Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Assessing Vegetation Health Following The 2014 Carlton Complex Fire Using Remote Sensing, Rachael Sv Pentico

2026 Symposium

Climate change, combined with decades of altered fire regimes and fire suppression, has increased fuel accumulation across western U.S. forests, contributing to more frequent, larger, and more intense wildfires. Remote sensing offers an effective approach for analyzing these large-scale fire events and their ecological impacts, as satellite imagery enables affordable, accessible, and reproducible monitoring of vegetation change across broad spatial and temporal scales. This study examined the 2014 Carlton Complex Fire in the Methow Valley, Washington. Burning 265,108 acres, it was the largest wildfire in Washington State history at the time and caused extensive agricultural and forest damage. Post-fire vegetation …

Bottles, Butterflies, And Biomass: Recycled Glass Sand, Microbial Additions, And Herbivory Effects On Milkweed Growth, Kealey Skinner

Honors Theses

Plant-soil-microbe interactions are integral components of ecological networks and drive ecosystem function from the bottom-up. Whereas herbivores regulate ecosystem function from the top-down, having opposing and potentially complementary effects on ecosystem function. My thesis sought to understand how below-ground microbial communities contribute to herbivore preference and plant biomass across varied soil substrates. My thesis asked: how do substrate and soil microbial communities influence herbivore preference and plant biomass accumulation on swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)? To address this question, seedlings of A. incarnata were sown in 2.5 cm wide × 10 cm deep pots filled with either natural beach sand or …

Ecological Responses To Living Shoreline Restoration, Aaron S. Bland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Coastal built communities and natural coastal ecosystems face similar and interrelated hazards: shoreline sediment erosion, shoreline retreat, and worsening storms, each of which is exacerbated by relative sea level rise. Living shorelines are coastal defense projects that incorporate natural habitats to provide more sustainable shoreline defense and improve the coastal ecosystem. Living shorelines have been widely adopted, but their performance has been highly variable, and the mechanisms of project success and failure are unclear. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to better understand the ecosystem responses to coastal restoration, focusing on the primary habitats of coastal salt marsh and …

Metacommunity Coupled Epidemiological And Biophysical Modeling Of An Emergent Coral Disease, Benjamin Holmes Farmer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Emerging infectious diseases pose imminent risk to the marine realm and coral reefs in particular. Since its emergence in 2014, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has dramatically reduced living coral cover in Florida and charted a similar course in the Caribbean. SCTLD is by far the most severe coral disease in history and has driven highly susceptible species to local extinction, yet the mechanisms driving the regional epizootic are not well understood. Here, we developed reef-scale parameterizations of disease spread using model sites in the lower Florida Keys, developed extensive metacommunity habitat maps for the US Caribbean, and then …

Using Camera-Based Unmarked Spatial Capture-Recapture Modeling To Estimate Reintroduced Elk (Cervus Canadensis) Population Parameters And Distribution In Southeastern Kentucky, Claire Marie Muia

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Estimation of population parameters is important for wildlife management decisions. Elk reintroduced to southeastern Kentucky experienced early irruptive population growth and are currently monitored using a statewide harvest-based statistical population reconstruction model (SPR) across the Kentucky Elk Restoration Zone (KERZ). Because the SPR model is spatially coarse and difficult to scale to the smaller management units comprising the KERZ, we conducted a spatially explicit capture-recapture study using a clustered camera-trapping array deployed for 10 weeks from June–August 2024 to estimate elk population parameters within Management Unit 4. Due to a lack of resights of GPS-marked elk, population parameters were estimated …

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 …

A Critical Perspective On The Society Of Environmental Toxicology And Chemistry's Adherence To Founding Principles— Opportunities For The Future, Barnett A. Rattner, Annegaaike Leopold, Carys L. Mitchelmore, Glenn W. Suter, Mark S. Johnson, Adriana C. Bejarano, Lawrence A. Kapustka, Niranjana Krishnan, Derek C. G. Muir, Beatrice O. Opeolu, Martha Georgina Orozco-Medina, April Reed, Bruce W. Vigon, Adam R. Wronski

Epidemiology, Biostatistics, & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) is a global organization whose mission is the advancement of environmental science and management through collaboration, leadership, communication and education. On SETAC's 45th anniversary, the following question was raised: Are the 1979 founding principles of SETAC, multidisciplinary approaches to solving environmental problems, multisector engagement and scientific objectivity, still useful, adequate and effective in fulfilling its mission? In a special session held at the 45th Annual Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, a critical evaluation of the founding principles was initiated by reviewing SETAC's history and ongoing activities, and recommendations were made …

Robustness Of Network Inference Algorithms Under Network Class Misspecification, Roberto Ceja

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Inferring phylogenies in the presence of hybridization remains a difficult problem. As a result, many current methods for reconstructing phylogenetic networks are restricted to a simple class of networks known as level-1. This restriction arises from theoretical considerations rather than empirical evidence, with real data possibly arising from complex networks. In this work, we evaluate the robustness of two level-1 network inference methods, SNaQ and NANUQ+, through a simulation study, when the input data originates from a more complex network. Specifically, we investigate whether these methods can accurately recover important features of the true species network, such as the circular …

The Effect Of Noise Pollution On The Diversity And Abundance Of Bird Species At Different Locations At Warner Parks, Nashville, Tn, Jeremy T. Little, Wyatt L. Fooks, Darlene Panvini, Jackson Whiteside

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Noise pollution is a significant abiotic factor that can alter bird biodiversity and abundance of birds in urbanized areas. A new road is proposed through a relatively untouched area of Warner Parks in Nashville, TN, which may affect the bird community. Acoustic Song Meters were used to monitor bird sounds and soundscapes in the proposed road site and two areas of the park with different levels of noise pollution (roadside=high noise; isolated=low noise) for three weeks. Recordings were analyzed to determine bird species and abundance at each site to predict how increasing noise pollution may affect bird diversity in the …

Harnessing Hyperspectral Imaging And Deep Learning For Terrestrial Habitat Mapping In Arid Landscapes: A Case Study In Saudi Arabia, Ali Elgendy, Hesham Morgan, Brandon Tran, Rejoice Thomas, Tamer Ismail, Yehya Kh. Shehadeh, Ahmed Elgharib, Ahmed Abdullah Al-Dughairi, Ali El Muburak, Khaled Allam Harhash, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Arid ecosystems remain under-mapped at actionable scales despite their ecological importance. Decision makers lack reliable, high-resolution habitat maps in drylands to prioritize protection and target restoration. This research integrates spaceborne hyperspectral imaging from the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) with deep learning semantic segmentation models to produce an updated level of habitat classification based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for part of the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Reserve, Saudi Arabia. Using ground control points and the full EnMAP spectral cube without band selection, U-Net and DeepLabV3+ architectures were each implemented with VGG19 and ResNet-101 …

Seagrass Persistence In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly Kibler, Melinda Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_seagrasspersistence_IRL_LWL.shp was created with support from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon (IRL) and Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL). The dataset presented herein represents persistence of seagrass throughout waters of the IRL and LWL.

Histamine And Serotonin Impact Anopheles Stephensi Population Dynamics And Malaria Transmission: Perspectives From Mathematical Modeling, Michael Robert

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Spread Of Black Sigatoka Disease: A Deterministic And Stochastic Modeling Approach, Bernard Asamoah Afful, Luis F. Gordillo

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling Probiotic Bacterial Control Of White-Nose Syndrome In Little Brown Bat Colonies, Bethany Droubay, Alex Capaldi

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Living Shoreline Prioritization And Hydrodynamic Habitat Suitability Models For Restoration In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly M. Kibler, Melinda J. Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_shorelinemodel_IRL_LWL.shp, was created with support from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon and Lake Worth Lagoon.

The dataset presented herein includes:

1. shoreline data from >15,000 transects collected in the field,
2. shoreline wave climate data created through hydrodynamic modeling and frequency analysis of historic data,
3. categorization of potential risk for shoreline boat wake impact,
4. persistence of seagrass within 210 m of the shoreline, …

Dramatic Biases In Terrestrial Nitrogen Fixation In Earth System Models Revealed By Natural Isotope Signatures, Maoyuan Fang, Shushi Peng, Philippe Ciais, Daniel S. Goll, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Ying-Ping Wang, Yilong Wang, Pan Liu, Joshua B. Fisher, Pierre Regnier

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the primary input of new reactive nitrogen to natural terrestrial ecosystems. However, this flux is poorly constrained due to its unclear drivers and associated control mechanisms. Here, we extend the existing theory of nitrogen (N) isotope mass balance to estimate BNF rates and then use a Bayesian approach to constrain the BNF rates in natural terrestrial ecosystems by using measurements of natural N-isotope ratios (δ¹⁵N) in plants (δ_P) and soil (δ_S). Together with pairwise δ_P and δ_S measurements from 18 forest sites covering diverse climates and thousands …

The Effects Of Plastic Mulch And Irrigation On Hemp Chemistry And Leaf Endophytes, Allison Rietman, Connor Morozumi, Robert C. Pearce, Natalie Christian

Journal of Agricultural Hemp Research

As an emerging crop, cultivation techniques for industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) are still being developed and optimized. For example, irrigation and plastic mulching are some management practices that have been touted for their benefits in improving crop quality. Both techniques ensure ample water availability, which has often been attributed to improving hemp cannabinoid and terpene composition. In this study, we examined how supplemental irrigation implemented in a plastic mulch system influenced the cannabinoid and terpene profiles of one cultivar of CBD hemp, Lifter. We grew industrial hemp in field with plastic mulch and applied regular irrigation to one group …

Dental Microwear And Diets Of Late Miocene Primates From Rudabánya, Hungary, Peter S. Ungar, Anna K. Wilcox, David R. Begun

School of Dentistry Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study focuses on a dental microwear texture analysis of European pliopithecids and dryopithecins from the Miocene primate site of Rudabánya, Hungary. The goal is to determine whether these taxa, found in part together in the same deposits, differed in their food preferences, or at least consumed, on a daily basis, in a manner that might have facilitated sympatry. Materials and Methods: Here we report on a molar surface texture analysis of all available fossil primates from Rudabánya that preserve antemortem microwear. This includes both Anapithecus hernyaki (n = 14) and Rudapithecus hungaricus (n = 5, including one from …

Bioenergy Crop Production: Implications For Grassland Bird Communities In Southwestern Nebraska, Grace E. Schuster

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

Biofuel and bioenergy systems are components of most climate stabilization pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. Currently, corn (Zea mays) is the predominant feedstock used for bioenergy production in the United States. However, widespread production of this monoculture crop has resulted in many negative environmental impacts. The most notorious impact has been the loss of grassland habitat due to agriculture expansion which has had detrimental effects on wildlife that depend on grassland habitat. One such group, grassland birds, has faced steeper, more consistent, and more widespread declines than any other avian guild. Therefore, strategies …

Field Journal: The Excluded Middle, Carrie E. Kouts

Masters Theses

What does it look like to engage with organisms and landscapes at the periphery of anthropocentric value structures? How does one break the internalized myth that the “built” environment is excluded from the natural world? When does a hyper-mobile and hyper-commodified society confront the exponential crisis of animal death? Within this series of journal entries, field notes, collection observations, weird prose, and sensory musings, one will find questions on the nature of being human and the complex narratives of care we encounter in a world shared with more-than-humans. Each handwritten vignette and photograph from daily life weaves a non-linear and …

Remotely Sensed High-Resolution Soil Moisture And Evapotranspiration: Bridging The Gap Between Science And Society, Jingyi Huang, Vinit Sehgal, Laura V. Alvarez, Luca Brocca, Shuohao Cai, Rui Cheng, Xinghua Cheng, Jinyang Du, Bassil El Masri, K. Arthur Endsley, Yilin Fang, Jie Hu, Mahesh Jampani, Md Golam Kibria, Gerbrand Koren, Lingcheng Li, Laibao Liu, Jiafu Mao, Hernan A. Moreno, Angela Rigden, Mingjie Shi, Xiaoying Shi, Yaoping Wang, Xi Zhang, Joshua B. Fisher

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

This paper reviews the current state of high-resolution remotely sensed soil moisture (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) products and modeling, and the coupling relationship between SM and ET. SM downscaling approaches for satellite passive microwave products leverage advances in artificial intelligence and high-resolution remote sensing using visible, near-infrared, thermal-infrared, and synthetic aperture radar sensors. Remotely sensed ET continues to advance in spatiotemporal resolutions from MODIS to ECOSTRESS to Hydrosat and beyond. These advances enable a new understanding of bio-geo-physical controls and coupled feedback mechanisms between SM and ET reflecting the land cover and land use at field scale (3–30 m, daily). …

Assessment Of Lake Salvador Shoreline Dynamics To Support Restoration Of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation In Jean Lafitte National Historical Park And Preserve, Louisiana, Lydia V. Dipaola

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

High wave energy degrades shoreline habitat between Lake Salvador and Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (JELA), Louisiana. JELA constructed a northern breakwater in 2004, and a southern breakwater in 2024 to protect the shoreline and promote restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). This study analyzes Sentinel-2 imagery to quantify coastal loss along the JELA-Lake Salvador using the Change Polygon Approach, assessing annual, cumulative and major storm event-associated shoreline changes for January 2017-2025. SAV cover, nekton diversity, wave energy, and turbidity were measured before-and-after southern breakwater construction to monitor ecological and environmental outcomes. The JELA-Lake Salvador shoreline has lost …

Ghosts In Glass: Ghost Crabs As Judges Of Glass Sand For Coastal Restoration, Emily Parrish

Honors Theses

Over 60% of the Gulf of Mexico coastline is actively eroding, which has resulted in thousands of miles of lost coastline over the last 100 years. This drastic loss of coastal land highlights the dire need for coastal restoration across the entirety of the Gulf Coast. A vital aspect of restoring these eroded areas is replenishing eroded substrate, traditionally conducted through offshore dredging of substrates which comes with high economic and ecological costs. Recycled glass sand may be able to fill this role and reduce our reliance on dredging while lowering the amount of glass waste entering landfills each year. …

Primates From Senèze, Eric Delson

Publications and Research

Senèze has yielded two primate fossils, neither from the recent field work. A partial ulna can be identified as cf. Macaca sylvanus. A nearly complete female skull is the holotype of Dolichopithecus arvernensis Depéret, 1928, now included in Paradolichopithecus. Emended and differential diagnoses are provided for this genus and species for the first time, and the Senèze skull is described and briefly compared to those of other species of the genus. Dental and cranial measurements are provided, along with comparative data. The macaque and Paradolichopithecus are moderately to highly terrestrial, respectively, and they suggest a woodland to more open …

Scaling Arctic Landscape And Permafrost Features Improves Active Layer Depth Modeling, Wouter Hantson, Daryl Yang, Shawn P. Serbin, Joshua B. Fisher, Daniel J. Hayes

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Tundra ecosystems in the Arctic store up to 40% of global below-ground organic carbon but are exposed to the fastest climate warming on Earth. However, accurately monitoring landscape changes in the Arctic is challenging due to the complex interactions among permafrost, micro-topography, climate, vegetation, and disturbance. This complexity results in high spatiotemporal variability in permafrost distribution and active layer depth (ALD). Moreover, these key tundra processes interact at different scales, and an observational mismatch can limit our understanding of intrinsic connections and dynamics between above and below-ground processes. Consequently, this could limit our ability to model and anticipate how ALD …

Analysis And Authentication Of An Optical Method For Early Detection Of Harmful Algal Blooms, Cody Schumacher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The proliferation and frequency of harmful algal blooms (HABs) attributed to eutrophication, storm events and a changing climate have been an increasing concern in both lotic and lentic freshwater ecosystems. Methods of detecting HABs have been explored through fluorescent measurement and sample analysis, but are often expensive and time-consuming. A novel smart device application is in development to detect HABs based on images captured and analyzed by machine learning algorithms trained to distinguish potential cyanobacterial blooms. The HABs App model accurately detected cyanobacteria in strong relationship with biovolume concentrations (R² = 0.996) within the Greenup Pool of the Ohio …

Assessing Understory Along The Elk River (Hikshari') In Headwaters Forest Reserve, Humboldt County, California, Julie R. Meyers, Aliyah M. Ingram, Caleb N. Larkin, Joshua L. Carpenter

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Northern California’s extensive logging history and lack of forest management has altered old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, leaving dense, homogenous second and third-growth forest stands. This has led to the use of modern restoration techniques such as variable density thinning (VDT) which aims to rehabilitate old-growth forest conditions by improving stand heterogeneity and light availability for understory species. Our study was done in Headwaters Forest Reserve (HFR) along the Elk River (Hikshari’) Trail in Humboldt County, California. Initially, the project was supervised by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arcata Field Office. However, the 2025 U.S. government …

An Understanding Of The Feeding Ecology Of Teleoceras Fossiger And Teleoceras Aepysoma Using Dental Microwear And Mesowear Analysis, Gabriel S. Goncalves

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Teleoceras is a genus of rhinocerotids that belongs to the Tribe Teleoceratines and was widespread across North America from the late Early Miocene into the Early Pliocene. This genus was very successful, spreading across the continental United States from Florida and Tennessee to California and Washington state down to central Mexico and Honduras. Teleoceras is characterized by having a large, rounded chest cavity and short limbs with relatively high crowned teeth and lower incisors modified into tusk-like teeth. Initial ecological comparisons were made to the modern hippopotamus based on proportions of the chest cavity and its hypsodont dentition. Stable carbon …

Invasion Stress Mitigates Climate Stress In A Brackish Marsh Amphipod, Lorna E. Haworth, Sarah Nancollas, Susie N. Landa, Anne E. Todgham, Richelle L. Tanner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

1. Organisms in coastal brackish ecosystems face not only highly variable environmental conditions, but the intensity and stochasticity of these environmental conditions are anticipated to increase due to climate change. While environmental changes are often presented unilaterally as stressors, there are some anthropogenic environmental transformations, such as the introduction of habitat forming plant species, that may mitigate physiological stress imposed by warming. In Suisun Marsh in the California Delta, native plant canopies allow light and heat to penetrate to the understory yet the canopies of the introduced Phragmites australis reed block out sunlight and heat for organisms living below.
2. We set …

Identifying Opportunities For Nature-Based Solutions With Geospatialized Life Cycle Assessments And Fine-Scale Socioecological Data, Gabriela Shirkey, Annick Anctil, Ranjeet John, Venkatesh Kolluru, Leah Mungai, Herve Kashongwe, Lauren T. Cooper, Ilke Celik, Joshua B. Fisher, Jiquan Chen

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

As we increasingly understand the impact that land management intensification has on local and global climate, the call for nature-based solutions (NbS) in agroecosystems has expanded. Moreover, the pressing need to determine when and where NbS should be used raises challenges to socioecological data integration as we overcome spatiotemporal resolutions. Natural and working lands is an effort promoting NbS, particularly emissions reduction and carbon stock maintenance in forests. To overcome the spatiotemporal limitation, we integrated life cycle assessments (LCA), an ecological carbon stock model, and a land cover land use change model to synthesize rates of global warming potential (GWP) …