Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1999. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-105). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-105). Also available on the Internet.

No description available.

Intertidal populations of the sea urchin Parechinus angulosus were examined at seven sites along the south and east coasts of South Africa. At the five southerly sites, P. angulosus occurred in allopatry, while, at the two northerly sites, it occurred in sympatry with several species of Indopacific sea urchins. At the five southerly sites, there was a significant correlation of number of sea urchins per pool with the surface area of the overhang in that pool. This relationship broke down for P. angulosus at the two northerly sites, where there was a significant correlation between these two factors for Stomopneustes variolaris. The density of populations of P. angulosus at the two northerly sites, although not significantly different from all five southerly sites, were considerably lower. There was a significant difference between the mean size of populations at the seven sites. Although no direct evidence is available, a competitive interaction between these two species is proposed to explain the observed patterns of microhabitat utilization and densities. Two series of manipulative experiments were conducted at Kowie Point, where P. angulosus occurs in sympatry, The first, involved urchin removals from three experimental sites. The percentage cover of four functional algal groups was monitored in three experimental and three unaltered control sites over a three month period in spring (Sept. - Dec.) 1993. Two 100 point 0,25m² random point quadrats were thrown at each of the six sites at approximately monthly intervals over the experimental period. Since initial cover of algae varied at the six sites, ANOVA's of the change in percentage cover of four functional algal groups were used to determine treatment effects. No treatment effects were identified for any of the four functional algal groups. There was a strong negative correlation between the percentage cover of foliose algae and encrusting coralline algae, suggesting the possibility of a competitive relationship between them. The second, involved the experimental manipulation of microhabitat availability. The blocking of overhangs, by means of cement filled bags, resulted in an approximate 50% decrease in the total number of urchins in the two experimental pools, and the two control pools without overhangs. However, in the control pool with overhangs there was a slight increase in the number of urchins over the same period. Clearly, the presence of suitable shelters, is a prerequisite for the maintenance of dense intertidal population of P. angulosus. It is proposed that, due to the exposed nature of the South African coast, intertidal populations of P.angulosus are restricted to inhabiting suitable shelters from which they emerge to feed on passing drift algae. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of current ecological literature.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Orientador: Edmir Daniel Carvalho / Coorientador: Ana Paula Vidotto-Magnoni / Banca: Edmir Daniel Carvalho / Banca: Rosemara Fugi / Banca: Sirlei Therezinha Bennemann / Resumo: Este estudo foi realizado na represa de Jurumirim, alto rio Paranapanema - SP, em três trechos limnologicamente distintos (lótico, transição e lêntico) e em duas lagoas marginais próximas a região de desembocadura do Rio Paranapanema na represa de Jurumirim. O objetivo foi avaliar os padrões relacionados a partilha de recursos alimentares e a estrutura e organização trófica das assembleias de peixes desta represa. Os peixes foram coletados bimestralmente com redes de espera entre abril/2009 e fevereiro/2010. Foram analisados conteúdos estomacais de 24 espécies distribuídas em três ordens e onze famílias quais consumiram no total 50 itens alimentares identificados dispostos em nove categorias tróficas, sendo que os itens principais foram fragmento vegetal, fragmento de peixes e detrito orgânico Os peixes foram classificados mediante a análise de similaridade de acordo com o item preferencial consumido sendo possível reconhecer oito guildas tróficas: Herbívoro, Detritívoro, Piscívoro, Detritívoro/Herbívoro, Insetívoro, Invertívoro e Carcinófago. A guilda dos herbívoros, detritívoros e piscívoros ocorreram em todos os trechos amostrados, sendo a composição em termos de espécie das guildas variável entre os trechos, com nove das 24 espécies estudadas ocorrendo em guildas distintas, indicando flexibilidade na dieta destas espécies. As assembleias de peixes da represa de Jurumirim apresentaram em sua maioria baixos valores de amplitude e sobreposição de nicho trófico, indicando que esta comunidade de peixes partilha os recursos alimentares. Portanto é possível concluir que a ictiofauna da represa de Jurumirim apresenta uma estrutura trófica bem estabelecida, qual as espécies partilham recursos alimentares de forma a evitar competição pelos recursos disponíveis / Abstract: This study was carried in the Jurumirim Reservoir, Upper Paranapanema River, -SP in three distinct limnologic stretches (lotic, transition, lentic) and two marginal lagoons near the mouth of the Paranapanema river in the Jurumirim Reservoir. The aim was to evaluate the patterns related to food resources partitioning, as well as the trophic structure and organization of fish assemblages. Fish were collected bimonthly with gill nets between April/2009 and February/2010. The stomach contents of 24 species were analyzed, in three orders and eleven families which consumed a total of 50 identified food items arranged in nine trophic categories, with vegetal matter, fragment of fish and organic detritus waste as the main items in the diet of species. Fish were classified by the similarity analysis according to the preferential item consumed, and eight trophic guilds were recognized: herbivorous, detritivorous, piscivorous, detritivorous/herbivorous, insectivorous, invertivorous and carcinophagous. The guild of herbivorous, detritivorous and piscivorous occurred in all sampling sites. The species composition of trophic guilds was variable among sites, with nine of the 24 studied species occurring in different guilds, indicating flexibility in the diet of this species. The fish assemblage of Jurumirim Reservoir showed low niche breadth niche overlap values, indicating that this fish community share food resources. Therefore we conclude that the fish fauna of the reservoir Jurumirim has a well-established trophic structure, which species partitioning food resources to avoid competition / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:39:30Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 lima_fp_me_botib.pdf: 634466 bytes, checksum: ee2ea3ce72ab4fb49ec0279d8c93dd87 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este estudo foi realizado na represa de Jurumirim, alto rio Paranapanema – SP, em três trechos limnologicamente distintos (lótico, transição e lêntico) e em duas lagoas marginais próximas a região de desembocadura do Rio Paranapanema na represa de Jurumirim. O objetivo foi avaliar os padrões relacionados a partilha de recursos alimentares e a estrutura e organização trófica das assembleias de peixes desta represa. Os peixes foram coletados bimestralmente com redes de espera entre abril/2009 e fevereiro/2010. Foram analisados conteúdos estomacais de 24 espécies distribuídas em três ordens e onze famílias quais consumiram no total 50 itens alimentares identificados dispostos em nove categorias tróficas, sendo que os itens principais foram fragmento vegetal, fragmento de peixes e detrito orgânico Os peixes foram classificados mediante a análise de similaridade de acordo com o item preferencial consumido sendo possível reconhecer oito guildas tróficas: Herbívoro, Detritívoro, Piscívoro, Detritívoro/Herbívoro, Insetívoro, Invertívoro e Carcinófago. A guilda dos herbívoros, detritívoros e piscívoros ocorreram em todos os trechos amostrados, sendo a composição em termos de espécie das guildas variável entre os trechos, com nove das 24 espécies estudadas ocorrendo em guildas distintas, indicando flexibilidade na dieta destas espécies. As assembleias de peixes da represa de Jurumirim apresentaram em sua maioria baixos valores de amplitude e sobreposição de nicho trófico, indicando que esta comunidade de peixes partilha os recursos alimentares. Portanto é possível concluir que a ictiofauna da represa de Jurumirim apresenta uma estrutura trófica bem estabelecida, qual as espécies partilham recursos alimentares de forma a evitar competição pelos recursos disponíveis / This study was carried in the Jurumirim Reservoir, Upper Paranapanema River, -SP in three distinct limnologic stretches (lotic, transition, lentic) and two marginal lagoons near the mouth of the Paranapanema river in the Jurumirim Reservoir. The aim was to evaluate the patterns related to food resources partitioning, as well as the trophic structure and organization of fish assemblages. Fish were collected bimonthly with gill nets between April/2009 and February/2010. The stomach contents of 24 species were analyzed, in three orders and eleven families which consumed a total of 50 identified food items arranged in nine trophic categories, with vegetal matter, fragment of fish and organic detritus waste as the main items in the diet of species. Fish were classified by the similarity analysis according to the preferential item consumed, and eight trophic guilds were recognized: herbivorous, detritivorous, piscivorous, detritivorous/herbivorous, insectivorous, invertivorous and carcinophagous. The guild of herbivorous, detritivorous and piscivorous occurred in all sampling sites. The species composition of trophic guilds was variable among sites, with nine of the 24 studied species occurring in different guilds, indicating flexibility in the diet of this species. The fish assemblage of Jurumirim Reservoir showed low niche breadth niche overlap values, indicating that this fish community share food resources. Therefore we conclude that the fish fauna of the reservoir Jurumirim has a well-established trophic structure, which species partitioning food resources to avoid competition

In the study of ecological community structure, the multivariate niche model has always been the assumed structural model. This model is closely connected to the multivariate two-sample problem. Important to the understanding of species interactions in a community is the measurement of the degree to which the niches of two species overlap, or to measure the similarity between the resource use distributions of the species. Discriminant analysis is the tool used most often to analyze the similarity. In this study, we discuss the most commonly used similarity measures, and develop measures that are less dependent on the assumptions of the usual discriminant analysis. Specifically measures arc derived assuming normal distributions with heterogeneous variance-covariance matrices arc derived. The problem of estimating the measures and their precision and accuracy is investigated. Two methods, the jackknife and the bootstrap, arc described for estimating the bias and variance of an estimated measure. The performance of these methods was evaluated using simulation. When the number of variables involved in the model is large, the estimates of these measures may be severely biased, and the bias is consistently negative. By collecting larger samples the bias can be reasonably adjusted. Two potentially important factors affecting results arc the disparity in the means and the heterogeneity of the variance-covariance matrices. It is shown that when the mean separation is small, the heterogeneity of the covariance matrices has a moderate effect on the bias, but the effect is diminished when the mean separation becomes larger. The variance of the similarity estimates is also related to the value of the measure and is a quadratic function of the similarity. The logarithmic transformation of the similarity is seen to linearize the variance of the similarity estimate. The jackknife method gives good adjustment of the bias of the estimated measures. Generally, the bootstrap method performs worse than the jackknife method. In some cases, especially when there are many redundant variables neither method gives reliable results. / Ph. D.