Factors Influencing Movements And Foraging Ecology Of American Alligators (Alligator Mississippiensis) In A Dynamic Subtropical Coastal Ecosystem, Adam Rosenblatt

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Top predators can have large effects on community and population dynamics but we still know relatively little about their roles in ecosystems and which biotic and abiotic factors potentially affect their behavioral patterns. Understanding the roles played by top predators is a pressing issue because many top predator populations around the world are declining rapidly yet we do not fully understand what the consequences of their potential extirpation could be for ecosystem structure and function. In addition, individual behavioral specialization is commonplace across many taxa, but studies of its prevalence, causes, and consequences in top predator populations are lacking. In …

Overwintering Diet Quality And Timing Of Initiation Of Breeding In The Deer Mouse (Peromyscus Maniculatus), Lindsey Valliant

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Timing of breeding in seasonal environments is important in population dynamics, but it is not always known what cues animals use to time breeding. In northern deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) at Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, early seasonal births are related to overwinter protein supplementation. It is not however known if natural variation in diet quality has the same effect. I hypothesized that yearly winter arthropod availability would influence yearly spring breeding. I predicted that the mean date of initiation of breeding in the population would be related to overwinter diet quality, indicated by ¹⁵N enrichment of hair of …