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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Human-Associated Bacteroides Spp. And Human Polyomaviruses As Microbial Source Tracking Markers In Hawaii, Marek Kirs, Roberto A Caffaro-Filho, Mayee Wong, Valerie J. Harwood, Philip Moravcik, Roger S Fujioka
Human-Associated Bacteroides Spp. And Human Polyomaviruses As Microbial Source Tracking Markers In Hawaii, Marek Kirs, Roberto A Caffaro-Filho, Mayee Wong, Valerie J. Harwood, Philip Moravcik, Roger S Fujioka
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Identification of sources of fecal contaminants is needed to (i) determine the health risk associated with recreational water use and (ii) implement appropriate management practices to mitigate this risk and protect the environment. This study evaluated human-associated Bacteroides spp. (HF183TaqMan) and human polyomavirus (HPyV) markers for host sensitivity and specificity using human and animal fecal samples collected in Hawaii. The decay rates of those markers and indicator bacteria were identified in marine and freshwater microcosms exposed and not exposed to sunlight, followed by field testing of the usability of the molecular markers. Both markers were strongly associated with sewage, although …
Hunting, Food Subsidies, And Mesopredator Release: The Dynamics Of Crop-Raiding Baboons In A Managed Landscape, Rachel A. Taylor, Sadie J. Ryan, Justin S. Brashares, Leah R. Johnson
Hunting, Food Subsidies, And Mesopredator Release: The Dynamics Of Crop-Raiding Baboons In A Managed Landscape, Rachel A. Taylor, Sadie J. Ryan, Justin S. Brashares, Leah R. Johnson
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
The establishment of protected areas or parks has become an important tool for wildlife conservation. However, frequent occurrences of human-wildlife conflict at the edges of these parks can undermine their conservation goals. Many African protected areas have experienced concurrent declines of apex predators alongside increases in both baboon abundance and the density of humans living near the park boundary. Baboons then take excursions outside of the park to raid crops for food, conflicting with the human population. We model the interactions of mesopredators (baboons), apex predators, and shared prey in the park to analyze how four components affect the proportion …
Combined Effects Of Pesticides And Trematode Infections On Hourglass Tree Frog Polypedates Cruciger., Uthpala A. Jayawardena, Jason R. Rohr, Ayanthi N. Navaratne, Priyanie H. Amerasinghe, Rupika S. Rajakaruna
Combined Effects Of Pesticides And Trematode Infections On Hourglass Tree Frog Polypedates Cruciger., Uthpala A. Jayawardena, Jason R. Rohr, Ayanthi N. Navaratne, Priyanie H. Amerasinghe, Rupika S. Rajakaruna
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
The impact of widespread and common environmental factors, such as chemical contaminants, on infectious disease risk in amphibians is particularly important because both chemical contaminants and infectious disease have been implicated in worldwide amphibian declines. Here we report on the lone and combined effects of exposure to parasitic cercariae (larval stage) of the digenetic trematode, Acanthostomum burminis, and four commonly used pesticides (insecticides: chlorpyrifos, dimethoate; herbicides: glyphosate, propanil) at ecologically relevant concentrations on the survival, growth, and development of the common hourglass tree frog, Polypedates cruciger Blyth 1852. There was no evidence of any pesticide-induced mortality on cercariae because all …
Darwinian Sex Roles Confirmed Across The Animal Kingdom, Tim Janicke, Ines K. Häderer, Marc J. Lajeunesse, Nils Anthes
Darwinian Sex Roles Confirmed Across The Animal Kingdom, Tim Janicke, Ines K. Häderer, Marc J. Lajeunesse, Nils Anthes
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Since Darwin's conception of sexual selection theory, scientists have struggled to identify the evolutionary forces underlying the pervasive differences between male and female behavior, morphology, and physiology. The Darwin-Bateman paradigm predicts that anisogamy imposes stronger sexual selection on males, which, in turn, drives the evolution of conventional sex roles in terms of female-biased parental care and male-biased sexual dimorphism. Although this paradigm forms the cornerstone of modern sexual selection theory, it still remains untested across the animal tree of life. This lack of evidence has promoted the rise of alternative hypotheses arguing that sex differences are entirely driven by environmental …
Dynamics And Thermal Sensitivity Of Ballistic And Non-Ballistic Feeding In Salamanders, Stephen M, Deban, Jeffrey A. Scales
Dynamics And Thermal Sensitivity Of Ballistic And Non-Ballistic Feeding In Salamanders, Stephen M, Deban, Jeffrey A. Scales
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Low temperature reduces the performance of muscle-powered movements, but in movements powered by elastic recoil mechanisms, this effect can be mitigated and performance can be increased. To better understand the morphological basis of high performance and thermal robustness of elastically powered movements, we compared feeding dynamics at a range of temperatures (5-25°C) in two species of terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, Plethodon metcalfi and Ensatina eschscholtzii, which differ in tongue muscle architecture and the mechanism of tongue projection. We found that Ensatina is capable of ballistic projection with a mean muscle mass-specific power of 2100 W kg(-1), revealing an elastic mechanism. Plethodon, …
Predator Diet And Trophic Position Modified With Altered Habitat Morphology, Alexander Tewfik, Susan S. Bell, Kevin S. Mccann, Kristina Morrow
Predator Diet And Trophic Position Modified With Altered Habitat Morphology, Alexander Tewfik, Susan S. Bell, Kevin S. Mccann, Kristina Morrow
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Empirical patterns that emerge from an examination of food webs over gradients of environmental variation can help to predict the implications of anthropogenic disturbance on ecosystems. This “dynamic food web approach” is rarely applied at the coastal margin where aquatic and terrestrial systems are coupled and human development activities are often concentrated. We propose a simple model of ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata) feeding that predicts changing dominant prey (Emerita talpoida, Talorchestia sp., Donax variablis) along a gradient of beach morphology and test this model using a suite of 16 beaches along the Florida, USA coast. …
The Pros And Cons Of Ecological Risk Assessment Based On Data From Different Levels Of Biological Organization, Jason R. Rohr, Christopher J. Salice, Roger M. Nisbet
The Pros And Cons Of Ecological Risk Assessment Based On Data From Different Levels Of Biological Organization, Jason R. Rohr, Christopher J. Salice, Roger M. Nisbet
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Ecological risk assessment (ERA) is the process used to evaluate the safety of manufactured chemicals to the environment. Here we review the pros and cons of ERA across levels of biological organization, including suborganismal (e.g., biomarkers), individual, population, community, ecosystem and landscapes levels. Our review revealed that level of biological organization is often related negatively with ease at assessing cause-effect relationships, ease of high-throughput screening of large numbers of chemicals (it is especially easier for suborganismal endpoints), and uncertainty of the ERA because low levels of biological organization tend to have a large distance between their measurement (what is quantified) …
How The Bending Kinematics Of Swimming Lampreys Build Negative Pressure Fields For Suction Thrust, Brad J. Gemmell, Stephanie M. Fogerson, John H. Costello, Jennifer R. Morgan, John O. Dabiri, Sean P. Colin
How The Bending Kinematics Of Swimming Lampreys Build Negative Pressure Fields For Suction Thrust, Brad J. Gemmell, Stephanie M. Fogerson, John H. Costello, Jennifer R. Morgan, John O. Dabiri, Sean P. Colin
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Swimming animals commonly bend their bodies to generate thrust. For undulating animals such as eels and lampreys, their bodies bend in the form of waves that travel from head to tail. These kinematics accelerate the flow of adjacent fluids, which alters the pressure field in a manner that generates thrust. We used a comparative approach to evaluate the cause-and-effect relationships in this process by quantifying the hydrodynamic effects of body kinematics at the body-fluid interface of the lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, during steady-state swimming. We compared the kinematics and hydrodynamics of healthy control lampreys to lampreys whose spinal cord had been …
Demasculinization And Feminization Of Male Gonads By Atrazine: Consistent Effects Across Vertebrate Classes, Krista A. Mccoy
Demasculinization And Feminization Of Male Gonads By Atrazine: Consistent Effects Across Vertebrate Classes, Krista A. Mccoy
Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications
Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground water, surface water, and precipitation. Atrazine is also an endocrine disruptor that, among other effects, alters male reproductive tissues when animals are exposed during development. Here, we apply the nine so-called “Hill criteria” (Strength, Consistency, Specificity, Temporality, Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experiment, and Analogy) for establishing cause–effect relationships to examine the evidence for atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes the gonads of male vertebrates. We present experimental evidence that the effects of atrazine on male development are consistent across all vertebrate classes examined and we present a …