Digital Commons Network^™

Preparedness, Planning, And Advances In Operational Response, David G. Westerholm, Cameron H. Ainsworth, Christopher H. Barker, Peter G. Brewer, John W. Farrington, Dubravko Justić, Vassiliki H. Kourafalou, Steven A. Murawski, John G. Shepherd, Helena M. Solo-Gabriele

Faculty Publications

During the last 50 years, the numbers and sizes of oil spills have been significantly reduced through prevention. But spills still occur, and it is critical to prepare for these events through planning and exercises. Operational decisions are designed to expedite cleanup and minimize overall impacts, yet they often involve complex tradeoffs between a multitude of competing interests. It is imperative to apply the best technology and science when events occur. However, while planning and response tactics have evolved over time, determining what may be most at risk is often confounded by sparse background data, modeling limitations, scalability, or research …

Physical Transport Processes That Affect The Distribution Of Oil In The Gulf Of Mexico Observations And Modeling, Michel Boufadel, Annalisa Bracco, Eric P. Chassignet, Shuyi S. Chen, Eric D’Asaro, William K. Dewar, Oscar Garcia-Pineda, Dubravko Justić, Joseph Katz, Vassiliki H. Kourafalou, Ian R. Macdonald, Tamay M. Özgökmen, Claire B. Paris-Limouzy, Scott S. Socolofsky, David Halpern, John G. Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Physical transport processes such as the circulation and mixing of waters largely determine the spatial distribution of materials in the ocean. They also establish the physical environment within which biogeochemical and other processes transform materials, including naturally occurring nutrients and human-made contaminants that may sustain or harm the region’s living resources. Thus, understanding and modeling the transport and distribution of materials provides a crucial substrate for determining the effects of biological, geological, and chemical processes. The wide range of scales in which these physical processes operate includes microscale droplets and bubbles; small-scale turbulence in buoyant plumes and the near-surface “mixed” …

A Reporting Format For Leaf-Level Gas Exchange Data And Metadata, Kim S. Ely, Alistair Rogers, Deborah A. Agarwal, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Loren P. Albert, Ashehad Ali, Jeremiah Anderson, Michael J. Aspinwall, Chandra Bellasio, Carl Bernacchi, Steve Bonnage, Thomas N. Buckley, James Bunce, Angela C. Burnett, Florian A. Busch, Amanda Cavanagh, Lucas A. Cernusak, Robert Crystal-Ornelas, Joan Damerow, Kenneth J. Davidson, Martin G. De Kauwe, Michael C. Dietze, Tomas F. Domingues, Mirindi Eric Dusenge, David S. Ellsworth, John R. Evans, Paul P.G. Gauthier, Bruno O. Gimenez, Elizabeth P. Gordon, Christopher M. Gough, Aud H. Halbritter, David T. Hanson, Mary Heskel, J. Aaron Hogan, Jason R. Hupp, Kolby Jardine, Jens Kattge, Trevor Keenan, Johannes Kromdijk, Dushan P. Kumarathunge, Julien Lamour, Andrew D.B. Leakey, David S. Lebauer, Qianyu Li, Marjorie R. Lundgren, Nate Mcdowell, Katherine Meacham-Hensold, Belinda E. Medlyn, David J.P. Moore, Robinson Negrón-Juárez, Ülo Niinemets, Colin P. Osborne, Alexandria L. Pivovaroff, Hendrik Poorter, Sasha C. Reed, Youngryel Ryu, Alvaro Sanz-Saez, Stephanie C. Schmiege, Shawn P. Serbin, Thomas D. Sharkey, Martijn Slot, Nicholas G. Smith, Balasaheb V. Sonawane, Paul F. South, Daisy C. Souza, Joseph Ronald Stinziano, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Samuel H. Taylor, Mauricio D. Tejera, Johan Uddling, Vigdis Vandvik, Charuleka Varadharajan, Anthony P. Walker, Berkley J. Walker, Jeffrey M. Warren, Danielle A. Way, Brett T. Wolfe, Jin Wu, Stan D. Wullschleger, Chonggang Xu, Zhengbing Yan, Dedi Yang

Faculty Publications

© 2021 The Authors Leaf-level gas exchange data support the mechanistic understanding of plant fluxes of carbon and water. These fluxes inform our understanding of ecosystem function, are an important constraint on parameterization of terrestrial biosphere models, are necessary to understand the response of plants to global environmental change, and are integral to efforts to improve crop production. Collection of these data using gas analyzers can be both technically challenging and time consuming, and individual studies generally focus on a small range of species, restricted time periods, or limited geographic regions. The high value of these data is exemplified by …

The Effects Of Mechanical Rocking Motion On Transdifferentiating Feline Adipose Multipotent Stromal Cells Into Functioning Pancreatic Β-Cell Like Islets, Emily Halphen

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Knock Knock, Who’S There? Communications In Closed Environments With A Special Focus On Vietnam Pows, Carrie Cole

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Long‐Term Monitoring Reveals Differential Responses Mussel And Host Fish Communities In A Biodiversity Hotspot, Irene Sanchez Gonzalez, Garrett W. Hopper, Jamie Bucholz, Carla L. Atkinson

Faculty Publications

Biodiversity hotspots can serve as protected areas that aid in species conservation. Long-term monitoring of multiple taxonomic groups within biodiversity hotspots can offer insight into factors influencing their dynamics. Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) and fish are highly diverse and imperiled groups of organisms with contrasting life histories that should influence their response to ecological factors associated with local and global change. Here we use historical and contempo-rary fish and mussel survey data to assess fish and mussel community changes over a 33 year period (1986–2019) and relationships between mussel abundance and their host fish abundance in Bogue Chitto Creek, a tributary …

Revamping Ecosystem Services Through Agroecology—The Case Of Cereals, Gomathy Sethuraman, Nurul Amalina Mohd Zain, Sumiani Yusoff, Yin Mei Ng, Niranjan Baisakh, Acga Cheng

Faculty Publications

Globally, farming systems are mostly dominated by monoculture, which has the advantage of profitability at the expense of ecological systems. Recent years have witnessed an increasing mo-mentum in global efforts to deploy sustainable agriculture practices that mimic ecological processes, with agroecology at the forefront. In addition to the ecological aspect, agroecology also encompasses economic and social aspects targeting the whole food system. Transformative agroecology has been recognized as a stepping stone to achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), due to its great potential to build climate change-resilient farming systems while enhancing ecosystem services and reducing biodiversity loss. Nonetheless, the available …

The Influence Of Geographic Variation In Vegetation Characteristics On Habitat Use And Productivity Of An Endangered Warbler, Ashley M. Long, Heather A. Mathewson, Michael L. Morrison

Faculty Publications

Understanding how geographic variation in environmental conditions influences species’ distributions and population dynamics is critical for effective management of at-risk species and can help us anticipate wildlife responses to future change. The Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia; hereafter warbler) is an endangered migratory songbird that nests in oak-juniper woodland in Texas. From 2009 to 2013, we monitored 895 warbler territories at 90 study sites located across the warbler's breeding range to examine how geographic variation in vegetation characteristics influenced aspects of warbler habitat selection and productivity. We found range-wide variation in the tree species composition and vegetation structure of warbler habitat. …

Documentation Of Atlantic Tarpon (Megalops Atlanticus) Space Use And Move Persistence In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Facilitated By Angler Advocates, J. Marcus Drymon, Matthew B. Jargowsky, Michael A. Dance, Mitchell Lovell, Crystal Lou Allen Hightower, Amanda E. Jefferson, Andrea M. Kroetz, Sean P. Powers

Faculty Publications

Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus, hereafter tarpon) are facing a multitude of stressors and are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN; however, significant gaps remain in our understanding of tarpon space use and movement. From 2018 to 2019, citizen scientists facilitated tagging of 23 tarpon with SPOT tags to examine space use and movement across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Movement-based kernel densities were used to estimate simplified biased random bridge-based utilization distributions and a joint move persistence model was used to estimate a behavioral index for each fish. Tarpon showed consistent east–west movement from the Alabama/Florida border to Louisiana, and utilization …

Use Of Taxonomic And Trait-Based Approaches To Evaluate The Effect Of Bt Maize Expressing Cry1ie Protein On Non-Target Collembola: A Case Study In Northeast China, Bai Feng Wang, Feng Ci Wu, Jun Qi Yin, Zhi Lei Jiang, Xin Yuan Song, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

To evaluate the effect of Bt maize expressing Cry1Ie protein on non-target soil Collembola, a two-year field study was conducted in Northeast China. Bt maize line IE09S034 and its near isoline Zong 31 were selected as experimental crops; we investigated the collembolan community using both taxonomic and trait-based approaches, and elucidated the relationship between environmental variables and the collembolan community using redundancy analysis (RDA).The ANOVA results showed that maize variety neither had significant effect on the parameters based on taxonomic approach (abundance, species richness, Shannon–Wiener index, Pielou’s evenness index), nor on the parameters based on trait-based approach (ocelli number, body …

Characterization Of The Spatial Distribution Of Alfalfa Weevil, Hypera Postica, And Its Natural Enemies, Using Geospatial Models, Govinda Shrestha, Jhalendra P. Rijal, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of prey and predator distributions can provide valuable insights into pest management strategies and conservation of natural enemies in agro-ecosystems. The alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal), is an economically important pest of alfalfa throughout the western United States. Coccinellids and nabids are among the most important natural enemies of this species, contributing to the biological control of H. postica in alfalfa fields. The spatio-temporal dynamics of H. postica and these two predator groups were investigated using 81 (= 9 × 9 grid) sample points in each of five alfalfa fields in north-central Montana. The data …

Disturbed Amazonian Forests Support Diminished Breeding Bird Communities, Cameron L. Rutt, Michael D. Kaller, Philip C. Stouffer

Faculty Publications

Twenty percent of the Brazilian Amazon has now been deforested, and deforestation rates are increasing. This compels us to evaluate the conservation potential of human-modified landscapes; yet the ecological value of regenerating and fragmented Amazonian forests remains poorly understood. To date, most faunal studies in disturbed forests have examined metrics derived from presence or abundance. Although valuable, these data cannot tell us how old-growth species are using disturbed forests. In this study, we complement presence data with breeding observations to assess more comprehensively the habitat quality of disturbed forests in central Amazonia. We synthesized breeding evidence from standardized passive mist-netting, …

Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass Restores Islet Function And Morphology Independent Of Body Weight In Zdf Rats, J. David Mosinski, Ali Aminian, Christopher L. Axelrod, Esam Batayyah, Hector Romero-Talamas, Christopher Daigle, Anny Mulya, Amanda Scelsi, Philip R. Schauer, Stacy A. Brethauer, John P. Kirwan

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Reductions in b-cell number and function contribute to the onset type 2 diabetes (T2D). Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery can resolve T2D within days of operation, indicating a weight-independent mechanism of glycemic control. We hypothesized that RYGB normalizes glucose homeostasis by restoring b-cell structure and function. Male Zucker Diabetic Fatty (fa/fa; ZDF) rats were randomized to sham surgery (n = 16), RYGB surgery (n = 16), or pair feeding (n = 16). Age-matched lean (fa/ þ) rats (n = 8) were included as a secondary control. Postprandial metabolism was assessed by oral glucose tolerance testing before and 27 days after …

Zein And Lignin-Based Nanoparticles As Delivery Systems: Pesticide Release And Nanoparticle Health Impact On Soybean Plants, Fallon Polette Salinas Gonzalez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research examined the effect of biodegradable, polymeric, lignin-based nanoparticles (LNPs, 113.8±3.4, negatively charged) and zein nanoparticles (ZNP, 141.6±3.9, positively charged) on soybean plant health. The LNPs were synthesized from lignin, covalently linked to poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid by emulsion evaporation. ZNPs were synthesized by nanoprecipitation. Soybeans grown hydroponically were treated with three concentrations (0.02, 0.2, and 2 mg/ml) of NPs at 28 days after germination. The effect of ZNPs and LNPs on plant health was determined through analysis of root and stem length, chlorophyll concentration, dry biomass of roots and stem, as well as carbon, nitrogen, and micronutrient absorption after 1, …

Development Of Engineered Soil Surrogates For Modeling Natural Soil Sorption Behavior, Ghada Yehia Abdalla

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The land produces more than 95% of the global food supply, and with a continuously growing population, we need to optimize the use of the available agricultural land. Soil organic matter (SOM) is an essential component of soils, especially concerning their fertility and sorption behavior. The chemical composition of the SOM consists of lipids, lignin, and cellulose. However, the heterogeneous and complex nature of SOM, and real soils, makes their study challenging and introduces uncontrollable factors.

Therefore, structural mimics of natural soils with increasing complexity representing the real soil functionality were synthesized and evaluated for bulk properties related to their …

Effects Of Spatial Variability On The Exposure Of Fish To Hypoxia: A Modeling Analysis For The Gulf Of Mexico, Elizabeth D. Labone, Kenneth A. Rose, Dubravko Justic, Haosheng Huang, Lixia Wang

Faculty Publications

The hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico varies spatially (area, location) and temporally (onset, duration) on multiple scales. Exposure of fish to hypoxic dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations (

Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology And Ecology Of The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West-Central Louisiana, Erin E. Ulrey

LSU Master's Theses

Nest predation is the primary source of nest failure, with vegetative conditions at the nest sites considered drivers of reproductive success. Our current understanding of how incubating Eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris, hereafter, wild turkey) use vegetative characteristic relating to specific predators of wild turkey nests is limited. We quantified the occurrence, diversity, and distribution of potential wild turkey nest predator species across Kisatchie National Forest and Peason Ridge WMA in central Louisiana in relation to vegetative conditions located within incubation ranges used by nesting female wild turkeys. We used 210 camera trap sites surveying 5,144 trap nights …

The Barley Hvwrky6 Transcription Factor Is Required For Resistance Against Pyrenophora Teres F. Teres, Prabin Tamang, Jonathan K. Richards, Shyam Solanki, Gazala Ameen, Roshan Sharma Poudel, Priyanka Deka, Karl Effertz, Shaun J. Clare, Justin Hegstad, Achintya Bezbaruah, Xuehui Li, Richard D. Horsley, Timothy L. Friesen, Robert S. Brueggeman

Faculty Publications

Barley is an important cereal crop worldwide because of its use in the brewing and distilling industry. However, adequate supplies of quality malting barley are threatened by global climate change due to drought in some regions and excess precipitation in others, which facilitates epidemics caused by fungal pathogens. The disease net form net blotch caused by the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Pyrenophora teres f. teres (Ptt) has emerged as a global threat to barley production and diverse populations of Ptt have shown a capacity to overcome deployed genetic resistances. The barley line CI5791 exhibits remarkably effective resistance to diverse Ptt isolates …

Removal Of Potentially Toxic Metal By Biochar Derived From Rendered Solid Residue With High Content Of Protein And Bone Tissue, Jong Hwan Park, Jin Ju Yun, Se Won Kang, Seong Heon Kim, Ju Sik Cho, Jim J. Wang, Dong Cheol Seo

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to produce rendering animal carcass residue char (RACR-C) by pyrolyzing the solid residues of low-recyclable rendered pig carcasses and to evaluate their cadmium (Cd) adsorption characteristics and mechanisms. As the pyrolysis temperature increased, the inorganic content of RACR-C increased, while the carbon content decreased. In particular, the surface structure and chemistry of RACR-Cs prepared at different pyrolysis temperatures were well described by SEM-EDS, XRD, XRF, TGA, and FTIR. The Cd adsorption characteristics of RACR-C were in good agreement with the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order models, and the Cd adsorption capacities of RACR-Cs prepared at …

Stem Cell Factor In Combination With Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Protects The Brain From Capillary Thrombosis-Induced Ischemic Neuron Loss In A Mouse Model Of Cadasil, Suning Ping, Xuecheng Qiu, Maria E. Gonzalez-Toledo, Xiaoyun Liu, Li Ru Zhao

Faculty Publications

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarct and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a Notch3 mutation-induced cerebral small vessel disease, leading to recurrent ischemic stroke and vascular dementia. There is currently no treatment that can stop or delay CADASIL progression. We have demonstrated the efficacy of treatment with combined stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) (SCF+G-CSF) in reducing cerebral small vessel thrombosis in a TgNotch3R90C mouse model of CADASIL. However, it remains unknown whether SCF+G-CSF treatment protects neurons from microvascular thrombosis-induced ischemic damage. Using bone marrow transplantation to track thrombosis, we observed that capillary thrombosis was widely distributed in …

Resistance To Aflatoxin Accumulation In Maize Mediated By Host-Induced Gene Silencing Of Aspergillus Flavus Alkaline Protease And O-Methyltransferase-A Genes, Olanike Omotola Omolehin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Aspergillus flavus is a soil-borne fungal pathogen that infects maize and produces aflatoxins. In the current study, portions of the alkaline protease (alk) and the O-methyl transferase (omtA) genes, which are key in A. flavus virulence and aflatoxin biosynthesis, respectively, were targeted for suppression through an RNAi (RNA interference) approach known as Host-Induced Gene Silencing (HIGS). Separate RNAi vectors were designed to carry regions of the alk and omtA gene fragments (Alk-RNAi and OmtA-RNAi) and introduced into B104 maize zygotic embryos. Eight and six transformation events were positive for the alk and omtA transgene, respectively. …

Evaluating Us Consumers' Perception Of Foods Made With Cricket Powder, Ryan Paul Ardoin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Expanding the consumption of edible insects has been proposed as a strategy for global food security due to their sustainability of production and high nutritional value. In the U.S.A., the idea of eating insects is generally unappealing. This research took a methodical approach to understanding U.S. consumers perceptions of insects as food- specifically, products made with cricket powder. Recent consumer-oriented entomophagy research (2015-2020) was reviewed to consolidate understanding of Westerners’ perceptions of edible insects and to evaluate research trends. An online survey of 1,005 U.S. consumers investigated appropriate products for insect protein powder incorporation (based on willingness to try; WTT), …

Label-Free Lipidome Study Of Paraventricular Thalamic Nucleus (Pvt) Of Rat Brain With Post-Traumatic Stress Injury By Raman Imaging, Ardalan Chaichi, Syed Mohammad Abid Hasan, Nishir Mehta, Fabrizio Donnarumma, Philip Ebenezer, Kermit K. Murray, Joseph Francis, Manas Ranjan Gartia

Faculty Publications

© 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a widespread psychiatric injury that develops serious life-threatening symptoms like substance abuse, severe depression, cognitive impairments, and persistent anxiety. However, the mechanisms of post-traumatic stress injury in brain are poorly understood due to the lack of practical methods to reveal biochemical alterations in various brain regions affected by this type of injury. Here, we introduce a novel method that provides quantitative results from Raman maps in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) region. By means of this approach, we have shown a lipidome comparison in PVT regions …

Estuarine Oiling Increases A Long-Term Decline In Mussel Growth*, R. Eugene Turner, Jennifer S. Spicer

Faculty Publications

The ribbed mussel, Geukensia granosissima, cycles nutrients, contributes to soil stability, and can be a major component of predator-prey communities in salt marshes. Mussels were exposed to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and salt marshes remain contaminated eight years later. We hypothesized that the oiled mussels had reduced annual growth, altered population size frequency, and perhaps changed valve morphometrics. We sampled 10 marshes near Port Sulphur, LA, to measure the morphometrics of 133 mussels and their age-specific growth rate, and also the marsh oil content and percent vegetative cover. The relationships between valve weight, …

Climate Change Implications For Tidal Marshes And Food Web Linkages To Estuarine And Coastal Nekton, D D. Colombano, S. Y. Litvin, S. L. Ziegler, S. B. Alford, D. D. Colombano, M. A. Barbeau, J. Cebrian, R. M. Connolly, C. A. Currin, L. A. Deegan, J. S. Lesser, C. W. Martin, A. E. Mcdonald, C. Mcluckie, B. H. Morrison, J. W. Pahl, L. W. Risse, J. A. Smith, L. W. Staver, R. Eugene Turner, N. J. Waltham

Faculty Publications

Climate change is altering naturally fluctuating environmental conditions in coastal and estuarine ecosystems across the globe. Departures from long-term averages and ranges of environmental variables are increasingly being observed as directional changes [e.g., rising sea levels, sea surface temperatures (SST)] and less predictable periodic cycles (e.g., Atlantic or Pacific decadal oscillations) and extremes (e.g., coastal flooding, marine heatwaves). Quantifying the short- and long-term impacts of climate change on tidal marsh seascape structure and function for nekton is a critical step toward fisheries conservation and management. The multiple stressor framework provides a promising approach for advancing integrative, cross-disciplinary research on tidal …

Elevating Dissolved Oxygen - Reflections On Developing And Using Long - Term Data, Nancy N. Rabalais

Faculty Publications

This prospectus took me about as long to generate as my 36 - year record of working on the issue of northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM) oxygen deficiency, or so I felt. There was so much to cover, but I focused on the issue of hypoxia on the Louisiana continental shelf from the early 1980s to present and my participation in the research and outreach. Not that I was ignoring other aspects of my academic research career (e.g., stone crab populations and their differences in physiology and larval development along the nGOM coast; settlement of crab megalopae, especially blue crabs, …

Lsu General Catalog 2021-2022, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

LSU General Catalog

The LSU General Catalog describes all undergraduate and graduate departments and programs with degree requirements and courses offered for each one. The LSU General Catalog includes information on registration and financial aid as well as academic services offered to all students.

A Nanoparticle Co-Matrix For Multiple Charging In Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Imaging Of Tissue, Bijay Banstola, Kermit K. Murray

Faculty Publications

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Rationale: A two-component matrix of 2-nitrophloroglucinol (2-NPG) and silica nanoparticles was used for matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging of high-charge-state biomolecules in tissue. Potential advantages include increased effective mass range and efficiency of fragmentation. Methods: A mixture of 2-NPG matrix and silica nanoparticles was applied to cyrosectioned 10 μm thick mouse brain tissue. The mixture was pipetted onto the tissue for profiling and sprayed for tissue imaging. MALDI images were obtained under high vacuum in a commercial time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Results: The combined 2-NPG and nanoparticle matrix produced highly charged …

Louisiana Agriculture Winter, 2021, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

Northwest - Winter 2021, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.