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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Watching Grass Grow: How Soil Moisture Affects Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizae And Growth In Little Bluestem, Laura M. Jones
Watching Grass Grow: How Soil Moisture Affects Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizae And Growth In Little Bluestem, Laura M. Jones
Honors Scholar Theses
Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) are an ancient mutualism in which soil-dwelling fungi enhance plant absorption of phosphorus and nitrogen in exchange for photosynthates. VAM are sensitive to changes in soil moisture and nutrient content, fluctuating between mutualism and parasitism depending on conditions of drought stress and nutrient deficiency. Understanding how VAM respond to precipitation changes is crucial for both conservation and agricultural purposes. To test how soil moisture changes the effects of VAM colonization and growth in little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), a common prairie grass, I planted 300 seeds in a greenhouse in sterilized soil and soil inoculated with …
Deicing Salts Influence Ranavirus Outbreaks In Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus) Tadpoles, Sarah Jacobson
Deicing Salts Influence Ranavirus Outbreaks In Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus) Tadpoles, Sarah Jacobson
Honors Scholar Theses
Ecosystems are increasingly being exposed to anthropogenic stressors that could make animals and thus populations more susceptible to disease. For example, the application of deicing salts to roads is increasing in the northeastern United States. Chronic stress that larval amphibians experience when living in vernal pools with high salinity may alter their susceptibility to ranavirus, a pathogen responsible for mass mortality events worldwide. This project quantifies the effects of road salts and ranavirus exposure on larval wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) growth and survival. Using outdoor mesocsoms, we raised wood frog tadpoles in salt treatments and then exposed them …
Comparison Of Skull Size In Sympatric And Allopatric Fishers (Martes Pennanti) And American Martens (Martes Americana), Matthew Brandt, Miranda Davis, Tom Harrington, Eric Schultz
Comparison Of Skull Size In Sympatric And Allopatric Fishers (Martes Pennanti) And American Martens (Martes Americana), Matthew Brandt, Miranda Davis, Tom Harrington, Eric Schultz
EEB Articles
Interactions between two species with similar ranges may cause character displacement, especially if the two species are closely related. There is little research regarding character displacement between two related mammal species. American martens (Martes americana) and fishers (M. pennanti) are closely related and have some range overlap. I hypothesized that American martens would be smaller in size in locations where they are sympatric to fishers compared to allopatric locations. Also, I hypothesized that fishers would be larger in sympatric locations compared to their allopatric counterparts. To test these hypotheses, I compared the skull sizes of American …