disturbances include natural occurrences, such as flooding, drought, and fire events and anthropogenic disturbances such as land use changes, damming, and pollution. Agricultural use acts as a press disturbance regime, homogenizing the surrounding landscape and simplifying in-stream habitat, leaving legacy effects after farming ceases. Active restoration is intended to ameliorate these effects by reintroducing variation, with the goal of shifting the ecosystem into a more diverse and natural state. The act of …

Invasive Rat Establishment And Changes In Small Mammal Populations On Caribbean Islands Following Two Hurricanes, Aaron B. Shiels, Claudia D. Lombard, Laura Shiels, Zandy Hillis-Starr

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive mammals, particularly black rats (Rattus rattus), house mice (Mus musculus), and mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) are established on many tropical islands and threaten natural resources such as native birds, sea turtles, lizards, invertebrates, and plants. St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean) has a diversity of natural resources being protected from invasive mammals by U.S. conservation agencies. Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge and Buck Island Reef National Monument receive among the highest density of nesting sea turtles in the region, including annual nesting populations of 50e250 leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), 25e80 hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata), and 100e250 green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Buck Island …

Wildlife Ecology And Conservation In A Suburban Preserve Matrix: Applications Of Long-Term Monitoring Data, John Peter Vanek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Wildlife is important to humans, offering economic, nutritional, ecological, and socio-cultural value. However, vertebrate biodiversity is being lost at rates 100 times greater than the background extinction rate, threatening human livelihood via the loss of ecosystem services. These human-induced species losses are primarily due to habitat destruction, which is increasingly tied to urban development. Conservation of wildlife resources is therefore imperative in a world where more than 50% of the human population, and 80% of people living in the United States, now live in urban areas. In this dissertation, I demonstrate how monitoring data can be applied to answer questions …

Examining Biodiversity Metrics And The Utility Of Dna Barcoding In The Northern Great Plains, Sarah Herzog

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to heavy threats to remaining global floral and faunal diversity, it is imperative we can identify species and quantify ecosystem health to find best practices for land management and conservation. The tallgrass prairies of the Northern Great Plains are one example of a heavily imperiled ecosystem. The tallgrass prairies have been reduced to less one percent of their historical extent and are facing continued loss. Genetic approaches and evolutionary theory offer insights for identifying species and assessing how biodiversity metrics may correlate with ecosystem processes. My two projects aim to address two facets imperative to conservation in the tallgrass …

Mammal Species Inventory Using Various Trapping Methods In Zone 4 Of Billy Barquedier National Park, Belize During Rainy Season, Mersady Redding

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Belize is a small country, but it is extremely ecologically diverse. Based on the few studies conducted in Belize, the abundance of mammals is low but diversity is high. Particular findings note the number and identity of species differed between four sites in the Maya Mountains of Belize, indicating that a data set from a single site is not representative of the Neotropical region. Insufficient data is available to estimate current species richness of many areas in Belize, including Billy Barquedier National Park (BBNP). The objective of this study was to explore trapping and documentation methods of terrestrial mammals in …

Impact Of The Human Footprint On Anthropogenic Mortality Of North American Reptiles, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human activities frequently result in reptile mortality, but how direct anthropogenic mortality compares to natural morality has not been thoroughly investigated. There has also been a limited examination of how anthropogenic reptile mortality changes as a function of the human footprint. We conducted a synthesis of causespecific North American reptile mortality studies based on telemetry, documenting 550 mortalities of known cause among 2461 monitored individuals in 57 studies. Overall 78% of mortality was the result of direct natural causes, whereas 22% was directly caused by humans. The single largest source of mortality was predation, accounting for 62% of mortality overall. …

Effectiveness Of Snap And A24-Automated Traps And Broadcast Anticoagulant Bait In Suppressing Commensal Rodents In Hawaii, Aaron B. Shiels, Tyler Bogardus, Jobriath Rohrer, Kapua Kawelo

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Commensal rodents (invasive rats, Rattus spp.; house mice, Mus musculus) are well established globally. They threaten human health by disease transfer and impact economies by causing agricultural damage. On island landscapes, they are frequent predators of native species and affect biodiversity. To provide managers with better information regarding methods to suppress commensal rodent populations in remote island forests, in 2016 we evaluated the effectiveness of continuous rat trapping using snap-traps, Goodnature® A24 self-resetting rat traps, and a 1-time (2-application) hand-broadcast of anticoagulant rodenticide bait pellets (Diphacinone-50) applied at 13.8 kg/ha per application in a 5-ha forest on Oahu, Hawaii, USA. …

Cause‐Specific Mortality Of The World’S Terrestrial Vertebrates, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Aim: Vertebrates are declining worldwide, yet a comprehensive examination of the sources of mortality is lacking. We conducted a global synthesis of terrestrial vertebrate cause‐specific mortality to compare the sources of mortality across taxa and determine predictors of susceptibility to these sources of mortality.

Location: Worldwide.

Time period: 1970–2018.

Major taxa studied: Mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Methods: We searched for studies that used telemetry to determine the cause of death of terrestrial vertebrates. We determined whether each mortality was caused by anthropogenic or natural sources and further classified mortalities within these two categories (e.g. harvest, vehicle collision and predation). …

Relationships Among Biodiversity Dimensions Of Birds In Nebraska, Nadejda Mirochnitchenko

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is a multi-dimensional concept that can be decomposed to measure information about taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional variation within communities. Although the dimensions of biodiversity are interrelated, the assumption that measuring one dimension of diversity can inform about patterns in another dimension does not necessarily follow from theory or empirical study. The relationships among biodiversity dimensions is not well understood, nor how differences among dimensions could influence conservation decision making. Using the avian community as a study system, we explored the relationships of breadth metrics from the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions among each other and across …

Crop Pests And Predators Exhibit Inconsistent Responses To Surrounding Landscape Composition, Daniel S. Karp, Julie A. Peterson, 155 Other Co-Authors

Faculty Publications: Department of Entomology

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop …

The 2011 Climate Regime Shift: Seabed Taxon Monitoring Identifies Regimes, Jeff Marliave, Donna Gibbs, Laura Borden

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Monitoring of biodiversity may sometimes reflect human impacts on ecosystems, but analysis of biodiversity needs to account for naturally occurring trends as well. Biodiversity may provide more accurate definition of climate regime shifts than do physical oceanographic data, Using search programs for a long-term SCUBA taxonomic database (3865 dives) for Strait of Georgia seabed sites, 1,077 taxa were screened to select 171 rare or highly abundant taxa and to present the data according to climate regime categories. Ocean Niño Index climate regime shifts are defined here as the year of the end of the first La Niña closely paired with …

The Citizen Scientific Method: Tapping A Human Natural Resource In Ecosystem Restoration, Bianca S. Perla, Greg Rabourn

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Citizen science forms a nexus point between research and education, between social outreach and project implementation, and between local knowledge (traditional ecological knowledge) and scientific knowledge. For this reason, citizen science can be a valuable tool to integrate the many different players in ecosystem restoration projects and help projects succeed. Citizen science can increase civic engagement in ecosystem restoration, fill in data gaps, and help make adaptive ecosystem management a real community process. However, significant challenges often impede the ability of citizen science projects to reach their full potential. Here, we discuss trends and insights gained through examining three citizen …

Prioritizing Seagrass Meadows For Biodiversity Conservation Based On Landscape Connectivity, John Cristiani, Mary O'Connor

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The spatial configuration of habitat and biological dispersal traits affect how organisms move across heterogenous landscapes, connecting populations and maintaining biodiversity. Quantifying this connectivity is critical to understanding and managing marine biodiversity. Despite its importance, for most regions, we lack estimates of connectivity and consideration of how habitat loss or restoration scenarios change connectivity and thereby affect diversity. We simulated dispersal and connectivity in several habitat change scenarios for seagrass habitats in the Salish Sea of British Columbia and Washington. We used a spatially explicit biophysical model to track passive larval dispersal in oceanographic currents for select life history traits. …

Local Loss And Spatial Homogenization Of Plant Diversity Reduce Ecosystem Multifunctionality, Yann Hautier, Forest Isbell, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, W. Stanley Harpole, Eric M. Lind, Andrew S. Macdougall, Carly J. Stevens, Peter B. Adler, Juan Alberti, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lars A. Brudvig, Yvonne M. Buckley, Marc Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Enrique J. Chaneton, Chengjin Chu, Pedro Daleo, Christopher R. Dickman, John M. Dwyer, Anu Eskelinen, Philip A Fay, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, Helmut Hillebrand, Oscar Iribarne, Kevin P. Kirkman, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Rebecca L. Mcculley

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Biodiversity is declining in many local communities while also becoming increasingly homogenized across space. Experiments show that local plant species loss reduces ecosystem functioning and services, but the role of spatial homogenization of community composition and the potential interaction between diversity at different scales in maintaining ecosystem functioning remains unclear, especially when many functions are considered (ecosystem multifunctionality). We present an analysis of eight ecosystem functions measured in 65 grasslands worldwide. We find that more diverse grasslands—those with both species-rich local communities (α-diversity) and large compositional differences among localities (β-diversity)—had higher levels of multifunctionality. Moreover, α- and β-diversity synergistically affected …

Conservation Of Ecosystem Services And Biodiversity In Vermont, Usa, Keri B. Watson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Supporting a growing human population while avoiding biodiversity loss is a central challenge towards a sustainable future. Ecosystem services are benefits that people derive from nature. People have drastically altered the earth’s land surface in the pursuit of those ecosystem services that have been ascribed market value, while at the same time eroding biodiversity and non-market ecosystem services. The science required to inform a more balanced vision for land-cover change in the future is rapidly developing, but critical questions remain unanswered regarding how to quantify ecosystem services and ascribe value to them, and how to coordinate efforts to safeguard multiple …