Digital Commons Network^™

Use Of Plumage And Gular Pouch Color To Evaluate Condition Of Oil Spill Rehabilitated California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis Californicus) Post-Release, Deborah L. Jaques, Kyra L. Mills, Barton G. Selby, Richard R. Veit, Michael H. Ziccardi

Publications and Research

Sublethal effects of oil spills may dampen seabird rehabilitation success due to lingering negative impacts of contamination and stress on reproduction and long-term survival. These effects can be difficult to measure while birds are in care as well as once birds are released. Expression of sexually selected traits that are sensitive to condition can provide information on physiological status of birds. We evaluated plumage molt and gular pouch skin color of California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) following oil contamination and rehabilitation to test for differences between previously oiled and rehabilitated (post-spill) and presumably uncontaminated pelicans. Post-spill pelicans released with …

Distribution And Population Structure Of The Invasive Nitellopsis Obtusa (Desv. In Loisel.) J. Groves And Native Species Of Characeae In The Northeast U.S.A., Robin Sleith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most biologically diverse environments on Earth. Billions of humans rely on functioning freshwater ecosystems for drinking water and many other services. These ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human impacts including nutrient pollution, invasive species, and climate change. Here I contribute four research chapters that investigate freshwater diversity and ecosystem threats using the Characeae, a family of freshwater green macroalgae, as a study system. Characeae are a diverse and ancient group with more than 500 extant species and a fossil history spanning at least 250 million years. These algae are macrophytes in freshwater ecosystems, and …

Historical Ecology And Longitudinal Research Strategies Around Lake Mývatn Iceland, Thomas Mcgovern, George Hambrecht, Megan Hicks

Publications and Research

Historical Ecology has proven to be a very influential tool kit for thinking about complex human interactions with changing landscapes, climate, and other humans. It has also provided concrete and practical frameworks for carrying out sustained long- term place-based research projects that break through traditional periodization to look at the dialectical interaction of human economies and local and regional ecosystems through time. The “longitudinal perspective” pioneered by Carole Crumley’s work in Burgundy has proved to be a very effective tool for carrying out sustained multi-year, multi-investigator, and multi- generational investigations in landscapes around the globe. This paper presents an overview …

Do Saproxylic Curculionids Affect The Fitness Of Co-Occurring Cerambycids?, Sheila R. Heath

Dissertations and Theses

Saproxylic insects sometimes coexist in incredibly high numbers under bark and share common resources. Thus, interactions between species are possible and could even explain their coexistence. This study investigates evidence of negative or positive effects of curculionid beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on cerambycid beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) that coexisted in dead tree branches in Costa Rica. Co-occurrence analysis and generalized regressions were used to test associations between cerambycid and curculionid species. Three cerambycid species that each co-occurred with a curculionid species were selected to measure fitness. Fitness measures of the cerambycid were compared with abundance of the co-occurring curculionid to assess the …

Niche Shifts, Species Distributions, And Genetic Diversity In Gymnophthalminae Lizards, With A Focus On Microclimates And Thermophysiology, Maria Strangas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The environmental niche is a central organizing concept in the study of ecology and evolution, as the environmental conditions in which species can persist (their fundamental niches) and the conditions in which they occur (their realized niches) can shape spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity at multiple scales. How organisms at different levels of biological organization are affected by environmental heterogeneity has consequences for the distribution of genetic and phenotypic diversity, yet the mechanisms through which this occurs are poorly studied. In this dissertation, I present three research chapters that explore how species’ traits and their microclimatic environments shape biodiversity …

A Contribution Toward A Global Monograph Of Gyroporus: Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Biogeography, Naveed Davoodian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gyroporus (Sclerodermatineae, Boletales, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi) is a genus of ectomycorrhizal mushroom-forming fungi distributed throughout the world in suitable habitats. Previous attempts to untangle the diversity of this genus proved difficult due to the presence of semi-cryptic species and equivocal results from phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal RNA markers. To overcome these obstacles, a combined taxonomic and phylogenetic (emphasizing protein-coding genes) approach is used here to delimit species and elucidate geographic and evolutionary patterns of Gyroporus. Careful study of relevant literature and herbarium specimens was augmented by field work in North America, Australia, and East Asia for observation and collection …

A Prospective Study Of Frequency Of Eating Restaurant Prepared Meals And Subsequent 9-Year Risk Of All-Cause And Cardiometabolic Mortality In Us Adults, Ashima K. Kant, Barry I. Graubard

Publications and Research

Restaurant prepared foods are known to be energy-dense and high in fat and sodium, but lower in protective nutrients. There is evidence of higher risk of adiposity, type II diabetes, and heart disease in frequent consumers of restaurant meals. However, the risk of mortality as a long-term health consequence of frequent consumption of restaurant meals has not been examined. We examined the prospective risk of all-cause and coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and diabetes (cardiometabolic) mortality in relation to frequency of eating restaurant prepared meals in a national cohort. We used frequency of eating restaurant prepared meals information collected in …

Social Science Perspectives On Drivers Of And Responses To Global, Andrew K. Jorgenson, Shirley Fiske, Klaus Hubacek, Jia Li, Tom Mcgovern, Torben Rick, Juliet B. Schor, William Solecki, Richard York, Ariela Zycherman

Publications and Research

This article provides a review of recent anthropological, archeological, geographical, and sociological research on anthropogenic drivers of climate change, with a particular focus on drivers of carbon emissions, mitigation and adaptation. The four disciplines emphasize cultural, economic, geographic, historical, political, and social‐structural factors to be important drivers of and responses to climate change. Each of these disciplines has unique perspectives and makes noteworthy contributions to our shared understanding of anthropogenic drivers, but they also complement one another and contribute to integrated, multidisciplinary frameworks. The article begins with discussions of research on temporal dimensions of human drivers of carbon emissions, highlighting …

Large-Scale Differences In Microbial Biodiversity Discovery Between 16s Amplicon And Shotgun Sequencing, Michael Tessler, Johannes S. Neumann, Ebrahim Afshinnekoo, Michael Pineda, Rebecca Hersch, Luiz Felipe M. Velgo, Bianca T. Segovia, Fabio A. Lansac-Toha, Michael Lemke, Rob Desalle, Christopher E. Mason, Mercer R. Brugler

Publications and Research

Modern metagenomic environmental DNA studies are almost completely reliant on next-generation sequencing, making evaluations of these methods critical. We compare two next-generation sequencing techniques – amplicon and shotgun – on water samples across four of Brazil’s major river floodplain systems (Amazon, Araguaia, Paraná, and Pantanal). Less than 50% of phyla identified via amplicon sequencing were recovered from shotgun sequencing, clearly challenging the dogma that mid-depth shotgun recovers more diversity than amplicon-based approaches. Amplicon sequencing also revealed ~27% more families. Overall the amplicon data were more robust across both biodiversity and community ecology analyses at different taxonomic scales. Our work doubles …

Incorporating Place And Space: A Hierarchical Spatial Approach To Exploring Preventable Congestive Heart Failure Hospitalizations In New York City, Rachael Weiss Riley

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Faced with rising medical care costs, increasing prevalence, and widening health disparities, preventing congestive heart failure (CHF) hospitalizations is a central public health concern. Despite evidence of geographical clustering in preventable CHF admissions, there is a lack of research designed to examine spatial patterning of CHF and the local area neighborhood determinants that contribute to this variability. This study sought to assess and evaluate the importance of both space and place in analyzing preventable CHF hospitalizations and readmissions by applying appropriate statistical techniques, clarifying the assumption inherent in each method, and interpreting the findings within the context of existing …

Acute Memory And Psychotomimetic Effects Of Cannabis And Tobacco Both ‘Joint’ And Individually: A Placebo-Controlled Trial, C. Hindocha, T. P. Freeman, J. X. Xia, N. D. C. Shaban, H. V. Curran

Publications and Research

Background. Cannabis and tobacco have contrasting cognitive effects. Smoking cannabis with tobacco is prevalent in many countries and although this may well influence cognitive and mental health outcomes, the possibility has rarely been investigated in human experimental psychopharmacological research.

Method. The individual and interactive effects of cannabis and tobacco were evaluated in 24 non-dependent cannabis and tobacco smokers in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, 2 (cannabis, placebo) × 2 (tobacco, placebo) crossover design. Verbal memory (prose recall), working memory (WM) performance including maintenance, manipulation and attention (N-back), psychotomimetic, subjective and cardiovascular measures were recorded on each of four sessions.

Results. Cannabis …

Ecological Correlations Of Dietary Food Intake And Mental Health Disorders, Jordan Hoerr, Joshua Fogel, Benjamin Van Voorhees

Publications and Research

This paper examines the ecological association of dietary food intake with mental health outcomes on the group level across countries. Published data from the World Mental Health Survey were used to compare lifetime prevalence of four categories of mental health disorders (anxiety disorders, mood disorders, impulse control disorders, and substance use disorders) with a country’s fish/seafood and sugar/sweetener supply quantity using the Spearman rank correlation. Data were compared for 17 countries across the world. Sugar and sweetener supply quantity was significantly and positively associated with anxiety disorders (rho = 0.75, p = 0.001), mood disorders (rho = 0.75, p = …

Gait Changes In A Line Of Mice Artificially Selected For Longer Limbs, Leah M. Sparrow, Emily Pellattt, Sabrina S. Yu, David A. Raichlen, Herman Pontzer, Campbell Rolian

Publications and Research

In legged terrestrial locomotion, the duration of stance phase, i.e., when limbs are in contact with the substrate, is positively correlated with limb length, and negatively correlated with the metabolic cost of transport. These relationships are well documented at the interspecific level, across a broad range of body sizes and travel speeds. However, such relationships are harder to evaluate within species (i.e., where natural selection operates), largely for practical reasons, including low population variance in limb length, and the presence of confounding factors such as body mass, or training. Here, we compared spatiotemporal kinematics of gait in Longshanks, a long-legged …

Are Weevils Picky Eaters? Community Structure And Host Specificity Of Neotropical Saproxylic Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Jhunior A. Morillo

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract Primary saproxylic beetles play a major role in forest nutrient cycling and making deadwood accessible to other decomposers. Understanding beetle host preferences and patterns of community assembly is critical for their conservation, and for predicting which species might become invasive. This project aims to investigate the ecological and host specificity, as well as the community composition of curculionids in a mosaic of old-growth (OG) and secondary forest on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. The subfamily Scolytinae was expected to be the most species-rich and abundant. Ambrosia beetles were expected to have more generalist species than other curculionids. Old growth …

Lessons From The Past: Unfolding The Dynamics Among Climate, Balkan Landscapes, And Humans Over The Past Millennium, Charuta J. Kulkarni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The primary objective of this doctoral dissertation is to reconstruct the environmental history of the Central Balkans (Serbia) over the past millennium utilizing biological proxies (pollen, spores, and charcoal), geochemical signals through X-ray fluorescence (XRF), statistical analyses, and atomic mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C chronology. This dissertation establishes the first chronological framework for vegetation-landscape changes in Serbia and discusses the role of humans and climate as underlying processes.

Chapter 1 discusses the background and the nature of the research problem followed by the extensive literature review on the topic of the Holocene climate and paleoecology. The state of Holocene paleoecology …

A Global Edna Comparison Of Freshwater Bacterioplankton Assemblages Focusing On Large-River Floodplain Lakes Of Brazil, Michael Tessler, Mercer R. Brugler, Rob Desalle, Rebecca Hersch, Luiz Felipe M. Velho, Bianca T. Segovia, Fabio A. Lansac-Toha, Michael J. Lemke

Publications and Research

With its network of lotic and lentic habitats that shift during changes in seasonal connection, the tropical and subtropical large-river systems represent possibly the most dynamic of all aquatic environments. Pelagic water samples were collected from Brazilian floodplain lakes (total n = 58) in four floodpulsed systems (Amazon [n = 21], Araguaia [n = 14], Paraná [n = 15], and Pantanal [n = 8]) in 2011–2012 and sequenced via 454 for bacterial environmental DNA using 16S amplicons; additional abiotic field and laboratory measurements were collected for the assayed lakes.We report here a global comparison of the bacterioplankton makeup of freshwater …

Integrating Social Determinants Of Health With Treatment And Prevention: A New Tool To Assess Local Area Deprivation, Andrew R. Maroko, Thao M. Doan, Peter S. Arno, Megan Hubel, Shirley Yi, Deborah Viola

Publications and Research

We assessed the appropriate geographic scale to apply an area deprivation index (ADI), which reflects a geographic area’s level of socioeconomic deprivation and is associated with health outcomes, to identify and screen patients for social determinants of health. We estimated the relative strength of the association between the ADI at various geographic levels and a range of hospitalization rates by using age-adjusted odds ratios in an 8-county region of New York State. The 10-km local ADI estimates had the strongest associations with all hospitalization rates (higher odds ratios) followed by estimates at 20 km, 30 km, and the regional scale. …

Examining Victimization In South Korea 1993-2010: A Comparative Application Of Ecological Theories Of Crime, Jisun Choi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Theoretical approaches aimed at the understanding of population level criminal offending and victimization generally revolve around two major criminological theories: Social disorganization and routine activities/lifestyle theories. These theoretical frameworks were developed and have been examined extensively in a Western context (primarily in the U.S.) and provide evidence of both individual and aggregate indicators for the explanation of variations in crime. More recently, these approaches have been extended to the Eastern context as increasing numbers of studies have been conducted outside of the U.S. This application is relatively recent and the literature has yet to find conclusive supporting evidence for these …

Factors Associated With Initiation Of Antiretroviral Therapy In The Advanced Stages Of Hiv Infection In Six Ethiopian Hiv Clinics, 2012 To 2013, Denis Nash, Olga Tymejczyk, Tsigereda Gadisa, Sarah Gorrell Kulkarni, Susie Hoffman, Muluneh Yigzaw, Batya Elul, Robert H. Remien, Maria Lahuerta, Shalo Daba, Wafaa El Sadr, Zenebe Melaku

Publications and Research

Introduction: Most HIV-positive persons in sub-Saharan Africa initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART) with advanced infection (late ART initiation). Intervening on the drivers of late ART initiation is a critical step towards achieving the full potential of HIV treatment scale-up. This study aimed to identify modifiable factors associated with late ART initiation in Ethiopia.

Methods: From 2012 to 2013, Ethiopian adults (n=1180) were interviewed within two weeks of ART initiation. Interview data were merged with HIV care histories to assess correlates of late ART initiation (CD4+ count <150 cells/mL or World Health Organization Stage IV).

Results: The median CD4 count at enrolment in HIV care was 263 cells/mL (interquartile range …

Neighborhood Matters: The Impact Of Hispanic Ethnic Density On Future Depressive Symptoms 1-Year Following An Acs Event Among Hispanic Patients, Ellen-Ge Denton, Jonathan Shaffer, Carmela Alcantara, Esteban Cadermil

Publications and Research

The Ethnic Density hypothesis posits that living around others from similar ethnic backgrounds reduces the risk of adverse mental health outcomes such as depression. Contrary to this hypothesis, previous work has shown that Hispanic ethnic density is cross-sectionally associated with increased depressive symptom severity among patients hospitalized with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS; myocardial infarction or unstable angina pectoris). To date, no study has examined the prospective association of Hispanic ethnic density on long-term depressive symptom severity following an acute medical event. We prospectively assessed the impact of Hispanic ethnic density on depressive symptoms, 1-year following an ACS event, among …

Modern Foraminiferal Assemblages Of The Denmark Strait, Laura Larocca

Dissertations and Theses

Foraminifera occupy a geological range from the early Cambrian to the present day. Their well preserved shells, high relative abundance, and short response time to changing environmental conditions make foraminifera ideal proxies for environmental change. Benthic foraminifera are a valuable but poorly understood paleobiological proxy for the reconstruction of environmental conditions on continental shelves occupied by arctic and subarctic waters. This study identifies, examines, and quantifies calcareous benthic foraminiferal faunas from a sediment core taken from the Denmark Strait. Our analysis of three-thousand individuals from ten discrete samples aim to provide a better understanding of the modern patterns of foraminiferal …

'At-Risk' Places: Inequaties In The Distribution Of Environmental Stressors And Prescription Rates Of Mental Health Medications In Glasgow, Scotland, Juliana A. Maantay, Andrew Maroko

Publications and Research

Using geospatial analytical methods, this study examines the association between one aspect of the built environment, namely, the concentration of vacant and derelict land (VDL), and the prevalence of mental health disorders (using the proxy variable of mental health medication prescription rates) in Glasgow, Scotland. This study builds on our previous research, which demonstrated the spatial correspondence between the locations of VDL in Glasgow and several physical health outcomes. Numerous studies of other locales have found similar correspondence between different elements of the built environment and various health outcomes. This is the first study of its kind to look at …

Spatial Associations Between Contaminated Land And Socio Demographics In Ghana, Russell Dowling, Bret Ericson, Jack Caravanos, Patrick Grigsby, Yaw Amoyaw-Osei

Publications and Research

Associations between contaminated land and socio demographics are well documented in high-income countries. In low- and middle-income countries, however, little is known about the extent of contaminated land and possible demographic correlations. This is an important yet sparsely researched topic with potentially significant public health implications as exposure to pollution remains a leading source of morbidity and mortality in low-income countries. In this study, we review the associations between several socio demographic factors (population, population density, unemployment, education, and literacy) and contaminated sites in Ghana. Within this context, both correlation and association intend to show the relationship between two variables, …

Supporting Teachers’ Learning About Mathematical Modeling, June L. Gastón, Barbara A. Lawrence

Publications and Research

In the United States, one of the Standards for Mathematical Practice of the Common Core Curriculum (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010) is Model with mathematics. This standard requires that students be taught in a manner that will enable them to ―apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace‖ (p. 7). However many prospective and practicing teachers acquire a pedagogical style that does not support this standard. To promote higher levels of student thinking associated with mathematical modeling, teachers must thus be taught not only what mathematical modeling is, but how it …

Environmental Expertise In The Age Of Research: Institutional Process And Environmental Science In The American Far West, 1950-2014., Nathan D. Woods

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on how academic experts have gone about creating university- based programs in Environmental Science (ES). Since the 1940's, with the emergence of the postwar research economy, the U.S higher education system has increasingly become a vector of institutional change, innovation, and economic growth. This has had a dramatic impact on the social role of knowledge and collective expectations for faculty and expert work. In this context, academic experts in the mid 1960's championed a movement to develop university-based programs integrating interdisciplinary environmental research with the expert use of science in decision-making. I pay particular attention to the …

Incipient Speciation In Freshwater Fish Species From Two Isolated Watersheds, Paula Gore Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The process of speciation occurs as a result of restricted gene flow between segments of an interbreeding population occupying different geographic areas. This separation may result in isolated populations which undergo genetic and phenotypic changes. The Wisconsin glacial period, which ended approximately 17,500 years ago, dramatically altered the geography of North America. The glacier covered almost the entire North America as it advanced. Areas that were not covered with ice provided suitable habitats (refugia) for relict species that were previously widespread in the northern section of the continent. As the ice sheet retreated, animals and plants were able to return …

Effect Of The New York City Overdose Prevention Program On Unintentional Heroin-Related Overdose Death, 2000-2012, Anne Elizabeth Siegler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Drug overdose mortality is the leading cause of injury death in both the United States (US) and New York City (NYC). Heroin-related overdoses make up the majority of overdoses in NYC. Since 2006, when a law was passed that allowed for layperson administration of naloxone, an opioid antagonist, heroin-related overdose deaths have decreased in NYC. No studies to date have investigated a possible association between the implementation of this intervention and heroin-related overdose mortality.

Objectives: To investigate the possible association between overdose prevention programs (OPPs) and heroin-related overdose mortality in NYC, using interrupted time series and geospatial analytic …

Phylogeography Of Southeast Asian Flying Foxes (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Pteropus), Susan Man Shu Tsang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Flying foxes (Pteropus) are a genus of Old World fruit bats that are important seed dispersers and pollinators for plants native to the 200,000+ islands in Southeast Asia, yet they are some of the most poorly known bats in the world. They comprise some of the largest known bat species, and are morphologically relatively conserved on the genus level. Pteropus is the most species-rich genus within Pteropodidae, though the origin for this diversity remains incompletely understood. In Chapter 1, I discuss the importance of Pteropus to the ecosystem and as reservoir hosts. In Chapter 2, a molecular phylogeny is presented …

Identifying Individual Risk Factors And Documenting The Pattern Of Heat-Related Illness Through Analyses Of Hospitalization And Patterns Of Household Cooling, Michael T. Schmeltz, Grace Sembajwe, Peter J. Marcotullio, Jean A. Grassman, David U. Himmelstein, Stephanie Woolhandler

Publications and Research

Background
As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events researchers and public health officials must work towards understanding the causes and outcomes of heat-related morbidity and mortality. While there have been many studies on both heatrelated illness (HRI), there are fewer on heat-related morbidity than on heatrelated mortality.

Objective
To identify individual and environmental risk factors for hospitalizations and document patterns of household cooling.

Methods
We performed a pooled cross-sectional analysis of secondary U.S. data, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Risk ratios were calculated from multivariable models to identify risk factors for hospitalizations. Hierarchical modeling was also …

Octopus Tetricus (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) As An Ecosystem Engineer, David Scheel, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Matthew Lawrence

Publications and Research

The Sydney octopus (Octopus tetricus) occurs in unusual numbers on a shell bed of its prey remains that have accumulated as an extended midden where additional octopuses excavate dens. Here, O tetricus are ecosystem engineers, organisms that modulate availability of resources to other species and to their own species by causing physical state changes in materials. A community of invertebrate grazers and scavengers has developed on the shell bed. Fishes are attracted to the shell bed in numbers significantly greater than in nearby habitats. Large predators, including wobbegong sharks, were attracted to and fed on concentrations of fish, inhibiting the …