Biodiversity Commons^™

Floristic Quality Assessments Of Remnant Natural Areas In The Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan Region: Evaluating Botanical Change Since The 1890s, Alan W. Stockdale, Garrett Crow, David P. Warners

Faculty and Professional Research

In 1901, Emma J. Cole, a beloved high school teacher and distinguished botanist, published Grand Rapids Flora. Cole’s floristic inventory remains the most comprehensive botanical study of the greater Grand Rapids, Michigan region, even though this area has experienced significant land- scape alterations since her publication. To address this knowledge gap, in 2014 we embarked on a multiple-year project aimed to discover and reassess the sites Cole described, as well as to catalog other natural remnant locations within the Grand Rapids area. This paper reports botanical invento- ries that were completed at eight sites within Kent County during 2015 and …

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 …

A Rapid And Accurate Minion-Based Workflow For Tracking Species Biodiversity In The Field, Hendrik Freitag, Simone Maestri, Emanuela Cosentino, Marta Paterno, Jhoana M. Garces, Luca Marcolungo, Massimiliano Alfano, Iva Njunjić, Menno Schilthuizen, Ferry Slik, Michele Menegon, Marzia Rossato, Massimo Delledonne

Biology Faculty Publications

Genetic markers (DNA barcodes) are often used to support and confirm species identification. Barcode sequences can be generated in the field using portable systems based on the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION sequencer. However, to achieve a broader application, current proof-of-principle workflows for on-site barcoding analysis must be standardized to ensure a reliable and robust performance under suboptimal field conditions without increasing costs. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of a new on-site workflow for DNA extraction, PCR-based barcoding, and the generation of consensus sequences. The portable laboratory features inexpensive instruments that can be carried as hand luggage and uses standard …

Trade-Offs Shape Carotenoid-Based Color Variation In Redheaded Pine Sawfly (Neodiprion Lecontei) Larvae, Maranda Gaines

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Carotenoids serve various ecological roles in animals including coloration, immune responses, and vision. Carotenoid-derived coloration is greatly emphasized in the literature, particularly relating to mate choice and aposematic warning. However, the trade-offs between the color and non-color functions of carotenoids are not thoroughly explored. In the redheaded pine sawfly (Neodiprion lecontei), some larval populations have yellow pigmentation, using carotenoids derived from their diets for aposematic warning coloration. Other larval populations are white in color, having genetically lost the ability to produce the yellow pigment. Because carotenoids are essential to life functions in both the yellow and white populations, we aim …

Advancing Urban Wildlife Research Through A Multi-City Collaboration, Seth B. Magle, Mason Fidino, Elizabeth W. Lehrer, Travis Gallo, Matthew P. Mulligan, María Jazmín Ríos, Adam A. Ahlers, Julia L. Angstmann, Amy Belaire, Barbara Dugelby, Ashley Gramza, Laurel Hartley, Brandon Macdougall, Travis J. Ryan, Carmen M. Salsbury, Heather Sander, Christopher Schell, Kelly Simon, Sarah St. Onge, David Drake

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Research on urban wildlife can help promote coexistence and guide future interactions between humans and wildlife in developed regions, but most such investigations are limited to short-term, single-species studies, typically conducted within a single city. This restricted focus prevents scientists from recognizing global patterns and first principles regarding urban wildlife behavior and ecol- ogy. To overcome these limitations, we have designed a pioneering research network, the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN), whereby partners collaborate across several cities to systematically collect data to populate long-term datasets on multiple species in urban areas. Data collected via UWIN support analyses that will enable …

Quantifying Signpost Usage By Captive Male White-Tailed Deer, Cassie L. Auxt, Eric S. Michel, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) use rubbing of signpost structures to communicate during the breeding season. Rubbing of signpost structures allows deer to communicate via visual and chemical cues, which allows them to establish dominance hierarchies and maintain hierarchal status throughout the breeding season (Moore and Marchinton 1974, Miller et al. 1981, Hewitt 2011). Once a living tree is rubbed, the exposed light-colored sapwood creates a stark contrast in wooded areas, increasing visibility and further enticing deer to investigate the structure (Oehler et al. 1995). Anatomically, the tubular apocrine sudoriferous glands of white-tailed deer are located at the antler …

Management Recommendations For Ecological Restoration On The Little River Parcel, Maya Sady Partain, Garitt Mathews

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Ecological restoration is an important aspect of land management. Data collection and ongoing monitoring help inform restoration decisions and determine their effectiveness. In this project, we followed a monitoring protocol provided by the Trinidad Coastal Land Trust to assess the 2019 status of their Little River parcel, a fifteen-acre area near the mouth of Little River in Trinidad, California. We performed a site analysis of invasive plant species and recorded their extent and location, as well as noting other observations of the ecology, topography, and biology of the site. After making our observations, we recommended land management methods woven together …

Wpa News 110 (2019), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Winter 2019), number 110

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Effects Of Invasive Trees On Native Floodplain Forest Vegetation & Breeding Bird, Jacob Myers

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

A Changed River's Effects On Native Turtle Distribution, Marshall Kim

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Suspended Sediment Contributions Of Nebraska Tributaries Along The 59-Mile, Nathan Cardona

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Aquatic Insect-Derived Missouri River, Katy A. Mccarthy

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Multifunctional Landscapes Along The Missouri National Recreational River, Ann Mcgehrin

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Long-Tailed Weasel (Mustela Frenata) Distribution Survey In Arkansas: Challenges In Detecting A Rare Species, Suzanne D. Johnston, D. Blake Sasse, Robert E. Kissell Jr.

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata) have one of the widest distributions of mustelids in the western hemisphere and were distributed across a majority of the American continents ranging from Canada through the contiguous United States, Mexico, and into northern South America. However, on a local scale they are considered uncommon and rare. We assessed the distribution of long-tailed weasels across Arkansas to determine occupancy in each ecoregion of Arkansas, and determined the detectability on two local, adjacent sites. No long-tailed weasels were detected within the ecoregions, but the species was detected with intensive sampling on one local site. It …

Птицы Восточного Саяна / Birds Of The Eastern Sayan, Tsydypzhap Zayateevich Dorzhiev, Yuri Anatolyevich Durnev, Marina Vitalievna Sonina, Erdeni Nikolaevich Elaev, A. A. Baranov

Zea E-Books Collection

The monograph presents data on the distribution and ecology of 340 species of birds found on the territory of the poorly studied highland — the Eastern Sayan. An ecological systematic and faunogenetic analysis of the region’s avifauna has been carried out. We reveal some features of the birds' way of life in the extreme natural conditions of the mountains of Southern Siberia.

The book is intended for all who are of interest in the wildlife of Siberia, as well as for biology teachers and students, ecologists.

В монографии приведены данные о распространении и экологии 340 видов птиц, отмеченных на территории …

Multiple Connections Between Amazonia And Atlantic Forest Shaped The T Phylogenetic And Morphological Diversity Of Chiasmocleis Mehely, 1904 (Anura: Microhylidae: Gastrophryninae), Rafael O. De Sá, João Filipe Riva Tonini, Hannah Van Huss, Alex Long, Travis Cuddy, Mauricio C. Forlani, Pedro L.V. Peloso, Hussam Zaher, Célio F.B. Haddad

Biology Faculty Publications

Chiasmocleis is the most species-rich genus of Neotropical microhylids. Herein, we provide the first comprehensive multilocus phylogeny for the genus, including all but 3 of the 34 recognized species and multiple individuals per species. We discuss cryptic speciation, species discovery, patterns of morphological evolution, and provide a historical biogeographic analysis to account for the current distribution of the genus. Diversification of Chiasmocleis from other New World microhylids began during the Eocene, app. 40 mya, in forested areas, and current diversity seems to be a product of recurrent connections between the Atlantic Forest and Amazonia. Small-sized species evolved independently three times …

Pangolins In Global Camera Trap Data: Implications For Ecological Monitoring, Hannah Khwaja, Claire Buchan, Oliver R. Wearn, Laila Bahaa-El-Din, Drew Bantlin, Henry Bernard, Robert Bitariho, Torsten Bohm, Jimmy Borah, Jedediah Brodie, Wanlop Chutipong, Byron Du Preez, Alex Ebang-Mbele, Sarah Edwards, Emilie Fairet, Jackson L. Frechette, Adrian Garside, Luke Gibson, Anthony Giordano, Govindan Veeraswami Gopi, Alys Granados, Sanjay Gubbi, Franziska Harich, Barbara Haurez, Rasnys W. Havmoller, Olga Helmy, Lynne A. Isbell, Kate Jenks, Riddhika Kalle, Anucha Kamjing, Daphawan Khamcha, Cisquet Kiebou-Opepa, Margaret Kinnaird, Caroline Kruger, Anne Laudisoit, Antony Lynam, Suzanne E. Macdonald, John Mathai, Julia Metsio Sienne, Amelia Meier, David Mills, Jayasilan Mohd-Azian, Yoshihiro Nakashima, Helen C. Nash, Dusit Ngoprasert, An Nguyen, Tim O'Brien, David Olson, Christopher Orbell, John Poulsen, Tharmalingam Ramesh, Deeann Reeder, Rafael Reyna, Lindsey N. Rich, Johanna Rode-Margono, Francesco Rovero, Douglas Sheil, Matthew H. Shirley, Ken Stratford, Niti Sukumal, Saranphat Suwanrat, Naruemon Tantipisanuh, Andrew Tilker, Tim Van Berkel, Leanne K. Van Der Weyde, Matthew Varney, Florian Weise, Ingrid Wiesel, Andreas Wilting, Seth T. Wong, Carly Waterman, Daniel W S Challender

Faculty Journal Articles

Despite being heavily exploited, pangolins (Pholidota: Manidae) have been subject to limited research, resulting in a lack of reliable population estimates and standardised survey methods for the eight extant species. Camera trapping represents a unique opportunity for broad-scale collaborative species monitoring due to its largely non-discriminatory nature, which creates considerable volumes of data on a relatively wide range of species. This has the potential to shed light on the ecology of rare, cryptic and understudied taxa, with implications for conservation decision-making. We undertook a global analysis of available pangolin data from camera trapping studies across their range in Africa and …

Gateways-Nd: Building The Institutional Infrastructure Towards Viable Postsecondary Stem Education Reform, J.M.D. Motschenbacher, M. Vosen Callens, J. Nyachwaya, E. Berg, J. Ladbury, R. Reichenbach, P. Kelter

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Resurrection Of An East African House Bat Species, Scotophilus Altilis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), Peter Vallo, Deeann Reeder, Megan E. Vodzak, Petr Benda

Faculty Journal Articles

Several house bat specimens superficially resembling the white-bellied house bat Scotophilus leucogaster (Cretzschmar, 1830), were recently captured in southwestern Ethiopia and southern South Sudan. These S. cf. leucogaster differed from typical S. leucogaster by their slightly smaller size and ventral coloration, conforming instead with the original description of S. altilis Allen, 1914. Scotophilus altilis is an overlooked taxon known from the Blue Nile region in Sudan that is currently considered a junior synonym of S. leucogaster. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (cytb) sequences revealed S. cf. leucogaster as a sister clade …

Island Invasion: The Silent Crisis In Hawaii, Sophia Janssen

Pomona Senior Theses

Keeping out invasive species may, upon first review, seem like a trivial environmental cry from ecologists and deep environmentalists; a belated wish to return to an undeveloped world where nature was pristine. However invasive species create problems that impact all of us and can have far more severe consequences than changing a stunning landscape. These problems are heightened in islands like Hawaii, where the fragile ecosystems have developed over centuries of evolution and adaptation. The introduction of a disease-carrying mosquito can put the people of Hawaii at risk to many vector-born illnesses and create an epidemic, taking human life. The …