Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Indigenous Land Seizure & Environmental Injustice: Impacts Of Settler Colonialism, Lydia Moorman

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The fields of conservation and environmentalism prioritize ecosystem health, yet both emerged from western frameworks that displaced and criminalized Indigenous land stewardship. The idealization of “pristine wilderness” narratives served to justify the removal of Indigenous peoples from their homelands and erased millennia of sustainable land stewardship that had maintained ecological balance long before western conservation existed. These narratives not only misrepresented Indigenous relationship with land but also constructed a false dichotomy between humans and nature that positioned Indigenous presence as a threat rather than a source of ecological knowledge. Simultaneously, anthropogenic expansion; such as pipelines, mining, railroads, and other extractive …

Size Structure Comparison Of Bluegill In Lakes With And Without Special Regulations, Jenna Lawin

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Lots of individuals have mixed feelings about special regulations for all sorts of game fish species such as northern pike Esox lucius, crappie Pomoxis spp., sunfish Lepomis spp., and so on. One species commonly sought after by many is bluegill Lepomis macrochirus. Bluegill are often deemed easy to find, catch, and clean. This study looks at three different categories of lakes (all lakes contain bluegill populations). The three categories are lakes with a five sunfish limit, lakes with a ten sunfish limit, and lakes without any special regulations. This study provides valuable insight into the size …

Small Mammal Communities Within And Land Coverage Around Southwestern Missouri Prairies, Kaitlyn J. Bebensee

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Land alterations can reduce the amount of suitable habitat necessary for persistence of an associated species. Within such constrained habitats, limited resources may elicit competition, which could cause shifts in abundance and occurrence of species. Missouri prairies have been declining in size, making it imperative to collect reference data on mammal populations within and land use types around remnants. For this study, I trapped small mammals in Southwestern Missouri prairies because they can be indicators of environmental health and can vary in abundance between prairies. I focus on the diet of two dominant small mammals, Peromyscus maniculatus and Microtus ochrogaster …

Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Niger) Occupancy In A Southern Missouri Woodland, Daniel Garten

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Species occupancy, which relates the probability of presence of a species at a specific place and time, is an important component of conservation and wildlife management. Principally it is used for estimation of a species’ distribution as well as understanding species interactions and quantifying environmental effects. The purpose of this study was to analyze occupancy of the Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) across multiple seasons (2019–2022) at Bull Shoals Field Station (BSFS), and to identify potential covariates associated with detection and colonization. Data were drawn from camera trap surveys from 26 sites during summer and fall seasons. Multi-season occupancy models …

Ovipositional Behavior Of The Twig Girdler (Cerambycidae: Oncideres Cingulata) On Stems Of Mockernut Hickory (Carya Tomentosa) In Arkansas, R. Tumlison, L. Serviss

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The Twig Girdler (Cerambycidae: Oncideres cingulata) is a long-horned beetle that girdles stems of certain species of trees to prepare a habitat for its offspring. The stems eventually die, break, and fall from the tree, but the beetle usually had already laid its eggs within the stems. Eggs are laid singly, almost always at growth rings or leaf bases. Because the space for the young to develop is finite, laying too many eggs could cause reproductive failure and too few eggs would be suboptimal. We hypothesized that the female laying eggs should be able to evaluate the stem and …

Western Massasauga (Sistrurus Tergeminus): A Species Conservation Assessment For The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project, Colleen Rothe-Groleau, Melissa J. Panella

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: Publications

The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project recognizes the western massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus) as a Tier I at-risk species. Provided are some general management recommendations regarding western massasaugas. Conservation practitioners will need to use professional judgment to make specific management decisions based on objectives, location, and a multitude of variables. This resource was designed to share available knowledge of this at-risk species that will aid in the decision-making process or in identifying research needs to benefit the species.

Criteria for selection as Tier I: State listed, G3

Estimated Population in NE: 1,000–2,500

Estimate based on: Field surveys

Trends since 2005 …

Macroinvertebrate Response To Two Highway Construction Projects In West Virginia, Brenden Nauman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Highway development and construction are frequently required to provide efficient transportation for an increasing human population. Specific to the Appalachian region, highway development has been a major goal since the mid 1900’s, with the aim of promoting economic growth and ease of travel. While highways provide necessary services to humans, their construction and presence often impact nearby waterways through multiple mechanisms including sedimentation and urbanization. To understand the degree of impact, streams are often monitored using biological data, which can be used to quantify effects. In this work I used freshwater macroinvertebrate communities to monitor changes in stream health surrounding …

Managing The Legacy Of Historical Land Use In Central Appalachia: Soil Health, Carbon Storage, And Restoration Across Disturbed Ecosystems, Kyra R. Dukich

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Historical mining, intensive timber harvesting, agriculture, and atmospheric acid deposition have left lasting impacts on soil health throughout the Central Appalachian region, reducing soil productivity, carbon storage, and ecosystem resilience. This thesis evaluated restoration strategies across two long-term research systems in West Virginia to determine how land-use history and soil amendments influence soil health, carbon dynamics, and ecosystem recovery. The first study examined reclaimed mine lands and marginal agricultural soils planted with switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) or willow (Salix spp.) and treated with biochar or inorganic fertilizer. Soil greenhouse gas production, aggregate stability, total soil C:N, pH, and soil organic matter …

Genetics Of Mycangial Development And Host Colonization Within The Ambrosia Symbiosis, Mckeon James Laws

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ambrosia beetles, a polyphyletic group of weevils, utilize pouch-like structures at various locations on the body to transport for their sole food source, their fungal partner. Ambrosia fungi are known to originate from multiple unrelated fungal lineages with no consensus of traits required to become a fungal cultivar. While the biology and ecology of both partners is in many cases well understood, the genetic underpinnings of this fascinating mutualism remain a mystery. The aim of this dissertation is to add to the understanding of the ambrosia symbiosis by providing insights into its molecular and genetic underpinnings through RNA sequencing data, …

Examining Drivers Of Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Fecundity And Recruitment In Central Appalachian Headwater Streams, Emilee Esther Briggs

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The persistence of fish populations depends on the repeated production and survival of new year classes, also referred to as recruitment. Recruitment is broadly defined as the number of individuals in a fish population or stock that survive to a specific stage. However, the broader recruitment process reflects the cumulative outcome of many earlier life stages, including egg survival, fry emergence, and survival through the recruitment period. As a result, recruitment can vary substantially among years and populations, producing strong or weak year classes that influence population abundance and persistence. Understanding why recruitment varies is therefore central to fisheries ecology …

An Assessment Of Disease Risks, Population Genetics, And Spatial Ecology Of Appalachian Cottontails (Sylvilagus Obscurus) And Snowshoe Hares (Lepus Americanus) In West Virginia, Usa, Madison Leigh Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) occupy a large range across the United States and Canada. While snowshoe hare populations are generally considered stable in the interior of their range, populations along range edges are experiencing declines, possibly driven by climate-related factors such as seasonal coat color mismatch. West Virginia represents one of the southernmost extents of the species’ range, yet little is known about the population genetic status or population sizes of snowshoe hares in the state. Appalachian cottontails (Sylvilagus obscurus) are another lagomorph species found in West Virginia. This species experienced a historical decline and currently …

Population Dynamics And Future Viability Of The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus Catenatus) In Southwest Michigan, Matthew John Klein

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Managing at-risk species or populations requires understanding the demographic and genetic drivers of long-term population trends. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) is a federally threatened species facing multiple interacting threats across its range. Habitat loss from wetland drainage and agricultural land conversion has caused range contractions and geographic isolation of populations. Because remaining populations are often small and widely separated, most are now genetically isolated, threatening their long-term viability. Reversing these declines requires understanding population dynamics, quantifying extinction risk, identifying drivers of long-term viability, and assessing the effects of inbreeding and the potential for genetic rescue to …

Survival, Cause-Specific Mortality, Resource Selection, Movement Rates, And Population Dynamics Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) In West Virginia, Usa, Brett P. Skelly

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are one of the most culturally and economically important big game species in the United States. At the turn of the 20th century white-tailed deer were almost extirpated due to market hunting and unsustainable forestry practices that destroyed habitat. The creation of game laws that eliminated market hunting and created seasons and bag limits for deer hunting along with restocking efforts by sportsmen’s groups and state wildlife agencies aided in deer population recovery. These efforts have led to the abundant deer populations that are currently enjoyed by hunters and wildlife viewers. Deer populations require …

Genomic Variation, Adaptive Evolution, And Invasive And Evolutionary History Of Microstegium Vimineum, Cameron William Corbett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Invasive species can cause environmental and economic damage, but can offer unique opportunities to study rapid evolution and adaptation in novel environments. Microstegium vimineum (stiltgrass) is a prolific invasive grass in the eastern United States. Historical herbaria collections were used to identify patterns of invasion history and population dynamics over a spatial and temporal scale. Analyses of plastid genomes reveal a complex invasion history, including a single introduction in the southern United States linked to Japan and multiple repeated introductions in the northern United States from various source populations. Spread of introduced populations provide evidence of admixture among previously geographically …

Evaluation Of Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Thermal Tolerance And Projected Climate Change Effects On Headwater Brook Trout Population Persistence, Cory Bauerlien

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Climate change has been identified as one of the greatest threats to global biota in recorded human history. Consequences are expected to be more pronounced in ectotherms because most of their physiology is controlled by external temperature conditions. Predicting how ectotherms may respond to increasing global temperatures necessitates information about thermal limits of thermal sensitive species and how increasing temperatures may affect individual and population-level fitness. Therefore, the objectives of this research were aimed at gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms that underpin thermal tolerance limits of fish and how those mechanisms may affect fitness and population persistence under …

Using Side Looking Hydroacoustics And Community Size Spectra To Assess Invasive Carp’S Impact On Fish Assemblage Integrity, Daniel Jacob Bryan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Often accounting for over half of total fish biomass, invasive silver carp have dramatically reshaped the ecosystem of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. These high silver carp densities have been shown to affect native fish body condition, abundance, and community structure, highlighting the need for efficient methods to quantify silver carp’s effect on the native fish assemblage. Community size spectra (CSS) is a metric that quantifies fish assemblage body size structure based on the decrease in fish abundance with increasing size. To estimate silver carp’s effects on CSS in the Ohio River, side looking hydroacoustic monitoring was used alongside …

Effects Of Warmer Springs And Urbanization On The Nest Choice Of Temnothorax Ants, Keana Royce

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Climate change is altering winter and spring conditions in northeast Ohio, with urbanization and the urban heat island effect likely intensifying these changes. This preliminary study examined how Temnothorax ants alter nest-site preference in response to climate change and urbanization. I hypothesized that colonies exposed to warmed treatments would select hickory nuts to buffer against thermal/urban stressors. Identical in situ experimental setups were deployed at a rural site and an urban site and data collection occurred from late winter to early spring. Control colonies experienced ambient temperatures while experimental colonies were warmed +4°C above ambient temperatures. Colonies had the choice …

From Nesting To Emergence: Environmental Drivers Of Hatchling Success In Blanding’S Turtles And Implications For Management In Southeast Michigan, Morgan Boyer

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are long-lived turtles whose populations are highly sensitive to juvenile recruitment. We used intensive nest monitoring, microclimate logging, soil measurements, and local weather data at two Southeast Michigan sites to quantify how nest placement, incubation environments, and substrate conditions influence emergence success and hatchling condition. Nesting females were morphologically similar in size and produced average clutch sizes for the species (8 ± 2 eggs). Nest sites were found on relatively open, disturbed uplands with sandier soil substrates. Emergence success was generally high (≈ 70-80%) in nests protected from predation. Sandy loam had the highest success rates …

To Flea Or Not To Flea: Abiotic And Biotic Factors Driving Flea Parasitism On Wild Deer Mice, Parker Todd, Angela Luis, Mike Kinsella

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are an abundant North American rodent and the primary reservoir for Sin Nombre virus (SNV), a hantavirus with a 30-40% case fatality rate in humans. While ectoparasites, such as fleas, are not considered vectors of SNV, their bites may indirectly affect the transmission of SNV by impacting host condition or immune function. These impacts could potentially lead to an increase in host susceptibility and/or an increase in viral shedding, yet there is still little knowledge on what influences flea parasitism on deer mice in western Montana. This study looks to examine how mouse sex, …

The Sub-Lethal Effects Of Trematode Parasites On The Migratory Behavior Of Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis), Scott Alan Herman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The introduction of the invasive freshwater faucet snail (Bithynia tentaculata) and its associated parasites in the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region provides the opportunity to investigate how anthropogenic stressors impact the life history of lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) using the Mississippi Flyway. To understand the life histories and interactions between lesser scaup and faucet snails we examined historical records, research, and ecology textbooks. Our literature review identified critical knowledge gaps in lesser scaup literature surrounding population dynamics, reproduction, and migration. Specifically, the sub-lethal effects of invasive trematodes on the migratory behavior of lesser scaup in the Upper Mississippi …

Presence Of Road Salts In Vernal Pools And Effects On Amphibian Development, Grace I. Bemis, Ella Mack

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

Presence of Road Salts in Vernal Pools and Effects on Amphibian Development

Parasite Party: Investigating Ecological Drivers Of Trematode Parasite Prevalence Across The Isles Of Shoals, Aimee D. Bousquet, April Blakeslee, Amy Fowler, David Buck

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

Parasite Party: Investigating Ecological Drivers of Trematode Parasite Prevalence Across the Isles of Shoals

Dosage Sensitivity And The Evolution Of Dosage Compensation: Tests Of The Insensitive Sex Chromosome Hypothesis In Flour Beetles, Shana Pau

Biology Dissertations

Sex chromosome evolution generates imbalances in gene dosage that can disrupt gene expression and organismal function. These imbalances are often resolved through dosage compensation mechanisms, yet the factors that drive the emergence and diversity of these systems remain poorly understood. This dissertation addresses a central question in evolutionary genomics: what governs the evolution of dosage compensation?

Focusing on dosage sensitivity as a potential driver, I evaluate the Insensitive Sex Chromosome Hypothesis (ISCH), which predicts that chromosome-wide compensation is more likely to evolve in genomic contexts that are not depleted of dosage-sensitive genes. Using flour beetles (Tribolium spp.) as a …

Generating Genomic Resources For The Pink Sundew And Its Specialist Herbivore Moth From A Single Gene To Entire Genomes, Kerissa F. Tarpley

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Genomic resources are critical for the conservation of threatened species, providing valuable insights into genetic diversity, population structure, and adaptive potential. This thesis focuses on two ecologically interconnected species: the carnivorous plant pink sundew (Drosera capillaris) and its specialist herbivore the sundew plume moth (Buckleria parvulus). The sundew and plume moth face an uncertain future as their vital bog habitats continue to disappear. The sundew plays a crucial role in the life cycle of the plume moth, which relies on the sundew during its larval stages for survival. To aid in species detections, I first generated …

Analyzing The Loss Of Material From A Non-Plastic Oyster Reef Restoration Alternative, Lindsay M. Dolan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Oyster reefs are declining globally due to human impacts such as overharvesting, boat wakes, and climate change. Associated ecosystem services, including water filtration, fish and invertebrates’ habitats, and shoreline erosion protection, are lost when these reefs disappear. Traditionally, restoration efforts employed plastic mesh shell bags filled with recycled oyster shells as they provide recruitment substrate for new oyster spat and wave attenuating properties to protect shorelines. Due to rising concerns over microplastic pollution, non-plastic alternatives are being tested. Alternative restoration material must provide the same benefits to reef formation while maintaining structural integrity long enough for a healthy reef to …

Adapting To Uncertainty: Effects Of Environmental Instability On Zebrafish Behaviour, Britney Sekulovski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis addresses how animals cope with unpredictability by testing how environmental stability changes the behaviour of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in two complementary experiments. In Experiment 1, fish lived for three months in either a Dynamic environment (water temperature, feeding times, habitat complexity, group size, and membership fluctuated) or a Stable environment (all factors constant). Across seven behavioural assays, measuring individual behavioural differences, collective movement, social memory, and information use, Dynamic condition fish were found to be more sensitive to social cues and more likely to conform to recent social information, independent of the quality of the information …

Analysis Of Alternative Oxidase In Non-Angiosperm Plants, Anissa M. Francis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Alternative oxidase (AOX) is a mitochondrial terminal oxidase that provides an alternative pathway for electron transport, allowing plants to maintain respiratory flexibility under environmental stress conditions. While AOX has been extensively studied in angiosperms (flowering plants), little is known about its distribution and conservation in non-angiosperms. Based on gaps identified in the literature, this thesis investigated the distribution of AOX across non-angiosperm plant lineages. Although AOX is present in many green algae and is therefore considered to be an ancient protein that originated before the existence of non-angiosperm plants, it remains unclear whether the protein is uniformly distributed across these …

Evaluating Species At Risk In Data-Limited Fisheries: A Productivity-Susceptibility Analysis For Marine Aquarium Fish, Gabrielle A. Baillargeon, Alice A. Wynn, Jemelyn Grace P. Baldisimo, Michael F. Tlusty, Andrew L. Rhyne

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The marine aquarium trade (MAT) is a significant global industry harvesting millions of wild-caught, live coral reef fishes for public and private aquaria markets in the United States and Europe annually, while supporting fisher livelihoods in the Indo-Pacific. This diverse and species-rich trade is considered data-limited, creating barriers to quantifying the current and future socio-ecological sustainability of the fishery. We present a revised and expanded productivity–susceptibility analysis (PSA) that serves as a holistic risk assessment to estimate the vulnerability of marine aquarium fish to overfishing. Our global analysis includes 306 species that are actively in trade. Improvements to the PSA …

Challenging And Diagnosing Structured Population Models By Testing Predictions From Stochastic Demography, Stephen P. Ellner, Robin E. Snyder, Daniel T. Blumstein, Dylan Z. Childs, Joshua C. Fowler, Christina M. Hernández, Julien G. A. Martin, María Paniw, Yngvild Vindenes

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Structured population models are parameterized to accurately project expected population sizes, stage/state distributions and population growth rates, but they also predict the variation in outcomes among individuals, such as the variance and skewness of lifetime reproductive output (LRO) and lifespan, the probability of never reproducing, and many other life-history metrics.

2. Testing such predictions about individual outcomes can be very useful model 'stress tests', because they depend on how components of the model (e.g. submodels for survival and fecundity) interact over multiple time steps, not just on the accuracy of the submodels. Because data on among-individual variation is rarely …

A Note On The Novel Passive Sampling In Environmental Dna (Edna) Collection Technique To Detect Yellow Mud Turtle (Kinosternon Flavescens): Field And Laboratory Approaches In Turtle Edna, Sakib Tahmid Rishan, Richard J. Kline, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a powerful and sensitive method for monitoring aquatic and terrestrial organisms, offering insights into their distribution. Usually, eDNA is collected using a filter membrane through water filtration. However, the passive eDNA method can simplify sampling and broaden its scope, offering new insights for ecological surveillance. This study examined the efficacy of six different membrane filters in detecting the yellow mud turtle (Kinosternon flavescens) through a novel passive eDNA method. After being immersed in water for 12 h, only the mixed cellulose ester (MCE) membrane filter consistently demonstrated specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using …