White-tailed deer are one of the most sought after game species in Kentucky. While much of the Commonwealth boasts high deer populations, those in southeast Kentucky are viewed as relatively low compared to other regions, even after a decade of restrictive doe harvest and multiple years of population supplementation via translocation. We studied survival and cause specific mortality of a local population of deer near the Redbird District of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Clay and Leslie County, Kentucky from January 2014 - January 2017. We estimated female annual survival at 0.89 (CI: 0.88-0.87), with an overall 3-year survival of 0.69 (CI: 0.56-0.84). Deer vehicle collisions and poaching were the most frequent mortality causes and represented 13 of 18 (72%) of mortalities. Managers should consider all forms of mortality and their relative importance in wildlife population dynamics when making harvest decisions. We recommend longer-term studies similar to ours to better understand population trends and inform regional management of this species in Kentucky.

The purpose of this study was to examine the hunting strategies of birds of prey in a probability learning situation. One great horned owl and one red-tailed hawk served as subjects. Three boxes and associated perches, each representing different potential prey areas, were placed in a room adjacent to the birds' regular housing and served as test apparatus. One box were required to land on a perch in order to gain access to the associated box and to the potential prey. A discrete-trial, self-correction procedure was used. In Experiment I, Box 1 was loaded with a live laboratory mouse on 60% of the trials, Box 2 on 30% of the trials, and Box 3 on the remaining 10%. A response requirement of sitting on the perch 5 seconds was programmed. In experiment II, the probability of reinforcement was reversed for the 10 and 60% boxes and the response requirement was increased from 5 to 20 seconds. Experiment III returned the probability of reinforcement for each box to the values used in Experiment I. In Experiment III the mice were euthanized prior to each trial. The owl matched responses to probability of reinforcement in all three experiments while the hawk matched in Experiment II and showed matching toward two of the three boxes in Experiment III. In Experiment I the hawk had a Box 2 preference. This research extends the generality of the matching concept and suggests that predatory birds do not randomly hunt or hunt in only one location, but rather tend to search according to the probability of reinforcement for that location.

Effects of sublethal, cerebral irradiation on movement and home-range patterns of black-tailed jackrabbits were studied in Curlew Valley, Utah, using radio-telemetry. Irradiation of 70 captive animals indicated that the LD50(30) was between 5,556 and 6,200 roentgens. Nine wild, free-living experimentals were trapped in desert terrain, irradiated, transmittered, and released at the capture sites. Seven wild controls were treated similarly but were not irradiated. The field-irradiation dosage was 5,000 roentgens. Tracking accuracy was determined by telemetering transmitters at fixed locations. Mean hourly movement was measured within 20-30 percent error and home ranges were measured with an error of less than 22 percent. Experimentals had a mean hourly movement of 1,176,8 feet and controls 980.0 feet, significantly different at the .05 probability level. Experimentals had a bimodal activity curve with peaks at 5:00 p.m. and 3:00 to 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. Controls displayed no such pattern. Experimentals had a mean, daily home range of 66.1 acres and controls 34,1 acres, significantly different at the .05 probability level. Experimentals had a seasonal home range of 279.0 acres and controls 247.0 acres, not significantly different at the .05 probability level. A probability index showing the frequency distribution of each animal's activity within 300-foot concentric, circular bands around a geometric center of activity showed similar distributions for both groups. The greatest concentrations of activity were within the innermost band for each group but experimentals had a slightly greater scatter of points in the outermost zone. These distributions were not significantly different at the .05 probability level. Sublethal, cerebral irradiation appears to have increased activity levels of experimental animals but not changed those home-range characteristics involving the total area occupied and tenacity of site attachment. This increased activity may have resulted from inhibitory areas in the cortex which permitted greater expression of activity from the limbic system.

The interrelations of black- tailed jackrabbits and the desertshrub vegetation on which they were feeding were studied in Curlew Valley, Northern Utah. The vegetation was described as a threecornered continuum, the corners being types dominated respectively by Artemisia tridentata, Atriplex ~ onfertifolia, and Sarcobatus vermiculatus. Jackrabbit diet was studied by microscopic analysis of plant fragments in stomachs from shot animals. The method was inaccurate, apparently because the ratio of identifiable tissues to all ingested tissues was very low, and varied between plant taxa, and seasonally. This problem seems intractable for desert shrub vegetation. The diet was similar to that reported by other workers on this species, with perennial grasses and forbs most important in sprlng and summer, shrubs in autumn and win ter. Features new to this vegetat ion were large percentages of Halogeton glomeratus, particularly in autumn and winter, and intense selection for Kochia americana. Attempts to explain the foods chosen ln terms of t heir nutrient contents were partically successful. Diet selection by large generalist herbivores was conceptualized as optimization of nutrient intake, mediated by long-delay learning, and constrained by food availability only at very low levels of availaoility. Spatial variation in jackrabbit diets confirmed this "cut-offll response to ava i 1 all i 1 i ty . Percentage utilization was estimated indirectly as jackrabbit density, times yearly food consumption per jackrabbit, times yearround percentage of each taxon in the diet, div i ded by available biomass of each taxon. Less abundant plants were more intensely used, which is expected if consumption does not vary continuously with availability. Perennial grasses, Kochia americana and possibly Grayia spinosa seemed to be under damaging pressure at high jackrabbit densities. Kochia had almost disappeared from outside a sheep- and jackrabbitproof exclosure since the 1950 1 s. In other exc1osures, the presence or absence of jackrabbits seemed to make no difference to the rate of vegetation recovery over 5-7 years after exclusion of sheep. Jackrabbit use of a crested wheatgrass seeding was concentrated ln a 300 m band around its edge.

The Great Plains variety of the sharp-tailed grouse Pediocetes phasianellus jamesi Lincoln was the predominant upland game bird during the exploratory and early settlement period in North Dakota (Coues 1874 and 1878 . Larson 1928, and Williams 1926) . Since then its status has diminished as the prairie grassland gradually was converted to intensively used pastures and cropland. Although the sharptail is still abundant enough in its remaining habitat to provide for liberal annual harvests , further demand on these lands by a growing human population will make it necessary to apply game management measures other than hunting regulations if the sharptail is to be retained as an important game bird in the state.

This study examined the ant communities of several grasslands of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and their relevance to the pink-tailed legless lizard, Aprasia parapulchella (Pygopodidae). A. parapulchella is a fossorial species that shares burrows with, and eats the brood of, several grassland ant species. Foraging ants were collected from sites by pitfall trapping throughout one calendar year and comparisons of ant communities made between seasons and sites of differing vegetation structure. Competition between ant species for artificial nest sites and the effects of temperature on selection of nest site selection were also studied. The role that ants play in the distribution of A. parapulchella was investigated by (i) comparing ant faunas from several sites throughout the geographic range of the lizard, including sites in New South Wales and Victoria, (ii) performing feeding preference experiments with A. parapulchella, and (iii) investigating the seasonal nature of brood production and nest establishment by ants in ACT grasslands. Major findings were used to make recommendations to assist in the management, including rehabilitation, of A. parapulchella grassland sites. Low insolation appears to significantly affect the ant species composition of grassland sites in the ACT relative to other Australian vegetation types. In the ACT grassland sites, large species of the Dominant Dolichoderinae functional group were absent, or present only in very low numbers. The communities were species-poor relative to other Australian studies with only 60 species being recorded across all sites studied, with no more than 21 species recorded at any site on any sampling occasion. Whilst ant species community structure was highly variable between seasons and sites, more than 95% of ants were from the three functional groups, Dominant Dolichoderinae, Generalized Myrmicinae and Opportunists. The communities were numerically dominated throughout the year by the ubiquitous species groups Iridomyrmex 'rufoniger' and Rhytidoponera 'metallica'. Almost all taxa increased in foraging abundance during summer months and Pheidole spp., Monomorium spp., Crematogaster sp. Paratrechina sp. and Notoncus ectalomoides were occasionally locally abundant. There were no significant relationships between ant and vegetation community structures, but Solenopsis sp. showed an alliance with sites that had a high abundance of Themeda australis (kangaroo grass), whilst Crematogaster sp. and Paratrechina sp. are potential bioindicators of disturbance from grazing or pasture improvement. Iridomyrmex 'rufoniger' were the numerically dominant foraging ants, making up 50% of all captures, but they held only 80% of their nest sites when faced with competition from other species. R. 'metallica' and Pheidole spp. on the other hand, gained 80% more nests than they lost to other taxa. I. 'rufoniger' and R. 'metallica' both preferred nest sites with warmer temperature regimes when given the choice, and this assisted them to tend brood throughout the year. All ant species in ACT grasslands had summer peaks in brood production. Most nests were inactive throughout the cooler months and nest founding was predominantly between September and November. The common species, Iridomyrmex spp., Paratrechina sp. and R. 'metallica' held winged reproductives in their nests from April and all ant taxa had released all alates by mid- November. Although there were differences in ant community structure throughout the range of A. parapulchella, the ubiquitous R. 'metallica' and I. 'rufoniger' were always abundant, whilst again, Dominant Dolichoderinae and associated subordinate taxa were absent or present only in relatively low numbers. The lizards consumed brood from all the common ant species in ACT grasslands and showed preference for consuming brood of, and living with, small Iridomyrmex spp. The range of the small Iridomyrmex spp. preferred by A. parapulchella extends far beyond that of the lizard. Its distribution is apparently not restricted by the range of its ant prey species. For rehabilitation of A. parapulchella sites in the ACT, it is recommended that a significant ground cover of native grasses is established to ensure the low abundance of large and territorial ants from the Dominant Dolichoderinae functional group. Along with a high abundance of shallow surface rocks, this will ensure the establishment of ant communities that are numerically dominated by small Iridomyrmex spp., which are preferred by A. parapulchella for homesite sharing and as a food source.

Heavy-tailed workload distributions are commonly experienced in many areas of distributed computing. Such workloads are highly variable, where a small number of very large tasks make up a large proportion of the workload, making the load very hard to distribute effectively. Traditional task assignment policies are ineffective under these conditions as they were formulated based on the assumption of an exponentially distributed workload. Size-based task assignment policies have been proposed to handle heavy-tailed workloads, but their applications are limited by their static nature and assumption of prior knowledge of a task's service requirement. This thesis analyses existing approaches to load distribution under heavy-tailed workloads, and presents a new generalised task assignment policy that significantly improves performance for many distributed applications, by intelligently addressing the negative effects on performance that highly variable workloads cause. Many problems associated with the modelling and optimisations of systems under highly variable workloads were then addressed by a novel technique that approximated these workloads with simpler mathematical representations, without losing any of their pertinent original properties. Finally, we obtain advance queuing metrics (such as the variance of key measurements like waiting time and slowdown that are difficult to obtain analytically) through rigorous simulation.

The Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and the nearby adjoining City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee had experienced a rise in deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) to the point where safety for employees and residents became a concern. I investigated the effect of hunting, land cover, road mileage, season, lunar phase, sex, and change in traffic patterns that coincide with work shifts on DVCs from 1975 - 2008. The study area was divided into grids of 1.5 km² each for administration and data recording by managing agencies. Statistical analyses were performed on the ORR (121 grids) and GIS analyses were performed on the entire study area that included ORR and the city of Oak Ridge (190 grids). The number of DVCs in 1975 was 16 and reached a high of 273 in 1985. Therefore, managers initiated a hunting program in 1985 and recorded deer harvest numbers by grid each year. Deer harvest has been occurring from 1985 until present, except when hunting was cancelled due to security concerns after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. By 2008, the number of DVCs had decreased to 100 per year. When hunting first started in 1985, they harvested 926 deer. By 2008, that number was down to 481. I used GIS mapping to record DVCs, deer harvest per grid, landcover types, and mileage per grid to determine factors affecting DVCs on the smaller landscape. Following the initiation of annual hunts, both the annual deer harvest and the number of DVC’s have fallen, presumably because the overall deer population has declined from high pre-hunting levels. Deer harvest appears to be related to landcover characteristics, as a higher percentage of deer were harvested from forested areas than from other landcover types, as forested areas were most prominent. The months of October, November, and December had the highest DVC numbers. Increased traffic during starting and leaving shift times seem to increase the number of DVCs as well. Lunar phases only seem to significantly increase DVCs during the gestation and fawning seasons. Does are involved more frequently with DVCs than bucks during gestation, fawning and prerut, but not during the rutting season. I expect managers can use this data to guide intensive local management aimed at reducing DVCs by increasing the number of deer harvested and increased public education.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected in Saskatchewan wild deer populations in 2000 which prompted disease management actions consisting of population reduction. Little is known about population structure, health status, interactions or movement patterns of deer in Saskatchewan and these factors are important in designing a management program for CWD. As part of an ongoing study on deer movement patterns of wild deer in southern Saskatchewan, a survey was conducted to: 1) determine prevalence of CWD and selected infectious agents in mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and 2) identify infectious agents which could be used as a surrogate measure of the effectiveness of the adopted CWD management strategies. Tonsil biopsies, feces and blood were collected from 254 mule deer and 43 white-tailed deer during winters of 2006, 2007 and 2008. Immunohistochemical staining of tonsil biopsies for CWD revealed a prevalence of 2.4% (6/249) in mule deer and 0% (0/43) in white-tailed deer. Parasitological investigation of 253 fecal samples from mule deer identified eggs of nematodes in the superfamily Trichostrongyloidea (29.2%); and parasitic stages of the following genera: Nematodirus (7.1%), Skrjabinema (14.3%), Trichuris (0.8%), Moniezia (16.2%), Thysanosoma (12.2%), Orthostrongylus (35.2%), Eimeria (13.4%) and Giardia (0%, 0/137). A similar investigation of 42 white-tailed deer fecal samples identified parasitic stages of nematodes in the super family Trichostrongyloidea (4.8%) and in genera of Orthostrongylus (2.4%), Moniezia (2.4%) and Eimeria (2.4%). Dorsal-spined larvae were detected in 2.4% of the white-tailed deer fecal samples. In serum samples from 253 mule deer, antibodies (Ab) were detected against bovine herpesvirus1 (BoHV-1) (34.8%), parainfluenza-3 (PI-3) (56.5%), bovine virus diarrhoea virus (BVDV-1) (30.8%) and Neospora caninum (15.4%, 36/245). In serum samples from 40 white-tailed deer, Ab to BoHV-1(32.5%), PI-3 (35%), BVD-1 (12.5%) and Neospora caninum (20.5%, 8/39) was detected. Based on relative host specificity, moderate prevalence and horizontal routes of transmission, herpesvirus, parainfluenza 3, Eimeria and Skrjabinema were identified as infectious agents which could potentially be used to evaluate the effectiveness of disease management strategies, which may in turn predict the response of CWD to these same strategies. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) a herpesvirus was detected, in 42.1% (40/95) of retropharyngeal lymph nodes from hunter-submitted mule deer and white-tailed deer heads from Saskatchewan in 2007. DNA sequences of the partial DNA polymerase gene from this virus were 98 - 100% identical to mule deer lymphotropic herpesvirus (mule deer-LHV). A 3.6 kb contiguous sequence of mule deer-LHV genome was generated by genome walking (GenBank Accession number: HM014314). Use of a mule deer-LHV-specific PCR on buffy coat samples collected during winters of 2007 and 2008, detected mule deer-LHV in 42.1% (67/158) of mule deer and 33.3% (8/24) of white-tailed deer. Very little DNA sequence diversity in the partial sequences of glycoprotein B (gB) gene and the intergenic spacer regions between DPOL and gB gene of mule deer-LHV was observed among deer from different wildlife management zones. Mule deer-LHV is also a potential marker for evaluating the effectiveness of disease management activities because of its moderate prevalence, host specificity, ease of sample collection and the availability of a rapid and low-cost method for its detection. A variable region of the mule deer-LHV genome needs to be identified if this virus to be used as an inferential tool for studying host population structure.

Habitat group dioramas were developed depicting two types of Indiana habitat. A beaver-wolf habitat group diorama was constructed in a display case adjacent to C. L. 166 on the first floor, south hallway, of the Life Science wing of the Cooper Science Complex. A white-tailed deer habitat group diorama was constructed in a display case contained in the north hallway of the second floor of the Life Science wing of the Cooper Science Complex.Methods involved in the development of the aioramas included: collection of information through field studies and research, collection, identification and preservation of plant and animal specimens and development of the descriptive labels.The beaver-wolf habitat group diorama depicted a beaver habitat in early winter. The white-tailed deer habitat group illustrated a segment of white-tailed deer habitat group in Indiana in the spring.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306