Digital Commons Network^™

Prebiotic Rna Network Formation: A Taxonomy Of Molecular Cooperation, Cole Mathis, Sanjay N. Ramprasad, Sara Imari Walker, Niles Lehman

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cooperation is essential for evolution of biological complexity. Recent work has shown game theoretic arguments, commonly used to model biological cooperation, can also illuminate the dynamics of chemical systems. Here we investigate the types of cooperation possible in a real RNA system based on the Azoarcusribozyme, by constructing a taxonomy of possible cooperative groups. We construct a computational model of this system to investigate the features of the real system promoting cooperation. We find triplet interactions among genotypes are intrinsically biased towards cooperation due to the particular distribution of catalytic rate constants measured empirically in the real system. For other …

Description Of A New Nearctic Species Of Tragosoma Audinet-Serville (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae), With Species Validations, New Synonymies And A Lectotype Designation, Serge Laplante

Insecta Mundi

Tragosoma soror (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae), a new Nearctic species, is described and compared to its North American congeners. Tragosoma harrisii LeConte, revised status, and Tragosoma spiculum Casey, revised status are both resurrected from synonymy and considered valid species distinct from T. depsarium (Linnaeus). The Mexican T. nigripenne Bates is confirmed as a valid species. Tragosoma chiricahuae Linsley, new synonym, is placed in synonymy under T. spiculum Casey, and T. sodale Casey, new synonym, T. parvicolle Casey, new synonym, and T. repens Casey new synonym are placed in synonymy under T. harrisii. Tragosoma repens is …

Trophic Roles Of Tadpoles In Tropical Australian Streams, Katrin Schmidt, Melanie L. Blanchette, Richard G. Pearson, Ross A. Alford, Aaron M. Davis

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Tadpoles can be abundant consumers in stream ecosystems, and may influence the structure and function of streams through their feeding activities and interactions with other organisms. To understand the contribution of tadpoles to stream functioning, and the potential impact of their loss, it is necessary to determine their diets and how they might influence food-web structure. Using gut-content analysis and stable-isotope analysis of N and C, we determined the main food sources and trophic positions of tadpoles of five native frog species, invertebrates, and fish in upland and lowland Australian Wet Tropics streams. Omnivory was prevalent among the tadpoles and …

Effects Of A Beach Nourishment Project In Jamaica Bay, New York, On Horseshoe Crab (Limulus Polyphemus) Spawning Activity And Egg Deposition, Christina P. Colon

Publications and Research

Restoration of horseshoe crab spawning habitats through beach nourishment may be considered as a potential strategy to enhance reproductive success in areas where estuarine beaches have been lost to coastal erosion and development. The US Army Corps of Engineers performed a beach nourishment project at Plumb Beach (Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn, NY) in 2012 to stabilize the shoreline. While the addition of sand was done to protect infrastructure, it created an opportunity to examine the responses of American horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) to beach nourishment using a BACI (before-after control impact) design. During Spring 2012, be fore beach nourishment, horseshoe crabs …

How Useful Is Gsv As An Environmental Observation Tool? An Analysis Of The Evidence So Far., Katherine Nesse, Leah Airt

SPU Works

Researchers in many disciplines have turned to Google Street View to replace pedestrian- or carbased in-person observation of streetscapes. It is most prevalent within the research literature on the relationship between neighborhood environments and public health but has been used as diverse as disaster recovery, ecology and wildlife habitat, and urban design. Evaluations of the tool have found that the results of GSV-based observation are similar to the results from in-person observation although the similarity depends on the type of characteristic being observed. Larger, permanent and discrete features showed more consistency between the two methods and smaller, transient and judgmental …

The Utility Of Bioenergetics Modelling In Quantifying Predation Rates Of Marine Apex Predators: Ecological And Fisheries Implications, A. Barnett, M. Braccini, C. L. Dudgeon, N. L. Payne, K. G. Abrantes, M. Sheaves, E. P. Snelling

Fisheries Research Articles

Predators play a crucial role in the structure and function of ecosystems. However, the magnitude of this role is often unclear, particularly for large marine predators, as predation rates are difficult to measure directly. If relevant biotic and abiotic parameters can be obtained, then bioenergetics modelling offers an alternative approach to estimating predation rates, and can provide new insights into ecological processes. We integrate demographic and ecological data for a marine apex predator, the broadnose sevengill shark Notorynchus cepedianus, with energetics data from the literature, to construct a bioenergetics model to quantify predation rates on key fisheries species in …

What Controls Variation In Carbon Use Efficiency Among Amazonian Tropical Forests?, Christopher E. Doughty, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Nicolas Raab, Cecile A. J. Girardin, Filio Farfan-Amezquita, Walter Huaraca-Huasco, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Antonio C. L. Da Costa, Wanderley Rocha, David Galbraith, Patrick Meir, Dan B. Metcalfe, Yadvinder Malhi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Why do some forests produce biomass more efficiently than others? Variations in Carbon Use Efficiency (CUE: total Net Primary Production (NPP)/ Gross Primary Production (GPP)) may be due to changes in wood residence time (Biomass/NPP_wood), temperature, or soil nutrient status. We tested these hypotheses in 14, one ha plots across Amazonian and Andean forests where we measured most key components of net primary production (NPP: wood, fine roots, and leaves) and autotrophic respiration (R_a; wood, rhizosphere, and leaf respiration). We found that lower fertility sites were less efficient at producing biomass and had higher rhizosphere respiration, …

The North American Quails, Partridges, And Pheasants, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This book documents the biology of six species of New World quails that are native to North America north of Mexico (mountain, scaled, Gambel’s, California, and Montezuma quails, and the northern bobwhite), three introduced Old World partridges (chukar, Himalayan snowcock, and gray partridge), and the introduced common (ring-necked) pheasant. Collectively, quails, partridges, and pheasants range throughout all of the continental United States and the Canadian provinces. Two of the species, the northern bobwhite and ring-necked pheasant, are the most economically important of all North American upland game birds. All of the species are hunted extensively for sport and are highly …

Modeling Vaccination Strategies To Control White-Nose Syndrome In Little Brown Bat Colonies, Eva Cornwell, David Elzinga, Shelby Stowe, Alex Capaldi

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Co-Existence Of Microbial Ecology In A Chemostat Using A Robust Feedback, Hector Puebla, Mariana Rodriguez-Jara, Margarita M. Gonzalez-Brambila, Eliseo Hernandez-Martinez, Alejandra Velasco-Perez, Ennio Piceno-Diaz

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Turning Monitoring Data Into Simple Population Growth Models: Getting Your Ducks In A Row, Holly Gaff

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Model Selection And Permanence In A Stochastic Integrated Pest Management Model, Timothy Comar, Olcay Akman, Daniel Hrozencik

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Agent-Based Model For Integrated Pest Management With Periodic Control Strategies, Timothy Comar, Elizabeth Rodriguez

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

The Behavior Response Of Antlion Larvae To Alternating Magnetic Fields, Lindsey Wagner, Caleb L. Adams

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Handicap Principle Implies Emergence Of Dimorphic Ornaments, Sara Clifton, Daniel M. Abrams, Rosemary I. Braun

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Food Web Control And Synchronization Using A Robust Feedback, Hector Puebla, Mariana Rodriguez-Jara, Cesar S. Lopez-Monsalvo, Eliseo Hernandez-Martinez, Alejandra Velasco-Perez

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling Evolutionary Games Between Predators And Social Prey, Bill Mitchell

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Evolution On Food Web Diversity And Abundance, Rosalyn Rael

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Mosquito Ecology, Arbovirus Dynamics, And Control, Cynthia Lord

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Hierarchy Establishment From Nonlinear Social Interactions And Metabolic Costs: An Application To The Harpegnathos Saltator, Armando Salinas Iii

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Spatio-Temporal Metapopulation Dynamics In A Small Network Of Freshwater Ponds, Christopher J. Holmes

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Influence Of El Niño On Parasite Transmission In Sand Crab Populations And Seabird Abundance Along The California Coast, James Peirce, Olcay Akman, Abou Seck

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Community Effects Of Hemiparasites: Are They Predators, Intraguild Predators, Or Something Else Altogether?, Steven A. Juliano

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling Habitat Suitability Of Invasive Carps In The Upper Missisisippi River System, Charlotte Alexander, Robert F. Allen, Kevin J. Aagard

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Cnemidophorus Sexlineatus And The Impacts The Environment Has On Its Population At The Braidwood Dunes, Jeremiah Soto

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

A Stochastic Epidemiological Model Of The Response Of American Chestnut Populations To Fungal Blight, Kelsey Lieberman, Rebecca Rouleau, Anita Davelos Baines, Martin Allen

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Mismeasured Mortality: Correcting Estimates Of Wolf Poaching In The United States, Adrian Treves, Kyle A. Artelle, Chris T. Darimont, David R. Parsons

Wildlife Population Management Collection

Measuring rates and causes of mortalities is important in animal ecology and management. Observing the fates of known individuals is a common method of estimating life history variables, including mortality patterns. It has long been assumed that data lost when known animals disappear were unbiased. We test and reject this assumption under conditions common to most, if not all, studies using marked animals. We illustrate the bias for 4 endangered wolf populations in the United States by reanalyzing data and assumptions about the known and unknown fates of marked wolves to calculate the degree to which risks of different causes …

Philosophy Bakes No Bread, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Philosophy Bakes No Bread

Far from baking bread, far from practical applicability, philosophy traditionally sought to explain the world, ideally so. Thus, when Marx argued that it was high time philosophy “change the world,” his was a revolutionary challenge. Today, philosophy is an analytic affair and analytic philosophers seek less to explain the world than to squirrel out arguments or, more descriptively, to resolve the minutiae of this or that name problem. Faced with diminishing student demand, analytic philosophers have taken to urging that everyone from primary school students to scientists be required to study (analytic) philosophy. Just so, applied …

Hummingbird Foraging Preference: The Hierarchical Impacts Of Color, Position, And Concentration On Visitation Frequency, Erin O'Connor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Hummingbirds are well adapted to efficiently locate high quality nectar sources, but relatively few studies have examined the mechanisms of that process under natural conditions in the field. This study investigates the visual signals that allow hummingbirds to do just that, as well as the external factors that limit their choices in foraging. More specifically, feeder color and nectar concentration were manipulated to determine the effect of those independent variables on visitation frequency. An initial experiment was conducted in order to explore color preference among the visiting species. Red, orange, and blue feeders were filled with nectar of equal concentrations …

Highly Divergent 16s Rrna Sequences In Ribosomal Operons Of Scytonema Hyalinum (Cyanobacteria), Jeffrey R. Johansen, Jan Mares, Nicole Pietrasiak, Marketa Bohunicka, Jan Zima Jr., Lenka Stenclova, Tomas Hauer

2017 Faculty Bibliography

A highly divergent 16S rRNA gene was found in one of the five ribosomal operons present in a species complex currently circumscribed as Scytonema hyalinum (Nostocales, Cyanobacteria) using clone libraries. If 16S rRNA sequence macroheterogeneity among ribosomal operons due to insertions, deletions or truncation is excluded, the sequence heterogeneity observed in S. hyalinum was the highest observed in any prokaryotic species thus far (7.3± 9.0%). The secondary structure of the 16S rRNA molecules encoded by the two divergent operons was nearly identical, indicating possible functionality. The 23S rRNA gene was examined for a few strains in this complex, and it …