Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

If You Build It, Will They Come? Assessing Habitat Quality For Marsh Birds At Created Marshes In Southeastern Louisiana, Katherine Aylett Lipford

LSU Master's Theses

Wetland loss occurs at an alarming pace globally, with extremely high rates along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana loses a football field of wetland every 100 minutes: that is 77,000 m² of wetland bird habitat lost daily. In Louisiana, marsh creation projects combat wetland loss, and while wildlife habitat is often used as a justification for restoration, wildlife receives little to no consideration during and after construction. Habitat characteristics such as site-specific hydrology, vegetation composition, and habitat structure affect the abundance of wetland birds and understanding these features is crucial to creating habitat that will benefit birds. My …

Uavs And Deep Neural Networks: An Alternative Approach To Monitoring Waterfowl At The Site Level, Zachary J. Loken

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding how waterfowl respond to habitat restoration and management activities is crucial for evaluating and refining conservation delivery programs. However, site-specific waterfowl monitoring is challenging, especially in heavily forested systems such as the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV)—a primary wintering region for ducks in North America. I hypothesized that using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) coupled with deep learning-based methods for object detection would provide an efficient and effective means for surveying non-breeding waterfowl on difficult-to-access restored wetland sites. Accordingly, during the winters of 2021 and 2022, I surveyed wetland restoration easements in the MAV using a UAV equipped with a dual …

Can Gulf Ribbed Mussels Enhance Coastal Restoration Projects In A Future With Climate Change?, Skylar Liner

LSU Master's Theses

Living shorelines present one restoration approach using biotic elements (via ecosystem engineers) to stabilize shorelines and increase valuable habitat. Gulf ribbed mussels (Geukensia granosissima) are important ecosystem engineers within brackish and salt marshes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and can increase nutrient availability, enhance marsh vegetation production, and potentially improve shoreline stability. It is unknown whether mussels will maintain these functions as future climate change predicts increases in temperature and water level, which may exceed the mussel’s tolerance. A field survey conducted during the summer of 2022 identified the daily maximum temperature at the marsh surface, where mussels naturally …

Gulf Sturgeon Mesohabitat Use And Movement In The Lower Pearl River Louisiana-Mississippi, Amanda Popovich

LSU Master's Theses

After spring migrations to natal rivers Gulf Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi reside in freshwater holding areas prior to fall emigrations to nearby estuaries. Limited published information on the physical habitat characteristics of these holding areas is available, especially for juvenile fish in the western portion of the Gulf Sturgeon’s distribution. To further investigate freshwater occupancy and movement patterns, 32 acoustic receivers were deployed from late April to October of 2021 and 2022 in 1600-m reaches distributed throughout the lower Pearl River, Louisiana-Mississippi, the westernmost river within their distribution. Generalized linear mixed models and multi-state models were used to determine what …

Accurately Valuing Blue Carbon Sequestration And Storage To Foster Coastal Conservation Via Evidence-Based Policymaking And Model Environmental Services Statute Methodologies, John Shelton Penton Jr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Blue carbon ecosystems, especially mangrove forests, provide one of nature’s most effective means for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in subsurface soils. The six nearshore coastal morphologies found in tropical and subtropical regions each possess a conspicuous environmental signature that can be employed to accurately estimate and predict mangrove forests’ carbon storage in above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, and the soils by system type. The consistent geomorphology and geophysical processes within each of these coastal environmental settings, that is, the wave and tidal forcings, the rate of coastal sediment accretions, nutrient load and limitations (e.g., nitrogen-to-phosphorus …

Breeding Ecology Of Mottled Ducks In Southwestern Louisiana, Elizabeth Sophia Bonczek

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mottled ducks are a resident species found in the southern United States that rely on coastal marsh and associated habitat to fulfill the needs of the entirety of their annual cycle. Population monitoring has revealed declines in western Gulf Coast (WGC) mottled ducks since 2008. Mottled duck populations are influenced by survival and recruitment, and changes in these factors may contribute to population declines. The overarching goal of this project was to identify the mechanisms potentially limiting WGC mottled ducks.

I captured adult female mottled ducks during molt on Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and adjacent lands in southwestern Louisiana from 2017–2019. …

Bat Habitat Use And Activity In Forests Of Central Louisiana, Jane M. Kunberger

LSU Master's Theses

In the southeastern U.S., where forests are the primary land cover type and trees are often harvested for production purposes, understanding how forestry practices influence bat distributions is critical for bat conservation and management. It is also important for researchers to quantify and report variation in the performance of automated recordings units (ARUs) used to survey for bats because several key features of ARUs (e.g., microphone sensitivity, triggering thresholds) can influence an ARUs ability to detect bat calls. My goals were (1) to examine the influence of forest management practices on seasonal bat species occurrence and activity in central Louisiana, …

Trophic Relationships Between Tadpoles And Other Aquatic Organisms In Sub-Tropical Ponds, Kira Cates

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Channel Stability On Fish Condition And Diet In Thompson Creek, La, Alexia Lagrone

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Application Of Gravity Data For Hydrocarbon Exploration Using Machine Learning Assisted Workflow, Oluwafemi Temidayo Alaofin

LSU Master's Theses

Gravity survey has played an essential role in many geoscience fields ever since it was conducted, especially as an early screening tool for subsurface hydrocarbon exploration. With continued improvement in data processing techniques and gravity survey accuracy, in-depth gravity anomaly studies, such as characterization of Bouguer and isostatic residual anomalies, have the potential to delineate prolific regional structures and hydrocarbon basins. In this study, we focus on developing a cost-effective, quick, and computationally efficient screening tool for hydrocarbon exploration using gravity data employing machine learning techniques. Since land-based gravity surveys are often expensive and difficult to obtain in remote places, …

Floodplain Forests Vegetation Dynamics Driven By Water Deficits Across Scales, Nga Thanh Nguyen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Restoration of floodplain ecosystems relies on identifying the most crucial hydrologic process which has been altered by human and climate. Flooding is a well-known dominant hydrologic process for floodplain ecosystems, but surprisingly little is known about drought's role in structuring ecosystems. In addition, several issues remained uncertain, such as the nature of drought within floodplains and the sensitivity of floodplain species-specific growth to climate. These gaps of understanding have in common in missing observations of mechanistic pathways of vegetation response to water deficits at multiple scales in time and space.Generally, this research contributed to floodplain management by expanding our understanding …

Patterns And Drivers Of Introgression In Louisiana's Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) Stocks, Colleen E. Walsh

LSU Master's Theses

In the southeastern U.S., populations of the popular sportfish Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides; LMB) are often stocked with Florida Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus; FLMB) to develop FLMB ancestry in systems north of its native peninsular Florida range, with the ultimate goal of creating trophy fisheries. Stock enhancement through introgression of FLMB ancestry can increase maximum potential size and growth in receiving populations, potentially through hybrid vigor of intergrade subspecies. We collected 60 fish and habitat data from six Louisiana lakes from 2018-2020 (N=360), quantified level of introgression of FLMB with fragment analysis at 12 microsatellite loci confirmed for subspecific …

An Analysis Of Effort, Success, And Attitudes Of Louisiana Hunters By Email And Mixed-Mode Surveys, Michael Sullivan

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Louisiana surveys waterfowl hunters every 5 years to assess harvest, harvest practices, demographics, and specific management objectives, as well as to research hypotheses derived from previous surveys of waterfowl hunters. In the 2020 survey, research hypotheses addressed hunter perceptions of changing waterfowl migration patterns, satisfaction, and relationships between perceptions and avidity with survey distribution waves and sample coverage. I surveyed a stratified census of 68,578 Louisiana waterfowl hunters by email following the 2019–2020 season, and asked 31 questions about waterfowl-hunting effort, success, satisfaction, regulatory alternatives, and demographics. I used generalized linear models to test hypotheses about hunters’ perception of …

Effect Of Forage Management Strategies And Land Use Change On Nitrogen Budget And Soil Health Parameters In Pasture Systems, Yili Meng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Pastures produce hay for livestock, and they conserve soil, water, and air resources. However, high nitrogen (N) fertilizer demands in pasture production have significant implication on greenhouse gas emission and environmental pollution. Appropriate forage management strategies can reduce environmental N loss and improve soil health, to enhance the long-term pasture productivity. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effects of management strategies on N budgets and soil health parameters in subtropical pastures. Both field and laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of N stabilizers including urease inhibitor and nitrification inhibitor on pasture yield, greenhouse gas emission, …

Incorporating Life Into Living Shorelines: Can Gulf Ribbed Mussels Reduce Shoreline Erosion And Enhance Restoration Practices?, Jordan Logarbo

LSU Master's Theses

The gulf ribbed mussel (Geukensia granosissima) exists throughout the Gulf of Mexico and influences biotic and abiotic environmental attributes as an ecosystem engineer. Ribbed mussels are an important component of marsh ecosystems providing services including filtering particulate matter, depositing and transforming nutrients in the system, increasing soil strength via byssal threads and providing structure via their shells.

The spatial distribution of mussels along the marsh edge of Sister Lake, LA was investigated via a broad survey of 150 sites, in relation to elevation, exposure and vegetation percent cover. This survey was followed by a second survey at a …

Parasite Prevalence In Marsh Rice Rats (Oryzomys Palustris) On Sites Affected By The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Layni Leblanc

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Marsh Management In Coastal Marsh Impoundments On Marsh Vertical Accretion In The Face Of Sea Level Rise., Scott P. Graham

LSU Master's Theses

Many coastal marshes are managed for wildlife through the use of levees and water control structures. Management techniques such as water manipulation, herbicide application, and controlled burns are used to set back succession and facilitate recruitment of annual plant species, which are highly sought after by many wildlife. These marsh impoundments alter or prevent natural tidal exchange, which might alter or prevent sediment and nutrient inputs to the marsh. Although these management techniques are effective in managing for wildlife, there are few studies comparing vertical accretion between managed and unmanaged marshes. Vertical accretion is important because it allows coastal wetlands …

Seasonal Infilling And Sedimentary Characteristics In Sandy Versus Muddy Coastal Borrow Areas On The Louisiana Continental Shelf, Usa, Matthew Barley

LSU Master's Theses

Offshore sand deposits on the Louisiana Continental Shelf, such as inner shelf shoals and buried paleo-river channels, can be excavated to restore beaches and barrier islands that are rapidly deteriorating due to subsidence, sea-level rise and deficits in coastal sediment supply. Presented here is grain size, x-radiograph, and Beryllium-7 (⁷Be) derived sedimentation rates from multicores (~ 50 cm depth) retrieved from borrow areas (BAs) in contrasting depositional settings, all of which have implications for management of water quality, seafloor sedimentology, and biogeochemistry in proximal areas. Multicores were retrieved in fall 2018 at Caminada BA — a sandy energetic …

Characterization Of Shallow Subsurface Hydrology In Large Fine-Grained Floodplains, Mary Grace Lemon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Floodplains are hydrologically dynamic, receiving water from overbank events, hyporheic flows, local precipitation, and regional groundwater sources. These sources are variously important contributors to the heterogeneous floodplain water pool that includes matrix water in soil micropores, mobile water in soil macropores, groundwater below the rooting zone, ephemeral to seasonal surface storage, and permanent surface water features such as oxbow lakes, sloughs, and other secondary channels. All sources may be ecologically relevant for floodplain vegetation, but the exact roles of each source in both controlling soil water and shallow groundwater recharge and in controlling floodplain water drainage are not well understood, …

Estimating The Onset And Extent Of Dieback Of Phragmites Australis Using The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index And Remotely Sensed Land Cover Classifications, Aimee M. Beaudette

LSU Master's Theses

Phragmites australis is cosmopolitan plant species with an invasive variety present throughout most of North America. In the Balize Delta, Louisiana, USA, P. australis plays an important role in combatting subsidence, maintaining navigation channels, and protecting interior fish and wildlife habitat from waves and storm surge. In 2016 a dieback of P. australis was reported by wetland managers, coinciding with the appearance of an invasive Asian scale insect (Nipponaclerda biwakoensis), though the specific cause is still unknown. Two previous efforts attempted to identify the onset of dieback conditions met with limited success. Using Landsat images from 1985 to …

An Ecopath With Ecosim Analysis On Offshore Petroleum Platform Influences On Gulf Of Mexico Red Snapper, Valentin Gomez

LSU Master's Theses

Offshore oil and gas platforms have had a significant presence in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s. An important secondary function of these structures is that they provide artificial habitat to fisheries, most notably Red snapper. Policy changes intended to reduce the risk associated with aging infrastructure have reduced the number of standing platforms from 4044 to 1867 from 2001 to 2018. The effect this loss of habitat has on Red snapper was tested by creating three scenarios of platform changes and modeling the perturbation from 2005 to 2050. The simulation was accomplished using the ecological model Ecopath with …

Biogeography Of Biological Control: Spatial Variation In Agent-Host Interactions, Nathan Harms

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Management of plant invasions using biological control has the potential to generate spatial patterns which reflect geographic or genetic variation in invader or control agents. Despite its rarity in practice, investigations into the biogeography of interacting species (i.e., plant invader and control agent) in the context of biological control can lend insights into species distribution-abundance patterns and provide predictions for spatial variation in control success. I explored spatial variability in biological control agent-plant interactions using two wetland weed study systems with large geographic distributions: flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus L.) and alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb). Through literature and …

Conservation Potential And Mechanisms Of Avian Decline In Experimentally Fragmented And Regenerating Amazonian Rainforest, Cameron Lee Rutt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Twenty percent of the Brazilian Amazon has now been deforested, and deforestation rates are increasing. Yet the process of deforestation threatens biodiversity beyond the direct loss of habitat by inducing edge effects and creating forest fragments. In the tropics, among the most vulnerable birds to these human disturbances are a group of insectivorous species that forage on or near the ground. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to explain these declines, but evidence for these hypotheses remains scare or equivocal. In this study, we examine three proposed mechanisms—physiological constraints to bright light, reduced breeding activity and nest success, and …

Reproductive Parameters And Female Breeding Season Survival Of Rio Grande Wild Turkeys In South Central Texas, Jacob White

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, Rio Grande wild turkeys in south central Texas have been at lower densities than other portions of the state. Within the Oak-Prairie Wildlife District of Texas, Rio Grande wild turkey regulatory restrictions are different for counties in the eastern and western portions of the ecoregion. Due to perceived increases in turkey density in the eastern portion of the ecoregion (hereafter 1-bird zone), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) considered increasing the bag limit to match counties in the western portion of the district (hereafter 4-bird zone) in order to increase hunting opportunities. However, if regulatory changes are to be …

Cogongrass (Imperata Cylindrica (L.) Beauv.) In Louisiana: Cause And Consequence, Lorissa A. Radunzel-Davis

LSU Master's Theses

Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv.), an invasive species from East Asia, is found worldwide and is problematic in several countries. In the United States, it grows primarily in the Southeast, reducing biodiversity by growing in dense patches and potentially causing mortality and reducing value of native and planted pinelands due to a high burning temperature. Using Lee Memorial Forest, a Louisiana State University AgCenter property in Washington Parish as a study site, this thesis explores cogongrass in Louisiana with emphasis on soil microbes and soil legacy effects on native plant species. Cogongrass populations at Lee Memorial Forest were more …

Reproductive Parameters And Methodologies For The Culture Of Golden Topminnows (Fundulus Chrysotus) And Bluenose Shiners (Pteronotropis Welaka), Jacob A. Fetterman

LSU Master's Theses

The global ornamental fish trade has expanded over the past 20 years, requiring captive rearing methods to be improved or developed for species of interest. Aquaculture of desirable species is preferable over wild harvest to conserve natural habitats and biodiversity. This thesis focused on improving culture methods for Golden Topminnows Fundulus chrysotus and developing culture methods for Bluenose Shiners Pteronotropis welaka, both native fishes of the southeastern United States with ornamental demand. A combination of reproductive metric analyses, examination of historical collections, and captive spawning trials were employed to target specific objectives for each species. In female Golden Topminnows, …

Effects Of Oil And Gas Development On Waterfowl Nesting Ecology In The Bakken Formation Of North Dakota, Cassandra G. Skaggs

LSU Master's Theses

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is one of the most important areas on the continent for grassland-nesting birds. Thirty percent of the PPR overlaps the Bakken shale formation where rapidly accelerating oil and gas development has the potential to impact millions of breeding waterfowl. While oil and gas development has negatively affected other ground-nesting birds such as sagebrush passerines and Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Wyoming, the potential impact on breeding waterfowl in the PPR is unknown. In addition, the PPR landscape is already heavily fragmented by agriculture, and increasing land conversion and disturbance from petroleum extraction may further …

Environmental Controls On Dissolved Carbon Export And River Geochemistry - A Case Study In The Mississippi-Atchafalaya System, Jeremy Reiman

LSU Master's Theses

Rivers serve as an important medium for the exchange of elements between land, ocean, and atmosphere. This thesis consists of three interconnected studies with the overarching goal of analyzing the environmental factors influencing dissolved carbon dynamics and river geochemistry in large rivers. These studies utilized river water samples and in-stream measurements collected from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers at hourly to monthly intervals between 2013 to 2018, along with ambient river and meteorological data downloaded from public-access databases. Results indicate substantially higher dissolved organic carbon concentrations (DOC, 611 ±181 µmol L^-1) but lower concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon …

Gastrointestinal Helminth Prevalence In Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis) Wintering On Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Usa, Sydney Cottingham

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Timber Harvest On Avian Abundance And Diversity, Mckenzie Brandon

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.