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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Employing Natural History Collections In The Aid Of Conservation: Streamlining An Approach To Model Species Distributions En Masse For The Preservation Of Biodiversity, Alice Fornari
Master's Projects and Capstones
Using species distribution models (SDMs) in Natural History Collections (NHCs) can influence how humans implement conservation changes in flora and fauna communities and ecosystems. Through the use of legacy data (old NHCs and their associated locality/collection information), data correction (background data or pseudo absences added to presence-only data), and the SDM software, Maxent (and its associated geographic information systems or GIS projected models), it has been shown that it is feasible to create a low budget protocol/setup to project the past, present and future of species population changes. This has been done in the past few decades as more collections …
Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data Of South And Southeast Asian Amphibians, Alexandra Gonzalez
Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data Of South And Southeast Asian Amphibians, Alexandra Gonzalez
Master's Theses
In the midst of the sixth mass extinction event which is currently underway, it appears that amphibians are one of the most impacted vertebrates. Over 6,500 amphibian species are listed on the IUCN Red List (an assessment tool which provides species’ conservation status, perceived threats, and distribution range). While it is well-known that populations under multiple stressors are more likely to undergo significant declines, there are little to no resources available for visualizing how these threats may work synergistically and interact within a species’ range. This is especially the case for Southeast Asian amphibians, which much less attention has been …
Social Play Predicts Docility In Juvenile Ground Squirrels, James Hurst-Hopf, Scott L. Nunes
Social Play Predicts Docility In Juvenile Ground Squirrels, James Hurst-Hopf, Scott L. Nunes
Undergraduate Honors Theses
We evaluated the hypothesis that social play behavior influences the development of temperament in young animals, using docility as a measure of temperament. We observed the play behavior of juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) during the developmental period in which play primarily occurs, and conducted behavioral tests measuring docility at the beginning and end of the play interval. Tests involved handling squirrels and recording their responses. Body mass was a reliable predictor of docility at the beginning of the play period. Rates of social play and maximum distances traveled from the natal burrow during the play interval …
Dax-1 Regulation Of Gene Expression In Prostate Cancer Cells, Brandon Reyes, Roxxana Beltran
Dax-1 Regulation Of Gene Expression In Prostate Cancer Cells, Brandon Reyes, Roxxana Beltran
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
The DAX-1 gene encodes for an orphan nuclear hormone receptor which still presents undescribed interactions in cell transcriptional regulation. It derives its name from that which it has been described to be involved in namely dosage-sensitive sex reversal, adrenal hypoplasia congenita, and found in a critical region on the X chromosome, gene 1. As a nuclear receptor it is important in transcriptional regulation and has been shown to mainly act as a transcriptional repressor which identifies it as an important target for preventing cancers. Due to its role in adrenal and gonadal development and ability to interact with other nuclear …
Urban Biogeography Of Fungal Endophytes In Metrosideros Excelsa Across San Francisco, Emma Gibson
Urban Biogeography Of Fungal Endophytes In Metrosideros Excelsa Across San Francisco, Emma Gibson
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
Trees in cities confer health and psychological benefits to the city's inhabitants, so the urban forest is a major component of human health in urban settings. Previous studies have shown that environmental factors can impact endophytic (within-plant) microbial communities of forest trees, but the effects that urban environmental factors may have on these communities are not well understood. Here, we characterized asymptomatic fungal communities in 30 individual Metrosideros excelsa trees from 6 distinct sites using culturing and molecular methods. We found high community diversity both within and among sites, and several patterns within these communities. For example, we found similarities …
Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data, Alexandra Gonzalez, Naupaka Zimmerman, Patricia Francis-Lyon
Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data, Alexandra Gonzalez, Naupaka Zimmerman, Patricia Francis-Lyon
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
In the midst of the current sixth mass extinction event which is currently underway, it appears that amphibians are one of the most impacted vertebrates. Over 7,500 amphibian species are listed on the IUCN Red List (an assessment tool which provides species’ conservation status, perceived threats, and distribution range). While it is well-known that populations under multiple stressors are more likely to undergo significant declines, there are little to no resources available for visualizating how these threats may work synergistically and interact within a species’ range. This is especially the case for Southeast Asian amphibians, of which much less attention …
Social Play And The Development Of Temperament In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), James Hurst-Hopf
Social Play And The Development Of Temperament In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), James Hurst-Hopf
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
We evaluated the hypothesis that social play behavior influences the development of temperament in young animals, using docility as a measure of temperament. We observed the play behavior of juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) during the developmental period in which play primarily occurs, and conducted behavioral tests measuring docility at the beginning and end of the play interval. Tests involved handling squirrels and recording their responses. Body mass was a reliable predictor of docility at the beginning of the play period. Rates of social play and maximum distances traveled from the natal burrow during the play interval were reliable …
Human Breast Tumor Cells Support Productive Hcmv Infection, Kaitlin Branch
Human Breast Tumor Cells Support Productive Hcmv Infection, Kaitlin Branch
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. While many risk factors for breast cancer are known, viral infection has emerged as a potential factor in tumor development. Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) generally causes mild or asymptomatic infection; however, recent evidence links HCMV to breast cancer. In particular, the viral cytokine cmvIL-10 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells in culture. Since HCMV is transmitted via human breast milk, we hypothesized that breast tumor cells could become infected and produce cmvIL-10. HCMV infection of breast cancer cells was confirmed with fluorescence microscopy. Viral gene expression was …
Time Of Year Influences Social Play In Juvenile Ground Squirrels, Martha Monroy, Madelene Shehan
Time Of Year Influences Social Play In Juvenile Ground Squirrels, Martha Monroy, Madelene Shehan
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
Animals must allocate available energy according to priorities that ensure survival and maximize long-term reproductive success. Social play behavior is ubiquitous among juvenile mammals and can have important influences on their social, motor, and cognitive development. We evaluated how the amounts of energy young animals devote to play behavior changes over the course of their annual cycle, as other energetic considerations and constraints change. Young animals may change priorities from play to preparation for hibernation when the annual cycle occurs closer to the usual onset of winter. We used Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) as a model system; U. beldingi …
How Frogs Are Hiding In Plain Sight: Phylogenetic Systematics Of Myanmar’S Occidozya Species Complex, Allison Bogisich, Jocelyn Esquivias
How Frogs Are Hiding In Plain Sight: Phylogenetic Systematics Of Myanmar’S Occidozya Species Complex, Allison Bogisich, Jocelyn Esquivias
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
In the frog genus Occidozyga, there is one described species which inhabits Myanmar. However, population estimates for Occidozyga within the country may be inaccurate given unidentified cryptic species. We predict that in Occidozyga, there are more morphologically identical phenotypes- ‘cryptics’- which are actually genetically distinct. Using DNA sequences isolated in the lab at USF from preserved specimens housed at the California Academy of Science, we’ve been able to conduct phylogenetic tree analysis. Preliminary results suggest the presence of two new species within the genus. Phylogeographic analysis of our tree also supports the genetic clustering, such that their evolutionary distribution is …