Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Biological Sciences

As human-modified landscape and climate changes proliferate, maintaining biodiversity and understanding the function and quality of available habitat is imperative. Anurans (frogs/toads) can be indicator species of habitat quality and ecosystem productivity, due to their permeable skin, small body size and ectothermy. We explored the relationship between Anurans and habitat quality by assessing the effects of spatial and temporal heterogeneity on the presence of Anurans. Across the Toledo Metropolitan Area (TMA), including the biodiversity hotspot Oak Openings Region (OOR), we surveyed across three years, 67 different wetland sites (N=1800). There was a difference in community assemblage between rural and suburban/urban habitats driven by factors related to human-modification (impervious surface), composition (landcover type) and productivity (e.g., NDVI). Areas with more impervious surface, lower amounts of swamp forest, and lower NDVI had fewer species. The differences in spatial structure but lack of differences in temporal variables among sites suggest spatial factors dominated. We also developed spatial models for predicting species richness across the region to evaluate spatial variables driving community composition and ecosystem productivity. The amount of cropland best predicted species richness, followed by amount of swamp forest. Among individual species, the most important variables differed; cropland (Acris blanchardi, Lithobates catesbeianus, Anaxyrus americanus, Anaxyrus fowleri and Hyla versicolor), floodplain forest (Lithobates clamitans), wet prairie (Lithobates pipiens), and swamp forest (Pseudacris crucifer, Pseudacris triseriata, Lithobates sylvaticus) were leading influences. Finally, we surveyed 304 local residents to assess their views on topics from support of new parks/preserves to fees to utilize parks, before a 25-minute presentation on Anurans, and resurveying them. There was strong support for many conservation-oriented questions, but (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karen Root Ph.D. (Advisor); Paul Moore Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ashley Ajemigbitse Ph.D. (Other); Jeffrey Miner Ph.D. (Committee Member); Helen Michaels Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Conservation; Ecology; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Biology

In ecology, discerning process from pattern can be quite challenging. In plant community ecology, for example, multiple species, each with their own physiological characteristics and population dynamics, can interact in diverse ways across spatial and temporal scales. Moreover, plants can respond to multiple abiotic factors, which themselves will also vary across spatial and temporal scales. Given this complexity, both the abiotic environment itself, and the way in which species respond to it, is often simplified. This begs the question, does abiotic complexity matter? The following chapters ask when, and how, including various components of abiotic complexity will change the qualitative conclusions drawn about herbaceous layer plant communities. Previous research investigating the connection between the abiotic environment and community patterns often make at least one of three simplifications: 1) observational studies tend to consider only the mean or only the heterogeneity of abiotic conditions, even though both are known to impact plant communities. 2) Theoretical studies model survival probability as a function of abiotic conditions, even though survival depends on multiple life history events which may interact with the abiotic environment in different ways. Finally, 3) many studies assume that abiotic factors are important at large, but not small, spatial scales. Using an observational study, we show that accounting for both the mean and heterogeneity of conditions across multiple abiotic factors matters when we want to know how much variability in species richness can be explained by the abiotic environment. Using a simulation model, we show that the life stage at which species partition resources matters when we want to know how local processes will scale up to affect larger community patterns. And finally, using spatial point pattern analysis we show that both small- and large-scale structure in the abiotic environment matter when we want to understa (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karen Abbott Dr. (Advisor); Robin Snyder Dr. (Committee Member); Jean Burns Dr. (Committee Member); Constance Hausman Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology

PHD, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

Saprotrophic fungal communities are highly complex ecological units responsible for a wide range of terrestrial ecosystem functions, most notably the decomposition/recycling of large amounts of senesced plant tissue. These communities may be assembled by several distinct community assembly mechanisms that could be categorized into two broad groups: deterministic processes based around environmental selection, and more stochastic mechanisms arising from dispersal limitation and colonization history. However, there is much conjecture about which mechanism plays the most critical role in the formation of these ecological units. Furthermore, the spatial scale of inquiry may also influence the relative importance of these mechanisms in determining community composition. This dissertation was focused on determining the relative importance of multiple community assembly mechanisms on community composition of saprotrophic fungal communities at both large and small scales. In addition, the importance of these mechanisms in the distribution of community aggregated functional traits was also investigated. We were able to analyze the impact of numerous community assembly mechanisms. An observational approach based on a detailed sampling scheme of senesced leaves allowed for investigating the importance of how spatial scale impacts the relative importance of community assembly mechanisms. The importance of community assembly history, also known as priority effects, was analyzed using a manipulative experimental approach that involved the modification of the starting communities of saprotrophic fungi and its impact on later colonization. Community composition was analyzed using both terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and next generation sequencing technology (pyrosequencing). Community aggregated functional traits were analyzed through the identification of fungal functional groups of OTUs, analysis of GH28 pectinase genes, and the quantification of ext (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Christopher Blackwood PhD (Advisor); Mark Kershner PhD (Committee Member); Xiaozhen Mou PhD (Committee Member); Mandy Munro-Stasiuk PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Microbiology; Molecular Biology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2017, Geological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Late Pennsylvanian Ames Limestone was analyzed along its depositional strike to understand the spatial heterogeneity of Ames paleocommunities. Paleocommunity structure and its variability at multiple spatial scales were assessed from field data collected at seven outcrops of the Ames Limestone in the southeastern Ohio, along the northwestern outcrop belt of the Conemaugh Group. Invertebrate fossils were identified in the field and abundance counts were recorded for discrete taxa. Multivariate analyses, cluster confidence intervals and guild analysis were used to delineate geographic partitioning of paleocommunity structure at various spatial scales (local through regional). A clear partitioning of paleocommunities in geographic space between northeastern and southwestern study sites was observed. The likely environmental control for this regional scale faunal distribution was differences in water turbidity and substrate composition along the depositional strike. At locality scale, the large-scale regional structure was dampened by variations within local paleocommunities.

Committee: Alycia Stigall (Advisor); Daniel Hembree (Committee Member); Gregory Nadon (Committee Member) Subjects: Geology; Paleoecology; Paleontology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2015, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology

The current biodiversity crisis has renewed attention on the responses of populations to environmental change and the implications of these responses for species distributions. Species distributions depend on two basic, hierarchical process: juvenile recruitment to a local population and dispersal between habitat patches across a landscape. These processes are impacted by a variety of factors that operate within the local and landscape contexts of surrounding land cover types. The objective of this dissertation was to examine how environmental factors, across multiple spatial scales, affect the distribution of bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) and Blanchard's cricket frogs (Acris blanchardi) in agricultural landscapes. I first investigated how the competitive environment in the larval stage affects juvenile recruitment of cricket frogs. Cricket frogs did not compete with bullfrogs but were negatively affected by green frogs (Lithobates clamitans) and Cope's gray treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis). Competition with some species may negatively impact populations and increase the frequency of population turnover. I then examined how the landscape context (land use surrounding ponds) affected bullfrog and cricket frog recruitment in created ponds. Land use alone did not consistently affect water quality and was not predictive of tadpole growth and survival for either species. These results indicated that created ponds in agriculture landscapes have high potential to provide suitable habitat for cricket frogs and bullfrogs. Phytoplankton abundance was the best predictor of tadpole growth. Therefore, local resource availability may be a key indicator of habitat quality. I then tested for effects of terrestrial land use on juvenile dispersal, with implications for landscape connectivity. Movement behavior at habitat edges suggested that local landscape configuration affects landscape permeability for cricket frogs but not for bullfrogs. Bullfrogs showed a slight preference to (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michelle Boone PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Conservation; Ecology

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2015, Design

Since the earliest days of cinema filmmakers have experimented with the temporal nature of the art form during capture, manipulation, and exhibition. This thesis paper serves as a reflective documentation of the development process for the depiction of spatial and temporal scales in the animated short film Here Be Giants. Drawing from cinematic conventions and shaped by the malleable nature of the medium of digital animation a visual language was developed to convey qualities of scale and time essential to the narrative. A foundation for decision making during the development process was informed by project-based exploration including photographic, animation, and live action video as well as influences from cinema, video games, painting, and sculpture. The result of this reflexive research is a tripartite of categories of visual cues that include environmental and atmospheric elements (clouds, the sun, star trails, etc.), reminiscent subject matter (tree growth in seconds rather than years), and cinematographic considerations (depth of field and motion blur). These categories were used to develop representations of scales of time along the spectrum of human real-time to geologic time. The result is an animated short film with a purposeful visual language steeped in cinematic convention and reinterpreted through digital animation to actualize parallel narrative strands of a human interpersonal narrative and landscape mythology.

Committee: Maria Palazzi (Advisor); Alan Price (Committee Member); Janet Parrott (Committee Member) Subjects: Design; Film Studies; Fine Arts; Landscape Architecture

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2015, College of Sciences and Health Professions

Accurate recognition of changes in scene layout is necessary to function in everyday life. Self-motion sensitivity, comprised of efference copy and afferent signals, is employed to respond to these changes, however little is known about how these signals may influence active display recognition. Previous spatial perception experimentation has shown that individuals with high schizotypal traits perform differently than those with low schizotypal traits while estimating walked distance in non-visual walking and imagined walking tasks (Rohde & Yamamoto, 2013). It is postulated that this result could be attributed to a presumable dysfunction of efference copy associated with schizotypy. It was hypothesized that lack of efference copy may influence other spatial perception tasks involving self-motion. This study investigated the influence of efference copy on active display recognition by comparing accuracy scores of high and low schizotypal groups. Contrary to the prediction, results found no significant difference between groups in accuracy for detecting change in a scene, suggesting that tasks that rely exclusively on body-based information (e.g. non-visual perception of walked distance) may be more susceptible to dysfunction in efference copy, or simply that the degree of possible efference copy dysfunction in the current participants was not large enough. Information from this study can be used to shape continuing research to define the role of efference copy in spatial perception.

Committee: Naohide Yamamoto PhD (Advisor); Andrew Slifkin PhD (Committee Member); Lisa Doane PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Psychology

MA, Kent State University, 2014, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

COAKLEY, CORRINE, M.A. AUGUST 2014 GEOGRAPHY ACTIVITY SPACE IN A TERMINAL CLASSIC MAYA HOUSEHOLD, XEUNKAL, YUCATAN, MEXICO (222 pp) Director of Thesis: Mandy Munro-Stasiuk The Terminal Classic Maya period in the Northern Yucatan was a time of political upheaval, when long established cities such as Uxmal collapsed and Chichen Itza began to rise to power. Xuenkal, a site about 40 km north of Chichen Itza, was located directly on trade routes that would have supplied the city of Chichen Itza with imported goods and prestige items during this transition. Xuenkal itself shows several occupational phases, from a monumental phase during the Classic period, to abandonment, to a third phase in which population expanded during the Terminal Classic and new structures were built upon the former monumental, ritual spaces from the Classic period. These new structures include the subject of this research, Structure 9L-31, a walled complex of three buildings built on the platform of Xuenkal's most impressive structure, Structure 10M-62, the site's Classic period temple. Focusing on the social construction of place and scale, this thesis uses concepts from feminist geography and time geography to determine activity spaces across Structure 9L-31. Household scale analysis includes type variety analysis of the ceramics found at Structure 9L-31 and source and production stage analysis on the lithic artifacts. Through the use of artifact patterns as social behavior proxies, residents' space use and behavioral patterns are explored. Methods used include the use of descriptive statistics, Getis Ord Gi* analysis, and geostatistical prediction surfaces. Specifically, gendered use of space, production and domestic uses of space, and household vs. prestige artifact patterns are examined. Traditional archaeological ceramic analysis is compared to geostatistical techniques to inform upon both practices and answer the question of how the residents of Structure 9L-31 used their space. Re (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mandy Munro-Stasiuk Ph.D. (Advisor); T. Kam Manahan Ph.D (Advisor); Jacqueline Curtis Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Archaeology; Geographic Information Science; Geography

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2003, Engineering : Environmental Science

Accurate estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) in soils is essential for various hydrological applications. Ks is difficult to characterize because of its high variability even over short distances, and measurement methods typically require considerable time and resources. Consequently, researchers often use a limited number of measurements for characterizing Ks or use various soil properties for indirect estimation via pedotransfer functions. This dissertation investigates spatial patterns of Ks at different sampling scales along a complex forested soilscape ranging from relatively clay-rich to sand-rich soils. Although there is a tight link in the spatial patterns of soil texture, color and mineralogy as a function of topography along this tropical rainforest catena (i.e. toposequence), there is no similar dependency with Ks, and univariate statistics show no significant (a = 0.05) difference in Ks between soil types. Spatial patterns of Ks are linked to topography and texture only where soils are comprised of >80% sand. Based on surface and subsurface analyses of physical and biological processes, it appears that Ks is largely controlled by macropores from roots and animals (i.e. biopores), but textural porosity largely controls Ks for coarse textures with >80% sand. At all sampling scales (lags of 25, 10, 1 and 0.25 m), there is little to no autocorrelation in Ks and no apparent link with topography or soil properties, and structure does not emerge from noise, except for transects extending over soil boundaries separating coarse (> 80% sand) and less coarse textures. Because pedotransfer functions using readily available soil information do not properly account for macropores generated by bioturbation, these functions do not provide reasonable point estimates of Ks or accurate descriptions of its spatial patterns. This data-intensive study demonstrates a general lack of spatial structure and predictability in Ks for forest soils at all scales that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Shafiqul Islam (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Plant invasions affect native plant reproductive mutualisms, such as biotic pollination, in negative and positive directions. Whether increases or decreases in pollination occur in response to plant invasions should depend on environmental context, and mechanisms are poorly understood. I examined how shade, phenology, spatial scale, and floral density influence interactions between a non-native invasive shrub in the USA, Lonicera maackii, and two native herbaceous species, Geranium maculatum and Hydrophyllum macrophyllum. I designed an experiment to investigate direct (via shading) and indirect pathways (via pollinators) by which L. maackii may interfere in native plant reproduction in an invaded forest. Potted G. maculatum plants in treatments containing L. maackii shrubs (with and without flowers) received fewer pollinator visits and conspecific pollen grains than plots in which L. maackii was removed. Hydrophyllum macrophyllum did not co-flower with L. maackii and also received fewer visits in the presence of L. maackii foliage. Thus, invasive plants can decrease pollination of native plants (via shade), regardless of whether they co-flower or share pollinators. Although potted G. maculatum and H. macrophyllum also produced fewer seeds in plots containing L. maackii, hand pollen treatments suggested that light limited seed set in both native plants, not pollen receipt. Therefore, the mechanism of impact on native plant reproduction was increased understory shade. At a different site where H. macrophyllum and L. maackii co-flowered, pollinator visitation was higher and the magnitude of pollen limitation lower in the presence of L. maackii compared to plots in which L. maackii was naturally absent. Comparing H. macrophyllum results across these two sites in which flowering phenology was asynchronous or synchronous with L. maackii suggests that effects may vary depending on flowering phenology. Because pollinators are mobile, interactions between plants for pol (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karen Goodell (Advisor); Allison Snow (Committee Member); Robert Klips (Committee Member); John Cardina (Committee Member) Subjects: Botany; Ecology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, Geography

An urban growth model is conceptualized as a metropolitan change model consisting of multiple scales: global, regional and local. The baseline model operates in a free trade environment, in a space initially without consideration of the regulatory and redistributive forces of national and state governmental levels. Space in this study is abstracted as a metropolitan envelope, which is defined to start at the beginning of the twentieth century with the emergence of the New York, London and Tokyo metropolitan systems, and expanded one hundred years later into a system of four hundred major central cities and their associated commuter hinterlands. The expectation is that this system will continue to expand in the twenty-first century, as the primary engine of global economic diffusion and development. The purpose of this research is to model economic spatial interactions that generate investment flows that in turn convert into economic activity after the construction and placement of private and public infrastructure. The global model provides a set of allocated investment flows to regions, and the regional model provides employment and residential allocations to the local model, which displays land use changes. One major goal is to test the systems ability (or not) to achieve partial convergence of per capita incomes across the set of metropolitan spaces over multiple scales. For a variety of tested scenarios, temporal convergence and rank-size rule metrics can be evaluated at multiple spatial scales.

Committee: Morton O'Kelly (Advisor); Mei-Po Kwan (Committee Member); Darla Munroe (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2010, Geography (Arts and Sciences)

Between July and October 2005, 42 sites across Ohio Brush Creek watershed were surveyed to assess the spatial distribution of native freshwater mussels (Unionidae). Freshwater mussel shells were recorded at 28 out of 42 sites representing 14 native species. A total of thirteen species were recorded at 19 sites as living or fresh dead. Associations between the presence, diversity, and abundance of freshwater mussels and coarse-scale variables (drainage area, stream gradient, and percent land cover) and fine-scale variables (200 meter stream-reach habitat features based on Ohio EPA's Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI)) were explored using correlation and chi-square analysis. The presence, diversity, and abundance of mussel shells were associated with both coarse- and fine-scale variables. Drainage area and stream reaches with excellent channel development, high amounts of habitat cover, maximum water depths > 1 meter, and riffle depths > 5 cm were all associated with the presence, diversity, and abundance of mussels. Stream gradient was also associated with mussel shell presence and diversity, however was not associated with shell abundance due to the high abundance of fat mucket shells in upper reaches of the watershed. Sites with the highest diversity and abundance occurred along the mainstems of Ohio Brush Creek and the West Fork. Thirty-seven native mussel species have been recorded in the watershed. Unfortunately over 40% of these species are listed as either endangered, threatened, or of special concern. Sedimentation due to agricultural runoff and deforestation of riparian corridors has been identified as the primary threat to freshwater mussels in Ohio Brush Creek watershed. It is imperative to collect data that can be explored to find spatial and temporal patterns that exist amongst the mussel community in Ohio Brush Creek watershed. This data can also be used to help guide stream habitat restoration and native mussel re-establishment projects in the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Dyer PhD (Committee Chair); Timothy Anderson PhD (Committee Member); Gaurauv Sinha PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Geography

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Biological Sciences

Oak savannas of the Midwestern U.S. are among the most imperiled North American plant communities. The 478-km2 Oak Openings region of Northwestern Ohio is one of the few landscape-scale savanna systems remaining in the Midwest. Despite conversion of large portions of the Oak Openings for human land uses, the region still supports high levels of floristic diversity. However, regional patterns of Oak Openings plant diversity within the modern landscape are not well understood. My research objectives were 1) to determine the current extent and distribution of Oak Openings plant communities, 2) to quantify multiscale patterns of plant species richness within the context of the surrounding landscape, and 3) to build predictive species distribution models of rare plants to evaluate regional patterns in habitat suitability. First, using multi-seasonal Landsat images, I determined that <3% of the Oak Openings remains covered by native savannas, prairies, and barrens, while three-fourths of the region has been converted for urban, residential, and agricultural uses. Second, using measures of spatial heterogeneity derived from field data and remote sensing, I developed models of native and exotic plant species richness at two spatial extents and at four ecological levels for the Oak Openings. These models consistently explained more variation in exotic richness (better explained at the larger spatial extent) than in native richness (better explained at the smaller spatial extent). At all ecological levels, percentage of human-modified land cover in the surrounding landscape (negatively correlated with native richness, positively correlated with exotic richness) was a strong predictor of species richness. Finally, I developed species distribution models for nine rare plant species within the Oak Openings region using the Maxent modeling algorithm. Proportional land cover surrounding species occurrences accounted for a large proportion of the predictive power of all models. As (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karen V. Root PhD (Advisor); Enrique Gomezdelcampo PhD (Committee Member); Helen J. Michaels PhD (Committee Member); Jeffery G. Miner PhD (Committee Member); Robert K. Vincent PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Natural Resource Management