Thesis (M.S.)--Simon Fraser University, 1987. / "June 1987." Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-67).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2007. / Title from electronic submission form. Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Oviposition habitat is important to species with no protracted parental care. For sea turtles, nest site selection may affect offspring fitness through microenvironmental characteristics such as moisture, beach slope, temperature and grain size. Climate change and coastal development will result in changes of nest site characteristics. In particular in Saudi Arabia, with the advent of tourism, there will be development of giga-projects such as the crossborder city of NEOM and luxury tourist resort ‘The Red Sea Project’. To evaluate the different beach characteristics, we assessed the change in parameters over the nesting season, differences in microenvironmental characteristics with regard to nest distribution and compared differences between low- and high- density nesting sites in the central Red Sea, during the 2019 nesting season. We sampled on a biweekly basis, taking various insitu measurements and collecting sand samples to be analysed for grain size, moisture content and colour. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed at sites where nesting occurred. At our low- density sites nest distribution was dictated mainly by angle of beach slope, ANOVA (P<0.05) and the presence of vegetation with most nesting clustered where the slope was steepest and at the sand to vegetation interface. Differences between highand low- density sites were revealed by differences in grain size and sorting conducive of the differences in sediment composition. The change in characteristics over time showed a sequential order of environmental cues: temperature, moisture and slope that initiate nesting. Our results establish the importance of particular beach characteristics in nest site selection of marine turtles, highlighting geologically unique nesting sites and specific environmental cues related to nest timing. This information can be used to inform future coastal development and conservation strategies in Saudi Arabia and is the first study to identify low-nesting sites in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea.

Herons are well known because of their gregarious nesting habits. Like many others of the lower orders of birds they nest together in pure or mixed colonies of many different combinations and under diverse living conditions. The population of different colonies may vary from a few pairs to many thousands of pairs depending upon the nature and extent of the breeding area, the food supply available and the protection afforded either by natural or artificial means. In Utah and adjacent areas of bordering states, many types of heron associations have been studied and reported by ornithological workers. reeding colonies of Treganza Herons, Black Crowned Night Herons and Snowy Herons in pure species associations and mixed communities have been recorded. The tendency of herons to associate with other unrelated orders of birds in nesting situations has also been noted. Such colonies as the Gull-Pelican-Heron associations of the Great Salt Lake Islands and the Heron-Cormorant communities of Cache Valley and Bass Pond Reservoir support this observation. At least eight different communal associations involving herons in the nesting season are known in Utah. The question of the economic status of herons has long been debated among ornithologists and those engaged in the propagation of wild life, especially fish culture. The fish eating propensities of herons are known all over the world. In some regions the birds are condemned as a menace by the sportsman and in other areas they are considered to be his benefactors. Adequate studies have not been published to definitely establish the economic status of this group of birds. It is the purpose of this thesis to contribute to the knowledge of Ornithology by a presentation of the writer's observations and findings on a colony of nesting herons, noting, especially, certain factors influencing the behavior of the birds, their relationships to other animals of the community, economic importance and development of the colony.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Northern British Columbia, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-81).

There are today many areas and types of water storage. The uses to which these are put are many, and the prospect for the future can only be that there will be an increase in the number of these reservoirs. These areas are usually operated with regard only for power production, irrigation, or storage, but there is a growing concern about the effects on wildlife which this type of operation may have. Fluctuating water levels, and falling water levels are not restricted to man-made impoundments tut are characteristic of many of then. Biologists have observed that these variations in water levels are often harmful to some forms of wildlife. Fluctuating water levels generally were found to cause damage to waterfowl nests. The amount of damage, the amount of water rise and the time involved are values which have generally remained unknown, largely perhaps because some other aspects was of greater importance in the nesting studies. There is a descending scale of values which have been placed on natural resources, and it is generally agreed that the waterfowl concerned would rank below the value derived from the impounded waters. Where it is practical, the management of these impoundments should take wildlife into consideration. To have intentions of good management is not sufficient to effect conservation; these intentions must be implemented with the proper tools. This study was designed to discover magnitudes of cause and effect, and perhaps it will point the way to a more efficient utilization of associated resources. It was possible that the results of this study would show that there was little damage to waterfowl. On the other hand, if significant damage were to be discovered, contributing causes could be more closely delimited and so point the way toward corrective measures.

Bees are a diverse group of insects responsible for pollinating plants in agricultural and ecological landscapes. Wild bees are impacted by anthropogenic activity and associated habitat loss. Although 75% of bee species nest underground, this nesting strategy has been overlooked. In my thesis, I explored the nesting habitat requirements of ground-nesting bees by studying the relation between bees and edaphic factors. First, I reviewed existing literature about ground-nesting bee nesting characteristics (Chapter 2). I found that certain abiotic factors (e.g., soil texture, temperature, moisture, compaction, slope, and soil surface features), as well as biotic factors (e.g., floral resources, conspecifics, predators), could be key in nest-site selection. I also discuss possible explanations for the choice of these nesting characteristics, particularly edaphic factors. Secondly, in Chapter 3, I assessed relationships between specific soil factors (soil texture, compaction, slope and ground cover) and the wild local ground-nesting bee communities on 35 farms around Ottawa throughout 2018 and 2019. I found that higher percentages of sand and bare ground were linked to increased total ground-nesting bee abundance and species richness, whilst slope and diversity (Simpson’s index) were negatively correlated. Furthermore, associations with soil factors were found to be species-specific, especially for associations with sand content, which were either positive, negative, or non-significant. Ground-nesting bee community’s composition was influenced by sand content, slope, soil compaction and bare ground in sampled agroecosystems. Finally, in Chapter 4, I experimentally tested nesting preferences of ground-nesting bee species for soil texture. Based on one season of sampling, there was no association between bee abundance or species richness and soil texture. Together, my research sheds light on the influence of soil characteristics on species-specific nesting-habitat associations for ground-nesting bees. Along with floral resources which have received far more study, nesting habitat is vital for the well-being and persistence of bee populations, and therefore for their conservation.

The primary objective of the study was to determine why established females tolerate new females that join their breeding group and lay eggs in their nest. Previous work on this population has shown that females suffer a cost of joint-nesting in the form of lowered hatching success. Therefore, we would expect female pukeko to attempt to disrupt the reproductive efforts of their co-nesters by ejecting their eggs from the joint nest. Two hypotheses might explain why this does not happen. The "peace incentive" hypothesis states that females would forego egg destruction to avoid retaliatory behaviour by the other female. Alternatively, females might not destroy the eggs of co-nesters because they cannot discriminate between their own and another female's eggs. To test between these, we experimentally removed the eggs of one of the females from a number of joint nests. In all S(Wen cases for which we have data on the post-removal behaviour of the females, the robbed female showed no response to the disappearance of her eggs and continued to incubate the clutch. In addition, we added eggs to eight single female nests. Again, the single females showed no sign that they could distinguish between the foreign eggs and their own. The foreign eggs were not buried, ejected, or destroyed, nor were they moved preferentially to the outer perimeter of the clutch. To perform the egg removal experiments, I needed to correctly group joint clutches of eggs into maternal sib-groups. I evaluated two methods of doing this, one relying on qualitative observer assessment and the other on statistical techniques. I determined genetic maternity using DNA fingerprinting. Qualitative assessment was more effective than statistical techniques for identifying the maternity of eggs. Such an approach may be a useful alternative to expensive and time-consuming molecular genetic techniques for measuring reproductive skew in joint-nesting birds. Predation rates on pukeko nests at our study site during the 1998/99 nesting season were significantly higher than they had been in previous years (1990-1995). In the intervening years, the local rabbit population crashed as the result of two rabbit control measures: poisoning and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD). We hypothesised that the increase in predation rates was due to rabbit specialist predators seeking out alternative prey after the crash in rabbit populations. Such a scenario is of grave concern to wildlife managers in many areas of New Zealand where rabbits are abundant and threatened native bird species are already under extreme pressure from introduced predators. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 1997. / Two chapters co-authored with Kathy Martin. Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this work was to realize some regular monitoring of nesting occurrence of Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), measure all nesting parameters of each found nest {--} nesting placing in a vegetation, characteristic of vegetation, running of nesting {--} and explain which factors should play a role in a seizing of these localities {--} to explain a measure of nesting predation by way of artificial nests. Statistically analyze these parameters and find some dependence and relations which should influence running or success of nesting.