Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biodiversity

PDF

2015

Discipline
Institution
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 1 - 30 of 33

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

A New Adaptive Landscape: Urbanization As A Strong Evolutionary Force, Lauren Christie Breza Dec 2015

A New Adaptive Landscape: Urbanization As A Strong Evolutionary Force, Lauren Christie Breza

Masters Theses

Urbanization is rapidly increasing as human population growth steadily grows, but there is little consensus of the ecological consequence of this population shift and almost no information of the evolutionary consequences for local biodiversity. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will live in city centers by 2050 with profound impacts on landscapes that can act as important agents of selection. This study aims to identify 1) the net effect of urbanization on species richness, 2) how phylogenetic diversity varies between urban and rural sites, and 3) the strength of urbanization as a selection pressure. First, a meta-analysis was conducted in …


Biogeography And Conservation Of Tidal Marsh Bird Communities Across A Changing Landscape, Maureen D. Correll Dec 2015

Biogeography And Conservation Of Tidal Marsh Bird Communities Across A Changing Landscape, Maureen D. Correll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given the current mass extinction crisis and continued fragmentation of resources worldwide, the outlook is dire for global biodiversity. Rising global temperature, sea levels, and storm frequency all create environmental conditions that can drive change in species abundance and distribution across a landscape. Those species reliant upon a single type of habitat and resource for survival, termed “specialists”, are particularly vulnerable to change due to their inability to utilize a variety of resources well. As a result, specialism is now considered one of the dominant factors determining extinction of species. In this dissertation I explore the effects of disturbance on …


Exploring, Exploiting And Evolving Diversity Of Aquatic Ecosystem Models: A Community Perspective, Annette B.G. Janssen, George B. Arhonditsis, Arthur Beusen, Karsten Bolding, Louise Bruce, Jorn Bruggeman, Raoul-Marie Couture, Andrea S. Downing, J. Alex Elliott, Marieke A. Frassl, Gideon Gal, Daan J. Gerla, Matthew R. Hipsey, Fenjuan Hu, Stephen C. Ives, Jan H. Janse, Erik Jeppesen, Klaus D. Jöhnk, David Kneis, Xiangzhen Kong, Jan J. Kuiper, Moritz K. Lehmann, Carsten Lemmen, Deniz Özkundakci, Thomas Petzoldt, Karsten Rinke, Barbara J. Robson, René Sachse, Sebastiaan A. Schep, Martin Schmid, Huub Scholten, Sven Teurlincx, Dennis Trolle, Tineke A. Troost, Anne A. Van Dam, Luuk P.A. Van Gerven, Mariska Weijerman, Scott A. Wells, Wolf M. Mooij Dec 2015

Exploring, Exploiting And Evolving Diversity Of Aquatic Ecosystem Models: A Community Perspective, Annette B.G. Janssen, George B. Arhonditsis, Arthur Beusen, Karsten Bolding, Louise Bruce, Jorn Bruggeman, Raoul-Marie Couture, Andrea S. Downing, J. Alex Elliott, Marieke A. Frassl, Gideon Gal, Daan J. Gerla, Matthew R. Hipsey, Fenjuan Hu, Stephen C. Ives, Jan H. Janse, Erik Jeppesen, Klaus D. Jöhnk, David Kneis, Xiangzhen Kong, Jan J. Kuiper, Moritz K. Lehmann, Carsten Lemmen, Deniz Özkundakci, Thomas Petzoldt, Karsten Rinke, Barbara J. Robson, René Sachse, Sebastiaan A. Schep, Martin Schmid, Huub Scholten, Sven Teurlincx, Dennis Trolle, Tineke A. Troost, Anne A. Van Dam, Luuk P.A. Van Gerven, Mariska Weijerman, Scott A. Wells, Wolf M. Mooij

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Here, we present a community perspective on how to explore, exploit and evolve the diversity in aquatic ecosystem models. These models play an important role in understanding the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, filling in observation gaps and developing effective strategies for water quality management. In this spirit, numerous models have been developed since the 1970s. We set off to explore model diversity by making an inventory among 42 aquatic ecosystem modellers, by categorizing the resulting set of models and by analysing them for diversity. We then focus on how to exploit model diversity by comparing and combining different aspects of …


Genetic Analyses Determine Connectivity Among Cave And Surface Populations Of The Jamaican Endemic Freshwater Crab Sesarma Fossarum In The Cockpit Country, Manuel Stemmer, Christoph D. Schubart Nov 2015

Genetic Analyses Determine Connectivity Among Cave And Surface Populations Of The Jamaican Endemic Freshwater Crab Sesarma Fossarum In The Cockpit Country, Manuel Stemmer, Christoph D. Schubart

International Journal of Speleology

The Jamaican freshwater crab Sesarma fossarum (Decapoda: Brachyura: Sesarmidae) is endemic to western central Jamaica where it occurs in cave and surface streams of karst regions. In the present study, we examine the population genetic structure of the species, providing evidence for intraspecific differentiation and genetic substructure among twelve sampled populations. Interestingly, crabs from caves appear genetically undistinguishable from representatives of nearby surface waters, despite previously observed and described morphometric differentiation. In contrast, genetic isolation takes place among populations from rivers and caves belonging to different watersheds. In one case, even populations from different tributaries of the same river were …


Regional Evolutionary Distinctiveness And Endangerment As A Means Of Prioritizing Protection Of Endangered Species, Emily K. Brantner Nov 2015

Regional Evolutionary Distinctiveness And Endangerment As A Means Of Prioritizing Protection Of Endangered Species, Emily K. Brantner

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conservation is costly, and choices must be made about where to best allocate limited resources. I propose a regional evolutionary diversity and endangerment (RED-E) approach to prioritization of endangered species. It builds off of the evolutionary diversity and global endangerment (EDGE) approach, but will allow conservation agencies to focus their efforts on species in specific regions. I used the RED-E approach to prioritize mammal and bird species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), as well as to make a ranking of species without ESA critical habitat (CH), as a practical application. Regional conservation approaches differ significantly from global …


Synthesis Of Phylogeny And Taxonomy Into A Comprehensive Tree Of Life, Cody E. Hinchliff, Stephen A. Smith, James F. Allman, J. Gordon Burleigh, Ruchi Chaudhary, Lyndon M. Coghill, Keith A. Crandall, Jiabin Deng, Bryan T. Drew, Romina Gazis, Karl Gude, David S. Hibbett, Laura A. Katz, H. Dail Laughinghouse Iv, Emily Jane Mctavish, Peter E. Midford, Christopher L. Owen, Richard H. Ree, Jonathan A. Rees, Douglas E. Soltis, Tiffani Williams, Karen A. Cranston Oct 2015

Synthesis Of Phylogeny And Taxonomy Into A Comprehensive Tree Of Life, Cody E. Hinchliff, Stephen A. Smith, James F. Allman, J. Gordon Burleigh, Ruchi Chaudhary, Lyndon M. Coghill, Keith A. Crandall, Jiabin Deng, Bryan T. Drew, Romina Gazis, Karl Gude, David S. Hibbett, Laura A. Katz, H. Dail Laughinghouse Iv, Emily Jane Mctavish, Peter E. Midford, Christopher L. Owen, Richard H. Ree, Jonathan A. Rees, Douglas E. Soltis, Tiffani Williams, Karen A. Cranston

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships that unite all line- ages (the tree of life) is a grand challenge. The paucity of homologous character data across disparately related lineages currently renders direct phylogenetic inference untenable. To reconstruct a comprehensive tree of life, we therefore synthesized published phylogenies, together with taxonomic classifications for taxa never incorporated into a phylogeny. We present a draft tree containing 2.3 million tips— the Open Tree of Life. Realization of this tree required the assembly of two additional community resources: (i) a comprehensive global reference taxonomy and (ii) a database of published phylogenetic trees mapped to this taxonomy. …


Status Of Plants In Virginia, Michael H. Renfroe Oct 2015

Status Of Plants In Virginia, Michael H. Renfroe

Virginia Journal of Science

OVERVIEW OF BOTANICAL DIVERSITY

Virginia possesses a unique and varied assemblage of plant life. There are 3,164 species, subspecies and varieties of plants in Virginia (Weakley et al. 2012). As classified by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH), they form some 94 ecological groups and 317 community types across five distinct physiographic provinces: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Appalachian Plateau. The state extends 469 miles from east to west and 201 miles north to south at the widest points, enclosing 42,326 square miles of territory. This diverse range of environmental …


Conservation Planning In A Changing World, Austin Walker Milt Aug 2015

Conservation Planning In A Changing World, Austin Walker Milt

Doctoral Dissertations

As a science and practice dedicated to preventing, stopping, and reversing negative effects on nature, conservation is constantly faced with new challenges. Combine this fact with the rise of large, freely available datasets and computational power, and the result is a need to advance the methods and conceptual approach to conservation planning. In my dissertation I present novel methods and address research questions that aim to keep conservation science and practice relevant and effective in a changing world. This picture of continual change is illustrated in Chapter 1, in which I explore how the ongoing collection of observations of rare …


Rock Creek Restoration Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report, Daniel Bedell Jul 2015

Rock Creek Restoration Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report, Daniel Bedell

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Stream restoration is widely used to rebuild habitat for native fisheries, but it is not well understood how current habitat reconstruction practices affect biological diversity. Citizen Science programs have potential to provide supplemental macroinvertebrate data for effectiveness monitoring of reach-scale restoration projects but variability in training, experience and collection methods can make interpretation difficult. The Clackamas Water Environment Services Watershed Health Education Program (WHEP) is an example of a Citizen Science-based program actively collecting biological data from restored streams. The purpose of this project was to use WHEP student-collected data to detect benthic macroinvertebrate community responses to stream restoration practices. …


The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, Anna Kopf, Mesude Bicak, Renzo Kottman, Julia Schnetzer, Ivaylo Kostadinov, Katja Lehmann, Antonio Fernandez-Guerra, Christian Jeanthon, Eyal Rahav, Matthias Ulrich, Antje Wichels, Gunnar Gerdts, Paraskevi Polymenakou, Giorgos Kotoulas, Rania Siam, Rehab Z. Abdallah, Eva C. Sonnenschein, Thierry Cariou, Fergal O'Gara, Stephen Jackson, Sandi Orlic, Michael Steinke, Julia Busch, Bernardo Duarte, Isabel Caçador, João Canning-Clode, Oleksandra Bobrova, Viggo Marteinsson, Eyjolfur Reynisson, Clara Magalhães Loureiro, Gian Marco Luna, Grazia Marina Quero, Carolin R. Löscher, Anke Kremp, Marie E. Delorenzo, Lise Øvreås, Jennifer Tolman, Julie Laroche, Antonella Penna, Marc Frischer, Timothy Davis, Barker Katherine, Christopher P. Meyer, Sandra Ramos, Catarina Magalhães, Florence Jude-Lemeilleur, Ma Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Shiao Y. Wang, Nicole Poulton, Scott Jones, Rachel Collin, Jed A. Fuhrman, Pascal Conan, Cecilia Alonso, Noga Stambler, Kelly Goodwin, Michael M. Yakimov, Federico Baltar, Levente Bodrossy, Jodie Van De Kamp, Dion Mf Frampton, Martin Ostrowski, Paul Van Ruth, Paul Malthouse, Simon Claus, Klaas Deneudt, Jonas Mortelmans, Sophie Pitois, David Wallom, Ian Salter, Rodrigo Costa, Declan C. Schroeder, Mahrous M. Kandil, Valentina Amaral, Florencia Biancalana, Rafael Santana, Maria Luiza Pedrotti, Takashi Yoshida, Hiroyuki Ogata, Tim Ingleton, Kate Munnik, Naiara Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, Veronique Berteaux-Lecellier, Patricia Wecker, Ibon Cancio, Daniel Valout, Christina Bienhold, Hassan Ghazal, Bouchra Chaouni, Soumya Essayeh, Sara Ettamimi, El Houcine Zaid, Noureddine Boukhatem, Abderrahim Bouali, Rajaa Chahboune, Said Barrijal, Mohammed Timinouni, Fatima El Otmani, Mohamed Bennani, Marianna Mea, Nadezhda Todorova, Ventzislav Karamfilov, Petra Ten Hoopten, Guy Cochrane, Stephanie L'Haridon, Kemal Can Bizel, Alessandro Vezzi, Federico M. Lauro, Patrick Martin, Rachelle M. Jensen, Jamie Hinks, Susan Gebbels, Riccardo Rosselli, Fabio De Pascale, Riccardo Schiavon, Antonina Dos Santos, Emilie Villar, Stéphane Pesant, Bruno Cataletto, Francesca Malfatti, Ranjith Edirisinghe, Jorge A. Herrera Silveira, Michele Barbier, Valentina Turk, Tinkara Tinta, Wayne J. Fuller, Ilkay Salihoglu, Nedime Serakinci, Mahmut Cerkez Ergoren, Eileen Bresnan, Juan Iriberri, Paul Anders Fronth Nyhus, Edvardsen Bente, Hans Erik Karlsen, Peter N. Golyshin, Josep M. Gasol, Snejana Moncheva, Nina Dzhembekova, Zackary Johnson, Christopher Daivd Sinigalliano, Maribeth Louise Gidley, Adriana Zingone, Roberto Danovaro, George Tsiamis, Melody S. Clark, Ana Cristina Costa, Monia El Bour, Ana M. Martins, R. Eric Collins, Anne-Lise Ducluzeau, Jonathan Martinez, Mark J. Costello, Linda A. Amaral-Zettler, Jack A. Gilbert, Neil Davies, Dawn Field, Frank Oliver Glöckner Jun 2015

The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, Anna Kopf, Mesude Bicak, Renzo Kottman, Julia Schnetzer, Ivaylo Kostadinov, Katja Lehmann, Antonio Fernandez-Guerra, Christian Jeanthon, Eyal Rahav, Matthias Ulrich, Antje Wichels, Gunnar Gerdts, Paraskevi Polymenakou, Giorgos Kotoulas, Rania Siam, Rehab Z. Abdallah, Eva C. Sonnenschein, Thierry Cariou, Fergal O'Gara, Stephen Jackson, Sandi Orlic, Michael Steinke, Julia Busch, Bernardo Duarte, Isabel Caçador, João Canning-Clode, Oleksandra Bobrova, Viggo Marteinsson, Eyjolfur Reynisson, Clara Magalhães Loureiro, Gian Marco Luna, Grazia Marina Quero, Carolin R. Löscher, Anke Kremp, Marie E. Delorenzo, Lise Øvreås, Jennifer Tolman, Julie Laroche, Antonella Penna, Marc Frischer, Timothy Davis, Barker Katherine, Christopher P. Meyer, Sandra Ramos, Catarina Magalhães, Florence Jude-Lemeilleur, Ma Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Shiao Y. Wang, Nicole Poulton, Scott Jones, Rachel Collin, Jed A. Fuhrman, Pascal Conan, Cecilia Alonso, Noga Stambler, Kelly Goodwin, Michael M. Yakimov, Federico Baltar, Levente Bodrossy, Jodie Van De Kamp, Dion Mf Frampton, Martin Ostrowski, Paul Van Ruth, Paul Malthouse, Simon Claus, Klaas Deneudt, Jonas Mortelmans, Sophie Pitois, David Wallom, Ian Salter, Rodrigo Costa, Declan C. Schroeder, Mahrous M. Kandil, Valentina Amaral, Florencia Biancalana, Rafael Santana, Maria Luiza Pedrotti, Takashi Yoshida, Hiroyuki Ogata, Tim Ingleton, Kate Munnik, Naiara Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, Veronique Berteaux-Lecellier, Patricia Wecker, Ibon Cancio, Daniel Valout, Christina Bienhold, Hassan Ghazal, Bouchra Chaouni, Soumya Essayeh, Sara Ettamimi, El Houcine Zaid, Noureddine Boukhatem, Abderrahim Bouali, Rajaa Chahboune, Said Barrijal, Mohammed Timinouni, Fatima El Otmani, Mohamed Bennani, Marianna Mea, Nadezhda Todorova, Ventzislav Karamfilov, Petra Ten Hoopten, Guy Cochrane, Stephanie L'Haridon, Kemal Can Bizel, Alessandro Vezzi, Federico M. Lauro, Patrick Martin, Rachelle M. Jensen, Jamie Hinks, Susan Gebbels, Riccardo Rosselli, Fabio De Pascale, Riccardo Schiavon, Antonina Dos Santos, Emilie Villar, Stéphane Pesant, Bruno Cataletto, Francesca Malfatti, Ranjith Edirisinghe, Jorge A. Herrera Silveira, Michele Barbier, Valentina Turk, Tinkara Tinta, Wayne J. Fuller, Ilkay Salihoglu, Nedime Serakinci, Mahmut Cerkez Ergoren, Eileen Bresnan, Juan Iriberri, Paul Anders Fronth Nyhus, Edvardsen Bente, Hans Erik Karlsen, Peter N. Golyshin, Josep M. Gasol, Snejana Moncheva, Nina Dzhembekova, Zackary Johnson, Christopher Daivd Sinigalliano, Maribeth Louise Gidley, Adriana Zingone, Roberto Danovaro, George Tsiamis, Melody S. Clark, Ana Cristina Costa, Monia El Bour, Ana M. Martins, R. Eric Collins, Anne-Lise Ducluzeau, Jonathan Martinez, Mark J. Costello, Linda A. Amaral-Zettler, Jack A. Gilbert, Neil Davies, Dawn Field, Frank Oliver Glöckner

Faculty Publications

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits.


Environmental And Adaptive Buffers That Mediate The Response Of Subalpine Ecosystems To Environmental Change, Lafe G. Conner Jun 2015

Environmental And Adaptive Buffers That Mediate The Response Of Subalpine Ecosystems To Environmental Change, Lafe G. Conner

Student Works

This document reports the results of 4 studies of subalpine ecosystem ecology, describing ways that spatial heterogeneity in soils and plant communities mediate ecosystem responses to environmental change. Ecosystem responses to environmental change are also mediated by regional climate patterns and interannual variability in weather. In the first chapter we report the results of an experiment to test for the mediating effects of associational resistance in a forest community that experienced wide-spread beetle kill. We found that Engelmann spruce were more likely to survive a beetle outbreak when growing in low densities (host dilution) and not through other types of …


Environmental And Adaptive Buffers That Mediate The Response Of Subalpine Ecosystems To Environmental Change, Lafe G. Conner Jun 2015

Environmental And Adaptive Buffers That Mediate The Response Of Subalpine Ecosystems To Environmental Change, Lafe G. Conner

Theses and Dissertations

This document reports the results of 4 studies of subalpine ecosystem ecology, describing ways that spatial heterogeneity in soils and plant communities mediate ecosystem responses to environmental change. Ecosystem responses to environmental change are also mediated by regional climate patterns and interannual variability in weather. In the first chapter we report the results of an experiment to test for the mediating effects of associational resistance in a forest community that experienced wide-spread beetle kill. We found that Engelmann spruce were more likely to survive a beetle outbreak when growing in low densities (host dilution) and not through other types of …


A Molecular And Morphological Investigation Of The Springtail Genus Orchesella (Collembola: Entomobryomorpha: Entomobryidae), Catherine Louise Smith May 2015

A Molecular And Morphological Investigation Of The Springtail Genus Orchesella (Collembola: Entomobryomorpha: Entomobryidae), Catherine Louise Smith

Masters Theses

Chapter 1 is devoted to a molecular overview of the North American members of the springtail genus Orchesella using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Both genes strongly support the presence of four major clades within Orchesella. Chapter 2 is a morphological revision of the species near Orchesella celsa Christiansen & Bellinger. Five new species are described based largely on chaetotaxonomical differences in. Chapter 3 is an investigation into the origins of United States populations of two introduced European members of the genus, Orchesella cincta Linnaeus and Orchesella villosa Linnaeus. Mitochondrial data between populations from the two continents indicates multiple introductions for …


Branching Out: How Virginia Can Strategically Use Trees To Combat Biodiversity Loss, Taylor Pfeiffer Apr 2015

Branching Out: How Virginia Can Strategically Use Trees To Combat Biodiversity Loss, Taylor Pfeiffer

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Biodiversity loss is a particularly concerning effect of climate change because as greenhouse gas emissions increase global temperatures, decreases in the abundance and diversity of species has reduced ecosystem resiliency to these changes (Verchot et al. 2007). Weakened ecosystems and threatened species decrease the environment’s capacity to provide humans with services like safe drinking water, fuel, and protection from natural disasters, just to name a few (US EPA 2013). The agricultural industry plays a unique role in this environmental conversation, as farmland both contributes to climate change and is jeopardized by the negative effects created by the issue in a …


Monitoring Fish Diversity In Massies Creek, Ohio, Connor J. Gilmour, Jenelle C. Krob, Angela Mccain, Mark A. Gathany Apr 2015

Monitoring Fish Diversity In Massies Creek, Ohio, Connor J. Gilmour, Jenelle C. Krob, Angela Mccain, Mark A. Gathany

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

Streams are susceptible to numerous threats to their water quality and biodiversity. In our region of southwest Ohio a major driver of these impacts is associated with current and past agricultural practices. These changes include straightening, embanking, dredging, and removal of large rocks and woody debris, increased erosion, and non-point source pollution. These structural and chemical impacts are known to significantly affect biodiversity in these streams. This means a greater understanding of stream ecology is of utter importance to places such as Greene County, Ohio due to the prevalence of agricultural practices in the landscape. In 2010 a 2.2 mile …


Evolution And Biodiversity, Timothy Henkel, Emily Croteau, Matthew Waters Apr 2015

Evolution And Biodiversity, Timothy Henkel, Emily Croteau, Matthew Waters

Biological Sciences Grants Collections

This Grants Collection for Evolution and Biodiversity was created under a Round Four ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process.

Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials:

  • Linked Syllabus
  • Initial Proposal
  • Final Report


Subsistence Strategies In Traditional Societies Distinguish Gut Microbiomes, Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito, Raul Y. Tito, Jessica Metcalf, Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan, Jose C. Clemente, Luke K. Ursell, Zhenjiang Zech Xu, Will Van Treuren, Rob Knight, Patrick M. Gaffney, Paul Spicer, Paul Lawson, Luis Marin-Reyes, Omar Trujillo-Villarroel, Morris Foster, Emilio Guija-Poma, Luzmila Troncoso-Corzo, Christina Warinner, Andrew T. Ozga, Cecil M. Lewis Jr. Mar 2015

Subsistence Strategies In Traditional Societies Distinguish Gut Microbiomes, Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito, Raul Y. Tito, Jessica Metcalf, Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan, Jose C. Clemente, Luke K. Ursell, Zhenjiang Zech Xu, Will Van Treuren, Rob Knight, Patrick M. Gaffney, Paul Spicer, Paul Lawson, Luis Marin-Reyes, Omar Trujillo-Villarroel, Morris Foster, Emilio Guija-Poma, Luzmila Troncoso-Corzo, Christina Warinner, Andrew T. Ozga, Cecil M. Lewis Jr.

Biology Faculty Articles

Recent studies suggest that gut microbiomes of urban-industrialized societies are different from those of traditional peoples. Here we examine the relationship between lifeways and gut microbiota through taxonomic and functional potential characterization of faecal samples from hunter-gatherer and traditional agriculturalist communities in Peru and an urban-industrialized community from the US. We find that in addition to taxonomic and metabolic differences between urban and traditional lifestyles, hunter-gatherers form a distinct sub-group among traditional peoples. As observed in previous studies, we find that Treponema are characteristic of traditional gut microbiomes. Moreover, through genome reconstruction (2.2–2.5 MB, coverage depth × 26–513) and functional …


A Decline In Benthic Foraminifera Following The Deepwater Horizon Event In The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico, Patrick Schwing, Isabel C. Romero, Gregg R Brooks, David W Hastings, Rebekka A Larson, David Hollander Mar 2015

A Decline In Benthic Foraminifera Following The Deepwater Horizon Event In The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico, Patrick Schwing, Isabel C. Romero, Gregg R Brooks, David W Hastings, Rebekka A Larson, David Hollander

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Sediment cores were collected from three sites (1000-1200 m water depth) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from December 2010 to June 2011 to assess changes in benthic foraminiferal density related to the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) event (April-July 2010, 1500 m water depth). Short-lived radioisotope geochronologies (²¹⁰Pb, ²³⁴Th), organic geochemical assessments, and redox metal concentrations were determined to relate changes in sediment accumulation rate, contamination, and redox conditions with benthic foraminiferal density. Cores collected in December 2010 indicated a decline in density (80-93%). This decline was characterized by a decrease in benthic foraminiferal density and benthic foraminiferal accumulation rate (BFAR) …


Striking The Balance: Challenges And Perspectives For The Protected Areas Network In Northeastern European Russia, Svetlana V. Degteva, Vasily I. Ponomarev, Sasha W. Eisenman, Vyacheslav Dushenkov Jan 2015

Striking The Balance: Challenges And Perspectives For The Protected Areas Network In Northeastern European Russia, Svetlana V. Degteva, Vasily I. Ponomarev, Sasha W. Eisenman, Vyacheslav Dushenkov

Publications and Research

Increasing anthropogenic pressure on the largest remaining tracts of old-growth boreal forest in Europe necessitates additional conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity in northeastern European Russia. In a regional network comprising 8 % of the Nenets Autonomous District and 13.5 % of the Komi Republic, 248 areas have varying protected statuses as state nature reserves (zapovedniks), national parks, reserves/sanctuaries (zakazniks), or natural monuments. Due to increased natural resource extraction in this relatively pristine area, designation of additional protected areas is critical for the protection of key ecological sites. The history of ecological preservation in these regions is herein described, and recent …


Systematics Of The African River Frog Genus Amietia (Anura: Pyxicephalidae) From Eastern Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Thornton Robert Larson Jan 2015

Systematics Of The African River Frog Genus Amietia (Anura: Pyxicephalidae) From Eastern Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Thornton Robert Larson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The African river frog genus Amietia is found near rivers and other lentic water sources throughout central, eastern and southern Africa. Because the genus includes multiple morphologically conservative species, taxonomic studies of river frogs have been limited. We sampled 49 individuals of Amietia from multiple localities in and near the Albertine Rift (AR) of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. We utilized single-gene (16S) and concatenated (12S, 16S, cytochrome b and RAG1) gene-tree analyses and coalescent species-tree analyses to construct phylogenetic trees. Two divergence dating approaches were used in BEAST, including secondary calibration points with 12S, 16S and …


Six New Genus Records For Turkish Pezizales From Gaziantep Province, Abdullah Kaya, Yasi̇n Uzun Jan 2015

Six New Genus Records For Turkish Pezizales From Gaziantep Province, Abdullah Kaya, Yasi̇n Uzun

Turkish Journal of Botany

The genera Hypotarzetta Donadini, Pseudombrophila Boud., Pustularia Bonord., Pyronema Carus, Tricharina Eckblad (Pyronemataceae Corda), and Thecotheus Boud. (Ascobolaceae Boud. Ex Sacc.) are recorded from Turkey for the first time based on the collections of Hypotarzetta insignis (Berthet and Riousset) Donadini, Pseudombrophila merdaria (Fr.) Brumm., Pustularia patavina (Cooke and Sacc.) Boud., Pyronema omphalodes (Bull.: Fr.) Fuckel, Tricharina gilva (Boud. Ex Cooke) Eckblad, and Thecotheus pelletieri (P. Crouan and H. Crouan) Boud., respectively. Short descriptions and photographs of the taxa related to their macro- and micromorphologies are provided.


Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Production (Hanpp) In An Agriculturally-Dominated Watershed, Southeastern Usa, C. Brannon Andersen, R. Kyle Donovan, John Quinn Jan 2015

Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Production (Hanpp) In An Agriculturally-Dominated Watershed, Southeastern Usa, C. Brannon Andersen, R. Kyle Donovan, John Quinn

Biology Publications

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) quantifies alteration of the biosphere caused by land use change and biomass harvest. In global and regional scale assessments, the majority of HANPP is associated with agricultural biomass harvest. We adapted these methods to the watershed scale and calculated land cover change and HANPP in an agricultural watershed in 1968 and 2011. Between 1968 and 2011, forest cover remained near 50% of the watershed, but row crop decreased from 26% to 0.4%, pasture increased from 19% to 32%, and residential area increased from 2% to 10%. Total HANPP decreased from 35% of potential …


Emergent Non-Consumptive Predator Effects Alter Habitat Colonization By Dipteran Prey, Ethan G. Staats Jan 2015

Emergent Non-Consumptive Predator Effects Alter Habitat Colonization By Dipteran Prey, Ethan G. Staats

Theses and Dissertations

When ovipositing, prey organisms avoid habitat patches containing predator cues because predators consume, and negatively affect the fitness of their prey. Richness of predator species often enhances the strength of consumptive predator effects, but little is known about how multiple predators combined affect prey non-consumptively. We quantified dipteran colonization in aquatic mesocosms in response to varied predator richness. Multiple predator species combined reduced oviposition by Culex mosquitoes, chironomid midges, and the general colonizing dipteran community more than predicted by the effects of the independent predator species. Previous research which quantifies effects of multiple predators on prey as prey abundance, but …


Evolution, Systematics & Geographic Parthenogenesis Of Ilyodromus (Crustacea, Ostracoda), Rylan James Shearn Jan 2015

Evolution, Systematics & Geographic Parthenogenesis Of Ilyodromus (Crustacea, Ostracoda), Rylan James Shearn

Theses

Most multicellular organisms reproduce sexually at some point in their life cycle. This is paradoxical because being asexual is theoretically far more advantageous. Asexual organisms do not need to find and court new mates, they reproduce at a faster rate, and with no males, all members of the population contribute toward population growth rate. With over 20, often mutually exclusive hypotheses, this paradox resists a synthesised explanation, and continues to represent one of the largest gaps in our understanding of fundamental evolutionary theory. Clearly, more real world studies are required that document the selective mechanisms underlying differences in evolutionary fitness …


Master's Project: An Ecological Assessment Of Backcountry Ski Trails At Bolton Backcountry In Bolton, Vt, Kathryn T. Wrigley Jan 2015

Master's Project: An Ecological Assessment Of Backcountry Ski Trails At Bolton Backcountry In Bolton, Vt, Kathryn T. Wrigley

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) acquired the 1,144-acre Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry Ski Trails Parcel in 2013. Backcountry skiing is a fast growing sport in Vermont and FPR is currently working on a management strategy for this new use. My project seeks to inform FPR's long-term management plan of the Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry Ski Trail Parcel as well as provide information for state-level planning.

My primary goal was an ecological assessment of gladed ski trails on wildlife habitat suitability. I used United States Fish and Wildlife Habitat Suitability Indexes as well as primary …


Lichen Monitoring Delineates Biodiversity On A Great Barrier Reef Coral Cay, Paul C. Rogers, Roderick W. Rogers, Anne Hedrich, Patrick T. Moss Jan 2015

Lichen Monitoring Delineates Biodiversity On A Great Barrier Reef Coral Cay, Paul C. Rogers, Roderick W. Rogers, Anne Hedrich, Patrick T. Moss

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Coral islands around the world are threatened by changing climates. Rising seas, drought, and increased tropical storms are already impacting island ecosystems. We aim to better understand lichen community ecology of coral island forests. We used an epiphytic lichen community survey to gauge Pisonia (Pisonia grandis R.BR.), which dominates forest conditions on Heron Island, Australia. Nine survey plots were sampled for lichen species presence and abundance, all tree diameters and species, GPS location, distance to forest-beach edge, and dominant forest type. Results found only six unique lichens and two lichen associates. A Multi-Response Permutation Procedures (MRPP) test found statistically distinct …


Taxonomic Studies On Some New Fungal Records From Trabzon, Turkey, Ertuğrul Sesli̇, Pierre-Arthur Moreau Jan 2015

Taxonomic Studies On Some New Fungal Records From Trabzon, Turkey, Ertuğrul Sesli̇, Pierre-Arthur Moreau

Turkish Journal of Botany

Basidiomes of Alnicola subconspersa (Kühner ex P.D. Orton) Bon, Amanita pachyvolvata (Bon) Krieglst., Cortinarius azureus Fr., Cortinarius vernus H. Lindstr. And Melot, Melanogaster variegatus (Vittad.) Tul. And C. Tul., Paxillus ammoniavirescens Contu and Dessì, and Paxillus cuprinus P. Jargeat, H. Gryta, J.P. Chaumeton and A. Vizzini were reported for the first time for the Turkish mycota from Trabzon. Plant species, possible mycorrhizal relationships, and superficial morphologic structures were noted and photos were taken in situ in the collection area. The samples were brought to the laboratory and dried for future microscopic studies. Basidiospores, cystidia, basidia, marginal cells, and pileipellis of …


Ecological Drivers And Habitat Associations Of Estuarine Bivalves, C. Seabird Mckeon, Björn G. Tunberg, Cora A. Johnston, Daniel J. Barshis Jan 2015

Ecological Drivers And Habitat Associations Of Estuarine Bivalves, C. Seabird Mckeon, Björn G. Tunberg, Cora A. Johnston, Daniel J. Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Community composition of the infaunal bivalve fauna of the St. Lucie Estuary and southern Indian River Lagoon, eastern Florida was sampled quarterly for 10 years as part of a long-term benthic monitoring program. A total of 38,514 bivalves of 137 taxa were collected and identified. We utilized this data, along with sediment samples and environmental measurements gathered concurrently, to assess the community composition, distribution, and ecological drivers of the infaunal bivalves of this estuary system. Salinity had the strongest influence on bivalve assemblage across the 15 sites, superseding the influences of sediment type, water turbidity, temperature and other environmental parameters. …


Expanding The Understanding Of A Forest Ectomycorrhizal Community By Combining Root Tips And Fruiting Bodies: A Case Study Of Tuber Magnatum Stands, Giorgio Lalli, Marco Leonardi, Marilena Oddis, Giovanni Pacioni, Elena Salerni, Mirco Iotti, Alessandra Zambonelli Jan 2015

Expanding The Understanding Of A Forest Ectomycorrhizal Community By Combining Root Tips And Fruiting Bodies: A Case Study Of Tuber Magnatum Stands, Giorgio Lalli, Marco Leonardi, Marilena Oddis, Giovanni Pacioni, Elena Salerni, Mirco Iotti, Alessandra Zambonelli

Turkish Journal of Botany

A survey of both ectomycorrhizal (ECM) root tips and fruiting bodies of ECM fungi was carried out during a four-year period (2009-2012) in two similar forest stands in central Italy, previously investigated in detail being habitats of the Italian white truffle Tuber magnatum Pico. This research is one of the few conducted in mixed forest stands and, for the first time, it took into account the cryptic fungi (corticiaceous, hypogeous, and sclerotia). This survey led to an exhaustive description of the ECM community by integrating all the 197 taxa recorded (147 species as fruiting bodies, 65 as ectomycorrhizas, and 15 …


Contributions To The Macrofungal Diversity Of Atatürk Dam Lake Basin, Abdullah Kaya Jan 2015

Contributions To The Macrofungal Diversity Of Atatürk Dam Lake Basin, Abdullah Kaya

Turkish Journal of Botany

This study was carried out on macrofungi samples collected from Atatürk Dam Lake basin, especially from the southern coasts, within the boundaries of Şanlıurfa province between 2003 and 2013. A total of 122 taxa belonging to 38 families were identified. Six of them are new for the mycobiota of Turkey. Sowerbyella rhenana (Fuckel) J. Moravec is new at the genus level, while Peziza pseudoviolacea Donadini, Peziza ripensis E.C. Hansen, Cheilymenia theleboloides (Alb. & Schwein.) Boud., Galeropsis desertorum Velen. & Dvorak, and Tulostoma melanocyclum Bres. are new at species level.