Life Sciences Commons^™

Impacts Of Two Introduced Ladybeetles, Coccinella Septempunctata And Harmonia Axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), On Native Coccinellid Species At Mount St. Helens, Washington And In Southwestern Virginia, Catherine Marie Sheehy

Masters Theses

To assess changes in coccinellid communities subsequent to the introduction of two non-native species, Coccinella septempunctata and Harmonia axyridis, ladybird numbers were monitored over a 20 year period at Mt. Saint Helens, Washington and in three years between 1996 and 2004 in southwestern Virginia. Surveys conducted at Mt. Saint Helens included pre- and post- invasion years for both non-natives. At Mt. Saint Helens, C. septempunctata and H. axyridis both increased in abundance, accompanied by declining numbers of the native ladybird Adalia bipunctata at one of the two Washington sites and of the native ladybird Coccinella transversoguttata at both sites. …

The Beasts In Our Brain, Neil Greenberg

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

In the neuropsychology of art, we must remember that the Brain of Man has not abandoned its ancient animal foundations, it has built upon them . . . . But it has also reconstructed them as the shifting earth beneath dictates . . . . We have done the best possible in the landscape in which we have found ourselves with the raw materials we have inherited." --(Greenberg, Prolegomena to a Study of Mind, 1973, ch. 42)

Bat Population Dynamics: An Individual-Based Model Approach, Paula Federico

Doctoral Dissertations

Temperate zone bats are subject to serious energetic constraints due to their high surface area to volume relations, the cost of temperature regulation, the high metabolic cost of flight, and the seasonality of their resources. To my knowledge, there are no individual-based mathematical models for any bat species. The model developed here for a female bat is primarily based on life history and energetics. It describes the growth of an individual female bat using a system of differential equations modeling the dynamics of two main compartments: storage (lipids) and structure (proteins and carbohydrates). The model is parameterized for the little …

The Influence Of Atmospherics On Consumer Perceptions Of Service Quality, Merchandise Price, And Merchandise Quality Influencing Behavioral Intentions: A Retailing Study Of Outlet Malls, Alycia Fogle Holmes

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the influence of atmospherics on consumer perceptions of service quality, merchandise price, and merchandise quality influencing behavioral intentions in an outlet mall environment. The research design was a survey method and data were collected through a mall intercept questionnaire. A pilot test of the instrument was conducted with 43 subjects. The final questionnaire contained 30 items and a demographic section. A total of 586 questionnaires were collected from three different outlet malls. The results indicated that the atmospheric variables and the human variable of crowding are related to consumer’s perceptions of the service quality, merchandise price, and …

Program, Classroom, And Teachers Characteristics: Their Associations With Classroom Quality In State-Funded Pre-K Classrooms, Mi-Hyang Ryu

Doctoral Dissertations

With data from the NCEDL Multi-State Pre-Kindergarten Study, the relationship between the characteristics of program, classroom, and teachers and classroom quality was examined in this study. Classroom quality was measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the Emerging Academics Snapshot. The sample consisted of 227 pre-k teachers in state-funded programs from six states. The percentage of children from low-income families in the classroom and the number of children with limited English proficiency (the only two predictive variables that described children’s characteristics) were found to be statistically significant predictors of classroom process quality. These findings were discussed with regard …

Analysis Of Tourists Attending A Culinary Event: Motivations, Satisfaction, And Behavioral Outcomes, Sylvia Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

The study constructs a causal model of culinary tourist behavior from the theoretical framework of push and pull motivations and related concepts with regard to satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Respondents were distinguished with regards to socio-demographic characteristics, travel behavior, and importance of event attributes. Further, importance-performance hypothetical framework was utilized to measure pull motivations. The study proposed that culinary event attendees’ expenditures, word-of-mouth behavior, and repeat patronage intentions would be related to their overall event satisfaction. Culinary event attendees were segmented on the basis of push motivations. Using factor, cluster, and multiple regression analyses with data collected from an international …

Adiposity Related Protection Of Intestinal Tumorigenesis: Interaction With Dietary Calcium, Shengli Ding

Doctoral Dissertations

Excess adipose tissue is a risk factor for developing colorectal cancer. However, the present studies demonstrate that lack of adipose-derived factor(s), such as adiponectin, due to the substantial loss of body fat on high dairy calcium diet could increase susceptibility to intestinal tumorigenesis. These studies suggest that a minimum amount or threshold level of adipose tissue may be required to significantly attenuate tumorigenesis.

In Apc^Min/+ mice, consumption of high dairy calcium diet exhibited markedly reduced adipose tissue and increased tumor number. Our results showed that the high calcium diet reduced fat pad mass by 65%-82% in Apc^Min/+ (p …

Clonality And Genetic Diversity Revealed By Aflps In Schisandra Glabra (Brickell) Rheder (Schisandraceae), A Rare Basal Angiosperm, Matthew J. Valente

Masters Theses

Rare species with fragmented distributions often exhibit reduced levels of genetic diversity within populations. However, life history traits such as long lived perennial habit and outcrossing mating system, are associated with high levels of within species genetic variation being partitioned within populations. Schisandra glabra (Schisandraceae) is a rare basal angiosperm with a fragmented distribution across the southeastern US and in a disjunct population in cloudforest of Mexico. The species’ clonal reproduction by rhizomes, confounds the delineation of genetically distinct individuals in the field. The patterns of genetic diversity and clonality in 10 populations of S. glabra were investigated using AFLP …

Job Satisfaction And Work Ethic Among Workers In A Japanese Manufacturing Company Located In The United States, Samuel L. Elkins

Doctoral Dissertations

This correlational and descriptive study synthesizes previous research regarding the impact of work ethic on job satisfaction when moderated by demographics, work dynamics, and occupational choice. Data from a sample of both exempt and non-exempt workers working at a Japanese-owned manufacturing plant was used to explore the relationship between the levels of job-satisfaction and work ethic reported by workers in various job categories and working environments. The sample consisted of 462 individuals who were identified using a stratified sampling of equal size. The study obtained responses from 328 workers through a respondent and non-respondent survey, representing 70% response rate. The …

Scale And Contingency In Plant Demography: Quantitative Approaches And Inference, Sean Maurice Mcmahon

Doctoral Dissertations

Ecologists have long recognized that patterns measured in nature often depend upon the context in which they are observed and the scale at which they are observed. When studying plant populations, the role of scale and contingency becomes crucial. Thinking about a plant community as a system is essential as populations of plants are centered within a network that influences their dynamics in direct and indirect ways. Plant populations are inherently scale-dependent because they have properties as a group that can be independent of their properties as individual stems. Although the challenge of interpreting population patterns in the face of …

Behavioral And Ecological Influences On The Echolocation Of Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats, Tadarida Brasiliensis, Erin H. Gillam

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates variability in the echolocation calls of Brazilian free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis (Chiroptera: Molossidae), and explores how bats adjust echolocation call structure in response to different behavioral and ecological conditions. Substantial geographic variation exists in the echolocation call structure of T. brasiliensis throughout the species range in the US, but this variation does not correlate with geographic or climatic patterns. Most variation in call structure is due to differences between and within the calls of individuals. When exposed to broadcasts of high frequency insect sounds, free-flying bats consistently responded by shifting call frequencies away from the broadcast frequencies. …

Embryology Of Manekia Naranjoana (Piperaceae) And Its Implications For The Origin Of The Sixteen-Nucleate Female Gametophyte In Piperales, Tatiana Arias-Garzón

Masters Theses

Piperaceae is unique among Piperales because it is the only tetrasporic group in the order and a great deal of diversity in the ontogenetic trajectories of the female gametophyte is found in its genera. The evolutionary developmental origin of the sixteen-nucleate female gametophyte remains unclear in the family until now. In Piperaceae, Manekia has been identified as sister to Zippelia, and this clade is sister to core Piperaceae (Piper, Peperomia). This research is the first attempt to understand the development of the female gametophyte of Manekia naranjoana in order to provide critical data on the origin of …

Geographic And Temporal Diversification Patterns In The Barcheek Darter Species Group, Phillip Ray Hollingsworth Jr.

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate geographic and temporal diversification patterns in the barcheek darter species group. Specifically, my two questions were “Is there geographical structure of alleles or haplotypes within currently recognized species that is suggestive of unrecognized, or cryptic, species diversity within the clade?” (geographic diversification pattern) and “How old are inter- and intraspecific divergence events in the evolutionary history of the clade?” (temporal diversification pattern). A three gene dataset from 159 barcheek individuals of two mitochondrial coding regions, cyt b and ND2, along with a nuclear intron, S7, was analyzed using parsimony and Bayesian phylogentic …