Life Sciences Commons^™

Capraria Mexicana (Scrophulariaceae) In Cameron County, Texas: Rediscovered In The United States, Alfred Richardson, Ken King

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two new sites are reported for Capraria mexicana (Scrophulariaceae) in the United States.

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Se reportan dos nuevos sitios para Capraria mexicana (Scrophulariaceae) en los Estados Unidos

Mercury Concentrations In South Texas Game Fishes, E. Anthony Reisinger

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Mercury (Hg) is one of the most ubiquitous and controversial metals in the world primarily due to the toxicity of the organic form of the metal, methylmercury (MeHg). MeHg is a neurotoxin at high levels, known to manifest its effects on humans primarily through consumption of certain fish and marine mammals, which tend to bioaccumulate MeHg in their tissues over time. Increased fish consumption and, thus, mercury intake in residents of coastal areas necessitates a better awareness of MeHg content in game fish species, thus the subject of this study.

Three hundred thirty-nine tissue samples were taken from 19 south …

Digging Mechanisms And Substrate Preferences Of Shovel Nosed Lobsters, Ibacus Peronii (Decapoda: Scyllaridae), Zen Faulkes

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Digging is a distinct form of locomotion that poses different mechanical problems than other locomotor modes that are commonly used by crustaceans, e.g., walking, swimming. I examined the mechanisms of digging by shovel nosed lobsters (Ibacus peronii), which spend most of the day underneath sand. Ibacus peronii were videotaped while digging. Ibacus peronii use a “wedge” strategy to submerge into sand. An individual penetrates the sand with the walking legs, then extends the abdomen to push sand backwards, then flexes the abdomen while pushing backward with the legs, which slowly drives the body into the sand. This basic …

Roles Of Intra-Fruit Oxygen And Carbon Dioxide In Controlling Pepper (Capsicum Annuum L.) Seed Development And Storage Reserve Deposition, J. Blasiak, Anxiu Kuang, Chakavak S. Farghangi, M. E. Musgrave

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seeds developing within a locular space inside hollow fruit experience chronic exposure to a unique gaseous environment. Using two pepper cultivars, `Triton' (sweet) and `PI 140367' (hot), we investigated how the development of seeds is affected by the gases surrounding them. The atmospheric composition of the seed environment was characterized during development by analysis of samples withdrawn from the fruit locule with a gas-tight syringe. As seed weight plateaued during development, the seed environment reached its lowest O2 concentration (19%) and highest CO2 concentration (3%). We experimentally manipulated the seed environment by passing different humidified gas mixtures through the fruit …

Loss Of Escape-Related Giant Neurons In A Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, Sandra Y. Espinoza, Lana Breen, Nisha Varghese, Zen Faulkes

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

When attacked, many decapod crustaceans perform tailflips, which are triggered by a neural circuit that includes lateral giant interneurons, medial giant interneurons, and fast flexor motor giant neurons (MoGs). Slipper lobsters (Scyllaridae) lack these giant neurons, and it has been hypothesized that behavioral (e.g., digging) and morphological (e.g., flattening and armor) specializations in this group caused the loss of escape-related giant neurons. To test this hypothesis, we examined a species of spiny lobster, Panulirus argus. Spiny lobsters belong to the sister taxon of the scyllarids, but they have a more crayfish-like morphology than scyllarids and were predicted to have escape-related …