Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Temperature On Evacuation Rates And Absorption Efficiency Of Flathead Catfish, Zach Horstman

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Knowledge of fish gastric evacuation rates are a necessary component for both field and laboratory studies when trying to understand feeding rates, modeling energy budgets, and understanding trophic dynamics of aquatic ecosystems. Many freshwater fish encounter a broad range of environmental temperatures across life history stages, but the mechanistic link between temperature and physiological processes often remains poorly understood. We designed three recirculating aquatic systems capable of rearing Flathead Catfish Plyodictis olivaris in order to quantify gastric evacuation rates and gross energy absorption at three temperatures (17º C, 22º C and 25º C). We examined the relationship between temperature and …

Genetic Studies Of Wildlife, Brittaney L. Buchanan

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Genetic techniques are being more frequently used to understand the biology and management of wildlife species. The wild turkey is one species of genetic interest because the correct identification of individuals to the subspecies level is difficult using traditional methods. Currently phenotypic differences in plumage, especially the upper tail coverts, are used to assign individuals to subspecies. To hunters wanting to complete a “grand slam,” identification of birds’ subspecies is important. This study focuses on the five extant subspecies: Eastern (M. g. silvestris), Osceola (M. g. osceola), Rio Grande (M. g. intermedia), Merriam’s ( …

In Hot Water: Influence Of Multiple Stressors On Thermal Tolerance Of Fathead Minnows Pimephales Promelas, Alexander Engel

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Freshwater aquatic systems around the globe are often subjected to physical, biological, and chemical alterations to support societal needs. The Great Plains contains one of the largest agricultural industries in North America, but its productivity has ecological repercussions for adjacent freshwater ecosystems. Specifically, the dependency on surface water irrigation and application of chemical treatments has altered the thermal and chemical composition of freshwater ecosystems throughout the region. Stressors such as elevated temperatures, altered flow regimes, increased contaminant loads affect the physiology and behavior of fishes and can lead to long-term population effects. We examined thermal tolerance of Fathead minnows Pimephales …

The Influence Of Polyethylene Nanoplastics On The Toxicity Of Methoxychlor On D. Magna, Thanh-Binh Duong

Research and Creativity Symposium

Nanoplastics (NPs), defined as plastic particles < 0.1 mm, have become an emerging concern in aquatic environments due to their multiple pathways of entry into rivers and streams. NPs may originate from the manufactured beads for personal care products as well as the from the fragmentation of larger plastic items. Due to their small size they are easily ingested by aquatic organisms, resulting in detrimental health effects such as digestive tract obstructions, feeding debilitation, and energy depletion. Due to their physiochemical attributes, NPs have also been shown to sorb and mobilize organic pollutants such as pesticides, suggesting that interactions between these two types of pollutants may result in an altered biological response compared to the effects of each individual contaminant. This study assessed the potential synergistic or antagonistic effects of polyethylene nanoparticles and the organochlorine pesticide methoxychlor on the viability and mobility of Daphnia magna. Adult D. magna were exposed to either 1) virgin 10-20µm polyethylene pellets, 2) methoxychlor, or 3) various combinations of the same pellet and methoxychlor concentrations for 48 hours or 7 days using a static exposure method. Mortality and paralysis were assessed per 24 hours of exposure. Mobility was assessed after 24 hours of exposure. To assess mobility, individuals were recorded in a light-controlled behavioral chamber for 3 minutes. Footage was analyzed using ToxTrac to quantify mobile speed, acceleration, and distance traveled. While this project is currently ongoing, we expect to find a significant difference in mobility parameters and mortality rates when exposed to the combination of polyethylene pellets and methoxychlor compared to the effects from each contaminant alone. Thus far, few studies have examined the ability of NPs to influence the toxicity of organochlorine pesticides in aquatic invertebrates. This study will help explicate the impacts of plastic pollution on aquatic biota in freshwater systems.

How Can We Change Gut Microbiota For Healthy Lives?, Elizaveta Shmakova

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

295— Biomimicry: Investigating The Active Site Model Of Lactate Racemase, Stephanie Podguski, Maisy Ross

GREAT Day Posters

Because of humans’ heavy impact on nature with industrialization and resource extraction, biomimetics, also known as biomimicry, is a study that has emerged. Biomimetics utilizes observations from nature to comprehend the principles of underlying mechanisms and apply concepts that may benefit science, medicine, engineering and the like. An area of biochemistry we are applying this to is the lactate racemase enzyme.This metalloenzyme is found in many prokaryotic organisms and catalyzes the interconversion between the two optical isomers of lactic acid. The structure of this enzyme consists of a square-planar nickel (II) ion coordinated by a histidine residue and a pincer …

Volume 12, Haleigh James, Hannah Meyls, Hope Irvin, Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, Austin J. Funk, Karyn Keane, Sarah Ghali, Antonio Harvey, Andrew Jones, Rachel Hazelwood, Madison Schmitz, Marija Venta, Haley Tebo, Jeremiah Gilmer, Bridget Dunn, Benjamin Sullivan, Mckenzie Johnson

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction, Dr. Roger A. Byrne, Dean

From the Editor, Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy

From the Designers, Rachel English, Rachel Hanson

Immortality in the Mortal World: Otherworldly Intervention in "Lanval" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" by Haleigh James

Analysis of Phenolic Compounds in Moroccan Olive Oils by HPLC by Hannah Meyls

Art by Hope Irvin

The Effects of Cell Phone Use on Gameplay Enjoyment and Frustration by Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, and Austin J. Funk

Care, No Matter What: Planned Parenthood's Use of Organizational Rhetoric to Expand its Reputation by Karyn Keane

Analysis of Petroleum Products for …

Investigating Dorsal Fin Hydrodynamic Function Of The Lemon Shark, Negaprion Brevirostris, Vivian Lynn Turner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many sharks are considered highly efficient swimmers. Their swimming efficiency is partially governed by their morphological features such as dorsal fins, which play a role in their hydrodynamics. Most sharks feature two dorsal fins that can vary in size and location over the body. The first dorsal fin has been shown to improve stabilization, maneuverability, and increase thrust production during swimming, whilst the hydrodynamic role of the second dorsal fin is largely unknown. An understanding of the hydrodynamic function of the dorsal fins can be utilized in engineering applications, e.g., to replicate fins on underwater autonomous vehicles to increase energy …

Surveillance Of Microplastic Pollution In Central Virginia Freshwater Ecosystems, Alexandra Reddy

Senior Honors Theses

Aquatic organisms often mistake microplastic particulates (MP) as food and inadvertently ingest the particulates, which can biomagnify through the food chain. While MP ingestion is well-researched in the marine environment, little is known about microplastics in freshwater  ecosystems. This project explores MP occurrence in an ecologically significant freshwater invertebrate: crayfish. Crayfish from two Central Virginia streams are collected to identify MP in the digestive tracts and gill filaments, and characterize the MP using analytical chemistry techniques. It was determined that MP were present in the digestive tracts and gill filaments of crayfish collected from both streams, and that MP frequency …

Checklist Of The Freshwater Sponges (Porifera: Spongillida) Of Tennessee, John E. Copeland

Cumberland Mountain Naturalist

Of the ~8,500 sponge species that are known to exist, approximately 3% inhabit freshwater. Taxonomically, freshwater sponges are divided into 6 families with less than 250 identified species. Of these, 33 species of freshwater sponge can be found in the Nearctic Biogeographical realm with 13 species documented in Tennessee waters. Species of three families, Metanidae, Potamolepidae, and Spongillidae, are known to occur in the United States but only members of Potamolepidae and Spongillidae have been collected from Tennessee waters. This article presents a species checklist with currently known distribution information.

A New Sampler For The Collection And Retrieval Of Dry Dust Deposition, Janice Brahney, Gregory Wetherbee, Graham A. Sexstone, C. Youngbull, P. Strong, Ruth C. Heindel

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Atmospheric dust can influence biogeochemical cycles, accelerate snowmelt, and affect air, water quality, and human health. Yet, the bulk of atmospherically transported material remains poorly quantified in terms of total mass fluxes and composition. This lack of information stems in part from the challenges associated with measuring dust deposition. Here we report on the design and efficacy of a new dry deposition sampler (Dry Deposition Sampling Unit (DSU)) and method that quantifies the gravitational flux of dust particles. The sampler can be used alone or within existing networks such as those employed by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). Because …

Ecohydrological Changes In Interdunal Wetlands/ Slacks As A Response To Rising Lake Levels In An Evolving Eolian Landscape Along Lake Michigan’S Eastern Coast, Katherine Kay, Rene Aerts

19th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2020)

We are conducting ecohydrological studies in mature and incipient interdunal wetlands/slacks in a coastal dune complex on Lake Michigan’s eastern coast. The slacks are located in the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area, ~200m inland of Lake Michigan within a large parabolic dune (main slack) and smaller blowouts on its arms (incipient slacks). Rising Lake Michigan water levels have increased groundwater levels, monitored at twelve locations, >1m, rewetting the main slack from its previous dry state, expanding its extent, and deepening pools. Adjacent blowouts now have incipient slacks with pools up to .5m deep. The main slack is dominated by Cladium mariscoides …

Chamaecyparis Obtusa (False Cypress-Hinoki) Id #982, Tyler Deppert

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

Location: next to McKillop Library front parking lot

Temporal Transport Dynamics Of The Amazon River Plume Revealed Using Radium Isotope Analysis, Elana J. Ames

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Amazon River is the largest river by discharge in the world. It carries terrestrial nutrients into the Western Tropical North Atlantic via a buoyant freshwater plume, conveying water hundreds to thousands of kilometers away and driving critical biogeochemical cycles near the coast. Factors controlling the delivery of nutrients offshore by the plume are complicated and interconnected, yet these nutrients impact the foundation of phytoplankton community structures across the entire plume ecosystem. To better understand the temporal dynamics of this massive, highly influential region, we employ naturally occurring radium isotopes (223Ra, 224Ra, 226Ra, and 228Ra) to analyze mixing and transport …

Drinking Water Governance For Whom? An Institutional Analysis Of Rural Drinking Water Systems In New Mexico, Tucker Colvin

Geography ETDs

Rural community drinking water systems in New Mexico are facing many challenges, including a lack of personnel, deteriorating infrastructure, lack of funds, overly burdensome and confusing regulation, environmental concerns, and concerns over water rights. Governing agencies are creating vulnerability by making managers prioritize some issues and neglect others. Water systems designated a Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Associations are especially problematic because they are small and managed by volunteers but have as much regulatory burden as larger municipalities. I use the theory of institutional work to explain how an institution that was originally designed to help low-income and rural communities is …

Extreme Fire As A Management Tool To Combat Regime Shifts In The Range Of The Endangered American Burying Beetle, Alison K. Ludwig, Daniel R. Uden, Dirac Twidwell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study is focused on the population of federally-endangered American burying beetles in south-central Nebraska. It is focused on changes in land cover over time and at several levels of spatial scale, and how management efforts are impacting both the beetle and a changing landscape. Our findings are applicable to a large portion of the Great Plains, which is undergoing the same shift from grassland to woodland, and to areas where the beetle is still found.

Complete Mitochondrial Genome Of Carijoa Riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea: Stolonifera: Clavulariidae), Erin E. Easton, David Hicks

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We report the first complete Stolonifera mitochondrial genome. Carijoa riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) isolate CLP2_A03 was collected by scuba at 32 m on the USTS Texas Clipper (27° 53.7827′N, 93° 36.2702′W). The complete mitogenome has the ancestral octocoral gene order for its 14 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, and one tRNA gene. It is 18,714 bp (30.7% A, 15.8% C, 18.8% G, and 34.7% T). Of the Alcyonacea mitogenomes published to date, it is most genetically similar (94% uncorrected) to Sinularia ceramensis Verseveldt, 1977 (NC_044122).

An Ecopath With Ecosim Analysis On Offshore Petroleum Platform Influences On Gulf Of Mexico Red Snapper, Valentin Gomez

LSU Master's Theses

Offshore oil and gas platforms have had a significant presence in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s. An important secondary function of these structures is that they provide artificial habitat to fisheries, most notably Red snapper. Policy changes intended to reduce the risk associated with aging infrastructure have reduced the number of standing platforms from 4044 to 1867 from 2001 to 2018. The effect this loss of habitat has on Red snapper was tested by creating three scenarios of platform changes and modeling the perturbation from 2005 to 2050. The simulation was accomplished using the ecological model Ecopath with …

Effects Of Bridge Sites On Freshwater Mussel Community Structure And Density, Holly Rundle

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Freshwater Mussels (family Unionidae) are one of the most imperiled group of species found in the United States. Construction activities, such as bridges, can affect sedimentation rates and local deposition, as well as the hydrologic flow of the stream. Since mussels are protected in Ohio, surveys must be done prior to bridge construction to determine the impact of the project on mussel resources. Our study used data from survey reports conducted in Ohio from 2013-2019 at bridge sites. We organized the data to determine mussel community structure and density directly underneath bridges compared to away from bridges. We found the …

Water 4.0, Arthur Preston

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

A review of local drinking water quality/technologies, and strategies to improve water quality using emerging next generation technology.

Wangari Maathai, Tabitha M. Kanogo

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Wangari Muta Maathai is one of Africa’s most celebrated female activists. Originally trained as a scientist in Kenya and abroad, Professor Maathai returned to her home country of Kenya with a renewed political consciousness. There, she began her long career as an activist, campaigning for environmental and social justice while speaking out against government corruption. In 2004, Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her leadership of the Green Belt Movement, a conservation effort that resulted in the restoration of African forests decimated during the colonial era.

In this biography, Tabitha Kanogo follows Wangari Maathai from her modest, rural …

Biogeography Of Biological Control: Spatial Variation In Agent-Host Interactions, Nathan Harms

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Management of plant invasions using biological control has the potential to generate spatial patterns which reflect geographic or genetic variation in invader or control agents. Despite its rarity in practice, investigations into the biogeography of interacting species (i.e., plant invader and control agent) in the context of biological control can lend insights into species distribution-abundance patterns and provide predictions for spatial variation in control success. I explored spatial variability in biological control agent-plant interactions using two wetland weed study systems with large geographic distributions: flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus L.) and alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb). Through literature and …

Assessing The Potential For Industrial Activities To Disturb Polar Bears Denning On The Arctic Coastal Plain, Patricia A. Terletzky-Gese

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Alignment Of Online Health & Human Ecology Course, Scott Rose

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

Project: To Design, Develop and align my Online Course, to meet CSUSB General Learning Outcomes (GLOs), Program (Department) Learning Outcomes (PLOs), Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), and Module Learning Outcomes (MLOs) for meeting our Student learning Outcomes (SLOs). Resources used, Academic Technologies & Innovations’ (ATI’s) Course Alignment and Development Worksheet, and Cal State University’s’ (CSU’s), Quality Learning &Teaching (QLT) and Quality Matters (QM) Objectives (Instrument/table). Product: My NSCI 351, Health & Human Ecology, was designed for both the Quarter and Semester Systems; using Modules (MLOs), aligned with the Course (CLO), and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for each of my ten (10) …

Predicting The Influence Of Climate On Grassland Area Burned In Xilingol, China With Dynamic Simulations Of Autoregressive Distributed Lag Models, Ali Hassan Shabbir, Jiquan Zhang, James D. Johnston, Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie, James A. Lutz, Xingpeng Liu

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The influence of climate change on wildland fire has received considerable attention, but few studies have examined the potential effects of climate variability on grassland area burned within the extensive steppe land of Eurasia. We used a novel statistical approach borrowed from the social science literature—dynamic simulations of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models—to explore the relationship between temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed, sunlight, and carbon emissions on grassland area burned in Xilingol, a large grassland-dominated landscape of Inner Mongolia in northern China. We used an ARDL model to describe the influence of these variables on observed area burned between …

Potential For Wetlands To Remediate Harmful Pathogenic Fecal Coliform Bacteria From Streams, C. Ewing, Benjamin Strang, Bradley Axe, Jocelyn Birt, Brayden Kinney, Zachary Senger, Stephen J. Jacquemin

Lake Campus Research Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Wetlands are increasingly becoming a cornerstone of stream remediation in the highly eutrophic regions of the Midwestern United States. Wetlands have numerous advantages over other technologies as they incorporate natural biological process resultant from plants and bacteria while also providing an increase in wildlife habitat and greenspaces rather than relying on costly and technologically complex processes to treat waterways. The capacity for wetlands to remediate nutrients and improve water clarity is fairly well established. However, less is known about their potential to affect changes in the pathogenic microbial communities (such as E. coli) commonly associated with runoff in agricultural areas …

Water Scarcity And Fish Imperilment Driven By Beef Production, Brian D. Richter, Dominique Bartak, Peter Caldwell, Kyle Fankel Davis, Peter Debaere, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Tianshu Li, Landon Marston, Ryan Mcmanamay, Mesfin Mekonnen, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Richard R. Rushforth, Tara J. Troy

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify primary causes of river dewatering and explore ways to ameliorate them. We find irrigation of cattle-feed crops to be the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the …

Sdstate Sustainability Newsletter Vol. 4 Issue 2, Jennifer Mclaughlin

SD State Sustainability Newsletter

Content

• American Indian Student Center Generates Energy
• STARS Results Are In
• Harding Hall Earns LEED Gold Certification
• Energy Conservation Tips at Home
• Sustainability Tidbits

Using Gis To Analyze Graminoid And Shrub Composition Change From 1997 To 2017 At Atqasuk, Alaska, Rebecca Daigle

Student Scholars Day Posters

Shrubs are expanding across the Arctic due to longer growing seasons and rapidly increasing air temperatures. Likewise, graminoid height is increasing. Changes in community composition may impact critical feedback loops and result in trophic cascades. Here, we analyzed vegetation cover change at a long-term research site in Atqasuk, Alaska. We compared cover across forty-eight, one-square-meter plots between 1997 and 2017. Shrubs and graminoids increased significantly over time, while bryophytes decreased over time. Other functional groups were inconsistent or showed no trend. We mapped the shrub and graminoid vegetation change in order to examine cover trends within the context of the …

Land Surface Phenology In The Highland Pastures Of Montane Central Asia: Interactions With Snow Cover Seasonality And Terrain Characteristics, Monika A. Tomaszewska, Lan H. Nguyen, Geoffrey Henebry

NASA Land-Cover Land-Use Change Data Sets

Many studies have shown that high elevation environments are among very sensitive to climatic changes and where impacts are exacerbated. Across Central Asia, which is especially vulnerable to climate change due to aridity, the ability of global climate projections to capture the complex dynamics of mountainous environments is particularly limited. Over montane Central Asia, agropastoralism constitutes a major portion of the rural economy. Extensive herbaceous vegetation forms the basis of rural economies in Kyrgyzstan. Here we focus on snow cover seasonality and the effects of terrain on phenology in highland pastures using remote sensing data for 2001–2017. First, we describe …