Digital Commons Network^™

Dietary And Energetic Trends Of The Invasive Asian Shore Crab, Tanner Reese, Blaine D. Griffen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

The Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus , is an invasive crab species that lives on the East Coast of the United States. It has become an important part of its invaded ecosystems and their energetic interactions. We studied this species’ energetics to better understand how they vary across season and latitude.

• The ratio of gut width to carapace width (“standardized gut size”) is indicative of long term diet quality in crabs (a larger gut corresponds to a lower average diet quality) (Griffen & Mosblack 2011)
• We measured standardized gut size and gut energy content to examine how this species’ diet …

Reviewing The Effects Of Human-Induced Limb Damage In Crabs, Jacob B. Spencer, Blaine D. Griffen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

Limb damage in crabs comes in various forms, each with unique consequences. Brachyuran crabs shed limbs as a defensive reflex, with natural breakage occurring along a plane, otherwise known as autotomy. In addition to autotomy, crabs commonly lose limbs due to fishing practices such as declawing. In many areas, taking the limbs and releasing the crab is a common practice. The logic is that the populations won’t decline if the crab is put back. Other practices such as nicking, or cutting the main claw tendon, are used to restrict claw movement. Various effects of these fishery practices have been documented …

Drivers Of Flight Performance Of California Condors (Gymnogyps Californianus), Sophie R. Bonner, Sharon A. Poessel, Joseph C. Brandt, Molly T. Astell, James R. Belthoff, Todd E. Katzner

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Flight behavior of soaring birds depends on a complex array of physiological, social, demographic, and environmental factors. California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) rely on thermal and orographic updrafts to subsidize extended bouts of soaring flight, and their soaring flight performance is expected to vary in response to environmental variation and, potentially, with experience. We collected 6298 flight tracks described by high-frequency GPS telemetry data from five birds ranging in age from 1 to 19 yr old and followed over 32 d in summer 2016. Using these data, we tested the hypothesis that climb rate, an indicator of flight performance, …

Current Water Quality Guidelines Across North America And Europe Do Not Protect Lakes From Salinization, Matthew Schuler

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Human-induced salinization caused by the use of road deicing salts, agricultural practices, mining operations, and climate change is a major threat to the biodiversity and functioning of freshwater ecosystems. Yet, it is unclear if freshwater ecosystems are protected from salinization by current water quality guidelines. Leveraging an experimental network of land-based and in-lake mesocosms across North America and Europe, we tested how salinization—indicated as elevated chloride (Cl²) concentration—will affect lake food webs and if two of the lowest Cl² thresholds found globally are sufficient to protect these food webs. Our results indicated that salinization will cause substantial …

Functional And Conformational Plasticity Of An Animal Group 1 Lea Protein, Brett Janis, Clinton Belott, Tyler Brockman, Michael Menze

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Group 1 (Dur-19, PF00477, LEA_5) Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins are present in organisms from all three domains of life, Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Surprisingly, Artemia is the only genus known to include animals that express group 1 LEA proteins in their desiccation-tolerant life-history stages. Bioinformatics analysis of circular dichroism data indicates that the group 1 LEA protein AfLEA1 is surprisingly ordered in the hydrated state and undergoes during desiccation one of the most pronounced disorder-to-order transitions described for LEA proteins from A. franciscana. The secondary structure in the hydrated state is dominated by random coils (42%) and β-sheets (35%) …

The Global Virome In One Network (Virion): An Atlas Of Vertebrate-Virus Associations, Colin J. Carlson, Rory J. Gibb, Gregory F. Albery, Liam Brierley, Ryan P. Connor, Tad Dallas, Evan A. Eskew, Anna C. Fagre, Maxwell J. Farrell, Hannah K. Frank, Renata L. Muylaert, Timothée Poisot, Angela L. Rasmussen, Sadie J. Ryan, Stephanie N. Seifert

Faculty Publications

Data that catalogue viral diversity on Earth have been fragmented across sources, disciplines, formats, and various degrees of open sharing, posing challenges for research on macroecology, evolution, and public health. Here, we solve this problem by establishing a dynamically maintained database of vertebrate-virus associations, called The Global Virome in One Network (VIRION). The VIRION database has been assembled through both reconciliation of static data sets and integration of dynamically updated databases. These data sources are all harmonized against one taxonomic backbone, including metadata on host and virus taxonomic validity and higher classification; additional metadata on sampling methodology and evidence strength …

Convergent Developmental Patterns Underlie The Repeated Evolution Of Adhesive Toe Pads Among Lizards, Aaron H. Griffing, Tony Gamble, Martin J. Cohn, Thomas J. Sanger

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

How developmental modifications produce key innovations, which subsequently allow for rapid diversification of a clade into new adaptive zones, has received much attention. However, few studies have used a robust comparative framework to investigate the influence of evolutionary and developmental constraints on the origin of key innovations, such as the adhesive toe pad of lizards. Adhesive toe pads evolved independently at least 16 times in lizards, allowing us to examine whether the patterns observed are general evolutionary phenomena or unique, lineage-specific events. We performed a high-resolution comparison of plantar scale development in 14 lizard species in Anolis and geckos, encompassing …

Importance Of Local Weather And Environmental Gradients On Demography Of A Broadly Distributed Temperate Frog, Hallie Lingo, James C. Munger

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Amphibian populations are sensitive to environmental temperatures and moisture, which vary with local weather conditions and may reach new norms and extremes as contemporary climate change progresses. Using long-term (11–16 years) mark-recapture data from 10 populations of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) from across its U.S. range, we addressed hypotheses about how demographic relationships to weather depend upon a population’s position along climate gradients. We estimated the effect of seasonal weather on annual survival probability and recruitment rates both within populations and across the species’ range from subalpine forests to semi-arid deserts. We calculated population-specific weather variables …

Ungulates Alter Plant Cover Without Consistent Effect On Soil Ecosystem Functioning, Miguel Ibañez-Alvarez, Elena Baraza, Emmanuel Serrano, Antonia Romero-Munar, Carles Cardona, Jordi Bartolome, Jennifer Adams Krumins

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Shifts in animal husbandry and landscape use have significantly changed ungulate grazing effects on ecosystem functioning. These changes are now the subject of extensive research with respect to plant and soil communities, but the results of these studies are highly varied and context dependent. The objective of this study is to address contextual variation by holding all sampling methods and analytical approaches constant and analyse the effect of the feral goat (Capra hircus) population of Mallorca Island, Spain, on soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics across five controlled sites. Specifically, vegetation cover and soil properties in fenced plots excluded from …

Relating Metabolic Phenotypes To Movement Behavior In Brook Trout, Jacob E. Bowman

All NMU Master's Theses

Brook trout movement-related life history strategies vary considerably and range from individuals that stay within the same 100 meters their entire life to individuals that are potamodromous or anadromous. Potential drivers of movement life histories have been the subject of much research in fish, with genetic subpopulation explanations often failing to explain the phenomenon. Metabolic phenotypes have been suggested as a possible driver for expression of different movement life histories. I investigated if metabolic phenotypes are related to movement strategies within a population of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Unnamed Creek, a tributary to the Rock River, Alger …

Predation In Many Dimensions: Spatial Context Is Important For Meaningful Functional Response Experiments, Steven A. Juliano, Jonah A. Goughnour, Geoffrey D. Ower

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

For simplicity and to minimize variation, functional response experiments frequently use environments of simple physical structure and small size. Less attention is paid to similarity of the experimental environment to the natural environment where predation occurs. Assumptions about predator and prey use of space are often implied in the choice of experimental environment. We illustrate how these assumptions may affect conclusions with an experiment testing how arena size affects a functional response. Toxorhynchites rutilus preyed upon larval Culex restuans in containers differing in volume by 15x, but spanning a similar range of prey/liter. The most plausible Type II model included …

The Evolutionary History Of An Accidental Model Organism, The Leopard Gecko Eublepharis Macularius (Squamata: Eublepharidae), Ishan Agarwal, Aaron M. Bauer, Tony Gamble, Varad B. Giri, Daniel Jablonski, Akshay Khandekar, Pratyush P. Mohapatra, Rafaqat Masroor, Anurag Mishra, Uma Ramakrishnan

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The leopard gecko, Eublepharis macularius, is a widely used model organism in laboratory and experimental studies. The high phenotypic diversity in the pet trade, the fact that the provenance of different breeding lines is unknown, and that distinct Eublepharis species are known to hybridize, implies that the continued use of E. macularius as a model requires clarity on the origin of the lineages in the pet trade. We combine multi-locus sequence data and the first range-wide sampling of the genus Eublepharis to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Eublepharidae and Eublepharis, with an updated time-tree for the Eublepharidae. …

Atypical Tuning And Amplification Mechanisms In Gecko Auditory Hair Cells, Maryline Beurg, Tony Gamble, Aaron H. Griffing, Robert Fettiplace

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The auditory papilla of geckos contains two zones of sensory hair cells, one covered by a continuous tectorial membrane affixed to the hair bundles and the other by discrete tectorial sallets each surmounting a transverse row of bundles. Gecko papillae are thought to encode sound frequencies up to 5 kHz, but little is known about the hair cell electrical properties or their role in frequency tuning. We recorded from hair cells in the isolated auditory papilla of the crested gecko, Correlophus ciliatus, and found that in both the nonsalletal region and part of the salletal region, the cells displayed …

Glutamic-Oxaloacetic Transaminase 2 (Got2) Reverse Reaction Could Act As A Possible Relief Valve For Mitochondrial Substrate Overload Induced By Glucocorticoids, Humza Pirzadah

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Effect Of Hormetic Stress And Aging On Tubular Lysosome Induction In Caenorhabditis Elegans Nematodes, Sanaa Alam

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Epistemic Beliefs On Undergraduate Students' Emotions And Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Foods, David Andrew Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Much research has explored socio-scientific issues (SSIs) in science instruction, including the connections between conceptions and attitude. Studies have also shown that epistemic beliefs affect epistemic emotions, which are a key component of students’ reaction to complex scientific topics. Correcting misconceptions can also result in emotional and attitude change, particularly surrounding the topic of genetically modified foods (GMFs). However, the impact of epistemic beliefs on emotions and attitude towards GMFs has largely gone unexplored. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of epistemic beliefs on epistemic emotions and attitudes towards GMFs. This quantitative correlational study sampled 78 …

Insecticide Resistance In Aedes Aegypti Varies Seasonally And Geographically In Texas/Mexico Border Cities, Heather Hernandez, Flor A. Martinez, Christopher Vitek

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Insecticide use is the primary method of attempting to reduce or control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Insecticide resistance is a major concern as resistance will limit the efficacy of vector-control efforts. The lower Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas has had autochthonous transmission of multiple mosquito-borne diseases including those caused by dengue virus, chikungunya virus, and Zika virus. However, the current status of mosquito resistance to commonly used pesticides in this region is unknown. In this study, we collected field samples from multiple municipalities in South Texas and assessed resistance using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

Investigating The Presence Of Cladocera Species Within The Wetlands Of Uae, Shamma Eisa Salem Shahdad Alneyadi

Theses

The wetlands ecosystems found in the Arabian Peninsula have been poorly investigated. Moreover, the available information about the presence of freshwater communities have been rarely documented. Although there are scattered records about the presence of freshwater Cladocera organisms within the Arabian Gulf countries; few of them have received proper taxonomic identification. Cladocera populations in freshwater bodies are always characterizing its water quality and other living invertebrates’ community. United Arab Emirates wetlands are among the ecosystems belonging to Ramsar convention for its conservation. The presence of both temporary and permanent freshwater area has been developed after the great interest to collect …

Mitonuclear Mismatch Is Associated With Increased Male Frequency, Outcrossing, And Male Sperm Size In Experimentally-Evolved C. Elegans, Brent W. Bever, Zachary P. Dietz, Jennifer Anne Sullins, Ariana M. Montoya, Ulfar Bergthorsson, Vaishali Katju, Suzanne Estes

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We provide a partial test of themitonuclear sex hypothesiswith the first controlled study of how male frequencies and rates of outcrossing evolve in response to mitonuclear mismatch by allowing replicate lineages of C. elegans nematodes containing either mitochondrial or nuclear mutations of electron transport chain (ETC) genes to evolve under three sexual systems: facultatively outcrossing (wildtype), obligately selfing, and obligately outcrossing. Among facultatively outcrossing lines, we found evolution of increased male frequency in at least one replicate line of all four ETC mutant backgrounds tested—nuclear isp-1, mitochondrial cox-1 and ctb-1, and an isp-1 IV; ctb-1M mitonuclear double mutant—and confirmed for …

A Literary Examination Of The Efficacy Of Zoological Conservation In The United States Versus Foreign Efforts, Madeleine M. Lecorre

University Honors Theses

Falling into the top four threats to biodiversity, human activity is impacting species around the globe like never before. Zoological conservation of threatened species aids in the support and reestablishment of these dwindling populations. The examination of conservation work done in the U.S compared to foreign efforts provides insight into strengths, reveals weaknesses, and will help us better serve threatened species around the world. The status of conservation in the U.S. as well as foreign efforts were assessed through literary review of published reports from accredited organizations. As zoologic conservation aims to conserve threatened species, it is also important to …

Glia Excitation In The Cns Modulates Intact Behaviors And Sensory-Cns-Motor Circuitry, Shelby Mccubbin, Douglas A. Harrison, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

Glial cells play a role in many important processes, though the mechanisms through which they affect neighboring cells are not fully known. Insights may be gained by selectively activating glial cell populations in intact organisms utilizing the activatable channel proteins channel rhodopsin (ChR2XXL) and TRPA1. Here, the impacts of the glial-specific expression of these channels were examined in both larval and adult Drosophila. The Glia > ChR2XXL adults and larvae became immobile when exposed to blue light and TRPA1-expressed Drosophila upon heat exposure. The chloride pump expression in glia > eNpHR animals showed no observable differences in adults or larvae. In …

Helminth Products Modulate Innate Immune Recognition Of Nucleic Acids In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Laura B. Dall, Bent Deleuran, Lars Østergaard, Maibritt Mardahl, Paul Denton, Peter Nejsum

Biology Faculty Publications

Aim

Methods

Taxonomic And Phylogenetic Diversity Of Pitcher Plant Bogs In Georgia's Coastal Plain, Melanie Flood

Theses and Dissertations

Diversity studies via floristic survey and taxonomic metrics have proven essential for discerning community composition and biodiversity, however, phylogenetic analyses are necessary to reveal underlying evolutionary change and potential community assembly patterns. Pitcher plant bogs are highly diverse, highly understudied habitats that contain numerous listed and at-risk plant and animal species of Georgia.

In this study I investigated the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of pitcher plant bogs by asking the following questions:

1) What is the taxonomic diversity of pitcher plant bogs,

2) What is the dispersion of phylogenetic diversity within bog habitats, and

3) Does taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity …

Syndecan-2 Regulates Pad2 To Exert Antifibrotic Effects On Ra-Ild Fibroblasts, Konstantin Tsoyi, Anthony J Esposito, Bo Sun, Ryan G Bowen, Kevin Xiong, Fernando Poli, Rafael Cardenas, Sarah G Chu, Xiaoliang Liang, Stefan W Ryter, Christine Beeton, Tracy J Doyle, Matthew J Robertson, Lindsay J Celada, Freddy Romero, Souheil Y El-Chemaly, Mark A Perrella, I-Cheng Ho, Ivan O Rosas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) is the most common pulmonary complication of RA, increasing morbidity and mortality. Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies have been associated with the development and progression of both RA and fibrotic lung disease; however, the role of protein citrullination in RA-ILD remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the expression of peptidylarginine deiminase 2 (PAD2), an enzyme that catalyzes protein citrullination, is increased in lung homogenates from subjects with RA-ILD and their lung fibroblasts. Chemical inhibition or genetic knockdown of PAD2 in RA-ILD fibroblasts attenuated their activation, marked by decreased myofibroblast differentiation, gel contraction, and extracellular matrix …

Long Term Estrogen Loss Worsens Heart Function In Aged Female Mice, Pamela Avendaño-Rubí

Tennessee Posters at the Capitol [2022]

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and according to the American Heart Association, the risk of HD in aging menopausal women doubles compared to men of the same age. Excessive contractility of blood vessels is a common feature in heart disease. Clinical and animal studies further support that estrogen loss worsen the contractility in the heart but the details remain unclear. Thus, the overall goal of this work was to examine how the timing and duration of estrogen loss affects heart failure. Our hypothesis is that long-term estrogen loss following heart failure worsens cardiac function of the …

Antioxidant Content In Plant-Based Diets Versus Meat-Based Diets, Lia Meadows, Peeper Walker, Reveca Tomas

JSU Student Symposium 2022

The result of naturally occurring free radicals in the body are oxidative-stress-related damages to cells, tissues, and biomolecules. Oxidative stress occurs when the balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) outnumbers antioxidants, producing negative effects. Antioxidants exist as a natural defense mechanism utilized by the body. This defense exists in two distinct forms: enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Non-enzymatic antioxidants consist of vitamins and bioactive compounds, such as phenols. In previous studies, plant-based diets showed promising results in reducing damage caused by oxidative-stress. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which antioxidant concentration differs between meat-based diet and …

Butterfly Eyespots Evolved Via Cooption Of An Ancestral Gene-Regulatory Network That Also Patterns Antennae, Legs, And Wings, Suriya Narayanan Murugesan, Heidi Connahs, Yuji Matsuoka, Mainak Das Gupta, Galen J. Tiong, Manizah Huq, Thomas Werner, Et. Al.

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Butterfly eyespots are beautiful novel traits with an unknown developmental origin. Here we show that eyespots likely originated via cooption of parts of an ancestral appendage gene-regulatory network (GRN) to novel locations on the wing. Using comparative transcriptome analysis, we show that eyespots cluster most closely with antennae, relative to multiple other tissues. Furthermore, three genes essential for eyespot development, (), (), and (), share similar regulatory connections as those observed in the antennal GRN. CRISPR knockout of -regulatory elements (CREs) for and led to the loss of eyespots, antennae, legs, and also wings, demonstrating that these CREs are highly …

Summer Distribution And Day Roost Characteristics Of Eastern Small-Footed Bats (Myotis Leibii) In West-Central Arkansas, Valerie Marie Kearny

Student Theses and Dissertations

Information on summer distribution and diurnal roosting is lacking for the imperiled, rock-roosting Myotis leibii, a species threatened by habitat loss and White-nose Syndrome. I aimed to 1) identify diurnal, summer roost locations in the greater Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, and 2) determine roost habitat characteristics at the local, landscape, and roost-level scales. Using acoustic monitoring, rock searches, mist-netting, and temperature monitoring in 2019 and 2020, I found M. leibii in an aggregated distribution across the landscape roosting either solitarily or in small groups in the Rich Mountain-Black Fork Mountain, Mount Magazine, and Mount Nebo areas under sparse canopy cover, …

Migration Ecology Of Female Indiana Bats, Arin Michelle Vann

Student Theses and Dissertations

The Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) has been listed as a federally endangered species since 1967 due to numerous natural and anthropogenic threats. Research on the species has focused on hibernacula and maternity colonies, but data gaps exist in portions of their range. To prevent further decline, migration resources need protection, but management practices are difficult to implement without having precise data on migration routes. I documented spring migration in Arkansas using aerial and ground telemetry during 2017–2018. Radio transmitters were affixed to 52 female M. sodalis during 2017 and 2018 of which 23 were successfully tracked. I located roost trees …

Understanding The Modus Operandi Of Class Ii Knox Transcription Factors In Secondary Cell Wall Biosynthesis, Akula Nookaraju, Shashank K. Pandey, Yogesh Ahlawat, Chandrashekhar P. Joshi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Lignocellulosic biomass from the secondary cell walls of plants has a veritable potential to provide some of the most appropriate raw materials for producing second-generation biofuels. Therefore, we must first understand how plants synthesize these complex secondary cell walls that consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in order to deconstruct them later on into simple sugars to produce bioethanol via fermentation. Knotted-like homeobox (KNOX) genes encode homeodomain-containing transcription factors (TFs) that modulate various important developmental processes in plants. While Class I KNOX TF genes are mainly expressed in the shoot apical meristems of both monocot and eudicot plants and are …