Date of Award:
4-1-1952
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Biology
Department name when degree awarded
Zoology
Committee Chair(s)
J. S. Stanford
Committee
J. S. Stanford
Committee
G. H. Kelker
Committee
A. H. Holmgren
Committee
Eldon J. Gardner
Committee
J. B. Low
Committee
D. M. Hammond
Abstract
Studies upon which this paper was based were made during 1950-51. Daily field observations were made during the summer months, and periodic visits were made during the spring and fall. It was found that all of the vertebrates which inhabit the general locality of the study area were also to be found in the areas of hydrothermal activity These included five species of fishes, two species of amphibians, two species of reptiles, fifty-two species of birds, and thirty species of mammals. Many vertebrates were found to benefit from the secondary influences of thermal waters, which keep streams from freezing in the winter and provide winter food supplies in the form of aquatic insects (sixteen kinds that were of ecological importance were studied). Thermal waters also grow green plants in many places and make some dried grasses more accessible. Loss of animal life due to gaseous emanation and boiling pools was found to be very low, though such loss does occur in almost every hydrothermal area in Yellowstone Park.
Recommended Citation
Beal, Merrill David, "The Occurrence and Seasonal Activity of Vertebrates in the Norris and Gibbon Geyser Basins of Yellowstone National Park" (1952). Biology. 251.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd_biology/251
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