Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2006, Botany

The harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFP) is an important source of income for rural communities worldwide, and as such there is concern over the sustainability of NTFP extraction. One example is concern over reduced yields from harvested populations of Chamaedorea, a large genus of dioecious understory palms whose leaves are sold commercially for use in floral displays. To accurately assess the sustainability of harvest, however, requires an understanding of the population biology of harvested species. In this study, I investigated factors that influence female fecundity and population growth in harvested populations of C. radicalis within the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (Mexico). Pollinator exclusion and scanning electron microscopy of pollen grains revealed that C. radicalis is primarily wind-pollinated. Fruit number and fruit set of females were not dependent on sex ratio or density of males at either the neighborhood or population scale. Female fecundity was most dependent on palm size, as larger individuals produced the most flowers and fruits. These large palms were more abundant on rock outcrops than the forest floor, suggesting that rock outcrops are better microsites for C. radicalis. However, field experiments revealed that differences between the substrates were not from natural variation in microsite conditions, but rather due to differences in browsing by free-range livestock, which negatively affects palm survival, growth, and fecundity. I modeled populations exposed to livestock by incorporating field data into a source-sink transition matrix model that linked the demography of non-browsed palms on rock outcrops (source) and browsed palms on the forest floor (sink) via seed migration. Models projected that seed dispersal from rock outcrops was both necessary and sufficient to sustain the subpopulation on the forest floor. Adding leaf harvest reduced the survival and fecundity of all non-browsed adults, including important ‘source' palms, with t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Gorchov (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Science, Miami University, 2021, Physics

The operation of state-of-the-art quantum computers are requiring the coherent control of 100's of quantum bits (qubits) to store, manipulate and transfer information quantum mechanically. The traditional theoretical tool adopted in the field of quantum optics such as the master equation approach, quantum Langevin equations, input-output formalism, and real-space method began to face challenges as these techniques are more suitable to deal with few qubit problems. Offering a solution to this issue, in this thesis, we present an introduction to the tensor network (TN) theory and Matrix Product States (MPS) as a formalism to predict ground states and time evolution of interesting excited states of many-qubit architectures. As a simple example, we apply the TN theory to waveguide quantum electrodynamics architectures to analyze the excitation dynamics of two-level quantum emitters coupled to the one-dimensional guided photonic modes.

Committee: Imran Mirza PhD (Advisor); Herbert Jaeger PhD (Committee Member); Samir Balli PhD (Committee Chair) Subjects: Information Science; Optics; Physics; Quantum Physics; Theoretical Physics

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2021, Horticulture and Crop Science

Over 80 million acres of soybean were planted in the United States in 2020. The cost of soybean seed has increased by 65% from 2000 to 2019, making the average cost of seed per acre $56.10 in 2019. The increasing cost of seed, along with recent studies suggesting that lower seeding rates achieve similar yields and provide a higher return on investment, has prompted interest in optimizing seeding rate. There is often a discrepancy between soybean seeding rate and final soybean stand that is attributed to both abiotic and biotic factors. In other crops, plant competition as a result of population density can result in variations in aboveground and fine-root biomass, nutrient composition, and yield. The objectives of this research were to 1) determine how soybean seeding rate impacts biomass accumulation and nutrient composition, 2) determine how seeding rate and stand evenness influences soybean yield and 3) determine when soybean is most susceptible to stand reduction. For these objectives, six on-farm trials were established in 2019 and 2020. Treatments included seeding rate (from 80,000 seeds/acre to 250,000 seeds/acre). Soybean population, spatial variability, and growth stage were recorded every 14-21 days. Aboveground biomass, belowground fine-root biomass, and yield were collected at physiological maturity. Aboveground biomass, belowground fine-root biomass, and yield were collected at physiological maturity. There were minimal differences in aboveground biomass among the seeding rate treatments, aligning with other research that suggests soybean is highly plastic in its ability to compensate for lower seeding rates. Fine-root production was not impacted by population density, but biomass did vary from year-to-year.. Yield improvements from increased seeding rates occurred at three of six site-years and resulted in yield advantages of 4.2-9.3 bu/ac. At four site-years, lower seeding rates (80,000-120,000) resulted in a higher stand reduction compared to higher (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Laura Lindsey (Advisor); Anne Dorrance (Committee Member); Christine Sprunger (Committee Member); Elizabeth Hawkins (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Agronomy; Plant Biology; Plant Pathology; Plant Sciences; Soil Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2020, Integrated Bioscience

Understanding the factors influencing population dynamics is a key goal of ecology that is particularly pertinent for amphibians due to poorly understood declines in this group. A lack of long-term population studies has been identified as a key reason for these knowledge gaps. Because each population has a different environment and history, leveraging these long-term studies for broad observations will require consideration of the role of environmental context. My first objective was to identify demographic changes underlying breeding population dynamics of spotted salamanders during a 21-year mark recapture study at a permanent pond. I found that strong fluctuations in abundance were primarily attributed to the prevalence of small, unmarked individuals, leading to concomitant fluctuations in body size distributions. Meanwhile, high iteroparity and survival among recaptured individuals allowed for long-term viability during long stretches without strong unmarked cohorts. These findings reiterate the joint importance of recruitment and iteroparity to amphibian population dynamics. Next, I studied how the environment shapes aspects of recruitment in two long-term salamander study systems. First, I raised spotted salamander embryos from permanent and temporary ponds in a common garden and assayed reaction norms for time and size at metamorphosis in response to experimental drying. My findings suggested that plastic reductions in mean metamorphic size were the primary demographic response to drying iv and that origin permanence did not affect reaction norm means or slopes. However, source environment affected relationships between time and size at metamorphosis in a way that contradicted theory for development under time constraints, suggesting that correlated environmental factors might drive evolution along this gradient. Lastly, I studied tiger salamanders at two sites, including a subalpine site where cannibalism-driven recruitment cycles occur. I investigated (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Peter Niewiarowski (Advisor); Francisco Moore (Advisor); Randall Mitchell (Committee Member); Zhong-Hui Duan (Committee Member); Howard Whiteman (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Ecology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Photochemical Sciences

The primary event in vision is induced by the ultrafast photoisomerization of rhodopsin, the dim-light visual pigment of vertebrates. While spectroscopic and theoretical studies have identified certain vibrationally coherent atomic motions to promote the rhodopsin photoisomerization, how exactly and to what degree such coherence is biologically related with its isomerizing efficiency (i.e. the photoisomerization quantum yield) remains unknown. In fact, in the past, the computational cost limited the simulation of the rhodopsin photoisomerization dynamics, which could be carried out only for a single molecule or a small set of molecules, therefore lacking the necessary statistical description of a molecular population motion. In this Dissertation I apply a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) models of bovine rhodopsin, the verterbrate visual pigment, to tackle the basic issues mentioned above. Accordingly, my work has been developing along three different lines comprising the development, testing and application of new tools for population dynamics simulation: (I) Development of a suitable protocol to investigate the excited state population dynamics of rhodopsins at room temperature. (II) A correlation between the phase of a hydrogen-out-of-plane (HOOP) motion at the decay point and the outcome of the rhodopsin photoisomerization. (III) A population “splitting” mechanism adopted by the protein to maximize its quantum yield and, therefore, light sensitivity. In conclusion, my Dissertation reports, for the first time, a connection between the initial coherent motion of a population of rhodopsin molecules and the quantum efficiency of their isomerization. The photoisomerization efficiency is ultimately determined by the way in which the degree of coherence of the excited state population motion is modulated by the protein sequence and conformation.

Committee: Massimo Olivucci Ph.D (Advisor); Andrew Gregory Ph.D (Other); Hong Lu Ph.D (Committee Member); Alexey Zayak Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Biochemistry; Chemistry

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2018, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Currently, there is a dearth of information regarding the status and ecology of bat populations in the Rocky Mountain region of North America due to the scarcity of known hibernacula, which are the primary location for performing population counts in eastern North America. The lack of knowledge and traditional tools required to monitor these populations presents barriers for biologists and land managers tasked with conserving bat species believed to be at risk of extinction or extirpation. Unfortunately, there are no estimates of abundance available for many populations of bats and the absence of locations to monitor populations leaves biologists in many regions without the techniques required to create such estimates. To provide much-needed population ecology data, we designed and built a long-term passive monitoring system capable of continuously monitoring the abundance of little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) residing in distinct populations within Yellowstone National Park. To advance our understanding of bat ecology for this region, our monitoring system also assessed roost fidelity, connectivity, and seasonal movements. We subcutaneously implanted high-frequency passive integrated transponders (HF-PIT) into 297 female little brown myotis and installed 8 continuously scanning readers and 45 antennas inside 3 maternity roosts used by distinct populations in the Lamar Valley, Tower Junction, and Mammoth Hot Springs regions of Yellowstone National Park. We recorded 2,929,742 detections of 196 HF-PIT tagged bats (66.0%) between June 2017 and August 2018. We used a mark-resight analysis to quantify abundance based on detections of individually marked bats recorded by high-frequency radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers and counts of bats exiting monitored roosts. From these mark-resight analyses, we estimated the pre-parturition size of the Mammoth population to be 847 (95% CI = 749-987; SE 59.8) in 2017, and 836 (95% CI = 722-989; SE 67.3) in 2018. The La (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joseph Johnson (Advisor); Viorel Popescu (Committee Member); Willem Roosenburg (Committee Member) Subjects: Animal Diseases; Animals; Biology; Ecology; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies and Public Affairs, Cleveland State University, 2018, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

This dissertation is composed of three essays. The three essays have different topics, research questions, methods, and conclusions. The first essay focused on how to identify gentrified areas. This dissertation employed census tract data of the urbanized areas within 12 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States of America to identify gentrified census tracts. To discern gentrified census tracts, this dissertation created the Gentrification Index which is composed of Neighborhood Transformation Index and Displacement Index. Among 12,803 total census tracts, 11,690 census tracts (91.31%) have been identified as no gentrification, 843 (6.58%) census tracts have been recognized as somewhat gentrified, and 270 (2.11%) census tracts have been verified as gentrified census tracts. The second essay asked whether or not gentrification process is different depending on the regional context. Therefore, this dissertation hypothesized that the urbanized areas that are in Rustbelt, Legacy cities, and Shrinking cities (RLS) in six MSAs are explained better by the production-based approach. On the other hand, it is hypothesized that the urbanized areas that have reputations regarding the robust Economics, diverse Cultures, and Technology hubs (ECT) in six MSAs are explained better by the consumption-based approach. Therefore, this dissertation examined the hypotheses through structural equation modeling. As a result, the consumption-based approach explained gentrification process in both ECT and RLS MSAs, but the production-based approach did not reveal the critical argument that capital investment causes the low-income family displacement in both ECT and RLS MSAs. The third essay investigated income group dynamics in gentrified census tracts that were found in the first essay. Hierarchical cluster analysis and Principal Component Analysis were used to identify unique groups of income class distribution for the time periods 2000 and 2010. This dissertation concluded t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian A. Mikelbank (Advisor); W. Dennis Keating (Committee Member); Kangrae Ma (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography; Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Electrical and Computer Engineering

This dissertation delivers new theoretical and computational frameworks for systematically modeling the aggregate dynamics of large-scale cyber-physical systems. Particularly focused on the hierarchical demand response management system in smart grid, we develop both control-oriented and optimization-oriented aggregate models for coordinating a large population of responsive loads, including both thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) and deferrable loads. For control-oriented modeling, we develop a unified stochastic hybrid system (SHS) framework to derive the partial differential equations (PDE) that characterize the dynamical evolution of the load distribution. A deterministic hybrid system is proposed for modeling general individual responsive load. An SHS is proposed for modeling the population dynamics after accounting for different uncertainties.Existing literature usually derives the PDE based on the physical principles and specifies the associated boundary conditions heuristically. Our method is based on the adjoint relation between the differential operator associated with the PDE and the extended generator of the SHS process. In particular, it enables us to determine the PDE boundary conditions directly from the boundary condition satisfied by the SHS generator. The obtained PDE model systematically generalizes many existing aggregate models. It is fundamentally important for designing various aggregate control strategies. The optimization-oriented modeling is to characterize the constraint sets satisfied by the aggregate load power, also known as the aggregate flexibility. We show that the individual power flexibility can be modeled by a polytope and the aggregate flexibility is the Minkowski sum of the individual flexibility polytopes. Exact Minkowski sum of these polytopes is computationally prohibitive. Therefore, we develop optimization-based algorithms to approximate the aggregate flexibility. For TCLs, we propose to approximate indivi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Wei Zhang (Advisor); Kevin Passino (Committee Chair); Abhishek Gupta (Committee Member) Subjects: Electrical Engineering

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Applied Geospatial Science

Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are both an umbrella and flagship species for conservation concern throughout the intermountain west. For the past fifty years, sage-grouse populations have been experiencing a range wide decline. Long-term declines in sage-grouse abundance have prompted eight listing attempts for the species under provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Proximate causes of population decline(s) differ across sage-grouse distribution, but ultimately, the underlying cause is loss or degradation of suitable sagebrush land cover. Wyoming is arguably the most important region for sage-grouse management because Wyoming is not only at the center of sage-grouse distribution, but also hosts the largest sage-grouse population of any state in the species' 11 US State, 3 Canadian Province range. In 2008, then Governor, Dave Freudenthal signed an executive order that enacted the “Greater Sage-grouse Core Area Protection” that set aside 31 distinct regions called “Core Areas” which collectively encompas~24% of the total area of Wyoming. (State of Wyoming 2008). Upon establishment these Core Areas contained ~82% of the male sage-grouse in Wyoming at that time (State of Wyoming 2008, State of Wyoming 2010). However, since establishment, the Core Areas established by the SGEO have been redrawn or modified 4 times. For my research I investigated the overall effectiveness of the Core Areas (as established by the SGEO) in Wyoming in light of anthropogenic impacts. Using the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's (WGFD) sage-grouse lek database to characterize sage-grouse populations across Wyoming, along with other publically available data sets, we found that the Core Areas contained ~64% of all active leks and accounted for ~77% of male sage-grouse attending leks. Furthermore, we found that Core Areas had a higher average lek attendance (average males/core lek = 22±7.76; average males/non-core lek =9±2.25; t-test df=1,821 P <0.001) and had a l (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Andrew Gregory Dr. (Advisor); Jeffrey Beck Dr. (Committee Member); Andrew Kear Dr. (Committee Member); Yu Zhou Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Management; Geography; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Arts and Sciences: Biological Sciences

Since the development of conservation science nearly four decades ago, leading conservation biologists have warned that human activities are increasingly setting the stage for a loss of life so grand that the mark on the fossil record will register as a mass extinction on par with the previous “big five” mass extinctions, including that which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The idea that a “sixth mass extinction” was in progress motivated me to explore the extent of recent extinction and the underpinning of the widely iterated statement that current rates of extinction are 100-1,000 times greater than the background rate. In Chapter 2, I show that the estimated magnitude difference between contemporary and background extinction does not align with the number of documented extinctions from which the estimates are extrapolated. For example, the estimate that current extinction rates are 100-1,000 times higher than background corresponds with an estimated loss of 1-10 named eukaryotic species every two days. In contrast, fewer than 1,000 extinctions have been documented over the last 500 years. Given this discrepancy, it may prove politically imprudent to use extraordinarily high rates of contemporary extinction to justify conservation efforts. Conservation efforts are sufficiently justified based on the proportion of habitat that has been destroyed or degraded in recent decades and the proportion of species threatened with extinction. In addition to examining the current extinction crisis, I evaluated potential mechanisms of extinction. Although mechanisms of population-level extinction and species-level extinction are well-resolved, little is known regarding mechanisms of the extinction of spatial population networks. A fascinating question that I was surprised had not been thoroughly investigated concerned potential effects of population-level extinction on surrounding populations of the same species: How does the extinction of one population affec (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stephen Matter Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Thomas Crist Ph.D. (Committee Member); Edna Sayomi Kaneshiro Ph.D. (Committee Member); Eric Maurer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kenneth Petren Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Biological Sciences

Habitat fragmentation has rapidly intensified with the increasing prevalence of roads. Within aquatic ecosystems, one potential mechanism for fragmentation is the installation of crossing structures at road-stream intersections. These structures have the potential to impact ecosystem function by increasing flow velocity and altering habitat downstream of the crossing. Crayfish are organisms that rely on flow and substrate as guidelines in habitat selection, and thus act as model organisms that can be directly affected by the installation of road crossings. To investigate potential differences in substrate and crayfish population demographics upstream and downstream of bridges and culverts, road-stream crossing surveys were conducted in Northern Michigan. Proportions of 8 substrate types were visually estimated upstream and downstream at each site. Flow velocities (m/s) were measured in upstream natural riffles and compared to velocities measured within crossing structures to determine the impact of road crossings on flow velocity. To determine effects of road crossings on population structures, the sex, size, and abundance of crayfish at these sites were analyzed. Results indicate that culverts significantly increase stream flow while bridges do not. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that road crossings are associated with altered sex ratios and differential sizes of upstream and downstream crayfish. These findings coupled with correlations between flow and crayfish size and abundance demonstrate that road crossings that increase flow velocities are impacting crayfish populations. These results show that increased flow velocities in road crossings have the potential to fragment stream habitats and inhibit gene flow between populations of stream fauna.

Committee: Paul Moore PhD (Advisor); Rex Lowe PhD (Committee Member); Shannon Pelini PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aquatic Sciences; Biology; Conservation

MS, Kent State University, 2013, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Earth Sciences

Fossil decapod species vary in number of specimens and degree of preservation. A collection from the Late Cretaceous Pierre Shale in South Dakota has yielded a large number of well-preserved specimens of Dakoticancer overanus from the vicinity of Mobridge, South Dakota. Collector Dr. Gale Bishop has published several articles on this collection of Dakoticancer overanus specimens. It is rare to find a collection this sizeable of a single species of crabs. Two hypotheses are possible; this collection is either a collection of molts or a community of whole dead crabs. The purpose of this study is to expand upon the work of Bishop and take a closer look statistically at the Dakoticancer overanus population. Studies of population dynamics have rarely been conducted on fossil decapods, whereas many such studies have been done on molluscan and brachiopod species. On this collection of specimens, measurements were taken of exoskeletal elements to compare size differences between males and females. Approximately eight hundred and forty specimens have been measured, and their sex has been determined. This sample population produced a normal size-frequency distribution, and therefore, the specimens are likely to be from one population. One of the most interesting aspects of this population is the discrepancy between numbers of males and females. There are 2.5 males for every female. It is difficult to analyze why such a discrepancy exists for an extinct species, but modern analogues are used to help understand factors that can influence the makeup of a marine invertebrate population. External morphology is the main way to decipher the sex of a fossil brachyuran. Characters to look for are placement of gonopores, the shape of the sternal plates, and the size of the pleon. Otherwise there is no other significant difference in morphology. Eight specimens are recognized as having both male and female morphology. Upon statistical analysis, it is proposed that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carrie Schweitzer (Advisor); Rodney Feldmann (Committee Member); Joseph Ortiz (Committee Member) Subjects: Geological; Paleoecology; Paleontology

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Engineering : Electrical Engineering

There is a growing need for compact, efficient rare-earth doped waveguide optical amplifiers for use in optical communications. Zn2Si0.5Ge0.5O4 (ZSG) is a promising new host material for Erbium(Er) due to the high concentration of Er which can be incorporated and the high optical activity of the incorporated Er. In this thesis, the absorption and emission cross-sections of Er in Er-doped ZSG are measured both through an analysis of the photo-luminescence spectra, and from direct absorption measurements. Peak cross sections are about 3 x 10-24 m2, comparable to measurements on other oxide-based glass amplifiers. The population statistics of the excited Er-level (4I13/2), along with the excited state lifetime, are determined through a novel rate-equations-based frequency domain method in which the spontaneous emission power at 1534 nm is measured as a function of pump power (980nm) and pump modulation frequency. The determined lifetime of 2ms is comparable to the 2.3ms measured using a conventional pump probe technique. The novel analysis technique yields the Er population statistics and lifetime under different pumping conditions independent of the unknown and variable coupling in and out of the waveguide. This method predicts zero net gain at 70mW, about what is observed. Comparison of calculated gain (based on Er density and measured cross-sections) with measured gains suggest that only about 20-30% of the Er in the material is optically active. Thus, by a systematic study of cross sections, Er population statistics and lifetime, and fraction of optically active Er as a function of Er density, the mechanisms for gain quenching with concentration can be studied. A 4.7cm long sample demonstrated a peak fiber-to-fiber net gain of ~2 dB and a signal enhancement of >13 dB. Cavity characteristics were measured using an analysis of coherent reflection under no pumping. The facet reflectivity was determined to be 0.27 and the scattering/absorption loss was 1.05/cm. These l (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. David Klotzkin (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2012, Environment and Natural Resources

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are the top predator in the metropolitan Chicago area, and other urban areas of North America. As such, coyotes play an important role in the dynamics of the urban ecosystem. Coyotes have increasingly come into conflict with humans as both human and coyote populations have increased in the areas surrounding major cities. Sarcoptic mange is an important disease of coyotes throughout their range, and is capable of epizootics with high prevalence and mortality rates. My objectives were to examine the dynamics of sarcoptic mange in an urban coyote population, determine the effects of changes in mange prevalence on coyote population dynamics and determine whether mange infection resulted in altered habitat selection and use. Coyotes were trapped and radio-collared during 2000 - 2011. Individuals were examined for signs of sarcoptic mange at the time of capture. Visual observations of individuals being radio-tracked meant that animals that had developed signs of sarcoptic mange could be identified based on hair loss patterns after capture. Three hundred ten coyotes were examined for signs of sarcoptic mange during the course of the study and 49 (16%) were diagnosed with sarcoptic mange at some point. Sarcoptic mange incidence remained relatively steady in the study population throughout the study, implying that mange infection during this time period was enzootic. The majority of mortalities due to sarcoptic mange occurred during the winter (December – January). There was no evidence that changes in the prevalence of sarcoptic mange had any effect on annual survival rates, nor was there any relationship between annual survival and mange-specific mortality rates. Coyotes with sarcoptic mange showed a significantly higher mean percentage of locations in medium-density urban areas during the period spanning 60 days prior to death. Sarcoptic mange is currently enzootic in the Chicago metropolitan area. This does not preclude epizootics in the futu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stanley Gehrt PhD (Advisor); Robert Gates PhD (Committee Member); Patricia Dennis PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Parasitology; Wildlife Management

Master of Science, Miami University, 2005, Zoology

This study analyzed effects of storm intensity on turbidity, chlorophyll, abundance and population parameters of three Brachionus in a reservoir. I predicted chlorophyll and Brachionus abundance, growth rate, and birth rate would be negatively correlated with storm intensity. I expected positive correlations between storm intensity and non-volatile suspended sediments (NVSS) as well as Brachionus death rates. I used linear regression to relate NVSS and chlorophyll concentrations and changes in each parameter during and after storms to storm intensity. A significant positive correlation between NVSS and storm intensity was observed. Influence of storm events on Brachionus parameters was variable and species specific. During storms, significant positive correlations were observed between changes in B.calyciflorus abundance as well as in B.angularis growth rate with storm intensity. Significant negative correlations were observed between changes in B.angularis growth rate as well as in B.caudatus resting egg production with storm intensity during the post-storm period.

Committee: Maria Gonzalez (Advisor) Subjects: