Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Geographies of mobility and belonging: critical plant studies and hopeful worldviews(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2020) Rasile, Alayna May; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Josh DeWeeseThis paper makes a case for the miraculous nature of vegetal life and subverts the cultural failings of western civilization that have omitted ecological literacy and replaced it with ecosystem manipulation. Through examining the resiliency, adaptability, and mobility of plants, this thesis proposes a reconsideration of the idea of vegetal life being 'rooted' or immobile by choosing a posthuman lens that challenges the linear, human-scaled time and the Cartesian split of mind and body. Through my research on textile technology and my conviction for mutualistic co-species relationships, I explore opportunities for humans to use the implicit structure of capitalism with a methodology that is regenerative for landscapes and supportive of diverse vegetal life. These market-based solutions allow for positive material relationships with all aspects of an ecosystem.Item Thermal adaptation of westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2010) Drinan, Daniel P.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alexander V. Zale; Molly A. H. Webb (co-chair)Understanding local adaptations is a fundamental goal of evolutionary biology and would provide managers information necessary to better protect and conserve species. Salmonids are a particularly useful system for studying local adaptations as they often persist in disparate and isolated environments. In addition, their sensitivity to temperature provides a likely candidate for natural selection to act. I studied thermal adaptation in four wild populations and one hatchery stock of westslope cutthroat trout. Native stream mean summer temperatures ranged from 6.7° to 11.2°C. Embryos were collected from the wild and differences in embryonic development, embryonic survival, and juvenile growth were measured. I found a significant relationship between median embryonic survival and native stream temperatures at warm incubation temperatures (Rank test; P = 0.04). The change in embryonic survival across incubation temperatures was consistent for populations from warm streams, but changed drastically for populations from cool streams. This difference suggests that populations from warmer streams may be thermal generalists, and populations from cooler streams may be thermal specialists. Results have both short- and long-term implications. In the short-term, managers should use these data to support the consideration of local adaptations when performing translocation projects. In the long-term, these data suggest that global climate change may be detrimental for westslope cutthroat trout.