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Articles 1 - 30 of 155
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Multi-Type Branching Processes In Time-Varying Environments, Arash Jamshidpey
Multi-Type Branching Processes In Time-Varying Environments, Arash Jamshidpey
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Exploring The Evolution Of Altruistic Punishment Using A Pde Model For Multilevel Selection, Daniel Cooney
Exploring The Evolution Of Altruistic Punishment Using A Pde Model For Multilevel Selection, Daniel Cooney
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Mathematically Modeling Stoichiometric Drivers Of Nitrogen Fixation, Rebecca Everett, Corday Selden, Mohamed Hatha Abdulla, Jabir Thajudeen, James Powell, Edwin Cruz-Rivera, Luca Schenone, Renn Schipper, Megan Berberich, Halvor Halvorson, Robinson Fulweiler, Amy Marcarelli, Thad Scott
Mathematically Modeling Stoichiometric Drivers Of Nitrogen Fixation, Rebecca Everett, Corday Selden, Mohamed Hatha Abdulla, Jabir Thajudeen, James Powell, Edwin Cruz-Rivera, Luca Schenone, Renn Schipper, Megan Berberich, Halvor Halvorson, Robinson Fulweiler, Amy Marcarelli, Thad Scott
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Lycosidae Abundance And Diversity Across Lawn And Leaf Litter Substrate, Sage O. Lockett, Dan Albrecht-Mallinger
Lycosidae Abundance And Diversity Across Lawn And Leaf Litter Substrate, Sage O. Lockett, Dan Albrecht-Mallinger
Undergraduate Research Posters
Significant knowledge gaps exist in how land-cover impacts ground-hunting spider populations. To fill these gaps, this study investigates a common family of ground-hunting spiders, Lycosidae, to determine differences in their abundance and diversity in deciduous leaf litter and managed turfgrass (lawn). The study was conducted within a forested ecosystem at Virginia Commonwealth University's Rice Rivers Center in Charles City County, Virginia. I placed 10 belt transects (1m x 20m) on lawn substrate and 10 identical transects in deciduous forest leaf litter substrate. I performed repeated visual census via eyeshine and manual capture of up to three individuals per transect …
A Novel Family Of Chain Binomial Models To Investigate Correlated Vaccination And Infection Rates In Sveirs Epidemic Dynamics, Divine Wanduku
A Novel Family Of Chain Binomial Models To Investigate Correlated Vaccination And Infection Rates In Sveirs Epidemic Dynamics, Divine Wanduku
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Mathematics Of Population-Genetics Model For Assessing The Impacts Of Insecticide Resistance And Temperature On Population Abundance Of Malaria Mosquitoes, Jemal Mohammed-Awel
Mathematics Of Population-Genetics Model For Assessing The Impacts Of Insecticide Resistance And Temperature On Population Abundance Of Malaria Mosquitoes, Jemal Mohammed-Awel
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Simulation And Latin Hypercube Sampling Of Mixed-Time Models In A Consumer-Resource Relationship, Boluwatife E. Awoyemi, Amanda N. Laubmeier, Richard L. Rebarber
Simulation And Latin Hypercube Sampling Of Mixed-Time Models In A Consumer-Resource Relationship, Boluwatife E. Awoyemi, Amanda N. Laubmeier, Richard L. Rebarber
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Pde Model For Protocell Evolution And The Origin Of Chromosomes Via Multilevel Selection, Daniel B. Cooney, Fernando W. Rossine, Dylan H. Morris, Simon A. Levin
Pde Model For Protocell Evolution And The Origin Of Chromosomes Via Multilevel Selection, Daniel B. Cooney, Fernando W. Rossine, Dylan H. Morris, Simon A. Levin
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Reaction-Diffusion System On Irregular Boundaries Reproduces Multiple Generations Of Petal Spot Patterns In Monkeyflower Hybrids, Emily Simmons
Reaction-Diffusion System On Irregular Boundaries Reproduces Multiple Generations Of Petal Spot Patterns In Monkeyflower Hybrids, Emily Simmons
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Salinization Impacts On Heterotrophic Respiration, Ecosystem Respiration, And Plant Productivity In Tidal Freshwater Marshes, Kelsie J. Moses
Salinization Impacts On Heterotrophic Respiration, Ecosystem Respiration, And Plant Productivity In Tidal Freshwater Marshes, Kelsie J. Moses
Theses and Dissertations
Tidal freshwater marshes have preserved substantial stocks of soil carbon, which represents carbon dioxide that is no longer in the atmosphere. There is conflicting evidence in the literature about how disturbances such as sea level rise and associated wetland salinization impact the accumulation and long-term stability of this stored carbon. The goal of this experiment was to quantify how salinization impacts total ecosystem respiration and its component parts, autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration. This was a microcosm experiment using a C4 plant (Spartina cynosuroides) grown in soil derived from C3 plant matter and exposed to different salinities (0 to …
Stage-Structured Predator-Prey Interactions In A Warming World: A Case Study In Riverine Rock Pools, Andrew T. Davidson
Stage-Structured Predator-Prey Interactions In A Warming World: A Case Study In Riverine Rock Pools, Andrew T. Davidson
Theses and Dissertations
Warming can impact predator-prey interactions through a variety of mechanisms. For example, warming can both alter the rate at which predators consume prey and the rate prey develop through vulnerable life stages. Thus, the overall effect of warming on consumer-resource interactions will depend upon the strength and asymmetry of warming effects on predator and prey performance. Here, we describe the consequences of these asymmetrical responses to temperature by first developing a simple stage-structured modeling framework, then applying that framework to predation of American rock pool mosquito larvae, Aedes atropalpus, by several common predators in riverine rock pools. We then …
Quantifying Insect Emergence In Tidal Freshwaters And The Importance Of Aquatic Prey In Wetland-Dependent Songbird Diet, Samantha L. Rogers
Quantifying Insect Emergence In Tidal Freshwaters And The Importance Of Aquatic Prey In Wetland-Dependent Songbird Diet, Samantha L. Rogers
Theses and Dissertations
Insectivorous birds and their arthropod prey are experiencing widespread population declines, driven largely by anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. For wetland-dependent insectivores that consume a mixture of terrestrial and aquatic insects, understanding the availability, consumption, and nutritional qualities of aquatic diet subsidies is important for conservation. I use prothonotary warblers (Protonotaria citrea) as a model species throughout this work, because their breeding season aligns with aquatic insect emergence and they include aquatic insects when provisioning nestlings. In the first chapter, I estimate aquatic insect emergence from tidal freshwaters, which are understudied compared to nontidal systems. Using continuous field …
Plant Trait Effects On Tidal Wetland Methane Emission, Adam M. Dunn
Plant Trait Effects On Tidal Wetland Methane Emission, Adam M. Dunn
Theses and Dissertations
High rates of carbon (C) sequestration exhibited by coastal wetlands is an important natural climate solution to global environmental change. At the same time, however, wetlands are the largest natural source of methane (CH4) to Earth’s atmosphere, a potent greenhouse gas that influences the global climate. Wetland CH4 emissions display high degrees of uncertainty in accounting for spatial and temporal variations in emissions due to the complex interactions between biotic and abiotic factors that influence methane production and transport, in addition to simultaneous influences from climate-driven effects on wetlands such as rapid sea level rise and increased …
Climate, Physiology, And Distributions: The Role Of Thermal Physiology In Biological Invasions, Sean D. Powers
Climate, Physiology, And Distributions: The Role Of Thermal Physiology In Biological Invasions, Sean D. Powers
Theses and Dissertations
Climate is a primary factor influencing species range dynamics, particularly for ectotherms whose body temperature is closely tied to the surrounding conditions. While range shifts of ectotherms are attributed to climate warming, the mechanism driving these shifts are not well understood. Studies in macrophysiology demonstrate that the interaction of climate with thermal physiology plays a key role in determining large-scale spatial and temporal patterns for many temperature-sensitive physiological traits. This work has revealed a clear relationship between thermal tolerance breadth and range size. However, more recent analyses of this relationship demonstrate that thermal tolerance breadth only provides a partial explanation …
Proposing An Rna Interference (Rnai)-Based Treatment For Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) By Analyzing The Post-Transcriptional Gene Targeting Of Sars-Cov-2, Hepatitis C Virus, And A549 Lung Cancer Cells, Arjun Jagdeesh
Undergraduate Research Posters
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that infects CD4+ T cell lymphocytes in humans, leading to the development of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if left untreated. While current treatment methods, including antiretroviral combination treatments, effectively limit HIV replication, HIV can evade these treatments due to its high mutation rate. Long-term antiretroviral treatment can also be toxic to patients, meaning patients would benefit from a new mechanism of HIV treatment. RNA interference (RNAi) is an antiviral pathway found in mammals, plants, and insects that involves a small-interfering RNA that is incorporated into a protein complex called the RNA-induced Silencing Complex …
Patterns, Mechanisms, And Characterization Of Carbon Cycling Stability Following Partial Forest Disturbance, Kayla C. Mathes
Patterns, Mechanisms, And Characterization Of Carbon Cycling Stability Following Partial Forest Disturbance, Kayla C. Mathes
Theses and Dissertations
Among the most essential questions in the era of climate change is how the forest carbon (C) cycle will respond to an increase in the extent of biotic disturbances from insects and pathogens. While research has focused on stand-replacing disturbance regimes, less is known about C cycling stability following partial disturbances that produce gradients of disturbance severity. Belowground C cycling responses to disturbance are especially poorly understood, even though temperate forest soils contain up to 50% of total ecosystem C and soil respiration (Rs) accounts for more than half of temperate forest C loss. Interpreting trends and mechanisms …
Epidemiological Assessment Of Wolbachia-Based Biocontrol For Reduction Of Dengue Morbidity, Olga Vasilieva, Oscar E. Escobar, Hector J. Martinez, Pierre-Alexandre Bliman, Yves Dumont
Epidemiological Assessment Of Wolbachia-Based Biocontrol For Reduction Of Dengue Morbidity, Olga Vasilieva, Oscar E. Escobar, Hector J. Martinez, Pierre-Alexandre Bliman, Yves Dumont
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
De-Coupling Cell-Autonomous And Non-Cell-Autonomous Fitness Effects Allows Solution Of The Fokker-Planck Equation For The Evolution Of Interacting Populations, Steph J. Owen
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Gene Drives And The Consequences Of Over-Suppression, Cole Butler
Gene Drives And The Consequences Of Over-Suppression, Cole Butler
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Bioeconomic Analysis In A Predator-Prey System With Harvesting: A Case Study In The Chesapeake Bay Fisheries, Iordanka Panayotova, Maila Hallare
Bioeconomic Analysis In A Predator-Prey System With Harvesting: A Case Study In The Chesapeake Bay Fisheries, Iordanka Panayotova, Maila Hallare
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Parameter Estimation Using Nudging On The Logistic Growth Equation, Susan Rogowski
Parameter Estimation Using Nudging On The Logistic Growth Equation, Susan Rogowski
Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference
No abstract provided.
Biotic Characteristics Of Managed And Unmanaged Coastal Dunes In The Outer Banks, North Carolina, Andrew E. White
Biotic Characteristics Of Managed And Unmanaged Coastal Dunes In The Outer Banks, North Carolina, Andrew E. White
Theses and Dissertations
Under future climate change and sea level rise scenarios, Natural and Nature-Based Features (e.g., dunes) that protect coastal habitat and infrastructure will be exposed to increased wave energy and storm surge. Understanding how these forces will impact coastal dunes is necessary for their continued use as protective features. Coastal dunes develop through feedback between vegetation and sediment deposition, a process complicated by species-specific growth rates and responses to burial. Wave flume studies have tested the effects of dune vegetation on erosion and found multiple plant organs across several functional types to be important for resisting erosion. Although dune building and …
Coupled Structure-Function Responses To Disturbance: High Structural Complexity Resistance Supports Primary Production Resistance, Kerstin M. Niedermaier
Coupled Structure-Function Responses To Disturbance: High Structural Complexity Resistance Supports Primary Production Resistance, Kerstin M. Niedermaier
Theses and Dissertations
The capacity of forests to resist structural change and retain material legacies–the biotic and abiotic resources that persist through disturbance–is crucial to sustaining ecosystem functioning after disturbance. However, the role of forest structure as both a material legacy and feature supporting carbon (C) cycling stability following disturbance has not been widely investigated. We used a large-scale disturbance manipulation to ask whether LiDAR-derived canopy structures as material legacies drive 3-year responses of NPP to a range of disturbance severity levels. As part of the Forest Resilience Threshold Experiment (FoRTE) in northern Michigan, USA we simulated phloem-disrupting disturbances at a range of …
Quantifying Contributions Of Climate, Geography, And Gene Flow To Divergence: A Case Study For Three North American Pines, Constance E. Bolte
Quantifying Contributions Of Climate, Geography, And Gene Flow To Divergence: A Case Study For Three North American Pines, Constance E. Bolte
Theses and Dissertations
Long-lived species of trees, especially conifers, often display weak patterns of reproductive isolation, but clear patterns of local adaptation and phenotypic divergence. Discovering the evolutionary history of these patterns is paramount to a generalized understanding of speciation and the processes that confer population persistence versus those that compromise adaptive potential under rapidly changing environments. Forest trees have long generation times and low migratory potential making them especially vulnerable to population fragmentation and reductions of genetic diversity due to insufficient tracking of niche optima and adaptational lags. Within clades of the genus Pinus, evolutionary histories appear to be riddled with hybridization …
Evaluating Population Genetic Structure And Potential Genomic Signals Of Natural Selection In A Migratory Songbird (Protonotaria Citrea), Tyler A. Hohenstein
Evaluating Population Genetic Structure And Potential Genomic Signals Of Natural Selection In A Migratory Songbird (Protonotaria Citrea), Tyler A. Hohenstein
Theses and Dissertations
In this study I attempted to further resolve the population genetic structure in the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea), and conducted an outlier SNP analysis and exploratory gene ontology analysis to investigate potential ongoing natural selection in the species. This analysis of population structure confirms previous work by DeSaix et al. (2019), where weak population structure was observed between eastern sites along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and western sites in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, possibly due to a genetic discontinuity across the Appalachian Mountains. I conducted two forms of outlier SNP analyses, a principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach to identify SNPs …
Identifying The Human Homologs Of Yeast Rab Proteins Ypt10 & Ypt11 And A Global-Scale Louse Endosymbiont Genome Variation, Nathaniel P. Smith
Identifying The Human Homologs Of Yeast Rab Proteins Ypt10 & Ypt11 And A Global-Scale Louse Endosymbiont Genome Variation, Nathaniel P. Smith
Theses and Dissertations
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a late-onset fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes loss of upper and/or lower motor neurons, and currently has no treatment or cure available. Over 90% of cases occur spontaneously with unknown causes, highlighting the complexity of the disease, and only 10% of cases are linked to heritable genetic mutations. Numerous ALS-linked genes are conserved through evolution, and model organisms may therefore provide opportunities to understand disease pathology at a molecular or cellular level, proving instrumental in identifying therapeutic targets. ALS subtype 8 (ALS8) is caused by an autosomal dominant P56S mutation in the VAPB gene that …
Advancing Forest Structure-Function Relationships: Linking Above- And Belowground Structure To Soil Respiration, Laura J. Hickey
Advancing Forest Structure-Function Relationships: Linking Above- And Belowground Structure To Soil Respiration, Laura J. Hickey
Theses and Dissertations
Variation in the soil-to-atmosphere C flux, or soil respiration (Rs), is influenced by a suite of biotic and abiotic factors, including soil temperature, soil moisture, and root biomass. However, whether canopy structure is tied to soil respiration through its simultaneous influence over these drivers is not known. We assessed relationships between measures of above- and belowground vegetation density and complexity, and evaluated whether Rs is linked to remotely sensed canopy structure through pathways mediated by established biotic and abiotic mechanisms. Our results revealed that, at stand-scale, canopy rugosity–a measure of complexity–and vegetation area index were coupled to soil respiration through …
Water Clarity At The River-Estuary Transition Zone: A Comparative Study Of The James, Mattaponi, And Pamunkey Sub-Estuaries, Rachel Henderson
Water Clarity At The River-Estuary Transition Zone: A Comparative Study Of The James, Mattaponi, And Pamunkey Sub-Estuaries, Rachel Henderson
Theses and Dissertations
Water clarity is a key parameter for monitoring water quality and often used to assess habitat suitability for submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Light attenuation, a measure of water clarity, is impacted by colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and by suspended particulates which include living and non-living components. We anticipated that the relative importance of these factors in regulating light attenuation would vary among the upper portions of three sub-estuaries differing in morphometry, hydrology, and degree of human influence. The James is characterized by eutrophic conditions and high algal abundance, whereas the Mattaponi and Pamunkey exhibit lower phytoplankton production. The Mattaponi …
Searching For Gold: Using A Novel Land Cover Classification To Identify Multiscale Drivers Of Site Occupancy By A Flagship Species For Early-Successional Habitat Conservation, Baron Lin
Theses and Dissertations
Understanding habitat selection at multiple scales is an important step in guiding conservation programs and reversing species declines. This, however, is difficult for species that occupy early-successional habitats (ESH) due to a lack of accurate representation of shrub cover in publicly available land cover data. The Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera; GWWA) is a threatened species of conservation concern and a flagship for ESH conservation. We used a novel, LIDAR-derived land cover classification that accurately identifies shrubs at a fine resolution (1m) to investigate how habitat composition and configuration influence GWWA site occupancy. We aggregated this same land cover …
Plant Communities In Dynamic Systems: How Disturbance Influences Coastal Plant Community Structure And Function, Joseph K. Brown
Plant Communities In Dynamic Systems: How Disturbance Influences Coastal Plant Community Structure And Function, Joseph K. Brown
Theses and Dissertations
As the climate continues to change it is difficult to predict how barrier island function will respond to global change drivers accompanying predicted climate change. Disturbance frequency and nutrient enrichment in coastal regions are drivers of plant community change that increase with climate change. Plant communities on barrier islands are not only tightly connected to barrier island function but are also some of the first communities affected by environmental change, making them a critical piece in understanding how current drivers of global change will impact the future of barrier islands. The objective of my dissertation was to observe and manipulate …