Life Sciences Commons^™

Genetic And Environmental Drivers Of Migratory Behavior In Western Burrowing Owls And Implications For Conservation And Management, Kelly Barr, Christen M. Bossu, Rachel A. Bay, Eric C. Anderson, Jim Belthoff, Lynne A. Trulio, Debra Chromczak, Colleen L. Wisinski, Thomas B. Smith, Kristen C. Ruegg

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Migration is driven by a combination of environmental and genetic factors, but many questions remain about those drivers. Potential interactions between genetic and environmental variants associated with different migratory phenotypes are rarely the focus of study. We pair low coverage whole genome resequencing with a de novo genome assembly to examine population structure, inbreeding, and the environmental factors associated with genetic differentiation between migratory and resident breeding phenotypes in a species of conservation concern, the western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea). Our analyses reveal a dichotomy in gene flow depending on whether the population is resident or migratory, …

Doxorubicin-Induced Modulation Of Tgf-Β Signaling Cascade In Mouse Fibroblasts: Insights Into Cardiotoxicity Mechanisms, Conner Patricelli, Parker Lehmann, Julia Thom Oxford, Xinzhu Pu

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity has been widely observed, yet the specific impact on cardiac fibroblasts is not fully understood. Additionally, the modulation of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling pathway by DOX remains to be fully elucidated. This study investigated DOX’s ability to modulate the expression of genes and proteins involved in the TGF-β signaling cascade in mouse fibroblasts from two sources by assessing the impact of DOX treatment on TGF-β inducible expression of pivotal genes and proteins within fibroblasts. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (NIH3T3) and mouse primary cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) were treated with DOX in the presence of TGF-β1 to …

Background Acoustics In Terrestrial Ecology, Clinton D. Francis, Jennifer N. Phillips, Jesse R. Barber

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The way in which terrestrial organisms use the acoustic realm is fundamentally important and shapes behavior, populations, and communities, but how background acoustics, or noise, influence the patterns and processes in ecology is still relatively understudied. In this review, we summarize how background acoustics have traditionally been studied from the signaling perspective, discuss what is known from a receiver's perspective, and explore what is known about population- and community-level responses to noise. We suggest that there are major gaps linking animal physiology and behavior in noise to fitness; that there is a limited understanding of variation in hearing within and …

Biocrusts Indicators Of Livestock Grazing Effects On Soil Stability In Sagebrush Steppe: A Case Study From A Long-Term Experiment In The Northern Great Basin, Stella M. Copeland, Lea A. Condon, Roger Rosentreter, Jesse E. D. Miller, Maya Kahn-Abrams

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Biocrusts are sensitive to changes in livestock grazing intensity in arid rangelands and may be useful indicators of ecosystem functions, particularly soil properties like soil stability, which may suggest the potential for soil erosion. We compared biocrust community composition and surface soil stability in a big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) steppe rangeland in the northwestern Great Basin in several paired sites, with or without long-term cattle grazing exclusion, and similar soils (mostly sandy loams), climate, and vegetation composition. We found that livestock grazing was associated with both lower surface soil stability and cover of several biocrust morphogroups, especially lichens, compared with …

Illegal Shooting Is Now A Leading Cause Of Death Of Birds Along Power Lines In The Western Usa, Eve C. Thomason, Natalie J. S. Turley, James R. Belthoff, Tara J. Conkling, Todd E. Katzner

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Human actions, both legal and illegal, affect wildlife in many ways. Inaccurate diagnosis of cause of death undermines law enforcement, management, threat assessment, and mitigation. We found 410 dead birds collected along 196 km of power lines in four western USA states during 2019–2022. We necropsied these carcasses to test conventional wisdom suggesting that electrocution is the leading cause of death of birds at electrical infrastructure. Of 175 birds with a known cause of death, 66% died from gunshot. Both raptors and corvids were more likely to die from gunshot than from other causes, along both transmission and distribution lines. …

A Genotype × Environment Experiment Reveals Contrasting Response Strategies To Drought Between Populations Of A Keystone Species (Artemisia Tridentata; Asteraceae), Anthony E. Melton, Kara Moran, Peggy Martinez, Paige Ellestad, Erin Milliken, Walker Morales, Andrew W. Child, Bryce A. Richardson, Marcelo Serpe, Stephen J. Novak, Sven Buerki

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Western North America has been experiencing persistent drought exacerbated by climate change for over two decades. This extreme climate event is a clear threat to native plant communities. Artemisia tridentata is a keystone shrub species in western North America and is threatened by climate change, urbanization, and wildfire. A drought Genotype × Environment (G × E) experiment was conducted to assess phenotypic plasticity and differential gene expression in A. tridentata. The G × E experiment was performed on diploid A. tridentata seedlings from two populations (one from Idaho, USA and one from Utah, USA), which experience differing levels of …

American Kestrel Migration: Insights And Challenges From Tracking Individuals Across The Annual Cycle, Anjolene R. Hunt, Jesse L. Watson, Jason M. Winiarski, Ron R. Porter, Julie A. Heath

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Natural variation in migratory strategies across the range of the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) creates a unique opportunity for comparative research of annual cycles. However, it can be logistically and technically challenging to track such a small but highly mobile species. We tagged American Kestrels with light-level geolocators or satellite transmitters with the aim of estimating migration timing and connectivity, and we monitored a subset of satellite-tagged individuals during the breeding season to assess transmitter function and wear. We recovered geolocators from six of 49 (12%) tagged individuals. One geolocator-tagged individual migrated approximately 1235 km from its Idaho …

Automating Pharmacokinetic Predictions In Artemisia, Celin Younan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Pharmacokinetics (PK) is the time course of a compound in the body that is dependent on mechanisms of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion or ADME. A thorough understanding of PK is essential to predict the consequences of organisms exposed to chemicals. In medicine, predictions of PK of drugs allows us to properly prescribe drug treatments. In toxicology, PK allows us to predict the potential exposure of environmental contaminants and how they may affect organisms at the time of exposure or in the future. Chemical ecology could benefit from computational predictions of PK to better understand which plants are consumed or …

The Role Of Decorin And Biglycan In Cns Angiogenesis And Eae Recovery, Kristina Chapman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a severe demyelinating disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS) associated with an autoimmune response directed against myelin antigens. Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting ones, is a vital process for tissue regeneration and wound healing but is a pathological hallmark of both MS and an MS mouse model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). This type of aberrant angiogenesis is a fundamental event during an inflammatory injury, which is mutually dependent upon the intrusion of inflammatory molecules, disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and immature vessel formation. In the EAE recovery phase, this process …

Understanding Temporal Dynamics Of Plant Specialized Metabolites In Response To Simulated Browsing In Winter, Bryanna Hope Bright

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Plants are continually defending themselves from the herbivores that consume them, often using an array of plant specialized metabolites (PSMs). Volatile organic compounds, including monoterpenes, are one such type of PSMs that can be emitted and induced by plants in response to mechanical damage and herbivory. These volatiles serve as direct defenses against herbivores and can alert neighboring plants about potential threats, resulting in protection against future attacks. However, how these chemicals change over time in response to browsing by vertebrates in the winter has received limited attention and is crucial to interpreting how monoterpenes defend plants against vertebrate herbivores. …

Root Traits Of Perennial C4 Grasses Contribute To Cultivar Variations In Soil Chemistry And Species Patterns In Particulate And Mineral-Associated Carbon Pool Formation, Megan J. Kelly-Slatten, Catherine E. Stewart, Malak M. Tfaily, Julie D. Jastrow, Abigail Sasso, Marie-Anne De Graaff

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent studies have indicated that the C₄ perennial bioenergy crops switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) accumulate significant amounts of soil carbon (C) owing to their extensive root systems. Soil C accumulation is likely driven by inter- and intraspecific variability in plant traits, but the mechanisms that underpin this variability remain unresolved. In this study we evaluated how inter- and intraspecific variation in root traits of cultivars from switchgrass (Cave-in-Rock, Kanlow, Southlow) and big bluestem (Bonanza, Southlow, Suther) affected the associations of soil C accumulation across soil fractions using stable isotope techniques. Our …

A Field‐Capable Rapid Plant Dna Extraction Protocol Using Microneedle Patches For Botanical Surveying And Monitoring, Jonathan Selz, Nicolas R. Adam, Céline E. M. Magrini, Fulvia Malvido Montandon, Sven Buerki, Sebastian J. Maerkl

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Premise: A novel protocol for rapid plant DNA extraction using microneedles is proposed, which supports botanic surveys, taxonomy, and systematics. This protocol can be conducted in the field with limited laboratory skills and equipment. The protocol is validated by sequencing and comparing the results with QIAGEN spin-column DNA extractions using BLAST analyses.

Methods and Results: Two sets of DNA extractions were conducted on 13 species spanning various leaf anatomies and phylogenetic lineages: (i) fresh leaves were punched with custom polymeric microneedle patches to recover genomic DNA, or (ii) QIAGEN DNA extractions. Three plastid (matK, rbcL, and trnH-psbA …

Could Biological Soil Crusts Act As Natural Fire Fuel Breaks In The Sagebrush Steppe?, Lea A. Condon, Douglas J. Shinneman, Roger Rosentreter, Peter S. Coates

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

For decades, large portions of the semi-arid sagebrush ecosystem have been experiencing increased frequency and extent of wildfire, even though small, infrequent fire is a natural disturbance in this ecosystem (Baker, 2006). Increased wildfire is threatening the existence of sagebrush ecosystems and the wildlife species that depend upon them (Baker, 2006; Coates et al., 2016). Increased wildfire in sagebrush ecosystems is often driven by invasive annual grasses, especially cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum (L.). Invasion can initiate a trajectory toward a “grass-fire cycle”, in which cheatgrass increases fine fuel loadings that promote fire, and native plant species do not recover quickly after …

Socio-Ecological Interactions Promote Outbreaks Of A Harmful Invasive Plant In An Urban Landscape, T. Trevor Caughlin, Matthew Clark, Louis W. Jochems, Nick Kolarik, Andrii Zaiats, Cody Hall, Jason M. Winiarski, Breanna F. Powers, Martha M. Brabec, Kelly Hopping

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

1. Urban landscapes often harbour organisms that harm people and threaten native biodiversity. These landscapes are characterized by differences in socioeconomic context, habitat suitability and patch connectedness. Identifying which spatial differences enable outbreaks of pests, pathogens and invasive species will improve targeted control efforts.

2. We tested hypotheses to explain the distribution and demography of puncturevine Tribulus terrestris, a human-dispersed invasive plant in Boise, a city in the western United States. We hypothesized an increase in puncturevine infestations near low-valued properties with a high proportion of bare ground, the species' preferred microhabitat, that are well connected on the urban road network. …

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Advances In Cartilage Tissue Engineering Using Bioinks With Decellularized Cartilage And Three-Dimensional Printing, Roxanne N. Stone, Jonathon C. Reeck, Julia Thom Oxford

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Osteoarthritis, a chronic, debilitating, and painful disease, is one of the leading causes of disability and socioeconomic burden, with an estimated 250 million people affected worldwide. Currently, there is no cure for osteoarthritis and treatments for joint disease require improvements. To address the challenge of improving cartilage repair and regeneration, three-dimensional (3D) printing for tissue engineering purposes has been developed. In this review, emerging technologies are presented with an overview of bioprinting, cartilage structure, current treatment options, decellularization, bioinks, and recent progress in the field of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM)–bioink composites is discussed. The optimization of tissue engineering approaches using …

Acclimation And Hardening Of A Slow-Growing Woody Species Emblematic To Western North America From In Vitro Plantlets, Peggy Martinez, Marcelo Serpe, Rachael Barron, Sven Buerki

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Premise: Determining the tolerance of plant populations to climate change requires the development of biotechnological protocols producing genetically identical individuals used for genotype-by-environment experiments. Such protocols are missing for slow-growth, woody plants; to address this gap, this study uses Artemisia tridentata, a western North American keystone shrub, as model.

Methods and Results: The production of individual lines is a two-step process: in vitro propagation under aseptic conditions followed by ex vitro acclimation and hardening. Due to aseptic growth conditions, in vitro plantlets exhibit maladapted phenotypes, and this protocol focuses on presenting an approach promoting morphogenesis for slow-growth, woody species. …

Anaerobic Digestion Reduces Seed Germination And Viability Of Six Plant Species From The Upper Nile Valley, Egypt, Ahmed M. Abbas, Mohamed Abdelazeem, Stephen J. Novak

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Anaerobic digestion (AD) involves the breakdown of a substrate by mixed microbial communities in the absence of free oxygen. This process has many benefits leading to the production of bioenergy (biogas) and fertilizers (bio-fertilizers). Unfortunately, the bio-fertilizer made using AD may be contaminated with weed seeds and may have the potential of infesting the fields to which it is applied. Thus, the goal of this study is to determine the effects of AD on seed germination and viability of two undesirable crop plants (Triticum aestivum and Sorghum bicolor) and four weed species of reclaimed agricultural land near Qena, …

Rna Sequence To Structure Analysis From Comprehensive Pairwise Mutagenesis Of Multiple Self-Cleaving Ribozymes, Jessica M. Roberts, James D. Beck, Tanner B. Pollock, Devin P. Bendixsen, Eric J. Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Self-cleaving ribozymes are RNA molecules that catalyze the cleavage of their own phosphodiester backbones. These ribozymes are found in all domains of life and are also a tool for biotechnical and synthetic biology applications. Self-cleaving ribozymes are also an important model of sequence-to-function relationships for RNA because their small size simplifies synthesis of genetic variants and self-cleaving activity is an accessible readout of the functional consequence of the mutation. Here, we used a high-throughput experimental approach to determine the relative activity for every possible single and double mutant of five self-cleaving ribozymes. From this data, we comprehensively identified non-additive effects …