Life Sciences Commons^™

Hazara University's Monocot Specimen Data In Openherbarium.Org On 20 December 2023, Mary Barkworth, Liaqat Ullah, Abdul Majid, Ghulam Mujtaba Shah, Jan Alam

Browse all Datasets

Northern Pakistan is interpreted here as including three administrative regions: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It is dominated by multiple mountain ranges whose valleys drain, directly or indirectly, into the Indus River. Hazara University, which is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was started in 2002 and its herbarium (HUP) in 2005. Digitization of the herbarium's vascular plants began in 2021 with its records being shared in OpenHerbarium and GBIF. Its online presence is now growing more rapidly than any other Pakistani herbarium. This paper summarizes the taxonomic diversity and geographic origin of its monocot holdings in 2023. In 2023, …

Data From: Unveiling The Physical Properties Predictive Of Oil Binding Capacity In An Interesterified Palm-Based Fat, Melissa Marsh, Brennan Bean, Farnaz Maleky, Silvana Martini

Browse all Datasets

This paper identifies physical properties of an interesterified palm-based fat (EIEPO) that predict oil binding capacity (OBC). A 100% EIEPO sample, 50% EIEPO sample diluted with 50% soybean oil (SBO), and a 20% EIEPO sample diluted with 80% SBO were used to test how saturation level impacts OBC. All samples were crystallized using either a fast (6.4°C/min) or slow (0.1°C/min) cooling rate as well as with or without the application of high-intensity ultrasound (HIU; 20kHz) to generate a wide range of physical properties. Immediately after crystallization, the sample's physical properties, including crystal microstructure, solid fat content (SFC), viscoelasticity (G', G", …

Greater Sage-Grouse Brood Locations On Parker Mountain Utah 1998-2009, David Dahlgren

Browse all Datasets

Species of conservation concern are often habitat specialists, posing significant risk to those species when specific plant communities are threatened. Despite this, practitioners habitually focus conservation efforts on these singular communities, while ignoring ecological mechanisms that explain the wildlife-plant relationships. In doing so, practitioners may overlook alternative vegetation communities that could maintain wildlife populations under alternative conditions (e.g., climate change). Here, we term these areas surrogate habitat, defined as "vegetation communities or resource sites that provide similar critical resources to conventional sites," and assess their potential for conservation using a case-study of Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) on Parker Mountain, Utah …

Data From: Climate Change-Driven Cumulative Mountain Pine Beetle-Caused Whitebark Pine Mortality In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, William W. Macfarlane

Browse all Datasets

In 2018-2019 the Landscape Assessment System (LAS), an aerial survey method was used to assess mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB) - caused mortality of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (59000 km2; GYE). This consisted of 11,942 km of flightlines, along which 4,434 geo-tagged, oblique aerial photos were captured and processed. A mortality rating of none to severe (0 to 4 nt attack or 5.0 5.4 old attack) was assigned to each photo based on the amount of red (recent attack) and gray (old attack) trees visible. The method produced a photo inventory of 74 percent …

Heterochronic Serum Proteins, Jeffrey Mason

Browse all Datasets

Mechanism of ovarian-dependent enhancement of health and longevity in postreproductive female mice

Effects Of Pregnancy And Progesterone On Atrial Fibrillation, Heloisa M. Rutigliano

Browse all Datasets

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrythmia in adults with likely sex-specific risk factors. Female sex hormones may be important in modulating risk for atrial fibrillation. We hypothesize that pregnancy and progesterone (P4), a hormone found in high levels during pregnancy with abrupt withdrawal immediately after parturition, modulates AF susceptibility in female goats. Cardiac specific TGF-?1 transgenic female goats and age-matched wild-type (WT) female goats were utilized. Pacemakers were implanted in all animals for continuous arrhythmia monitoring and AF inducibility. AF inducibility was evaluated using 5 separate 10 s bursts of atrial pacing (160 - 200 ms). In …

Digital Atlas Of The Vascular Plants Of Utah, R. Douglas Ramsey, Leila M. Shultz, Wanda Lindquist, Chris Garrard, Mindy Wheeler

Browse all Datasets

Locations of 74,755 vascular plant vouchers representing 2,425 species were digitized into a spatial database from the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah (Albee et al. 1988). Source maps consisted of 1:6,000,000-scale shaded relief maps of Utah with points representing collection locations by species. Location points, representing 1 or more specimens, were transposed onto these maps from the approximately 400,000 herbarium records of 3 major universities and federal land management agencies.

Dynamic Fecal Microbiota Transfer From Mice With Western Diet-Induced Severe Colitis And Colon Tumorigenesis Did Not Exacerbate Colitis Symptoms Or Colon Tumorigenesis In Recipient Mice Fed Either The Ain93g Diet Or The Total Western Diet, Abby D. Benninghoff

Browse all Datasets

Consumption of the total Western diet (TWD) in mice has been shown to increase gut inflammation, promote colon tumorigenesis, and alter the fecal microbiome composition in mice as com-pared to mice fed a healthy diet, AIN93G (AIN). However, it is unclear whether the gut micro-biome contributes directly to colitis-associated CRC in this model. The objective of this study was to determine whether dynamic fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) from host mice fed either AIN or TWD basal diets would alter colitis symptoms or colitis-associated CRC in recipient mice, which were fed either AIN or TWD directly using a 2x2 factorial experiment …

Thermal Tolerance And Physiology Of Eleutherodactylus Coqui Along An Elevational Gradient In Hawai‘I, Karen H. Beard, Susannah S. French, Jack Marchetti

Browse all Datasets

The purpose of this study was to determine if the thermal tolerance and physiology of the coqui frog changed along HawaiÔiÕs elevation gradient. A short acclimation experiment was used to test the baseline thermal tolerance and physiology, and an extended acclimation experiment to test the acclimation ability of the thermal tolerance and physiology metrics of the coqui frogs collected from low (m), medium (350-550 m) and high elevations (>750 m).

Pariette Wetlands Water, Sediment And Plant Total Selenium Concentration, Colleen P. Jones, Paul R. Grossl, Astrid R. Jacobson

Browse all Datasets

We measured total Selenium in plants from July through November of 2012 and in water, macroinvertebrates, plants, and sediments from July of 2014 from Pariette Wetlands, Utah, U.S.A. to test for spatial, temporal, plant species and plant tissue distribution of Selenium.

Elevation Influences The Microhabitat Use And Baseline Physiology Of Coqui Frogs In Hawai‘I, Karen H. Beard, Susannah S. French, Jack Marchetti

Browse all Datasets

The purpose of this study was to determine whether elevation in HawaiÔi affects the coquiÕs microhabitat use such as substrate choice and height off the forest floor and physiological metrics such as osmolality, oxidative status, and energy metabolites (glucose, free glycerol, and triglycerides).

Data For Gridding, Joseph D. Birch, James A. Lutz, Soren Struckman, Jessica Miesel, Justine Karst

Browse all Datasets

Background: Large-diameter trees have an outsized influence on aboveground forest dynamics, composition, and structure. Although their influence on aboveground processes is well studied, their role in shaping belowground fungal communities is largely unknown. We sought to test if (H1) fungal community spatial structure matched aboveground forest structure, (H2) fungal functional guilds exhibited differential associations to aboveground tree, snag, and deadwood, and (H3) that large-diameter trees and snags have a larger influence on fungal community richness than smaller-diameter trees. We used MiSeq sequencing of fungal communities collected from soils in a spatially intensive survey in a portion of Cedar Breaks National …

Dietary Supplementation With Black Raspberries Altered The Gut Microbiome Composition In A Mouse Model Of Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer, Although With Differing Effects For A Healthy Versus A Western Basal Diet, Abby D. Benninghoff

Browse all Datasets

Black raspberries (BRB) are rich in anthocyanins with purported anti-inflammatory properties. However, it is not known whether dietary supplementation would ameliorate Western-diet enhanced gut inflammation and colon tumorigenesis. We employed a mouse model of colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with 5 to 10% (w/w) whole, freeze-dried BRB in male C57BL/6J mice fed either a standard healthy diet (AIN93G) or the total Western diet (TWD). In a pilot study, BRB suppressed colitis and colon tumorigenesis while also shifting the composition of the fecal microbiome in favor of taxa with purported health benefits, including Bifidobacteria pseudolongum. …

Blood Chemistry And Biliverdin Differ According To Reproduction And Tourism In A Free-Living Lizard, Susannah French

Browse all Datasets

Changes in the physiological health of species are an essential indicator of changing conditions and environmental challenges. Reponses to environmental challenges can often induce stress, influence physiology, and change metabolism in organisms. Here we tested blood chemistry parameters indicative of stress and metabolic activity using an i-STAT point-of-care blood analyzer in seven populations of free-ranging rock iguanas exposed to varying levels of tourism and supplemental feeding. We found significant differences in blood chemistry (glucose, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hematocrit, hemoglobin, calcium, potassium, and biliverdin levels) among populations exposed to varying levels of tourism, and also some variation between sexes and reproductive …

Data From: Complex Tourism And Season Interactions Contribute To Disparate Physiologies In An Endangered Rock Iguana, Susannah French

Browse all Datasets

To promote survival and fitness, organisms use a suite of physiological systems to respond to both predictable and unpredictable changes in the environment. These physiological responses are also influenced by changes in life history state. The continued activation of physiological systems stemming from persistent environmental perturbations enable animals to cope with these challenges but may over time lead to significant effects on the health of wildlife. In the present study, we tested how varying environmental perturbations driven by tourism and associated supplemental feeding affects the energetics, corticosterone and immunity of six discrete populations of the northern Bahamian rock iguana (Cyclura …

Data For Dancing, Joseph D. Birch, James A. Lutz, Justine Karst

Browse all Datasets

Fungal communities can influence the productivity, composition, and survival of trees through cycling nutrients, providing resources, and altering pathogens. Thus, shifts in fungal communities could impact forests by altering interactions between trees and their environments. Fungal community composition may be shaped by stochastic and deterministic processes such as dispersal-limitation, environmental filtering, and partner specificity between trees and fungi. For tree species with large geographic ranges, we expect fungal assembly processes to change with environmental variation across the range of the tree partner. Due to specificity between trees and symbiotic fungi, we expect deterministic to outweigh stochastic processes in root compared …

Plant-Soil Feedbacks Help Explain Plant Community Productivity, Andrew Kulmatiski, Jeanette Norton, Leslie E. Forero, Josephine Grenzer

Browse all Datasets

Plant community productivity tends to increase as species richness increases, but the mechanisms behind this biodiversity-productivity relationship are not fully understood. Plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) are a compelling potential mechanism of the biodiversity-productivity relationship because they can explain patterns of both underyielding and overyielding in diverse plant communities. To test the role of plant-soil feedbacks in the biodiversity-productivity relationship we measured all possible plant-soil feedbacks for sixteen species, and used the measured plant-soil feedbacks to predict plant community biomass production. We compared the predicted plant community biomass production to observed biomass production in a paired biodiversity-productivity experiment.

Pando Aspen 2021 Remeasure, Paul C. Rogers

Browse all Datasets

Upland aspen (Populus spp.) forests contribute significantly to biodiversity in their circumboreal role as keystone species. The 43-hectare Pando aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) clone in Utah, USA, is thought to be the largest living organism on earth, but is faltering due to chronic herbivory. Long-term resilience in aspen communities, including Pando, rests on successful recruitment of vegetative suckers. This is the first trend assessment of this threatened iconic forest using a vital indicators approach. I examined 64 plots using 19 indicators to determine current conditions. Findings show that a genetically uniform Pando is 'breaking up' because of herbivory fencing. Initial …

Data From: Glucose Tolerance Of Iguanas Is Affected By High Sugar Diets In The Lab And Supplemental Feeding By Ecotourists In The Wild, Susannah S. French

Browse all Datasets

Physiological responses to both natural and anthropogenic perturbations involve changes in glucose use and metabolism to enable animals to respond to challenges. The responses are at least partially mediated via the glucocorticoids, and the proper functioning of these systems are critical to animal health. Prolonged high-sugar diets in humans can compromise physiological functions and lead to a range of diseases including diabetes. Such outcomes are less common in natural, non-human systems, likely because of evolutionarily based balances between sugar intake and the ability to process it. Due to both landscape changes and human feeding of wildlife, the introduction of unnatural …

Data From: Silica Induction Of Diverse Inflammatory Proteome In Lungs Of Lupus-Prone Mice Quelled By Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation, James Pestka, Lichchavi D. Rajasinghe, Abby D. Benninghoff

Browse all Datasets

Repeated short-term intranasal instillation of lupus-prone mice with to crystalline silica (cSiO2) induces inflammatory gene expression and ectopic lymphoid neogenesis in the lung, leading to early onset of systemic autoimmunity and rapid progression to glomerulonephritis. These responses are suppressed by dietary supplementation with the ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Here, we tested the hypothesis that dietary DHA supplementation suppresses cSiO2-induced inflammatory proteins in bronchoalveolar alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and plasma of lupus-prone mice. Archived tissue fluid samples were used from a prior investigation in which 6 wk-old lupus-prone female NZBWF1 mice were fed isocaloric diets containing 0 or …

Energy Expenditure Across Immune Challenge Severities In A Lizard: Consequences For Innate Immunity, Locomotor Performance And Oxidative Status, Susannah S. French, Spencer Hudson

Browse all Datasets

Reptiles, like other vertebrates, rely on immunity to defend themselves from infection. The energetic cost of an immune response is liable to scale with infection severity, prompting constraints on other selfmaintenance traits if immune prioritization exceeds energy budget. In this study, adult male side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) were injected with saline (control) or high (20 μg g−1 body mass) or low (10 μg g−1 body mass) concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to simulate bacterial infections of discrete severities. The costs and consequences of the immune response were assessed through comparisons of change in resting metabolic rate (RMR), energy metabolites (glucose, glycerol, …

Data From: Yellow Air Day Advisory Study, Arthur J. Caplan

Browse all Datasets

Using a dataset consisting of daily vehicle trips, PM2.5 concentrations, along with a host of climactic control variables, we test the hypothesis that “yellow air day” advisories provided by the Utah Division of Air Quality resulted in subsequent reductions in vehicle trips taken during northern Utah’s winter-inversion seasons in the early 2000s. Winter inversions occur in northern Utah when climactic conditions are such that PM2.5 concentrations (derived mainly from vehicle emissions) become trapped in the lower atmosphere, leading to unhealthy air quality (concentrations of at least 35 µg/m3) over a span of what are called “red air days”. When concentrations …

Data For Farmland Preservation Study, Arthur J. Caplan, Brent C. Chamberlain

Browse all Datasets

This study fills a gap in cultural ecosystem service (CES) assessment of prime farmland located in peri-urban areas by presenting results from a choice experiment recently conducted in Utah’s Wasatch Front region. The choice experiment was designed to account for heterogeneous effects associated with a wide array of socio-demographic and attitudinal characteristics on household preferences for farmland preservation, including farmland used for the joint production of solar power and agricultural products. We apply a mixed-logit model to our data that controls for preference heterogeneity among Wasatch Front households along two dimensions – at the individual household level and according to …

Anthropogenic And Climatic Factors Interact To Influence Reproductive Timing And Effort, Susannah S. French, Geoffrey Smith

Browse all Datasets

Reproduction, although absolutely essential to a species’ persistence, is in itself challenging. As anthropogenic change increasingly affects every landscape on Earth, it is critical to understand how specific pressures impact the reproductive efforts of individuals, which directly contribute to the success or failure of populations. However, organisms rarely encounter a single burden at a time, and the interactions of environmental challenges can have compounding effects. Disentangling environmental and physiological pressures is difficult because they are often context-dependent and not generalizable, but long-term monitoring across variable landscapes and weather patterns can improve our understanding of these complex interactions. We tested the …

Data From: Recovery From Discrete Wound Severities In Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta Stansburiana): Implications For Energy Budget, Locomotor Performance, And Oxidative Stress, Susannah S. French, Spencer B. Hudson

Browse all Datasets

Wounding events (predation attempts, competitive combat) result in injuries and/or infections that induce integrated immune responses for the recovery process. Despite the survival benefits of immunity in this context, the costs incurred may require investment to be diverted from traits contributing to immediate and/or future survival, such as locomotor performance and oxidative status. Yet, whether trait constraints manifest likely depends on wound severity and the implications for energy budget. For this study, food intake, body mass, sprint speed, and oxidative indices (reactive oxygen metabolites, antioxidant capacity) were monitored in male side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) healing from cutaneous wounds of discrete …

Data For "Arch_Covid_Crowding_Vc", Wayne Freimund, Zachary D. Miller

Browse all Datasets

Monitoring of visitor use in Arches National Park to assess social distancing behaviors of visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Glucocorticoids, Energy Metabolites, And Immunity Vary Across Allostatic States For Plateau Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta Stansburiana Uniformis) Residing In A Heterogeneous Thermal Environment, Susannah S. French, Spencer B. Hudson

Browse all Datasets

Reptiles rely on thermal heat exchange to achieve body temperatures (Tbody) conducive to maintaining homeostasis. Diurnal changes in the thermal environment are therefore liable to influence allostatic mediation of survival processes (e.g., immunity) during environmental challenges or stressors. However, the extent to which Tbody prompts individual variation in physiology remains largely unexplored in reptiles. Our study tested how circulating energy-mobilizing hormone, energy metabolites, and immunity can vary across basal and stress-induced allostatic states for plateau side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana uniformis) residing in a heterogeneous thermal environment. We collected baseline and acute stress blood samples from male lizards to compare changes …

Sabie Water Use, Andrew Kulmatiski

Browse all Datasets

Plant root distributions are thought to determine plant growth and coexistence, but are notoriously difficult to measure. This dataset describes the concentration of deuterium oxide in plant tissues in plots where deuterium oxide was injected to target depths.

Profiling Of Small Non-Coding Rna In Bovine Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Embryos During Early Development Through The Maternal-To-Embryonic Transition, Abby D. Benninghoff, Jocelyn Cuthbert

Browse all Datasets

Supplementary File 1. Read lengths and annotation summaries of sncRNA: Microsoft Excel document with information from small RNA sequencing on the aligned, annotated reads.

Supplementary File 2. Normalized and variance-stabilized values for annotated sncRNAs: Microsoft Excel document with normalized and variance-stabilized reads generated by RNA sequencing of small non-coding RNA from cattle embryos.

Supplementary File 3. Results of DESeq2 analyses for miRNAs, tRNA fragments and piRNAs: Microsoft Excel document with results of DESeq2 differential expression analysis comparing scNT vs IVF embryos at each developmental stage and sequential comparisons of developmental stage for both IVF and scNT embryos.

Supplementary File 4. …

Mapping Transcriptional Changes Associated With The Maternal-To-Embryonic Transition In Bovine Embryos To Small Non-Coding Rna Profiles In Both In Vitro-Fertilized And Scnt Cattle Embryos, Abby D. Benninghoff, Jocelyn Cuthbert

Browse all Datasets

Supplementary File 1. Normalized reads for annotated mRNA transcripts. Microsoft Excel document providing normalized sequencing reads per sample.

Supplementary File 2. Results of DESeq2 analyses for annotated mRNAs. Microsoft Excel document with results of DESeq2 differential expression analysis comparing scNT vs IVF embryos at each developmental stage and sequential comparisons of developmental stage for both IVF and scNT embryos.

Supplementary File 3. Results of Metascape ontology analyses for differentially expressed mRNAs. Microsoft Excel document with results of Metascape ontology analyses for biological processes associated with predicted mRNA targets of differentially expressed miRNAs.

Supplementary File 4. Cytoscape networks for differentially expressed …