Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Avian Ecology During Oak Savanna And Woodland Restoration In The Mid-South, Christine Ann Henderson

Masters Theses

Disturbance-dependent ecosystems in the eastern United States have been declining since European settlement, and, in recent years, early-successional species have followed. My objective for this research was to determine if oak savanna and woodland restoration (i.e., overstory thinning and prescribed fire) was a viable method of recovering declining earlysuccessional species to the landscape of the Mid-South. At 3 sites, Catoosa Wildlife Management Area (CWMA; Tennessee), Green River Game Lands (GRGL; North Carolina), and Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL; Tennessee), oak savanna and woodland restoration projects were established and maintained. Closed-canopy stands were thinned and a 2-year burn …

Juvenile River Herring In Freshwater Lakes: Sampling Approaches For Evaluating Growth And Survival, Matthew T. Devine

Masters Theses

River herring, collectively alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (A. aestivalis), have experienced substantial population declines over the past five decades due in large part to overfishing, combined with other sources of mortality, and disrupted access to critical freshwater spawning habitats. Anadromous river herring populations are currently assessed by counting adults in rivers during upstream spawning migrations, but no field-based assessment methods exist for estimating juvenile densities in freshwater nursery habitats. Counts of 4-year-old migrating adults are variable and prevent understanding about how mortality acts on different life stages prior to returning to spawn (e.g., juveniles …

Modelling Bird Migration With Motus Data And Bayesian State-Space Models, Justin Baldwin

Masters Theses

Bird migration is a poorly-known yet important phenomenon, as understanding movement patterns of birds can inform conservation strategies and public health policy for animal-borne diseases. Recent advances in wildlife tracking technology, in particular the Motus system, have allowed researchers to track even small flying birds and insects with radio transmitters that weigh fractions of a gram. This system relies on a community-based distributed sensor network that detects tagged animals as they move through the detection nodes on journeys that range from small local movements to intercontinental migrations. The quantity of data generated by the Motus system is unprecedented, is on …

A Predictive Model For Brook Trout Restoration In The Cherokee National Forest, Caylor Garrett Romines

Masters Theses

Over the course of the last century, Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) have been reduced in abundance and extirpated from many high elevation streams throughout the southern Appalachian Mountains. These fish have been threatened by anthropogenic factors that restrict their distribution across the longitudinal gradient of the streams they occupy. A large portion of Tennessee's Brook Trout streams are located within the Cherokee National Forest (CNF). Many agencies in the southern Appalachian Mountains are working to restore Brook Trout populations throughout this species’ historic native range. The purpose of this research is to develop a model of important habitat …

Bats Roosting In Buildings In Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Ecology, Human Dimensions, And Management Implications, Kirstin Emily Fagan

Masters Theses

During summer, bats are regularly observed in buildings of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM or the Park), the most visited National Park in the USA. As a result, natural and cultural resources managers seek to ensure public safety and protect historic structures while minimizing impacts on bats, especially in light of declines in bat populations as a result of white-nose syndrome. To inform management decisions, I examined the ecological and human dimensions of bats roosting in buildings in GRSM.

To assess roost selection by building-roosting bats, I surveyed 140 buildings in the Park for bats during May to August, …

Botswana’S Elephant-Back Safari Industry – Stress-Response In Working African Elephants And Analysis Of Their Post-Release Movements, Tanya Lama

Masters Theses

Understanding how African elephants (Loxodonta africana) respond to human interactions in ecotourism operations is critical to safeguarding animal and human welfare and sustaining wildlife ecotourism activities. We investigated the stress response of elephants to a variety of tourist activities over a 15-month period at Abu Camp in northern Botswana. We compared fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations across three elephant groups, including: eight elephants in an elephant-tourism operation (Abu herd), three elephants previously reintroduced back into the wild from the Abu herd, and wild elephants. There were no differences in FGM concentrations between the three groups of elephants. The highest observed …