<p> Conservation of endangered Indiana bats (<i>Myotis sodalis</i>) requires knowledge of regional habitat use patterns. I radio-tracked Indiana bats to roosts and foraging areas to document summer habitat use. Sexes selected different roost trees: reproductive females selected maples, whereas males selected elms and other species, but did not use maples. Distribution models based on environmental correlates revealed that soil series was the strongest contributor to niche models. Females selected roosts in silt loams; males selected roosts in muck, silt loam and fine sandy loams. All bats foraged in habitats over fine sandy and gravelly loams. Male roosts and female foraging areas were found near local water body elevations, though males foraged at higher elevations. The niche models suggest that sexes roost and forage separately, but that ranges for these activities overlap. My findings identify habitats selected by Indiana bats thereby enabling more effective conservation for this endangered species.</p><p>

<p> Mammalian carnivores are a vital component of many ecosystems and can be particularly sensitive to human disturbance, even within protected areas (PAs). Our objective was to understand how human disturbance affects carnivore communities in southern Arizona, U.S.A., by studying habitat occupancy based on data collected using non-invasive methods in three PAs with different levels of human disturbance. We examined the impacts of human disturbance variables and disturbance level on carnivore occupancy, co-occurrence, temporal activity, and habitat associations. Carnivore occupancy varied based on human disturbance variables (i.e., roads, trails, etc.). Edges of PAs appeared to negatively impact occupancy of nearly all carnivore species. We also found that the presence of roads and trails, and not necessarily how much they are used, had a significant negative impact on the occupancy of most carnivore species. Furthermore, the overall level of disturbance within a PA influenced how sensitive carnivores were to human disturbance variables. Carnivores were more sensitive in PAs with higher levels of disturbance and were relatively unaffected by disturbance variables in a PA with low base levels of disturbance. In areas with low levels of disturbance, we found that many carnivore species have lower than expected levels of co-occurrence, which suggests spatial partitioning. As disturbance within an area increased, spatial partitioning became less prominent, and carnivores exhibited higher levels of temporal partitioning within these areas. We found that habitat associations varied among carnivore species, and associations were often different across different scales. We also found evidence of different habitat preferences in protected areas with higher levels of disturbance (e.g., avoidance of water sources). Information on the impacts of human disturbance is important when developing conservation plans, which is especially true for protected areas, given their important role in carnivore conservation, particularly as they are experiencing ever increasing rates of visitation.</p><p>

<p> The predominant method to quantify reef fish populations is the Open Circuit SCUBA (OC) <i>in-situ</i> fish survey. However, there are many biases associated with these surveys including the expelled OC exhaust which can cause visual and audible disturbances. This study aims to evaluate the bias created by OC exhaust utilizing closed-circuit rebreather (CCR) surveys, along surveys were conducted in protected areas and fished areas. The three sites in the main Hawaiian Islands were Kealakekua Bay (KK), Old Kona Airport (OA), and P&umacr;p&umacr;kea (PK) marine life conservation district. This study found that the total fish biomass and species richness from all sites pooled showed no significant differences between gear types. However, there was a significant interaction between the gear type and the protection status (Pr(>|t|) = 0.025), indicating that there are greater differences between OC and CCR in the fished areas than the protected areas. The difference between the gear types showed a greater magnitude of OC having a higher biomass in the fished areas opposed to the protected areas where that difference was smaller. When fished species (Table 4 &ndash; a, b) were examined, significant differences between gear types were shown (Pr(>|t|) = 0.010). The OC surveys showed more fished biomass than the CCR surveys which could mean that the attraction to the exhaust within the protected areas were greater than the repulsion of the exhaust in the fished areas. Differences in the fished species biomass while having no difference in the all fish biomass supports the previous studies findings that fishing pressure is very influential on the magnitude of difference between the gear types. For researchers, estimating fishing pressure is of high importance in order to assess the level of bias associated with OC exhaust on surveys. These biases need to be accounted for in population estimations for protected areas and non-protected areas in order to get more accurate biological fish data.</p><p>

<p>Billions of dollars have been invested in land protection as a strategy to conserve biodiversity based on the assumption that protected areas buffer species from processes that drive extinction. Increasingly, protected area expansion and connectivity are being incorporated into climate change adaptation strategies to facilitate anticipated shifts in species ranges in response to predicted changes in temperature and precipitation. However, the effectiveness of protected areas at maintaining biodiversity, either by reducing the risk of extinction or facilitating colonization into new areas, has not been well established. In addition, the growing reliance on multiple-use protected areas that allow resource extraction, such as timber harvest and mineral mining, has raised questions about whether multiple-use protected areas are equally beneficial for long-term biodiversity conservation as more strictly protected areas that limit active resource management. In order to address these questions using repeated Breeding Bird Atlas data, I first had to confront the limitations of existing approaches to account for imperfect detection by developing a novel modelling approach to addresses the gap between requirements of other multi-season occupancy models (i.e. repeated sampling) and existing datasets. I then applied that single-visit dynamic occupancy modelling approach to Atlas data in New York and Pennsylvania for 97 species to quantify drivers of colonization and extinction while accounting for imperfect detection in landscapes that varied by type and amount of land cover and area under protection. In general, protected areas increased colonization and lowered extinction probabilities to an increasing degree as both forest cover and neighborhood protection decreased, with particular benefits for forest breeding birds. Both strict and multiple-use protected areas increased colonization and reduced extinction more for mature forest species than early forest species, with the greatest benefits accruing when forest cover was relatively low. These results provided the most comprehensive evidence to date that protected areas can facilitate species persistence by both reducing the risk of extinction and providing attractive colonization sites as species? ranges shift and that biodiversity conservation can be compatible with renewable resource extraction.

The phenomenon and increasing rate of urbanisation is causing many researchers to look deeper at life in cities. Increasingly recognised are the benefits of urban green space and their associated recreational parks and nature reserves. While there is a growing literature on the environmental services provided by these areas; so too is there a growing literature on the numerous social benefits that recreational green spaces in particular afford their users. Although imagined and generally designed as salubrious public spaces, many parks often fall short of this. In fact research has shown that a park's design, its surroundings, and its management can all combine to exclude certain types of people. In this study I conducted ethnographic research to participate in and observe the activities of visitors to False Bay Nature Reserve in Cape Town. False Bay Nature Reserve includes a series of nature reserves and the Cape Flats Waste Water Treatment Works, and is situated in the area of Cape Town known as the Cape Flats. Much of the Cape Flats is beset by poverty, unemployment, and violent drug - related crime carried out by notorious gangs. Despite the challenges of the surrounding areas, my study reveals that False Bay Nature Reserve provides relative safety to its users as well a range of enjoyable re creational activities. Some of the key recreational activities are separated distinctively between two key sites in the reserve. Furthermore the visitors of these sites differ markedly in race, ethnicity and income. The legacy of apartheid almost certainly accounts for much of this separation; however, the study indicates that the barriers of this legacy are eroding and can potentially be further dismantled with engaged and informed management strategies. Due to its surroundings, the reserve is vulnerable and recently experienced a period where crime was prevalent, vegetation was overgrown, and it was feared by many of its users, particularly women. The reserve had in many ways become what researchers call a landscape of fear, a not so uncommon description of parks around the world. However, management and the majority of visitors feel the reserve has recovered from this period. This is in large part due to upgrades that improved recreational facilities and security in the reserve. Accounts from visitors high light how important a sense of safety is for people frequenting this reserve, most of who live in nearby neighbourhoods. The reserve still faces some challenges today, but is a significant asset to the City of Cape Town and many of its more marginalised residents. This study challenges much of the literature on the benefits of urban green space and associated parks. It shows that particularly in cities of the Global South such as Cape Town, parks require specific management strategies that prioritise safety and in doing so promote and ensure inclusivity for all.

Hatchling loggerhead turtles emerge from subsurface nests on the beach at night, crawl down the beach and enter the sea. Recently, increases in a floating algae (Sargassum) has been reported in the mid-Atlantic and the Caribbean, resulting in large algal wrack on Florida beaches. The purpose of my study was to determine if these accumulations acted as a barrier, preventing hatchlings from completing their crawl to the sea. To address this issue I recorded seasonal changes in Sargassum density and directly observed when, and under what circumstances, hatchlings could cross the wrack. There was a significant overlap between when Sargassum accumulation peaked and when the turtles emerged, with the result that hatchling recruitment was significantly reduced (by~22%) during the 2020 nesting season. I conclude that algal accumulations represent a significant threat that may impede the recovery of loggerhead populations, that are currently threatened or endangered worldwide. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Reports of contemporary evolution have become ubiquitous, but replicated studies of phenotypic divergence for wild populations are exceptionally rare. In 2001, a series of experimental populations were established to replicate a historic translocation event that led to a case of contemporary body shape evolution in the White Sands pupfish. Using landmark-based geometric morphometric techniques I examined phenotypic variation for seven of these populations, and two wild populations over a 5 year period (5-10 generations) in the field. Significant body shape divergence was observed, but divergence patterns were not parallel, suggesting that the ponds were ecologically dissimilar. Considerable body shape variation found among populations suggests that the observed divergence maybe governed by temporal environmental variance. In this study, body shape variation was correlated with population density. These data suggest that habitat intrinsic factors or unmeasured habitat features may have strong affects on body shape, warranting continuous monitoring of recently translocated fishes.

No description available.

Montane forests provide habitat for unique assemblages of flora and fauna that contribute significantly to a region's biodiversity. Previous work indicates that montane forest ecosystems are exceedingly vulnerable to a host of anthropogenic stressors including climate change, atmospheric deposition, and recreation, to name a few. Montane forests and other high elevation ecosystems are considered to be among the first and most severely impacted by climate change. It is therefore, imperative to evaluate anthropogenic impacts on montane ecosystems and maintain reliable monitoring methods that are capable of tracking potential shifts in the distribution of species dependent on these systems. I surveyed birds at various distances from hiking trails in the White Mountain National Forest from 2006–2009 to determine whether existing monitoring programs, all of which are based on trail-centered surveys, are accurately reflecting bird abundance, abundance stability and recruitment. Contrary to previous studies, I found that recreational trails generally did not alter estimates of abundance, recruitment, abundance stability, and detection probability for five species of birds considered to be indicators of montane forest ecosystem integrity in northeastern North America. Therefore, trail-based monitoring programs for montane birds appear to accurately reflect dynamics of bird communities undisturbed by hiking trails. These conclusions were supported by my finding that the daily nest survival of a montane spruce-fir indicator species, blackpoll warbler (Steophaga striata), did not vary as a function of distance from trail. I then used data from the White Mountain National Forest's montane bird monitoring program from 1994 through 2009 to assess potential shifts in the elevational distribution of montane birds in conjunction with documented habitat shifts in the region. My results provide evidence that low elevation forest birds have expanded their upper elevational boundary while high elevation birds have expanded their lower elevation boundary. These results highlight the complicated relationship between habitat, climate, and other anthropogenic stressors such as atmospheric deposition and that even in the face of climate change other stressors may be playing a significant role in shifts of species distributions. Understanding how climate affects the reproductive ecology of montane organisms is an important step toward unraveling the potential mechanisms by which climate change will alter the distribution of these species. I used blackpoll warbler breeding data from the Green Mountains, VT from 1994 to 2003 to determine if temporal variation in climate influenced blackpoll nesting initiation and found that years with warm Mays and typical precipitation lead to earlier nest initiation. I also examined the effect of spatial variation in climate on blackpoll reproductive ecology and demography. I found a gradient in habitat quality associated with the spatial variation in climate along an elevation gradient. Blackpolls were less abundant, younger, had lower pairing success, lower daily nest survival, higher nest predator occupancy, and lower fecundity at lower elevations. The climatic conditions at these lower elevations represent the climatic conditions predicted to encompass increasingly larger portions of montane areas. Collectively, these findings contribute to filling in a dearth of knowledge regarding management and an understanding of how species dependent on montane ecosystems are responding to climate change.

The eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii) is an ephemeral wetland breeding amphibian that ranges from southern Florida north and westward to southeastern Missouri and northward along the Atlantic coastal plain to Massachusetts. This species is listed as either "threatened" or "endangered" in the four states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island) in the northeastern United States where it is known to exist. Population declines and extirpations throughout the region over the past century have been documented and are largely believed to be the result of habitat loss and/or alteration. Very limited empirical results exist on many life history attributes of S. holbrookii anywhere in its range, including movement patterns, upland habitat selection, and breeding habitat preferences. These are critical information gaps that must be filled in order to effectively conserve and manage for this rare species in the northeastern U.S. While S. holbrookii is extremely rare throughout most of the Northeast, it is locally common in specific areas of Cape Cod National Seashore, most notably in an extensive sand-dune ecosystem known as the Province Lands located at the northern terminus of the Cape Cod peninsula. During 2005 and 2006, we conducted larval trapping surveys at 102 wetlands in the Province Lands primarily to: 1) identify breeding wetlands and 2) to assess breeding habitat use and preferences of S. holbrookii with respect to a suite of selected abiotic and biotic covariates. We captured S. holbrookii larvae at 140/652 (~21.5%) trap locations and 41/102 (~40.2%) wetlands sampled. Model results identified a number of additional habitat covariates that exhibited a statistically significant relationship with larval S. holbrookii abundance including: the percent cover of 1) cranberry (positive relationship), and 2) woody shrub (positive relationship) at a 4m radius from the trap location; 3) percent woody shrub cover at the wetland-scale (negative relationship); 4) percent canopy cover at the wetland-scale (positive relationship); 5) wetland pH (positive relationship); 6) distance to the closest paved road (positive relationship); and the kernel density cover of 7) deciduous shrubland edge (positive relationship), 8) deciduous shrubland (negative relationship), 9) pine (positive relationship), and 10) open dune (positive relationship) in the uplands surrounding the study wetlands. During 2006 and 2008 we radio-tracked adult S. holbrookii in the Province Lands using surgically implanted radio-transmitters to: 1) describe movement patterns and estimate home range sizes, and 2) assess upland habitat preferences of S. holbrookii. We tracked 19/20 individuals (11 males and 8 females) and 12/20 individuals (7 males and 5 females) for at least the first 30 and 100 days post-surgery, respectively, during 2006. During 2008 we successfully tracked 15/25 individuals (10 males and 5 females) and 5/25 individuals (3 males and 2 females) for at least the first 30 and 100 days post-surgery, respectively. In addition to results obtained on a suite of movement attributes we identified a number of upland habitat preferences for S. holbrookii. Use locations were: 1) closer to the nearest deciduous shrub edge, 2) had a greater percent cover of ground-running pitch pine branches at a 1 m scale, 3) had a greater percent cover of deciduous shrubs at a 1 m scale, and 4) had a greater percent cover of reindeer lichen at a 5 m scale. Results from this research provide much needed empirical results on these critical life history attributes related to the movement and breeding ecology of S. holbrookii. These results will aid biologists and Park management staff at Cape Cod National Seashore in more effectively employing conservation and management strategies aimed at enhancing the long-term persistence probability of this regionally rare species in the Province Lands.