Life Sciences Commons^™

Grizzly Bears Mortalities And The Survival Of The Species, Courtney Swanson

Senior Seminars and Capstones

In this paper we aim to understand what is happening in the grizzly bear population mortalities from the year 2010 to 2020. We are performing Classical and Regression Tree (CART) methods and Correspondence Analysis on data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). We found certain variables in the data set to be important through CART methods. Correspondence Analysis then allowed us to compare these variables to determine their relationships and association to one another. Most of the grizzly bear deaths are human caused and mainly over land and resources such as food and habitat. This aligns with some of …

Understanding Changes In Marine Communities Through A Discretized, Size-Structured Matrix Model, Courtney Swanson

Senior Seminars and Capstones

We study a discretized, size-structured matrix model which calculates population in a marine community over time. A portion of this model is a discretized version of the McKendrick-von Foerster equation, so we spend some time studying the process of discretizing that equation. We implement a mini model containing 10 size categories instead of the original 50, and we looked at how the marine community behaves over 40 years. We discuss some of the challenges when implementing this model.

The Effects Of Environmental Stress On Arabidopsis Thaliana Establishment And Development, Paige Petty

Student Research, Papers, and Creative Works

Arabidopsis thaliana is a model organism for plant research because it grows quickly, is easy to maintain, and findings from Arabidopsis can be easily extrapolated to crop species such as tomato, soybean, corn, and sorghum. Of particular interest is the process of photomorphogenesis, which promotes seedling establishment in soil. A rise in temperature causes stress for the seedling, which can inhibit photomorphogenesis and cause elongated hypocotyls that grow regardless of light intensity. Drought can also affect the rate of photosynthesis and limit seedling growth. In this project, we explored how the adult Arabidopsis plant is affected by delayed seedling establishment …

Organic Chemistry With A Biological Emphasis Volume Ii, Timothy Soderberg

Chemistry Publications

The traditional approach to teaching Organic Chemistry, taken by most of the textbooks that are currently available, is to focus primarily on the reactions of laboratory synthesis, with much less discussion - in the central chapters, at least - of biological molecules and reactions. This is despite the fact that, in many classrooms, a majority of students are majoring in Biology or Health Sciences rather than in Chemistry, and are presumably taking the course in order to learn about the chemistry that takes place in living things.

In an effort to address this disconnect, I have developed a textbook for …

Organic Chemistry With A Biological Emphasis Volume I, Timothy Soderberg

Chemistry Publications

The traditional approach to teaching Organic Chemistry, taken by most of the textbooks that are currently available, is to focus primarily on the reactions of laboratory synthesis, with much less discussion - in the central chapters, at least - of biological molecules and reactions. This is despite the fact that, in many classrooms, a majority of students are majoring in Biology or Health Sciences rather than in Chemistry, and are presumably taking the course in order to learn about the chemistry that takes place in living things.

In an effort to address this disconnect, I have developed a textbook for …

Transcription Through The Eye Of A Needle: Daily And Annual Cyclic Gene Expression Variation In Douglas-Fir Needles, Peter Dolan

Computer Science Publications

Background: Perennial growth in plants is the product of interdependent cycles of daily and annual stimuli that induce cycles of growth and dormancy. In conifers, needles are the key perennial organ that integrates daily and seasonal signals from light, temperature, and water availability. To understand the relationship between seasonal cycles and seasonal gene expression responses in conifers, we examined diurnal and circannual needle mRNA accumulation in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) needles at diurnal and circannual scales. Using mRNA sequencing, we sampled 6.1 × 109 reads from 19 trees and constructed a de novo pan-transcriptome reference that includes 173,882 tree-derived transcripts. Using …

Transcending Academic Borders: A Defense Of Collaboration Between Art And Science, Laura Borkenhagen

Honors Capstone Projects

The aim of this project in its entirety was to explore different ideas about what the intersection of art and science might look like. These ideas, including my own, are presented in the following essay. In addition to the essay portion of this project, I’ve explored creative writing through poetry in attempts to immerse myself in both sides of this debate, as my academic history leans more towards the scientific realm. In the poems I’ve also tried to include bits of science through metaphorical language. The four works I have chosen to include follow the essay.

Undergraduate Symposium Abstracts

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Animal Agriculture Impacts On Water Quality: Data Gaps In West Central Minnesota Case Study, Ed Brands

Environmental Studies Publications

Balancing the economic and food system contributions of animal agriculture with negative impacts such as water quality degradation has been a recurring question in Minnesota and other agricultural states (e.g., Iowa and North Carolina). Over the past 15 years significant federal- and state-level changes in the regulation of animal feeding operations (AFOs) and associated practices have attempted to improve water quality. The impacts of these changes are unclear; therefore, the main purpose of this project was to evaluate policies designed to protect water quality from manure runoff and spills within the context of a manageable geographic area. Project work was …

Front Matter

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Symposia

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Symposia Papers given at the 68^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Papers given at the 68^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Posters

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Posters given at the 68^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Front Matter

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Symposia

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Symposia Papers given at the 67^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Papers given at the 67^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Posters

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Posters given at the 67^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Effect Of Human Disturbance On Small Mammal Communities In Itasca State Park, Minnesota, Nancy L. Staus, Kathleen Conforti, Leslie N. Clapper, Jennifer A. Longhenry, C. C. Schoenbauer, Michael S. Rentz, John R. Tester

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

We determined effects of different levels of human disturbance on small mammal richness and relative abundance from live-trapping data obtained in Itasca State Park in northwestern Minnesota. We developed a quantitative measure of human disturbance based on disturbance units and trapped small mammals on three study sites, each reflecting a different level of disturbance. Our data revealed that small mammal diversity decreased with increasing human disturbance. Amount of ground cover and litter depth also appeared to be important in explaining differences in the demographic patterns of small mammals among sites.

Front Matter

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Symposia

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Symposia Papers given at the 66^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Papers given at the 66^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Posters

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Posters given at the 66^th Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Contributed Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Index

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Winchell Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Papers given at the Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Posters

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Posters given at the Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Winchell Posters

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Winchell Posters given at the Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Symposia

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Symposia given at the Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.

Professional Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts from the Professional Papers given at the Annual Meeting for the Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science.