Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons^™

Activity Patterns, Home Range, And Microhabitat Selection Of A Terrestrial Turtle (Rhinoclemmys Rubida Perixantha) In A Tropical Dry Forest, Taggert G. Butterfield

All Master's Theses

Turtles are in trouble worldwide, with nearly half recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as needing special protection. The Eurasian pond and Neotropical wood turtles of the family Geoemydidae are the most diverse turtles and comprise ¼ of all turtle species yet basic information on their natural history is lacking. Moreover, seasonal tropical dry forest (SDTF), where many geoemydids exist, is considered the most endangered ecosystem in the world. We investigated the activity patterns, home range size, and microhabitat selection of the Mexican Spotted Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys rubida perixantha) in its SDTF habitat by …

Testing The Forage Preference Of The American Pika (Ochotona Princeps) For Use In Connectivity Corridors In The Washington Cascades, Carly Wickhem, Kristina Ernest

All Master's Theses

One of the aims of the Snoqualmie Pass East Project (SPEP) in the Cascades of central Washington is to construct nearly 30 wildlife crossing structures along a 15-mile stretch of Interstate-90. American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are being monitored for the SPEP because they have specific habitat requirements and are poor dispersers. Making the crossing structures “pika-friendly” will encourage these low-mobility animals to use the structures. Recent research suggests that the presence of quality vegetation may help pika populations avoid declines and extirpations, so planting suitable forage within and adjacent to the crossings will be essential. During the summer …

Vegetation Dynamics And Nitrogen Cycling Responses To Simulated Emerald Ash Borer Infestation In Fraxinus Nigra-Dominated Wetlands Of Upper Michigan, Usa, Joshua Davis

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Throughout many North American forests, the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)) is a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem processes. The fate of Fraxinus nigra Marshall (black ash) is of particular concern, as it is frequently a dominant canopy species across much of its range. A multiyear manipulative study was conducted to investigate the potential impacts of EAB on vegetation dynamics and nitrogen (N) cycling in nine F. nigra-dominated wetlands of Upper Michigan, USA. The effects of early- and late-stage infestations were simulated by girdling (‘Girdle’) or felling (‘Ash-Cut’) all ash stems greater than …

Animal Suffering Calls For More Than A Bigger Cage, Simon R. B. Leadbeater

Animal Sentience

Ng (2016) argues for incremental welfare biology partly because it would be impossible to demonstrate conclusively that animals are sentient. He argues that low cost changes in industrial practices and working collaboratively may be more effective in advancing animal welfare than more adversarial approaches. There is merit in some of Ng’s recommendations but a number of his arguments are, in my view, misdirected. The fact that nonhuman animals feel has already been adequately demonstrated. Cruelty to animals is intrinsic to some industries, so the only way to oppose it is to oppose the industry.

Ecology Of Two Reintroduced Black Bear Populations In The Central Appalachians, Sean Mccarthy Murphy

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Reintroduced populations are vulnerable to demographic and environmental stochasticity, deleterious genetic effects, and reduced population fitness, all of which can increase extinction probability. Population viability is principle to determining the status of reintroduced populations and for guiding management decisions. To attempt to reestablish black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in the central Appalachians, two reintroductions using small founder groups occurred during the 1990s in the Big South Fork area along the Kentucky-Tennessee border (BSF) and in the Jefferson National Forest along the Kentucky-Virginia border (KVP). My objectives were to estimate demographic and genetic parameters, and to evaluate long-term viability …

Modulation Of Behavior In Communicating Emotion, Martin Gardiner

Animal Sentience

King discusses many examples where two animals, as they bond, behave in ways we interpret as expressing love for one another. If one of the bonded animals then dies, signs of loving are replaced by signs we interpret as expressing grief by the animal who remains. I propose a pathway for emotional communication between an animal and an observer that can have a central role in these and other observations by King and in our overall ability to interpret observed behavior in relation to emotion. This pathway provides evidence of emotion in an observed animal by communicating evidence of emotion’s …

Sentience And Animal Welfare: Affirming The Science And Addressing The Skepticism, Nancy Clarke

Animal Sentience

Broom’s (2014) book is a well-researched and thoroughly written exploration and evaluation of the journey from the origins of animal welfare science to what we can say we now know and need to consider in relation to animal sentience and welfare. This book will help to counter any skepticism among academics and policy makers.

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 …

Nonhuman Mind-Reading Ability, Marthe Kiley-Worthington

Animal Sentience

Harnad (2016) is mistaken that humans are better at mind-reading than other species. Humans have context-independent language, but nonhuman species, especially mammals, have context-dependent nonverbal skills – perceptual, communicative and social -- that can be much keener than our own.

Chemically-Mediated Prey Responses: Invasive Brook Stickleback Induced Changes In Behavior And Life History Of Larval Long-Toed Salamanders, Renae K. Reed

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The purpose of this research was to assess the predator-induced responses of a larval amphibian to its natural predators and to an unfamiliar fish. Amphibians express chemically-mediated antipredator defenses in behavior, morphology and life history, and are currently threatened with predation by invasive fish. To investigate this issue, we first initiated a behavioral assay to test the null hypotheses that predator type and diet have no effect on long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) behavior. We exposed individual replicate A. macrodactylum to chemical cues (kairomones) from garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans), tiger salamanders (A. tigrinum) and brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans), which had been …

Cognitive Evidence Of Fish Sentience, Jonathan Balcombe

Animal Sentience

I present a little-known example of flexible, opportunistic behavior by a species of fish to undermine Key’s (2016) thesis that fish are unconscious and unable to feel. Lack of a cortex is flimsy grounds for denying pain to fish, for on that criterion we must also then deny it to all non-mammals, including birds, which goes against scientific consensus. Notwithstanding science’s fundamental inability to prove anything, the precautionary principal dictates that we should give the benefit of the doubt to fish, and the state of the oceans dictates that we act on it now.

Mediating Claims Through Critical Anthropomorphism, Gordon Burghardt

Animal Sentience

Key’s (2016) discussion of his claim that fish do not feel pain ignores the history of attempts to study the attribution of mental states to other species. Although willing to accept that mammals feel pain, Key claims that fish lack the mammalian neural mechanisms underlying pain and are unconscious of their experiences. Consequently, we do not need to be overly concerned about fishing practices that would otherwise be viewed as painful. Key uses a flawed anthropomorphic lens. All attributions of mental events to organisms other than oneself involve inferences derived from anthropomorphic processes through which we process physiological and behavioral …

Carbon Flux Dynamics In High Altitude Peatlands In The Ecuadorian Andes, Maria Elisa Sanchez Garces

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Although knowledge of peatland CH₄ and CO₂ exchange in temperate mountain ecosystems is available, information about carbon (C) exchange in peatlands of the Andean mountains is limited and these ecosystems may behave differently given the particular characteristics of the Andean tropics. These ecosystems are highly productive and under pressure by grazing. Our first objective was to measure baseline carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) flux in an undisturbed peatland in Cayambe-Coca National Park. Our second objective was to quantify CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes in an intensively cattle grazed peatland near Antisana Ecological …

Assessing The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Surface Temperature Of Inland Lakes In Michigan, Kaitlin Reinl

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The aim of this study was to validate and apply a lake model for predicting the susceptibility of small inland lakes in Michigan to changes in thermal regime and increased cyanobacteria growth as a result of future climate conditions. The Freshwater Lake Model was selected, tested for sensitivity to various inputs, and validated through comparison to observed conditions. The sensitivity analysis showed that the lake model was most sensitive to solar radiation, air temperature, and air humidity. Comparison of predicted climate data with observed conditions revealed highly variable climate model error. The lake model validation was conducted using 10 lakes …

Population Genetic Structure Of Necturus Maculosus In Central And Eastern Kentucky, Mason Owen Murphy

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Population structure is influenced by extrinsic factors, such as landscape architecture and dispersal barriers. Lotic network architecture is known to constrain ecological, demographic and evolutionary processes, including population genetic structure. I assessed the population structure of a widespread aquatic salamander, Necturus maculosus, across three river basins in central and eastern Kentucky. I examined the role of network architecture, anthropogenic barriers, and spatial scale on patterns of population structure. I also provided a review of N. maculosus capture methods and offer an improved trap design. I identified significant structuring between the combined Licking/Kinniconick basin and the Kentucky River basin, with …

Territoriality And Inter-Pack Aggression In Gray Wolves: Shaping A Social Carnivore's Life History Rudyard Kipling's Law Of The Jungle Meets Yellowstone's Law Of The Mountains, Kira A. Cassidy, Douglas W. Smith, L. David Mech, Daniel R. Macnulty, Daniel R. Stahler, Matthew C. Metz

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

When Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in 1894 and included the famous line "For the strength of the Wolf is the Pack, and the strength of the Pack is the Wolf," he would have had no idea that over a century later, scientific research would back up his poetic phrase. Recent studies in Yellowstone have found that both the individual wolf and the collective pack rely on each other and play important roles in territoriality. At a time when most fairy tales and fables were portraying wolves as demonic killers or, at best, slapstick gluttons, Kipling seemed to have …

Wolf (Canis Lupus) Generation Time And Proportion Of Current Breeding Females By Age, L. David Mech, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, John Erb

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Information is sparse about aspects of female wolf (Canis lupus) breeding in the wild, including age of first reproduction, mean age of primiparity, generation time, and proportion of each age that breeds in any given year. We studied these subjects in 86 wolves (113 captures) in the Superior National Forest (SNF), Minnesota (MN), during 1972–2013 where wolves were legally protected for most of the period, and in 159 harvested wolves from throughout MN wolf range during 2012–2014. Breeding status of SNF wolves were assessed via nipple measurements, and wolves from throughout MN wolf range, by placental scars. In …

Differential Wolf-Pack-Size Persistence And The Role Of Risk When Hunting Dangerous Prey, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech, Wesley E. Newton, Bridget L. Borg

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Risk to predators hunting dangerous prey is an emerging area of research and could account for possible persistent differences in gray wolf (Canis lupus) pack sizes. We documented significant differences in long-term wolf-pack-size averages and variation in the Superior National Forest (SNF), Denali National Park and Preserve, Yellowstone National Park, and Yukon, Canada (p < 0.01). The SNF differences could be related to the wolves’ risk when hunting primary prey, for those packs (N = 3) hunting moose (Alces americanus) were significantly larger than those (N = 10) hunting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) (F_1,8 = 16.50, p = 0.004). Our data support the hypothesis that differential pack-size persistence may be …

Fish Lack The Brains And The Psychology For Pain, Stuart W.G. Derbyshire

Animal Sentience

Debate about the possibility of fish pain focuses largely on the fish’s lack of the cortex considered necessary for generating pain. That view is appealing because it avoids relatively abstract debate about the nature of pain experience and subjectivity. Unfortunately, however, that debate cannot be entirely avoided. Subcortical circuits in the fish might support an immediate, raw, “pain” experience. The necessity of the cortex only becomes obvious when considering pain as an explicitly felt subjective experience. Attributing pain to fish only seems absurd when pain is considered as a state of explicit knowing.

Pain And Other Feelings In Humans And Animals, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio

Animal Sentience

Evidence from neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropsychology suggests that the experience of feelings in humans does not depend exclusively on structures of the cerebral cortex. It does not seem warranted to deny the possibility of feeling in animals on the grounds that their cerebral cortices are not comparable to those of humans.

An Investigation Of Juvenile Alewife (Alosa Pseudoharengus) Habitat Use And Growth Using Natural Markers, Gregory Norman Labonte Ms

All Student Scholarship

This research attempts to connect patterns in growth and migration of an anadromous species. The goal of this research was to understand habitat movements and growth of juvenile alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) in the Penobscot Estuary and Bay through the use of otolith microchemistry, otolith growth increments, and a laboratory stable isotope turnover study. Understanding the connection between growth and movement of juvenile alewives may lead to more accurate and sophisticated conservation and restoration methods for anadromous species.

Successional Changes In Leaf Nutrient Concentrations Of Woody And Herbaceous Species, Daniel Walter Kuchta

Masters Theses

Leaf nutrient concentrations are an example of a functional trait, a trait that can be used to understand community dynamics by observing how plants interact with their environment. I explored how leaf nutrient concentrations were affected over successional time by environmental changes. The majority of prior research on functional traits focuses on either woody or herbaceous species, but not both life forms simultaneously. To address this, I also explored the successional changes to leaf nutrient concentrations, separating the plant community into woody and herbaceous species.

Healthy, mature leaves were taken from 122 taxa of woody and herbaceous species in a …

Low-Head Dams On Habitat, Fish Functional Guilds And Genetic Structuring In A Midwestern River System, Shannon Cassandra Frary Smith

Masters Theses

The natural flow regime of the majority of rivers in the United States has been altered by anthropogenic structures. This loss of connectivity plays a strong role in shaping river ecosystems by altering physical habitat characteristics and shaping fish community assemblages. Although the impacts of large dams on river systems are well documented and often easy to observe, there are fewer studies on the effects of smaller low-head dams. Additionally, the influences of low-head dams on the genetic structuring of small-bodied riverine fishes have yet to be fully explored. I assessed the effects of two low-head dams on the Vermilion …

Stopover Ecology Of Neotropical Migratory Songbirds In The Northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Lauren E. Solomon

Masters Theses

Chapter I. Full-service hotels, convenience stores or fire escapes? Evaluating function of stopover sites for Neotropical migrants in the northern Yucatan Peninsula

Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbirds incur the highest mortality rates during their annual migrations. Migratory songbirds use a network of stopover sites to rest, refuel, or seek refuge during times of poor weather conditions; and the time and energy expended at these sites exceeds that of migratory flight. In order to conserve stopover sites with the highest value to Neotropical migrants, a conceptual framework was developed to classify stop over sites into three functional categories based on their function for …

Fish Pain: A Painful Topic, Carl Safina

Animal Sentience

If fish cannot feel pain, why do stingrays have purely defensive tail spines that deliver venom? Stingrays’ ancestral predators are fish. And why do many fishes possess defensive fin spines, some also with venom that produces pain in humans? These things did not evolve just in case sentient humans would evolve millions of years later and then invent scuba. If fish react purely unconsciously to “noxious” stimuli, why aren’t sharp jabbing spines enough? Why also stinging venom?

How Welfare Biology And Commonsense May Help To Reduce Animal Suffering, Yew-Kwang Ng

Animal Sentience

Welfare biology is the study of the welfare of living things. Welfare is net happiness (enjoyment minus suffering). Since this necessarily involves feelings, Dawkins (2014) has suggested that animal welfare science may face a paradox, because feelings are very difficult to study. The following paper provides an explanation for how welfare biology could help to reduce this paradox by answering some difficult questions regarding animal welfare. Simple means based on commonsense could reduce animal suffering enormously at low or even negative costs to humans. Ways to increase the influence of animal welfare advocates are also discussed, focusing initially on farmed …

Why Animal Welfarism Continues To Fail, Lori Marino

Animal Sentience

Welfarism prioritizes human interests over the needs of nonhuman animals. Despite decades of welfare efforts other animals are mostly worse off than ever before, being subjected to increasingly invasive and harmful treatments, especially in the factory farming and biomedical research areas. A legal rights-based approach is essential in order for other animals to be protected from the varying ethical whims of our species.

Synthesis Of Satellite Microwave Observations For Monitoring Global Land-Atmosphere Co2 Exchange, Lucas Alan Jones

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation describes the estimation, error quantification, and incorporation of land surface information from microwave satellite remote sensing for modeling global ecosystem land-atmosphere net CO₂ exchange. Retrieval algorithms were developed for estimating soil moisture, surface water, surface temperature, and vegetation phenology from microwave imagery timeseries. Soil moisture retrievals were merged with model-based soil moisture estimates and incorporated into a light-use efficiency model for vegetation productivity coupled to a soil decomposition model. Results, including state and uncertainty estimates, were evaluated with a global eddy covariance flux tower network and other independent global model- and remote-sensing based products.

Assemblage Structure, Production, And Food Web Dynamics Of Macroinvertebrates In Tropical Island Headwater Streams, Keysa G. Rosas-Rodriguez

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Variation in long-term temperature and precipitation patterns will likely influence the decomposition and export of benthic organic matter and influence aquatic macroinvertebrate consumer communities. Tropical systems are relatively understudied; therefore basal information is urgently needed. As part of an ongoing long-term study, we monitored macroinvertebrates in two shrimp-dominated and fishless headwater streams within the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico from 2009-2010. We combined growth rates with yearly biomass data to calculate secondary production and examined gut contents to develop quantitative food webs. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were dominated by a few insect taxa, with similar biotic composition across streams and habitats, …

Key Biogeochemical Factors Affecting Soil Carbon Storage In Posidonia Meadows, Oscar Serrano, Aurora M. Ricart, Paul S. Lavery, Miguel-Angel Mateo, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Pere Masque, Mohammad Rozaimi, Andy D. L. Steven, Carlos Duarte

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Biotic and abiotic factors influence the accumulation of organic carbon (C_org) in seagrass ecosystems.We surveyed Posidonia sinuosa meadows growing in different water depths to assess the variability in the sources, stocks and accumulation rates of C_org. We show that over the last 500 years, P. sinuosa meadows closer to the upper limit of distribution (at 2-4m depth) accumulated 3- to 4-fold higher C_org stocks (averaging 6.3 kgC_org m^-2) at 3- to 4-fold higher rates (12.8 gC_org m^-2 yr^-1/ compared to meadows closer to the deep limits of distribution …