Browsing Quantitative ecology and resource management by Title
Now showing items 1-20 of 23
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Bio-Behavioral Models for HIV Prevention
(2013-04-17)<italic>Background</italic>: In this dissertation, I model HIV transmission in two different populations: circular migrants in South Africa, and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Southern California. <italic>Objectives</italic>: ... -
Bridging the gap between fisheries genetics and management
The work in this dissertation addresses a gap between fisheries management and population genetics. The first chapter uses landscape genetics to determine whether natural boundaries exist in the Pacific cod stock in the ... -
Controls on the productivity of exploited ecosystems: linking ecology and resource management
Ecologists have long been striving to learn what drives the productivity of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Such an understanding can contribute to both basic science and the practical management of renewable ... -
The dynamics and effects of bacterial kidney disease in Snake River spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
(2001)Bacterial kidney disease (BKD) is endemic in Snake River spring chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) stocks of both wild and hatchery origin, and may be partially responsible for their poor returns in recent years. ... -
Extending Harvest-Scheduling Using Spatial Optimization: Road Access and Edge Effects.
The scheduling of management actions across forest stands is a fundamental task in the world of forestry. However, the spatial and temporal layout of management actions can lead to a combinatorial explosion of potential ... -
Fixed and Random Effects Models and Multistage Estimation Procedures for Statistical Population Reconstructions
(2012-08-10)Age-at-harvest data are routinely collected as part of game-management programs. These data represent a wealth of information regarding demographic processes and trends in wildlife abundance. Use of wildlife age-at-harvest ... -
A graphical user interface (GUI) input-based algorithm to automate generation of multi-state models for release-recapture studies
(2014-04-30)Release-recapture studies represent an important branch of population analysis and are the primary method used to investigate population survival and migration. As researchers seek to answer more detailed questions about ... -
Incorporating cognition into models of animal movement and predator--prey interaction
Incorporating cognition, i.e., learning and memory, into models of animal movement is increasingly important as models seek to answer more complex questions where individuals' prior experiences shape their choices. Two ... -
Measuring Conflict Among Objective Functions in Multi-Objective Optimization
We present a process to measure the conflict among objective functions within and across multi-objective systems. To do so, we introduce a new metric to quantify pairwise objective conflict. We also demonstrate new ... -
Modeling the population dynamics of herring in the Prince William Sound, Alaska
The Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) population in Prince William Sound, Alaska crashed in 1992-93 and has yet to recover, affecting food web dynamics in the Sound and impacting Alaskan communities. To help researchers ... -
Monte Carlo methods for inference in population genetic models
(2001)This dissertation describes novel applications of Monte Carlo and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to statistical inference in problems from the field of conservation genetics. The inference problems are motivated ... -
Multi-criteria assessment of ecological process models using pareto optimization
(1997)Assessment is the essential step in using an ecological process model as a heuristic for investigating hypotheses. Assessment investigates the model's capacity to adequately simulate the phenomenon, as represented by ... -
Multi-objective optimization for ecological model assessment and theory development
(2008)The motivation for building ecological process models is to synthesize observations and explore hypotheses for system functions. In the course of ecological research it is common to choose a trajectory for a research program ... -
Population Trends of the Eastern North Pacific Blue Whale
(2014-02-24)Blue whales (<italic>Balaenoptera musculus<italic>) were exploited extensively around the world and remain endangered. In the North Pacific their population structure is unclear and current status unknown, with the exception ... -
A Predator Susceptibility Model of Juvenile Salmon Survival and a Voronoi Tessellation-based Approach for Generating Hypothetical Forest Landscapes
(2012-09-13)In relating juvenile salmonid size to adult survival, past observational studies have shown mixed results, while modeling has been limited to regression methods lacking in ecological mechanism. This paper develops a simple ... -
Quantifying sensitivity and exposure to climate change in Western North American species
Significant changes in climate over the coming century will affect different species in different ways. Understanding which species are most vulnerable to climate change is important for guiding conservation efforts and ... -
Release-recapture models for migration juvenile and adult salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers using PIT tag and radiotelemetry data
(2005)Release-recapture models for two types of tagging data from migrating salmonids in the Columbia and Snake rivers are presented. The first model uses both juvenile and adult PIT-tag data to analyze the seaward and spawning ... -
Spatial Models as Powerful Tools for Climate Change Ecology
Many scientists suggest that the Earth has entered a new geologic epoch, the Anthropocene, defined by human influence on nearly every physical and biological system. Climate change is perhaps the most widespread human ... -
The statistical analysis of wildfire growth
Understanding and quantifying wildfire behavior is of interest to the scientific community, as well as public health and fire management professionals. To achieve this end, there is a demand for statistical descriptions ... -
Theoretical Impacts of Habitat Loss and Generalist Predation on Predator-Prey Cycles
Certain herbivores and their predators undergo high amplitude periodic fluctuations in abundance in northern latitudes but exhibit damped cyclic dynamics in their respective southern ranges. Generalist predation and habitat ...