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Georgia Southern University

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theses/Dissertations

2018

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

How Anxiety In Adolescent Athletes May Affect Baseline Neuropsychological Test Scores, Christopher P. Tomczyk Jan 2018

How Anxiety In Adolescent Athletes May Affect Baseline Neuropsychological Test Scores, Christopher P. Tomczyk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Anxiety is highly prevalent in the adolescent population and can affect performance on cognitive tasks. As part of a concussion protocol, measuring cognitive ability through the use of baseline neuropsychological testing is recommended in the high school setting. Because of the cognitive nature of baseline testing, there is potential for anxiety to influence scores. Purpose: To examine the effects of varying levels of state and trait anxiety on a baseline computerized neurocognitive assessment in the adolescent population. Methods: 75 adolescent athletes (age:15.91±1.33, height (cm): 168.72±9.07, weight (kg): 62.97±12.04) participated in the study. Cognitive ability was measured …


Evaluating Elasmobranch Bycatch And Shark Depredation In The Georgia Shrimp Fishery, Matthew M. Scanlon Jan 2018

Evaluating Elasmobranch Bycatch And Shark Depredation In The Georgia Shrimp Fishery, Matthew M. Scanlon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Georgia shrimp fishery has seen a dramatic decrease in profit and productivity since the 1980’s due to a number of economic factors. Additional, yet undocumented, pressures on this fishery include interactions between foraging sharks with trawl gear. Fishermen report that sharks frequently bite nets in an attempt to prey on netted fish, resulting in large holes in the gear. Further elasmobranch interactions with trawl gear occur as bycatch; shrimp trawls represent nearly 100% of elasmobranch commercial bycatch in Georgia state waters, the species composition of which is largely unstudied. Shark interactions with nets were detailed through fishery-dependent observations on …


Comparison Of Three Benthic Macroinvertebrate Passive Sampling Devices For Non-Wadeable Streams, Kelsey A. Laymon Jan 2018

Comparison Of Three Benthic Macroinvertebrate Passive Sampling Devices For Non-Wadeable Streams, Kelsey A. Laymon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rivers and streams provide essential ecosystem services to the degree that the monitoring and maintenance of these systems becomes imperative. Biomonitoring provides managers and policymakers with the tools to make informed decisions, and macroinvertebrates are often the object of biomonitoring because they are ubiquitous in most systems and are known to be good indicators of water quality. However, methods for sampling macroinvertebrates in non-wadeable streams (i.e., large rivers) have not been standardized across states and regions and an established method for macroinvertebrate biomonitoring in large rivers of Georgia is not currently available. My study compared macroinvertebrates collected with three types …


Predictors Of Fish Assemblage Structure And Dynamics In Atlantic Coastal Plain Streams, Rebecca Scott Jan 2018

Predictors Of Fish Assemblage Structure And Dynamics In Atlantic Coastal Plain Streams, Rebecca Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Effective management of freshwater fishes requires a mechanistic understanding of the drivers of assemblage composition; in other words, what determines who is where and when. Stream fish assemblages are potentially influenced by environmental factors that act on multiple spatiotemporal scales, but the relative influence of these drivers may vary between geophysically distinct regions. This study sought to determine the patterns and drivers of fish taxonomic and functional assemblage composition in the coastal plain, a region possessing unique hydrologies, faunas, and physiochemical conditions. I addressed this goal using two complementary chapters, both of which utilized environmental and biotic data collected from …


An Investigation Into The Physiological Impacts Of Ocean Acidification On Recruits Of The Temperate Coral, Oculina Arbuscula, Brianne Varnerin Jan 2018

An Investigation Into The Physiological Impacts Of Ocean Acidification On Recruits Of The Temperate Coral, Oculina Arbuscula, Brianne Varnerin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ocean acidification is well-researched with respect to adult scleractinian corals, however information on whether adults and recruits of the same species respond similarly to this environmental stress is lacking. I investigated the responses to increased pCO2 of recruits of the temperate coral, Oculina arbuscula, whose adults are known to withstand high levels of pCO2 with no depression in calcification (up to 1000 ppm CO2). I addressed the hypothesis that O. arbuscula recruit health is not affected by increased pCO2 by exposing small colonies (5-12mm diameter) to 475, 711, and 1270 ppm CO2 for …


The Mediation Of Perfectionism And Rumination On Mindfulness And Burnout In Collegiate Athletes, Nicholas S. Mcmillen Jan 2018

The Mediation Of Perfectionism And Rumination On Mindfulness And Burnout In Collegiate Athletes, Nicholas S. Mcmillen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several positive and negative sport-related experiences can occur throughout an athlete’s career, which can affect the continuation or termination of said career. Although research has associated sport participation with positive outcomes (e.g., increases in motivation, autonomy), there are also negative sport-related outcomes such as burnout (Akhrem & Gazdowska, 2016; Garcia, 2015). Specifically, burnout has been identified as a multidimensional construct that includes three dimensions. Furthermore, mindfulness has been studied to minimize the risk of experiencing burnout (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). While several studies have examined mediators between mindfulness and burnout, there has been a dearth of research on perfectionism and rumination as …


Foraging Ecology Of A Winter Bird Community In Southeastern Georgia, Rachel E. Mowbray Jan 2018

Foraging Ecology Of A Winter Bird Community In Southeastern Georgia, Rachel E. Mowbray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Classical views on community structure emphasized deterministic processes and the importance of competition in shaping communities. However, the processes responsible for shaping avian communities remain controversial. Attempts to understand distributions and abundances of species are complicated by the fact that birds are highly mobile. Many species migrate biannually between summer breeding grounds and wintering grounds. The goal of this study was to test four hypotheses that attempt to explain how migratory species integrate into resident assemblages of birds (Empty-Niche Hypothesis, Competitive-Exclusion Hypothesis, Niche-Partitioning Hypothesis, and Generalist-Migrant Hypothesis). I collected data on birds foraging during the winter of 2017-2018 in Magnolia …


Quantifying Genetic Responses Of Plants To Drought Stress With A Comparative Transcriptome Approach, Jessica K. Devitt Jan 2018

Quantifying Genetic Responses Of Plants To Drought Stress With A Comparative Transcriptome Approach, Jessica K. Devitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mentzelia section Bartonia (Loasaceae) commonly occurs in some of the hottest and driest places in North America, but we poorly understand the mechanisms that allow them to tolerate such extreme environments. Morphological and physiological adaptations are well studied in model organisms. The underlying genetic responses to drought stress in non-model organisms like Mentzelia is unknown. To better understand and identify differences and similarities in genetic responses to drought stress between species existing in different habitats with differing water availability, three species from the genus Mentzelia were compared. Species of section Bartonia occur across an environmental gradient, from temperate to arid …


The Role Of Relatedness In Youth Athlete Burnout, Megan Wittenberg Jan 2018

The Role Of Relatedness In Youth Athlete Burnout, Megan Wittenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Aspen Institute’s 2016 State of Play report projects a decline in youth sport participation that is more pronounced in adolescent athletes. Although there are numerous potential benefits for youth sport participation, there are also potential consequences including burnout (chronic psychological syndrome consisting of emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishments, and sport devaluation (Raedeke, 1997). Approximately 1% to 9% of adolescent athletes experienced elevated levels of burnout, with current research suggesting that relatedness could have an influence on athlete burnout. In this instance, relatedness was defined as the extent to which individuals perceives significant others are genuinely invested …


Examining The Issue Of Compliance With Personal Protective Equipment Among Wastewater Workers Across The Southeast Region Of The United States, Tamara L. Wright Jan 2018

Examining The Issue Of Compliance With Personal Protective Equipment Among Wastewater Workers Across The Southeast Region Of The United States, Tamara L. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wastewater workers are exposed to different occupational hazards such as chemicals, gases, viruses, and bacteria. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is a significant factor that can reduce or increase the probability of an accident from hazardous exposures to chemicals and microbial contaminants. The purpose of this study was to identify wastewater worker’s beliefs and practices on wearing PPE and protections offered by PPE through the integration of the Health Belief Model (HBM). Participants were workers in the wastewater industry, which included wastewater operators, laboratory analysts, maintenance workers, wastewater collection workers, equipment operators, managers, and supervisors (n=272). The instrument was a self-administered …


Saccadic Eye Movements Between Strategic, Interceptive, And Non-Athletes, Brian Szekely Jan 2018

Saccadic Eye Movements Between Strategic, Interceptive, And Non-Athletes, Brian Szekely

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Athletes have differences in object tracking, search strategies, number and duration of fixations, dynamic visual acuity (DVA), and predictive eye movements than non-athletes (NON). However, these eye functions have not been assessed between athlete groups during a task that encompasses antisaccade and DVA characteristics. Purpose: To evaluate the oculomotor control sport paradigm differences between interceptive (INT) and strategic (STR) Division I collegiate athletes, as well as NON with an antisaccade task (AS) and a sport-like dual task (SDT). Methods: Fifty-seven participants (19 STR, 19 INT, and 19 NON) performed 2 trials of an AS and a SDT. Participants stood …


Tissue Specificity Of Sex-Biased Gene Expression And The Development Of Sexual Dimorphism, Albert K. Chung Jan 2018

Tissue Specificity Of Sex-Biased Gene Expression And The Development Of Sexual Dimorphism, Albert K. Chung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One prominent form of phenotypic diversity in nature is the dramatic difference between males and females within a single species. A central genetic obstacle which must be overcome is that two distinct phenotypes must be produced from a single, shared genome. One genetic mechanism that is of particular import that would allow sexes to overcome the limitation of a shared genome is sex-specific regulation of gene expression. Although sex-biased gene expression is generally predicted to increase over ontogeny as male and female phenotypes diverge, this pattern should be most pronounced in tissues that contribute to the most extreme aspects of …


Environmental And Physiological Regulation Of Yellow Stingray Color Change, Theresa Rose Gunn Jan 2018

Environmental And Physiological Regulation Of Yellow Stingray Color Change, Theresa Rose Gunn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many reef fishes exhibit dynamic coloration and body patterns that can change under nervous or hormonal control. Several species of benthic sharks and rays likely alter melanin in the skin to provide background matching for camouflage. The yellow stingray (Urobatis jamaicensis) is a benthically-oriented elasmobranch with elaborate spot patterns that provide effective camouflage within its habitats. This patterning, when coupled with the ability to alter melanin in response to background color, could increase background matching effectiveness in these species. The yellow stingray has been anecdotally noted to lighten or darken skin color.However, it is unclear whether this type …


Characterizing The Complex Relationship Between The Brown Widow Spider And Its Bacterial Endosymbiont, Wolbachia, Emily Knight Jan 2018

Characterizing The Complex Relationship Between The Brown Widow Spider And Its Bacterial Endosymbiont, Wolbachia, Emily Knight

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The brown widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus (C. L. Koch 1841), has been found to harbor the maternally inherited bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis (Hertig and Wolbach 1924), but endosymbiont infection frequency varies widely among Southeastern US populations. Wolbachia is known to manipulate the reproduction of its hosts through male feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing, and cytoplasmic incompatibility. In brown widows, Wolbachia does not alter sex ratios, but any other effects the symbiont has on the spider are unknown. In my first chapter, I assess if there is linkage between Wolbachia infection and maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in three brown widow populations. …


Morphological And Behavioral Traits Associated With Locomotion In Lizards, Chase T. Kinsey Jan 2018

Morphological And Behavioral Traits Associated With Locomotion In Lizards, Chase T. Kinsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Morphology, locomotion, and behavior are co-adapted to optimize performance and ultimately fitness. Successfully navigating a complex environment is dictated by an animal’s locomotor behavior, and for some behaviors, its locomotor performance. The locomotor performance of an organism is directly related to the form and function of the structures involved in locomotion such that movement is efficient – that is, minimal loss of energy. The first chapter of this thesis focuses on the effects of obstacle placement and forelimb position on facultative bipedalism. Placing an obstacle beyond a lizard’s acceleration threshold did not affect the frequency of bipedal posture. Furthermore, the …


Movement In Cats, Valerie N. Plummer Jan 2018

Movement In Cats, Valerie N. Plummer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Feral cats (Felis catus) are listed as one of the '100 world's worst invasive alien species'. There are as many as 70-100 million feral cats in the United States as well as an estimated 117-157 million domestic indoor and outdoor cats. Management efforts include a nonlethal feeding and sterilization program known as "trap-neuter-release" (TNR) where cats are surgically sterilized and returned to the environment. Population size and structure, immigration rates, spay/neuter rates, and data on spatial use all play a role in whether TNR is a viable management option. This study focuses on population structure and spatial use. …


Environmental Factors Affecting Hatch Success In The Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta Caretta), Mattie J. Whitesell Jan 2018

Environmental Factors Affecting Hatch Success In The Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta Caretta), Mattie J. Whitesell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is a species federally listed as “threatened” whose global populations are declining. Georgia Department of Natural Resources conservation protocols for this species require the daily monitoring of nesting activity and permit physical relocation of nests which are at risk of being eroded or flooded by storms and high tides in order to increase hatch success--the proportion of hatched to unhatched eggs. Relocated nests are moved to an area with higher elevation in order to avoid flooding, but other variables such as increased temperature and decreased moisture are introduced when relocating. For years temperature …