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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Predation Effects On Mid-Marsh Ribbed Mussel Mortality, Cluster Size, And Facilitation Of Cordgrass Growth, Colten Winter, Keith Walters
Predation Effects On Mid-Marsh Ribbed Mussel Mortality, Cluster Size, And Facilitation Of Cordgrass Growth, Colten Winter, Keith Walters
Honors Theses
Reciprocal facilitation between Geukensia demissa, ribbed mussels, and Sporobolus alterniflorus, cordgrass, has a positive effect on salt marsh ecosystems. Mussel clusters enhance cordgrass growth and drought resistance and cordgrass provides attachment and shade for mussel aggregations. Along with benefits for both mussels and cordgrass, the mutualism facilitates increased biodiversity and shoreline stabilization and enhances marsh ecosystem functions. Aspects of mussel patch configuration including cluster size, perimeter and connectivity modulate the reciprocal facilitation effects of cordgrass and mussels on marsh ecosystems. In a northern South Carolina marsh system, mussel patch configuration positively influenced cordgrass biomass. Predation affected mussel patch …
Pre-Juvenile Naked Goby (Gobiosoma Bosc) Age And Growth, Annamaria Deitz, Juliana Harding
Pre-Juvenile Naked Goby (Gobiosoma Bosc) Age And Growth, Annamaria Deitz, Juliana Harding
Honors Theses
Due to the abundance of larval naked gobies, Gobiosoma bosc, within the estuarine ichthyoplankton, it is important to understand their age and growth. Naked gobies are a largely distributed, both geographically and within an estuary, small, benthic fish species. There are 3 pairs of otoliths, calcium carbonate structures within the ear canal, that detect vibrations and record the age of the fish, both daily and annually. Using laboratory-reared gobies of a known age (Tremont et al. 2015), daily signatures on the sagittal otoliths were first validated to be daily, then a growth curve for the wild caught larvae was …
Cercarial Parasitism Of Freshwater Snails In Sandhills Ponds Versus Streams, Caroline Emily Spethman
Cercarial Parasitism Of Freshwater Snails In Sandhills Ponds Versus Streams, Caroline Emily Spethman
Honors Theses
Parasite prevalence was calculated for all aquatic snails collected from four freshwater localities in Western Nebraska from Summer 2016 to 2019: Dunwoody Pond, Haythorn Ranch, Neven’s Restoration, and Breen’s Flyaway. With data of increasing trematode cercarial infection specifically at Dunwoody Pond, this community was further studied. In Summer 2019, a total of 217 freshwater snails representing species of Physa sp., Stagnicola elodes (Say,1821), and Helisoma anceps (Menke,1830) were collected from Dunwoody Pond and Dunwoody stream, near Ogallala, Nebraska. Eighty-one snails were collected from Dunwoody Pond, 76 snails were collected 31 meters upstream, and 60 snails were collected 61 meters upstream …
Demographics Of A Painted Turtle (Chrysemys Picta) Population Responding To Drought In The Nebraska Sandhills, Allyson Beard
Demographics Of A Painted Turtle (Chrysemys Picta) Population Responding To Drought In The Nebraska Sandhills, Allyson Beard
Honors Theses
A large portion of herpetofauna species are declining as a result of anthropogenic influences such as habitat destruction and climate change, and turtles are no exception. Studying demographics of turtle populations in a wide variety of settings could help establish a baseline for future species management because demographics such as survival and movement are essential to understanding the ecology of a species. We conducted a long-term mark-recapture study on painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in a permanent pond in the Nebraska Sandhills to exam population size, survival, and movement of an aquatic turtle as drought conditions changed in a …
Age-Related Tick Infestation Patterns In Springtime Migratory Passerines, Matthew Dunning
Age-Related Tick Infestation Patterns In Springtime Migratory Passerines, Matthew Dunning
Honors Theses
To test the hypothesis that younger migrants are more prone to arrive at stopover sites on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico with ticks than adult migrants, 2177 migratory passerines were screened for ticks at Gulf Coast sites in Texas and Louisiana. Fifty eight (2.7%) were infested with ticks with 28 (1.3%) being young birds and 30 (1.4%) being adult birds. The body condition of the birds was assessed to determine if tick infestation had negative consequences and if the severity of consequences varied between ages. I found no relationship of age with the prevalence of a tick …
Insects And The Evolution Of Developmental Pathways: Functional Analysis Of Genetic Sex Determination Mechanisms In Oncopeltus Fasciatus, Josefine Just
Honors Theses
Natural selection alters genetic pathways over evolutionary time. However, different pathways have been shown to maintain mutations at varying rates, leading to different levels of conservation across developmental pathways. Sex determination pathways, in particular, show vast diversity across animals despite the fundamental conservation of biological sex itself. Here, I investigated the sex determination pathway of the hemimetabolous insect, Oncopeltus fasciatus. The large milkweed bug, O. fasciatus, is part of the order Hemiptera, which provides a relevant outgroup study to other insects in which sex determination has been studied to date. I studied three sex determination genes, intersex, fruitless …
Tracking The Endangered Northern Black Racer, Coluber Constrictor Constrictor, In Maine To Determine Areas Of Conservation Importance, Josiah Johnson
Tracking The Endangered Northern Black Racer, Coluber Constrictor Constrictor, In Maine To Determine Areas Of Conservation Importance, Josiah Johnson
Honors Theses
The Black Racer (Coluber constrictor) is a large-bodied snake species found across North America. One subspecies, the Northern Black Racer (C. constrictor constrictor) is listed as endangered in Maine because of its restricted range in York County. Racers have generally been found to prefer open habitats and ecotones, but the specific habitat preferences of racers in Maine is unknown, hindering efforts to preserve habitat for racer conservation. To address this knowledge gap, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) has an ongoing project tracking black racer movements in Sanford and Kennebunk, Maine, and I had the opportunity to …
African Savannah Elephant Group Size And Behavior In The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana, Katherine S. King
African Savannah Elephant Group Size And Behavior In The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana, Katherine S. King
Honors Theses
African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana), the largest elephant species, influence the structure of the environment they inhabit. Elephants exhibit complex patterns of social behavior between individuals within a population. Many behavioral studies focus on interactions among individuals within a population rather than broader trends related to group size. My study seeks to understand how male African savannah elephant group size is influenced by seasonality, age, physical condition and distance to permanent water resources. I examined the interaction of these variables in two ways: (1) a literature review of elephant behavior and conservation, and (2) an analysis of male …