Life Sciences Commons^™

Body Shape Divergence In Invasive Round Goby, Cat Collins

DePaul Discoveries

The round goby, Neogobius melanostomus, originally native to the Black and Caspian seas, was introduced into the Great Lakes via ballast water in the 1990’s. Since then, the species has spread to all of the Great Lakes, thriving in the Lake Michigan region and spreading to surrounding bays and rivers. Invasive species are considered to have a high evolutionary potential. Differences in environmental conditions between native and introduced ranges stimulate adaptive evolution. Multiple introductions of an exotic species can result in separate instances of founder effects, further increasing the chance of evolutionary change. A total of 267 round goby specimens …

What Components Influence Hypothetical Willingness To Pay For The Environmental Benefits Of Shade-Grown Coffee?, Ellen V. Webb

DePaul Discoveries

Coffee is one example of a good whose consumption can lead to environmental degradation that the consumer is unaware of. During the 19^th century, new high-yield varieties of coffee were developed that could be grown under the direct sunlight of recently deforested areas. An ecologically friendly alternative to mass-produced sun-grown systems is shade-grown coffee. This coffee is grown under traditional forest cover, providing ecological benefits such as species habitat, but at lower yields. In the global market, a price premium is the practice of placing a higher price than the market price on a specific good. If consumers value …

How Do Management Treatments Affect Invasive Cattail (Typha X Glauca) And Pore Water Nutrient Concentrations?, Yarency Rodriguez

DePaul Discoveries

Invasive species are problematic for wetland managers, but little is known about how common management treatments influence nutrient cycling or plant responses. This study tested three experimental treatments (mowing, herbiciding, and harvesting (i.e., removal of aboveground biomass)) on several response variables: wetland soil porewater nutrient content (NO₃^-, NH₄⁺, PO₄^-), native plant and invasive-Typha density, and light attenuation through the plant canopy. Seventeen days post-treatment, herbiciding resulted in higher porewater phosphate concentrations (55.63 µg-P/L) than harvesting (8.95 µg-P/L). After 24 days, herbicide had higher porewater phosphate concentration (72.03 µg-P/L) than all …

Arthropod Communities And Red-Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes Erythrocephalus) Habitat Selection, Michael C. Lordon

DePaul Discoveries

Red-headed woodpecker populations are near-threatened. Their habitat selection and reproductive success may be related to the availability of arthropods. We sampled the arthropod community within 0.04 ha plots surrounding known nests and compared these findings to plots without nests in the same fragments of forest or park in Cook County, IL. After 14 days, the traps were recovered, yielding close to 45,000 arthropods across 10 orders. Nest and control site differences were not statistically significant. Differences between park and forest diversity were not statistically significant either, but the greater diversity values in forests were consistent with expectations. We conclude that …

Investigating The Viability Of Two Stenotrophomonas Maltophilia Isolates After Air-Drying, Samantha Lane, Joanna Brooke

DePaul Discoveries

Abstract

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a water-borne infectious bacterium that is found in both clinical (hospitals) and non-clinical environments. This human pathogen is commonly recovered from respiratory tract infections. A recent study at a hospital in Taiwan suggested that dry patient charts can serve as a vehicle of transmission of this bacterium⁷. As S. maltophilia is not commonly isolated from dry surfaces, this current study tested the hypothesis that this pathogen can remain viable for some time on a dry surface. This study was designed to determine how long S. maltophilia could remain viable after air-drying by observing …

Vitamin A Deficiency Causes Ovulation Abnormalities In Mice, Rebecca Ursin

DePaul Discoveries

Retinoic acid (RA) is an active metabolite of vitamin A (VA) and is involved in tissue organization, patterning, and growth. RA has been shown to regulate male reproduction, however information on its role in ovary development is limited. To investigate the functions of RA in the ovary, we examined its role in ovary development and ovulation using an in vivo dietary VA-deprivation animal model. Our preliminary results have shown that VA deficiency causes a variety of ovarian pathologies, including reduced numbers of total follicles and corpus lutea, formation of hemorrhagic and atretic follicles, and formation of bursa and follicular cysts. …

The Effects Of Messages On Environmental Behavior, Miki Yoshimura-Rank

DePaul Discoveries

Over the past few decades environmental awareness and education have increased without a corresponding increase in pro-environmental behavior. Recent research on public service announcements and social marketing theory indicate that positive injunctive with positive descriptive norms are most effective in increasing proenvironmental behavior. The current study focused on the impact of different types of environmental messages on promoting recycling behavior in college students. Over 250 recycling actions were measured in the experiment. It was hypothesized that the positive injunctive with positive descriptive statement would be most effective in causing more university students to recycle. The findings, although not statistically significant, …

A Characterization Of Marsh Sediment At Prairie Wolf Slough Wetland, Kathryn Rico

DePaul Discoveries

Prairie Wolf Slough (PWS) is a restored farmed wetland in northeastern Illinois. Past research has shown that concentrations of soluble reactive and total phosphorous in water that discharges from PWS are higher than the phosphorus concentrations in water entering the wetland. This project assessed the contribution of phosphorous from sediment/soil being deposited in the marsh. Sediment/soil samples were collected and measured for Mehlich-3 soil test phosphorous, carbon-nitrogen ratio, and particle size. Sediment traps placed in the marsh measured monthly sedimentation rate. Correlation analysis shows weak associations between soil test phosphorous, and percent silt, sand, and clay. While this does provide …

Variation In Cone Production Of White Spruce At Two Sites Near Its Southern Range Limit, Allison Grecco

DePaul Discoveries

Mast seeding is the synchronous production of large seed crops by a plant population and is believed to be triggered by climate. Climate influences seed production, and species are believed to be more sensitive to climate change near their range limits. We studied cone production by white spruce in 2012 at six sites within each of two regions, Huron (northern MI) and Kemp (northern WI); the southernmost distribution of white spruce is in Wisconsin. We marked 727 individual trees, determined tree and forest characteristics, and quantified cone production. There was a significant difference in average cone production both between regions, …

Fossil Marine Vertebrates From The Middle Part Of The Upper Cretaceous Graneros Shale In Southeastern Nebraska, Alexander D. Meglei

DePaul Discoveries

The Graneros Shale is a rock unit formed in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. In this study, I report an assemblage of fossil vertebrates from the middle portion of the Graneros Shale in southeastern Nebraska. The estimated age of this fauna is about 97 million years old, and it is dominated by carnivores that consist of at least 11 taxa, comprising of eight sharks, one bony fish, and two reptilians (turtle and plesiosaur). The fauna includes taxa indicative of a nearshore, but fully marine, environment that do not contradict with previous paleoenvironmental inferences made for the …

Modifying Antibody Dna For Site-Specific Binding, Madeline Gemoules

DePaul Discoveries

Humanized antibody plasmid DNA was modified to allow the distance between the Fc fragment and antigen binding sites of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to be studied. Specific variable heavy (VH) and variable light (VL) genes were inserted into heavy and light chain plasmids so that dye molecules can be easily attached to the expressed protein, and further inspection of antibody structure and function can be conducted via single molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). First, VH and VL genes were inserted into humanized antibody plasmids through the technique of ligation. The ligation product was then transformed into Escherichia coli cells, …

Reversible Transformations Of P-N Coordination Networks Upon Interactions With Solvent, Jason Kositarut

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.

Single-Molecule Fluorescence Studies Of Glycosylated And Aglycosylated Antibodies, Irina Timoshevskaya

DePaul Discoveries

Antibodies are Y-shaped, flexible proteins whose structures can be studied using Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) at the single-molecule level. Dye molecules must be attached to these proteins so as to carry out FRET studies of antibodies. In order to label the binding sites of an antibody, dye molecules were attached to a small molecule, or hapten, which the antibody binds to. Evidence for this binding was provided by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. To label the stem region of a humanized immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody, the DNA for this antibody was mutated to introduce a cysteine residue to which dyes can …

Examination Of The Soil Bacteria Responsible For The Decomposition Of Ailanthone, An Inhibitory Chemical In Ailanthus Altissima, Samantha Sasnow

DePaul Discoveries

Ailanthus altissima produces the inhibitory chemical ailanthone, which is primarily found in the roots and bark of maturing trees. The goal of this project was to determine under what soil conditions ailanthone decomposes. Ailanthone broke down in slightly basic conditions and non-sterile soil while remaining stable in sterile soil. This suggests that ailanthone is broken down by soil microbes. The next phase in this project was isolating the soil bacteria that may be responsible for ailanthone decomposition in soil. Soil bacteria were successfully cultured from soil samples near A. altissima trees using a structurally similar compound to ailanthone, quassin, for …

Effects Of Co2 Enrichment On Biomass Yield And Response To Drought In Radish And Winter Wheat, Alex Hertel

DePaul Discoveries

Atmospheric CO2 levels have been increasing since the industrial revolution. There are many questions about the impacts of elevated CO2 levels and how the subsequent rise in average global temperature will ultimately impact the planet. One change that many climate scientists are confident about is a global redistribution of precipitation. This study specifically addressed the coupled effects of elevated CO2 and drought stress for two species, radish, Raphanus sativus, and winter wheat, Triticum hybernum. To understand how future climate changes might affect plants, radish and winter wheat were grown in simulated conditions of elevated CO2 at 400 and …

Soil And Leaf Lead Concentrations In The Lincoln Park Area, Agnes Kalat

DePaul Discoveries

Lead contamination in urban plants and soils has been a common occurrence as a result of human activities. The first objective of this experiment was to study the relationship between lead in soils and leaves: what is the source of lead in leaves found in urban trees? More specifically, does lead enter plants predominantly from the soil? It was hypothesized that if accumulation of lead occurred in the soil there would be a significant positive correlation between leaf and soil metal content. The second objective was to test if lead soil hotspots were associated with lead sources that have been …

Fossil Fish Fauna From The Uppermost Graneros Shale (Upper Cretaceous) In Southeastern Nebraska, Kevin R. Jansen

DePaul Discoveries

The Graneros Shale is a rock deposited in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America about 95 million years ago. Many fossil fish remains were collected from the uppermost portion of the Graneros Shale in southeastern Nebraska and were analyzed for their unique characteristics. These collected fish remains consist of at least 24 vertebrate taxa, including 14 cartilaginous fishes and 10 bony fishes. The locality is characterized by the abundance of benthic (bottom-dwelling) taxa, and indicative of a well-oxygenated, shallow marine environment. This is consistent with the paleoenvironmental inference previously made for the Graneros Shale based on lithological …

Fossil Vertebrates From The Basal Lincoln Limestone Of The Greenhorn Limestone (Upper Cretaceous) In Southeastern Colorado, Christopher Gallardo

DePaul Discoveries

The basal Lincoln Limestone is a 95-million-year-old fossiliferous rock layer deposited under the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway in North America. Over 4,500 identifiable vertebrate remains were collected from the stratigraphic horizon at a new fossil locality referred to as the Table Mesa locality in southeastern Colorado. Twenty-nine marine vertebrate taxa were identified comprising 13 chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fishes), 14 osteichthyans (bony fishes), and two squamate reptiles (lizards). These remains were then sorted according to their taxonomic similarities for faunal comparisons with other basal Lincoln Limestone localities. Proportions of common taxa at the Table Mesa locality are similar to another basal …

Cranial Musculature In Extant Crocodile Shark, Pseudocarcharias Kamoharai (Lamniformes: Pseudocarchariidae) And Its Evolutionary Implications, Ikechukwu B. Achebe

DePaul Discoveries

The crocodile shark, Pseudocarcharias kamoharai, is a small lamniform shark that occupies tropical oceans worldwide. Here, its cranial musculature and ligaments associated with jaw suspension are described in detail for the first time. Anatomical data extracted from this study is combined with data from existing literature, and mapped onto previously proposed phylogenetic trees examining the evolutionary pattern of jaw morphology through lamniform phylogeny. Results show that the evolution of characters associated with jaw suspension is more parsimonious in the morphology-based phylogenetic tree than in the molecular-based tree. Additionally, the evolutionary scenario of lamniform jaws is found to be more …

Cortical Degeneration And Contusion Size Is Attenuated In Calpain-1 Knockout Mice Following A Controlled Cortical Impact (Cci), Stacey Seidl

DePaul Discoveries

Recent research has indicated that calcium-activated neutral proteases, calpains, are essential mediators of cell death in chronic and acute neurodegenerative disorders. Calpain activation has also been linked to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)-induced pathology. Specifically, two isoforms of calpain exist in the brain, calpain-2 and calpain-1, yet the specific roles of each enzyme following TBI are not well understood. Using calpain-1 knockout mice (KO), the current study examined the specific role of calpain-1 in neural degeneration following the controlled cortical impact (CCI) rodent model of TBI. Both Calpain-1 KO and wild type mice received a unilateral CCI over the forelimb sensorimotor …

Transplantation Of Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cells Enhances Behavioral Recovery Following A Traumatic Brain Injury (Tbi), Daniel J. Clark

DePaul Discoveries

A potential treatment for millions of new cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be through the transplantation of genetically modified adult bone marrow stem cells (BMSC) in the form of neurospheres. This study examined behavioral recovery in the controlled cortical impact (CCI), a rodent model of TBI, after neurosphere transplantation. Rats received a unilateral CCI over the forelimb sensorimotor cortex. Seven days post-CCI, neurospheres or vehicle control were injected within the cortex or striatum. Forelimb deficits were assessed with two behavioral tests for two months. The test results indicated striatal neurosphere transplants significantly reduced deficits in both behavior tests …

Depression In Youth With Asthma: Asthma Severity, Exposure To Violence And Poverty, Draycen D. Decator

DePaul Discoveries

Youth with asthma have increasingly been the subjects of studies examining the effects of their chronic illness. The results of these studies have been mixed. A possible explanation for these inconsistent findings is that there are additional factors influencing these youth such as poverty and disease severity, and previous studies have not accounted for these differences. The current study was designed to help determine if there was a possible confounding variable (i.e., poverty) which strongly predicts depressive symptoms, and if asthma severity and exposure to violence moderate this relationship. Additionally, the current study looked for main effects between poverty, depressive …