Life Sciences Commons^™

Machine Learning For Species Habitat Analysis, Abigail Lavallin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Management and conservation initiatives will always be controlled by finite resources, whether financialor temporal. Understanding a species’ spatial ecology, and how its requirements vary across habitats and locations is key to a successful species management plan. During recent decades, it has been noted how many species populations have declined, despite conservation practices working to increase their numbers. The most prevalent impacts affecting fauna populations have come from anthropogenic change in the form of habitat loss and destruction, along with fragmentation, and global climate change. There is a clear need for management practices to now operate on an entire landscape instead …

Pollutants And Foraminiferal Assemblages In Torrecillas Lagoon: An Environmental Micropaleontology Approach, Michael Martinez-Colon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Torrecillas Lagoon in the North Coast of Puerto Rico has experienced extensive anthropogenic influence over the past 400 years. Elevated concentrations of Potential Toxic Elements (PTEs) have been reported in surficial sediments. The main goal of this dissertation was to implement in Puerto Rico the use of benthic foraminifers as a bioindicators of PTEs and to compare the impact of Cu(II) on field samples with results of experimental work using cultures.

Analyses included geochemical assessment for bulk and carbonate- soluble bioavailable concentrations of PTEs in surface, core and pore-water samples, as well as analyses of grain-size, Percent Total Organic Carbon …

Chemical Investigation Of Antarctic Marine Organisms & Their Role In Modern Drug Discovery, Jacqueline Lee Fries

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The chemicals produced by biological systems, whether proteins, peptides, or terpenes, will always provide an intriguing topic for researchers. Invisibly controlling every aspect of nature, these molecules are responsible for life, evolution, and death. Specifically, here is described the secondary metabolites produced by Antarctic marine organisms as well as others, and how they are used to defend or attract other animals while potentially providing health benefits to mankind. This is done through collection, extraction, and separation of individual specimens. The respective mixtures of compounds after isolation are then analyzed via spectroscopic methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, …

Proceedings Of The 2011 International Conference On Karst Hydrogeology And Ecosystems, Jason Samuel Polk, Leslie A. North

Environmental Sustainability Books

Jointly sponsored by the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, the National Cave & Karst Research Institute, and the International Association of Hydrogeologists, the 2011 International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems was held at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucy on 8-10 June 2011. Topics include karst geomorphology, engineering and modeling, isotope geochemistry, and cultural and educational aspects of karst environments.