Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) currently inhabit about 56% of pre-settlement distribution of potential habitat. In 2005, the Castle Country Adaptive Resources Management Local Working Group (CaCoARM) was formed to address concerns regarding local sage-grouse populations in Carbon and Emery counties. In 2006-2007, CaCoARM identified the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain as areas of special concern for greater sage-grouse conservation. Both sites selected by the group were inhabited by what appeared to be small isolated sage-grouse populations. Factors limiting small isolated greater sage-grouse populations throughout its range are diverse and largely site-specific. During 2008-2009, I captured, radio-collared, and monitored 43 sage-grouse between the two populations to document their ecology and seasonal habitat use patterns. The sites are only 24 km apart, but the populations appear to be isolated from each other. Sage-grouse on Horn Mountain and Wildcat Knolls are one-stage migratory and non-migratory, respectively. Although nesting and brooding success varied between sites, my results were comparable to those published in studies throughout the species' range. Overall male survival was lower on the Wildcat Knolls than Horn Mountain (P = 0.003). Hens that selected brood sites exhibiting increased shrub cover and grass height were more successful than hens that selected sites with lower shrub cover and lower grass height. Potential nesting habitat on the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain were estimated at 2,329 and 5,493 ha, respectively. Hens that selected nest sites farther from non-habitat edge were more successful than hens that selected nest sites that were closer to non-habitat edge on the Wildcat Knolls. Higher nest success observed on the Wildcat Knolls was attributed to less habitat fragmentation. Isolated populations of greater sage-grouse are more susceptible to lower amounts of genetic diversity that may lead to inbreeding depression and increased rates of disease and parasites. I collected mitochondrial DNA samples from both the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain populations. Although the haplotype frequencies recorded in the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain populations were low, one was shared with several Utah populations. The documented low genetic diversity (especially on Horn Mountain) confirmed the isolation suspected by the local working group. Microsatellite tests may provide insights to enhance understanding of genetic differences among sites, and assist managers in determining whether or not translocations are necessary to maintain population genetic diversity. Biologists should not only continue to take samples for genetic comparison, but also record morphometric and behavior data.

No description available.

This study examined population genetics of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Strawberry Valley, Utah located in the north-central part of the state. The Strawberry Valley population of sage-grouse experienced a severe population decline with estimates of abundance in 1998 less than 5% (~150 individuals) of similar estimates from the 1930s (>3,000 individuals). Given the population decline and reduced genetic diversity, recovery team partners translocated sage-grouse from four different populations into Strawberry Valley over 6 years (2003-2008). Translocations have been used as a strategy to increase both population size and genetic diversity in wildlife populations. We assessed whether genetic diversity increased following the translocation of sage-grouse into Strawberry Valley by looking at both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA indices. We observed an overall increase of 16 microsatellite alleles across the 15 loci studied (x̅ =1.04 alleles per locus increase, SE ± 0.25). Haplotype diversity increased from 4 to 5. Levels of genetic diversity increased for both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (16% and 25% increases for allelic richness and haplotype diversity, respectively). These results show that translocations of greater sage grouse into a wild population can be an effective tool to increase not only population size but also genetic diversity.Second, we studied fitness-related traits and related them to genetic diversity indices in a population of greater sage-grouse in Strawberry Valley, Utah from 2005 to 2013. We captured 93 sage-grouse in Strawberry Valley and fitted them with a radio collar and drew and preserved blood. We monitored sage-grouse weekly, throughout each year. From blood, we extracted and amplified DNA with 15 microsatellite loci. We determined genetic diversity as multilocus heterozygosity and mean d2. To determine if there was a relationship between genetic diversity and survival, we used known-fate models in Program MARK. We also determined if there was a relationship between genetic diversity measures and nest initiation, nest success, clutch size, and number of eggs hatched using generalized linear models where reproductive measures were modeled as a function of genetic diversity. We found no significant relationship between mean d2 and microsatellite heterozygosity with measures of survival or reproductive fitness. Overall, these results suggest that the often-reported strong heterozygosity-fitness correlations detected in small, inbred populations do not reflect a general phenomenon of increasing individual survival and reproductive fitness with increasing heterozygosity.

Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) is an important source of food and cover for many animals, especially during winter months. Understanding how wildlife species respond to sagebrush management actions can help improve conservation planning. Dixie harrow is a method of improving spring/summer habitat for many herbivores by reducing sagebrush cover to stimulate the growth of grasses and forbs. These treatments, however, may influence the quantity and quality of sagebrush available to greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) during winter. We evaluated the effects of Dixie harrow on sage-grouse resource selection during winter (Chapter 1) and on the nutritional value of sagebrush (Chapter 2). We were unsure what effect Dixie harrow would have on the nutritional value of sagebrush, but hypothesized that sage-grouse would select for untreated areas because they contained a higher quantity of food and cover. We captured 81 sage-grouse and fit them with GPS transmitters. Using 6,728 winter locations, we modeled third-order resource selection. Further, we collected samples of sagebrush plants that sage-grouse had eaten from (n = 54), samples of sagebrush plants passed by but not eaten from (n = 54), as well as samples from random locations inside (n = 60) and outside Dixie harrow treatments (n = 60). Contrary to our hypothesis, sage-grouse selected for Dixie harrow treatments during winter. We found that sage-grouse selectively browsed sagebrush plants with increased nutritional value, and that sage-grouse browsed plants inside treatments more frequently than outside the treatments, but Dixie harrow treatments had no measurable effect on the nutritional value of sagebrush. Based on our results, Dixie harrow treatments performed at the southern extent of the sage-grouse range will create habitat that sage-grouse prefer during winter, but we were unable to ascertain why sage-grouse select for Dixie harrow treatments during winter.

No description available.

Ultra-high-resolution subsurface stratigraphy mapped from 3D ground-penetrating radar (GPR) can provide insights into the fine-scale heterogeneity of reservoirs and other geologic features. Analog models derived from 3D GPR aid in understanding reservoir compartmentalization that may be sub-seismic but still affect fluid flow. We integrate 2D profiles and 3D GPR volumes with measured stratigraphic sections from outcrop exposure to characterize the fine-scale stratigraphy of an ancient Lake Bonneville shoreline deposit (locally, circa 20 ka based on carbon-14 dating) in the Great Basin (northwestern Utah). The heterogeneity of the deposit is expressed as multiple discordant patterns, separated by unconformities that likely were influenced by fluctuating lake levels on the lake margin. Although the study site is only ~8,000 square meters in area, the detailed stratigraphic relationships can be scaled up to inform the characterization of larger sedimentary deposits with economic reservoir potential. The sands, gravels, and marls composing the stratigraphy were deposited during the transgressive phase of the pluvial lake, which preserved shoreline features such as spits and barrier bars. We interpret our site as a spit that extended out into the Pleistocene lake, at times connecting to a nearby persistently subaerially exposed island to form a tombolo. The deposited strata are well-exposed in a fortuitously located gravel quarry. The site provides an excellent natural laboratory for detailed 3D imaging due to the mostly flat ground surface (the quarry floor), low-clay, low-salinity, and low-moisture content of the site. The GPR data were acquired with a 200-MHz antenna (for 2D profiles) and a 400-MHz antenna (for 3D volumes). For the latter, the line spacing was about 0.3 meters with a trace spacing of 2.5 cm. The GPR dataset offers high-resolution images of clinoform sequence stratigraphy down to about 3 meters below the surface of the quarry. The vertical resolution (Rayleigh criterion) of the data is about 6 cm (for 3D volumes) and 13 cm (for 2D profiles). Migration collapsed diffractions and re-positioned dipping reflectors correctly. Deconvolution suppressed multiple reflections and tightened the waveforms. Using petroleum industry mapping software, amplitudes were binned into voxels to create precise 3D volumes, which facilitated more accurate geometrical interpretation (e.g., true dip direction of reflectors). Facies associations from stratigraphic sections measured just above the GPR acquisition level (quarry floor) help to describe and reconstruct the depositional history of the spit. The lithologic interpretation of the GPR reflectors is constrained by the correlation (or extrapolation) of the measured sections to the subsurface data volumes. Reflectivity is controlled by variations in porosity and matrix content (e.g., quartz vs. clays vs. calcite). Our study furnishes a model of transgressive deposits in a lacustrine environment and an analog for clastic sediments deposited on a larger scale in such environments.

This research sought to explain the emergence of the Wyoming Core Area Strategy (WCAS), a state-based Greater Sage Grouse conservation plan. It presents a theoretical framework that is based on and adds nuance to the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The hypothesis this study explored was: if a subsystem's jurisdiction is threatened by a hierarchically superior subsystem's policy outputs and this jurisdiction is necessary to meet the threatened subsystem's goals, then policy change may occur as a result of a strategy by the agents in the threatened subsystem. The data used to examine the hypothesis included expert interviews, historical documents, and interviews from media sources (secondary source interviews). The hypothesis was supported; the WCAS emerged because the Endangered Species Act listing outputs within the Species Conservation Policy Subsystem threatened the Wyoming Land Use Policy (WLUP) Subsystem's jurisdiction, which was necessary to meet the WLUP Subsystem's economic and lifestyle goals; the Governor of Wyoming drove the development and enactment of the WCAS as a strategy to retain jurisdiction. The research demonstrated that in order to fully account for the WCAS's emergence, a less mechanistic view of the framework, one that accounts for the ability of agents in a subsystem to act strategically, was needed. The research also demonstrated that the Greater Sage Grouse conservation benefited from the ESA listing process despite its warranted but precluded listing status. The time frame the research explored was 2002 through March 2012. / Master of Arts

Louping ill virus (LIV) is a tick borne disease that causes mortality in red grouse, an economically important game bird of British uplands. The aim of this thesis is to extend previously published models of LIV , to consider the potential impact of different management strategies. In addition a new route of infection and the seasonal biology of both grouse and ticks will be explored. Grouse chicks are known to eat ticks as part of their diet in the first three weeks of life which may contribute to virus persistence if chicks consume infected ticks. This novel route of infection is incorporated in to the model which predicts that ingestion increases the range of host densities for which the virus is able to persist. The ingestion of ticks by grouse also reduces the tick population so that for low host densities the ingestion of ticks by grouse reduces the tick population so virus cannot persist. The model is adapted to take account of the seasonal biology of grouse and ticks. Although the temporal predictions of the seasonal models show some differences the addition of seasonality does not alter the model predictions of when LIV is likely to persist at different grouse and deer densities. Consequently seasonality is felt to be unimportant when considering management strategies. The treatment of sheep with acaricide in an attempt to reduce the tick population on a grouse moor is currently being trialled in Scotland. We use a model to predict the likely effect of this strategy at different deer densities. The number of ticks found attached to sheep varies so we consider the effect of tick attachment rates as well as acaricide efficacy. Although we predict that acaricide treated sheep can reduce the tick population and therefore LIV in grouse in some circumstances the treatment is less effective in the presence of deer. Consequently we use a model to make theoretical predictions of the effectiveness of acaricide treated deer as a control strategy for reducing LIV in red grouse. The effect of culling deer on LIV in grouse is also modelled and contrasted with the effect of acaricide use. It is predicted that acaricide treatment of deer could be highly effective, particularly if the deer density is first reduced by culling. Finally we considered the direct treatment of red grouse with acaricide. Female grouse can be given an acaricidal leg band which protects her directly and indirectly protects her chicks as they acquire some acaricide whilst brooding. Trials have suggested this can reduce tick burdens for individuals. We use the model to determine the potential effect that treating individual broods may have on the whole grouse population. The model predictions suggest that unless acaricide efficacy on chicks is high and long lasting treating individual broods is unlikely to reduce LIV in the whole population but will still provide some benefit for the individuals. The effectiveness of treatment is reduced by higher deer densities. The success of the management strategies considered in this thesis appear to be restricted by the presence of deer. It may therefore be that a combination of treatments including the treatment of deer may be of the greatest benefit to the grouse population.

Shaped in part by diverse landscapes, game profiles, and ruling personalities, hunting in the Indian princely states in the colonial period was heterogeneous to a previously unrecognized extent. At the same time, significant underlying political, social, and cultural continuities unified states and their rulers’ approaches to sport. Focusing on the Rajput realms of Mewar, Orchha, and Bikaner, I show how princes of different ranks negotiated their states’ divergent landscapes in pursuit of dissimilar game, and how they trusted in superior hunting grounds, wildlife, and shooting methods to advance their personal standings and sovereign powers. I also investigate how these rulers used hunting to maintain connections with their state and lineage histories, to exemplify local Rajput ideals and identities, and to manage relationships with various audiences, including their subjects, state nobles, other princes, and British officials. This study is concerned as much with princely perceptions of game and shooting grounds as with “real” landscapes or environmental changes. I examine how the princes conceptually linked natural abundance with favorable political conditions and degradation with lost power and compromised dignity. I consider what it meant to pursue tigers, wildfowl, antelope, and wild boar in dense jungles, wetlands, arid plains, and imposing hills. In addition, I look at the ways princes attempted to employ and also to modify those meanings to suit their own purposes. I did the research for this dissertation at government and private archives in India and the United Kingdom. Because my primary goal was to discover princely views, I relied as far as possible on sources produced by elite Indians or by those in their service. Among the materials I used were state government records, personal correspondence, speeches, game diaries, hunting memoirs, photographs, and miniature paintings. Much of the documentation was in English, with the major exception of records relating to Mewar State and its subordinate noble estates. The language of those papers ranged from Hindi through Rajasthani (Mewari). To understand British responses better, I consulted Government of India records. Published memoirs and travelogues written by Europeans who visited and hunted in the regions under consideration also proved useful. / text

Thesis (M. En.)--Miami University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31).