Search
Skip to Search Results- 7Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS), Faculty of
- 7Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS), Faculty of/Theses and Dissertations
- 2Biological Sciences, Department of
- 2Biological Sciences, Department of/Journal Articles (Biological Sciences)
- 2Cahill Lab of Experimental Plant Ecology
- 2Cahill Lab of Experimental Plant Ecology/Journal Articles (Cahill Lab)
-
Overstory and understory dynamics of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) ecosystems of northwestern British Columbia
DownloadFall 2010
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is declining across its range due to disturbances such as mountain pine beetle and white pine blister rust. In this thesis, I assess the response and vulnerability of whitebark pine ecosystems to multiple stressors and disturbances at the northern edge of...
-
Impacts of clear-cut harvesting on carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages of aspen dominated forests in central Alberta
DownloadFall 2016
Disturbances, both natural and those related to human activity, reset succession in boreal ecosystems, and affect forest biodiversity. The link between forest harvesting and biodiversity is of considerable conservation concern. In this thesis, I investigate the impacts of clear-cut harvesting on...
-
Spring 2014
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...
-
2005
Hurd, T. E., Hebblewhite, M., Nietvelt, C. G., Paquet, P. C., Fryxell, J. M., White, C. A., Bayley, S. E., McKenzie, J. A.
Abstract: Experimental evidence of trophic cascades initiated by large vertebrate predators is rare in terrestrial ecosystems. A serendipitous natural experiment provided an opportunity to test the trophic cascade hypothesis for wolves (Canis lupus) in Banff National Park, Canada. The first wolf...
-
2009
Jackson, D.A., Walker, S.C., Poos, M.S.
Functional diversity is an important concept in community ecology because it captures information on functional traits absent in measures of species diversity. One popular method of measuring functional diversity is the dendrogram-based method, FD. To calculate FD, a variety of methodological...
-
Examining the impact of climate change on snowshoe hare demography and community interactions in the northern boreal forest
DownloadSpring 2020
Ecologists are under increasing pressure to predict the influence of climate change on species demography along with the broader impacts on community and ecosystem structure. Predicting community responses to climate change, however, is a formidable challenge, that can be ameliorated by...
-
Disturbance has lasting effects on functional traits and diversity of grassland plant communities
Download2022-01-01
Ellen A Smith, Emily M Holden, Charlotte Brown, James F Cahill Jr
Background Localized disturbances within grasslands alter biological properties and may shift species composition. For example, rare species in established communities may become dominant in successional communities if they exhibit traits well-suited to disturbance conditions. Although the idea...
-
Disruption of a belowground mutualism alters interactions between plants and their floral visitors
Download2008-01-01
Cahill, J. F., Shore, B. H., Smith, G. R., Elle, E.
Plants engage in diverse and intimate interactions with unrelated taxa. For example, aboveground. oral visitors provide pollination services, while belowground arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) enhance nutrient capture. Traditionally in ecology, these processes were studied in isolation,...
-
Fall 2014
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...