Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A High-Resolution Land Cover Dataset To Support Integrated Water Resources Planning And Management In Northern Utah, Ellie Irene Leydsman Mcginty

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Integrated planning and management approaches, including bioregional planning and integrated water resources planning, are comprehensive strategies that strive to balance the sustainability of natural resources and the integrity of ecosystem processes with human development and activities. Implementation of integrated plans and programs remains complicated. However, geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems and remote sensing, can significantly enhance planning and management processes.

Through a United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 Wetland Program Development Grant, a high-resolution land cover dataset, with a primary emphasis on mapping and quantifying impervious surfaces, was developed for three watershed sub-basins in northern Utah - …

Exploring The Connection Between Acid Exposure And Virulence In Listeria Monocytogenes, Minghao Li

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive food-borne pathogen that is widely dispersed in the environment and can cause listeriosis with high fatality rates when consumed in contaminated food products. They are capable of growing over a wide range condition. Listeria is also able to tolerate adverse conditions which allows the bacterium to survive in unfavorable environments. The ubiquitous nature of L. monocytogenes makes it difficult to eliminate from food systems. One major problem in the food industry is the survival of L. monocytogenes under sublethal low pH-environment since organic acids are widely used as food decontaminants. Prior research has suggested that …

Protecting Crops From Abiotic Stress: Copper Oxide Nanoparticle Effects On Wheat And A Beneficial Rhizobacterium, Matthew Potter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nanoparticles (NPs) are defined as particles less than 100 nm in at least one dimension. CuO NPs have possible applications in agriculture as micronutrient sources, pesticides, and enhancers of crop stress tolerance. Here, three aspects of CuO NP agricultural applications are studied: 1) the potential of CuO NPs to prevent wheat lodging-when crops irreversibly fall over; 2) CuO NP-induced drought tolerance in wheat seedlings; and 3) the effects of CuO NPs on outer membrane vesicle (OMV) production by Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6 (PcO6), a plant-health promoting bacterium.

Wheat grown 7 d exposed to CuO NPs in the growth matrix …

Try The Wine: Food As An Expression Of Cultural Identity In Roman Britain, Molly Reininger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research surrounding cultural identity and food customs throughout history are published often, but any research that attempts to combine the two are often based in more recent history. Few combinations of the two are available, and fewer explore the implications within ancient colonization and expansion.

The research for this thesis was conducted with three viewpoints in mind: the colonization of Britannia from Romans within the new colony, the colonization from the native Briton's perspective, and the Roman citizens within Britannia at the end of Rome's military involvement with the colony. This method was chosen because in the early years of …

Automating And Analyzing Whole-Farm Carbon Models, Aditi Maheshwari

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of this research is to learn about whole farm carbon models. A whole farm carbon model estimates the emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) based on information for a farm. We analyzed two models, HOLOS whole-farm and COMET-Farm, by running the models on random inputs and building classifiers from the runs. HOLOS estimates GHG emissions for a particular year based on crop and animal agriculture input, while COMET-farm adds past and future farm management practices. Users of the models must manually enter farm data through a graphical user interface (GUI), which is a good method for a single farm, …

National Survey Of Professional Development On Writing Compliant Transition Individualized Education Programs, M. Faith Thomas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A national survey of special education administrators was conducted on current special education teacher trainings, the internal monitoring processes on transition IEPs, and the effect training has on compliance with federal law. In addition, this student researcher examined training and internal monitoring systems to determine if there were any similarities or differences between rural, suburban, and metropolitan school districts. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design gathered survey data from 147 special education administrators from across the U.S. and conducted interviews with 14 participants representing rural, suburban, and metropolitan school districts. When combining survey and interviews data, the results showed that …

Harvest Efficiency Of Forage Grazed By Cattle And The Effect Of Pinyon And Juniper Treatments On Vegetation Cover On The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Ruger P. Carter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM), located in central south Utah, currently has 76,957 active grazing animal unit months on the monument. Recently, there has been questions whether the harvest and grazing efficiency coefficients developed in the Midwest are applicable to the arid, bunch grass dominated systems of the GSENM. Harvest and grazing efficiency defines the percentage of allocated forage that is being ingested by the animal, and the percentage that is being wasted. Harvest and grazing efficiency coefficients were calculated on the Lower Cattle allotment on the GSENM by taking total forage production and dividing that by expected …

Anthropogenic Influences On Bacterial Assemblages In Stream Biofilms, Elizabeth M. Ogata

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bacteria within biofilms are an essential component of stream ecosystems, influencing the movement of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in watersheds. To better understand the ecological effects of human activities on stream ecosystems, my research examined how nutrients and pharmaceuticals, common pollutants in streams worldwide, influence bacterial assemblages in stream biofilms. First, I tested how nutrients (N, P, iron) and pharmaceuticals (caffeine, diphenhydramine) influenced biofilm bacterial microbiomes (taxa present in at least 75% of samples of a contaminant treatment). Nutrients allowed taxa known for their ability to thrive in nutrient-rich environments to dominate microbiomes, pharmaceuticals supported a rich …

Exploring The Influence Of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (Pals) In Increasing Reading Comprehension Of Grade-Level Biology Text And Biology Self-Efficacy In Students With Learning Disabilities: A Formative Experiment, K. Lea Priestley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study used a formative design experiment framework which does not answer a research question but addresses a pedagogical goal. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) on the reading comprehension of grade-level biology text and biology self-efficacy with students diagnosed with learning disabilities. As a result of this intervention, it was expected that students would better understand biology text and feel better about themselves as a biology student.

Students were separated into pairs, or dyads, with each pair having a stronger reader and a weaker reader. These dyads participated in …

Improving Aquatic Habitat Representation In Utah Using Large Spatial Scale Environmental Datasets, Gregory C. Goodrum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rivers provide habitat for aquatic species, but widespread human water development degrades aquatic habitat, fragments stream networks, and threatens native fish populations. Habitat suitability models are commonly used to identify current instream habitat conditions, but are often species-specific, data-intensive, and rarely suitable to the large spatial scales required in conservation and water resources management. Thus, there is need to develop and validate habitat suitability models that provide ecologically-meaningful estimations of aquatic habitat, but are simple enough to apply at large geographic areas and flexible to incorporate different species. I tested the accuracy of 15 habitat suitability models estimating Bonneville Cutthroat …

New World Mammarenaviral Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Determinants Of Infection And Disease, Brady T. Hickerson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Several New World mammarenaviruses (NWM) are able to cause life-threatening hemorrhagic disease in humans. These agents use human transferrin receptor 1 (hTfR1), the main protein involved in cellular uptake of iron, to infect cells. Furthermore, use of hTfR1 correlates with the ability of these viruses to cause severe disease in humans. The most prevalent pathogenic NWM is Jun√≠n virus (JUNV), which is the etiological agent of Argentine hemorrhagic fever (AHF).The pathogenesis of AHF is poorly understood. A cardinal feature of severe cases of AHF is a prolonged increase of serum interferon-a (IFN-a) concentration. This increase is hypothesized to play a …

Collaborative Research: Network Cluster: Dust In The Critical Zone From The Great Basin To The Rocky Mountains, Janice Brahney

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Rapid: Covid-19 Induced Cessation Of Ecotourism And Supplemental Feeding: Implications For Wildlife Physiology, Reproduction, And The Microbiome, Susannah S. French

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Spectroscopic Signature Of Noncovalent Bonds, Steve Scheiner

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Edge Effects On Laser-Induced Surface Displacement Of Opaque Materials By Photothermal Interferometry, G. A. S. Flizikowski, B. Anghinoni, J. H. Rohling, M. P. Belançon, R. S. Mendes, M. L. Baesso, L. C. Malacarne, T. Požar, Stephen E. Bialkowski, N. G. C. Astrath

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

We demonstrate the influence of edge effects on the photothermal-induced phase shift measured by a homodyne quadrature laser interferometer and compare the experiments with rigorous theoretical descriptions of thermoelastic surface displacement of metals. The finite geometry of the samples is crucial in determining how the temperature is distributed across the material and how this affects the interferometer phase shift measurements. The optical path change due to the surface thermoelastic deformation and thermal lens in the surrounding air is decoded from the interferometric signal using analytical and numerical tools. The boundary/edge effects are found to be relevant to properly describe the …

What Is The Storage Effect, Why Should It Occur In Cancers, And How Can It Inform Cancer Therapy?, Anna K. Miller, Joel S. Brown, David Basanta, Nancy Huntly

Ecology Center Publications

Intratumor heterogeneity is a feature of cancer that is associated with progression, treatment resistance, and recurrence. However, the mechanisms that allow diverse cancer cell lineages to coexist remain poorly understood. The storage effect is a coexistence mechanism that has been proposed to explain the diversity of a variety of ecological communities, including coral reef fish, plankton, and desert annual plants. Three ingredients are required for there to be a storage effect: (1) temporal variability in the environment, (2) buffered population growth, and (3) species-specific environmental responses. In this article, we argue that these conditions are observed in cancers and that …

Genomic Insights Into Speciation History And Local Adaptation Of An Alpine Aspen In The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau And Adjacent Highlands, Jia-Lang Li, Lin-Ling Zhong, Jing Wang, Tao Ma, Kang-Shan Mao, Lei Zhang

Aspen Bibliography

Natural selection serves as an important agent to drive and maintain interspecific divergence. Populus rotundifolia Griff. is an alpine aspen species that mainly occurs in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) and adjacent highlands, whereas its sister species, P. davidiana Dode, is distributed across southwest and central to northeast China in much lower altitude regions. In this study, we collected genome resequencing data of 53 P. rotundifolia and 42 P. davidiana individuals across their natural distribution regions. Our population genomic data suggest that the two species are well delimitated in the allopatric regions, but with hybrid zones in their adjacent region in …

Aspen Next Generation: Conversations From Southern Colorado And Northern New Mexico, Dan Binkley, Bill Romme

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen trees and forests are especially important in the Rocky Mountains. Aspens add beauty to landscapes, foster high diversity and productivity of understory plants, provide for the habitat needs of many species of animals, and moderate fire behavior. There is a perception that aspen trees and stands are not regenerating well in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico; cohorts of trees younger than a few decades are scarce, at least in some areas. The next generation of aspen in the southern Rockies will be influenced by land use decisions, including harvesting, fire policy and management, and browsing by livestock and …

Large-Diameter Trees Dominate Snag And Surface Biomass Following Reintroduced Fire, James A. Lutz, Soren Struckman, Tucker J. Furniss, C. Alina Cansler, Sara J. Germain, Larissa L. Yocom Kent, Darren Mcavoy, Crystal A. Kolden, Alistair M. S. Smith, Mark E. Swanson, Andrew J. Larson

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The reintroduction of fire to landscapes where it was once common is considered a priority to restore historical forest dynamics, including reducing tree density and decreasing levels of woody biomass on the forest floor. However, reintroducing fire causes tree mortality that can have unintended ecological outcomes related to woody biomass, with potential impacts to fuel accumulation, carbon sequestration, subsequent fire severity, and forest management. In this study, we examine the interplay between fire and carbon dynamics by asking how reintroduced fire impacts fuel accumulation, carbon sequestration, and subsequent fire severity potential. Beginning pre-fire, and continuing 6 years post-fire, we tracked …

Effect Of Choline Forms And Gut Microbiota Composition On Trimethylamine-N-Oxide Response In Healthy Men, Clara E. Cho, Niklas D. J. Aardema, Madison L. Bunnell, Deanna P. Larson, Sheryl Aguilar, Janet R. Bergeson, Olga V. Malysheva, Marie A. Caudill, Machael Lefevre

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a choline-derived gut microbiota-dependent metabolite, is a newly recognized risk marker for cardiovascular disease. We sought to determine: (1) TMAO response to meals containing free versus lipid-soluble choline and (2) effects of gut microbiome on TMAO response. Methods: In a randomized, controlled, double-blinded, crossover study, healthy men (n = 37) were provided meals containing 600 mg choline either as choline bitartrate or phosphatidylcholine, or no choline control. Results: Choline bitartrate yielded three-times greater plasma TMAO AUC (p = 0.01) and 2.5-times greater urinary TMAO change from baseline (p = 0.01) compared to no choline and phosphatidylcholine. Gut …

Collaborative Research: Diverse Selective Pressure On Fruit Chemical Traits From Mutualists And Antagonists As A Major Driver Of Chemical Evolution At The Whole Plant Level, Noelle G. Beckman

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Limited Importance Of Primary Production In The Deep Chlorophyll Layer For Macro-Zooplankton In An Oligotrophic Karst Lake: A Whole-Lake 15N Experiment, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, María Rosa Miracle, Antonio Camacho, Javier Armengol, Eduardo Vicente

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Deep-chlorophyll layers (DCL) in oligotrophic lakes contribute significantly to primary productivity, but the importance of this production for the rest of the food web and for other strata is unknown. In Laguna El Tejo, a sheltered 1.7-ha Spanish karst lake, chlorophyll levels were < 2 μg/L in the epilimnion but reached 10 μg/L in the metalimnion and upper hypolimnion where cyanobacterial picoplankton dominated. Particulate nitrogen levels were 2-14 times higher in the metalimnion than in the epilimnion and 42 % of the primary productivity occurred in the deeper strata where the DCL was located. To address the trophic importance of the high biomass and production in the deep chlorophyll layer, we injected ¹⁵NH₄⁺ and rhodamine into a 0.5-m strata (15-16 m) in the metalimnion of the lake. The ¹⁵NH₄⁺ taken up by the nitrogen-limited phytoplankton allowed us to measure the importance of biologically mediated transport whereas the rhodamine traced physical eddy diffusion. After 28 days 55 % of the ¹⁵N could be …

Seed-Transmitted Wheat Mosaic Virus In Sweet Corn In Utah, Claudia Nischwitz

Biology Faculty Publications

Wheat mosaic virus (WMoV) (syn. High Plains virus) was first observed in corn in 1993 in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, and Texas (Seifers et al. 1997). The virus causes chlorotic streaks and mosaic on corn foliage, and it stunts ear development. When infected early in the season, plants frequently die. There are anecdotal reports of reduced seed germination rates in infected seed lots. The host range of the virus includes corn, small grains, and yellow and green foxtail. The virus is transmitted by the wheat curl mite (Aceria tosichella Keifer 1969). Seed transmission of WMoV at extremely low rates was …

Do Plant Secondary Metabolite‐Containing Forages Influence Soil Processes In Pasture Systems?, Andrea K. Clemensen, Juan J. Villalba, George E. Rottinghaus, Stephen T. Lee, Frederick D. Provenza, Jennifer R. Reeve

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Grazed pastures are susceptible to N loss from urine/manure additions, which increases eutrophication, affecting the global N cycle. Plant secondary metabolites (PSM), such as condensed tannins (CT) and terpenes, influence silviculture soil dynamics by generally decreasing N mineralization. We investigated whether cattle‐grazed pastures of non‐traditional grass and legume forage monoculture strips including CT‐containing sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) and tall fescue (TF) [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.] influenced soil dynamics compared with traditional grass and legume forage monoculture strips of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), without tannins, and TF. Throughout the study, CT in sainfoin averaged 58.9 g kg^{−1 …}

Protecting Endangered Species In The Usa Requires Both Public And Private Land Conservation, Niall G. Clancy, John P. Draper, J. Marshall Wolf, Umarfarooq A. Abdulwahab, Maya Cassidy Pendleton, Soren Brothers, Janice Brahney, Jennifer M. Weathered, Edd Hammill, Trisha B. Atwood

Ecology Center Publications

Crucial to the successful conservation of endangered species is the overlap of their ranges with protected areas. We analyzed protected areas in the continental USA to assess the extent to which they covered the ranges of endangered tetrapods. We show that in 80% of ecoregions, protected areas offer equal (25%) or worse (55%) protection for species than if their locations were chosen at random. Additionally, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve sufficient protection for 100% of the USA’s endangered tetrapods through targeted protection of undeveloped public and private lands. Our results highlight that the USA is likely to …

Usu Biological Engineers Monitor Coronavirus In Sewage, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

July 16, 2020 — A recent statewide pilot study confirmed that coronavirus can be detected in sewage that enters wastewater treatment facilities. The findings may lead to new public health tools that help track infection rates and trends.

Comparison Of Accelerated Solvent Extraction (Ase) And Energized Dispersive Guided Extraction (Edge) For The Analysis Of Pesticides In Leaves, Ashlie D. Kinross, Kimberly J. Hageman, William J. Doucette, Alexandria L. Foster

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Various techniques have been evaluated for the extraction and cleanup of pesticides from environmental samples. In this work, a Selective Pressurized Liquid Extraction (SPLE) method for pesticides was developed using a Thermo Fisher Scientific Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) system. This instrument was compared to the newly introduced (2017) extraction instrument, the Energized Dispersive Guided Extraction (EDGE) system, which combines Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) and dispersive Solid Phase Extraction (dSPE). We first optimized the SPLE method using the ASE instrument for pesticide extraction from alfalfa leaves using layers of Florisil and graphitized carbon black (GCB) downstream of the leaf homogenate in …

Stimulus Complexity And Chunk Tightness Interact To Impede Perceptual Restructuring During Problem Solving, Zhonglu Zhang, Christopher M. Warren, Yi Lei, Qiang Xing, Hong Li

Psychology Faculty Publications

The mutual influence of stimulus complexity and chunk tightness on perceptual restructuring was examined using a chunk decomposition task (CDT). Participants attempted to remove components of Chinese characters in order to produce new, valid characters. Participants had their electroencephalogram recorded while completing a CDT in conditions of low or high stimulus complexity, crossed with two levels of chunk tightness. Tight chunks overlapped spatially whereas loose chunks did not. Both increasing chunk tightness and increasing stimulus complexity impaired performance (lower accuracy, longer reaction times), and these factors interacted such that highly complex, tight chunks produced the worst performance. These factors also …

Finding A Fit: Biological Science Doctoral Students’ Selection Of A Principal Investigator And Research Laboratory, Michelle A. Maher, Annie M. Wofford, Josipa Roksa, David F. Feldon

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In the laboratory-based disciplines, selection of a principal investigator (PI) and research laboratory (lab) indelibly shapes doctoral students’ experiences and educational outcomes. Framed by the theoretical concept of person–environment fit from within a socialization model, we use an inductive, qualitative approach to explore how a sample of 42 early-stage doctoral students enrolled in biological sciences programs made decisions about fitting with a PI and within a lab. Results illuminated a complex array of factors that students considered in selecting a PI, including PI relationship, mentoring style, and professional stability. Further, with regard to students’ lab selection, peers and research projects …

Formate Dehydrogenase (Fdh1) Localizes To Both Mitochondria And Chloroplast To Play A Role In Host And Nonhost Disease Resistance, Seonghee Lee, Ramu S. Vemanna, Sunhee Oh, Clemencia M. Rojas, Youngjae Oh, Amita Kaundal, Taegun Kwon, Hee-Kyung Lee, Muthappa Senthil-Kumar, Kirankumar S. Mysore

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Nonhost disease resistance is the most common type of plant defense mechanism against potential pathogens. In this study, the metabolic enzyme formate dehydrogenase (FDH1) was identified to be involved in nonhost disease resistance in Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana. In Arabidopsis, AtFDH1 was highly upregulated in response to both host and nonhost bacterial pathogens. Arabidopsis Atfdh1 mutants were compromised in nonhost resistance, basal resistance, and gene-for-gene resistance. The expression patterns of salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) marker genes after pathogen infections in Atfdh1 mutant indicated that SA is most likely involved in the FDH1-mediated plant defense response to …