Publication Date

8-2024

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Scott Grubbs, Natalie Mountjoy, Keith Philips

Degree Program

Department of Biology

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

Developing an objective metric to designate taxa that are the responsibility of the region is imperative for the proper allocation of conservation funding. This project focused on stoneflies (Order Plecoptera), an imperiled group of aquatic insects at the global scale, in two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regions. At the regional scale, a baseline designation of Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (RSGCN) was applied to each species where their range included at least 75% of states within either the Midwestern or Northeastern regions. Two sets of data were accumulated for each RSGCN. One, distributional information was collected from valid literature records and specimen records available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Two, life history traits were obtained directly or indirectly from the literature. Distributional information (number of U.S.G.S. Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC)8s occupied, historical records, and recent records) was analyzed through the use of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the life history information was analyzed through a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) in R version 4.2.3. HUC8s occupied had the highest contributing variable (42.3% and 41.1%) towards PCA axis 1 that contained 74.5% and 73.8% variance for Midwestern and Northeastern regions, respectively. The life history analysis revealed that size at maturity (11.5%) and feeding (10.3%) were the most impactful to MCA axis 1 of the Midwestern region. In contrast, voltinism (17.9%) and nymphal growth (17.9%) contributed the most towards MCA axis 1 for the Northeastern region. Arguments can also be made to include species that fall below the 75% cutoff due to being found in states that are at the edge of a region or are one state away from the threshold of RSGCN status. Species can be removed regardless of degree of endemicity due to commonality and associated lower imperilment status. Similar metrics can be built and applied to other taxa outside of Plecoptera.

Disciplines

Environmental Monitoring | Environmental Sciences | Natural Resources and Conservation | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Physical Sciences and Mathematics

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Available for download on Thursday, July 23, 2026

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