The Great Salt Lake (GSL) wetlands account for ~75% of all Utah wetlands and provide not only critical habitat for millions of migratory birds, but also provide valuable ecosystem functions and services as well as economic benefits to Utahns. However, these wetlands are facing an aggressive invader, Phragmites australis, that has spreading across the GSL wetlands and replacing native wetland habitats. Wetland managers have spent countless resources and time trying to control the spread of P. australis and restore GSL wetlands. However, we do not fully understand how these wetlands functions and services are being altered with this habitat homogenization because functional data for our wetland species have not been well documented. This lack of knowledge may hinder wetland restoration efforts. To create baseline functional data for the GSL wetland species and better understand how the spread of P. australis might be affecting the overall health of the system, I measured eight individual ecosystem functions for seven dominant habitat types found across the GSL wetlands. I compared these individual functions across habitat types as well as created two different multifunctionality indices using an averaging and a thresholds approach. With these comparisons, I was able to determine the distinct functional strengths of different wetland habitat types and their overall functional abilities. I found that functional abilities varied greatly by habitat type and that not one single habitat could support every function even at the lowest threshold measured. I found that Typha latifolia, Schoenoplectus acutus, and P. australis, had the highest multifunctional values. However, I also found that some habitats offered unique functions, such as Salicornia rubra and playa, and that these functions were lacking in other habitats, including the most multifunctional habitats. These findings suggest that maintaining habitat heterogeneity will be critical in ensuring a fully functioning wetland system that can provide a multitude of ecosystems services that benefit both humans and wildlife. The findings of this study will supply wetland managers with a better understanding of the functional strengths of different wetland habitats. This data will aid in ongoing restoration efforts by enabling managers to target certain functions and create more efficient and effective management plans.

Kennecott copper mine is one of the largest producers of pollution in the United States: it has contaminated over 72 square miles in the Salt Lake Valley. In 1998 alone, Kennecott, which is located only 25 miles southwest of downtown Salt Lake City, released 439 million pounds of toxic material into the Salt Lake Valley. Kennecott was proposed as a Superfund site by the EPA in 1994. Today it is the largest manmade excavation in the world. When mining operations began in 1863 at what is now Kennecott, Salt Lake City was a small city of just over 8,000 (Census, 1860). In recent years, the city has expanded toward Kennecott, so that once distant hazards are now literally in Salt Lake City’s residents’ backyards. According to the basic patterns commonly identified in the academic literatures on environmental justice and urban growth, as the Salt Lake City metropolitan area grows towards Kennecott the assumptions would be (1) Kennecott’s mining activities would be severely hindered by the influence of the EPA or would be forced to close due to the proximity of residents. (2) Those living/moving nearest to the area would most likely be low income people with no other options. (3) Arousal of community opposition to Kennecott as residents continue to move closer, which in this paper is referred to as “reverse” NIMBYism. However, none of the assumptions are the case. Why is it that Kennecott continues to function at full capacity without direct influence by the EPA and those residents encroaching upon it are not of low income and are not in opposition? This study of social, urban and historical geography will address these questions by exploring the spatial, economic and political history of Kennecott, Salt Lake City and the EPA, with a focus on the recent and ongoing development of 20,000 new homes in the area called Daybreak. The analysis will draw on analytical and theoretical approaches common to geographical analyses of urban growth and sprawl, environmental perception and environmental justice in relation to the nexus of spatial, economic and political circumstances which have led to the development of a new housing area on previously polluted land.

Under Gause's principle two species cannot indefinitely occupy the same niche. The north and south arms of Great Salt Lake are separated by a rail causeway, resulting in salinity differences and color variation between the arms. Farmington Bay is also separated from the south arm by a vehicular causeway to Antelope Island. These causeways allow examination of competitive exclusion of cyanobacteria in the hypersaline environment of the Great Salt Lake. Cyanobacterial distributions partially map salinity, with Aphanothece halophytica proliferating in the north arm, and Nodularia spumigena in the south arm. I hypothesized that cyanobacterial species abundant north of the railway causeway are competitively excluded from the south by other species, and that cyanobacterial species that thrive and bloom south of the Antelope Island causeway cannot grow in the high salinity of the north. To test these hypotheses, 129 flasks of autoclaved water from the north and south sides of each causeway were inoculated with Great Salt Lake water samples from the north and south sides of the causeways. Four genera of cyanobacteria, Aphanothece, Oscillatoria, Phormidium, and Nodularia were identified and counted from the culture flasks using comparative differential interference contrast, fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy. Counts of the cyanobacteria found in each flask were totaled and two way Analysis of Variance tests as well as exact tests were performed. Rankings of median abundances were also calculated. These data support the first hypothesis because Aphanothece halophytica was found in all inocula, but appears to be suppressed by the presence of Nodularia spumigena, which periodically blooms. The second hypothesis is also supported by the data because N. spumigena was found only in inocula from the less saline waters south of Antelope Island causeway, and apparently cannot survive the high saline waters north of the railway causeway.

Ooids of Great Salt Lake, Utah (GSL) have been studied periodically by geologists since the 1960's. These studies have documented the locations of ooid deposits, bulk composition, mineralogy, and internal structural variations of GSL ooids. Ooids have also been identified in sediment cores from lakes predating the Great Salt Lake, but similar descriptions have not been made for these ooids. Samples of ooids from cores in Pilot Valley, UT/NV and Knolls, UT have been obtained, along with samples from the Great Salt Lake at Bridger Bay and Rozel Point. The cortical fabrics and crystal morphologies of these ooids were studied in thin section and under scanning electron microscopy. Examples of cortex morphologies previously documented in GSL ooids were observed, to some degree, in ooids from Pilot Valley and Knolls. Knolls ooids had unique cortical layers that were resistive to acid and appeared to be dominantly comprised of clays. Bulk dissolution ages were obtained for ooids from each location. Ooids form both Pilot Valley and Knolls had average ages that pre-date Lake Bonneville, whereas GSL ooids from Bridger Bay had an average age of roughly 3,500 years before present (yr BP) and Rozel Point ooids had an average age of 500 yr BP. Along with a bulk age, ooids from Bridger Bay at the Great Salt Lake were subjected to serial dissolutions during which a split of gas was taken from each stage and an age was obtained. Ages spanned 7,000 years with the final dissolution stage delivering an average age of 9,000 yr BP. Based on this data it is likely that GSL ooids at Bridger Bay have been forming since the cessation of Lake Bonneville and that many of the nuclei in Bridger Bay ooids are remnant peloids from the Gilbert level of Lake Bonneville.

The purpose of this study was two fold: (1) to determine if there was a significant difference in attitude toward the church and certain of its teachings and practices between those who were pressured into taking seminary and those who enrolled because they wanted to and (2) to compare the change in attitude of the students who were pressured into seminary with the change in attitude of the students who were not pressured into seminary after completing their first year.

This thesis traces the origin, development, and decline, from 1852 to 1904, of Salt Lake County's judicial precincts. A precinct functioned as the basic subdivision of county government. Its boundaries were generally coterminous with those of local communities. It was established to allow for a degree of local control by the people.Chapter two reveals that precinct justices experienced over time a marked decline in socio-political prominence. This is largely due to legislative statutes that decreased their jurisdictional powers. Chapter three examines the evolution of precinct boundaries. It is demonstrated that geographic distribution of individuals played a major role in the growth and eventual consolidation of community precincts. The relative availability of government services also fostered the development of county districts. Chapter four studies the role of the minor precinct officials in local government--constables, estray poundkeepers, and fenceviewers. The last chapter devotes attention to the factors that influenced the institution. The appendix lists the county's justices of the peace from 1852 to 1904.

The purpose of this thesis was to bring to light as much of the music as possible, all the performers that could be recorded, and sufficient audience reaction to indicate the musical preferences of the area in order to provide an accurate, detailed account of the early years in the Salt Lake Theatre, 1862 - 1870. There was also the desire to present these things in such a way that they would be reliable, factual, complete, and still, if possible, interesting. An attempt was made to capture the spirit of the times, to make the characters "live," to transport the reader back to those early pioneering times in the theatre.

A group of Utah citizens, supported by the Salt Lake Tribune, campaigned in May and June of 1968 to change Utah's liquor distribution system from a state-owned package method to one which would allow mixed drinks. Opponents of the change were supported by the Deseret News.The two newspapers became the spokesmen for the two opposing groups. A careful analysis of them shows that of the 2,844.6 column inches of space in the Tribune, and of the 1,856.2 column inches in the News, exclusive of advertising, more than eight per cent in each newspaper supported the editorial stand of that newspaper, while only slightly more than six per cent opposed it.Neither the Salt Lake Tribune nor the Deseret News lived up to the standards of the journalism profession in the handling of the liquor issue in Utah. A complete view of the issues could not have been seen by reading either newspaper. Both were guilty of serving special interest groups; both used their news columns for opinion; both suppressed news and facts which did not conform with their own views; and both failed to be fair and impartial in reporting the two sides of the issue.

[Truncated abstract] This study focussed on how isolation and environmental heterogeneity in salt lakes has influenced intraspecific variation in the calanoid copepod Calamoecia clitellata. Calamoecia clitellata relies on passive vectors for dispersal, and this, coupled with the insular nature of salt lakes, may promote genetic divergence at a molecular level. When contrasting environments are involved, genetic divergence may also occur at the life history level, possibly due to local adaptation. I examined the distribution of genetic variation among 14 populations in Western Australia using molecular genetic markers, and examined variation in life history traits among contrasting environments. To ascertain how isolation had influenced molecular genetic variation, I determined population genetic structure and used a phylogeographic approach to infer the impact of historical events. Environmentally induced variation was also evident in the field, with a switch from subitaneous egg production to resting egg production coinciding with changing environmental conditions. It is proposed that plasticity in life history traits has evolved in response to temporal environmental heterogeneity … It can be concluded that isolation in salt lakes in Western Australia has influenced molecular and phenotypic variation in C. clitellata in contrasting ways. At the molecular level, contemporary and historical isolation have promoted genetic divergence of populations, yet when coupled with environmental heterogeneity, marked phenotype plasticity has arisen. This study raises questions as to whether phenotype plasticity is a widespread phenomena in zooplankton found in temporary saline waters and an adaptive strategy to tolerate marked temporal environmental heterogeneity

We examined tree rings from Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) timbers in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, constructed from 1863–1867 in Salt Lake City, Utah. A seismic upgrade to the Tabernacle initiated in 2005 required the replacement of wooden timbers with steel beams. Our objectives were to 1) determine cutting dates for the timbers to identify logs that may have been salvaged from previous structures, and consequently would have greater historical significance, 2) identify the species and provenance of the timbers, and 3) develop a chronology that could extend or strengthen the existing tree-ring record for environmental and historical applications in northern Utah. We built a 162-year floating chronology from 13 cores and 15 cross-sections, crossdated visually using skeleton plots and verified statistically with COFECHA. Statistically significant (p , 0.0001) comparisons with established chronologies from northern Utah indicated that the Tabernacle chronology extends from 1702–1862. Cutting dates ranged from 1836–1863, with most in 1862 or 1863 and a smaller cluster around 1855. The broad range of cutting dates suggests that some of the timbers were used in previous structures, and that some trees were dead before they were cut. This study provides valuable information for the preservation of historical materials, and increases the sample depth of existing chronologies during the 18th and 19th Centuries.