Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, September 2007.

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Montana, 2008. / Title from author supplied metadata. Description based on contents viewed on June 19, 2009. ETD number: etd-01142009-131434. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1955. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-120).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oulu, 1988. / List of original papers of the author. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, April 2009.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Structure, in its many forms, is a central theme in theoretical population ecology. At a mathematical level, it arises as nonuniformities in the topology of nonlinear dynamical systems. I investigate a mechanism wherein a chaotic time series can have episodes of nearly periodic dynamics interspersed with more 'typical' irregular dynamics. This phenomenon frequently appears in biological models, and may explain patterns of alternating biennial and irregular dynamics in measles epidemics. I investigate the interaction between spatial structure and density-dependent population regulation with a simple model of two logistic maps coupled by diffusive migration. I examine two different consequences of spatial structure: scale-dependent interactions ("nonlocal interactions") and spatial variation in resource quality ("environmental heterogeneity"). Nonlocal interactions allow three general dynamical regimes: in-phase, out-of-phase, and uncorrelated. With environmental heterogeneity, the dynamics of the total population size can be approximated by a logistic map with the mean growth parameter of the two patches; the dynamics within a single patch are often less regular. Adding environmental heterogeneity to non-local interactions has little qualitative effect on the dynamics when the differences between patches are small; when the differences are large, uncorrelated dynamics are most likely to be seen, and there are interesting consequences for the stability of source-sink systems. A third type of structure arises when individuals differ from one another. Accurate prediction of extinction risk in small populations requires that a distinction be made between demographic stochasticity (variation among individuals) and environmental stochasticity (variation among years or sites). I describe and evaluate two tests to determine whether all the variation in population survivorship can be explained by demographic stochasticity alone. Both tests have appropriate probabilities of type I error, unless the survival probability is very low or very high. Small amounts of environmental stochasticity are often not detected by the tests, but the hypothesis of demographic stochasticity alone is consistently rejected when environmental stochasticity is large. I also show how to factor out deterministic sources of variability, such as density-dependence. I illustrate these tests with data on a population of Acorn Woodpeckers.

We investigate mechanisms to improve efficiency for line and point transect surveys of clustered populations by combining the distance methods with adaptive sampling. In adaptive sampling, survey effort is increased when areas of high animal density are located, thereby increasing the number of observations. We begin by building on existing adaptive sampling techniques, to create both point and line transect adaptive estimators, these are then extended to allow the inclusion of covariates in the detection function estimator. However, the methods are limited, as the total effort required cannot be forecast at the start of a survey, and so a new fixed total effort adaptive approach is developed. A key difference in the new method is that it does not require the calculation of the inclusion probabilities typically used by existing adaptive estimators. The fixed effort method is primarily aimed at line transect sampling, but point transect derivations are also provided. We evaluate the new methodology by computer simulation, and report on surveys of harbour porpoise in the Gulf of Maine, in which the approach was compared with conventional line transect sampling. Line transect simulation results for a clustered population showed up to a 6% improvement in the adaptive density variance estimate over the conventional, whilst when there was no clustering the adaptive estimate was 1% less efficient than the conventional. For the harbour porpoise survey, the adaptive density estimate cvs showed improvements of 8% for individual porpoise density and 14% for school density over the conventional estimates. The primary benefit of the fixed effort method is the potential to improve survey coverage, allowing a survey to complete within a fixed time and effort; an important feature if expensive survey resources are involved, such as an aircraft, crew and observers.

The effects of food abundance on the population dynamics and territorial behaviour of red squirrels were examined during a four year study in south-central British Columbia, Canada. I used a short-term, ad libitum addition of supplemental food in Douglas fir (low squirrel population density) and white spruce (high squirrel population density) forest habitats to examine changes in demography and spacing behaviour. Removal experiments in spring and autumn assessed the effect of residents on breeding density and juvenile recruitment and the influence of settlement patterns on recolonization density. If food is a limiting resource, I expected population density, recruitment, body weight, growth rates and reproduction to increase on the food supplemented areas. Population density in spruce control habitat was consistently twice as high as in Douglas fir control habitat (26 vs. 15) from 1985 to 1988. The addition of supplemental food resulted in a four-fold increase in population density in Douglas fir habitat and a two-fold increase in spruce habitat, indicating that populations in both habitats were food limited, but more strongly in Douglas fir habitat. The increase in density was the result of a strong increase in the recruitment of immigrants, primarily juveniles of unknown origin. Both recruitment to the food-supplemented grids and the decline in density following the removal of food were density-dependent. Stable population density may be the result of an inflexible territory size despite large changes in food abundance. To test this hypothesis, I monitored changes in territory size, home range size, the number of territories, intruder pressure, movement patterns and activity budgets in response to supplemental food. Supplemental food significantly decreased territory size and resulted in a five-fold increase in the number of territories in Douglas fir habitat. Territory size did not decrease in white spruce habitat, but there was a two-fold increase in the number of territories. In both habitats, immigrants established territories in previously unoccupied areas and in Douglas fir habitat, some immigrants established small territories on areas formerly used by residents who had defended large territories. There was an increase in the intensity that red squirrels travelled over their territories, a decrease in the proportion of time spent away from their territories and an increase in the proportion of time spent defending their territories. These behavioural changes appeared to offset the increased competitor density on the enriched territories, enabling red squirrels to defend territories larger than necessary for their current food requirements. This limited flexibility in territory size may reduce the amplitude of fluctuations in population density despite large changes in food abundance. Territorial behaviour can limit breeding density and juvenile recruitment. When territorial residents were removed from Douglas fir habitat in spring, red squirrel populations returned to a density similar to the control or pre-removal density in five of six removal trials. In autumn, population density returned to control or pre-removal densities in four of six trials. In white spruce habitat, population density returned to control or pre-removal levels in three of four trials in both spring and autumn. In both Douglas fir and spruce habitat, immigrants of unknown origin repopulated the removal areas. After removals in spring, females in breeding condition immigrated to the removal areas in five of six trials in Douglas fir habitat and in all four trials in spruce habitat. Settlement patterns did not appear to influence either territory size or recolonization density. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate