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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / Philip S. Gipson / Understanding factors that influence genetic variability, demographic vital rates, and resource selection is important for conservation and management of wildlife populations. I examined factors influencing microsatellite variability, demographic vital rates, and habitat use for a reintroduced elk (Cervus elaphus) population at Fort Riley, Kansas based on data collected from 2003 – 2007. Levels of allelic richness, observed heterozygosity, and expected heterozygosity for the Fort Riley population were intermediate to other North American elk populations. Genetic variability in restored North American elk populations was not well explained by founding population size, number of founding populations, or number of years since the last translocation. I examined the influence of demographic vital rates on the rate of population change to test the hypothesis that variability in calf survival has a greater influence on rates of population change than adult survival. Survival for prime-age adult elk had the highest stage-specific elasticity value, but life-stage simulation analysis indicated that variation in calf survival had the highest correlation with variation in population growth rate. These results suggest that calf survival varies temporally and is the vital rate most directly related to variation in population growth rate for this population. I assessed the relative influence of risk-related and resource-related factors on elk habitat selection by comparing predictor variables included in top resource selection function models at the landscape and home range scales. All predictor variables, with the exception of fall and spring prescribed burns, were included in top models across seasons at both spatial scales. Elk selected low elevation areas, gentle slopes, edge habitat, and areas close to streams at both spatial scales. At the landscape scale, elk generally avoided roads and preferred areas on or near Fort Riley. At both spatial scales, elk used riparian woodlands more frequently than grasslands and selected for agricultural crops when seasonally available. These findings do not support the idea that risk-related factors are the primary determinant of elk habitat use at the landscape scale as has been found for ungulates in areas with natural predators.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / J. M. Shawn Hutchinson / Windbreaks are a valuable resource in conserving soils and providing crop protection in western Kansas and other Great Plains states. Currently, Kansas has neither an up-to-date inventory of windbreak locations nor an assessment of their condition. The objective of this study is to develop remote sensing and geographic information system methods that rapidly identify and assess the condition of windbreaks in Ford County, Kansas. Ford County serves as a pilot study area for method development with the intent of transferring those methods to other counties/regions in Kansas and the Great Plains. A remote sensing technique known as object-based classification was used to classify windbreaks using color aerial photography acquired through the 2008 National Agricultural Imagery Program. Object-based classification works by segmenting imagery where areas with similar spectral, shape, and textural properties are grouped into vectors (i.e., objects) that are later used as the basis for image classification. Using this technique, 355 windbreaks, totaling nearly 1,012 acres (410 hectares), were identified in Ford County. When compared to a spatial data set of confirmed windbreak locations generated via a heads-up digitizing process, the location of windbreaks identified using object-based classification results agreed approximately 81% of the time. Mean textural and spectral values were then combined and used to place identified windbreaks into three condition categories (good, fair, and poor) using a manual classification approach. Analysis showed the area of windbreaks in good condition to be 170 hectares, with the remaining 171 hectares of windbreaks falling in the fair or poor classes. Methods detailed in this study proved successful at rapidly identifying windbreak location and for providing useful condition class results for windbreak renovation and restoration planning.

Master of Science / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / James M. Steichen / Military maneuvers involve effectively moving soldiers and equipment across training lands, and this often involves crossing streams. Fording of streams by military vehicles poses a potential for degradation of stream habitats through change of bank angle or excess shear of stream banks and the resultant generation of excessive quantities of sediment, possibly exceeding Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) limits for water quality downstream. This study examines the impact of low water fords on stability of six stream reaches at Fort Riley. Streams with constructed low water fords were mapped and classified according to Rosgen Stream Classification System (1996). Results indicate that some of these streams exhibit some level of instability, which includes bed form changes, accelerated stream bank erosion and backwater pool formation in the vicinity of stream crossings. Poorly constructed fords may act as dams disrupting the transport of sediment along the stream reaches, posing a potential shift in stream equilibrium. Another factor contributing to stream instability is sediment generated from upland areas and routed through approach roads leading to stream crossing sites. The sediment deposited into streams at these crossing locations is a water quality concern, and again poses the potential of disrupting stream equilibrium. Field observations indicate that poorly located stream crossings can alter the direction of stream flow, causing bank erosion on areas immediately below stream crossings. This demonstrates the importance of locating stream crossings on stable locations along a stream reach. Some of the stream reaches also show signs of success ional change. These stream changes have direct implications on the low water fords on Fort Riley. As a result of these stream changes, there will be need to constantly modify the designs and construction techniques of the low water fords in order to accommodate changes in stream dimensions, pattern and profile. Finally, criteria for site selection, design and construction of low water fords are discussed.

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources / Dale J. Bremer / Heat stress is an important problem in potted nursery plants, but container color may moderate effects of solar radiation on container soil temperatures. Field studies were conducted near Manhattan, Kansas, USA during summer to evaluate effects of container color on growth of roots and aboveground biomass in: bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris); red maple (Acer rubrum); and eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis). In the tree studies, effects of shaded soil-surfaces on plant growth were also evaluated. Four treatments among studies included containers colored black (control), flat white, gloss white, and silver, with two additional treatments in the tree studies of green and black containers with shaded soil surfaces (black shaded); treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design. Plants were grown in a bark-based soil-less media, and temperatures were measured at 5 cm depths in the sun-facing sides and centers in five containers per treatment. After four months (June-October), plant variables were measured. Roots were separated into three sections: core (10.2 cm diam.), north, and south, rinsed of all media, dried and weighed. In the bean study, media temperatures at the sun-facing side averaged lowest in gloss and flat white (~36 oC) and greatest in the black control (50.3 oC). Accordingly, total root biomass at the sun-facing side was reduced by 63 to 71% in black compared to flat and gloss white containers. In heat-sensitive maples, media temperatures at the sun-facing side averaged up to 7.7 oC greater in black, black shade and green than in other treatments; temperatures in black shade may have been lower if shade cloth had covered the sun-facing sides of containers in addition to only the media surface. Media temperatures in the core averaged 3.5 to 3.8 oC greater in black than in flat and gloss white, resulting in up to 2.5 times greater belowground biomass and up to 2.3 times greater aboveground biomass in flat and gloss white than in black pots. In heat-tolerant redbuds, the effects of container color on whole-plant growth were less evident. Data suggests that heat-sensitive plants benefit from using white pots or painting outer surfaces of green and black pots white.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / Brett K. Sandercock / The reproductive strategies of avian brood parasites and the behavioral responses of their hosts have served as a model of co-evolution in nature. Host adaptations to reduce the costs of parasitism are countered with novel parasite behaviors that increase the success of the parasite and thereby decrease host productivity. Not all host species possess anti-parasite defense behaviors, and parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) may cause population declines in some species. Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii) is a small-bodied cowbird host that fails to fledge young if successfully parasitized. Although vireos desert naturally parasitized nests, the cues that cause desertion have not been identified. Understanding how parasitism affects vireo productivity is important because cowbird removal is an integral component of the recovery efforts for the endangered Least Bell’s Vireo (V. b. pusillus) in California. However, it is generally unknown how cowbird removal affects vireo productivity. To address these issues, I monitored the productivity of vireos nesting in Kansas at the Konza Prairie Biological Station, conducted a clutch manipulation experiment, and experimentally removed cowbirds. In addition, I used stable isotope analysis to determine if recently fledged cowbird young could be assigned to habitats or host species. I found that vireos did not desert nests due to the presence of a cowbird egg; rather egg removal by cowbirds caused desertion, which is a generalized response in many taxa of birds. Cowbird removals decreased parasitism of vireo nests by approximately 36% and led to a 2-fold increase in vireo productivity per pair. Cowbird productivity from vireo pairs increased because fewer parasitized nests were deserted and parasitized nests on removal plots had a higher probability of success. No cowbird removal study has reported an increase in cowbird productivity in response to trapping. Cowbird nestlings from prairie plots and shrub plots differed in carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions, and 87% of locally produced juvenile cowbirds were classified with nestlings from shrub plots. Thus, the continued expansion of woody plants into tallgrass prairie may result in local increases in cowbird productivity.

L’utilisation de matières résiduelles fertilisantes (MRF) dans les plantations de peupliers hybrides (PEH) au Québec pourrait en maximiser la productivité et le volume marchand. Elle présenterait aussi l’avantage de minimiser l’enfouissement ou l’incinération des MRF. Cependant, le dosage des MRF doit être calibré en fonction de la réponse optimale des arbres. L’étude a été réalisée dans une plantation de PEH en Estrie. Un dispositif expérimental comprenant deux blocs (répétitions) de cinq parcelles - un témoin et quatre traitements de combinaisons de biosolides papetiers et de boue de chaux - y a été mis en place à l’automne 2012 et au printemps 2013, soit trois ans avant l’échantillonnage (été 2015). Les traitements représentaient les doses suivantes : 140 et 15 t ha-1 (humides), 140 et 30 t ha-1, 240 et 15 t ha-1 et 240 et 30 t ha-1 de biosolides et de boue de chaux, respectivement. Les propriétés physico-chimiques du sol et la morphologie et la nutrition des PEH ont été évaluées. Nous avons observé un effet très significatif des traitements de MRF sur la croissance des PEH par rapport aux parcelles non traitées. La hauteur des arbres a augmenté de 1,6 à 2 fois, le diamètre de 2,5 à 4 fois, la surface foliaire de 3 à 8 fois et le poids foliaire de 2,7 à 9 fois dans les parcelles traitées comparativement aux arbres des parcelles non traitées. Toutefois, aucune différence significative n’a pu être constatée entre les différents amendements. Les analyses de nutrition foliaire ont, quant à elles, démontré que la fertilisation avec les MRF permettait de pallier la faible disponibilité des nutriments dans le sol. Ainsi, avec l’ajout de MRF, les macronutriments N, P, K et Ca dans les feuilles se situaient à l’intérieur des plages de concentrations optimales, alors que sans MRF, les feuilles montraient des concentrations sous ces seuils. Malgré les faibles différences observées entre les quatre amendements, le traitement combinant 240 t ha-1 de biosolides et 15 t ha-1 de chaux est celui qui se rapprochait le plus d’une nutrition optimale pour le PEH. Les biosolides papetiers en combinaison avec la boue de chaux donnent des résultats très encourageants en ce qui a trait à la nutrition foliaire et le rendement des plantations du PEH lors des premières années d’établissement. / The use of fertilizing residual materials (FRM) in hybrid poplar (HP) plantations in Quebec could maximize yields and merchantable volumes. It would also have the advantage of minimizing the burial (landfill) or incineration of FRM. However, applications rates of FRM must be calibrated for an optimal response of the trees. The study was conducted in a PEH plantation in the Eastern Townships. An experimental design comprising two blocks (repetitions) of five plots - one control and four combinations of papermill biosolids and lime sludge - was established in fall 2012/spring 2013 and sampling was conducted three years later (summer 2015). The treatments represented the following application rates: 140 and 15 t ha-1 (wet), 140 and 30 t ha-1, 240 and 15 t ha-1 and 240 and 30 t ha-1 of biosolids and lime, respectively. Soil properties as well as morphology and nutrition of HP were evaluated. We observed a highly significant treatment effect on HP growth compared to untreated plots. The height of HP trees in the treated plots increased by 1.6 to 2 times, diameter by 2.5 to 4 times, leaf area by 3 to 8 times and the foliar weight by 2.7 to 9 times compared to the trees in the untreated plots. However, there was no significant difference among the various treatments. Foliar nutrition analyses showed that fertilization with FRM was sufficient to compensate for the low availability of nutrients in the soil. Thus, with FRM application, the macronutrients N, P, K and Ca in the leaves were within the optimal concentration ranges, whereas without FRM, the leaves showed concentrations below these thresholds. Despite the small differences observed among the four amendments, the treatment combining 240 t ha-1 of biosolids and 15 t ha-1 of lime was the one the closest to the optimal nutrition for HP. Papermill biosolids in combination with lime sludge provide very encouraging results in regard to foliar nutrition and yields of HP plantations.

Anthropogenic activities have caused many wildlife spices to decline in populations worldwide. The grassland bird communities are especially being impacted by these land use changes. Breeding success is closely tied to functional habitats for most grassland bird species in North Texas. Restoring these degraded habitats is an important component to aid in conserving wildlife biodiversity. We surveyed the bird population at Riverby Ranch Mitigation site by conducting point count sampling. This site consists of recently restored grassland, wetland, and forested habitat. This research was focused on conducting post restoration monitoring of the bird community in the early succession of the restored habitats. We set out to use the bird community as biomonitors to help assess if the restoration practices could be considered successful. We found that density estimates were more than double at the restored site when comparing to three different references sites under different management practices. This included an unrestored working ranch, a wildlife management area, and a conservation managed prairie site. We found that biodiversity metrics were as high or higher than the reference sites. In addition, we also found that there were more observations of species of high conservation concern present at the restored stie. This research supports that the reconstructive restoration that took place at Riverby Ranch was highly effective at restoring a diverse and abundant grassland and wetland bird community.