Life Sciences Commons^™

Seed Source Regions Drive Fitness Differences In Invasive Macrophytes, Morgane B. Gillard, Rebecca E. Drenovsky, Gabrielle Thiébaut, Michèle Tarayre, Caryn J. Futrell, Brenda J. Grewell

2020 Faculty Bibliography

Premise Worldwide, ecosystems are threatened by global changes, including biological invasions. Invasive species arriving in novel environments experience new climatic conditions that can affect their successful establishment. Determining the response of functional traits and fitness components of invasive populations from contrasting environments can provide a useful framework to assess species responses to climate change and the variability of these responses among source populations. Much research on macrophytes has focused on establishment from clonal fragments; however, colonization from sexual propagules has rarely been studied. Our objective was to compare trait responses of plants generated from sexual propagules sourced from three climatic …

Variation In The Maternal Provisioning Of Alkaloids In The Strawberry Poison Frog Oophaga Pumilio: The Relationship Between Mothers And Their Tadpole Offspring, Olivia L. Brooks

Masters Theses

Within and among populations, alkaloid defenses of strawberry poison frogs (Oophaga pumilio) vary spatially, temporally, and with life history stage. Natural variation in defense has been implicated as a critical factor in determining the level of protection afforded to an individual from predators and pathogens. Oophaga pumilio tadpoles sequester defenses from nutritive eggs and are thus entirely dependent on their mothers for their alkaloids. However, it remains unclear how the alkaloid composition of a tadpole relates to that of its mother and if maternally provisioned defenses are effective against predators. Here, I demonstrate that natural variation in the alkaloid composition …

Diatom Community Responses To Development And Climate Change In Lake George, An Oligotrophic Lake In The Adirondack Mountains, Adam T. Ruka

Masters Theses

Lake George is a highly monitored, oligotrophic lake that experiences widespread tourism in the summer months. The southern basin is more developed than the northern basin, suggesting a north-south gradient of anthropogenic impairment. This study aimed to assess differences in nearshore diatom communities regarding gradients of water chemistry and watershed development throughout the lake. Using Redundancy analyses, water chemistry was found to explain more variation within diatom assemblages than watershed variables. Weighted averaging optima and tolerances specified taxa of concern, F. gracilis and A. formosa, that indicate increased phosphorus (μg/L) and conductivity (μS/cm), respectively. Two hypotheses related to the effect …

Ecological Features Of Cyanobacteria And Algae Communities Of The Littoral Of The Meromictic Lake Shira (Khakassia Republic, Russia), Lira Gaysina, A I. Fazlutdinova, O N. Mukhina, L F. Akhmadeyeva, D Yu Rogozin, A O. Bul’Khin, N V. Sukhanova, Jeffrey R. Johansen

2020 Faculty Bibliography

During the study of cyanobacteria and algae from littoral of the meromictic Lake Shira (Republic of Khakas- sia, Russia) forty-eight taxa were identified: Cyanobacteria – 7, Chlorophyta – 5, and Bacillariophyta – 36 species. Cyanobacteria were represented by cosmopolitan taxa Leptolyngbya voronichiniana, cf. Trichocoleus hospitus and widely distributed in the freshwater ecosystems species Phormidium cf. paulsenianum, Pseudophormidium cf. golenkinianum, P. pauciramosum, Leptolyngbya perforans, and L. subtilissima. Among green algae typical freshwater taxa Chloroidium saccharophilum, Desmodesmus abundans, Oocystis lacustris, Chlorella sp., Stigeoclonium sp. were detected. Among Bacillariophyta the most frequent species were Amphora ovalis, Cymbella affinis, Encyonema silesiacum, Eunotia fallax, Gomphonella …

Two New Oculatella (Oculatellaceae, Cyanobacteria) Species In Soil Crusts From Tropical Semi–Arid Uplands Of México, Itzel Becerra–Absalón, Jeffrey R. Johansen, Karina Osorio–Santos, Gustavo Montejavo

2020 Faculty Bibliography

Two isolates of Oculatella from biological soil crusts in the arid and semi–arid tropical upland region of México were characterized using a polyphasic approach which included morphology, ecology, 16S rRNA and 16S–23S ITS phylogenetic analysis, percent identity of 16S rRNA gene sequence, percent dissimilarity of 16S–23S ITS sequence, and secondary structure of conserved ITS domains. The two species shared the generic synapomorphy of a reddish granule at the tip of mature apical cells, and possessed a single ribosomal

operon with both tRNA genes (tRNAIle and tRNAAla) based upon our analysis and the analysis of the other spe- cies in the …

Phylogeny And Taxonomy Of Synechococcus–Like Cyanobacteria, Jiri Komarek, Jeffrey R. Johansen, Jan Smarda, Otakar Strunecký

2020 Faculty Bibliography

Unicellular cyanobacteria constitute a substantial, ecologically important part of freshwater and marine microflora. Solitary, elongated cyanobacterial cells without apparent slime envelopes and dividing in a single plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis were traditionally classified into the genus Synechococcus. The type species originates from a freshwater benthic habitat while a number of other Synechococcus–like species were described from diverse environments. Morphologically similar, unicellular populations of “Synechococcus” belong to the most abundant oxygen evolving prokaryotes inhabiting freshwater and oceanic picoplanktic communities. Other species from extreme thermal habitats were described from temperatures over 70 °C. Recent molecular analyses, particularly the 16S rRNA …

Support For The Habitat Amount Hypothesis From A Global Synthesis Of Species Density Studies, James I. Watling, Rebecca Fang

2020 Faculty Bibliography

Decades of research suggest that species richness depends on spatial characteristics of habitat patches, especially their size and isolation. In contrast, the habitat amount hypothesis predicts that (1) species richness in plots of fixed size (species density) is more strongly and positively related to the amount of habitat around the plot than to patch size or isolation; (2) habitat amount better predicts species density than patch size and isolation combined, (3) there is no effect of habitat fragmentation per se on species density and (4) patch size and isolation effects do not become stronger with declining habitat amount. Data on …

A Method For Removing Eggs Or Embryos From Preserved, Gravid Snakes That Minimizes Damage To Museum Specimens, Christopher Sheil, Luke J. Welton

2020 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Robert Gordon Jaeger, Caitlin R. Gabor, Carl D. Anthony

2020 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

A Spatiotemporal Assessment Of Dietary Partitioning Between Color Morphs Of A Terrestrial Salamander, Maggie M. Hantak, Kyle M. Brooks, Cari-Ann M. Hickerson, Carl D. Anthony, Shawn R. Kuchta

2020 Faculty Bibliography

When color pattern variation is co-adapted with other biological features, distinct color morphs may be separated along divergent niche axes, and data on niche partitioning can provide insight into how distinct color morphs are maintained over spatiotemporal scales. The Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, contains two common color morphs (striped and unstriped) that differ along several trait axes in addition to coloration. Previous studies from a single population have suggested that dietary composition represents an important axis of ecological differentiation between morphs of P. cinereus. To determine if morphs partition prey resources over space and time, we collected stomach contents …

Female Salamanders Experience Higher Parasitism Compared To Males: A Cost Of Female Reproduction?, Matthew D. Venesky, Joseph Alan Demarchi, Rachel Marbach, Keva Periyar, Cari-Ann M. Hickerson, Carl D. Anthony

2020 Faculty Bibliography

Males tend to experience higher rates of parasitism compared to females, a phenomenon associated with ecological factors, the fact that males engage in risky behaviors, and because testosterone is known to be immunosuppressive. However, females could experience higher rates of parasitism if energy is allocated from costly immune responses towards producing eggs. We used pooled data sets from laboratory experiments to investigate sex-specific differences in salamander (Plethodon cinereus) resistance to the emerging fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (‘‘Bd’’). Contrary to our predictions, we found that female salamanders had a higher prevalence of infection (~56%) and carried a higher Bd infection burden …

Geographic Variation In Agonistic And Territorial Behavior By Genetically Distinct Groups Of The Eastern Red-Backed Salamander (Plethodon Cinereus), Jessica Ryan

Masters Theses

Geographic variation in agonistic and territorial behavior is largely unknown in terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, even though territoriality is widespread throughout this group. Using the color polymorphic Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), I compared the aggressive and submissive behaviors of two genetically distinct groups in northern Ohio using male and female salamanders from six populations. As in other populations of P. cinereus studied, I expected to find agonistic and territorial behavior present in the populations in this study. Additionally, I predicted that the genetic group that is monomorphic for the striped morph would exhibit a higher degree of agonistic and territorial …