Life Sciences | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

Multi-Type Branching Processes In Time-Varying Environments, Arash Jamshidpey

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Exploring The Evolution Of Altruistic Punishment Using A Pde Model For Multilevel Selection, Daniel Cooney

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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An Algorithm Of Aesthetics: The Mathematical Beauty Of Type-B Turing Pattern Development In Monkeyflowers, Clara A. Rinker, Emily S.G. Simmons, Joshua R. Puzey, Gregory D. Conradi Smith

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Decoding Immune Cell Navigation: Integrating Artificial Life Modeling With Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics, Sadegh Marzban

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Monotypic: Evolution And Adaptations Of The World's Most Distinctive Species, Emerson Harman, Amanda Almon

STEM Student Research Symposium Posters

"Monotypic: Evolution and Adaptations of the World’s Most Distinctive Species" is a BFA and Honors Capstone exhibition focused on introducing the public to the unique qualities of plants and animals that are the sole extant representative of their taxonomic family or higher classification. The exhibition is centered around the use of illustrative infographics to effectively deliver scientific information in an engaging manner to a wide audience. "Monotypic" explores the individual evolutionary adaptations that make each of these lineages so distinct from any of their living relatives while also touching on the interactions with their environments, relationships with other species, and …

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In-Silico Analysis For Structural And Functional Characterization Of Phosphorus-Starvation Tolerance 1 (Pstol1) Gene, Quratulain Mehdi Khan, Muhammad Aqeel, Maryam Murtaza, Wajya Ajmal, Muhammad Uzair, Sajid Fiaz, Kotb A. Attia, Asmaa M. Abushady, Itoh Kimiko, Muhammad Ramzan Khan, Ghulam Muhammad Ali

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

As an important macro element for all living cells, phosphorus is essential in agricultural production systems as well and is required in large quantities by elite varieties of crops to maintain yields. Approximately 70% of worldwide cultivated land suffers from phosphorous deficiency, and it has recently been estimated that worldwide phosphorous resources will be shattered by the end of this century thus increasing the demand for crops to be more efficient in their P usage. A greater understanding of how plants can maintain yield with lower phosphorous availability is highly desirable to both breeders and farmers, therefore, significant to develop …

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Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 30. Wallace A Theist? Part I., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823−1913) has been portrayed as a ‘theist’ on a large number of occasions from his own time on to the present. In this, the first of a two part work, this assessment is questioned. In part one, the matter of Wallace’s personal philosophy and spiritual orientation is explored, the conclusion being that Wallace was a lifelong agnostic who can hardly be aligned with theism.

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The Evolution And Development Of Awns In The Grass Subfamily Pooideae, Erin L. Patterson

Doctoral Dissertations

This research focuses on a specific example of replicated evolution: the grass awn. Awns are typically extensions of the lemma, but may also appear on glumes or paleas. The lemma is a leaf-like organ on the exterior of the grass flower, the glumes are a pair of bracts subtending the basic unit of grass inflorescences, the spikelet, and the palea is the floral organ opposite the lemma. Awns are often described as "hair-" or "bristle-" like, but appear in many different shapes. Many awns are “twisted & geniculate", in which the awn has two sections, a lower twisted column, and …

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Evolution In Segregating Genotype Mixtures Of Subterranean Clover, P.G. H. Nichols, P S. Cocks

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

A complex segregating mixture of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.), was sown in 1978 at Nabawa and Mt Barker, two contrasting sites in Western Australia. Seed harvested from both sites from 1980-1994 was grown out at Shenton Park in 1995, along with seed of the original mixture. Populations diverged markedly for mean days to first flowering (DFF) within three seasons. No further trends in mean DFF occurred in plants derived from the next 14 years, although standard deviation declined significantly in plants from Mt Barker. Between season differences in mean DFF were correlated with estimated growing season length at …

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Relationships Among Some Lolium And Festuca Species, G Charmet, F Balfourier, C Ravel

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Molecular markers were used to investigate phylogenetic relationships among the 8 species of ryegrass (Lolium) and 11 species of fescue (Festuca). Nine sequences of non-coding chloroplastic or mitochondrial DNA were amplified through PCR, then digested by 20 restriction enzymes. Restriction sites data were used to draw an UPGMA tree. The main features are: 1) a clear-cut distinction between fine-leaved fescues (subg. Festuca) and broad-leaved fescues (subg. Schedonorus), which include the ryegrasses. 2) among the broad-leaved fescues, meadow fescue and tall fescue are very closely related, which may indicate that they share a common maternal …

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Sulfur Assimilation Using Gaseous Carbonyl Sulfideby The Soil Fungus Trichoderma Harzianum, Ryuka Iizuka, Shohei Hattori, Yusuke Kosaka, Yoshihito Masaki, Yusuke Kawano, Iwao Ohtsu, David Hibbett, Yoko Katayama, Makoto Yoshida

Biology

Fungi have the capacity to assimilate a diverse range of both inorganic and organic sulfur compounds. It has been recognized that all sulfur sources taken up by fungi are in soluble forms. In this study, we present evidence that fungi can utilize gaseous carbonyl sulfide(COS) for the assimilation of a sulfur compound. We found that the filamentousfungus Trichoderma harzianum strain THIF08, which has constitutively high COS-degrading activity, was able to grow with COS as the sole sulfur source. Cultivation with 34S-labeled COS revealed that sulfur atom from COS was incorporated into intracellular metabolites such as glutathione and ergothioneine. COS degradation …

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Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Internal Transcribed Sequences (Its) As Dna Barcodes To Estimate Fungal Diversity, Jailisa Linares

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Universal phylogenetic markers such as the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed sequences (ITS), specifically ITS1 and ITS2, are routinely used to estimate fungal diversity in environmental samples. However, numerous studies report differences in the performance and efficacy of ITS1 and ITS2 in documenting fungal diversity. To better understand the implications of using ITS1 versus ITS2, a comprehensive representation of the diverse fungal taxa was necessary to conduct a meta-analysis of their use across multiple fungal taxa. In order to address this, a thorough literature review was conducted to compare and contrast the use of ITS1 and ITS2 as effective DNA barcodes. …

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Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 27. When Wallace Broke With Darwin., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The year 1866 was the first year Alfred Russel Wallace showed definite signs of breaking with Darwin over the limits of natural selection. Attention is drawn to a July 1866 exchange of letters between the two, and how this foreshadowed what followed.

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Overcoming Genetic Paucity Of Camelina Sativa: Possibilities For Interspecific Hybridization Conditioned By The Genus Evolution Pathway, Rostyslav Y. Blume, Ruslan Kalendar, Liang Guo, Edgar B. Cahoon, Yaroslav B. Blume

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty and Staff Publications

Camelina or false flax (Camelina sativa) is an emerging oilseed crop and a feedstock for biofuel production. This species is believed to originate from Western Asian and Eastern European regions, where the center of diversity of the Camelina genus is located. Cultivated Camelina species arose via a series of polyploidization events, serving as bottlenecks narrowing genetic diversity of the species. The genetic paucity of C. sativa is foreseen as the most crucial limitation for successful breeding and improvement of this crop. A potential solution to this challenge could be gene introgression from Camelina wild species or from …

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Phylogeographic History Of The Leaf-Eared Mouse, Phyllotis Xanthopygus Complex, Tabitha R. Mcfarland

Biology ETDs

Museum collections provide essential biodiversity sampling needed to understand the species limits, phylogeny, and biogeographic history of mammals, all key features of the foundation for comparative analyses in ecology and evolution. We add to this framework a diverse assemblage of species of leaf-eared mice (genus Phyllotis) in South America and then focus on the Phyllotis xanthopygus complex by combining available mitochondrial sequence (cytochrome b; cytb) data (351 GenBank samples) with 52 newly sequenced museum samples from the northern extent of this complex’s range (51 from Bolivia and 1 from northern Chile) to reconstruct evolutionary relationships using maximum …

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The Evolution Of Transposable Elements As Cis-Regulatory Elements In Mammals, Alan Y. Du

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic elements that make up a large proportion of mammalian genomes. Although TEs are highly prevalent genomic sequences, they have been understudied as they were once labeled as “junk DNA.” Despite their initial status as simple genomic parasites, recent studies have implicated TEs as cis-regulatory elements, supplying promoters, enhancers, and boundary elements. Functional testing of regulatory activity, however, remains a significant bottleneck. Nonetheless, due to their repetitive nature, TEs provide a unique model to examine the evolution of cis-regulatory elements, which has traditionally been difficult to study due to lack of homology at the sequence …

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Morphological Trait Evolution In Solanum (Solanaceae): Evolutionary Lability Of Key Taxonomic Characters, Rebecca Hilgenhof, Edeline Gagnon, Sandra Knapp, Xavier Aubriot, Eric Tepe, Lynn Bohs, Leandro Giacomin, Yuri Gouvea, Andres Orejuela, Christopher T. Martine, Clara Ines Orozco, Iris E. Peralta, Tina Sarkinen

Faculty Journal Articles

Solanum is one of the world's largest and economically most important plant genera, including 1245 currently accepted species and several major and minor crops (e.g., tomato, potato, brinjal eggplant, scarlet eggplant, Gboma eggplant, lulo, and pepino). Here we provide an overview of the evolution of 25 key morphological traits for the major and minor clades of this giant genus based on stochastic mapping using a well-sampled recently published phylogeny of Solanum. The most evolutionarily labile traits (showing >100 transitions across the genus) relate to plant structure (growth form and sympodial unit structure), herbivore defence (glandular trichomes), pollination (corolla shape …

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Diversity, Function, And Phenotypic Plasticity Of Cryptophyte Phycobiliproteins, Kristiaän Merritt

Theses and Dissertations

Cryptophytes are a group of unicellular eukaryotic algae that can be found in a wide range of underwater habitats. Part of their ecological success can be attributed to their diverse array of cryptophyte phycobiliproteins (Cr-PBPs), a pigment class that captures wavelengths of light that are poorly absorbed by chlorophylls. Cryptophytes gained photosynthesis via secondary endosymbiosis in which their ancestor engulfed a red algal endosymbiont. Following endosymbiosis, they deconstructed the red algal photosynthetic machinery to form the Cr-PBP. Since then, the Cr-PBPs have diversified into at least 9 spectrally distinct forms. I investigated the diversity of Cr-PBP light absorption across 76 …

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Effect Of Stocking Rates On Plant Morphology In The Inner Mongolia Steppe Of China, Shiping Wang, Y. F. Wang, Z. Z. Chen, Bob Patton, Paul Nyren

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

During the long period of co-evolution with herbivores, range plants have adapted and developed resistant mechanisms in response to grazing (Briske, 1991). The objective of this experiment was to determine the morphological response of a number of the dominant plant species in the Inner Mongolia steppe of China to stocking rate.

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Bio 013: Writing In The Sciences - Human Origins, Esther Muehlbauer

Open Educational Resources

Bio. 013: Writing in the Sciences - Human Origins is an OER syllabus for a College Writing 2 course that develops student writing for different audiences, following the trajectory of how scientists work: Scientists Writing for themselves (a field journal); Scientists writing for other scientists (a review article); Scientists writing for society (an essay for Natural History Magazine).

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Machine Kinship: The Impossible Duet, Diana Sanchez

Masters Theses

Machine Kinship: The impossible duet What does it mean to vanish from earth when you are the last of your kind? In 1987 the Kauai OO was recorded singing his final song. It was meant to be a duet, but as the last of his kind his song hangs in the air, unanswered. The other half of the duet is forever lost. Built to sing at dawn, birds must wake up earlier to hear each other before human chaos interferes. So here, it is always almost sunrise. As a parallel past-future response, the last birdsong was fed into a machine …

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Illuminating The Drivers Of Genomic Diversification In Lamprologine Cichlids Of The Lower Congo River, Naoko P. Kurata

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Freshwater fishes are extraordinarily diverse, considering their available habitats represent a tiny proportion of the earth’s surface. Rivers connect heterogeneous habitats in a linear form and provide excellent simplified models to understand how aquatic biodiversity evolves. In particular, the lower Congo River (LCR) in west Central Africa consists of a dynamic hydroscape exhibiting extraordinary aquatic biodiversity, endemicity, and morphological and ecological specialization. This system is thus an excellent natural laboratory for understanding complex speciation and population diversification processes. In my research, I explore various drivers of diversification, and adaptive evolution in rheophilic lamprologine cichlids endemic to the LCR, including Lamprologus …

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Pde Model For Protocell Evolution And The Origin Of Chromosomes Via Multilevel Selection, Daniel B. Cooney, Fernando W. Rossine, Dylan H. Morris, Simon A. Levin

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Reaction-Diffusion System On Irregular Boundaries Reproduces Multiple Generations Of Petal Spot Patterns In Monkeyflower Hybrids, Emily Simmons

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Mutual Aid: The Other Law Of The Jungle. Gauthier Chapelle And Pablo Servigne. Cambridge, Polity Press. 2022. 310 Pp, Tom P. Flower Dr

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

In 1902, the anarchist Peter Kropotkin published Mutual Aid in which he promoted a radical perspective on evolution in which cooperation, as well as selfishness, drive the form, diversification and organization of life on earth. Despite initial recognition, Kropotkin’s contributions have been largely forgotten, even as modern evolutionary theory has recognized the central role of cooperation. In Mutual Aid: the other law of the jungle, Pablo Servigne and Gauthier Chappelle restore Kropotkin’s insights to their rightful place as foundational for our understanding of evolution. They further seek to overturn the pernicious misconception of the 20^th century, that nature is …

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Impacts Of Bacterial Evolution On Host Lethality In Drosophila, Andrew Preston

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Evolution is the process by which species change their genetic traits, such as the pathogenicity of bacteria, over time in response to changes in their environment. Although the genetic mechanisms underlying many evolutionary processes have been revealed, it is still not well understood how opportunistic pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, become virulent. The overall goal of this thesis is to test the Coincidental Evolution Hypothesis, which proposes that the virulence of opportunistic pathogens evolves coincidentally as a by-product of their interaction with their natural predators. I hypothesized that the virulence of ancestral Pseudomonas aeruginosa changes over time if it co-evolves …

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Past And Present Patterns Of Neutral And Adaptive Genetic Diversity In Wild Mandrills (Mandrillus Sphinx), Anna Weber

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Although primates have fascinated researchers and the public alike for generations, one species that has remained enigmatic is the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), a large Cercopithecine monkey endemic to Central Africa. Mandrills are currently in decline due to bushmeat hunting, urbanization, and habitat loss. Neutral and adaptive genetic diversity are important tools for understanding evolutionary history and future viability, since diversity influences a species’ ability to adapt to a changing environment. However, thus far, minimal genetic information has been available for wild mandrills. Because of the dense vegetation in their tropical forest habitat, studying wild mandrills has proven to …

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Consequences Of Host Life Cycles For Symbiont Genome Evolution, Ashley Elizabeth Dederich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Aphids are small insects that feed exclusively on plant sap, a notoriously low source of nutrients due to the high sugar content and low amino acid content. To make up for these deficiencies in nutrition, aphids harbor Buchnera aphidicola, a bacterial endosymbiont that resides in a specialized organ called the bacteriome. B. aphidicola provides essential amino acids and vitamins for the aphid in exchange for a safe place to live. Over the course of the symbiosis (established 160 million years ago), B. aphidicola has lost much of its genome, including essential genes for cell envelope synthesis, DNA replication and …

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Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 25. Wallace And The 'Physical Environment'., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Alfred Russel Wallace’s natural selection essay of 1858 has been held to frame a greater role for the physical environment in forcing selection regimes than we find in Darwin’s writings, but here that verdict is challenged by a re-examination of both the essay itself, and period usage of the term ‘physical.’

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The Foreign Earth: An Exercise In Speculative Biology, Aidyn Ruf

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Speculative Biology is the practice of examining hypothetical scenarios about the potential evolution of life. This project explores one such perspective timeline, utilizing scientific illustration, scientific information, and creative writing to estimate what the organisms of Earth might look like 250 million years into the future. Basic parameters were established, examining our current knowledge about geology and the environment to determine how the Earth itself might look. This included examining factors such as tectonic movement, adjusted ocean currents, and planetary heat cycles. Then, I studied mass extinctions and the animals which survived them, creating a baseline of ancestors the future …

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Multi-Type Branching Processes In Time-Varying Environments, Arash Jamshidpey

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

Exploring The Evolution Of Altruistic Punishment Using A Pde Model For Multilevel Selection, Daniel Cooney

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

An Algorithm Of Aesthetics: The Mathematical Beauty Of Type-B Turing Pattern Development In Monkeyflowers, Clara A. Rinker, Emily S.G. Simmons, Joshua R. Puzey, Gregory D. Conradi Smith

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

Decoding Immune Cell Navigation: Integrating Artificial Life Modeling With Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics, Sadegh Marzban

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

Monotypic: Evolution And Adaptations Of The World's Most Distinctive Species, Emerson Harman, Amanda Almon

STEM Student Research Symposium Posters

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 30. Wallace A Theist? Part I., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The Evolution And Development Of Awns In The Grass Subfamily Pooideae, Erin L. Patterson

Doctoral Dissertations

Evolution In Segregating Genotype Mixtures Of Subterranean Clover, P.G. H. Nichols, P S. Cocks

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Relationships Among Some Lolium And Festuca Species, G Charmet, F Balfourier, C Ravel

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Sulfur Assimilation Using Gaseous Carbonyl Sulfideby The Soil Fungus Trichoderma Harzianum, Ryuka Iizuka, Shohei Hattori, Yusuke Kosaka, Yoshihito Masaki, Yusuke Kawano, Iwao Ohtsu, David Hibbett, Yoko Katayama, Makoto Yoshida

Biology

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Internal Transcribed Sequences (Its) As Dna Barcodes To Estimate Fungal Diversity, Jailisa Linares

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 27. When Wallace Broke With Darwin., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Overcoming Genetic Paucity Of Camelina Sativa: Possibilities For Interspecific Hybridization Conditioned By The Genus Evolution Pathway, Rostyslav Y. Blume, Ruslan Kalendar, Liang Guo, Edgar B. Cahoon, Yaroslav B. Blume

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty and Staff Publications

Phylogeographic History Of The Leaf-Eared Mouse, Phyllotis Xanthopygus Complex, Tabitha R. Mcfarland

Biology ETDs

The Evolution Of Transposable Elements As Cis-Regulatory Elements In Mammals, Alan Y. Du

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Faculty Journal Articles

Diversity, Function, And Phenotypic Plasticity Of Cryptophyte Phycobiliproteins, Kristiaän Merritt

Theses and Dissertations

Effect Of Stocking Rates On Plant Morphology In The Inner Mongolia Steppe Of China, Shiping Wang, Y. F. Wang, Z. Z. Chen, Bob Patton, Paul Nyren

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Bio 013: Writing In The Sciences - Human Origins, Esther Muehlbauer

Open Educational Resources

Machine Kinship: The Impossible Duet, Diana Sanchez

Masters Theses

Illuminating The Drivers Of Genomic Diversification In Lamprologine Cichlids Of The Lower Congo River, Naoko P. Kurata

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Pde Model For Protocell Evolution And The Origin Of Chromosomes Via Multilevel Selection, Daniel B. Cooney, Fernando W. Rossine, Dylan H. Morris, Simon A. Levin

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

Reaction-Diffusion System On Irregular Boundaries Reproduces Multiple Generations Of Petal Spot Patterns In Monkeyflower Hybrids, Emily Simmons

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

Mutual Aid: The Other Law Of The Jungle. Gauthier Chapelle And Pablo Servigne. Cambridge, Polity Press. 2022. 310 Pp, Tom P. Flower Dr

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

Impacts Of Bacterial Evolution On Host Lethality In Drosophila, Andrew Preston

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Past And Present Patterns Of Neutral And Adaptive Genetic Diversity In Wild Mandrills (Mandrillus Sphinx), Anna Weber

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Consequences Of Host Life Cycles For Symbiont Genome Evolution, Ashley Elizabeth Dederich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 25. Wallace And The 'Physical Environment'., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The Foreign Earth: An Exercise In Speculative Biology, Aidyn Ruf

WWU Honors College Senior Projects