Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Livestock Guardian Dogs And Cattle Protection: Opportunities, Challenges, And Methods, Cat D. Urbigkit

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Producer interest in using livestock guardian dogs (Canis lupus familiaris; LGDs) to protect domestic cattle (Bos taurus) is driven by expanding large carnivore predator populations and increased public concerns regarding lethal predator control in North America. However, few resources exist to guide livestock producers regarding the use of LGDs to protect cattle. This paper summarizes published information and personal ranch experiences regarding the use of LGDs to protect cattle, describes livestock-producer identified challenges to more widespread adoption of this method to deter predators, and provides guidelines for introducing pups to LGD-naïve cattle herds. I recommend more …

Growth And Survival Of Wild And Head-Started Blanding’S Turtles (Emydoidea Blandingii), Callie Klatt Golba

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Blanding’s Turtles (IUCN Endangered) are long-lived reptiles with delayed sexual maturity. Anthropogenic landscape changes have increased threats to juvenile turtles, resulting in unnaturally low recruitment. Head-starting has become a popular conservation strategy that aims to increase juvenile recruitment by avoiding the increased predation of the vulnerable nest and hatchling age-class. However, there is still debate about whether or not it is an effective management tool. Assessments of head-starting are becoming more prevalent, but long-term studies are needed to critically evaluate the success of such interventions. In particular, information is needed on how head-starts fare compared to wild-born turtles. The Lake …

Ground Beetle Community Structure And Function In Restored Tallgrass Prairie, Melissa Nelson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

With the removal and destruction of natural areas for human use, there is a push to restore natural habitats. However, most restoration activities focus on reestablishing plant communities, while less is known about the recovery of organisms in higher trophic levels and their functional roles. Considering functional traits (those that explain an organisms’ response to environmental change and impacts on ecosystems) of restored communities may reveal how communities, and the ecosystem functions they drive, recover. Of particular interest are ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) because of their diversity and important ecological roles as consumers. This study focused on the ground beetle …

Identifying Priority Conservation Areas And Strategies For Myotis Sodalis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) Via Habitat And Connectivity Modeling, Ashleigh B. Cable

Masters Theses

Myotis sodalis, the Indiana bat, is a federally endangered bat species in the United States of America (USA). Conservation efforts are typically focused at identified maternity sites at local scales, however, the species is a regional migrant that interacts with its environment at multiple spatial scales. We are limited in our knowledge of landscape-level requirements of this species, especially in large areas such as Illinois, USA, where a wide range of environmental and landscape conditions exist. Many previous M. sodalis habitat studies have limited their focus to smaller spatial scales. Due to limitations in funding, personnel, and time, it …

A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Jaguar (Panthera Onca) And Puma (Puma Concolor) Habitat Selection And Conservation In The Narrowest Section Of Panama., Kimberly A. Craighead

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Over the past two centuries, large terrestrial carnivores have suffered extreme population declines and range contractions resulting from the synergistic anthropogenic threats of land-use change and indirect effects of climate change. In Panama, rapid land use conversion coupled with climate change is predicted to negatively impact jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor). This dissertation examined the environmental variables and scales influencing jaguar and puma habitat selection by season (annual, wet, and dry), using multi-scale optimized habitat suitability models and a machine-learning algorithm (Random Forests), in the narrowest section of Panama. The models derived from the data of an intensive …

Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, Kathryn Rose Wedemeyer-Strombel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Identifying developmental habitat is essential for understanding population structure and species resiliency, especially for critically endangered species. In long-lived, oceanic, migratory animals such as sea turtles, elucidating developmental grounds is particularly difficult. When data are deficient or challenging to acquire, scientists often lean towards traditional quantitative methods when a social-ecological systems approach could better provide crucial baseline data and guiding information. Fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK), the combination of experiential and culturally transmitted knowledge, is expert knowledge and should be treated as such. In 2008, FEK led to the “rediscovery” of the critically endangered eastern Pacific (EP) population of hawksbill sea …

Evaluation Of Private Landowner Intention To Create Early Successional Habitat In Virginia's Appalachian Region, Hannah M. Coovert

Theses and Dissertations

As human land uses continue to expand rapidly across the landscape, the management practices of private landowners are an essential part of effective conservation of biodiversity. Conservation of early successional habitats (ESH) and the species that depend on them is a priority in the eastern United States, and efforts to create more ESH on private lands has primarily focused on forest landowners and the harvesting of timber. Private lands with significant pasture cover in a forested landscape present an additional opportunity to create and maintain ESH, yet our understanding of landowner values and attitudes about management strategies in pastures (i.e., …

Ecosystem Services After A Major Ecological Disturbance: Did Barn Owl (Tyto Alba) Nest Box Occupancy And Hunting Habitat Selection Change In Response To Napa Valley Fires?, Allison E. Huysman

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Wine producers in Napa Valley, California install barn owl (Tyto alba) nest boxes in vineyards with the goal of reducing rodent crop damage. Previous research has shown that the probability of attracting barn owls to nest boxes and encouraging them to hunt in vineyards is strongly influenced by the design of the nest box itself and the composition of the surrounding landscape. In 2017, wildfires in the Napa area burned nearly 60,000 ha, primarily affecting urban areas, which caused human devastation, and uncultivated habitats, which barn owls are known to select. Data collected before the fires on nest …

Understory Light, Regeneration, And Browsing Effects In Irregular Structures Created By Partial Harvesting In Coast Redwood Stands, Kurt Anthony Schneider

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Regeneration of commercial species is central to long-term success of multiaged management for wood production. We used a replicated uneven-aged silviculture experiment to study regeneration by stump sprouting (Chapter 1) and planted seedlings (Chapter 2). In Chapter 1, we present relationships between understory light, varying overstory tree retention, and growth of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus) stump sprouts initiated by group selection (GS) and single-tree selection harvesting. First, we quantified understory light throughout this 20 ha experiment comparing four different silvicultural treatments repeated at four sites. Then, we related understory light to post-treatment …

Habitat Characteristics And Nesting Ecology Of Golden Eagles In Arizona, Michele J. Losee

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) have a broad range globally and in general are well-studied. However, Arizona’s Golden Eagle population remained essentially unstudied until 2011, when Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) began nest surveys for cliff nesting Golden Eagles throughout the state. As a result of this data collection, the natural history of Arizona’s Golden Eagles is finally revealing itself. This dissertation outlined a reliable description of their nesting phenology that provides a framework for timing surveys and a baseline to monitor the effects of climate change on Golden Eagles. The mean date for egg-laying was February 14 and pairs …

Environmental Policy Assessment In The Ghanaian Gold Mining Industry: Insights From Stakeholders, Francis Tuokuu

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Environmental policy assessment has been recognized by critical stakeholders (e.g., governments, local communities, academics, environmental advocacy groups, and mining companies) as an effective way of identifying and dealing with the myriad of environmental problems confronting humanity, particularly those caused by mining activities. While the gold mining sector has contributed to the economies of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa since the introduction of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in the 1980s by the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; IMF), the sector has also contributed to environmental degradation including water pollution, land contaminations, and generally, human health concerns …

Alpine Plant Communities Of The White Mountains Of New Hampshire: Aboveground Plant Diversity And Abundance Correlated To Belowground Factors, Timothy Maddalena-Lucey

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Alpine plant communities are fragile complex systems that may be threatened by climate change. Patterns of climate-driven soil warming are shown to have lasting effects on ecosystem nutrient cycles, alpine plant phenology, and belowground soil biotic activity. There are concerns in the alpine mycorrhizal research community as to how belowground fungal biomass will react to climate-driven soil warming. To address these concerns I asked in this study what are the correlations between belowground factors such as collective ectomycorrhizal (EcM) and ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) percent colonization, pH, and soil depth to bedrock and aboveground plant diversity and richness. In 2018, on …

Population Health Of Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum) In Created Vernal Pools: An Integrative Approach, Alice R. Millikin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Habitat creation is an important tool for conservation to counteract habitat loss and degradation. Vernal pools are susceptible to destruction due to limited detection, protection, and regulation. These wetlands provide fishless breeding habitat for many amphibian species including spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) in eastern North America. Determining whether created vernal pool habitat is successful is often determined by demographic data of colonizing populations. I suggest that hormone levels, population genetics, and disease prevalence can improve our understanding of population health in created habitat. The goal of this dissertation was to assess the health of spotted salamander larvae in …

Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga Cerulea) And Associated Species Response To Operational Silviculture In The Central Appalachian Region, Gretchen Emily Nareff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this study, I assessed the response of Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga cerulea) and 5 additional songbird species to timber harvests prescribed through operational silviculture. The research took place in relatively contiguous mature deciduous forests in 4 states in the central Appalachian region—Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, USA.

For the first part of the study, I collected Cerulean Warbler abundance and territory data through point counts and territory mapping, respectively. I used the point count data to model Cerulean Warbler abundance pre- and post-harvest at 5 study areas (Kentucky [n=1], Virginia [n=2], West Virginia [n=2]) and post-harvest at …

Predicting Spawning Habitat For Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch), Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha), And Steelhead (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Using Geospatially Constructed Stream Morphology From High-Resolution Lidar-Derived Digital Elevation Model And Field Survey Data In The Indian Creek Watershed, Mendocino County, California, Justin Patrick Bissell Mr.

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Restoration of anadromous salmonid habitat is of primary importance to the economic, historical, and cultural geography of the Pacific Northwest. Derivation and use of geospatial habitat models as guides to pinpoint key areas where limited restoration funding can be cost-effectively employed is of great importance. To this purpose, 1 meter resolution lidar-derived Digital Elevation Model data was acquired for the Indian Creek and neighboring watersheds in Mendocino County, California, and used together with field-acquired geomorphic stream data to geospatially model stream widths, depths, and streambank morphology. These geospatial covariates were field-verified in selected locations and then used in conjunction with …

Distribution And Habitat Use Of A Recently Discovered Population Of Humboldt Martens In California, Holly E. Gamblin

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The Humboldt marten (Martes caurina humboldtensis) has declined from over 95% of its historic range in California, with only two populations remaining. In response to the forthcoming listing of the Humboldt marten a conservation assessment and strategy was developed to address the most important conservation needs for this species. This assessment identified an area near the California – Oregon border as the second extant population area in California based on a small number of recent detections. However little else was known of this population, and this prompted my investigation to determine 1) the distribution and potential population size …

Aba Rpte Conservation Easement Task Force Report: Recommendations Regarding Conservation Easements And Federal Tax Law, W. William Weeks

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Authors' Synopsis: In October 2015, the American Bar Association's Real Property, Trust and Estate Law (RPTE) section convened a Conservation Easement Task Force. The objective of the Task Force was to provide recommendations regarding federal tax law as it relates to conservation easements. This Report is the culmination of the Task Force's work. Part I of the Report is an Executive Summary of the Task Force's recommendations. Part II provides the background necessary to understand the Task Force's recommendations. Part III briefly sets forth the Task Force's comments on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as it relates …

An Acoustic Monitoring Method For Assessing River Dolphin Presence And Changes In The Context Of Anthropogenic Development, Charles A. Muirhead

Graduate Masters Theses

Populations of river dolphins throughout Asia are in decline as a direct result of intensified anthropogenic activity along river systems. Water development projects, land use change, contamination, and intensified fishing practices are known factors contributing to the probable extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer) and declining populations of the South Asian river dolphin (Platanista gangetica spp.), Irrawady dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and finless porpoise (Neophocaena a. asiaeorientalis). Although not yet as extensive, river system development in South America is following a similar path as that of Asia, with impacts on dolphin species likely to follow. Currently, the Amazon river …

Quantifying Bee Assemblages And Attractiveness Of Flowering Woody Landscape Plants For Urban Pollinator Conservation, Bernadette M. Mach, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

Urban and suburban landscapes can be refuges for biodiversity of bees and other pollinators. Public awareness of declining pollinator populations has increased interest in growing plants that provide floral resources for bees. Various publications and websites list “bee-friendly” plants, but such lists are rarely based on empirical data, nor do they emphasize flowering trees and shrubs, which are a major component of urban landscapes. We quantified bee visitation to 72 species of flowering woody landscape plants across 373 urban and suburban sites in Kentucky and southern Ohio, USA, sampling and identifying the bee assemblages associated with 45 of the most …

Simulating Detection-Censored Movement Records For Home Range Analysis Planning, Lyndsie S. Wszola, Victoria L. Simonsen, Lucía Corral, Christopher J. Chizinski, Joseph J. Fontaine

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Home range estimation is an important analytical method in applied spatial ecology, yet best practices for addressing the effects of spatial variation in detection probability on home range estimates remain elusive. We introduce the R package “DiagnoseHR,” simulation tools for assessing how variation in detection probability arising from landscape, animal behavior, and methodological processes affects home range inference. We demonstrate the utility of simulation methods for home range analysis planning by comparing bias arising from three home range estimation methods under multiple detection scenarios. We simulated correlated random walks in three landscapes that varied in detection probability and constructed home …

Preface: Earth Observation For Integrated Water And Basin Management: Challenges For Adaptation To A Changing Environment, María J. Polo, Maria P. González-Dugo, Christopher M.U. Neale

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Integrated river basin management involves a sound knowledge of water and land interactions, and impacts from and feedbacks to human activity. Remote sensing has been an efficient and increasingly promising means of gathering direct information of the Earth surface, as well as information on water and energy fluxes. The recent generation of high-resolution sensors offers a huge potential for monitoring, assessing, and modelling our changing environment in a context of uncertainty about how future climate conditions will affect the current water resource and basin management framework. Moreover, large amounts of data are now available posing a challenging opportunity to the …

Wave Energy In America, Chris Sukstorf

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The United States has an untapped energy goldmine: our shores. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States his home to over 95,000 miles of shoreline. This shoreline is home to beaches, homes, and wildlife, but it could be home to more: wave energy.

Wave energy comes in many forms: some use the bobbing up and down motion of waves to generate energy in a similar motion of a piston; others store water during high tide and then release it during low tide like a dam. All said and done, the United States has the ability …

Why Lincoln Needs To Get Ahead Of The Emerald Ash Borer Outbreak, Bryce Meyer

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The emerald ash borer was recently sighted in Lincoln, Nebraska this August. This was to be expected as they were also located in Douglas and Cass county. The emerald ash borer has been making its way west from Michigan and has also been detected in 61 counties in Iowa.

The emerald ash borer is a metallic green colored beetle that feeds on green ash, black ash, blue ash, and white ash trees. The insect can kill up to 99% of the ash trees that they come in contact with. The beetle is native to north-eastern Asia and is considered an …

“On-Bill Financing: A Bright Idea For Nebraska”, Lauren Taylor

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

In over 29 states, a program called On-Bill Financing (OBF) is being utilized to improve the energy efficiency of homes and livelihoods of the people living in them. These programs have been implemented all over the country for many years, in states like Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, and Michigan. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), OBF has been wildly successful, reducing energy inefficiency, cutting energy bills, and improving the comfort of homes across the country with no upfront costs.

But what exactly is this mysterious money-saving program, and why hasn’t Nebraska tapped into it yet?

The Department of …

Looking At The True Costs Of Environmental Degradation, Zachery Sehnert

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Progress is why we change, and innovation drives that progress. It is already very clear to scientists around the globe that our current framework for living is not sustainable. 97 percent of climate scientists are in consensus that there is a major threat to our ecosystem and action needs to be taken. Overpopulation, pollution, water scarcity, natural disasters, overfishing, deforestation are all issues that must be reevaluated with sustainability in mind. However only 49 percent of the general population share this belief, and even less, only 29 percent of CEOs are actively addressing climate change. The shortcoming for the general …

“Renewable Energy Implementation”, William Newcomb

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Finding and providing ways to produce energy in an environmentally clean way is becoming a major push for countries all around the world today. Renewable energy provides a clean way to produce energy efficiently without using our planets non-renewable resources. Renewable energy has been growing substantially in the United States in the last decade and is making its way towards becoming a major energy production method. So, what is stopping the United States from implementing renewable energy production into our country at a mass scale?

There are many barriers that are keeping renewable energy from becoming a main source of …

Nebraska’S Public Power Is Proof That Renewables Are (Literally) In The Public’S Best Interest, Jacob Monti

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Nebraska is the only state that has every electric utility publicly owned. This gives Nebraska a unique advantage of serving its customers rather than out-of-state shareholders. Since the goal is cheap power instead of profit margins and keeping shareholders happy, Nebraska rates are 16.8% below the national average. (EIA.gov)

So what does that mean for Renewable sources of electricity if cheap power is the main focus? Does cheap but dirty coal reign supreme?

Some might think that’d be a death blow for Renewables. Renewables (wind, solar, and hydro-electric power) are expensive and not profitable, right? WRONG.

Renewables make up just …

Lift On E15 Ban: Should Nebraskan Farmers Be Cheering?, Samantha Wattier

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The common gasoline-ethanol mixture available at gas station pumps is 10% ethanol (E10). The Environmental Protection Agency had a ban on 15% ethanol (E15) during summer months. The news has been covering the talks of President Trump to lifting this summer ban and supporters in Iowa are excited.

Should Nebraska shout Hoorah, too? It is common knowledge Nebraska is better than Iowa. We should be excited, too, right?! NO.

Iowa has been tracking Fuel Revenue sales including those from ethanol blends and has been pushing for the E15 ban lift. Considering Iowa produces MORE corn and MORE ethanol than …

Recycling Just Got More Expensive. Can It Be Done Better?, Zachery Homolka

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

There was a time in history that America led the world in recycling. In World War Two, Americans were asked to recycle tin, steel, paper, and rubber for the war effort. The University of Southern Carolina states that children were so eager to participate, they went door to door collecting recyclable scraps to turn in to be made into tanks, planes, and ammunition. Yet, in 2017 the National Geographic estimated about 91% of plastic produced globally has not been recycled and instead is landfilled or littered into the environment. America is no longer leading the recycling charge, the World Economic …

Social Change For A Global Problem, Isabella Catalano

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Recently, the United Nations' International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report[1], warning us that storms are becoming more volatile, sea surface temperatures are getting higher, global environment as a whole growing less predictable: in other words, things are about to get a whole lot worse than we predicted.

Unless, of course, we do something about it. The IPCC recommends cutting CO₂ emissions by 45% in order to curb just the worst of climate change's many effects.

There are a plethora of articles on the topic of just what, exactly, we as individuals can do: …