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Emotions And Actions Associated With Altruistic Helping And Punishment, Omar Tonsi Eldakar, David Sloan Wilson, Rick O'Gorman

Biology Faculty Articles

Evolutionary altruism (defined in terms of fitness effects) exists in the context of punishment in addition to helping. We examine the proximate psychological mechanisms that motivate altruistic helping and punishment, including the effects of genetic relatedness, potential for future interactions, and individual differences in propensity to help and punish. A cheater who is a genetic relative provokes a stronger emotional reaction than a cheater who is a stranger, but the behavioral response is modulated to avoid making the transgression public in the case of cheating relatives. Numerous behavioral differences are not accompanied by emotional differences, suggesting that other psychological mechanisms …

Cortisol Concentrations In Human Skeletal Muscle Tissue After Phonophoresis With 10% Hydrocortisone Gel, Amanda R. Kuntz, Christine Multer Griffiths, James M. Rankin, Charles W. Armstrong, Thomas J. Mcloughlin

Biology Faculty Articles

CONTEXT: The delivery of hydrocortisone through phonophoresis is a widely prescribed technique for the treatment of various musculoskeletal inflammatory conditions. However, limited scientific evidence exists to support the efficacy of phonophoresis in delivering hydrocortisone to skeletal muscle tissue in humans.

OBJECTIVE: To determine hydrocortisone (cortisol) concentrations in human skeletal muscle tissue after a phonophoresis treatment using 10% hydrocortisone gel.

DESIGN: Randomized design in which 12 subjects were randomly assigned to either an ultrasound (sham) treatment or a 10% hydrocortisone phonophoresis treatment.

SETTING: Laboratory.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Twelve healthy subjects (8 women, 4 men: age = 22.3 +/- 2.64 years, …

Development Of Proliferation Assays To Explore The Role Of Calcium Activated Potassium Channels In Cell Proliferation, Sean Foster

Honors Theses

Due to the large variety of K^† channel families implicated in cancer cell proliferation, it is desirable to develop techniques capable of quickly and reliably screening a variety of potential channels for a role in proliferation. While there are many established cell counting procedures, the time-consuming nature of such protocols limits their usefulness in broadly identifying particular channels in uncharacterized cell lines. For this reason, a primary goal of the present research was the development of techniques capable of implicating particular ion channels in proliferation with both qualitative and quantitative data. Once this goal was accomplished, the project sought …

Rockfish Resources Of The South Central California Coast: Analysis Of The Resource From Partyboat Data, 1980-2005, John Stephens, Dean Wendt, Debra Wilson-Vandenberg, Jay Carroll, Royden Nakamura, Erin Nakada, Steven Reinecke, Jono Wilson

Biological Sciences

Rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) have historically comprised a large proportion of catches in the nearshore recreational fishery in California, but declining populations of some species have led to increasingly restrictive management of the resource. This report summarizes new and existing data on rockfishes of the south central coast of California. In 2003, the California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo placed observers on commercial passenger fishing vessels (partyboats) from the region. By the end of 2005, we had observed catches from 258 trips (8,839 fisher hours). We appended these data to partyboat catch statistics collected by the California Department of …

Characterizing The Resident, Fermentative Microbial Consortium In The Hindgut Of The Temperate-Zone Herbivorous Fish, Hermosilla Azurea (Teleostei: Kyphosidae), Pat M. Fidopiastis, Daniel J. Bezdek, Michael H. Horn, Judith S. Kandel

Biological Sciences

The zebraperch, Hermosilla azurea Jenkins and Evermann, a warm-temperate marine fish species with a strictly macroalgal diet, has a relatively long digestive tract with an enlarged hindgut and an associated blind caecum (HC). In zebraperch sampled off Santa Catalina Island, California (33°19′42′′N; 118°18′37′′W) in years 1995 through 2001, direct cell counts, gut epithelium assessment of bacterial attachment, and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) analyses verified that the zebraperch HC possesses a dense and morphologically diverse, fermentative microbiota. Bacterial cell counts and morphological diversity were significantly higher in HC contents compared to anterior gut regions, suggesting that microbial populations were growing along …

A-State Biology Faculty To Publish Adventure Book, Aldemaro Romero Jr., Joy Trauth

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Maternal Condition And Facultative Sex Ratios In Populations With Overlapping Generations., L.E. Schwanz, J.G. Bragg, Eric Charnov

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

Facultative investment in offspring sex is related to maternal condition in many organisms. In mammals, empirical support for condition-dependent sex allocation is equivocal, and there is some doubt as to theoretical expectations. Much theory has been developed to make predictions for condition-dependent sex ratios in populations with discrete generations. However, the extension of these predictions to populations with overlapping generations (OLGs; e.g., mammals) has been limited, leaving doubt as to the specific prediction for maternal-condition-dependent sex ratios in mammals. We develop a population genetics model that incorporates maternal effects on multiple offspring fitness components in a population with OLGs. Using …

The Offspring-Size/Clutch-Size Trade-Off In Mammals., Eric Charnov, S.K.M. Ernest

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

The Smith-Fretwell model for optimal offspring size assumes the existence of an inverse proportional relationship (i.e., trade-off) between the number of offspring and the amount of resources invested in an individual offspring; virtually all of the many models derived from theirs make the same trade-off assumption. Over the last 30 years it has become apparent that the predicted proportionality is often not observed when evaluated across species. We develop a general allometric approach to correct for size-related differences in the resources available for reproduction. Using data on mammals, we demonstrate that the predicted inverse proportional relationship between number of offspring …

Emd: An Ensemble Algorithm For Discovering Regulatory Motifs In Dna Sequences, Jianjun Hu, Yifeng D. Yang, Daisuke Kihara

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Understanding gene regulatory networks has become one of the central research problems in bioinformatics. More than thirty algorithms have been proposed to identify DNA regulatory sites during the past thirty years. However, the prediction accuracy of these algorithms is still quite low. Ensemble algorithms have emerged as an effective strategy in bioinformatics for improving the prediction accuracy by exploiting the synergetic prediction capability of multiple algorithms.

Results

We proposed a novel clustering-based ensemble algorithm named EMD for de novo motif discovery by combining multiple predictions from multiple runs of one or more base component algorithms. The ensemble approach is …

Structure And Sequence Conservation Of A Putative Hypoxia Responsive Element In The Lactate Dehydrogenase-B Gene Of Fundulus, Bernard B. Rees, John A.L. Bowman, P M. Schulte

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Long-Term Hypoxia On Enzymes Of Carbohydrate Metabolism In The Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis, M L. Manning, C A. Landry, R D. Boehm, S Manning, A O. Cheek, Bernard B. Rees

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The goal of the current study was to generate a comprehensive, multi-tissue perspective of the effects of chronic hypoxic exposure on carbohydrate metabolism in the Gulf killifish Fundulus grandis. Fish were held at approximately 1.3·mg·l–1 dissolved oxygen (~3.6·kPa) for 4·weeks, after which maximal activities were measured for all glycolytic enzymes in four tissues (white skeletal muscle, liver, heart and brain), as well as for enzymes of glycogen metabolism (in muscle and liver) and gluconeogenesis (in liver). The specific activities of enzymes of glycolysis and glycogen metabolism were strongly suppressed by hypoxia in white skeletal muscle, which may reflect decreased energy …

A Feeling For The Micro-Organism: Structure On A Small Scale. Biofilms On Plant Roots, Nancy Fujishige

Biology Faculty Works

Biofilms are structured communities of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to an inert or living surface; they have clinical, industrial and environmental impacts. Biofilms that are established by bacteria on plants are found on the surfaces of roots, leaves, seeds and internal vascular tissues where the microbes live in commensal, mutualistic or parasitic/pathogenic associations with their host. The study of the structure of plant-associated biofilms has been considerably helped by the development of techniques using fluorescent markers coupled with confocal scanning laser microscopy as well as scanning electron microscopy. We review several of these techniques …

Suction Pressure Measurement And Behavioral Observations Of Sprawning-Run Sea Lampreys (Petromyzon Marinus), Robert Dallas Adams

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Sea lampreys utilize attachment by suction throughout their life cycle. Despite the importance of this behavior, the role of surface texture in the attachment process has not been fully understood. The goal of this study was to develop a technique to quantitatively examine attachment abilities on surfaces of different texture and then to test whether the lampreys would seek out the surface that best promoted attachment. Results of the first experiment showed that the ability to attach depended on the interaction between a surface’s characteristics and the sea lamprey’s oral disk anatomy. For management applications where lamprey attachment is a …

Digging Mechanisms And Substrate Preferences Of Shovel Nosed Lobsters, Ibacus Peronii (Decapoda: Scyllaridae), Zen Faulkes

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

Digging is a distinct form of locomotion that poses different mechanical problems than other locomotor modes that are commonly used by crustaceans, e.g., walking, swimming. I examined the mechanisms of digging by shovel nosed lobsters (Ibacus peronii), which spend most of the day underneath sand. Ibacus peronii were videotaped while digging. Ibacus peronii use a “wedge” strategy to submerge into sand. An individual penetrates the sand with the walking legs, then extends the abdomen to push sand backwards, then flexes the abdomen while pushing backward with the legs, which slowly drives the body into the sand. This basic …

Standard And Routine Metabolic Rates Of Juvenile Sandbar Sharks (Carcharhinus Plumbeus), Including The Effects Of Body Mass And Acute Temperature Change, W. Wesley Dowd, Richard W. Brill, Peter G. Bushnell, John A. Musick

Biology Faculty Works

Standard and routine metabolic rates (SMRs and RMRs, respectively) of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) were measured over a range of body sizes (n=34) and temperatures normally associated with western Atlantic coastal nursery areas. The mean SMR Q10 (increase in metabolic rate with temperature) was 2.9 ±0.2. Heart rate decreased with increasing body mass but increased with temperature at a Q10 of 1.8−2.2. Self-paired measures of SMR and RMR were obtained for 15 individuals. Routine metabolic rate averaged 1.8 ±0.1 times the SMR and was not correlated with body mass. Assuming the maximum metabolic rate of sandbar sharks is 1.8−2.75 …

Estimating Consumption Rates Of Juvenile Sandbar Sharks (Carcharhinus Plumbeus) In Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, Using A Bioenergetics Model, W. Wesley Dowd, Richard W. Brill, Peter G. Bushnell, John A. Musick

Biology Faculty Works

Using a bioenergetics model, we estimated daily ration and seasonal prey consumption rates for six age classes of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) in the lower Chesapeake Bay summer nursery area. The model, incorporating habitat and species-specific data on growth rates, metabolic rate, diet composition, water temperature (range 16.8−27.9°C), and population structure, predicted mean daily rations between 2.17 ±0.03 (age-0) and 1.30 ±0.02 (age-5) % body mass/day. These daily rations are higher than earlier predictions for sandbar sharks but are comparable to those for ecologically similar shark species. The total nursery population of sandbar sharks was predicted to consume ~124,000 …

Comparison Of Geometric Morphometric Outline Methods In The Discrimination Of Age-Related Differences In Feather Shape, Kristen M. Covino

Biology Faculty Works

Background: Geometric morphometric methods of capturing information about curves or outlines of organismal structures may be used in conjunction with canonical variates analysis (CVA) to assign specimens to groups or populations based on their shapes. This methodological paper examines approaches to optimizing the classification of specimens based on their outlines. This study examines the performance of four approaches to the mathematical representation of outlines and two different approaches to curve measurement as applied to a collection of feather outlines. A new approach to the dimension reduction necessary to carry out a CVA on this type of outline data with modest …

An Ethogram Developed On Captive Eastern Coyotes Canis Latrans, Eric Strauss

Biology Faculty Works

We studied capture Eastern Coyotes (Canis latrans) from 27-585 days of age and compiled an ethogram on them. A total of 72247 15-sec samples were taken, amounting to 301 h of field time varying between 59.4-61.3 h per Coyote. A total of 540 behavioral patterns was observed amongst the 16 behaviour categories ranging from 9 (miscellaneous) to 72 (explore/investigate) action patterns per parent category. The 16 parent categories that we believed best described and appropriately sorted the behavioural actions were resting, sitting, sitting1, sitting2, standing, traveling, explore/investigating, hunting, feeding, infantile, greeting, self play, play initiating, playing, agonistic, and miscellaneous. Exploring …

Rat Poison Kills A Pack Of Eastern Coyotes, Canis Latrans, In An Urban Area, Eric Strauss

Biology Faculty Works

We document the death of a pack of Eastern Coyotes (Canis latrans) from high levels of brodifacoum, a second generation poison that is the active ingredient in some forms of rat poison (e.g., d-Con®). The Coyotes died within a week of each other during late March/early April 2005. This incident indicates the vulnerability of wild animals to commercial over-the-counter rodenticides.

Degenerate Oligonucleotide Primed - Polymerase Chain Reaction Evaluation And Optimization To Improve Downstream Forensic Str Analysis Of Low Quality/Low Quantity Dna, Lindsay Paige Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

When forensic biological samples yield low quality/low quantity DNA, thecurrent STR analysis methods do not generate acceptable profiles. Whole genomeamplification can be used to pre-amplify the entire genome for downstream analyses. A commercially available kit for DOP-PCR, a form of WGA, is currently being used in the clinical for downstream single locus targets. Forensic analyses utilize a multiplex amplification. This study determined that the "home brew" created by our lab performs the same as the commercially available kit. Future optimization studies of DOP-PCR can utilize this "home brew". Additionally, this research determined that a 10 second increase in electrokinetic injection …

Coronary Heart Disease Risk Stratification In Full-Time Miami Valley Hospital Employees, Vicki K. Streng

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States (American Heart Association, 2005). The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the results of a twelve-week exercise program on coronary heart disease risk factors in full-time hospital employees. Methods: The participants were given cardiovascular, weight training, and flexibility recommendations to follow during a twelve-week period. The main heart disease risk factors measured before and after the completion of the exercise program were blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and body mass index. The information was put into the Framingham Heart Score to estimate the participants’ 10-year risk of developing …

Determining The Effect Of Substitutions At Alanine 47 In Synechococcus Pcc6301 Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase (Rubisco), Christopher R. Salyer

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Mutant screening and genetic selection in various organisms have shown that residues far from the active site of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) can influence catalytic efficiency and CO2/O2 specificity. Because RubisCO catalyzes the rate-limiting step of photosynthesis, further study of these sites distant from the primary reaction center may provide the necessary information for engineering an increase in primary productivity of crop plants. In a previously described system of random mutagenesis and bioselection (Smith, 2002), the RubisCO genes from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC6301, were randomly mutated and introduced into the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. An A47T substitution resulted in a very …

Why Is The Number Of Dna Bases 4?, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

In this paper we construct a mathematical model for DNA replication based on Shannon’s mathematical theory for communication. We treatDNAreplication as a communication channel. We show that the mean replication rate is maximal with four nucleotide bases under the primary assumption that the pairing time of the G–C bases is between 1.65 and 3 times the pairing time of the A–T bases.

Can Environmental Variation Generate Positive Indirect Effects In A Model Of Shared Predation?, Chad Brassil

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Classic models of apparent competition predict negative indirect effects between prey with a shared enemy. If predator per capita growth rates are nonlinear, then endogenously generated periodic cycles are predicted to generate less negative or even positive indirect effects between prey. Here I determine how exogenous mechanisms such as environmental variation could modify indirect effects. I find that exogenous variation can have a broader range of effects on indirect interactions than endogenously generated cycles. Indirect effects are altered by environmental variation even in simple models for which the per capita growth rate of the predator species is a linear function …

Regulation Of Mercury Resistance In The Crenarchaeote Sulfolobus Solfataricus, James Schelert, Melissa Drozda, Vidula Dixit, Amanda Dillman, Paul H. Blum

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Mercuric ion, Hg(II), inactivates generalized transcription in the crenarchaeote Sulfolobus solfataricus. Metal

challenge simultaneously derepresses transcription of mercuric reductase (merA) by interacting with the

archaeal transcription factor aMerR. Northern blot and primer extension analyses identified two additional

Hg(II)-inducible S. solfataricus genes, merH and merI (SSO2690), located on either side of merA. Transcription

initiating upstream of merH at promoter merHp was metal inducible and extended through merA and merI,

producing a merHAI transcript. Northern analysis of a merRA double mutant produced by linear DNA

recombination demonstrated merHp promoter activity was dependent on aMerR to overcome Hg(II) …

Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The paradigm in prairie ecology is that fire is one of the key factors deter-mining vegetation composition. fire can impact grassland ecosystems in various ways, including changing plant species composition and inducing nitro-gen loss. I found that 17 years of different burning frequencies in infertile grassland had only a minor impact on the vegetation composition and diversity. The only major impact from increasing the frequency of fires was a decrease of Poa pratensis abundance. However, other plant species did not r-spond to the change in Poa abundance. This result contrasts with previous studies in savannas and more productive grasslands, where …

Glucocorticoid Hormone Levels Increase With Group Size And Parasite Load In Cliff Swallows, Samrrah A. Raouf, Linda C. Smith, Mary Bomberger Brown, John C. Wingfield, Charles R. Brown

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Animals often cope with adverse events by releasing glucocorticoid hormones, which in turn promote increased energy assimilation. In captive animals, crowding also leads to increased glucocorticoid activity, probably because of increased levels of social competition. We investigated how group size and ectoparasite infestations affected endogenous levels of the glucocorticoid hormone, corticosterone, in colonial cliff swallows, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, in southwestern Nebraska, USA. Parasites were removed from some colonies by fumigating nests. Baseline levels of corticosterone in breeding adults varied significantly with whether parasites were present, colony size (measured by total number of active nests at a site), and nesting stage. …

Nonparametric Estimation Of Natural Selection On A Quantitative Trait Using Mark-Recapture Data, Olivier Gimenez, Rita Covas, Charles R. Brown, Mark D. Anderson, Mary Bomberger Brown, Thomas Lenormand

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Assessing natural selection on a phenotypic trait in wild populations is of primary importance for evolutionary ecologists. To cope with the imperfect detection of individuals inherent to monitoring in the wild, we develop a nonparametric method for evaluating the form of natural selection on a quantitative trait using mark-recapture data. Our approach uses penalized splines to achieve flexibility in exploring the form of natural selection by avoiding the need to specify an a priori parametric function. If needed, it can help in suggesting a new parametric model. We employ Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling in a Bayesian framework to estimate …

Movements And Habitat Selection Of Raccoons In A Rural Illinois Landscape, Erin E. Barding

Masters Theses

Conversion of native plant communities for purposes such as urban development, agriculture and industry reduces the amount of intact wildlife habitat and fragments that which remains. Much of the natural habitat in the Midwestern U.S. has been converted to agricultural use. Population declines of many avian species have been attributed to high rates of predation in fragmented landscapes. Furthermore, edge-related increases in nest predation are one of the main factors in reducing reproductive success. Studies throughout Illinois have suggested that the entire state may be a population sink for several species of birds. Mesocarnivores, particularly raccoons (Procyon lotor) and skunks …

Urea: A Natural Cryoprotectant In The Freeze-Tolerant Wood Frog (Rana Sylvatica), Elizabeth A. Fincel

Masters Theses

The wood frog (Rana sylvatica) is one of only a few vertebrates that are able to withstand freezing of their body fluids. Various organic osmolytes play a central role in physiological adaptation to freezing and other osmotic stresses in diverse taxa, but in R. sylvatica only one cryoprotectant, glucose, has been identified. The objective of this study was to determine whether urea, an osmolyte that naturally accumulates in the tissues of overwintering R. sylvatica, also functions to limit freeze/thaw injury. Secondly, it was investigated whether hyperuremia is associated with increased osmolyte concentration to counteract any negative effect of urea.

Using …