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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Microbial Communities Hosted By Carnivorous Pitcher Plants: Diversity, Recruitment, Functions And Succession In Sarracenia Purpurea Microbiomes, Jacob Jeffrey Grothjan
Microbial Communities Hosted By Carnivorous Pitcher Plants: Diversity, Recruitment, Functions And Succession In Sarracenia Purpurea Microbiomes, Jacob Jeffrey Grothjan
Theses and Dissertations
The pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea supplements nutrient acquisition through carnivory, capturing insect prey which are digested by a food web community of eukaryotes and bacteria. Analysis of both bacterial and eukaryotic diversity, and an understanding of bacterial recruitment into pitchers and succession of bacterial and eukaryotic communities over time have not been well explored. This thesis presents three studies designed to address these gaps using field sampling and manipulative greenhouse experiments. Study I compared bacterial and eukaryotic composition and diversity of pitcher communities within and between populations of plants in two distinct wetland habitats. Genetic sequence analysis revealed an underappreciated …
Characterizing The Temporal And Spatial Distribution Of The Cannonball Jellyfish (Stomolophus Meleagris) In The South Atlantic Bight, Lauren G. Faulk
Characterizing The Temporal And Spatial Distribution Of The Cannonball Jellyfish (Stomolophus Meleagris) In The South Atlantic Bight, Lauren G. Faulk
Theses and Dissertations
The cannonball jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris, is commercially harvested throughout its range in the tropical and sub-tropical Americas, including in the South Atlantic Bight, where an estimated 4,000 tons (less than 2.4% of the estimated stock in South Carolina during the spring) are harvested annually. Like many Scyphozoan jellyfish, cannonball jellies have high interannual variability and little is known about the environmental drivers of their distribution and phenology. To better understand the ecology of this targeted species, we used fisheries-independent abundance data of cannonball jellyfish from 2001 to 2019 collected by the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) throughout the …
Evaluating The Multi-Level Community Effects Of Root Hemiparasites In Northern Illinois, Anna Marie Scheidel
Evaluating The Multi-Level Community Effects Of Root Hemiparasites In Northern Illinois, Anna Marie Scheidel
Theses and Dissertations
Root hemiparasites are green plants that tap into a neighboring plant’s water-filled xylem to acquire inorganic nutrients, which can lead to an accumulation of nutrients in hemiparasite biomass. I performed an observational field study at Nachusa Grasslands and Franklin Creek State Natural Area (Lee County, IL) in 2019 to investigate how the presence of five root hemiparasites (Aureolaria grandiflora (Benth.) Pennell, Agalinis tenuifolia (Vahl) Raf., Castilleja sessiliflora (Pursh), Dasistoma macrophylla (Nutt.) Raf., Pedicularis canadensis L.) affects their communities through the (a)keystone species hypothesis, that hemiparasites will increase measures of diversity by altering competition among surrounding plant species, (b) ecological engineer …