Digital Commons Network^™

Is Doping Of Cognitive Performance An Anti‐Herbivore Adaptation? Alkaloids Inhibiting Acetylcholinesterase As A Case, Maciej J. Ejsmond, Frederick D. Provenza

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Historically, people who study interactions between plants and herbivores focused on the ecological costs and benefits of synthesizing secondary metabolites. These compounds have diverse functions including defenses against herbivores. Some plants produce alkaloids that act as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, increasing both the level and duration of action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine with potential toxic effects in insects and mammals. Yet, among a number of neuroactive plant chemicals, alkaloids that inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AIA) display nootropic activities, that is, positively affect cognition, learning, and memory in mammals. This creates a paradox: Neuroactive AIA, expected to punish herbivores, enhance cognition, learning, and memory. A …

Zika Virus-Induced Acute Myelitis And Motor Deficits In Adult Interferon Αβ/Γ Receptor Knockout Mice, Katherine Zukor, Hong Wang, Venkatraman Siddharthan, Justin G. Julander, John D. Morrey

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) has received widespread attention because of its effect on the developing fetus. It is becoming apparent, however, that severe neurological sequelae, such as Guillian-Barrë syndrome (GBS), myelitis, encephalitis, and seizures can occur after infection of adults. This study demonstrates that a contemporary strain of ZIKV can widely infect astrocytes and neurons in the brain and spinal cord of adult, interferon α/β receptor knockout mice (AG129 strain) and cause progressive hindlimb paralysis, as well as severe seizure-like activity during the acute phase of disease. The severity of hindlimb motor deficits correlated with increased numbers of ZIKV-infected lumbosacral spinal …

Phosphofructokinase And Mitochondria Partially Explain The High Ultimate Ph Of Broiler Pectoralis Major Muscle, Sulaiman K. Matarneh, Con-Ning Yen, Jennifer M. Elgin, Mariane Beline, Saulo Da Luz E Silva, Jordan C. Wicks, Eric M. England, Rami A. Dalloul, Michael E. Persia, Islam I. Omara, Hao Shi, David E. Gerrard

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

During postmortem metabolism, muscle pH gradually declines to reach an ultimate pH near 5.6 across most meat species. Yet, broiler pectoralis major (P. major) muscle generates meat with high ultimate pH (pH ∼ 5.9). For better understanding of the underlying mechanism responsible for this phenomenon, we evaluated the involvement of breast muscle chilling on the extent of postmortem metabolism. Broiler breast muscles were either subjected to chilling treatment (control) or left at room temperature (RT) for 120 min. P. major muscle from the RT treatment had lower ultimate pH, greater glycogen degradation and lactate accumulation. While these findings suggest that …

Increased Soil Frost Versus Summer Drought As Drivers Of Plant Biomass Responses To Reduced Precipitation: Results From A Globally-Coordinated Field Experiment, Hugh A.L. Henry, Mehdi Abedi, Concepcion L. Alados, Karen H. Beard, Lauchlan H. Fraser, Anke Jentsch, Juergen Kreyling, Andrew Kulmatiski, Eric G. Lamb, Wei Sun, Mathew R. Vankoughnett, Susanna Venn, Christiane Werner, Ilka Beil, Irmgard Blindow, Sven Dahlke, Maren Dubbert, Alexandra Effinger, Heath W. Garris, Maite Gartzia, Tobias Gebauer, Mohammed A.S. Arfin Khan, Andrey V. Malyshev, Charles Nock, Janelle P. Paulson, Yolanda Pueyo, Holly J. Stover, Xuechen Yang

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Reduced precipitation treatments often are used in field experiments to explore the effects of drought on plant productivity and species composition. However, in seasonally snow-covered regions reduced precipitation also reduces snow cover, which can increase soil frost depth, decrease minimum soil temperatures and increase soil freeze-thaw cycles. Therefore, in addition to the effects of reduced precipitation on plants via drought, freezing damage to overwintering plant tissues at or below the soil surface could further affect plant productivity and relative species abundances during the growing season. We examined the effects of both reduced rainfall (via rain-out shelters) and reduced snow cover …

The Utah Statesman, February 20, 2018, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Landscape-Scale Effects Of Supra-Seasonal Drought On Semi-Aquatic Snake Assemblages, Philip N. Vogrinc, Andrew M. Durso, Christopher T. Winne, John D. Willson

Biology Faculty Publications

Climate change is predicted to alter the frequency and intensity of precipitation events, placing stress on freshwater aquatic ecosystems and their associated wildlife. Thus, understanding interspecific variation in drought sensitivity and the repeatability of those responses across heterogeneous landscapes is critical. Semi-aquatic snakes serve important roles within aquatic ecosystems and several species are threatened. Yet, little is known about the effects of drought on semi-aquatic snake populations or assemblages. We systematically trapped 20 isolated wetlands in South Carolina before (2006) and after (2013) a multi-year supra-seasonal drought to determine drought-induced shifts in occupancy and detection for five semi-aquatic snake species. …

Homogenization Of Plant Diversity, Composition, And Structure In North American Urban Yards, William D. Pearse, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Sarah E. Hobbie, Meghan L. Avolio, Neil Bettez, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Lindsay E. Darling, Peter M. Groffman, J. Morgan Grove, Sharon J. Hall, James B. Heffernan, Jennifer Learned, Christopher Neill, Kristen C. Nelson, Diane E. Pataki, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Meredith K. Steele, Tara L. E. Trammell

Ecology Center Publications

Urban ecosystems are widely hypothesized to be more ecologically homogeneous than natural ecosystems. We argue that urban plant communities assemble from a complex mix of horticultural and regional species pools, and evaluate the homogenization hypothesis by comparing cultivated and spontaneously occurring urban vegetation to natural area vegetation across seven major U.S. cities. There was limited support for homogenization of urban diversity, as the cultivated and spontaneous yard flora had greater numbers of species than natural areas, and cultivated phylogenetic diversity was also greater. However, urban yards showed evidence of homogenization of composition and structure. Yards were compositionally more …

Global Macroevolution And Macroecology Of Passerine Song, William D. Pearse, Ignacio Morales-Castilla, Logan S. James, Maxwell Farrell, Frédéric Boivin, T. Jonathan Davies

Ecology Center Publications

Studying the macroevolution of the songs of Passeriformes (perching birds) has proved challenging. The complexity of the task stems not just from the macroevolutionary and macroecological challenge of modeling so many species, but also from the difficulty in collecting and quantifying birdsong itself. Using machine learning techniques, we extracted songs from a large citizen science dataset, and then analyzed the evolution, and biotic and abiotic predictors of variation in birdsong across 578 passerine species. Contrary to expectations, we found few links between life‐history traits (monogamy and sexual dimorphism) and the evolution of song pitch (peak frequency) or song complexity (standard …

The Utah Statesman, February 13, 2018, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Orthotopic Ovarian Transplantation Procedures To Investigate The Life- And Health-Span Influence Of Ovarian Senescence In Female Mice, Jeffrey B. Mason, Kate C. Parkinson, Tracy L. Habermehl

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Ovarian transplantation was first conducted at Utah State University in 1963. In more recent work, heterochronic transplantation of mammalian ovaries is being used to investigate the health-protective effects of young ovaries in young females. The current procedures employ an orthotopic transplantation method, where allogenic ovaries are transplanted back to their original position in the ovarian bursa. This is in contrast to the more commonly used heterotopic transplantation of ovaries/ovarian tissue subcutaneously or under the kidney capsule. All three locations provide efficient revascularization of the transplanted tissues. However, orthotopic transplantation provides the ovary with the most natural signaling environment and is …

California Debates Parole For A Member Of The Manson Family, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

On the night of August 9, 1969, several young people crept into the Los Angeles home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. At the behest of cult leader Charles Manson, they stabbed the couple to death. Cult member Leslie Van Houten stabbed Rosemary LaBianca fourteen times. The group wrote messages on the wall in the victims’ blood. After she played her part in the murder, Van Houten took a shower, put on one of Rosemary LaBianca’s dresses, and ate some food from the refrigerator.

Authors And Editors Assort On Gender And Geography In High-Rank Ecological Publications, Kezia R. Manlove, Rebecca M. Belou

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Peer-reviewed publication volume and caliber are widely-recognized proxies for academic merit, and a strong publication record is essential for academic success and advancement. However, recent work suggests that publication productivity for particular author groups may also be determined in part by implicit biases lurking in the publication pipeline. Here, we explore patterns of gender, geography, and institutional rank among authors, editorial board members, and handling editors in high-impact ecological publications during 2015 and 2016. A higher proportion of lead authors had female first names (33.9%) than editorial board members (28.9%), and the proportion of female first names among handling editors …

Battle Of The Blooms | Sustainable Waste-To-Bioproducts Engineering Center, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Harmful algal blooms or HABs for short are a growing problem in the United States and many parts of the world.

The Status Of Women Leaders In Utah Nonprofits: A 2018 Update, Susan R. Madsen, Ashlie Hew-Len, Amber Thackeray

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

In 2014, the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) published a research and policy brief titled “The Status of Women Leaders in Utah Nonprofits.” The document was the second of four Utah studies published that year; the others focused on the status of women’s leadership in politics, education, and business. This brief gives a four-year update to decide what, if any, progress has been made in women’s leadership within Utah’s nonprofit sector. The brief compares Utah data with national data, reviews the applicable literature, and compares these results to the data in the 2014 brief.

Repurposing Environmental Dna Samples—Detecting The Western Pearlshell (Margaritifera Falcata) As A Proof Of Concept, Joseph C. Dysthe, Torrey Rodgers, Thomas W. Franklin, Kellie J. Carim, Michael K. Young, Kevin S. Mckelvey, Karen E. Mock, Michael J. Schwartz

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Information on the distribution of multiple species in a common landscape is fundamental to effective conservation and management. However, distribution data are expensive to obtain and often limited to high-profile species in a system. A recently developed technique, environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling, has been shown to be more sensitive than traditional detection methods for many aquatic species. A second and perhaps underappreciated benefit of eDNA sampling is that a sample originally collected to determine the presence of one species can be re-analyzed to detect additional taxa without additional field effort. We developed an eDNA assay for the western pearlshell mussel …

Condition-Dependence Of Blue Plumage Coverage In Indigo Buntings Passerina Cyanea, Spencer B. Hudson, Travis E. Wilcoxen

Biology Faculty Publications

Nuptial plumage colouration is seemingly favoured by females of avian species with regards to sexual selection. This particular secondary sexual characteristic has been previously shown to be a condition-dependent signal of individual quality among passerines with pigment-based colouration (i.e. yellows and reds). In contrast, relationships between structural plumage colouration (i.e. blues) and aspects of both physical quality and physiological function have been understudied. Using free-living Indigo Buntings (Passerina cyanea) as a study species, we compared the percentage of blue feather coverage to body condition, innate immune responses, antioxidant capacity, stress physiology, reproductive physiology, and …

Wild Horses And Burros: An Overview, S. Nicole Frey, Eric Thacker

All Current Publications

The Federal government manages feral horses and burros under the Wild and Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act. This fact sheet discusses: what wild and feral horses and burros are, there status and populations in the U.S., the problems caused by over-abundance, how "extra" animals are managed, and future management considerations.

The Utah Statesman, January 30, 2018, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Animal Movement Affectsinterpretation Of Occupancy Models From Camera Trap Surveys Of Unmarked Animals, Eric W. Neilson, Tal Avgar, A. Cole Burton, Kate Broadley, Stan Boutin

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Occupancy models are increasingly applied to data from wildlife camera-trap (CT) surveys to estimate distribution, habitat use, or relative abundance of unmarked animals. Fundamental to the occupancy modeling framework is the temporal pattern of detections at camera stations, which is influenced by animal population density and the speed and scale of animal movement. How these factors interact with CT sampling designs to affect the interpretation of occupancy parameter estimates is unclear. We developed a simple yet ecologically relevant animal movement simulation to create CT detections for animal populations varying in movement rate, home range area, and population density. We also …

Bonding And Bridging Forms Of Social Capital In Wildlife Tourism Microentrepreneurship: An Application Of Social Network Analysis, K. C. Birendra, Duarte B. Morals, Erin Seekamp, Jordan Smith, M. Nils Peterson

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Tourism has been recognized as an important economic sector, requiring a high degree of involvement from the entrepreneurial sector to diversify tourism products and services to meet increasing demand. Tourism is often considered a tool for economic development and a strategy to improve the livelihoods of rural citizens. Specifically, nature-based tourism, such as wildlife tourism, is growing faster than tourism in general, providing a myriad of opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurial engagement. However, several obstacles exist for these small-scale tourism enterprises, such as a lack of social capital. This study examined a network of wildlife tourism microentrepreneurs for bonding and bridging …

Evaluating The Impact Of An Exotic Plant Invasion On Rodent Community Richness And Abundance, Trinity N. Smith, Eric M. Gese, Bryan M. Kluever

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), Russian thistle (Salsola kali), and tall tumblemustard (Sisymbrium altissimum) are nonnative plants widely distributed throughout the desert and shrubsteppe communities of the western United States. The impact of these invaders on plant community structure, form, and function has been well documented, but investigations determining the impacts of this cumulative invasion on terrestrial vertebrates have not been undertaken. Our objective was to assess community-level rodent responses to changes in plant community features, with an emphasis on dominance of invasive plant species. We sampled rodent and plant communities in the Great Basin Desert …

Thomas S. Monson And The Politics Of Obituaries, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, died on January 2 of this year. Monson led the LDS Church for almost a decade. On January 3, The New York Times published an obituary for Monson that was not well received by many members of the church. They felt that it was politically biased and did not paint the life and work of their much-loved leader in a positive light.

Making Rewilding Fit For Policy, Nathalie Pettorelli, Jos Barlow, Philip A. Stephens, Sarah M. Durant, Ben Connor, Henrike Schulte To Bühne, Christopher J. Sandom, Jonathan Wentworth, Johan T. Du Toit

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

1. Rewilding, here defined as “the reorganisation of biota and ecosystem processes to set an identified social–ecological system on a preferred trajectory, leading to the self‐sustaining provision of ecosystem services with minimal ongoing management,” is increasingly considered as an environmental management option, with potential for enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services.
2. Despite burgeoning interest in the concept, there are uncertainties and difficulties associated with the practical implementation of rewilding projects, while the evidence available for facilitating sound decision‐making for rewilding initiatives remains elusive.
3. We identify five key research areas to inform the implementation of future rewilding initiatives: increased understanding of the …

Lab Grown Meat: A Moral Revolution?, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In 2013, Dutch scientists announced that they had produced a lab-grown hamburger. Scientists generated the muscle cells comprising the burger—no animals were killed as part of the process. Many are hopeful that this “cultured meat” is the solution to many societal problems. Earlier this year, author Paul Shapiro and director of The Humane Society released a book called Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals will Revolutionize Dinner and The World. The book provides a history of the development of meat produced in labs and discusses the moral benefits of a future that includes meat produced in this way.

A Social–Ecological Perspective For Riverscape Management In The Columbia River Basin, Brian K. Hand, Courtney G. Flint, Chris A. Frissell, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Shawn P. Devlin, Brian P. Kennedy, Robert L. Crabtree, W. Arthur Mckee, Gordon Luikart, Jack A. Stanford

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Riverscapes are complex, landscape-scale mosaics of connected river and stream habitats embedded in diverse ecological and socioeconomic settings. Social–ecological interactions among stakeholders often complicate natural-resource conservation and management of riverscapes. The management challenges posed by the conservation and restoration of wild salmonid populations in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) of western North America are one such example. Because of their ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic importance, salmonids present a complex management landscape due to interacting environmental factors (eg climate change, invasive species) as well as socioeconomic and political factors (eg dams, hatcheries, land-use change, transboundary agreements). Many of the problems in …

Comparative Response Of The Hepatic Transcriptomes Of Domesticated And Wild Turkey To Aflatoxin B1, Kent M. Reed, Kristelle M. Mendoza, Juan E. Abrahante, Roger A. Coulombe

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The food-borne mycotoxin aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) poses a significant risk to poultry, which are highly susceptible to its hepatotoxic effects. Domesticated turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are especially sensitive, whereas wild turkeys (M.g. silvestris) are more resistant. AFB₁ toxicity entails bioactivation by hepatic cytochrome P450s to the electrophilic exo-AFB₁-8,9-epoxide (AFBO). Domesticated turkeys lack functional hepatic GST-mediated detoxification of AFBO, and this is largely responsible for the differences in resistance between turkey types. This study was designed to characterize transcriptional changes induced in turkey livers by AFB₁ , and to contrast the …

Causation Of Acute Flaccid Paralysis By Myelitis And Myositis In Enterovirus-D68 Infected Mice Deficient In Interferon Αβ/Γ Receptor Deficient Mice., John D. Morrey, Hong Wang, Brett L. Hurst, Katherine Zukor, Venkatraman Siddharthan, Arnaud J. Van Wettere, Donal G. Sinex, E. Bart Tarbet

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) caused a large outbreak in the summer and fall of 2014 in the United States. It causes serious respiratory disease, but causation of associated paralysis is controversial, because the virus is not routinely identified in cerebrospinal fluid. To establish clinical correlates with human disease, we evaluated EV-D68 infection in non-lethal paralysis mouse models. Ten-day-old mice lacking interferon responses were injected intraperitoneally with the virus. Paralysis developed in hindlimbs. After six weeks of paralysis, the motor neurons were depleted due to viral infection. Hindlimb muscles were also infected and degenerating. Even at the earliest stage of paralysis, muscles …

Crispr, Moral Obligations, And Editing The Human Genome, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

As our understanding of the human genome improves, pathways leading in the direction of new and powerful technologies are cleared. In recent years, scientists have developed a new technique called CRISPR, which allows them to edit the genome—adding, subtracting, or deleting pieces of genetic code. This process has the potential to bring about significant changes in human health. CRISPR could prevent children from being born with a wide range of painful or life-threatening conditions. So far, scientists have used this process in attempts to prevent blood disorders, allergies, heart disease, and to mutate the genome in such a way that …

Production Of Genetically Engineered Golden Syrian Hamsters By Pronuclear Injection Of The Crispr/Cas9 Complex, Rong Li, Jinxin Miao, Seokhwan Song, Il-Keun Kong, Yaohe Wang, Zhongde Wang

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The pronuclear (PN) injection technique was first established in mice to introduce foreign genetic materials into the pronuclei of one-cell stage embryos. The introduced genetic material may integrate into the embryonic genome and generate transgenic animals with foreign genetic information following transfer of the injected embryos to foster mothers. Following the success in mice, PN injection has been applied successfully in many other animal species. Recently, PN injection has been successfully employed to introduce reagents with gene-modifying activities, such as the CRISPR/Cas9 system, to achieve site-specific genetic modifications in several laboratory and farm animal species. In addition to mastering the …

Faculty Senate Agenda, January 8, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC December Report
• Council on Teacher Education Annual Report/1-Page
• Scholarship Advisory Board Annual Report
• Policy 405.11.4 External Peer Reviews (first reading)