Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Population Viability And Connectivity Of The Federally Threatened Eastern Indigo Snake In Central Peninsular Florida, Javan Bauder

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the factors influencing the likelihood of persistence of real-world populations requires both an accurate understanding of the traits and behaviors of individuals within those populations (e.g., movement, habitat selection, survival, fecundity, dispersal) but also an understanding of how those traits and behaviors are influenced by landscape features. The federally threatened eastern indigo snake (EIS, Drymarchon couperi) has declined throughout its range primarily due to anthropogenically-induced habitat loss and fragmentation making spatially-explicit assessments of population viability and connectivity essential for understanding its current status and directing future conservation efforts. The primary goal of my dissertation was to understand how …

Factors Affecting Habitat Quality For Wintering Wood Thrushes In A Coffee Growing Region In Honduras, Brett A. Bailey

Masters Theses

Amongst the diversity of taxa that occur in the Neotropics, 200 migratory bird species that breed in temperate North America can be found. Many of these populations have seen significant declines since the 1960s. The Wood Thrush, Hylocichla mustelina, is one such species. Shade coffee and other agroforestry practices show potential for benefiting migratory species, but the quality of coffee habitat and optimal habitat characteristics for Wood Thrushes remain unknown.

I surveyed a spatially complex, agricultural landscape in Honduras outside the recognized winter range of the Wood Thrush and radio-tagged 46 individuals within rustic coffee farms during the winters …

Ecology And Conservation Of Endangered Species In Sumatra: Smaller Cats And The Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus Sumatrensis) As Case Studies, Wulan Pusparini

Masters Theses

While we should celebrate the bicentennial of naming the Sumatran rhinoceros (SR), the only extant population on earth might be on the island of Sumatra. Since Strien's 1986 study in Mamas Valley, Leuser, very little more has been learned about how this species distributed and what factors are influencing its extirpation. This study is the first conducted in Sumatra at an Island-wide scale. Using hierarchical models, I estimate the occurrence rates (%) and indices of abundance of SR on three remaining population areas: Leuser Landscape (LL) in 2007 (2.77%, 26 (CI 12-61)), Way Kambas (WK) in 2008 (33.58%, 27 (CI …