Biology Commons^™

Assessment Of Biology Majors’ Versus Nonmajors’ Views On Evolution, Creationism, And Intelligent Design, Guillermo Paz-Y-Mino C., Avelina Espinosa

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

The controversy around evolution, creationism, and intelligent design resides in a historical struggle between scientific knowledge and popular belief. Four hundred seventy-six students (biology majors n=237, nonmajors n=239) at a secular liberal arts private university in Northeastern United States responded to a five-question survey to assess their views about: (1) evolution, creationism, and intelligent design in the science class; (2) students’ attitudes toward evolution; (3) students’ position about the teaching of human evolution; (4) evolution in science exams; and (5) students’ willingness to discuss evolution openly. There were 60.6% of biology majors and 42% of nonmajors supported the exclusive teaching …

Crawling To Collapse: Ecologically Unsound Ornamental Invertebrate Fisheries, Andrew L. Rhyne, Randi Rotjan, Andrew Bruckner, Michael Tlusty

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Fishery management has historically been an inexact and reactionary discipline, often taking action only after a critical stock suffers overfishing or collapse. The invertebrate ornamental fishery in the State of Florida, with increasing catches over a more diverse array of species, is poised for collapse. Current management is static and the lack of an adaptive strategy will not allow for adequate responses associated with managing this multi-species fishery. The last decade has seen aquarium hobbyists shift their display preference from fish-only tanks to miniature reef ecosystems that include many invertebrate species, creating increased demand without proper oversight. The once …

The Numerical Comparison Of Flow Patterns And Propulsive Performances For The Hydromedusae Sarsia Tubulosa And Aequorea Victoria, Mehmet Sahin, Kamran Mohseni, Sean Colin

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

The thrust-generating mechanism of a prolate hydromedusa Sarsia tubulosa and an oblate hydromedusa Aequorea victoria was investigated by solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in the swirl-free cylindrical coordinates. The calculations clearly show the vortex dynamics related to the thrust-generating mechanism, which is very important for understanding the underlying propulsion mechanism. The calculations for the prolate jetting hydromedusa S. tubulosa indicate the formation of a single starting vortex ring for each pulse cycle with a relatively high vortex formation number. However, the calculations for the oblate jet-paddling hydromedusa A. victoria indicate shedding of the opposite-signed vortex rings very close to each …

Scratching The Surface And Digging Deeper: Exploring Ecological Theories In Urban Soils, Mitchell A. Pavao-Zuckerman, Loren B. Byrne

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

In Situ Manipulation Of Vertically Migrating Gelatinous Zooplankton Using Nighttime Blue-Water Scuba In The South-Central Adriatic Sea, William M. Graham, John H. Costello, Sean Colin, Alenka Malej, Davor Lučić, Vladimir Onofri, Adam Benović

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Technological advance in undersea exploration (e.g. tethered cameras, remotely operated vehicles [ROVs], Autonomous Underwater Vehicles [AUVsG, and manned submersibles)have opened new windows into diversityand distribution of fragile gelatinous organisms in the vast mesopelagic realm(300 m-1000 m deep). While exstraordinary in expanding our view of its richness, mesopelagic exploration remains largely a "look but don't touch" environment and this limits of our ability to understand these animals through physical manipulation relevant to the finer scales of the individual organism. We have been conducting a series of in situ observations and manipulations using blue-water SCUBA during the night at a 1, 200 …

Project Medusa In The Context Of Its Historical Time, John H. Costello, Sean Colin, William M. Graham, John O. Dabiri, Adam Benović, Davor Lučić, Vladimir Onofri, Mira Morović, Alenka Malej, Valentina Turk, Vesna Flander-Puterle, Hermes Mianzan, Gustavo Alvarez Colombo, Marcelo E. Acha

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

In 2000, the National Science Foundation, in union with Croatian and Slovenian science ministries, provided initial support for the international collaboration that has become Meduza project. The program was started with the goal of international collaboration. Our initial objective was simple - use this international collaboration to develop exiting scientific research involving medusae in Southern Adriatic waters. This international collaborationa has been of great importance personally and professionally to all of the investigators and institutions involved in the project, but we now ask what objective difference has the project made scientifically. We approach this question by comparing what we might …

Effects Of Temperature On Reproduction And Survival Of The Calanoid Copepod Pseudodiaptomus Pelagicus, Andrew L. Rhyne, Cortney L. Ohs, Erik Stenn

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Four experiments were conducted on the calanoid copepod, Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus, to determine the effects of temperature (24, 26, 28, 30, 32, and 34 °C) on survival, development time, reproductive output, and population growth in order to define the optimal temperature for culture. The first experiment stocked early stage nauplii into 1 L beakers and cultured them using standard procedures until five days after the first mature adults were observed; from this survival, sex ratio, time to maturation, and fecundity were measured. The second and third experiments evaluated the effects of temperature on nauplii production by stocking individual pairs and …

Reproductive Isolation Between Two Sympatric Simultaneous Hermaphroditic Shrimp, Lysmata Wurdemanni And L. Boggessi, Dong Zhang, Junda Lin, Jörg D. Hardege, Andrew L. Rhyne

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

To investigate pre- and post-zygotic isolation between two sympatric and phylogenetically related species of Lysmata shrimp, two assays were conducted in the laboratory: (1) no specific mate choice where mating between the two species was ‘forced’; (2) specific mate choice or preference where a female had a choice between conspecific and heterospecifc males. Behavioural studies reveal that female L. wurdemanni accepted only conspecific male shrimp, whereas L. boggessi females would mate with an interspecific male if there was no conspecific male present. When males of both species were present, L. boggessi females always mated with the conspecific male. Male L. …

Acceptance Of Evolution Increases With Student Academic Level: A Comparison Between A Secular And A Religious College, Guillermo Paz-Y-Mino C., Avelina Espinosa

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Acceptance of evolution among the general public, high schools, teachers, and scientists has been documented in the USA; little is known about college students’ views on evolution; this population is relevant since it transits from a high-school/parent-protective environment to an independent role in societal decisions. Here we compare perspectives about evolution, creationism, and intelligent design (ID) between a secular (S) and a religious (R) college in the Northeastern USA. Interinstitutional comparisons showed that 64% (mean S + R) biology majors vs. 42/62% (S/R) nonmajors supported the exclusive teaching of evolution in science classes; 24/29% (S/R) biology majors vs. 26/38% (S/R) …

Viability Of Subitaneous Eggs Of The Copepod, Acartia Tonsa (Dana), Following Exposure To Various Cryoprotectants And Hypersaline Water, Cortney L. Ohsa, Andrew L. Rhyne, Erik Stenn

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Subitaneous eggs were obtained from monocultures of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa (Dana), Gulf of Mexico strain. Eggs were exposed to methanol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, glycerine, and DMSO at 0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0 M and hypersaline water at 50, 75, 100, 150, and 200 g/L. Treatments were evaluated after 10 and 20 min of exposure and at 4 and 26 °C. Viability (percent hatched) was determined after 24 h of incubation in 35 g/L saltwater at 26 °C.

Methanol, ethylene glycol, and glycerine had high viability up to 2M, and all experienced large decreases at 5M …

Warming Of The Antarctic Ice-Sheet Surface Since The 1957 International Geophysical Year, Eric J. Steig, David P. Schneider, Scott Rutherford, Michael E. E. Mann, Josefino C. Comiso, Drew T. Shindell

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Assessments of Antarctic temperature change have emphasized the contrast between strong warming of the Antarctic Peninsula and slight cooling of the Antarctic continental interior in recent decades. This pattern of temperature change has been attributed to the increased strength of the circumpolar westerlies, largely in response to changes in stratospheric ozone. This picture, however, is substantially incomplete owing to the sparseness and short duration of the observations. Here we show that significant warming extends well beyond the Antarctic Peninsula to cover most of West Antarctica, an area of warming much larger than previously reported. West Antarctic warming exceeds 0.1 °C …

Functional Morphology And Fluid Interactions During Early Development Of The Scyphomedusa Aurelia Aurita, K. E. Feitl, A. F. Millett, Sean Colin, John O. Dabiri, John H. Costello

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Scyphomedusae undergo a predictable ontogenetic transition from a conserved, universal larval form to a diverse array of adult morphologies. This transition entails a change in bell morphology from a highly discontinuous ephyral form, with deep clefts separating eight discrete lappets, to a continuous solid umbrella-like adult form. We used a combination of kinematic, modeling, and flow visualization techniques to examine the function of the medusan bell throughout the developmental changes of the scyphomedusa Aurelia aurita. We found that flow around swimming ephyrae and their lappets was relatively viscous (1 < Re < 10) and, as a result, ephyral lappets were surrounded by thick, overlapping boundary layers that occluded flow through the gaps between lappets. As medusae grew, their fluid environment became increasingly influenced by inertial forces (10 < Re < 10,000) and, simultaneously, clefts between the lappets were replaced by organic tissue. Hence, although the bell undergoes a structural transition from discontinuous (lappets with gaps) to continuous (solid bell) surfaces during development, all developmental stages maintain functionally continuous paddling surfaces. This developmental pattern enables ephyrae to efficiently allocate tissue to bell diameter increase via lappet growth, while minimizing tissue allocation to inter-lappet spaces that …