Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons^™

Exposure Of Egyptian Rousette Bats (Rousettus Aegyptiacus) And A Little Free-Tailed Bat (Chaerephon Pumilus) To Alphaviruses In Uganda, Rebekah C. Kading, Erin M. Borland, Eric C. Mossel, Teddy Nakayiki, Betty Nalikka, Jeremy P. Ledermann, Mary B. Crabtree, Nicholas A. Panella, Luke Nyakarahuka, Amy T. Gilbert, Julian C. Kerbis-Peterhans, Jonathan S. Towner, Brian R. Amman, Tara K. Sealy, Barry R. Miller, Julius J. Lutwama, Robert M. Kityo, Ann M. Powers

USDA Wildlife Services - Staff Publications

The reservoir for zoonotic o’nyong-nyong virus (ONNV) has remained unknown since this virus was first recognized in Uganda in 1959. Building on existing evidence for mosquito bloodfeeding on various frugivorous bat species in Uganda, and seroprevalence for arboviruses among bats in Uganda, we sought to assess if serum samples collected from bats in Uganda demonstrated evidence of exposure to ONNV or the closely related zoonotic chikungunya virus (CHIKV). In total, 652 serum samples collected from six bat species were tested by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) for neutralizing antibodies against ONNV and CHIKV. Forty out of 303 (13.2%) Egyptian rousettes …

Crustacean Assemblage Structure Over The Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone Of The Mid-Atlantic Ridge Collected During The 2009 Henry B. Bigelow Expedition, Kathryn Medina

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) consists of two nearly parallel fracture transform faults that intersect the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) axis. This area has high primary productivity and biomass levels due to the topography and water. A predominant hydrographic feature of the MAR is the Sub-Polar Front (SPF) which runs along the southern edge of the CGFZ and is known as a biogeographical boundary for multiple species. As part of The Census of Marine Life project Patterns and Processes of the Ecosystem of the northern Mid-Atlantic (MAR-ECO), this study analyzed the abundance and distribution patterns of the CGFZ crustacean community …

Using Xbeach To Describe The Performance Of An Intertidal Vegetation Shoreline Stabilization Treatment, Elizabeth Winter

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to predict the hydrodynamic and morphodynamics of an engineered vegetation-only shoreline restoration project in Little Lagoon, Alabama under different storm and sea level rise scenarios. Little Lagoon is a shallow, single-inlet lagoon located in Baldwin County, Alabama that has been experiencing shoreline erosion for the past 28 years. A living shoreline using vegetation only (Spartina alterniflora) was implemented in the southwest corner of the lagoon, located within Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, to create habitat, improve water quality, and prevent future erosion. This research compares “with-project” and “without-project” hydrodynamics and morphodynamics using XBeach in …

How Low Can You Go? Expanding Oyster Tidal Niche With Predator Induction, Carter Lin

Theses and Dissertations

An oyster’s realized niche is constrained by different stressors based on tidal elevation, such as desiccation or benthic predators. These factors constrain survival and set the boundary for their realized niche. Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) also harden their shells in response to predation risk which reduces their mortality. We performed an empirical study to investigate if this defense mechanism could be manipulated to expand their realized niche. We raised oysters in the presence of blue crab predators (Callinectes sapidus) or in controls sans predators, then monitored their survival at different tidal elevations. Oyster survival was significantly higher in the highest …

Water Availability As A Cross-Scale Driver Of Microbial Functions And Free Viral Abundance In Soil, Aubrey K. Fine

Doctoral Dissertations

Viral infection is widespread in natural microbial communities, with extensive study in aquatic ecosystems demonstrating direct influence on host physiology, functional activity, and mortality. While similar dynamics are assumed to occur across ecosystems, soils are distinct microbial habitats where soil physiochemical structure and water availability constrain resource availability. These unique environmental conditions have been widely demonstrated to affect microbial distribution, diversity, and functional activity in bulk soil, while their influence on virus-microbe interactions and free viral abundance remains limited. To address this knowledge gap, this research had three broad aims: i) to investigate variability in microbial responses to drying-rewetting cycles …

Aquaculture In Africa: Aquatic Animal Welfare, Impact On The Environment And The Sustainability Of The Sector, Mwenda M. Mbaka, Janice H. Cox, Stephen Ronan

Aquaculture

The African aquaculture sector recorded the fastest growth in the world between 2006-2018, averaging 10% or more, and is expected to partially fill the growing fish supply-demand gap up to 2063. In 2018, there were about 1.2 million aquafarmers across the continent, an increase from 920 thousand in 2014. According to the African Development Bank, expansion of aquaculture in Africa is hampered by "the overwhelming predominance of tilapia farming, which relies heavily on the production of fingerlings from a limited number of genetically improved strains that are resistant to the many diseases affecting this species, and on the production of …

Divergent Serpentoviruses In Free-Ranging Invasive Pythons And Native Colubrids In Southern Florida, United States, Steven B. Tillis, Jillian M. Josimovich, Melissa A. Miller, Laura L. Hoon-Hanks, Arik M. Hartmann, Natalie M. Claunch, Marley E. Iredale, Tracey D. Logan, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Ian A. Bartoszek, John S. Humphrey, Bryan M. Kluever, Mark D. Stenglein, Robert N. Reed, Christina M. Romagosa, James F.X. Wellehan, Robert J. Ossiboff

USDA Wildlife Services - Staff Publications

Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is an invasive snake that has significantly affected ecosystems in southern Florida, United States. Aside from direct predation and competition, invasive species can also introduce nonnative pathogens that can adversely affect native species. The subfamily Serpentovirinae (order Nidovirales) is composed of positive-sense RNA viruses primarily found in reptiles. Some serpentoviruses, such as shingleback nidovirus, are associated with mortalities in wild populations, while others, including ball python nidovirus and green tree python nidovirus can be a major cause of disease and mortality in captive animals. To determine if serpentoviruses were present in invasive Burmese …

The Impacts Of A Quagga And Zebra Mussel Infestation, Casey Silva

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

Invasive species issues have been on the rise in the United States for decades. These organisms can disrupt the natural flow of an ecosystem and overtake native species, altering an environment as a whole. The introduction of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in 1988, followed by the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis) in 1989 is arguably the most prolific aquatic infestation the nation is currently up against (Hoddle, 2022). Beginning in the Great Lakes, both quagga and zebra mussels quickly spread their infestations through the Midwest and the East coast. The potential invasion of these species across …

Round Goby (Neogobius Melanostomus) Seasonal Diet, Drift Impacts, And Influence On Stream Connectivity In Great Lakes Tributary Streams, Kyle R. Glenn Mr

Biology Theses

Seasonality, energy recruitment, and food web position dictate the degree of impact fish impose on their surrounding environment. In the Great Lakes, the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is known to out-migrate from nearshore habitat to offshore depths in the winter months. However, in Great Lake tributaries, round goby populations were found up to 25 km upstream during winter months, and distance upstream was a predictor of out-migration propensity; populations farthest upstream did not out-migrate. Seasonal resources shaped the diet and condition of these fish thus creating inland populations with different average lengths, diets, and body condition compared to …

Dust Deposition Changes Production, Chlorophyll-A And Community Composition In Mountain Lakes, Jiahao Wen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing quantities of dust emitted from semi-arid soils, agricultural soils, and urban regions are blown to remote mountain lakes in the American West. Remote mountain lakes lacking local nutrient inputs and presenting simple food webs that are easily affected by climate changes. Dust can carry nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) to mountain lakes and potentially enhance algae growth and change algal communities. However, experimental tests of this hypothesis are lacking. Using in situ experiments, we investigated the effects of dust enrichment on the production, biomass, and primary algal species in three mountain lakes in the American West. We found that …

Distribution And Export Of Particulate Organic Carbon In East Antarctic Coastal Polynyas, Lavenia Ratnarajah, Viena Puigcorbé, Sébastien Moreau, Montserrat Roca-Martí, Julie Janssens, Matthew Corkill, Luis Duprat, Cristina Genovese, Jan Lieser, Pere Masqué, Delphine Lannuzel

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Polynyas represent regions of enhanced primary production because of the low, or absent, sea-ice cover coupled with the proximity of nutrient sources. However, studies throughout the Southern Ocean suggest elevated primary production does not necessarily result in increased carbon export. Three coastal polynyas in East Antarctica and an off-shelf region were visited during the austral summer from December 2016 to January 2017 to examine the vertical distribution and concentration of particulate organic carbon (POC). Carbon export was also examined using thorium-234 (²³⁴Th) as a proxy at two of the polynyas. Our results show that concentrations and integrated POC …

Evaluation Of Differences In Testosterone Concentration Among Species, Sexes, And Reproductive Tactics In Two-Lined Salamanders, Zaynab Massenburg

Symposium of Student Scholars

Fall 2022 symposium abstract:

Evaluation of differences in testosterone concentration among species, sexes, and reproductive tactics in two-lined salamanders

Zaynab Massenburg(1), Michelle Ross(1)

[zmassenb@students.kennesaw.edu, mross105@students.kennesaw.edu]

(1) Kennesaw State University

Inhabiting streams in the Appalachian Mountains in northern Georgia are two sympatric and closely related species of plethodontid salamanders—Brown-backed Salamanders (Eurycea aquatica) and Blue Ridge Two-lined Salamanders (Eurycea cf. wilderae). Male Eurycea cf. wilderae exhibit a morphological polymorphism corresponding to alternative reproductive tactics. “Searching” males display brighter coloration, the presence of cirri and a mental glad, and mate-searching behavior, while “guarding” males display hypertrophied jaw musculature, lack cirri and a mental …

Internal Vertebral Morphology Of Bony Fishes Matches The Mechanical Demands Of Different Environments, Dana Baxter, Karly E. Cohen, Cassandra M. Donatelli, Eric D. Tytell

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Fishes have repeatedly evolved characteristic body shapes depending on how close they live to the substrate. Pelagic fishes live in open water and typically have narrow, streamlined body shapes; benthic and demersal fishes live close to the substrate; and demersal fishes often have deeper bodies. These shape differences are often associated with behavioral differences: pelagic fishes swim nearly constantly, demersal fishes tend to maneuver near the substrate, and benthic fishes often lie in wait on the substrate. We hypothesized that these morphological and behavioral differences would be reflected in the mechanical properties of the body, and specifically in vertebral column …

Life History And Ecology Of The San Emigdio Blue Butterfly (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), Gregory R. Ballmer

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The San Emigdio blue butterfly, Plebulina emigdionis (Grinnell, 1905), occurs in small, scattered colonies in and near the southwestern Mojave Desert of California. Colonies depend on a symbiotic relationship with the ant Formica francoueri (Bolton), and occur only where the ant’s range (primarily in more mesic cis-montane habitats) narrowly overlaps that of the butterfly’s more widely distributed Atriplex larval hosts in more xeric habitats. Colonies of P. emigdionis are often localized around a few host plants and, therefore, sensitive to habitat changes due to anthropocentric causes and environmental stochasticity. The biology, ecology, and status of known colonies of P emigdionis …

The Nitrogen Dynamics Of Deer Cave, Sarawak, And The Role Of Bat Caves As Biogeochemical Sinks In Tropical Moist Forests., Joyce Lundberg, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Guy Van Rentergem

International Journal of Speleology

A better understanding of the role of bat caves as nitrogen sinks in tropical moist forest ecosystems can be expected to shed light on regional and spatial variability in nutrient recycling studies. We measured the nitrogen flux (in air and water) associated with a very large Chaerephon plicata bat colony in Deer Cave, Borneo, in the process generating a new, quantitative, estimate of the total bat population (774,828 ±48,320), and the first detailed modelling of an ammonia plume in a cave. Long-term storage of N does not occur in this wet cave. Our final budget numbers indicate that, of the …

Algae And Cyanobacteria In The Aphotic Habitats Of Veternica Cave (Medvednica Mt., Croatia) And Selected Caves Of The Dinaric Karst (South-Eastern Europe), Najla Baković, Tanja Pipan, Robert Baković, Roman Ozimec, Josip Rubinić, Renata Matoničkin Kepčija

International Journal of Speleology

Microphototrophs (algae and cyanobacteria) in karst environments have been intensively studied in aquatic epigean habitats. In recent decades knowledge about the communities inhabiting cave entrances and lampenflora has grown substantially, but the data about the communities in aphotic cave zone are scarce. This study aimed to investigate spatio-temporal presence of microphototrophs in the aphotic zone of Veternica Cave (Mt. Medvednica karst) and to present additional preliminary data from 22 caves of the Dinaric karst. The data were collected over ten years, in parallel with research on cave phagotrophic protists. In addition to the remains of microphototrophs, living algae and cyanobacteria …

A Novel Vaccine Candidate Against Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus 2 (Rhdv2) Confers Protection In Domestic Rabbits, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Bethany Cominsky, Stephanie Porter, J. Jeffrey Root, Amber Schueler, Gary Anderson, Sara Vanderwal, Andy Benson

USDA Wildlife Services - Staff Publications

OBJECTIVE To evaluate efficacy of a novel vaccine against rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) in domestic rabbits.

ANIMALS 40 New Zealand White rabbits obtained from a commercial breeder.

PROCEDURES Rabbits were vaccinated and held at the production facility for the duration of the vaccination phase and transferred to Colorado State University for challenge with RHDV2. Rabbits were challenged with oral suspensions containing infectious virus and monitored for clinical disease for up to 10 days. Rabbits that died or were euthanized following infection were necropsied, and livers were evaluated for viral RNA via RT-PCR.

RESULTS None of the vaccinated animals …

Text Mining Policy Documents To Support Transboundary Integrated Ecosystem Assessment: The Case Of The South Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Debora Cristina Ferrari Ramalho

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Maritime Stakeholder Perceptions On Challenges And Opportunities To Ratify The Ballast Water Management Convention In Ecuador: Perspectives From Maritime Decision-Makers And Port State Control Officers, José Alejandro Pazmiño Yépez

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Variation In Coastal Macroinvertebrate Species Diversity On Intertidal Boulders In Trinidad, California., Louis Antonelli, Alexandra Winkler, Theron Taylor, Natalie Greenleaf

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

Coastal environments of Humboldt County provide an optimal habitat for a diversity of macroinvertebrates. This study’s focus is to determine the differences in diversity of coastal macroinvertebrate (CM) species on intertidal boulders. Eleven CM species were visually counted within a one-square-meter quadrat along two height strata of five intertidal boulders. Based upon the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, diversity was measured between the CM species in the lower region (0-1 meter from base of boulder) and the upper region (1-2 meters from base of boulder). The resulting data showed the lower regions of the boulders had a higher average diversity rating, as …