Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Bat Activity In A Southeast Nebraska Agricultural Landscape, Christopher Fill

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

Intensive agriculture is associated with biodiversity loss and species decline. Yet wild species, such as bats, may provide critical ecosystem services to agriculture, even in transformed landscapes. In the United States, bats have been estimated to save the agricultural industry billions of dollars per year. However, white-nose syndrome and habitat loss have led to the decline of many bat species in North America, including the federally threatened northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis.

To better evaluate the effectiveness of these pest-controlling services, and to increase understanding of bat foraging behavior in these extreme landscapes, I deployed 11 grids of 24 detectors, …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Forensically Significant Blow Flies Of Los Angeles County, California, United States (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Royce T. Cumming

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

Forensic entomology although not a commonly used discipline in the forensic sciences, does have its niche and when used by investigators is respected in crinimolegal investigations (Greenberg and Kunich, 2005). With many species of forensically significant insects being regionally specific, it is often difficult for forensic entomologists to as confidently translate regionally specific studies across drastically differing geographic regions (Brundage, et al., 2011).

The purpose of this study is to help create a better temporal and geographic distributional understanding of the blow fly species present in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Twenty-five locations from four ecoregions (coastal mountains, urban, …

Predictors Of Insect Diversity And Abundance In A Fragmented Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem, Kody M. Unstad

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

Despite providing many services, the tallgrass prairie and its ecological community is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. Remaining habitat exists as remnants in a highly-fragmented landscape. To make informed conservation decisions we need to better understand the effects of this fragmentation. Using the ecologically important insect groups, ants and ground beetles, this study provides baseline data on the biological diversity of southeast Nebraska prairies and investigates what management, landscape, and habitat characteristics affect them. Pitfall trap sampling was conducted in 23 tallgrass remnants scattered throughout the Southeast Prairies Biologically Unique Landscape in 2010 and 2011. Multi-model …

Production Rates Of Benthic Insects In A Turbid Reservoir, John C. Lund

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

No abstract provided.