Life Sciences Commons^™

The Decline In Monarch Butterfly, Danaus Plexippus, Populations: An Example Of The Global Threat To Biodiversity, Olivia Sidoti

Honors Projects

Biodiversity encompasses the variety of all life on Earth and how these aspects of nature interact with each other. To have stable and abundant biodiversity, vast amounts of species and organisms are required within an ecosystem. As a result of the increase in negative impacts of human activities and behaviors on the health of nature, biodiversity has been decreasing. An example of the decrease in biodiversity is depicted by the recent decline of the monarch butterfly species. The monarch butterfly is an iconic North American insect that is experiencing a decline in its population due to threats such as deforestation, …

An Analysis On The Capacity Of Visual Art To Promote Conservation Efforts, Devi Bell

Honors Projects

In recent decades, we have become more aware of the ways in which anthropogenic actions are harming Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and overall stability. Scientists generally agree on the urgency of our situation, yet the public may find difficulty in comprehending the multitude of information on it. This study aims to educate the public on biodiversity loss and related ecological issues in Ohio by discussing these topics through the medium of visual art. Five pieces involving different scientific subject matter and art mediums were created and displayed for participants to view. Participants completed two surveys, one before viewing the art and …

Use Of Intramodal Odor Cues In Shelter Recognition By An Amblypygid, Nathan Bostelman

Honors Projects

Amblypygids are nocturnal arthropods which live in cluttered habitats and possess the ability to navigate home after displacements of up to ten meters. Homing amblypygids rely on olfactory and tactile information gathered by their antenniform legs to navigate successfully. Given that odor signals encountered in nature are complex and dynamic, navigation via olfaction presents unique challenges related to signal uncertainty. To understand how amblypygids perceive perceive complex odors and what they learn from them, individuals of the subtropical amblypygid P. marginemaculatus were trained to associate a blend of two odors with a shelter and tested on three treatments: the reinforced …

Too Little Ph: How Freshwater Acidification Impacts The Abundance Of Macrophytes Consumed By Rusty Crayfish, Lauren Tucker, Paul Moore Dr., Jay Jones Mr.

Honors Projects

Anthropogenic activities such as the burning of fossil fuels result in increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration. High levels of atmospheric CO₂ cause chemical shifts in the carbon cycle. Changes in the carbon cycle due to increased CO₂ levels lead to ocean and freshwater acidification. Freshwater acidification is problematic for species that synthesize their own shells as well as species that use olfaction for decision-making. Rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus) were subject to simulated freshwater acidification and fed two types of macrophyte, Chara (Chara braunii) and Myriopyllum (Myriophyllum sibiricum). A series …

Exposing Lettuce Plants To Cyanobacteria In A Closed Hydroponics System To Reduce Cyanobacterial Growth And Production, Emily Eberly

Honors Projects

Sandusky Bay is largely populated by cyanobacterial algal blooms, mainly formed by Planktothrix. Fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus run from agricultural lands into the bay, building up excess nutrients forming eutrophic waters. The Planktothrix feed off these nutrients and grow into algal blooms. To determine a potential solution to the growth of these blooms, I implemented a hydroponics system involving Lactuca Sativa for analysis of Planktothrix growth and productivity. Four different nutrient conditions were added to a Planktothrix-only solution and a solution growing Planktothrix with the lettuce in the hydroponics system. The four conditions consisted of no nutrient …

Impact Of Endangered Animal Protection Rights, Policies, And Practices On Zoonotic Disease Spread, Daniella Fedak-Lengel

Honors Projects

Building on field research in Costa Rica and Belize, this honors project analyzes environmental and endangered animal protection policies, rights, and practices in Central America and the Caribbean, and assesses the impact of veterinary science and biological research and practice, particularly conservation biology, on animal welfare concerns. Informed by the recent surge in awareness regarding zoonoses and zoonotic disease transmission, prevention and control, resulting from the current global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the project assesses the need for new and innovative types of collaboration, particularly involving conservation biologists, environmental scientists, public health experts, law and policy makers, and global trade and …

Effects Of Flower Color On Pollination And Seed Production In Lupinus Perennis, Amanda Morris

Honors Projects

We examined how flower color morphs (blue vs white) in Lupinus perennis affect the probability of a flower setting fruit, average mass of a seed produced, and average number of seeds per pod.

The Mangroves Of Costa Rica, Kylie Stewart

Honors Projects

Mangroves are a type of coastal vegetation present in the intertidal zone of tropical and subtropical climates. This paper explores the mangroves of Costa Rica, their significance, and various strategies the country utilizes in order to protect mangrove forests. Several books and articles about mangroves and conservationism are examined to explain why mangrove forests are vital to a coastline’s health and growth. The scholarly topic pertains to mangroves located in the United States and Costa Rica along with methods used to maintain the wildlife that live within them. The concept of ecotourism will be explored and how mangrove forests are …

Urbanization And Population Growth: Projected Impacts Of Growth On Ecological Resources In Ontario1, Laura J. Bozzelli

International ResearchScape Journal

No abstract provided.

Predator Water Balance Alters Intraguild Predation In A Streamsidefood Web, Israel L. Leinbach, Kevin E. Mccluney, John L. Sabo

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Previous work suggests that animal water balance can influence trophic interactions, with predators increasing their consumption of water-laden prey to meet water demands.But it is unclear how the need for water interacts with the need for energy to drive trophic interactions under shifting conditions. Using manipulative field experiments, we show that water balance influences the effects of top predators on prey with contrasting ratios of water and energy, altering the frequency of intraguild predation. Water-stressed top predators (large spiders) negatively affect water-laden basal prey (crickets), especially male prey with higher water content, whereas alleviation of water limitation causes top predators …

Conceptualizing Ecological Responses To Dam Removal: If You Remove It, What’S To Come?, J. Ryan Bellmore, G. R. Press, Jeffrey J. Duda, Jim E. O'Connor, Amy E. East, Melissa M. Foley, Andrew C. Wilcox, Jon J. Major, Patrick Shafroth, Sarah A. Morley, Christopher S. Magirl, Chauncey W. Anderson, James E. Evans, Laura Shawn Craig

School of Earth, Environment and Society Faculty Publications

One of the desired outcomes of dam decommissioning and removal is the recovery of aquatic and riparian ecosystems. To investigate this common objective, we synthesized information from empirical studies and ecological theory into conceptual models that depict key physical and biological links driving ecological responses to removing dams. We define models for three distinct spatial domains: upstream of the former reservoir, within the reservoir, and downstream of the removed dam. Emerging from these models are response trajectories that clarify potential pathways of ecological transitions in each domain. We illustrate that the responses are controlled by multiple causal pathways and feedback …

Urbanization Alters Communities Of Flying Arthropods In Parks And Gardens Of A Medium-Sized City, Edward Lagucki, Justin D. Burdine, Kevin E. Mccluney

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Urbanization transforms undeveloped landscapes into built environments, causing changes in communities and ecological processes. Flying arthropods play important roles in these processes as pollinators, decomposers, and predators, and can be important in structuring food webs. The goal of this study was to identify associations between urbanization and the composition of communities of flying (and floating) arthropods within gardens and parks in a medium-sized mesic city. We predicted that flying arthropod abundance and diversity would respond strongly to percent impervious surface and distance to city center, measurements of urbanization. Flying arthropods were sampled from 30 gardens and parks along an urbanization …

Converting Chemical Signatures In Vaterite Otoliths To Aragonite Otoliths In Steelhead Trout: Developing A Partition Coefficient, Jamie Justice

Honors Projects

Otoliths are small bones near the brain of teleost fish that aid in hearing and balance. Otoliths are typically composed of a polymorph of calcium carbonate called aragonite; however, when stressed, fish may transition to producing a less dense polymorph called vaterite. Otoliths are typically used in studies of fish natal origin or migration patterns because 1) otoliths grow concentrically around an origin (birth point), 2) the material in the otolith is not replaced over time, and 3) microelements (Sr and Ba) can be incorporated into the otoliths in proportion to elemental ratios in the water (i.e., when fish move …

Vegetative Rapid Assessment And Habitat Quality Analysis Of Steidtmann Woods, Sarah Mae Bail

Honors Projects

Due to invasive species and the assumption of an unhealthy ecosystem, Steidtmann Woods is an underutilized piece of land owned by Bowling Green State University. However, the property had never been analyzed. The proposed hypothesis was that Steidtmann was indeed in destress and its ecosystem could benefit from intervention—removal of invasive species and supplementation of natives. Through a rapid vegetative analysis, data was collected in several regions of the woods to identify what navies and non-natives were present as well as to identify their proportions. With that data, the species evenness, richness, and diversity was calculated; first, with raw field …

Water Loss Rates And Desiccation Tolerances For Spiders And Crickets, Matthew Zach, Kevin E. Mccluney

Honors Projects

Despite the importance of water to living organisms, access varies across the globe with high variability over space and time. Seventy-five percent of the world’s freshwater alone is ice while 99% of unfrozen freshwater is underground (Winter et al. 1998). Understanding how terrestrial species respond to water availability and compensate for water stress can provide insight to their behavior, ecology and physiology. The goal of this research was to examine the differences in the evaporative water loss rates and desiccation tolerances of Hogna carolinensis and Acheta domesticus. First, an experiment was conducted to quantify the rate of evaporative water …

The Influence Of Beached Harmful Algal Blooms On Terrestrial Arthropods On The Shore Of Lake Erie, Nadejda Mirochnitchenko, Kevin E. Mccluney

Honors Projects

Marine primary inputs, such as sea wrack and algae, offer a great niche for insects and other animals to exploit. The existence of a similar niche on the coast of lakes has received less attention. To complicate matters, many freshwater systems are seeing increases in proliferation of toxic and non-toxic cyanobacteria blooms. This study examined patterns in lake shore terrestrial arthropod abundance, diversity, and community composition across gradients of beached algae, with varying toxicity. We detected water microcystin effects on arthropod richness in survey three, beached material effects on Shannon’s Diversity in survey two, and water microcystin effects on the …

Riverine Macrosystems Ecology: Sensitivity, Resistance, And Resilience Of Whole River Basins With Human Alterations, Kevin E. Mccluney, N Leroy Poff, Margaret A. Palmer, James H. Thorp, Geoffrey C. Poole, Bradley S. Williams, Michael R. Williams, Jill S. Baron

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Riverine macrosystems are described here as watershed-scale networks of connected and interacting riverine and upland habitat patches. Such systems are driven by variable responses of nutrients and organisms to a suite of global and regional factors (eg climate, human social systems) interacting with finer-scale variations in geology, topography, and human modifications. We hypothesize that spatial heterogeneity, connectivity, and asynchrony among these patches regulate ecological dynamics of whole networks, altering system sensitivity, resistance, and resilience. Long-distance connections between patches may be particularly important in riverine macrosystems, shaping fundamental system properties. Furthermore, the type, extent, intensity, and spatial configuration of human activities …

Pcb Effects On Development Of Behavior In Rats, Robert Witte

Honors Projects

Abstract

PCBs were originally used as industrial chemicals in many devices and applications, including electrical capacitors and transformers, lubricants, and sealants in buildings. PCBs have been investigated and their use has been slowly phased out starting in the U.S. in the 1970s. A worldwide ban was put on the use and manufacturing of PCB in 2001, however they remain in the food chain because of their lipophilic properties and their long half-life. Major sources of PCB include wild-life, fish, and other seafood. Individuals exposed to PCB during development can experience negative effects on neurobiological, cognitive, and behavior functioning in both …

The Effects That Liquid And Solid Cattle Manure Have On The Water Quality Of Drainage Ditches In Putnam County, Ohio, Janelle Horstman

Honors Projects

Lake Erie has experienced harmful algal blooms with increased frequency since the mid-1990s due to excess nutrients from Rivers, such as the Maumee River, and largely agricultural watersheds. Nonpoint source pollution from agriculture contributes to eutrophication, algal blooms, and the degradation of water quality. This creates stress on aquatic fauna, reduced aesthetic quality, odor, and limits of the water for usage of drinking, recreation, and industry. This research paper asks what the contributions of having access to manure application records, soil records, and information about antibiotics have on what is known about manure management and antibiotic resistance, which has been …

The Effect Of Visual Wulst Lesions And Trigeminal Nerve Sectioning On The Discrimination Of Magnetic Inclination In The Homing Pigeon (Columba Livia), Merissa Acerbi

Honors Projects

The ability of homing pigeons to return to their loft from unknown places has fascinated scientists for centuries. It is well established that homing pigeons, like migratory birds, posses an innate magnetic inclination compass to determine direction by measuring the angle between the magnetic field vector and the Earth's surface. Recent work has indicated that the avian magnetic compass is light mediated and appears to mediate magnetic information to the brain. This occurs via a visual pathway with processing in the visual Wulst area of the forebrain. There is, however, also evidence from other avian species that magnetic direction may …