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Landscape Genetics Of The Gulf Coast Tick, Amblyomma Maculatum, Sara Simmons Benham

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Connectivity among populations helps to maintain genetic diversity, population stability, and resilience. The Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum, is a vector of the pathogen Rickettsia parkeri. Persistence of tick populations with high rates of R. parkeri infection poses health risks to humans and animals. Mitochondrial haplotypes were characterized by sequencing a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. A comparative study of A. maculatum and Amblyomma americanum was conducted to identify similar and unique patterns between the species within the same region. Next, I compared A. maculatum sites across three different regions of the United States. This work …

Vibroacoustic Response Of The Tympanic Membrane To Hyoid-Borne Sound Generated During Echolocation In Bats, Chelsie Snipes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The hyoid apparatus in laryngeally echolocating bats forms a mechanical connection between the larynx and auditory bullae and has been hypothesized to transfer the outgoing echolocation call to the middle ear during echolocation call emission. We used µCT data to build models of the hyoid apparatus and middle ear from six species of bats and used finite element modeling (FEM) to measure the vibroacoustic response of the tympanic membrane due to hyoid-borne sound generated during echolocation. We found that hyoid-borne sound in all six species stimulated the eardrum within a range likely heard by bats. Although there were minor differences …

An Investigation Into The Origin And Molecular Mechanism Of Species-Specific Craniofacial Sexual Dimorphism In Lake Malawi Cichlids, Ashleigh Brandon

All Theses

Explaining the underlying source that generates the phenotypic diversity ubiquitous in nature has been a major goal of biologists since the time of Darwin. In addition to the phenotypic variation that exists between different species, another potent source of morphological diversity is found within a species, in the form of phenotypic differences that are specific to males and females, termed sexual dimorphism. The largest craniofacial bone, the mandible, exhibits such extreme sexual dimorphism that it may be used to forensically determine sex. This dimorphism occurs in most of the craniofacial complex and contributes to sex-biased disease frequencies, such as a …

Urbanization Affects Web Abundance And Aggregation Of A Funnel‑Weaving Spider, Agelenopsis Pennsylvanica (Agelenidae), Brandi J. Pessman, Madison Hays, Earl Agpawa, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Animals distribute themselves within habitats based on a variety of environmental conditions, including those impacted by urbanization. Suspected global declines in urban arthropod biodiversity have required that we examine how urban conditions affect the distribution of this ecologically important group. Throughout North America, funnel-weaving spiders (Agelenidae) are prevalent across urban habitats and actively choose sites to build webs. We compared Agelenopsis pennsylvanica abundance and distribution between two distinct urban habitats: an urban center (university campus) and an urban forest (city park). These urban habitats differed significantly in features like plant diversity and proximity to roads and highways. We searched along …

Optimal R&D Investment In The Management Of Invasive Species, William Haden Chomphosy, Dale T. Manning, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Stephan Weiler

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten world biodiversity, ecosystem services, and economic welfare. While existing literature has characterized the optimal control of an established IAS, it has not considered how research and development (R&D) into new removal methods or technologies can affect management decisions and costs over time. R&D can lower the costs of control in a management plan and creates an intertemporal trade-off between quick but costly control and gradual but cheaper removal over time. In this paper, we develop and solve a continuous time dynamic optimization model to study how investment in R&D influences the optimal control of an …

Rattus Norvegicus As A Biological Detector Of Clandestine Remains And The Use Of Ultrasonic Vocalizations As A Locating Mechanism, Gabrielle M. Johnston

Master's Theses

In investigations, locating missing persons and clandestine remains are imperative. One way that first responder and police agencies can search for the remains is by using cadaver dogs as biological detectors. Cadaver dogs are typically used due to their olfactory sensitivity and ability to detect low concentrations of volatile organic compounds produced by biological remains. Cadaver dogs are typically chosen for their stamina, agility, and olfactory sensitivity. However, what is not taken into account often is the size of the animal and the expense of maintaining and training the animal. Cadaver dogs are typically large breeds that cannot fit in …

Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt

All Theses

Bartram’s Bass are an endemic to the Upper Savannah River basin in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Bartram’s Bass are facing many risks, primary among them being hybridization with nonnative Alabama Bass. More recently, nonnative Alabama Bass and their hybrid congeners have been observed moving from reservoirs into tributaries where the remaining Bartram’s Bass populations exist. Thus, for Chapter 1 we sought to better understand the threat of nonnative gene spreading in tributary systems. To do this, we 1) quantified the movement of pure Alabama Bass, Bartram’s Bass, and their hybrids, 2) assessed correlations between movement and abiotic variables, …

Determination Of Cadmium Uptake In Crassostrea Virginica Shell Under Controlled Conditions, Joseph John Pavelites Ii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The objective of this thesis was to meet growing demand for the development of environmental biomonitors that protect ecosystems and public health. To do this, I determined the potential of oyster shell as a bioindicator of cadmium (Cd) in the environment by determining the mode of Cd uptake and relationships between Cd concentrations in the environment, shell, and soft tissues of juvenile eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica Gmelin). I performed a review of the literature on the ability of oyster shell to retain metal contaminants and the factors that could affect this process (Chapter 2). I then reared C. virginica …

Top Down Effects And Resource Selection By Coyotes In South Carolina, Alex Jensen

All Dissertations

Top predators play important roles in functioning ecosystems, including regulating the populations of prey species and competing with other predators. However, in the face of global change, many top terrestrial predators have declined in both range and abundance, making room for some smaller predators to expand into new niches. Coyotes (Canis latrans) in North America are a prime example of this – they have rapidly expanded their range in the last 120 years, raising concerns about their impacts on both domestic and wild species. In eastern North America, research has centered around their effects on white-tailed deer ( …

Local And Regional Landscape Characteristics Driving Habitat Selection By Greater Sage-Grouse Along A Fragmented Range Margin, Aidan T. Beers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In response to ongoing landscape change, wildlife species are likely to respond in varied ways. By studying habitat specialists, we are able to better understand the most likely ways in which the denizens of threatened ecosystems will react to those changes. Among the most threatened ecosystem types in North America are sagebrush ecosystems of the Intermountain West, where one of its most well-known residents, greater sage grouse (hereafter, “sage-grouse), have lost more than 50% of their habitat due to fire, invasive species, climate change, encroachment by coniferous forests and avian predators using it, and human-caused landscape conversion. Sage-grouse rely on …

The Effects Of Recent Climate Change On Spring Phenology, With A Special Focus On Patterns Of Bee Foraging, Michael Stemkovski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The date on which plants flower and on which bees begin to pollinate varies year-to-year depending on differences in weather. This seasonal timing is known as phenology, and it is already clear that climate change has pushed the spring phenology of many species earlier by increasing temperatures. This is particularly clear in flowering plants, but studying how and why the phenology of pollinators is shifting is more difficult. Most flowering plants rely on pollinators such as bees for their reproduction, and most bees rely on flowers for their sustenance, so bee and flower phenology has to overlap for the crucial …

The Barriers To Movement: The Effects Of Anthropogenic Linear Features On The Space-Use Behaviors Of Mule Deer And Pronghorn In Utah, Ronan B. Hart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Human development of structures like roads, fences, and other linear features can make it difficult for animals to move around their environment, affecting their ability to find food and avoid danger. Animal movement and the way they use space comes about from their responses to their surroundings and their choices to balance risk and reward. Because of this, we can understand how roads and fences affect wildlife by studying the way they move around their habitats. In this thesis, I focused on two large herbivores, mule deer and pronghorn, and studied how they use the space within Utah, United States …

Evaluating Methods For Pathogen Spillover Detection And Forecasting In Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis Canadensis Nelsoni), Grete E. Wilson-Henjum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Managers mitigate the effects of disease on wildlife populations by detecting outbreaks and predicting disease transmission. Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations face threat from the introduced pathogen Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M. ovipneumoniae). In the eastern Mojave Desert, managers detect pathogen outbreaks in desert bighorn (O. c. nelsoni) through aerial population surveys, which produce irregular and coarse population information. Furthermore, managers model the risk of M. ovipneumoniae transmission amongst desert bighorn populations, however these models assume that desert bighorn space use is unchanging across years. Here, I evaluate methods used by managers to detect disease outbreaks …

An Ecological Perspective Of American Rodent-Borne Orthohantavirus Surveillance, Nathaniel Mull

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orthohantaviruses are a global group of viruses found primarily in rodents, though several viruses have also been found in shrews and moles. Many rodent-borne orthohantaviruses are capable of causing one of several diseases in humans, and the mortality associated with these diseases ranges from < 0.1% - 50% depending on the specific etiological virus. In North and South America, orthohantavirus research was ignited by an outbreak of severe disease in the Four Corners region of the United States in 1993. However, despite the discovery of over 20 orthohantaviruses in the Americas, our understanding of orthohantavirus ecology and virus-host dynamics in this region is still limited, and orthohantavirus surveillance is generally restricted in scope to select regions and small portions of host distributional ranges. In Chapter I, I present a literature review on the current understanding of American rodent-borne orthohantavirus ecology. This review focused on under-studied orthohantaviruses, addressing gaps in knowledge by extrapolating information from well-studied orthohantaviruses, general rodent ecology, and occassionally from Eurasian orthohantavirus-host ecology. There were several key conclusions generated from this review that warrant further research: 1) the large number of putative orthohantaviruses and gaps in orthohantavirus evolution necessitate further surveillance and characterization, 2) orthohantavirus traits differ and are more generalizable based on host taxonomy rather than geography, and 3) orthohantavirus host species are disproportionately found in grasslands and disturbed habitats. In Chapter II, I present a prioritized list of rodent species to target for orthohantavirus surveillance based on predictive modeling using machine learning. Probable orthohantavirus hosts were predicted based on traits of known orthohantavirus hosts using two different types of evidence: RT-PCR and virus isolation. Predicted host distributions were also mapped to identify geographic hotspots to spatially guide future surveillance efforts. In Chapter III, I present a framework for understanding and predicting orthohantavirus traits based on reservoir host phylogeny, as opposed to the traditional geographic dichotomy used to group orthohantaviruses. This framework establishes three distinct orthohantavirus groups: murid-borne orthohantaviruses, arvicoline-borne orthohantaviruses, and non-arvicoline cricetid-borne orthohantaviruses, which differ in several key traits, including the human disease they cause, transmission routes, and virus-host fidelity. In Chapter IV, I compare rodent communities and orthohantavirus prevalence among grassland management regimes. Sites that were periodically burned had high rodent diversity and a high proportion of grassland species. However, rodent seroprevalence for orthohantavirus was also highest in burned sites, representing a trade-off in habitat management outcomes. The high seroprevalence in burned sites is likely due to the robust populations supported by the high quality habitat resulting from prescribed burning. In Chapters V and VI, I describe Ozark virus and Sager Creek virus, two novel orthohantaviruses discovered from specimens collected during Chapter IV. Both chapters report full genome sequences of the respective viruses and compare both nucleotide and protein phylogenies with related orthohantaviruses. Additionally in Chapter VI, I support the genetic analyses with molecular and ecological characterizations, including seasonal fluctuations in host abundance, correlates of prevalence, evidence of virus shedding, and information on host cell susceptibility to Sager Creek virus.

Factors That Affect Home Range Of Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus) In Northwest Arkansas, Bannon Gallaher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Conservation of animal populations requires knowledge of their habitat and spatial needs. Quantifying spatial requirements involves the analysis of home range. We examined the effects of sex, body size (SVL), body condition (log mass/log SVL), and year on home range in Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in Northwest Arkansas. Individual locality data from an ongoing, 22+ year radio-telemetry study in Madison Co., Arkansas were analyzed using both minimum convex polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimates (KDE). Plots of the number of sequential observations versus home range (MCP and KDE) determined that a minimum of 25 locations per individual per active season …

Effects Of Landscape And Yard Features On Mammals In Residential Yards In Northwest Arkansas, Emily Johansson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The human footprint is rapidly expanding, and wildlife habitat is continuously being converted to human residential properties. Most wildlife residing in developing areas are displaced to nearby undeveloped areas. However, some animals can coexist with humans and acquire the necessary resources (food, water, shelter) within the human environment. This may be particularly true when development is low intensity, as in suburban yards. Due to the wide variety in how homeowners utilize their yards, they can be considered individually managed “greenspaces.” These yards can provide a range of food (e.g., bird feeders, compost, gardens), water (bird baths and garden ponds), and …

Who To Host: Competition Interactions Between Parasitoid Wasp Species, Jailah Henderson, Becky Hansis-O’Neill

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The availability of resources plays an important role in the survival and fitness of all organisms, one's ability to find and utilize resources can impact interactions between them and their environments. The interaction between organisms for resources can lead to interspecific competition, amongst two different species, or intraspecific competition, amongst the same species. In an experiment to test for competitive interactions between the parasitoid wasp species of N. vitripennis and M. digitata that utilize a fresh fly papua as their host to aid in the reproduction of their offspring. Over a period of time testing for conditions of interspecific and …

Herpetofauna And Tarantula Avoidance: A Missouri Glades Location Survey, Zach Pfeiffer, Becky Hansis-O'Neill, Aimee Dunlap Dr

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Missouri glades are home to a variety of herpetofauna and one species of tarantula: Aphonopelma hentzi (Texas brown tarantula). These animals traverse through their environment very differently. Herpetofauna tend to travel in search of food, while tarantulas are usually restricted to foraging in areas very close to their burrows. Due to this contrast, and because of potential predator-prey relationships, I wanted to see if there was a pattern in the distances between these two groupings. To do this I conducted a location survey to determine how far each individual was from the nearest spider. After analyzing the data, it was …

Sensing Is A Far Cry From Sentience, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio

Animal Sentience

The hypothesis that plants might be sentient confuses the notion of sentience (or consciousness) with that of sensing. Sentience/consciousness implies feeling, experience, and subjectivity. Sensing does not. Plants can sense/detect and even respond appropriately in the absence of any sentience/consciousness.

Riodinid Butterfly Fauna (Lepidoptera) Of The Cosñipata Region, Peru: Annotated Checklist, Community Structure, And Contrast With Lycaenidae, Gerardo Lamas, Jon D. Turner, Michael L. Mcinnis, Robert K. Robbins

Insecta Mundi

A team of experienced lepidopterists sampled the butterfly fauna of Peru’s Cosñipata Region from 400 to 4,000 m elevation for more than a decade (7,440 field person-hours) and supplemented this sam­ple with data from museum specimens and the scientific literature. An annotated checklist of Cosñipata Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) documents 398 species, which represents 29% of the world Rio­dinidae fauna. For each, it lists sample abundance, adult behavior, elevation, and temporal distribution. In the fieldwork sample, 75 species (20.9%) were sampled once and 39 (9.8%) were not encountered (collected or imaged by others). A riodinid species of median abundance was sampled …

Evaluation Of North American Spider Wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) Common Names, Frank E. Kurczewski, Rick C. West

Insecta Mundi

The use of common names for species and subspecies of North American spider wasps (Hymenop­tera: Pompilidae) presents a variety of questions for pompilid specialists as most pompilid taxa are difficult to identify, even under the microscope. Some common names currently being used for spider wasp species are acceptable while others are misleading, unfit and unacceptable. Opinions on the relative value of common names for spider wasps from current Pompilidae researchers are given in the Introduction. Eleven inappro­priate common names for North American Pompilidae species and subspecies are identified and discussed in the Results.

The use of common names for fish, …

A Preliminary Report On Non-Insect Arthropods (Arachnida, Diplopoda) At Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, G. B. Edwards, Karen Relish

Insecta Mundi

Use of a combination of a novel pitfall trap setup and Lindgren funnel traps at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park resulted in the collection of few specimens due to a higher than normal ground water level. Despite this, some unusual specimens of Arachnida and Diplopoda were found, including the second known record of Mysmena incredula Gertsch and Davis, 1936 (Araneae: Mysmenidae) in Florida.

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (FSPSP) is an 80,000+ acre preserve approximately 20 miles long by 5 miles wide in Collier County, Florida, receiving on average about 60 inches (1524 mm) of rain per year during May …

Plant Sentience: The Burden Of Proof, Jon Mallatt, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz

Animal Sentience

Segundo-Ortin & Calvo’s (2023) target article takes a less speculative and more evidence-based approach to plant sentience than did previous works promoting that idea. However, it retains many of the idea’s longstanding difficulties such as starting from a false dichotomy (plants must be either hardwired or sentient), not accepting the full burden of proof for an extraordinary claim, confusingly redefining accepted cognitive terms, implying cell consciousness, not adopting the most parsimonious explanations for plant behaviors, and downplaying all the counterevidence. We advise rectifying these problems before plant sentience can become a full-fledged scientific domain.

Bryophytes Of Goochland County, Virginia, Mikayla Quinn

Honors Theses

Bryophytes are non-vascular land plants that include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. Although easier to overlook because of their smaller size, bryophytes are a fundamental part of the ecosystem. As such, maintaining record of their biodiversity is important. Yet, records of bryophyte species in Goochland County, VA were low compared to more thoroughly documented counties such as Prince Edward County. This study expands the documentation of bryophyte flora and presents a checklist of bryophyte species found Virginia’s Goochland County from 2020-2023. Fieldwork conducted at public and privately-owned properties throughout the county between January 2020 and March 2023 yielded 702 specimens that …

Analysis Of Wild Rodent Gut Microbiota As A Function Of Exposure To Ticks And Tick-Borne Pathogens, Joshua Pandian

Honors Theses

Due to advances in high-throughput parallel sequencing, researchers have conducted novel studies exploring relationships between microbiome compositions and different aspects of organism health. Some of these studies have shown that the gut microbiome of rodent models has effects on organism health and behavior and that infection with pathogens and the composition of the skin microbiome are linked to changes in gut microbiome composition. While previous studies have shown how vector microbiota impact vector behavior and pathogen transmission, the effect vectors have on reservoir species microbiomes has been a less prominent focus. We were interested in the relationships between tick parasitism, …

Exploring Host-Parasite Interactions In The Euhaplorchis Californiensis-Fundulus Parvipinnis System, Bennett J. Perry

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Parasites with complex life-cycles may alter their intermediate host’s phenotype to increase the chance of successful transmission to their next host. This parasite-induced host modification often occurs in the form of behavioral changes, such as increased frequency of irregular locomotor behaviors (e.g., conspicuous behaviors), particularly in systems where the parasite is transmitted trophically through a predation event. However, most empirical evidence of host behavioral modification by parasites comes from a few model host-parasite systems and are frequently studied following a stressor (e.g., simulated predator attack). One host species studied is the California killifish Fundulus parvipinnis, which is infected by …

Acoustic Sampling Of Arkansas Bat Species Richness Across Different Seasons And Habitats, Lark E. Sybrant

ATU Scholars Symposium

Arkansas is home to sixteen bat species belonging to the Vespertilionidae and Molossidae families. Bats are keystone species and provide numerous ecosystem services that also benefit people. This study explores factors that impact species richness between the spring and fall seasons in a wooded rural site (Washburn Park) and an urban field site (Arkansas Tech University campus), Russellville, AR. The non-invasive Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro, from Wildlife Acoustics, was used to record calls and identify bat species from these locations. Nearly 1,050 calls were recorded from 11 different species across the spring and fall between both sites. Results showed …

Assessing The Dynamics Of The Southeast Florida Shark Community From 2013-2019 Via Catch Per Unit Effort And Stable Isotope Analysis, Alexandra Barth

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Sharks, as well as other top predators, are in drastic decline worldwide. As apex and near-apex predators, species such as nurse, lemon, and tiger sharks maintain balanced marine ecosystems by enacting top-down trophic control. However, this cascading effect is diminished with exploitation via commercial and recreational fishing. Sharks are generally long-lived, mature late, have long reproductive cycles, and produce few offspring. Much remains to be learned about the community structure, population trends and conservation statuses of shark populations worldwide. Comprehensive studies on the composition of the shark community in Southeast Florida north of Miami have been limited. This study assessed …

Notes On Lung Development In South African Ghost Frogs (Anura: Heleophrynidae), Jackson R. Phillips, Jens Reissig, Gary Kyle Nicolau

Biology Student Research

Lungs are a prototypical trait of most tetrapods, but some amphibians have become secondarily lungless over evolutionary time. Anuran (frog) tadpoles offer an opportunity to examine lung loss from an evolutionary perspective, because there are many independent instances where lungs are not inflated until adulthood, and so are functionally lost. Lung loss is typically associated with living in fast-flowing streams, and so we examined larval lung development in the stream specialist family Heleophrynidae. We find that one genus, Hadromophryne Van Dijk, 2008, has large lungs as tadpole, while the other genus, Heleophryne Sclater, 1898, has much smaller, stunted lung buds. …

Plant Sentience: A Hypothesis Based On Shaky Premises, Carel Ten Cate

Animal Sentience

Plants may produce fascinating behavioural phenomena for which the label ‘cognitive process’ may be applicable, at least by some definitions. Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (2023) base their hypothesis that plants might be sentient on the premise of demonstrated presence of cognitive complexity. However, the way phenomena are ascribed, and how the term ‘cognitive’ is used by Segundo-Ortin & Calvo, deviates from the common practice in studies of animal cognition, implying greater complexity than seems justified. It thus provides a questionable basis for attributing sentience to plants.