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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Development And Implementation Of Hay Yield Monitoring Technology, Henry Ramsey
Development And Implementation Of Hay Yield Monitoring Technology, Henry Ramsey
All Theses
Three independent technologies related to hay yield monitoring were developed and studied. One technology involved comparison of infrared and ultrasonic sensors on a self-propelled forage harvester. Sensor response related to grass height and was used to estimate yield. Plots that were harvested ranged from 20-40 ft. in length while a bin mounted on the back of the mower collected the crop for weighing and sampling. The infrared sensors data demonstrated accuracies across plots between 5.9% and 9.5% error. The infrared sensors quickly deteriorated and eventually proved to be useless for data acquisition. As for the ultrasonic sensors, they demonstrated similar …
Weeds, Nitrogen, And Yield: Measuring The Effectiveness Of An Organic No-Till System, David Robb
Weeds, Nitrogen, And Yield: Measuring The Effectiveness Of An Organic No-Till System, David Robb
All Theses
Previous research in the mid-Atlantic and midwestern USA has identified advantages and drawbacks of "organic no-till" vegetable production, but few studies have been conducted in the warmer southeastern region. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of tillage [no-till (NT) vs. conventional tillage (CT) of a cereal rye/crimson clover cover crop] and three nitrogen fertilization rates on organic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) yield, weed suppression, and soil N dynamics in two years in a soil series in Clemson, SC. Squash yields were similar between tillage treatments in both years. NT tomato …
Comparative Aquatic Toxicity Of A Commercial Naphthenic Acid And Processes For Mitigating Risks, Ciera Kinley
Comparative Aquatic Toxicity Of A Commercial Naphthenic Acid And Processes For Mitigating Risks, Ciera Kinley
All Theses
Comparative toxicity data can inform predictions of relative risk, and can be used to implement strategies for altering exposures to mitigate risk. Naphthenic acids (NAs) are a complex group of carboxylic acids that naturally occur in petroleum sources and energy-derived process waters (e.g. refinery effluents and oil sands process affected waters). These compounds are relatively persistent in water and can be a source of toxicity to aquatic organisms. In the first experiment of this thesis, responses of sentinel aquatic organisms to 7-d exposures of commercial (Fluka) NAs were measured (in terms of acute toxicity) to discern relative sensitivities. In terms …
Influence Of Exurban Neighborhoods On Riparian Vegetation And Stream Salamanders In The Southern Appalachian Mountains, Nathaniel Weaver
Influence Of Exurban Neighborhoods On Riparian Vegetation And Stream Salamanders In The Southern Appalachian Mountains, Nathaniel Weaver
All Theses
The southern Appalachian Mountains have experienced large population growth and a change in land use in the past 30 years. The majority of development has been low density, suburban land, known as exurban development. Lotic Systems and riparian areas are severely degraded by conversion from urban to rural land uses. The long-term effects of exurbanization on riparian vegetative communities and stream salamanders in the southern Appalachian Mountains are not well known. We sought to determine if vegetative community composition and structure change with time since neighborhood development or with the amount of impervious surface within the watershed. In order to …
Management And Impacts Of Wild Hogs (Sus Scrofa) In South Carolina, Susan Sullivan
Management And Impacts Of Wild Hogs (Sus Scrofa) In South Carolina, Susan Sullivan
All Theses
Wild hogs (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species that can damage native ecosystems, negatively impact native wildlife, and potentially act as disease reservoirs in the U.S. To better understand how natural resource professionals in South Carolina approach wild hog management, I conducted a web-based survey of natural resource professionals focused on aspects of wild hog impacts and management. Generally, there was agreement among natural resource professionals regarding the approaches used to control wild hog populations and their subsequent effectiveness. The majority of respondents indicated high priority impacts needing to be addressed in wild hog management were agricultural damage …
Development And Testing Of Supplemental Materials For An Undergraduate Healthy Food Product Development Curriculum, Breanne Halteman
Development And Testing Of Supplemental Materials For An Undergraduate Healthy Food Product Development Curriculum, Breanne Halteman
All Theses
ABSTRACT The goal of this research project was three-fold: (1) to follow up with students who had taken the Applied Interdisciplinary Product Development (AIPD) course two years prior to assess the long-term effect of the course on perceived self-confidence in product development skills, connectedness with the department, and preparedness to enter the industry; (2) to design, implement, and evaluate course materials educating undergraduate students about the subjects of herbs, spices, and sensory science; and (3) to evaluate the success of dissemination of a sophomore-level hybrid course on healthy food product development. A Subject Knowledge Assessment (SKA) was designed to measure …
Assessing The Impacts Of Macroalgal Competition And Parrotfish Grazing On Coral Cover In The Middle Florida Keys, Kylie Smith
Assessing The Impacts Of Macroalgal Competition And Parrotfish Grazing On Coral Cover In The Middle Florida Keys, Kylie Smith
All Theses
The coral reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) are diverse ecosystems that support thousands of marine organisms. Unfortunately, the live coral cover on these reefs has dramatically decreased over the last 30 years even in the most protected areas of the sanctuary. Environmental changes have contributed to this decline in coral cover by creating optimal conditions for macroalgal growth. These macroalgae species are fast growing and out-compete slow growing corals for space and nutrients. Herbivores known to forage on macroalgae, including long-spined sea urchins and parrotfishes, have decreased in abundance. A synthesis of data from across the …
Environmental Effects On Fish Escape Responses: Impact Of Flow On The Escape Performance Of The Hawaiian Stream Goby, Sicyopterus Stimpsoni, Kelly Diamond
All Theses
The ability of fish to escape from predators is a critical behavior for their survival. Experimental measurements of escape performance in fishes have typically been based on trials conducted in still water; however, such environmental conditions are rare in nature due to waves and currents that expose fishes to unsteady and/or directional flow. I examined the effects of water flow and predator attack direction on the escape behavior of fish, using juveniles of the amphidromous Hawaiian goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni as a model system. In nature, these fish must escape ambush predation by the Hawaiian sleeper, Eleotris sandwicensis, while exposed …
Estimating Tiger (Panthera Tigris) Prey Density Using Camera Traps And Fecal Accumulation Rates, Jenifer Bunty
Estimating Tiger (Panthera Tigris) Prey Density Using Camera Traps And Fecal Accumulation Rates, Jenifer Bunty
All Theses
The conservation of tiger populations requires the preservation of their prey. Assessing prey populations is therefore important, but challenges arise due to the elusive nature of many prey species. We used two indirect methods to estimate the density of sika deer (Cervus nippon), an elusive tiger prey species, in the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve in the Russian Far East. The fecal accumulation rate (FAR) is widely used and provides estimates of ungulate density based on the accumulation of fecal pellet groups in previously cleared plots. More recently, the random encounter model (REM) was developed to estimate population density from …
Relationships Between Growth Rate And Gene Expression In Ruegeria Pomeroyi Dss-3, A Model Marine Alphaproteobacterium, Nattasha Vinas
Relationships Between Growth Rate And Gene Expression In Ruegeria Pomeroyi Dss-3, A Model Marine Alphaproteobacterium, Nattasha Vinas
All Theses
Microbes are important contributors to ecosystem processes such as biogeochemical cycling. Their activities vary, depending on environmental parameters such as carbon type and concentration, temperature, and salinity. Current estimates of in situ microbial growth is limited to gross estimates or rely on incubation based methods that disturb the natural state of the community. The goal of this master’s thesis is to develop molecular methods to directly assess microbial growth rates in the environment at the level of a taxonomic group. Here we grew Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3 under different temperatures (15 °C or 30 °C) and different carbon sources (yeast extract/tryptone, …
Interkingdom Communication: Study Of Caenorhabditis Elegans And Vibrio Cholerae Interactions, Joseph Angeloni
Interkingdom Communication: Study Of Caenorhabditis Elegans And Vibrio Cholerae Interactions, Joseph Angeloni
All Theses
Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is mainly found in water environments, and is the causative agent of the disease cholera in humans. It is critical for this bacterium to communicate via quorum sensing to persist and survive in the environment, as well as cause infection. Recently, it has been shown that eukaryotes are able to sense and respond to certain quorum sensing molecules, known as autoinducers, which are produced by different bacteria. Caenorhabditis elegans is a particularly useful model for studying this interaction. During preliminary experiments, it was noticed that C. elegans were strongly attracted to V. …
Establishing A Permanent Feeding Site: Reniform Nematode Manipulation Of Soybean Genes, Nathan Wayne Redding
Establishing A Permanent Feeding Site: Reniform Nematode Manipulation Of Soybean Genes, Nathan Wayne Redding
All Theses
Reniform nematode, Rotelynchulus reniformis, is a semi-endoparasite capable of infecting more that 300 host plant species in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions. Female nematodes penetrate host roots and introduce effectors that lead to the formation of multinucleate feeding sites called syncytia. The objective of our study was to identify plant genes involved in the process of syncitium formation. We used a split-root system in which half of a plant’s roots were inoculated with R. reniformis while the rest of the root system remained uninfected. Illumina RNA-seq was used to quantify gene expression patterns in replicate samples of infected and …
Chemical Separation And Analyses Of Bioactive Compounds In Chloroform Fraction Of Oplopanax Horridus (Devil's Club), Lauren Wiseman
Chemical Separation And Analyses Of Bioactive Compounds In Chloroform Fraction Of Oplopanax Horridus (Devil's Club), Lauren Wiseman
All Theses
O. horridus (a member of the family Araliaceae) is a plant traditionally used by the tribe of Pacific Northwest America for medicinal as well as spiritual purposes. O. horridus is found in the temperate forests of northwestern North America as an understory shrub capable of growing in well-drained to poorly drained, shady sites. Traditional medical preparations of O. horridus include decoction or infusion, preparation as a tea, preparation as a poultice, or preparation as a tonic. O. horridus is used as a form of treatment for cancer, hypoglycemia, diabetes, tough pneumonia, and for colds. A practical and reliable extraction method …
Finding The Needle And The Haystack: New Insights Into Locating Bog Turtles (Glyptemys Muhlenbergii) And Their Habitat In The Southeastern United States, Theresa Sonja Margareta Stratmann
Finding The Needle And The Haystack: New Insights Into Locating Bog Turtles (Glyptemys Muhlenbergii) And Their Habitat In The Southeastern United States, Theresa Sonja Margareta Stratmann
All Theses
Because rare and cryptic species can be difficult to locate, distribution maps for these species are often inaccurate or incomplete. Bog Turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) are emblematic of this challenge. In fact, conducting surveys of known, historical, and potential Bog Turtle habitat is a specific need stated in the Bog Turtle Northern Population Recovery Plan and in most Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategies of states within the southern range. Therefore we examined ways to better locate Bog Turtle habitat and Bog Turtles within that habitat. First we determined a detection probability for a standardized trapping method so we could effectively survey for …
Assessing The Vulnerability Of Coastal Marsh Birds To Sea Level Rise In The South Atlantic Coast, Nicolette Roach
Assessing The Vulnerability Of Coastal Marsh Birds To Sea Level Rise In The South Atlantic Coast, Nicolette Roach
All Theses
Global wetland degradation and loss is occurring at a rapid rate, and in the United States over 50% of wetlands in the lower 48 states have been altered since European settlement. In some cases, wetlands that were historically transformed for agriculture are now managed as wetland habitat. We conducted occupancy surveys for black rails (Latterallus jamaicensis) in managed and unmanaged areas of coastal South Carolina. We modeled landscape and local factors potentially influencing occupancy and we assessed whether these habitat associations indicated vulnerability following expected alterations from sea level rise. Black rails occupied 17 of 344 sites surveyed. Landscape factors …
Variability In Movement Patterns And Habitat Use Of Two Species Of Pelecaniformes, Caroline Poli
Variability In Movement Patterns And Habitat Use Of Two Species Of Pelecaniformes, Caroline Poli
All Theses
Information regarding movement patterns of seabirds is useful for understanding prey abundance and distribution, predicting overlap between bird activity and anthropogenic stressors, and assessing the effectiveness of reserves at protecting nesting or foraging habitat(Cairns 1992, Weimerskirch 2007, Weimerskirch et al. 2010). I examined movement patterns of 40 brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) satellite tagged in December 2010 in South Carolina, USA, and tracked until July 2013. Birds exhibited individual variability in movement patterns and 25% of individuals remained near the breeding colony during nonbreeding. Birds captured in South Carolina that did migrate wintered as far south as Guatemala, prospected and used …
Characterizing The Novel Gig Operon In Legionella Pneumophila , Kathleen Jwanowski
Characterizing The Novel Gig Operon In Legionella Pneumophila , Kathleen Jwanowski
All Theses
Legionella pneumophila is the number one cause of waterborne outbreaks in the US. It contaminates man-made water systems increasing exposure risk for Legionnaire’s Disease. Copper/silver ionization is one common method for managing L. pneumophila in water systems, but bacterial response mechanisms to these metals are not well described in Legionella. We identified an operon, lpg2105-2108, that is homologous to known gold/copper response genes in Cupriavidus metallidurans. Using a GFP reporter gene system, we measured transcriptional activity of the lpg2105-2108 operon in L. pneumophila strain Lp02 in response to 20µM or 50µM of HAuCl4 or CuSO4 in planktonic and biofilm cultures. …