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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Adjustment And Optimization Of The Cropping Systems Under Water Constraint, Pingli An, Wei Ren, Xiliin Liu, Mengmei Song, Xuemin Li Nov 2016

Adjustment And Optimization Of The Cropping Systems Under Water Constraint, Pingli An, Wei Ren, Xiliin Liu, Mengmei Song, Xuemin Li

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

The water constraint on agricultural production receives growing concern with the increasingly sharp contradiction between demand and supply of water resources. How to mitigate and adapt to potential water constraint is one of the key issues for ensuring food security and achieving sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change. It has been suggested that adjustment and optimization of cropping systems could be an effective measure to improve water management and ensure food security. However, a knowledge gap still exists in how to quantify potential water constraint and how to select appropriate cropping systems. Here, we proposed a concept of …


Influence Of Source Credibility On Consumer Acceptance Of Genetically Modified Foods In China, Mingyang Zhang, Chao Chen, Wuyang Hu, Lijun Chen, Jintao Zhan Sep 2016

Influence Of Source Credibility On Consumer Acceptance Of Genetically Modified Foods In China, Mingyang Zhang, Chao Chen, Wuyang Hu, Lijun Chen, Jintao Zhan

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper examines the reasoning mechanism behind the consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods (GMFs) in China, and investigates influence of source credibility on consumer acceptance of GMFs. Based on the original Persuasion Model—which was developed by Carl Hovland, an American psychologist and pioneer in the study of communication and its effect on attitudes and beliefs—we conducted a survey using multistage sampling from 1167 urban residents, which were proportionally selected from six cities in three economic regions (south, central, and north) in the Jiangsu province through face to face interviews. Mixed-process regression that could correct endogeneity and ordered probit model …


Assessment Of Streamside Management Zones For Conserving Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities Following Timber Harvest In Eastern Kentucky Headwater Catchments, Joshua K. Adkins, Christopher D. Barton, Scott Grubbs, Jeffrey W. Stringer, Randall K. Kolka Jun 2016

Assessment Of Streamside Management Zones For Conserving Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities Following Timber Harvest In Eastern Kentucky Headwater Catchments, Joshua K. Adkins, Christopher D. Barton, Scott Grubbs, Jeffrey W. Stringer, Randall K. Kolka

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Headwater streams generally comprise the majority of stream area in a watershed and can have a strong influence on downstream food webs. Our objective was to determine the effect of altering streamside management zone (SMZ) configurations on headwater aquatic insect communities. Timber harvests were implemented within six watersheds in eastern Kentucky. The SMZ configurations varied in width, canopy retention and best management practice (BMP) utilization at the watershed scale. Benthic macroinvertebrate samples collected one year before and four years after harvest indicated few differences among treatments, although post-treatment abundance was elevated in some of the treatment streams relative to the …


Are Consumers Willing To Pay More For Sustainable Products? A Study Of Eco-Labeled Tuna Steak, Guzhen Zhou, Wuyang Hu, Wenchao Huang May 2016

Are Consumers Willing To Pay More For Sustainable Products? A Study Of Eco-Labeled Tuna Steak, Guzhen Zhou, Wuyang Hu, Wenchao Huang

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

A high demand for seafood leads to overfishing, harms the long-term health of seafood stocks, and threatens environmental sustainability in oceans. Sustainability certification is one of the major sustainability movements and is known as eco-labeling. For instance, in the tuna industry, leading tuna brands have committed to protecting sea turtles by allowing the tracing of the source of their tuna “from catch to can.” This paper relies on an Internet survey on consumers from Kentucky conducted in July 2010. The survey investigates household-level tuna steak (sashimi grade) consumption and examines consumer preferences for eco-labeling (“Certified Turtle Safe” (CTS) in this …


Quantitative Evidence For The Effects Of Multiple Drivers On Continental-Scale Amphibian Declines, Evan H. Campbell Grant, David A. W. Miller, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Michael J. Adams, Staci M. Amburgey, Thierry Chambert, Sam S. Cruickshank, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Maxwell B. Joseph, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse, Maureen E. Ryan, J. Hardin Waddle, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Andrew M. Ray, David S. Pilliod, Steven J. Price, Daniel Saenz, Walt Sadinski, Erin Muths May 2016

Quantitative Evidence For The Effects Of Multiple Drivers On Continental-Scale Amphibian Declines, Evan H. Campbell Grant, David A. W. Miller, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Michael J. Adams, Staci M. Amburgey, Thierry Chambert, Sam S. Cruickshank, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Maxwell B. Joseph, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse, Maureen E. Ryan, J. Hardin Waddle, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Andrew M. Ray, David S. Pilliod, Steven J. Price, Daniel Saenz, Walt Sadinski, Erin Muths

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Since amphibian declines were first proposed as a global phenomenon over a quarter century ago, the conservation community has made little progress in halting or reversing these trends. The early search for a “smoking gun” was replaced with the expectation that declines are caused by multiple drivers. While field observations and experiments have identified factors leading to increased local extinction risk, evidence for effects of these drivers is lacking at large spatial scales. Here, we use observations of 389 time-series of 83 species and complexes from 61 study areas across North America to test the effects of 4 of the …


Genetic Engineering And Sustainable Crop Disease Management: Opportunities For Case-By-Case Decision-Making, Paul Vincelli May 2016

Genetic Engineering And Sustainable Crop Disease Management: Opportunities For Case-By-Case Decision-Making, Paul Vincelli

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Genetic engineering (GE) offers an expanding array of strategies for enhancing disease resistance of crop plants in sustainable ways, including the potential for reduced pesticide usage. Certain GE applications involve transgenesis, in some cases creating a metabolic pathway novel to the GE crop. In other cases, only cisgenessis is employed. In yet other cases, engineered genetic changes can be so minimal as to be indistinguishable from natural mutations. Thus, GE crops vary substantially and should be evaluated for risks, benefits, and social considerations on a case-by-case basis. Deployment of GE traits should be with an eye towards long-term sustainability; several …


Photocatalytic Reduction Of Fumarate To Succinate On Zns Mineral Surfaces, Ruixin Zhou, Marcelo I. Guzman Apr 2016

Photocatalytic Reduction Of Fumarate To Succinate On Zns Mineral Surfaces, Ruixin Zhou, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle is an important central biosynthetic pathway that fixes CO2 into carboxylic acids. Among the five reductive steps in the rTCA cycle, the two-electron reduction of fumarate to succinate proceeds nonenzymatically on the surface of photoexcited sphalerite (ZnS) colloids suspended in water. This model reaction is chosen to systematically study the surface photoprocess occurring on ZnS in the presence of [Na2S] (1–10 mM) hole scavenger at 15 °C. Experiments at variable pH (5–10) indicate that monodissociated fumaric acid is the primary electron acceptor forming the monoprotic form of succinic acid. The following …


Comparison Of Protein Phosphatase Inhibition Assay With Lc-Ms/Ms For Diagnosis Of Microcystin Toxicosis In Veterinary Cases, Caroline E. Moore, Jeanette Juan, Yanping Lin, Cynthia L. Gaskill, Birgit Puschner Mar 2016

Comparison Of Protein Phosphatase Inhibition Assay With Lc-Ms/Ms For Diagnosis Of Microcystin Toxicosis In Veterinary Cases, Caroline E. Moore, Jeanette Juan, Yanping Lin, Cynthia L. Gaskill, Birgit Puschner

Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Faculty Publications

Microcystins are acute hepatotoxins of increasing global concern in drinking and recreational waters and are a major health risk to humans and animals. Produced by cyanobacteria, microcystins inhibit serine/threonine protein phosphatase 1 (PP1). A cost-effective PP1 assay using p-nitrophenyl phosphate was developed to quickly assess water and rumen content samples. Significant inhibition was determined via a linear model, which compared increasing volumes of sample to the log-transformed ratio of the exposed rate over the control rate of PP1 activity. To test the usefulness of this model in diagnostic case investigations, samples from two veterinary cases were tested. In August …


Effects Of Chemical Amendments To Swine Manure On Runoff Quality, Elizabeth L. Bullock, Dwayne R. Edwards, Phillip A. Moore Jr., Richard S. Gates Jan 2016

Effects Of Chemical Amendments To Swine Manure On Runoff Quality, Elizabeth L. Bullock, Dwayne R. Edwards, Phillip A. Moore Jr., Richard S. Gates

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Land-applied swine manure can be an environmental concern when runoff losses of manure constituents occur. The use of chemical amendments to mitigate these losses has been investigated for poultry litter, but materials such as swine manure have received less attention in this context, particularly at the plot scale or larger. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the impacts of aluminum sulfate (alum; Al2(SO4)3), aluminum chloride (AlCl3), and ferric chloride (FeCl3) addition on runoff of selected constituents of land-applied swine manure. Manure was collected from feeder pigs fed a …


Effects Of Mountaintop Removal Mining On Population Dynamics Of Stream Salamanders, Sara B. Freytag Jan 2016

Effects Of Mountaintop Removal Mining On Population Dynamics Of Stream Salamanders, Sara B. Freytag

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a notorious stressor of stream ecosystems in the Central Appalachians. Valley fills (VF) lead to reduced occupancy, abundance, and species richness of stream salamanders. Multiple factors may be responsible for these reductions, but specifically habitat fragmentation and degradation may reduce colonization rates and increase local extinction rates. From 2013-2015, repeated counts of salamanders were conducted in stream reaches impacted by MTR/VF and compared to counts in reference reaches to answer the question: do stream salamander population dynamics differ between stream reaches impacted by MTR/VF and reference stream reaches? I also investigated dynamics of stream habitat …


Effects Of Epichloë Coenophiala−Tall Fescue Symbiosis On Plant-Microbe-Soil Interactions In A Temperate Pasture, Lindsey C. Slaughter Jan 2016

Effects Of Epichloë Coenophiala−Tall Fescue Symbiosis On Plant-Microbe-Soil Interactions In A Temperate Pasture, Lindsey C. Slaughter

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Plants interact in myriad ways with microorganisms to influence ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, which can regulate ecosystem response to global change. One important plant-microbe symbiosis occurs between cool-season grasses and asexual fungal Epichloë endophytes, such as tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) and Epichloë coenophiala. Because the common toxic strain of the endophyte (CTE) harms grazing livestock, non-livestock toxic endophyte (NTE) strains have been developed and are increasingly deployed in pastures. Little is known about how these symbioses impact other plant-microbe interactions and microbe-mediated soil processes in grassland ecosystems. I conducted three studies to determine how E. …


Ecology Of Two Reintroduced Black Bear Populations In The Central Appalachians, Sean Mccarthy Murphy Jan 2016

Ecology Of Two Reintroduced Black Bear Populations In The Central Appalachians, Sean Mccarthy Murphy

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Reintroduced populations are vulnerable to demographic and environmental stochasticity, deleterious genetic effects, and reduced population fitness, all of which can increase extinction probability. Population viability is principle to determining the status of reintroduced populations and for guiding management decisions. To attempt to reestablish black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in the central Appalachians, two reintroductions using small founder groups occurred during the 1990s in the Big South Fork area along the Kentucky-Tennessee border (BSF) and in the Jefferson National Forest along the Kentucky-Virginia border (KVP). My objectives were to estimate demographic and genetic parameters, and to evaluate long-term viability …