Digital Commons Network^™

On The Engimatic Distribution Of The Honduran Endemic Leptodactylus Silvanimbus (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae), W. R. Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá, Sarah Muller

Biology Faculty Publications

Most species of the frog genus Leptodactylus occur in South America, and all authors who have treated the zoogeography of the genus have concluded that it originated somewhere in South America (e.g., Savage 1982). Savage (1982, 518) summarized the historical herpetofaunal units of the Neotropics as follows: "All evidence points to an ancient contiguity and essential similarity of a generalized tropical herpetofauna that ranged over tropical North, Middle, and most of South America in Cretaceous-Paleocene times. Descendents of this fauna are represented today by the South and Middle American tracks (Elements). To the north of this fauna ranged a subtropical-temperate …

Changing Turtle Communities Of The Illinois River, Steven J. Paglia

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Shaping Science With Rhetoric: The Cases Of Dobzhansky, Schrdinger, And Wilson, Michael Dietrich

Dartmouth Scholarship

A review of Shaping Science with Rhetoric: The Cases of Dobzhansky, Schrödinger, and Wilson by Leah Ceccarelli.

Recruitment And Restoration Of The Oyster Crassostrea Virginica In Areas With Intense Boating Activity In Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, Lisa Michele Wall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Productivity, diversity and survival of estuaries are threatened by explosive coastal population growth and associated recreational activities. One major area of recreational growth has been the number of small pleasure craft motoring in shallow waters at high speeds. On the east coast of Central Florida in the Indian River Lagoon system, intense boating activity occurs year-round and intertidal reefs of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica with dead margins (piles of disarticulated shells) on their seaward edges are commonly found adjacent to major boating channels. The cause(s) of the dead margins is unclear. However, the disarticulated shells may be reducing reef …

Genetic Analysis Of Rhoa Signaling During Epithelial Morphogenesis In Drosophila, Amanda Fitch Leppert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Epithelial morphogenesis is contingent upon cell shape changes. Cell shape changes are the driving force for the metamorphosis of the adult Drosophila leg from the leg imaginal disc precursor. Genetic analysis has identified several Drosophila genes involved in regulating cell shape changes during leg disc morphogenesis. These include members of the RhoA signaling pathway and the product of the Stubble-stubbloid (Sb-sbd) locus, a transmembrane serine protease. Mutations in the Sb-sbd gene interact genetically with the members of the RhoA signaling pathway, however the nature of the relationship between Sb-sbd serine protease activity and RhoA signaling is not understood. To identify …

Habitat Use And Seasonal Activity Of Selected Snakes On John F. Kenned, Karen Dyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An intensive, replicated monthly sampling of snake communities inhabiting four habitat types was conducted at John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County, Florida from November 2002 through October 2003. Thirteen species (580 individuals plus 74 recaptures) plus one hybrid were captured. The three most commonly captured species, Coluber constrictor, Thamnophis sirtalis, and Thamnophis sauritus, combined made up 85% of the sample. These three species were active during every month of the year, but showed modal activity patterns typical of Temperate Zone snakes. Monthly snake captures were correlated with monthly captures of potential prey species and with mean monthly temperature. Species …

Stage-Specific And Interactive Effects Of Sedimentation And Trout On A Headwater Stream Salamander, Winsor H. Lowe, Keith H. Nislow, Douglas T. Bolger

Dartmouth Scholarship

In species with complex life cycles, stage-specific effects of environmental conditions combine with factors regulating stage-specific recruitment to determine population-level response to habitat disturbance. The abundance of the stream salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus(Plethodontidae) is negatively related to both logging-associated sedimentation and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in headwater streams throughout New Hampshire, USA. To understand the mechanisms underlying these patterns, we investigated stage-specific and interactive effects of sedimentation and brook trout on G. porphyriticus. We conducted quantitative surveys of salamanders, brook trout, and substrate embeddedness in 15 first-order streams and used a controlled experiment to test the direct and interactive effects of …

Zoological Nomenclature And Kinbote’S Name Of God, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

In Nabokov’s Pale Fire, Kinbote explains that the Name of God holds priority over Nature, etc. I show that the ‘priority principle’ here can be interpreted in the strict terms of zoological nomenclature.

Pathogenicity Of Xanthomonas Axonopodis Pv. Glycines, The Causative Agent Of Bacterial Pustule In Soybeans, Lopa D. Goradia

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Role Of Demethylation And Hyperacetylation In [Alpha]1-Antitrypsin Gene Activation, Ling Tian

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Diatom Assemblages Reflect Environmental Heterogeneity In An Urban Stream, Kristen M. Thomas

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

"Notes On The Taxonomy Of Potamonautes Obesus And Potamonautes Calcaratus From Eastern And Southern Africa" , Sadie K. Reed, Neil Cumberlidge

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

"Distribution Patterns Of The Malagasy Freshwater Crabs" , Neil Cumberlidge, Sadie K. Reed, Christopher B. Boyko

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

"Two New Species Of Platythelphusa A. Milne-Edwards, 1887 And Comments On The Taxonomic Position Of P. Denticulata Capart, 1952 From Lake Tanganyika" , Saskia Ae Marijnissen, Frederick R. Schram, Neil Cumberlidge, Ellinor Michel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Hydrologic Variability, Organic Matter Supply, Anddenitrification In The Garonne River Ecosystem, Michelle A. Baker, P. Vervier

Biology Faculty Publications

1. Groundwater nitrate contamination has become a worldwide problem as increasing amounts of nitrogen fertilisers are used in agriculture. Alluvial groundwater is uniquely juxtaposed between soils and streams. Hydrological connections among these subsystems regulate nutrient cycling.

2. We measured denitrification using an in situ acetylene‐block assay in a nitrate‐contaminated portion of the Garonne River catchment along a gradient of surface water–ground water mixing during high (snowmelt) and low flow.

3. During high flow (mid‐April to early June) the water table rose an average of 35 cm and river water penetrated the subsurface to a great extent in monitoring wells. Denitrification …

Snakes Of The United States And Canada: Natural History And Care In Captivity, Alan H. Savitzky

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tradeoffs In Community Properties Through Time In A Desert Rodent Community, Ethan P. White, S.K. Morgan Ernest, K. M. Thibault

Biology Faculty Publications

Resource limitation represents an important constraint on ecological communities, which restricts the total abundance, biomass, and community energy flux a given community can support. However, the exact relationship among these three measures of biological activity remains unclear. Here we use a simple framework that links abundance and biomass with an energetic constraint. Under constant energetic availability, it is expected that changes in abundance and biomass can result from shifts in the distribution of individual masses. We test these predictions using long-term data from a desert rodent community. Total energy use for the community has not changed directionally for 25 years, …

Two-Phase Species-Time Relationships In North American Land Birds, Ethan P. White

Biology Faculty Publications

The species-time relationship (STR) is a macroecological pattern describing the increase in the observed species richness with the length of time censused. Understanding STRs is important for understanding the ecological processes underlying temporal turnover and species richness. However, accurate characterization of the STR has been hampered by the influence of sampling. I analyzed species-time relationships for 521 breeding bird survey communities. I used a model of sampling effects to demonstrate that the increase in richness was not due exclusively to sampling. I estimated the time scale at which ecological processes became dominant over sampling effects using a two-phase model combining …

Temporal Dynamics In The Structure Andcomposition Of A Desert Rodent Community, K. M. Thibault, Ethan P. White, S.K. Morgan Ernest

Biology Faculty Publications

The rank-abundance distribution (RAD) represents the manner in which species divide resources. Community-specific division rules that determine resource allocation among species, and thereby the shape of the RAD, have been hypothesized to account for observed stability of local species richness over time. While the shape of the RAD has been well studied, the temporal dynamics of this distribution have received much less attention. Here we assess changes in the shape of the RAD through time in a desert rodent community in Arizona (USA). Because energy use may be more appropriate for studying resource division than abundance, we also evaluate an …

Similarities In Body Size Distributions Of Small-Bodied Flyingvertebrates, B. A. Maurer, J. Alroy, J. H. Brown, T. Dayan, B. Enquist, S.K. Morgan Ernest, E. Hadly, J. P. Haskell, D. Jablonski, K. E. Jones, D. M. Kaufman, K. Lyons, K. Niklas, W. Porter, K. Roy, F. A. Smith, B. Tiffney, M. R. Willig

Biology Faculty Publications

Since flight imposes physical constraints on the attributes of a flying organism, it is expected that the distribution of body sizes within clades of small-bodied flying vertebrates should share a similar pattern that reflects these constraints. We examined patterns in similarities of body mass distributions among five clades of small-bodied endothermic vertebrates (Passeriformes, Apodiformes + Trochiliformes, Chiroptera, Insectivora, Rodentia) to examine the extent to which these distributions are congruent among the clades that fly as opposed to those that do not fly. The body mass distributions of three clades of small-bodied flying vertebrates show significant divergence from the distributions of …

Factors Controlling Seagrass Revegetation Onto Dredged Material Deposits: A Case Study In Lower Laguna Madre, Texas, James E. Kaldy, Kenneth H. Dunton, Joseph L. Kowalski, Kun-Seop Lee

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

Our objective was to evaluate the influence of water quality and sediment chemistry on the survival and growth of Halodule wrightii transplanted onto unconsolidated dredged materials in Lower Laguna Madre, TX. Subsequent to transplanting activities, we measured environmental conditions and seagrass parameters at transplant and natural beds over a 1-yr period. Although water quality characteristics at the transplant and comparison sites were compatible with seagrass growth, transplants failed to survive for more than a few months. Seagrasses at natural sites received high light (>6000 mols m−2 y−1) and exhibited typical patterns of annual growth, biomass and density as well …

Breeding Abundance And Nest-Site Distribution Of The Altamira Oriole At Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, Timothy Brush, Christopher R. Hathcock

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

The distribution of the Altamira oriole (Icterus gularis) in the United States is restricted to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas. Our objective was to assess the current breeding status of this species at and near Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge (SANWR), a principal nesting area in the region. During each breeding season from 1997 to 1999, we attempted to find and monitor all Altamira oriole nests in and within 0.5 km of SANWR to determine annual breeding-pair abundance, annual nest-site distribution, and nest distribution among tree species. We estimated that there were 6 or 7, 8 or …

A Guide To Growing Healthy Trees In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Valley Proud Environmental Council, Texas Forest Service, Texas Urban Forestry Council, Brownsville Public Utilities Board, Brownsville Beautification Committee, Joe Ideker, Steve Benn, Beau Hollingsworth, Chris Best, Robert I. Lonard

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

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Diet On Bullfrog (Rana Catesbeiana) Tadpole Growth And Development, A. H. Michajliczenko, Geoffrey R. Smith, Jessica E. Rettig

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Summer Activity Of Small Snakes In Four Habitats In Northwestern Missouri, L. D. Johnson, Geoffrey R. Smith, Jessica E. Rettig

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Fc Receptor Expression And Signaling On Murine Mast Cells, Hey Jin Chong

Theses and Dissertations

Mast cells have long been appreciated as the primary effector cells in allergy and asthma, and recently have been implicated in other inflammatory diseases. Using high density oligonucleotide probe arrays, we assessed genome-wide transcriptional profiles after FcεRI aggregation for 90 minutes, 5 hours and 24 hours. We describe novel gene regulation in response to FcεRI signaling, including altered expression of CD44, Pari, osteopontin, Nur77, E4BP4, and NDRG 1. In addition, the gene encoding FcεRI β was downregulated 5 hours after mast cell activation according to both microarray analysis and RPA, and western blotting confirmed the downregulation of the beta subunit …

Surface Characteristics Of Bacillus Spores, Darlene Danette Sabio

Theses and Dissertations

Rapid isolation and identification of spores from various environmental samples is necessitated because anthrax spores can be used as biological weapons. The hydrophobic nature of spores may allow for their rapid concentration and partial purification from contaminating materials. In this study, spores from four taxonomic groups of Bacillaceae were isolated, purified and characterized for hydrophobicity by hexadecane partitioning, surface morphology by scanning electron microscopy, and steady-state fluorescence by spectroscopy. The morphology of spores was similar within taxonomic groups and dissimilar between groups. Spore hydrophobicity ranged from 0.3% to 65% and all spores had fluorescence emission peaks at 335 nm and …

Carotid Endothelial Responses To Proinflammatory Mediators, Susana M. Tente

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Multiple Domains Of The Co-Chaperone Hop Are Important For Hsp70 Binding, Gregory M. Nelson, Patricia E. Carrigan, Patricia J. Roberts, Jha'nae Stoffer, Daniel L. Riggs, David F. Smith

Faculty Publications

The Hop/Sti1 co-chaperone binds to both Hsp70 and Hsp90. Biochemical and co-crystallographic studies have suggested that the EEVD-containing C terminus of Hsp70 or Hsp90 binds specifically to one of the Hop tetratricopeptide repeat domains, TPR1 or TPR2a, respectively. Mutational analyses of Hsp70 and Hop were undertaken to better characterize interactions between the C terminus of Hsp70 and Hop domains. Surprisingly, truncation of EEVD plus as many as 34 additional amino acids from the Hsp70 C terminus did not reduce the ability of Hsp70 mutants to co-immunoprecipitate with Hop, although further truncation eliminated Hop binding. Hop point mutations targeting a carboxylate …

Threatened Fishes Of The World: Iotichthys Phlegethontis Cope, 1874 (Cyprinidae), Joseph H. Hanks, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

Common name: least chub.