Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / Brett K. Sandercock / Samantha Wisely / Anthropogenic activities and climate change have dramatically altered landscapes worldwide. The ability of species to cope and adapt to ongoing changes is likely a function of their behavior, movements, and sensitivity to fragmentation. Greater Prairie-Chickens (GPC) are a lek mating grouse native to the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC), for which inbreeding depression and anthropogenic avoidance are a concern. The goals of my dissertation were to: 1) identify genetic correlates of male performance which may influence population viability under current land use practices, 2) identify GPC habitat characteristics and delineate areas of critical GPC habitat necessary for GPC conservation, and 3) identify the relative importance of distance and habitat quality for maintaining genetic connectivity among spatially structured populations. First, I found male reproductive success and survival to be positively associated with genetic diversity. Using multistate modeling in Program Mark, male survival across the observed range of variation in number of alleles (15-22) increased more than fourfold from 0.17 to 0.77. Second, I found 35-40% of Kansas, and 1.5 % (11,000 Km squared) of the GPLCC, were considered high-quality lek habitats. Top performing logistic models predicting lek presence (wi=0.95) included strong effects of grassland cover and avoidance of anthropogenic disturbance. When this model was applied to putative future landscapes based on climate change and current land use trends over a 70-year period, I found a 27-40% reduction in habitat area and a 137 Km southeast shift in habitat distribution. Under equilibrium conditions we expect isolation by distance (IBD) to explain the distribution of genetic diversity. However, if the landscape restricts dispersal, then we might observe isolation by resistance (IBR). I used model selection procedures to choose among competing IBR or IBD models to explain the distribution of genetic diversity among GPC populations across Kansas and the GPLCC. IBD was never supported (R-square<0.02, P>0.09). The best models for Kansas (R2=0.69, P<0.02) and for the GPLCC (R-square=0.46, P<0.02) indicated that human-mediated landscape changes have influenced landscape permeability for dispersal. The integration of behavioral, landscape, and genetic data provided new insights on prairie-chicken ecology, and is a powerful approach for developing conservation strategies for sensitive species.

Recent decades have seen a surge of landscape concepts in archaeology. Despite strong, growing interest in landscapes, landscape archaeology lacks theoretical and methodological consistency and coherence. To address this problem, I develop a general, integrative framework for landscape archaeology.I argue that landscape concepts have a deep history in anthropological debate. Disagreements between landscape approaches are framed as recapitulations of an ongoing historical dialectic in anthropology. I suggest that fundamental binary oppositions in landscape archaeology can be understood in terms of the epistemological and philosophical distinctions between what Sahlins (1976) has termed cultural logic and practical reason. Optimistically, I offer the working hypothesis that landscape studies may form the synthesis of this entrenched dialectic.I argue that landscape perspectives in archaeology benefit from approaches in geography and ecology, but ultimately artifacts and behavior-based models will need to be built to explain archaeological landscape patterns. Drawing upon behavioral archaeology, I introduce the concepts of archaeological and systemic landscapes and argue that this distinction is critical for making inferences about systemic landscape processes from archaeological landscape patterns. Further, I consider the relevance of scale issues in analyzing landscape patterns and processes.In contradistinction to current approaches that highlight the role of perception and ritual in cognized landscapes, I argue that landscapes are also cognized according to techno-functional categories and suggest that in many cases, how landscapes are cognized is intimately related to how they are used.To model landscapes, I suggest that landscapes are networks and may share some properties with other kinds of biological, ecological, technological, and social networks. I argue that basic properties of landscapes may be allometrically related in manners similar, but potentially distinct from, relationships observed for non-human organisms in physiology and biology. In order to counter notions that human behaviors are either reflexes of environmental conditions or constitutive of environments, I advance the notion of landscape hierarchy. Finally, I explore aspects of systemic and archaeological landscapes relevant to a Class III pedestrian survey I directed in southern Arizona, the Ironwood Forest National Monument survey.

<p>The ultimate goal of wildlife recovery is abundance growth of a species, though it must also involve the reestablishment of the species’ ecological role within ecosystems frequently modified by humans. Reestablishment and subsequent recovery may depend on the species’ degree of adaptive behavior as well as the duration of their functional absence and the extent of ecosystem alteration. In cases of long extirpations or extensive alteration, successful reestablishment may entail adjusting foraging behavior, targeting new prey species, and encountering unfamiliar predatory or competitive regimes. Recovering species must also increasingly tolerate heightened anthropogenic presence, particularly within densely inhabited coastal zones. In recent decades, gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) recovered from exploitation, depletion, and partial extirpation in the Northwest Atlantic. On Cape Cod, MA, USA, gray seals have reestablished growing breeding colonies and seasonally interact with migratory white sharks (Carcarodon carcharias). Though well-studied in portions of their range due to concerns over piscivorous impacts on valuable groundfish, there are broad knowledge gaps regarding their ecological role to US marine ecosystems. Furthermore, there are few studies that explicitly analyze gray seal behavior under direct risk of documented shark predation. </p><p> In this dissertation, I apply a behavioral and movement ecology approach to telemetry data to understand gray seal abundance and activity patterns along the coast of Cape Cod. This coastal focus complements extensive research documenting and describing offshore movement and foraging behavior and allows me to address questions about movement decisions and risk allocation. Using beach counts of seals visible in satellite imagery, I estimate the total regional abundance of gray seals using correction factors from haul out behavior and demonstrate a sizeable prey base of gray seals locally. Analyzing intra-annual space use patterns, I document small, concentrated home ranges utilizing nearshore habitats that rapidly expand with shifting activity budgets to target disperse offshore habitats following seasonal declines in white sharks. During the season of dense shark presence, seals conducted abbreviated nocturnal foraging trips structured temporally around divergent use of crepuscular periods. The timing of coastal behavior with different levels of twilight indicate risk allocation patterns with diel cycles of empirical white shark activity. The emergence of risk allocation to explain unique behavioral and spatial patterns observed in these gray seals points to the importance of the restored predator-prey dynamic in gray seal behavior along Cape Cod.</p> / Dissertation

A fundamental question in biology is how animals efficiently locate and use diverse resources. Pollinators foraging on flowers are one of our most thoroughly studied examples of generalist foraging behavior and cognition. Individual pollinators typically specialize on a subset of flowering species available to them. Specialization by nectar-foraging pollinators is often the consequence of learned or innate preferences for floral display traits such as color, pattern, and scent. Pollinators must also typically learn to extract nectar from each floral type. By specializing, pollinators reduce costs associated with learning and forgetting nectar extraction routines. Specialization also benefits the plant by enhancing conspecific pollen transfer. Yet nectar is not the only floral reward. The pollen of hundreds of thousands of plant species is collected by pollinators such as bees, beetles, and flies. In fact, solitary and social bees must collect both pollen and nectar to survive. However, much of the vast literature on bee foraging behavior concerns the collection of nectar. This research investigated mechanisms by which generalist bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) specialize on diverse floral resources. Most foragers in a colony were reward generalists over their lifetime, but specialized daily on either pollen or nectar collection. Lifetime patterns of pollen collection were associated with interindividual differences in sensory morphology. Pollen-foraging bumblebees had weak innate preferences, but learned strong preferences for pollen-only plant species, with preferences mediated primarily by anther properties. The anthers provided indirect cues of concealed pollen, and bees learned to prefer properties of the anthers to select potentially rewarding flowers. While learning was involved in the formation of floral preferences by pollen foragers, pollen extraction behavior relied little on learning. Specifically, floral sonication, which is used by bees to extract concealed pollen, was modified only modestly with experience. Furthermore, bees foraged efficiently for pollen from diverse floral resources without relying on instrumental (associative) learning. Efficient foraging involved switching between two distinct motor routines: floral sonication and scrabbling. Switching was regulated by two ubiquitous floral cues: chemical anther cues eliciting sonication and mechanical pollen cues suppressing it (and eliciting scrabbling). I discuss how mechanisms of floral specialization by generalist pollen-foraging bees could drive floral trait evolution.

Les interactions comportementales entre hétérospécifiques, lors du contact entre deux populations auparavant isolées, sont source de nouvelles pressions de sélection sur les traits affectant ces interactions. Les traits impliqués notamment dans les interactions reproductives et compétitives évoluent en fonction de ces pressions et ces adaptations peuvent influencer le processus de spéciation. La communication entre individus joue un rôle particulièrement important dans la régulation des interactions comportementales intra et inter-spécifiques. L'évolution de la reconnaissance spécifique peut notamment permettre d'adapter les réponses comportementales lors des rencontres en fonction de l'identité spécifique des individus. Les études empiriques présentées ici ont eu pour objectif de tester, chez un organisme modèle (deux sous espèces de la souris domestique), le rôle de la sélection sexuelle contre les hybrides et de la compétition mâle-mâle par interférence dans la mise en place de l'isolement reproducteur. Nos résultats montrent que la sélection sexuelle peut avoir un double effet dans la zone hybride entre Mus musculus musculus et M. m. domesticus : réduire la fitness des hybrides, et limiter le flux de gènes à travers la zone. La compétition par interférence ne semble par contre pas avoir un rôle important dans l'évolution de la reconnaissance spécifique relativement aux pressions émergeant des interactions reproductives. Nos résultats mettent également en évidence des asymétries dans l'intensité des préférences homogames en zone de contact, qui pourraient être représentatives de pressions de sélection inégales entre sexes et entre sous-espèces. Cette dissertation se clôt sur une discussion sur les interactions entre différents processus évolutifs suite à un contact, et sur la notion de reconnaissance spécifique. / Behavioural interactions between heterospecifics, when two previously isolated populations come into contact, generate new selective pressure on traits involved in those interactions. Particularly, the traits involved in reproductive and competitive interactions evolve due to this selection, and these adaptations can affect the speciation process. Communication plays an important role in the regulation of behavioral interactions, both between and within species. Evolution of species recognition allows behavioral adjustment to the species of the encountered individuals. The empirical studies presented here aimed to test, on a model organism (two house mice subspecies), the role of sexual selection against hybrids, and of male-male interference competition, in the evolution of reproductive isolation. Our results show that sexual selection can act in th hybrid zone between Mus musculus musculus and M. m. domesticus, by reducing hybrid fitness, and by impeding gene flow through the zone. Interference competition however do not seem to be an important driver of the divergence of species-specific signals in the contact zone, and reinforcing selection is probably at the origin of this character displacement. Our results also enlighten asymmetries in homogamous preferences intensity, which could be due to differences in selective pressures depending on sex an subspecies. This dissertation ends on a discussion on interactions between process at play at secondary contact, and on the notion of species recognition.

A socioecologia estuda a diversidade dos sistemas sociais a partir dos princípios da ecologia comportamental. Roedores são bons modelos para o estudo dos sistemas sociais por apresentarem elevada variação no comportamento social, a qual pode ser uma adaptação selecionada no passado evolutivo e/ou uma resposta adaptativa ao contexto ecológico atual. Estudar preás para investigar a flexibilidade da organização social é relevante porque, apesar de explorarem vários ambientes diferentes, esses animais podem apresentar certa rigidez comportamental. Nesse contexto, a hipótese que avaliamos é a de que a organização social dos preás Cavia magna, um herbívoro pouco estudado, encontrado do Norte do Uruguai ao Sul do Brasil, depende de determinantes ecológicos atuais, sendo uma resposta adaptativa. A hipótese alternativa é a de que a organização social é uma resposta adaptada, limitada por características selecionadas no passado. Para isso, (1) caracterizamos suas interações sociais; (2) avaliamos as distâncias interindividuais durante o forrageamento, (3) analisamos o padrão de agregação dos indivíduos e (4) comparamos seus comportamentos e organização social com os dados disponíveis de uma população da espécie ocorrente no Uruguai e com os dados de Cavia intermedia, uma espécie endêmica das Ilhas Moleques do Sul, em Santa Catarina que apresenta adaptações ao habitat insular. Os preás foram observados em uma área urbana costeira, dentro do campus do Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC), em Florianópolis. Esse local apresenta isolamento da população em área pequena e com pouco risco de predação, isto é, uma área semelhante ao habitat insular. Observamos os preás na estação fria-seca e quente-úmida, por 60 dias. Concluímos que a população de C. magna do IFSC é social, pois encontramos grandes tamanhos médios de agregação, elevados Índices de Associação entre os indivíduos, e associações preferenciais em três grupos com conformação típica de harém. Constatamos que são poligínicos, porque o acesso às fêmeas diferiu entre os machos, e estes apresentaram mais comportamentos agonísticos que as fêmeas. A presença de hierarquia de dominância e ausência de comportamento territorialista dos machos indicaram que a poliginia foi sem defesa. Apesar de termos encontrado um sistema social semelhante ao de C. intermedia, não encontramos características típicas de síndrome insular. Dessa forma, corroboramos a hipótese de que a organização social dos preás é uma resposta adaptativa / Socioecology studies social systems applying the behavioral ecology principles. Studying rodents social systems represents a valuable opportunity once this group shows high variations on social behavior, which may be an adaptation selected in evolutionary past and/or an adaptative feedback to the ecological context. Investigate the social organization flexibility by studying cavies is relevant because of its relative behavioral rigidity, despite their occupation of different environments. In this context, we intend to evaluate our hypothesis on the Cavia magna, cavie social organization: it depends on current ecological factors, being an adaptive answer. C. magna is an herbivore found on northern Uruguay and south of Brazil. The alternative hypothesis is that the social organization is an adaptive answer, limited by reaction rules selected on the past. The cavies was observed in a coast urban area, inside of the Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC), in continental Florianópolis, Brazil. The population is isolated in a small area with low predatory risk, being similar to an insulated habitat. We collected data on social interaction, interindividual distances during foraging, grouping pattern and sexual ratio. This data was compared to the available data of Cavia intermedia, from the Moleques do Sul archipelago, specie that was probably derived from C. magna and presents adaptations to the insular habitat. Cavies were observed for 60 days in cold-dry and hot-wet season. We have concluded that the studied C. magna population is social, given that we have found relatively large mean groups size, high Association Indexes between individuals, and preferred associations in three clusters with typical harem structure. We have also found that the population is polygynous, because the access to females differed between male individuals, and the males performed significantly more agonistic behaviors than females. The existence of a dominance hierarchy and the absence of male territorial behavior pointed to polygyny without defense. Even though the studied social system is similar to the one observed on C. intermedia, we did not encounter typical insular syndrome features on C. magna. Accordingly, we have supported the hypothesis that the cavies social organization is an adaptive answer

No contexto da herbivoria, a interação inseto-planta é um sistema dinâmico. As plantas apresentam características que influenciam a preferência e o desempenho dos herbívoros, como por exemplo, a variação da dureza e espessura do limbo foliar, de forma dependente à espécie e à idade da estrutura considerada. Por sua vez, os insetos podem responder às barreiras das plantas por mecanismos fisiológicos e comportamentais. Há registro de nove espécies de passifloráceas utilizadas por Heliconius erato phyllis (Fabricius, 1775) para o Rio Grande do Sul. As larvas deste herbívoro, entretanto, alimentam-se preferencialmente de Passiflora misera Humbold, Bonplant & Kunth, que confere maior performance, apesar de apresentar menor quantidade de nutrientes que outras hospedeiras utilizadas (ex. Passiflora suberosa Linnaeus). Desta forma, o desempenho associado ao consumo de uma passiflorácea possivelmente relaciona-se, não só ao conteúdo nutricional desta, mas também aos mecanismos morfológicos e comportamentais envolvidos na alimentação. Neste trabalho, verificamos se a dificuldade em acessar o alimento, imposta pela dureza e espessura das folhas das hospedeiras e pelas limitações estruturais das mandíbulas de H. erato phyllis, reflete ou não alterações na utilização da planta, analisando os danos causados a estas e o comportamento das larvas deste herbívoro. Para tanto P. misera, P. suberosa, Passiflora caerulea Linnaeus, Passiflora edulis Sims e Passiflora alata Dryander foram cultivadas, sendo folhas jovens e velhas dessas passifloráceas caracterizadas quanto à dureza e espessura, tanto do limbo como da nervura central. A freqüência dos danos causados à P. misera, P. suberosa, P. caerulea e P. edulis foi avaliada, em relação à idade da folha e ao longo da ontogênese larval. Quantificou-se, também, o índice de microdureza de Vickers das mandíbulas para larvas criadas em P. misera e P. suberosa. Adicionalmente, o tempo relativo aos comportamentos (repousando, alimentando, deslocando, provando e cortando nervura) foi quantificado nas cinco passifloráceas, tanto em folhas jovens quanto nas velhas. Os dados obtidos evidenciaram a existência de variação expressiva em relação à idade da folha, quanto à dureza e espessura para as espécies de passifloráceas utilizadas pelas larvas de H. erato phyllis. O tipo e a freqüência do dano (corte do limbo, raspagem e corte da nervura central) foram influenciados pela variação desses parâmetros físicos, sendo que a raspagem do limbo ocorreu quando larvas de primeiro ínstar foram criadas em folhas velhas. Houve influência ontogenética no incremento de dureza das mandíbulas, porém não foram detectados indícios de que a planta hospedeira influencie no aumento deste parâmetro nessas estruturas. As larvas empregaram grande parte do tempo em repouso, independente da espécie de hospedeira e, na maioria dos casos, dedicaram mais tempo à alimentação em P. misera. Larvas observadas em P. alata dedicaram mais tempo ao repouso e menos tempo à alimentação realizando de uma a duas refeições com pequena duração, a cada seis horas. Esta discrepância no tempo destinado a todos os comportamentos das larvas em P. alata se deve, provavelmente, a fatores químicos inerentes a esta passiflorácea. Lagartas de primeiro ínstar em folhas velhas de P. suberosa e P. caerulea despenderam maior tempo no deslocamento, demonstrando que a procura por um sítio de alimentação favorável é de fundamental importância para esta fase do desenvolvimento, evidenciando assim que a dureza foliar constitui fator limitante para ínstares iniciais, neste heliconíneo. / The plant-insect interaction is a dynamic system. Variation in plant morphological traits such as hardness and thickness of the leaves can influence preference and performance of herbivores, depending upon the species and age of the plant structure taking into. On the other hand, insects can respond to these barriers through physiological and behavioral mechanisms. Nine species of passion vine are used by Heliconius erato phyllis (Fabricius, 1775) in Rio Grande do Sul State. However, their larvae feed preferentially on Passiflora misera Humbold, Bonplant & Kunth, which provide greater performance, despite having a lower amount of nutrients when compared to other host plants (e.g. Passiflora suberosa Linnaeus). Thus, the performance related to consumption of a particular passion vine possibly relates not only to their nutritional value, but also to morphological and behavioral mechanisms involved on feeding by these butterfly larvae. In this study, we investigate whether the difficulty in accessing food, imposed by the hardness and thickness of host leaves when in association to structural limitations on the mandibles of H. erato phyllis larvae, lead in turn to changes in host plant use. We examined the plant hosts damages and also larval behavior of this herbivore on five cultivated passion vine: P. misera, P. suberosa, Passiflora caerulea Linnaeus, Passiflora edulis Sims and Passiflora alata Dryander. Young and old leaves of these passion vine species were characterized in terms of hardness and thickness for the blade and the midrib. The frequency of differences on damage caused to P. misera, P. suberosa, P. caerulea and P. edulis was evaluated in relation to leaf age throughout larval ontogeny. Vickers hardness index was quantified for mandibles dissected from larvae reared on P. misera and P. suberosa. Additionally, the time spent in different behaviors (resting, feeding, walking, tasting and vein cutting) was quantified for the five passion vine, while feeding on both young and old leaves. The data showed the existence of expressive variation in hardness and thickness according to leaf age for the passion vine species used by H. erato phyllis larvae. The type (cutting blade, scraping and vein cutting) and frequency of damages were influenced by the variation of such leaf parameters. Scraping occurred when first instar were reared on old leaves. There was an ontogenetic influence on mandibular hardness, which increases with larval age. However, there was no evidence that the host plant influences the hardness in these structures throughout ontogeny. Independently of the host tanken into account, larvae employed most of the time resting. In several cases, they devoted more time feeding in P. misera. In P. alata, they spent more time resting and less time feeding, having up to only two meals of short duration each, at every six hours. This discrepancy in time is probably due to the presence of deterrent chemicals present in this passion vine. In old leaves of P. suberosa and P. caerulea, first instar larvae spent more time moving, thus showing that the search for an suitable food site is extremely important for this stage of development. Thus, we demonstrate that leaf hardness is a limiting factor for the early larval instars in this heliconian butterfly.

A socioecologia estuda a diversidade dos sistemas sociais a partir dos princípios da ecologia comportamental. Roedores são bons modelos para o estudo dos sistemas sociais por apresentarem elevada variação no comportamento social, a qual pode ser uma adaptação selecionada no passado evolutivo e/ou uma resposta adaptativa ao contexto ecológico atual. Estudar preás para investigar a flexibilidade da organização social é relevante porque, apesar de explorarem vários ambientes diferentes, esses animais podem apresentar certa rigidez comportamental. Nesse contexto, a hipótese que avaliamos é a de que a organização social dos preás Cavia magna, um herbívoro pouco estudado, encontrado do Norte do Uruguai ao Sul do Brasil, depende de determinantes ecológicos atuais, sendo uma resposta adaptativa. A hipótese alternativa é a de que a organização social é uma resposta adaptada, limitada por características selecionadas no passado. Para isso, (1) caracterizamos suas interações sociais; (2) avaliamos as distâncias interindividuais durante o forrageamento, (3) analisamos o padrão de agregação dos indivíduos e (4) comparamos seus comportamentos e organização social com os dados disponíveis de uma população da espécie ocorrente no Uruguai e com os dados de Cavia intermedia, uma espécie endêmica das Ilhas Moleques do Sul, em Santa Catarina que apresenta adaptações ao habitat insular. Os preás foram observados em uma área urbana costeira, dentro do campus do Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC), em Florianópolis. Esse local apresenta isolamento da população em área pequena e com pouco risco de predação, isto é, uma área semelhante ao habitat insular. Observamos os preás na estação fria-seca e quente-úmida, por 60 dias. Concluímos que a população de C. magna do IFSC é social, pois encontramos grandes tamanhos médios de agregação, elevados Índices de Associação entre os indivíduos, e associações preferenciais em três grupos com conformação típica de harém. Constatamos que são poligínicos, porque o acesso às fêmeas diferiu entre os machos, e estes apresentaram mais comportamentos agonísticos que as fêmeas. A presença de hierarquia de dominância e ausência de comportamento territorialista dos machos indicaram que a poliginia foi sem defesa. Apesar de termos encontrado um sistema social semelhante ao de C. intermedia, não encontramos características típicas de síndrome insular. Dessa forma, corroboramos a hipótese de que a organização social dos preás é uma resposta adaptativa / Socioecology studies social systems applying the behavioral ecology principles. Studying rodents social systems represents a valuable opportunity once this group shows high variations on social behavior, which may be an adaptation selected in evolutionary past and/or an adaptative feedback to the ecological context. Investigate the social organization flexibility by studying cavies is relevant because of its relative behavioral rigidity, despite their occupation of different environments. In this context, we intend to evaluate our hypothesis on the Cavia magna, cavie social organization: it depends on current ecological factors, being an adaptive answer. C. magna is an herbivore found on northern Uruguay and south of Brazil. The alternative hypothesis is that the social organization is an adaptive answer, limited by reaction rules selected on the past. The cavies was observed in a coast urban area, inside of the Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC), in continental Florianópolis, Brazil. The population is isolated in a small area with low predatory risk, being similar to an insulated habitat. We collected data on social interaction, interindividual distances during foraging, grouping pattern and sexual ratio. This data was compared to the available data of Cavia intermedia, from the Moleques do Sul archipelago, specie that was probably derived from C. magna and presents adaptations to the insular habitat. Cavies were observed for 60 days in cold-dry and hot-wet season. We have concluded that the studied C. magna population is social, given that we have found relatively large mean groups size, high Association Indexes between individuals, and preferred associations in three clusters with typical harem structure. We have also found that the population is polygynous, because the access to females differed between male individuals, and the males performed significantly more agonistic behaviors than females. The existence of a dominance hierarchy and the absence of male territorial behavior pointed to polygyny without defense. Even though the studied social system is similar to the one observed on C. intermedia, we did not encounter typical insular syndrome features on C. magna. Accordingly, we have supported the hypothesis that the cavies social organization is an adaptive answer

A series of severe and prolonged droughts occurred throughout the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 1150 BP to 600 BP. This phenomenon is referred to as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and has been shown to have differentially impacted various regions of the world. Previous studies have suggested causal links between the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and observed culture change. The goal of this study was to examine the Antelope Valley region of the Mojave Desert for evidence of impacts on human populations related to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. To achieve this goal, a sample selection of archaeological sites was chosen from lands within Edwards Air Force Base. These sites represented occupations which occurred immediately before, during, and after the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. Site assemblages were analyzed and compared by cultural period, with cross-comparisons made of artefactual and ecofactual constituents. Site densities and areal extents were also examined and compared. These analyses showed the emergence of trends concurrent with the introduction of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. The data supports the hypothesis that humans who populated the Antelope Valley region of the Mojave Desert during this period may have engaged in population aggregation, with a tethered nomadism subsistence strategy. The data also shows evidence that upon the amelioration of the environment after the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, site characteristics within the region saw a significant shift. While the evidence generated by this study does suggest a link between climatic change experienced during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and change observed within the archaeology of the Antelope Valley, it does not suggest climate as a sole, or even primary, causal factor. Rather, the intent of this study was to identify one possible variable responsible for observed change that occurred in the region. With this in mind, the Medieval Climatic Anomaly was found to have been significant enough to have either directly or indirectly impacted the prehistoric occupants of the study region.

White Stork ( Ciconia ciconia, Linnaeus, 1758) is a summer visitor and passage migrant in Turkey. Although being widespread in summer near wetlands of Turkey, except for the eastern and western parts of the Black Sea Region, there has been no research on this species involving regular monitoring of nests. In this study, breeding success and survival of nestlings in a population in Kizilcahamam-Ankara as well as behavioral differences among nests and their probable consequences on breeding success were studied. Regular field observations throughout six-month long breeding seasons between 2003 and 2006 were carried out to determine parent and young behavior patterns at nest. Clutch size, and numbers of chicks hatched and fledged fluctuated throughout 2003-2006 for pairs that bred while fledgling success (average fledgling per successful nests with egg laid) were 2.63 in 2003, 3.82 in 2004, 1.89 in 2005 and 3.13 in 2006. These values are in good agreement with those recorded in northern Europe. The relationship between beginning date of incubation and both clutch size and brood size were found to be different for 2004 and 2005. Such a relationship may be significant in breeding seasons colder than usual. For 2004 and 2005, the amount of food brought and caring towards young by parents were compared with breeding success (proportion of hatched young that were fledged), and breeding success was found to increase with increasing amount of food provisioning. However, this result may be suggested to be related with weather conditions. In conclusion, Kizilcahamam White Stork population has been found to be not restricted by food or nest site availability and with a reproductive output above the European average, although annual climatic stochasticity was found to affect reproductive output.