Digital Commons Network^™

Temporal And Spatial Variability Of Phytoplankton Biomass In Coastal Mississippi Waters, Lorin Matthew Dornback

Master's Theses

Chlorophyll concentrations were measured in western Mississippi coastal waters to determine the spatial and temporal variability of phytoplankton. Nutrients (nitrate, silicate, phosphate), river discharge, temperature, salinity, stratification, tides, currents and winds were measured in concert with the phytoplankton concentrations. The purpose of this study was to determine the seasonal variability in phytoplankton and what was driving the variability. This study was comprised of a three year (September 2007-November 2010) time series where samples were taken once a month for eight stations. Profiles of each station were taken using a Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) sensor and a WET Labs FL-3 …

The Cellular Model Of Eastern Oyster (Grassostrea Virginica) Shell Formation, Andrew S. Mount, Neeraj V. Gohad, Karolyn Hansen, Mary Beth Johnstone, Douglas C. Hansen

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Historical Diversification Of Montane Herpetofauna Within And Between The Sierras Of Mexico, Robert William Bryson Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Mexican highlands consist of four major mountain ranges spanning most of mainland Mexico. The evolutionary history of the Mexican highlands has been shaped by various geological and climatic events over the past several million years. The relative impacts of these historical events on diversification in montane taxa, however, remains uncertain. I used mitochondrial DNA data from three widely distributed species complexes of lizards as a model system to exemplify the potential roles of Neogene mountain formation and Quaternary climate change on timing and tempo of diversification across the Mexican highlands. My results suggested strong geographic partitioning of genetic variation …

Phylogeography Of A Vanishing North American Songbird: The Painted Bunting (Passerina Ciris), Connie Ann Herr

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Studies of genetic variation within and between species can provide insights into their evolutionary history as well as important information for conserving biodiversity. An understanding of population processes can assist in the conservation of biodiversity by contrasting current versus historical patterns, and the processes that have generated these patterns. Genetic differentiation often coincides with significant geological or climatic changes that have shaped the sizes and locations of the species geographic range and altered the connectivity between populations over time. Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses can also provide a statistical framework for the investigation of how human processes such as habitat …

Marketing Margins Of Strawberries 2006-2010 Shipping Point-Terminal-Retail Price, Matej Mikle Barat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines vertical price relationships for fresh strawberries. Specifically, the focus is on three stages of the vertical chain. The first stage is the shipping point. Shipping points represent major strawberry production regions and are the closest price point to the farm. The second stage is the terminal market. Terminal markets are wholesale markets in major US cities. The third stage is the retail level. Retail level prices are measured as average supermarket prices in the same cities for which terminal market prices are available. Using weekly data, markup equations are estimated from upstream to downstream levels of the …

Iron Limitation Of A Springtime Bacterial And Phytoplankton Community In The Ross Sea: Implications For Vitamin B12 Nutrition, Erin M. Bertrand, Mak A. Saito, Peter A. Lee, Robert B. Dunbar, Peter N. Sedwick, Giacomo R. Ditullio

OES Faculty Publications

The Ross Sea is home to some of the largest phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean. Primary production in this system has previously been shown to be iron limited in the summer and periodically iron and vitamin B-12 colimited. In this study, we examined trace metal limitation of biological activity in the Ross Sea in the austral spring and considered possible implications for vitamin B-12 nutrition. Bottle incubation experiments demonstrated that iron limited phytoplankton growth in the austral spring while B-12, cobalt, and zinc did not. This is the first demonstration of iron limitation in a Phaeocystis antarctica-dominated, early …

An Annotated List Of The Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae, Romaleidae) Of The Southeastern United States, Jovonn G. Hill, M. E. Dakin

Midsouth Entomologist

An annotated list, based on literature records, of the grasshopper species currently known from the southeastern United States is presented.

Impact Of Alternative Range Management Systems On Grasslands In The Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Luis E. Ramirez

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

Land management strategies can directly and indirectly affect plant assemblages and their behavior. Little research has been performed in south central Nebraska to quantify the effect of fire and grazing interactions on species composition, vegetation structure, forage quality, and potential cost associated with land management.

I evaluate the effect of season-long continuous, patch-burning, and rotational grazing approaches on vegetation and ranching costs to determine their value as conservation tools. This study includes data collected between 2007 and 2009 from grasslands in south central Nebraska. I found that land management influence plant assemblages by shifting communities when grazing and/or fire are …

University-Community Partnerships For Environmental Safety And Sustainability, John W. Vick, Carol Norton

Education for Sustainability Summer Institute

No abstract provided.

Caenorhabditis Briggsae Recombinant Inbred Line Genotypes Reveal Inter-Strain Incompatibility And The Evolution Of Recombination, Joseph A. Ross, Daniel C. Koboldt, Julia E. Staisch, Helen M. Chamberlin, Bhagwati P. Gupta, Raymond D. Miller, Scott Everet Baird, Eric S. Haag

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The nematode Caenorhabditis briggsae is an emerging model organism that allows evolutionary comparisons with C. elegans and exploration of its own unique biological attributes. To produce a high-resolution C. briggsae recombination map, recombinant inbred lines were generated from reciprocal crosses between two strains and genotyped at over 1,000 loci. A second set of recombinant inbred lines involving a third strain was also genotyped at lower resolution. The resulting recombination maps exhibit discrete domains of high and low recombination, as in C. elegans, indicating these are a general feature of Caenorhabditis species. The proportion of a chromosome's physical size occupied by …

How Well Do U.S. Forest Service Terrestrial Ecosystem Surveys Correspond With Measured Vegetation Properties?, Scott R. Abella

Life Sciences Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Effectiveness Of Forest Management Strategies To Mitigate Effects Of Global Change In South-Central Siberia, Eric J. Gustafson, Anatoly Z. Shvidenko, Robert M. Scheller

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigated questions about the ability of broad silvicultural strategies to achieve multiple objectives (reduce disturbance losses, maintain the abundance of preferred species, mitigate fragmentation and loss of age-class diversity, and sequester aboveground carbon) under future climate conditions in Siberia. We conducted a factorial experiment using the LANDIS-II landscape disturbance and succession model. Treatments included varying the size and amount of areas cut and the cutting method (selective or clearcut). Simultaneously, the model simulated natural disturbances (fire, wind, insect out-breaks) and forest succession under projected future climate conditions as predicted by an ensemble of global circulation models. The cutting method …

Biomedical Thrillers: Fiction Based In Fact, Or Just Fiction?, Emily F. Schmitt Lavin

Biology Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.

The View From Ventress - 2011, University Of Mississippi. College Of Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts Newsletters

Special Section: National Scholars, where are they now?

Propagule Pressure And Introduction Pathways Of Bromus Tectorum (Cheatgrass; Poaceae) In The Central United States, Temsha D. Huttanus, Richard N. Mack, Stephen J. Novak

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An introduced species' propagule pressure strongly influences the genetic diversity and evolutionary potential of its descendants and even the likelihood of biological invasion. We examined population genetic consequences arising from introduction of the invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum into the central United States (U.S.). The origin and frequency of introductions were investigated by assembling allozyme diversity data from 60 widely spaced populations. At least five introduction events contributed to the grass’s genetic diversity in the central U.S. Populations in this region have fewer alleles (30 vs. 43) and polymorphic loci (5 vs. 13) than native populations, evidence of a genetic …

The Effects Of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (Am) Fungal And Garlic Mustard Introductions On Native Am Fungal Diversity, Alexander M. Koch, Pedro M. Antunes, Kathryn Barto, Don Cipollini, Daniel L. Mummey, John N. Klironomos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduced, non-native organisms are of global concern, because biological invasions can negatively affect local communities. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities have not been well studied in this context. AM fungi are abundant in most soils, forming symbiotic root-associations with many plant species. Commercial AM fungal inocula are increasingly spread worldwide, because of potentially beneficial effects on plant growth. In contrast, some invasive plant species, such as the non-mycorrhizal Alliaria petiolata, can negatively influence AM fungi. In a greenhouse study we examined changes in the structure of a local Canadian AM fungal community in response to inoculation by foreign AM fungi …

Techniques To Promote Garry Oak Seedling Growth And Survival In Areas With High Levels Of Herbivory And Competition, David R. Clements, Seth Luginbill, David A. Jordan, Randall Dragt

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Though regeneration of Garry oak (Quercus garryana) seedlings within Garry oak ecosystems is important to maintain this threatened habitat, seedling regeneration is often poor. Two independent studies were initiated in the early 2000s to examine questions surrounding Garry oak recruitment: one at the Crow's Nest Ecological Research Area (CNERA) on Salt Spring Island, BC, and another at the Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Stewardship (PRI) on Whidbey Island, WA. In both areas, Garry oak seedlings were caged and monitored for growth and relative health. Over 8 years at CNERA, growth of caged plants outpaced growth of controls, which was indicative …

Prairie Restoration And Species Diversity: A Comparison Of Propagation Success Between Seeded And Planted Forbs, Julie A. Widinski

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Prairie ecosystems used to dominate Illinois’ landscapes, providing some of the most organically rich soils in the world, supplying homes to hundreds of native species, and conserving soil and water. The deep rooted forbs prevent water runoff and soil erosion. Economically the prairies have provided medicines, commercial forbs, and aesthetically pleasing landscapes for humans. Society is dependent on the rich soils these prairies have provided for agriculture and for prevention of erosion and water runoff. With less than one tenth of one percent of Illinois prairies still remaining, successful prairie restoration is of the utmost importance. In order to achieve …

Bonobos Fall Within The Genomic Variation Of Chimpanzees, Anne Fischer, Kay Prüfer, Jeffrey M. Good, Michel Halbwax, Victor Wiebe, Claudine André, Rebeca Atencia, Lawrence Mugisha, Susan E. Ptak, Svante Pääbo

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

To gain insight into the patterns of genetic variation and evolutionary relationships within and between bonobos and chimpanzees, we sequenced 150,000 base pairs of nuclear DNA divided among 15 autosomal regions as well as the complete mitochondrial genomes from 20 bonobos and 58 chimpanzees. Except for western chimpanzees, we found poor genetic separation of chimpanzees based on sample locality. In contrast, bonobos consistently cluster together but fall as a group within the variation of chimpanzees for many of the regions. Thus, while chimpanzees retain genomic variation that predates bonobo-chimpanzee speciation, extensive lineage sorting has occurred within bonobos such that much …

Mammalian Diversification Across The Holarctic: Spatiotemporal Evolution In Response To Environmental Change, Andrew G. Hope

Biology ETDs

The primary focus in this dissertation is on the processes of environmental change that drive evolution. We are currently witnessing unparalleled changes in climate and associated changes in biotic communities. With a growing understanding that climate and habitat change, coupled with natural variability, will have an increased influence on biota into the future, it is our responsibility to learn how best to manage and conserve the Earths natural resources. Among other things, this will require a firmer understanding of biodiversity, life histories, evolutionary relationships among species, and community dynamics over multiple species. One method of understanding how species will respond …

Smokejumper Obituary: Helburn, Nicholas (Missoula 1944), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Predator-Induced Demographic Shifts In Coral Reef Fish Assemblages, Benjamin I. Ruttenberg, Scott L. Hamilton, Sheila M. Walsh, Mary K. Donovan, Alan Friedlander, Edward Demartini, Enric Sala, Stuart A. Sandin

Biological Sciences

In recent years, it has become apparent that human impacts have altered community structure in coastal and marine ecosystems worldwide. Of these, fishing is one of the most pervasive, and a growing body of work suggests that fishing can have strong effects on the ecology of target species, especially top predators. However, the effects of removing top predators on lower trophic groups of prey fishes are less clear, particularly in highly diverse and trophically complex coral reef ecosystems. We examined patterns of abundance, size structure, and age-based demography through surveys and collection-based studies of five fish species from a variety …

Evolutionary Patterns In Deep-Sea Mollusks, Elizabeth Ellen Boyle

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The evolution of deep-sea fauna is poorly known. We know little about the scales of population differentiation, radiation and colonization of the deep sea. This dissertation explores evolution in the deep sea at the level of population differentiation on ocean-wide scales in a gastropod species Benthonella tenella and phylogeny of a deep-sea subfamily of protobranch bivalves, Ledellinae. While working on the phylogeny of the Ledellinae the presence of mitochondrial heteroplasmy was discovered.

Genetic variation was quantified within and among populations of deep-sea gastropod Benthonella tenella to identify the extent of population differentiation and potential mechanisms that might isolate gene pools. …

We Can Grow It: Reporting On Women In Agriculture In India, Belize And The U.S., Colleen Stewart

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Women produce more than half of the world’s food, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. This aligns with the Chinese proverb– “Women Hold up Half the Sky.” As the role of women in agriculture increases in the developed and developing world, female economic activity in agriculture serves as a beacon for poverty reduction, increased food security, and environmental sustainability. In the United States, there has been a 30-percent increase in the number of female-run farms in the U.S. since 2002 and women, now the largest “minority” group in agriculture in the U.S., operate approximately 300,000 farms throughout the …

Assessing Social Benefits Of Domestic Rainwater Harvesting In Southern Kenya, Lindsey M. Filiatreau

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In the Kasigau location of the Voi District of Kenya, severe rainwater shortages closed fourteen water collection stations in 2008 and 2009, leaving ten water sources to service 15,000 people in the region. Few families in the area have domestic rainwater harvesting systems which are an easily implemented, low-cost means of water collection. I investigated the ability of rainwater catchment systems to modify family time budgets (by reducing water collection time) and lessen the severity of water scarcity (by supplying families a significant amount of water). Forty families participated in the research, 20 of whom received free installation of a …

Dna Sequence Variation In The Wingless Gene Product In Buckeye Butterflies (Genus Junonia), Bonnie Mccullagh

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Wingless is a highly conserved gene important to cell determination in development. In Drosophila, the wingless gene product has been identified as responsible for wing patterning. In Bicyclus anynana and Junonia coenia, wingless gene product is expressed in a fashion that suggests that it is involved in butterfly wing color pattern development. The wingless gene product has been implicated as a potential focal signal for patterning the eyespot of Junonia butterflies. I have shown that extensive DNA sequence variation (26.04% of the sequenced region) exists in 402 bp of wingless coding sequence among 338 specimens of Junonia from …

Human-Wildlife Conflict On Small, Subsistence Farms In Kenya, Christopher B. Colonna

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

As human populations expand, wildlife suddenly competes with humans for resources and confrontation arises as a result. Rural Africa is typical of this problem. We surveyed local owners of small farms within the five villages surrounding Mount Kasigau in Southeast Kenya to quantify losses due to wildlife depredation on both subsistence and cash crops as well as to discover the patterns and variables influencing farmer-wildlife confrontations in the region. We found no statistically significant correlations among the value of damage per acre, the distance from the bush, or the distance to the nearest water source. We did find statistical significance …

Prescribed Fire Effects On The Summer And Fall Herbs Of Mesic Deciduous Forests, Margaret Wilder

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

After years of fire suppression, high intensity forest fires were destructive to surrounding areas. Historically, fire was common in the eastern United States, but was suppressed over the past century, and recently has become a major tool in forest management. But to date, there have been no studies on the influence of fire on mesic sites in the eastern United States. Because fire is being reintroduced as a management practice, it is critical to know the influence of fire in this region. This study seeks to understand the influences of fire on summer and fall herbs in the western mesophytic …

Phylogenetics And Diversification Of Escallonia (Escalloniaceae), Felipe Zapata

Dissertations

Despite a large accumulation of evidence on the high richness of plant species in the mountains of South America, little is known about the historical underpinnings of this diversity. To contribute to our understanding of the origin and diversification of plant species in these mountains, I analyzed geographic patterns of variation in molecular and phenotypic characters for the genus Escallonia L.f. (Escalloniaceae), a group of shrubs widespread in montane habitats in South America. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using chloroplast and nuclear loci revealed i) that Escallonia is monophyletic, ii) a remarkable level of geographical phylogenetic structure, and iii) a widespread absence …

The History Of Zoological Gardens And The State, Federal And International Laws That Govern Them, Morgan Maxwell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The history of zoos in North America can be traced back through 18th century Europe to ancient civilizations such as the Romans. The menageries of ancient Rome were far different from modern zoos that stress conservation, education, and research as primary objectives. Zoos are still evolving and changing to become more suitable for captive animals and to ensure their animals’ health and well-being. An examination of state wildlife laws reveals that there are more laws that pertain to wildlife at the state and local level than at any other level of government. Federal wildlife laws are few in number and …