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Ponderosa Pine Mortality And Bark Beetle-Host Dynamics Following Prescribed And Wildland Fires In The Northern Rocky Mountains, Usa, Ryan Stephen Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ponderosa pine delayed mortality, and bark beetle attacks and emergence were monitored on 459 trees for 3 years following one prescribed fire in Idaho and one wildland fire in Montana. Resin flow volume (ml) was measured on 145 fire-injured ponderosa pine 2 and 3 years post-fire. Logistic regression was used to construct two predictive ponderosa pine mortality models, and two predictive bark beetle-attack models. Post-fire delayed tree mortality was greater with the presence of primary bark beetles independent of diameter at breast height (DBH) (cm), and was greater in smaller diameter trees most likely due to direct effects of fire-caused …

Conservation Implications Of Winter-Feeding Policies For Mule Deer In Utah, Chris C. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Policies regulating wildlife winter-feeding programs may have long-term impacts on conservation and future management of both target and non-target species. In 2000, the Utah Wildlife Board, upon reviewing input from a series of public regional meetings, adopted a Utah Big Game Winter-Feeding Policy. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources used this policy to regulate winter-feeding programs for mule deer in northern Utah, 2001-2005. I monitored the program effects on mule deer biology, activity and migration, and winter browse utilization and productivity.

While feed rations generally compensated for protein and energy deficiencies, they may overlook mineral deficiencies. To determine if mule …

Xylose-Fermenting Yeast Species Found In The Wood Of Southeast Louisiana, Claire Reuter

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Ethanol Exposure In Rats And Its Effect On Genetic Markers, Ceena Philipose

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Alcoholism is believed to affect an estimated 18 million people each year. The number of people abusing alcohol is three times the number of people abusing all other substances combined. (Institute for Health Policy, 2001) An estimated $276 billion per year(Institute for Health Policy, 2001)is spent to combat the influence of alcoholism in this country alone; more than cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, combined.

A full understanding of the effects of alcohol on the developing nervous system and other organ systems, and knowing when and where that central or internal organ damage has occurred after a certain period of abuse …

In Vitro And In Vivo Techniques For Screening New Natural Product-Based Fungicides For Control Of Strawberry Anthracnose, Maritza Abril

Dissertations

Seven plant pathogenic fungi (Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, C. fragariae, C. gloeosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, Phomopsis obscurans, and P. viticola) valuable in screening fungicide efficacy were tested. Optimal and reproducible conditions for germination of these selected fungi were established by incorporating Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 (RPMI) as a medium of known composition and washing conidia to remove innate germination inhibitors. This step reduced average fungal germination times between 3.5 h and 21.2 h. The natural product-based fungicide, sampangine, seven sampangine analogs (4-bromo-sampangine, 4-methoxysampangine, benzo[4,5]sampangine, liriodenine Mel AMC-XIII-103, onychine, cryptolepine, and liriodenine CDH-II-37), plus seven conventional fungicides (benomyl, captan, cyprodinil, fenbuconazole, …

Detritus Type Alters The Outcome Of Interspecific Competition Between Aedes Aegypti And Aedes Albopictus (Diptera : Culicidae), Ebony G. Murrell, Steven A. Juliano

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Many studies of interspecific competition between Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) larvae show that Ae. albopictus are superior resource competitors to Ae. aegypti. Single-species studies indicate that growth and survival of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti larvae are affected by the type of detritus present in containers, which presumably affects the amount and quality of microorganisms that the mosquito larvae consume. We tested whether different detritus types alter the intensity of larval competition by raising 10 different density/species combinations of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti larvae under standard laboratory conditions, with one of four detritus types …

Maternal Effects Of Carotenoid Consumption In Guppies (Poecilia Reticulata), Gregory F. Grether, Gita R. Kolluru, K. Lin, M. A. Quiroz, G. Robertson, A. J. Snyder

Biological Sciences

1. Carotenoids transferred from mother to offspring may enhance the quality of the offspring. Whether such maternal effects occur in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) has an important bearing on mate preference evolution.
2. By raising female guppies from birth on different dietary carotenoid levels, we examined the pattern of carotenoid allocation to maternal tissue (skin) vs. eggs. Skin carotenoid content was only weakly affected by carotenoid intake while egg carotenoid content was strongly affected.
3. We then tested for effects of maternal carotenoid intake on several measures of offspring quality, including size and condition at birth, juvenile growth rate, …

The Effects Of Epidermal Growth Factor And Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor On Cryopreserved Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells In Culture: Proliferation, Adipogenesis, And Osteogenesis, Teddi Leigh Hebert

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Novel Weapons: Invasive Plant Suppresses Fungal Mutualists In America But Not In Its Native Europe, Ragan M. Callaway, Don Cipollini, Kathryn Barto, Giles C. Thelen, Steven G. Hallett, Daniel Prati, Kristina Stinson, John Klironomos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Why some invasive plant species transmogrify from weak competitors at home to strong competitors abroad remains one of the most elusive questions in ecology. Some evidence suggests that disproportionately high densities of some invaders are due to the release of biochemicals that are novel, and therefore harmful, to naïve organisms in their new range. So far, such evidence has been restricted to the direct phytotoxic effects of plants on other plants. Here we found that one of North America's most aggressive invaders of undisturbed forest understories, Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and a plant that inhibits mycorrhizal fungal mutualists of North …

An Investigation Of The Diets Of Infants Born In Ireland During The First Six Months Of Life, Roslyn Tarrant

Doctoral

Appropriate infant feeding practices play a crucial part in achieving optimal health outcomes. It is well established that the protection, promotion and support of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6-months of life would decrease the health inequalities experienced by mothers and infants (WHO/UNICEF, 2003c). Optimal weaning practices also have significant implications for infant health, notably in relation to normal development, mineral balance and the development of obesity (Department of Health, 1994). Historically, Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe. Furthermore, prior Irish-based research indicates significant deficiencies relating to weaning practices among mothers during the first year of …

Systems Approach Identifies An Organic Nitrogen-Responsive Gene Network That Is Regulated By The Master Clock Control Gene Cca1, Rodrigo A. Gutierrez, Trevor L. Stokes, Karen Thum, Xiaodong Xu, Mariana Obertello, Manpreet S. Katari, Milos Tanurdzic, Alexis Dean, Damion C. Nero, C Robertson Mcclung, Gloria M. Coruzzi

Dartmouth Scholarship

Understanding how nutrients affect gene expression will help us to understand the mechanisms controlling plant growth and development as a function of nutrient availability. Nitrate has been shown to serve as a signal for the control of gene expression in Arabidopsis. There is also evidence, on a gene-by-gene basis, that downstream products of nitrogen (N) assimilation such as glutamate (Glu) or glutamine (Gln) might serve as signals of organic N status that in turn regulate gene expression. To identify genome-wide responses to such organic N signals, Arabidopsis seedlings were transiently treated with ammonium nitrate in the presence or absence of …

Geographic Variation In Adult Survival And Reproductive Tactics Of The Mosquito Aedes Albopictus, Paul T. Leisnham, L M. Sala, Steven A. Juliano

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Climate differences across latitude can result in seasonal constraints and selection on life history characters. Since Aedes albopictus (Skuse) invaded North America in the mid-1980s, it has spread across a range of approximate to 14 degrees latitude and populations in the north experience complete adult mortality due to cold winter temperatures that are absent in the south. Life table experiments were conducted to test for differences in the adult survival and reproductive schedules of Ae. albopictus females from two populations from the northern (Bloomington, IN [BL] and Manassas, VA [VA]; approximate to 39 degrees N) and southern (Tampa, FL and …

Variation In Molybdenum Content Across Broadly Distributed Populations Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Is Controlled By A Mitochondrial Molybdenum Transporter (Mot1), Ivan Baxter, Balasubramaniam Muthukumar, Hyeong Cheol Park, Peter Buchner, Brett Lahner, John Danku, Keyan Zhao, Joohyun Lee, Malcolm J. Hawkesford, Mary Lou Guerinot, David E. Salt

Dartmouth Scholarship

Molybdenum (Mo) is an essential micronutrient for plants, serving as a cofactor for enzymes involved in nitrate assimilation, sulfite detoxification, abscisic acid biosynthesis, and purine degradation. Here we show that natural variation in shoot Mo content across 92 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions is controlled by variation in a mitochondrially localized transporter (Molybdenum Transporter 1 - MOT1) that belongs to the sulfate transporter superfamily. A deletion in the MOT1 promoter is strongly associated with low shoot Mo, occurring in seven of the accessions with the lowest shoot content of Mo. Consistent with the low Mo phenotype, MOT1 expression in low Mo accessions …

Construction, Alignment And Analysis Of Twelve Framework Physical Maps That Represent The Ten Genome Types Of The Genus Oryza, Hyeran Kim, Bonnie Hurwitz, Yeisoo Yu, Kristi Collura, Navdeep Gill, Phillip Sanmiguel, James C. Mullikin, Christopher Maher, William Nelson, Marina Wissotski, Michele Braidotti, David Kudrna, José Luis Goicoechea, Lincoln Stein, Doreen Ware, Scott A. Jackson, Carol Soderlund, Rod A. Wing

Biology Faculty Articles

We describe the establishment and analysis of a genus-wide comparative framework composed of 12 bacterial artificial chromosome fingerprint and end-sequenced physical maps representing the 10 genome types of Oryza aligned to the O. sativa ssp. japonica reference genome sequence. Over 932 Mb of end sequence was analyzed for repeats, simple sequence repeats, miRNA and single nucleotide variations, providing the most extensive analysis of Oryza sequence to date.

Of Mice And Men: A Comparative Study Assessing Behavioral Indicators Of Sugar Addiction In Mice And College Students, Kahlilia Morris

Capstone Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Lack Of Assortative Mating For Tail, Body Size, Or Condition In The Elaborate Monomorphic Turquoise-Browed Motmot (Eumomota Superciliosa), Troy G. Murphy

Biology Faculty Research

Elaborate male and female plumage can be maintained by mutual sexual selection and function as a mate-choice or status signal in both sexes. Both male and female Turquoise-browed Motmot (Eumomota superciliosa) have long tails that terminate in widened blue-and-black rackets that appear to hang, unattached, below the body of the bird. I tested whether mutual sexual selection maintains the Turquoise-browed Motmot’s elaborate tail plumage by testing the prediction that mating occurs in an assortative manner for tail plumage. I also tested whether assortative mating occurs for body size, a potential measure of dominance, and for phenotypic condition, a …

Mitochondria In Energy-Limited States: Mechanisms That Blunt The Signaling Of Cell Death, Steven C. Hand, Michael A. Menze

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Cellular conditions experienced during energy-limited states – elevated calcium, shifts in cellular adenylate status, compromised mitochondrial membrane potential – are precisely those that trigger, at least in mammals, the mitochondrion to initiate opening of the permeability transition pore, to assemble additional protein release channels, and to release pro-apoptotic factors. These proapototic factors in turn activate initiator and executer caspases. How is activation of mitochondria-based pathways for the signaling of apoptotic and necrotic cell death avoided under conditions of hypoxia, anoxia, diapause, estivation and anhydrobiosis? Functional trade-offs in environmental tolerance may have occurred in parallel with the evolution of diversified pathways …

High Latitude Changes In Ice Dynamics And Their Impact On Polar Marine Ecosystems, Mark A. Moline, Nina J. Karnovsky, Zachary Brown, George J. Divoky, Thomas K. Frazer, Charles A. Jacoby, Joseph J. Torres, William R. Fraser

Biological Sciences

Polar regions have experienced significant warming in recent decades. Warming has been most pronounced across the Arctic Ocean Basin and along the Antarctic Peninsula, with significant decreases in the extent and seasonal duration of sea ice. Rapid retreat of glaciers and disintegration of ice sheets have also been documented. The rate of warming is increasing and is predicted to continue well into the current century, with continued impacts on ice dynamics. Climate-mediated changes in ice dynamics are a concern as ice serves as primary habitat for marine organisms central to the food webs of these regions. Changes in the timing …

Espousing Interactions And Fielding Reactions: Addressing Laypeople's Beliefs About Genetic Determinism, David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Although biologists and philosophers of science generally agree that genes cannot determine the forms of biological and psychological traits, students, journalists, politicians, and other members of the general public nonetheless continue to embrace genetic determinism. This article identifies some of the concerns typically raised by individuals when they first encounter the systems perspective that biologists and philosophers of science now favor over genetic determinism, and uses arguments informed by that perspective to address those concerns. No definitive statements can yet be made about why genetic determinism has proven so resilient in the face of empirical evidence pointing up its deficiencies, …

Design Of A Microscopy-Based Screening Method For Stomatal Development Genes In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Mercedes Tatiana Quinteros Perez

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Stomata are microscopic pores in the epidermis of plants that regulate gas exchange and transpiration. Regulation of stomatal behavior offers opportunity for crop improvement; stomata are also useful for research into cell patterning, differentiation, and development. The purpose of this project was to create a reverse genetics, microscopy-based screening method to identify Arabidopsis genes important in guard cell development. It was hypothesized that gene coexpression analysis would facilitate identification of gene candidates involved in stomatal development. Plants harboring mutations in the candidate genes were analyzed to detect a stomatal phenotype, using dental resin impressions and light microscopy. Coexpression screening was …

Validation Of A Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Equation Predicting Body Composition Using Conductor Length Instead Of Height, Jessica Dawn Nye

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is widely used in predicting body composition. Impedance of an electrical current that passes through the body is related to the composition of the body and the length of the conductor, conventionally estimated using height. The purpose of this study was to compare a BIA equation prediction fat-free mass (FFM) that utilized actual conductor length (Parsons) with a conventional BIA equation (NHANES), using hydrodensitometry as the reference method. Thirty-nine male and 53 female subjects were studied. For both sexes, FFM predicted by both Parsons and NHANES equations were equally and highly correlated with FFM measured using …

The Genome Sequence Of The Metal-Mobilizing, Extremely Thermoacidophilic Archaeon Metallosphaera Sedula Provides Insights Into Bioleaching-Associated Metabolism, Kathryne S. Auernik, Yukari Maezato, Paul H. Blum, Robert M. Kelly

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Despite their taxonomic description, not all members of the order Sulfolobales are capable of oxidizing

reduced sulfur species, which, in addition to iron oxidation, is a desirable trait of biomining microorganisms.

However, the complete genome sequence of the extremely thermoacidophilic archaeon Metallosphaera sedula

DSM 5348 (2.2 Mb, _2,300 open reading frames [ORFs]) provides insights into biologically catalyzed metal

sulfide oxidation. Comparative genomics was used to identify pathways and proteins involved (directly or

indirectly) with bioleaching. As expected, the M. sedula genome contains genes related to autotrophic carbon

fixation, metal tolerance, and adhesion. Also, terminal oxidase cluster organization indicates the presence …

Gamma Ray- And Ems-Induced Bold-Seeded High-Yielding Mutants In Chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.), Aijaz A. Wani, Mohammad Anis

Turkish Journal of Biology

Three bold-seeded high-yielding mutants were isolated from the M_2 progeny of chickpea var. Pusa-212, viz. Pusa-212 A (200 Gy), Pusa-212 C (400 Gy), and Pusa-212 F (300 Gy + 0.2% EMS). Data on various quantitative traits, such as plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100-seed weight (g), seed yield (g) per plant, and protein content (%), were recorded for all 3 mutants in the M3 generation. The mutants were morphologically quite distinct, as compared to the control and to each other. The most notable change was in seed size …

Coelomogenesis And Nutrition Of Clonally Produced Asteroid Larvae, William Jaeckle

Scholarship

Asexual reproduction by planktotrophic larvae of asteroids is an unusual life history strategy exhibited by several species in the families Luididae, Oreasteridae, Ophidiasteridae, and Asteriidae. Larvae of the former three families reproduce asexually in the field, while the asteriid Pisaster ochraceus has produced clones when larvae are reared in the laboratory. Our knowledge of the processes involved in larval cloning and the biology of the developing clone is fragmentary in nature. We used light, electron, and scanning laser confocal microscopy to study clones that develop through paratomy of the posterolateral larval arms. The archenteron forms by a modified form of …

Chitinase Production By Serratia Marcescens Gg5, Gursharan Singh, Joginder Ram Sharma, Gurinder Singh Hoondal

Turkish Journal of Biology

Swollen chitin, flake chitin, powder chitin, and mushroom paste were used as substrates for chitinase production by Serratia marcescens GG5 in submerged fermentation. Enzyme production was 0.3 U/ml when the organism was grown in M9 medium supplemented with 0.5% swollen chitin and 0.5% soluble starch. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that Serratia marcescens GG5 digested the chitin flakes by producing chitinase.

Determination Of Antimicrobial And Antioxidant Activities Of Turkish Endemic Salvia Halophila Hedge, Sevi̇l Albayrak, Ahmet Aksoy, Ergi̇n Hamzaoğlu

Turkish Journal of Biology

In this study, the antioxidant activity of ethanol extract of Salvia halophila Hedge (Lamiaceae) was evaluated by 2 antioxidant assays, including phosphomolybdenum reduction and free radical scavenging activity. The ethanol extract showed free radical scavenging activity with IC_{50} of 67.73 \mug/mL in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The antioxidant activity of the extract was found to be 84.87 ± 0.7 mg ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g extract in phosphomolybdenum assay. In the addition to the antioxidant activity of the extract, the total phenolic content was measured. Total phenolic content of ethanol extract was found to be 8.21 ± 0.0 mg gallic acid equivalent …

Analysis Of Ki-Ras Exon 2 Gene Mutations In 3-Methylcholanthrene And Butylated Hydroxytoluene-Induced Rat Lung Tissues, Fi̇kri̇ye Polat, Öztürk Özdemi̇r, Şahende Elagöz

Turkish Journal of Biology

3-Methylcholanthrene (MCA) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and potent carcinogenic agent that is often used in experimental cancer studies. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) has been widely used for many years as an antioxidant to preserve and stabilize the freshness, nutritional value, flavor, and color of foods. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of the application of MCA and BHT in the development of lung cancer, and to detect any mutation in the Ki-ras gene exon 2. Rats were killed by cervical dislocation 26 weeks after the last BHT injection and lung tissues were surgically removed. Lung …

Stress Responsiveness In Nestlings: A Comparison Of Two Sampling Techniques, Alfred M. Dufty

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

I compared the effects on plasma corticosterone levels of two methods of collecting blood samples during standardized capture and handling stress protocols. In one method, individual nestling American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) were bled at three time periods: when initially removed from the nest, and 15 and 30 min later. In the other method, siblings removed from a nest were bled once each, either at the time of removal, or 15 or 30 min later. I found that there was no difference between the two groups in plasma corticosterone levels at the first sampling period, but 15 and 30 min after …

Using Stable Isotopes To Assess Population Structure And Feeding Ecology Of North Pacific Humpback Whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae), Briana Witteveen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The North Pacific humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a wide-ranging baleen whale species with a complex life history and population structure. As seasonal migrants, humpback whales are known to inhabit cooler, high-latitude waters when foraging and low-latitudes for mating and calving. Beyond this general migratory pattern, a number of demographic characteristics including, abundance, distribution, seasonal occurrence, and prey preferences remain unknown or poorly described. A complete understanding of humpback whale ecology is therefore lacking. Many methods used to explore these aspects of cetacean ecology are either prohibitively expensive or limited in the scope of what can be learned from their …

Low Temperature (23 °C) Increases Expression Of Biofilm-, Cold-Shock- And Rpos-Dependent Genes In Escherichia Coli K-12, Christine A. White-Ziegler, Suzin Um, Natalie M. Pérez, Abby L. Berns, Amy J. Malhowski, Sarah Young

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Temperature serves as a cue to regulate gene expression in Escherichia coli and other bacteria. Using DNA microarrays, we identified 297 genes whose expression is increased at 23 6C compared to 37 6C in E. coli K-12. Of these genes, 122 are RpoS-controlled, confirming genome-wide the model that low temperature serves as a primary cue to trigger the general stress response. Several genes expressed at 23 6C overlap with the cold-shock response, suggesting that strategies used to adapt to sudden shifts in temperature also mediate long-term growth at 23 6C. Another category of genes more highly expressed at 23 6C …