Though the American marten (Martes americana) is widely distributed across northern North America, habitat use and population abundance vary widely across the range. Due to its status as a furbearer, the species has been extensively researched, resulting in a large body of knowledge about the species’ ecology, distribution, and abundance, as well as drivers of population structure and dynamics. More recently, marten research has shifted focus to genetics, habitat associations, and estimation of population state variables. The rapid increase in estimation of states such as occupancy, abundance, and density has likely been driven by the increasing accessibility of noninvasive field technology, such as noninvasive genetic sampling and remote camera trapping, and by the statistical development of ecological hierarchical models. This convergence of advances in field and analytical methods is most apparent in the now widespread application of spatial capture-recapture, an approach that produces robust estimates of population densities and abundance that can be compared across time and space. These new models are especially valuable near the edges of marten distribution where populations are often recovering from historic overexploitation, and expanding into areas they have previously been absent from. In these areas, detailed, landscape-scale understanding of marten populations is necessary in order to establish current conditions, effectively monitor changes, and predict what effect management actions may have on marten populations. I utilized these models to study marten populations in New Hampshire where marten are a species of management interest, and recent recovery has led to their removal from the state endangered species list. Through a collaborative effort with New Hampshire Fish and Game Department in the winters of 2017 and 2018, marten were surveyed across northern New Hampshire using a novel camera trap design that allows for the identification of individuals. These data were analyzed using spatial capture-recapture models, allowing me to evaluate habitat associations that explain spatial variation in marten density and provide a population status assessment for the New Hampshire marten population. Marten densities are highest in the White Mountain National Forest, though other protected lands in northern New Hampshire also appear to support larger populations. The greatest population densities coincided with deeper snows, increased canopy closure, and intermediate boreal biomass. These results provide additional support for several hypotheses explaining marten habitat use across their range while also providing novel insight that will inform active management of both marten and the habitat they occur in. In addition to the population status assessment, I evaluated the relationship between estimates of occupancy and density in New Hampshire. Though utility of non-invasive methodology can decrease research costs, the need for individual identification in spatial capture-recapture models represents a cost increase over occupancy models. My results suggest that the two are positively correlated; however, occupancy is a poor predictor of the entire range of density, especially because the variables used to predict each of the state variables are different. Thus, occupancy is likely not a good proxy for density in New Hampshire, however it could be used to track general trends through time so long as density is re-evaluated periodically.

The Cardigan pluton, located in the southern half of New Hampshire, is a strongly peraluminous, S-type granite which is granodioritic in composition. It is inferred to have been emplaced rapidly, thrust up along west-verging nappes during the Acadian orogeny. Distinctive pods, consisting of 50 to 70 percent modal garnet, are found throughout the pluton in assemblages of garnet + sillimanite + biotite + plagioclase + quartz. These garnetite rocks present an intriguing case for restite. Textural features of the garnetite rocks, such as fibrolitic sillimanite mats and flat, unzoned major and trace-element garnet grain profiles, provide evidence for biotite dehydration melting with single-stage garnet growth from the reaction: bio + plag + qtz + kspar = gar + sill + liq. Temperatures calculated using garnet-biotite (GB) thermometry and garnet-aluminum silicate-quartz-plagioclase (GASP) barometry yield estimates between 662-714ºC and 3.8 kbars. These low calculated temperatures are most likely the result of biotite compositions which have been altered by retrograde exchange reactions. The dominant source rock for the Cardigan magmas was likely calc-pelitic to greywacke in composition. Major element modeling suggests that ~70% melting of a calc-pelitic metasediment from the Central Maine trough could have generated a granodioritic melt similar to the average granodiorite of the Cardigan pluton. However, most of the Cardigan garnetite rocks appear to have been derived from pelites, as they are too poor in CaO and Na2O. Hence, though the majority of garnetite rocks cannot represent the dominant restite of the source rocks that produced the Cardigan pluton, they do appear to be the melt-depleted residue of an unidentified pelitic source. Comparison of Nd and Sr isotopic data from garnetite and Central Maine trough metasediments permit an interpretation that the Lower Rangeley Formation, from the Central Maine trough, could be the source rock of the Cardigan magmas. However, one feldspar Pb isotopic analysis in the literature (Moench and Allienikoff, 2002) and rare monazite chemical ages near 600 Ma suggest that the Cardigan pluton does not have a Laurentian source (i.e. Lower Rangeley Formation or other Central Maine trough metasediments), whereas an inferred peri-Gondwanan basement source is permissible.

The function of the mass media in the democratic process is crucial to an informed public and vital to a democratic system. One primary role of the media is that of gatekeeper between political candidates and the public. The influence the media has on the electorate is heightened during the primary process of presidential elections and even more so in the pre-primary season when a large majority of potential voters have yet to form opinions of candidates. The effects of the media in the pre-primary season of politics play out in significant relationships where media coverage results in measurable increases in campaign contributions to the candidates included in this research, while the tone of content has no measurable influence. Although models that tested the ability to predict success in primaries failed to reach statistically significant levels, the raw data show high correlations between media coverage and candidate success.

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Thesis (M.M.E.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

2024 / There are a number of dimensions along which people can be politically polarized, such as partisanship and class. One type of polarization is affective polarization, which is rooted in social or political identity and escalates disagreement to disdain and hostility toward the political outgroup. For this piece, I am examining state identity in New Hampshire and how it facilitates affective polarization along the dimension of state identity, specifically in how the cultural values of New Hampshire and Massachusetts foster affective polarization between the two states, and how that influences the narratives people from New Hampshire use to understand the political world. To do this, I analyze the social media and campaign websites of state senators and gubernatorial candidates to understand how they discuss their own state identity, as well as how that fits into frameworks of polarization. I find that Kelly Ayotte frames the 2024 gubernatorial election as one against Massachusetts, not just her opponents, but other Republicans don’t articulate that same narrative. Also, in topics relevant to New Hampshire’s state identity, typical partisan lines are erased in favor of politicians aligning their stances with the state’s identity, particularly with Democrats moderating on guns and taxation.

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This dissertation explores how colonial administrators on each side of the Atlantic used the British Survey of North America to serve their governments’ as well as their personal objectives. Specifically, it connects the execution and oversight of the General Survey in the northern and southern theatres, along with the intelligence it provided, with the actions of key decision-makers and influencers, including the Presidents of the Board of Trade (latterly, the Secretaries of the American Department) and key provincial governors. Having abandoned their posture of ‘Salutary Neglect’ towards colonial affairs in favour of one that proactively and more centrally sought ways to develop and exploit their North American assets following the Severn Years’ War, the British needed better geographic information to guide their decision making. Thus, the General Survey of British North America, under the umbrella of the Board of Trade, was conceived. Officially sponsored from 1764-1775, the programme aimed to survey and analyse the attributes and economic potential of Britain’s newly acquired regions in North America, leading to an accurate general map of their North American empire when joined to other regional mapping programmes. The onset of the American Revolution brought an inevitable end to the General Survey before a connected map could be completed. Under the excellent leadership of Samuel Holland, the surveyor general of the Northern District, however, the British administration received surveys and reports that were of great relevance to high-level administration. In the Southern District, Holland’s counterpart, the mercurial William Gerard De Brahm, while producing reports of high quality, was less able to juggle the often conflicting priorities of provincial and London-based stakeholders. Consequently, results were less successful. De Brahm was recalled in 1771, leaving others to complete the work.