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Item Jaws: a love story(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Kemp, Morgan Markley; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jim ZimpelApproximately 100 million sharks are killed per year due to finning, fishing, and beauty industries. The destruction of a critical apex predator has been overlooked due to a lack of empathy for the venerable creature. This is due to the negative impacts from the film Jaws and the subsequent rise in fear mongering media that has created a false persona that sharks are blood-thirsty man-eating monsters meant to be feared and worthy of defeat. In order to generate positive change to save sharks, the populations perception of what sharks are must be changed. By creating a body of artwork inspired by the true beauty of sharks, fearful opinions of sharks can be exchanged for respect and admiration. Subtilities of the atrocities afflicting sharks can be introduced in a palatable way resulting in empathy that can enact real change for shark conservation.Item Food resources for grizzly bears at army cutworm moth aggregation sites in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2022) Lozano, Katerina N.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert K. D. Peterson; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Army cutworm moths (Euxoa auxiliaris) (ACM) migrate annually to peaks on the eastern edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) feed on these moths from mid-to late summer. The Shoshone Forest is preparing a management plan to address the conservation of these sites and foraging bears. Increased human use and GYE-wide changes in grizzly bear food availability and related foraging patterns are concerns prompting plan preparation. This study addresses grizzly bear diet and vegetation foraging locations on a prominent moth site ('South Site'). A 1991 study identified 4 forb genera utilized by bears at ACM sites. A 2017-2018 study identified 5 more and postulated that biscuitroot (Lomatium spp.), found in high elevation meadows, was an important resource for grizzly bears. During 2020-2021 we clarified these findings using scat collection and descriptions of available vegetation. We determined the frequency and volume of food items in 298 scats. We quantified vegetation at peak meadows (elevation: 3,078 - 3,657-m) and in cirque basins (elevation: 3,658 - 3,931-m) to record the percent cover of nine forb genera. We also described the density of biscuitroot and craters where bears excavated roots to determine if biscuitroot influences foraging site choices for grizzly bears. We confirmed use of 7 of the 9 previously identified forb genera. The most frequently consumed foods by grizzly bears were ACM (23% volume) and roots and tubers (38% volume). Similarly, the 2017-2018 study found 20% ACM by volume and 45% roots and tubers by volume. There was a positive, linear relationship between the density of flowering biscuitroot and craters from grizzlies digging roots in several peak meadows (p < 0.001). Rather than foraging solely on ACMs, grizzly bears on this moth site relied highly on vegetation in their diet, specifically roots and tubers from biscuitroot and clover. Our findings suggest grizzly bears have a diverse diet at this moth site that may allow them to adjust to variations in ACM abundance. They focused foraging on roots and tubers at 5 peak meadows near talus where moth foraging occurs; information that can potentially help mitigate human-grizzly bear interactions involving climbers.Item Evaluating bear management areas in Yellowstone National Park(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Loggers, Elise Ahlenslager; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Andrea Litt; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.A growing body of research suggests large predators change their behavior near humans in ways that parallel how prey respond to predators; when outdoor recreation increases, avoiding humans becomes more difficult. Restricting human access to reduce detrimental effects of human-wildlife interactions can be an attractive management tool, however, rarely is the efficacy of such measures assessed. In 1982, Yellowstone National Park began instituting short-term, annual restrictions to areas of the backcountry containing important food resources for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). These areas -- Bear Management Areas (BMAs) -- were intended to reduce human-caused disturbance of foraging bears and improve visitor safety. We sought to assess whether grizzly bears: 1) preferred BMAs with access restrictions more than other areas in YNP and 2) changed their response to sporadic (trail) and predictable (campsite) recreation sites depending on BMA access restrictions. We modeled resource selection of grizzly bears with step-selection functions, based on GPS locations from male and female bears collected from 2000 to 2020. Our analyses demonstrated that grizzly bears differentially selected BMAs, compared to areas outside BMAs, and that selection changed with sex and season. Bears likely prefer BMAs for the resources they contain more than to avoid people as only males changed their selection of BMAs based on access restrictions. Males avoided hiking trails during the day, but preferred trails at night. Females changed their selection of trails depending on human access restrictions and avoided trails in unrestricted BMAs. Combined with previous work, results suggest bears capitalize on the environment to avoid human presence, often with sex-specific strategies. For sporadic recreation, males temporally avoid the perceived risk of people whereas females spatially avoid the perceived risk of people. Although lower-intensity activities often are thought of as compatible with conservation, such recreation may be cryptic, but important, drivers of behavioral change in wildlife.Item Wolverine habitat quality, connectivity, and prioritization at the landscape scale(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Carroll, Kathleen Anne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Andrew J. Hansen; Andrew J. Hansen, Robert M. Inman and Rick L. Lawrence were co-authors of the article, 'Comparing methods to disentangle habitat predictors for wolverines in the southern extent of their distribution' which is contained within this dissertation.; Andrew J. Hansen, Robert M. Inman, Rick L. Lawrence and Andrew B. Hoegh were co-authors of the article, 'Testing landscape resistance layers and modeling connectivity for wolverines in the western US' which is contained within this dissertation.; Robert M. Inman, Andrew J. Hansen, Kevin Barnett and Rick L. Lawrence were co-authors of the article, 'Prioritizing metapopulation connectivity for wolverines' which is contained within this dissertation.The core of conservation biology is understanding how to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic activities on species. These impacts are particularly detrimental to isolated and small populations, which face extirpation or extinction without immediate conservation action. For small and isolated populations, protecting connective habitat (e.g., corridors) and facilitating movement is key. Corridor identification requires rigorous planning and appropriate statistical choices to ensure that resulting conservation actions are defensible and best support ecological processes. This manuscript asks: 1) how do different, commonly used statistical methods inform our understanding of species resource selection across scale and between sexes, 2) how does landscape resistance and connectivity differ between resident and dispersing individuals, and 3) what information is important to include in a systematic conservation plan to best support on-the-ground conservation between land trusts, landowners, and other practitioners under future climate change conditions. To address each of these questions we focused on wolverines (Gulo gulo), which exist as isolated metapopulations across the western contiguous United States. Our key findings included that 1) the importance of habitat variables differ only slightly by sex, across selection scales, and across analysis methods, 2) dispersing animals are less sensitive to habitat quality compared to resident animals, and 3) including information that both helps mitigate potential threats and preserves ecological processes is the best approach for connectivity conservation planning. This work represents the most comprehensive wolverine connectivity conservation analyses to date. This research suggests that examining multiple approaches and validating results is critical to generating rigorous and defensible conservation decisions are being made for wolverines, although more studies are needed to validate this in other species. Taken together, this research provides land managers, policy makers, and scientists with guidance for future connectivity analyses, conservation action for wolverines, and a research framework that can be applied to additional species of conservation concern in isolated populations.Item Testing the effects of anthropogenic pressures on African lions and their prey in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem, Zambia(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Vinks, Milan Alexander; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Scott Creel; Scott Creel, Paul Schuette, Wigganson Matandiko, Elias Rosenblatt, Carolyn Sanguinetti, Kambwiri Banda, Ben Goodheart, Matthew S. Becker, Clive Chifunte, and Chuma Simukonda were co-authors of the article, 'Testing the effects of anthropogenic pressures on a diverse African herbivore community' in the journal 'Ecosphere' which is contained within this thesis.; Scott Creel, Paul Schuette, Matthew S. Becker, Elias Rosenblatt, Carolyn Sanguinetti, Kambwiri Banda, Ben Goodheart, Kim Young-Overton, Xia Stevens, Clive Chifunte, Neil Midlane, and Chuma Simukonda were co-authors of the article, 'Response of lion demography and dynamics to the loss of prey and changes in prey community composition' submitted to the journal 'Ecological Applications' which is contained within this thesis.Rapid human population growth across Africa has put tremendous pressure on large herbivore and large carnivore populations, and most of these large terrestrial species are now limited to residing within or adjacent to protected area (PA) networks. However, high rates of human encroachment and associated activities around and within PAs are jeopardizing their effectiveness and have become a major conservation concern. High rates of illegal harvest are linked to human encroachment and can have devastating effects on large herbivore and large carnivore populations. Large herbivore declines are often greatest in areas with high rates of illegal offtake and ensuing prey depletion can be a primary driver of large carnivore declines. Kafue National Park (KNP) of central Zambia supports a diverse large herbivore community and the country's second largest lion population. However, KNP is thought to be experiencing human-caused wildlife declines, providing a unique opportunity to evaluate anthropogenic effects on both the large herbivores and large carnivores of this system. Here, we evaluated the status and major anthropogenic and environmental drivers of KNP's large herbivore populations and lion population. First, we estimated population densities and distribution of the ten most abundant large herbivore species using stratified ground-based surveys conducted from 2012 - 2018. These data indicated that population densities were consistently low across species and areas, though there was ecologically important variation among species and size classes. Moreover, densities of larger-bodied herbivores were greatly depressed relative to smaller species. Second, we evaluated population density, survival rates, and demography for the KNP lion population from 2013 - 2018. These data indicated that age- and sex-specific survival rates for settled individuals were generally high, and factors known to correlate with local prey density had small effects on lion survival. In contrast, average lion density was low and recruitment of cubs was poor. These findings suggest that low recruitment might be a better signal of low prey density than survival. Overall, large herbivores and lions appear to be limited by human activities in KNP. Increased resource protection and reducing the underlying drivers of prey depletion are urgent conservation needs to facilitate the recovery of these economically and ecologically valuable species.Item Grizzly bears and humans at two moth aggregation sites in Wyoming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2020) Nunlist, Erika Ana; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Bok SowellHuman interactions with grizzly bears at moth sites is an important management issue because of the potential for displacing bears and the implications for human safety. The objective of our study was to quantify human and bear use overlap and interactions associated with two of the most human-accessible moth sites in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Our field work was conducted during the summers of 2017 and 2018. We conducted systematic bear surveys and analyzed the data using a resource selection function. Human use was quantified through trailhead monitoring, peak log entries, and opportunistic documentation. Hiking route data were collected using GPS tracking units distributed at trailheads. Human-bear overlap was assessed by comparing human and bear use and validated against interaction location data. We conducted 293 surveys and documented 266 bear locations. Landscape covariates describing temperature, moisture, terrain, and landcover were important to grizzly bear use. We recorded very different human use levels between the two study sites (North site: 3 groups/year; South site: 35 groups/year). Human use at the North site was dispersed and associated with hunting and use at the South site was most often associated with peak climbing and/or bear viewing and was concentrated along one primary route to the peak. We documented a total of 43 interactions (at the South site only) and obtained location data for 29 of those interactions. During human-bear interactions, bears strongly avoided human presence 80% of the time and had no apparent reaction 20% of the time. Most interactions occurred immediately around the South site peak (14/29) or along the primary route (12/29), areas that we identified to have high human and bear use overlap. We confirmed significant human safety and bear disturbance management concerns. Human safety concerns were most apparent in uneducated, and consequently unprepared, mountain climbing groups with small groups sizes (<4 people, n=64/70). Bear disturbance concerns were apparent from numerous interactions that resulted in bear displacement. Overall, we suggest that the concern expressed by managers over human and bear use overlap at the South site is warranted. Mitigation efforts should be explained in a management plan.Item Consequences of interspecies cultural intersection in nature documentary(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2019) Samollow, David Dunham; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo LipfertNature Documentary films routinely center around the behaviors of animals, rarely focusing on cultural interspecies interactions with humans. Using 'Grizzly Man', 'Blackfish', 'Forty Ton Mirror', and 'The Lost Tapes of Dian Fossey', this paper explores the cultural collision of people, their expectations, and animals in both captivity and the wild. The approach each film takes will be examined and highlight the details used to reach their conclusions. With one exception, the underlying them[e] concludes that such interactions result in a detrimental outcome to both humans and animals.Item Does increased task difficulty reveal individual differences in executive function in the domestic dog?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Olsen, Mariana Rachel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonPet dogs are carnivores that inhabit a largely human-dominated context, in which certain normal canid behaviors (e.g., resource-guarding, barking, mounting) are considered undesirable and even dangerous. Safety and welfare implications of human-dog interaction have recently led researchers to take an interest in canine executive function. Two tasks have become particularly popular in this area of study: the cylinder task and the A-not-B task. Because canine cognition tasks are not typically subjected to the same scrutiny as those used in human research, it is unclear whether these tasks indeed measure what researchers expect them to. Even though they ostensibly measure canine inhibitory control, task performance seldom correlates between the two, and researchers have suggested that they might be too easy to reflect effortful processes. Further complicating the matter are lack of reliability estimates and frequent use of under-powered samples. In this study, I evaluated the reliability and construct validity of the cylinder task and A-not-B task. Across two experiments, I tested modified forms of the cylinder task to make it more difficult and thus more reflective of individual differences in executive function. In Experiment 1, subjects completed the cylinder task under normal conditions and following self-control exertion. In Experiment 2, subjects performed the cylinder task either with or without practice retrieving a treat from an opaque apparatus. Subjects in both experiments performed the A-not-B task with removal of ostensive human cuing. Performance on behavioral tasks was compared to owner-reported measures of impulsivity, inattention, behavioral regulation, responsiveness, and aggression. In Experiment 1, performance was negatively affected by self-control exertion, but only to the degree that dogs exhibited self-control. This suggests that the cylinder task reflects an effortful, limited-capacity process. In Experiment 2, subjects performed worse when practice was omitted, suggesting that cylinder task performance partially reflects the ability to transfer the strategy learned during practice to the test trials. Across both studies, performance during the cylinder task and A-not-B task was uncorrelated. Further, the cylinder task showed high reliability whereas the A-not-B did not. Implications of these results and suggestions for future directions are discussed.Item The pursuit of hippo-ness : hippopotamus and human(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2014) Franks, Alan Everett; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lucia RicciardelliThe relationship between human and animal is a complex and strange one, and many have written and theorized on the matter over the centuries. Animal theory has become ensconced in a debate that has evolved with public discourse and now exists in a realm that has become clouded with misperceptions. In this thesis, I explore ideas about human-animal relationships through the example of the hippopotamus and provide historical and cultural context for a reading of my accompanying film, "The Pursuit of Hippo-ness". Through both the film and the paper, I aim to raise questions about how we see and interact with the hippopotamus, drawing mainly from individual stories to reflect a multiplicity of an animal that is often seen in a negative light. By raising these questions about how we perceive animals, we should begin to recognize the impacts that it can have on conservation when some animals are seen as inferior in terms of their "value." Being cognizant of these prejudices or highly misconstrued understandings of animals, particularly those with negative connotations attached, we should begin to recognize the intrinsic value of the animals and the way in which our lives are intertwined with theirs.Item Impacts of human activity on bighorn sheep in Yellowstone National Park(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1998) Ostovar, Kayhan; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lynn R. IrbySeventeen years have passed since bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) experienced a massive Chlamydial-caused die-off. Currently, no sign of Chlamydia or pneumonia is evident, thus other factors are considered to be limiting the population. The proposed changes to the Gardiner-Mammoth highway and the highway through Dunraven Pass could increase or decrease human disturbances to the core population of bighorn sheep. Approximately 65% of all observations on the Everts winter range occurred on the top of McMinn Bench (along the proposed road route). One ewe group currently must cross the Gardiner-Mammoth highway to reach spring lambing grounds. The placement of the road onto McMinn Bench would impact at least 2 other populations of ewe groups and 2-3 populations of ram groups, which seek shelter, security, water, and minerals in the cliffs.