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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Brown Bear Gut Microbiome: A Novel Tool For Conservation & Management, Sarah M. Trujillo
The Brown Bear Gut Microbiome: A Novel Tool For Conservation & Management, Sarah M. Trujillo
All NMU Master's Theses
Gut microbiomes (GMBs), complex communities of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tracts of their hosts, perform countless micro-ecosystem services such as facilitating energy uptake and modulating immune responses. While scientists increasingly recognize the role GMBs play in host health, the role of GMBs in wildlife ecology and conservation has yet to be realized fully. Here, I use brown bears (Ursus arctos) as an ecological model to investigate (1) how both extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence GMB community membership and structure; and (2) the correlation between GMB membership and brown bear health metrics. To achieve these aims, I subsampled archived …
Resource Allocation And Phenotypic Plasticity Of Simultaneous Hermaphroditic Turtle Barnacles (Chelonibia Testudinaria), Kevin C. Cash
Resource Allocation And Phenotypic Plasticity Of Simultaneous Hermaphroditic Turtle Barnacles (Chelonibia Testudinaria), Kevin C. Cash
All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations
This research addresses the knowledge gap of phenotypic plasticity in a commonly found and important species of epizoic barnacle, Chelonibia testudinaria. Limited research has been published regarding how phenotypic expression is mediated the spatial distribution of barnacles on a mobile host. To investigate this potential relationship, barnacles were collected from the backs of turtles along the beaches of Fort Lauderdale Florida. These barnacles were assessed for various phenotypic traits as well as their corresponding spatial distribution on the turtle carapace. Barnacles were safely removed from the carapace using a chisel before their preservation in ethanol. Barnacles were then numbered …
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 …
A Year In Syntropy: Exploring Syntropic Agriculture, Ajah Eills
A Year In Syntropy: Exploring Syntropic Agriculture, Ajah Eills
College Honors Program
Syntropic agriculture is a form of sustainable agriculture that originated in Brazil around 25 years ago. Although it has since spread throughout Brazil and Australia, there has yet to be a comprehensive study of the driving scientific principles behind syntropy. For my thesis, I conducted literature research and interviews with farmers, with the goal of describing the ecological principles on which syntropy is based, including its primary goal to improve soil health. Much of my thesis contrasted syntropic agriculture with conventional agriculture as practiced in the United States today, but I also explored the differences between syntropic agriculture and other …
Distributions And Habitat Associations Of Blue Point Pyrgulopsis And Blue Point Tryonia, Chenoa Janine Wilcox
Distributions And Habitat Associations Of Blue Point Pyrgulopsis And Blue Point Tryonia, Chenoa Janine Wilcox
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Springsnails and other crenophilic species are often of conservation concern due to endemism, narrow habitat requirements, and susceptibility to habitat degradation. Because there is a distinct lack of natural history information for many of these organisms, management of species that are of concern is often based on data from non-target species related to the species of interest. In this thesis, I provide background information regarding springsnails in western North America (Chapter 1), describe a study investigating the distribution and habitat associations of two springsnails endemic to a single spring (Chapter 2), and provide supplemental information on habitat characteristics associated with …
Role Of Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor In Urinary Tract Infection, Anne Rosen
Role Of Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor In Urinary Tract Infection, Anne Rosen
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect 150 million people per year worldwide and can be difficult to diagnose and treat leaving room for other biomarkers to be used to define an infection. Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI), an antimicrobial protein also with antiprotease and anti-inflammatory properties, may be involved in host response to UTI. Here we use an established UPEC-UTI model to infect female Slpi knockout and wild type mice to show SLPI plays a role in microbial ecology of the bladder. Bacterial abundance is altered in urinary tracts and is positively correlated with SLPI in urine of wild type mice. …
Cyclic Fluctuations Of Zooplankton Dynamics In A Tidal Salt-Marsh Basin, Jamaal Jacobs
Cyclic Fluctuations Of Zooplankton Dynamics In A Tidal Salt-Marsh Basin, Jamaal Jacobs
Senior Theses
Zooplankton are pelagic aquatic animals that are limited in their movements by the water currents around them and are major links in aquatic food webs between primary producers and higher trophic levels. Their populations are temporally and spatially variable, as they are sensitive to changes in salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. This is especially true in highly dynamic environments, like estuaries, where environmental conditions are highly variable across seasonal and daily cycles. In order to examine the variability in zooplankton populations across a tidal cycle, we collected zooplankton samples from North Inlet Estuary at 30-minute intervals over a half tidal …
Analyses Of Coyote (Canis Latrans) Consumption Of Anthropogenic Material And Dietary Composition In Urban And Non-Urban Habitats, Audrey A. Hayes
Analyses Of Coyote (Canis Latrans) Consumption Of Anthropogenic Material And Dietary Composition In Urban And Non-Urban Habitats, Audrey A. Hayes
Browse all Theses and Dissertations
Coyotes are a generalist species that have adapted to nearly every terrestrial habitat in the United States. The species’ success is heavily attributed to their omnivorous diets and tolerance for environments that are regularly disturbed. Because the larger predator species that typically act as apex predators are sensitive to highly fragmented landscapes, the coyote is the functioning apex predator in many ecosystems where large predators, such as wolves, have been extirpated. The coyotes’ ecological role in urban ecosystems has received much attention in the last few decades as the species’ presence in cities and suburbs has increased, along with human-coyote …
Monitoring Relationships Between Corticosterone And Snake Fungal Disease In Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus) In Western Kentucky, John Bromley Hewlett
Monitoring Relationships Between Corticosterone And Snake Fungal Disease In Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus) In Western Kentucky, John Bromley Hewlett
Murray State Theses and Dissertations
Over the past four decades, emergent fungal diseases have been the most devastating relative to species declines and extinctions. While most research has focused on fungal diseases affecting amphibians and bats, less has focused on diseases like snake fungal disease (SFD), caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (Oo). SFD was first described in 2006 in North America within a Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) population in New Hampshire. Since then SFD has been documented in 19 US states, one US territory (Puerto Rico), and Europe. SFD causes high mortality in some species, including the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus …
Clarifying Patterns In Host Plant Use By Adelpha Butterflies (Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae), Karina Torres
Clarifying Patterns In Host Plant Use By Adelpha Butterflies (Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae), Karina Torres
University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations
The remarkable diversity of plant-feeding insects could be explained by the dynamics of their plant associations, where host plant shifts and specialization onto a small fraction of available plants may promote diversification. Neotropical Adelpha butterflies contain a large number of species, and previous work indicated the colonization of a novel host plant family (Rubiaceae) fueled its rapid diversification. However, accumulating host records indicate wide taxonomic host breadth at family level and below. Here, we categorize Adelpha diet breadth based on known host plant relationships across the Neotropics and from Costa Rica, Ecuador and Brazil. We also use a diet breadth …
Changes In The Vertical Stratification Of Neotropical Nymphalidae At Forest Edges In Relation To Light And Temperature Conditions, Brian Koji Oye
Changes In The Vertical Stratification Of Neotropical Nymphalidae At Forest Edges In Relation To Light And Temperature Conditions, Brian Koji Oye
University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations
The composition of neotropical fruit-feeding nymphalid butterflies assemblages often varies by location and stratum within a forest. Recent work has shown that vertical stratification in particular may serve as barrier to gene flow, indicating the potential role vertical stratification may play in evolution. At forest edges, the distinction between assemblages has been described to decrease, with species considered to be canopy specialists descending to the forest understory. The similarity in light conditions between the canopy and understory strata at edges or disturbed habitat is hypothesized to be responsible for this phenomenon. We conducted a study using standardized sampling to document …