Digital Commons Network^™

Infection Of Feral Phenotype Swine With Japanese Encephalitis Virus, So Lee Park, Yan-Jang S. Huang, Amy C. Lyons, Victoria B. Ayers, Susan M. Hettenbach, D. Scott Mcvey, Leela E. Noronha, Kenneth R. Burton, Stephen Higgs, Dana L. Vanlandingham

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic flavivirus and the leading cause of pediatric encephalitis in the Asian Pacific region. The transmission cycle primarily involves Culex spp. mosquitoes and Ardeid birds, with domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) being the source of infectious viruses for the spillover of JEV from the natural endemic transmission cycle into the human population. Although many studies have concluded that domestic pigs play an important role in the transmission cycle of JEV, and infection of humans, the role of feral pigs in the transmission of JEV remains unclear. Since domestic and …

Integrating Robotics Into Wildlife Conservation: Testing Improvements To Predator Deterrents Through Movement, Stewart W. Breck, Jeffrey T. Schultz, David Prause, Cameron Krebs, Anthony J. Giordano, Byron Boots

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background Agricultural and pastoral landscapes can provide important habitat for wildlife conservation, but sharing these landscapes with wildlife can create conflict that is costly and requires managing. Livestock predation is a good example of the challenges involving coexistence with wildlife across shared landscapes. Integrating new technology into agricultural practices could help minimize human-wildlife conflict. In this study, we used concepts from the fields of robotics (i.e., automated movement and adaptiveness) and agricultural practices (i.e., managing livestock risk to predation) to explore how integration of these concepts could aid the development of more effective predator deterrents.

Methods …

Population Density Of The Small Indian Mongoose (Urva Auropunctata) Across Multiple Habitat Types And Seasons In Puerto Rico, Are R. Berentsen, Caroline C. Sauvé, Mel J. Rivera-Rodriguez, Fabiola B. Torres-Toledo, Richard B. Chipman, Amy T. Gilbert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata) is a rabies reservoir on several Caribbean Islands including Puerto Rico. In the continental United States, oral rabies vaccination (ORV) has been used to control and locally eliminate rabies viruses targeting meso-carnivores including raccoons (Procyon lotor), grey foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and coyotes (Canis latrans), and has more recently been proposed to mitigate and control mongoose rabies in Puerto Rico. A fundamental understanding of the population density of the target species is an important factor in planning bait application rates prior to ORV operations. In Puerto Rico, …

Comparison Of Daily Activity Patterns Across Seasons Using Gps Telemetry And Camera Trap Data For A Widespread Mammal, David W. Wolfson, Peter E. Schlichting, Raoul K. Boughton, Ryan S. Miller, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Jesse S. Lewis

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Daily activity patterns of animals can be dynamic across seasons in response to changing environmental conditions. Daily activity, though, has rarely been evaluated in relation to multiple factors (for example, seasons, demographics, and data collection methods), which could be important for understanding what drives activity patterns. Here, we evaluated the daily activity patterns of a widespread invasive species, wild pigs (Sus scrofa), across two ecologically different study areas at Buck Island Ranch, Florida, and Tejon Ranch, California (United States), from 2015 to 2018. Using GPS telemetry data (62 individuals in Florida, 21 individuals in California) and detections from …

Discerning Friend From Foe: Systematic Revision Of Cuscuta L. Section Indecorae Using A Combined Ecological, Morphometric, And Phylogenetic Approach., Corey Burt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The genus Cuscuta (Dodder; Convolvulaceae) are obligate parasitic plants. In one clade known as section Indecorae, there are species which are considered pests that pose significant threats to agricultural crop production, while other species are rare or known only from historical records. Section Indecorae contains three species: C. coryli, C. warneri, and C. indecora (the latter with three infraspecific taxa: var. indecora, var. longisepala, and var. attenuata). The systematics of section Indecorae are not currently resolved. Cuscuta indecora has a long and complicated taxonomic history with many infraspecific varieties described, and …

Investigating The Effects Of Disturbance And Competition On Establishment, Growth, And Reproduction Of The Endangered Ripariosida Hermaphrodita, Daniel Engelking

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Ripariosida hermaphrodita (Virginia Mallow) is a perennial riparian plant with broad, maple-like leaves. It grows up to three meters high and is often found in large clonal patches, but sexually reproduces readily. While this plant may seem like a redoubtable competitor when growing in large colonies, it is declining across its range in North America. The only known occurrences in Canada are in southern Ontario. Prior to this study, no new populations had been recorded even though one of the known populations produces copious amounts of viable seed with potential to disperse. There are many hypotheses for its rarity, but …

Cover, Editorial Staff, Journal Information

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This includes the cover, editorial staff, and journal information.

Livestock Depredation By Leopards, Associated Economic Losses, And Financial Compensation To Communities In Chhota Udepur District Of Central Gujarat, India, Shalu Mesaria, Pratik Desai, Shruti Patel, Dhaval Gadhavi, Anthony J. Giordano, Nishith Dharaiya

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Livestock depredation by large carnivores has been documented across the entire Indian subcontinent. The failure of managers to mitigate livestock losses in landscapes dependent on subsistence agriculture poses a threat to the conservation of carnivores. For much of Gujarat, a western Indian state characterized by extensive semi-arid habitats, the Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) is considered an apex predator. Increasing regional leopard populations in response to protection efforts has led to more attacks on humans, along with an increase in rates of livestock depredation. In many cases, the regional forest department financially compensates livestock owners for depredation caused …

Cover, Editorial Staff, Journal Information

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This includes the cover, editorial staff, and journal information.

An Automatic System To Evaluate Bait Station Visitation By Brown Treesnakes And Mongooses, Robert T. Sugihara, William C. Pitt, Are R. Berentsen, Francis L. Benevides Jr.

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Understanding the temporal, spatial, and behavioral patterns of the free-ranging target species in response to candidate baits and baiting strategies is important to ensure control success. This information can also assist in the development and deployment of feeding stations and can exclude non-target species while constituting effective bait delivery and control strategies for certain invasive animals, especially at environmentally sensitive sites. We used passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags in conjunction with very-high frequency radio-telemetry to remotely record bait station visitations and evaluate bait attractiveness in separate field research studies of brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Andersen Air Force …

Cover, Editorial Staff, Journal Information

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This includes the cover, editorial staff, and journal information.

Patterns, Mechanisms, And Characterization Of Carbon Cycling Stability Following Partial Forest Disturbance, Kayla C. Mathes

Theses and Dissertations

Among the most essential questions in the era of climate change is how the forest carbon (C) cycle will respond to an increase in the extent of biotic disturbances from insects and pathogens. While research has focused on stand-replacing disturbance regimes, less is known about C cycling stability following partial disturbances that produce gradients of disturbance severity. Belowground C cycling responses to disturbance are especially poorly understood, even though temperate forest soils contain up to 50% of total ecosystem C and soil respiration (R_s) accounts for more than half of temperate forest C loss. Interpreting trends and mechanisms …

Confocal Analysis Of Sindbis Virus In Aedes Aegypti Unveils Novel Infection Site At Pyloric Armature, Katie Gillian Peters

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as Sindbis virus (SINV), generate foci of infection within the midgut of viremic blood-fed mosquitoes. Arboviruses can disseminate out of the midgut into the surrounding musculature and hemolymph, eventually making it to the salivary glands where virus can be transmitted by saliva during a subsequent blood-feed. In this study, the virus SINV containing the reporter gene GFP, combined with immunohistochemistry, was imaged using confocal microscopy and used to evaluate the infection within the vector mosquito Aedes aegypti. The spatial distribution of SINV infection revealed two common characteristics of foci generated in the midgut. (1) There …

Abundance And Distribution Of Fish Larvae In The Central Coast Of The Algerian Sea, Etsouri Mohamed, Khames Ghollame Ellah Yacine, Seridji Rabea

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study was conducted on a seasonal basis in five (5) stations along the central Algerian coast between April 2013 and April 2014 aboard professional fishing boats. Horizontal plankton tows with a WP2-type net were used to collect ichthyoplankton samples. At each station, temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll-a levels were measured. We identified the larvae of 18 species from 11 different families by sorting ichthyoplankton (Clupeidae, Engraulidae, Gobidae, Gonostomatidae, Mugilidae, Myctophidae, Scombridae, Sparidae, Carangidae, Labridae, Blennidae). Redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to determine the relationship between the abundance of harvested larvae and environmental variables. The results show a clear dominance of …

Emerging Patterns In Population Structure And Trap Efficacy After Three Years Of A Survey Of Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys Picta Bellii, Gray, 1830) In Marshall County, South Dakota, Heather L. Waye, Amy C. Dolan, Peter C. Dolan

Biology Publications

Turtles are long-lived and globally declining, but relatively little is known about the natural history of many turtle species. Even amongst relatively well-studied species, there is a paucity of information for some habitats and long-term population trends are lacking. Here we report the results from the first three years of an intended long-term population survey of Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii) in the prairie highlands of the Coteau des Prairies, South Dakota. Turtles were sampled using basking traps, hoop traps, and dip nets. Catch per unit effort varied between years, but not significantly so, and hoop traps …

Variation In Carapace Damage Within And Among Loggerhead Musk Turtle (Sternotherus Minor) Populations In Florida Spring-Fed Ecosystems, Joseph J. Pignatelli Iii, Katrina Campbell, Brian P. Butterfield, Gerald R. Johnston, Joseph C. Mitchell, Grover J. Brown, J. Brian Hauge, Andrew D. Walde, Eric C. Munscher

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Damage to a turtle’s shell can provide evidence of past events such as vehicle collisions, disease, predator encounters, or even a behavioural interaction between members of the same species. Documenting shell damage as part of long-term mark and recapture studies enables researchers to determine population trends, intraspecific interactions and identify potential issues within turtle populations. This paper analyses shell damage in populations of the Loggerhead Musk Turtle (Sternotherus minor) (Agassiz, 1857). We examined carapace shell damage frequency and severity in 2701 individual S. minor (1468 males and 1233 females) captured in spring-fed habitats in one state preserve and five state …

Identifying Habitat Suitability And Connectivity For Roosevelt Elk (Cervus Canadensis Roosevelti) On The North Coast Of California, Ashley Ann Harper

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

As human development continues to expand, wildlife managers are faced with problems arising from human-wildlife conflict. To address conflict, it is vital to identify how animals view the landscape and move across areas of differing land use. On the North Coast of California, Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) are widely considered to be a valuable resource but are viewed by some as a nuisance due to economic losses caused by property damage. The aim of this study was to identify suitable habitat and movement corridors for Roosevelt elk across Humboldt and Del Norte counties in northern California. Suitable …

Carnivore And Ungulate Occurrence In A Fire-Prone Region, Sara J. Moriarty-Graves

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Increasing fire size and severity in the western United States causes changes to ecosystems, species’ habitat use, and interspecific interactions. Wide-ranging carnivore and ungulate mammalian species and their interactions may be influenced by an increase in fire activity in northern California. Depending on the fire characteristics, ungulates may benefit from burned habitat due to an increase in forage availability, while carnivore species may be differentially impacted, but ultimately driven by bottom-up processes from a shift in prey availability. I used a three-step approach to estimate the single-species occupancy of four large mammal species: mountain lion (Puma concolor), coyote …

Effects Of Agricultural Chemicals On Native Plants Of The Northern Great Plains, Gabrielle Bolwerk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural chemicals are ubiquitous on the Northern Great Plains landscape and have negative impacts on non-target plant communities, even at small doses. Northern Great Plains grassland plant communities may experience herbicide drift from agricultural fields or be subject to livestock pharmaceuticals in grazing lands. My research objective was to evaluate if and how native plants are affected by agricultural chemical presence at different concentrations. In Chapter 2, I studied the effect of different concentrations of three common agricultural herbicides (2,4-D, atrazine, and trifluralin) on the germination, emergence, and growth of native plant species of the Northern Great Plains. I performed …

Connecting Antibiotic Resistance To The Environment (Care): Introducing A Novel Framework Integrating Chemical Cross-Resistance And Place-Based Engagement To The Blue Marsh Watershed In Reading, Pennsylvania, Jill Felker

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Antibiotic resistance is a serious health threat around the world. Millions of individuals are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria yearly, and thousands die from previously curable illnesses. Although antibiotic resistance occurs naturally, misuse of antibiotics accelerates the loss of their effectiveness. Public health campaigns focusing on antibiotic awareness have not effectively communicated and educated the public on this health crisis. New efforts to combat antibiotic resistance are urgently needed. This dissertation focuses on the ecological and public health components of antibiotic resistance research that must be addressed to decelerate antibiotic resistance. A new interdisciplinary theoretical framework was developed to Connect Antibiotic …

Application Of Computational Biophysics Techniques To Characterize Cell Membrane-Associated Events, Kyle Billings

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cell membranes are crowded environments which can modulate protein structure-function relationships through interaction with lipids, other proteins, carbohydrate structures and so on. This work focuses the impact of the membrane environment on two varieties of peptides: Microbial rhodopsin proteins, and cyclic peptides.

Life on Earth is dependent on the ability of plants and microbes to harness sunlight for energy production. Their ability to transform light into carbohydrates requires tailor-made machinery, and for a wealth of microorganisms, microbial rhodopsin proteins (MR) are critical for maintaining the concentration gradients used to produce the energy molecule Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The central retinal molecule …

Community Ecology And Disease Dynamics In Pacific Oysters: Unraveling Microbiome-Pathogen Interactions In The Wild, Victoria E. Cifelli

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In the context of multispecies microbial assemblages, disruptions can occur when there are alterations in host conditions, such as the onset of a disease. Notably, viruses have the potential to reshape a host's microbial community. However, the role of the host's habitat and environment, which could be pivotal in communities with shifting niche space and habitat filters, is often overlooked in host-microbe-pathogen interactions. Recognizing the importance of these factors, I employed a field-based approach to understand microbial community dynamics in the presence of disease. To address the influence of geographical location, I conducted an analysis involving healthy and infected oysters …

Factors Associated With Nonsyndromic Anotia And Microtia, Texas, 1999–2014, Jeremy M Schraw, J P Woodhouse, Renata H Benjamin, Charles J Shumate, Joanne Nguyen, Mark A Canfield, A J Agopian, Philip J Lupo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Few risk factors have been identified for nonsyndromic anotia/microtia (A/M).

METHODS: We obtained data on cases and a reference population of all livebirths in Texas for 1999-2014 from the Texas Birth Defects Registry (TBDR) and Texas vital records. We estimated prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for A/M (any, isolated, nonisolated, unilateral, and bilateral) using Poisson regression. We evaluated trends in prevalence rates using Joinpoint regression.

RESULTS: We identified 1,322 cases, of whom 982 (74.3%) had isolated and 1,175 (88.9%) had unilateral A/M. Prevalence was increased among males (PR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.2-1.4), offspring of women with …

Restoring Human And More-Than-Human Relations In Toxic Riskscapes: “In Perpetuity” Within Lake Superior’S Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Sand Point, Valoree Gagnon, Evelyn H. Ravindran

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Bay is the ancestral and contemporary homeland of the Anishinaabe Ojibwa and their relatives. It is also a toxic riskscape: Its waters, shorelines, and fish beings are polluted by an unknown tonnage of legacy mining waste rock called “stamp sands,” which contain unsafe levels of toxic compounds. This paper describes Ojibwa stewardship principles and reciprocal obligations, illustrating First Treaty With Gichi-Manitou practices of restoring relations within a toxic riskscape. Defined here, riskscapes are places and spaces where pollution/toxicity relations are continually reconfigured in literal, symbolic, and systemic ways. We share a story from Keweenaw Bay’s Sand Point …

Risk Factors For Emergency Medical Care Or Hospitalization Due To Heat-Related Illness Or Injury: A Systematic Review, Blair Litwiller, Amber N. Barnes

Florida Public Health Review

Background: Temperatures globally have been predicted to increase due to changes in the climate. As the earth gets warmer, it is expected that heat-related illness will also increase worldwide. An effective and appropriate public health response will be critical. Purpose: The aim of this review was to identify risk factors associated with heat-related illness and injury to provide target areas for future interventions. Methods: A review of existing literature was analyzed for risk factors that may increase the likelihood of being admitted to an emergency department for a heat related illness or injury. Results: Of the …

Phytoplankton Community Of Boalia Khal Tributary Of The Halda River, Chattogram, Bangladesh, Md. Shafiqul Islam, M.A. Azadi, Munira Nasiruddin

Journal of Bioresource Management

Boalia Khal is one of the important tributaries of the River Halda. The productivity of the Boalia Khal tributary of the Halda River mainly depends on the phytoplankton diversity. A study was conducted for two years period from January 2017 to December 2018 to identify the phytoplankton community of the Boalia Khal tributary. A total of 61 species of phytoplankton under 37 genera belonging to 8 classes were recorded. The dominant group of phytoplankton was 25 species of Diatoms (40.98 %) followed by 18 species of Green Algae (29.5 %), 9 species of Euglenophytes (14.75 %), 7 species of Blue …

System Shock: Using -Omics Data To Characterize Biological Remodeling In The Microbiome, Resistome, And Transcriptome Of Bacteria, Winston Eugene Anthony

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The human experience is indelibly linked to microbial life. So much so, that the holobiont theory has been coined to define the assemblage of host and microbe as a discrete ecological unit. Perturbation of the commensal microbiome can create niche space for pathogens, which through the concomitant rise of antimicrobial resistance represent an ever-evolving danger. In Chapter 2 of this dissertation, I describe the results of an interventional study designed to directly perturb the healthy gut microbiome and observe the dynamics of taxonomic composition and functional recovery. I observe significant decreases after 5 days of antibiotic treatment in the gold …

Urban Green Roofs Can Support A Diversity Of Parasitoid Wasps, Aramee C. Diethelm, Susan Masta

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Green roofs are often installed atop buildings to provide ecological services such as mitigating storm water runoff and cooling air within urban heat islands. We found that green roofs in Portland, Oregon, also can support biodiversity, including a diverse assemblage of parasitoid wasps, with 20 morphospecies from 10 families present on the four roofs we surveyed. The roofs with greater plant diversity and structural complexity harbored comparatively more parasitoid morphospecies than the structurally simpler Sedum-dominated roofs. The oldest green roof supported much greater diversity than the younger roofs, including a comparably planted roof three times its size. Parasitoid wasps from …

Larval Ecology Of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus Thynnus): New Insights From Otolith Microstructure, Biotic, And Abiotic Analyses From The Gulf Of Mexico And Mediterranean Sea, Estrella Malca

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABT), Thunnus thynnus, spawn in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the Mediterranean Sea (MED). Spawning occurs within narrow temporal and environmental parameters. Efforts to characterize growth of ABT in wild conditions revealed a wide range of growth variability during the early life stages. This series of studies examined potential biotic and abiotic influences of larval growth from seven ABT cohorts, and identified several key drivers of growth for this commercially valuable species. A detailed investigation of larval dynamics using otolith microstructure was conducted as follows. First, companion growth curves and stable isotope analysis from the same …

Drone Imagery Protocols To Map Vegetation Are Transferable Between Dryland Sites Across An Elevational Gradient, Anna Roser, Josh Enterkine, Juan M. Requena-Mullor, Nancy F. Glenn, Alex R. Boehm, Marie-Anne De Graaff, Patrick E. Clark, Fred Pierson, T. Trevor Caughlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The structure and composition of plant communities in drylands are highly variable across scales, from microsites to landscapes. Fine spatial resolution field surveys of dryland plants are essential to unravel the impact of climate change; however, traditional field data collection is challenging considering sampling efforts and costs. Unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) can alleviate this challenge by providing standardized measurements of plant community attributes with high resolution. However, given widespread heterogeneity in plant communities in drylands, and especially across environmental gradients, the transferability of UAS imagery protocols is unclear. Plant functional types (PFTs) are a classification scheme that aggregates the diversity …