Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

The persistence of a population depends on its ability to adapt to an array of ever-changing conditions. When genetic diversity is lost, as is the case when a population experiences a population bottleneck, adaptation by natural selection can be impeded due to a decrease in evolutionary potential—a population's ability to evolve in response to a changing environment. Thus, by studying populations' genetic recovery after bottleneck events, we can help conservation biologists promote the viability of affected populations. The Lake Erie Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon insularum), a subspecies of Common Watersnake (N. sipedon) restricted to the Lake Erie islands, underwent a severe bottleneck at the end of the 20th century followed by a rapid recovery entering the 21st century, making it well-suited for such a study. To investigate current patterns of genetic diversity in these populations following the bottleneck, genetic samples from Lake Erie Watersnakes were collected during June 2022 from 16 localities on 11 islands. Samples from the nearby mainland subspecies, the Northern Watersnake (N. s. sipedon), were also collected from 10 localities around the perimeter of the western basin of Lake Erie. Using a next-generation reduced representation sequencing method known as ddRAD, I assembled a dataset of 10,131 biallelic SNPs and estimated several standard measures of genetic variation within and between the sampled populations. Genetic variation within the Lake Erie Watersnake was higher than expected given its recent demographic history, with similar levels of heterozygosity across all island and mainland populations and low levels of inbreeding. Using the Bayesian method implemented by BayesAss3-SNPs, I found evidence of contemporary gene flow between populations. I also explored population structure using several methods, finding only a single inferred ancestral group among the sampled populations. Finally, a Mantel test for isolation by distance (IBD) showed a strong po (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2024, Biology

Ecological restoration of degraded lands, such as abandoned agricultural fields, often requires establishing native species in challenging environmental conditions. The interruption of this process by invasive species poses a significant obstacle to native plant reestablishment. Woody invasive species like Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) outcompete native plants, creating favorable conditions for invasion and rendering post-agricultural fields unsuitable for native species establishment. Traditional methods for controlling invasive species require consistent upkeep and observation, but in tallgrass prairies, increasing the diversity and abundance of plants has shown some ability to decrease the number of invasive species in the area. In collaboration with community partners at Five Rivers Metroparks, our laboratory initiated an experiment on a 30-acre parcel of post-agricultural land in Trotwood, Ohio. Twenty 50 x 50m plots were established, each receiving one of four prairie seed mixes with varying levels of species diversity and legume content (n = 5 / seed treatment). These plots were further subdivided and treated with one of four soil amendments: mulch, whole soil, mulch & whole soil, and a control with no amendment. In this thesis I describe the findings of my botanical assessment of prairie establishment that was based on a vegetation survey conducted in the summer of 2023. I found that there is still a significantly smaller presence of invasive species compared to native species. The site is comprised of mainly native species (~80%), although this is mainly driven by species that were not seeded on the site. There is also a higher species richness in the higher diversity seed mix plots than the lower diversity seed mix plots, which shows some success in the different seed mixes. There was no correlation in the presence of legumes and the applied seeding treatments or soil amendments, and the legume species were primarily spontaneous species such as Trifolium (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources

Departing from literature on social-ecological fitness and social-ecological network analysis, this dissertation explores the degree to which social-ecological theory reflects underlying social processes of issue engagement and partnership evaluation and identifies pathways for future research to engage practitioners with social-ecological network data. In total, the research presented in this dissertation shows that social-ecological network analysis and theory can both be strengthened by participant engagement and qualitative analyses and can be translated into actionable information that practitioners can use to inform their management decisions. This research – which includes three consecutive empirical studies (chapters 2 through 4) – presents one of the first comprehensive accounts of confirming social-ecological network theory with participant populations. Each of the three chapters seeks to determine how practitioners navigate social-ecological interdependence by assessing whether practitioners' strategies align with social-ecological motifs that are commonly used in empirical network analyses (i.e., small-scale network structures that impart theoretically important processes). Further, all three empirical chapters analyze separate components of a dataset pertaining to climate change adaptation governance in Columbus, Ohio, which is a system comprised of over one hundred unique stakeholder organizations, 19 climate adaptation-related issues, and their interconnections. In the first chapter, I explore how community-engaged network tools can help to overcome fragmentation in environmental governance systems. I helped to develop a network tool that offers personalized partnership recommendations to practitioners that would close “collaborative gaps,” which are instances where two actors who manage the same issue(s) fail to collaborate with one another. Results from focus group conversations with practitioners suggest that engaged network tools can be 1) hampere (open full item for complete abstract)

MS, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

In 2018, the largest wildfire to ever occur in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area burned 88% of National Park Service (NPS) land. Located near Los Angeles, this park is the largest urban national park in the U.S. and home to mountain lions (Puma concolor) that are severely threatened. High levels of urbanization force them to live in overlapping and too small of home ranges, leading to intraspecific conflicts and inbreeding. The frequent wildfires add another threat, killing pumas directly or damaging their habitat. Current research conflicts as to how pumas select habitat post-fire, and most do not incorporate remote sensing metrics or consider how movements change with time since fire. In this study, I used global positioning system (GPS) collar data supplied by the NPS to analyze post-fire puma habitat selection. I conducted integrated step selection functions (iSSFs) at individual and population levels, for every 6-month seasonal period following the 2018 fire through 2023. I analyzed nine static variables to account for abiotic landscape variability and three variables derived from multi-temporal remote sensing to capture the dynamic, biotic environment, mainly focused on burn severity and vegetation condition and structure metrics. Habitat selection and variable importance were compared within each time period, as well as throughout the study period. I focused results on the population level analyses only. Results indicated that pumas consistently selected for increased vegetation vigor and selected for higher landscape heterogeneity and structure for the majority of time periods. Vegetation vigor also appeared as one of the most important variables to movement, along with terrain ruggedness and slope. Seasonal trends emerged for some variables post-fire. This study suggests that pumas are considerate of vegetation condition and fire impacts when selecting habitat, highlighting key habitat characteristics that pumas prefer post-fire. The influ (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2024, Biology

Pollinators are essential to agriculture and with the increase in urban farming, there is great concern regarding insect pollinators and their pollination services in urban spaces. While there has been extensive literature looking at bee abundance and biodiversity in urban environments, there has been little research studying the efficacy of currently utilized pollinator recruitment practices in urban agricultural systems. In Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area, 18 urban and peri-urban agricultural sites were sampled for insect pollinator activity. Timed observations over three sampling seasons; spring, summer, and late summer, totaling over 54 hours of floral visits were conducted to assess insect pollinator activity with insects tallied by Order and easily identified bee genus. Pan traps (3 sets per site) for each of the sampling seasons were used to further assess pollinator activity at each of the 18 agricultural sites. Hand netting was utilized to assess bee species richness for bees unable to be identified during observations. In addition to traditional methods of looking at pollinator activity, an important component of this research was a sociological study that looks at the farmers and how their efforts may affect the pollinator activity observed on their agricultural plots. To examine this relationship, I conducted a 13-question electronic survey and one-on-one oral interviews with each farmer in addition to biological sampling. My results suggest that in urban and peri-urban environments the most effective pollinator recruitment practices involve implementing at least four different methods that provide stable resources such as food, water, and shelter; these activities increase pollinator activity and species richness, but only in the late summer months (Figure 21; Pollinator Recruitment Methods Utilized: df=39,4, F= 2.78, p=0.039). Providing diverse floral resources increases insect pollinator visits (Figure 19; Native Flowers: df=45, F=3.73, p=0. (open full item for complete abstract)

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)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Artificial propagation, called in vitro propagation, has been commonly used to metamorphose juvenile freshwater mussels without the need of a fish host, making it a useful tool for conservation biology. To improve our success of in vitro propagation, we must first expand our current limited knowledge of the larval development of mussels. The key to this is understanding what nutrition is needed for the successful development and propagation of healthy juvenile mussels. In this study, we compare media of various compositions to assess the growth of larval mussels. Growth is evaluated via analysis of the transcriptome, which can reveal internal processes happening within an organism. This study combines the accessibility of in vitro propagation with gene expression analysis of larval growth between growth media of different compositions with the goal of improving in vitro juvenile mussel propagation. Glochidia were extracted from adult Lampsilis siliquoidea mussels, pooled, and separated into three media groups: Leibovitz's L-15 Medium (L-15), Medium 199 (M199), and M199 with 50μL of lipids from concentrate (M199 + lipids). Glochidia developed in an incubator until signs of metamorphosis were present. Percent metamorphosis in the newly metamorphosed juveniles propagated in each of the three media was calculated and compared. Juveniles were collected from each dish, rinsed with sterile ultrapure water, and snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. RNA was extracted from the samples and sequenced on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencer with output as 100-base-pair paired-end reads. Assembly of the de novo transcriptome was performed and differentially expressed transcripts between the three groups were identified. Percent metamorphosis was significantly different between the L-15 medium and the M199 medium, but not different between the M199 medium and M199 medium with the addition of lipids. Differential expression was detected in 22,066 transcripts between L-15 and M199, a (open full item for complete abstract)

BS, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

Wetlands act as a filter between the terrestrial land and a body of water, regulating the flux of nutrients between these. An overabundance of nutrients, such as phosphate, can lead to a harmful algal bloom (HAB), which is known to deplete oxygen from aquatic ecosystems and produce harmful toxins. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of different vegetation patches on the amount of bioavailable phosphorus, measured as soluble reactive phosphate (SRP), in both the surface water and sediment. We sampled surface water and sediment from Turtle Creek Bay located in Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Ohio, where we identified four distinct vegetation patches: grasses, hardwoods, Typha spp. (cattail), and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Results of this study showed that the SAV patch exhibited significantly less SRP than the other patches (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in SRP concentrations for the rest of the patches. Additionally, we experimentally incubated intact sediment cores sampled from a diagonal transect across Magee Marsh. The cores were incubated with four different SRP concentration treatments based on in situ SRP measurements. We found that at ambient SRP concentrations (4 ug/L), sediments released 455.2 ± 518.3 ug SRP/m2/d into surface waters, but when SRP concentrations in the surface water increased (to 18, 39, and 60 ug SRP/L), sediments removed SRP at increasing rates (-919.9 ± 278.7, -2062.3 ± 1001.61, -7378.5 ± 4267.1 ug SRP/m2/d, respectively).The increasingly negative mean flux rates suggest that these coastal wetland sediments can sequester increasing amounts of SRP as surface water concentrations increase.

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

White-tailed deer are one of the most widespread mammalian herbivores throughout both North and South America. Throughout much of this broad geographic range, deer populations occur at densities that greatly exceed historic estimates. At high densities, deer can negatively suppress juvenile tree growth, inhibit plant regeneration, and alter plant communities which can have long-term cascading effects on small mammals, birds, and plants. Anthropogenic development can help support overabundant deer populations by creating novel foraging opportunities via disturbance regimes and supplementary foraging opportunities. Moreover, apex predators that can help regulate deer populations have been extirpated from many areas, which enables deer populations to reach high densities. The objectives of this dissertation are to identify how white-tailed deer use anthropogenic landscapes at multiple spatial scales, determine the plant chemical properties that influence deer forage selection, and discern how unique predator communities influence the spatiotemporal activity of deer in multiple ecosystems. My first study developed a novel method to measure activity densities of white-tailed deer in multiple habitats that also excluded non-target species from interfering with data collection. In my second study, I measured the activity densities of deer in forest ecosystems that are fragmented by anthropogenically developed meadows. I found that during times of the year when resources are abundant across the landscape, deer preferred meadow patches that contained an abundance of plants that provided deer with a better foraging opportunity than the adjacent forest patches. The third study in this dissertation examined how plant chemistry and volatile scent-cues influence the forage selection of white-tailed deer. During summer I found that deer preferred plants with higher carbohydrate content, likely due to these plants providing fat reserves before winter. Whereas during winter, deer we (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources

The Department of Defense (DoD) is an important partner for protecting species at risk of extinction. About a third of all species that are listed as threatened or endangered (T&E) in the United States are found on DoD lands. Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the DoD is required to manage and avoid harming those 500 or so listed species found on their lands. This dissertation explores the DoD's implementation of the ESA through a series of case studies of current implementation and an historical analysis of the agency's changing approach to the ESA since 1973. Field work was completed at six DoD installations across the US where semi-structured interviews and participant observations were conducted with natural resource employees. Historical analysis proceeded from archival documents and oral histories. Based on the historical analysis, the first chapter demonstrates how the DoD, starting in the 1990s, built the foundation for a strong and proactive conservation program by creating new funding and planning processes and proposing a way of viewing conservation in alignment with the military mission. Chapter two explores the individual case studies as examples of military environmentalism particularly through the perspective of on-the-ground managers at the interface between the DoD and its lands. Those on-the-ground land managers in charge of the day-to-day implementation of the Endangered Species Act perceive the relationship between T&E species and the mission as having a strong potential for conflict. However, the potential for conflict is reframed as an opportunity where conservation that keeps the DoD in line with the law will support the broader DoD mission by preventing training restrictions or leading to other negative impacts to military activities. Taking a bureaucratic perspective in chapter three to investigate the organizational factors impacting implementation illuminates how managers perceive their ability to take advantage of that alignment and (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources

Turbidity is increasing in freshwaters globally due to human activities and is known to affect visually-mediated behaviors in fish. As anthropogenic impacts continue to degrade aquatic environments, it is critical to determine how sensory systems are affected and how some species might cope with these changes. My dissertation research addresses how environmental change impacts several aspects of the visual ecology in an African cichlid fish. First, I investigated the visual morphology, gene expression, and the functional significance of visual detection thresholds in both wild caught fish found across environmental extremes and in fish reared under experimental conditions in the laboratory. Then, I behaviorally measured visual sensitivity to capture an ecologically relevant response to increasing turbidity. Lastly, I explored the effect of parasites and their impact on fish coloration and behavior. Taken together, the research in this dissertation highlights the complexity in how organisms respond to changes in the visual landscape. My work contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying variation in visual abilities in a species that appears to be coping with human-altered sensory landscapes and contributes to growing knowledge of how animals respond to environmental change.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Eastern Hellbenders (Crytobranchus a. alleganiensis) have suffered enigmatic, range- wide declines over the past decades. Persisting populations are skewed towards larger, older adults, suggesting that reduced recruitment is responsible for these declines, with degraded water quality, specifically elevated conductivity, implicated as a main contributor. Successful fertilization and the resilience of eggs under high conductivity conditions suggest deleterious effects during larval development. We experimentally assessed the effects of chronic exposure to elevated conductivity (1000 μS/cm) on wild Eastern Hellbender larvae hatched in a lab, as well as the effects of switching from low conductivity (100 μS/cm) to high, and vice versa, on Eastern Hellbenders during early larval development. We assessed mortality over 72 days post-hatching, with half of the larvae switched from their original conductivity treatments to the other over five days beginning at 33 days post-hatching. Chronic exposure to elevated conductivity resulted in significant mortality. Additionally, switching larvae from low conductivity to high resulted in increased mortality, while switching larvae from high conductivity to low increased survival. We also assessed larval morphology and swimming performance and found significant negative effects of chronic exposure to elevated conductivity on both body mass and multiple measures of morphology (length and width). We observed similar effects in animals switched from low conductivity to high, while switching animals from high conductivity to low resulted in only marginally increased mass and morphological measures, demonstrating their inability to compensate for initially depressed growth rates even after being returned to more optimal conditions. Despite altered size and morphology, elevated conductivity did not impact locomotor performance, though switching conductivities, regardless of direction, did result in increased burst distance. We measured who (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Anthropology

The popularization of the phrase “save the bees” both within and beyond conservation research has significantly shaped our understanding of the challenges faced by bees. It is a proposed solution that negatively impacts our conceptualization of the problem itself. We approach it with the expectation that it can and should be solved. This solution-based perspective limits our ability to imagine alternative management practices that are adaptive and ongoing. In chapter one of this thesis, I argue that humans and bees are faced by a wicked problem, and that framing it as such is essential for addressing its structural complexity, uncertainty, and stakeholder diversity. In chapter two, I build on my argument for the complexity of pollinator protection by reflecting on my own experience taking on different stakeholder roles. Examining the problem in this way highlights key details about stakeholder relationships that are often overlooked. Bringing them to the forefront exemplifies the appropriateness of a wicked approach to pollinator protection.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Anthropology

Collaborative approaches to biodiversity conservation and management are increasing across the Pacific and are often pushed for by Pacific Islanders as a method for increasing their sovereignty in environmental governance. Simultaneously, collaborative approaches to conservation and management have been critiqued for prioritizing scientific knowledges and for burdening Indigenous and other marginalized populations. In Kanaky/New Caledonia, a southwestern Pacific archipelago, the Indigenous Kanak have also pushed for collaborative approaches to conservation and management. Kanaky/New Caledonia was officially colonized by France in 1853 and remains a French Overseas Territory. Yet, the territory has had an ongoing Indigenous decolonization movement for decades, resulting in increasing levels of political autonomy from France. In this dissertation, I examine the interface between Indigenous sovereignty and collaborative biodiversity conservation/management in Kanaky/New Caledonia based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022 through three interconnected body chapters written as standalone journal articles. The introduction and conclusion of the dissertation describe the major themes present across the chapters. In the introduction, which constitutes the first chapter, I draw on an experience snorkeling in the lagoon to consider how my own relationality influences my approach to my research, while also describing some of the major social dynamics surrounding conservation and management practices in the territory. Chapter two argues that the French military has always been invested in social-ecological management and explores how their relationship with the Kanak has shifted over 170 years from one of violent conflict to environmental governance partnerships. In chapter three, I analyze five co-management plans from the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kanaky/New Caledonia's lagoons, using both discourse analysis and content analysis to examine how different actors invo (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

The research undertaken was a qualitative grounded action research case study. The researcher had the opportunity to work as part of a team seeking to alleviate energy-burdened neighborhoods within a southeastern State. The team was formed from members of the city, county, the federal government, and local not-for-profit organizations. The research questions were twofold. First, what were the project team members' initial individual approaches to achieving the project's goals of clean energy, addressing energy burdens, and community resiliency? Second, how do the team members reach a consensus over time toward achieving the project's goals? As part of the consensus building, how much of a sense of community is developed amongst the members of the team? The theoretical framework that this research was performed under was a sense of community comprised of four elements: membership, influence, reinforcement, and shared emotional connection (McMillan & Chavis, 1986). A literature review was conducted to identify initial themes that were further developed through focus groups and interviews. Two focus groups were held that involved a total of three unique members of the team per focus group who were asked the same semi-structured questions. As a follow-up to the focus groups, four participants were asked to participate in one-on-one interviews to develop further data revealed by the focus groups. The resulting data was then coded, and themes were generated from the analysis. The three themes identified through the analysis involved the Bringing Energy Efficiency Home team members' knowledge (or lack thereof), perceptions, and their bonding and sense of community. Where knowledge leads to perception and the development of a sense of community within the team the recommended course of action identified by this research is the development and implementation of a public-facing website. The development and implementation of the website will lead to readily accessible i (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Biological Sciences

Pollinators are globally important for maintaining the health of our agricultural systems and facilitating plant reproduction, and understanding how they respond to the dual threats of climate change and habitat destruction is essential for our ability to conserve their populations. We have a basic understanding of how pollinators respond to habitat loss and increasing temperatures, but we know less about how habitat management can be used to mitigate their response to the detrimental effects of climate change. Managing a natural community for biodiversity can provide thermal resources in the form of patches of sun and shade or potential thermal refugia for ectothermic pollinators to utilize as they experience thermal stress from climate change. Here, I aim to understand how bees and other floral visitors utilize thermal and foraging resources over a range of varying canopy cover. I measured floral visitation rates to black-eyed Susan plants placed in sunlit and shaded patches at 15 different sites at Kitty Todd Nature Preserve in Swanton, OH. I recorded both different environmental and surface temperatures to investigate drivers of bee body temperature, which I also measured. We found significantly more bees visited plants placed in sunlit than in shaded patches (X2 = 12.361, df = 1, pboot = 0.005). With higher floral surface temperatures and higher light intensities, we recorded higher levels of bee visitation. Bee body temperature was best related to abaxial (underside) leaf surface temperature among all the thermal metrics that we measured, with higher body temperatures at higher abaxial temperatures. My results show the importance of maintaining open areas within a matrix of wooded habitat for bees and other pollinators, although shady patches may become more important in other contexts. Light intensity may be one of the more important factors driving both surface temperature variation and preference by bees for sunny areas over shaded ones. These results, (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Biological Sciences

Fertilizers rich in nitrogen and phosphorus have been implicated in toxic algal blooms and the eutrophication of Lake Erie. One method for mitigating nutrient runoff is the use of wetlands. Wetlands sequester and process nutrients via biogeochemical processes, decreasing the concentrations of nutrients that eventually reach a large body of water. Research on nutrient cycling in aquatic systems has mainly focused on the sediment, the plants, and the water. Few consider the potential impacts of animals in the system despite the evidence that animals play an important role in nutrient cycling in freshwater systems. Animals can directly move nutrients in and out of aquatic systems, as well as indirectly affect the nutrient budget by altering the ecosystem. The combined direct and indirect effects of animal-mediated nutrient cycling in a wetland system have not been adequately assessed. A few wetland mesocosm experiments have examined the influence of animals on wetland nutrient cycling, but most focus on one functional feeding group. In this study, I evaluated the role of aquatic macroinvertebrates from two functional feeding groups in wetland nutrient sequestration using in-field mesocosms containing macrophytes, in the recently constructed H2Ohio wetland at Oakwoods Nature Preserve (Findlay, OH, USA). Nitrogen and phosphorus content of the water column was measured over six days in response to the presence of each invertebrate. Six replicates of three treatments (snails, crayfish, or control) were installed for a total of 18 mesocosms. A nutrient pulse was added to mesocosms at the end of the experiment to mimic natural nutrient dynamics in an agricultural-adjacent wetland system and nutrient uptake was measured. The results suggest that the crayfish treatment altered nutrient cycling, increasing total nitrogen and total phosphorus iv levels and a decreasing light transmission. These changes could be attributed to bioturbation as the crayfish cre (open full item for complete abstract)

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

Each chapter of this dissertation is intended to address a piece of the central hypothesis that complex, interacting biotic and abiotic filters drive community dynamics, including temporal synchrony between communities arising from distant propagule sources. In Chapter I, I examine the influence of three different synchrony metrics on measures of similarity between real and simulated time series, comparing methods for identifying clusters of more synchronous populations or communities, and revealing environmental drivers of those clusters. My results for this study indicate that wavelet analysis works best if the data have high frequency effects or high levels of noise. Empirical orthogonal functions work well if there are large differences in between-site magnitudes. If there are phase-lagged effects of interest, cross-correlation or empirical orthogonal function work well. For all other cases, each of these three metrics performed similarly. Therefore, these metrics may provide complimentary information if each are used to analyze the same dataset. Chapter II quantifies the filtering effects of temperature, egg bank composition, and disturbance on wetland invertebrate community dynamics and Chapter III quantifies the filtering effects of temperature, egg bank composition, and predation on wetland invertebrate community dynamics. Both chapters employ in-field mesocosm experiments in 100-gallon cattle tanks that were seeded with invertebrate propagules from either local ecosystems or from 5 different states. My results for these studies indicate that prairie pothole wetland communities are largely resistant to fluctuations in water levels though a few taxa (cladocerans, clam shrimp, fairy shrimp, damselfly larvae) saw decreased abundances in certain cases. Small changes in temperature (+1.1 °C) had little effect on the community except for intensifying the impact of the drawdown on clam shrimp and fairy shrimp. A greater change in temperature (+2.0 °C) led to more a (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources

Climate change causes novel environmental stressors that impact individual behaviors of fish that affect predator-prey interactions in aquatic ecosystems. Elevated temperatures, hypoxia, and increased turbidity threaten recreationally important sports fisheries in Lake Erie, specifically Smallmouth Bass. As ectotherms, fish metabolic rate increases with ambient temperature. However, hypoxia requires fish to compensate for low oxygen availability, for example, by increasing ventilation rate or decreasing activity, thus imposing conflicting effects under future climate conditions. Lake Erie is known for severe algal blooms that further affect foraging behaviors of visual predators and predator avoidance of prey. Therefore, the objectives of our research were to examine the combined effects of temperature, hypoxia, and algal turbidity on the foraging behaviors of predatory Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) and the anti-predator behaviors of Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) prey. We were also interested in determining if Smallmouth Bass exhibited individual variation among their foraging behaviors. Our results demonstrated individual variation in their foraging behaviors of Smallmouth Bass, which may be advantageous during evolutionary selection for acclimation to changing water conditions as the climate changes. However, predatory success of Smallmouth Bass was negatively impacted by projected climate change conditions although preceding predatory pursuits and attacks were consistent across varying environmental conditions, likely due to prolonged physiological stress and lack of energy reserves. In contrast, Round Goby anti-predator behaviors (e.g., fleeing, freezing, escaping) were unaffected by treatment conditions, which was expected due to their broad tolerance ranges. However, Round Goby behaviors were influenced by preceding bass foraging behaviors, suggesting a behavioral feedback response. Our findings have significant implications for management and c (open full item for complete abstract)

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

Conflict with wildlife continues to escalate as human population increases and development expands. Understanding how vertebrates interact with the environment is a critical component to conservation ecology. Movement patterns reflect spatial and temporal changes associated with resource availability, life history stages, and habitat use. This study explored how vertebrate mortality could be used to understand the critical factors impacting the consequences of permeability, i.e., ability to move between patches on the landscape, in a mixed disturbance landscape. We assessed how spatial and temporal heterogeneity influenced terrestrial vertebrate mortality. In the biodiversity hotspot of the Oak Openings Region (OOR) of northwest Ohio, we surveyed repeatedly, across three years, approximately 50 kilometers of road segments. Vertebrate mortality locations (N=654) were related to road (e.g., traffic, road width), structural (e.g., canopy cover, soil average water capacity), compositional (e.g., landcover) and productivity (e.g., NDVI) measurements. We found vertebrate mortality locations were positively related to traffic, road width, canopy cover, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) but negatively related to landcover as it becomes more altered (i.e., natural to agricultural). Our consistent findings across years suggest that the spatial components were influencing mortality differences more than temporal differences, and intra-year differences do not impact mortality in a way that would steer long term mitigation of permeability issues. We developed spatially explicit models for predicting current vertebrate mortality probabilities across the entire OOR. Proportion of residential/mixed landcover area was the most influential variables of mortality occurrence probability. We found mortality was well predicted and the results of the same key variables were robust across taxa and years. The models developed can serve as an assessment tool for evaluating co (open full item for complete abstract)