In 1993, to determine if wild-strain mallard releases could be used as a management practice to increase local mallard breeding populations, I released 2,344,4.5- week-old mallard ducklings (1,200 females and 1,144 males) to wetlands on 12,10.4-km2 sites (approximately 200 per site, 100 females, 100 males) in the North Dakota Prairie Pothole Region. I monitored the release sites to determine if any relationship existed between site characteristics and time of release to duckling survival estimates. I conducted breeding pair surveys during 1994 and 1995 on treatment and paired control sites to compare post-release population levels. Lastly, I analyzed return data and habitat use, and conducted behavioral experiments to determine if wild-strain mallards experienced higher mortality rates and if any observed differences could be explained by behavior. In 1994,1 observed 55 of the nasal saddled ducklings returning as adult fem ale to the release sites. In 1995, only 5 nasal saddled females were observed, both on treatment and control sites. No difference was observed hi breeding pair populations on treatment and control sites in 1994 (P = 0.18) and 1995 (P = 0.59). Hard-released wild-strain mallard females had lower survival rates than wild (P = 0.01) and modified gentle-release wild-strain females (P = 0.05). Ail wild-strain females were virtually eliminated from the population by year 4. This suggests that these buds may have been more vulnerable to predation and other mortality factors than wild females. Breeding wild and wild-strain mallard females reacted similarly to human approach, but when flushed, wild females flew farther than wild-strain females (P = 0.0002). Wetlands used by wild-strain females differed from wild females during breeding by type (P < 0.0001) and cover (P = 0.0003) classification. Wild-strain females selected larger, more permanent wetlands exhibiting less emergent vegetation than did wild counterparts. These differences may help to explain why wiki-strain mallard releases did not increase local breeding populations. The lack of band recoveries for wild-strain females during the latter years when viewed in the context of the observed behavioral differences suggests that these birds were unable to adapt to conditions in the wild.

Sport events and attractions which encourage both participants and spectators are seen as significant contributors to the tourism economy (Delpy, 1998; Glyptis, 1991; Standeven & DeKnop, 1999). Further, Gratton and Taylor (2000) note that sport related travel accounts for 7% of total expenditure on sport. To date, the main focus of event sport tourism research has been on the economic impact of large-scale sport events (Burgan & Mules, 1992; Crompton, 1995; Mules & Faulkner, 1996; Walo, Bull, & Breen, 1996). However, Higham (1999) posits that smaller scale events such as regular season games may be of greater benefit to the host community as these events are hosted within existing infrastructure and therefore limit the need for public expenditure. However, fans who travel to regular season competition are a market segment that has been largely ignored by both sport and tourism marketers. Sport marketers have focused on home game attendance, media viewership and product purchases, while tourism marketers have focused on leveraging the destination. Anecdotal evidence suggests that fans who travel organise a substantial proportion of their discretionary time and income around this activity. Recent research by Gibson, Willming and Holdnak (2002, 2003) has begun to understand the behaviours of sport fans who travel to home games. This study seeks to understand the behaviours and experiences of those who travel to attend away games. In particular the study asks: What motivates fans to travel to follow professional sport teams, what experiences fans have and seek during the travel, and what place does travelling to follow a sport team have in the overall consumption behaviour of sport fans. This study examined the motives and experiences of six fan groups travelling interstate to follow their Australian Football League (AFL) team in the 2001 season. As the behaviours and experiences of those who travel to follow sport teams have not previously been explored, exploratory analysis using an iterative process of constant comparison between data colleted from the research setting and the existent literature. Using this method the researcher was able to describe the social world under investigation without preconceived hypotheses. The researcher travelled interstate with each fan group, and collected data via participant observation and interviews with key informants. Data were coded using standard protocols for analysis of qualitative data (Spradley, 1980). The researcher read through the transcripts and field notes and coded all phrases and opinions from the manuscript. Data were analysed through the process of data reduction, selective sampling of the literature, and selected sampling of the data (Stern, 1980). From the initial codes, data reduction identified core variables and emergent themes. Through this grounded theory methodology, a conceptual model was developed which illustrates the motives and experiences of those who travel to follow professional sport teams. Three distinct types of groups were identified, each garnering a distinctive sport tourism experience. The groups identified were: supporter groups, long-term travel groups, and temporary travel groups. While travel to follow the team is the stated rationale for all three groups, the game experience for each is substantially different, four major themes emerged which distinguished the groups and the experiences that they had. These were: (1) group structure, (2) trip characteristics, (3) socialisation, and (4) game experience and reaction to game outcome. Each type of group was found to have a distinct group structure, communication pattern, but differed in terms of the objects to which they identified. Findings suggest that sport fans do not necessarily identify with the team or related object, but can identify with a smaller social group, which has a shared interest in the team. These elements of group structure and point of identification were found to have a reciprocal relationship with various travel elements that were utilised by each group including the mode of transport, temporal elements, choice of destination, and activities at the destination. In particular, the travel elements were chosen so that each group type could best express and experience that which is core to each group. Further analysis suggested that the experience of each of the groups was influenced by the continual development of the group both before and during the travel experience. For the supporter groups and long-term travel groups, rituals, symbols, and folklore played a key role in the experience. These elements of performance were used to continually shape and interpret the travel experience. One would expect that the game would have elevated importance, as it is the activity that legitimates each group. However, the on-field game did not have prime importance. Instead the different points of identification of each group were used as a basis through which the game was experienced. Key implications for sport and tourism marketing suggest that the sport tourism experience is more than an experience of place or an experience of watching the sport. Identification with a small social group is sufficient to generate travel to follow a team. By providing a setting which immerses participants in a particular identity for a prolonged period of time, the act of travelling itself can create a social climate that encourages participants to undertake the trip week after week, and form deep connection to the team. Implications for practice and future research directions are also discussed.

Studies described in this thesis were performed to investigate associations among season, diet, pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) and blood concentrations of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), insulin, glucose, and leptin in horses. In the first study, higher ACTH concentrations were detected in horses affected with PPID. A seasonal increase in plasma ACTH concentration was detected in the late summer and early fall, but PPID did not affect the timing or duration of this increase. Pasture grazing raised glucose and insulin concentrations with a peak in September, at the same time that horses had higher ACTH concentrations, and this convergence of risk factors may raise the risk of laminitis. All of the horses included in this study were from the same farm. The second study was performed to determine whether horses from different locations within the same region exhibited the same seasonal increase in ACTH concentrations. Results of this study indicate that the seasonal increase in plasma ACTH concentrations occurs in horses from different farms with varying management practices. The third study investigated the effects of season on plasma leptin concentrations in the horses from the first study. We hypothesized that higher leptin concentrations would be detected in advance of the seasonal increase in plasma ACTH concentrations. Results did not support our hypothesis because leptin concentrations increased after ACTH concentrations peaked in September. Our findings suggest that the seasonal increase in ACTH concentrations induced leptin resistance, which might facilitate weight gain in the autumn. Alternatively, leptin concentrations increased as a result of weight gain or change in body fat composition. In summary, season appears to signal upregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in horses, in an effort to prepare for winter. This upregulation is retained in horses with PPID, a disorder associated with loss of dopaminergic inhibition to the pars intermedia of the pituitary. The seasonal rise in plasma ACTH concentrations is followed by an increase in leptin concentrations, which suggests the development of leptin resistance or an increase in adiposity.

Grassland birds have declined more than any other guild of birds in North America, largely due to loss and degradation of native grasslands. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has restored some native warm-season grasses (NWSG), but grassland birds continued to decline (-1.1% annually) partly due to the limited acreage converted (1% of southeastern US). Using NWSG in production settings provides profit incentive to landowners while reducing dependency on government programs. Studies examining these production practices and their effect on grassland birds east of the Great Plains are limited. During 2009 – 2010, I surveyed 102 NWSG fields in Kentucky and Tennessee being used for production purposes (control, biofuel, seed, hay, and pasture treatments) to assess bird use and vegetation characteristics. Landscape cover around each field (250, 500, and 1000 m) was digitized from aerial photography. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA), I compared bird (relative abundance, species diversity, and species richness) and vegetation (average height, litter depth, vertical cover, litter cover, and vegetation cover) metrics across the five treatments. Relative abundance for all species, species diversity, and species richness were all greater for seed production fields (P <0.05); other treatments did not differ. Field sparrows (Spizella pusilla) were less abundant (P <0.05) in biofuel than control, hay and graze treatments, whereas eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella magna) and dickcissels (Spiza americana) were more abundant in seed fields. Average vegetation height, vertical cover, percent litter, percent forbs and percent woody plants differed (P <0.05) among treatments. Using Program Mark, I modeled occupancy for field sparrow, red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), eastern meadowlark, and northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) using vegetation and landscape cover as covariates. Treatment was influential in field sparrow and eastern meadowlark models, but not those for red-winged blackbird and northern bobwhite. Occupancy for field sparrow and northern bobwhite were affected by woody cover (+), for red-winged blackbird by vegetation height (-), and for eastern meadowlark by litter depth (+) or percent NWSG (+). All four species were negatively affected by forest within 250-m. Use of NWSG in production could increase the amount of available habitat and thus, help conservation efforts for grassland birds.

<p>Recent changes in the timing of annual events are a sign that climate change is already impacting ecosystems. Carbon sequestration by forests increases with longer growing seasons. Biodiversity can be affected by mis-timing of events through shading interactions and frost damage. Projecting forests' ability to provide these ecosystem services in the future requires an understanding of trees' phenological responses to a new climate. I begin by proposing a first order definition of an `optimal' phenological response to warming: that the mean temperature following budburst should remain essentially constant. Analogously, the temperature preceding senescence can serve the same role. </p><p>To understand which environmental cues will drive future changes in phenology, I assimilate clues from observational and experimental literature. For budburst in woody plants, spring warmth, over-winter chilling and light drive nearly all behavior, but species' responses vary widely. Species using chilling or light as safety mechanisms against budburst during mid-winter thaws are thought to be less able to phenologically track a warming climate. However, I show that even species cued solely by spring warmth are likely to under-track temperature changes. Fall cues are more idiosyncratic, and a plant's driver of senescence is likely to vary from year to year. </p><p>Models are a tempting method to untangle species budburst cues and forecast phenology under warmer climate scenarios. I tested two models' ability to recover parameters used to simulate budburst data. The simpler model was cued only by spring warmth while the complex one modulated warmth requirements with chilling exposure. For the simple model, parameters could be recovered consistently from some, but not all, regions of parameter space. The complex model's parameters were largely unrecoverable. To understand the consequences of parameter uncertainty, I applied both models to an 18 year phenological record of 13 deciduous tree species. While a few species fell into identifiable regions of the simple model's parameter space, most did not, and projected budburst dates had wide parameter-derived uncertainty intervals. These bands were wider still under a 5°C warming scenario. Even greater uncertainty resulted from the complex model.</p><p>To better understand plants' potential for growing season extension I subjected seedlings to warmer climates in a series of open-topped chambers in sites at each end of the eastern deciduous biome. Soil and air were heated to 3 or 5°C above ambient, or left unheated. For nearly all species, warming hastened budburst and germination and delayed senescence. However, these events failed to track temperature changes, happening at warmer temperatures in hotter chambers. Individual species showed a remarkable variability of all events' dates within treatments, and even within chambers. Because phenological traits are heritable, this offers a potential for evolutionary response to climate change.</p><p>This research has shown that while individual trees extend their growing seasons under warmer temperatures, they typically under-respond to the magnitude of warming, suggesting forests' capacity for increased carbon sequestration may reach a limit. However, within populations, trees vary substantially in their phenological responses, forming a possibility for evolutionarily adaptation to changing cues.</p> / Dissertation

<p>This research investigated the nature, source and the spatial variation of the salinity of the water used for irrigation in the urban farming area of Philippi, which lies in the Cape Flats region of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area, South Africa. The irrigation water is mainly drawn from the Cape Flats aquifer, and pumped into ponds for eventual crop irrigation. Water samples were collected in summer and in winter from fifteen selected sites using standard water sampling procedures. Each site consisted of one borehole and one pond. The samples were routinely analyzed for salinity levels, and concentrations of major and minor ions. From the same boreholes and ponds, water was sampled in summer for isotope analysis to assess effects of evaporation on the water quality and salinity. Descriptive statistics were used to display the variation in range of specific ions in order to compare them with the recommended ranges. Geographical Information Systems analysis described the spatial distribution of the salinity across the study area, and hydrogeochemical analysis characterized the various waters and detected similarities between the water samples in the study area and other waters found in the Cape Flats region. In addition, the US salinity diagram classification of irrigation water developed by Richards (1954) was used to assess the current suitability of groundwater and pond water samples collected during the entire sampling period for irrigation activities. The research indicated that the concentrations of some ions such as chloride, nitrate, potassium and sodium exceeded in places in the study area, the target range values set by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF, 1996) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (Ayers and Westcot, 1985). It revealed that borehole and pond water were mostly brackish across the area regarding their total dissolved salts content, and fresh water was only found in the middle part of the study area. The research found that sea water does not intrude into the aquifer of the study area, and the accumulation of salts in groundwater and soil in the study area is mainly due to the agricultural activities and partially due to the natural movement of water through the geological formation of the Cape Flats region. The conceptual model of the occurrence of the salinization process supported these findings. From this investigation it is understood that the groundwater and pond water in the study area were generally suitable for irrigation purposes but they have to be used with caution as the vegetables are classified as sensitive and moderately sensitive to salt according to DWAF Irrigation water guidelines (1996). The quality of these waters was mainly affected by the land use activities.</p>

This study investigated the abundance of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) on inter-tidal sandbanks, mother-pup interactions as well as the impact of anthropogenic disturbance during breeding season. The abundance was a composite picture of harbour seals of different age and sex, and increased gradually towards peaks in June. Although the sandbank water inlet was the longest time emerged, mother-pup pairs and other seals hauled out more abundant on the other sandbanks, probably due to space availability, differences in sandbank structure and distance to human activity. Mothers and their offspring were found to be mostly inactive during haul out. Mothers initiated significantly more frequently interactions i.e. hauling out, entering water and suckling. Seals hauled out at sandbanks close to the dyke were most frequently disturbed by pedestrians. Important regarding the impact on the seals seemed to be the group size of pedestrians and the distance to the seals (on dyke or seaside of it), i.e. pedestrians seaside disturbed more seals. This applies also to the disturbance by marine activity, e.g. distance of seals to the engine boat. Jet fighters were shown to affect the highest mean number of seals per event. After anthropogenic disturbances separations of mother and offspring were not recorded, e.g. due to seals being in the water; however, the steep edges as result of the culvert at water inlet lead to a few separations. The most frequent behavioural response towards anthropogenic disturbance was commotion with a probably lower level of energy costs during the energy consuming lactation period.

Tree transplanting practices influence plant survival, establishment, and subsequent landscape value. The inability to adequately quantify effects of inappropriate tree planting and transplanting practices threatens long-term viability and productivity (sustainability) of trees within terrestrial ecosystems. Tree planting depth, i.e. location of the root collar relative to soil grade, is of particular concern for tree growth, development, and performance in the landscape. A series of model studies was conducted to investigate effects of planting depth, container production methods, and transplanting practices on landscape establishment of container-grown trees. Studies included determining the effect of planting depth and soil amendments on live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill.) and baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) L. Rich.), the effect of planting depth during container production and subsequent landscape establishment of lacebark elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.), the effect of planting depth and irrigation practices on landscape establishment of sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.), and the effect of planting depth and transplant season on landscape establishment of baldcypress. Optimum planting depth varied among species and was dependent on cultural practices and/or environmental conditions. Overall, live oak and baldcypress growth was better when planted with root collars at grade in sand in raised beds compared to planting below grade in control soils. Lacebark elm growth was greater when planted at grade during the initial container production phase and below grade in the second container production phase. Subsequent landscape establishment was variable, but planting at grade to 5 cm above grade produced greater growth. Sycamore trees planted below grade had increased mortality and decreased growth compared to trees planted at grade or above grade, while irrigation had no effect. Baldcypress planted above grade had reduced growth compared to those planted at or below grade, while transplant season had no effect. Species and cultivars within species may differ markedly in their response to environmental/cultural stresses, including planting depth. Each tree species originating from a specific environment may represent an ecotype adapted to that particular environment. Therefore, tree survival and performance may depend on the difference between the environment from which the tree was grown and the experimental system into which it is introduced.

The purpose of this study was to assess satisfaction with the season ticket selling process administered by a minor league baseball franchise. Minor league sport organizations rely heavily on season ticket sales and retention, therefore, knowing the perceptions of consumers gives organizations an opportunity to fulfill consumer needs. Respondents (N=615) to a consumer satisfaction survey included season (N=365) and non-season (N=250) ticket holders of a southern Triple-A baseball team. Results indicate ineffective television and radio advertisements, favorable experience with the purchasing process, fair and appropriate price, consumer ticket use related to perceived team connection, and repurchase intention was not based on club’s win-loss. Future investigations should distinguish if perceptions change longitudinally when managers attempt to address consumer needs.

In this thesis, land surface emissivity variations are examined with respect to the land surface type, wavelength, and time (season and month) for the seven selected regions in Turkey using MODIS emissivity database and precipitation amount. Investigating land surface emissivity variations are important in many applications and it is known that studies about these variations are done for many regions except Turkey. This study is prior knowledge for Turkey to be used in infrared (IR) background models, surface radiation budget calculations, and land cover type classifications specific for Turkey. The results indicate that precipitation has a great influence on monthly/seasonal emissivity values depending on the land cover type and causes spectral emissivity variations. As a result, we determined appropriate IR wavelengths for the investigation of the seasonal emissivity variations and seasonal factors causing emissivity variations according to the land cover types.