Animals aggregate and interact in nonuniform and nonrandom patterns, which lead to group level characteristics that have important evolutionary and ecological consequences. Network analysis provides a useful conceptual framework for linking animal interactions at all scales from dyads to communities, to populations and ecosystems. Despite exciting theoretical and applied advances...
Interest in performance specifications has been growing in the civil and construction industry in the past decade. One major focus area has been on understanding how to prolong the service life of concrete structures, since repair and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure have cost many trillions of dollars. Deterioration mechanisms such...
Due to threats of secondary salinization caused by increased saltwater intrusion upstream associated with climate change, this thesis examines how salinity affects the development and oviposition site selection habits of three Oregon coastal breeding amphibians, the Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa), the Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) and the Pacific Treefrog...
Ecological restoration is needed to mitigate losses to biodiversity. Restoration success is enhanced through the use of native plant materials that are genetically diverse and locally adapted. Seed transfer zones have been developed to delineate geographic areas where native seed can be collected and distributed with reduced risk of maladaptation....
The Altar Valley is an important working landscape that supports biodiversity and vulnerable species in Pima County, Arizona (Huckelberry 2000). This semi-desert grassland, alluvial valley and 713,807-acre watershed composed of 39 subbasins serves as an aquifer to a portion of southwestern Tucson. This region of Southern Arizona has been identified...
Innovation is critical for firm growth and survival. Thus, how much value firms create and capture from their innovative activities has been an interest of scholars. This dissertation explores three important questions on this topic to which extant literature has paid little attention. First, I examine how the external threat...
With growing recognition of adolescence as the time in which suicidal thoughts and behaviors first occur, early identification and intervention systems in schools have become an international
priority. Understanding and incorporating language indicators associated with the core psychological and interpersonal processes of adolescent suicidality could provide promising tools for school...
Small molecule drugs have been instrumental in our fight against diseases, beginning when some of the earliest ancient cultures used plant remedies to treat illnesses. More recently, the skill of isolating and characterizing the active ingredients within bioactive plants and microbial extracts has led to the isolation and design of...
There are over two million pet rabbits in the United States. Many rabbits are obtained as adults from pet stores and humane societies. Pet rabbit owners may elect to perform ovariohysterectomy (spay) surgeries on female rabbits to prevent unwanted pregnancies as well as to eliminate the possibility of reproductive disorders...
A substantial fraction of estuarine tidal wetlands have been lost to development or other human uses in the Pacific Northwest since the 1800s. Wetland restoration, typically through tidal re-connection, can restore normal tidal hydrology to these areas and improve estuarine capacity to support ecosystem functions and services. Restoration may initiate...