Discerning Friend From Foe: Systematic Revision Of Cuscuta L. Section Indecorae Using A Combined Ecological, Morphometric, And Phylogenetic Approach.,
2023
Wilfrid Laurier University
Discerning Friend From Foe: Systematic Revision Of Cuscuta L. Section Indecorae Using A Combined Ecological, Morphometric, And Phylogenetic Approach., Corey Burt
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
The genus Cuscuta (Dodder; Convolvulaceae) are obligate parasitic plants. In one clade known as section Indecorae, there are species which are considered pests that pose significant threats to agricultural crop production, while other species are rare or known only from historical records. Section Indecorae contains three species: C. coryli, C. warneri, and C. indecora (the latter with three infraspecific taxa: var. indecora, var. longisepala, and var. attenuata). The systematics of section Indecorae are not currently resolved. Cuscuta indecora has a long and complicated taxonomic history with many infraspecific varieties described, and …
Investigating The Effects Of Disturbance And Competition On Establishment, Growth, And Reproduction Of The Endangered Ripariosida Hermaphrodita,
2023
Wilfrid Laurier University
Investigating The Effects Of Disturbance And Competition On Establishment, Growth, And Reproduction Of The Endangered Ripariosida Hermaphrodita, Daniel Engelking
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Ripariosida hermaphrodita (Virginia Mallow) is a perennial riparian plant with broad, maple-like leaves. It grows up to three meters high and is often found in large clonal patches, but sexually reproduces readily. While this plant may seem like a redoubtable competitor when growing in large colonies, it is declining across its range in North America. The only known occurrences in Canada are in southern Ontario. Prior to this study, no new populations had been recorded even though one of the known populations produces copious amounts of viable seed with potential to disperse. There are many hypotheses for its rarity, but …
Differences In Drifting Invertebrate Communities Across Arctic Ecozones And The Influence On Potential Growth Of Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus),
2023
Wilfrid Laurier University
Differences In Drifting Invertebrate Communities Across Arctic Ecozones And The Influence On Potential Growth Of Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus), Charles Chanyi
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Invertebrate drift is a key process that potentially affects multiple levels of food web organization within stream environments. However, our understanding of the mechanistic drivers of drift in high latitude streams and subsequent bottom-up control that drift may have on fish predators in these environments remains understudied. This project aimed to gain the baseline knowledge of how drift functions across two major high latitude ecozones, the boreal forest and tundra, and how those possible differences in drifting community characteristics may impact drift-feeding Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus). These objectives were accomplished by characterizing stream environments across both ecozones, sampling …
Natural Variation In Temperature-Modulated Immunity To Pseudomonas Syringae Pv. Tomato (Pst Dc3000) In Arabidopsis Thaliana Plants,
2023
Wilfrid Laurier University
Natural Variation In Temperature-Modulated Immunity To Pseudomonas Syringae Pv. Tomato (Pst Dc3000) In Arabidopsis Thaliana Plants, Christina A. M. Rossi
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Studies conducted on the model plant-pathogen system Arabidopsis thaliana-Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) showed that elevated temperature suppresses the pathogen-induced production of salicylic acid (SA), which is a key plant defence hormone. This increased host vulnerability at higher temperatures is due to downregulated expression of CALMODULIN BINDING PROTEIN 60-LIKE G (CBP60g) and SYSTEMIC ACQUIRED RESISTANCE DEFICIENT 1 (SARD1), which encode master regulators of SA production. Collectively, these previous studies only focused on one natural accession of Arabidopsis called Columbia-0 (Col-0). However, the intraspecific variation in Arabidopsis immunity phenotypes under elevated temperature remains unknown. To fill this critical knowledge gap, my …
Cover, Editorial Staff, Journal Information,
2023
Utah State University
Cover, Editorial Staff, Journal Information
Human–Wildlife Interactions
This includes the cover, editorial staff, and journal information.
Call For Associate Editors,
2023
Utah State University
Call For Associate Editors, S. Nicole Frey
Human–Wildlife Interactions
This is a call for associate editors for Human-Wildlife Interactions.
Rat Biosecurity Surveillance And Response Following Eradication On A Tropical Atoll,
2023
Tetiaroa Society
Rat Biosecurity Surveillance And Response Following Eradication On A Tropical Atoll, David Ringler, Richard Griffiths, Frank Murphy, Baudouin Des Monstiers, James C. Russell
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Biosecurity is a key element following any eradication operation, employing tools that allow both the identification and elimination of survivors or the early detection of new invaders. Eradication managers must ensure the surveillance strategy is correctly adapted to the spatial context and that the potential causes of a pest’s presence are understood to optimize their operational plans. We used the case of the eradication of black (Rattus rattus) and Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) from Honuea and Onetahi islets (Tetiaroa Atoll, French Polynesia) in 2020 to test an approach that combines rapid eradication assessment modelling and genetic …
Microbial Communities In The Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve: An Assessment Of The Responses Of Spartina Alterniflora Epiphytes To Nitrogen Enrichment, And A Characterization Of Benthic Cyanobacterial Diversity,
2023
University of North Florida
Microbial Communities In The Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve: An Assessment Of The Responses Of Spartina Alterniflora Epiphytes To Nitrogen Enrichment, And A Characterization Of Benthic Cyanobacterial Diversity, Anne C. Hurley
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Elevated nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from anthropogenic sources, which can lead to significant increases in algal biomass and changes in algal community composition, poses a serious threat to estuarine ecosystems worldwide. While numerous studies have addressed the impacts of nutrient enrichment on epiphytic algae in seagrass habitats, few have investigated potential nutrient-driven changes to epiphytes on emergent salt marsh plants, such as Spartina alterniflora. Epiphytic microalgae on S. alterniflora play an important role in food availability in salt marsh ecosystems, and epiphytic nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria also provide an important source of nitrogen for salt marsh consumers. The first study included …
Effects Of Oyster Aquaculture On Elasmobranch Abundance And Habitat Use In Humboldt Bay, Ca,
2023
Cal Poly Humboldt
Effects Of Oyster Aquaculture On Elasmobranch Abundance And Habitat Use In Humboldt Bay, Ca, Rose Harman
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Habitat modification from aquaculture can have large effects on natural communities, with the habitat complexity provided by aquaculture structure positively influencing benthic invertebrates and small fish abundance. However, the effects of aquaculture on larger predatory fish like elasmobranchs (i.e., sharks and rays), which use nearshore habitat to forage and provide top-down control of these ecosystems, is largely unknown. Over two years, I deployed baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS) to examine the effects of oyster aquaculture and environmental variables such as habitat (mudflat or eelgrass), salinity (ppt), turbidity (m), temperature (°C), pH (mV), dissolved oxygen (mg · L-1), …
Polymorphism Of Melanin-Based Pigments In Barn Owls In Winegrape Vineyards In Napa Valley, California,
2023
Cal Poly Humboldt
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 …
Effects Of Ph, Eelgrass, And Settlement Substrate On The Growth Of Juvenile Magallana (Crassostrea) Gigas, A Commercially Important Oyster Species,
2023
Cal Poly Humboldt
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 …
Carnivore And Ungulate Occurrence In A Fire-Prone Region,
2023
California State Polytechnic University Humboldt
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 …
Comparing Mexican Spotted Owl Habitat Suitability In Two Different Habitat Types Using A Multi-Scale Ensemble Learning Framework,
2023
Humboldt State University
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 …
Evolution Of The Diets Of Australian Possums (Marsupialia: Phalangeriformes) From The Etadunna Formation In The Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia,
2023
Eastern Washington University
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 …
Reconstructing The Ecological Relationships Of The Latest Cretaceous Antarctic Dinosaurs And How Functional Tooth Morphology Influenced Diet And Ecological Niche Among Basal Ornithopod Dinosaurs,
2023
Eastern Washington University
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, …
Vegetation And Nutritional Changes Over 20 Years Of White-Tailed Deer Exclusion,
2022
Mississippi State University
Vegetation And Nutritional Changes Over 20 Years Of White-Tailed Deer Exclusion, Gabrielle Nicole Ripa
Theses and Dissertations
Knowledge of the impacts of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; hereafter deer) as dominant herbivores throughout the Southeastern United States of America is lacking. To address this, three paired experimental units of exclosures and controls were constructed in 2000 on three Wildlife Management Areas across Mississippi within the ecoregions of the Upper Coastal Plain, Lower Coastal Plain, and the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Vegetation was sampled in the summers of 2000, 2005, and 2021 including vegetation structure, canopy coverage, basal area, and species composition. Additionally, in 2005 and 2021, biomass was sampled to determine potential impacts on nutritional carrying capacity. Among the …
Assessing The Legacy Of Erosion And Flood Control Management Efforts On The Fish Assemblages And Physical Conditions Of Yazoo Basin Bluff Hill Streams,
2022
Mississippi State University
Assessing The Legacy Of Erosion And Flood Control Management Efforts On The Fish Assemblages And Physical Conditions Of Yazoo Basin Bluff Hill Streams, Nicky M. Faucheux
Theses and Dissertations
The hills of Yazoo Basin have a long history of land use modification and subsequent erosion and flood control issues. In response, federal actions were taken to address these issues beginning after the Mississippi River flood of 1927. Four major flood control reservoirs were built in 1932-1957, and instream low-drop grade control structures (GCS) were installed beginning in the 1980s. The objective of my dissertation was to ascertain the long-term effects of these efforts on stream fish assemblages and channel morphology. To assess whether the reservoirs affected upstream fish assemblages as barriers to recolonization by fluvial fishes or as source …
Animal Husbandry In The 21st Century: Application Of Ecological Theory And Precision Technology To Inform Understanding Of Modern Grazing Systems,
2022
Mississippi State University
Animal Husbandry In The 21st Century: Application Of Ecological Theory And Precision Technology To Inform Understanding Of Modern Grazing Systems, Ira Lloyd Parsons
Theses and Dissertations
Ruminant animals comprise the greatest proportion of herbivores around the world, provide essential ecosystem services and human consumable protein by consuming grass and human inedible dietary fiber. Herbivory pressure alters plant communities and species diversity, effectively making grazing animals ecosystem engineers in dynamic ecosystems. Development of advanced computer processing power coupled with biometric and ecosystem sensors may be employed in the internet of things framework to create an integrated information system designed to inform understanding of grazing system function and animal energy balance. Towards this end, I utilized Bos indicus / Bos taurus crossbred steers (n = 20) across two …
Worldwide Distribution Of Cave-Dwelling Chelodesmidae (Diplopoda, Polydesmida),
2022
Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Worldwide Distribution Of Cave-Dwelling Chelodesmidae (Diplopoda, Polydesmida), Rodrigo Salvador Bouzan, Jackson C. Means, Kaloyan Ivanov, Rodrigo L. Ferreira, Antonio Domingos Brescovit, Luiz Felipe Moretti Iniesta
International Journal of Speleology
Chelodesmidae is one of the most species rich families within the Myriapoda. However, little is known regarding their association with caves. We provide a list of all Chelodesmidae taxa reported from caves, map their worldwide distribution, and discuss the troglomorphic features of the group. A total of 25 species and subspecies from 20 genera and 2 subfamilies have been recorded from 59 caves and cave systems in 11 countries. These numbers represent a surprisingly modest proportion (~3%) of the approximately 800 described species in the family. Records of cave-dwelling chelodesmids appear to be geographically biased with most taxa reported from …
Guano Among Bat Species From Two Regions Shows Influence Of Geography And Diet On Bacterial Community,
2022
Kennesaw State Universtiy
Guano Among Bat Species From Two Regions Shows Influence Of Geography And Diet On Bacterial Community, Rahma Ahmed, Thomas Mcelroy, Shannon Whitney, Lydia Moore
Symposium of Student Scholars
Studies of bat guano have shown that the diversity and structure of associated microbial communities can be related to factors such as host phylogeny, life history and reproductive stage, geography, and diet. Many insectivorous bat species in the southeastern U.S. have generalist diets that may shift seasonally to take advantage of abundant prey species or maximize caloric intake. Seasonal shifts in prey availability or consumption should be reflected in a guano microbiome change. We also expected to detect distinct guano microbiomes within species. Within species, distinct microbial communities related to geography, and finally life history and reproductive stage. We compared …
