Big Bone Lick (BBL) is a late Pleistocene and Holocene fossil locality in the Ohio River valley of Kentucky. This study utilized stable isotopes (δ13C, δ18O, and 87Sr/86Sr) in tooth enamel to reconstruct mobility and diet in Bison, as well as diet in Bootherium bombifrons. Isotopic results from seven Bison and two B. bombifrons are reported. Results suggest Pleistocene Bison and Bootherium occupied different dietary niches. Although both had C3-dominated diets, Bison occupied more open environments than B. bombifrons. Two bison from the late Holocene deposit had diets that consisted of more C3 vegetation than Pleistocene bison, which may indicate these individuals occupied a closed C3 landscape. However, one specimen previously identified as late Holocene had diet and mobility patterns consistent with Pleistocene bison, which could indicate temporal mixing. Pleistocene and Holocene Bison have 87Sr/86Sr values that suggest they spent most of their time in places other than BBL.

In rivers that shift in their natural or modified physical structure, it is expected that organisms alter their resource use with the shifts in physical changes. The Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) is a modified river basin and stark contrasts in both the physical structure of habitat types and biological structure in the types of organisms present exist spatially. The upper reaches of the basin contain more complex habitat types than the lower reaches which suggests resource use of fishes likely differs at least between upper and lower reaches. To date, the resource use of some commercially important, invasive, and imperiled species has been studied. However, little information regarding resource use exists for most native fishes. Understanding resource use and how it differs across time and space would benefit managers of the UMRS as programs are underway to restore and manage the system. To determine how resource use of native fishes differs spatially and temporally in the UMRS, I quantified resource use of ten native fishes across six reaches of the UMRS using multiple techniques. At the largest spatial and temporal scale, I quantified the natal origins of six prey and two predatory fishes using trace element analysis. At a seasonal scale, I quantified the collective resource use of eight species using carbon and nitrogen isotopes to compare isotopic niche space, niche overlap, and community metrics. At the shortest scale, I quantified the diets of two predatory species that are thought to compete with one another. Both large scale similarities and nuances in resource use existed in the UMRS depending on the spatial and temporal contexts. At the longest scale, fishes consistently used network connectivity as tributaries and other mainstem river reaches contributed recruits to the mainstem river. However, the percentage of individuals resulting from network connectivity and the specific rivers that lent the recruits differed among species and reaches. Particularly, large tributaries like the Minnesota and Missouri rivers contributed relatively high numbers of recruits to nearby reaches compared to other tributaries, and the most downstream reaches had the greatest contributions from network connectivity. Prey fishes recruited more often from tributaries than predators whereas consumed prey and prey collected directly from the UMRS had similar origins which were consistent across years. At a seasonal scale, breadth of resource use of individual species and the assemblage and some community metrics increased whereas overlap decreased moving downstream in the UMRS. This shift in resource use metrics coincides with shifts in the physical structure of the system. At the shortest scale, diet compositions of the two predators were similar to one another and spatially among upper reaches in the UMRS. These two predators likely coexist in part due to diet plasticity and prey size allocations that differ between species. Additionally, the relative physical homogeneity of the upper reaches of the UMRS may have led to the spatial similarity in prey use. Together, these results suggest the physical structure of the system impacted the resource use of fishes, where trophic niches and use of network connectivity shifted with the shift in physical structure of the Mississippi River. At a minimum, spatial gradients in isotopic niches and percentage of individuals coming from network connectivity suggest the resource use of fishes in downstream reaches at seasonal and life-long scales differs from the upstream reaches within this system. These differences could stem from longitudinal or functional process zone shifts in the physical structure which cannot be determined given these data. In the context of management of the system, fishes use network connectivity to at least some degree across all species and sampling reaches, indicating that the connectivity in the system should at least be maintained if not improved. Additionally, fish move among reaches (i.e., through lock and dams) and tributaries, which highlights the need for interjurisdictional management not just in the UMRS but in nearby tributary systems like the Minnesota and Missouri River where fish originated.

Khirbet Summeily is an early Iron Age II site located northwest of Tell el-Hesi in Southern Israel. Excavations sponsored by the Cobb Institute of Archaeology have revealed a large structure with a potential ritual space dated to the Iron Age IIA (ca. 1000-980/850 B.C.E.). Recent interpretations suggest the site was integrated into a regional economic and political system and functioned as a potential administrative outpost based on the material culture and architecture recovered from the Iron Age IIA layers. This thesis presents the carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopic analyses of intra-tooth samples from ovicaprine and cattle remains to test herd management strategies in connection to administrative and cultic provisioning activities. The animal remains are used as proxies to identify political and economic ties through herd management patterns. These results will test the hypothesis that Khirbet Summeily was an administrative outpost integrated into a larger political and/or economic network.

Growth rates and diet patterns for sympatric pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus and shovelnose sturgeon S. platorynchus throughout the Missouri River and lower Mississippi River were examined. Pallid sturgeon growth in the Great Plains Management Unit (GPMU) was slower than in other river reaches until age 9 and pallid sturgeon from the Interior Highlands Management Unit (IHMU) and Coastal Plain Management Unit (CPMU) did not differ. No differences in growth between management units were detected for shovelnose sturgeon. Observed differences in growth between pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon were generally dependent upon which growth model was used, but pallid sturgeon were typically larger after age 4. Diet is considered a primary driver of growth. Stable isotopes are capable of examining diet over longer time periods than gut content studies, but that time frame is dependent on which tissue is selected. Using fin clips, diet of both pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon was evaluated via stable isotopes. Pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon trophic position (TP) was influenced by management unit. There was a slight, but not significant, latitudinal trend with pallid sturgeon TP increasing by approximately one full TP between the GPMU and CPMU. Pallid sturgeon growth was negatively related to TP but was unrelated to δ13C in the Missouri River. Shovelnose sturgeon growth was not related to TP, but was negatively related to δ13C in the Missouri River. Dissimilarity in TP combined with differences in δ13C between species suggests low diet overlap between these sympatric species, and neither species should be used as a surrogate for the other for prey consumption studies. Further, pallid sturgeon differences between the GPMU and the rest of the management units suggest that individuals from the GPMU could be managed separately from those in other management units.

While there is a clear link between riparian forests and freshwater organisms, floodplain forests are seldom investigated due to difficulties in sampling structurally complex and periodically inundated habitat. This lack of research has led to large knowledge gaps that hinder our understanding of the conservation value of these unique, complex ecosystems for inland fisheries. Therefore, I aimed to determine how bottomland hardwood forests influence fish taxonomic, functional diversity and food web structure. I hypothesized that fish taxonomic and functional diversity are driven by forest complexity and the aquatic food web structure is driven by terrestrial carbon sources, specifically forest vegetation. Results indicated a higher taxonomic diversity and functional richness in the floodplain forest and that this forest type provides thermal refugia for fish assemblages. Contrary to my prediction, phytomicrobenthos were a primary carbon production source driving some or all of the aquatic food web in a complex floodplain–river system.

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