Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Environment and Natural Resources

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a growing environmental stressor due to human expansion and increased urbanization. ALAN has shown to have significant impacts on a suite of taxa and on multiple levels of biological organization, but most research has focused on individual to population levels of biological organization. Furthermore, there has been a disproportionate research emphasis on terrestrial vs. aquatic ecosystems. In this study, I investigated the impacts of ALAN on riparian mammal space use and food webs along 12 small streams in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Seasonality and time of day were the strongest drivers of mammal community composition along streams, despite the presence of ALAN. Seasonality, sediment size, and other site-level differences, but not ALAN, were associated with total mammal space use and species richness. No species-specific small mammal captures or species/guild-specific camera-trap encounters were impacted by ALAN. In the context of this study, sediment size is likely a proxy for either stream size or urbanization but also a potentially important structural factor related to small-mammal movement across streams. ALAN presence was related to the proportion of energy derived from aquatic vs. terrestrial primary producer pathways in the genus Peromyscus, the only small mammals with sufficient sample size to estimate diet proportions. At illuminated reaches, Peromyscus nutritional subsidies derived from aquatic primary producer pathways (i.e., originating from stream periphyton) were 1.2% lower at lit compared to unlit reaches. Canopy cover was also associated with the proportion of energy derived from the terrestrial primary producer pathway that is indirectly consumed by Peromyscus (i.e., originating from aquatic detritus). Site – as a random effect in linear-mixed models – explained the greatest amount of variation in the proportion of energy derived from different primary producer pathways. Overall, I did not find e (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mažeika Sullivan (Advisor); Robert Gates (Committee Member); Stanley Gehrt (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Science; Natural Resource Management; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

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

As bobcat (Lynx rufus) populations recover in Ohio, an accurate evaluation of demographic and population metrics such as mortality rates (natural or human-induced) and occupancy are critical to understanding past and future population trajectories. To identify predictors of road mortality, we used logistic regression to analyze landscape and local variables using a long-term data set (1978-2016) of georeferenced road kills. To explore whether bobcats exhibit road avoidance behaviors, we used telemetry data from 18 individuals to compare road crossings along actual trajectory paths with random road crossings using correlated random walks. We then computed the population-level mortality rate in a framework that combines traffic, behavioral, and landscape variables. Results show that bobcats are being killed at higher rates on interstates regardless of surrounding landscape variables, and that landscape variables are more useful at predicting mortality on smaller roads. We also found that bobcats exhibit avoidance of certain road types (predominantly county, municipal, and US routes), and that 6-30% (mean = 18%) of individuals are lost to vehicle strikes annually in Ohio. We then tested the use of a multi-method monitoring system (camera traps and hair snares) to understand occupancy of bobcats in southeast Ohio, their interactions with the eastern coyote (Canis latrans), and to evaluate bobcat abundance. We found that the probability of bobcat occupancy across our surveyed sites in southeast Ohio was 0.40 (0.290 - 0.533), and that baited hair snares had limited success in detecting bobcats (~0.1 detection probability). Coyotes and bobcats co-occurred throughout the landscape, though their spatial dynamics are complicated; both species are likely partitioning activity centers, though more research is needed. Our results add important information for evaluating the long-term population viability in Ohio, identify potential areas for mitigation of vehicle-strikes, and em (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Viorel Popescu PhD (Advisor); Nancy Stevens PhD (Committee Member); Johnson Joseph PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

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

Roads are ubiquitous in the United States, and their ecological effects are conspicuous. Turtles are among the vertebrate taxa most affected by roads because of their low vagility and use of road and road-side habitats. In 2013, Wayne National Forest in southeastern Ohio was bisected by a new highway, affecting a road-naive population of eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina), a species of concern in Ohio and vulnerable throughout its range. The goal of this study was to evaluate ecological, physiological, and behavioral effects of proximity to this new road in this road-naive population of turtles. We used a control-impact study to evaluate potential ecological and physiological effects of proximity to roads, employing radio-telemetry to assess space use, movement behavior, and habitat selection. We used novel bioassay techniques to analyze indicators of chronic stress (across the prior several months) using corticosterone stored in nail keratin. Overall, we found no significant differences in home range sizes, habitat preferences, or corticosterone concentrations between road-side and control sites. While our work suggests that proximity to roads has limited indirect influence on the ecology and chronic stress responses of eastern box turtles, and that road-naive turtles demonstrated avoidance of a high-traffic highway, the road network likely continues to contribute to population declines through direct mortality, and further inquiry is needed to assess road effects, particularly in the areas of stress endocrinology and impacts on demography.

Committee: Viorel Popescu (Advisor) Subjects: Animal Sciences; Animals; Biology; Conservation; Ecology; Endocrinology; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2017, Environmental Studies (Voinovich)

Madagascar is home to a broad array of intriguing, endemic, and increasingly endangered species. The fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is the largest living (non-introduced) mammalian carnivore on the island and is considered a keystone species for maintaining ecosystem complexity in a broad range of Madagascar's forested habitats. Sadly, the fosa is threatened, with viable populations remaining in only two protected areas. In this context, complex interactions among fosa, prey, and myriad introduced species, reveal a dynamic that is increasingly sensitive to human pressures (e.g., hunting, deforestation for agriculture and fuel wood). This project assembles detailed geographic information to augment long-term data collection and help inform the fosa conservation effort. Research was conducted in Ankarafantsika National Park, a dry deciduous forest in the northwest region of the country, and one of the two places where viable fosa populations still exist. Species encounters and trap rates, roadkill patterns, and the spatial and activity patterns of GPS-collared fosas were analyzed to gather a comprehensive assessment on habitat pressures experienced by the fosa. Species encounter and trap rates documented a shift in prey item encounters over time. Roadkill surveys, together with the roadkill death of one of the GPS-collared study animals, demonstrated failure of current mitigation efforts in addressing roadkill dangers. Fosa space use and activity patterns clearly reveal that they rely almost exclusively upon forested habitats, and that they avoid human settlements. Interestingly, although fosa do rely heavily on forest habitat, their ability to use forest edges and narrow forested strips suggests that corridors may be a viable method to enhance habitat connectivity and promote positive conservation outcomes.

Committee: Nancy Stevens (Advisor); Geoffrey Dabelko (Committee Member); Viorel Popescu (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Studies; Wildlife Conservation

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

Despite the clear advantages of generalist feeding, many insect herbivores feed on a relatively small number of available host plants with in phylogenetically restricted groups. To better understand patterns of host plant use I used the sister species Altinote stratonice and Altinote dicaeus and their overlapping but distinct host plant range. I measured physiological effects of plants by using development time, pupal mass, and survival. To determine the importance of enemies I quantified rates of parasitism and rates of predation. Finally I measured host plant frequency, and host plant abundance. I found that survival of A. dicaeus and A. stratonice was reduced on low quality host plants. Additionally host plant use by A. stratonice was correlated with host plant abundance and host plant use by A. dicaeus was correlated host plant size. Overall patterns of host plant use appeared to be driven by bottom up forces even when enemies present a clear threat.

Committee: John Stireman III Ph.D. (Advisor); Thomas Rooney Ph.D. (Committee Member); Don Cipollini Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Entomology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2015, Environment and Natural Resources

Northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhites) are gallinaceous gamebirds that were once ubiquitous across the eastern United States, but have declined throughout the 20th century. This research was conducted to evaluate the impact of woodlot edge-feathering and land use change on density and survival of bobwhites in Midwestern agricultural landscapes. I examined covey density, survival, and habitat use on 4 private-land study sites in southwestern Ohio to further understanding of winter ecology of bobwhites in relation to habitat characteristics and targeted woodlot edge management. Non-breeding season survival rate was at levels capable of stabilizing the population during the moderate winter of 2012 – 2013 (Ŝ = 0.393, 95 % CI = 0.215 - 0.596), but was well below the stabilizing rate during the severe winter of 2013 – 2014 (Ŝ = 0.075, 95 % CI = 0.037 - 0.145). I did not find a relationship between macro- and microhabitat characteristics and weekly survival outcomes during weeks with snow cover, although bobwhites restricted habitat use to areas of high woody stem density with increasing snow depths. This and persistently low survival rates in severe winters suggest that habitat conditions are homogenously poor and are not capable of stabilizing bobwhite populations, even at currently low densities. I examined the predicted probability of use and usable space by examining the proximity of focal habitat types. Loss of early-successional habitat features on the Fee, Thurner, and Wildcat study sites reduced their predicted probability of use and resulted in a net decline in usable space. Targeted successional management of woodlot edges (i.e. edge-feathering) on the Peach Orchard study site increased the predicted probability of use and the proportion of usable space. A reduction in the extent and mean predicted probability of use for herbaceous habitats on Fee indicate that loss of herbaceous habitat resulted in a coarser-grained (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robert Gates (Advisor); Steven Matthews (Committee Member); Stanley Gehrt (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Science; Forestry; Natural Resource Management; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management; Zoology

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Arts and Sciences: Biological Sciences

Microhabitat selection occurs when animals choose certain areas of their home ranges in which to spend more time than in other areas. Preferences of specific microhabitats can reflect availability of resources, predation risk, or favorable abiotic conditions, and can improve fitness of selective individuals. We investigated microhabitat selection in the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, by using giving-up densities (GUDs) to ascertain how microhabitat affected their foraging behavior. We also investigated how factors affecting nighttime forest illumination (e.g., cloud cover, moon phase) related to foraging behavior. We found that microhabitat had no effect on foraging behavior by itself or in interactions with factors affecting forest illumination. White-footed mice did adjust foraging behavior in response to moon illumination by eating less and at fewer locations during times of greater moon illumination. Our results, which contradict past studies which found that cover affected foraging behavior of Peromyscus, suggest that microhabitat preference of small mammals may vary widely depending on the scale and method of assessing behavior.

Committee: Guy Cameron PhD (Committee Chair); Stephen Matter PhD (Committee Member); Kenneth Petren PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Zoology

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture (Master of)

Public spaces within cities – the streets, sidewalks, and squares - act as the grand stage on which urban experiences occur. They provide a place for shared human experiences and spontaneous interactions. However, while there are many successful public spaces around the world, many efforts to design urban plazas and squares have resulted in cold, un-engaging spaces. In these past attempts, the natural existing condition of the city has been ignored, the imperfect and spontaneous characteristics pushed aside in favor of idealistic, almost utopian designs. It can be conjectured that it is these imperfections and inconsistencies that characterize the spaces loved so dearly. This thesis will explore a new way of thinking about urban public spaces, one that embraces the everyday, the dynamic and varied nature of the city, while respecting the history and memory of a given place, specifically through the redesign of Boston's City Hall Plaza.

Committee: Elizabeth Riorden (Advisor) Subjects: Architecture

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

Habitat loss due to intensified agriculture, forest maturation, and urbanization is widely accepted as the primary cause of range-wide northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) population declines. Although much is known about bobwhite habitat associations, management efforts have failed to halt the decline in most states. Some suggest that bobwhite habitat management has not occurred at the appropriate scale to mitigate the negative impact of changing landscapes. To evaluate the landscape suitability for bobwhites in the core of their range in Ohio, I used radio-telemetry to quantify usable space at various temporal and spatial scales on four private land study sites in southwestern Ohio during 2009-2011. To investigate habitat suitability at a fine-scale, I compared structural and compositional measurements from used and unused winter microhabitats. Mean annual usable space estimates ranged from 10.3 to 24.4 percent for the four sites. Amount of usable space decreased considerably during the non-breeding season due to increased preference for more limited cover types during that period. Covey density ranged from 0.0580-0.2109 coveys per hectare of usable space during the non-breeding season. Analyses of inter-patch distance of cover types suggested that there is a complex interplay of at least three important cover types influencing use on these sites. Predicted probability surfaces showed considerable variability in amount and distribution of areas of high predicted use among sites. Horizontal visual obstruction (less than 1.05 m height) was the most important predictor of microhabitat use across all cover types. Canonical correspondence analysis identified several plant species associated with use. The primary focus of bobwhite management should be increasing usable space based on the composition and inter-patch distance of key cover types. Within landscapes considered suitable for bobwhites in Ohio, habitat management should focus on improving low-level structura (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robert Gates PhD (Advisor); Stephen Matthews PhD (Committee Member); Patrick Goebel PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Natural Resource Management; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Master of Landscape Architecture, The Ohio State University, 2011, Landscape Architecture

Ruderal is a term primarily used to describe emergent plant communities. Ruderal references the disused and vacant as a typology as well as a signal for growth; it is a concept of space based upon its potential to generate value. Ruderal species are weedy and rough, best adapted to the hostile conditions of disturbed ground. But plants are not the only species which flourish in ruderal sites. Human activities also come to fruition within ruderal sites, from the illicit and subversive to the formal and productive and many variants between. For this reason ruderal spaces are an important engine of the urban condition. They are charged with meaning, history, and contain great generative force. Ruderal sites are complex in nature, conflicted by a tendency to be labeled as empty or vacant, representing heterogeneous experiences of space. Understanding a ruderal site's history and its future potential is critical to projecting how these spaces may play a more explicit role in urban revitalization. A growing body of literature exists about ruderal space but its authors do not use the term specifically. The work does not proffer consensus among its writers and employs diverse terminology, pointing to the fact that a thorough undertaking of ruderal space has not yet been accomplished despite growing awareness of its role in our changing cities. This thesis brings together diverse voices as a foundation to propose a new framework of action and emerging mentalities for optimizing ruderal space without extinguishing its innate characteristics. Two essential factors to understanding the potential of ruderal space include: a) top-down versus bottom-up actors, and b) levels of formality of action. While top-down actors are legitimized by political, financial and social policy, their actions have an array of associated issues. Bottom-up ruderal use is concurrently evolving with top-down forces, but the two are in conflict around demand for the same sites. Within the urban fabr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jane Amidon MLA (Committee Chair); Edward Malecki Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jason Kentner MLA (Committee Member) Subjects: Landscape Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, Geography

In this dissertation I present an analysis of the practices of calculation needed to create carbon forestry offsets in Costa Rica, with special attention to the spaces that are produced through such practices. Carbon forestry offsets are a mechanism by which a person, nation, or corporation can offset the climactic impact of their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing a credit, which funds a forestry project that sequesters an equivalent amount of carbon. I explore the function and effects of the scientific and technical work that is undertaken so that carbon may be rendered as a source of value. Drawing on the writings of Martin Heidegger, I argue that the calculations needed to bring a carbon forestry offset into being as a commodity is a process that is grounded in a technological metaphysics, where the world becomes disclosed to us as an object of orderability. This ontological orientation allows for the objects and subjects of the world – carbon commodities as well as producers and consumers of carbon offsets – to become relationally embedded in the world through the production of bounded Cartesian space. Building on this argument about the ontological grounds of carbon offsets, I also investigate the bodily performances needed to maintain spaces of carbon sequestration. I do so by examining the transitive movement between the abstract and the material that ultimately produces the spaces of the forest as a commodified forestry offset. I argue that this oscillation is part of the performance of the space of an offset. Through the performative oscillation between the abstract and the material, the commodity-object and the “carbon market” itself, are mutually emergent and sustained. In addition to focusing on the performative materiality of carbon offsets, I also examine the discursive practices that are necessary for the spaces of commodified carbon storage to emerge. Through a historical-discursive analysis of the spaces of the indigenous body in the 19th and e (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kendra McSweeney PhD (Advisor); Kevin Cox PhD (Committee Member); Becky Mansfield PhD (Committee Member); Joel Wainwright PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2011, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology

Adaptive foraging is a recent theoretical synthesis linking foraging decisions to the structure and functioning of ecological communities. However, empirical research is required to characterize the consequences of different environmental challenges on organisms foraging behavior. The goal of this dissertation was to explore ecological factors that are responsible for variation in the foraging behavior of a common generalist predator, the wolf spider Pardosa milvina. I conducted four studies to investigate aspects of the adaptive foraging framework, space use and prey selection. I first explored the how habitat structure affects density and foraging ability. Spiders preferred areas containing more structural features, but contrary to predictions, they preferred patches low in prey. Foraging rate was reduced by some habitat features, and habitat structure lowered interference levels between spiders. I examined the role of prey abundance and predator abundance on interference determined by changes in patch leaving frequency and in their functional response. While prey abundance had strong effects on the tendency to leave patches, indicating the importance of prey to predator patch use, increasing the abundance of predators led to increased dispersal rates and interference. I used a two-pronged approach to understanding prey selection in this spider. In one set of experiments I measured changes in consumption of a target prey group in the field using a molecular probe. Although there was variation in the proportion of spiders testing positive for prey, the consumption of prey did not follow strict frequency dependence expected for generalist species. In a second set of experiments I tested for one prey characteristic, nutrient quality, to help explain predation rate and prey choice. The functional response of spiders to different prey nutrient compositions was comparable, but when spiders were fed on a prior nutrient enhanced diet, spiders killed a significantly greate (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ann Rypstra (Advisor); A. John Bailer (Committee Member); Alan Cady (Committee Member); Thomas Crist (Committee Member); Michael Vanni (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2012, Biology

Zoo-housed orangutans are fed diets that are quantitatively and qualitatively different from the diets of their wild counterparts and, therefore, from what orangutans have evolved to eat. This discrepancy in dietary composition could be leading to health issues such as cardiovascular disease and metabolic abnormalities, weight problems, and undesirable behaviors in captive orangutans. The current study explored zoo orangutan diets in relation to the undesirable behavior of regurgitation and reingestion (R/R), and also examined behavioral changes after a reduction of commercially formulated primate food (referred to as biscuits) in the orangutans' diet at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. A survey of R/R in the North American zoo population found a prevalence of 36% with some sex and species differences. Increased access to high-fiber food reduced rates of R/R in a group of Bornean orangutans at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Additionally, these orangutans increased the amount of time spent in locomotion and occupying the highest level of their exhibit after they received less commercially formulated diet. The reduction of commercial diet also resulted in weight loss in some individuals. Implications for health and welfare are discussed.

Committee: Kristen Lukas PhD (Committee Chair); Patricia Dennis PhD, DVM (Committee Member); Mark Willis PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Animal Sciences; Animals; Behavioral Sciences; Biology; Zoology