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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Is Immediate Flexibility Present In A Vocal Mimic, The Gray Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis), Across An Urban Gradient?, Shannon K. Eppert Aug 2021

Is Immediate Flexibility Present In A Vocal Mimic, The Gray Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis), Across An Urban Gradient?, Shannon K. Eppert

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Increasing urbanization has increased anthropogenic noise levels near developed areas. Urban noise is high amplitude and low-frequency, and these frequencies can overlap with the signals animals use to communicate, including bird songs. Many urban birds sing higher minimum frequencies in urban areas, which avoids some masking by noise, but the mechanism behind this difference is not well understood. Immediate flexibility is the ability to alter song in real-time in the presence of sudden noise, allowing for avoidance of masking and better signal transmission. I investigated if male catbirds increased signal transmission in the presence of anthropogenic versus high-frequency noise playback …


A Living City: Food Accessibility And Urban Growth In New York City, Kat Coleman May 2021

A Living City: Food Accessibility And Urban Growth In New York City, Kat Coleman

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper examines the way in which food equity and localization initiatives, specifically in New York City, are a vital response to urban growth and sustainable food demand. Improvements to the current food system in the form of changing the way food is produced, procured, stored, transported, and distributed improves nutrition and contributes to urban sustainability. Chapter 1 provides data on urban environmental justice issues related to food equity, drawing on research from the United Nations and food justice organizations in New York City. Chapter 2 explores the ethical issues surrounding food access and food justice in an increasingly urban …


The Effects Of Urbanization On The Avian Gut Microbiome, Mae Berlow May 2021

The Effects Of Urbanization On The Avian Gut Microbiome, Mae Berlow

Doctoral Dissertations

The gut microbiome influences and is influenced by the host, and can affect the host organism by contributing to health, development and immunity. Similarly, the host can influence this community; it’s makeup can vary with host species, locality, diet, social stressors, and environmental stressors. Some of these environmental stressors have arisen due to human-induced rapid environmental change, like urbanization. The physiology and behaviors of organisms that are able to persist in urban environments are often different from their non-urban congeners. Nutrition, development, and immunity—all of which are affected by the gut microbiome—are important factors that can determine survival in urban …


The Effects Of Urbanization On Insect Morphology: A Meta-Analysis, Evann L. Bailey May 2021

The Effects Of Urbanization On Insect Morphology: A Meta-Analysis, Evann L. Bailey

Honors Theses

Urbanization has been shown to create a rapid change in the environment as you move from rural areas to urban areas. It can create a multitude of effects on the environment. Some examples include, land disturbance, pollution, increasing temperatures and a disturbance in vegetation and biodiversity. Insects are useful organisms that provide maintenance and upkeep for ecosystem functioning. The rapid development of urbanization and how it is changing the environment may impact insect morphology. Measuring morphological change in organisms have been used successfully as indicators of environmental and ecological disturbance. Changes that take place in an insect’s morphology may indicate …


Spatial And Demographic Patterns Of Two Threatened Turtle Species In An Urban Environment, Carly E. Brouwers Apr 2021

Spatial And Demographic Patterns Of Two Threatened Turtle Species In An Urban Environment, Carly E. Brouwers

Masters Theses

Urban development is a global threat to native wildlife. The process of urbanization reduces and degrades the useable habitat of a region, and creates novel “urban ecosystems” that possess new threats and stressors to local species. Turtles are one of the most threatened vertebrate groups worldwide, and are particularly at risk of decline in urban ecosystems due to reduced nesting success, increased road mortality events, altered movement patterns, and increased predation rates. Eastern box and Blanding’s turtles are two at-risk turtle species in the state of Michigan, USA, primarily due to land use change. Presently, there are urban populations of …


Comparing Semi-Urban And Forest Populations Of The Jalisco Mud Turtle (Kinosternon Chimalhuaca), Jose Garrido Jan 2021

Comparing Semi-Urban And Forest Populations Of The Jalisco Mud Turtle (Kinosternon Chimalhuaca), Jose Garrido

All Master's Theses

Mud turtles (family Kinosternidae) are primarily threatened by climate change, overexploitation, and land development. To survive in increasingly urbanized and arid regions, mud turtles often inhabit man-made water sources such as cattle troughs and irrigation ditches. These bodies of water are critical in urban habitat where they may offer some of the last remaining refugia; however, the effect of these conditions on population structure is poorly understood. The Jalisco mud turtle (Kinosternon chimalhuaca) was described in 1997 from a small range south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Since its description, critical ecological research has remained largely nonexistent, hindering …