This thesis examines food insecurity in Oregon among food bank users over the course of The Great Recession. Analyzing data from the Oregon Food Bank, this thesis tells the story of the change that the recession brought upon low-income families. In examining the regional differences in food insecurity, the local...
The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet accessing enough healthy, fresh food to meet basic nutritional needs is a critical issue faced by millions of Americans. There are a number of reasons for food insecurity in the United States, the primary causes being lack...
Marine heatwaves have become more common over the past several years. The 2014-2015 ‘warm blob’ had profound effects on marine ecosystems in the Northeast Pacific. Given the particular habitat needs of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) we wanted to examine the impacts of the heatwave on Chinook depth distribution. We examined...
Pesticide chemists have recognized since the 1940's that ultraviolet light was deleterious to the insecticidal properties of certain compounds. However, it has been only within the last 15 years that a number of photodecomposition products of the chlorinated hydrocarbon
insecticides have been isolated and identified. The degradation of insecticides by...
For Pacific salmon, the evolution of local adaptations depends upon the species' propensity to return, or "home", to natal streams at time of reproduction. Pacific salmon use olfactory cues to guide homing behavior, yet little is known about the genetics of olfaction in salmon. In this study, I use putatively...
Substantial scientific investment has been directed towards understanding factors that influence distribution patterns and animals' remarkable ability for precise orientation and navigation, yet fundamental gaps in our knowledge remain. In my dissertation, I applied emerging genetic technologies to conduct a top-down and bottom-up investigation of animal movement and cue perception....
This research was designed to broaden the understanding of how timber-harvest affects aquatic macroinvertebrates in perennial and intermittent headwater streams. This study compared emergent and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages from 20 headwater streams in the central Oregon Coast Range that varied by harvest condition and flow duration. Through comparison of the...
Rapid adaptation and evolution based on standing genetic variation and novel mutations is likely to be one of the primary ways that species survive the widespread anthropogenic environmental changes expected of the next century. Three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are known to be capable of extremely quick, dramatic adaptation in response...
PART I. A chemical examination of the materials toxic to fish in
kraft pulp mill wastes has been made as part of a water pollution
study. Thirty gallons of "foul condensate" from a typical kraft mill
gave 14 g of organic material when extracted with methylene chloride,
and an additional...
Population genetic techniques are now preeminent in differentiating wild populations. Natural resource managers rely on them in their efforts to restore viable populations of fish and wildlife. Overfishing adversely impacted Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) on the U.S. West Coast in the late 20th century. Management actions included shutting down the...