Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / David A. Haukos / The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is 1 of 3 prairie-grouse species in North America. Prairie-grouse have undergone local or widespread declines due to a loss of habitat through conversion to row crop agriculture, anthropogenic development, and alteration of ecological drivers that maintain quality grasslands. For lesser prairie-chickens, habitat loss and declines were deemed significant for listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014. Despite a judge vacating the listing decision in 2015, the lesser prairie-chicken remains a species of concern. Conservation plans are currently being implemented and developed. To maximize the effectiveness of efforts, knowledge of the distribution of lesser prairie-chickens, regional demography, foods used during critical life-stages, and where to prioritize management is needed. To guide future conservation efforts with empirical evidence, I captured, marked with transmitters, and monitored female lesser prairie-chickens in Kansas and Colorado during 2013–2016 (n =307). I used location data to predict the distribution of habitat. Encounter data from individuals were used to estimate vital rates and integrated into a matrix population model to estimate population growth rates (λ). The matrix model was then decomposed to identify life-stages that exert the greatest influence on λ and vital rate contributions to differences in λ among sites. After assessing demography, I examined the diet of adults and chicks during critical brood rearing and winter periods using a fecal DNA metabarcoding approach. Overall, potential habitat appears to compromise ~30% of the presumed lesser prairie-chicken range in Kansas with most habitat in the Mixed-Grass Prairie Ecoregion. Within occupied sites, populations were most sensitive to factors during the first year of life (chick and juvenile survival), however, the persistence of populations through drought may rely on adult survival. Among regional populations, breeding season, nest, and nonbreeding season survival rates contributed most to differences in λ among sites, breeding season survival contributed to differences in λ among more and less fragmented sites. During critical life-stages, diets were comprised of arthropod and plant foods. Among 80 readable fecal samples, 35% of the sequences were likely from Lepidoptera, 26% from Orthoptera, 14% from Araneae, and 13% from Hemiptera. Plant sequences from 137 fecal samples were comprised of genera similar to Ambrosia (27%) Latuca or Taraxacum (10%), Medicago (6%), and Triticum (5%). Among cover types, lesser prairie-chickens using native grasslands consumed a greater diversity of foods. Last, promising conservation options include the conversion of cropland to grassland through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and tree removal in mixed-grass prairie landscapes. Lesser prairie-chickens mostly used CRP during nesting and the nonbreeding season, during drier periods, and in drier portions of their distribution. Strategic CRP sign-up and tree removal could recover >60,000 ha and~100,000 ha of habitat respectively. In summary, conservation that targets management in areas within broad scale habitat constraints predicted will be most beneficial. In areas occupied by lesser prairie-chickens, management that increases brood survival in large grasslands having optimal nesting structure will elicit the strongest influence on population growth and will likely be the most resilient to stochastic drought-related effects.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Grain Science and Industry / Subramanyam Bhadriraju / The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), females lay eggs loosely outside of wheat kernels. Larvae hatching from eggs enter wheat kernels to complete immature development. Four laboratory experiments were conducted to understand the wheat kernel infestation by first instars of R. dominica at 28°C and 65% r.h. The first experiment compared different kernel to first instar ratios on sound hard red winter (HRW) wheat class, probability of successful infestation, and subsequent adult development as affected by site of feeding on the kernels. Infested kernels were dissected 21 d after infestation to determine stage of development and larval weight. Development of larvae to adulthood was monitored for 50 d from time of infestation. Different kernel to first instar ratios did not affect probability of infestation, entry site preferences, larval development and weight, and days to adult emergence. In the second experiment one first instar was placed with a kernel on each of seven different wheat classes. Wheat kernels were artificially-damaged with a microdrill at the germ, endosperm, and brush end, and the sound kernels served as the controls. At 21 d, 82-90% of artificially-damaged HRW wheat kernels were infested by larvae versus 12% for sound kernels. Five times fewer hard white (HW) wheat sound kernels were infested by larvae compared with infestation in soft white (SW) wheat kernels. Sound kernels of durum, soft red winter (SRW), hard red spring (HRS), and hard white spring (HWS) wheat classes were more resistant to larval infestation than artificially-damaged kernels. Majority of first instars preferred germ as the entry site on HRW, HWW, SRW, and HWS wheat classes. Germ entry promoted faster larval development, leading to heavier larvae, and higher kernel weight losses. Adult emergence was earlier by 3-7 d compared with other sites across all 6 wheat classes, except for SWW class, where adult emergence was nil at 50 d. In the third experiment, speed of larval development on artificially-drilled HRW wheat kernels on different kernel sites. Three-hundred kernels each were drilled near the germ, endosperm, and brush end, and one first instar was placed per kernel in a glass vial. Kernels from glass vials were dissected every 3 d for 30 d and larval head capsule was measured. Larval development was fastest on the germ, followed by endosperm, and brush end. In the fourth experiment short-term feeding by R. dominica adults on infestation by first instars on sound wheat kernels was determined. Two laboratory tests were conducted with single and grouped (10) kernels using either two adults or two first instars per kernel. Signs of feeding were monitored for 21 d in single kernels and 7 d in grouped kernels. There was a significant association between adult feeding and larval infestation responses in single and group kernel tests. In conclusion, understanding factors that contribute to first instar establishment in wheat kernels will have impacts in breeding varieties that could be resistant and designing grain-handling equipment to minimize grain damage to mitigate R. dominica infestation of wheat.

Inbreeding depression has alarming impacts on threatened species with small population sizes. Assessing inbreeding depression has therefore become an important focus of conservation research. In this study, heterozygosityitness correlations (HFCs) were measured in adult and hatchling Lesser Antillean Iguanas, Iguana delicatissima, from a sampling site at Batali Beach in Dominica to assess the role of inbreeding depression on hatchling fitness and recruitment to the adult population in this endangered species. HFCs in hatchlings revealed no significant correlations and no general effects, suggesting that inbreeding depression may not be affecting hatchling fitness. Further, there were no significant differences in heterozygosity between the adult and hatchling groups suggesting that inbreeding depression may not be an important factor in shaping the population dynamics of I. delicatissima in Dominica. HFCs in the adults, however, revealed a significant negative correlation between heterozygosity and snout-vent length, which is more consistent with outbreeding depression in the population.

No description available.

Khitan Language, as being used as an official language in Liao Dynasty during 10th to 12th century in Northern China contains some features of influence of Chinese Language. By studying the Sino-Khitan transcription, features of Sino-Khitan phonology can be found. These features include: Voiced initial consonants had been devoiced into voiceless aspirated for ping tone, voiceless unaspirated for non-ping tone; Chinese labial-dental initials had been differentiated from Chinese bilabial initials; Alveolar affricates does not exist in Khitan language but were borrowed from Chinese. Unaspirated [ts] was represented by new-invented YZ graph, while aspirated [tsʰ] was merged into [s] and represented by the same YZ graph as [s]; Nasal initial [ŋ] and finals with nasal coda [-ŋ] in Khitan language are borrowed from Chinese; Chinese final [ɨ] is a not a native sound in Khitan language and new YZ graph was specificly invented for this acquired sound. It is mostly used to transliterate zi-si (资思)rhyme of Middle Chinese. By comparing Sino-Khitan phonological features with that of Northern Mandarin, it is to be found that the two system share many phonological characteristics. However, Tangut language, which was used in northwestern China and its geographic area is currently belong to Northern Mandarin speaking area, has many different features in some essential perspectives. The relation between the Sino-Khitan and Chinese language is very close which suggests that the development of Khitan language may be one of the important steps of Northern Mandarin development.

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No description available.

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This study examines the systematics and biogeography of frogs in the Eastern Caribbean, a biogeographical province consisting of the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, and Tobago. A comprehensive collection of specimens was subjected to an analysis incorporating morphometric, osteological, and biochemical approaches. An investigation of $ alpha$-level taxonomy revealed the presence of four additional taxa: Colostethus chalcopis sp. nov. on Martinique, Eleutherodactylus amplinympha sp. nov. on Dominica, E. euphronides comb. nov. on Grenada, and E. shrevei comb. nov. on St. Vincent. Based on species distributions and detailed analyses of the largely congruent data sets, Eastern Caribbean frogs can be grouped into two major categories, those originating with South American stock and those of Greater Antillean ancestry. A South American origin is obvious for species which have no congeneric relatives in the Greater Antilles, e.g. C. chalcopis, Leptodactylus fallax, L. wagneri. Among the Eleutherodactylus species, northern Eastern Caribbean taxa form a monophyletic group within the E. auriculatus species group; the topology of relationships is ((E. barlagnei, E. pinchoni) ((E. amplinympha, E. martinicensis) E. johnstonei)). The southern Eastern Caribbean species may or may not form a monophyletic group, but E. euphronides and E. shrevei are sister taxa. The topology for these species is (E. urichi (E. terraebolivaris (E. euphronides, E. shrevei))). Thus, the Eastern Caribbean forms a biogeographic link between the large South American and Greater Antillean radiations of Eleutherodactylus; Eleutherodactylus is the only truly circum-Caribbean frog genus. Furthermore, historical evidence shows that the patchy, Caribbean-wide distribution of E. johnstonei is the direct result of accidental introduction mitigated by humans during the past three centuries.

In this thesis, I analysed the mating behaviour of the solitary-nesting American kestrel (Falco sparverius) in southern Quebec (Canada) and the colony-nesting lesser kestrel (F. naumanni) in Aragon (Spain). DNA fingerprinting of 26 families of lesser kestrels revealed that 3.4% of nestlings were extra-pair, which may have arisen through either extra-pair copulation or mate replacement. Two nestlings in two different nests were also the result of intraspecific brood parasitism. DNA fingerprinting of 21 American kestrel families showed that all the nestlings in two nests were extra-pair (10% extra-pair young overall), most probably due to mate replacement. / I analysed the mating behaviour of both species in two studies with a similar aim, i.e. to test why mated pairs copulate so frequently. Sixteen pairs of wild American kestrels and 12 pairs of "solitary" lesser kestrels (14 nests per 0.3 km$ sp2)$ were analysed in terms of four hypotheses that explain high frequency of within-pair copulations both outside and during the fertile period. First the Paternity Assurance Hypothesis, i.e. males control timing and frequency of copulations to best assure fertilization, was rejected because extra-pair copulation attempts were low in both species ($<$1% of all copulations observed), within-pair copulation frequencies did not increase with nest density in the lesser kestrel, and copulation and mate attendance did not increase as the fertile period approached. Second, the Immediate Material Benefits Hypothesis, i.e. females trade copulations for food, was refuted because copulation most often occurred without food transfers. Third, the Female Mate-Guarding of Males Hypothesis, i.e. females distract their mates from other mating opportunities by copulating frequently, was rejected because male loss was low, males and females solicited similar amounts of copulations, and females did not differ in the timing or frequency of solicitations. Finally, the Mate Assessment Hypothesis, i.e. assessment of mate quality is mediated by copulation, most closely predicted the behaviour observed since within-pair copulation was high outside the fertile period and during pair formation in both species.