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New Insights Into The Diversity, Distribution And Ecophysiology Of Marine Picoeukaryotes, Marie L. Cuvelier Jul 2010

New Insights Into The Diversity, Distribution And Ecophysiology Of Marine Picoeukaryotes, Marie L. Cuvelier

Open Access Dissertations

Marine microbes are an essential component of global biogeochemical cycles. In oligotrophic marine surface waters, the phytoplankton, phototrophic, single-celled (on occasion, colonial) organisms, is often dominated by the picoplankton (cells size), which constitute the base of the marine food chain. The picophytoplankton is composed of three main groups of organisms: two genera of cyanobacteria, Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus, and a third group, the picoeukaryotes. Even though numerically less abundant than cyanobacteria, picoeukaryotes can contribute significantly to biomass and primary production in this size fraction. Furthermore, picoeukaryotes are a diverse group but this diversity is still underexplored and their ecological roles and …


Substance-Related Health Disorders In Women: A Retrospective Study Of Women In A Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, Elaine D. Kauschinger Jun 2010

Substance-Related Health Disorders In Women: A Retrospective Study Of Women In A Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, Elaine D. Kauschinger

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the health profiles of women seeking residential treatment for substance abuse with women in the community. These 2 data sets consisted of a total of 621 participants. An additional aim of the present study was to examine whether these health profiles differ between the monosubstance abusing and polysubstance abusing women within the treatment group. There were a total of 257 participants in this group. All analyses controlled for the effects of age, insurance, marital status, employment and race/ethnicity. Binary logistic regressions were used to compare between and within the specified groups on …


Rac1b Regulates The Neurotrophin-3 Mediated Neuronal Commitment Of Bone Marrow Derived Miami Cells, Kevin M. Curtis Jun 2010

Rac1b Regulates The Neurotrophin-3 Mediated Neuronal Commitment Of Bone Marrow Derived Miami Cells, Kevin M. Curtis

Open Access Dissertations

Emerging trends in cell-therapy based tissue repair have focused on the renewable source of adult stem cells including human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs). Due to immunomodulatory properties as well as a potential to differentiate into cells characteristic of all three germ layers, hMSCs provide a source of immature cells for utilization in cell-therapy based treatments. Marrow isolated adult multilineage inducible (MIAMI) cells are a homogeneous sub-population of hMSCs which maintain self-renewal potential during ex vivo expansion, in addition to efficiently undergoing trans-differentiation into neuron-like cells in vitro. Even though hMSCs have the potential to be used for neural …


Developing A Model Of Transmasculine Identity, Nicole L. Saltzburg Jun 2010

Developing A Model Of Transmasculine Identity, Nicole L. Saltzburg

Open Access Dissertations

Traditional psychotherapy with transgender clients has focused on helping gender dysphoric individuals assume an "opposite" gender role. However, recently, there have been calls for trans-positive therapy focusing on the exploration and affirmation of alternative gender identifications. The majority of the research on transgender identity has been conducted with male-to-female (MTF) identified, or transfeminine, individuals. Comparatively little attention has been given to the experience of female-to-male (FTM) identified, or transmasculine, individuals. The primary goal of this study was to explore constructs and identify underlying themes that transmasculine people use in constructing their gender identities in order to develop a structural model …


Mediators Of The Association Between Risk For Mania And Close Relationship Quality In Adolescents, Rebecca S. Siegel Jun 2010

Mediators Of The Association Between Risk For Mania And Close Relationship Quality In Adolescents, Rebecca S. Siegel

Open Access Dissertations

Bipolar disorder is an extremely devastating illness, and increasingly robust evidence indicates that it emerges during adolescence. Also during adolescence, peer relationships, particularly close friendships and romantic relationships, become a central mechanism for social maturation and emotional development. The consequences of mania on the development of peer relationships have received little attention. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine the association between mania and close peer relationship quality in a community sample of adolescents. Two types of close peer relationships, close friendships and romantic relationships, were evaluated. In addition, the current study examined two potential mediators of …


Growth, Reproductive Life-History Traits And Energy Allocation In Epinephelus Guttatus (Red Hind),E. Striatus (Nassau Grouper), And Mycteroperca Venenosa (Yellowfin Grouper) (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae), Nicolle Marie Cushion Jun 2010

Growth, Reproductive Life-History Traits And Energy Allocation In Epinephelus Guttatus (Red Hind),E. Striatus (Nassau Grouper), And Mycteroperca Venenosa (Yellowfin Grouper) (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae), Nicolle Marie Cushion

Open Access Dissertations

Fish populations are regulated by both external environmental factors, e.g., water quality parameters and habitat, and internal reproductive biology and physiology processes. For many species and populations there is often ample external information, while critical internal, i.e., life-history trait (LHT), information is not available. For this study, I determined LHTs and energy allocation patterns for Epinephelus guttatus (red hind), E. striatus (Nassau grouper), and Mycteroperca venenosa (yellowfin grouper) harvested from The Bahamas. I determined age ranges, and how growth patterns and rates differed among the study species. The maximum ages were: 17, E. guttatus; 22, E. striatus; and 13, M. …


Balancing Effector And Regulatory T Cell Responses In Cancer And Autoimmunity, Taylor H. Schreiber Jun 2010

Balancing Effector And Regulatory T Cell Responses In Cancer And Autoimmunity, Taylor H. Schreiber

Open Access Dissertations

Activation of immunity to self-antigens is the goal in cancer immunotherapy, whereas blocking such responses is the goal in autoimmune disease. Thus, it is not surprising that investigation into cancer immunotherapy might also produce insights for the treatment of autoimmune disease. Heat shock protein, gp96, based therapies lead to the robust activation of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells that can slow tumor growth in 60-70% of mice, but only lead to the elimination of tumors in 30-40% of animals. The primary goal of the current studies was to understand why vaccination with a secreted gp96 vaccine was not efficacious in a …


Modeling The Transmission Dynamics Of The Dengue Virus, Patricia Katri May 2010

Modeling The Transmission Dynamics Of The Dengue Virus, Patricia Katri

Open Access Dissertations

Dengue (pronounced den'guee) Fever (DF) and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), collectively known as "dengue," are mosquito-borne, potentially mortal, flu-like viral diseases that affect humans worldwide. Transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito, dengue is caused by any one of four serotypes, or antigen-specific viruses. In this thesis, both the spatial and temporal dynamics of dengue transmission are investigated. Different chapters present new models while building on themes of previous chapters. In Chapter 2, we explore the temporal dynamics of dengue viral transmission by presenting and analyzing an ODE model that combines an SIR human host- with a …


Stat3 Regulation Of Skeletal Muscle Wasting In Cancer Cachexia, Tufan Aydogdu May 2010

Stat3 Regulation Of Skeletal Muscle Wasting In Cancer Cachexia, Tufan Aydogdu

Open Access Dissertations

Cachexia is a highly complex syndrome identified by metabolic, hormonal and cytokine-related abnormalities, but can be shortly characterized as accelerated skeletal muscle and adipose tissue loss in the context of a chronic inflammatory response. Cachexia is a debilitating complication of several diseases such as AIDS, sepsis, diabetes, renal failure, burn injury and cancer. Cachexia is responsible for 25-30% of cancer patient deaths. One of the most obvious outcomes of cancer cachexia is the redistribution of the total protein content, namely the depletion of skeletal muscle protein levels and increase in the acute phase response protein levels as a response to …


The Effects Of Biological Control Agents On Population Growth And Spread Of Melaleuca Quinquenervia, Lucero Sevillano Garcia Mayeya May 2010

The Effects Of Biological Control Agents On Population Growth And Spread Of Melaleuca Quinquenervia, Lucero Sevillano Garcia Mayeya

Open Access Dissertations

The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two biological control agents in reducing population growth and spread of the invasive tree Melaleuca quinquenervia, a subtropical tree native to Australia, and invasive in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. While in Florida two insects Oxyops vitiosa (weevil), and Boreioglycaspis melaleucae (psyllid) have been established as biocontrol agents, in Puerto Rico only psyllids are present, and in the Bahamas no biocontrol agents are present. This study combined demographic data, experiments and mathematical models to investigate the influence of the biocontrol agents on M. quinquenervia's spatial population dynamics. …


Whole Body Periodic Acceleration Reduces Levels Of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness After Eccentric Exercise, Daniel H. Serravite May 2010

Whole Body Periodic Acceleration Reduces Levels Of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness After Eccentric Exercise, Daniel H. Serravite

Open Access Dissertations

Context: Several recovery strategies have been used, with limited effectiveness, to reduce the muscle discomfort or pain and the diminished muscle performance following a bout of unaccustomed physical activity, a condition known as delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS). Muscle damage in this condition is associated with mechanical disruption of the muscle and connective tissue and inflammation and increased oxidative stress. Low frequency, low intensity, whole body periodic acceleration (WBPA) that increases nitric oxide (NO) release from vascular endothelium into the circulation through increased pulsatile shear stress offers a potential solution. This is because endothelial derived nitric oxide has anti-inflammatory, …


Identification And Impact Of Standard Treatment Protocols On The Impairments And Activity Limitations Related To Lower Extremity Lymphedema, Kevin Robert Kunkel May 2010

Identification And Impact Of Standard Treatment Protocols On The Impairments And Activity Limitations Related To Lower Extremity Lymphedema, Kevin Robert Kunkel

Open Access Dissertations

Lower Extremity Lymphedema is a chronic condition of characterized by swelling of body part. It is typically treated with Complex Decongestive Therapy (CDT) to reduce volume. While volume reduction is the primary goal of the treatment, third party payers often require the presence of activity limitations in order to qualify for coverage. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the types of impairments and functional limitations that occur in this population. A second goal was to determine if volume reduction from CDT is sufficient to resolve the impairments and activity limitations associated with lymphedema, or if traditional physical therapy …


The Effects Of Early Life History On Recruitment And Early Juvenile Survival Of A Coral Reef Fish In The Florida Keys, Tauna Leigh Rankin May 2010

The Effects Of Early Life History On Recruitment And Early Juvenile Survival Of A Coral Reef Fish In The Florida Keys, Tauna Leigh Rankin

Open Access Dissertations

Processes that influence the early life stages of fishes can significantly impact population dynamics, yet they continue to be poorly understood. This dissertation examined relationships between the environment, early life history traits (ELHTs), behavior, and post-settlement survival for a coral reef fish, Stegastes partitus, in the upper Florida Keys, to elucidate how they influence juvenile demography. Otolith analysis of settlers and recruits coupled with environmental data revealed that S. partitus surviving the early juvenile period settled at larger sizes and grew slower post-settlement. Water temperature also influenced the ranges of these and other ELHTs as well as the intensity and …


A Study Of The Biological Significance Of A Male Color Polymorphism In The Lizard Sceloporus Minor, Barry P. Stephenson May 2010

A Study Of The Biological Significance Of A Male Color Polymorphism In The Lizard Sceloporus Minor, Barry P. Stephenson

Open Access Dissertations

Males of the Mexican lizard Sceloporus minor (Phrynosomatidae) exhibit striking variation in dorsal coloration, both within and among populations, which may have arisen by sexual selection. The possible significance of this trait was investigated through a combination of observational and experimental approaches. This research revealed that males in one population (La Manzana) in NW Hidalgo exhibit three discrete color morphs (blue, yellow, red) each characterized by morphological, physiological and behavioral differences. Furthermore, these morphs can be identified by an objective approach to color assessment (spectroradiometry). In addition, males in a second population (Escalerillas) from SE San Luis Potosí were also …


Ecology And Evolution Of Diet Expansions To Exotic Hosts In Generalist And Specialist Rolled Leaf Beetles (Genus Cephaloleia, Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae), Carlos Garcia-Robledo May 2010

Ecology And Evolution Of Diet Expansions To Exotic Hosts In Generalist And Specialist Rolled Leaf Beetles (Genus Cephaloleia, Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae), Carlos Garcia-Robledo

Open Access Dissertations

The interactions between plants and their insect herbivores are one of the main generators of biological diversity. A fundamental process generating this outstanding diversity is diet expansion to novel host plants. During the last four decades scientists accumulated evidence showing that co-adaptation between plants and herbivores is a major process assembling plant-herbivore interactions. However, rescent research suggests that adaptation is not always a prerequisite to generate novel plant-herbivore interactions. Novel associations between plants and insect herbivores may be assembled by ecological fitting - an ecological process whereby herbivores colonize novel host plants as a result of the suites of preadapted …


Regulation Of Pannexin 1 Channels By Atp, Feng Qiu May 2010

Regulation Of Pannexin 1 Channels By Atp, Feng Qiu

Open Access Dissertations

Pannexins represent a recently discovered second family of gap junction proteins in vertebrates. However, instead of forming intercellular gap junction channels like connexins, pannexins operate as unpaired pannexons, allowing the flux of molecules from the cytoplasm to the extracellular space and vice versa. Pannexins appear to play a vital role in the local control loop of blood perfusion and oxygen delivery. The properties of Panx1 channels indicate that this protein is the most probable candidate for an ATP release channel and is involved in the propagation of intercellular calcium waves. It is also proposed to mediate the large pore formation …


The Effect Of Salinity Variability On The Mesozooplankton Community Of Florida Bay, Christopher R. Kelble May 2010

The Effect Of Salinity Variability On The Mesozooplankton Community Of Florida Bay, Christopher R. Kelble

Open Access Dissertations

The greater Everglades ecosystem, including Florida Bay, has undergone significant anthropogenic manipulation over the past century. These actions resulted in a series of ecologically undesirable events in the Everglades ecosystem, prompting passage of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). It is necessary to understand the variability in, and relationship between, salinity and ecology to fully evaluate the potential effects of CERP on Florida Bay. A seven-year dataset on surface salinity along with eleven-year and eight-year datasets on mesozooplankton and planktivorous fish were analyzed. Overall, mean Bay-wide salinity varied from a low of 24.2 just after the passing of Hurricane Irene …


The Effects Of Large Terrestrial Mammals On Seed Fates, Hoarding, And Seedling Survival In A Costa Rican Rain Forest, Erin K. Kuprewicz May 2010

The Effects Of Large Terrestrial Mammals On Seed Fates, Hoarding, And Seedling Survival In A Costa Rican Rain Forest, Erin K. Kuprewicz

Open Access Dissertations

Terrestrial mammals affect numerous aspects of plant demography, colonization, and community structure in Neotropical forests. Granivorous mammals destroy seeds via seed predation and seedlings through herbivory, negatively affecting plant fitness. Mammals can also positively affect plants by dispersing or hoarding seeds. Seed fate outcomes are contingent on the interaction between mammal seed handling strategies and the intrinsic anti-predation defenses possessed by seeds. In field experiments at La Selva Biological Station, I investigated how collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu) and Central American agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata) affect five species of large seeds that have various defenses against predation. Overall, peccaries consumed and killed …


Water Table And Nutrient Dynamics In Neotropical Savannas And Wetland Ecosystems, Randol M. Villalobos-Vega May 2010

Water Table And Nutrient Dynamics In Neotropical Savannas And Wetland Ecosystems, Randol M. Villalobos-Vega

Open Access Dissertations

The Tropical savannas of central Brazil (cerrado) and the Everglades wetland (Florida) ecosystems are ideal systems to study landscape spatial mosaics and their interactions. Both ecosystems show a variety of plant physiognomies distributed within small spatial scales and elevation gradients. Such variety of plant physiognomies provide an opportunity to investigate the roles of climate, topography, nutrient availability and water table dynamics as determinants of plant physiognomic distributions, and their role in shaping regional systems. South Florida Wetlands and the tropical savannas of central Brazil are examples of hydrologically-controlled ecosystems. In hydrologically-controlled ecosystems water sources, the availability of nutrients, and the …


Stochastic Modeling And Simulation Of Gene Networks, Zhouyi Xu May 2010

Stochastic Modeling And Simulation Of Gene Networks, Zhouyi Xu

Open Access Dissertations

Recent research in experimental and computational biology has revealed the necessity of using stochastic modeling and simulation to investigate the functionality and dynamics of gene networks. However, there is no sophisticated stochastic modeling techniques and efficient stochastic simulation algorithms (SSA) for analyzing and simulating gene networks. Therefore, the objective of this research is to design highly efficient and accurate SSAs, to develop stochastic models for certain real gene networks and to apply stochastic simulation to investigate such gene networks. To achieve this objective, we developed several novel efficient and accurate SSAs. We also proposed two stochastic models for the circadian …


Water Relations And Carbon Economy Of Hemiepiphytic And Non-Hemiepiphytic Ficus Tree Species In Southwest China, Guangyou Hao May 2010

Water Relations And Carbon Economy Of Hemiepiphytic And Non-Hemiepiphytic Ficus Tree Species In Southwest China, Guangyou Hao

Open Access Dissertations

Hemiepiphytes are important components of tropical forests and are attractive to scientists due to their unique epiphytic growth habit during some period of their life cycle. Unique characteristics in plant water relations and carbon economy have been found in hemiepiphytic plants; however, to further understand this group of species on an evolutionary basis it is necessary to carry out comparative studies between hemiepiphytes and their close relatives. In this dissertation I conduced a comparative study in a suite of functional traits related to plant water relations and photosynthesis between hemiepiphytic and non-hemiepiphytic tree species from a single genus-Ficus. Great differentiation …


Subclinical Vascular Brain Damage, Vascular Risk Factors, And Depression In Successful Cognitive Aging, Jessica R.L. Warsch May 2010

Subclinical Vascular Brain Damage, Vascular Risk Factors, And Depression In Successful Cognitive Aging, Jessica R.L. Warsch

Open Access Dissertations

Currently, about one in every eight Americans is age 65 or older; by the year 2050, it will be one in five people. Given this graying of the population, research into successful aging is of increasing relevance. The question of how to precisely define successful aging, however, has not been completely answered. Likewise, the role of vascular risk factors, subclinical vascular brain damage, and other biopsychosocial characteristics in normal cognitive aging are not well understood. This Dissertation focused on the identification of some of the physiological, behavioral, and social risk factors that distinguish people able to maintain extraordinary health at …


Regulation Of Pdk1 Protein Kinase Activation By Its C-Terminal Pleckstrin Homology Domain, Hassan Al-Ali Apr 2010

Regulation Of Pdk1 Protein Kinase Activation By Its C-Terminal Pleckstrin Homology Domain, Hassan Al-Ali

Open Access Dissertations

Phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1) plays an integral role in signaling cellular growth and proliferation, one that's dependent on its ability to autophosphorylate Ser-241 in its T-loop. This process appears to have a strict requirement for its C-terminal pleckstrin homology (PH) domain. Thus, the overall objective of this work was to determine the mechanism by which the PH domain induces an active kinase conformation in unphosphorylated PDK1, capable of Ser-241 autophosphorylation. First, computational modeling and protein cross linking studies were combined with site-directed mutagenesis and kinetic assays in order to provide initial assessment of how the PH domain scaffolds Ser-241 autophosphorylation. …


Characterization Of Two Cx9c Containing Mitochondrial Proteins Necessary For Cytochrome C Oxidase Assembly, Darryl M. Horn Apr 2010

Characterization Of Two Cx9c Containing Mitochondrial Proteins Necessary For Cytochrome C Oxidase Assembly, Darryl M. Horn

Open Access Dissertations

Copper is an essential cofactor of two mitochondrial enzymes: cytochrome c oxidase (COX) and the mitochondrial localized fraction of Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (Sod1p). Copper incorporation into these enzymes is facilitated by a growing number of metallochaperone proteins. Here we describe two novel copper chaperones of COX, Cmc1 and Cmc2. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, both Cmc1 and Cmc2 localize to the mitochondrial inner membrane facing the intermembrane space. Cmc1 and Cmc2 are essential for full expression of COX and cellular respiration, contain a twin Cx9C domain, and are conserved from yeast to humans. Additionally, the presence or absence of these proteins not …


Determining The Effects Of Aging On Murine Bone-Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Cardiac And Angiogenic Plasticity Potential, Amber D. Wilson Apr 2010

Determining The Effects Of Aging On Murine Bone-Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Cardiac And Angiogenic Plasticity Potential, Amber D. Wilson

Open Access Dissertations

Reduction of cardiac myocyte loss and repair of the vasculature post myocardial infarction are important therapeutic goals because the potential for intrinsic repair is limited. Preclinical and limited clinical data support the possibility that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells may be a suitable cell type for cellular therapy. The goal of this research was to determine the effectiveness of using MSCs from aged mice in cellular therapy for the treatment of AMI. The central hypothesis for this research was that therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells decreases with age. This research utilized global gene expression analysis to investigate molecular differences …


Seed Dynamics And Seedling Establishment Of Woody Species In The Tropical Savannas Of Central Brazil (Cerrado), Ana A. Salazar Parra Apr 2010

Seed Dynamics And Seedling Establishment Of Woody Species In The Tropical Savannas Of Central Brazil (Cerrado), Ana A. Salazar Parra

Open Access Dissertations

Studies of seed dynamics and seedling establishment at the community level in savanna ecosystems are scant, particularly in the tropical savannas of Central Brazil. The Brazilian savannas (cerrado) have the largest diversity of plant species among Neotropical savannas. Cerrado vegetation exhibits consistent changes in tree density and tree size along shallow topographic gradients. Vegetation types differ from closed savannas with high tree density, and a nearly continuous canopy cover in the uppermost portions, to open savannas with scattered short trees in the low portions of the topographic gradients. Whether or not dynamics of seeds and seedlings of woody species are …


Family Factors As A Modifier Of Individual Differences In Children With Higher Functioning Autism And Their Families, Nicole Elyse Zahka Apr 2010

Family Factors As A Modifier Of Individual Differences In Children With Higher Functioning Autism And Their Families, Nicole Elyse Zahka

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigated the impact of family factors on individual differences in the social and emotional development of children with autism and their families. Based on the modifier model hypothesis suggested by Mundy, Henderson, Inge, and Coman (2007), family factors may serve as a modifier that contributes to the variability in the phenotypic presentation of children with higher functioning autism. Results indicated that Expressed Emotion (EE) was associated with parent-reported hyperactivity and anxiety in children and adolescents. Family cohesion was associated with parent-reported aggression and depression. These results differed for typically developing and HFA children; higher EE or lower cohesion …


Transcriptional Control Of Axon Growth Ability, Darcie L. Moore Mar 2010

Transcriptional Control Of Axon Growth Ability, Darcie L. Moore

Open Access Dissertations

Mammalian central nervous system (CNS) neurons lose their ability to regenerate their axons after injury during development. For example, optic nerve injury studies in hamsters have shown that optic nerve axons injured around the time of birth retain the ability to regenerate to their target, but this ability is lost during development (So et al., 1981). The development of an inhibitory CNS environment has been implicated in the inability of the adult CNS to regenerate, however there is also support for this loss being a result of changes in developmental programs intrinsic to the neurons themselves (Goldberg et al., 2002a; …


Activation Of Non-Muscle Myosin Iib Helps Mediate Tnf-Alpha Cell Death Signaling, Patrick G. Flynn Mar 2010

Activation Of Non-Muscle Myosin Iib Helps Mediate Tnf-Alpha Cell Death Signaling, Patrick G. Flynn

Open Access Dissertations

TNF-alpha can stimulate a variety of kinases with the ability to activate non-muscle myosin II. As a result, increases in actin filament formation and actomyosin contractility (AMC) have been reported in response to TNF-alpha. These events are thought to play an important role in mediating TNF-alpha induced apoptosis but how they do so is unclear. In this study we prevented non-muscle myosin II activation in response to TNF-alpha by treating cells with the myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) inhibitor ML-7 or through isoform specific siRNA knockdown of myosin IIA and IIB. We found that treatment with ML-7 or knockdown of …


Microbes At A Non-Point Source Sub-Tropical Recreational Marine Beach And Their Implications On Human Health And Beach Monitoring Practices, Amir Mahmoud Abdelzaher Mar 2010

Microbes At A Non-Point Source Sub-Tropical Recreational Marine Beach And Their Implications On Human Health And Beach Monitoring Practices, Amir Mahmoud Abdelzaher

Open Access Dissertations

Swimming in ocean water, including beaches not impacted by known point sources of pollution, continues to pose a rising health concern. Studies which evaluate the relationship between indicator microbes, pathogens, and human health at recreational beaches are rare, especially at non-point beaches, although such studies are necessary for establishing criteria which would protect public health while minimizing economic burdens. The objective of this dissertation was to better understand the non-point source beach system, and hence determine possible directions that should be taken from a beach regulatory perspective in order to protect bather health and minimize economic burdens. This objective was …