Life Sciences Commons^™

Using Modeling To Investigate Factors Driving Avian Diversity In Urban Ecosystems, Clay Bliznick

Scholars Week

Anthropogenic influences have altered global landscapes considerably throughout the past two centuries, resulting in the decline of natural land cover types. Conversely, land cover types such as cropland and urban areas that are derived from human activities have experienced vast expansion. This landscape transition has serious implications for ecosystem services. To mitigate the loss of these services, it is necessary to maintain ecological integrity within these anthropogenically-influenced systems. Being able to support high biodiversity is an indicator of well-functioning ecosystems, thus quantifying biodiversity and assessing its contributing factors can be useful for developing management strategies in artificial environments. Our objective …

Soil Quality As Affected By Hemp And Grain Production Systems In Western Kentucky, Jack Eaker

Scholars Week

Since 2018, hemp cropping systems have become increasingly popular in Kentucky. However, there is limited data on soil’s behavior/changes under these management practices as compared to corn and soybean cultivation systems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine soil characteristics including soil organic matter, bulk density, water holding capacity, macroporosity, and water at field capacity in hemp and grain cropping systems. The thirty undisturbed soil samples were collected from three different hemp fields and a corn, soybean, and a bare field adjacent to these hemp fields. Each field was located at Murray State University West Farm, Calloway County, …

Chlorophyll A And Primary Productivity Dynamics In Kentucky Lake Mainstem And Embayment Habitats., Morgan Franklin

Scholars Week

Chlorophyll α (Chl α) has been used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, while primary productivity (PP), the rate at which carbon is fixed into phytoplankton cells, is an indicator of how quickly carbon is turned over within the phytoplankton community. The purpose of this research was to examine the spatial distribution of and the relationship between Chl α and PP seasonally in the main channel of Kentucky Lake reservoir and two embayments of contrasting land use. Correlation coefficients (r) for Chl α versus PP were 0.45 in Ledbetter embayment, 0.55 in Panther embayment, and 0.57 in the main …

Hemp As A Livestock Feedstuff: A Review Of Current Literature, Sarah Mead, Alyx Shultz

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Hemp was removed from the list of controlled substances in the 2018 Farm Bill, making regulated hemp production legal in the United States. Kentucky agriculturalists and entrepreneurs are at the cutting edge of the United States hemp production and processing industries. Hemp production generally falls into one of three categories: grain, fiber, or floral (CBD extraction). Each production category also produces byproducts; one such byproduct is meal. In order to make hemp oil and fiber processing viable, markets for the remaining meal must be found. The high fiber, fat, and protein of hemp meal make it a potential feedstuff for …

Chemical Free Edible Flowers, Elise Abbott

Scholars Week

Nature is equipped with all the right systems and services in order to be self sustaining. But in the global flower industry, growers are battling insect infestations like never before because of stricter import laws by the United States Department of Agriculture. In order to ensure the processing of their flowers, growers douse them in pesticides making them inedible and harmful to those who work with them. As edible flowers are making their way into the market on cakes and desserts, fresh salads, specialty spreads and much more it's imperative that they are grown in a sustainable and safe manner. …

Comparison Of Peat-Based Planting Media To Sustainably Produced Planting Medias: Watering And Other Considerations, Mary Grace Jackson

Scholars Week

Researchers are actively addressing the questions that haunts all agriculturalists: Will we be able to feed the projected population of 9.8 billion people in 2050? Newly developed soil mixes might be the key to solving this daunting question. Research is proving that this sustainable media is a way to add nutrients back into our existing soil.

Soil Responses To Various Farming Systems In Western Kentucky, Samantha Peterson

Scholars Week

The interactions among the farming systems and the soil, water, biota, and atmosphere control the effects of cultivation on soil properties. Land conversion from forest or pasture ecosystems into crop fields altered soil properties due to the loss of soil organic matter (SOM) and the increase of soil compaction. However in Kentucky, the magnitude of the changes varied among the soil properties. Therefore, the objective of this research was to investigate the changes of selected soil properties include SOM, soil pH, and compaction under different crop fields such as corn-soybean-tobacco rotation (Field #1), continuous corn field (Field #2), hemp field …

Evaluating Opinions Of Kentucky’S Agri-Science Educators On Climate Change, Emily Cook

Scholars Week

Climate Change is the significant long term changes in the weather and temperatures on a large scale and is seen globally. Scientists have been studying the effects of Climate Change on the planet for decades; foreseeing problems of the future. Global Warming has been escalating over the past hundred years with the amount of Carbon Dioxide gases rising into to atmosphere at an alarming rate. Agri-Science Educators across Kentucky are teaching the topics of Climate Change and Global Warming and this research intends to find the truth and variances in their knowledge. Twenty educators from across the state of Kentucky …

Uncertainties Treatment For Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Estimation Of The Consumption Of Illicit And Prescribed Neuropsychiatric Drugs In Two Urban Communities In Kentucky Using Ammonium Normalized Population And Monte Carlo Simulation, Rhinannon Huffines, Tara Croft, Manoj Pathak, Bikram Subedi

Scholars Week

The conventional estimation of the prevalence of substance use in a community based on self-reported surveys typically underestimates the actual consumption. Drug’s residues in raw wastewater collected from the centralized wastewater treatment plants were utilized – Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) – to determine the consumption rate of illicit and prescribed neuropsychiatric residues in two urban communities in eastern Kentucky and two rural communities in western Kentucky. The ammonical nitrogen content in raw wastewater samples was used to minimize the uncertainty associated with the population dynamicity. Uncertainties associated with the several WBE parameters to back-calculate the consumption rate of drugs such as …

Chlorophyll A And Primary Production Dynamics In Kentucky Lake: 2009-2018, Morgan Franklin

Scholars Week

Chlorophyll α (chl α) can be used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, while primary productivity (PP), the rate at which carbon is fixed into phytoplankton cells, is an indicator of how quickly carbon is turned over within the phytoplankton community. The purpose of this research was to examine the spatial distribution of chl α seasonally in Kentucky Lake and to examine the relationship between chl α and PP in two embayments of contrasting land use. The two sites analyzed are Ledbetter and Panther embayments. Data analysis showed that the chl α and PP were highly correlated; r=0.45 in Ledbetter …

Evaluating Soil Surface Properties In Two Contrasting Tillage Systems, Riley Mabe, Kaeden Mollett, Marcus Robertson

Scholars Week

Soil properties are affected by tillage practices. Tillage practices that provides an adequate growing environment for crops and maintains good soil structure is crucial. The objective of this study was to compare selected soil properties collected from no-till (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) systems in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Three undisturbed and three disturbed soil samples were taken from the topsoil at the depth of 0 to 7.5 cm. The samples were analyzed for bulk density (BD), water holding capacity (WHC), field capacity (FC), soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM), and compaction. Bulk density, WHC, and FC of the soil …

Delineation Of Ohio River Flood Zones In Ballard County Using Remote Sensing, Nathan Rister

Scholars Week

The purpose of this study was to use remote sensing to map flood zones in Ballard County as it correlates to the Ohio River flood gauges. This will help Wildlife managers to know which areas are most likely to be flooded by simply looking at river gauges and prevent them to having to check which areas are flooded in person. By using this technique wildlife managers will be able to save time and resources as well as better manage wildlife areas along the Ohio River.

Sustainability Of Organic Soil Amendments On Soil Fertility And Earthworms, Mackenzie Hoffman

Scholars Week

One of the growing concerns of farmers is soil fertility which is defined as the ability of soil to grow and support plant life by minerals and nutrients needed for the plants. Healthy soil leads to better yields which lead to more food produced. Traditionally, soil fertility has been maintained with the use of chemical fertilizers. This research looked at an alternative method of increasing soil fertility: the addition of a soil amendment. Chemical fertilizers can lead to an oversupply of nitrogen which can make the plants more susceptible to diseases and pests and can also reduce the colonization of …

The Piping Plover Problem: A Review Of Management Issues For A Threatened Shorebird, Andrew Lydeard, Gerry Harris

Scholars Week

Andrew Lydeard and Gerry Harris

The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) was federally listed in 1986. Since listing, Piping Plovers have been a focus of conservation and management efforts, particularly on their breeding grounds in the Northern Great Plains, Great Lakes, and northern Atlantic Coast. Despite management efforts that have resulted in range-wide population growth of the Piping Plover, growth in individual populations is often slow and reasons for this are poorly understood. A bias towards understanding drivers of declines on breeding sites compared to wintering and migratory stopover sites may be an underlying cause of this lack of …

Characterization Of A Basement Membrane Associated Protein Encoding Gene In Drosophila Melanogaster, Aref Ranjbar, Ajay Srivastava

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Title: Characterization of a Basement Membrane Associated Protein Encoding Gene in Drosophila melanogaster

Authors: Aref Ranjbar, Mayank Kapadia, Ajay Srivastava, PhD(faculty member, mentor)

Basement Membranes (BM) are important for normal development and tumor progression. In order to get a better understanding of BM dynamics we identified genes that encoded BM interacting proteins. One such gene is predicted to be involved in vesicle-mediated transport in Drosophila melanogaster. Here we characterize this gene by utilizing molecular biology techniques like immunohistochemistry, RNA in situ hybridization, and Western blot analysis utilizing antibodies generated in the laboratory. Western blot analysis identified this protein to be …

Novel Inactivation Of The Causative Fungus Of White Nose Syndrome With Methoxsalen And Ultraviolet A Light, Colin J. Hartman, Joseph Mester Phd, Alan Cohen Md

Posters-at-the-Capitol

White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is a newly recognized disease responsible for the rapid mass destruction of the North American bat populations. This study addressed the novel inactivation of fungal spores from Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of WNS, using ultraviolet A (UVA) light at 365nm and methoxsalen, a photosensitizer from a family of compounds known as furanocoumarins. Penicillium crustosum, an environmental fungus, was studied as a comparator.

Spore suspensions were soaked in specific concentrations of methoxsalen and subsequently exposed to UVA light. The plates were examined for both spore inactivation and resultant inhibition of colony growth. The results demonstrated …

Courtship Behavior, Communication, And Copulation In Tigrosa Annexa, Samuel White

Scholars Week

The evolution of multimodal communication, where signalers use multiple signal components in multiple sensory modalities, has become the subject of investigation by many researchers. Signaling puts males at risk of predation, so why do males of some species evolve extra signals that may increase this risk? In some wolf spider species, males incorporate many visual and vibrational signals into a display that they use to attract a female for mating. Female spiders are often aggressive toward courting males and so the male display also functions to decrease the odds of cannibalism. Female wandering spiders deposit silk containing pheromones that communicate …

The Development Of Hybrid Lipid-Polymer Nanoparticle Architectures For The Sustained-Release Of Small Hydrophilic Molecules, Keegan Curry, Jill M. Steinbach-Rankins Dr.

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Introduction: Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) have been utilized as drug delivery vehicles for a variety of applications. However, achieving sustained-release of small hydrophilic agents is a primary challenge for their use in prolonged delivery applications.

Objective: This study investigates how novel lipid-polymer hybrid particle architectures can be used to improve the release profile of small hydrophilic encapsulants. Here, PLGA NPs were produced via electrospraying and emulsions. Particles with a core-shell architecture were produced via coaxial electrospraying and the ability of this architecture to sustain release was examined. In addition, we combined polymeric core-shell NPs with a lipid coating to improve biocompatibility, …

Utilizing Municipal Compost And Equine Stall Waste As Potential Economic Alternatives In An In-Ground Pot-In-Pot Production System, Ashley Robert, Alyx Shultz

Posters-at-the-Capitol

For Western Kentucky farmers, one viable income source could be a pot-in-pot nursery production. One of the highest costs of production in this system was the planting media that the plants were grown in. Economical alternatives to high-priced, non-renewable peat-based mixes were important to consider. Unique to this region, were two renewable soil amendments that may help farmers to widen their profit margin in a pot-in-pot system. This research looked at the economic viability of locally sourced horse stall waste and municipal compost as soil amendments to a traditional bark and peat based mix. Initial cost projections were favorable for …

Can Omnivores Mediate The Effects Of Degradation?, Hannah Moore

Scholars Week

Omnivores feed at multiple trophic levels and have large effects on community structuring and stability. The magnitude and direction of such effects, whether omnivores stabilize or destabilize communities, remains unresolved. Shifts in omnivore diet and trophic position may be of particular importance to community stability in degraded habitats, where resources are sparse. For example, omnivores may reduce the severity and duration of community responses to degradationby dampening the effects of any disturbance-mediated trophic cascade. The relatively simple food webs of freshwater systems are ideal for studying trophic ecology, and in the western U.S., streams are heavily degraded by overgrazing, beaver …

Examining The Relationship Between Climate And Seasonal Stream Thermal Regimes In A High Desert Ecosystem, Hannah Moore, Melody Feden

Scholars Week

Climate change is negatively affecting ecosystems around the world, and in the coming years, scientists predict that these changes will only intensify and accelerate. In the western mountains of North America, climate change projections predict elevated temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier snowmelt. Elevated air temperatures have the propensity to affect water temperatures in sensitive freshwater ecosystems. Temperature increases may cause streams to reach the upper thermal limit for many aquatic organisms, such as aquatic invertebrates and fish, and result in death or dispersal for these organisms. This makes the availability of cold-water refugia in streams that much more important for …

Can Omnivores Mediate The Effects Of Degradation?, Hannah Moore

Scholars Week

Omnivores feed at multiple trophic levels and have large effects on community structuring and stability. The magnitude and direction of such effects, whether omnivores stabilize or destabilize communities, remains unresolved. Shifts in omnivore diet and trophic position may be of particular importance to community stability in degraded habitats, where resources are sparse. For example, omnivores may reduce the severity and duration of community responses to degradationby dampening the effects of any disturbance-mediated trophic cascade. The relatively simple food webs of freshwater systems are ideal for studying trophic ecology, and in the western U.S., streams are heavily degraded by overgrazing, beaver …

Soil Responses To 48 Years Of Continuous No Till And Conventional Till Corn In Central Kentucky, Usa, Emily Cook

Scholars Week

Cropping systems, fertilizer applications and tillage practices influence soil physical and chemical characteristics. In this study, the impact of long-term conventional and no-tillage systems on selected soil properties were evaluated in a continuous corn system on a Maury silt loam soil. This field for the study is located on the University of Kentucky's Research Farm (Spindletop Farm). The field was tilled in 1969 from bluegrass sod and the first year's data was in 1970. Each plot is 20 ft. by 40 ft. and for many years each plot was split with winter cover crop planted to rye or hairy vetch. …

Evaluating The Impact Of Two Contrasting Tillage Practices On Soil Properties In Central Kentucky, Emily Cook

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Farming practices such as no tillage and plowing can institute change on soil physical and chemical characteristics. In this research, the effects of long-term conventional and no-tillage systems on the selected soil properties were determined in a continuous corn system on a farm with Maury silt loam soil. These samples were taken from University of Kentucky's Research Farm (Spindletop Farm). The field used was tilled in 1969 from bluegrass sod and the first time research was conduced was in 1970. Each plot is 20 ft. by 40 ft. and for many years each plot was split with winter cover crop …

Sensory Evaluation On Flavor, Volume, And Texture Of Substituting Amaranth Flour For Wheat Flour In Red Velvet Cupcakes, S. Patrick James

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Celiac disease is becoming more prevalent in today’s society and celiac patients are looking for more gluten-free options to replace wheat-made counterparts. Amaranth is a gluten-free grain that has been introduced in many products for its nutritional benefits, such as improvements in calcium, iron and zinc intake. The purpose of this study was to determine if red velvet cupcakes made with amaranth flour could provide comparable taste, volume and texture to a red velvet cupcake made with wheat flour. Both cupcakes underwent a seed-displacement test, which determined that the amaranth cupcake was comparable in volume. When each sample was presented …

Differences Of Soil Properties In Various Agricultural Practices In Western Kentucky, Bailey Webster

Scholars Week

Cropping systems in Kentucky are strongly dominated by corn, tobacco, soybeans and wheat. Various crop management practices affect soil properties resulting in different functional quality of the soil to support crop growth. Crop rotation and tillage practices influence soil properties, and understanding the effect of these practices is essential to maintaining optimal soil environment. Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine the differences of soil properties in various agricultural practices in western Kentucky on soil chemical and physical properties. In addition, soil samples from pasture, wood, and garden practices will be collected to use as a reference for …

Measuring Leaf Area Index (Lai) And Vegetation Growing Season Length To Better Understand The Interactions And Feedbacks Between Vegetation And The Changing Climate., Steven Schwarz

Scholars Week

The purpose of this research was to measure and model vegetation growing seasons of deciduous tree species located at Murray State University Hancock Biological Station. The study began in September of 2015, and consisted of collecting leaf area index (LAI) from 3 defined locations using the Decagon LP80 Ceptometer, and Sentek soil probes to measure soil moisture/temperature. LAI data were collected weekly at various times, while soil temperature and moister recordings were collected in 60 minute intervals at depths of 5 to 55 cm in 10 cm increments. This study was important because it is essential to measure LAI and …

Photovoice Of Obesity On Murray State University's Campus, Karley Wray, Melissa Godby

Scholars Week

The issue we decided to discuss on campus using Photovoice was obesity. Obesity is becoming a very big topic that we all need to start focusing on. Obesity is defined as having a BMI at or above 30. This is becoming more common with our cultural change. We are becoming more fast food eaters and are not exercising as much as we should. It is even getting worse on college campuses. We all knew of what was called the freshmen 15, but now it is becoming a four year 15. It is becoming more common for college students to become …

Near-Space Conditions And Their Effects On Physiology, Jennifer Jo Burden, Sarah E. Bell

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Abstract 1:

Jennifer Jo Burden

UVA and UVB

The NASA Balloon Satellite, which is a balloon that is sent 100,000 feet into the upper atmosphere to collect data, and stream that data live to NASA webpage, will carry experiments that are part of a payload. My experiment will be a Neulog Sensor Logger that will collect data on the UVA and UVB exposure rate of light from the upper stratosphere and on the ground. Data measuring the exposure rate of the light will also be collected from robot welding cells or sections in which one robot will be measured in …

Dietary Supplement Attitudes And Behaviors In The Personal Training Profession, Allison Hull

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Dietary supplement attitudes and behaviors in the personal training profession

Allison Hull, Gina Blunt Gonzalez PhD (Mentor)

Department of Kinesiology, Health, and Imaging Sciences

Morehead State University, Morehead, KY

Dietary supplements are a growing multi-billion dollar industry. Supplement usage is widespread and many individuals take supplements for health, performance, and disease prevention reasons. However, due to a lack of FDA regulation, there are concerns with the safety and efficacy of many dietary supplements. Exercise professionals and personal trainers are in a position to educate the public on dietary supplements; however, it is unknown how exercise professionals and personal trainers approach …