I examined habitat selection of middens within insect-damaged forest and compared home range and survival for Mt. Graham red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis) in insect-damaged and healthy forest. Squirrels used habitat in areas with < 69% tree mortality. Basal area, canopy cover, and log volume were greater at middens than random locations. Within midden sites, only greater basal area of live trees distinguished occupied sites from unoccupied sites. Surface temperature at occupied middens tended to be cooler than unoccupied middens. Squirrels living in insect-damaged forest had larger home ranges than in healthy forest. Squirrel body mass and reproductive condition did not differ between forest types, suggesting that insectdamaged forest provided adequate resources. However, squirrels inhabiting insectdamaged forest experienced lower survivorship and 50% fewer potential reproductive events than squirrels in healthy forest, implicating presence of an ecological trap. Preservation of remaining healthy forest is a priority for management of this endangered species.

This document is an oral history of Ester Mae Bodie, one of the Exumas’ renowned plant experts. During the Bahamas Marine Protected Area Study, members of Richard Stoffle’s research team spent numerous hours interviewing Mrs. Bodie a range of topics including ethnobotany, traditional marine use, the proposed MPAs, and her life growing up in the Exumas. In order to honor her contributions to the overall project, members of the Stoffle team constructed this document to share her story.

This study investigated the relationship between children's environmental perceptions and their ecological actions before and after attending Earthkeepers, an earth education program. Participants were 604 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students from 14 schools in Arizona and Pennsylvania. A comparison of the environmental perceptions of participants revealed a statistically significant difference between those who undertook more and those who undertook fewer or no positive ecological actions. After the program, students who undertook more positive ecological actions, for example using less energy and fewer materials, had more pro-environmental perceptions than their counterparts. Individual interviews with 18 of the participants supported the positive relationship between environmental perceptions and ecological actions and provided further explanations for those actions.

This is a class project that analyzes and critically engages the UBC south campus plan and makes recommendations based on research of exemplary approaches to systems integration.

This thesis proposes a destination restaurant, near Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada, that serves as an informative showcase of common food plants grown indoors, and allows visitors to experience the food cycle of growing, processing, cooking, eating, and composting, from soil to table. Throughout the building, the line between architecture and agriculture is blurred, as program areas incorporate food plants. The environmentally-conscious design, built primarily of re-used wood and locally sourced sandstone, inspires visitors to start growing food at home by being a living example of a variety of growing methods, most of which could be adopted at home on a smaller scale.

The cultural role of cemeteries is well defined, but the ecological importance of these sites is less recognized. As passively-used permanent greenspace, cemeteries have the potential to sustain biodiversity as surrounding land uses change. Informant interviews were conducted with professionals familiar with cemeteries and the funeral industry, and responses were compared within and between professions. Results of this study suggest that while cemeteries provide significant cultural and environmental benefits, their ecological potential is limited by factors including funding and legislation. In order to enhance the ecological value of cemetery sites, the incorporation of native trees and variable habitat within traditional cemetery designs should be considered to improve the quality of resources available to wildlife. Additionally,amendments should be made to the Provincial Policy Statement to include an independent land use designation for cemeteries and implement regional scale planning of these sites across Ontario.

No description available.

Evidence for the repeated, independent evolution of hot- and cool-season breeding populations across colonies of the Band-rumped Storm-petrel has garnered much interest from seabird ecologists and evolutionary biologists, alike. Sympatric seasonal populations have been shown to be each other’s closest relatives, implying that ecological divergence into two seasonal foraging types has taken place several times independently across the species’ range, each time in the absence of geographical barriers to gene flow. I present data on the molecular genetic characteristics of a unique year-round breeding population in the Cape Verde archipelago. Using mitochondrial control region sequence and five microsatellite loci, I characterized genetic relationships among 220 birds breeding in four different months (January, April, June and November) and tested for a relationship between temporal isolation and genetic differentiation. Birds breeding in April, June and November were genetically indistinguishable at microsatellite loci, but control region sequence suggested differentiation between January and other months (pairwise ΦST from 0.19 to 0.46, p≤0.05). No evidence for genetic isolation by time was found. A comparison of birds breeding in June and November revealed significant differences in a suite of morphological traits related to foraging strategy (tarsus length, bill length, bill depth, head length, wing length and tail shape), and even significant variation among birds breeding in the same month, despite evidence for gene flow between these groups. Interpreting these patterns in the context of Band-rumped Storm-petrel populations range-wide, I suggest that divergent selection on standing variation within ancestral populations may be an important mechanism explaining the repeated, independent evolution of conserved seasonal foraging types in this species. / Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2011-02-28 12:02:44.256

No description available.

No description available.