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Spring 2023

Littlefair, Carter J

Large carnivores have a significant role in ecosystems and their role as apex predators can have cascading effects that influence ecosystem stability. Managing large carnivores requires an understanding of how they use the land and their vital rates, including survival. For cougars (Puma...

Fall 2014

Morissette, Julienne

Canada’s boreal forest is the breeding ground for some 288 species of resident and migratory birds. Approximately 65% of the species that are currently of highest conservation priority in the boreal region are associated with wetlands and riparian areas. Although estimates vary with scale and...

Spring 2021

Brown, Charlotte

Competition is often highlighted as a major force influencing community structure. However, there are multiple facets of competition that may have independent and differential impacts, making the understanding of what drives competition and how it structures communities difficult. In this thesis,...

Fall 2021

Garg, Aneri

Identifying features of biogenic habitats (i.e. made of living plants and animals) that attract and retain resident species is a key theme in ecology with important implications for habitat conservation and restoration. Using corals (class Anthozoa, phylum Cnidaria) —a group of foundational...

Fall 2010

Habib, Thomas J

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal pathogen affecting white-tailed and mule deer in east-central Alberta, and I addressed two current limitations of CWD management. First, to improve precision and accuracy of density estimates obtained from aerial surveys, I evaluated alternative survey...

Fall 2023

Sudlow, Karson Ian

Global melting of mountain glaciers is altering downstream ecosystems. As glaciers disappear, downstream water temperatures are rising while turbidity and nutrient concentrations decline. Here, knowledge gaps exist concerning how these abiotic changes will affect primary producers in glacial...

Fall 2024

McKinnon, Rebekah A

Life-history theory and parental investment theory provide the theoretical framework for understanding the adaptive strategies employed by organisms to optimize reproductive success in dynamic environments. Avian species are a valuable model for testing these theories due to their diverse...

Fall 2013

Gorrell, Jamie

The theory of natural selection has advanced our understanding in every aspect of biological sciences, yet despite this seeming ubiquity, there remain some components that are not fully resolved. Natural selection predicts the “selfish” advancement of genes that are optimally suited for their...

Spring 2013

Cristescu, Bogdan

Industrial development is transforming Alberta's landscapes, with largely unquantified effects on wildlife species. Open-pit mining is occurring on vast expanses, most notably for bitumen but also extensively for coal in a rich seam that traverses the province. Major concerns have developed over...

Spring 2014

Mayor, Stephen J

The worldwide biodiversity crisis has intensified the need to better understand how biodiversity and human disturbance are related. Yet this relationship lacks both consensus in theoretical expectations and consistency in observed empirical patterns. I present one of the largest extent studies...