Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Movement Ecology Of An Intercontinental Migratory Bird During Spring Stopover, Emily Beth Cohen

Dissertations

Movement ecology is a component of nearly all aspects of animal behavior and an animal’s decision to move is likely influenced by a complex combination of exogenous and endogenous factors. Therefore, an examination of the causes and consequences of organismal movement provides a conceptual framework for understanding complex behavioral strategies. My dissertation research is focused on the movement ecology of an intercontinental migratory songbird during spring migration. I adopted experimental approaches to study the factors influencing how a songbird migrant, red-eyed vireos (Vireo olivaceus), makes decisions in unfamiliar landscapes from the initiation of spring stopover.

I simulated the …

Homoploid Hybrid Speciation In A Rare Endemic Castilleja From Idaho (Castilleja Christii, Orobanchaceae), Danielle Leigh Clay

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Evidence to support the origins of a putative hybrid species with certainty must be determined using several lines of evidence: the presence of genetic additivity of parental marker alleles in a putative hybrid species, along with ecological or niche separation. Novel or transgressive morphological traits obtained through chromosomal rearrangements during hybridization may facilitate niche separation of the hybrid species from progenitor habitats. These evolutionary processes together enforce reproductive isolation and promote an independent evolutionary trajectory in hybrid species. By studying these evolutionary processes in putative hybrid species, researchers may identify hybrid species with confidence.

We employed multiple lines of evidence …

Review Of Sandhill And Whooping Cranes: Ancient Voices Over America's Wetlands By Paul Johnsgard, Jane E. Austin

The Prairie Naturalist

Paul Johnsgard has long been captivated by wild cranes and their unique vocalizations, courtship dances, and wide-ranging migrations. As a scientist and an admirer, Johnsgard has watched their migrations and behaviors for decades as hundreds of thousands of cranes staged each spring by the central Platte River, not far from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska. As an artist, he has skillfully captured their courtship dances and other behaviors in his exceptional line drawings. And, as an author, he has written extensively on their ecology in three earlier books: Cranes of the World (1983), Those of the Gray Wind: The Sandhill …

Book Review: Effects Of Climate Change On Birds, Edited By Anders Pape Meller, Wolfgang Fiedler, And Peter Berthold, Brian J. Olsen

The Prairie Naturalist

Book review of Effects of Climate Change on Birds, edited by Anders Pape Meller, Wolfgang Fiedler, and Peter Berthold.

Climate scientists from across the globe predict vast changes during the next century in the planet's temperatures, precipitation, storm intensities, fire regimes, hydrologic cycles, and atmospheric, water, and soil chemistries. The changes will be global, but their effects will be felt locally everywhere. To find a scientifically and socially engaging bellwether of these events, we need to look only through the lens of avian biology. Birds are found from pole to pole; their movements connect continents. They are loud, colorful …

Effects Of Tannin-Containing Feed On Haemonchous Contortus In Sheep And Its Behavioral Implications, Jessica A. Juhnke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Herbivores prefer foods that supply required nutrients and avoid those with excess nutrients and plant secondary compounds (PSC). Nevertheless, PSC such as condensed tannins can provide beneficial medicinal effects to herbivores. The objectives of this study were to determine: 1) if parasitized lambs increased preference for a tannin-rich food after they experienced the beneficial antiparasitic effects of tannins relative to parasitized lambs that did not experience such benefits, 2) if preference for the tannin-containing food in the former group decreased when parasite burdens subsided, and 3) if the tannin-enriched food decreased parasitic burdens.

Twenty-two lambs were familiarized with beet pulp …

Have Introduced Brown Trout (Salmo Trutta) Affected Native Aquatic Vertebrates In Western United States Streams?, Nora K. Burbank

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The introduction of exotic species to areas outside of their native range is one of the greatest threats to the biodiversity of native freshwater organisms. Exotic species have outcompeted native species for resources such as food and shelter, and in some cases these interactions have resulted in local extinctions or reductions in abundance of those native species. Brown trout are native to Eurasia, but have been introduced to much of the rest of the world, including the United States. In some parts of their introduced range, brown trout have substantially reduced the abundance and home ranges of some native fish …

Isotopic Tracer Reveals Depth-Specific Water Use Patterns Between Two Adjacent Native And Non-Native Plant Communities, Clémence Pascale Warren

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Non-native plants have invaded over 100 millions of acres of western arid land in the US and dramatically altered nutrient cycling rates. Changes in water cycling caused by invasive species are of particular interest because primary production in the Western US is typically limited by water availability and aquifer recharge reflects plant demand. Large-scale invasions can, therefore, be expected to cause large-scale changes in hydrological cycles, but until recently, there have been considerable limitations in the ability to measure the timing, location, and extent of water use. Here we injected a tracer, deuterated water (D₂O), into five soil …

An Assessment Of Vegetation Metrics And Plot Types To Measure Seasonal Variation And Grazing Effects On Riparian Plant Communities, Caroline M. Laine

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Monitoring changes in vegetation is important on public lands. Observing how plant communities respond to changes in land management can give insightful information about which management practices are sustainable. Because water is scarce in the western United States, many land managers focus their monitoring efforts along streams. However, monitoring streamside vegetation is challenging due to a variety of factors and can be confounded by factors such as seasonal climate variation and management activities, like cattle grazing.

In vegetation assessment, there are a variety of measurements that are taken to glean valuable information. Some attributes of interest include how much vegetation …

Using Species Distribution Models To Assess Invasion Theory And Provide Management Recommendations For Riparian Areas In The Eastern Columbia And Western Missouri River Basins, Diane R. Menuz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Globalization has created opportunities for plant and animal species to be transported to novel ecosystems. A subset of these species become invasive species, which are able to persist and spread rapidly to become influential components in their new ecosystems. Invasive species are often able to out-compete co-occurring native species and can alter fundamental ecosystem properties, such as soil nutrient availability or time between wildfires in a region. The United States is estimated to lose $34 billion per year to invasive plant species through costs to control unwanted species and lowered crop and forage production.

We used statistical models to better …

A Landscape Approach To Late Prehistoric Settlement And Subsistence Patterns In The Mojave Sink, Tiffany Ann Thomas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The environment of the Late Prehistoric period (1200 A.D. to Historic Contact) Mojave Sink was wetter than modern conditions. The settlement and subsistence patterns of the occupants of the region during this period were driven by the availability of water, subsistence resources, raw material sources, and tradition. These people utilized the regional landscape based upon the seasonal availability of these resources. Supplemental agricultural production has been proposed for the Mojave River Delta due to the more favorable environmental conditions of this period. If agriculture was being practiced it would have affected the regional land-use patterns. For this thesis I propose …

Bycatch Of The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Inshore Shrimp Fishery And Its Effect On Two Sea Catfish Species: The Gafftopsail Catfish (Bagre Marinus) And The Hardhead Catfish (Ariopsis Felis), Scott P. Eustis

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In Lake Pontchartrain Basin, commercial fishing in estuarine habitats impacts many non-target species collected as bycatch. I investigated the bycatch assemblages collected by commercial vessels and compared these to assemblages collected by typical fishery-independent methods. I compared assemblages using analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and determined important species by weight and abundance using similarity percentages analyses (SIMPER). I also examined differences in size-class distributions by gear type using density kernel plots and Mann-Whitney U tests. The two gear types collected significantly different assemblages (ANOSIM R = 0.522, p = 0.001) and gear type explained more composition differences than other factors such …

Bryoecology In The American Southwest: Patterns Of Biodiversity And Responses To Global Change, John Carroll Brinda

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation combines investigation of the large-scale responses of bryophyte species diversity and distribution with small-scale physiological adaptations to global change. These two areas of inquiry are linked because one way to predict plant species responses to global change is to examine their distribution across current ecological gradients produced by factors such as latitude and elevation. By examining these biogeographic patterns one can identify those species that have a narrow tolerance and therefore are most sensitive to change. Selected bryophytes might then be used as indicator species in long-term monitoring programs. Where historical data exist, these can be used to …

Microbial Impacts On Endocrine Disrupting Contaminants: Las Vegas Wash And Lake Mead, Nevada, Susanna May Blunt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

International concern over endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has become heightened in recent years as more studies reveal their persistence in the environment and their detrimental effects on wildlife. However, little is known about the role of microorganisms in the fate and transport of these compounds in surface waters. Las Vegas Wash, a stream flowing into Lake Mead and fed primarily by treated wastewater effluent, provided a unique experimental system in which to study the role microorganisms play in the dispersal of these compounds in aquatic systems. Samples were collected from the Las Vegas Wash downstream of the Las Vegas Valley's …

Effect Of Diet Quantity And Quality On Female Sampling Behavior And Mating Preferences In A Field Cricket, Heidi L. Bulfer

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding the adaptive significance of variation in female mating behaviour is important because variation may often be favored by selection instead of a change in mean mating behaviour, particularly in variable environments. Females are known to adjust their mating behaviour to a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors including nutrition. There are multiple reasons why female behaviours might vary with nutrition; we tested two of these hypotheses: the search cost hypothesis and the direct benefits hypothesis. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, but they make contrasting predictions under some conditions. Low nutrition females may have less available energy to support …

Life History Tradeoffs And Phenotypic Plasticity: The Tale Of A Flight Polyphenic Field Cricket, Chandreyee Mitra

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Most organisms are resource limited. Such limitations can result in tradeoffs between life history traits -- any traits that affect survival or reproduction. Flight polyphenic field crickets are thought to be a classic example of such a life history tradeoff, in which individuals tradeoff investment in flight capability and investment in reproduction. This polyphenism results from the interaction of two morphological traits: wing morphology (short or long) and flight muscle morphology (functional pink or non-functional white), and is affected by both genes and the environment. I examined life history traits of a flight polyphenic field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps. First, …

Review Of Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study In North America, 1890-1930 By Sally Kohlstedt, Meena M. Balgopal

The Prairie Naturalist

Many scientists and educators agree that the goal of science education is to prepare students "to know, use and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world," as cited in the National Research Council publication, Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8 (DuschI et al. 2007). Yet, many science instructors of K-12 and post-secondary students often rely on teacher-telling modes of pedagogy and neglect to engage their students in natural inquiry and scientific study that model the research methods used by scientists. As a result, many young people are not aware of how scientists make discoveries about …

Depth And Littoral Habitat Association Of Age-0 Yellow Perch In Two South Dakota Glacial Lakes, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Melissa R. Wuellner, David W. Willis

The Prairie Naturalist

Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) are a recreationally important species and represent a key ecological component of glacial lake littoral fish assemblages (Stone 1996, Blackwell et al. 1999). Research has shown a generalized pattern of juvenile (age-0) yellow perch spatial distribution wherein larvae hatch in near-shore areas, migrate to limnetic areas where they remain for approximately 40 d, and then return to demersal behaviors and within near-shore littoral habitats (Noble 1975, Whiteside et al. 1985). However, anomalous distribution and habitat use by age-0 yellow perch has been observed in South Dakota glacial lakes (Fisher and Willis 1997) and the …

Massasauga Repatriation On A Restored Wet Prairie, Francis E. Durbian, Brian N. Lomas, Jeff Briggler, Paul Mckenzie, Tom Nagel

The Prairie Naturalist

The massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a small rattlesnake that occurs from Texas to New York (Schmidt and Davis 1941, Conant and Collins 1991, Szymanski 1998). In Missouri, the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake (EMR; S. c. catenatus), a subspecies of the massasauga, occurs north and east of the Missouri River, is a former candidate for listing under the United States Endangered Species Act (Code of Federal Regulations 64 FR 57534; Szymanski 1998), and is listed as a state endangered species (Missouri Natural Heritage Program 2011). Missouri currently harbors five extant EMR populations (Johnson 2000, Durbian et al., unpublished report, …

Book Review Of Encyclopedia Of Biological Invasions, Edited By Daniel Simberloff And Marcel Rejmanek, Qinfeng Guo

The Prairie Naturalist

Book review of Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions, edited by Daniel Simberloff and Marcel Rejmanek.

Species introductions and consequent biotic invasions and homogenization are major components of global change that are drawing increasing concern and various levels of actions and reactions around the world. Invasion ecology has advanced rapidly during the last few decades, and the discipline is now increasingly integrated with the social and economic sciences. A better understanding of the invasion process and its effects is thus clearly needed. For basic research, invasion biology offers fascinating and sometimes unique opportunities for testing certain ecological or evolutionary theories and …

Modeling Parental Provisioning By Red-Winged Blackbirds In North Dakota, George M. Linz, Richard S. Sawin, Mark W. Lutman, William J. Bleier

The Prairie Naturalist

Male red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) exhibit a difference in nest provisioning rates along an east-west gradient in North America. North Dakota is located in the center of North America and harbors a large population of breeding red-winged blackbirds (RWBL). This location provided an opportunity to compare provisioning rates in the central U.S. with those reported for the eastern and western populations. We placed video cameras at RWBL nests to record male and female feeding trips. Thirty-four nests were located on territories with original males and 30 were on territories where a replacement (floater) male had taken over a …