Life Sciences Commons^™

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Land Use Impacts On Water Quality In Watershed Systems, Olga Tsvetkova

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

ABSTRACT SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF LAND USE IMPACTS ON WATER QUALITY IN WATERSHED SYSTEMS SEPTEMBER 2007 OLGA TSVETKOVA, B.S., NOVGOROD STATE UNIVERSITY, RUSSIA M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Timothy O. Randhir Predicting land use change and assessing watershed tradeoffs between the watershed system components through system simulation helps to determine future nutrient and sediment load reductions needed to obtain a particular water quality standard. This also helps to examine the tradeoffs among nutrient and sediment load reductions that achieve the same water quality objective. Tradeoff assessment is a useful tool to meet agricultural and urban needs …

Research Update Meeting 2007 - Pathological Highlights 2007, Frank Caruso

Cranberry Station Extension meetings

No abstract provided.

Research Update Meeting 2007 - Sare Project 2007, Carolyn J. Demoranville

Cranberry Station Extension meetings

No abstract provided.

Research Update Meeting 2007 - Weed Management Update 2007, Hilary A. Sandler

Cranberry Station Extension meetings

No abstract provided.

Pesticide Safety 2007 - Groundwater Protection Regulations (Zone Ii) 2007, Brian Wick

Cranberry Station Extension meetings

No abstract provided.

Evolution In The Classroom: Should We Change Our Approach In Light Of The Intelligent Design Controversy?, Bruce Byers

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

No abstract provided.

Measurement Of Diffusion Within The Cell Wall In Living Roots Of Arabidopsis Thaliana, Em Kramer, Nl Frazer, Ti Baskin

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Disruption Of Arabinogalactan Proteins Disorganizes Cortical Microtubules In The Root Of Arabidopsis Thaliana, E Nguema-Ona, A Bannigan, L Chevalier, Ti Baskin, A Driouich

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

A Conserved Role For Kinesin-5 In Plant Mitosis, A Bannigan, Wr Scheible, W Lukowitz, C Fagerstrom, P Wadsworth, C Somerville, Ti Baskin

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Feeding Mechanisms In Bats: Variation Within The Constraints Of Flight, Elizabeth R. Dumont

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

By any standard, bats are a successful group of mammals and the evolution of flight and echolocation were certainly key innovations behind their success. That is only part of the story, however. Bats have diversified into trophic niches that range from insectivory to feeding on blood, fruit, or nectar. While flight places fundamental constraints on the shape of the postcranial skeleton, skull shape in bats is remarkably diverse. Morphological studies of individual families and sympatric assemblages demonstrate that variation in skull shape is clearly associated with trophic specialization. Field experiments demonstrate that species-specific biting behaviors during feeding are common and …

A Performance Based Approach To Distinguish Indices From Handicaps In Sexual Selection Studies, B Vanhooydonck, R Van Damme, A Herrel, Dj Irschick

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

1. Central to theories of the evolution of conspicuous secondary sexual traits is that sexual traits honestly reflect at least one aspect of an individual's quality. In general, the reliability of sexual traits can be explained in two ways. Either sexual traits are reliable indicators of individual quality because they are costly and the costs in terms of survival are higher for an individual of low quality as compared to an individual of high quality (i.e. handicap principle) or sexual traits are reliable because of physical constraints and thus cost-free (reliability by design).
2. The distinction between indices and handicaps thus centres …

A Functional Approach To Sexual Selection, Duncan J. Irschick, Anthony Herrel, Bieke Vanhooydonck, Raoul Van Damme

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

1. Sexual selection theory is a robust and dynamic field within evolutionary biology, yet despite decades of research, remarkably little is known of the mechanistic bases of mate choice and male competition.
2. Because many aspects of sexual selection involve dynamic movements, and are physically challenging, the limits of sexual selection may be defined by key functional and physiological variables (i.e. the ‘functional approach’).
3. We advocate the functional approach for providing mechanistic resolution on the adaptive basis of sexual structures and signals, the nature of mate choice and how males compete, among other issues.
4. An overview of recent work, highlighted in this …

Cloning Of Zebrafish Nkx6.2 And A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Conserved Transcriptional Response To Hedgehog/Gli Signaling In The Zebrafish Neural Tube, Burcu Guner, Rolf O. Karlstrom

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling helps pattern the vertebrate neural tube, in part by regulating the dorsal/ventral expression of a number of homeodomain containing transcription factors. These Hh responsive genes have been divided into two classes, with Class II genes being activated by Hh signaling and Class I genes being repressed by Hh signaling. While the transcriptional response to varying Hh levels is well defined in chick and mouse, it is only partially described in zebrafish, despite the fact that zebrafish has emerged as a powerful genetic system for the study of neural patterning. To better characterize the Hh response in …

Genome-Wide Patterns Of Nucleotide Polymorphism In Domesticated Rice, Ana Caicedo, S. Williamson, R, Hernandez, A. Boyko, A. Fleded-Alon, T. York, N. Polato, K. Olsen, R. Nielsen, S. Mccouch, C. Bustamante, M. Purugganan

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

Domesticated Asian rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the oldest domesticated crop species in the world, having fed more people than any other plant in human history. We report the patterns of DNA sequence variation in rice and its wild ancestor, O. rufipogon, across 111 randomly chosen gene fragments, and use these to infer the evolutionary dynamics that led to the origins of rice. There is a genome-wide excess of high-frequency derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in O. sativa varieties, a pattern that has not been reported for other crop species. We developed several alternative models to explain contemporary patterns …

Xenopus Tropicalis Egg Extracts Provide Insight Into Scaling Of The Mitotic Spindle, Thomas J. Maresca, M. D. Blower, K. S. Brown, T. C. Grammer, R. M. Harland, R. Heald

Thomas J. Maresca

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis has been instrumental to investigations of both development and cell biology, but the utility of this model organism for genetic and proteomic studies is limited by its long generation time and unsequenced pseudotetraploid genome. Xenopus tropicalis, which is a small, faster-breeding relative of X. laevis, has recently been adopted for research in developmental genetics and functional genomics, and has been chosen for genome sequencing. We show that X. tropicalis egg extracts reconstitute the fundamental cell cycle events of nuclear formation and bipolar spindle assembly around exogenously added sperm nuclei. Interestingly, X. tropicalis spindles were …

Can You Reduce Tree Height Of Super Spindle Apple Trees With Pruning? Naphthalene Acetic Acid May Help, Wesley Autio, Winfred Cowgill Jr., Jon Clements, James Krupa, Martha Maletta, Rebecca Magron

Wesley Autio

No abstract provided.

An Annual Fire Blight Management Program For Apples, Daniel Cooley, Wesley Autio, Jon Clements

Wesley Autio

No abstract provided.

Final Report From The 2002 Nc-140 Peach Rootstock Trial, Wesley Autio, James Krupa

Wesley Autio

No abstract provided.

Performance Of Mcintosh Apple Trees On Several Geneva And Pillnitz Dwarfing Rootstocks: Nine-Year Summary Of The Massachusetts Planting Of The 1999 Nc-140 Dwarf Apple Rootstock Trial, Wesley Autio, James Krupa, Jon Clements

Wesley Autio

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Neo-Tec® For Controlling Nematodes In Golf Greens 2006, Robert L. Wick, L. Stone

Robert L. Wick

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Est Sequences Suggests Recent Origin Of Allotetraploid Colonial And Creeping Bentgrasses, David Rotter, Arvind K. Bharti, Huaijun Michael Li, Chongyuan Luo, Stacy A. Bonos, Suleiman Bughrara, Geunhwa Jung, Joachim Messing, William A. Meyer, Stephen Rudd, Scott E. Warnke, Faith C. Belanger

Geunhwa Jung

Advances in plant genomics have permitted the analysis of several members of the grass family, including the major domesticated species, and provided new insights into the evolution of the major crops on earth. Two members, colonial bentgrass (Agrostis capillaris L.) and creeping bentgrass (A. stolonifera L.) have only recently been domesticated and provide an interesting case of polyploidy and comparison to crops that have undergone human selection for thousands of years. As an initial step of characterizing these genomes, we have sampled roughly 10% of their gene content, thereby also serving as a starting point for the construction of their …

Mutant Α-Galactosidase A Enzymes Identified In Fabry Disease Patients With Residual Enzyme Activity: Biochemical Characterization And Restoration Of Normal Intracellular Processing By 1-Deoxygalactonojirimycin, Satoshi Ishii, Hui-Hwa Chang, Kunito Kawasaki, Kayo Yasuda, Hui-Li Wu, Scott Garman, Jian-Qiang Fan

Scott Garman

Fabry disease is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by the deficiency of alpha-Gal A (alpha-galactosidase A) activity. In order to understand the molecular mechanism underlying alpha-Gal A deficiency in Fabry disease patients with residual enzyme activity, enzymes with different missense mutations were purified from transfected COS-7 cells and the biochemical properties were characterized. The mutant enzymes detected in variant patients (A20P, E66Q, M72V, I91T, R112H, F113L, N215S, Q279E, M296I, M296V and R301Q), and those found mostly in mild classic patients (A97V, A156V, L166V and R356W) appeared to have normal K(m) and V(max) values. The degradation of all mutants (except E59K) …

Responses Of Rhizobia To Desiccation In Relation To Osmotic Stress, Oxygen, And Temperature, Klaus R. Nusslein, J. A. C Vriezen, F. J. De Bruijn

Klaus R. Nusslein

No abstract provided.

Geonomic And Microarray Analysis Of Aromatics Degradation In Geobacter Metallireducens And Compan To A Geobacter Isolate From A Contaminated Fieldriso Site, Derek Lovley, Jessica E. Butler, Qiang He, Kelly P. Nevin, Zhili He, Jizhong Zhou

Kelly Nevin

Background: Groundwater and subsurface environments contaminated with aromatic compounds can be remediated in situ by Geobacter species that couple oxidation of these compounds to reduction of Fe(III)-oxides. Geobacter metallireducens metabolizes many aromatic compounds, but the enzymes involved are not well known. Results: The complete G. metallireducens genome contained a 300 kb island predicted to encode enzymes for the degradation of phenol, p-cresol, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 4-hydroxybenzoate, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, and benzoate. Toluene degradation genes were encoded in a separate region. None of these genes was found in closely related species that cannot degrade aromatic compounds. Abundant transposons and phage-like genes in the …

Micromanipulation Studies Of Chromatin Fibers In Xenopus Egg Extracts Reveal Atp-Dependent Nucleosome Assembly Dynamics, Thomas J. Maresca, J. Yan, D. Skoko, R. Heald, J. F. Marko

Thomas J. Maresca

We have studied assembly of chromatin using Xenopus egg extracts and single DNA molecules held at constant tension by using magnetic tweezers. In the absence of ATP, interphase extracts were able to assemble chromatin against DNA tensions of up to 3.5 piconewtons (pN). We observed force-induced disassembly and opening–closing fluctuations, indicating our experiments were in mechanochemical equilibrium. Roughly 50-nm (150-base pair) lengthening events dominated force-driven disassembly, suggesting that the assembled fibers are chiefly composed of nucleosomes. The ATP-depleted reaction was able to do mechanical work of 27 kcal/mol per 50 nm step, which provides an estimate of the free energy …

Genetic Mapping In Mice Identifies Dmbt1 As A Candidate Modifier Of Breast Cancer Risk, A. C. Blackburn, L. Z. Hills, A. L. Roberts, J. Wang, D. Aud, J Jung, T. Nikolcheva, J. Allard, G. Peltz, C. N. Otis, Q. J. Cao, R. Ricketts, S.P. Mollenhauer, S. P. Naber, D. Malamud, A. Poustka, D. Joseph Jerry

D. Joseph Jerry

Low-penetrance breast cancer susceptibility alleles seem to play a significant role in breast cancer risk but are difficult to identify in human cohorts. A genetic screen of 176 N2 backcross progeny of two Trp53+/− strains, BALB/c and C57BL/6, which differ in their susceptibility to mammary tumors, identified a modifier of mammary tumor susceptibility in an ∼25-Mb interval on mouse chromosome 7 (designated SuprMam1). Relative to heterozygotes, homozygosity for BALB/c alleles of SuprMam1 significantly decreased mammary tumor latency from 70.7 to 61.1 weeks and increased risk twofold (P = 0.002). Dmbt1 (deleted in malignant brain tumors 1) was identified as a …

A Specific Subset Of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-Type Channel Subunits In Caenorhabditis Elegans Endocrine Cells Function As Mixed Heteromers To Promote Neurotransmitter Release, Antony M. Jose, Amy Bany, Daniel Chase, Michael R. Koelle

Daniel Chase

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channel subunits form homotetramers that function in sensory transduction. Heteromeric channels also form, but their physiological subunit compositions and functions are largely unknown. We found a dominant-negative mutant of the C. elegans TRPV (vanilloid-type) subunit OCR-2 that apparently incorporates into and inactivates OCR-2 homomers as well as heteromers with the TRPV subunits OCR-1 and -4, resulting in a premature egg-laying defect. This defect is reproduced by knocking out all three OCR genes, but not by any single knockout. Thus a mixture of redundant heteromeric channels prevents premature egg laying. These channels, as well as the G-protein …

Ethephon As A Chemical Thinner Of Mcintosh And Macoun Apples In 2007, Wesley Autio, James Krupa

Wesley Autio

No abstract provided.

Linkage Mechanics And Power Amplification Of The Mantis Shrimp's Strike, Sheila Patek, B. N. Nowroozi, J. E. Baio, R. L. Caldwell, A. P. Summers

Sheila Patek

Mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) generate extremely rapid and forceful predatory strikes through a suite of structural modifications of their raptorial appendages. Here we examine the key morphological and kinematic components of the raptorial strike that amplify the power output of the underlying muscle contractions. Morphological analyses of joint mechanics are integrated with CT scans of mineralization patterns and kinematic analyses toward the goal of understanding the mechanical basis of linkage dynamics and strike performance. We test whether a four-bar linkage mechanism amplifies rotation in this system and find that the rotational amplification is approximately two times the input rotation, thereby amplifying …

The Acoustic Mechanics Of Stick–Slip Friction In The California Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Interruptus), Sheila Patek, J. E. Baio

Sheila Patek

The dynamic interplay between static and sliding friction is fundamental to many animal movements. One interesting example of stick–slip friction is found in the sound-producing apparatus of many spiny lobster species (Palinuridae). The acoustic movements of the spiny lobster's plectrum over the file are generated by stick–slip friction between the two surfaces. We examined the microscopic anatomy, kinematics, acoustics and frictional properties of the California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) toward the goal of quantitatively characterizing the frictional and acoustic mechanics of this system. Using synchronous high-speed video and sound recordings, we tested whether plectrum kinematics are correlated with acoustic signal …