Biology Commons^™

The Thermal Ecology Of Sceloporus Occidentalis, Luis Patricio Burgos

Master's Theses

With temperatures rising globally, assessing the possible impacts of the changing climate becomes more and more urgent. Ectotherms are excellent indicators of potential climatic ramifications on biodiversity because of their heavy reliance on the environment for their thermoregulation. Studies have historically looked at thermal tolerance values to establish predictive models for population and species extinctions.

In chapter 1, we looked at recent studies that suggest that thermal tolerance may be a plastic trait and test the effects empirically. Most studies are based on captive lizards acclimated to laboratory conditions that do not necessarily reflect natural environments, and if thermal tolerance …

Successional Processes In The Benthic Invertebrate Communities At Gray’S Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Alexis A. Bivens

Honors College Theses

While the process of community development has been studied in terrestrial habitats since the turn of the 20th century, similar information is not as readily available in marine systems. Understanding patterns of community development is essential to predicting recovery potential and to designing effective marine protected areas. In the South Atlantic Bight, invertebrate communities on hard substrata can differ significantly from one rocky outcrop to another, but the factors driving these differences are not well understood. I documented the initial development of the benthic invertebrate community at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) to address the prediction that this system …

Association Of P53 Polymorphisms, Pah-Like Fluorescence, And Developmental Trends In Caught Gulf Menhaden To Crude Oil Exposure Post-Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A Holistic Approach, Kevin Luiz Frisina

Capstone Projects/Undergraduate Honors Theses

Environmental pollution is of great concern in the United States. Of special concern is the chronic effects from the exposure to potentially carcinogenic compounds released from episodic environmental disasters (e.g. 911 twin-towers, oil spills). Disasters like the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), affected many marine organisms, exposing them to crude oil polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), some of which are known carcinogenic. Despite many marine-based consumer products (e.g. fish oil, animal feed, fertilizer) were known affected by the BP oil spill, bioaccumulation and chronic toxicity of the crude oil PAHs into marine organisms …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

A Contribution Toward A Global Monograph Of Gyroporus: Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Biogeography, Naveed Davoodian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gyroporus (Sclerodermatineae, Boletales, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi) is a genus of ectomycorrhizal mushroom-forming fungi distributed throughout the world in suitable habitats. Previous attempts to untangle the diversity of this genus proved difficult due to the presence of semi-cryptic species and equivocal results from phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal RNA markers. To overcome these obstacles, a combined taxonomic and phylogenetic (emphasizing protein-coding genes) approach is used here to delimit species and elucidate geographic and evolutionary patterns of Gyroporus. Careful study of relevant literature and herbarium specimens was augmented by field work in North America, Australia, and East Asia for observation and collection …

Tidal Creek And Substrate Effects On Oyster Reef Associated Fish And Decapod Condition And Density, Thomas S. Funk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oyster reefs are essential fish habitat and a worldwide loss of reefs has the potential to negatively affect reef-associated nekton populations. Along the 100 km Myrtle Beach, SC shoreline, oyster reefs ostensibly have disappeared within swash tidal creeks, which are anthropogenically altered estuarine systems that drain into the coastal ocean directly over shoreline beaches. To address oyster reef losses, a series of shell bag reefs were constructed within multiple swash tidal creeks. Reefs also were constructed in tidal creeks associated with estuaries directly connected to the ocean by an inlet. The purpose of this study was to compare nekton usage …

What Drives Species Richness In Colorado's Alpine Tundra, Michael Kintgen

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Despite years of research, drivers of vascular plant species richness in Colorado’s alpine tundra habitats are largely unknown. Factors such as slope aspect, Pleistocene glaciation, nutrient levels, latitude and longitude, snow depth, and disturbance have been studied. Despite this research, few patterns have emerged. Research in Colorado has been conducted on a few well studied mountains. Aridity is one factor that has not been well studied but shows promise in explaining species richness. In Patagonia and the Swiss Alps, increasing aridity correlates with higher species richness. Here, a full species assessment was conducted on nine mountains previously under researched or …

Jeweled Spider Flies (Eulonchus Tristis) Are Important Pollinators Of Iris Bracteata, A Rare Siskiyou Mountain Endemic, Jean-Paul E. Ponte

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Little is known about the pollination biology of the Pacific Coast Irises (Iris: series Californicae, hereafter PCI), especially who visits and pollinates their flowers. In general, Iris flowers are considered bee-pollinated, however, flies in the genus Eulonchus (Acroceridae) are known to visit some PCI members. Therefore, I assessed the relative importance of Eulonchus and other insect visitors to the pollination of a rare PCI species native to the Siskiyou Mountains, I. bracteata.

Methods. I quantified pollinator importance for all flower visitors at sites in northern California and southern Oregon as the product of average visit rate and …

Infection Dynamics Of Herpesvirus In Gopher Tortoises, Joanne Saldanha

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Gopherus polyphemus, commonly known as the Gopher Tortoise, is a dryland reptile native to the southeastern United States. It is commonly a resident of longleaf pine and dry oak sand hill habitats. It is considered a keystone species because they dig deep burrows that provide shelter to them as well as many other animals. Habitat loss, fragmentation, and disease are major threats and have caused this species to be federally listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Disease is a major threat to the gopher tortoise’s survival, and with declining populations, the need to investigate …

Photosynthetic Activity Under Low Light, Danijela Lonco

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Are bacteria capable of undergoing oxygenic photosynthesis under low-light conditions inside of caves? Inside of an Australian cave, Chlorophyll f was recently discovered. This chlorophyll pigment was found to demonstrate the capability for photosynthesis, suggesting that Chlorophyll f extends the spectrum of usable light needed for oxygenic photosynthesis (Lars, 2015). Due to the findings in this study, a team went to Carlsbad Caverns to see if there were any bacteria capable of undergoing oxygenic photosynthesis under low light.

Natural And Anthropogenic Drivers Of Tree Evolutionary Dynamics, Brandon M. Lind

Theses and Dissertations

Species of trees inhabit diverse and heterogeneous environments, and often play important ecological roles in such communities. As a result of their vast ecological breadth, trees have become adapted to various environmental pressures. In this dissertation I examine various environmental factors that drive evolutionary dynamics in threePinusspecies in California and Nevada, USA. In chapter two, I assess the role of management influence of thinning, fire, and their interaction on fine-scale gene flow within fire-suppressed populations of Pinus lambertiana, a historically dominant and ecologically important member of mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California. Here, I find evidence …

Migratory Patterns And Population Genetic Structure In A Declining Wetland-Dependent Songbird, Matthew G. Desaix

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding migratory connectivity is essential for assessing the drivers behind population dynamics and for implementing effective management in migratory species. Genetic markers provide a means to describe migratory connectivity, as well as incorporate population genetic analyses, however genetic markers can be uninformative for species with weak genetic structure. In this study, we evaluate range-wide population genetic structure and migratory connectivity in the prothonotary warbler, Protonotaria citrea, a wetland-dependent neotropical migratory songbird, using high-resolution genetic markers. We reveal regional genetic structure between sampling sites in the Mississippi River Valley and the Atlantic Seaboard with overall weak genetic differentiation among populations …

Molecular And Evolutionary Analysis Of Cyanobacterial Taxonomic Methods, Chelsea Denise Villanueva

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacteria are a group of photo-oxygenic bacteria found in nearly every ecosystem, but much cyanobacterial diversity, in various habitats, has yet to be explored. Cyanobacteria are often conspicuous components of photosynthetic flora, providing significant carbon and nitrogen inputs to surrounding systems. As possible primary colonizers of stone substrates not native to this region, cyanobacteria isolated from headstones may provide biogeographically informative data. An exploratory study of lichen-dominated microbial consortia, growing on headstones, was conducted to isolate and identify novel microaerophytic cyanobacteria, and resulted in the establishment of four novel cyanobacterial taxa. Phylogenetic analyses of photobionts in one tripartite lichen revealed …

The Effects Of The Red Tide Producing Dinoflagellate, Karenia Brevis, And Associated Brevetoxins On Viability And Sublethal Stress Responses In Scleractinian Coral: A Potential Regional Stressor To Coral Reefs, David A. Reynolds

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coral cover is in decline on a global scale, with increased mortality events being attributed to a number of global and regional stressors. While the impacts of global stressors (e.g. sea surface temperature rise, ocean acidification) are well documented, there is growing interest in identifying and understanding the impacts of regional stressors. The reason for this change in focus is that regional stressors can often work in combination, sometimes synergistically, with global stressors and that stressors on a regional scale tend to be more easily mitigated by management practices. One regional stressor that impacts a myriad of marine organisms in …

Life On The Edge: Risk Of Predation Drives Selection Of Habitat And Survival Of Neonates In Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, Shannon Forshee

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Long-term viability of endangered populations requires development of effective management strategies that target the population vital rate with the highest potential to influence population trajectories. When adult survival is high and stable, juvenile recruitment is the vital rate with the greatest potential to improve population trajectories. For my thesis I examined how lactating Sierra Nevada Bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis sierra) balance forage and predation risk during the neonatal period. I first identified resource selection strategies employed by lactating females to promote survival of neonates and then determined the primary factors affecting survival of neonates. I found lactating females selected for …