Life Sciences Commons^™

Sickness Behaviors Across Vertebrate Taxa: Proximate And Ultimate Mechanisms, Patricia C. Lopes, Susannah S. French, Douglas C. Woodhams, Sandra A. Binning

Biology Faculty Publications

There is nothing like a pandemic to get the world thinking about how infectious diseases affect individual behavior. In this respect, sick animals can behave in ways that are dramatically different from healthy animals: altered social interactions and changes to patterns of eating and drinking are all hallmarks of sickness. As a result, behavioral changes associated with inflammatory responses (i.e. sickness behaviors) have important implications for disease spread by affecting contacts with others and with common resources, including water and/or sleeping sites. In this Review, we summarize the behavioral modifications, including changes to thermoregulatory behaviors, known to occur in vertebrates …

Anthropogenic Influences On Bacterial Assemblages In Stream Biofilms, Elizabeth M. Ogata

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bacteria within biofilms are an essential component of stream ecosystems, influencing the movement of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in watersheds. To better understand the ecological effects of human activities on stream ecosystems, my research examined how nutrients and pharmaceuticals, common pollutants in streams worldwide, influence bacterial assemblages in stream biofilms. First, I tested how nutrients (N, P, iron) and pharmaceuticals (caffeine, diphenhydramine) influenced biofilm bacterial microbiomes (taxa present in at least 75% of samples of a contaminant treatment). Nutrients allowed taxa known for their ability to thrive in nutrient-rich environments to dominate microbiomes, pharmaceuticals supported a rich …

Mechanisms For Soil Moisture Effects On Activity Of Nitrifying Bacteria, John M. Stark, M. K. Firestone

John M. Stark

Moisture may limit microbial activity in a wide range of environments including salt water, food, wood, biofilms, and soils. Low water availability can inhibit microbial activity by lowering intracellular water potential and thus reducing hydration and activity of enzymes. In solid matrices, low water content may also reduce microbial activity by restricting substrate supply. As pores within solid matrices drain and water films coating surfaces become thinner, diffusion path lengths become more tortuous, and the rate of substrate diffusion to microbial cells declines. We used two independent techniques to evaluate the relative importance of cytoplasmic dehydration versus diffusional limitations in …

Mechanisms For Soil Moisture Effects On Activity Of Nitrifying Bacteria, John M. Stark, M. K. Firestone

Biology Faculty Publications

Moisture may limit microbial activity in a wide range of environments including salt water, food, wood, biofilms, and soils. Low water availability can inhibit microbial activity by lowering intracellular water potential and thus reducing hydration and activity of enzymes. In solid matrices, low water content may also reduce microbial activity by restricting substrate supply. As pores within solid matrices drain and water films coating surfaces become thinner, diffusion path lengths become more tortuous, and the rate of substrate diffusion to microbial cells declines. We used two independent techniques to evaluate the relative importance of cytoplasmic dehydration versus diffusional limitations in …

Microbiological Immunocytochemistry: A Review Of Current Trends And Applications, Julian E. Beesley

Scanning Microscopy

It has been considered worthwhile to update previous reviews of microbiological immunocytochemistry in order to identify areas of current importance in this continually expanding area of research. Publications in virology, bacteriology and protozoology indicate a continued interest in immunocytochemistry. Deployment of colloidal gold techniques is almost universal in these applications. The post-embedding technique was the most widely applied technique although a few studies employed the immunonegative stain, pre-embedding and immunoreplica techniques, thereby reflecting the use of colloidal gold in all other areas of the biological sciences.

Studies On The Occurrence And Elemental Composition Of Bacteria In Freshwater Plankton, K. N. Booth, D. C. Sigee, E. Bellinger

Scanning Microscopy

The occurrence and cation content of bacteria in a eutrophic freshwater lake (Rostherne Mere, Cheshire, UK) were investigated over a one year sampling period in relation to cation changes in the lake surface water and phytoplankton.

Scanning electron microscope examination of trawl-net and filtered samples demonstrated bacterial association with Anabaena, Aphanizomenon and diatoms. Direct counts of associated and unassociated bacteria showed that increases in bacterial population relate to population decline of major algal constituents.

Spectrophotometric determination of selected cation levels in the lake water demonstrated wide fluctuations throughout the sampling period, with elevated levels of transition metals before and at …

The Electron Microscope Detection And X-Ray Quantitation Of Cations In Bacterial Cells, D. C. Sigee, M. H. El-Masry, R. H. Al-Rabaee

Scanning Electron Microscopy

Electron microscope autoradiography and X-ray microanalysis have been used for the detection and quantitation of cations in the bacterium Pseudomonas tabaci. These techniques differ in the information they provide (relating to either cation uptake or in situ levels), their applicability to different cations, their sensitivity and their spatial resolution. With uptake of ⁶³Ni²⁺, high resolution autoradiography (involving gold latensification and physical development) demonstrated a high degree of cation localisation to the central nucleoid area (glutaraldehyde-fixed cells) and within this to the constituent chromatin (acetic-alcohol preparations).

X-ray microanalysis of whole bacterial cells revealed the presence of substantial levels …

Characterization Of Selected Bacteria From The North Arm Of The Great Salt Lake, John L. Crane Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thirteen bacterial cultures were isolated from the North arm of Great Salt Lake during the months of January and February of 1973. Eleven isolates were gram-negative pleomorphic rods which lysed in hypotonic solution. The remaining two were gram-positive cocci. All isolates and one known strain of Halobacterium salinarium were subjected to examination of morphological, cultural, physiological, and biochemical characteristics. A numerical taxonomic analysis was applied to the compiled characters to compute a coefficient of similarity for each individual isolate as compared to all other isolates. A comparative analysis was included in the similarity computation using characters assembled from those reported …

Studies On Some Bacteriolytic Bacteria Isolated From An Oxidation Pond, Paul Christian Radich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During bacteriological studies of the Logan City Sewage Oxidation Ponds, Logan, Utah, a group of bacteria was discovered which could lyse killed cells of Escherichia coli. The present research effort was an attempt to determine whether two isolates from this earlier study might play a role in the reduction of coliforms and other bacteria in the oxidation ponds. It was also desired to characterize partially the lytic enzymes produced by the two isolates and to determine as far as possible the organisms' identity.

Both isolates were Gram negative rod-shaped organisms with a single polar flagellum. On Cytophaga agar they …