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Articles 1 - 30 of 81
Full-Text Articles in Biology
Smile For The Camera: Patterns Of Mammal Abundance In Great Hill Forest Through Four Years Of Camera Trapping, Alexander Gonatas
Smile For The Camera: Patterns Of Mammal Abundance In Great Hill Forest Through Four Years Of Camera Trapping, Alexander Gonatas
Honors Program Theses and Projects
Snapshot USA is a nationwide camera trapping project aiming to determine biodiversity and abundance of animal populations across all 50 states. Since 2019, participants have used camera traps to document wildlife every September and October, coinciding with animal activity patterns and North American academic year starts. Understanding biodiversity through long-term monitoring is an important topic to study, because the knowledge obtained can help track populations and better understand wildlife responses to disturbances. Since Snapshot USA participants use the same methods and trapping season, the information we collect can be directly compared to other Snapshot USA locations. At Great Hill Forest …
Diatom Diversity And Functional Groups In 72 Florida Lakes: Assessing Ecological Changes For Improved Protection And Management, Francesca M. Lauterman
Diatom Diversity And Functional Groups In 72 Florida Lakes: Assessing Ecological Changes For Improved Protection And Management, Francesca M. Lauterman
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Florida lakes are diverse ecosystems and are an important part of the state's biodiversity and ecosystem services. As human population and development increase across the state, many lakes have been documented as nutrient impaired and are unable to maintain essential ecological functions. In this study, diatom diversity and functional groups in 72 Florida lakes were assessed for their relationships with associated water-quality data. Common alpha diversity indices, including Shannon-Weiner Index, the Gini-Simpson Index, and Hill’s numbers were utilized to measure trends in diatom communities, while the relationships between diatom lifeform characteristics and environmental data were explored using multivariate methods and …
Editorial: Community Series In Tools, Techniques, And Strategies For Teaching In A Real-World Context With Microbiology, Volume Ii, Davida S. Smyth, Nicole A. Broderick, Carlos C. Goller
Editorial: Community Series In Tools, Techniques, And Strategies For Teaching In A Real-World Context With Microbiology, Volume Ii, Davida S. Smyth, Nicole A. Broderick, Carlos C. Goller
All Faculty Scholarship
This Research Topic is the second volume in the Community Series Tools, Techniques, and Strategies for Teaching in a Real-World Context with Microbiology. Making microbiology relevant to our students increases student engagement with science, which could not be more important as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. We have learned much during this period as we adapted and modified our learning environments and strategies, all while demonstrating the many ways microbes impact our world beyond disease. Placing microbes at center stage leads to engaging and exciting curricula and assignments. Microbes also are wonderful tools as they are easy to manipulate …
Intraguild Predation Is Increased In Areas Of Low Prey Diversity In A Generalist Predator Community, Stella F. Uiterwaal, Amber J. Squires, Bennett A. Grappone, Brian Dillard, Ariadne Castaneda, Sora L. Kim, John P. Delong
Intraguild Predation Is Increased In Areas Of Low Prey Diversity In A Generalist Predator Community, Stella F. Uiterwaal, Amber J. Squires, Bennett A. Grappone, Brian Dillard, Ariadne Castaneda, Sora L. Kim, John P. Delong
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
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Niche differentiation and intraguild predation (IGP) can allow ecologically similar species to coexist, although it is unclear which coexistence mechanism predominates in consumer communities. Until now, a limited ability to quantify diets from metabarcoding data has precluded the use of sequencing data to determine the relative importance of these mechanisms.
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Here, we pair a recent metabarcoding quantification approach with stable isotope analysis to examine diet composition in a wolf spider community.
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We compare the prevalence of resource partitioning and IGP in these spiders and test whether factors that influence foraging performance, including individual identity, morphology, prey community and environmental conditions, …
Intercontinental Comparisons Of Subterranean Host-Parasite Communities Using Bipartite Network Analyses, Altangerel T. Dursahinhan, Sebastian Botero-Cañola, Scott Gardner
Intercontinental Comparisons Of Subterranean Host-Parasite Communities Using Bipartite Network Analyses, Altangerel T. Dursahinhan, Sebastian Botero-Cañola, Scott Gardner
Scott L. Gardner Publications
Rodents living in a subterranean ecotope face a unique combination of evolutionary and ecological pressures and while host species evolution may be driven by the selective pressure from the parasites they harbour, the parasites may be responding to the selective pressures of the host. Here we obtained all available subterranean rodent host-parasite records from the literature and integrated these data by utilizing a bipartite network analysis to determine multiple critical parameters to quantify and measure the structure and interactions of the organisms present in host-parasite communities. A total of 163 species of subterranean rodent hosts, 174 parasite species, and 282 …
Intraguild Predation Is Increased In Areas Of Low Prey Diversity In A Generalist Predator Community, Stella F Uiterwaal, Amber Squires, Bennett Grappone, Brian Dillard, Ariadne Castaneda, Sora L. Kim, John Delong
Intraguild Predation Is Increased In Areas Of Low Prey Diversity In A Generalist Predator Community, Stella F Uiterwaal, Amber Squires, Bennett Grappone, Brian Dillard, Ariadne Castaneda, Sora L. Kim, John Delong
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
1. Niche differentiation and intraguild predation (IGP) can allow ecologically similar species to coexist, although it is unclear which coexistence mechanism predominates in consumer communities. Until now, a limited ability to quantify diets from metabarcoding data has precluded the use of sequencing data to determine the relative importance of these mechanisms.
2. Here, we pair a recent metabarcoding quantification approach with stable isotope analysis to examine diet composition in a wolf spider community.
3. We compare the prevalence of resource partitioning and IGP in these spiders and test whether factors that influence foraging performance, including individual identity, morphology, prey community …
How Getting Friendly With Bacteria Can Promote Student Appreciation Of Microbial Diversity And Their Civic Scientific Literacy, Davida S. Smyth, Simon Chen, Gina Sompanya, Molly Metz, Theresa Conefrey
How Getting Friendly With Bacteria Can Promote Student Appreciation Of Microbial Diversity And Their Civic Scientific Literacy, Davida S. Smyth, Simon Chen, Gina Sompanya, Molly Metz, Theresa Conefrey
Biology Faculty Publications
ePortfolios are digital repositories where students can curate papers, projects, and reflections from individual or multiple courses across the disciplines and in a variety of formats to showcase their learning. This transparent and portable medium, which enables students to document their knowledge and abilities for assessment and career development, has been recognized by the American Association of Colleges and Universities as one of 11 high-impact practices. Using tailored rubrics, student assessment of learning gain surveys, and end-of-course exam questions, this study demonstrates how an ePortfolio assignment can be used in microbiology courses taken by majors and nonmajors to measure student …
Invisible Disabilities, Academic Capital And Competitiveness Of Genetic Counseling Applicants, Natalie E. Stoner, Meagan Choates, Carla Mcgruder, Debra Murray, Theresa Wittman, Sara Wofford, Claire N. Singletary
Invisible Disabilities, Academic Capital And Competitiveness Of Genetic Counseling Applicants, Natalie E. Stoner, Meagan Choates, Carla Mcgruder, Debra Murray, Theresa Wittman, Sara Wofford, Claire N. Singletary
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
The field of genetic counseling has historically lacked diversity. Recent research has begun to explore how visible diversity may present barriers to a genetic counseling applicant becoming competitive, but has not yet characterized potential barriers with invisible diversities, such as being a first-generation college student, or a part of the LBGTQ+ community. Therefore, this study aimed to address this gap among those with invisible diversities, as well as explore their academic capital (AC), a theoretical framework used to identify factors that make students more likely to succeed in post-secondary work including supportive networks, trustworthy information, family uplift, college knowledge, overcoming …
Fluctuating Parasite Prevalence Is Not Linked To Patterns Of Mhc Class Ii-Ss Diversity In An Island Endemic Reptile, Gina Zwicky
Fluctuating Parasite Prevalence Is Not Linked To Patterns Of Mhc Class Ii-Ss Diversity In An Island Endemic Reptile, Gina Zwicky
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
Few studies have explored the evolutionary mechanisms that maintain adaptive immunogenetic diversity in nature. We took advantage of museum samples to test for evidence of parasite-mediated fluctuating selection at MHC Class II-ß loci in an endemic island reptile. The Saban anole Anolis sabanus is commonly infected with three species of malaria (Plasmodium). Proportions of each parasite species detected in anole blood samples fluctuated over space and time, suggesting competitive interactions between parasites or differences in vector ecology. Our analyses of parasite prevalence and MHC Class II-ß allelic variation found that malaria infection was not associated with patterns of …
Human Adaptation And Morphological Variation: Expanding Diversity In Anatomy Curriculum, Jordan Cass, Cooker Storm
Human Adaptation And Morphological Variation: Expanding Diversity In Anatomy Curriculum, Jordan Cass, Cooker Storm
Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium
Introduction: The recent upturn in our nation’s socio-political conversation has fueled interest in ensuring that college curricula is diverse and inclusive. Because human anatomy is ubiquitous across colleges, it may be a valuable avenue to purposefully incorporate topics of diversity in a way that positively impacts our socio-cultural relationships. Providing students with a scientific understanding of our visible differences may mitigate subconscious bias when we see others who have different features. Purpose: We investigated the biogeographical factors that contribute to the morphological variability of the face, hair, and body size; with the secondary aim of developing diverse and …
Survey Of Native Predatory Hemipterans And Assessment Of Nabis Americoferus Carayon (Hemiptera: Nabidae) As A Biological Control Agent Of Lepidopteran Tomato Pests, Andrew Laflair
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Invasive species have become a grave threat to the economic viability of our global vegetable producers. Tomato pinworm Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) has expanded from its range originating from Peru to being established in nearly hundreds of countries, causing tomato production losses of up to 100% on occasion; however, it has not yet been found in Canada or the USA. Southwestern Ontario is a significant tomato producer making it a high risk from this invasive species. Efficient integrated control methods such as native biological control agents (BCAs) that avoid creating insecticide resistance are ideal. Surveys of Southwestern Ontario conservation …
Why Sequence All Eukaryotes?, Mark Blaxter, John M. Archibald, Anna K. Childers, Jonathan A. Coddington, Keith A. Crandall, Federica Di Palma, Richard Durbin, Scott V. Edwards, Jennifer A.M. Graves, Kevin J. Hackett, Neil Hall, Erich D. Jarvis, Rebecca N. Johnson, Elinor K. Karlsson, W. John Kress, Shigehiro Kuraku, Mara K. N. Lawniczak, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Jose V. Lopez, Nancy A. Moran, Gene E. Robinson, Oliver A. Ryder, Beth Shapiro, Pamela S. Soltis, Tandy Warnow, Guojie Zhang, Harris A. Lewin
Why Sequence All Eukaryotes?, Mark Blaxter, John M. Archibald, Anna K. Childers, Jonathan A. Coddington, Keith A. Crandall, Federica Di Palma, Richard Durbin, Scott V. Edwards, Jennifer A.M. Graves, Kevin J. Hackett, Neil Hall, Erich D. Jarvis, Rebecca N. Johnson, Elinor K. Karlsson, W. John Kress, Shigehiro Kuraku, Mara K. N. Lawniczak, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Jose V. Lopez, Nancy A. Moran, Gene E. Robinson, Oliver A. Ryder, Beth Shapiro, Pamela S. Soltis, Tandy Warnow, Guojie Zhang, Harris A. Lewin
Biology Faculty Articles
Life on Earth has evolved from initial simplicity to the astounding complexity we experience today. Bacteria and archaea have largely excelled in metabolic diversification, but eukaryotes additionally display abundant morphological innovation. How have these innovations come about and what constraints are there on the origins of novelty and the continuing maintenance of biodiversity on Earth? The history of life and the code for the working parts of cells and systems are written in the genome. The Earth BioGenome Project has proposed that the genomes of all extant, named eukaryotes—about 2 million species—should be sequenced to high quality to produce a …
Identification, Enumeration, And Diversity Determinations For Fungi Enriched On Phthalates As Sole Carbon Source From Riverine Sediments Using Molecular Methods, Anthony M. Vicidomini
Identification, Enumeration, And Diversity Determinations For Fungi Enriched On Phthalates As Sole Carbon Source From Riverine Sediments Using Molecular Methods, Anthony M. Vicidomini
All Capstone Projects
Phthalates are a common chemical compound used as plasticizers in various industries that have been linked to several detrimental effects on health. Due to their widespread use, they have become a common environmental pollutant of soil and water. The persistence and distribution of phthalate esters in the environment has given rise to many microorganisms that are able to incorporate phthalates into various metabolic pathways and degrade them into harmless substances, with fungi being among those that are capable of such degradation of industrial polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In this study, the diversity of fungal communities in response to the presence of …
Celebrating The Stories Of Black Cellular Biologists And The Path Towards Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Stem, Henning Schneider, Nipun Chopra, Kenneth Brown, Scott Stetson, Wendy Tomamichel, Rebecca Kinney, Valerie O'Hair
Celebrating The Stories Of Black Cellular Biologists And The Path Towards Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Stem, Henning Schneider, Nipun Chopra, Kenneth Brown, Scott Stetson, Wendy Tomamichel, Rebecca Kinney, Valerie O'Hair
President Lori S. White Inauguration Symposium
Black scientists have made major contributions to their scientific communities, but their stories and work have not received well-deserved recognition due to systemic inequities within science and academia. By celebrating the stories of Black scientists, we aim to encourage students of color and underrepresented groups to pursue a caree in the natural sciences. Here we tell the stories of Ernest E. Just, Sandra A. Murray and Avery August, three Black cellular biologists from three different generations who have made major contributions to the scientific community using microscopy. The presented project is carried out as part of the Buehler Biomedical Imaging …
Intense Mowing Management Suppresses Invader, But Shifts Competitive Resistance By A Native To Facilitation, David U. Nagy, Emily Rauschert, Ragan M. Callaway, Tamas Henn, Rita Filep, Robert W. Pal
Intense Mowing Management Suppresses Invader, But Shifts Competitive Resistance By A Native To Facilitation, David U. Nagy, Emily Rauschert, Ragan M. Callaway, Tamas Henn, Rita Filep, Robert W. Pal
Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications
Interactions among native and invasive species may affect management outcomes and goals. We implemented different mowing regimes to control the invasive Solidago gigantea and restore natural diversity, and also examined interactions between Solidago and a European native competitor, Tanacetum vulgare in the context of these regimes. Experimentally planted Tanacetum suppressed Solidago by 79% without management, and a suite of mowing management regimes reduced the density of Solidago by 80–98% when Tanacetum was absent. But, when Tanacetum was added, the density of the invader was not reduced by mowing. Put another way, in mowed plots with Tanacetum, Solidago was twofold to …
Distribution, Diversity, And Biogeography Of Anaerobic Carbon Monoxide Uptake By Microbial Communities In Soils And Sediments, Amber N. Depoy
Distribution, Diversity, And Biogeography Of Anaerobic Carbon Monoxide Uptake By Microbial Communities In Soils And Sediments, Amber N. Depoy
LSU Master's Theses
Carbon monoxide (CO) is primarily known for being a toxic gas. However, CO is used by microorganisms as an electron or carbon source in a variety of respiratory processes. Different kinds of microorganisms utilize CO aerobically and anaerobically, using two distinct CO dehydrogenases (CODHs). Aerobes oxidize CO using a molybdenum-dependent dehydrogenase (Mo-CODH), while anaerobes utilize a nickel-dependent CO dehydrogenase (Ni-CODH). Studies of the biochemistry and microbiology of aerobic and anaerobic CO oxidation are extensive, but relatively little is known about the ecology of anaerobic CO oxidation. In an effort to test new hypotheses about the ecology of anaerobic CO oxidation, …
Microbiome Analyses Demonstrate Specific Communities Within Five Shark Species, Rachael Storo, Cole Easson, Mahmood S. Shivji, Jose V. Lopez
Microbiome Analyses Demonstrate Specific Communities Within Five Shark Species, Rachael Storo, Cole Easson, Mahmood S. Shivji, Jose V. Lopez
Biology Faculty Articles
Profiles of symbiotic microbial communities (“microbiomes”) can provide insight into the natural history and ecology of their hosts. Using high throughput DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA V4 region, microbiomes of five shark species in South Florida (nurse, lemon, sandbar, Caribbean reef, and tiger) have been characterized for the first time. The microbiomes show species specific microbiome composition, distinct from surrounding seawater. Shark anatomical location (gills, teeth, skin, cloaca) affected the diversity of microbiomes. An in-depth analysis of teeth communities revealed species specific microbial communities. For example, the genus Haemophilus, explained 7.0% of the differences of the teeth microbiomes …
Diversity And Equity During Covid 19: An Analysis Of Student Attitude And Understanding In Pathophysiology, Sowmya Anjur
Diversity And Equity During Covid 19: An Analysis Of Student Attitude And Understanding In Pathophysiology, Sowmya Anjur
Faculty Publications & Research
To increase student engagement and reduce frustration over grades, data is being collected in my Pathophysiology classes on specific assessment questions which require students to think and apply what they have learned to answer assessment questions (“transfer” questions). These questions are being administered both before and after students have completed specific modules to assess their attitude and understanding of the material. Data is also being collected on student study habits before and after specific assessments for correlation with their scores on “transfer” questions. It is hoped to reduce student frustration over grades by analyzing their behavior and improving their understanding.
Harnessing The Neon Data Revolution To Advance Open Environmental Science With A Diverse And Data-Capable Community, R. Chelsea Nagy, Jennifer K. Balch, Erin K. Bissell, Megan E. Cattau, Nancy F. Glenn, Benjamin S. Halpern, Nayani Ilangakoon, Brian Johnson, Maxwell B. Joseph, Sergio Marconi, Catherine O'Riordan, Sydne Record
Harnessing The Neon Data Revolution To Advance Open Environmental Science With A Diverse And Data-Capable Community, R. Chelsea Nagy, Jennifer K. Balch, Erin K. Bissell, Megan E. Cattau, Nancy F. Glenn, Benjamin S. Halpern, Nayani Ilangakoon, Brian Johnson, Maxwell B. Joseph, Sergio Marconi, Catherine O'Riordan, Sydne Record
Biology Faculty Research and Scholarship
It is a critical time to reflect on the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) science to date as well as envision what research can be done right now with NEON (and other) data and what training is needed to enable a diverse user community. NEON became fully operational in May 2019 and has pivoted from planning and construction to operation and maintenance. In this overview, the history of and foundational thinking around NEON are discussed. A framework of open science is described with a discussion of how NEON can be situated as part of a larger data constellation—across existing networks …
Fly On The Wall: Comparing Arthropod Communities Between Islands With And Without House Mice (Mus Musculus), Wieteke A. Holthuijzen
Fly On The Wall: Comparing Arthropod Communities Between Islands With And Without House Mice (Mus Musculus), Wieteke A. Holthuijzen
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
Invertebrates are key to island ecosystems but impacts from invasive mammalian predators are not well documented or understood. Given this knowledge gap, we studied terrestrial arthropod communities in the presence of a common invasive rodent (house mice, Mus musculus) on a subtropical atoll—Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (MANWR). Here, invasive mice recently began to attack and depredate nesting seabirds, prompting a mouse eradication. Although eradication planning efforts are underway, uncertainty remains regarding the ecosystem’s response to mouse removal. As part of a pre-eradication investigation, we conducted a baseline survey of MANWR’s arthropod community structure and diversity, comparing islands with and …
Incorporation Of Summer Annual Mixtures Into Grazing Systems In Kentucky, Kelly Marie Mercier
Incorporation Of Summer Annual Mixtures Into Grazing Systems In Kentucky, Kelly Marie Mercier
Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences
Utilizing summer annual grass-legume forage mixtures has the potential to improve forage yield and nutritive characteristics, and/or animal performance during times when cool-season pasture growth is limited by high temperatures. Legumes can utilize atmospheric nitrogen, which can increase crude protein and forage digestibility in mixtures. As nitrogen application generally improves both the yield and nutritive characteristics of summer annual forages, but can have a negative effect on legume competitiveness, nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for legume-containing summer annual mixtures are not well established.
Two experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of utilizing summer annual mixtures in Kentucky, USA. The first experiment …
On The Straight And Narrow: How Cultural Beliefs About Sex/Gender Manifest In College Biology Learning Environments., Katherine Ray Kng
On The Straight And Narrow: How Cultural Beliefs About Sex/Gender Manifest In College Biology Learning Environments., Katherine Ray Kng
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation focused on the ways that social beliefs about sex/gender and sexuality manifest in biology classrooms. Especially for health science students, classes include topics like sex, sexuality, sexual behaviors, or sex determination that forms the foundation of their understanding of human forms and behaviors. If the information they receive does not include the LGBTQIA+ community, their education will fail to adequately prepare them for the reality of healthcare practice where they will be expected to treat all patients with dignity and respect. There are three chapters in this dissertation. In chapter one, I asked what beliefs about and conceptions …
Determining Benthic Macroinvertebrate Abundance And Diversity In Two Arctic Lakes As Part Of An Experimental Lake Warming, Allie Huish
Biology Posters
Global climate change threatens the integrity of freshwater ecosystems across the globe. At higher latitudes these ecosystems are experiencing the highest rates of temperature increase related to climate change. Freshwater invertebrate communities are important sources of food for fishes and bioindicators helping us understand the health of entire ecosystems. Our research is part of a larger experiment which aims to artificially warm an arctic lake by 2-4 ⁰C, to try and determine the impact of rising temperatures on lake food webs and ecosystem function. Our objectives were to calculate benthic macroinvertebrate densities in two arctic lakes, Fog1 and Fog3 (one …
Insect Diversity And Association With Plants: A Case Study In Rural Areas Of Dhirkot, Azad Kashmir Pakistan, Abu Ul Hassan Faiz, Mehboob Ul Hassan, Mikhail F. Bagaturov, Majid Mahmood, Ghazal Tariq, Lariab Zahra Faiz
Insect Diversity And Association With Plants: A Case Study In Rural Areas Of Dhirkot, Azad Kashmir Pakistan, Abu Ul Hassan Faiz, Mehboob Ul Hassan, Mikhail F. Bagaturov, Majid Mahmood, Ghazal Tariq, Lariab Zahra Faiz
Journal of Bioresource Management
Insects play a vital role for proper functioning of forest ecosystem, including positive roles as pollinators, seed dispersers, genetic linkers and detrimental effects by feeding on and/or killing trees. The present study was conducted to find insect association with plants in rural areas of Dhirkot. The study was conducted from March, 2019 to September, 2019. The sampling was carried out by line transect method. Thirty transects were taken for sampling insects. Sixty-five species of insects in association with 150 plants were recorded.
Decreased Temperature Variance Associated With Biotic Composition Enhances Coastal Shrub Encroachment, Lauren K. Wood, Spencer Hays, Julie C. Zinnert
Decreased Temperature Variance Associated With Biotic Composition Enhances Coastal Shrub Encroachment, Lauren K. Wood, Spencer Hays, Julie C. Zinnert
Biology Publications
Regime shift from grasslands to shrub-dominated landscapes occur worldwide driven by altered land-use and climate change, affecting landscape function, biodiversity, and productivity. Warming winter temperatures are a main driver of expansion of the native, evergreen shrub, Morella cerifera, in coastal landscapes. Shrub establishment in these habitats alters microclimate, but little is known about seasonal differences and microclimate variance. We assessed influence of shrubs on microclimate variance, community composition, and community physiological functioning across three vegetation zones: grass, transitional, and shrub in a coastal grassland. Using a novel application of a time-series analysis, we interpret microclimatic variance modification and elucidate …
Effects Of Water Table Depth And Edaphic Characteristics On Plant Diversity In A Southern Mississippi Pitcher Plant Bog, Patrick Kirby
Effects Of Water Table Depth And Edaphic Characteristics On Plant Diversity In A Southern Mississippi Pitcher Plant Bog, Patrick Kirby
Master's Theses
This study examined the effects that water table depth and soil characteristics have on plant species richness and species composition within pitcher plant bogs across seasons. Eight piezometers were installed at random distances to monitor long-term water table depth and pressure fluctuations along a ~710-meter line transect traversing upland and bog habitats. Vegetation sampling quadrats (n=128) were set up near each piezometer. Cover data and water table depths were collected in spring and late summer. Soil samples collected from each treatment group were used to obtain soil texture and nutrient data. The summer collection period yielded a total gdiversity of …
Mosquito Diversity And Positive Pools For The West Nile Virus In Forested Versus Non-Forested Areas, Elizabeth C. Paul
Mosquito Diversity And Positive Pools For The West Nile Virus In Forested Versus Non-Forested Areas, Elizabeth C. Paul
Honors Projects
The West Nile virus (WNV) is one of the leading causes of mosquito borne illness in the United States (CDC, 2018). This virus is a neurotropic pathogen that can cause fever and encephalitis. It is known that the Culex species is the primary vector for WNV. Humans infected with the WNV are typically asymptomatic. There is a small portion of individuals that experience West Nile fever which could include symptoms like high fever, vision loss, and coma (CDC, 2018). Previous studies have shown that mosquitoes tend to favor forests and wetlands (Hay et al., 1998), however, it is unknown if …
Drought Responsive Gene Expression Regulatory Divergence Between Upland And Lowland Ecotypes Of A Perennial C4 Grass, John T. Lovell, Scott Schwartz, David B. Lowry, Eugene V. Shakirov, Jason E. Bonnette, Xiaoyu Weng, Mei Wang, Jenifer Johnson, Avinash Sreedasyam, Christopher Plott, Jerry Jenkins, Jeremy Schmutz, Thomas E. Juenger
Drought Responsive Gene Expression Regulatory Divergence Between Upland And Lowland Ecotypes Of A Perennial C4 Grass, John T. Lovell, Scott Schwartz, David B. Lowry, Eugene V. Shakirov, Jason E. Bonnette, Xiaoyu Weng, Mei Wang, Jenifer Johnson, Avinash Sreedasyam, Christopher Plott, Jerry Jenkins, Jeremy Schmutz, Thomas E. Juenger
Yevgeniy (Eugene) Shakirov
Climatic adaptation is an example of a genotype-by-environment interaction (G×E) of fitness. Selection upon gene expression regulatory variation can contribute to adaptive phenotypic diversity; however, surprisingly few studies have examined how genome-wide patterns of gene expression G×E are manifested in response to environmental stress and other selective agents that cause climatic adaptation. Here, we characterize drought-responsive expression divergence between upland (drought-adapted) and lowland (mesic) ecotypes of the perennial C4 grass, Panicum hallii, in natural field conditions. Overall, we find that cis-regulatory elements contributed to gene expression divergence across 47% of genes, 7.2% of which exhibit drought-responsive G×E. …
Dormant Pathogenic Cd4(+) T Cells Are Prevalent In The Peripheral Repertoire Of Healthy Mice, Anna Cebula, Michal Kuczma, Edyta Szurek, Maciej Pietrzak, Natasha Savage, Wessam R. Elhefnawy, Grzegorz Rempala, Piotr Kraj, Leszek Ignatowicz
Dormant Pathogenic Cd4(+) T Cells Are Prevalent In The Peripheral Repertoire Of Healthy Mice, Anna Cebula, Michal Kuczma, Edyta Szurek, Maciej Pietrzak, Natasha Savage, Wessam R. Elhefnawy, Grzegorz Rempala, Piotr Kraj, Leszek Ignatowicz
Computer Science Faculty Publications
Thymic central tolerance eliminates most immature T cells with autoreactive T cell receptors (TCR) that recognize self MHC/peptide complexes. Regardless, an unknown number of autoreactive CD4+Foxp3− T cells escape negative selection and in the periphery require continuous suppression by CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory cells (Tregs). Here, we compare immune repertoires of Treg-deficient and Treg-sufficient mice to find Tregs continuously constraining one-third of mature CD4+Foxp3− cells from converting to pathogenic effectors in healthy mice. These dormant pathogenic clones frequently express TCRs activatable by ubiquitous autoantigens presented by class II MHCs on conventional dendritic cells, including selfpeptides that select …
Surveying Apicomplexan Diversity And Dynamics In Narragansett Bay, Evelyn Spencer
Surveying Apicomplexan Diversity And Dynamics In Narragansett Bay, Evelyn Spencer
Senior Honors Projects
Parasites play an important role in marine ecosystems and their diversity is generally understudied. Apicomplexans, a group of parasitic protists in the phylum Alveolata, infect a wide variety of animal hosts and are abundant in ecosystems spanning from Polar Regions to Neotropical rainforests. Previous data generated from marine sediments in Antarctica, Naples Bay, and off the coast of Oslo, exhibit high diversity and numbers of apicomplexans. Abundance and diversity of these protists are unknown for Narragansett Bay, despite the fact that they infect many commercially important species. The aim of my study was to obtain abundance data and understand genetic …