Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of Geobiophysical Models For Cartographic Representation Of Wetlands In Yellow Creek Basin, West Virginia, Ian Farrar

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In the Appalachian Mountains of Canaan Valley, the warmer temperatures and fading native species are conducive for invading foreign species. Localized relic communities of red spruce, sphagnum and polytrichum are sensitive to climatic change and potential indicators of global warming. Therefore, the development of a baseline assessment and further research are necessary to observe and model changes. Influencing factors in wetland ecology include slope, aspect, biologically rich and diverse vegetation associations, micro-topography, hydrology, underlying soils, and geology. Three uniquely independent study sites have been established along a single transect of the Yellow Creek stream terraces, in Tucker County, West Virginia. …

The Tasmanian Gateway: Cenozoic Climatic And Oceanographic Development, Neville F. Exon, James P. Kennett, Mitchell J. Malone, Henk Brinkhuis, George C.H. Chaproniere, Atsuhito Ennyu, Amelia E. Shevenell

Marine Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arkansas Field Botany (Flora And Vegetation) Bibliography (1988-2000), James H. Peck, C. Theo Witsell, Thomas L. Foti

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The floristic richness and diversity of vegetation in Arkansas continues to require and stimulate a growing body of taxonomic and ecological research publications. Peck and Peck (1988) listed 766 references, including those of the two prior lists. Since then we have gathered 417 additional references. The total list now contains 1,183 references, with 70% prepared or published since 1970. This update is provided for four reasons: 1) to compile a comprehensive source to direct and facilitate future studies, 2) to provide easier access to many reports not normally located in electronic databases, 3) to improve communications with botanists outside Arkansas, …

Ecology And Management Of Aspen: A Lake States Perspective, D.T. Cleland, L.A. Leefers, D.I. Dickmann, L.G. Eskew

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen has been an ecologically important, though relatively minor, compo- nent of the Lake States (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) forests for millennia. General Land Office records from the 1800s indicate that aspen comprised a small fraction of the region’s eastern forests, but was more extensive on the western edge. Then Euro-American settlement in the 1800s brought land clearing, timber harvesting, and subsequent widespread wildfires that increased aspen-birch acreages consider- ably. Although aspen-birch acreage has declined since the 1930s, it remains the region’s second most prevalent forest type. Aspen management is probably the most contentious issue confronting forest managers in the …

Changes In Landscape Patterns And Associated Forest Succession On The Western Slope Of The Rocky Mountains, Colorado, Daniel James Manier, Richard D. Laven

Aspen Bibliography

Using repeat photography, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis of changes in forest cover on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. For the quantitative analysis, both images in a pair were classified using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technologies. Comparisons were made using three landscape metrics: total relative cover, mean relative patch size, and number of patches per major vegetation type. We noted several important changes in the pattern of the landscape and the structure of the forests. The relative area covered by interspersed, nonforested rangelands has decreased significantly, and the total forest cover …

Quaking Aspen Reproduce From Seed After Wildfire In The Mountains Of Southeastern Arizona, Ronald D. Quinn, Lin Wu

Aspen Bibliography

Quaking aspen regenerated from seed after a stand replacement wildfire in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The wildfire had created gaps in the canopy so that aspen were able to establish from seed. Seedlings were found at a mean density of 0.17 m–2, 30 m or more from the nearest potential seed trees. Six clumps of aspen seedlings contained 18–186 trees, occupying areas of 145–500 square meters at densities of 0.09-0.27 m–2. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browsed 14.3% of the seedlings. Occasional sexual reproduction of aspen may be a general trait of the species throughout the western portion of …

Sustaining Aspen In Western Landscapes: Symposium Proceedings, Wayne D. Shepperd, Dan Binkley, Dale L. Bartos, Thomas J. Stohlgren, Lane G. Eskew

Aspen Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Out Of Africa: Origins Of The Taenia Tapeworms In Humans, Eric P. Hoberg, Nancy L. Alkire, Alan De Queiroz, Arlene Jones

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Phylogenetic and divergence date analyses indicate that the occurrence of Taenia tapeworms in humans pre-dates the development of agriculture, animal husbandry and domestication of cattle (Bos spp.) or swine (Sus scrofa) Taeniid tapeworms in Africa twice independently colonized hominids and the genus Homo prior to the origin of modern humans. Dietary and behavioural shifts, from herbivory to scavenging and carnivory, as early Homo entered the carnivore guild in the Pliocene/Pleistocene, were drivers for host switching by tapeworms to hominids from carnivores including hyaenids and felids. Parasitological data provide a unique means of elucidating the historical ecology, foraging behavior …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Tsetse Fly Trap Catches At Nguruman, Southwest Kenya, A. Odulaja, J. Baumgärtner, S. Mihok, I. M. Abu-Zinid

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Spatial and temporal dynamics of rapidly growing populations of tsetse flies at Nguruman, southwest Kenya during 1993-1995, were investigated, following six years of intensive population suppression with traps over a c. 100 km2 area. The two tsetse species present were randomly distributed in the short rainy season, but were aggregated in the dry and long rainy seasons. Maximum temperature was the dominant weather factor associated with the degree of aggregation. Trends in catches at 20 fixed sites along an 18 km north-south axis were weakly correlated between locations, possibly representing population sub-structuring. In particular, trends in population change were poorly …

Abiotic Vs. Biotic Influences On Habitat Selection Of Coexisting Species: Climate Change Impacts?, Thomas E. Martin

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Species are commonly segregated along gradients of microclimate and vegetation. I explore the question of whether segregation is the result of microhabitat partitioning (biotic effects) or choice of differing microclimates (abiotic effects). I explored this question for four ground-nesting bird species that an segregated along a microclimate and vegetation gradient in Arizona. Birds shifted position of their nests on the microhabitat and microclimate gradient in response to changing precipitation over nine years. Similarly, annual bird abundance varied with precipitation across 12 yr. Those shifts in abundance and nesting microhabitat with changing precipitation demonstrate the importance of abiotic influences on bird …

Crossing Methodological Boundaries: Assessing Visitor Motivations And Support For Management Actions At Yellowstone National Park Using Quantitative And Qualitative Research Approaches, William T. Borrie, Wayne A. Freimund, Mae A. Davenport, Robert E. Manning

Society and Conservation Faculty Publications

Winter use of Yellowstone National Park has given rise to a complex of management issues, including rapid growth in recreation demand, environmental impacts of snowmobiling, and a string of litigation against the National Park Service (NPS) designed to both protect park resources and maintain public access (Sacklin et al. 2000). The intertwined character of these problems suggests that none can be resolved independently of the other, that policy must be comprehensive in nature, and that many sources of knowledge may be required to effect their resolution.

A Chorological Study On The Taxa Naturalized In The Eastern Black Sea Region, Sali̇h Terzi̇oğlu, Rahi̇m Anşi̇n

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Diaspores of taxa with large ecological tolerance can be easily carried between continents and some of these taxa become an important factor, threatening the maintenance of plant species diversity, in addition to other factors, such as clear-cutting, over-grazing and dwellings. Chorological study is an important step for conserving plant species diversity, and it provides information about naturalized plant taxa that have migrated from one continent to others. Presenting the floristic relationships between the continents is important for plant geography and paleobotany. The chorological features of 32 taxa of flowering plants belonging to 14 families, naturalized in the Eastern Black Sea …

Notes And Comments: Food Web Laws Or Niche Theory? Six Independent Empirical Tests, Kirk O. Winemiller, Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt, Anthony Joern

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Over the past 2 decades, empirical food webs have been shown to possess regular patterns of various kinds. Some of the first food web patterns were reported as “food web laws,” the most notable being the link-species scaling law. This empirically derived law described an inverse relationship between community species richness and web connectance (Cohen and Briand 1984; Cohen and Newman 1985). Subsequent evaluation of food webs constructed with more detailed data falsified (Warren 1989; Winemiller 1989a, 1990; Hall and Raffaelli 1991; Polis 1991) and modified (Warren 1990; Martinez 1991, 1992; Pimm et al. 1991; Martinez et al. 1999) many …

Gastrointestinal Strongyles In Wild Ruminants, Eric P. Hoberg, A. Alan Kocan, Lora G. Rickard

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Parasitologists have long studied helminth infections in wildlife species and have documented the existence of many organisms from a diversity of mammalian hosts. With this accumulation of information has come improved understanding of the significance of these organisms and the diseases they produce in their mammalian hosts. Some of the most notable examples include the metastrongyloid lungworms, Trichinella spiralis, and Elaeophora schneideri, which are covered separately in this volume. It is, however, for the group of parasites referred to as gastrointestinal nematodes that we have accumulated the most data. Only recently has progress been made in determining the …

Ancestral Divergence, Genome Diversification, And Phylogeographic Variation In Subpopulations Of Sorbitol-Negative, Β-Glucuronidase- Negative Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia Coli O157, Jaehyoung Kim, Joseph Nietfeldt, Jingliang Ju, John Wise, Narelle Fegan, Patricia Desmarchelier, Andrew K. Benson

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The O157:H7 lineage of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli is a geographically disseminated complex of highly related genotypes that share common ancestry. The common clone that is found worldwide carries several markers of events in its evolution, including markers for acquisition of virulence genes and loss of physiological characteristics, such as sorbitol fermentation ability and β-glucuronidase production. Populations of variants that are distinct with respect to motility and the sorbitol and β-glucuronidase markers appear to have diverged at several points along the inferred evolutionary pathway. In addition to these variants, distinct subpopulations of the contemporary non-sorbitol-fermenting, β-glucuronidase-negative O157:H7 clone were recently detected …

Research Needs Concerning Non-Target Impacts Of Biological Control Introductions, K.R. Hopper

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Two workshops were held in 1999 on research needs concerning non-target impacts of biological control introductions. One took place on the Internet for 9 months, and the other in Montpellier, France, for 1 day. Altogether, over 200 researchers from over 30 countries participated, representing a wide variety of viewpoints on the issues involved. The deliberations of these workshops are summarized here. Both workshops highlighted the need for retrospective studies to: (i) identify cases of significant non-target impacts; (ii) explore mechanisms involved when such impacts are found; (iii) evaluate the reliability of host-range testing protocols; and (iv) determine whether and under …

A Critical Evaluation Of Research Techniques In Animal Ecology, Michelle A. Baker

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reproduction, Population Structure, And Recruitment Limitation In A Bay Scallop (Argopecten Irradians Lamarck) Population From New Jersey, Usa, Paul Bologna, A. E. Wilbur, K. W. Able

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A bay scallop, Argopecten irradians irradians (Lamarck 1819), population was studied in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, USA to investigate the distribution, reproduction and genetic structure of the population because virtually nothing is known about this species in this region. Argopecten irradians irradians densities varied among eelgrass (Zostera marina Lamarck) beds in 1998 (range 0.12-1.0 individuals per 10m transect), but were virtually absent from the region in 1999. The absence of adults in 1999 may have been due to limited spat recruitment and survival in the fall of 1998, which may be attributed to a reduction in above ground biomass …

The Importance Of Early Successional Habitats To Rare, Restricted-Range, And Endangered Birds In The Ecuadorian Andes, Mark R. Welford

Earth, Environment & Sustainability: Faculty Publications

Since the mid-1980s, exhausted pastures in Ecuador have been increasingly abandoned, allowing forest regeneration. At approximately 2,200 m in the Tandayapa valley I surveyed four abandoned pastures to evaluate their use by birds. Each former pasture represented a different age of vegetation maturity. The number of bird species recorded in each successively older abandoned pasture increased but only half the number of species recorded in the undisturbed forest site was recorded in the most mature pasture. However, at least four restricted-range bird species were recorded in a single pasture. As pastures rapidly convert to secondary forest, more bird species and …

Comparative Development, Longevity And Population Growth Of Exotic And Native Parasitoids Of Lepidopteran Cereal Stemborers In Kenya, J. C. Mbapila, W. A. Overholt

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Studies on the effect of temperature on the development, longevity and population growth of Cotesia flavipes Cameron and Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron) indicated that the development of both Cotesia spp. from oviposition to cocoon formation and adult emergence was inversely related to temperature. The longevity of the parasitoids was also inversely related to temperature. Both parasitoids lived longer when moisture and food (agar + honey/water) were provided. The mean number of females and total adult progeny produced by C. flavipes on two host species were, in most cases, higher than C. sesamiae. The intrinsic rate of natural increase of C. flavipes …

New Record For Tesarius Rakovic In South America (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Psammodiini), Paul E. Skelley

Insecta Mundi

The genus Tesarius Rakovic (1981) is an interesting group of wingless, nearly eyeless (yet probably functionally blind), sand dune-dwelling scarabs. There are presently 5 species in the genus, T. sulcipennis (Lea 1904) from Tasmania and 4 species in western North America. One of these native North American species, T. caelatus (LeConte 1857) has been found in Britain (Johnson 1975). The genus is reviewed by Rakovic (1981, 1984), who provides a key to species.

The Mayfly Newsletter, Peter M. Grant

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera.

An Account Of Novice Phylogenetic Tree Construction From The Problem-Solving Research Tradition, Terrance E. Brisbin

Dissertations

Both the content and strategic knowledge used in phylogenetic tree construction are described to account for novice performance. A review of the literature is used to place this research with respect to studies in: problem solving studies (both expert, and novice), the history and practice of evolutionary systematics, and the teaching of evolution. The computer-based problem-solving environment is discussed along with model problems used for the research.

Each of the five research problems consists of an encoded matrix containing phylogenetic data organized by taxa and characters. Twelve participants (high school students) volunteered to solve the research problems, on their own …

Transgene And Transposon Silencing In Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii By A Deah-Box Rna Helicase, Dancia Wu-Scharf, Byeong-Ryool Jeong, Chaomei Zhang, Heriberto D. Cerutti

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

The molecular mechanism(s) responsible for posttranscriptional gene silencing and RNA interference remain poorly understood. We have cloned a gene (Mut6) from the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that is required for the silencing of a transgene and two transposon families. Mut6 encodes a protein that is highly homologous to RNA helicases of the DEAH-box family. This protein is necessary for the degradation of certain aberrant RNAs, such as improperly processed transcripts, which are often produced by transposons and some transgenes.

Observations On Amphibians And Reptiles In Burned And Unburned Forests On The Upper Coastal Plain Of Virginia, Joseph C. Mitchell

Virginia Journal of Science

I evaluate the results of a short-term study on the effects of prescribed burning on terrestrial amphibians and reptiles on Fort A.P. Hill, Caroline County, Virginia. Six species of amphibians and reptiles were observed in unburned sites and eight species were observed in burned sites. More individual amphibians (46) were observed in unburned stands than in burned stands (15). Adults of two species (Bufo americanus, Plethodon cinereus) were found dead under logs in the still smoldering prescribed burn. The results of this study suggest that prescribed burning may have some negative effects on amphibians and reptiles. Because …

Botanizing With Darwin, Duncan M. Porter

Virginia Journal of Science

Note: Sidney S. Negus Memorial Lecture, Radford University, May 25, 2000

From the introduction: In this paper, I will take a look at Darwin's life and some of his botanical and other interests. I will also indicate where his and my paths have crossed during my own career as a botanist.

Determination Of Wax Concentration In Sunflower-Seed Oil, Silvana Martini, M.C. Anon

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Isothermal crystallization of waxes was studied by using an optical setup. The induction time of crystallization was assessed as a function of wax concentration. The relationship was found to be a decreasing exponential curve. The wax content of some of the solutions prepared in the laboratory was determined by calculating the crystallization induction time. The values obtained were compared to those from different methods (cold test, microscopic, and turbidimetric methods). The results obtained with the optical setup method are similar to those obtained with other methods for concentrations greater than 100 ppm. An analysis of variance test was used to …

Semantic Web And Information Brokering: Opportunities, Commercialization, And Challenges, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

From the chairs' report published in SIGMOD record: The keynote address entitled 'Semantic Web and Information Brokering: Opportunities, Early Commercializations, and Challenges' was delivered by Amit Sheth (University of Georgia and Taalee Corp). Sheth characterized semantics as the next step in the evolution of the WWW and stressed the importance of semantically organized information for supporting ubiquitous, powerful, accurate and efficient access to this information. Sheth also reviewed proposals for semantic interoperability frameworks such as the DAML(DARPA Agent Mark-Up Language), the Oingo family of tools for defining concepts and extracting knowledge from large databases, as well as several scenarios on …

Effect Of The Direction Of The Blast On Vegetation Recovery Within The Zone Of Devastation Created By The May 18, 1980 Eruption Of Mount St. Helens, Washington, Dmitri Barkovsky

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A number of different remote sensing techniques were used to analyze Landsat TM image data in order to study vegetation recovery patterns at three locations within the zone of devastation of Mount St. Helens (MSH). Prior to the May 18, 1980 eruption, the vegetation in the area ofMSH was characterized by mature coniferous forest disturbed only by a few clearcuts, according to analysis of Landsat MSS data. As a result of the MSH eruption, more than 600 sq. km of the area predominantly north of the volcano were severely devastated by a number of volcanic events such as phreatic explosions, …

Growing Lavender In Western Australia, Aileen Reid

Bulletins 4000 -

Lavender oil is an essential oil, derived from plants (genus Lavendulai primarily by steam distillation of the flowers. There are several types of lavender oil. The 'true' lavender oil, and the most highly prized, comes from Lavendula augustifolia; it is primarily used in the fragrance and perfume industry. World production is about 200 tonnes per year. Spike lavender oil, derived from Lavendula latifolia, has a world production of about 150-200 tonnes per year. Lavandin oil is derived from hybrids of L. augustifolia x L. latifolia that yield much higher than L. augustifolia but the oil is lower quality, hence it …