Life Sciences Commons^™

Tree Mortality Following Prescribed Fire And A Storm Surge Event In Slash Pine (Pinus Elliottii Var. Densa) Forests In The Florida Keys, Usa, Jay P. Sah, Michael S. Ross, James R. Snyder, Danielle E. Ogurcak

Department of Earth and Environment

In fire-dependent forests, managers are interested in predicting the consequences of prescribed burning on postfire tree mortality. We examined the effects of prescribed fire on tree mortality in Florida Keys pine forests, using a factorial design with understory type, season, and year of burn as factors. We also used logistic regression to model the effects of burn season, fire severity, and tree dimensions on individual tree mortality. Despite limited statistical power due to problems in carrying out the full suite of planned experimental burns, associations with tree and fire variables were observed. Post-fire pine tree mortality was negatively correlated with …

The Gaas Metagenomic Tool And Its Estimations Of Viral And Microbial Average Genome Size In Four Major Biomes, Florent E. Angly, Dana Willner, Alejandra Prieto-Davo, Robert A. Edwards, Robert Schmieder, Rebecca Vega-Thurber, Dionsios A. Antonopoulos, Katie Barott, Matthew T. Cottrell, Christelle Desnues, Elizabeth A. Dinsdale, Mike Furlan, Matthew Haynes, Matthew R. Henn, Yongfei Hu, David L. Kirchman, Tracey Mcdole, John D. Mcpherson, Folker Meyer, R. Michael Miller, Egbert Mundt, Robert K. Naviaux, Beltran Rodriguez-Mueller, Rick Stevens, Linda Wegley, Lixin Zhang, Baoli Zhu, Forest Rohwer

Department of Biological Sciences

Metagenomic studies characterize both the composition and diversity of uncultured viral and microbial communities. BLAST-based comparisons have typically been used for such analyses; however, sampling biases, high percentages of unknown sequences, and the use of arbitrary thresholds to find significant similarities can decrease the accuracy and validity of estimates. Here, we present Genome relative Abundance and Average Size (GAAS), a complete software package that provides improved estimates of community composition and average genome length for metagenomes in both textual and graphical formats. GAAS implements a novel methodology to control for sampling bias via length normalization, to adjust for multiple BLAST …

Arsenic Transport By Zebrafish Aquaglyceroporins, Mohamad Hamdi, Marco A. Sanchez, Lauren C. Beene, Qianyong Liu, Scott M. Landfear, Barry P. Rosen, Zijuan Liu

HWCOM Faculty Publications

Background

Arsenic is one of the most ubiquitous toxins and endangers the health of tens of millions of humans worldwide. It is a mainly a water-borne contaminant. Inorganic trivalent arsenic (As^III) is one of the major species that exists environmentally. The transport of As^III has been studied in microbes, plants and mammals. Members of the aquaglyceroporin family have been shown to actively conduct As^III and its organic metabolite, monomethylarsenite (MAs^III). However, the transport of As^III and MAs^III in in any fish species has not been characterized.

Results

In this study, five members …

Physiological Performance Measures And Tolerance Limits Of Estuarine Indicator Species In South Florida, Pamela Marie Bachman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current water management practices in South Florida have negatively impacted many species inhabiting Florida Bay. Variable and high salinity has been identified as a key stressor in these estuaries. The comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) includes water redistribution projects that will restore natural freshwater flows to northeastern Florida Bay. My studies focused on the following central theme and hypotheses: Biological performance measures (i.e., growth, reproduction, survival), behavior (i.e., habitat preference and locomotor behavior) and diversity of estuarine fish will be controlled by changes in salinity and water quality that will occur as a result of the restoration of freshwater flow …

Seed Dispersal And Reproduction Patterns Among Everglades Plants, Ronald E. Mossman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study three aspects of sexual reproduction in Everglades plants were examined to more clearly understand seed dispersal and the allocation of resources to sexual reproduction— spatial dispersal process, temporal dispersal of seeds (seedbank), and germination patterns in the dominant species, sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense). Community assembly rules for fruit dispersal were deduced by analysis of functional traits associated with this process. Seedbank ecology was investigated by monitoring emergence of germinants from sawgrass soil samples held under varying water depths to determine the fate of dispersed seeds. Fine-scale study of sawgrass fruits yielded information on contributions to variation in sexually …

Interactions Between Endothelin Receptor B And Transcription Factors Sox10 And Pax3 In The Melanocyte Lineage, Marcia Lowenstein

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Genetic interactions that underlie developmental processes such as cell differentiation and pattern formation are complex and difficult to elucidate. Neural Crest (NC) cells and their derivatives offer an optimal system in which to probe for these complex interactions as they acquire different cell fates and constitute a variety of structures. The transcription factors Sox10 and Pax3 as well as the transmembrane receptor Endothelin receptor b (Ednrb) are temporally and spatially co-expressed early in NC cells and mutations in these genes lead to similar hypopigmentation phenotypes due to a reduced number of NC-derived melanocyte precursors, the melanoblasts. The goal of this …

Absolute Configuration And Biosynthesis Of Pahayokolide A From Lyngbya Sp. Strain 15-2 Of The Florida Everglades, Li Liu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pahayokolides A-D are cytotoxic cyclic polypeptides produced by the freshwater cyanobacterium Lyngbya sp. strain 15-2 that possess an unusual β-amino acid, 3-amino-2,5,7,8-tetrahydroxy-10-methylundecanoic acid (Athmu). The absolute configuration of pahayokolides A-D was determined using advanced Marfey’s method. It was also confirmed that a pendant N-acetyl-N-methyl leucine moiety in pahayokolide A was absent in pahayokolides B and pahayokolides C-D were conformers of pahayokolide A. Feeding experiments indicated that the biosynthesis of the Athmu sidechain arises from leucine or α-ketoisovalerate, however could not be further extended by three rounds of condensation with malonate units. Putative four peptide and one unique polyketide synthetases in …

The Effect Of Male-Male Competition And Its Underlying Regulatory Mechanisms On The Electric Signal Of The Gymnotiform Fish Brachyhypopomus Gauderio, Vielka Lineth Salazar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexually-selected communication signals can be used by competing males to settle contests without incurring the costs of fighting. The ability to dynamically regulate the signal in a context-dependent manner can further minimize the costs of male aggressive interactions. Such is the case in the gymnotiform fish Brachyhypopomus gauderio, which, by coupling its electric organ discharge (EOD) waveform to endocrine systems with circadian, seasonal, and behavioral drivers, can regulate its signal to derive the greatest reproductive benefit. My dissertation research examined the functional role of the EOD plasticity observed in male B. gauderio and the physiological mechanisms that regulate the enhanced …

Three Birds With One Stone: Moas, Heteroblasty And The New Zealand Flora, David W. Lee, Kevin Gould

Department of Biological Sciences

No abstract provided.

Circadian And Social Cues Regulate Ion Channel Trafficking, Michael Markham, M. Lynne Mcanelly, Philip K. Stoddard, Harold H. Zakon

Department of Biological Sciences

Electric fish generate and sense electric fields for navigation and communication. These signals can be energetically costly to produce and can attract electroreceptive predators. To minimize costs, some nocturnally active electric fish rapidly boost the power of their signals only at times of high social activity, either as night approaches or in response to social encounters. Here we show that the gymnotiform electric fish Sternopygus macrurus rapidly boosts signal amplitude by 40% at night and during social encounters. S. macrurus increases signal magnitude through the rapid and selective trafficking of voltagegated sodium channels into the excitable membranes of its electrogenic …

A K2a-Positive Klebsiella Pneumoniae Causes Liver And Brain Abscess In A Saint Kitt’S Man, Melissa S. Doud, Reni Grimes-Zeppegno, Enrique Molina, Nancimae Miller, Danajeyan Balachandar, Lisa Schneper, Robert Poppiti, Kalai Mathee

Department of Biological Sciences

Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated in community-acquired pneumonia is increasingly found in primary pyogenic liver abscesses. The presence of magA in K. pneumoniae has been implicated in hypermucoviscosity and virulence of liver abscess isolates. The K2 serotype has also been strongly associated with hypervirulence. We report the isolation of non-magA, K2 K. pneumoniae strain from a liver abscess of a Saint Kitt’s man who survived the invasive syndrome.

Species Diversity And Conservation Status Of Amphibians In Madre De Dios, Southern Peru, Rudolf Von May, Karen Siu-Ting, Jennifer M. Jacobs, Margarita Medina-Muller, Giuseppe Gagliardi, Lily O. Rodriguez, Maureen A. Donnelly

Department of Biological Sciences

This study focuses on amphibian species diversity in the lowland Amazonian rainforest of southern Peru, and on the importance of protected and non-protected areas for maintaining amphibian assemblages in this region. We compared species lists from nine sites in the Madre de Dios region, five of which are in nationally recognized protected areas and four are outside the country’s protected area system. Los Amigos, occurring outside the protected area system, is the most species-rich locality included in our comparison. Overall, species similarity is relatively high among various localities in Madre de Dios. Among the 114 species recorded in Madre de …

Animal Pigment Bilirubin Discovered In Plants, Cary Pirone, J. Martin E. Quirke, Horacio A. Priestap, David W. Lee

Department of Biological Sciences

The bile pigment bilirubin-IXα is the degradative product of heme, distributed among mammals and some other vertebrates. It can be recognized as the pigment responsible for the yellow color of jaundice and healing bruises. In this paper we present the first example of the isolation of bilirubin in plants. The compound was isolated from the brilliant orange-colored arils of Strelitzia nicolai, the white bird of paradise tree, and characterized by HPLC−ESMS, UV−visible, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, as well as comparison with an authentic standard. This discovery indicates that plant cyclic tetrapyrroles may undergo degradation by …

Immunostaining For Allatotropin And Allatostatin-A And -C In The Mosquitoes Aedes Aegypti And Anopheles Albimanus, Salvador Hernández-Martínez, Yiping Li, Humberto Lanz-Mendoza, Mario H. Rodriguez, Fernando G. Noriega

Department of Biological Sciences

Confocal laser-scanning microscopy was used to carry out a comparative study of the immunostaining for three families of neuropeptides, viz., allatostatin-A (AS-A), allatostatin-C (AS-C) and allatotropin (AT), in adult female mosquitoes of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles albimanus. The specific patterns of immunostaining for each of the three peptides were similar in both species. The antisera raised against AT, AS-A, and AS-C revealed intense immunoreactivity in the cells of each protocerebral lobe of the brain and stained cells in each of the ventral ganglia and neuronal projections innervating various thoracic and abdominal tissues. Only the AS-A antiserum labeled immunoreactive endocrine …

The Use Of Hyphenated Spectrometric Techniques For The Environmental Forensic Assessment Of Non-Traditional Pollutants And Degradates In The Greater Florida Everglades, Luis E. Arroyo-Mora

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A comprehensive investigation of sensitive ecosystems in South Florida with the main goal of determining the identity, spatial distribution, and sources of both organic biocides and trace elements in different environmental compartments is reported. This study presents the development and validation of a fractionation and isolation method of twelve polar acidic herbicides commonly applied in the vicinity of the study areas, including e.g. 2,4-D, MCPA, dichlorprop, mecroprop, picloram in surface water. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was used to isolate the analytes from abiotic matrices containing large amounts of dissolved organic material. Atmospheric-pressure ionization (API) with electrospray ionization in negative mode …

Calcium Fluxes In Hoplosternum Littorale (Tamoatá) Exposed To Different Types Of Amazonian Waters, Bernardo Baldisserotto, Carlos Eduardo Copatti, Levy Carvalho Gomes, Edsandra Campos Chagas, Richard P. Brinn, Rodrigo Roubach

Department of Biological Sciences

Fishes that live in the Amazonian environment may be exposed to several kinds of waters: "black waters", containing high dissolved organic carbon and acidic pH, "white waters", with ten fold higher Ca²⁺ concentrations than black waters and neutral pH, and "clear waters", with two fold higher Ca²⁺ concentrations than black waters and also neutral pH. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze Ca²⁺ fluxes in the facultative air-breather Hoplosternum littorale (tamoatá) exposed to different Amazonian waters. Fishes were acclimated in well water (similar to clear water) and later placed in individual chambers for Ca …

Roseate Spoonbill Reproduction As An Indicator For Restoration Of The Everglades And The Everglades Estuaries, Jerome J. Lorenz, Brynne Langan-Mulrooney, Peter E. Frezza, Rebecca G. Harvey, Frank J. Mazzotti

FCE LTER Journal Articles

Ecological monitoring is key to successful ecosystem restoration. Because all components within an ecosystem cannot be monitored, it is important to select indicators that are representative of the system, integrate system responses, clearly respond to system change, can be effectively and efficiently monitored, and are easily communicated. The roseate spoonbill is one ecological indicator species that meets these criteria within the Everglades ecosystem. Monitoring of roseate spoonbills in Florida Bay over the past 70 years has shown that aspects of this species’ reproduction respond to changes in hydrology and corresponding changes in prey abundance and availability. This indicator uses nesting …