10274 research outputs found
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Idaho Fish and Game Fish Hatchery Biological Aide
No full textIdaho’s Sawtooth Fish Hatchery was established in 1985 as a part of the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRPC); a federally funded effort to mitigate damage caused by the construction of the lower four Snake River dams. These dams disrupted migration paths, water temperatures, and spawning habitat of native salmon and steelhead. The Sawtooth hatchery, located along the Salmon River south of Stanley Idaho, plays a major role in the current efforts to maintain and promote healthy populations of chinook (king), sockeye, and steelhead. During the spring season, adult steelhead trout return upriver and are trapped by the hatchery’s weir. They are then sorted and spawned on site by hatchery employees. Fertilized eggs are held in trays, containing running well water, indoors until they reach the “eye” stage of development. At this point the eggs are transferred to separate hatcheries in Idaho to be reared until they are large enough for release. The juvenile steelhead are returned to Sawtooth hatchery and released downstream from the weir where they will continue over 900 miles down through the Salmon, Snake, and Columbia rivers toward the ocean
Investigating Microplastic Particle Transport in Soils using Micro-CT Senior Project
No full textThe motivation for my project was a deep curiosity on the symbiotic relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots, specifically how that relationship might interact with microplastics that seep into soil environments. This felt like a very important and relevant thing to investigate because plastic is a huge part of our daily lives and in turn, microplastics are a huge part of our natural environment. The danger of microplastics is that they are invisible to the naked eye, so we are unable to easily see the direct effects they have on the soil and the microorganisms and plants living within the soil. Not only do microplastics directly impact the living aspects of a soil environment, but they also affect the geological chemistry of the soil; this sort of pathway and the physical changes that could be observed from microplastic addition to the soil is what I first looked at so that I could get a baseline for any further experimentation. The idea was to eventually see how mycorrhizal fungi interacted with microplastic
ICP-MS operation and application to agricultural wetland samples Senior Project
No full textMy role in the laboratory was diverse and the nature of my work changed over the course of my internship. My main objective was to assist Chris Paradis with his pesticide research. To investigate the effects of Imidacloprid and its associated relationships with metals on wetland ecology, mesocosm tubs were dosed and observed. To parse the effects from the various treatment groups, many parameters were recorded, and samples were collected for laboratory analysis. To collect data in the field, a YSI probe was used. Biologically and experimentally relevant measures like temperature and conductivity were recorded. Samples to analyze later on laboratory equipment were carefully transferred to vials
Characterization of the migratory distribution, connectivity, philopatry and timing of the western North American Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) population
No full textAnthropogenic impacts such as habitat loss and degradation, disrupted food sources, and altered climactic processes pose diverse challenges to wildlife population viability. Migratory wildlife are vulnerable to such impacts across multiple geographically disparate habitats upon which they rely as an ecologically connected network. Sea ducks are especially susceptible as they rely on terrestrial and marine habitats throughout their annual migratory cycles. Among sea ducks, the Harlequin duck is exceptional for its migration between freshwater montane streams and coastal marine habitats, status as a species of concern among much of its range, and dearth of population information. Simultaneously, its unique life history characteristics renders it a valuable indicator species. I sought to address a priority science need concerning Harlequin Duck movement ecology by analyzing its temporal and spatial migratory structure across six broad regions in northwestern North America using a collection of satellite telemetry datasets. Together, these datasets comprised 136 individuals captured across four U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Migratory location and timing data were analyzed to determine spatial distribution, migration chronology, philopatry, migratory connectivity, and the relative importance of geographic and climatic drivers on migration timing. My analysis demonstrated strong philopatry to breeding, moulting, and wintering sites and moderate philopatry to stopover sites. Migratory connectivity between breeding, moulting, and wintering stages was low, suggesting a mixing of individuals from different geographic regions. Significant distinctions in migration timing were detected between sex, breeding/capture regions, and years. Latitude, longitude, breeding elevation, distance traveled, and cumulative thaw degree days were found to be important predictors of migration timing. These results revealed spatio-temporal structure in Harlequin Duck migration, with timing of annual migratory events being influenced heavily by location-specific conditions in breeding regions. Identification of shared core use areas among multiple population segments can be used to guide habitat conservation efforts. Additionally, geographic distinctions in migration timing can be used to inform individual state and provincial species management and recovery plans
Climate Change in the Salish Sea
Get PDFProjections from global climate models show ongoing warming over the 21st century, as well changes in both the total amount and the seasonal distribution of precipitation (Paik et al. 2020). The cumulative effects of these changing systems will lead to ongoing impacts to our social and ecological landscapes. In this paper, we use a combination of historical climate station records, statistically estimated (interpolated) climate surfaces, and global climate model projections to quantify and visualize both observed historical trends and projected future changes to temperature and precipitation across the Salish Sea’s coastal watersheds (Flower 2020) in Washington state and the province of British Columbia. This information is crucial to help local and regional communities prepare for, mitigate, and adapt to changing climate
Randomized Computational Search for Topological Unicorns
Get PDFThis project has endeavored to produce a knotted RP2 with order-4 meridians by developing randomized algorithms capable of constructing and analyzing knotted surfaces. We build off of the work of Jack Maxon and Astrea Rollins to generate trivial tangles and tri-plane diagrams and to compute the surface types and surface link groups of resulting tri-plane diagrams. In total, we generate nearly 1.5 million triples of tangles, yielding almost 200,000 valid tri-plane diagrams. Ultimately, very few of these diagrams are non-trivially knotted, as detected by the fundamental group, and our search does not produce the desired surface. However, our exploration provides ample data and new insights for the future computational study of knotted surfaces
The Effects of Superstitions on Experienced Basketball Players’ State Anxiety, Self-Confidence, and Free-Throw Performance Under Pressure
Get PDFSuperstitious rituals (SRs) are performed by over half of athletes across sports and cultures (e.g., Sasvari et al., 2019), and are defined as repetitive actions or behaviors, distinct from technical performance, that present an illusion of control (e.g., wearing the same article of clothing for luck; Brevers et al., 2011). Research on the effects of SRs on competitive state anxiety and objective sport performance outcomes is inconsistent and limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of personal SRs on competitive anxiety, self-confidence, and free-throw performance under pressure. Using a within-subjects design, 14 adult competitive basketball players (12 men, 2 women; average 7.9 yrs of competitive experience) with personal superstitions shot free-throws with and without their superstition (Time 1 and Time 3: 8 free-throws with SR; Time 2: 8 free-throws without SR). Participants completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-II Revised (Cox et al., 2003) at each time point. Pressure was induced through videotaping and awarding a monetary incentive for top performers. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed no statistically significant differences between participants’ cognitive state anxiety across the time points, but there was a large effect size, F (2, 26) = 3.292, p = .053, ηp2 = .20. According to post hoc analyses, participants’ cognitive anxiety was lower when using their SR. There were no statistically significant differences in participants’ somatic anxiety, self-confidence, or free-throw performance across the time points. Thus, athletes’ personal SRs may decrease cognitive state anxiety under pressure but may not affect actual performance
Something Waking: An Origin Story
No full textSomething Waking: An Origin Story is the first quarter of an origin story—a story that explores the effects of intergenerational trauma on relationships with family, friends, the self, and writing. It asks questions about identity and belonging, about how we embody echoes of endings and beginnings. Comprised of three personal timelines and a retold folktale, these four storylines are blown out of chronology into fragments, recreating the experience of memory, trauma, and imagination. Using the lyric mode to bend time and compress the “I” of the speaker and employing the essayistic mode to seek questions rather than a traditional arc interweaves with the folktale to create a sense of time larger and more resilient than my personal and familial trauma. The result is the opening section of an origin story that is more than a rupture—it is a story glimmering with possibilities of new futures. By disrupting the traditional form of women’s memoir, Something Waking reckons with how stories can be whole in their fragments and complexities. More than a memoir, more than an origin rooted in geological location, this work acknowledges my spiritual forming through stories I have been told and choose to tell
Girls Camp
No full textThis excerpt of a novel in progress follows Lucy and Megan, two queer women, as they reconnect after nearly two decades without contact. The reconnection comes at a point when Lucy, who is still an active participant in the conservative church that brought the two of them together as teenagers, is beginning to question her faith and her choice to stay involved in a church where she has no hope of having romantic connections or a family of her own. Megan has just begun to feel settled in her life and her relationship after leaving the church and the life it offered her when she was in college. But seeing Lucy again threatens to disrupt the comfortable life she’s built for herself. This excerpt brings us to the moment when the two see each other again for the first time. The story employs jumps forward and backward through time, changes of perspective, and speculative elements to queer the narrative on the page
Transfusion Plot: Reading the American Novel
Get PDFThis thesis proposes a new critical framework for reading American literature: the Transfusion Plot, a structural and symbolic model through which narrative progression depends on reciprocal exchanges among body, land, and memory. Drawing on metaphor and materiality, the Transfusion Plot suggests that stories in the American novel emerge—successfully or not—through acts of offering: labor, lineage, emotion, and sacrifice given to soil or withheld from it. The dual meaning of “plot” as both narrative arc and physical land is central to this reading, allowing for deeper insight into how novels negotiate rootedness, inheritance, and rupture.
The project centers on a close reading of Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, where the success or failure of plot depends on the characters’ ability to labor meaningfully on and with the land. The Shimerdas arrive without preparation or offering, and the prairie remains closed to them. In contrast, Ántonia’s physical labor becomes the novel’s central transfusion—her bodily commitment to soil generates memory, family, and narrative continuity. Her sweat, persistence, and eventual rootedness form a living arc in which plot, in both senses, is allowed to grow.
Ultimately, the Transfusion Plot offers a vocabulary for reading the American novel through its circulatory systems—where blood, sweat, soil, and story intersect. It repositions land not as backdrop but as participant in the plot’s formation and resolution, inviting new readings of literary inheritance and identity