Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Effects Of Aging On The Reproductive Success Of Female Saltmarsh Sparrows (Ammospiza Caudacutus) In Maine And New Hampshire, Isabella Rose Collamati

Honors Theses and Capstones

The saltmarsh sparrow (Ammospiza caudacutus) is a ground-nesting specialist in coastal salt marshes of the Northeast. Rising sea-levels increase the loss of offspring due to tidal flooding, reducing nest success and resulting in a sharp population decline. In other avian species, age has been shown to affect nest success through altering fertility, behavior, and the number of young produced, favoring older individuals. I investigated age effects on nest success of female saltmarsh sparrows using nest monitoring data collected at four sites of a long-term demographic monitoring project: Chapman's Landing (Stratham, NH), Eldridge Marsh (Wells, ME), Popham Beach (Phippsburg, …

Reconstructing The Ecological Relationships Of The Latest Cretaceous Antarctic Dinosaurs And How Functional Tooth Morphology Influenced Diet And Ecological Niche Among Basal Ornithopod Dinosaurs, Ian Broxson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Of the final three connected Gondwanan landmasses, the dinosaur fossil record of Antarctica in the Cretaceous is the least complete. Most dinosaur faunas in this time period (145 Ma to 66.0 Ma) are widely separated geographically and temporally from one another by million years. However, a group of non-avian dinosaurs from the James Ross Basin (JRB) of the Antarctic Peninsula, composed of two elasmarians, a parankylosaurian ankylosaur, a hadrosaur and a suspected megaraptor, all are represented by fragmentary remains have emerged from the same horizon of the Sandwich Bluff Member (SBM) of the López de Bertodano Formation and were thus, …

The Long-Term Effects Of Wildfire Severity On Oak-Pine Communities And Their Microclimates, Scott Glenn Culbert

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

In the eastern U.S., fire-dependent tree species have historically dominated upland forest communities, but are now experiencing widespread regeneration challenges as a result of 20^th century fire suppression policies, and are being replaced by mesophytic species. Wildfires that contain areas of high burn severity may provide an important means of mitigating these challenges and facilitating fire-dependent species regeneration and recruitment into larger size classes. One mechanism by which high-severity fire can accomplish this is by modifying understory microclimate characteristics to be more conducive to these species’ growth. A wildfire within the Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, USA, provided the …

Activity Patterns Of The Critically Endangered Central American River Turtle (Dermatemys Mawii), Cora Dyslin

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Central American River Turtle (Dermatemys mawii) is native to southern Mexico, eastern Guatemala, and Belize and is primarily restricted to watersheds that drain into the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Hunting, both for personal consumption and market meat, has been the primary driver of declines, and the species is now classified as critically endangered. Results from past studies that have used netting and visual surveys to detect D. mawii suggest that the species is chiefly nocturnal. However, it is unclear to what extent the perception of nocturnality has been biased by the timing of survey efforts …

Biogeography Of Special Metabolites Produced By Ant-Associated Bacteria, Katherine Hansen

Scripps Senior Theses

There is an urgent and growing need for novel antibiotics with the growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Ecologically-guided discovery is a strategy that focuses on how and where specially evolved metabolites such as antibiotics are used in nature. This strategy reveals unique active molecules with potential for human use. An unexplored niche with great potential for antibiotic discovery exists with Southwestern fungus-farming Trachymyrmex ants and their Actinobacteria symbionts. In exchange for nutrients from the ant, the ants’ bacterial symbiont produces antifungal molecules that protect the ants’ fungal cultivar from invasion by pathogenic microorganisms. They also produce antibacterial molecules to protect …

Harnessing Citizen Science And Collections Data For Invasive Plant Surveillance, Adin L. Ring

Library Map Prize

Our main source of information about the distribution of invasive plants in the United States comes from occurrence records in three categories: biological collections (physical plant specimens in museums), citizen science (opportunistic observations by untrained civilians), and invasion monitoring (structured observation by government or non-profit agencies). This study compiles a set of 3.1 million occurrence records of 3,578 introduced plant species in the continental United States, and infers spatial, temporal, and taxonomic biases by comparing the three categories of data. We find that citizen science contributes the largest bulk of records, and does better capturing visually conspicuous plants and very …

Comparing Mexican Spotted Owl Habitat Suitability In Two Different Habitat Types Using A Multi-Scale Ensemble Learning Framework, Danial Nayeri

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Habitat fragmentation and loss are major threats to species conservation worldwide. Studying species-habitat relationships is a crucial first step toward understanding species habitat requirements, which is necessary for conservation and management planning. However, some species inhabit a range of habitat types, potentially making the use of range-wide habitat models inappropriate due to non-stationarity. The Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) (MSO) is a species that inhabits both forests and rocky canyonlands, two habitats with large differences in environmental conditions. It is unclear whether the species uses habitat differently in these two habitat types or if previously builthabitat models …

Carnivore And Ungulate Occurrence In A Fire-Prone Region, Sara J. Moriarty-Graves

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Increasing fire size and severity in the western United States causes changes to ecosystems, species’ habitat use, and interspecific interactions. Wide-ranging carnivore and ungulate mammalian species and their interactions may be influenced by an increase in fire activity in northern California. Depending on the fire characteristics, ungulates may benefit from burned habitat due to an increase in forage availability, while carnivore species may be differentially impacted, but ultimately driven by bottom-up processes from a shift in prey availability. I used a three-step approach to estimate the single-species occupancy of four large mammal species: mountain lion (Puma concolor), coyote …

Intestinal Parasite Infection In Tibetan Macaques (Macac Thebetana) In Eastern China, Miarisoa Ramilison

All Master's Theses

Grooming is one of the crucial social behaviors of primate species that functions to remove parasites and maintain social bonds. Although, much data exists to support the idea that grooming is essential in forming and sustaining social bonds among individuals, there is a lack of information about the extent to which it removes ectoparasites or contributes to the spread of internal parasites. To fill this gap in the literature, we investigated the relationship between social contact behavior including grooming and intestinal parasite infection in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana). This species lives at Mt. Huangshan in China. We used …

Thermotrophy Exploratory Study, James Weifu Lee

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The question of whether environmental heat energy could be utilized as a source of energy for biological metabolism is the center of this exploratory research. In 1979, this author postulated a hypothesis for the existence of thermotrophs that could isothermally utilize environmental heat energy as a source of their energy on Earth. According to this hypothesis, the thermotrophs could be the first primitive forms of life in the early Earth environment. The chemotrophs and phototrophs that we currently are all well familiar with might have been evolved somehow from the primitive thermotrophs. Furthermore, all the organisms currently regarded as the …

Csi Botany: Dna Barcode “Fingerprints” Identify Cryptic Urban Flora, Luis R. Vega

Theses and Dissertations

As short genomic markers, DNA barcodes can play a role in conservation by identifying cryptic species and hybrids when morphological approaches fall short. Here we present our application of barcodes to the identities of two wetland taxa as part of an ongoing floristic inventory of Van Cortlandt Park (VCP), Bronx, NY. Previous barcode data by Marriott et al. (2018) identified the VCP lake water lily as the exotic Nymphaea alba, rather than the native N. odorata as historically described. In addition, cattails in the park were historically identified as the native Typha latifolia and the exotic T. angustifolia …

Effects Of Duckweed On Mosquito Oviposition And Larval Survivorship, Alyssa Gushka

Capstone Showcase

Invasive species are those non-natives to habitat and that negatively impact the environment or human health problems. Invasive mosquitoes threaten the environment and humans, as they transmit 17% of infectious diseases including malaria, West Nile virus and yellow fever. Aedes japonicas and Aedes albopictus are invasive mosquitoes that often deposit eggs in artificial containers. Chemical pesticides, such as Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI), utilizes endospores to release toxins into the larvae. However, BTI creates negative consequences for the environment and other species. Many plants are being examined to see if they can act as natural pesticides. Duckweeds are native to North …

Amphisbaenian Head Movement And Burrowing Forces In Damp Granular Media, Jacob Newell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Damp granular media is a difficult environment to study because it is both practically complex and it lacks equations which fully describe its behavior. In this study, an oscillatory lateral head movement and its effects while penetrating damp granular media were tested using a robophysical model. This experimental research was inspired by the burrowing behavior of the clade Amphisbaenia, a group of usually limbless squamates that employ a variety of different burrowing behaviors, but it can apply to a wide range of burrowers. This research could help with both human burrowing technologies and the further investigation of animal behaviors.

Individual And Population Responses To Hydrologic Variability In A Headwater Stream Salamander, Madaline Cochrane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding how organisms respond to environmental variability is a central goal in ecology – a goal made even more pressing by the herculean challenge global climate change presents to all organisms. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts, which will likely have disproportionate effects on freshwater organisms. Many stream-associated species have multi-stage life histories. However, we lack an empirical understanding of life history and movement responses of these organisms to hydrologic disturbances, and how these responses may influence demographic rates. In my dissertation, I used a combination of growth, developmental, movement, and demographic data to …

Quantitative Song Variety In Relation To Genotype In A Hybridizing Chickadee Population, Shelby Madison Palmer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina chickadee (P. carolinensis) are North American songbird species that hybridize in a narrow contact zone stretching latitudinally from New Jersey to Kansas, USA. The association between genetic ancestry and song type in this hybrid zone has been studied independently several times and found to be minimal or absent, likely due to the influence of cultural transmission on learned song in the oscine passerine clade to which the chickadees belong. Despite this, the song of both species remains remarkably distinct in allopatry, suggesting a genetic constraint on certain qualities of …

The Role Of Interspecific Competition In The Range Collapse Of A Songbird After Rapid Range Expansion, Zachary H. Vickers

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating interspecific competition in birds, but often this evidence is localized and may or may not entirely explain range dynamics over large geographic extents. Bewick’s Wrens (Thrymanes bewickii) and House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) are small passerine birds of the family Troglodytidae. Previous experimental evidence has demonstrated that Bewick’s Wrens suffer from asymmetric interference competition from House Wrens in Kansas, and this evidence has been cited as the likely reason for the historically recent range collapse of the Bewick’s Wren. However, I argue that localized experimental evidence is insufficient to explain abundance trends over large …

Evolution Of The Diets Of Australian Possums (Marsupialia: Phalangeriformes) From The Etadunna Formation In The Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia, Theodore C. Wheat

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The Lake Eyre Basin in South Australia holds Australia’s oldest known fossil marsupials representing both extant and extinct families in the Etadunna Formation, a formation that spans nearly two million years from 23.3 to 25 MA. During that two-million-year period, the terrestrial herbivorous marsupials present in the area underwent a dramatic transition both taxonomically and dentally, likely brought on by a changing environment caused by a warming climate. However, it is unknown whether a similar change occurred to the marsupials like possums that live up in the canopy. Understanding this could help determine how extensively this change in the environment …

"Our Loons": Participant Attachments And Motivations Within A Community-Based Monitoring Program, Taylor Tewksbury

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Organizations can benefit from understanding person-place relationships and volunteer motivations as they recruit and sustain involvement in their community-based monitoring (CBM) programs. Place attachment, or the bond between people and their meaningful environments, is one lens through which to explore these relationships. Past studies have associated place attachment with environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB), such as CBM involvement. However, few studies have explored the relationship between place attachment and CBM in the context of volunteers’ attachment to the species of study.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the place-based relationships and motivations among volunteers of the Loon Preservation …

Effects Of Ph, Eelgrass, And Settlement Substrate On The Growth Of Juvenile Magallana (Crassostrea) Gigas, A Commercially Important Oyster Species, Johnny S. Roche

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Worsening ocean acidification (OA), resulting from ongoing absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) by the oceans, threatens marine life globally. Calcifying organisms, especially their early life stages, are particularly vulnerable; this includes the economically important Pacific oyster, Magallana (Crassostrea) gigas. Uptake of dissolved CO₂ through photosynthesis by seagrasses, like eelgrass (Zostera marina), may benefit calcifying organisms by increasing pH and carbonate availability. I conducted laboratory and field experiments to quantify carbonate chemistry modification by eelgrass and potential mitigation of OA impacts on growth in juvenile Pacific oysters. In the laboratory experiment, daytime …

Polymorphism Of Melanin-Based Pigments In Barn Owls In Winegrape Vineyards In Napa Valley, California, Laura Mariana Echávez Montenegro

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Many raptor species exhibit plumage polymorphism. Through the expression of a particular phenotype, polymorphism allows individuals to exploit alternative spatial or temporal environments and food resources most successfully. Barn Owls display within-species variation in their plumage, ranging from reddish to whitish and from heavily spotted to having no spots at all. In heterogeneous landscapes in Europe and the Middle East, reddish Common Barn Owls (Tyto alba) inhabit territories with proportionally more arable fields and consume proportionally more voles than mice in contrast to their whiter counterparts; a phenomenon known as habitat matching choice. This study sought to quantify …