Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Host Specificity And Ectoparasite Load Of Bat Flies In Utila, Honduras, Courtney Miller
Host Specificity And Ectoparasite Load Of Bat Flies In Utila, Honduras, Courtney Miller
Senior Honors Theses
Bat flies (Streblidae) are obligate blood-feeding ectoparasites of bats that display varying degrees of host specificity. A total of 265 streblid bat flies were collected from 122 bats belonging to the families Phyllostomidae and Natalidae from Utila, the smallest bay island of Honduras. Out of four host-parasite associations, three were considered primary. Out of the three bat species analyzed, one had significantly lower parasite prevalence and another had significantly higher parasite load and intensity. Both male and female bats were equally likely to be infested and variables of parasite density did not differ amongst host sex for any species. However, …
In Vitro Incubation Of Gills Isolated From The Gulf Killfish, Fundulus Grandis, Joseph Anthony Diaz
In Vitro Incubation Of Gills Isolated From The Gulf Killfish, Fundulus Grandis, Joseph Anthony Diaz
Senior Honors Theses
The use of viable and reliable tissue preparations allows for experimental approaches in vitro that would not be possible in vivo. In this experiment, gills were isolated from gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis, and subjected to various incubation conditions. A combination of two types of media and two incubation apparatuses were compared in their ability to sustain tissues, as measured by the vital stain trypan blue (TB) and percent lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage. Trypan Blue analysis indicated no significant difference in tissue viability, regardless of the treatment or incubation time. However, percent LDH leakage analysis revealed that the two most …