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Aspects Of The Physiological And Behavioral Defense Adaptations Of The Mountain Madtom (Noturus Eleutherus), Meredith Leigh Hayes

Masters Theses

Madtoms (Noturus spp.) are a highly endemic clade of miniature catfishes that faces widespread imperilment. Little is known about the ecology of these secretive fishes, and understanding the behavioral and physiological adaptations madtoms have evolved to resist pathogens and competitors is necessary for conservation.

Madtoms nest under cover and provide extensive paternal care. Attempts to rear eggs in captivity result in high mortality rates from infection, leading to questions about how wild nests resist disease. In many fishes, males produce antimicrobial substances that confer protection to eggs. To determine if guardian males deter disease in nests, Mountain Madtoms ( …

Stressing Out: Dynamics Of Chromatin Insulator Body Formation In Eukaryotes Under Osmotic Stress, Shannon Marie Garland

Masters Theses

Higher order genome organization and the role it plays in governing cell dynamics and protein expression has become a widely studied field. Chromatin insulators are important to this organization in their ability to form long range contacts between distant regions on the genome. During times of osmotic stress, insulator proteins leave their binding sites on the DNA to form insulator bodies in the nucleus. This phenomenon relieves the DNA of its structure and is rapidly reversible. Using a variety of immunofluorescent staining methods, this work looked to further characterize this process while attempting to identify molecular mechanisms that mediate chromatin …

Wild Turkey Resource Use On Food-Subsidized Landscapes And The Relationship Between Nesting Chronology And Gobbling Activity, Aaron David Griffith

Masters Theses

Across the Southeast, heightened concern exists that wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) productivity and populations are declining, but the underlying reasons are largely unknown. Further concern stems from declining turkey harvest in several southeastern states. I answered questions germane to formulating turkey harvest regulations, specifically related to supplemental feeding and the correlation of gobbling timing with nest incubation and the timing of the hunting season. I examined turkey resource use in the Red Hills region of northern Florida and southern Georgia, where supplemental feeding for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is common. This supplements food availability and may …