Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

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

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Phylogeny Of Heliconia (Heliconiaceae) And The Evolution Of Floral Presentation, William J.D. Iles, Chodon Sass, Laura Lagomarsino, Gracie Benson-Martin, Heather Driscoll, Chelsea D. Specht

Faculty Publications

© 2016 Elsevier Inc. Heliconia (Heliconiaceae, order Zingiberales) is among the showiest plants of the Neotropical rainforest and represent a spectacular co-evolutionary radiation with hummingbirds. Despite the attractiveness and ecological importance of many Heliconia, the genus has been the subject of limited molecular phylogenetic studies. We sample seven markers from the plastid and nuclear genomes for 202 samples of Heliconia. This represents ca. 75% of accepted species and includes coverage of all taxonomic subgenera and sections. We date this phylogeny using fossils associated with other families in the Zingiberales; in particular we review and evaluate the Eocene fossil Ensete oregonense. …

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, …

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 …

Cenozoic Sedimentary Records Of Climate-Tectonic Coupling In The Western Himalaya, Peter D. Clift

Faculty Publications

© 2017, The Author(s). ᅟ: Sedimentary archives in the Himalayan foreland basin and Indus submarine fan provide the most detailed records of how changing monsoon strength may have affected erosion and the development of tectonic structures in the western Himalaya during the Neogene. Muscovite Ar-Ar ages show that fast exhumation of the Greater Himalaya was earlier in the west (20–35 Ma) than in the central Himalaya (10–25 Ma), probably driven by progressive lithospheric slab tearing that caused both rock uplift and an intensified summer monsoon to start earlier in the western Himalaya. Rates of exhumation reduced after ~ 17 Ma …

Controls On Modern Erosion And The Development Of The Pearl River Drainage In The Late Paleogene, Chang Liu, Peter D. Clift, Andrew Carter, Philipp Böning, Zhaochu Hu, Zhen Sun, Katharina Pahnke

Faculty Publications

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The Pearl River and its tributaries drains large areas of southern China and has been the primary source of sediment to the northern continental margin of the South China Sea since its opening. In this study we use a combination of bulk sediment geochemistry, Nd and Sr isotope geochemistry, and single grain zircon U-Pb dating to understand the source of sediment in the modern drainage. We also performed zircon U-Pb dating on Eocene sedimentary rocks sampled by International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 349 in order to constrain the source of sediment to the rift before …

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 …

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 …

The "Missing Audience": A Query Into The Future Of The Orchestra And The Potential Benefits Of Bringing Live Classical Music To The Community Through Informal Performances, Natalie Wei-Ting Chang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I discuss the traditional organizational model adopted by symphony orchestras in the United States as non-profit arts organizations that are struggling to maintain solvency within the current philanthropic, political, and digital contexts. As part of the discussion, I conduct field research within the local area of the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in providing demonstrations of live and informal classical performance in various businesses and institutions while collecting data via surveys from willing adult participants (ages 18 and above) of all demographics, specifically lower income areas. The survey analysis gives important insights into public perception of symphony …

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Using Coral Microatolls (Sp. Siderastrea Siderea) From The Gulf Of Gonâve, Haiti, Gilman Reno Ouellette Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural and anthropogenic climate changes present unique and serious risks to society. In order to plan and implement adaptation and mitigation strategies successfully, regional manifestations of broad-scale climate changes must be understood robustly. The Caribbean region contains part of the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool (WHWP), a major sea surface temperature (SST) feature that plays a key role in North Atlantic climate. Climate variability in the Caribbean is captured poorly by climate models, due in part to a lack of continuous, multidecadal instrumental climate records from the region. I explored three research questions in this dissertation: Does non-systematic bias exist in …

Producing "Fabulous": Commodification And Ethnicity In Hair Braiding Salons, Sylviane Ngandu-Kalenga Greensword

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Black women wearing fabulous braids are a striking feature of the Afro-diasporic cultural landscape. However, the braiders and salon owners who enable this aesthetic engineering are seldom acknowledged. This dissertation investigates the experience and role of Caribbean and West and Central African women in the hair braiding industry, a rapidly growing business in the U.S. I address the complexity of these women’s multiple social roles and the multiple consciousness (King, 1988) associated with their demographic characteristics (color, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and immigrant status). The commonalities between the braiders and their mostly African American customers contrast vividly with their perception of …

Francolouisianais In The 21st Century: Redrawing Identity Lines In A Community Experiencing Language Shift, Marguerite L. Perkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The francophonie of south Louisiana today is characterized by a great deal of diversity - in terms of ethnicity, language practices, cultural practices, geography, and experience. The academic literature does not always reflect this diversity, however. Some ethnic groups are overshadowed by others in academic study, and the lines between them are often uncritically blurred. Discussions of language shift are regularly mired in assumptions of individuals’ complete linguistic and cultural assimilation based solely on their native use of English.

In this dissertation, I seek to problematize traditional accounts of assimilation and collective ethnic identity by highlighting the ways in which …

Examining Limestone Use At Byrd Hammock South (8wa30), Wakulla County, Fl, Lucie R. Berryhill

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, I examine the limestone deposits identified at Byrd Hammock South during the Summer 2015 excavations conducted by Louisiana State University (LSU) and Florida State University (FSU). The site under investigation is the Byrd Hammock site (8WA30) in Wakulla County, Florida. Byrd Hammock is a multi-component site located only four miles north of the Gulf Coast and is close to other Swift Creek sites including Block-Sterns (8LE484) and Harrison Ring (8BY1359) (Russo, Hadden, and Dengel 2009). Like several other sites or site complexes on the Florida panhandle, Byrd Hammock has two large burial mounds that were placed on …

Pathogenicity And Reproduction Of Isolates Of Reniform Nematode, Rotylenchulus Reniformis, From Louisiana On Soybean And Utility Of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms To Evaluate Genetic Variability, Herath Mudiyanselage Kularathna

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Experiments were conducted to evaluate soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., responses to indigenous isolates of the reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis) in Louisiana and to understand the genetic variability of these native isolates. Microplot and greenhouse experiments were conducted to evaluate the comparative reproduction and pathogenicity of single egg-mass populations of R. reniformis isolated from West Carroll (WC), Rapides, Tensas and Morehouse (MOR) parishes of Louisiana. Data from full-season microplot trials, displayed significant differences in reproduction and pathogenicity of the nematode with the commercial soybean cultivars REV 56R63, Pioneer P54T94R, and Dyna-Gro 39RY57. Significantly low population density was observed …

Human-Environment Interactions: Sea-Level Rise And Marine Resource Use At Eleanor Betty, An Underwater Maya Salt Work, Belize, Valerie Renae Feathers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dissertation excavations were performed in the spring of 2013 at the underwater site of Eleanor Betty in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize. The marine environment preserved wooden architecture associated with the salt works. Excavation goals included: 1) excavating and defining the boundaries of the submerged shell midden; 2) collecting sediment samples for paleoenvironmental analyses; and 3) recovering cultural remains to determine the site’s purpose (residence versus production workshop).

Four transects were added to the existing transect from excavations performed during the 2011 field season. The shell midden measured 5 meters in length (north-to-south throughout all transects) by 0.5-to-1 meters in …

Weather Communication On Twitter: Identifying Popular Content And Optimal Warning Format Via Case Studies And A Survey Analysis, Joshua D. Eachus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use of Twitter as a channel for weather information inspires a deeper analysis of key information nodes during episodes of high impact weather, especially local meteorologists. To optimize communication on the channel, it is important to understand what kinds of messages produce exposure and attention among users—which translates to knowledge that could improve the reach of a warning. Literature identifies two key models that well describe the cognitive processing of tweets and warnings. The Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) describes risk perception and the factors that enable or disable one from acting on a warning. Particularly through environmental and …

Habitat Association Predicts Genetic Diversity And Population Divergence In Amazonian Birds, Michael G. Harvey, Alexandre Aleixo, Camila C. Ribas, Robb T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

© 2017 by The University of Chicago. The ecological traits of organisms may predict their genetic diversity and population genetic structure and mediate the action of evolutionary processes important for speciation and adaptation. Making these ecological-evolutionary links is difficult because it requires comparable genetic estimates from many species with differing ecologies. In Amazonian birds, habitat association is an important component of ecological diversity. Here, we examine the link between habitat association and genetic parameters using 20 pairs of closely related Amazonian bird species in which one member of the pair occurs primarily in forest edge and floodplains and the other …

Molecular Systematics Of Targeted Flat Sedges (Cyperus, Cyperaceae) Of The Americas, Christopher S. Reid, Vinson P. Doyle, J. Richard Carter, Yalma Vargas-Rodriguez, Lowell E. Urbatsch

Faculty Publications

Background and aims – Cyperus is a large, ecologically diverse, and important sedge genus. Recent systematic work resolved problems with generic delimitation and implicated C4 photosynthesis as a possible key innovation spurring diversification. Our research addressed several systematic, taxonomic, and biogeographic questions at the levels of species, species groups, and taxonomic sections. By targeting American taxa, this work helped fill a geographic sampling gap. Methods – Phylogenetic relationships of 121 ingroup samples representing 93 taxa were inferred using both Bayesian and maximum likelihood approaches in a multi-locus framework with nucleotide data from nuclear ITS, and plastid markers matK, ndhF, rpl32-trnL(UAG), …

Assessing Morphodynamics Of The Lower Mississippi River From 1985 To 2015 With Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques, Bo Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Lower Mississippi River is one of the most highly engineered rivers in the world. The river is now completely regulated by a combination of levees, artificial cutoffs, bank revetments, and dike fields; however, the river engineering has also complicated the geomorphological response to the sediment brought in the river. This dissertation research examined morphodynamics of the middle portion of the Lower Mississippi River from Vicksburg, Mississippi (river kilometer: 737) to Red River Landing, Louisiana (river kilometer: 486) to elucidate river engineering effects on sediment transport, storage, and distribution. The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) diverts approximately 25% of the …

Reading Between The Vines: Analyzing Climate Change Adaptive Capacity In The Tulbagh Valley Wine Industry, South Africa, Jana Catherine Brady

LSU Master's Theses

There is great concern across the wine industry about the effect climate change will have on wine production and quality. These worries are valid because wine grapes are sensitive to the climatological conditions in which they are grown. However, not all viticultural areas will experience climate change in the same manner and the effects of climate change could vary considerably by region. This thesis examines the potential impact of climate change on the wine industry in the already hot and dry Tulbagh Valley, South Africa. The valley has produced wine since the early 18^th century, but today the valley …

Gis Analysis Of Dvāravatī Dharmacakras And The Rise Of Buddhism In Thailand, Areerut Patnukao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how GIS as well as spatial and statistical analyses could be used to advance the understanding of Dvāravatī settlement and Dharmacakras locations. The research employs archaeological and geographical parameters to measure and quantify the patterns of Dvāravatī settlements, Dharmacakra locations, their interrelationship, and their relationship with environmental setting. The different types of spatial analyses, parameter settings within each analysis, and approaches are used to examine and explore the differences and commonalities of these variables at three different geographic levels: national, regional, and river basin levels.

Four distinct approaches are incorporated in this study. Chi-Square analysis shows significant …

The Saharan Air Layer As An Early Rainfall Season Suppressant In The Eastern Caribbean: The 2015 Puerto Rico Drought, Thomas L. Mote, Craig A. Ramseyer, Paul W. Miller

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Overbank Deposition Of Sand And Mud Within Two Point Bars Bound By The Mississippi River Levee System: Implications For Coastal Restoration Sediment Budgets, Christopher Magliolo

LSU Master's Theses

As ongoing Mississippi River sediment diversion projects are being developed and planned, the availability of sand and mud for use in the lower Mississippi River Delta is being calculated and budgeted. This project attempts to quantify the amount of sand and mud being lost from the lower Mississippi River past the Old River Control Structure in the remaining unleveed floodplains, an area that encompasses 270 km². Two land masses were chosen along each bank of this reach of the Mississippi River: Raccourci Island (west bank) and the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge (east bank). Seventeen sediment cores were …

Balancing Literacy With Other Curricular Demands: An Autobiographical Account, Mary F. Rice

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

This paper is an autobiographical account of one junior high teacher’s attempts to teach a Balanced Literacy curriculum with an emphasis on her experiences with English language learners (ELLs). The account is framed chronologically from her first days of teaching through her final semester and is organized by her attention to her state’s old English/language arts core, her state’s new English/language arts core, the World-class Instructional Design Association (WIDA) standards for ELLs and finally, the Common Core Curriculum Standards (CCSS). At the end of her autobiography, the author emphasizes the lessons she learned about trying to overlay Balanced Literacy with …

A Fishnet-Constrained Land Use Mix Index Derived From Remotely Sensed Data, Yanqing Xu, Lei Wang, Cong Fu, Tim Kosmyna

Faculty Publications

Research works related to public health, transportation and urban planning have called for indices of land use mix (LUM) to support their spatial models. We propose a fishnet-based LUM calculation algorithm that works with the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) land cover data, a high-level product of Landsat satellite images. Comparing to the traditional LUM calculation, the fishnet structure can work at various spatial scales if aggregating to the administrative boundaries. Test results from regression models showed that our method was able to solve the scale problem identified as modifiable area unit problem that caused an unexpected positive correlation of …

Lsu Research Fall 2017, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

Research Magazine

LSU Research is published annually by the Office of Research & Economic Development, Louisiana State University.

Fall 2017 Catalog, Lsu Press

LSU Press Seasonal Catalogs

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Evaluating Stay Detection Approaches, Cornelia Schneider, Simon Gröchenig, Verena Venek, Michael Leitner, Siegfried Reich

Faculty Publications

In recent years, sensors of mobile devices are increasingly used in the research field of Active and Assisted Living (AAL), in particular, for movement analysis. Questions, such as where users typically stay (and for how long), where they have been or where they will most likely be going to, are of utmost importance for implementing smart AAL services. Due to the plethora of application scenarios and varying requirements, the challenge is the identification of an appropriate stay detection approach. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive framework covering the entire process from data acquisition, pre-processing, parameterization to evaluation so that it …

The Influence Of Föhn Winds On Glacial Lake Washburn And Palaeotemperatures In The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, During The Last Glacial Maximum, M. K. Obryk, P. T. Doran, E. D. Waddington, C. P. Mckay

Faculty Publications

© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017. Large glacial lakes, including Glacial Lake Washburn, were present in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) despite a colder and drier climate. To address the mechanism capable of generating enough meltwater to sustain these large lakes, a conceptual model was developed based on the warming potential of infrequent contemporary föhn winds. The model suggests that föhn winds were capable of generating enough meltwater to sustain large glacial lakes during the LGM by increasing degree days above freezing (DDAF) and prolonging the melt season. A present-day relationship between infrequent summer föhn …