Water, one of the major resources of the western lands, controls the economy and expansion of the communities. Industry, agriculture, timber, livestock, game and home water needs are all dependent upon a steady and continued flow of water from wells, springs, and rivers. Water is derived from one source, precipitation, which occurs in the form of rain and snow. Watersheds which are properly managed accumulate a substantial snow pack during the winter which is the life-giving source of water for our springs. The Utah Water and Power Report (1948) indicates the annual precipitation over the entire state of Utah averaged 11.5 inches. A total of 53 ,000,000 acre-feet of water falls within the boundaries of the state of Utah each year, the amount varying with elevation and topography. The Bear River contributes an average of 725,000 acre-feet. A total of 2,334,000 acre-feet is carried away each year by streams leaving the state, leaving the net amount of 51 ,391,000 acre-feet to be consumed within the state. Water consumed on irrigated lands represents less than five percent of the total amount while evapotranspirational losses from the watersheds and grazing lands amount to almost 75 percent of the total water supply. Utah has approximately 1,500,000 acres of land suitable for agricultural production without a water supply; and of the 1,000,000 or more acres of irrigated land, only 25 percent has adequate and dependable supply of water. Droughty conditions and low water supplies are becoming more acute in the state of Utah each year, creating a need for water conservation.

This study examines the influence of atmospherics on consumer perceptions of service quality, merchandise price, and merchandise quality influencing behavioral intentions in an outlet mall environment. The research design was a survey method and data were collected through a mall intercept questionnaire. A pilot test of the instrument was conducted with 43 subjects. The final questionnaire contained 30 items and a demographic section. A total of 586 questionnaires were collected from three different outlet malls. The results indicated that the atmospheric variables and the human variable of crowding are related to consumer’s perceptions of the service quality, merchandise price, and merchandise quality at an outlet mall. However, the atmospheric variables and the human variable of crowding were determined to not have a significant relationship to consumer behavioral intentions at the outlet mall. Other findings indicate that the consumer perception of service quality was determined to be significantly related to consumer behavioral intentions. However, the consumer perceptions of merchandise price and merchandise quality at the outlet mall were determined to not have a significant relationship with consumer behavioral intentions. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed along with future research suggestions.

This correlational and descriptive study synthesizes previous research regarding the impact of work ethic on job satisfaction when moderated by demographics, work dynamics, and occupational choice. Data from a sample of both exempt and non-exempt workers working at a Japanese-owned manufacturing plant was used to explore the relationship between the levels of job-satisfaction and work ethic reported by workers in various job categories and working environments. The sample consisted of 462 individuals who were identified using a stratified sampling of equal size. The study obtained responses from 328 workers through a respondent and non-respondent survey, representing 70% response rate. The researcher concluded that the 66 non-respondents could be included in the statistical analysis without prejudice toward the OWEI instrument; however, special attention should be given to any findings involving the JSS subscale Fringe Benefits due to differences between respondents and non-respondents. Specials examination was also given to the demographic variables of age and country. The researcher employed two robust tests, Wilks’s Lambda and Pillai’s Trace, to mitigate differences between respondents and non-respondents. Exempt workers made up 46.6% of the sample, and non-exempt workers represented 53.4%. The researcher used the Pearson r and the Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) in analyzing data. The OWEI and JSS instruments showed an overall positive, by low though significant correlation. Differences were identified between exempt and non-exempt workers in various job categories. This study should be of value to human resource practitioners interested in improving the level of job satisfaction among varied work groups.

The study constructs a causal model of culinary tourist behavior from the theoretical framework of push and pull motivations and related concepts with regard to satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Respondents were distinguished with regards to socio-demographic characteristics, travel behavior, and importance of event attributes. Further, importance-performance hypothetical framework was utilized to measure pull motivations. The study proposed that culinary event attendees’ expenditures, word-of-mouth behavior, and repeat patronage intentions would be related to their overall event satisfaction. Culinary event attendees were segmented on the basis of push motivations. Using factor, cluster, and multiple regression analyses with data collected from an international culinary event, the study examined the above relationships. The results of the analyses can be summarized as: 1) food event, event novelty, and socialization were the push motivations identified for attending a culinary event, 2) motivations were clustered into two meaningful segments: Food Focusers and Event Seekers, 3) the two clusters statistically were different from each other based on gender, age, income, education, and expenditures, 4) on all event attributes, with the exception of nightlife, performance means were significantly lower than importance means, 5) food product, support services, and essential services had a significant predictive affect on overall satisfaction, and 6) overall satisfaction had a significant relationship with outcome variables (expenditures, word-of-mouth behavior, and repeat patronage). This research makes unique contributions to the area of consumer research in culinary tourism from both the theoretical and empirical perspectives. It is believed that results of the present study will be useful to organizers of culinary events and/or destination managers.

Metacommunity theory has been particularly useful in understanding the way spatially structured communities assemble. Both niche and neutral processes are known to influence metacommunity assembly, and the relative influence of each depends on the level of dispersal-limitation. Contemporary trait-based analyses of metacommunity assembly have enhanced our understanding of these processes. Of the traits investigated, individual personalities have received the least attention, but have been suggested to be drivers of metacommunity assembly model parameters, such as dispersal tendencies and patch density. I address this topic from three angles, three chapters, in this dissertation. First, I used a three-year field survey of fish metacommunity assembly in Everglades National Park to investigate the influence of dispersal-limitation on trait-based metacommunity assembly, asking which traits were important under different levels of dispersal-limitation. I found that the relative influence of traits and local environmental factors decreased, and the influence of regional factors increased with increasing dispersal-limitation. The Rocky Glades has recently been invaded by a micropiscivore with many novel traits, the African Jewelfish. In the second chapter I used my field data to ask what influence this invader has on metacommunity assembly. Overall, African Jewelfish abundance was the third most influential factor in driving assembly. I also used data, which were previously collected by collaborators, from three years prior and two years following the invasion to observe shifts in assembly rules. Assembly became significantly more aggregative immediately following the invasion, a condition which persisted more than a decade later. All previous studies asking the same question, found the same result: invasive introductions correspond with increased species aggregation. This may be a consistent, taxa-independent signal of truly invasive species that can be detected early in the invasion process, making it a potentially useful management tool after further empirical review. In the final chapter, I investigate the potential influence of individual personalities on a metapopulation’s structure. To do this, I used a behavioral individual-based model to explore the influence of sociability, an individual’s propensity to associate with conspecifics, on metapopulation structure at ecologically relevant spatiotemporal scales. I found that individual sociability can significant influence key metapopulation parameters such as dispersal distance and patch density but may not influence landscape occupation. Chapter three concludes with new hypothesis to be evaluated by future field studies. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates the relative roles of invasions, species traits, and individual personalities on metacommunity assembly processes.

No description available.

Circadian rhythms are endogenous molecular clocks that correspond to the 24-hour day and are regulated by light stimulus, allowing organisms to entrain to the dawn-dusk cycle. These clocks may allow organisms to anticipate daily events, influencing their behavior. In arthropods, including spiders, circadian rhythmicity is tested using activity monitors, which house individuals in tubes. However, this does not reflect the natural habitat of many spiders. We compared the locomotor activity of the cellar spider Pholcus phalangiodes in activity monitors with the locomotor activity in web boxes. After being entrained to a 12:12 light:dark cycle, the spiders were recorded in constant darkness. The resulting free-running periods demonstrated similar clock data for spiders in tubes as in boxes. This validates the activity-monitor research method.

Pikas from four colonies in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon were examined. Two colonies were chosen from within the geographical distribution of two nominal subspecies. A discriminate analysis of morphological measurements taken from the specimens showed that each colony could be distinguished from each other. Each colony studied showed more intra-colony similarity than inter-colony similarity regardless of distance separating the colonies or subspecies designations. The results indicate that the validity of subspecies designations for this species can be questioned.

Sensory environments are rapidly changing due to increased human activity in urban and non-urban areas alike. For instance, background sounds can interfere with parent-offspring communication and mask cues reflective of predation risk, resulting in elevated vigilance at the cost of provisioning. In chapter 1, we studied nestling provisioning behavior among Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) in response to short-term (1 hr) and long-term (continuous exposure throughout nesting period) noise exposure. Provisioning rates were lower at nests exposed to short-term experimental traffic noise compared to exposure to ambient background sounds. Trial order strongly influenced provisioning behavior, with the decline in provisioning during noise playback occurring only during the second broadcast period of sounds. In contrast, provisioning rates increased with sound levels among nests exposed to long-term noise. Additionally, birds nesting in areas with high levels of noise returned to the nest more quickly than those in quiet areas following a simulated predation attempt. This study suggests that behavioral responses to short-term, experimental exposure to noise may not always be reflective of responses to longer-term noise exposure in real-world settings. It is essential to be cognizant of potential differences between experiments and real-world conditions as urbanization and sensory pollutants increase. The pervasive spread of artificial light at night has been documented to disrupt natural rhythms with varying consequences on wildlife. Disruption to the night sky can alter nestling development either through indirect exposure to light or due to changes in adults’ behavior, both having potential physiological costs or benefits. In chapter 2, we experimentally manipulated light outside of Western Bluebird nesting cavities and investigated whether exposure to light at night affects nestling development and adult behavior. Our results found no evidence of light at night affecting the onset or cessation of adult daily activity. However, we found that nestlings exposed to light have smaller wing chords and lower mass, but better overall body condition than those in the control. The number of chicks in the nest also strongly influenced the effect of the light at night: nests exposed to light with brood sizes of three nestlings had smaller wing chords and better body condition than nests without lights, but there were no strong differences between light exposed and dark nests with five chicks. Although light exposure appears to improve chick body condition, the chicks were smaller overall. These findings suggest that indirect artificial light outside the nesting cavity is enough to have consequences on the development of nesting birds, and ecologically relevant light exposure appears to alter chick condition without a temporal shift in parental behavior.

<p>Social learning, defined as learning from other individuals, has been well studied in vertebrates and social insect species. In order to promote further understanding of the evolution of social learning, I tested a non-social insect for social learning and socially influenced behaviour. The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a gregarious insect which has the opportunity for social learning and can benefit from such ability. Locusts showed rapid individual learning, preferring a diet they have experienced over another of equal nutritional quality. Adult locusts also showed socially influenced behaviour, preferring to eat and lay eggs in the vicinity of other locusts over doing so alone. Fifth instar locusts did not show the same socially influenced behaviours. Neither adult nor nymphs showed social learning after interacting with previously fed models or after observing models feed through a screen. These results provide evidence for socially influenced behaviour in locusts and for a difference in social behaviour between nymphs and adults. Further research utilizing locusts as a model system may help us gain a better understanding of the evolution of social learning.</p> / Master of Science (MS)