Browsing Environmental & Conservation Sciences Masters Theses by Issue Date
Now showing items 21-40 of 49
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The "Fathead Minnow Factory": Exploring How a Changing Climate Has Influenced Fish and Salamander Communities in the Prairie Pothole Region
(North Dakota State University, 2015)Global climate change has been linked to changing many ecosystem processes. Early literature on climate change and biological systems predominately focused on individual species responses to temperature gradients. However, ... -
Characterization of Road Dust in Western North Dakota
(North Dakota State University, 2015)Samples were collected during summer 2014, at three locations: along 15th St. SW near agricultural test plots, along an access road leading to a newly built oil drilling pad, and adjacent to the pad. MiniVol™ TAS Samplers ... -
OSL Dating of High-Elevation Alluvial Sediments: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
(North Dakota State University, 2015)High-elevation alluvial fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys are a record of short-term, occasional melting events along the margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Sediment samples were dated from five fans using Optically ... -
Relationships Between Winter Social Dominance Hierarchies and Immune Function in the Black-Capped Chickadee
(North Dakota State University, 2016)social species, dominance rank has implications for an individual’s health and fitness. Dominant individuals often receive greater access to resources, protection from predators, higher quality t ... -
Morphological Differences and Diversity of Small Mammal Species
(North Dakota State University, 2016)Small mammals play important roles in ecosystems, but are often overlooked due to their small size and plentiful abundance. Two studies evaluated the morphological differences and diversity of small mammal species based ... -
The Need to Move: Exploring Landscape Connectivity through the Eyes of the Northern Leopard Frog
(North Dakota State University, 2017)The northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) is a species that depends on landscape connectivity to complete its lifecycle. However, due to historic and present anthropogenic landscape changes, this species encounters a variety ... -
Soil Warming and Drying and the Consquence to Crop Yields among Conservation Tillage Practices in Frigid Corn-Soybean Fields
(North Dakota State University, 2017)Concerns over delayed soil warming and drying have hindered adoption of conservation tillage practices in frigid environments. Our objectives were to evaluate the effects of chisel plow (CP), vertical tillage (VT), strip ... -
Glutaraldehyde Removal from Produced Water Using Photolysis and Photocatalysis
(North Dakota State University, 2017)Glutaraldehyde (GA) has been used extensively as a biocide in hydraulic fracturing fluids leading to the contamination of the compound in produced water. In this study, the performances of photolysis and photocatalysis for ... -
Photodegradation of (E)- and (Z)-Endoxifen: Kinetics, By-Products Identification and Toxicity Assessment
(North Dakota State University, 2018)Endoxifen is an effective metabolite of tamoxifen, a commonly used chemotherapy drug, and has been detected at the final effluent of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Its presence in the environment could bring ... -
Evaluating the Potential Utility of Drones to Deter Birds from Areas of Human-Wildlife Conflict
(North Dakota State University, 2018)Predator-prey dynamics shaped the evolution of morphological and behavioral adaptations that foraging animals use to detect and avoid predators. Wildlife managers can potentially exploit antipredator behavior when attempting ... -
Neonicotinoids: Assessing their Distribution and Biological Effects to Prairie Pothole Wetlands
(North Dakota State University, 2018)The use of neonicotinoid pesticides is widespread throughout agricultural regions, including the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America. Recently, there have been growing concerns regarding the use of these pesticides ... -
Mid-Wisconsinan Climate Reconstruction Based on Fossil Beetles from Six Mile Creek, Ithaca, New York
(North Dakota State University, 2018)The history of the Mid-Wisconsinan sub-stage in northeastern North America is one of large climatic oscillations. Fossil beetles were extracted from two horizons at the Six Mile Creek site, New York. A total of 738 individuals ... -
Evidence of Inbreeding and Divergence in the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid (Platanthera praeclara)
(North Dakota State University, 2018)The conversion of grasslands to agriculture land has made the tall grass prairie one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems and has played a key role in the decline of one particular species of rare endangered orchid, ... -
Antipredator Behavior and Morphology in Isolated Cyprinodont Fishes
(North Dakota State University, 2018)For desert fishes in the American Southwest, predation by invasive species has triggered massive population declines for decades, leaving researchers speculating on the underlying cause. It has been shown that Post-Pleistocene ... -
Selection for Low Calcium Tolerance in Brassica rapa
(North Dakota State University, 2018)Ecosystems across a landscape can vary in their selection pressures and therefore can vary in the species that are able to survive there. Selection pressures applied on a species found in multiple ecosystems may lead to ... -
Plant-Stand Count and Weed Identification Mapping Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Images
(North Dakota State University, 2018)Modern agriculture encounters several challenges these days. There is a vital need for spatial data about plant and weed distributions. Obtaining accurate knowledge of the plants and weeds distribution in the field with ... -
Cosmogenic 10Be Surface Exposure Dating and Numerical Modeling of Late Pleistocene Glaciers and Lakes in Northwestern Nevada
(North Dakota State University, 2019)This thesis focuses on the glacial record in the Pine Forest and Santa Rosa Ranges located in the northwestern Great Basin. Seventeen cosmogenic exposure ages in the two ranges are consistent with observations elsewhere ... -
Performance of a Retrofit Detention Basin in Fargo, ND
(North Dakota State University, 2019)“The Fargo Project” located in Fargo, North Dakota, is an 18-acre stormwater detention basin that was retrofitted in 2015 to include an earthen-channel, sediment forebay, and various native vegetation within the floodplain ... -
Bat Population Monitoring in National Parks of The Great Lakes Region and Evaluation of Bat Acoustic Analysis Software
(North Dakota State University, 2019)North American bats face multiple threats, prompting an increase in bat research and conservation efforts in recent decades. Researchers often use acoustic monitoring, which entails recording bats’ echolocation calls and ... -
Migratory Ecology and Wing Morphology of North Dakota Bats
(North Dakota State University, 2019)Understanding links between a species’ migratory behavior, wing morphology, and foraging strategy can provide insight into factors driving the evolution of behavioral and ecological responses. The first chapter of this ...