Digital Commons Network^™

Natural History Of Cassida Sphaerula Boheman, 1854 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Cassidini) On Arctotheca Prostrata (Salisb.) Britten (Asteraceae: Arctotidinae) In South Africa, With A Checklist Of South African Cassidinae (Leaf-Mining And Tortoise Beetles), Sally Adam, Mariana Campos, Hugh D.C. Heron, C. L. Staines, Rob Westerduijn, Caroline Simmrita Chaboo

Insecta Mundi

The tortoise beetle, Cassida sphaerula Boheman, 1854 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Cassidini) is endemic to South Africa. Its endemic host, Arctotheca prostrata (Salisb.) Britten (Asteraceae) has been introduced in other countries where it is becoming invasive. Cassida sphaerula could provide a potential biocontrol of Arctotheca weeds as it spends the entire life cycle on this host. An intensive field study, with rearing, photography, and short films of C. sphaerula was conducted in its native habitat to document the life cycle. A checklist of Cassidinae genera in South Africa, along with 19 new host records for Cassidini species in South Africa are …

The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen

Theses and Dissertations

The study’s goal was to learn what aspects of the piping plover experience affect reproductive outcomes at Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area. Nest location was found to help predict reproductive success. Nests further from American oystercatcher nests were likely to fledge more chicks. Reproductive success was low in 2021.

Optimising Response To An Introduction Of African Swine Fever In Wild Pigs, Kim M. Pepin, Vienna R. Brown, Anni Yang, James C. Beasley, Raoul Boughton, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Ryan S. Miller, Sarah N. Bevins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

African swine fever virus (ASFv) is a virulent pathogen that threatens domestic swine industries globally and persists in wild boar populations in some countries. Persistence in wild boar can challenge elimination and prevent disease-free status, making it necessary to address wild swine in proactive response plans. In the United States, invasive wild pigs are abundant and found across a wide range of ecological conditions that could drive different epidemiological dynamics among populations. Information on the size of the control areas required to rapidly eliminate the ASFv in wild pigs and how this area should change with management constraints and local …

The Biological Influence Of Stories & The Importance Of Reading Fiction, Elise N. Good, Katharine Schaab

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

Fictional narratives and stories have persisted throughout human history. However, perhaps due to a bias that stories offered nothing more than entertainment for the reader or perhaps that they are not useful outside of the realm of academia, the research within science academia has been lacking in literature on why these narratives have endured. Unfortunately, due to the lack of conversation across disciplines, particularly those of science and literature, this subject has not been thoroughly investigated through an interdisciplinary lens. Within this paper, the goal is to analyze the benefits of fictional narratives through biological, evolutionary, and neuropsychological perspectives. Research …

Using Satellite Imagery To Compare Land Cover And Water Resources In Two Counties Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Gabrielle Baker, Mary Ann Vinton

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

The Nebraska Sandhills comprise the most intact grassland habitat in the world and 95% of land use consists of low intensity cattle grazing. Water is a key resource for cattle and for growing hay forage in this semi-arid grassland. Ranchers rely on either naturally occurring wet meadows or center pivot irrigation systems (CPIS) to produce hay. With the possibility of climate change creating more frequent extreme weather events, more flooding events or severe droughts could affect land and water resources in the Sandhills. With potentially more wet/dry extremes in the future, an understanding of the way water resources respond, and …

Reanalysis Of Teruelius And Grosphus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) With Descriptions Of Two New Species, Graeme Lowe, František Kovařík

Euscorpius

No abstract provided.

Amplification Of Black Vulture (Coragyps Atratus) Dna From Regurgitated Food Pellets, Daniel R. Taylor, Bryan M. Kluever, John S. Humphrey, Iona M. Hennessy, Amber Sutton, William E. Bruce, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Studies that rely on noninvasive collection of DNA for birds often use feces or feathers. Some birds, such as vultures, regurgitate undigested matter in the form of pellets that are commonly found under roost sites. Our research demonstrates that regurgitated pellets are a viable, noninvasive source of DNA for molecular ecology studies of vultures. Our objectives were to amplify 5 microsatellite loci designed for distinguishing Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) and Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) in a single, multiplexed PCR, and to determine how long the target nuclear DNA persists after a vulture pellet is regurgitated and …

Population Genetics Of Cownose Rays, Rhinoptera Spp. In The Western Atlantic, Helen Weber

Master's Theses

Using molecular tools (e.g., the NADH subunit II mitochondrial gene), this study was the first to document the Brazilian cownose ray, Rhinoptera brasiliensis, within the northwestern Atlantic (NWA), and was the first study to examine population structure in R. brasiliensis within the NWA or northern Gulf of Mexico (GMX), revealing novel insights into the population biology of the animal and extending its range by nearly 1,500 km. This study also examined the sympatrically occurring American cownose ray, R. bonasus, and found population structure between the NWA and the GMX and the NWA and the southwestern Atlantic (SWA). High …

Abundance, Site-Fidelity, And Association Patterns Of Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) Off Southeast Florida, Graysen D. Boehning

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The coastal bottlenose dolphin is well studied throughout its natural range, however, most of the study areas comprised wide, well-protected habitats such as bays and estuaries, and not narrow coastal sandbanks. This study identifies a residential group of coastal bottlenose dolphins utilizing the narrow sandbanks within the Northwestern Atlantic waters off the coast of Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. From 2014-2020, 313 boat surveys were conducted, and 585 individual dolphins were identified using photo-ID. Twenty-four animals were determined to be full-time and 66 animals were determined to be part-time residents. Full-time and part-time residents associated in three social tribes, with …

Evolution Of Freshwater Fishes In The Northern Neotropics, Diego Elias

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The northern Neotropics (NN) represents one of the most geologically-complex regions on the planet, composed of island-like geological blocks that have undergone multiple episodes of isolation and connectivity at various geological times. The riverscapes of the NN harbor a unique assemblage of freshwater fishes. In contrast to the freshwaters systems of South America, which are dominated by ostariophysan lineages, the aquatic systems of the NN are dominated by lineages of two families: Cichlidae (cichlids) and Poeciliidae (livebearers). It has been suggested that the geologically complex nature of the region allowed ancestors of cichlids and livebearers to colonize and radiate within …

Bee Brains: Dissecting Pollinator Behavior And The Importance Of Plasticity In The Face Of Changing Environments, Rachel Brant

Dissertations

All organisms face environmental variability, and much of contemporary biological research aims to understand the mechanisms allowing organisms to adapt and survive in the face of change. Animals residing in urban habitats face particularly high levels of unpredictability and environmental fluctuation due to changes based upon human desire. Though urban areas are considered relatively novel habitats, numerous species have adapted to city life, mediated through behavioral and physiological plasticity. Native bee species show particularly high species richness and abundance in urban settings, but the mechanisms driving this pattern are poorly understood. In this dissertation, I explore how bees employ plasticity …

Seasonal Climatic Niche And Migration Movements Of Double-Crested Cormorants, D. Tommy King, Guiming Wang, Fred L. Cunningham

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Avian migrants are challenged by seasonal adverse climatic conditions and energetic costs of long-distance flying. Migratory birds may track or switch seasonal climatic niche between the breeding and non-breeding grounds. Satellite tracking enables avian ecologists to investigate seasonal climatic niche and circannual movement patterns of migratory birds. The Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum, hereafter cormorant) wintering in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) migrates to the Northern Great Plains and Great Lakes and is of economic importance because of its impacts on aquaculture. We tested the climatic niche switching hypothesis that cormorants would switch climatic niche between summer and winter …

Insights Into The Speciation Process From Genomic And Phenotypic Analysis Of An Avian Hybrid Zone In Amazonia, Glaucia Christina Del-Rio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the outcome of secondary contact is essential to shed light on the mechanisms governing species formation and maintenance. In Amazonia, closely related bird taxa with limited dispersal abilities are often separated by rivers, which presumably act as dispersal barriers. However, at the headwaters, rivers cease to be dispersal barriers, and this generates opportunities for secondary contact. In my dissertation, I studied genomic mechanisms associated with phenotypic differences, mitochondrial DNA structure, and putative reproductive barriers between two hybridizing Amazonian bird species in the genus Rhegmatorhina, a group of antbirds that find their arthropod prey exclusively by following army-ant swarms. …

Uncovering 'Hidden' Signals: Previously Presumed Visual Signals Likely Generate Air Particle Movement, Pallabi Kundu, Noori Choi, Aaron S. Rundus, Roger D. Santer

Psychology Faculty Publications

Wolf spiders within the genus Schizocosa have become a model system for exploring the form and function of multimodal communication. In terms of male signaling, much past research has focused on the role and importance of dynamic and static visual and substrate-borne vibratory communication. Studies on S. retrorsa, however, have found that female-male pairs were able to successfully mate in the absence of both visual and vibratory stimuli, suggesting a reduced or non-existent role of these signaling modalities in this species. Given these prior findings, it has been suggested that S. retrorsa males may utilize an additional signaling modality during …

Breeding Ecology Of Mottled Ducks In Southwestern Louisiana, Elizabeth Sophia Bonczek

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mottled ducks are a resident species found in the southern United States that rely on coastal marsh and associated habitat to fulfill the needs of the entirety of their annual cycle. Population monitoring has revealed declines in western Gulf Coast (WGC) mottled ducks since 2008. Mottled duck populations are influenced by survival and recruitment, and changes in these factors may contribute to population declines. The overarching goal of this project was to identify the mechanisms potentially limiting WGC mottled ducks.

I captured adult female mottled ducks during molt on Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and adjacent lands in southwestern Louisiana from 2017–2019. …

Plastic And Evolved Responses In The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica, To Environmental Variation In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kyle Sirovy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change and other anthropogenic impacts are causing rapid alterations to many of the world’s most productive coastal ecosystems and there is an urgent need to understand how species will respond to these environmental changes. Organisms may respond through plasticity, evolution, or the evolution of plasticity. In this dissertation, I evaluate the role of plastic and evolved responses in the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, to environmental variation in the northern Gulf of Mexico. I use comparative transcriptomics, physiology, and morphology to examine the relative contribution of plastic and evolved responses for oysters exposed to low salinity and outplant sites …

Nature, Data, And Power: How Hegemonies Shaped This Special Section, A. Kamath, B. Velocci, A. Wesner, N. Chen, Vincent A. Formica, B. Subramaniam, M. Rebolleda-Gómez

Biology Faculty Works

Systems of oppression—racism, colonialism, misogyny, cissexism, ableism, heteronormativity, and more—have long shaped the content and practice of science. But opportunities to reckon with these influences are rarely found within academic science, even though such critiques are well developed in the social sciences and humanities. In this special section, we attempt to bring cross-disciplinary conversations among ecology, evolution, behavior, and genetics on the one hand and critical perspectives from the social sciences and humanities on the other into the pages—and in front of the readers—of a scientific journal. In this introduction to the special section, we recount and reflect on the …

Origins Of High Latitude Introductions Of Aedes Aegypti To Nebraska And Utah During 2019, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Ary Faraji, Jeff Hamik, Gregory White, Shanon Amsberry, Matthew Donahue, Bryan Buss, Evlyn Pless, Luciano Veiga Cosme, Jeffrey R. Powell

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Aedes aegypti (L.), the yellow fever mosquito, is also an important vector of dengue and Zika viruses, and an invasive species in North America. Aedes aegypti inhabits tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world and in North America is primarily distributed throughout the southern United States states and Mexico. The northern range of Ae. aegypti is limited by cold winter months and establishment in these areas has been mostly unsuccessful. However, frequent introductions of Ae. aegypti to temperate, non-endemic areas during the warmer months can lead to seasonal activity and disease outbreaks. Two Ae. aegypti incursions were …

Comparative Susceptibility Of Eastern Cottontails And New Zealand White Rabbits To Classical Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (Rhdv) And Rhdv2, Fawzi Mohamed, Thomas Gidlewski, Mary L. Berninger, Heather M. Petrowski, Alexa J. Bracht, Carla Bravo De Rueda, Roger W. Barrette, Meredith Grady, Emily S. O'Hearn, Charles E. Lewis, Karen E. Moran, Tracy L. Sturgill, Lorenzo Capucci, J. Jeffrey Root

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) is associated with high morbidity and mortality in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). In 2010, a genetically distinct RHDV named RHDV2 emerged in Europe and spread to many other regions, including North America in 2016. Prior to this study it was unknown if eastern cottontails (ECT(s); Sylvilagus floridanus), one of the most common wild lagomorphs in the United States, were susceptible to RHDV2. In this study, 10 wild-caught ECTs and 10 New Zealand white rabbits (NZWR(s); O. cuniculus) were each inoculated orally with either RHDV (RHDVa/GI.1a; n = 5 per species) or RHDV2 (a recombinant …

Solar Radiation And Soil Moisture Drive Tropical Forest Understory Responses To Experimental And Natural Hurricanes, J. Aaron Hogan, Joanne M. Sharpe, Ashley Van Beusekom, Sarah Stankavich, Samuel Matta Carmona, John E. Bithorn, Jamarys Torres-Díaz, Grizelle González, Jess K. Zimmerman, Aaron B. Shiels

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Tropical forest understory regeneration occurs rapidly after disturbance with compositional trajectories that depend on species availability and environmental conditions. To predict future tropical forest regeneration dynamics, we need a deeper understanding of how pulse disturbance events, like hurricanes, interact with environmental variability to affect understory demography and composition. We examined fern and sapling mortality, recruitment, and community composition in relation to solar radiation and soil moisture using 17 years of forest dynamics data (2003–2019) from the Canopy Trimming Experiment in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Solar radiation increased 150% and soil moisture increased 40% following canopy trimming of experimental …

The Reconstruction Of The Late Pleistocene And Holocene Vegetation Dynamics In Lake Eyasi Basin, Northern Tanzania, Pastory M. Bushozi, Cassian T. Mumbi, Veronica M. Muiruri, Musa S. Mwitondi

Tanzania Journal of Science

Lake Eyasi Basin of northern Tanzania plays a pivotal role in the study of human-environment interactions and in understanding human flexibility and adaptability through technological innovations over time and space. In this study, phytoliths from ancient soils and fossil pollen proxies from radiocarbon-dated sequences from Kisimangeda on the north-eastern edge of the Lake Eyasi Basin, are used to interpret trends in climatic changes recorded since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present. We used pollen and phytolith abundances from a core that was recovered on the northern margin of saline Lake Eyasi at the depth of five metres. The …

Population Genomics Of The Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone Condylactis Gigantea (Anthozoa: Actiniidae) In Florida And Across The Caribbean, Nancy E. Sheridan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The giant Caribbean sea anemone Condylactis gigantea is a long-lived, conspicuous, and phenotypically diverse species native to the western Atlantic Ocean (from Bermuda to southeast Brazil), Caribbean Sea, and southeastern Gulf of Mexico. This sea anemone is an important benthic community member that provides habitat to numerous species, including cleaner shrimp. This relationship makes these animals desirable to aquarists for both enjoyment and the service provided by the shrimp for the overall health of an aquarium, and which is why they are sought.

The extraction of about 3.3 million C. gigantea individuals in Florida over a 23-year period for the …

Scorpions Of China: An Updated Checklist With Comments On Some Taxonomic Issues (Arachnida: Scorpiones), Victoria Tang

Euscorpius

An updated checklist of scorpions of China (52 species belonging to 13 genera and six families) is provided, with Chinese name equivalents and an illustrated map of all localities. Colored photos of the Chinese population of Mesobuthus thersites (C. L. Koch, 1839) and one Olivierus sp. in vivo habitus are provided for the first time. The recent taxonomic changes are summarized. The monotypic genus Tibetiomachus (Hormuridae) with its single species T. himalayensis is considered a nomen dubium. The validity of the previously synonymized Scorpiops atomatus Qi et al., 2005 and S. validus (Di et al., 2010) (Scorpiopidae) is questioned, …

A New Species Of Epeolus Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) From Western North America, Thomas M. Onuferko, Cory S. Sheffield

Insecta Mundi

A new species of Epeolus Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae)—E. emiliae Onuferko and Shef­field, new species—is described from North America west of the Great Plains. It is morphologically most similar to Epeolus autumnalis Robertson, 1902, a species known exclusively from east of the Rocky Moun­tains. DNA barcode sequences from representatives of E. autumnalis and E. emiliae share a barcode index number (i.e., BIN: BOLD:AAF2361), but the two species exhibit marked and consistent differences in integu­ment coloration and the patterns of pubescence on the metasoma, and their distributional ranges, based on known specimens, show no overlap. This discovery increases …

Tomoxia Bucephala A. Costa (Coleoptera: Mordellidae), A Palearctic Tumbling Flower Beetle Established In North America, R. F. C. Naczi, Robert A. Androw, John Rosenfeld

Insecta Mundi

Tomoxia bucephala A. Costa (Coleoptera: Mordellidae), a Palearctic tumbling flower beetle native to Europe, Asia, and northernmost Africa, is now known from North America. The first known occurrences were in 2015 in Essex and Union counties, New Jersey, U.S.A. and in 2019 in Passaic County, New Jersey, all in the New York City metropolitan area. An additional collection documents the species in 2016 from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The multiple occurrences, the large distance between those in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and multiple detections in natural areas indicate T. bucephala is established in North America and …

Effects Of Forest Restoration On The Recovery Of Dead Wood, Associated Arthropods, And Insect-Mediated Wood Decomposition, Estefania Fernandez Barrancos

Dissertations

Dead wood represents 8% of terrestrial carbon stocks and is an important source of habitat and food for decomposer and non-decomposer arthropods. However, anthropogenic disturbance reduces the amount of dead wood, putting at risk the presence of a habitat that is essential for many arthropods and other organisms that rely on it for food and shelter. Forest restoration aims to assist the recovery of ecosystems that have been damaged or destroyed and could be a means to recover both dead wood and its associated arthropod communities. This doctoral dissertation lies at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity loss and ecological …

A New Species Of Chiromachetes Pocock, 1899 (Scorpiones: Hormuridae) From Southern Western Ghats, India, Akshay Khandekar, Tejas Thackeray, Swapnil Pawar, Satpal Gangalmale, Vivek Waghe

Euscorpius

No abstract provided.

Disturbance Ecology Of The Sonadora River Rock Pool Insect Assemblage At Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, Patrick Gilkey

Master's Theses

Freshwater rock pools can serve as habitat for aquatic insects. Flash-flooding can have profound effects on insect communities in streams and rivers, but these effects have not been studied on freshwater rock pools. The goal of this thesis was to describe ecological patterns of the Sonadora River rock pool insect community at the Luquillo Experiment Forrest, Puerto Rico, specifically in response to intense flash-flooding, and then perform experiments to elucidate possible processes to explain those patterns. The rock pools contained primarily three taxa of Dipteran (true-fly) larvae, in order of decreasing abundance, 1) a newly discovered species of ceratopogonid (biting …

Critical Corridor: Survey Of Predator Occurrence And Habitat Use In A Threatened Rainforest Protected Area: Comatsa-Sud And Marojejy National Park, Madagascar, Patrick H. Ross

Theses

Madagascar is a nation praised for its floral and faunal endemism and biodiversity. Among the island nation’s most emblematic fauna are its native mammalian carnivores; they are members of the threatened and endemic Eupleridae family. The Corridor of Marojejy – Anjanaharibe Sud – Tsaratanana (COMATSA) is a system of forest protected areas in which three large protected areas are connected in northern Madagascar: Tsaratanana Reserve, Anjanaharibe Sud Special Reserve and Marojejy National Park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. COMATSA is a newly protected and currently threatened corridor system that lacks detailed surveys and assessments of its native …

Characterizing Endogenous Dicer Products To Unravel Novel Rnai Biogenesis Pathways, Jacob Oche Peter

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

RNA interference (RNAi) is a pervasive gene regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes based on the action of multiple classes of small RNA (sRNA). Exploiting RNAi pathways in non-model systems have great potential for creating potent RNAi technologies. Here, we accessed RNAi-mediated control of gene expression in the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (T. urticae) using engineered dsRNA designed to modulate the host RNAi pathway and increase RNAi efficacy. Analysis of Dicer (Dcr) generated fragments revealed how exogenous RNAs access the host RNAi pathway in this animal, opening avenues for designing RNAi technology for their control. Further, some organisms …