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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Assessing Stream Channel Restoration: The Phased Recovery Framework, Jacob M. Dyste
Assessing Stream Channel Restoration: The Phased Recovery Framework, Jacob M. Dyste
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Channel reconfiguration projects command a large portion of stream restoration resources, while long-term monitoring and research is severely underfunded and rarely implemented. This has led to a limited knowledge base about ecological response and efficacy. Although channel reconfiguration projects are being implemented to restore biological function to lotic systems, the document responses are highly variable and little evidence has shown these projects are reaching their target goals. I predicted the inconsistent response to these projects is the result of disturbance-induced successional processes and catchment-scale water quality impairment. To address how these endogenous and exogenous factors influence stream response to channel …
Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Ungulate Browsing On Willow (Salix Spp.) Communities Within The Northern Range Of Yellowstone, Donald L. Belile Jr.
Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Ungulate Browsing On Willow (Salix Spp.) Communities Within The Northern Range Of Yellowstone, Donald L. Belile Jr.
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Variation in ungulate browsing intensity on willow (Salix spp.) communities across Yellowstone’s northern range has been attributed to various biophysical factors including climate, topography, and predators. These studies were conducted without a long-term browsing dataset; they lacked a spatially extensive sampling design, and did not include dynamic snow characteristics known to affect ungulate mobility, habitat selection, and foraging strategies. We therefore focused on snow, an extreme landscape level disturbance that places nutritional stress on ungulates during the winter when most browsing on shrubs occurs. We applied a non-destructive sampling method by consecutively recording whether stem leaders were browsed between …