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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Forgotten Cousin In Freshwater Community Ecology: Tidal Freshwater Wetlands, Jack R. Mclachlan Dec 2016

The Forgotten Cousin In Freshwater Community Ecology: Tidal Freshwater Wetlands, Jack R. Mclachlan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tidal freshwaters are unique in their placement in the landscape, forming where freshwater riverine flows are sufficient to overwhelm the saline water of the incoming tide, but not strong enough to suppress tidal water-height fluctuations. Tidal freshwaters and their wetlands have been overlooked by freshwater and marine researchers alike; neither discipline considers tidal freshwaters to fall under their purview. Invertebrate communities in tidal freshwaters are thought to be species depauperate; the consensus is that they support fewer taxa than nearby non-tidal freshwaters, but little is known about how these communities are structured. This study investigated how tidal hydrology, an atypical …


Biological, Behavioral And Preventative Management Of The Invasive Insect Pest, Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila Suzukii Matsumura), In Maine Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium Angustifolium Aiton), Gabe Alnajjar Aug 2016

Biological, Behavioral And Preventative Management Of The Invasive Insect Pest, Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila Suzukii Matsumura), In Maine Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium Angustifolium Aiton), Gabe Alnajjar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was conducted in order to identify the potential for utilization of various management techniques against the invasive Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, commonly referred to as the spotted wing drosophila (SWD), using Maine lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton) as a model crop system. These included evaluations of three prospective approaches often considered when developing agricultural pest management programs for novel insect pests: 1) biological control through the intended release of natural enemies, in this case entomopathogenic fungi; 2) behavioral management through mass trap deployment in order to capture and kill adult SWD, and; 3) prevention through the deployment of …


Breeding Season Avian Community Composition And Prey Availability In Eucalyptus And Slash Pine Plantations Of Southwestern Louisiana, Elizabeth J. Messick Aug 2016

Breeding Season Avian Community Composition And Prey Availability In Eucalyptus And Slash Pine Plantations Of Southwestern Louisiana, Elizabeth J. Messick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased demand for wood products related to industries such as bioenergy and paper has resulted in a need for a consistent supply of raw materials. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) plantations have the potential to boost wood production for pulpwood and biomass feedstocks. Species characteristics such as rapid, indeterminate growth, coppice regrowth, resistance to disease and insects, and tolerance of a range of environmental conditions make these species successful short-rotation woody crops (SRWCs). Camden white gum (Eucalyptus benthamii), a more cold tolerant species, has made management of eucalyptus plantations viable in southern portions of the United States such …


Biogeographical Patterns In The Hard-Tick Genus Amblyomma Koch 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae), Matthew H. Seabolt Jan 2016

Biogeographical Patterns In The Hard-Tick Genus Amblyomma Koch 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae), Matthew H. Seabolt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amblyomma Koch is a genus of hard-ticks with approximately 130 species. Its geographical range is typical for organisms with a Gondwanan origin. A majority of these species are endemic to the Neo- and Afrotropical regions, with the remaining taxa dispersed throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific islands. Based on this distribution, we hypothesize that the genus dispersal patterns will mirror the fragmentation and continental drift of the Gondwanan supercontinent. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference and node-dating analyses of nuclear 18S rDNA gene sequences reveal a more recent origin and radiation patterns within the genus and suggest that Amblyomma …