Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Land Use Change On Ant Communities In New England, Amelia K.L. Curry, Joseph A. Nelsen, Dale R. Stevens, Kaitlyn A. Mathis

Biology

Urbanisation and agricultural expansion are two of the most prevalent and intense forms of land use change worldwide and can have dramatic consequences on biodiversity and biotic community structure. Ants are extremely widespread, ecologically diverse and small ectotherms that are sensitive to changes from a wide range of environmental factors. Therefore, ants make an ideal study organism to examine the effects of anthropogenic land use change on biotic communities. In this study, we examined differences in ant species richness and community composition between urban parks, farms and forest fragments, and related these differences to environmental factors that vary among each …

Evidence That Aquaporin 11 (Aqp11) In The Spiny Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias) May Represent A Pseudogene, Christopher P. Cutler, Meghan Canicatti, Esosa Omoregie

Biology: Faculty Publications

Various attempts to amplify an AQP11 cDNA from tissues of the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) were made. Two pairs of deoxy-inosine-containing degenerate primers were designed based on conserved amino acid sequences from an AQP11 alignment. These primers yielded some faint bands from gill cDNA that were sequenced. Blast searches with the sequences showed they were not AQP11. An elasmobranch AQP11 nucleotide sequence alignment was produced to identify conserved regions to make further degenerate primers. One primer pair produced a short 148 bp fragment showing particularly strong amplification in gill and intestine. It was sequenced and represented a piece of the …

School Of Biological Sciences News, 2023, School Of Biological Sciences

School of Biological Sciences News

Alumni newsletter of Illinois State University's School of Biological Sciences.

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 …

Aquaporin Expression And Cholesterol Content In Eel Swimbladder Tissue, Victoria Drechsel, Gabriel Schneebauer, Birgit Fiechtner, Christopher P. Cutler, Bernd Pelster

Biology: Faculty Publications

Leakiness of the swimbladder wall of teleost fishes must be prevented to avoid diffusional loss of gases out of the swimbladder. Guanine incrustation as well as high concentrations of cholesterol in swimbladder membranes in midwater and deep-sea fish has been connected to a reduced gas permeability of the swimbladder wall. On the contrary, the swimbladder is filled by diffusion of gases, mainly oxygen and CO2, from the blood and the gas gland cells into the swimbladder lumen. In swimbladder tissue of the zebrafish and the Japanese eel, aquaporin mRNA has been detected, and the aquaporin protein has been considered important …

Novel Quantification And Localization Of Water And Solute Transporters In The Tissues Of The Spiney Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias), Tolulope B. Ojo

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The dogfish, Squalus acanthias is a marine cartilaginous elasmobranch found in the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Dogfish synthesize and excrete urea as a product of nitrogen metabolism. They also convert ammonia into urea and retain this urea, such that their plasma is isosmotic or slightly hyperosmotic to the surrounding seawater. To facilitate the regulation of body fluid and to maintain ionic concentrations and osmotic pressure, Dogfish use ion and solute transporters (e.g., NCC, UT-1) and aquaporin water channel proteins. Studies have identified some of the aquaporin genes in the elasmobranch genome, but their functions are mostly uncharacterized. Recent transcriptomic …

School Of Biological Sciences News, 2020-2021, School Of Biological Sciences

School of Biological Sciences News

Alumni newsletter of Illinois State University's School of Biological Sciences.

Early Limb Patterning In The Direct‐Developing Salamander Plethodon Cinereus Revealed By Sox9 And Col2a1, Ryan R. Kerney, James Hanken, David C. Blackburn

Biology Faculty Publications

Direct‐developing amphibians form limbs during early embryonic stages, as opposed to the later, often postembryonic limb formation of metamorphosing species. Limb patterning is dramatically altered in direct‐developing frogs, but little attention has been given to direct‐developing salamanders. We use expression patterns of two genes, sox9and col2a1, to assess skeletal patterning during embryonic limb development in the direct‐developing salamander Plethodon cinereus. Limb patterning in P. cinereus partially resembles that described in other urodele species, with early formation of digit II and a generally anterior‐to‐posterior formation of preaxial digits. Unlike other salamanders described to date, differentiation of preaxial zeugopodial …

Big Data: Computational Biology Opens A New Window On The World's Challenges For Colby Scientists, Kate Carlisle

Colby Magazine

"What makes us 'us' and not a plant? Not a bacteria, or a virus," asks Andrea Tilden, the J. Warren Merrill Associate Professor of Biology and a genomics expert. "Any one genome has six thousand novels worth of information. Computational biology is the tool we use to read them."

Dna Barcoding Reveals A New Morphotype Of The Sugar Kelp, Saccharina Latissima, Dallin Brimley, Zakery Ford, Travis Gould, Brandon Guerra, Emily Haggett, Ian Jones, Elyse Johnson, Ken Peterson, Matthew Prout

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Phytoplankton blooms follow predictable annual cycles in the Gulf of Maine, characterized by a large spring bloom and a smaller bloom in the fall. Marine phytoplankton form the foundation of primary production in Gulf of Maine waters, and thus community changes in composition, and abundance could have cascading effects on our coastal ecosystems.

We set out to monitor the community composition, diversity, and abundance of the spring micro-phytoplankton bloom, at a Friends of Casco Bay water quality monitoring site, in South Portland, Maine. The Gulf of Maine is experiencing accelerated warming rates, and this type of monitoring can aid in …

A Comparative Study Of The Flora And Soils Of Great Duck And Little Duck Islands, Maine, Usa, Luka Negoita, Matthew Dickinson, Glen Mittelhauser, Nishanta Rajakaruna

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Strong environmental gradients and varied land-use practices have generated a mosaic of habitats harboring distinct plant communities on islands on the coast of Maine. Botanical studies of Maine's islands, however, are generally limited in number and scope. Baseline studies of Maine's islands are necessary for assessing vegetation dynamics and changes in habitat conditions in relation to environmental impacts imposed by climate change, rising sea levels, invasive species, pests and pathogens, introduced herbivores, and human disturbance. We conducted a survey of the vascular plants and soils of forest, field, and ocean-side communities of Great Duck and Little Duck Islands, ME. These …

E Pluribus Unum: What Individual Whales Can Tell Us About Enigmatic Species Distribution And Social Organization, Tanya Marie Lubansky

Dissertations

Large whales have historically been difficult to study and many aspects of their ecology remain unknown especially at the long -term population level. The ability to identify individual whales based on natural markings provides the opportunity to track individuals over time and space; this data may offer more insight into the ecology of whales than previously imagined. This study demonstrates use of photo-identification data to model both social structure and habitat selection, minimizing the need for invasive research and greatly increasing the sample size used in such endeavors. A conditional logistic model is written for a 20-year sightings dataset on …

The Lineage-Specific Evolution Of Aquaporin Gene Clusters Facilitated Tetrapod Terrestrial Adaptation, Roderick Nigel Finn, François Chauvigné, Jón Baldur Hlidberg, Christopher P. Cutler, Joan Cerdà

Biology: Faculty Publications

A major physiological barrier for aquatic organisms adapting to terrestrial life is dessication in the aerial environment. This barrier was nevertheless overcome by the Devonian ancestors of extant Tetrapoda, but the origin of specific molecular mechanisms that solved this water problem remains largely unknown. Here we show that an ancient aquaporin gene cluster evolved specifically in the sarcopterygian lineage, and subsequently diverged into paralogous forms of AQP2, -5, or -6 to mediate water conservation in extant Tetrapoda. To determine the origin of these apomorphic genomic traits, we combined aquaporin sequencing from jawless and jawed vertebrates with broad taxon assembly of …

Molecular Characterization Of Hemoglobin Protein In Larvae Of 4th Instar Chironomidae For Evaluating Environmental Quality, Jun Taek Oh

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Studying environmental quality is a challenging task. It is a complicated exercise since the environment is constantly influenced by numerous variables such as climate change, anthropogenic activities, and unexpected natural disasters. Traditionally, exposure to chemical pollutants depended on chemical and physical analysis of environmental media. Unfortunately, this approach has not taken into consideration bioavailability of the chemical(s) of interest to exposed organisms and/or modification of the chemical (bioactivation/detoxification) by the organism. Benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs) have been chosen as bioindicators for numerous environmental biomonitoring programs geared towards the assessment of aquatic ecosystems. Biomonitoring requires a more subtle measure – a biomarker …

A Unique Covalent Bond In Basement Membrane Is A Primordial Innovation For Tissue Evolution, Aaron L. Fidler, Roberto M. Vanacore, Sergei V. Chetyrkin, Vadim K. Pedchenko, Gautam Bhave, Viravuth P. Yin, Cody L. Stothers, Kristie Lindsey Rose, W. Hayes Mcdonald, Travis A. Clark, Dorin-Bogdan Borza, Robert E. Steele, Michael T. Ivy, The Aspirnauts, Julie K. Hudson, Billy G. Hudson

Biology Faculty Research

We recently discovered that the collagen IV scaffolds of bovine, mouse, and Drosophila melanogaster tissues are stabilized by sulfilimine chemical bonds (S = N) (20⇓–22). The bond is a covalent cross-link between methionine-93 (Met93) and lysine-211 or hydroxylysine-211 (Lys211/Hyl211) residues that stabilizes the noncollagenous (NC1) interface of adjoining triple helical protomers (Fig. 1A). Peroxidasin, an animal heme peroxidase embedded in basement membrane, forms these sulfilimine cross-links by producing hypohalous acids as intermediates for Met93 oxidization (21, 22). Here, we explored whether the sulfilimine cross-link of collagen IV is a fundamental requirement in the genesis and evolution of tissues in Eumetazoa. …

Lichens Of Six Vernal Pools In Acadia National Park, Me, Usa, J. Barton, B. Ciccotelli, J. E. Gall, F. C. Olday, B. Connery, T. B. Harris, A. M. Fryday, Nishanta Rajakaruna

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Whereas lichen-habitat relations have been well-documented globally, literature on lichens of vernal pools is scant. We surveyed six vernal pools at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine, USA for their lichen diversity. Sixty-seven species were identified, including seven species that are new reports for Acadia National Park: Fuscidea arboricola, Hypogymnia incurvoides, Lepraria finkii, Phaeographis inusta, Ropalospora viridis, Usnea flammea, and Violella fucata. Five species are considered uncommon or only locally common in New England: Everniastrum catawbiense, Hypogymnia krogiae, Pseudevernia cladonia, Usnea flammea, and Usnea merrillii. This work represents the first survey of lichens from vernal pools in Acadia …

Stressors And Threats To The Flora Of Acadia National Park, Maine: Current Knowledge, Information Gaps, And Future Directions, Tanner B. Harris, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Sarah J. Nelson, Peter D. Vaux

Biological Sciences

Acadia National Park is a center of plant diversity in northeastern North America. The Park's varied habitats and flora are sensitive to a number of natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Stressors such as invasive plants, pest and pathogens, ozone, acidic fog and sulfur deposition, nitrogen deposition, heavy metals, fire and fire suppression, over-browsing, visitor use, hurricanes, and climate change have all had effects on the Park's habitats and plant species at some point and it is unclear how many of these stressors are currently affecting the flora of Acadia National Park. We discuss the botanical diversity of Acadia, assess the natural …

Characterization Of Aquaporin 4 Protein Expression And Localization In Tissues Of The Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias), Christopher P. Cutler, Sheena Harmon, Jonathan Walsh, Kia Burch

Biology: Faculty Publications

The role of aquaporin water channels such as aquaporin 4 (Aqp4) in elasmobranchs such as the dogfish Squalus acanthias is completely unknown. This investigation set out to determine the expression and cellular and sub-cellular localization of Aqp4 protein in dogfish tissues. Two polyclonal antibodies were generated (AQP4/1 and AQP4/2) and these showed somewhat different characteristics in Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Western blots using the AQP4/1 antibody showed two bands (35.5 and 49.5 kDa) in most tissues in a similar fashion to mammals. Liver had an additional band of 57 kDa and rectal gland two further faint bands of 37.5 and …

Aquaporin 4 Is A Ubiquitously Expressed Isoform In The Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias) Shark, Christopher P. Cutler, Bryce Maciver, Gordon Cramb, Mark L. Zeidel

Biology: Faculty Publications

The dogfish ortholog of aquaporin 4 (AQP4) was amplified from cDNA using degenerate PCR followed by cloning and sequencing. The complete coding region was then obtained using 5′ and 3′ RACE techniques. Alignment of the sequence with AQP4 amino acid sequences from other species showed that dogfish AQP4 has high levels (up to 65.3%) of homology with higher vertebrate sequences but lower levels of homology to Agnathan (38.2%) or teleost (57.5%) fish sequences. Northern blotting indicated that the dogfish mRNA was approximately 3.2 kb and was highly expressed in the rectal gland (a shark fluid secretory organ). Semi-quantitative PCR further …

A Preliminary Study Of The Vegetation Of Vernal Pools Of Acadia National Park, Maine, U.S.A, Brett Ciccotelli, Tanner B. Harris, Bruce Connery, Nishanta Rajakaruna

Biological Sciences

We conducted a preliminary floristic study of six vernal pools in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Plant species were recorded on three sampling dates from April to October, 2008. Sixty-five vascular plant species from 26 families were recorded. Of these, 27 are considered occasional or uncommon in Acadia National Park. Thirteen species are new reports for vernal pools in the northeastern United States. This represents the first published study of the vernal pool flora of Acadia National Park.

Reproductive Life History Of Fundulus Jenkensi And Comparative Development Of Five Sympatric Fundulid Species, Eric Thomas Lang

Master's Theses

Fundulus jenkinsi is recognized federally and within the state of Mississippi as a Species of Concern. Little is known about the life history of this coastal killifish, but a detailed reproductive histology study of F. jenkinsi and a diagnostic key of the early life stages of select members of Fundulidae can provide the foundation needed to accurately identify it and quantify reproductive parameters in this rare species in need of conservation. Monthly gonadosomatic index (GSI) of male and female F. jenkinsi were documented, and spawning phases and oocyte stages were examined using reproductive histology. In addition, various stages of …

Ornithocoprophilous Plants Of Mount Desert Rock, A Remote Bird-Nesting Island In The Gulf Of Maine, U.S.A, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Nathaniel S. Pope, Jose Perez-Orozco, Tanner B. Harris

Biological Sciences

Plants growing on seabird-nesting islands are uniquely adapted to deal with guano-derived soils high in N and P. Such ornithocoprophilous plants found in isolated, oceanic settings provide useful models for ecological and evolutionary investigations. The current study explored the plants found on Mount Desert Rock (MDR), a small seabird-nesting, oceanic island 44 km south of Mount Desert Island (MDI), Hancock County, Maine, U.S.A. Twenty-seven species of vascular plants from ten families were recorded. Analyses of guano-derived soils from the rhizosphere of the three most abundant species from bird-nesting sites of MDR showed significantly higher (P < 0.05) NO₃⁻, available …

Advances In Serpentine Geoecology: A Retrospective, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Robert S. Boyd

Biological Sciences

(In absence of a text abstract the first paragraph of the paper is provided.)

Serpentine habitats have long provided model settings for geoecological research (reviewed in Alexander et al. 2007, Brady et al. 2005, Brooks 1987, Kazakou et al. 2008, Kruckeberg 1984, Proctor and Woodell 1975, Raja-karuna et al 2009). Serpentine loosely refers to a broad group of minerals associated with the weathering of ultramafi c (high iron and magnesium-rich) rocks found along continental margins and orogenic belts. Soils associated with such rocks often differ from more widespread soils, being less fertile and having high concentrations of some heavy metals. …

Differential Response Of Amp Activated Protein Kinase (Ampk) And Hsp70 To Temperature Stress In The Gastropod, Nucella Lapillus, Emily Zimmermann

All Theses And Dissertations

Populations of the gastropod Nucella lapillus are polymorphic for shell color, with light-colored shells predominating on warmer, wave-protected shores and dark-colored shells limited primarily to cooler, wave-exposed shores. During thermal stress, darker shells attain higher body temperatures than lighter shells. These results suggest that heat stress may determine field distribution patterns. However, there is currently little evidence of physiological consequences of thermal stress in these organisms. Following the guiding hypothesis that heat stress leads to cellular energy depletion, we explored whether the central energy regulator AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) is activated by heat stress. We compared this response in both …

The Effect Of Glutamate On Neurite Outgrowth In Fiddler Crab (Uca Pugilator) X-Organ Cells, Ruth B. Langton

Honors Theses

Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. It is of particular interest because of its supposed role in the processes of learning and memory, and also because of its potential toxic effects that have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Although glutamate is necessary for normal cell functioning, high levels of glutamate receptor activation can result in cell death, a phenomenon known as excitotoxicity. It has been suggested that glutamate also plays an important role in the insect and crustacean nervous systems, allowing for the examination of excitotoxicity in these organisms. …

Evaluating Acute Toxicity Of Cadmium To Chironomid Using Hemoglobin As A Molecular Biomarker, Jun Taek Oh

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Effects of cadmium (Cd), a heavy metal contaminant, on hemoglobin were investigated in aquatic midge fly larvae of the Family, Chironomidae. In this study, chironomid populations from one polluted site, Kearny Marsh, New Jersey, two reference sites, North East Creek, and Bass Harbor, ME, and a laboratory population were taxonomically identified and tested for their sensitivity to Cd. Heavy metals in tissue, water and sediment were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Water quality at each site was assessed by measuring pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidation-reduction potential ( eH), salinity and temperature. Hemoglobin proteins in individual larvae were easily detected using …

Lichens Of Pine Hill, A Peridotite Outcrop In Eastern North America, Tanner B. Harris, Fred C. Olday, Nishanta Rajakaruna

Biological Sciences

Despite a large body of work on the serpentine-substrate effect on vascular plants, little work has been undertaken to describe lichen communities growing on serpentine soils derived from peridotite and other ultramafic rocks. Most such work has been conducted in Europe and western North America. Only one study to date has examined the lichen flora of an ultramafic outcrop in eastern North America. The current paper examines the lichen flora of a peridotite outcrop from Deer Isle, Hancock County, Maine, U.S.A. The lichen flora is presented along with relevant ecological and geochemical data. Sixty-three species were found, comprising 35 genera. …

Fundulus As The Premier Teleost Model In Environmental Biology: Opportunities For New Insights Using Genomics, Bernard Rees

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A strong foundation of basic and applied research documents that the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus and related species are unique laboratory and field models for understanding how individuals and populations interact with their environment. In this paper we summarize an extensive body of work examining the adaptive responses of Fundulus species to environmental conditions, and describe how this research has contributed importantly to our understanding of physiology, gene regulation, toxicology, and ecological and evolutionary genetics of teleosts and other vertebrates. These explorations have reached a critical juncture at which advancement is hindered by the lack of genomic resources for these …

Genetic Evidence For The Persistence Of The Critically Endangered Sierra Nevada Red Fox In California, John D. Perrine, John P. Pollinger, Benjamin N. Sacks, Reginald H. Barrett, Robert K. Wayne

Biological Sciences

California is home to both the native state-threatened Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator), which historically inhabited high elevations of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, and to multiple low-elevation red fox populations thought to be of exotic origin. During the past few decades the lowland populations have dramatically expanded their distribution, and possibly moved into the historic range of the native high-elevation fox. To determine whether the native red fox persists in its historic range in California, we compared mitochondrial cytochrome-b haplotypes of the only currently-known high-elevation population (n = 9 individuals) to samples …

Cloning And Sequencing Of Sodium-Hydrogen Exchanger In The Gills Of The Long-Horned Sculpin (Myoxocephalus Octodecimspinosus), Danielle Lee Gunning

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

No abstract provided.