Digital Commons Network^™

Recognizing The Danger Zone: Response Of Female White-Tailed To Discrete Hunting Events, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Stephen S. Ditchkoff, Bret A. Collier, Charles R. Ruth, Joshua B. Raglin

Faculty Publications

The landscape of fear theory proposes that prey should utilize habitat over space and time such that demographic risk is minimized. White-Tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus respond to temporally and spatially predictable threats posed by humans consistent with the landscape of fear theory. However, few studies examining the response of deer to hunting have accounted for the localized nature of risk. To determine if white-Tailed deer are able to recognize and respond to risks posed by hunters relative to specific hunting locations, we equipped 38 female white-Tailed deer with GPS collars August-December 2013-2015. Deer were generally found to increase use of …

Looking At The Big Picture: Understanding How The Oviduct's Dialogue With Gametes And The Embryo Shapes Reproductive Success, Beatriz Fernandez-Fuertes, Beatriz Rodríguez-Alonso, José María Sánchez, Constantine A. Simintiras, Patrick Lonergan, Dimitrios Rizos

Faculty Publications

The oviduct is a tubular organ comprising three distinct anatomical regions (the infundibulum, the ampulla and the isthmus) connecting the ovary and the uterus. Oviductal function is regulated by ovarian hormones, gametes, and embryo-derived factors, for optimally facilitating key reproductive events. A cross-talk is established between the oviduct and the gametes and embryo and this dialogue shapes the microenvironment in which gamete transport, fertilization, and early embryonic development occur. This review aims to address each participant in this conversation in a holistic manner by delineating several advances in the field within the greater context of understanding how oviduct-gamete and oviduct-embryo …

Gluten-Free Bakery And Pasta Products: Prevalence And Quality Improvement, Yupeng Gao, Marlene E. Janes, Busarawan Chaiya, Margaret A. Brennan, Charles S. Brennan, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

Faculty Publications

An increasing demand of gluten-free (GF) products is caused by a growing number of diagnosed coeliacs and a consumption trend to eliminate allergenic proteins from diet. Driven by the rapidly growing market, comprehensive understanding of GF products is necessary. The purpose of this review was to concisely present an overview of various approaches to improve physicochemical and sensory qualities of GF bread, cake/muffin and pasta/noodle products. Some novel techniques used in GF products were discussed in this review. These techniques included the use of different alternative flours (including GF cereals, pseudo-cereals, legume flours, fruit and vegetable powders and seafood powders), …

Investigating The Role Of Mitochondrial Respiratory Dysfunction During Hexavalent Chromium-Induced Lung Carcinogenesis, James T.F. Wise, Lei Wang, Michael C. Alstott, Ntube N.O. Ngalame, Yuting Wang, Zhuo Zhang, Xianglin Shi

Faculty Publications

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is a lung carcinogen and its complete mechanism of action remains to be investigated. Metabolic reprogramming of key energy metabolism pathways (e.g., increased anaerobic glycolysis in the presence of oxygen or “Warburg effect,” dysregulated mitochondrial function, and lipogenesis) are important to cancer cell and tumor survival and growth. In our current understanding of Cr(VI)-induced carcinogenesis, the role for metabolic reprogramming remains unclear. In this study, we treated human lung epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) with Cr(VI) for 6 months and obtained malignantly transformed cells from an isolated colony grown in soft agar. We also used Cr(VI)-transformed cells from two …

Saltmarsh Plants, But Not Fertilizer, Facilitate Invertebrate Recolonization After An Oil Spill, David Samuel Johnson, John W. Fleeger, Maria Rita Riggio, Irving A. Mendelssohn, Qianxin Lin, Sean A. Graham, Donald R. Deis, Aixin Hou

Faculty Publications

Foundation species contribute to the recovery of animal communities from disturbance by engineering, by improving habitat quality, and by regulating food availability. In a salt marsh impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we tested the hypothesis that nutrient subsidies would enhance the positive effects of the foundation species Spartina alterniflora on the initial recolonization of benthic invertebrate communities (e.g., copepods, annelids, nematodes) by augmenting food (i.e., microalgae) availability. After two months, plantings of S. alterniflora significantly elevated the densities of the polychaete Capitella capitata, meiofauna-sized annelids, and total macroinfauna over unplanted plots. After 7 months, the significant effect of …

Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Difference In The Atlantic World, 1780-1840, Alexandra Cornelius

Civil War Book Review

Using compelling evidence collected from archives in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, South Carolina, and Philadelphia, Rana Hogarth argues persuasively that physicians working among enslaved societies in the Atlantic world during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries played a decisive role in the racialization of physiological and physical differences among humans.

The Loyal Republic: Traitors, Slaves, And The Remaking Of Citizenship In Civil War America, Bennett Parten

Civil War Book Review

No abstract provided.

Context-Dependent Chemosensory Signaling, Aggression And Neural Activation Patterns In Gravid Female African Cichlid Fish, Karen E. Field, Karen P. Maruska

Faculty Publications

© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd . Social animals must constantly assess their environment to make appropriate behavioral decisions. The use of various sensory modalities is imperative in this process and it is hypothesized that the highly conserved brain nuclei comprising the social decisionmaking network (SDMN) integrates social information with an animal's internal state to elicit behavioral responses. Here, we used the highly social African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, to investigate whether reproductively receptive (gravid) females show contextual chemosensory signaling, social behaviors and neural activation patterns within the SDMN. We exposed gravid females to different social contexts: …

Habitat Selection, Survival, And Movement Ecology Of The American Woodcock (Scolopax Minor) In Louisiana Usa, Elisa Constancia Elizondo

LSU Master's Theses

The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a migratory upland game species occurring across much of eastern North America. Across its breeding range in the northern U.S. and southern Canada, this species has experienced significant, pervasive declines over the last half century. As woodcock populations continue to decline, active habitat management for this species has become increasingly important.

The state of Louisiana has substantial amounts of woodcock habitat and receives wintering birds from across the woodcock range. However, few data exist regarding survival rates, habitat utilization, and movement patterns across the state.

In order to better manage for woodcock …

Species Are Not Most Abundant In The Centre Of Their Geographic Range Or Climatic Niche, Tad Dallas, Robin R. Decker, Alan Hastings

Faculty Publications

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS The pervasive idea that species should be most abundant in the centre of their geographic range or centre of their climatic niche is a key assumption in many existing ecological hypotheses and has been declared a general macroecological rule. However, empirical support for decreasing population abundance with increasing distance from geographic range or climatic niche centre (distance–abundance relationships) remains fairly weak. We examine over 1400 bird, mammal, fish and tree species to provide a thorough test of distance–abundance relationships, and their associations with species traits and phylogenetic relationships. We failed to detect consistent …

Nonpathologic Infection Of Macaques By An Attenuated Mycobacterial Vaccine Is Not Reactivated In The Setting Of Hiv Co-Infection, Taylor W. Foreman, Ashley V. Veatch, Denae N. Lobato, Peter J. Didier, Lara A. Doyle-Meyers, Kasi E. Russell-Lodrigue, Andrew A. Lackner, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Shabaana A. Khader, Deepak Kaushal, Smriti Mehra

Faculty Publications

© 2017 American Society for Investigative Pathology Failure to replace Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccines with efficacious anti-tuberculosis (TB) vaccines have prompted outside-the-box thinking, including pulmonary vaccination to elicit local immunity. Inhalational MtbΔsigH, a stress-response–attenuated strain, protected against lethal TB in macaques. While live mycobacterial vaccines show promising efficacy, HIV co-infection and the resulting immunodeficiency prompts safety concerns about their use. We assessed the persistence and safety of MtbΔsigH, delivered directly to the lungs, in the setting of HIV co-infection. Macaques were aerosol-vaccinated with ΔsigH and subsequently challenged with SIVmac239. Bronchoalveolar lavage and tissues were sampled for mycobacterial persistence, pathology, and immune …

Swim Bladder Morphology Changes With Female Reproductive State In The Mouth-Brooding African Cichlid Astatotilapia Burtoni, Julie M. Butler, Sarah M. Whitlow, Anwei P. Gwan, Prosanta Chakrabarty, Karen P. Maruska

Faculty Publications

© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. Journal of Experimental Biology. Mouth brooding is an extreme form of parental care in which the brooding parent carries the developing young in their buccal cavity for the duration of development. Brooding fish need to compensate for the brood weight on the anterior portion of their body. For fishes with a compartmentalized swim bladder, gas distribution between the chambers may aid in regulating buoyancy during brooding. To test this hypothesis, we took radiographs of Astatotilapia burtoni to compare the swim bladder morphology of gravid, mouth-brooding and recovering females. Following spawning, females …

Species Identification Of Vagrant Empidonax Flycatchers In Northeastern North America Via Non-Invasive Dna Sequencing, Nathan R. Goldberg, Nicholas A. Mason

Faculty Publications

Vagrant individuals from cryptic species complexes pose a persistent challenge for accurate species identification, hindering our understanding of vagrancy in these taxa. Here, we used non-invasive sampling of fecal matter to sequence the ND2 mitochondrial gene of 2 vagrant western flycatchers observed in northeastern North America. The DNAsequence data we recovered from these vagrants fell within a clade of known Empidonax difficillis (Pacific-slope Flycatcher) haplotypes. Our work provides robust records of 2 vagrant Pacific-slope Flycatchers in the northeastern US. These findings illustrate the power of non-invasive sampling for species identification of vagrants from cryptic species complexes.

Incorporating Flaxseed (Linum Usitatissimum) Oil Into Queso Blanco At Different Stages Of The Cheese Manufacturing Process, Cristhiam Gurdian, Vondel Reyes, Emmanuel Kyereh, Franklin Bonilla, Cesar Galindo, Alexander Chouljenko, Kevin Mis Solval, Charles Boeneke, Joan M. King, Subramaniam Sathivel

Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical and microbial properties of queso blanco (QB) with flaxseed oil (FO) incorporated at different stages of the cheese manufacturing process. Whole milk was homogenized, coagulated with citric acid, salted with NaCl, and the resulting curds were pressed. Then QBFO was produced by incorporating FO during homogenization (QBFO-H), coagulation (QBFO-C), or salting (QBFO-S). The cheeses were stored at 8 °C for 30 days. Significantly lower lipid oxidation in QB was observed when FO was added during coagulation or salting compared to homogenization. However, lipid oxidation values of QBFO-H did not exceed …

Comparison Of Five Methods For Parameter Estimation Under Taylor's Power Law, Peijian Shi, David A. Ratkowsky, Ningtao Wang, Yang Li, Lei Zhao, Gadi V.P. Reddy, Bai Lian Li

Faculty Publications

Taylor's power law (TPL) can be applied to the mean-variance relationship for various quantities, e.g., population densities over space and time, biomass of plants in the growth processes, developmental rates and growth rates of arthropods at different temperatures, etc. When TPL holds in the grouped data (e.g., the biomass of plants at different investigation times with limited replicates at each investigation), we must consider the heterocedasticity when carrying out the parameter estimation for a given mathematical model. We propose two new target functions based on TPL and attempt to more accurately estimate the model parameter(s). By capturing the mean-variance relationship, …

Challenges In Development Of Sperm Repositories For Biomedical Fishes: Quality Control In Small-Bodied Species, Leticia Torres, Yue Liu, Amy Guitreau, Huiping Yang, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

Quality control (QC) is essential for reproducible and efficient functioning of germplasm repositories. However, many biomedical fish models present significant QC challenges due to small body sizes (<5 >cm) and miniscule sperm volumes (<5 >μL). Using minimal volumes of sperm, we used Zebrafish to evaluate common QC endpoints as surrogates for fertilization success along sequential steps of cryopreservation. First, concentrations of calibration bead suspensions were evaluated with a Makler® counting chamber by using different sample volumes and mixing methods. For sperm analysis, samples were initially diluted at a 1:30 ratio with Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS). Motility was evaluated by …

Effect Of Lactation On Conceptus-Maternal Interactions At The Initiation Of Implantation In Cattle: I. Effects On The Conceptus Transcriptome And Amino Acid Composition Of The Uterine Luminal Fluid, Niamh Forde, Constantine A. Simintiras, Roger G. Sturmey, Alexander Graf, Eckhard Wolf, Helmut Blum, Pat Lonergan

Faculty Publications

Approximately 65-75 days postpartum (dpp), the estrous cycles of nonlactating (dried off immediately postpartum: n = 12) and lactating (n = 13) Holstein Friesian cows were synchronized and on day 7 a single blastocyst derived from superovulated nulliparous Holstein Friesian heifers was transferred to each cow. A control group of nulliparous heifers (n = 8) were synchronized, inseminated to a standing heat, and slaughtered on the same day as nonlactating and lactating recipients (day 19; estrus = day 0). The uterine horn ipsilateral to the corpus luteum was flushed with 10 ml phosphate-buffered saline and the conceptus, and uterine luminal …

Effects Of Isolation On Ant Assemblages Depend On Microhabitat, Xuan Chen, Benjamin Adams, Michael Layne, Christopher Swarzenski, David Norris, Linda Hooper-Bui

Faculty Publications

How isolation affects biological communities is a fundamental question in ecology and conservation biology. Local diversity (α) agnd regional diversity (γ) are consistently lower in insular areas. The pattern of species turnover (β diversity) and the influence of isolation on competitive interactions are less predictable. Differences in communities across microhabitats within an isolated patch could contribute to the variability in patterns related to isolation. Trees form characteristically dense and sparse patches (low vs. high isolation) in floating marshes in coastal Louisiana, and canopy and root areas around these trees could support distinct ant communities. Consequently, trees in floating marshes provide …

Association Mapping For Traits Related To Nitrogen Use Efficiency In Tropical Maize Lines Under Field Conditions, Júlia Silva Morosini, Leandro De Freitas Mendonça, Danilo Hottis Lyra, Giovanni Galli, Miriam Suzane Vidotti, Roberto Fritsche-Neto

Faculty Publications

Aims: Nitrogen deficiency is one of the most critical abiotic stresses for maize (Zea mays) cultivation worldwide. For a productive and sustainable scenario, developing genotypes more efficient in nitrogen use is essential. This study aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) traits under field conditions and candidate genes related to these markers by genome-wide association study (GWAS). Methods: Sixty-four tropical maize inbred lines were evaluated in ideal and low nitrogen conditions for total root length (TRL) and low nitrogen tolerance index (LNTI). GWAS was performed using a fixed and random model circulating probability …

Oystower | Oystown Multi-Scalar Biomimetic Design For Resilient Coastal Inhabitation, Christopher William James

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Communal Catalogue Reveals Earth's Multiscale Microbial Diversity, Luke R. Thompson, Jon G. Sanders, Daniel Mcdonald, Amnon Amir, Joshua Ladau, Kenneth J. Locey, Robert J. Prill, Anupriya Tripathi, Sean M. Gibbons, Gail Ackermann, Jose A. Navas-Molina, Stefan Janssen, Evguenia Kopylova, Yoshiki Vázquez-Baeza, Antonio González, James T. Morton, Siavash Mirarab, Zhenjiang Zech Xu, Lingjing Jiang, Mohamed F. Haroon, Jad Kanbar, Qiyun Zhu, Se Jin Song, Tomasz Kosciolek, Nicholas A. Bokulich, Joshua Lefler, Colin J. Brislawn, Gregory Humphrey, Sarah M. Owens, Jarrad Hampton-Marcell, Donna Berg-Lyons, Valerie Mckenzie, Noah Fierer

Faculty Publications

© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. Our growing awareness of the microbial world's importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable …

Folie Et Stratégies D'Évasion Dans Les Romans Postcoloniaux Au Maghreb (Maroc-Algérie) Et À L'Île Maurice, Fouzilla Saady

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation " Folie et stratégies d'évasion dans les romans postcoloniaux au Maghreb (Maroc-Algérie) et à l'Île Maurice." argues that madness is a universal theme in the postcolonial context by Maghrebian and Mauritian women authors such as Nadia Chafik, Leïla Marouane, Nina Bouraoui, Ananda Devi, Nathacha Appanah, Marie-Thérèse Humbert. We include Tahar Ben Jelloun, Patrick Chamoiseau and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio because of their approach to gender, feminine and masculine.

This research is not a question of making a psychoanalytic study of madness, but of a literary analysis of this theme in the texts of our corpus. We focus on …

A Study Of The Urban Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes) Population In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Using Social Media, Ahsennur Soysal

LSU Master's Theses

Foxes are timid yet resourceful animals that are integrated into many urban environments. Because they are elusive, collecting information about the number of urban foxes, their diet and spatial distribution, their interactions with the ecological community in their urban habitat, as well as residents’ response to them, is difficult. Involving stakeholders to participate in the data collection on wildlife via citizen science on social media is one way to overcome this complication, while simultaneously engaging residents in the ecology happening around them. Therefore, we used social media as the platform to engage the public to document and map the foxes …

Growth And Development Of Two Broiler Strains With Low Protein And Crystalline Amino Acid Supplemented Diets, Chaoyang Li

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of this research was to compare the growth performance of broilers from two commercial breeds with control, low protein and low protein supplemented with crystalline amino acids diets. This was a randomized block design, and identical experiments were conducted on successively in two years. In each experiment, day-old chicks, Ross 708 broilers and Cobb 405 broilers, were randomly assigned into three dietary treatments: 1) positive control, 2) low crude protein (LP), and 3) LP + crystalline amino acids (CAA). A three phase feeding program was used. Feed and water were provided ad-libitum. On d 12, 19, 26, 33, …

Scaling Relationships Between Cranial Morphological Features And Cranial Capacity In Modern Humans, Jacob Jesch

LSU Master's Theses

Certain cranial morphologies referred to here as “cranial predictor features” are known to allometrically scale with body mass at statistically significant levels. Brain size likewise is known to scale with body mass, with brain-to-body-mass ratio being expressed numerically via the encephalization quotient. The study at hand aims to demonstrate whether brain size via its skeletal proxy of cranial capacity also scales with cranial predictor features. Correlation analysis was employed on two samples of contemporary male and female modern humans, respectively, in order to determine the statistical significance and degree of association between cranial predictor features and cranial capacity, as well …

Occurrence Of Putative Endornaviruses In Non-Cultivated Plant Species And Characterization Of A Novel Endornavirus In Geranium Carolinianum, Rachel Herschlag

LSU Master's Theses

Endornaviruses are RNA viruses, which can infect plants yet cause no apparent symptoms. To date, most descriptions of endornaviruses infecting plants have been in cultivated species. A survey for endornaviruses in non-cultivated plants was initiated in 2015 and continued through 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Two hundred and seven plant species were tested for distinctive dsRNA profiles by selective extraction and gel electrophoresis, of which seven contained endornavirus-like dsRNA. RT-PCR amplification of an endornavirus-specific sequence supported the endornavirus nature of six of the seven samples. Of the six host species, one species, Geranium carolinianum was confirmed as being infected with …

Evaluating The Effect Of Chitosan, Water-Soluble Chitosan And Chitosan Application Techniques On The Quality Of Refrigerated Catfish Fillets, Franklin Bonilla Torres

LSU Master's Theses

Chitosan (CH) is a biopolymer synthetized by deacetylation of chitin, it is found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans, cell wall of fungi, and insects. CH’s water insolubility limited the used of this compound in some food systems. However, enzymatic hydrolysis of CH yields water-soluble chitosan (WSC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chitosan, water-soluble chitosan, and chitosan application techniques on the quality of refrigerated catfish fillets. This research was conducted in two separated studies. In the first study, three solution treatments were prepared: (1) a 1% acetic acid (AA) solution, (2) a 0.5% CH solution …

The Influence Of Student Housing And Selected Academic And Personal Demographic Characteristics On The Retention Of Students From The Second To Third Year At A Research University (Ru/Vh), Loren S. Mcintyre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of participation in a content-based residential college versus non-participation in a content-based residential college on retention in the second year of study at a research university-very high research activity (RU/VH) in the southern portion of the United States. The dependent variable of the study was whether or not the traditional-age, first-time freshman students enrolled at the study institution in their fifth semester, or second to third year, of study. The target population for this study was defined as traditional-age, first-time college freshmen who enrolled in a research university-very high research …

Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology And Ecology Of Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In South Carolina, Patrick Wightman

LSU Master's Theses

Many southeastern states, including South Carolina, in the last 10 -15 years have seen a decline in Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations. Around 50,000 turkey hunters in South Carolina, result in approximately 35 million annually in revenue. Turkeys encounter a unique situation as environmental variation and hunter activity may impact behaviors as hunting occurs during the reproductive season. Mistimed hunting seasons could result in population declines. Timing of harvest requires managers to implement seasons that allow for hunter satisfaction (hearing gobbles) while ensuring no detriment to turkey populations through impacts to reproduction. To better understand factors influencing gobbling …

Effects Of Soil Silicon Amendment And Nitrogen Levels On Rice Insect Pest Complex, James Michael P. Villegas

LSU Master's Theses

Rice plants are consistently subjected to various pressures by insect pests throughout the growing season. The main insect pest complex reported in Louisiana are the rice water weevil (major early-season insect pest), fall armyworm (sporadic early-season pest), sugarcane borer and rice stalk borer (long- established but sporadic stem boring pests), Mexican rice borer (an invasive stem-boring pest), and rice stink bug (major late-season pest). Soil silicon amendment has been shown to enhance plant resistance against herbivorous pests. Rice is a typical silicon-accumulating graminaceous crop. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted from 2015 to 2017 to investigate the effects of soil …