Life Sciences Commons^™

Bacterial Degradation Of Disinfection By-Products In Drinking Water, Laura Inga Fauntleroy

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Chlorine became a major disinfectant for the removal of microbial contaminants in 1914. Current water chlorination procedures yield halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs), such as haloalkanes and haloacetic acids (HAAs), due to the reaction of chlorine with naturally occurring organic compounds. Various water utilities have observed decreased HAAs levels in maximum residence time locations (MRTLs), where they were expected to be higher. These MRTLs have low free chlorine residual and high heterotrophic bacteria plate counts. Xanthobacter autotrophicus, GJ-10, is a bacterium that has been shown to contain dehalogenase enzymes and, therefore, can biodegrade HAAs. A number of water-system bacteria were …

Strong Interactions Between Juvenile Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) And Caribbean Reef Octopus (Octopus Briareus) In The Florida Keys, Jennifer Anne Lear

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Coexisting species may simultaneously compete for resources and interact as predator and prey, creating a strong interaction that can alter the structure of animal communities. This type of interaction potentially occurs between juvenile Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) and Caribbean reef octopus (Octopus briareus) within hard-bottom habitats in the Florida Keys, FL (USA), where octopuses may consume juvenile lobsters and also compete with them for limited crevice shelters. I conducted a series of field and mesocosm studies to investigate the nature of octopus-lobster interactions and their implications for the structure of their populations in the wild. …

A Phylogeny Of Genera Of The Fish Family Nemipteridae (Percoidei) Based On The Cytochrome B Gene, Denise R. Sliter

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The species level taxonomy of the Nemipteridae is well understood but existing morphological data is insufficient to hypothesize a phylogeny of the five genera of this family of percoid fishes. Furthermore, there are three distinct and widely disparate habitat requirements within nemipterids and little is known how these evolved. Species in the genera Pentapodus, Scaevius and Scolopsis are typically found around shallow reefs. Nemipterus species are also found in shallow-water, but they inhabit strictly soft sediment bottoms. Parascolopsis is the only deep-water genus and its species are also found over soft sediments. Complete cytochrome b gene sequences (1140 base …

The Ultrastructure Of The Olfactory System In Two Species Of Short-Tailed Shrews, Blarina Brevicauda And Blarina Carolinensis, Lisa Johnson Byrum

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Several studies of the fine structure of the olfactory system of rodents have been conducted, but very little research has been done on members of the Insectivora. The olfactory systems of the northern short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda, and the southern short-tailed shrew, Blarina carolinensis, were examined by light and electron microscopy. These shrews were live trapped in the vicinity of Norfolk, Virginia throughout all months of the year. Olfactory tissues were processed following standard transmission and scanning electron microscopy protocols. The olfactory system structures investigated included the olfactory epitheliumlmucosa (OEM), main olfactory bulb (MOB), accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), …

A Staging Sequence And Analysis Of Growth In Postovipositional Embryos Of Lamprophis Fulignosus, Angela Renee Vogel Rivera

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The brown house snake, Lamprophis fuliginosus, is a small, oviparous snake found throughout much of Africa. This lamprophiine colubrid reproduces rapidly; captive females can lay clutches every three to four months for a sustained period. Thus, L. fuliginosus is an excellent model for developmental studies requiring large numbers of embryos. In addition, the embryos of oviparous species are more suitable for some procedures than are those of viviparous forms. The most widely used system for staging embryonic snakes was developed for the common gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis, a viviparous natricine colubrid (Zehr, 1962). Based on the examination of 135 …

Seed Bank Response To Fire And Successional Trajectory Of A Virginia Small Depression Pocosin, Jay F. Bolin

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Pocosins are depressional wetlands maintained by fire. Plants in fire adapted systems can use a variety of mechanisms for survival and recruitment. I examined the seed bank response to fire (500 to 700 °C) and wet heat treatments (50 and 75 °C) in a Virginia small depression pocosin. I quantified seedling abundance, richness, and Sphagnum density. Extant vegetation was sampled with a nested plot design at each seed bank sampling area. The seed flora was compared with the extant vegetation at three size classes with Sorenson similarity values. Data from the fire treatment indicates that a simulated drought burn may …

Relating Water And Otolith Chemistry In Chesapeake Bay, And Their Potential To Identify Essential Seagrass Habitats For Juveniles Of An Estuarine-Dependent Fish, Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion Nebulosus), Emmanis Dorval

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

A quantitative understanding of habitat use of estuarine-dependent fishes is critical to the conservation of their most essential habitats. Because recruitment and fitness may be influenced by the quality of juvenile habitats, developing methods to quantify habitat-specific survivorship is pivotal to such understanding. An initial step to quantify survivorship is to validate the habitat-specific natural tags contained in otoliths. To this aim I investigated the variability in the chemistry of surface waters and otoliths of juvenile spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, in five seagrass habitats of Chesapeake Bay, namely: Potomac, Rappahannock, York, Island, and Eastern Shore. I measured Mg, Ca, …

Comparative Systematics Of Subterranean Amphipod Crustaceans (Hadzioidea), Thomas R. Sawicki

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The research project presented in this doctoral dissertation is a compilation of six published papers. Therefore, instead of being a single comprehensive project, it is composed of a number of sub-projects. Introductory and summary sections provide structure for the compilation of papers.

The research for this dissertation investigates the systematics of genera within the amphipod families Hadziidae Karaman, 1943 and Melitidae Bousfield, 1973. In the family Hadziidae, Bahadzia patilarga is described from an anchialine cave on the southern coast of Cuba, B. caymanensis is described from a weakly brackish-water pool in a small cave on Grand Cayman Island in the …

An Investigation Of Dissolved Organic Matter In A Shallow Coastal Bay Subject To Aureococcus Anophagefferens Blooms, Jean-Paul Simjouw

OES Theses and Dissertations

Aureococcus anophagefferens, the pelagophyte responsible for brown tide blooms, was identified in Chincoteague Bay in 1997 and has “bloomed” there since at least 1998. Aureococcus anophagefferens is capable of using dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) substrates to support growth, and this utilization is hypothesized to give the organism a competitive advantage relative to other phytoplankton when inorganic nutrient concentrations are low or depleted. Because previous studies suggest dissolved organic matter (DOM) is important in initiating and sustaining brown tide blooms, a field study of the variations in DOC concentration and DOM composition was performed at …

Characterization Of Association Patterns Of Coastal Migratory Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops Truncatus, In The Nearshore Waters Of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Holly Fearnbach

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, commonly occur in fission-fusion social systems. For this study, I analyzed photo-identification data from 1994 to 1999 to describe association patterns of bottlenose dolphins in the nearshore waters of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Bottlenose dolphins are present seasonally (late April until early November) in these waters and individuals are considered to be members of the North Atlantic coastal migratory stock. I selected 78 individuals for detailed analyses from the 972 dolphins identified in the study area. Those chosen as “select” dolphins had been sighted at least five times in three of the six study years; all …