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Functional Analysis Of Two Campoletis Sonorensis Ichnovirus Vinnexins In Drosophila Melanogaster, Peng Zhang Aug 2023

Functional Analysis Of Two Campoletis Sonorensis Ichnovirus Vinnexins In Drosophila Melanogaster, Peng Zhang

All Dissertations

Campoletis sonorensis Ichnovirus (CsIV) is produced by the ichneumonid parasitoid Campoletis sonorensis (the primary host). Female parasitoid wasps restrictedly replicate viruses in their ovaries and inject them into a larval lepidopteran (secondary host) during oviposition. This symbiotic virus of C. sonorensis is essential for successful parasitization. CsIV is characterized by having a large, segmented double-stranded DNA genome with a large number of genes, many of which are associated with one of five multigene families. The CsIV vinnexin gene family is one of them and has four members, including CsIV-vnxD and CsIV-vnxG. Vinnexins are homologues of insect Innexins, which form gap …

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Understanding The Environmental And Genetic Influence On Fluctuating Asymmetry And Developmental Instability In Primates, Ashly N. Romero Aug 2023

Understanding The Environmental And Genetic Influence On Fluctuating Asymmetry And Developmental Instability In Primates, Ashly N. Romero

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored the impact of environmental factors on the development and perpetuation of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and sought to understand the role evolution may play in the FA exhibited in two primate populations: the free-ranging Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and the Southwest National Primate Research Center olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis). Demographic, ontogenetic, secular, external, and genetic factors were examined. Specifically, this dissertation investigated FA over all ontogenetic stages, across decades, between sexes, in association with ecological catastrophes, and with tooth pathology to try and tease apart factors that may influence FA and developmental instability. This dissertation …

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Western Pearlshell (Margaritifera Falcata) Extirpation In The Smith River, Montana, With A Possible Link To Warming Water Temperatures, David M. Stagliano Aug 2023

Western Pearlshell (Margaritifera Falcata) Extirpation In The Smith River, Montana, With A Possible Link To Warming Water Temperatures, David M. Stagliano

Western North American Naturalist

Western pearlshell (Margaritifera falcata) populations are in decline across the species’ range in western North America. In 2008, Montana categorized the western pearlshell as an imperiled species of concern (S2) based on reduced detections at historically occupied sites and few viable populations. Between 2004 and 2014, we surveyed 24 Smith River reaches (61 total sites in the watershed) for the presence of western pearlshell populations. Despite historical and anecdotal descriptions of abundant western pearlshell in the Smith River, intensive structured surveys between 2004 and 2007 documented only 4 sections with low-density, nonviable western pearlshell populations (<10 individuals, large size classes [average total length = 70 mm], with no signs of recruitment). In 2014, we revisited these occupied sites to repeat surveys (expending significantly more search time) and observed no live individuals. This was surprising given that, although those populations would certainly die out without recruitment, older individuals can oftentimes persist for decades. Therefore, we consider the western pearlshell mussel extirpated from the Smith River watershed. We reviewed long-term USGS gage discharge and temperature data near the western pearlshell populations to evaluate the potential causal factors for, and timing of, the extirpation. From 3 July to 3 August 2007, water temperatures were at or above the thermal stress levels of the western pearlshell (>25 °C, …

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Genomic Underpinning Of Drought-Associated Phenotypes In A Keystone Shrub Species Of Western North America, Carlos Dave Contreras Dumaguit Aug 2023

Genomic Underpinning Of Drought-Associated Phenotypes In A Keystone Shrub Species Of Western North America, Carlos Dave Contreras Dumaguit

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic climate warming and habitat loss threaten species and ecosystem sustainability. Given this, it is urgent to determine whether populations can adapt at a rate sufficient to combat climate change or if human intervention is needed to preserve community ecosystem health. Assessing whether populations could adapt includes inferring whether key phenotypic traits associated to abiotic tolerance are under genetic control and therefore heritable. This thesis focused on the imperiled western North American sagebrush steppe and its widespread eponymous keystone species Artemisia tridentata, (common name, big sagebrush). To determine the adaptive capacity of any population, standing variation for phenotypic traits across …

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Seed Predation By Harvester Ants On Native Grasses And Forbs: Implications For Management In A Changing Landscape, Michaela Grossklaus Aug 2023

Seed Predation By Harvester Ants On Native Grasses And Forbs: Implications For Management In A Changing Landscape, Michaela Grossklaus

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Vegetation restoration efforts in the sagebrush steppe to date have yielded mixed results. Although many factors contribute to variation in restoration outcomes, seed predation by harvester ants may be an important yet overlooked source of seed loss. Using a selection of grass and forb seeds commonly seeded in local restoration projects, we conducted a field experiment to evaluate whether seed species and spatial arrangement (i.e., distance of seed patches from ant colonies and from each other) affected patterns of seed consumption by Owyhee harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex salinus. To further examine the ecological factors that may affect foraging by harvester …

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Impacts Of Habitat Type On Individual Prairie Falcon (Falco Mexicanus) Movement And Foraging Behavior During The Breeding Season, Eden Sunshine Ravecca Aug 2023

Impacts Of Habitat Type On Individual Prairie Falcon (Falco Mexicanus) Movement And Foraging Behavior During The Breeding Season, Eden Sunshine Ravecca

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Animal movement is a fundamental characteristic of the ecology, fitness, and evolution of species. Movement behavior can differ significantly among individuals within a population and is driven by a multitude of factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic. How and why animals differ in the way they use habitat is central to species conservation, but relying solely on population-level estimates obscures individual variation and can result in ineffective management strategies. Understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of movement and individual variation among wide-ranging aerial predators is particularly challenging, but remains imperative for conservation, given the critical role of higher trophic levels in ecosystem functioning. …

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Resolving Taxonomic Uncertainty And Clarifying Species Boundaries In The Cymopterus Terebinthinus (Apiaceae) Species Complex, Annie Taylor Aug 2023

Resolving Taxonomic Uncertainty And Clarifying Species Boundaries In The Cymopterus Terebinthinus (Apiaceae) Species Complex, Annie Taylor

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Speciation processes are not well resolved or agreed upon. They are however essential to our general understanding of the evolutionary processes that lead to diversification. Determining the juncture at which a genetically and/or morphologically divergent population becomes a unique species can be challenging, especially with respect to recent divergences and closely related taxa where issues such as incomplete lineage sorting may bring about confounding results. To complicate our theoretical disagreements on species definitions, different models inferring species boundaries may accordingly lump or split species. Using multiple lines of evidence to define species boundaries can greatly improve species inference and preclude …

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Co-Flowering Community Effects On The Relative Contribution Of Pollen Quantity And Quality Limitation To The Reproductive Success Of Four Clarkia Species, Emma Moore Aug 2023

Co-Flowering Community Effects On The Relative Contribution Of Pollen Quantity And Quality Limitation To The Reproductive Success Of Four Clarkia Species, Emma Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More than 60% of plant populations experience low pollen availability which limits seed production (pollen limitation). Pollen limitation occurs due to low quantity or quality of pollen delivered to stigmas. Despite its ubiquity in nature, to date we still have limited understanding of the drivers of pollen limitation in plant communities. Plants typically occur in diverse communities where pollinator sharing is common and can influence quality and quantity aspects of pollen limitation. Co-flowering species can attract larger numbers of pollinators or they can compete for pollinators affecting pollen loads on stigmas. Pollinator competition may also lead to higher rates of …

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The Old Family Clock: Exploring High Variation Of Chronotype In The Common House Spider, Parasteatoda Tepidariorum, Caitlin Jones Aug 2023

The Old Family Clock: Exploring High Variation Of Chronotype In The Common House Spider, Parasteatoda Tepidariorum, Caitlin Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Circadian rhythms are often tightly confined around a mean of 24 hours with little variation in traditional model organisms in the absence of environmental time cues. Some spider species fall well outside this normal range with mean periods of 18 hours and variation around these means of 6 hours or more. This extreme variation in circadian rhythm is not well-understood and is the focus of the current study. Using Parasteatoda tepidariorum as a model organism, we investigated whether variation in eight circadian parameters could be explained by genetic variability, environmental conditions, or an endogenous feature of the circadian system of …

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Functional Morphology Of The Platyrrhine Humerus And Talus: Implications For Inferring Locomotor Behavior In Extinct Primates, Liam Michael Zachary Aug 2023

Functional Morphology Of The Platyrrhine Humerus And Talus: Implications For Inferring Locomotor Behavior In Extinct Primates, Liam Michael Zachary

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Platyrrhines are a diverse radiation of primates that exhibit a range of locomotor adaptations. The relationships between extant primate locomotor behavior and variation in postcranial morphology are often used to make functional interpretations of skeletal anatomy in extinct primates. However, a comparative baseline of form-function relationships in the extant platyrrhine postcranium is lacking compared to other primates, which limits understanding of platyrrhine locomotor evolution. The humerus and talus are two of the best represented skeletal elements in the platyrrhine fossil record and are informative of locomotor behavior. Therefore, quantification of morphological variation in extant platyrrhine tali and humeri can provide …

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Microsporidian Spores And The Integrin Binding Loop Of The Madam Protein Are Important For Integrin Signaling And Attachment To Host Cells, Cindy L. Barrett Aug 2023

Microsporidian Spores And The Integrin Binding Loop Of The Madam Protein Are Important For Integrin Signaling And Attachment To Host Cells, Cindy L. Barrett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microsporidia are a distant fungal pathogen that have severe clinical consequences for the immunocompromised. Previous work identified a microsporidian pathogen protein termed Microsporidian ADAM or MADAM. This protein has close sequence homology to other ADAM proteins (A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase) in two microsporidian species, Encephalitozoon intestinalis and E. cuniculi. ADAM proteins have a wide range of functions, including binding to integrins and host signaling. It is known that many pathogens manipulate integrins to invade host cells, and it is predicted that microsporidia are also exploiting this host target. Previous work with the MADAM protein demonstrated that this protein has a …

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Consistency Is Key: Investigating Vocal Consistency In Field Sparrows, Stephanie Stanton Aug 2023

Consistency Is Key: Investigating Vocal Consistency In Field Sparrows, Stephanie Stanton

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

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Lsd1-Mediated Epigenetic Reprogramming Driving Prostate Cancer Progression, Zifeng Wang Aug 2023

Lsd1-Mediated Epigenetic Reprogramming Driving Prostate Cancer Progression, Zifeng Wang

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men worldwide. Alterations in epigenetic regulation of gene expression have emerged as key contributors to PCa development, treatment resistance and disease progression. My thesis focuses on investigating the role of lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), a critical histone modifier, in mediating epigenetic reprogramming that drives PCa progression. The dissertation comprises three projects that elucidate the mechanisms by which LSD1 can regulate PCa progression. The first project shows that LSD1 can activate the PI3K/AKT pathway in PCa cells independent of its well-established androgen receptor (AR) coactivator function. The study identifies the …

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Heterogeneity Among Harveyi Clade-Specific Virulence Genes And Attribution Of These Genes To Possible Environmental Carriers, Cameron Brown Aug 2023

Heterogeneity Among Harveyi Clade-Specific Virulence Genes And Attribution Of These Genes To Possible Environmental Carriers, Cameron Brown

Biology Theses

In the face of global warming, waterborne pathogens are evolving rapidly and expanding geographically. The Vibrio Harveyi clade encompasses a number of human and aquatic organism pathogens, and due to their physiology, they may benefit from ongoing changes in the temperature, pH, and salinity of the global Ocean. With this, the Southeastern United States might become an accommodating environment for Harveyi clade species, and it is imperative to monitor for their abundance and distribution in the environment. A qPCR assay was developed for the detection and quantification of clade-specific virulence genes toxRvh, hly, toxR, luxR, srp, vhha, vhh, and vhp …

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Genetic Analysis Of Crossover Defective Mouse Spermatocytes Reveals Discrete Crossover Precursor Intermediates, Tolkappiyan Prem Kumar Aug 2023

Genetic Analysis Of Crossover Defective Mouse Spermatocytes Reveals Discrete Crossover Precursor Intermediates, Tolkappiyan Prem Kumar

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

In healthy, non-replicating somatic cells of diploid organisms, like humans and mice, there are two copies of each chromosome, one from each parent. However, the germ cells of these organisms, the oocytes, and the sperm, have only one copy of each chromosome, thus ensuring that when haploid oocytes and sperm fuse to form a zygote, a diploid number of chromosomes is restored. The reduction of a diploid number of chromosomes to a haploid number of chromosomes takes place during meiosis. The meiotic cell cycle consists of two rounds of cell division, Meiosis I and Meiosis II. Meiosis I create haploid …

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Therapeutic Potential Of Prmt5 And Mat2a As Synthetic Lethal Targets In Mtap-Deficient Gbm Tumors, Yasaman Barekatain Aug 2023

Therapeutic Potential Of Prmt5 And Mat2a As Synthetic Lethal Targets In Mtap-Deficient Gbm Tumors, Yasaman Barekatain

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Homozygous deletion of methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) is a frequent genetic alteration found in approximately 15% of all human cancers, including glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma, urothelial bladder carcinoma, and lung squamous cell carcinoma. MTAP is a critical metabolic enzyme in the methionine salvage pathway responsible for the breakdown of methylthioadenosine (MTA). As a result, MTAP-deleted cells cannot metabolize MTA, leading to the accumulation of MTA. High levels of MTA in MTAP-deleted cells partially inhibit the activity of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), making these cells sensitive to PRMT5 and MAT2A inhibition. Although elevated levels of MTA in …

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The Effects Of Caffeine On Activity Levels And Motor Behaviors In The Honeybee, Apis Mellifera, Johana Castro Aug 2023

The Effects Of Caffeine On Activity Levels And Motor Behaviors In The Honeybee, Apis Mellifera, Johana Castro

Theses and Dissertations

Caffeine is produced by plants as a defense mechanism against herbivores and pathogens. However, caffeine was found in floral nectar, which contradicts nectar's role in attracting pollinators. Interestingly, low concentrations of caffeine were shown to increase alertness and locomotion in mammals and invertebrates, indicating it may enhance the productivity of pollinators. This investigation examined how caffeine affects activity levels and motor behaviors in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. To test overall activity, forager bees were collected and fed 1 M sucrose to satiation. The following day, bees received 10 µl of 1.0 M sucrose alone or with caffeine ranging from …

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Femoral Osteohistology In American Alligators (Alligator Mississippiensis) Reveals High Variation In Growth And Facilitates Interpretation Of An Early Pliocene Alligator, Davis Gunnin Aug 2023

Femoral Osteohistology In American Alligators (Alligator Mississippiensis) Reveals High Variation In Growth And Facilitates Interpretation Of An Early Pliocene Alligator, Davis Gunnin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Histological analysis of long bone thin sections is commonly used to infer growth rates and ecology of extinct vertebrates, particularly within Archosauria. However, most comparative neontological studies have used small samples of captive individuals, limiting the scope of variation. To fill this gap, 44 femoral thin sections of wild Alligator mississippiensis were prepared and analyzed. Comparison of slides revealed that larger individuals from cooler climates tend to show more LAGs compared to southerly A. mississippiensis of similar size, however, there is considerable variation. This pronounced variation in wild specimens emphasizes the need to use caution when interpreting paleohistological data with …

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Mountain Lion Resource Selection In The California Central Coast: Modeling Habitat Suitability For A Large Carnivore In A Rapidly Changing Environment, Megan Elizabeth O'Connor Aug 2023

Mountain Lion Resource Selection In The California Central Coast: Modeling Habitat Suitability For A Large Carnivore In A Rapidly Changing Environment, Megan Elizabeth O'Connor

Master's Theses

Land use conversion toward agriculture such as orchards and vineyards can have severe negative impacts on habitat and wildlife, particularly large carnivores, globally through habitat fragmentation and loss. The mountain lion (Puma concolor) population in the California Central Coast is thought to provide “stepping-stone” connectivity between several severely genetically compromised coastal populations throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and several mountain ranges in Southern California; however, the California Central Coast is one of the fastest-developing regions of California with little protection against future land use conversion. Conserving areas of and corridors between high-quality mountain lion habitat through conservation easements …

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Hsp70 And Hsp22 As Toxicity Bioreporters In Drosophila Melanogaster, Zakkary Hudson Aug 2023

Hsp70 And Hsp22 As Toxicity Bioreporters In Drosophila Melanogaster, Zakkary Hudson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Of the over 80,000 chemicals used commercially in the United States, few have had sufficient safety and toxicological information collected. To further reduce animal usage, methods that will lessen reliance upon traditional animal toxicology testing and increase the usage of alternative, high throughput toxicology screening methods are being explored. One such method is the utilization of biomarkers and bioreporters in model organisms such as Drosophila melanogaster. The biomarkers, HSP22 and HSP70 have been successfully utilized in various studies involving Drosophila melanogaster bioreporter constructs to evaluate chemical toxicity. In this study, both an in vivo and in vitro HSP22 and …

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The Functional Implications Of Anuran Metamorphosis For Survival, Locomotor Performance, And Limb Bone Mechanical Properties, Chase Kinsey Aug 2023

The Functional Implications Of Anuran Metamorphosis For Survival, Locomotor Performance, And Limb Bone Mechanical Properties, Chase Kinsey

All Dissertations

Many organisms must contend with navigating their environments from birth. An organism could be classified as – and is often studied – in the context of locomotion through a single habitat type. However, many organisms must contend with a wide variety of environmental obstacles and substrates. What’s more, a large group of animals, Lissamphibia, do so while undergoing drastic transformation of their morphology and locomotor appendages. This transformation, term metamorphosis, typically coincides with a movement from water as a tadpole, to land as a frog or salamander. Many studies have associated this transitionary period with decreased locomotor performance and worse …

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Tmbim6 Deficiency Leads To Bone Loss By Accelerating Osteoclastogenesis, Sun-Ju Yi, You-Jee Jang, Seokchan Lee, Sung-Jin Cho, Kyuho Kang, Jae-Il Park, Han-Jung Chae, Hyung-Ryong Kim, Kyunghwan Kim Aug 2023

Tmbim6 Deficiency Leads To Bone Loss By Accelerating Osteoclastogenesis, Sun-Ju Yi, You-Jee Jang, Seokchan Lee, Sung-Jin Cho, Kyuho Kang, Jae-Il Park, Han-Jung Chae, Hyung-Ryong Kim, Kyunghwan Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

TMBIM6 is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein that modulates various physiological and pathological processes, including metabolism and cancer. However, its involvement in bone remodeling has not been investigated. In this study, we demonstrate that TMBIM6 serves as a crucial negative regulator of osteoclast differentiation, a process essential for bone remodeling. Our investigation of Tmbim6-knockout mice revealed an osteoporotic phenotype, and knockdown of Tmbim6 inhibited the formation of multinucleated tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive cells, which are characteristic of osteoclasts. Transcriptome and immunoblot analyses uncovered that TMBIM6 exerts its inhibitory effect on osteoclastogenesis by scavenging reactive oxygen species and preventing p65 nuclear localization. …

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Maternal Provisioning Interacts With Incubation Temperature To Affect Hatchling Mercury Exposure In An Oviparous Reptile, Josiah M Johnson, Christopher R Smaga, Samantha L Bock, Benjamin B Parrott Aug 2023

Maternal Provisioning Interacts With Incubation Temperature To Affect Hatchling Mercury Exposure In An Oviparous Reptile, Josiah M Johnson, Christopher R Smaga, Samantha L Bock, Benjamin B Parrott

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The thermal environment experienced by developing embryos can influence the utilization of maternally provisioned resources. Despite being particularly consequential for oviparous ectotherms, these dynamics are largely unexplored within ecotoxicological frameworks. Here, we test if incubation temperature interacts with maternally transferred mercury to affect subsequent body burdens and tissue distributions of mercury in hatchling American alligators (

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Occupancy And Activity Patterns Of Nine-Banded Armadillos (Dasypus Novemcinctus) In A Suburban Environment, Brett Degregorio, Matthew R. Mcelroy, Emily P. Johansson Aug 2023

Occupancy And Activity Patterns Of Nine-Banded Armadillos (Dasypus Novemcinctus) In A Suburban Environment, Brett Degregorio, Matthew R. Mcelroy, Emily P. Johansson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The geographic range of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) has rapidly been expanding within the United States for the last 150 years. One of the factors contributing to this astounding range expansion is the species’ ability to survive in and colonize human-dominated areas. Despite the fact that armadillos live alongside humans in numerous towns and cities across the Southeastern, Southcentral, and now Midwestern United States, we know relatively little about the behavior and ecology of armadillos in human-developed areas. Here, we used motion-triggered game cameras in over 115 residential yards in the rapidly developing Northwest corner of Arkansas …

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Not All Cities Are The Same: Variation In Animal Phenotypes Across Cities Within Urban Ecology Studies, Javier Delbarco-Trillo, Breanna J. Putman Aug 2023

Not All Cities Are The Same: Variation In Animal Phenotypes Across Cities Within Urban Ecology Studies, Javier Delbarco-Trillo, Breanna J. Putman

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

The sustained expansion of urban environments has been paralleled by an increase in the number of studies investigating the phenotypic changes of animals driven by urbanization. Most of these studies have been confined to only one urban center. However, as the types and strength of anthropogenic stressors differ across cities, a generalizable understanding of the effects of urbanization on urban-dwelling species can only be reached by comparing the responses of urban populations from the same species across more than one city. We conducted phylogenetic meta-analyses on data for animal species (including both invertebrates and vertebrates) for which measures about any …

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A Novel Approach To The Nest Site Characterization Of Two Species Of Critically Endangered Vulture In Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Rebecca Colleen Bishop Aug 2023

A Novel Approach To The Nest Site Characterization Of Two Species Of Critically Endangered Vulture In Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Rebecca Colleen Bishop

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Vulture populations in Africa face extinction as the result of numerous human-generated threats. Existing geographical and ecological knowledge gaps urgently need to be filled to support targeted conservation action across the vast continent, and ideally halt further decline. My study focuses on two Critically Endangered African vulture species - the White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) and the especially rare and poorly understood White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) - in one of the most understudied countries, Mozambique, and from within a protected area, Gorongosa National Park. Formal documentation of breeding densities, nest site characteristics, and timing is limited for …

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Exploring Biotic And Abiotic Constraints On Competition For Signal Space Within Birdsong Communities, Joanna M. Sblendorio Aug 2023

Exploring Biotic And Abiotic Constraints On Competition For Signal Space Within Birdsong Communities, Joanna M. Sblendorio

Dissertations

With the acceleration of climate change and the conversion of natural ecosystems to human-dominated landscapes, there is concern for the persistence of biodiversity amid novel biotic and abiotic factors. An important outcome of shifting species distributions and environmental disturbance is the formation of novel assemblages. For animals that vocalize for mate attraction and resource defense, the introduction of new species into communities may alter availability of acoustic space for signaling and affect detection of signals by conspecifics. Thus, to minimize signal overlap, species should partition signal space and thereby inhabit well-defined acoustic niches. Yet mixed evidence exists regarding signal space …

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Exploring Undergraduate Research Experiences And Perceptions Of Responsible And Ethical Conduct Of Research (Recr) Education In The Biological Sciences And (Bio)Chemistry Disciplines, Bernice Justina Caad Aug 2023

Exploring Undergraduate Research Experiences And Perceptions Of Responsible And Ethical Conduct Of Research (Recr) Education In The Biological Sciences And (Bio)Chemistry Disciplines, Bernice Justina Caad

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Increasing calls to reform undergraduate (UG) education within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines have emphasized the importance of early exposure to responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education. Historically, RECR has primarily been presented at the post-baccalaureate level, leaving many students without a foundational understanding of what responsible research ethics entails during the course of their undergraduate experience. Over the last decade, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as a promising platform to establish expectations of responsible and ethical conduct through greater accessibility and inclusivity, starting at the freshman level. Interestingly, few studies have examined how …

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The Importance Of Soil Carbon In Large-Scale Shrub Removal Practices In The Chihuahuan Desert, Kathleen Schaeffer Aug 2023

The Importance Of Soil Carbon In Large-Scale Shrub Removal Practices In The Chihuahuan Desert, Kathleen Schaeffer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Shrub encroachment is a worldwide phenomenon that affects multiple biomes at different ecological and anthropogenic levels. In dryland ecosystems, shrub encroachment is a noted concern amongst land managers, as it can lead to a loss of soil resources and biodiversity. To mitigate the negative effects of shrub encroachment in Drylands, land managers can implement large-scale shrub removal practices. These land restoration practices can shift landscapes to novel ecosystems, where resulting plant communities can vary following treatments. Grass recovery or increasing herbaceous cover is often a primary goal of these treatments, however predicting which sites may show higher grass responses to …

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Immunoreactivity Of The Serotonin-Like And Fmrf-Amide-Like Nervous Systems Of Four Gnesiotrochan Rotifers, Robert Neil Walsmith Aug 2023

Immunoreactivity Of The Serotonin-Like And Fmrf-Amide-Like Nervous Systems Of Four Gnesiotrochan Rotifers, Robert Neil Walsmith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Reorganization of the nervous system during metamorphosis is a common phenomenon across taxa (species through phyla). In phylum Rotifera, sessile species belonging to the superorder Gnesiotrocha metamorphose from free-swimming larvae into sessile adults. Once mature, gnesiotrochan rotifers display an intricate corona or infundibulum associated with lifestyle modalities and feeding behaviors. Here, I examine serotonin-like immunoreactivity (SLIR) and FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity (FLIR) of the gnesiotrochans Lacinularia flosculosa, Collotheca ferox, and Acyclus inquietus with a focus on life stage and sex. Based on previous research, I hypothesize that 1) innervation of the larval nervous system will vary according to the lifestyle constraints observed …

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