Modern African ungulates navigate seasonal variation in resource availability through diet-switching (primarily mixed-feeders) and/or migrating (primarily grass grazers). These ecological generalizations are well-documented today, but the extent to which they apply to the non-analog ecosystems of the Pleistocene are unclear. Drawing from serially-sampled stable isotope measurements from 18 Kenyan large herbivore species from the Last Glacial Period (LGP), we evaluate how diet, diet-switching, and migration compare to observations from present-day settings. We find a higher grazing signal in most LGP species and a greater magnitude of diet-switching than in the present. Additionally, we find that the relationships between grass intake, migration, diet-switching, and body size during the LGP were unlike those observed today. This establishes a revised paleoecology of LGP herbivore communities and highlights that LGP herbivores were behaviorally non-analog. Our results imply that ecological observations from present-day settings offer an incomplete perspective of herbivore-environment interactions.

In 1934, Van Cleave and Mueller completed a study of the parasite fauna of the fish in Oneida Lake and its tributaries, where they documented over eighty species of parasites, thirty-three of which were new descriptions. Since 1934, the lake has undergone many environmental changes which have impacted the invertebrate fauna, mollusks in particular. The present study is a fish parasite survey of twelve tributaries of Oneida Lake undertaken to compare our results to Van Cleave and Mueller’s survey. The methods of this study included the collection of thirty-three fish species via backpack shocking, e-boat and hook and line fishing, partial necropsy of fish to collect parasites and the mounting of parasites for identification using light and scanning microscopes. During the recent survey of the lake, certain species of trematodes that had been reported by Van Cleave and Mueller were considered ‘missing’. Some of the missing species of parasites were found in the survey of the tributaries. For example, we encountered the trematode Bunodera sacculata in seven of twenty-six Perca flavescens. Bunodera sacculata uses a native clam as its first intermediate host, which is thought to have been extirpated from the lake due to invasive species. Additionally, thirty-two species were documented from three other major groups. This survey fills a knowledge gap on the fish parasite data in the tributaries and will add to the current survey knowledge of the lake system. Through an extensive survey of the fish parasites in Oneida Lake’s tributaries, the comparison of my results to Van Cleave and Mueller’s study demonstrates the parasite community in the tributaries are differs from those found in the lake because of several years of change to the watershed.

Effects of rapid decline in species numbers often pressures practitioners to rely on both theoretical deduction and observational based evidence when making decisions about reintroductions. The reintroduction of a species cannot be deemed a success simply due to the translocation of a species to its historic home range. Success in reintroduction is often defined as the establishment of a self-sustaining population of locally born individuals. Efforts to reintroduce the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus; ABB) from the extant population on Block Island, RI back to NY are underway. Our research focused on factors which may impact the survival of ABB once reintroduced to NY. Carrion is an ephemeral resource which burying beetles (Nicrophorus spp.) rely upon in raising their brood. Competition for this resource is fierce among burying beetles, carrion flies, and vertebrate scavengers in the northeastern US. Results of our carrion competition study determined that the congener, N. orbicollis will be the competitor that ABB will most likely face during their reproductive season. Our olfactometry study comparing overwinter site selection choices of two populations of N. orbicollis (RI, NY) indicated no significant difference among the choices made. Results from our overwinter survival study in NY forests comparing the survival rates of two populations of N. orbicollis (RI, NY) determined that population significantly affects the rate of overwinter survival. Our results will aid in decisions regarding the timing of ABB reintroduction, site considerations, and the number of ABB released.

Walleye (Sander vitreus) are recreationally and ecologically important throughout New York State waterbodies. The species has been stocked throughout the state for purposes of establishing and enhancing recreational fisheries and biological control of landlocked alewife populations and milfoil management in the state. In populations supported by large-scale stocking efforts, we rarely collect information about natural reproduction. Walleye were stocked from 2000-2014 in Otsego Lake, New York for biological control of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) with a secondary purpose of re-establishing a recreational fishery. Following the functional elimination of alewife from the lake, walleye stocking ceased and their population has been supported only by natural reproduction. With the collapse of the alewife population and the increased popularity of a harvest-orientation for walleye, the status of the population and the ability to sustain a fishery into the future is currently uncertain. The purpose of this thesis was to characterize baseline population dynamics of spawning walleye in Otsego Lake, NY following successful re-introduction of the species and establishment of wild reproduction. To achieve this, the specific objectives of my thesis were to: 1) characterize spawning walleye demographics (age, growth, sex ratio, and size distribution), 2) estimate annual survival and population abundance of stream-spawning walleye in the lake, and 3) quantify variability in reproductive phenology as related to environmental cues to inform future sampling efforts. Sex ratios of spawning fish were heavily skewed toward males, but the proportion of females in spawning tributaries has increased in recent years. We found that mean size and age of spawning walleye varied between males and females but increased across sexes during the study period. Additionally, estimated population abundance decreased markedly from about 6,428 individuals in 2008 to 1,724 individuals in 2017 before stabilizing at about 868 individuals in 2018 and 748 individuals in 2019. Taken as a whole, these changes suggest that the naturally reproducing walleye population may be stabilizing at numbers lower than were sustained during years of active stocking, which may affect how harvest influences the population in the future. Finally, I was able to create predictive relationships between environmental variables of interest (date, photoperiod, and degree days) that were useful for predicting the initiation of spawning accurately and, with a precision of about one week, to facilitate more efficient sampling of this population in the future. The information provided by this study will facilitate future management of Otsego Lake. Continued monitoring of this population will help resolve or confirm some of the outstanding uncertainties related to current stock status and trends observed.

Prey animals must balance the need to find food and reproduce with the need to avoid being eaten by predators to maximize their fitness. The Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, uses a variety of behavioral and morphological mechanisms to avoid and survive predator encounters. One such mechanism is the ability to lose its tail (autotomy) during an attack and eventually regrow it. Though effective, this ability may also negatively affect the salamanders if they alter behaviors following the attack in ways that could reduce feeding, locomotion, or reproduction. Previous studies have explored altered behavior following tail autonomy but have not differentiated between attacks with and without tail loss. There is some evidence that the intensity of a predator’s attack and subsequent stress response can influence behavior. In this study, we investigated this idea by observing how various behaviors may be affected by predation attempts both with and without tail autotomy. We performed behavioral assays to study escape distance, exploratory movements, cover use, and eating habits in individuals assigned to either a control, attacked with autotomy, or attacked without autotomy group. Results indicate that there is a difference between behaviors following attacks with and without tail autotomy. There was a significant effect of treatment on the escape distance of the salamanders and behaviors following attacks without autotomy were generally more comparable to the control.

Macroinvertebrates play an important role in freshwater streams (Luell 2020). Different macroinvertebrates have different tolerances to pollution. There are three main groups that these macroinvertebrates can be categorized into whether they have no tolerance for pollution, moderate pollution tolerance and tolerance to pollution (Luell 2020). These different tolerances allow us to use macroinvertebrates as bioindicators to infer the quality of the stream (Luell 2020; Ab Hamid and Md Rawi 2017). Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) are three orders of macroinvertebrates that are commonly used to assess stream quality (Moskova 2008). This work will focus on members of the order Trichoptera, or caddisflies. Rhyacophila is a genus in the family Rhyacophilidae. The genus can be found in North America, Asia, and Europe (Prather et al. 2001). Across North America there are 126 known species (Prather et al. 2001), 34 of which are present in eastern North America and approximately 19 can be found in New York (Prather et al. 2001). In the larval stage, they are aquatic and become terrestrial as adults. Larvae are found in cold freshwater streams with high levels of dissolved oxygen (Prather et al. 2001). Prather et al. (2001) stated that Rhyacophila are univoltine, meaning that they have one generation per year, although some species are known to have multiple cohorts in the stream at any one time (Manuel and Folsom 1982). In the Susquehanna River basin, Rhyacophila have been found, and are commonly encountered, by SUNY Oneonta classes. Manolo Benitez sampled Cripple Creek for a stream ecology course and morphologically identified the Rhyacophila collected as R. fuscula. The overall goal of this thesis research was to identify the most commonly encountered Rhyacophila species found in the upper Susquehanna River drainage basin and examine the population structure amongst 12 different populations.

Identifying the public’s interests in astronomy topics helps planetariums create entertaining and impactful shows for their audience. During the creation process for a new show for SUNY Oneonta’s planetarium, a survey was conducted to gauge the public’s interests. A total of 109 participants filled out a digital survey that asked if they had previously attended a planetarium show, what topics interested them the most, and what they would want to learn about and see in a planetarium show. The survey showed that constellations and the Solar System remain popular choices and that beyond that, respondents´ choices may be strongly influenced by their previous exposure to astronomy topics.

Little attention has been given to optimizing statistical power for monitoring stream fish assemblages. We explored the relationship between temporal variability and statistical power using 34 metrics from fish community data collected annually at six sites over 10 years via electrofishing. Metric variability differed by the life stage and group of species considered, use of abundance or mass data, and data standardization technique. Lower variability was associated with community data, abundance data, and time-based standardizations, while greater variability was associated with young-of- the-year data, mass data, and area-based standardizations. Simulation-based power analysis indicated metric choice, and to a lesser degree, monitoring design (annual, biennial, endpoints, or haphazard sampling) influenced power to detect change. Across a fixed number of surveys (N = 60), endpoints sampling performed best. The N needed to detect change was heavily dependent upon metric choice for all monitoring designs, with the most biologically specific metrics requiring greater N. Large savings in effort and resource expenditure can be obtained utilizing biologically relevant metrics that are robust to temporal noise within an appropriate sampling design.

Popular culture in general, and movies in particular, are one of the major influences on the public’s perception of science, and therefore on the level of trust audiences feel inclined to put in science. The science communication community has made great progress in achieving that the portrayal of scientists in movies does better justice to the diverse reality of scientific research, moving away from the stereotype of the old white male scientist. This has been achieved through constructive collaborations like the National Academy of Science’s Science and Entertainment Exchange. However, a prevalent trope, which we call “The Evil Corporation Trope”, has been repeatedly used in science-fiction films. Following David Kirby’s framework of cinema as a “virtual witnessing technology” that allows publics to immerse themselves in possible futures or inaccessible realities and experience what their perceptions and reactions would be, we present an analysis of this trope in several major science-fiction films, spanning nearly forty-years of cinema. If the reality that audiences virtually witness in these blockbuster movies systematically portrays science or tech companies as the antagonist and the source of all evil – is it surprising that trust in science is heavily undermined when it is such big corporations who, for example, develop and distribute the covid vaccines, or vaccines in general? My analysis includes the identification of patterns found within films using this trope, including corporations in these movies with ties to the military, and abuses of artificial intelligence.

Sociologists widely agree that poverty is the effect of structural factors; however, understanding the ways in which poverty is experienced and constructed with reference to culture remains a compelling area of scholarship. In a society where culture of poverty ideas retain popularity, attributing meanings and behavior to people in poverty is complicated and contentious. Many scholars adroitly navigate these waters, but we lack clear guidelines on how to examine the behavior and perceptions of people in poverty without misrepresenting and potentially stigmatizing research subjects. I argue that to avoid problems of overgeneralization and what I call “unacknowledged comparison,” we must engage with multiple points of observation and empirical comparisons. In addition, it makes sense to center sets of circumstances that affect behavior rather than generalizing the behavior or the culture that influences that behavior. Finally, I argue that the unit of analysis should be at the relational level rather than the individual level. The implications of failing to attend to these issues include continued misunderstanding of and unwarranted stigmatization of people in poverty.