Life Sciences Commons^™

Ecological Researcher, Alex Demmers

Celebration of Learning

This is my field research I complete during the summer of 2018.

Snake Fungal Disease In Lake Eerie Water Snakes And Its Affect On Attitude And Behavior During Treatment, Kelcie Fredrickson

Celebration of Learning

Snake fungal disease (SFD) is caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Infection occurs when the outer skin is breached, and the organism enters the epidermis. The epidermis becomes necrotic and produces a yellow/brown crust. When the crust breaks off, ulcerations/lesions are formed along the snake’s body, head and tail. It has been found that SFD can be treated with a terbinafine nebulization treatment. Ellen Haynes, a PhD student, created a study in which 26 Lake Eerie water snakes are separated into treatment and control groups to determine the effectiveness of the nebulization treatment. Through daily observations, this research aimed …

Diversity Of The Brown Alga Dictyota Between Deep And Shallow Reefs Of Hawaii, Mary Ade, Rachael M. Wade, Heather L. Spalding, Alison R. Sherwood

Celebration of Learning

In this presentation, I compile the results of 10 weeks of an NSF-funded REU during the summer of 2018. This research is regarding the biodiversity of Dictyota species found in the mesophotic and shallow reef ecosystems in the Hawaiian islands.

Tracking Residual-Yolk Energy In Dormant Hatchling Turtles, Tom Pham, Dr. Tim J. Muir, Samira Radi, Jacob Wyco

Celebration of Learning

Hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) spend their first winter inside natal nests without food and must rely on maternally derived energy in the form of residual yolk for up to nine months. In this study, we take a closer look at the use and movement of residual-yolk energy during the first 33 weeks (~8 mo.) after hatching by measuring changes in mass, lipid content, & protein content of yolk, liver, small intestine, and carcass. Our data showed a significant decrease in yolk mass by 64% and significant increases in carcass & liver masses of 9% & 16%, respectively, …

Invertebrate Diversity Of Ponds Within Gremel Wildlife Sanctuary And Amboy Marsh, Dalton Howard, Madison Lape

Celebration of Learning

This project tested the water quality of different ponds and used macroinvertebrates as the overall indicator. The invertebrates give us a lot of knowledge about the health of the ecosystem and possible pollutants that could be harming the environments.

Do Stands Of Native Trees Harbor Different Invasive Species Than Stands Of Planted Pine?, Carly Mccameron, John Mccarthy, Dr. Kevin Geedey

Celebration of Learning

The most outstanding invasive species that can be found at Augustana’s Green Wing Environmental Laboratory are honeysuckle, buckthorn, multiflora rose, garlic mustard, autumn olive, and oriental bittersweet. These plants are not only disrupting the ecosystem at Green Wing, but they are doing it all over the country. The result of their disruption is that they have taken over entire habitats and left natural species with no way to compete for survival. To study this we used the line-point method as well as other forms of data collection to compare a non-native pine tree habitat to an area dominated by native …

Sense Of Community And Space, Amanda Corona

Celebration of Learning

Sense of community (SOC) is defined as a person’s experience of a group or specific area (Kenkmann et al, 1996). Physical spaces can affect SOC; small colleges have higher SOC on average than universities (Lounsbury & DeNeui, 1996). A person’s identity, especially ethnic identity, can also influence SOC (Rivas-Drake, 2012; Liu, 2005). However, there is less work on the intersection of physical space and ethnic identity (Devlin et al, 2008). This raises the questions: how does the experience of a community space affect someone’s SOC, and would it vary by ethnicity?

The relationship between communal spaces and identity can be …

Genetic Sequencing For Measuring Biodiversity In Recent And Ancient Marine Sediments, Lauren Judge

Celebration of Learning

Taxonomic biodiversity, measured by counting the number of species present in a given area, is the most common method of capturing ecosystem biodiversity in recent and ancient environments. While this method is widely accepted, it is limited by poor preservation and identification of many individuals, making it impossible to include every species within an ecosystem and resulting in the loss of some diversity information. To address this issue, we measured the genetic biodiversity (in which species are determined based on sequencing of their DNA) of shallow marine ecosystems by extracting and sequencing the 18S ribosomal gene from bulk carbonate sediment …