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- Title
- Biogenic gas dynamics in peat soil blocks using ground penetrating radar: a comparative study in the laboratory between peat soils from the Everglades and from two northern peatlands in Minnesota and Maine.
- Creator
- Cabolova, Anastasija., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Physics
- Abstract/Description
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Peatlands cover a total area of approximately 3 million square kilometers and are one of the largest natural sources of atmospheric methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Most traditional methods used to estimate biogenic gas dynamics are invasive and provide little or no information about lateral distribution of gas. In contrast, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is an emerging technique for non-invasive investigation of gas dynamics in peat soils. This thesis establishes a direct comparison...
Show morePeatlands cover a total area of approximately 3 million square kilometers and are one of the largest natural sources of atmospheric methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Most traditional methods used to estimate biogenic gas dynamics are invasive and provide little or no information about lateral distribution of gas. In contrast, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is an emerging technique for non-invasive investigation of gas dynamics in peat soils. This thesis establishes a direct comparison between gas dynamics (i.e. build-up and release) of four different types of peat soil using GPR. Peat soil blocks were collected at peatlands with contrasting latitudes, including the Everglades, Maine and Minnesota. A unique two-antenna GPR setup was used to monitor biogenic gas buildup and ebullition events over a period of 4.5 months, constraining GPR data with surface deformation measurements and direct CH4 and CO2 concentration measurements. The effect of atmospheric pressure was also investigated. This study has implications for better understanding global gas dynamics and carbon cycling in peat soils and its role in climate change.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2974433
- Subject Headings
- Wetland ecology, Wetland ecology, Wetland ecology, Gas dynamics, Soil permeability, Ground penetrating radar, Porous materials, Fluid dynamics
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Comparison of chemotaxonomic methods for the determination of periphyton community composition.
- Creator
- Browne, Jamie L., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Abstract/Description
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Pigment-based chemotaxonomy uses relative amounts of photosynthetic pigments (biomarkers) within algae samples to determine the algal class composition of each sample. Chemotaxonomy has been applied successfully to phytoplankton communities, but its efficacy for periphyton has not yet been established. This study examined the ability of simultaneous linear equations (SLE), CHEMTAX, and the Bayesian Compositional Estimator (BCE) to determine algal class composition in Florida Everglades...
Show morePigment-based chemotaxonomy uses relative amounts of photosynthetic pigments (biomarkers) within algae samples to determine the algal class composition of each sample. Chemotaxonomy has been applied successfully to phytoplankton communities, but its efficacy for periphyton has not yet been established. This study examined the ability of simultaneous linear equations (SLE), CHEMTAX, and the Bayesian Compositional Estimator (BCE) to determine algal class composition in Florida Everglades periphyton. The methods were applied to artificial datasets, mixed lab cultures of known composition, and Everglades periphyton samples for which microscopic biovolume data was available. All methods were able to return accurate sample compositions for artificial data and mixed lab cultures. Correlation between pigment methods and microscopic results for natural periphyton samples was poor. SLE and CHEMTAX returned similar results for all samples while BCE performed less well.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2100582
- Subject Headings
- Water quality biological assessment, Periphyton, Water, Phosphorus content, Freshwater algae
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Constraints of landscape level prey availability on physiological condition and productivity of great egrets and white ibises in the Florida Everglades.
- Creator
- Herring, Garth, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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Life history strategy suggests long lived bird species will adjust their nesting effort according to current conditions, balancing the costs of reproduction with their long-term needs for survival and future reproduction. The habitat conditions that produce these responses may differ between species, even within the same ecosystem, producing different nesting and population trends. I traced the pathway by which food availability influences the physiological condition of pre-breeding great...
Show moreLife history strategy suggests long lived bird species will adjust their nesting effort according to current conditions, balancing the costs of reproduction with their long-term needs for survival and future reproduction. The habitat conditions that produce these responses may differ between species, even within the same ecosystem, producing different nesting and population trends. I traced the pathway by which food availability influences the physiological condition of pre-breeding great egrets and white ibises through to reproductive measures, and the physiological condition of chicks. I focused on these two species with contrasting foraging strategies, in relation to foraging and habitat conditions to maximize the likelihood of application of these results to other wading bird species. Experimental food supplementation and physiology research on white ibis chicks demonstrated that in years with low prey availability white ibis were food limited, with increased levels of stress protein 60 and fecal corticosterone. This is the first study to demonstrate experimentally the response of stress protein 60 to changing levels of food availability. During a year with low prey availability (2007) white ibis adults and chick physiological condition was lower than that of great egrets. During the same year, fledging success was lower for both species (20% for white ibis versus 27% for great egret) but the magnitude of the decrease was particularly severe for the white ibis (76% decline versus 66% decline for the great egret). Results suggest white ibises modify their clutch size during years with poor habitat in accordance with life history traits of a long-lived species, whereas great egrets maintained their clutch size during years with poor habitat., Increasing recession rates, hydrological reversals, and prey densities influenced white ibis, whereas great egrets were most influenced by prey densities and recession rates, with no effect of hydrological reversal. During the same year, fledging success was lower for both species (20% for white ibis versus 27% for great egret) but the magnitude of the decrease was particularly severe for the white ibis (76% decline versus 66% decline for the great egret). Results suggest white ibises modify their clutch size during years with poor habitat in accordance with life history traits of a long-lived species, whereas great egrets maintained their clutch size during years with poor habitat. Increasing recession rates, hydrological reversals, and prey densities influenced white ibis, whereas great egrets were most influenced by prey densities and recession rates, with no effect of hydrological reversals. This study is the first to make the link between landscape hydrology patterns, prey availability, and responses in wading bird nesting. These linkages provide critical insight into how species' nesting patterns could differ given the same time and spatial constraints and how that may be related to long-term nesting trends. This knowledge could ultimately lead to novel predictions about population and community patterns of wetland birds.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77643
- Subject Headings
- Bird populations, Water birds, Wetland ecology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Dietary niche relationships of white ibis, tricolored heron and snowy egret nestlings in the northern Everglades.
- Creator
- Boyle, Robin A., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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Food availability is the primary factor affecting the reproductive success in many species of birds. Diet composition can indicate diet quality, habitat use and niche requirements for breeding birds and may be variable across short and long-term time scales. Identifying primary prey types of nesting wading birds is important for the hydrologic restoration of wetlands. I collected nestling boluses during the 2008 and 2009 nesting seasons from three species of wading birds that nest in the...
Show moreFood availability is the primary factor affecting the reproductive success in many species of birds. Diet composition can indicate diet quality, habitat use and niche requirements for breeding birds and may be variable across short and long-term time scales. Identifying primary prey types of nesting wading birds is important for the hydrologic restoration of wetlands. I collected nestling boluses during the 2008 and 2009 nesting seasons from three species of wading birds that nest in the northern Everglades: White Ibis, Tricolored Herons and Snowy Egrets. White Ibis bolus composition was dominated by crayfish in both years, but exhibited some variation with landscape water depth in 2009; fish use was greatest when the wetland landscape was relatively dry. In contrast, the prey of Tricolored Herons and Snowy Egrets were primarily fish and their respective diets did not differ from one another in either fish species composition or size structure.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2953207
- Subject Headings
- Wetland ecology, Bird populations, Water birds
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The effects of water depth and vegetation on wading bird foraging habitat selection and foraging succes in the Everglades.
- Creator
- Lantz, Samantha., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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Successful foraging by avian predators is influenced largely by prey availability. In a large-scale experiment at the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment project within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, I manipulated two components of prey availability, water depth and vegetation density (submerged aquatic vegetation and emergent vegetation), and quantified the response by wading birds in terms of foraging habitat selection and foraging success. Manly's...
Show moreSuccessful foraging by avian predators is influenced largely by prey availability. In a large-scale experiment at the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment project within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, I manipulated two components of prey availability, water depth and vegetation density (submerged aquatic vegetation and emergent vegetation), and quantified the response by wading birds in terms of foraging habitat selection and foraging success. Manly's standardized selection index showed that birds preferred shallow water and intermediate vegetation densities. However, the treatments had little effect on either individual capture rate or efficiency. This was a consistent pattern seen across multiple experiments. Birds selected for certain habitat features but accrued little benefit in terms of foraging success. I hypothesize that birds selected sites with shallow water and intermediate vegetation densities because they anticipated higher prey densities, but they did not experience it here because I controlled for prey density.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2788592
- Subject Headings
- Water birds, Habitat, Wetland ecology, Habitat selection, Avian ecology, Wildlife management
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Hierarchical resource selection and movement of two wading bird species with divergent foraging strategies in the Everglades.
- Creator
- Beerens, James M., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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Seasonal variation in food availability is one of the primary limitations to avian populations, particularly during the breeding season. However, the behavioral responses between species may differ based on foraging strategies. I examined the influence of food availability on landscape-level habitat selection, patch-level habitat selection, and movements of two wading bird species with divergent foraging strategies, the Great Egret and White Ibis. On a landscape scale, there appeared to be a...
Show moreSeasonal variation in food availability is one of the primary limitations to avian populations, particularly during the breeding season. However, the behavioral responses between species may differ based on foraging strategies. I examined the influence of food availability on landscape-level habitat selection, patch-level habitat selection, and movements of two wading bird species with divergent foraging strategies, the Great Egret and White Ibis. On a landscape scale, there appeared to be a relationship among resource availability, the temporal scale of the independent variable, and whether the response was similar or different between species. At the patch level, results demonstrated a relationship between resource availability and the spatial scale of the independent variables selected by birds. Species movements were consistent with the differing strategies. This study is the first to make the link between landscape hydrology patterns, prey availability, and responses in wading bird habitat selection at multiple spatial scales.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/172667
- Subject Headings
- Water birds, Habitat, Habitat selection, Bird populations, Wetland ecology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Phosphate-associated phenotype plasticity as a driver of cattail invasion in the sawgass-dominated Everglades.
- Creator
- Webb, James., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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In plants, phenotypic plasticity, the ability to morphologically adapt to new or broad environmental conditions, is a consequence of long-term evolutionary genetic processes. Thus, plants adapted to low phosphate (P) environments exhibit only limited plasticity to take advantage of nutrient enrichment, a global phenomenon in terrestrial and aquatic environments. In the face of anthropogenic P-enrichment, low nutrient adapted resident plant species are frequently displaced by species with high...
Show moreIn plants, phenotypic plasticity, the ability to morphologically adapt to new or broad environmental conditions, is a consequence of long-term evolutionary genetic processes. Thus, plants adapted to low phosphate (P) environments exhibit only limited plasticity to take advantage of nutrient enrichment, a global phenomenon in terrestrial and aquatic environments. In the face of anthropogenic P-enrichment, low nutrient adapted resident plant species are frequently displaced by species with high morphological and genetic plasticity. However, it remains unclear whether plasticity is systemically expressed across molecular, biochemical, physiological, and morphological processes that ultimately contribute to the root and shoot phenotypes of plants. In this study, we demonstrated high plasticity in root-borne traits of sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense), the dominant plant species of the P-impoverished Everglades, and counter the idea of inflexibility in low P adapted species. However, sawgras s expressed inflexibility in processes contributing to shoot phenotypes, in contrast to cattail, which was highly plastic in shoot characteristics vii in response to P enrichment. In fact, plasticity in cattail shoots is likely a function of its growth response to P that was globally regulated by P-availability at the level of transcription. Plasticity and inflexibility in the growth of both species also diverged in their allocation of P to the chloroplast for growth in cattail versus the vacuole for P storage in sawgrass. In the Everglades, anthropogenic P-enrichment has changed the environment from a P-limited condition, where plasticity in root-borne traits of sawgrass was advantageous, to one of light-competition, where plasticity in shoot-borne traits drives competitive dominance by cattail., We hypothesize that these shifts in plasticity competitive advantage from root to shoots has been a major driver of cattail expansion in the Everglades ecosystem. Further, this understanding of how natural plant species adapt and shift in response to nutrient availability could also be used a model system to optimize agricultural systems to increase efficiencies in food production and protect low nutrient adapted natural systems from cultural eutrophication.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010, 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2979377
- Subject Headings
- Ecosystem management, Vegatation dynamics, Phosphorous, Physiological transport, Biogeochemical cycles
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Plant and ant communities in the northern Everglades.
- Creator
- Carroll, Camille Darby., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Environmental Studies Program
- Abstract/Description
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I examined the impact of the exotic, invasive plant Old World climbing fern, Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Brown, on tree island plant and ant communities in the northern Everglades. I selected 15 tree islands representing four groups: non-Lygodium islands, islands with low levels of Lygodium, islands with high levels of Lygodium, and disturbed islands impacted by people. I used a variety of diversity indices to compare plant and ant data among habitats. The ant communities studied included...
Show moreI examined the impact of the exotic, invasive plant Old World climbing fern, Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Brown, on tree island plant and ant communities in the northern Everglades. I selected 15 tree islands representing four groups: non-Lygodium islands, islands with low levels of Lygodium, islands with high levels of Lygodium, and disturbed islands impacted by people. I used a variety of diversity indices to compare plant and ant data among habitats. The ant communities studied included native and exotic species typical of south Florida. Tree island plant communities were consistent with descriptions from previous studies. Plant species richness decreased with the level of L. microphyllum in the ground and midstory layers. Abundance of native plants decreased with level of L. microphyllum in the ground, midstory, and overstory layers. Lygodium microphyllum did not affect ant communities suggesting that although it negatively impacts plant communities it can provide habitat for ants.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186675
- Subject Headings
- Insect-plant relationships, Ants, Ecology, Wildlife conservation, Environmental conditions
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Population distribution, habitat selection, and life history of the slough crayfish (Procambarus fallax) in the ridge-slough landscape of the central Everglades.
- Creator
- Van der Heiden, Craig., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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Understanding where and why organisms are distributed in the environment are central themes in ecology. Animals live in environments in which they are subject to competing demands, such as the need to forage, to find mates, to reproduce, and to avoid predation. Optimal habitats for these various activities are usually distributed heterogeneously in the landscape and may vary both spatially and temporally, causing animals to adjust their locations in space and time to balance these conflicting...
Show moreUnderstanding where and why organisms are distributed in the environment are central themes in ecology. Animals live in environments in which they are subject to competing demands, such as the need to forage, to find mates, to reproduce, and to avoid predation. Optimal habitats for these various activities are usually distributed heterogeneously in the landscape and may vary both spatially and temporally, causing animals to adjust their locations in space and time to balance these conflicting demands. In this dissertation, I outline three studies of Procambarus fallax in the ridge-slough landscape of Water conservation Area 3A (WCS-3A). The first section outlines an observational sampling study of crayfish population distribution in a four hectare plot, where I statistically model the density distribution at two spatial scales. ... Secondly, I use radio telemetry to study individual adult crayfish movements at two study sites and evaluate habitat selection using Resource Selection Functions. In the third section, I test the habitat selection theory, ideal free distribution, by assessing performance measures (growth and mortality) of crayfish in the two major vegetation types in a late wet season (November 2007) and early wet season (August 2009).
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356890
- Subject Headings
- Habitat selection, Statistical methods, Fish habitat improvement, Crayfish, Life cycles, Wetland ecology, Habitat (Ecology)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Studies of specific gene expression of phosphate transporters in sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense crantz) and cattail (Typha domingensis pers.).
- Creator
- Lin, Li, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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In the Florida Everglades, sawgrass has been displaced by cattail, predominantly resulting from phosphate enrichment. It has been found that phosphate transporters and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play an important role in phosphate uptake in the plants. This study aimed to reveal the symbiosis between AM fungi and sawgrass and cattail and identify the phosphate transporters, especially AM-specific phosphate transporters in these two species. AM colonization was only found in sawgrass...
Show moreIn the Florida Everglades, sawgrass has been displaced by cattail, predominantly resulting from phosphate enrichment. It has been found that phosphate transporters and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play an important role in phosphate uptake in the plants. This study aimed to reveal the symbiosis between AM fungi and sawgrass and cattail and identify the phosphate transporters, especially AM-specific phosphate transporters in these two species. AM colonization was only found in sawgrass roots, not cattail, at low phosphate concentrations in lab and field samples by trypan blue staining. AM fungi could increase sawgrass growth and had little effect on cattail growth. Four phosphate transporters were identified in sawgrass. CjPT1, CjPT2 and CjPT3 were expressed in roots and shoots independent of AM fungi and phosphate availability, while CjPT4 appeared to be an AM regulated phosphate transporter gene and its expression was induced by AM fungi.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1930493
- Subject Headings
- Phosphorus, Physiological transport, Soil stabilization, Vegetation dynamics, Ecosystem management, Soil mineralogy, Plant physiology
- Format
- Document (PDF)