Life Sciences Commons^™

Seasonality, Distribution, And Biological Control Of Crapemyrtle Bark Scale, A New Invasive Threat In Tennessee, Amira Cornish

Masters Theses

Crapemyrtle bark scale, Acanthococcus (= Eriococcus) lagerstroemiae (Kuwana), an invasive pest from Asia, is a threat in the United States. to crape myrtles grown in ornamental nurseries and in landscapes. Although mortality to crape myrtles is rare, its negative effects on aesthetics is considerable. It should affect the sale (valued at >$66 million wholesale) and use of crape myrtle in landscapes. This pest species has been found in numerous states, including Tennessee, where little is known about its state-wide distribution, lifecycle, biology, natural enemies, and impact on crape myrtles. The purpose of this two-year study is to gain additional knowledge …

Evaluating The Winter Diet Of A Reintroduced Herd Of Elk In The Cumberland Mountains, Tennessee, Using Next-Generation Sequencing Techniques, Dailee L. Metts

Masters Theses

A distinct subspecies of elk (Cervus canadensis), the North American elk (C. canadensis canadensis), once inhabited portions of the southeastern United States, including Tennessee, until their extirpation in the mid 1800s. From 2000 to 2008, 201 Manitoban elk were reintroduced on the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area (NCWMA). A year-long food habits study using histological analysis of plant material from feces was completed for the NCWMA elk from 2003 to 2004 and has since aided managers in their landscape planning. Since then, more elk have been released onto the area, food plots have been established throughout …

Life History, Diet And Habitat Of The Federally Endangered Laurel Dace (Chrosomus Saylori), Shawna M. Fix

Masters Theses

Laurel Dace (Chrosomus saylori) is a small, freshwater minnow that is endemic to headwater streams on Walden Ridge, Tennessee. The species was listed as federally endangered in 2011 and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Plan indicates a need for life history, diet and habitat studies. A literature review, samples of archived specimens, and a surrogate species, the Tennessee Dace (Chrosomus tennesseensis), were used to describe the life history and diet of the Laurel Dace. A total of 370 Tennessee Dace were collected from Laurel Ford Branch, a stream 8.6 km from the Laurel Dace …

Classification Of Bacterial Motility Using Machine Learning, Yue Ma

Masters Theses

Cells can display a diverse set of motility behaviors, and these behaviors may reflect a cell’s functional state. Automated, and accurate cell motility analysis is essential to cell studies where the analysis of motility pattern is required. The results of such analysis can be used for diagnostic or curative decisions. Deep learning area has made astonishing progresses in the past several years. For computer vision tasks, different convolutional neural networks (CNN) and optimizers have been proposed to fix some problems. For time sequence data, recurrent neural networks (RNN) have been widely used.

This project leveraged on these recent advances to …

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 …

Evaluation Of Total Mercury And Methylmercury Concentrations Of Terrestrial Invertebrates Along Lower East Fork Poplar Creek In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Chelsea Lynden Standish

Masters Theses

Mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) are environmental concerns due to their abilities to cause neurological, reproductive, and other physical damage to wildlife. Lower East Fork Poplar Creek (LEFPC), stemming from the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, TN, has elevated concentrations of inorganic mercury, a majority of which was released between 1950 and 1963. This inorganic mercury has been, and is currently, converted to methylmercury. An ecological assessment in 2011 revealed high concentrations of methylmercury in riparian spiders along LEFPC. These results suggested the transfer of mercury from aquatic to terrestrial systems may be higher than previously expected …

Diet Of And Prey Availability For Reintroduced Juvenile Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser Fulvescens) In Ft. Loudoun Reservoir, Tennessee, Todd Michael Amacker

Masters Theses

After fifteen years of reintroducing juvenile Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the Upper Tennessee River Basin, fisheries biologists are researching basic ecological traits of subsistent organisms. I set out to seasonally assess whether Lake Sturgeon forage opportunistically or selectively in Ft. Loudoun Reservoir. After anesthetizing individual juvenile Lake Sturgeon caught on trotlines in a 13-km reach of the reservoir, I used colonic flush and gastric lavage techniques to describe diets quantitatively. I also used two methods to assess available prey items in the study area by 1) taking systematic benthic grabs along several transects across the width of …

Estimating Avian Populations With Passive Acoustic Technology And Song Behavior, Stephanie C. Prevost

Masters Theses

The need for improvements in avian wildlife monitoring efficiency, accuracy, and scope has led to use of new technologies such as autonomous recording units (ARUs). As a monitoring tool, passive acoustic recording has numerous benefits, but it is still limited to use in human-accessible areas. There is also need for monitoring technologies in areas that are inaccessible. Military installations, which host a disproportionately large number of threatened, endangered, and at-risk species compared to other federal lands, pose the accessibility problem with sizeable impact areas that are too hazardous for humans to access. This thesis introduces the Balloon Aerial Recording System …

Population Genetics And Genomics Within The Genus Pityopsis, Elizabeth Anne Hatmaker

Masters Theses

Pityopsis (Asteraceae) includes seven species; one species, P. ruthii, is federally endangered. The genus exhibits a range of ploidy levels, widespread hybridization among species with overlapping ranges, and interesting adaptive traits such as fire-stimulated flowering. However, taxonomy of Pityopsis has remained unresolved. Resolving interspecific relationships can lead to a deeper understanding of the inheritance and hybridization patterns, as well as the evolution of adaptable traits. Our first objective was to examine population structure and gene flow within Pityopsis ruthii. Polymorphic microsatellite markers (7 chloroplast and 12 nuclear) were developed and used to examine genetic diversity of 814 P. …

Efficacy Of Visual Surveys For White-Nose Syndrome At Bat Hibernacula, Amanda Frances Janicki

Masters Theses

White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) is an epizootic disease in hibernating bats caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Surveillance for P. destructans at bat hibernacula consists primarily of visual surveys of bats, collection of potentially infected bats, and submission of these bats for laboratory testing. Cryptic infections (bats that are infected but display no visual signs of fungus) could lead to the mischaracterization of the infection status of a site and the inadvertent spread of P. destructans. We determined the efficacy of visual detection of P. destructans by examining visual signs and molecular detection of P. …

Manipulating Adipose Tissue Fatty Acid Oxidation To Reduce Fatness In Broiler Chickens, Tania Emmanuelle Torchon

Masters Theses

Compared to rodents, broiler chickens, those reared for meat, are an attractive model for studies of adipose biology, and obesity development in children. The broiler chicken lacks the gene for uncoupling protein 1, the hallmark for brown adipose tissue making them a useful model to study lipid metabolism in white adipocytes. Two studies were performed to investigate if white adipose tissue had the metabolic ability for fatty acid oxidation (FAO), and to investigate the effects of dietary fatty acids on abdominal fat development of young broiler chickens as a model for childhood obesity. In study one, chickens were fasted for …

Population Ecology Of Northern Bobwhite (Colinus Virginianus) On A Reclaimed Surface Mine, David Cole Peters

Masters Theses

Direct linkages between habitat management and northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) survival are not well documented; therefore, we implemented an experiment to evaluate those responses. We conducted our experiment on a reclaimed surface mine, a novel landscape where conditions were considered sub-optimal for bobwhite. Nonetheless, these areas have great potential for contributing to bobwhite conservation. Our objectives were to determine if habitat management could improve (1) seasonal and (2) nest survival, how (3) multi-scale habitat contributed to seasonal and nest survival, and (4) conduct life stage simulation analyses (LSA) to determine which vital rates were affecting population growth rate. …

Influence Of Substrate Orientation On Feeding Kinematics Of Algae Grazing Lake Malawi Cichlid Fishes, Maxwell Friedrich Rupp

Masters Theses

Lake Malawi cichlids have been studied extensively in an effort to elucidate the mechanisms underlying their adaptive radiation. This divergence is proposed to have happened via processes such as habitat partitioning, trophic specialization, and sexual selection. However, in the rock-dwelling mbuna of Lake Malawi this divergence likely involves how and where species feed on algae within the rocky reefs they exclusively inhabit. For three species of mbuna, we quantified feeding kinematics on substrates at different orientations that mimicked the top, sides, and bottoms of the algae covered boulders these species feed from in the wild. Significant differences in kinematics were …

R-Fap: Rapid Functional Annotation Of Prokaryotes Using Taxon-Specific Pan-Genomes And 10-Mer Peptides, Jordan Matthew Utley

Masters Theses

The growing implementation of next-generation sequencing technologies presents numerous fields with the opportunity to identify bacteria in near real-time. Fields such as counter-terrorism, forensics, medicine, and even microbial ecology are positioned to benefit from such advances and implementation. However, with the ability to rapidly produce high-quality sequence data comes the need to interpret this data as quickly as it is produced. While gene prediction algorithms have kept pace, functional prediction methods have not.

To bypass the need for large-scale queries to multiple databases for each newly-sequenced genome, the project detailed herein seeks to identify the genes shared within a taxonomic …

Population Demographics And Genetic Structure Of Black Bears In Coastal Louisiana, Jesse Charles Troxler

Masters Theses

The range and abundance of the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) were greatly diminished during the 20th century. This subspecies was reduced to 3 small, isolated subpopulations in Louisiana as bottomland hardwood habitat was converted to agriculture. These bears were listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1992 and a recovery plan was published in 1995. Recovery requires estimates of population parameters to evaluate current population status and future viability. I conducted a mark-recapture study from 2010 to 2012 to estimate demographic parameters of the coastal population of Louisiana black bears. Because inbreeding …

Small Scale Population Structure Of Pityopsis Ruthii And P. Graminifolia Var. Latifolia, Sarah Lynn Boggess

Masters Theses

Pityopsis graminifolia var. latifolia (Michx.) Small var. latifolia (Fern.) or narrowleaf silkgrass is an herbaceous perennial native to the southeastern United States and northern Central America. Pityopsis ruthii (Small) Small is an endangered plant endemic to the Hiwassee and Ocoee Rivers in Polk County, Tennessee. Little is known about the genetic diversity and population structure of both Pityopsis species as well as the phylogenic relationships between the species. In this study, 16 microsatellite loci were used to assess genetic diversity and population structure of 261 individuals of P. ruthii (n=167) and P. graminifolia var. latifolia (n=76). Pityopsis ruthii is …

Prevalence And Transmission Potential Of Borrelia Burgdorferi In Three Species Of Wildcaught Plestiodon Spp. Skinks Of The Southeastern United States, Teresa Dianne Moody

Masters Theses

In the southeastern United States, blue-tailed skinks (Plestiodon spp.) are important hosts for Ixodes scapularis ticks, the principal vector of Lyme disease (LD) in this region. Skinks and other southeastern lizards are not thought to be reservoir competent for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bbss), the etiological agent of LD in the United States. . Lizard-feeding by southeastern I. scapularis may tend to suppress sylvatic cycles of B. burgdorferi, and thus may be an important reason why LD case rates in the Southeast are much lower than in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Nevertheless, some skinks …

Trends In Borrelia Spp. Prevalence In Ixodes Spp. Ticks From The Southeastern Coastal United States, Lauren Paul Maestas

Masters Theses

The Lyme borreliosis (LB) cycle, involving Ixodes scapularis and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bbss), is well documented in the northeastern US, where LB is becoming increasingly prevalent. In coastal North Carolina, I. affinis has been shown to have a higher incidence of Bbss than I. scapularis. My objectives were, to assess changes in prevalence of Bbss in Ixodes spp. along a transect from Virginia to Florida, and to assess the value of dogs and mesomammals as sentinels for spread of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.

Ixodes spp. were collected at sites from 37.4^o N to 30.0^{o …}

Studies On Solo Working Mechanism In The Meiosis Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Qian Ma

Masters Theses

In eukaryotes, sister chromatids are closely aligned due to cohesion, a process essential for chromosome pairing and segregation during both mitosis and meiosis. A conserved cohesin complex in a ring structure is composed of four subunits, including each of these four members or their homologs, SMC1, SMC3, SCC1/RAD21/REC8, and SCC3/SA. Up to now, no REC8 homolog has been identified in the meiosis of Drosophila. SOLO is a meiotic protein required for accurate chromosome segregation, centromere cohesion, and cohesin complex localization in Drosophila meiosis. In addition, SOLO is required for synapsis and recombination in Drosophila female meiosis.

In this study, …

Microarray Analysis Of Mrna Translation State In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Bayu Sisay Tiruneh

Masters Theses

The synthesis of proteins – translation – is one of the cellular processes that consume a great deal of energy. Genome-wide assays performed in Arabidopsis and other organisms have revealed that the translation status of mRNAs responds dramatically to different stresses and environmental and growth signals. Similar assays have revealed how translation of specific mRNAs is perturbed by genetic mutations in eukaryotic translation initiation factors (eIFs). I performed genome-wide analyses of translation state in A. thaliana seedlings with mutant genotypes for a specific eIF (subunit h of eIF3) and the large ribosomal protein, L24 (RPL24B). Using data from prior microarray …

Geographic Variation In The Lower Temperature Tolerance In The Invasive Brown Anole, Anolis Sagrei And The Native Green Anole, Anolis Carolinensis (Sauria: Polychrotidae), Laura Carolina Maria Rubio

Masters Theses

Invasive species are considered to be the second greatest threat to native biodiversity and several factors have been identified as contributing to the success of introduced species, including their initial genetic variation and the ability of populations to adapt to a new environment. Temperature has a significant impact on reptilian ecology and distribution since they ordinarily rely on external heat sources for the maintenance of body temperatures suitable for normal activity. Body temperature affects performance in these organisms given its importance for all aspects of behavior, locomotion, courtship and rates of feeding and growth. Critical thermal tolerances can, therefore, give …

Mating System Biology Of The Florida Native Plant: Illicium Parviflorum, Nicholas Earl Buckley

Masters Theses

Self-incompatibility is thought to have played a profound role in the evolution of the angiosperms. However, there is little evidence of self-incompatibility systems in early diverging lineages of flowering plants. Illicium parviflorum, one such early-divergent angiosperm, is an evergreen perennial species endemic to central Florida, particularly within the Ocala National Forest. Although locally abundant, I. parviflorum is currently listed as endangered at the state level due to being under constant threat of habitat disturbance and over-harvesting. Notably, this species had been described as self-incompatible due to its low seed-set. However, low seed set may also be a result of …

Factors Related To Nest Survival And Over-Winter Survival Of A Northern Bobwhite (Colinus Virginianus) Population In Southwest Florida, Steven Kenneth Brinkley

Masters Theses

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is a gallinaceous upland game bird dependent on early successional grassland habitat for reproduction and survival. Bobwhite populations have been declining range-wide for nearly a half century. The habitat of Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area (BWWMA) in southwest Florida is mostly virgin, early successional grassland and pine flatwoods. Although BWWMA is located in the far southern end of the bobwhite range, the area is a popular public land for bobwhite hunting. The BWWMA bobwhite population has declined evidenced by a dramatic decrease in harvest over the last 20 years. The two objectives of my …

Impacts Of Predation Risk And Development On Susceptibility Of North American Anurans To Ranaviruses, Nathan Alden Haislip

Masters Theses

For over three decades, amphibian populations have been declining across the globe. Emerging infectious diseases are responsible for some of these declines. Ranaviruses have caused die-offs in wild amphibian populations on 4 continents, in 5 Canadian provinces, and in over 25 U.S. states. In order to understand host-pathogen dynamics, it is critical to establish baseline information on species susceptibility and the effects of natural stressors. The goal of my thesis research was to quantify the effects of anuran development and exposure to invertebrate predators on species-specific susceptibility to ranavirus. My experiments were designed in factorial arrangements, and consisted of exposure …

Characterizing Cell-Cell And Cell-Surface Interactions In The Rhizobacterium Azospirillum Brasilense, Calvin Shay Green

Masters Theses

Microaerophilic and chemotaxic diazotrophs, azospirilla are found in close association with certain cereals such as durum wheat and maize and are active in enriching these ecological niches with the macronutrient nitrogen as ammonia. Regarded as highly pleomorphic, Azospirillum spp. are highly motile, using either a single polar flagellum when grown in liquid environments or peritrichous lateral flagella in viscous environments. Additionally, azospirilla are able to adhere onto surfaces as a biological film or aggregate cell-to-cell as nonproliferating flocculi, and these two processes having been suggested as positively affecting the survival and dispersal of the bacteria in the soil. Even though …

Avian Community Structure And Diversity In Relation To Coastal Development In The Sian Ka’An Biosphere Reserve And Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Angeles A. Raymundo Sanchez

Masters Theses

Habitat loss and fragmentation caused by tourist development along the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico represents a big threat to the survival of Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbirds. This habitat plays a crucial role for successful migration for many migratory birds. However, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on these birds have not been well documented in the region. From September- December, 2006-2008, we mist-netted and conducted transect surveys to assess the variation in the avian community among three different levels of development (high, medium and low). The study area included two small reserves (10-20 ha) in the …

Baseline Survey And Habitat Analysis Of Aquatic Salamanders In The Pigeon River, North Carolina, Nikki J. Maxwell

Masters Theses

The Pigeon River was severely impacted beginning in the early 1900s by a paper mill located in Canton, North Carolina. The mill discharged chemical byproducts into the Pigeon River until 1992 when the paper mill modified their processes. As a result, water quality improved but the status of salamander species in the Pigeon River was unknown. Worldwide amphibian declines over the last 20 years have drawn attention to the need for more research and a better understanding of species-specific habitat relationships. There is concern about amphibian population declines because amphibians are critical to the balance of ecosystems and are considered …

Morphological Convergence And Character Displacement In Two Species Of Polymorphic Salamanders (Genus Plethodon) In Eastern Tennessee, Jason R. Jones

Masters Theses

In situations involving the co-occurrence ecologically similar species, one of two different evolutionary responses is often expected. If sympatry results in competition over a shared resource, character displacement would be a favored outcome, while morphological convergence is an alternative outcome if the species have similar responses to the shared environment. In this study, I examine cranial morphology and dorsal coloration of two ecologically similar salamander species (Plethodon serratus, the Southern Red-backed Salamander, and P. ventralis, the Southern Zig-zag Salamander) to evaluate the alternative hypotheses of character displacement or convergence. Results from linear morphometrics analyses showed no significant …