Within the Great Basin of the Western United States, management discussions regarding the impacts of grazing by livestock and feral horses on Greater Sage-grouse (\textit{Centrocercus urophasianus}, hereafter sage-grouse) often focus on the negative impacts to habitat, and specu…
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Biogeography of the Himalayan region [to include the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP)] evolved over a ~30M year span, catalyzed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. The resulting uplift produced major ecological and climatic effects, that in turn drove the diversific…
Cities are complex socioecological systems that require data collection methods that are equal in their ability to capture ecological patterns and social inequity. Social inequity in cities is apparent through lasting environmental legacies, such as in tree cover, which reflects…
Understanding threats and drivers of extinction risk is critical to conserving marine biodiversity. Although marine bony fishes are some of the most diverse and abundant vertebrates in the world, overexploitation is the major threat to these taxa. Species in the family Sciaenida…
The Blackside Dace (Chrosomus cumberlandensis; BSD) is a federally threatened minnow that has been extirpated from 31 streams in Tennessee and Kentucky since 1978. Although there is strong evidence linking elevated conductivity levels and low BSD occurrence, the mechanistic rela…
Prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, ecotourism represented the tourism industry’s fastest growing segment with projections estimating that ecotourism would become the world’s largest tourism type by 2030. While the tourism industry will need several years to rebound, if histo…
Amblyscirtes linda is a candidate for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act (1973). The present study, funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, aims to gather data that will enable a decision regarding federal listing to …
Successful sexual reproduction and recolonization are critical in maintaining genetic diversity within seagrass meadows. Thalassia testudinum flower, fruit and seedling production were assessed visually at 10 sites within Tampa Bay, Florida approximately every 4 weeks from May t…
Understanding both the social and biological factors surrounding conservation is important for informing effective fisheries management. This dissertation examines conservation in the American lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery in a changing Gulf of Maine (GOM) using computer …
As the earth's climate rapidly changes, it remains unclear how populations will respond to novel systems and anthropogenic inputs to said systems. The development of new applied conservation tools will be critical to the implementation of solutions to novel problems. My disserta…
Extinction rates exceed any in recent history. Simultaneously, invasive species are invading new areas and increasing in abundance. The leading proposed drivers of biodiversity loss include habitat destruction, urban and agricultural development, climate change, and biological i…
Practitioners of ecological restoration are faced with making sense of a wide range of information and generating conclusions about recovery potential that can inform effort and planning. In this thesis I use resilience theory to provide a framework for generating insights about…
The strategic release of captive-bred organisms is one of the most popular methods to restore species, but concerns exist regarding genetic impacts on natural populations over the long-term. Slow recovery of depleted eastern oyster C. virginica populations in the Chesapeake Bay …
The Southern Appalachian Mountains are a global hotspot for salamander biodiversity including many endemic species. These endemic montane salamanders have limited ranges and are vulnerable to anthropogenically induced habitat shifts. Plethodon amplus (the Blue Ridge Gray-Cheeked…
Two species of marine catfishes (Ariopsis felis and Bagre marinus) are abundant within the Apalachicola Bay system during most of the year. They function as 2nd and 3rd order consumers and as prey for top predators. Males perform oral incubation, a trait of most ariid catfish sp…
Understanding recruitment and the ecology of early fish life history are increasingly important to managing fisheries and restoring populations due to changing and more variable environmental conditions. Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) is an important recreational and commercial…
Detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a commonly used surveillance method for threatened or invasive vertebrates in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. However, use of eDNA methodologies for the detection of aquatic invertebrates (e.g., crayfish and insects) ha…
Effective measures for the conservation of biodiversity require an understanding of the extent and distribution of diversity within and among species. Studies focussed on providing such understanding can benefit from increasingly powerful and accessible genome-wide data. Overexp…
Identifying and harnessing processes that promote coral recovery and resilience is crucial. The declining status of coral-reef ecosystems has led to proposed interventions to selectively propagate thermally resistant corals, aiming to increase coral resilience under ocean warmin…