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Zygomorphic Flowers May Reduce Extinction Rates By Allowing Angiosperms To Occur In Low Abundances, Maria Belen Alvestegui

Theses

The high species richness that angiosperm show has been extensively correlated with key floral innovations. Key floral traits contribute to species boundaries and the origin of new species. However, how these relate to extinction remains largely untested. Among the multiple theories that attribute diversification to floral innovations, the reduced extinction model predicts that floral specialization allows the persistence of small populations and avoids their loss. Bilateral symmetry (zygomorphy) is a trait that has evolved recurrently in angiosperms. It is a form of floral specialization that restricts pollination to fewer visitors and precisely places pollen to ensure more effective transmission of …

The Effects Of Climate And Demographic History In Shaping Genomic Variation Across Populations Of The Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma Platyrhinos), Keaka Farleigh, Sarah A. Vladimirova, Christopher Blair, Jason T. Bracken, Nazila Koochekian, Drew R. Schield, Daren C. Card, Nicholas Finger, Jonathan Henault, Adam D. Leaché, Todd A. Castoe, Tereza Jezkova

Publications and Research

Species often experience spatial environmental heterogeneity across their range, and populations may exhibit signatures of adaptation to local environmental characteristics. Other population genetic processes, such as migration and genetic drift, can impede the effects of local adaptation. Genetic drift in particular can have a pronounced effect on population genetic structure during large-scale geographic expansions, where a series of founder effects leads to decreases in genetic variation in the direction of the expansion. Here, we explore the genetic diversity of a desert lizard that occupies a wide range of environmental conditions and that has experienced post-glacial expansion northwards along two colonization …

Distilling Professional Opinion To Gauge Vulnerability Of Guam Avifauna To Brown Treesnake Predation, Robert M. Mcelderry, Eben H. Paxton, Andre V. Nguyen, Shane R. Siers

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The avifauna of Guam was devastated by the introduction of the Brown Treesnake, and the restoration of native birds would need to address the problem with eradication or suppression of BTS. With eradication of the snake unlikely in the near term, and suppression capabilities limited to specific finite areas, key information for reintroductions is how low BTS abundance will likely need to be for each bird species to be re-established based on their vulnerability to BTS predation. Here, we estimate vulnerability, which can no longer be measured directly, so biologists who are familiar with one or more of seven Guam …

Fisheries Food Webs: Quantifying Habitat-Use, Trophic Structure, And Energetic Pathways In Coastal Tanzania, Mario Fernando Hernandez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Commercial and recreational fisheries are a valuable resource to millions of people around the world. Developing countries are particularly dependent on the revenue provided by locally harvested fish with total exports from these nations valued at $80 billion USD. For Tanzania, fisheries provide not only a source of revenue but an important source of protein with an estimated 25 to 30kg of fish consumed per person every year. There is no doubt that high fisheries production is critical to the well-being of millions of livelihoods along the Tanzanian coast. An important but poorly understood driver of fisheries production is the …

Effects Of Salinity On Eastern Oysters: Locating Lower-Salinity Tolerant Populations And Defining Resource Zones Suitable To Restoration, Fisheries, And Aquaculture., Lauren Swam

LSU Master's Theses

Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) provide valuable ecosystem services and support a productive commercial industry in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Declining abundance from water quality changes and other factors drives development of management and restoration strategies focused on a comprehensive, metapopulation approach. Identifying oyster resource zones based on water quality combined with selective breeding of oysters adapted to specific conditions provides strategies to support aquaculture development and ensure resilient oyster populations and high production. Using 2015-2019 satellite-derived continuous salinity and temperature data for coastal Louisiana, this work created maps defining oyster resource zones supportive of (1) broodstock sanctuary …

Habitat Use And Morphology Of Birds In "Intact" Amazonia Under Changing Climate, Vitek Jirinec

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Neotropical forests contain the core of global avian diversity. Of these, the Amazon rainforest is the largest, but ~20% has already been lost to deforestation, inspiring research into the effects of clearing and fragmentation on forest birds. These studies have consistently shown that insectivorous birds that forage on or near the ground are the most sensitive species to forest disturbance. As a preamble to our study, we synthesized bird capture data collected over 40 years within continuous forest far from human disturbance. Remarkably, we found that terrestrial and near-ground insectivores have shown substantial abundance declines even within primary forest. The …

Center For Grassland Studies, July 2021

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents

21st Nebraska Grazing Conference on the Horizon by Daren Redfearn

Center for Grassland Studies Policy Advisory Committee

Director's Column by Walt Schacht (Interim Director)

21st Annual Nebraska Grazing Conference Schedule, August 9-11, 2021

Club Officers Elected for FY 21-22 by Jessica Windh

2021 Fall Seminar Series Schedule

CGS Scholarships and Fellowship Awarded for FY 21-22

Congratulations May 2021 Graduates

Diversity And Host Specificity Of Nycteribiid Bat Flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) In Kenya, Taylor Verrett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) are hematophagous ectoparasites of bats distributed globally. Members of Nycteribiidae are morphologically constrained relative to streblids, and are united by their lack of wings, dorso-ventrally compressed bodies, and a primary distribution across the Eastern hemisphere. Bats are principal reservoirs of infectious diseases, including viral zoonoses of important consideration to human health, but the overall high host specificity of bat flies has largely been thought to curb their potential as inter-specific vectors of bat-borne pathogens. However, nycteribiid diversity and host associations remain critically understudied in some geographic regions, and rare examples of nycteribiid bat flies …

Afterschool Sustainability Club, Ethan Halman Gonzalez

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

In-depth lesson plans used at Riley Elementary to educate students about the environment around them and how to preserve it.

Establishment Of Pollinator Habitat Within A Livestock Pasture Ecosystem, Roshani Sharma Acharya

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pollinators are important for fertilization, setting fruits, and seed development of more than 78% of the flowering plants that provide food for human beings and other species. Use of pollinators to maximize crop production is a proven agricultural practice; however, it has been less explored in livestock forage production systems. This study investigated pollinator abundance and diversity in pastures using different sampling methods and determined the impact of different pasture management practices on insect pollinators in a livestock pasture ecosystem. In Chapter 2, utility of four different colors of pan trap (blue, green, yellow, and purple) for sampling bees in …

Host-Parasite Interactions Within Food Webs, Adam Zvanut Hasik

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parasitism is one of the most common life history strategies employed in nature, yet the effects of parasites are often thought to be minimal, and the vast majority of studies fail to consider parasites and their effects on host organisms. This is likely a problem, as the magnitude of parasite-mediated effects on their hosts can be quite large. Additionally, the effects of parasites are known to extend beyond the host to affect other species interactions. I used a series of approaches to gain a more integral understanding of host-parasite interactions by studying (1) the effects of parasites on biotic interactions …

Of Biodiversity, Boundaries, And Distribution: The Myxomycetes Of The Philippines And Beyond, Sittie Aisha Bustamante Macabago

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contains a compilation of independently performed studies primarily focusing on the myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) from the Philippines and integrating local and worldwide data to demonstrate regional and global trends. The major themes include the following: (I) a review of the diverse group of spore-producing amoeboid protists, including the myxomycetes; (II-IV) diversity assessments in three different groups of islands in the Philippine archipelago; (V) mapping the myxomycetes found in the Philippines for databasing and analyzing the geocoded data; (VI) a study on regional boundaries, including the Philippines, using myxomycete species composition; and, (VII) creating a global species distribution …

Range-Wide Declines Of Northern Spotted Owl Populations In The Pacific Northwest: A Meta-Analysis, Alan B. Franklin, Katie M. Dugger, Damon B. Lesmeister, Raymond J. Davis, J. David Wiens, Gary C. White, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Charles B. Yackulic, Carl J. Schwarz, Steven H. Ackers, L. Steven Andrews, Larissa L. Bailey, Robin Bown, Jesse Burgher, Kenneth P. Burnham, Peter C. Carlson, Tara Chestnut, Mary M. Conner, Krista E. Dilione, Eric D. Forsman, Elizabeth M. Glenn, Scott A. Gremel, Keith A. Hamm, Dale R. Herter, J. Mark Higley, Rob B. Horn, Julianna M. Jenkins, William L. Kendall, David W. Lamphear, Christopher Mccafferty, Trent L. Mcdonald, Janice A. Reid, Jeremy T. Rockweit, David C. Simon, Stan G. Sovern, James K. Swingle, Heather Wise

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) inhabits older coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest and has been at the center of forest management issues in this region. The immediate threats to this federally listed species include habitat loss and competition with barred owls (Strix varia), which invaded from eastern North America. We conducted a prospective meta-analysis to assess population trends and factors affecting those trends in northern spotted owls using 26 years of survey and capture-recapture data from 11 study areas across the owls' geographic range to analyze demographic traits, rates of population change, and occupancy parameters for spotted …

Determination Of Freedom-From-Rabies For Small Indian Mongoose Populations In The United States Virgin Islands, 2019–2020, A. Springer Browne, Hannah M. Cranford, Clint N. Morgan, James A. Ellison, Are Berentsen, Nicholas Wiese, Alexandra Medley, John Rossow, Leanne Jankelunas, Alan S. Mckinley, Claudia D. Lombard, Nicole F. Angeli, Thomas Kelley, Jennifer Valiulus, Bethany Bradford, Valicia J. Burke-France, Cosme J. Harrison, Irene Guendel, Marissa Taylor, Gerard L. Blanchard, Jeffrey B. Doty, David J. Worthington, David Horner, Keith R. Garcia, Joseph Roth, Brett R. Ellis, Kristine M. Bisgard, Ryan Wallace, Esther M. Ellis

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Mongooses, a nonnative species, are a known reservoir of rabies virus in the Caribbean region. A cross-sectional study of mongooses at 41 field sites on the US Virgin Islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas captured 312 mongooses (32% capture rate). We determined the absence of rabies virus by antigen testing and rabies virus exposure by antibody testing in mongoose populations on all three islands. USVI is the first Caribbean state to determine freedom-from-rabies for its mongoose populations with a scientifically-led robust cross-sectional study. Ongoing surveillance activities will determine if other domestic and wildlife populations in USVI are …

Testing A Bite-Shortened Hook To Minimize Fish Handling In A Recreational Fishery, Holden E. Harris, Brian K. Whalen, Andrew G. Gude, Michael S. Allen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Discard mortality can make fishing unsustainable, even in catch-and-release or highly regulated fisheries. However, fishing practices and gears that minimize hook injury, handling, and air exposure can considerably improve fitness and survival in released fish. This study tested whether modified hooks could allow anglers to successfully land and then release fish in the water and without handling. Standard, barbless, and bite-shortened hooks were used to catch Spotted Seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus (n > 75 per hook type), and logistic models were used to assess the differences in landing success and hook self-release success by hook type and categorical fish size. Average landing …

Landscape Of Stress: Tree Mortality Influences Physiological Stress And Survival In A Native Mesocarnivore, Jennifer R. Kordosky, Eric M. Gese, Craig M. Thompson, Patricia A. Terletzky, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Jon D. Schneiderman, Kathryn L. Purcell, Susannah S. French

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Climate change and anthropogenic modifications to the landscape can have both positive and negative effects on an animal. Linking landscape change to physiological stress and fitness of an animal is a fundamental tenet to be examined in applied ecology. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone that can be used to indicate an animal’s physiological stress response. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, fishers (Pekania pennanti) are a threatened mesocarnivore that have been subjected to rapid landscape changes due to anthropogenic modifications and tree mortality related to a 4-year drought. We measured cortisol concentrations in the hair of 64 …

Risks Of Introduction And Economic Consequences Associated With African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever And Foot-And-Mouth Disease: A Review Of The Literature, Vienna Brown, Ryan S. Miller, Sophie C. Mckee, Karina H. Ernst, Nicole M. Didero, Rachel M. Maison, Meredith J. Grady, Stephanie A. Shwiff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) are considered to be three of the most detrimental animal diseases and are currently foreign to the U.S. Emerging and re-emerging pathogens can have tremendous impacts in terms of livestock morbidity and mortality events, production losses, forced trade restrictions, and costs associated with treatment and control. The United States is the world's top producer of beef for domestic and export use and the world's third-largest producer and consumer of pork and pork products; it has also recently been either the world's largest or second largest exporter of pork …

Economic Losses Of Catfish To Avian Predation: A Case Report, Ganesh Kumar, Shraddha Hegde, David Wise, Charles Mischke, Brian Dorr

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Avian predation in catfish aquaculture has been a persistent issue throughout the history of the industry, and as production has expanded predation from piscivorous birds has intensified. Catfish ponds in the Mississippi River delta (in the Mississippi migratory flyway) provide a constant and readily accessible supply of forage for birds. Intensive foraging by fish-eating birds has led to a specific regulatory policy and numerous on-farm and regional management efforts. However, in 2016, legal challenges lead to recision of some federal policies and uncertainty as to allowable management, resulting in limitations on bird depredation. Estimating the extent of fish losses to …

Beaver Reintroduction And Its Potential As An Ecological Conservation Measure For At-Risk Amphibian Species In The Pacific Northwest, Danielle Schwantes

University Honors Theses

Amphibian decline is a major concern in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), with many amphibian species listed as sensitive, threatened or endangered throughout the region. Some of the predicted main causes of amphibian decline are climate change and loss of habitat. The reintroduction of beavers into ecoregions of the PNW could be an important step in the conservation of this region’s amphibians, due to the beaver’s ability to engineer and structurally manipulate forest ecosystems. Beavers are able to restore wetland quality, productivity and biodiversity, creating vital amphibian habitat. This work explored the linkage between beaver presence and wetland hydrology, geomorphology, landscape …

Molecular Phylogeny Of Cave Dwelling Eremogryllodes Crickets (Orthoptera, Myrmecophilidae) Across Zagros Mountains And Southern Iran, Mohadeseh Sadat Tahami, Mina Hojat-Ansari, Anna Namyatova, Saber Sadeghi

International Journal of Speleology

Recently, several new species and subspecies from the genus Eremogryllodes Chopard, 1929 (Insecta: Orthoptera: Myrmecophilidae) inhabiting caves of Iran, have been described based on morphology. The high variation of genitalia structure along with high similarity of external morphology between populations hamper the precise species identification. Thus, molecular approaches are critical to determine the taxonomic positions of species/subspecies of this genus. Here we provide the molecular phylogeny, based on the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene, of recently described species of Eremogryllodes along with some unidentified specimens from the same region. The results support the monophyly of the family Myrmecophilidae. The topology of …

Not So Dystopian: A Historical Reading Of Eugenics In Science Fiction, Riley Sanders

The Forum: Journal of History

Broadly, this paper is an effort in complicating traditional readings of eugenic themes in science fiction. Two landmark novels, Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) and Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), are highlighted as representative of the early and late stages of eugenics. By focusing on the troubling historical context surrounding these authors, I denounce the simple reading of these works as merely “dystopian”. Scholars like Francis Fukuyama advance these simplistic readings by instinctively assuming that Wells and Huxley were against eugenics. This paper continues the tradition that David Bradshaw popularized in his book The Hidden Huxley, which argues …

Yakety Sacs: Laryngeal Air Sac Usage In Great Apes, Chelsea Trenbeath

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Except for humans, extant great apes have evolutionarily conserved lateral ventricular air sacs extending from laryngeal saccules. Humans are the only species of Hominidae that lack this anatomical feature attached to the primary vocal apparatus. As we are the only species that produces spoken language, this association has led to the hypothesis that the loss of lateral ventricular air sacs was necessary for the evolution of spoken language. However, why these sacs are conserved in all other hominids remains unclear. Computer modeling has indicated that air sacs may increase resonance properties, but there are no data from great apes indicating …

The Effects Of Agrochemical Pesticide Applications On Target And Off-Target Species In Aquatic Ecosystems, Bryan K. Delius

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increase in the global human population is driving agricultural expansion, which increases the likelihood and degree by which agrochemicals impact aquatic systems. It is projected that by 2100 the global human population will exceed 11 billion, and to feed the increased human population, the necessary increase in agricultural infrastructure is estimated to double irrigation, nearly triple fertilizer applications, and increase pesticide applications by tenfold. It stands to reason that wetlands impacts from agriculture are also likely to increase as the industry expands its operation to meet the globally growing demand for food.

Wetlands are highly productive habitats that not …

A Rare Telson Anomaly In Parabuthus Liosoma (Ehrenberg, 1828) (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Abdulaziz R. Alqahtani, Ahmed Badry

Euscorpius

A rare anomaly of telson vesicle with two functional aculei is observed and discussed in a Parabuthus liosoma (Ehrenberg, 1828) specimen collected from Jizan, Saudi Arabia.

How To Distinguish The Xestotrachelus Bruner, 1913 (Orthoptera: Romaleidae: Romaleini) From Other Romaleini In South America, With A Report Of The First Record In Minas Gerais, Brazil, Daniela Santos Martins Silva, Marcelo Ribeiro Pereira, Raysa Martins Lima

Insecta Mundi

The present study provides an important contribution to the knowledge of the geographic distribution of Xestotrachelus Bruner, 1913 (Orthoptera: Romaleidae: Romaleini), a monotypic genus comprised of Xestotrachelus robustus (Bruner, 1911) that has a wide geographic distribution in Brazil. Specimens were collected at the Panga Ecological Reserve, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, in the Brazilian Cerrado. We provide a key to distinguish Xestotrachelus from other genera found in South America.

Naviauxella Horii, A New Tiger Beetle Species From Myanmar (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae), Jürgen Wiesner, Moe Hnin Phyu

Insecta Mundi

Naviauxella horii Wiesner and Phyu, new species (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae), is described. It is distinguished from the other members of the genus by shape of the aedeagus and shape of the elytral maculation.

Due to the kindness of Michio Hori, we were able to study specimens of a tiger beetle species he recently collected in Myanmar. It proved to be new to science and is described herein. It is a member of the genus Naviauxella Cassola, 1988, which raises the number of species in this genus to 22 (Wiesner 2020: 264).

An Anomaly Of Chelicera In Scorpio Kruglovi Birula, 1910 (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae), Ersen A. Yağmur, Mehmet S. Kılıç, Ömer Yılmaz

Euscorpius

An anomaly in cheliceral dentition of the fixed finger is recorded in the scorpion Scorpio kruglovi Birula, 1910. This rare teratological anomaly herein is described and illustrated.

Spiders You May Encounter While Social Distancing: A Field Guide To Oregon, Daniel K. Hufnagel

Anthós

This document is simply a short field guide on the many endearing spiders you have encountered or will potentially encounter while social distancing in Oregon. Included are journal entries for six different species of spider, with each log containing an illustration and a description of the physical appearance, behavior, and habitat of the arachnid listed. Also included is a basic diagram depicting the anatomy of the common spider.

On R. Kinzelbach’S Euscorpiid Specimens From Turkey Deposited In The Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz, Germany (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Ersen A. Yağmur

Euscorpius

I examined the specimens of Euscorpiidae collected by R. Kinzelbach in Turkey in the 1970s and deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz (NMM), Germany. According to the current taxonomy, one “Euscorpius carpathicus” specimen from the İzmir Province is identified as E. avcii; two “E. carpathicus” specimens from the Mersin Province are identified as E. koci; and one “E. germanus mingrelicus” specimen from the Düzce Province is identified as Alpiscorpius phrygius.

Female Behavioral Strategies During Consortship In Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana), Qi-Xin Zhang, Lixing Sun, Dong-Po Xia, Jin-Hua Li

Biology Faculty Scholarship

Consortship has been defined as a temporary association between an adult male and an estrous/receptive female. It has been considered as male mating strategies to improve male mating success and potential reproductive success. However, the female roles have been more or less neglected, and thus, less is known about female behavioral strategies during the consortship periods. In this study, during the two consecutive mating seasons, we collected behavioral data of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) habituated in Mt. Huangshan, China, to investigate female behaviors when she was consorted by an adult male. The results showed that (a) females …