Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Louisiana State University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 211 - 240 of 269

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Hyperdeprivation And Race -Specific Homicide, 1980--1990., Matthew Raleigh Lee Jan 1999

Hyperdeprivation And Race -Specific Homicide, 1980--1990., Matthew Raleigh Lee

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Research on the nature of the urban underclass suggests that socioeconomic deprivation is multidimensional and involves more than just the personal experience of poverty. When negative characteristics like poverty and unemployment are concentrated geographically, it means that one is not only deprived of personal resources, but also deprived of contact with those who do have resources. Thus, when social disadvantage is concentrated, as it may be in underclass communities, this augments the effect of poverty, creating a situation of hyperdeprivation, by placing beyond reach those segments of mainstream society that are necessary for success. This dissertation extends this line of …


Epidemiology Of Anthrax In The Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity And Environment., Kimothy Lyn Smith Jan 1999

Epidemiology Of Anthrax In The Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity And Environment., Kimothy Lyn Smith

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The Kruger National Park, (KNP), in the Republic of South Africa, provides a unique opportunity to investigate interesting and unresolved aspects of the epidemiology of the disease anthrax. Anthrax is a disease of primarily mammals caused by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis. Beyond it's great historical significance anthrax is clearly important in the world today. From a rich legacy of empirical investigations and observations in the form of ecological and epidemiological studies conducted around the world this work endeavors to distill and extract the essence of what biotic and abiotic factors of environment might be causally associated with …


Biological Diversity And Cultural Survival: Mopan Maya Traditional Culture And Environmental Change In Southern Belize., Michael Kenneth Steinberg Jan 1999

Biological Diversity And Cultural Survival: Mopan Maya Traditional Culture And Environmental Change In Southern Belize., Michael Kenneth Steinberg

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation is a study of the causal relationship between the decline of cultural diversity and environmental diversity. My study investigates the larger-scale economic, political, and social factors that result in the rejection of traditional land use strategies and how these changing strategies ultimately lead to an overall decline in environmental diversity in the Mopan Maya landscape in southern Belize. Five Mopan Maya cultural biogeographic case studies are presented, including the management of maize diversity, the species composition and variability of kitchen gardens, swidden-fallow agroforestry practices, traditional bee keeping, and hunting game and habitat preferences. These topics were chosen because …


Sympatric Sea Shells Along The Sea's Shore: The Geography Of Speciation In The Marine Gastropod Tegula, Michael E. Hellberg Jan 1998

Sympatric Sea Shells Along The Sea's Shore: The Geography Of Speciation In The Marine Gastropod Tegula, Michael E. Hellberg

Faculty Publications

Uncertainty and controversy surround the geographical and ecological circumstances that create genetic differences between populations that eventually lead to reproductive isolation. Two aspects of marine organisms further complicate this situation: (1) many species possess planktonic larvae capable of great dispersal; and (2) obvious barriers to movement between populations are rare. Past studies of speciation in the sea have focussed on identifying the effects of past land barriers and on biogeographical breakpoints. However, assessing the role such undeniable barriers actually play in the initial divergence leading to reproductive isolation requires phylogenetic studies of recent radiations living in varying degrees of sympatry …


Airbirds: Adaptative Strategies To The Aerial Lifestyle From A Life History Perspective., Manuel Marin-Aspillaga Jan 1998

Airbirds: Adaptative Strategies To The Aerial Lifestyle From A Life History Perspective., Manuel Marin-Aspillaga

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

"Airbirds" are defined as those birds that are adapted to almost constant life on the wing and do not perch, except for breeding and roosting. They use the air as the only medium in which to find and gather food. One taxon meets that definition: the swifts (Apodidae). Foraging zones of airbirds can be segregated in terms of clutch size, commuting foraging distance, nestling period, and nestling feeding rate. This study looked at foraging behavior and nestling diet, incubation patterns and mode of development in cypseloidine swifts, that as a group has extreme life history patterns. In a temperate one-egg …


Pliocene And Pleistocene Marine Ostracoda Of The Limon Basin, Costa Rica: A Record Of Paleoenvironmental Change., Pamela Frances Borne Jan 1998

Pliocene And Pleistocene Marine Ostracoda Of The Limon Basin, Costa Rica: A Record Of Paleoenvironmental Change., Pamela Frances Borne

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Late Pliocene (3.8-3.6 Ma) and early Pleistocene (1.5-0.9 Ma) marine ostracodes of the Rio Banano, Quebrada Chocolate and Moin Formations (Limon Group) provide a detailed paleoenvironmental record for the Limon Basin, Costa Rica. The marine ostracode assemblages recovered from the Limon region do not provide evidence that the tropics cooled dramatically during the late Pliocene when the Northern Hemisphere was entering the Modern Ice Age. Paleoenvironmental interpretations are based on cluster analyses and a modern tropical ostracode analog analysis. Diverse ostracode assemblages of the middle Pliocene Rio Banano Formation are dominated by genera typical of the inner to middle neritic …


An Analytical Approach To A Tree-Farm Wetland Study., Robert Cunninghame Davidge Jan 1998

An Analytical Approach To A Tree-Farm Wetland Study., Robert Cunninghame Davidge

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Wetland delineation is important because federal and local government regulations limit permissible uses of wetlands. Federal delineation regulations are based upon the use of a manual jointly agreed upon by EPA, USACOE, and NRCS. The manual provides for classification of land as either wetland or non-wetland based upon the 3 criteria of soil, vegetation, and hydrology. No provision is made for gradation between categorical wetland and categorical non-wetland. Controversy has sometimes developed between landowners and environmentalists as to proper wetland classification; some delineations have been considered arbitrary. The analytical method of wetland appraisal provides a means of assigning continuous numerical …


A Review Of The North American Squalodontidae (Mammalia, Cetacea)., Alton Cline Dooley Jr Jan 1998

A Review Of The North American Squalodontidae (Mammalia, Cetacea)., Alton Cline Dooley Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

All available North American specimens of squalodont whales were examined to determine species assignments, and to determine functional aspects and ecological implications. Only two existing species of the 17 referred to Squalodontidae from North America are members of that family, Squalodon atlanticus and Squalodon calvertensis. Of these two species, only S. calvertensis is based on adequate material for consideration as a valid species. Squalodon calvertensis is redescribed, based on the material which has been collected since 1923. These specimens indicate that the species is found from New Jersey to North Carolina, in the Miocene Kirkwood, Calvert, and Pungo River Formations. …


Epidermal Cell Fate And Patterning In Leaves, John C. Larkin, M. David Marks, Jeanette Nadeau, Fred Sack Jul 1997

Epidermal Cell Fate And Patterning In Leaves, John C. Larkin, M. David Marks, Jeanette Nadeau, Fred Sack

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Land/Water Interface Delineation Using Neural Networks., Rajabhushanam Cherukuri Jan 1997

Land/Water Interface Delineation Using Neural Networks., Rajabhushanam Cherukuri

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The rapid decline in acreage of land areas in wetlands caused by frequent inundations and flooding has brought about an increased awareness and emphasis on the identification and inventory of land and water areas. This dissertation evaluates three classification methods--Normalized Difference Vegetation Index technique, Artificial Neural Networks, and Maximum-Likelihood classifier for the delineation of land/water interface conditions using Landsat-TM imagery. The effects of three scaling algorithms, including resampling by aggregation, Gaussian smoothing, and local variance analysis, on the classification accuracy are analyzed to determine how the delineation, quantification and analysis of land/water boundaries relate to problems of mixed pixels, scale …


A Search For Biologically Active Phytochemicals From Endemic Plants Of The Southeastern United States., Steven Lynn Robbs Jan 1997

A Search For Biologically Active Phytochemicals From Endemic Plants Of The Southeastern United States., Steven Lynn Robbs

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In an investigation of allelopathy in the Florida scrub, bioassays with terpenes were performed against: Lactuca sativa, Rudbeckia hirta, Leptochloa dubia and Schizachyrium scoparium. Cineole was phytotoxic against Rudbeckia at 17 ppm and Lactuca at 165 ppm. (S)-camphor was phytotoxic to Rudbeckia at 1 ppm, Lactuca at 28 ppm, and Leptochloa and Schizachyrium at 134 ppm. (R)-Camphor, myrtenol and myrtenal were phytotoxic against Rudbeckia at concentrations of 28, 25 and 15 ppm respectively. Farnesol stimulated the germination of Schizachyrium at concentrations up to 50 ppm and at 100 ppm it reduced the radicle length of all test species. Geraniol stimulated …


The Use Of Secondarily Treated Wastewater Effluent For Forested Wetland Restoration In A Subsiding Coastal Zone., John M. Rybczyk Jan 1997

The Use Of Secondarily Treated Wastewater Effluent For Forested Wetland Restoration In A Subsiding Coastal Zone., John M. Rybczyk

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Insufficient sedimentation, coupled with high rates of relative sea-level rise (RSLR), are two important factors contributing to wetland loss in coastal Louisiana. I hypothesized that adding nutrient rich, secondarily treated, wastewater effluent to subsiding coastal wetlands in Louisiana could promote vertical accretion in these systems through increased organic matter production and subsequent deposition, and allow accretion to keep pace with estimated rates of RSLR (subsidence plus eustatic sea-level rise). To test this hypothesis, I measured processes affecting wetland elevation including, organic matter decomposition, sediment accretion, aboveground primary production, and, plant tissue nutrient (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe) concentrations, in …


The Radioresistance Of Deinococcus Radiodurans., Valerie Mattimore Jan 1997

The Radioresistance Of Deinococcus Radiodurans., Valerie Mattimore

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Deinococcus radiodurans is a remarkably ionizing radiation resistant bacterium. As a vegetative cell it is capable of withstanding 5,000 Gy ionizing radiation without evidence of death or mutation. D. radiodurans survives irradiation by repairing DNA damage via an extremely efficient DNA repair system. However, this DNA repair system has not been completely defined. In addition, the selective process allowing the evolution of high level radioresistance has remained a question. This dissertation bolsters the understanding of the DNA repair system of D. radiodurans by characterizing a collection of ionizing radiation sensitive (IRS) mutants. The level of radioresistance is quantified and transformation …


Effects Of Predator Reduction On The Survival And Movements Of Northern Shoveler Broods, John M. Zimmer May 1996

Effects Of Predator Reduction On The Survival And Movements Of Northern Shoveler Broods, John M. Zimmer

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

I studied the effects of predator removal on survival and movements of Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) broods in the prairie pothole region of North Dakota. The study was conducted from April through August 1995. No treatment effects were found on brood survival as both 14 and 30 day survival estimates were statistically equivalent. Experimental sites had higher brood and duckling survival and produced twice as many fledglings per successful nest than control sites. Cumulative movement distance had no effect on duckling survival. While survival rates of Northern Shoveler broods and ducklings were higher than most species of prairie nesting ducks, …


An Examination Of The Effects Of The Mother's Education And Household Exposure To Disease On Childhood Diarrheal Morbidity In Sudan., Dawood Hussein Sultan Jan 1996

An Examination Of The Effects Of The Mother's Education And Household Exposure To Disease On Childhood Diarrheal Morbidity In Sudan., Dawood Hussein Sultan

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the effect of increases in the mother's level of education on the likelihood of diarrheal morbidity among Sudanese children aged 6 to 23 months. Maximum likelihood logistic regression models are used in the analysis. The logit estimates obtained from these models revealed that children of mothers who are illiterate run on average more than 10 times the risk of diarrhea as that run by children to mothers with a senior secondary or higher education. Slight increases in the mother's education, as indicated by an incomplete primary school education, reduce the likelihood of diarrhea by more than 50%. …


Baldcypress And Pondcypress: An Annotated Bibliography, 1890-1995, Z Liu Jan 1996

Baldcypress And Pondcypress: An Annotated Bibliography, 1890-1995, Z Liu

LSU Agricultural Experiment Station Reports

No abstract provided.


Velvetbean Caterpillar (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): Surviving Freezing Weather In Louisiana, Wei Xikui, S. J. Johnson Jan 1995

Velvetbean Caterpillar (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): Surviving Freezing Weather In Louisiana, Wei Xikui, S. J. Johnson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


A Preliminary Mass Balance Model Of Primary Productivity And Dissolved Oxygen In The Mississippi River Plume/Inner Gulf Shelf Region, Victor J. Bierman Jr., Scott C. Hinz, William J. Wiseman Jr., Nancy N. Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner Dec 1994

A Preliminary Mass Balance Model Of Primary Productivity And Dissolved Oxygen In The Mississippi River Plume/Inner Gulf Shelf Region, Victor J. Bierman Jr., Scott C. Hinz, William J. Wiseman Jr., Nancy N. Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner

Faculty Publications

A deterministic, mass balance model for phytoplankton, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen was applied to the Mississippi River Plume/Inner Gulf Shelf (MRP/IGS) region. The model was calibrated to a comprehensive set of field data collected during July 1990 at over 200 sampling stations in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The spatial domain of the model is represented by a three-dimensional, 21-segment water-column .grid extending from the Mississippi River Delta west to the Louisiana-Texas border, and from the shoreline seaward to the 30-60 m bathymetric contours. Diagnostic analyses and numerical experiments were conducted with the calibrated model to better understand the environmental …


Ecological Impacts Of Historic And Prehistoric Hurricanes On Horn Island, Mississippi, Kari Gathen Dec 1994

Ecological Impacts Of Historic And Prehistoric Hurricanes On Horn Island, Mississippi, Kari Gathen

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Hurricanes play an important role in the ecology and geomorphology of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast. In order to study the impact of hurricanes on barrier island vegetation, the sedimentary and fossil pollen records taken from cores in three ponds on Horn Island, Mississippi were examined to establish a record of ecological and geomorphological disturbance on Horn Island. Surface samples taken from the bottom of 15 ponds and 3 lagoons, delineated as fresh or brackish according to salinity test results, provide the modern vegetational analog to compare with the fossil pollen record using a discriminant analysis. Discriminant analysis results …


Strategic Adaptation In The Banking Industry: An Exploration Of The Antecedents And Consequences Of Strategic Change Following Deregulation., Elton L. Scifres Jr Jan 1994

Strategic Adaptation In The Banking Industry: An Exploration Of The Antecedents And Consequences Of Strategic Change Following Deregulation., Elton L. Scifres Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examined the antecedents and consequences of strategic change in the commercial banking industry between 1980 and 1987. Based on a review of the literature, a conceptual model was developed that predicted change would be influenced by two factors, adaptive forces and inertial forces. Adaptive forces include two factors that have been hypothesized to encourage change, prior performance and slack resources. Inertial forces include two factors sometimes thought to inhibit change, organizational size and age. Change outcomes were predicted to be influenced by degree of change and moderated by adaptive and inertial forces. Guided by previous theoretical and empirical …


Interactions Between Fusarium Oxysporum F. Sp. Lycopersici And Nonpathogenic Strains Of Fusarium Oxysporum., Monica Michelle Lear Jan 1994

Interactions Between Fusarium Oxysporum F. Sp. Lycopersici And Nonpathogenic Strains Of Fusarium Oxysporum., Monica Michelle Lear

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Race 1 isolates collected from tomato roots were used to develop an orange mutant of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) for use in competitive infection tests against nonpathogenic F. oxysporum isolates. Eighty one color mutants were induced by exposure to ultraviolet light. The mutant ORA-22 retained pathogenicity and growth habit similar to the wild-type. Preliminary competitive infection tests indicated differences within the nonpathogenic population in the ability to suppress or enhance infection by FOL orange mutant ORA-22. Four vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) were tested to determine if competitive infection ability was associated with VCG designation. Results from these tests …


The Genetic Effects Of Forest Fragmentation On Amazonian Forest Birds., John Marshall Bates Jan 1993

The Genetic Effects Of Forest Fragmentation On Amazonian Forest Birds., John Marshall Bates

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

I present allozyme and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data on the genetic structure of five species of Amazonian forest birds at two geographic scales. The five species, Glyphorynchus spirurus (family Dendrocolaptidae), Leptopogon amaurocephalus (Tyrannidae), Hypocnemis cantator, Myrmeciza hemimelaena, and Hylophylax poecilinota (all three Formicariidae), are common forest understory inhabitants throughout much of Amazonia. At the local geographic scale, I hypothesized that forest fragmentation affected genetic structure in these species. Study sites were in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Six sites separated by 150 km or less for each species were sampled: three sites in continuous Amazonian forest, and three in …


Host Quality Of Baldcypress And Its Influence On Fruittree Leafroller, Archips Argyrospila (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), Performance In Forested Wetlands Of Louisiana., James R. Meeker Jan 1992

Host Quality Of Baldcypress And Its Influence On Fruittree Leafroller, Archips Argyrospila (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), Performance In Forested Wetlands Of Louisiana., James R. Meeker

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Ecological relationships between the fruittree leafroller (FTLR), (Archips argyrospila (Walker)) and a new host, baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.)), were investigated in southern Louisiana where persistent annual defoliation over increasingly larger areas has occurred since 1983. Defoliation was observed to correspond with common types of baldcypress foliage morphology; designated as open and appressed. Pondcypress, Shumard oak and citrus foliage also were examined. The objectives were to: (1) determine the relative suitability/susceptibility of foliage types, and (2) quantify parameters of foliage quality possibly influencing FTLR performance. Levels of defoliation, egg mass counts, and laboratory bioassays of: initial survival, host preference, growth, feeding, …


Influences On The Instream Distribution Of Astyanax Fasciatus In A Small River In Costa Rica., Cecil Kelly Swing Jan 1992

Influences On The Instream Distribution Of Astyanax Fasciatus In A Small River In Costa Rica., Cecil Kelly Swing

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The instream distribution of the tetra, Astyanax fasciatus, was investigated through approximately 700 hours of field observations in a small Costa Rican stream on the southwestern Pacific coast near Golfito. Individuals tended to remain in particular pools where they subsisted primarily on a diet of terrestrial insects. These fish were able to migrate, and only as many individuals stayed in any pool as could be sustained there by available food resources. Because the water intercepted insects fairly uniformly over its surface, the biomass of fish occupying any particular pool was proportional to its surface area (r$\sp2$ = 0.652). The amount …


Ecosystem Models Of Aquatic Primary Production And Fish Migration In Laguna De Terminos, Mexico., Enrique Reyes Jan 1992

Ecosystem Models Of Aquatic Primary Production And Fish Migration In Laguna De Terminos, Mexico., Enrique Reyes

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Laguna de Terminos is Mexico's largest coastal lagoon. There is a high habitat diversity including open water, mangroves, seagrasses and marshes, which supports Mexico's most economically important fisheries. Understanding ecosystem processes is essential for effective management of the lagoon's resources. This research developed landscape-level models for aquatic primary production (LAPPTER model), and fish migration (ROE model) in Laguna de Terminos. The ROE model was developed first as a theoretical approach, and later integrated into the LAPPTER model as a submodule which utilizes simulated production as a food source. The ROE model includes behavioral rules for fish movement based on environmental …


Ecology Of Erwinia Chrysanthemi, Causal Agent Of Bacterial Stem And Root Rot On Sweet Potato And Etiology Of Souring., Valmir Duarte Jan 1990

Ecology Of Erwinia Chrysanthemi, Causal Agent Of Bacterial Stem And Root Rot On Sweet Potato And Etiology Of Souring., Valmir Duarte

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

During three seasons, mother storage roots of Beauregard sweetpotato were inoculated with Erwinia chrysanthemi in March, and the pathogen was recovered from them the day they were bedded, 7 days later, and at the first and second pullings of slips as well as from underground stems at harvest in September and October of the first and second transplantings, respectively. Little stem rot occurred in the fields during the three seasons. Thirteen strains of E. chrysanthemi, 8 isolated originally from sweetpotato and 5 from other hosts, and one strain of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora were inoculated on sweetpotato and 12 different …


Eight Major Species Of Southern Oaks: A Bibliography, 1876-1987, Shih-Chang Hu Jan 1989

Eight Major Species Of Southern Oaks: A Bibliography, 1876-1987, Shih-Chang Hu

LSU Agricultural Experiment Station Reports

No abstract provided.


Neogene Basin Evolution In The Southwestern Dominican Republic: A Foraminiferal Study., Peter Paul Mclaughlin Jr Jan 1989

Neogene Basin Evolution In The Southwestern Dominican Republic: A Foraminiferal Study., Peter Paul Mclaughlin Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The Azua Basin sequence is a 2500 m thick Miocene Pliocene regressive interval. Limestones and marls of the Sombrerito Formation, the lowermost unit, ranges from lower Miocene to lowermost upper Miocene. The turbidite sequence of the Trinchera Formation spans an interval from uppermost middle Miocene to lower Pliocene. Blue-green, neritic lower Pliocene siltstones of the Quita Coraza Formation overlie the Trinchera in the seaward part of the basin. Shallow-marine strata in the lower part of the Arroyo Blanco Formation range from uppermost Miocene to middle Pliocene. Principal Components Analysis of rich benthic foraminiferal faunas aided in the recognition of species …


Dispersion And Physiological Ecology Of Mosquito Adults In Louisiana Ricelands., Alan Richard Holck Jan 1989

Dispersion And Physiological Ecology Of Mosquito Adults In Louisiana Ricelands., Alan Richard Holck

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A sampling technique for estimating the size of adult mosquito populations in vegetation was developed. Regression analysis was used to obtain absolute density estimates from sweep net. Diurnal population size estimates of Louisiana riceland mosquitoes were made on a 35.6-square km site 5 km south of Kaplan, LA. Four mosquito species were present: Psorophora columbiae, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, An. crucians and Culex salinarius. Mosquito species were highly stratified in their distribution. Psorophora columbiae was primarily observed in pastures with livestock and in rice fields. Both Anophelines were found only in structures. Culex salinarius did not exhibit habitat preference. Anopheles quadrimaculatus exhibited …


Ecological Studies Of Velvetbean Caterpillar, Anticarsia Gemmatalis Hubner, Pupae In Louisiana Soybean Fields., Joon-Ho Lee Jan 1989

Ecological Studies Of Velvetbean Caterpillar, Anticarsia Gemmatalis Hubner, Pupae In Louisiana Soybean Fields., Joon-Ho Lee

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The microhabitat distribution of velvetbean caterpillar (VBC), Anticarsia gemmatalis Hubner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was studied in soybean field cages and fields during 1985, 1986 and 1987. Larval density did not affect pupal horizontal distribution patterns related to direction and distance from the plant row. Pupae were found equally on both sides of soybean plant rows in a cage study. Pupae were found on and below the soil surface, but not on the plant. In 51 cm row spacing, both equal number and similar dispersion pattern of pupae were found on either side of the plant row. In 91 cm row spacing, …