Life Sciences Commons^™

Dephosphorylation Of Mpk6 And Mpk3 By Phosphatases Modulates Responses To Herbivory In Arabidopsis, Claire Teresa Hann

Theses and Dissertations

As sessile organisms, plants rely on extracellular signals and chemical responses to defend against stressors. Extracellular stress signals inducing defense responses originate both from biotic or abiotic threats, and from products of tissue damage or hormones. In defense against herbivores, essential responses include rapid generation of jasmonic acid (JA) at the wound site, followed by the global expression of genes that impede digestion and growth. Early defense gene expression amplifies JA production, while later JA-responsive gene expression causes the accumulation of defense products. MAP kinase (MAPK) pathways play a central role in mediating the perception of self, non-self, and hormonal …

Validation Of Pilot Protocol: Damage Scoring Of Puget Sound Mollusk Shells, Lauren Doffing

Environmental Science Undergraduate Theses

The Marine Sediment Monitoring Team at the Washington State Department of Ecology observed damage to mollusk shells while studying the benthic communities of Puget Sound. A pilot protocol was written to allow researchers to quantify the damage. Two researchers independently followed the protocol, including reference photos, for a set of samples collected in 2019 from an urban bay, East Possession Sound. Two scores were given to each specimen: highest-level damage and extent of highest-level damage. An additional score was given to bivalve species: rust/stain. The sets of scores were compared to determine if the protocol yielded similar values between the …

Effects Of Water Quality On Oyster Health On Georgia Coast, Laurel Henderson

Honors College Theses

ABSTRACT

Oysters are an economically and ecologically important shellfish species found along most coastlines. Along the Georgia coastline, oysters form extensive reefs, and are economically important as a food source. In addition, oysters perform a vital role in maintaining water quality due to their high filtration capacity in coastal waters. Oyster reefs form solid, 3-D substrate that prevent coastline erosion and provide structure for numerous other coastal species to grow, including many commercially and recreationally important species. Water quality factors, such as temperature and salinity, can influence oyster density, condition, and growth, and ultimately affect the services the reefs provide …

The Role Of V-Atpase In Regulating Ph In The Digestive Tract Of Tetranychus Urticae Koch, Zoran Culo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The phytophagous two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Koch), is a major global pest to agriculture and other plant-production industries. Digestive tract pH is a key factor in regulating the enzymatic activity that facilitates digestion and detoxification of ingested plant cell contents and in my thesis I used various pH indicator dyes to determine the pH of regions of the digestive tract in T. urticae, in vivo. Digital colour values of stained specimen images were cross-referenced with the colour values from images of each dye taken at different pH values to determine the digestive tract pH in non-fed, fed …

The Effect Of Ph On Synaptic Transmission At The Neuromuscular Junction In Drosophila Melanogaster, Catherine Elizabeth Stanley

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Synaptic transmission is the main avenue of neuronal communication and can be affected by a multitude of factors, both intracellularly and extracellularly. The effects of pH changes on synaptic transmission have been studied for many years across many different models. Intracellular acidification at the presynaptic terminal is known to occur with increased neuronal activity and can also occur in pathological conditions. The effects of these pH alterations are therefore an important area of study. Here, intracellular acidification using either propionic acid or the ammonium chloride pre-pulse technique was examined for the effects on both spontaneous and evoked synaptic transmission at …

Understanding The Influence Of The Cancer Microenvironment On Metabolism And Metastasis, Shonagh Russell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease. Not only is there considerable variability between different cancer types, but there is enormous variability between and within patients who have the same type of cancer. Within tumors, there are multiple cell types, including cancer cells, stromal cells, and immune cells. The tumor microenvironment often induces the healthy cells to become pro-tumorigenic. Cell metabolism is exquisitely sensitive to changes in the tumor microenvironment and can be measured to infer the aggressiveness of cancer and predict response to therapy. In this dissertation, we aim to understand how the microenvironment, specifically low pH, affects the …

The Effects Of Ocean Acidification And Reduced Oxygen On The Behavior And Physiology Of Juvenile Rockfish, Corianna H. Flannery

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

As climate change progresses, the frequency and duration of upwelling events that bring low pH, low dissolved oxygen (DO) water to nearshore habitats are expected to increase. In addition, long-term global changes in ocean pH and DO are expected to occur within the next few decades to centuries. Locally, there have been documented reductions in near-shore pH along with the expansion of oxygen minimum zones within the California Current System. However, very few studies have investigated the potential interactive effect of these stressors on temperate reef fish. For this thesis, two sets of laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the …

Automated Solid-Substrate Cultivation Of The Anaerobic Bacterium Clostridium Thermocellum, Mathew J. Ruwaya

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The organism Clostridium thermocellum grows on cellulosic substrates and produces ethanol, acetate, lactate, formic acid, and CO₂. The organic acids produced alter the growth environment in which the bacteria grows and ultimately inhibit bacterial growth. One method which has been used successfully to maintain the system at acceptable growth conditions is to intermittently flush out the spent media and metabolic products and replace with new fermentation media. Our goal was to design and build an automated system that will automatically flush the spent media from the growing culture and resupply new media without manual intervention. An automated control …

Micro Topographic And Ph Effects On Sphagnum Growth, Ziad Shwaiki

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

We performed two experiments to examine the effects of different water treatments and micro topographic conditions on the growth of sphagnum species. In order to examine the effects of different micro topographic conditions on sphagnum regeneration, we worked with two species of sphagnum; Sphagnum palustre and Sphagnum capillifolium. The focus of this experiment revolved around identifying which species of sphagnum has the greater capacity to regenerate and which of these two sphagnum species has the competitive advantage. The final results will center around which test container of sphagnum displayed the greatest growth in biomass making it a potential candidate for …

The Effects Of Soil Ph And Texture On The Molting Success And Survival Of Blacklegged Ticks (Ixodes Scapularis): A Field Experiment, Colleen Cook

Honors Theses

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is the primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. When a tick is not questing or feeding, the majority of its life is spent within the soil. Abiotic factors within soil have been shown to affect tick molting and survival across all life stages. Soil pH, however, has not been heavily investigated. In this field study, I investigated the effects of soil pH and texture on engorged nymphal ticks. Two sites were chosen to encompass the extremes of soil pH in the region; the Albany Pine Bush in Albany, NY has …

The Effects Of Soil Ph On The Molting Success Of Blacklegged Ticks (Ixodes Scapularis): A Laboratory Experiment, Daniel Rice

Honors Theses

Ixodes scapularis, or the black-legged tick, is the major vector of Lyme disease in the U.S. I. scapularis has expanded its range in recent decades, making the study of factors affecting its distribution a high priority. Studying the effects of various conditions in the soil could help in predicting range expansions, because ticks spend the majority of their lives in contact with the soil. We investigated the effects of soil pH on the molting success of engorged I. scapularis nymphs collected from Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus). The experiment was conducted in a laboratory to control for covariates such as temperature …

Effects Of Ph On Human Cardiac And Neuronal Sodium Channels, William James Israelsen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Voltage-gated sodium channels are large transmembrane proteins that selectively allow the passage of sodium ions across the cell membrane in response to membrane depolarizations (Yu and Catterall, 2003). The resulting influx of positive charge further depolarizes the membrane and is responsible for the upstroke of the action potential. Voltage-gated sodium channels are vital to the initiation and propagation of action potentials in excitable cells such as neurons and myocytes. In vertebrates, there are many different tissue-specific sodium channel isoforms; these include the neuronal (Na_v1.2) and cardiac (Na_v1.5) isoforms. Although very closely related in structure and functional …

The Effects Of Low Ph On Sunfish Assemblages In Southeast Georgia, William Boyd Tate

Legacy ETDs

No abstract provided.